And just like that, it’s mid-April! Many apologies for being MIA lately, internet! I miss you! (And I fully intend to catch up on what you’re up to.) This is one of those pell-mell times of the year, where I feel like I’m being propelled down a steep hill and can barely get my feet under me. All (mostly?) good things, but this is the first Fun Writing I’ve done in… three weeks maybe? When I go to open a document in Word, NONE of my recent files are my blog document, is what that means. (Yes, I type all my posts in Word and then transfer [some of] them to WordPress.)
Seems like a good day for a quick catch-up. And then I need to find a solid week or so to go back and read ALL OF YOUR POSTS, omg, I feel so out of the loop.
1. I am spending today as we all hope our Fridays go: waiting for the HVAC service technician to show up. Why, yes, that was sarcasm, and yes, our furnace IS dead. I’m glad it’s not, like, January, but it is currently 45 degrees F outside and the internal temperature of my house has dropped to 65. Perfect weather for walking on the treadmill while I cross two items on my to-do list off simultaneously!
Our furnace is 23 years old, if it is a day, so it’s no spring chicken. But we did just have the HVAC people in here this February to give it a checkup, so I’m feeling a little grumpy that it’s acting up now. Back in February, I asked the HVAC guy to give me a prognosis on the lifespan on my furnace, and he said, “Well, I can’t guarantee anything – it could stop working tomorrow! But it seems like it’s in good shape and you could get another ten years out of it.” Not sure why I didn’t hear the foreboding music swell in the background of this little pronouncement.
2. While I drank my breakfast (which was a smoothie and a mug of green tea, not, like, whiskey), I whacked away at my to-do list a bit more. It’s at that out-of-control point again, where things keep piling up until I am buried under their weight. The section I tackled today was Making Routine Doctors’ Appointments. Well, some of them were routine. Like I got Carla scheduled for her annual well visit and her annual eye exam (which we somehow skipped last year????). I also left a message on my doctor’s prescription line to follow up on a refill that I requested earlier this week. That last one took two calls because I got through three menu trees and clicked on “leave a message for Dr. X” and then had to listen to a recording that said this was the place to leave questions for the nurse, NOT the place to leave refill requests, so I had to go through all the phone menus again. And! Most exciting of all: I scheduled an ear piercing appointment for Carla! This will be her Big Birthday Present this year. She has been ramping up the requests to have her ears pierced over the past six to twelve months, and she has really made strides in Being Responsible (she has a necklace she wears daily that has so far always come home with her; she has a dental appliance she has to care for). Plus, she got a pair of nice-quality clip on earrings from her grandmother last fall, and she wears them regulary. So I think she is ready for pierced ears. I, however, am NOT ready for pierced ears. I have never had pierced ears, or any sort of piercing, and the whole thing a) squicks me out and b) makes me extremely nervous. I am squeamish and blood/body stuff makes me woozy. I am comforted by Carla’s swift and independent handling of her dental appliance; I have never had to touch it or adjust a single rubber band, and her orthodontist says she is doing great, so I am going to trust that between her and my husband, she’ll figure out how to care for HOLES in her BODY.
Still on the list are many additional phone calls, which I will probably avoid some more. I need to call the landscaper, make an appointment to get my car serviced, call someone to come look at our oven, call the trash collection service about whether they will collect some unusual items (paint cans and gutter guards), hire a lifeguard for Carla’s birthday party, and get some estimates to get the exterior of our house painted. Also on my list: a work project, two rather major projects for my volunteering role, a message for a family member’s Big Birthday Memory Book, finding photos of Carla for a school project, making decisions about and then scheduling a couple of other healthcare-type things, and, most daunting of all: figuring out how to order breakfast for an out-of-town group event at which I will not be present, in a town I have never visited and know nothing about.
3. A phone call I already made this week? Scheduling an appointment with our new pest control service. Even though we live, like, twenty miles away from our old neighborhood, the locations are different enough that they seem to have totally different pest problems. At our old house, we had silverfish; at this house, we have ants, stinkbugs, mice, and bats. “Probably you had rats, too,” the pest control guy said helpfully. But since in twelve years I never once saw a rat, or any sign of such, I refuse to acknowledge this as a possibility.
While he is from the same pest control company that handled our mouse problem when we first moved into this house, he is not the same person. He tells me he was injured last fall and on leave. But he used to do pest control for the previous owners, which was useful because he knew exactly where to go and what the problem areas were. He also kind of implied that the previous owners canceled a ton of their appointments, so he wasn’t surprised we had such a huge mouse infestation when we moved in. While I feel deeply uncomfortable with service people sharing qualms about their other customers, I do feel a little bit justified in my growing belief that the previous owners did not really take care of this place. Lots and lots of things have looked lovely on the surface and then turn out to be falling apart behind the scenes, and the repeated cancellation of regular home maintenance stuff helps explain that. Don’t get me wrong – they seem like lovely people, and I get the impression they are just very busy and travel a lot. And who knows! Maybe they had other stuff they were dealing with, and/or once they decided to move, they simply stopped keeping things up. I will tell you, while I am NOT EXCITED about bats or mice, I do prefer the tiny little ants and the occasional stinkbug to silverfish.
4. Did you know you can make queso dip out of cottage cheese? Possibly you already knew this, but I only just tried it. It was marvelous. I don’t know how “healthy” it was, especially because I ate it with tortilla chips. But it was easy and much higher in protein than covering my chips in shredded cheese while being just as delicious.
5. Speaking of things I have recently tried and loved, I have FINALLY found a travel pillow that allows me to sleep on the airplane! Sleeping is really the only way I can fly, because I find the entire experience so anxiety-producing. But I am not a person who can lean back against the questionably clean headrest or use a travel pillow. My head insists on flopping forward, no matter what, and each time it falls, I snap awake. It is neither comfortable nor restful and it’s kind of embarrassing, to be honest. I have tried so many travel pillows. So many. None of them work. But then! My husband ordered a TRTL travel pillow to use on our flights to and from spring break (four-ish hours each way) and on our first flight, he let me use it… and it WORKS. My head can rest gently in a forward position but there is enough support to prevent flopping AND it doesn’t make my neck ache! I did feel like a moron, winding it around my neck like I was bracing for arctic winds, but it was well worth it! I used it on the flight home, too, and it is now mine, all mine.
Okay, in the time since I drafted this post, I got a phone call (friend with whom I exchanged phone numbers for my phenomenal roof/siding person; being an adult is weird), made a phone call (oven repair person is scheduled!), wrapped two birthday presents, unloaded the dishwasher, tidied the kitchen, welcomed the furnace repair person into my home, threw some ice cubes into the dryer to refresh the clothes I dried last night and forgot about, discovered that my front door will BLOW OPEN unless it is locked, tossed a load of laundry in the washing machine, and agreed to pay to have a new transformer installed in my furnace. I think I hear the heater doing its thing!
That is one awesome neck support pillow! I need to look into that. Air travel is anxiety producing for me, too, and I came to peace not too long ago that I simply will not sleep on the plane. I want to, but that is just not possible. I am pretty much a zombie by the time the flight lands, especially if there is time difference. We got L’s ears pierced at her annual physical exam when she turned five. She was so excited. Hope Carla likes her new earrings!
Never knew the ice in the dryer trick! Thanks for that! My 16 year old just got her 2nd piercings and we went to a tattoo shop this time (first ones were done in a mall jewelry shop) and I highly recommend the tattoo parlor if you can. I’ve missed your posts. Happy weekend 🙂
The internet says “welcome back!”
I’m with you that I’ve never had anything pierced. But oh how I wanted to when I was a young ‘un. If Carla can handle wearing clip on earrings I’m sure she’ll do fine with pierced ears.
Taking note of the cottage cheese queso dip – that sounds delish.
I am so excited and bossy and experienced about the ear-piercing, I did not even finish reading the post. I will read the rest of it after I type this first part, and then I will come back and add.
I am very comfortable with piercings, and have a lot of them, and Elizabeth has had her ears pierced twice (that is, a regular piercing and then a second piercing—not a do-over). So I wish this was one of those things where we could do a Task Swap, and I could handle this for you while you handle something that I don’t like and you find unintimidating. But it does seem like the DOCTOR HUSBAND is perfectly suited for this role! Anyway, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND a product that seems like a TOTAL SCAM. It is called H2Ocean. It is a saline spray. You will think, “Why not just use contact-lens saline solution, which is like 1/10th the price?” Well, I do not know, but I have tried both, and (I have to force myself to add “in my opinion” here) the H2Ocean is the good stuff. I don’t know why it’s better. I can make no sense of it. But it is the right stuff, I swear it to you with wide earnest possibly-scammed eyes. You can probably buy it at the piercing place for an even larger mark-up, but I buy it right from the site. BUT: I bought my first bottle from Amazon, because it’s possible to buy just one bottle (in case it is the right stuff FOR ME but not FOR HER, and in case she only NEEDS one bottle) AND get free shipping, which was important to me (now I buy from the site, and it’s as cheap as Amazon but only if you buy three bottles to get the free shipping). I recommend she spray her piercings front and back with the H2Ocean at least twice a day for the first couple months: morning and before bed, plus after a shower unless that’s already happening morning or bed. But I like to use it more than that at the very beginning, right after the piercing—like four times a day, even TEN times a day if she wants to for the first week or two; and it’s a soothing treatment any time the piercings hurt or itch. And it’s a nice periodic treatment, once she starts changing her earrings, and nice and soothing if a pair of earrings feels a little bothersome. Also: I believe the current advice is to Leave It Alone, and not keep twisting the piercing studs. I tried obeying that. I ended up twisting the earring but A LITTLE, not LOTS AND LOTS as used to be recommended. Just: I suggest she turn the earring once or twice (with freshly washed hands) each time she uses the H2Ocean spray, to keep it from (forgive me, this is a little squicky) Sticking, during the first weeks after the piercing.
Okay, now I will read the rest of the post.
I laughed at the part about drinking your breakfast.
Also: I feel like furnace check-ups must be a scam. We confidently chose not to have them, assuming they were a scam. Then we kept having to sheepishly call the furnace people to come fix something, usually near the first time we turned the furnace on each fall. So we got the stupid annual furnace inspections. AND WE HAD TO CALL THE FURNACE PEOPLE JUST AS OFTEN!! The main benefit, I think, and it is no small benefit, is that if you get the annual inspections, then when you DO have to call them, they can’t be all SMUG about how you DECLINED THE ANNUAL FURNACE INSPECTION. It might be worth it only for that. BUT ALSO: when we were in the buying process of our new house, we asked for a furnace inspection, and the furnace inspectors were like “Oh, we can’t say, could go tomorrow, but it’s in great shape and we think it’ll last 10 years!”—AND IT BROKE THE FIRST YEAR. So I ask you.
I need to check out this travel pillow! I can’t sleep on planes typically either. Last night I sat in the middle seat while the boys slept with heads in my lap and I read my book because there was just no way I was going to fall asleep. If I had a window seat I have a better shot of falling asleep on a long flight but then I feel very trapped because I always have to use the bathroom and I hate asking people to get up.
we had similar feelings about our previous owners. They were such nice people but it did not seem like they took great care of the home and there was a lot of deferred maintenance. Our furnace is of a similar age. I would like to replace it because you can save money when you schedule it during an off peak time but my husband wants to roll the dice. My dad owned an electrical and HVAC company and I think he’s in my camp but I don’t feel strongly enough about it to die on this hill. But I will really have to bite my tongue if the furnace dies in like the middle of winter…
Hi Suzanne! I can relate to your post in so many ways, I’ve been away from the Internet for a bit, I missed everyone and I need at least a week to catch up on Feedly, but I am happy to read about all your lives again…. even though you’re dealing with a dead furnace and infestations. I am glad you’re having people work on it though.So funny to learn that someone else also never had their ear lobes pierced. Me neither! (I did get a helix piercing when I was 22 though, but I feel like it’s a lot rarer for women not to have their ear lobes pierced). I never missed earrings as part of my jewelry collection.
I am very intrigued by the cottage cheese queso dip, so thanks for sharing! And I love to hear about this travel pillow. I looked at a few before my trip, but the one that you’re now recommending has a pretty steep pricepoint (esp. when you’re not traveling THAT much) but it’s good to hear that it’s been working for you! (Taking note!)
I need more info on this ice cubes in the dryer trick. I’ve never heard of that!
Excited for Carla to get the pierced ears she wants – that will be a fun experience for her. (Well, maybe not the physical piercing, but having pierced ears!) What an exciting gift for her!
I promise, there will be no blood (most likely) at the ear piercing event. I remember, quite vividly, the drama about my ear piercing (coincidently, also for a birthday). Back then, you had to go to the doctor to get them done. My mom didn’t tell me the “surprise” just that I had to go to the doctor (which to me, meant shots). Needless to say, there was a meltdown.
How is Carla having another birthday? Didn’t she just have one?
I feel sure that Carla and your husband are well equipped to handle the care of newly pierced ears. Just keep peroxide on hand and remind her to twirl the studs often and it should be fine.
Also, it blows my mind that you don’t have pierced ears.
Look at you – knocking those phone calls and to-do list items out of the park!!
Ice cubes in the dryer? Who knew? I’ve never heard of that.
I’m thrilled that your heater appears to work now! Ours is about 45 years old and still ticking. Our repair guy said that as long as he can get parts for it, he can keep it going. It’s definitely well made.
Regarding the earrings, thankfully your husband is a doctor, so helpful if anything goes wrong. I would second those saying to go to a tattoo parlor, and get good advise on taking care of her ears after. Long term. Why? So she doesn’t end up in a situation like my daughter. https://jellyjules.com/sad-tales-of-ears/
Glad you’re back!
Welcome back!!!!! We missed you! 65 degrees in the house- that’s getting pretty nippy. I hope that’s fixed now!
Ah, ear piercing… next thing you know, Carla will be getting her septum pierced. JUST KIDDING. I hope that doesn’t happen to you. The good thing is, she’s old enough to take care of her ears by herself. My daughter was around that age when she got her ears pierced, and she took care of all the maintenance. I also don’t have any piercings and feel queasy at the thought of it, but I have to admit the earrings look cute.
Sounds like you had a VERY productive Friday!
Those are too many pests! I had to look up silverfish and found them CREEPY. That’s great about the travel pillow. I haven’t been flying much lately since my daughters moved west. I don’t miss it although I still want to visit Ireland. I was 18 when I finally got my ears pierced. My mom was in her 30s.
Wow, you have been so busy! So many pests! So many things that have to be taken care of, whew.
I’m excited for Carla and her earrings, I was around her age (I think I was 9?) when I got mine done. Then I had two more done in my right ear when I was a teen. I am sure she’ll take good care of them!
My daughter got her ears pierced when she was 11 and it went fairly smoothly, but if I had to do it over again I would definitely go the tattoo parlour route.
I got my ears pierced when I was 18(?) and have NEVER regretted it. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE wearing earrings.
There is just too much adulting, right? We had more roof shingles blow off last night. While the little repairs we seem to constantly need done are less expensive than replacing the roof, I find the whole thing annoying beyond measure.
I’ve never done the ice cube trick! I sometimes dip my hands in water and sprinkle it in the dryer, but this is easier and likely more effective.
Welcome back. We’re always here with eyes eager to read whenever life calms down.
I hope your heat is back on and your house is pest-free. We had mice forever (years) despite the pest company’s best efforts and then, as of January, they are gone. I have no idea what worked.
We made North wait until the end of 7th grade to pierce their ears, which was later than most of their peers, and it went fine, no complications and they handled all the care. They are going to get a tattoo next weekend.
I love my TRTL so much most of my plane anxiety centers around accidentally forgetting to bring it!
When we moved in, we had a very similar conversation with the HVAC people. Our furnace was OLD. It just kept keeping on, though, and the only thing we ever called the HVAC people about was the much newer AC unit that constantly needed fixing. They’d come over, fix the AC, and then peer at the furnace with uncertainty. “You know that’s been there since the ’80s, right?” So we finally buckled and got a new furnace and AC unit and we’ve had NOTHING BUT ISSUES with the new furnace. *Grumble grumble*
Our pest control guy is awesome. That’s all.
Thanks for the ice cubes in the dryer reminder! I had completely forgotten that genius trick!
Your words have been missed! I was happy to see your post this morning! 🙂 And I’m excited about Carla’s ear piercing!
Truly, the “life admin” never stops! I need to readjust my perspective on it, because I keep getting annoyed at all the “extra” things that need to happen in my day. If I just prepared myself that there would always be something “extra”, I’d have a much more realistic assessment of how to plan the day…
I never had heard the ice cube trick before! Makes perfect sense.
And that travel pillow looks fantastic. When flying with young kids I don’t let myself sleep that deeply anyway, but I have a solo cross-country flight coming up in the fall and may need to pull the trigger on that!
Being an adult is weird because you can be so easily satisfied by something so mundane. Best of luck with the furnace!
Carla will have holes in her body. LOL! I can’t imagine not having earrings; Suzanne you are an anomaly.
Going to check out your travel pillow. Please, when will you share about your spring break?
Isn’t it amazing how many time we have to make appointments and schedule things in our adult life? No one told me. I feel like I am always behind on all those things. Typing this I am reminded I wanted to call the landlord for weeks to have some issues discussed. Also I need to call the tax guy because I don’t understand the last papers… Oh and I need to check the other landlord stuff from the old apartment because he is not returning money or sending the bill. So it will probably be more. lawyer call. Sigh…