…to do a few little home improvements around here. Nothing big or expensive, since we rent. We’d only want to spend money on stuff we could take with us when we move, if we so chose. Nothing that is part of a permanent structure until we own our own place!
Right now, one of the first items on the agenda is a new bookcase, to replace this ancient cheapy metal one that’s in the front hallway. I want a nice wooden one, that goes all the way up to the ceiling, that way we can fit more stuff in it.
I’m still also trying to come up with a way to re-do my craft area. So much stuff, so little space…sigh…
Not that I am thrilled about this, mind you. This IS New England, after all! And it HAS bee abnormal to have temps in the 50′s and 60′s in January. Not that I’m complaining about THAT part, mind you!
One good thing about having not only a bad back, but now a sprained arm, is that I get yet another free pass out of shoveling snow. So Mike will have to do most of it, unless the landladies hire some young strapping guy to do it. Even so, he’ll still have to put on his sheepskin boots and go out and at least shovel the car out!
But hey…he’s supposed to go to the monthly Boring Business Meeting down in Rhode Island on Monday. He’s actually HOPING for a big storm, as he hates having to drive down there, and will do just about anything to get out of it.
…often goes off in this building for no apparent reason. It seems kind of silly to have to have it, when all it does is annoy me. The system we have here is hard-wired, so that if one goes off, eventually, they ALL do. And it’s very difficult to shut them up!
But then again, it IS the law. And there was this one time when it really DID go off for a good reason.
Years ago, the landladies, who live upstairs, had their elderly uncle living with them. Norman was a nice old guy, but I could tell that he wasn’t *all there*.
One day, I was home alone, and Norman was alone up in their apartment. I was just sitting here, watching TV, when the smoke detectors started going off. Norman came downstairs and knocked on my door, wanting to know what I’d done to set off the alarm. Nothing, I said. How about YOU? Did you leave a cigarette burning someplace, do you have something on the stove?
So he went back upstairs to check, and sure enough, he was the cause of the alarm going off. He’d put a teakettle on the stove and then forgot about it; all of the water had boiled out and the bottom of the kettle was starting to burn.
He begged me not to tell his nieces what happened, afraid that they’d get mad at him. But I had to…what if I’d not been there to tell him to check the stove? He could have burned the house down.
He was always doing stuff like this…another time he caused a small fire because he put something metal into the microwave. It got to the point there the landladies felt that he needed to go into an assisted living facility. They couldn’t leave him at home alone, but they had jobs to go to and all.
They could have hired someone to stay with him during the day, but they decided that an assisted living facility would be the best option for Norman. In addition to the beginnings of Alzheimer’s, he had other health issues that needed to be dealt with. A place that has 24/7 medical staff, where they make use of assisted living software to keep track of the needs of the residents, was a much more sensible choice.
I’m sure it wasn’t an easy decision to make, but it had to be made…for Norman’s safety and for that of all of us who live in this building.
Norman has since passed away. I still kinda miss the old guy…he was nice to talk to sometimes, when he was all there.
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So yeah…as much as I complain about the smoke detectors here, thinking about this makes me realize that they really do save lives.
Here in Massachusetts, it is also required by law to have carbon monoxide detector. It doesn’t have to be hard-wired…our landladies gave us one that just plus into the wall. Carbon monoxide poisoning is often caused by a ill-maintained furnace. But our landladies are diligent about having the oil guy come once a year, usually in the summer when he’s not so busy, to do a thorough cleaning and all of both furnaces. An ounce of prevention, you know?
Too bad they are not required by law in Rhode Island…there you are just “advised” to have them. A few days ago, I saw a story on the news about a family found dead in their Providence, RI home. It turned out that this tragedy was caused by carbon monoxide poisoning; due to a improperly installed heating system. The home did not have any carbon monoxide detectors.
Very sad story. I hope that this will encourage others who don’t have carbon monoxide detectors yet to get them. Even if it’s not required by law.
…I guess we had a productive evening, if you count sitting on bar stools at TGI Friday’s, spending some quality time with Mike. I felt like going out for dinner, plus, I wanted to replace the cell phone that we’d gotten for him on Saturday, the one that didn’t work. We use Virgin Mobile for our pre-paid cell service…at least I’ve been using it for a few months now. We used to use TracFone…they are evil and no one should use them. Mike was still using TracFone, but I wanted to switch him over to the good guys sooner than later.
I much prefer sitting in the bar area of a restaurant, than in the main dining room. In the bar, people are usually not allowed to bring in little kids…most bars are limited to those who are 21+. I HATE having to deal with screaming kids in restaurants, so I do what I can to avoid them.
We had a nice dinner, and afterwards, we went across the road to Best Buy and got Mike a new phone. Good riddance to evil TracFone, FOREVER!
So, I guess it was a productive evening after all!
Sadly, My XM radio receiver is on the fritz, so I’m listening to…gasp…BROADCAST radio. It sucks, because of this stoopid commercial. Woman gets expensive bauble from hubby, some other chick is drooling over it, and wishes for a husband who would buy her expensive baubles. As if that were all that men are for! Women like this deserve to be alone forever, they don’t even deserve to have a cat. I despise them, because they make the rest of us look bad.
Mike knows that I don’t want stupid diamonds as gifts…what am I gonna do with them, anyway? He wants to get me things that are more useful, and related to what I want and need. Say I’d managed to buy myself a little red Corvette, for example. I’d MUCH rather have a gift of Corvette accessories than some stupid rock. But I guess girls aren’t *supposed* to like cars, huh?
But what I REALLY want now is a new XM radio receiver…so I can listen to commercial-free satellite radio!
