I am still here...

I know that I am not nearly as busy as it seems like I am. I am even taking a lunch break today to blog. LOL! I know that SonyaAnn is dying to hear what exciting adventures we have been up to.

Well, Hubby is up and walking! Yeah! Here is a pic of him standing on his own two legs. Yes, one is bionic but it is HIS.

His pants are puffy as he was standing in front of a fan. LOL! He does not have oddly puffy legs. He was using a walker when he walked, but has graduated to walking with a cane and even walks around some with NO support. I am so proud of how well he is doing.

Since he has been more mobile, he has been unpacking boxes of books and pictures and has been "decorating" for a few weeks. We now have no moving boxes to unpack and our walls are getting hung. It is feeling like home. Wait, it has felt like home since we moved in, but now it is looking more cozy.


For about a year, I have been saying we needed a new bed. Of course, Hubby said "Whatever. This one is fine." But it is time. We don't have dips  or sags in the middle, but some springs in the mattress have broken. I just made a  little hole and pulled the broken parts out so we would not get poked. But the sides are less firm due to spring issues. So I have been shopping for a deal.

I finally found a decent price on a mattress that is the same brand as ours, a Serta firm mattress. I was going to order mattress and box springs, but read some bad reviews on the box springs. Then I wondered if I needed to even buy box springs so started researching. The concensus was  that if the "foundation" did not have springs and was still solid, there was no need to replace.

I crawled under the bed and there are no springs in that bad boy and it is WELL made. So, I just ordered a mattress from JC Penney and with the sale and coupon code, I saved 74% off retail! We have to wait a couple of weeks for it, but I don't care. I love a deal and am willing to wait.

I have not been doing much deal shopping because of all the stuff going on here, but did manage to get in a trip to CVS for shampoo, conditioner and stylers to replenish my supply. I paid $2.65 for $56 worth of stuff. I was pumped!

Of course, then we decided we need to start feeding our cats food for sensitive tummies as someone who has been hiding it well has been barfing. We don't know which of the 3 it is, so they will all have to eat different food. That shit is expensive! No more cheap cat food. LOL! I did not buy the cheapest before, but thanks to Hubby they can be finicky so I was getting what they would eat for the best price I could, but $4 - $5 a 3 lb bag was what I was spending. Sensitive tummy stuff is more expensive, but I guess they are worth it. LOL!

I bought new food last Sunday an no one has barfed since we started them on it. I got 3 different kinds as Hubby determines what they like or don't like. I am hoping they work. I tell him if they are hungry enough they will eat it, but he insists they won't. I guess I will let him be right this time.

Work is busy and I go crazy some days. So I am always ready for the weekend!

OH, OH, OH!!!! Go enter SonyaAnn's Giveaway! You can win $25! And you can get her book Stratagem A Life Perceived for FREE!

I need more credit cards!

Well, according to Equifax and Transunion I do. LOL! I signed up with Credit Karma just to keep an eye on my credit and it seems to be fairly accurate. Supposedly Credit Karma is reporting info from Equifax and Transunion.

We have 2 we use. LOL! They are both rewards cards, on gives points that can be redeemed for giftcards and one sends checks to use at Kroger. The only reason we use them is because of the rewards. We used to pay cash for everything and decided we might as well earn some rewards for what we were spending anyway. We pay both cards balances, in full, every month. We have had the cards for years and have never paid one cent of interest.We also have a couple of store cards that we never use, so I am surprised that they have not been closed.

So, I get an email from Credit Karma that I need to update my credit score, which entails signing in to the site and it is "recalculated". This month is the first month Equifax is included in the calculations. My "credit score" is over 800, categorized as "excellent". Well, sure we pay our bills on time, never go to collections, etc. BUT when digging down into the details of the score, I found that our "number of accounts" is categorized as POOR, because we only have 9. I don't even know what they are counting as 9 and I am not worried about it as I check our credit reports regularly and they are correct. Maybe they go back to our car loans or something.

Everything else is categorized as excellent. AND our total account are equal to or higher than 42% of other Credit Karma members. LOL! So there is a whole lot of us who are in that poor category. I guess I am in good company.

Recommendation: This metric represents the total number of accounts listed on your credit report. Consumers with more credit accounts tend to have better credit scores, So Transunion and Equifax think I need more credit cards.

My opinion: I don't think so.

In other news, Hubby and I have jumped on "the year of the car" bandwagon. Last week, I started the car (I have been driving Hubby's Accord) one morning, turned on my headlights and had no light on the driver side. Told Hubby about it later when we talked and decided to take care of it on the weekend. It was cold and rainy so I didn't. But on Sunday, I took the CRV and the driver side headlight was out on IT! WTF?! It had just gone out because it was working the previous weekend. So I went to the auto parts store and bought 2 bulbs...$20.

I was not trying to figure out how to change them in the rain and cold, so Hubby took the CRV to our mechanic and they changed the bulb for us for no charge. Yeah for that! So I am driving it as I leave in the dark and come home in the dark. Hubby will drive his car, as he only drives in the day, until we can get that one changed. He said the mechanic would change it but asked him to wait a week or so as they are short a mechanic. He will take it to them or I may try to change it this weekend. I looked on-line and the Accord one looks pretty easy to change.

We have not been able to have a fire...because we had a fire. Hubby is getting antsy as it has been perfect fire weather. He called our manager and found out we have to wait until the chimney is inspected before we can use the fireplace. They got it all repaired pretty quickly, but who knows when the inspector will come.

Happy Wednesday!
from your cold friend with too few credit cards.

Happy New Year and Where's the Fire?

Oh, yeah, it was at MY place.

I worked a short week last week...Monday, Tuesday and part of Wednesday. We got an email early Wednesday afternoon that we could go home. Yeah! So, I did. When I got home, Hubby and I did a little running around, but decided NOT to go out to eat for New Year's Eve. We decided to pick up something and just head home.

My throat had started to feel a bit scratchy on Tuesday and people in my office were coming to work sick, so I had started popping vitamin C and Airborne to stave anything off. But it did not work. New Year's Eve I could not stay awake, so went to bed around 10. So much for welcoming the New Year.

The next day I was up early and spent the day relaxing and reading. Hubby spent some time napping as he HAD stayed up late the night before. LOL!

Around 4:30, Hubby started our New Year's dinner and had blackeyed peas, a pot of beans and spinach on the stove, and cornbread in the oven. A little before 5, there was a knock on the door and a guy asked me if I knew the chimney was on fire! WHAT! If I knew that, would I be sitting in my apartment??? I went outside...not dressed for outside...and looked and sure enough there was a little flame at the very top of the chimney. I said I was going to run in and call the fire department and get dressed. The guy said he was calling them right them.

So I ran in, got dressed and told Hubby to get dressed. He wanted to know why and I told him. I guess the fact that I was calm made it seem like it was not so serious. LOL! You would think the word fire would make someone hurry, but not Hubby. I finally got him outside, turned off the stove and headed out myself.

The fire department got there quickly and were up on the roof in no time, hosing down the fire and tearing out the chimney. It really was a little fire right at the top, but they took no chances. There were fire fighters and policemen everywhere and the fire marshall finally left a little before 9. THEN we got to eat our black-eyed peas.

 Here is what it looked like the next day. The bottom "hole" is the outside our our fireplace.

There was no smoke or fire damage to our apartment, thank goodness, though a lot of water flooded in and soaked some of our carpet. But maintenance was in the next day, tearing out padding and sucking out water. and leaving an industrial fan in our living room to blow on it all weekend. That sucker is LOUD and I will be glad when it is gone. Hopefully today. Oh, and we are grateful for the minimal damage. In the top photo, you might notice that our neighbor's door is white. That is because it is a temporary door to replace the one the fire fighter battered down. The neighbors were not home but the fire fighters had to be sure.

I ended up being too sick to go to work on Friday, which was good as I had to move some stuff when the carpet guy came. Hubby could have done it, but I also had to dismantle our computer as some water was in the bedroom under the computer desk, too. Hubby would not have wanted to do that.

Saturday and Sunday were much easier days, except that the fan was really loud.

Here is a pic of Hubby standing around yesterday. He's got legs!

He starts physical therapy today and I am at work doped up on cold medicine.

Happy New Year!