Had to Shop for Auto Insurance

 We recently received our 6-month auto insurance bill from GEICO.  Surprise!  It was a 20% increase in

the bill.  After that shock, I shopped around locally for auto insurance based on what I researched from the Word Of Mouth pages (local to me) on FaceBook. 

A call to a local State Farm office saved us $800 a year. Shocker.  The policy is the same as the one at GEICO and we were able to bundle our homeowners insurance in the package too.  Unfortunately, we could not get a policy from them for the rental ( my deceased parents' home).  That home still has insurance just through another agent.  It is difficult to get coverage for a home in Florida built in the late 1960's.  The insurance companies want the houses up to the current code ( related to hurricanes) and those strict building codes did not start until 2002. 

We are enjoying fantastic weather. The temps are in the 40s in the AM but quickly warm up to about 60 degrees.  I have been able to open up the house and air it out which does not happen very often at all.  We are expecting it to warm up to the 80s again at the end of the week. Crazy weather.  

There are a couple of things I still need to get looked at regarding the house.  The garage door opener is glitchy and has been for at least a year and the pool light works intermittently.  I am hoping to get both of those looked at before the end of the year.  I have YouTubed how to fix the garage door, but have yet to find a solution.  Regarding the pool light, I am hoping my electrician sons can help me to get that fixed. They are both soooo busy with their jobs and lives that it is hard to work that in. 

Thursday in Review: Lunch, Doves and Rocks

Three loads of rocks, many more to go.

Yesterday, I had planned to go back to the gym to start chair yoga again.  It is a low-impact strength training/stretching exercise that is easier to do than regular yoga.  Instead of that, I got a better offer.  A long time friend called and wanted to meet up for lunch.  Lunch sounded much better than chair yoga. We became friends in 1989 when I started working at my kids' elementary school as a Teacher Assistant.  It was a great job, I had the same schedule as my kids and I made several lifelong friends as a bonus.

Lunch was great, we both had shrimp tacos  ($12.50 for three small tacos) with water and lemon as the drink.  I am finally at the age that I don't want to pay $2.00  ( sometimes more) for a glass of Coca-Cola. A beer maybe, but not a soda. She had recently lost both her parents within 3 months of each other, similar to when I lost both my parents within 6 months of each other.  Grief is like a monkey on your back, that is not always there but when it grabs you around the neck, you hardly know what to do with it. I encouraged her to take the free grief counseling that Hospice is offering. I did, and it was very helpful. 

Before lunch, I was able to get a few tasks completed which included walking Cricket, a small pile of laundry, and for a bit of physical activity, I have an ongoing task of moving landscape rocks from the back yard to the front bed that sits below the bedroom windows.  The rocks originally were placed (we moved them ) around the pool cage and looked really nice.   But, there are so many of them that they prevent drainage from the pool deck which caused pooling of water and eventually staining. We have NO pool ownership experience so we didn't know that the rocks would be a problem.

Momma dove on the nest 2022

I get my gloves on, and start loading rocks with a shovel into the wheelbarrow and then tote them to the front of the house. They are heavy, and the wheelbarrow is cumbersome.  But, I feel accomplished that I can fill the wheelbarrow, roll it into the front yard, and dump the rocks into the front bed.  I count this as my physical exercise for the day.  I am good for about three loads and then I have to give it a rest lol.   There is always tomorrow. 

 The rest of the day was uneventful as was dinner.  Simple grilled ham and cheese sandwiches with tomato soup.  I did go out and water a few of the Lowes rescue plants that I planted in the backyard and clean out the birdbath for Friday.  The crows do enjoy it and the crows amuse me.  I also checked in on the momma dove that has built a nest in our pole barn.  We have had doves nest in the same place for the last three years. It must be a safe place away from the hawks and crows to hatch their babies. 

Tomorrow the drywallers are coming to patch the holes in the walls left by the plumbers that did the re-pipe.  Fun times. 

Thursday Happenings

 The last few weeks have been busy, busy, busy.  I have been adding listings to my eBay store 5 days a
week.  If you sell on eBay, you know putting listings together can take a little bit of time especially if the item requires research on what it is, what it is worth, etc. 

eBay slowed down considerably since October following one of their updates. I was so convinced that I would meet my goal of grossing $32,000 this year based on earlier monthly sales.  There is still one month left this year, so we will see how it goes. 

Transfer Tuesday is still happening, even though I am consistently inconsistent with weekly posts about the transactions that take place.  Don't think I will meet my goal of paying it down to $49,000 this year either.  That's fine, it will eventually be paid off with the sale of my deceased parent's home.  That date has not been set.  It's complicated because I kinda let it get to that point.   

I am still walking 3-4 times a week, but I had to stop the Pilates classes.  There were expensive, and eBay was too slow to support the cost of the classes.  Maybe next year I can go back.  Meanwhile, I do go to the gym with the hubs 3 times a week. 

Christmas shopping is 95% complete. Is it under budget?  No, not so much.  Sigh....  The tree is up and the house is decorated inside and out. We are planning to have a Christmas Eve get together with family.  My daughter provides Olive Garden so there is no cooking and minimal clean-up.  Having Italian for Christmas or Christmas Eve is a tradition that started with my mom and one that we all enjoy. 

Thanksgiving was spent at our son in laws parents' house.  They have a tradition of inviting us over every year and it's great to be so fortunate to get along with all members of our families. We will reciprocate with  Christmas Eve dinner if they are available.   With blended families consisting of 2nd and 3rd marriages, it can be a chess game to get everyone together at one time.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it does not.  All we can do is try. 

With eBay being so slow, I have tinkered with the idea of going back to work PART TIME.  I have no idea what that means right now, but it is something I am considering.  Hopefully, eBay will redeem itself in December and turn things around. You can't control what you can't control.

We have had some additional spending in November.  I had to get a new battery for my car, we choose to replace them when the warranty is done as opposed to continuing to use the same battery and one day be stranded out in the middle of no where.  That was $120.  Other than that, there has not been any big spending. Well, unless you count Christmas. 

Today I am going to Target to return a couple of purchases.  Balancing the grandkids gifts is a work in progress, and I need to whittle down one kiddo's gifts so there is not disparity in the amount spent or number of gifts under the tree.

After that, the usual stuff.  Daily spot cleaning, listing, and wrap a few gifts. 

Thursday Stuff

 Morning walk completed and we saw this family of three sandhill cranes.  They hang out in the neighborhood where we walk.  I saw the neighborhood hawk as well, but he was in flight. Not a great picture. 

We had a great visit with our middle son and his wife.  They live about 50 minutes away and all of our lives are so busy it is difficult to find a date to get together. 

I am ashamed to say we have not been there since before Covid started. Maybe longer.  It is on my list to do better and make a solid effort to visit them.  They do come here on Christmas, but it has been two years.  There was Covid, and my son's wife had major surgeries related to breast cancer. 

 She has been in remission for the last 2 1/2 years.  Praise the Lord! 

I did get the yard mowed yesterday, it was long overdue.  I am hoping that this will be the last time this year.  Maybe one more time, but that should definitely be it. Not much else.  I will be listing stuff for eBay, maybe 5-10 items. I need to pass by Aldi's and CVS either today or tomorrow. 

The hubs is off today because he has to work the weekend. I think he will be doing truck maintenance but when he woke up he said he is trying to catch a cold.  He can be kinda grumpy when he is not feeling well.  Hopefully the DayQuil will kick in and he will be able to get done what he wants to get done. 

Have a great day!