My daughter-in-law asked my son why I had texted him a picture of a toilet. Replacing the broken toilet seat was on my list of things to do for months. Having never done it before I assumed it was going to be difficult and that I was going to have to go through my unopened box of tools (that was at the bottom of a stack in the closet) which I was not ready to do. Neither of these assumptions was true and I felt a great sense of accomplishment and shared it with my son.
This led to a decision to go ahead and tackle the box of tools. I am more interested in what tools I do have after building a few times for Habitat. So I got out my box of tools and called a friend of my son who does remodeling work and asked him to come over and help me sort them out.
In addition to the above I had several small containers of bolts, screws and accumulated stuff that I organized before he came over. I ended up with stuff to keep; stuff to throw away and a few things to consider keeping or giving away if I can find power supply for them. Another great sense of accomplishment.
Next on the list of stuff I had been avoiding was getting my Epson Eco-friendly printer to print. I had made a couple of half-hearted attempts but got frustrated and figured out work arounds to printing. But I now had a document for IRS that required a real signature so I either had to figure it out or go somewhere and pay to print. One of the challenges with the refillable ink wells seems to be that they need to be used “regularly” to keep the ink jets open. The instructions on the printer are actually pretty good when you sit down and learn how to follow them. The Epson customer service was also very helpful. I had to go through the cleaning process 6-8 times in order to get the jets open but I now have a functional printer. I will try to remember to print something at least once a week to prevent the problem.
Next on the list was renewing license/registration for my car. In MD you just needed to do this every 2 years but in TN it is yearly. I went on line and got stopped by something to do with emission testing. In Tennessee, the emission testing requirement is county by county. There was no clear guidance on line for Davidson County. I called for help and it turns out the emission testing needs to be done every year for Davidson County. There is an emission testing place within 3 miles of where I live that I used last year. The wait was maybe 10 minutes. My first try was about 11 AM thinking I would avoid a lunch hour rush. There was a line 2 blocks on the street with an additional block length line on the facility property. I didn’t get in line and went back mid to late afternoon.It was the same thing so I got in line. It moved very slowly and it would have been faster had I gotten out of line and gone to a suburban location. After awhile I wanted to see how long it was actually going to take. One hour and 10 minutes was the answer. The facility only had one of their lines open and there was a HELP wanted sign posted. My car passed the test and the website processed my renewal within 2 hours and the new tags arrived in 3 days. Next year, I will start the process at the beginning of the month and if there is a line, I will go to a less populated area to get it done. I wonder if I would be qualified to do Emission Testing part-time.
I just completed the last item on my list this morning – air filters for my HVAC. I need an odd size that none of the stores or even Amazon carry. I got frustrated trying to find the best deal from companies that would ship so I am a “month” late on changing the filter. Since I didn’t change it for nearly a year before it got clogged, I am not too worried but I do want to be “kind” to my HVAC since I own it. Today I just went with FilterBuy and it seems that many other owners in this complex use this company as well. When I typed in my address at least 50 other units showed up on the list of addresses.
In my new life, this counts as “killing it”.
I think everything else that is waiting to be done can’t be done until after my kitchen renovation (which it looks like will be after the first of the year) at the speed things are progressing. Once that is done I can finish unpacking and finish purging all that does not have a place in my new home. I will organize my home in a way that I can put my personal stuff in my storage unit so I can rent my place for one or more months while I go on the road. I have been looking at Class B campers on Facebook. I am not sure that is what I want, but I want to get more knowledgeable about them in case I want to go that direction.
Tamara Unleashed 