December 2, 2013

A Productive Monday

December 2, 2013

Monday may not be any one's favorite day of the week, but I had a very good Monday.  Nothing spectacular happened, but I got a lot done and I felt good - except for a lot of sneezes.  I am not sure why, but Ron and I have both been sneezing a lot the last few days.  For  me, that is not unusual, but for him it is. 

This morning I got several things done before I left for the office like unloading the dishwasher, taking care of the ponds and bird feeders, and spending about 30 minutes working on the Christmas tree.  I put in more time on the Christmas tree this evening and it is taking shape.  I still have lots of ornaments, but I am running out of room for them on the tree. 

I think I mentioned that our Christmas tree rotates.  I tried to post a video of it in motion, but the blog couldn't handle such a large file.  I will try a couple of other options in the next few days, but I will post a short one on Facebook this evening.  As I said, there is still more decorating to do and boxes to put away that are on the floor around the tree - the boxes that I use for storing the ornaments, but I am making progress.

At the office, I spent the morning working on preparing monthly statements to send out to our customers.  I had them ready by the time the mailman arrived.  I went to the bank to make a deposit and then had my lunch.  During the afternoon I did some work on other bookkeeping things, like paying bills and working on the monthly report. 

Later in the afternoon Ron was out on jobs for a couple of hours and I took care of customers.  It is so good not to dread going out front to help them now that I can usually hear what they are saying.  Of course they often start chatting about the time I turn the machines on and it is totally impossible to hear them at that point, because the sound processor cuts the sound way down when the machines are loud, so it is hopeless to try to hear them. 

The next thing I worked on is our Christmas letter.  I usually have it done by this time of the year, but not this time.  I did get it written, but have not designed the card yet.  I always include family photos so that will take a while. 

Our first Christmas card arrived.  It was delivered in person by one of the salesmen who visits every six weeks or so.  He has been taking care of our account for over 20 years and has been a friend since the beginning.  We knew him before he married and now his oldest child is in college!  It was great to see photos of his family on their card and he always brings homemade cookies that HE bakes for us!  What a treat.  Lately he has arrived late in the afternoon, sometimes even after closing, so I have not seen him some of the times, but he came a little earlier today and we had a very nice visit.  I stayed well after closing visiting and in doing so I spotted a lovely sunset out the front window of the office.  I don't get a clear view since there are power lines in the way, but I will share a photo anyway.

For probably 15 years, their company has had a special program in July and August where you can earn points by making specific purchases and apply those points to gifts you can select.  The first year they did the program, we happened to have a big contract to install some locks that were in their list of ones to earn points.  I was able to get my first digital camera with those points and I was hooked at once!  That first camera was a Sony that used 5" floppy discs for the photos.  It was an amazing camera with a good zoom and I had so much fun.  That is when I got hooked on bird photography.  I am probably on my 4th digital camera since that time and rarely go anywhere without it.

My hand did hurt some as I typed the Christmas letter and the elbow has ached some today, but it continues to improve.  I still am limited in the amount of weight I can carry with that arm and the rotation isn't what I would like, but again, it is still improving. 

Also, I noticed that as I visited with our friendly salesman, I could hear him very well.  I think I quit going to supper with him and Ron several years ago because of the hearing.  I probably would have gone tonight, but I had some errands to run.  I went to pay a bill for the business and then ran a couple of additional errands.  I was fine all through that but when I got home and started to get out of the car, my back "locked up" and I had a painful time getting out of the car.  This happens occasionally, but had not happened in a while.  A long hot soaking bath helped and I went back to decorating the tree until I bent to put an ornament on a low branch and had to quit due to the pain.  I will get back to the tree tomorrow.

Early tomorrow I have my last appointment with the orthopedic surgeon.  He had told me I could cancel this one, but there are a couple of things I want to check on.  One is that tiny spot in the scar that was sore a few weeks ago.  So I better close this out and get to bed!