Healthy Living Thread

[marcy]

Hi. I got off work at 3 today. We all shut down our emails and ran away. Yay for long weekends.

Marty and I met a realtor at 11 at my parents house then had a mover come by at 11:30. The realtor said we definitely need to get the roof replaced but be careful about informing the insurance company since the house is vacant. I will call them In a couple of weeks. He said they usually give you 4 to 8 months before canceling the policy. He also recommended we get the basic appraisals and see what things need fixed to meet code. We can list any thing we don't fix but he strongly doesn't think we should list as is to sell it. Of course I know my wise friend Dee Jay can confirm or deny these things.

The mover is going to give me an estimate to hauling things away to he dump and for donations. He moved is to our new house for under $1000 so we will see what he says.

I think we should do an estate garage sale in a few weeks. We will see how all of the above is received by the sisters tomorrow.

Marty wrote me a poem and gave me a little box of Whitman's candy that has Snoopy on the lid. We ate supper at home tonight.

Wish me luck tomorrow.
Marcy

 

[deegee]

Marcy-I wanted to pop in before I fall asleep to send you lots of support and good luck wishes for tomorrow. Take deep breaths, count to ten, deep breaths.... Lots of hugs to you.

 

[marcy]

Thanks Deegee. How is the snow there?

Today went far better than I expected. Marty and I were indifferent as to what we wanted. One sister and her family were interested in furniture and antique stuff and the other sister wanted tools. The one who wanted tools came without her husband though and she was surprised at how many tools my dad had so she didn't get any tools today. My dad was a mechanic by trade so he had more tools than you can imagine.

I got out all the jewelry and old coins and everyone took a piece or two. I wanted and got to keep my moms original wedding ring. Marty emptied my moms china cabinet and one sister took home a set of china and we all took a crystal bowl or two. None of us really liked her other set of china or most of her crystal glasses.

We threw out about 8 trash bags, people took stuff home. The house looks worse than when we started but we made a small dent in going through it all. We are going to do a garage sale after we get through everything. Then pay to have it all hauled away or donated.

Our snow flurries turned in to an icy 5 inches of snow. What a mess getting around in it today.

Well take care. Have a good weekend.

Marcy

 

[marcy]

Oh wise Dee Jay. If I am reading this right online the capital gains from the sell of my parents house will be based on a cost basis of when we 3 girls inherited it? So it is based on the day my dad passed away? It is not based on what they paid for it eons ago? Thanks. You are the best. I am off to do their taxes now.

Gorgeous sunny weather today. Too bad I am staying home LAZY today. I do need fuel and have stuff to mail but I will be stir crazy tomorrow so I will run around then. I may just go get my mini iPad with retina. I deserve a new toy that is much cheaper than jewelry.

Marty woke up at 3. Had to leave for DIA at 6 and his flight was over 2 hours late. He is so happy. I posted on his FB posting about it "What? You're in Atlanta? I thought you were in the man cave!" I sure crack myself up.

I ordered in a thin crust pizza for breakfast lunch supper since it's 3:30 and I am just eating. I was pretty hungry. Hot brownies sound good too but I will try to resist that urge.

Laters
Marcy

 

[marcy]

Okay. So there is no way I know how to answer these stupid questions about my dad's pension and mandatory payments. As Towelie would say, "I have no idea what's going on". CRUD!!!

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Sunday kids!

Marcy, I realized in my last post I made a mistake. Your mom passed in 2013 and your dad in 2014. Please forgive me if I confused you because I wasn't clear about the two date. So, your mom's final return will be for 2013 and your dad's for 2014. In 2013 then your mom will be classified as a decedent and your dad will be classified as qualifying widow(er)/surviving spouse.

Regarding the cost basis of the house, it is "stepped up" to the value at the date of death, not at the date of acquisition. (Unless the value now is less than the value when it was originally purchased, which I doubt, but if that's the case let me know and I will give you different information.) So, if it had a value of $100,000 when purchased and $300,000 now, you go with the $300,000, which of course is an advantage. Also, you can elect to value at the estate at the date of death or at any date up to six months later, but you would only want to do that if you think the value of the assets will decline in the six month period. Assuming that's not the case, just make your live easy and go with the date of death. If you need the valuation on any stocks, mutual funds, or other financial assets on a specific date just let me know and I can give you the closing prices (per share or unit) and you can just multiply the number of shares by the closing prices.

Can I help with any of the pension or mandatory payment questions?

This can be a daunting task so if you want to call or email me with specific questions definitely feel free!

Seriously though, if you don't want to deal with this trot yourself over to the closest accountant and just pay them for the return(s). It really won't (shouldn't) be that much.

Deegee, I am sorry to have turned you (and Marcy!) on to Houzz because I know how completely addicting it can be! Are the accent pillows solid colors or a pattern? And I think bringing in a red tone would be a great idea! In addition to throw pillows you can put something on the coffee table in that color and also incorporate some of it in the art. You don't need a ton because you will be surprised at how far a little color goes. Plus, it serves to draw your eye around the space. Your snow pics are great--I love your big house on the big hill!!! Does Lily like to play in the snow? Can you let her off the leash to romp around in it? My two loved to go to the dog run (which really wasn't very big at all) and I would let them run around in the snow to their hearts' content. The Demon would have stayed out there forever, but poor skinny Oscar with his thinner coat would get cold and come shiver by his momma so we would eventually go back in. Then a bit doggy nap was in order!

This weekend was more craziness all around. Additional demo was done on Saturday and I had a tile guy, an electrician, and three hardwood floor guys come to give quotes. That floor is going to be a big number so I want to get as good a price as possible without sacrificing quality. Plus there is an added complication with the brick veneer wall so I have to have a carpenter look at that tomorrow. I also got tile for the smaller bathroom yesterday and I found on they may not be able to get the tile I have my heart set on for the master any more and they don't have nearly enough for my walk in shower (which is going to be 9 feet by 6 feet). I will know more from them tomorrow, and I didn't find it online somewhere else, but at a total cost of several thousand dollars more (for the shower alone!), so I'm anticipating about eight to ten grand for all the tile in that bathroom. Ack.

I updated my spreadsheet last night with some numbers and when I got to $165K for the renovation work I had to close down and have a drink. Double ack.

OK, off to trade messages with the brick mason and the lighting guy and then to bed!

 

[marcy]

Dee Jay, thank you for all your tips and help. If I update the return to surviving spouse I might be able to file it online. Right now it keeps telling me I have to fill out form 1310 and send in the return. I am unsure what to check on that form – I am the executor of the estate from a will but I don’t have a court order showing that. My dad shouldn’t have to file for 2014 since his income will be below the minimum required to file or do I file one next year anyway to notify them he is deceased?

That does make it easy on the house’s value at time of death. There shouldn’t be any difference (or very little) in cost basis and what we actually get for the house. It may even be a slight loss depending on what it ends up going for when we sell it. My parents don’t have any stocks.

I did figure out the mandatory payment – I had to click yes instead of no and it was automatically entered for me. Woo hoo!

So yes, I am going to have someone prepare it for me. Should I use an accountant or will HR Block work? I will follow your advice because this certainly isn’t among my skill set.

Besides if I quit messing with their taxes I can go drool over things on Houzz.

A 6 x 9 walk in shower sounds awesome. Rats that the tile you want is not in stock and you may have to spend more to get it somewhere online. In spite of the $$ your bathroom will be awesome.

Renovations do add up quickly. When we went through options on our house I was amazed at how quickly those little things like nicer faucets, lighting, etc. added up before we even go to the major upgrades. But we are okay with the choices we made.

We are getting wind gusts up to 75 mph tonight. I keep hearing the attic door flapping in the garage. The wind blew in a storm like we get in the summer but it was freezing rain instead of rain. 3 more months, 3 more months. Hurry up May!


Deegee, has your snow melted or is it still snowing there?

Laters,
Marcy

 

[marcy]

Dee Jay, it looks like it would let me file it electronically if I change my dad to widower surviving spouse. Weird.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Monday kids!

Marcy, if you file a 1310 I think it does have to go on paper. And the rules on who can sign aren't totally cut and dried. For instance I'm in the same boat your are in that I'm handling the administration of my grandmother's estate but there is no court appointment or other document stating that. So I will sign the 1310 as the administrator. (And if the IRS questions my position at the "responsible adult" in this family they are welcome to speak with my mother and my brother and then get back to me!) For 2013 your dad's filing status would be married filing jointly (yes, even though your mom passed away in 2013). For 2014 he is entitled to surviving spouse/widower. Honestly, you can go to an H&R Block and probably get a perfectly adequate return done, but if you have (or if your parents had) an accountant it should be an easy matter for them to do.

Deegee, I forgot to ask in my last post how your water situation is coming along. Do you guys have a snow blower? That picture with Matt shoveling the driveway made my back ache just looking at it! I hope your plow people are smarter than some I've seen BTW so they don't put a big heavy wall of snow at the end of your driveway, especially if it's just been freshly shoveled by poor Matt!

When I got in the elevator last night it reeked of pot. How does that happen? I mean, it's not like they were getting high IN the elevator, right ? (???) So what the smoke just residual from their clothes? If so, it was pretty potent and amazing stuff. I had a dream that my friend out in Tahoe picked me up from the airport and on our way back to her place she wanted to stop under a highway viaduct and smoke some (which is hysterical because we are the last two people on the planet to do something like that!). The best part was when she pulled over and opened the back of her Q5 and said, here, let's get this out and sit on it while we do this -- and it was my big leather ottoman from my living room. Clearly all this packing and moving furniture around is starting to get to me -- HA!

 

[marcy]

Hi.

Dee Jay, I went to H&R Block today and got my parents taxes in the mail. The lady said I needed to have proof I had power of attorney but I didn't have any proof. LOL at the IRS calling your mom or brother and then see who is the reasonable adult. Same can be said of my family. I sent you an email to see if you could help me with a few questions on a form SS-4. Both the lady who did my parents taxes and then the attorney confirmed I need to get an EIN for the trust for when we sell the house. Even reading the directions I am still unsure if I am putting down the right thing. Kudos to you for learning all of these things. No wonder you studied so much and the tests were so hard. Wow. If the smell of pot was that strong you wonder if they were smoking it in there. Too funny about your bizarre dream. I took sleep and dreams (a psych course) in college and we had to record and analyze our dreams. I had the most weird, strange dreams ever that semester. I can believe that packing mad moving furniture plus planning the renovation on your new place is keeping you busy.

Deegee, I felt like state employee today getting the day off. Has your snow melted?

We had today off as a holiday so I got a lot of the things and errands done on the parents affairs and felt rather accomplished. I turned in papers to the attorney. After he called me though now I have more things today. The fun just never ends. And won't for quite a while.

Our local Ford dealer said they'd take my dad's truck to sell on consignment. Yippee. We will get it out there after Marty gets home next week.

I did do some retail therapy today. I am typing on my mini iPad with retina. Seems tiny tonight but it is for work. If I like it I may actually carry it around and sell my iPad air.

Marcy

 

[deegee]

Dee*Jay-a 9 x 6 shower? Holy freakin' wowza!!! That would be so awesome. I have a monster tub and a tiny stall shower. We have talked about removing the tub & replacing it with a really cool shower because we haven't used the tub once in the 8 months we've lived here, and we never used the huge whirlpool tub in our old house either. We're afraid to take it out just in case Matt ever gets transferred and we have to move, but it is such a waste of space. Lily loves running in the snow. She is part border collie and totally gets boundaries, so we can let her out to run to her little heart's content and she doesn't step even one foot into the road. Her two buddies next door are Max the black lab and Shelby the german shepherd. They come over and peek inside the front door sidelights when they want her to come out and play. If she doesn't come right out, they bark. Cute! Some days our water smells very faintly of licorice, and other days it is really strong. Even though we have our water cooler, we still buy several gallons of drinking water each week. It's really getting to be a pain, but like most other people around here...we're not going to drink that skunky water! Does your renovation price tag also include furnishings? Use Matt's favorite new phrase...it's only money! Your dream was hilarious!!

Marcy-Wasn't it nice to have a weekday off? In our state, the abundance of holidays helps with the crappy pay! I'm glad things went fairly well with your sisters on Saturday. I'm with you on the jewelry. Our attorney at work let us play with her 3+ ct rb solitaire engagement ring (filthy, I might add) one day and I thought I'd be self conscious wearing it. She and her fiance split up and she won't tell us what she did with the ring. I have a feeling it now exists in the form of a new loaded Lexus GX SUV! A 5-stone with diamonds and sapphires would be gorgeous. Are you thinking pink or blue sapphires? I had several stones picked out from WF, but they all dropped from inventory in a matter of a few days. I figured they took a hit with Valentine's Day. Isn't your ering stone a high color (low color - I never know how that works) - like an E or F? A sleep and dreams class sounds really cool. So, I'll start running my weirdo dreams by you and you can tell me how "off" I am!

Yay for a day with no snow! It's really windy - Marcy, I think you sent your wind my way. We do still have about a foot and a half of snow blocking our driveway thanks to Mr. Snowplow Guy. Matt didn't quite get my side of the driveway cleared...we're waiting for nature to take care of it. Thanks for your nice comments about my house on the hill. We sure do love it. I tried to walk down the road to take a picture of the front to text to my mom the other day, but the street was too slick. I got the bright idea to walk in the side yard to take a pic, but didn't realize there was a nice layer of ice between the foot of snow we got on Thursday and the additional 6 inches we got on Saturday. Yep...fell on my rump! Food was strange today. Matt is out of town, so I had a peanut butter sandwich for dinner, lemon sherbert and bourbon beer for dessert. I had a healthy banana for breakfast. I had to take all pets to the vet today. I made the appointment not realizing Matt would be out of town, so I had to wrestle 2 fat cats and a hyper dog by myself. I'm ready for bed. Have a great day tomorrow!

 

[deegee]

Marcy-is the ipad mini with retina display lighter than the ipad air? I haven't been carrying my ipad 2 everywhere like I used to because I promised my back doctor I wouldn't. I tossed it in my purse this morning and then wondered why my purse seemed so heavy while I was walking across the parking lot! Are you having any problems typing on the smaller keyboard? I'm going to need a full review!!

 

[Dee*Jay]

Double post.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Tuesday kids!

Marcy, if anyone every really analyzed my dreams they would surely think I was crazy! How interesting that you took a class in this though! Are you good at figuring out what your own dreams mean? Sometimes mine are really obvious because they tie right into what’s going on in my waking life, but sometimes I’m like WTF goes on in my subconscious?! When you picked the finishes for your house did you get to pick from an array of choices supplied by the builder or did you have the whole wide world of options open to you? That’s my problem; if you GIVE me all the choices in the universe I have to LOOK at all the choices in the universe before I make a decision! I read an article once that said that’s why people buy so much at Costco. If faced with a couple of options people make a decision, but if given too many options there is a good chance they won’t make a decision at all. Skippy or Jiff peanut butter, you’ll pick one or the other. Skippy, Jiff, Peter Pan, store brand, and so on and so on and so on, you might decide you don’t need any damn peanut butter and keep walking!

Deegee, I have the cutest image of Max and Shelby peeking in the windows looking for Lily to come out and play! I was looking forward to The Demon and his crazy brother Oscar coming over to my new place but on Saturday when we had the door open to the back parking lot for the demo guys to be able to go out to the dumpster I suddenly had two very big hairy new friends wandering around my space. My neighbor from upstairs, who I had met in passing the other day, was taking her dogs out and they just came right in. Fine with me… but it will not be fine with the demon. About five years ago my neighbor in the townhouse had two yappy cocker spaniels that she would let zip out under the garage door as it was going up and I was coming back with my boys one time and there was a “scuffle.” To keep The Demon from killing one (or both) of those yappin’ snappin’ pups I put myself between them and Dino. I have a picture of what happened to my leg if you want to see it. And that was just between small dogs and The Demon, I can’t imagine what would happen if I tried to get between him and a big dog. Forget a tetnus shot, I’d end up in the emergency room!

So I found the tile that I love online, but it was $22/foot instead of $14. BUT the place where I wanted to get it can get me more! With tax, it’s about $15.50. At around 200 feet that’s still over $3,000 grand for the shower tile alone. I may need a fourth job at the rate this renovation is adding up! Oh well, at least when it’s done it will be exactly what I want.

 

[deegee]

Dee*Jay-Lily is only 40 lbs, but she thinks she's a big dog. She has no love whatsoever for the little yappy dogs, especially if they come at her. Her mortal enemy in our old neighborhood was a rotund corgi with little dog syndrome. When we passed while walking, we'd have to pull Lily to the other side of the street while she and the corgi were growling ad pulling towards each other. Once we got by, she was her normal happy-go-lucky little self. I agree about the decision making. That's exactly my problem-too darn many choices! That's why I told the decorator lady to just pick stuff out and I'll say either yes or no, but don't give me multiples to choose from.

Today was a long day at work. I don't feel like I got much done, but spun my wheels all day instead. I hate days like that! I didn't sleep last night. I made it to bed around 1 and just as I was dozing off, Lily started growling and woofing. I guess she was dreaming, but she sure had me awake! I turned on my light and read until about 3:30 and tried to go to sleep, but it didn't work out so well. I'm going to take some medicine for my respiratory issue that won't go away (I blame the water fumes) and got to bed. I had yogurt for breakfast, tomato soup for lunch, and a peanutbutter sandwich and vegetable soup for dinner. No booze tonight. Wow! Good night, and have a good day tomorrow!

 

[deegee]

Isn't she a cutie patootie? I took this a few weeks ago when we fled to the mountains to escape the water at home.

 

[marcy]

Hi.

Deegee, the mini is lighter than the iPad Air and definitely lighter than the iPad 2. It feels like I have a medium bottle of water in my purse, not really a great deal heavier. They also gave me $150 for the iPad 2 (64 g wifi) so that helped on the price of a new one. I don’t have problems with the smaller keyboard. I like that I can easily hold it in one hand if I want. I don’t care for the case I got but until I am sure what I’ll be doing with it I will hold off buying the Tumi case for it. That is so cute the “dogs” come over to play with Lily. It was nice to have a Monday holiday off for a change. Our company gives the usual holidays plus 2 floating holidays. I would feel very self-conscious wearing that large of a diamond ring. Don’t you hate that when you see dirty, smudgy diamonds or gemstones? I hope she cleaned the diamond before she traded it for her Lexus. I think a 5 stone ring would be nice; it is different than anything else I have and it’s getting harder to say that. Ha Ha. I am leaning towards blue sapphires but pink would be fun too. My current diamond is a G. It looks pretty darned white to me. My first AGS0 was an E and I can honestly say I notice a difference side by side but especially since my rings are yellow gold I don’t mind the G one bit. I have weird dreams too. I didn’t send you our wind – it is still very windy here. And we get more snow tomorrow. I hope you didn’t hurt yourself when you fell down. Feel better with your respiratory issue. The picture of Lily is very cute.

Dee Jay, I can’t say I am good at dreams but it was strange how they taught us to manipulate our dreams and to try and really study for your emotions while you are dreaming. The manipulating your dreams generally worked on me but sometimes not until the next night. Kind of like think about some place you want to visit to see if it works in to your dreams. My dreams are often really jumbled with people or places. We also learned try to think about your dreams when you first wake up again zeroing in on how they made you feel. Often you can figure out what triggered a dream or a reaction, other times you cannot. And you are the best interpreter of your dreams. It was a fascinating class. When we picked our choices for our house the builder had different options and tiers we could pick from. Picking the tile and granite counter top was the hardest because there were a lot of choices. The carpet we got for our old house was so nice that I didn’t like ANY of their carpet choices for the new house. We opted for the basic included level of carpet with a 10-year warranty and believe me I will be getting the same carpet we put in the other place when this carpet can be justifiably replaced. Too many options do make it hard to pick. Glad you found the tile you want – it is only money and your shower will be so cool. I can’t wait for pictures of your fabulous bathroom.

So my day continued down the path I can’t believe this and what else can go wrong? Thank you again Dee Jay for taking the time to help decipher all the IRS rules, regulations and clear as mud explanations. I will get that form filled out and sent off soon.

So here is my daily saga of as the crazy successor trustee struggles to figure out what the heck to do next.

The guy at the bank who has not called me back for 2 weeks did answer my email only to say my dad didn’t have an annuity with him. I emailed him back reminding him I came in with my dad to have his beneficiary changed to me and here is an account number. He says “oh that’s a life insurance policy. I’ll look in to it”. I never heard from him again. When you pulled up my dad’s name wouldn’t you see “ALL” of his accounts at your bank?

In the mail tonight I had the paperwork to fill out for a life insurance policy with Met Life. A few months ago I went online and changed my dad’s beneficiary to me after they sent him back his paperwork 3 times saying it was wrong but didn’t explain why. After I did that online he got a confirmation letter in the mail saying Marcy BlahBlah is now your beneficiary. So their paperwork today says my mom is the beneficiary and I have to submit proof of her death as well since I am not the beneficiary. And the paperwork says the proceeds is for $2000 but his online account shows $3500. JOY!!!

The icing on the cake (seriously ladies I am just plain starting to laugh at the this crap – what else can I do?) my brother in law calls me and starts to tell me how he and my sister were over at my dad’s house taking the tool box out of the garage and I am thinking “WTH? You smashed it in to the new leased car!” Wrong. It was much worse than that. He was lifting the tool chest in to his truck and it started to slip; my sister tried to grab it from the top and it smashed her hand between this old heavy tool chest and the pickup bed. She ended up losing part of her left ring finger. They cut it off mid way between her 2 knuckles. I know they are sick it happened but I just wanted to scream at them WTF were you thinking trying to load this heavy thing by yourself when this weekend there would have been 5 or 6 guys around to help you load it? They apparently came to town yesterday and took all the tools and were in town again today and decided to get the tool chest. The only reason he called me tonight was to tell me is he was worried they forgot to lock up the house or the garage and asked me if I’d go check. This was about 8:15. Then I went to the hospital to wait for her to get out of surgery. Poor thing got sick from the anesthesia too. She did tell me she luckily hadn’t put on her wedding ring today. I feel so bad for them.

Well, it’s almost midnight. I think I’ll take tomorrow off and go see my sister again in the morning.

Marcy

 

[marcy]

Hi.

Deegee, the mini is lighter than the iPad Air and definitely lighter than the iPad 2. It feels like I have a medium bottle of water in my purse, not really a great deal heavier. They also gave me $150 for the iPad 2 (64 g wifi) so that helped on the price of a new one. I don’t have problems with the smaller keyboard. I like that I can easily hold it in one hand if I want. I don’t care for the case I got but until I am sure what I’ll be doing with it I will hold off buying the Tumi case for it. That is so cute the “dogs” come over to play with Lily. It was nice to have a Monday holiday off for a change. Our company gives the usual holidays plus 2 floating holidays. I would feel very self-conscious wearing that large of a diamond ring. Don’t you hate that when you see dirty, smudgy diamonds or gemstones? I hope she cleaned the diamond before she traded it for her Lexus. I think a 5 stone ring would be nice; it is different than anything else I have and it’s getting harder to say that. Ha Ha. I am leaning towards blue sapphires but pink would be fun too. My current diamond is a G. It looks pretty darned white to me. My first AGS0 was an E and I can honestly say I notice a difference side by side but especially since my rings are yellow gold I don’t mind the G one bit. I have weird dreams too. I didn’t send you our wind – it is still very windy here. And we get more snow tomorrow. I hope you didn’t hurt yourself when you fell down. Feel better with your respiratory issue. The picture of Lily is very cute.

Dee Jay, I can’t say I am good at dreams but it was strange how they taught us to manipulate our dreams and to try and really study for your emotions while you are dreaming. The manipulating your dreams generally worked on me but sometimes not until the next night. Kind of like think about some place you want to visit to see if it works in to your dreams. My dreams are often really jumbled with people or places. We also learned try to think about your dreams when you first wake up again zeroing in on how they made you feel. Often you can figure out what triggered a dream or a reaction, other times you cannot. And you are the best interpreter of your dreams. It was a fascinating class. When we picked our choices for our house the builder had different options and tiers we could pick from. Picking the tile and granite counter top was the hardest because there were a lot of choices. The carpet we got for our old house was so nice that I didn’t like ANY of their carpet choices for the new house. We opted for the basic included level of carpet with a 10-year warranty and believe me I will be getting the same carpet we put in the other place when this carpet can be justifiably replaced. Too many options do make it hard to pick. Glad you found the tile you want – it is only money and your shower will be so cool. I can’t wait for pictures of your fabulous bathroom.

So my day continued down the path I can’t believe this and what else can go wrong? Thank you again Dee Jay for taking the time to help decipher all the IRS rules, regulations and clear as mud explanations. I will get that form filled out and sent off soon.

So here is my daily saga of as the crazy successor trustee struggles to figure out what the heck to do next.

The guy at the bank who has not called me back for 2 weeks did answer my email only to say my dad didn’t have an annuity with him. I emailed him back reminding him I came in with my dad to have his beneficiary changed to me and here is an account number. He says “oh that’s a life insurance policy. I’ll look in to it”. I never heard from him again. When you pulled up my dad’s name wouldn’t you see “ALL” of his accounts at your bank?

In the mail tonight I had the paperwork to fill out for a life insurance policy with Met Life. A few months ago I went online and changed my dad’s beneficiary to me after they sent him back his paperwork 3 times saying it was wrong but didn’t explain why. After I did that online he got a confirmation letter in the mail saying Marcy BlahBlah is now your beneficiary. So their paperwork today says my mom is the beneficiary and I have to submit proof of her death as well since I am not the beneficiary. And the paperwork says the proceeds is for $2000 but his online account shows $3500. JOY!!!

The icing on the cake (seriously ladies I am just plain starting to laugh at the this crap – what else can I do?) my brother in law calls me and starts to tell me how he and my sister were over at my dad’s house taking the tool box out of the garage and I am thinking “WTH? You smashed it in to the new leased car!” Wrong. It was much worse than that. He was lifting the tool chest in to his truck and it started to slip; my sister tried to grab it from the top and it smashed her hand between this old heavy tool chest and the pickup bed. She ended up losing part of her left ring finger. They cut it off mid way between her 2 knuckles. I know they are sick it happened but I just wanted to scream at them WTF were you thinking trying to load this heavy thing by yourself when this weekend there would have been 5 or 6 guys around to help you load it? They apparently came to town yesterday and took all the tools and were in town again today and decided to get the tool chest. The only reason he called me tonight was to tell me is he was worried they forgot to lock up the house or the garage and asked me if I’d go check. This was about 8:15. Then I went to the hospital to wait for her to get out of surgery. Poor thing got sick from the anesthesia too. She did tell me she luckily hadn’t put on her wedding ring today. I feel so bad for them.

Well, it’s almost midnight. I think I’ll take tomorrow off and go see my sister again in the morning.

Marcy

 

[marcy]

Deegee, I weighed the iPad Air in the case and my mini in the case and the mini is 1.2 pounds and the air was 1.9 pounds. That is why I went to nylon purses. They wear like iron and weigh very little.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Wednesday kids!

Deegee, The Demon has leash aggression so I am often off to the side holding him back as best I can while he snaps and snarls at some poor creature across the street. And of course Oscar is just standing there like, “What’s the problem man? It’s a chihuaha for god’s sake.” And my two woof and twitch their paws like crazy in their sleep, especially The Demon. Sometimes they really get going!

Marcy, Seriously, if you don’t ask them if they have any other accounts they often won’t volunteer the info! That should be illegal in my opinion (but the last time I checked no one was asking me!). And OMG your poor sister!!! As a family you guys have been through A LOT lately. Big hugs!

The carpenter and drywaller are dropping some things off today so they can get started in earnest tomorrow. I can’t wait to see some real progress!

And I’m having a sad moment… I may have to sell Billy Ray. Even through I bought two spots with my condo they are outdoor, and of course the baby isn’t going to live outside. The closest garages to me are resident only (i.e., they only rent to the people who live in those buildings) and I can’t find a private garage to park in nearby. I can leave my car up in a friend’s garage, but it’s not convenient at all so I would drive BR even less than I do now (which almost doesn’t seem possible since he’s 16 months old and just topped 2,000 miles… ) so I need to be practical. We’ll see, but I’m in a state of remorse just thinking about this!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, I love how Oscar patiently stands by and wonders what Demon is getting excited about. Sounds like some people I know. I think everyone should ask your opinion - it’s important! That guy on the insurance never called me back today either. JERK!!! I feel very bad for my sister. From the bandages it looks like that finger will be shorter than her pinkie. It must be right past the knuckle. She is very concerned she won’t be able to do a lot of things but while I know it will be difficult and painful for quite a while she will eventually adapt to it and probably be able to do things she’s always done. How exciting they will be starting on your place. It will be fun to see your place unfold. That would be sad for you to sell Billy Ray but it does sound like you won’t have a good place to park your baby. I did get my SS-4 done tonight and ready to mail.

I got to bed about 1 am this morning. I took the day off from work. I picked up some flowers for my sister and went to the hospital first thing this morning. She was still pretty nauseous but did take a shower. They wouldn’t give her nausea medicine to take home so she stayed for the 2 pm shot then went home this afternoon.

I went to the mall and did some jewelry browsing. Of course I went to Kay’s to see if they had any teddy bears left but sadly they did not. Since I am contemplating a 5 stone ring I tried on a Leo 5 stone ring. (No, I am NOT interested in buy Leo diamonds). It was 1 ctw - I think I would go with 1.25 or 1.5 ctw but I liked it okay. While I had my solitaire off the guy at the store asked me if he could see my ring. So he is looking at my diamond and before he said something that us PS folks would find stupid or funny I told him it was an AGS0 and he said “oh I thought it was really sparkly”.

Then I went to Riddles and they had teddy bears and I got a free one. Sweet. It’s smaller than my other teddies but I told Marty he was a sacrificial teddy bear for his killer rabbit’s supper. I tried on a halo diamond ring that had an oval diamond in it.

I got Curby washed and picked up my parent’s mail. When I got home I reached Hyundai financing and got permission to return my dad’s new car that he leased. Then I spent some time on the phone with MetLife about filling out paperwork for my dad's life insurance policy.

Tonight I am just being lazy. Since I didn’t sleep much last night I think I’ll get to bed early tonight. I know - Good one!!!

Marcy

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Thursday kids!

Marcy, I think you’re right that your sister will ultimately be able to do everything she can now, but it will take adjustment. I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned tis before but I have Dupuytren's contracture on my right hand at the base of my pinky and ring finger. It’s not severe enough to do anything about YET but it may develop (or it may not—who knows). I am terrified to have the surgery though because my right pinky is my “enter” key finger and I type a lot so what if something happened? Realistically I’m sure I could find a way to accommodate, but it’s a scary concept. I wonder why they wouldn’t give your sister nausea medicine to take home? I don’t think that would classify as any sort of narcotic, so that makes absolutely no sense. Oh well, I hope she’s feeling a lot better.

Last night I stopped at CVS on my way home. Two pizzas, 12 bars of soap, a bottle of cheap Prosecco and 10 mini bottles of wine (I confess, I like the Gallo merlot!), all for $37! We had a big thunderstorm last night that kept me awake and now it’s raining cats and dogs out there. This is the craziest weather!

 

[deegee]

Marcy- your poor sister!!!! Not a smart move on their part to not get these things while people were there to help, but you sure don't wish that kind of accident on anyone! That poor girl. I worked at a grocery store in high school and college, and had to fill in occasionally in the deli. That meat slicer scared the daylights out of me, being the huge klutz that I am. I could see bad things in store for my fingers. I weighed my ipad 2- 2.9 lbs, and I have a very thin case. I am having so much trouble with my android phone that I have decided I'll go back to an iphone, which is much smaller than my galaxy note 2, and get an ipad mini with retina display. Now let's see how long it takes me to do it! I have an H color ACA ering and I color ACA studs, and the color doesn't bother me at all. I keep checking the inventory at WF everyday, but nothing has popped out at me yet. The only way I can justify upgrading is to trade my current ACA in so I need to stay with WF. It's good you tried things on to decide I the size you want. I absolutely love bright blue sapphires. We administer 9 different retirement systems where I work, and if you don't know specifically which one you belong to, we will have a hard time finding you in our antiquated computer system. Our receptionists absolutely grill callers and customers to figure out who they should talk to. If they forget that they worked at employer x early on (employer x participates in system a), and they now work for employer y and participate in system c, we won't know to look for their other service. (The long term project I'm working of is to replace our ridiculously old computer system for the early' 70's)

Dee*Jay-I'm having a sympathy sad moment for you! I am Ms. Practical though, so I understand where you're coming from. For practical purposes,an SUV is always a must for me, but I love the thoughts of a sexy, fast sports car! And I'm still in awe of the 6x9 shower. You will have to post lots and lots of pics of that sucker. It's funny to watch the cats and lily sleep. Lots of twitching and weird noises. I was on the sectional one evening with all of the sleeping animals when Max (cat) completely wrapped himself around Milo (other cat) and started biting him on the head. Milo woke from a sound sleep, freaked out, jumped straight up in the air and took off. I know Max was asleep...he must have been dreaming of attacking a mouse (or poor Milo).

Ladies, please yell at me and tell me to stop eating bad food. Call me names if you have to. I was thinking today that I gained 85 pounds after my car accident, lost 75 pounds, and have gained 30 of that back. Even though I refused for a long time, I broke down and bought some pants that are 2 sizes bigger than my smallest size. Matt has been trying to comfort me by telling me that I am wearing a size 8 but started out at an 18, and an 8 is perfectly acceptable for a 5'9 person. My fear is that I went through this before until I gradually became a size 18. I agree that I got to a weight that was too hard to maintain. I would like to at least lose 20 of the 30 pounds I gained back. So, please yell at me and tell me to stop being so darn lazy! And after this jar of peanut butter is gone, I'm not buying anymore. I cannot be a responsible healthy eater with peanut butter around. I took my medicine so I'm going to be nodding off really soon. Off to check the WF inventory. Good night!

 

[marcy]

Happy Thursday!

Deegee, I agree moving that heavy tool chest alone was not a smart idea but it’s kind of shoulda, coulda, woulda now. I feel so bad for my sister. She says she is in quite a bit of pain tonight and definitely has the phantom limb pain too. The iPad 2 was pretty heavy compared event to my iPad Air. I think you’ll really like the mini retina. You are going shopping for it this weekend, right? Good idea for you to check WF every day to see if there is something you want; those keepers disappear fast. Most of my jewelry is from a place in Denver that has a wonderful upgrade policy so I am pretty tied in to buying from them. If I got with the 5 stone ring though I don’t think they can do that for me. I was talking to a lady at the bank today about the ring idea with some of my inheritance money and she suggested emeralds with diamonds since that is my birthstone. That would look great too. I am also a fan of bright blue sapphires. Now I understand why your project will be such a massive undertaking but in the long run it will certainly be worth it and make it easier for everyone involved. I decided the banker I was dealing with is a banking version of our lame realtor. I can only yell at you if you yell at me. Stupid food – why is it so darn tasty?

Dee Jay, Dupuytren's contracture doesn’t sound fun for you. I had to go look it up, I hope it doesn’t give you fits or require surgery. I think any of us can learn to adapt to change when necessary. I saw a deal online the other day of a Chihuahua that only had 2 front legs and they built him a little scooter with wheels to get around. It was very cool. I don’t understand the doctor’s refusal on nausea medicine either but I guess he felt it wasn’t necessary for her. You are having a rain storm? That is weird. We have some snow in the forecast again and this stupid wind is driving me crazy.

I did more estate tasks today. Got some papers notarized, wrote letters to the 3 credit report companies and notify them and wrote TruGreen to ask for a refund of my dad’s prepay for service. Good luck with that one, huh?

I met a friend for lunch and had a taco – something in it gave me a stomachache that is still talking to me. I had a grilled cheese for supper – easy and mellow plus not many dishes.

Tomorrow is Friday. Yippee!
Marcy

 

[marcy]

Happy Snowy Saturday!

I had an astronomy meeting last night and we had fun watching videos and making our own star charts.

I was chatting online with one of my nieces until about midnight. She is upset and worried about her parents (she's the daughter of my sister who lost part of her finger). I guess my brother-in-law can't sleep at all because he feels so bad about what happened. In addition to my sister's accident and my parents deaths my niece's husband lost his aunt and both set of grandparents in the last year. He was also a victim of identity theft which was apparently a nightmare to fix.

I was excited to sleep in this morning until some stupid construction guy had to start some loud piece of beeping equipment at 7 am. I got up and started my assorted errands for the day. I got some food, did some estate projects, went to the house for some stuff, did some banking and decided to have dinner where I usually went with my parents when Marty was gone. That was kind of weird and sad by myself.

My sister and her family were coming up from Colorado to work on my parents house but since we are expecting 6 to 8 inches of snow with wind they decided to pass. I can't say I blame them.

This afternoon I've been calling and canceling my parent's credit cards. Some places even have it in their automated menu to cancel a card. That was sweet. Some of them give your the Spanish inquisition. 5 companies weren't open on the weekend so I'll have to get up early some day and call them. Me get up early. That's rich!

I talked to Marty on FaceTime this morning. He was working today and not having any luck downloading huge files from the office server to his hotel room. He was going to dinner and a movie with a guy from work and his family tonight.

I am going to watch Monster's Inc and Monster's University today. Movie time!

Dee Jay, I have another tax question. I am sure abusing your generous offer to answer questions. I got a 1099-DIV for Marty in the mail today. It's for $7 and had $2 tax withheld and $1 foreign tax withheld. It increases our refund by $1. Should I file an amended return for such a small amount? Since we don't owe more because of it I didn't know if I should. My guess is yes, yes you should file the amended return but then I didn't study a billion books, videos and take stressful tests on such matters. Thanks.

Deegee, is your snow gone yet? Are you getting more snow? I am sure fed up with snow and wind and our spring storms haven't even started yet. Boo. Are you out getting your iPad Mini? Marty has been tasked with buying me the Tumi case for my mini since he is in a real town where such cool things can be conveniently located at malls and in stores.

Laters,

Marcy

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Saturday kids!

Marcy, for gods sake NO do not put yourself through the agony of an amended return for $1! You actually don't even have to file a dividend declaration until the amount reaches $10, and I'm frankly surprised your investment company even sent you one (although things are so automated they could kick out for a penny!). So DO NOT bother yourself at all for that amount.

Today was another day of construction joy at Chez Dee Jay! I went to Home Depot three times (two of those before 8 am -- seriously!) and generally "supervised." I'm exhausted and I didn't even DO anything today!

Off to find a glass of wine ad a soft place to rest...

 

[marcy]

Yay. That is great news Dee Jay. Thanks. I did not want to file an amended return. I bet you'll be a frequent shopper at Home Depot working on Chez Dee Jay. All that planning and shopping is exhausting.

 

[deegee]

Marcy -it should be illegal for anyone to run construction equipment, lawn mowers, leaf blowers, etc. before noon on Saturday. That also goes for kids playing outside. My sleeping in Saturdays are precious to me! I have thought about your poor sister all weekend. Bless her heart, how is she doing? I feel so bad for her husband too. He will feel guilty for a long time, I bet. Did you watch your movies? I haven't seen the second one you mentioned. I'm planning to go to the att store to figure our what to do with my lousy phone before I get the ipad mini. I'm not due an upgrade until November, but I can't go that long with a phone that doesn't work. My galaxy note 2 is such a big phone, and I don't really want to replace it with another note 2 and also get a mini. I'm trying to lighten my load, not make it worse! I used to handle estates when I worked a bank when we first moved to WV, and I remember what a chore it was to cancel credit cards and accounts. Ugh! I had one estate where the guy was a physician and died young and unexpectedly. He had 32 active credit cards with balances, 2 car leases, and a couple 36 months same as cash loans. And a wife who was shocked to find out, after we paid all of the debts, that there was very little money left for her to continue living the high life. That one nearly did me in. The 16 inches of snow we had has melted and it's actually a beautiful day outside. I don't blame your family for not coming in with the forecast you had!

Dee*Jay- Matt swears he feels his wallet get lighter anytime we go near a Home Depot! That hand issue does not look pleasant. I hope it doesn't bother you to the point of needing surgery. My ring finger and pinkie fingertips are numb on my left hand right now. I have bone spurs in my next from my accident many years ago, and if I turn my head just right, the spurs clip a nerve that causes the numbness. Once I was nodding my head in agreement with Matt, and the left side of my face went numb for a week. I learned my lesson from that one! But you're right, you accommodate and move on.

I'm in a sick house right now. Lily is the only one worth a dime, and she can't figure out what's wrong with the rest of us. The kitties are having belly problems, Matt has a bad head cold, and I have my respiratory thing along with a monster sinus headache. We barely made it off the couch yesterday. I think we're feeling better today and might actually try to get out of the house to go grocery shopping and get something to eat. I hate being sick over the weekend because when Monday comes, you don't feel like you had much of a weekend. I plan to take my car through a car wash because it is so filthy and covered with salt that I can't see through the windows. Have a great day!

 

[marcy]

Happy Sunday.

Deegee, I agree there should be an “all quiet zone” until at least 9 am on the weekends. Once they start building on our block I’ll never be able to sleep in again. My sister is doing okay. She has pain sometimes worse than other; she still doubts they should have amputated it. I hate to hear her dwelling on that since she can’t change it now. She is very worried everyone will be staring at it too. I hope she will become more accepting of it with time but I can’t imagine how hard it will be to deal with. I think her husband is really struggling with it too. I did watch my movies. Monster’s University was really good. All I have to do is mention to Marty I want some new piece of electronics and we are out looking at them and then of course we can’t say “no” to a new toy and so we usually come home with them. I need some of your fiscal discipline. Marty picked up a Tumi iPad mini case for me today and got himself some piece of carry on luggage. He told me that was his “fee” for getting my case for me. Luckily he walked away from the half price watch he liked that started at $11,500. I didn’t know a bank would cancel a bunch of credit cards for you – my dad’s doesn’t seem to be helpful for that task. I wanted them to pull his credit report for me and they wouldn’t. I guess I can do it online but I haven’t tried that yet. That is too bad about the lady winding up with pretty much nothing after taking care of her husband’s debt. So far I haven’t found balances on the cards I’ve cancelled. I am glad you had nice weather there today. Marty said it was 70 degrees in Atlanta. I hope all of you are feeling better tonight.

We had about 5 inches of snow. About ½ of it melted today because the sun did come out and it got slightly above freezing. Now it is foggy here – looks like we are on the beach.

I drooled over different 5 stones rings online today. I am leaning towards graduated sizes – maybe .20 ct, .38 ct and .60 ct in the center. Of course first I need the money to purchase this ring.

I got the market analysis on my parent’s house today. It was about where I expected it to be. I will work on that project more in March.

Marty went to the aquarium in Atlanta today and sent me a lot of cool pictures. It looks like a really nice aquarium.

I made homemade biscuits for breakfast but put in baking soda instead of baking powder so I had to throw them away. GROSS! My homemade beef noodle soup for lunch turned out much better. I have lots left over for lunches this week. I had fresh fruit and cheese for supper.

Take care.
Marcy

 

[deegee]

Marcy-I worked in the trust department at a bank. We were usually named executor in wills where there were significant assets involved. I remember one little old lady's estate...you would have never known she had money. She had a trust account with us, and we took care of paying her bills, collecting rental income, investing money, etc. She lived alone in town in a small apartment and her family never came to see her. When she died, I had the duty of tracking down "Ralph the morning guy at bakery x" and "Jill the blonde cashier at K-mart who works until noon and has two kids", and so on. She left every bit of her money to people like that all over town who looked out for her, helped her out with her purchases, spent time talking to her when she came in. Many of those people came to pick up their money absolutely bawling...they had no idea she was loaded. Some of those people worked 2 and 3 jobs, so the money was a huge help for them. Her family was highly ticked, but I thought what she did was pretty cool. Can you believe we had 60 degrees today and now it is snowing? At least it shouldn't stick. Your poor sister. Bless her heart. I imagine that has to be the weirdest thing to look down at your hand, which hurts terribly, and see part of it missing. Second guessing does no good,but it seems like you can't keep your mind from going there. I hope Marty gets back soon. We have a contractor from Atlanta who has been in (pre-project official start) the last 3 weeks. He got stuck here the week they had the big storm and Atlanta closed down!