debthaven
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Post by debthaven on Jan 26, 2023 11:04:11 GMT -5
Everyone needs to relax sometimes Sharon .
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debthaven
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Post by debthaven on Jan 26, 2023 10:49:52 GMT -5
This week/weekend - mark 20 32 essays (Th)
Not bad given that I taught online till 3 today. Tomorrow is another day.
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debthaven
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Post by debthaven on Jan 25, 2023 13:24:55 GMT -5
So sorry for your loss moneysquirrel . Happy you got home safe. This week/weekend- mark 32 essays I'm WFH tomorrow.
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debthaven
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Post by debthaven on Jan 23, 2023 17:24:54 GMT -5
The absolute best case scenario most money smart/financial smart thing would be for me to work for my employer until my 62nd birthday - but I can't do it. I don't have the energy to re-invent myself at work to keep myself going.
Believe me, I get it Tiny . Could you make it to 60? But the REAL question is, do you even need to?!
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debthaven
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Post by debthaven on Jan 23, 2023 16:05:27 GMT -5
If it's any help Iggy aka IG , all staff at both schools (not the teachers of course) put their schedule in their signatures ... ie "on campus Mon/Wed/Fri, online Tues/Thurs" or whatever.
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debthaven
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Post by debthaven on Jan 23, 2023 16:02:56 GMT -5
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debthaven
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Post by debthaven on Jan 23, 2023 15:58:29 GMT -5
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debthaven
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Post by debthaven on Jan 23, 2023 15:53:56 GMT -5
What is CE testing Iggy aka IG , if you don't mind me asking? Honestly, I really wonder how many of your clients would even realize that you're WFH one day a week ... SO many people WFH these days! And if they did, would they even care? You seem so entrenched in your community, they'd probably be happy for you.
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debthaven
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Post by debthaven on Jan 23, 2023 14:38:38 GMT -5
Most people I know get some kind of job after retirement, if I'm going to do that I might as well keep this one.laterbloomer my question would be, would you be allowed to do your job PT? Hypothetical question, but people who retire and continue to work usually work less than they used to. The way rents are sky rocketing in my area I am starting to consider the idea of renting out my house for income for traveling.laterbloomer is there any way you could create a separate/MIL apt so you could one day rent out the majority of the house but keep a separate space for yourself/SO?
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Post by debthaven on Jan 23, 2023 14:18:06 GMT -5
I can't answer all the questions because not everything is comparable here. I feel like we are winging it too ... it's been 3 weeks lol. My big regret is that we leased another car last fall. I regret not having purchased the old leased car. (I wanted to, DH didn't, and I caved, despite my better judgement.) I'm still working PT, which would be the equivalent of you continuing Rukh Inc Rukh O'Rorke . I go to school two days/week and WFH one day/week. I have Fridays and Mondays off. I'd earn more if I retired later but I was done with going into school 4 days/week and all the marking. Another advantage to working PT is that I get complementary health insurance through work, and it's much cheaper ... 110e/month for both us (vs 330e). I "officially" retired in Jan at 63. DH is "officially" retiring in May at 67 (FRA here), but he'll keep working too. DH works from home and makes his own schedule. All he needs to work is an internet connection. To answer Tiny 's question, we are getting our 4 huge French doors plus other windows replaced and having the outside of our house repainted. The goal is to pay 2/3 in cash, and get a loan for 1/3. It's not ideal but it's fine because we have no mortgage on our home. Much of what I earn this year working PT will go towards those improvements. We do have a small loan on our rental (26.7K). Once that's paid off (5 years) we'll have that additional income. We should be fine but we won't be spending 6 months a year travelling to exotic locations. I'm OK with that as long as we can go away twice a year (in addition to weekend trips ... 3 of our 4 kids are a long weekend away.) ETA: I've never earned or saved much, so working PT gives me an opportunity to earn and save more: for windows, travel, whatever. I've been VERY strategic about which classes I've kept so my "quality of life" has increased post-retirement/this semester beyond having an additional day off per week (ie no more evening classes, no more 6 am alarms, and I finish teaching in late April instead of in mid-June).
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Post by debthaven on Jan 23, 2023 9:18:54 GMT -5
I had a very lazy weekend. I needed it after going back and forth to the hospital the previous weekend. I also wanted DH to rest. He's doing well. So just keeping up on house/kitchen/laundry. I've also been taking the bins out and bringing in firewood so DH doesn't have to. I'll get 32 essays to mark on Wednesday. Happily I have less marking this semester.
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Post by debthaven on Jan 21, 2023 4:05:13 GMT -5
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Post by debthaven on Jan 19, 2023 17:46:33 GMT -5
Iggy aka IG congrats on the weight loss! I'm curious, are you using your home office every week now? Or just in case of bad weather? These days I'm home most days (even if I'm WFH). But it always made life SO much easier to be home even one day/week to do a load of laundry or two, run/empty the dishwasher, etc.
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Post by debthaven on Jan 19, 2023 16:36:56 GMT -5
That looks good to me seriousthistime ! Or else letters if it's easier, ie A through H.
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Post by debthaven on Jan 19, 2023 13:09:32 GMT -5
I have another company coming tomorrow for a last last estimate for the windows. I'm done replacing my colleague one Thursday/month! I'm teaching at school only two days/week for the rest of the semester. ETA: I took DH to his physio this morning. He was very happy with DH's progress! DH will go there twice a week. As of Monday he can drive himself. (It's very close.)
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Post by debthaven on Jan 19, 2023 7:36:32 GMT -5
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Post by debthaven on Jan 19, 2023 2:44:48 GMT -5
The third estimate for the windows came in ...35K. It looks like we're going for the one that's 25K. I may get one more estimate before we decide. Debthaven: 6 Jan 2022 23,250 euros (Goal: 30,000)I'm not sure I can reach this goal without taking more hours. I'm not sure I'm willing to do that. I may pick up one or two more individual professors or staff but I don't want more regular classes. ETA: I have somebody coming tomorrow for the LAST last estimate.
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Post by debthaven on Jan 18, 2023 13:05:58 GMT -5
LOL at Harry startsmart ! What are you plans for the extra bedrooms? Just curious. Today was a long day. I mentioned that DS1's van broke down on Christmas Day. He was here last night so I took him to meet the tow truck very early today before school. The good news is, DS1 emptied the basement of his family's Christmas gifts. (They went back by Eurostar so couldn't carry much.) So thankful to be on Zoom tomorrow!
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Post by debthaven on Jan 17, 2023 12:55:08 GMT -5
We're all allowed to teach online on Thursday because of the strikes! This is my last Thursday replacing that colleague. What a fabulous find startsmart !
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Post by debthaven on Jan 16, 2023 14:49:01 GMT -5
DH got home yesterday. He's doing well! Back to school tomorrow. There are huge strikes here this Thursday so I'm hoping they'll let us be on Zoom that day. I'll find out tomorrow. Fingers crossed! I caught up on laundry and ran/emptied the dishwasher.
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Post by debthaven on Jan 14, 2023 11:56:26 GMT -5
Beautiful, as always startsmart . I'd love to see the wedding quilt (when you can share of course!)
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Post by debthaven on Jan 14, 2023 10:18:00 GMT -5
finnime I like Sharon 's idea. Otherwise you could keep them till next Christmas and donate them then, but that's a long way off. I was going a bit stir-crazy at the hospital so I left earlier today. I picked up DH's meds + dressings and went grocery shopping on my way home. DH comes home tomorrow morning. He's more mobile than we expected, so he'll be fine this week while I'm at work. I got a few microwave meals. Bad timing, it's the only week all semester I'm teaching at school 3 days. My colleague on maternity leave comes back in February.
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Post by debthaven on Jan 12, 2023 21:00:42 GMT -5
SORRY THIS IS LONG AND NOT IMPORTANT FEEL FREE TO SKIP IT.
PLEASE DO NOT QUOTE.
I woke up in the middle of the night because I realized my older niece has decided to come to Paris the weekend DS3, his partner and his partner's mom are already staying here. I hadn't realized it was the same weekend when my niece was texting me about it LITERALLY TWO MINUTES AFTER MY DH GOT OUT OF SURGERY THIS MORNING.
So when I woke up in the middle of the night, I texted her that we weren't free that weekend, but they are welcome to stay AFTER the weekend. Ugh.
I don't know what's in the water on the east coast but Niece M is literally the 5th person in the past two weeks telling me OMG WE ARE COMING TO PARIS THIS SPRING AND WE CAN'T WAIT TO SEE YOU!!!
We've offered for one very close friend and his wife to stay, and of course my niece and her family, but not the others. They can get a hotel.
Also, something crazy happened today!!! I don't think I have ever mentioned this here, because I know it sounds crazy. I occasionally (rarely) get these "psychic flashes".
I went to the clinic early enough this morning to be in DH's room when he came back from surgery. The whole way there, I kept seeing myself literally running into DH in the elevator.
My close friend E's close friend In is head nurse at this clinic. DH and I have had dinner with In several times, but not for years. E told In that DH was having surgery there.
When I got to DH's room on the first floor, I was told the operation was running late, so come back in an hour. I went back 45 minutes later. I was then told DH had been moved to a nicer room on the fourth floor. I went up to the fourth floor, and In was there. In said, I moved your DH. We moved all his things, but please come with me to empty the safe. I said, I don't have the code. She said, I have a master code, but I can't empty it myself, so come with me, that way that room is free.
We go back to DH's old room, In opens the safe, I empty it. In tells me, let's take the staff elevators to his new room.
The elevator goes down to the basement (where I assumed the operating rooms were). Floor -2, no DH. Floor -1, no DH. Ground floor (lobby). So I figure I was wrong, no surprise LOL. The elevator stops on EVERY SINGLE FLOOR on the way down from DH's old room on the first floor all the way up to DH's new room on the fourth floor.
Lo and behold, on floor 2, the door opens, and there is DH on a stretcher waiting to get into the elevator!!! Mind absolutely blown LOL.
I swear on my 4 children's heads and my 2 grandchildren's heads that this story is true.
HOW FREAKING WEIRD IS THAT?!
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Post by debthaven on Jan 12, 2023 14:45:26 GMT -5
The operation went well! DH should be home on Sunday (instead of Mon or Tues) . Thank you for all your good wishes. PS TheOtherMe I watched the trailer but unfortunately it's not on Prime here.
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Post by debthaven on Jan 11, 2023 16:53:33 GMT -5
Thank you Iggy aka IG . I just checked the price of my hotel on Booking near DH's hospital ... it's now 20% less than when I booked! I called the hotel to see if they could price match. They said they can't since I'd booked through Booking. I said I feel bad cancelling and rebooking. They said don't feel bad, that's just how it works! So now I'm paying 118e instead of 148e! Including free breakfast. PS Oops turns out I booked a double room instead of a single ... I could have saved another 12e. Oh well. I'm not changing it again.
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Post by debthaven on Jan 11, 2023 14:40:44 GMT -5
Work week is over early (I switched tomorrow's classes to last Monday because of DH.) I stopped to see A quickly on my way home.
DH is in the hospital. Surgery is early tomorrow morning. We're hoping he can go home on Monday.
Laundry is in the dryer, dishwasher is running.
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Post by debthaven on Jan 10, 2023 17:52:46 GMT -5
We have decided to get aluminum, but we are constantly going back and forth between sliders and French doors. And I mean constantly ... like literally every five minutes. We both prefer sliders but we feel that French doors may fit the house better. But we prefer sliders. But the French doors probably fit the house better. And around and around we go ...
Happily our front and back doors are double-glazed, and don't need replacing.
We also have 3 small side windows we are not planning to replace: one in the kitchen, one in DS2's bedroom (now DH's office) and the bull's eye window in our bedroom. It bugs me that they'll be different, but hey, you can't have everything.
My house is L-shaped. The three smaller windows we are not planning to replace are on the sides of the house. The back of the house has no windows.
My house is charming but weird/weird but charming.
I really hope today's Company 3 comes in at less than Company 1, because we prefer them. We won't use online Company 2, and I'll be very happy to explain why when the guy calls me to follow up and acts all surprised. I do get not doing an estimate in person for 2K ... but for 20K?! Really?! Despite me offering to pay for an in-person consultation?! What a stupid/terrible business model.
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Post by debthaven on Jan 10, 2023 14:03:47 GMT -5
Thank you finnime ! Did you replace the windows in your new house? I'm sorry, I don't remember. I know startsmart did. We have 4 huge sets of French doors downstairs, that's why it's so expensive.
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Post by debthaven on Jan 10, 2023 13:14:56 GMT -5
We got the second estimate for the windows/shutters today. It's 3K/15% less than the first estimate, but some of it was not to our liking, ie 2 panels per window instead of 3 (so smaller openings). The 2nd estimate was done online through the electric company. We don't feel comfortable spending that kind of money online. Obviously somebody comes to verify the measurements, but only after you've signed a contract. We don't like that. The two other companies are both local. We both agree we'd feel much more comfortable with that. We liked both local people a lot, so we'll find out what the third and last estimate is next week, and then make a decision. But this is very exciting!!! Like the kitchen we renovated in 2016, I never expected this to happen in my lifetime. DH goes into the hospital tomorrow. Unfortunately I can't take him, because he has to be there at 3, and I won't get home till 5. I'm off Thurs through Mon. I'm hoping I can bring DH home on Monday.
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Post by debthaven on Jan 9, 2023 17:39:22 GMT -5
startsmart tomorrow should be your mom's last day of treatment!!! What a milestone! Sharon I hope you are happy with your new sheets! Thank you Iggy aka IG !!! I was SO thrilled last night knowing I didn't have to go in today!!! Alas I'm less thrilled tonight since I have to go in tomorrow and Wednesday LOL. I don't know how long I will continue to work at 66% but I'm hoping to do it through 2023. Obviously the income is very welcome, especially since we want to replace most of the windows this year. I'm obviously committed for Spring Semester, but hoping to do Fall Semester too.
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