This Year is Our Year for Success!
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That must have been scary when you found out someone tried to file a tax return on your account. Really glad you didn’t attend that party. Was it at a home or a restaurant? So I guess the grandmother’s death was the family emergency. I hope your stylist was able to say goodbye before her grandmother died. Compared to all that, we had an uneventful week.0
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I guess we would not have known that someone tried to file on our SSNs if the IRS hadn’t caught it, or until our actual return was rejected as a duplicate filing. I don’t remember how it was that they caught it but I recall that we were notified before we had filed that year. It’s more of an annoyance than anything, but manageable.
I did get my haircut and color yesterday. I think my hair had grown out to the longest length it had ever been in my entire life, so the haircut was definitely needed. It’s still long, but much easier to manage now. We only spoke briefly about her grandmother’s recent death, but she did say that she was able to be with her a lot near the end and that it was a brief illness. I knew she was very close to her grandmother and that she had a standing appointment to do her hair every week. I met her once when my appointment overlapped with hers.
I don’t know anything about where my friends’ party was held, but I suspect it was at a friend’s home. Hopefully all of them will be on the mend soon. This bout seems to be hitting harder than previous Covid infections they’ve had.
Today I have my weekly OT appointment, then meeting with friends for happy hour.0 -
We make that DC to Baltimore drive twice a year on our trips to FL and back. The traffic can be really bad. We take I 295 instead of I 95 because trucks aren’t allowed on the Gladys Noonan Parkway. Do you have to take 95 all the way or do you know some local roads you can take? I hope you don’t have to wait too long for an appointment.
We actually got an appointment for March 9th. DH is working on mapping out my route. I need to remind him I need a route home as well. LOL! I can probably go down 29 to 295. I've contacted 2 car services just to see what it would cost. The first one sent me a great reply but when I went to punch in my info it said they don't service our area. Haven't heard back from the second one.
The worst part is that this first visit will likely just be a repeat of what her internist already did. Any procedure would require another trip down. The second not so great thing is that apparently they can't guarantee that if they want an ultrasound they'll be able to do one. That sounds like it might mean yet another trip. There's a tiny piece of me that just wants to ask the internist just how terrible a mom I'd be to elect surgery for her. There are apparently THREE great surgeons at the practice here. I also want to know how we'll be sure it's not cancer if we don't open her up. I see the internist with Sammy before March 9 and I'm going to ask. And hope it doesn't put a black mark on me.0 -
I have an appointment to finally get my haircut and color today. It’s my third attempt. The first time, I arrived at the salon and my stylist wasn’t there, due to an undefined “family emergency”. I rescheduled for last week but got a phone call about 30 minutes before my appointment telling me that my stylist was making funeral arrangements for her grandmother and it was taking longer than expected. So I rescheduled for today. Fingers crossed that it works out this time because my hair is in desperate need of cutting and shaping.
I was supposed to have lunch with my grad school friends on Friday but that will also have to be rescheduled because 2 of them have Covid. They attended a party last Friday, and since then have learned that at least 7 people in attendance now have Covid. I’m really glad I wasn’t at that party!
DH always handles our taxes and he’s been working on them a little bit. He creates his own worksheet/schedule for our investment income and that always takes him some time to prepare. We don’t file electronically because a few years ago someone tried to file using our SSNs, so now the IRS always sends us a special code to use every year to verify our identity. This requires us to file by mail, along with further verification that we are the true filers for our SSNs. It’s a nuisance but at least it was caught before it caused any problems.
I'm crossing my fingers for you. I have a hair appointment tomorrow. Just cut and blow dry since I gave up the color.
What a PITA about the taxes. Once I slog through ours hitting "send" is always a joy. Looks like this year we don't even owe Maryland any money so filing should be a breeze. Once the calcs are done anyway. H&R block is supposed to have an update tomorrow. We can't finalize anything until one of the Maryland forms is finalized. We're hoping that that's on this update.0 -
I called the vet to ask whether getting a glucose monitor put on Tuffy again would be a tech appointment or a doctor appointment. Answer: doctor. So I made an appointment with "Dr. Johnny" for 9:30 today. When I got Tuffy there with the "to do" list they took him upstairs, brought him back down a few minutes later. Is the to do list done, I ask? Turns out no one looked at the "to do" list since they had put him down for a tech appointment for the monitor only. Grrrrrrr.......They said "we have an appointment open at 3 pm but can probably squeeze him in sooner". Like they're doing me a favor not fixing their own screwup. So I came home (45 minutes) and they'll call when he's done. So that's 2 45 minute trips extra plus the time I spent waiting there this morning. Not a happy camper!0
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I don’t blame you for being frustrated. You went to the trouble to make a to do list and they never even read it. All that unnecessary driving because of their incompetence. Sheesh!0
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Happy Fasnacht Day everyone! I always tell people in New Orleans they party. In PA we ate donuts. LOL!0
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It’s been a quiet week but it’s about to get busier. DH has finally decided it’s time to replace our almost 30 year old heating and air conditioning systems, rather than risk them going out in the middle of a heat wave or ice storm. So that is scheduled to happen on Thursday and Friday of this week. Luckily, our weather is supposed to be fairly mild during those days, so it’s a good time to get it done. We are gradually chipping away at the things we need to do to make our house more marketable when we eventually decide to downsize in the not too distant future. After this is done, the next big project will be remodeling the master bathroom and then freshening up the paint throughout the interior. We haven’t repainted since we moved in, so it’s definitely time although it doesn’t look bad except for a few places. Since it’s virtually impossible to exactly match the existing paint, I think it will need a complete repaint job. We have very high ceilings in our family room, so that will be a challenge and costly, I imagine, because it will require scaffolding to reach a lot of it.0
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Our FL house could use interior painting but with all we have to do here. DH and friends are working on rebuilding the front deck and stairs which were damaged in hurricane. We’ll have to hire a company to do the living room and master bedroom. They both have cathedral ceilings so we’d need professionals for that. We painted the other bedrooms ourselves a few years ago but they have normal ceiling heights. And it would probably be hard to hire anyone right now as so many people are rebuilding or renovating after the storm.0
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Pam - smart to take care of heat and a/c before they break. A couple winters' back we were without heat from our furnace for a month or so while we awaited someone to deliver/install a new one. Luckily we had no real problem keeping warm since we had electricity and space heaters.
Helene - yes, I bet people to do things like paint are booked way out!0 -
The installation did not go as smoothly as we had hoped, but it worked out okay. The crew was great, but at the end of the day the furnace for the downstairs unit (which is why our bedroom is located) had a problem that kept the igniter from firing, thus no heat. The foreman came back that evening to try to get it fixed but determined that it was a bad sensor that would have to be replaced. The sensor was in Houston, but the company got it to them by the next morning and by afternoon we had heat. It was a chilly night and morning, but not too bad.
DH’s sister flew in Saturday afternoon to visit her mom, but unfortunately her mom was diagnosed with the flu that morning, so she didn’t feel like having company and we wanted to avoid being exposed. Fortunately, she had planned to visit some friends during part of her trip, so it didn’t completely ruin her visit. She flies home tomorrow.
We discovered after she arrived that there was an issue with the new upstairs heating unit. We called the company back and they got somebody out that afternoon and got it fixed for her. Now the only remaining issue is a buzzing noise when one of the units is running that is a vibration from the air vent cover. They will come back Wednesday to charge up the air conditioning units and take care of the vibration issue at the same time. This company has been great to work with.
DH woke up this morning with a runny nose and not feeling great. He took his mom to the doctor Saturday when she was diagnosed with the flu, so I’m hoping he has a cold instead of the flu, but I’m not optimistic.0 -
Big news! I’ve discovered that I can now feel cold things with my pinky finger again! After the accident, I could not feel heat or cold with it. I haven’t tested for heat yet, but I put my finger against a glass of ice water and could definitely feel it. It sounds silly, but I was very excited, lol!0
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That’s so exciting that you have some sensation in your pinky finger. Fingers crossed that you can feel heat as well. When do you go back to the doctor who did the surgery’s. Did DH have a flu shot? Is he going to the doctor to be tested? He can probably get Tamiflu this early to shorten the illness.0
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I’m still not feeling heat very well, but I’ve only tried once to see if that sensation had come back. I’ll keep trying it periodically. I’m still doing occupational therapy once a week, but I won’t see the hand surgeon again until early May.
DH is feeling better, but still coughing some. He never went to the doctor so we don’t know for sure if it was a cold or the flu, but judging by his symptoms I think it was likely a cold. His mom is mostly recovered now, too. I, on the other hand, have now started coughing, but otherwise feel fine.
I’ve started a weight loss program with a local company that offers nutritional counseling as well as medications and supplements. My initial consultation was Thursday. I opted for one of their programs that includes an appetite suppressing medication, but won’t receive that for at least a week while they access my medical records to be sure there are no medical issues with taking the drug. In the meantime, the diet they prescribed is 1000 calories a day, which is quite challenging. They recommend 30% protein, 30% healthy fats, and 40% carbohydrates. I’m logging my food on My Fitness Pal again and finding it difficult to keep the carbs to the recommended percentage. I was very hungry on Thursday but yesterday was better. I plan to work out a grocery list today and figure out some meals and snacks that will fit within the guidelines. I wasn’t really prepared to start the diet portion quite so quickly, but I think I did reasonably well in spite of that. I’m hoping to lose 30 pounds in about 4-5 months. My sister has been on a similar program and she has lost 29 pounds since October. Hopefully, losing some weight will help with some of the back and hip joint issues I’ve been dealing with for awhile now. It certainly can’t hurt.0 -
We got the materials ordered for the new deck and stairs. We had a lead on someone who could cut the stringers for the stairs. That the piece that that supports the treads and risers. I don’t think he’ll take the job because he has many jobs in the pipeline and we can’t wait a month for him to have time for us. DH will probably end up doing it himself. He’s never done it before but he can figure it out. Despite this, we feel like we’re making progress. The goal is to have completed stairs before we leave in early May.0
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Big news! I’ve discovered that I can now feel cold things with my pinky finger again! After the accident, I could not feel heat or cold with it. I haven’t tested for heat yet, but I put my finger against a glass of ice water and could definitely feel it. It sounds silly, but I was very excited, lol!
YEAH!0 -
We got the materials ordered for the new deck and stairs. We had a lead on someone who could cut the stringers for the stairs. That the piece that that supports the treads and risers. I don’t think he’ll take the job because he has many jobs in the pipeline and we can’t wait a month for him to have time for us. DH will probably end up doing it himself. He’s never done it before but he can figure it out. Despite this, we feel like we’re making progress. The goal is to have completed stairs before we leave in early May.
I bet everyone who fixes/builds anything is totally backed up. Your lucky your DH will try it on his own!0 -
I’m still not feeling heat very well, but I’ve only tried once to see if that sensation had come back. I’ll keep trying it periodically. I’m still doing occupational therapy once a week, but I won’t see the hand surgeon again until early May.
DH is feeling better, but still coughing some. He never went to the doctor so we don’t know for sure if it was a cold or the flu, but judging by his symptoms I think it was likely a cold. His mom is mostly recovered now, too. I, on the other hand, have now started coughing, but otherwise feel fine.
I’ve started a weight loss program with a local company that offers nutritional counseling as well as medications and supplements. My initial consultation was Thursday. I opted for one of their programs that includes an appetite suppressing medication, but won’t receive that for at least a week while they access my medical records to be sure there are no medical issues with taking the drug. In the meantime, the diet they prescribed is 1000 calories a day, which is quite challenging. They recommend 30% protein, 30% healthy fats, and 40% carbohydrates. I’m logging my food on My Fitness Pal again and finding it difficult to keep the carbs to the recommended percentage. I was very hungry on Thursday but yesterday was better. I plan to work out a grocery list today and figure out some meals and snacks that will fit within the guidelines. I wasn’t really prepared to start the diet portion quite so quickly, but I think I did reasonably well in spite of that. I’m hoping to lose 30 pounds in about 4-5 months. My sister has been on a similar program and she has lost 29 pounds since October. Hopefully, losing some weight will help with some of the back and hip joint issues I’ve been dealing with for awhile now. It certainly can’t hurt.
Best of luck with the diet program!! 1000 calories a day is challenging for sure!0 -
If we had to wait for a company to replace the stairs, we probably wouldn’t have them until 2024. We spoke to a contractor about cutting stair stringers. He said he try to stop by Monday. He’s never come by or even texted to say if he’s interested. We plan on figuring it out ourselves. We tried to buy 4 concrete blocks and 10 bags of cement from the local Ace Hardware. The blocks were out of stock and they only had three broken bags of cement so we bought nothing. That happens a lot because there’s so much rebuilding going on all at once.We got the materials ordered for the new deck and stairs. We had a lead on someone who could cut the stringers for the stairs. That the piece that that supports the treads and risers. I don’t think he’ll take the job because he has many jobs in the pipeline and we can’t wait a month for him to have time for us. DH will probably end up doing it himself. He’s never done it before but he can figure it out. Despite this, we feel like we’re making progress. The goal is to have completed stairs before we leave in early May.
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Yesterday started out as a routine day, but quickly devolved into something else. It started with a message from the weight loss clinic saying that they had been unsuccessful thus far in obtaining medical records from my PCP, which meant that the appetite suppressant can’t be prescribed. After making a call to the clinic to find out what efforts had been made, I agreed to try to obtain and deliver the records myself. I drove to my doc’s office (which is nearby, fortunately) and the young woman at the front desk printed out the needed info. I didn’t address the lack of response to the weight loss clinic’s requests with her, but I will the next time I see my doc.
I then drove to the weight loss clinic, but while I was en route I received a call from MIL’s assisted living center. For some reason that we have been unable to figure out, calls using my car’s blue tooth connection are very difficult to hear, so I had to tell the caller that I would call back as soon as I reached my destination, which was only 3-4 minutes away. When I called back I learned that MIL’s BP (which is normally high even with meds) was 90/60 and they were requesting permission to transport her to the ER. Apparently between their call to me and my returning the call, someone had called DH and he gave permission for them to transport her to the ER by ambulance. So I hurried into the clinic, turned over the paperwork, then headed up to the hospital, assuming MIL would be there by the time I got there. Not so. After I got there they said she wasn’t there and they had not been notified that she was en route. A few minutes later I got a cal from SIL because the paramedic called her to ask if anyone had power of attorney and could override MIL’s refusal to go to the ER. DH has POA, so he called and gave his permission, but by this time the paramedic had called his medical director and gotten administrative approval through him to go ahead with the transport and permission to drug her so she wouldn’t resist being transported. So after an hour or so of waiting she arrived at the hospital and we were able to join her in the ER room where she was being evaluated. After many hours of waiting it was decided that she needed to be admitted with a likely diagnosis of sepsis from underlying pneumonia. She finally got settled in a room around 9 PM. DH went home to get a few things for himself, then came back so I could come home. I’m getting ready to go back up there now.
She also tested positive for influenza type A, so she never got over the flu she was diagnosed with almost 2 weeks ago. I tried to keep my mask on the whole time I was around her, but it was difficult to do when I was trying to eat or drink anything. Inevitably, as soon as I took it off to eat or drink, she would need help with something. I would jump up to help her and remember the mask after I got close to her.0 -
In future, step outside for a couple of minutes to eat or drink something. Just tell her you’re going to the restroom and will be right back. And keep the mask on in her presence so she doesn’t infect you. What you’re going through with her is different and stressful. Prayers for a good outcome for everyone.
We tried to make and appointment with one of DH’s doctors and the website said the practice was permanently closed. It tried Googling him to see if he left the hospital health care network with no results. He saw the cardiologist last week so I asked if he had a way to look up He said he thought he’d left the area. His PA used him herself and got a letter saying he was leaving and going home to Egypt. She said there were two doctors in the practice and she gave him a referral to one. We never got a letter but I now realize the Post Office only held mail for 30 days . We were delayed getting to FL because we had to wait for power restoration. So the letter was returned as undeliverable. Our financial advisor called some weeks ago to see if we had changed our mailing address because something was returned to them. Hopefully no other mail was returned to sender that we don’t know about. I’m glad to have the doctor mystery solved.0 -
I spent the night at the hospital with MIL and I am really tired today. For a variety of reasons, I got almost no sleep at all. DH is there now and I’m not going back until tomorrow morning, so I should be able to get a good night’s sleep tonight. She seems to be improving, but not sure when she will be discharged, or if she can be discharged back to her assisted living or will need skilled nursing for a few weeks to rebuild her strength. The biggest obstacle right now is that she’s very weak and it’s a fairly long walk to the dining room. Hopefully the social work/discharge planner will help us figure out what the options are.0
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Oh, Pam, that's so sad! I hope your MIL recovers and you get your meds straightened out!0
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Helene - I can't even imagine how frustrating that would be!0
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Well, interesting trip to DC. I hadn't been on the Capital Beltway since way before the pandemic started and I made a wrong turn. Luckily I left really really early. Drove around looking for street parking but no go (I've never parallel parked in my life). Finally ended up in a parking garage under a Target. Weird. Like a typical city parking garage except there were all these grocery carts sitting around and people coming down the elevators with full carts. I had quickly purchased a trolley to take Smokie's carrier on but when I got to the hospital you couldn't get in without going up stairs and inside the exam rooms were up a whole flight of stairs. Luckily a bunch of young vet techs carried Smokie in the carrier on the trolley around everywhere. I wasn't too impressed with the whole place and was actually thinking we wouldn't be back UNTIL I met the doctor. Wow! Talk about impressive. And we knew so many of the same people. He graduated from Penn Vet school the year Gordy got his transplant and he remembered all the brouhaha (Gordy was transplant #100 and was in the paper and on TV). He's still in touch with the transplant surgeon as am I. He's also friends with the internist in Fairfax VA I used prior to the pandemic. We talked and talked and I'm sure Smokie was thinking "what about ME?" Then he laid out how they'd treat Smokie complete with diagrams, and here's what we used to do (which is what I think Smokie's internist envisioned) and why we no longer do it and here's how low our complications rate it. I made sure I'd be able to drop Smokie off and pick her up mid day before and after the procedure (no more DC rush hour). And then I think he pulled some strings because no sooner was I home then they were calling about the surgeon making some time Wednesday to do her. So I'd be going down Tuesday (I immediately cancelled the only thing on my Tuesday work calendar).
Whew!
Then today I had to go to the storage unit to load for the cat show, drive up, set up (with great help), etc. First cat show at the Fairgrounds since the pandemic. Would be great except it's the weekend of the home and garden show which means parking will be awful! Then our tradition is to go out to eat which we did. Again, somewhere we hadn't been since the pandemic. We had a blast!
Now I'm home and too tired to do much!0 -
Maryanne, I think I’ve missed something. What is happening with Smokie? I knew you were trying to get a glucose monitor for one of your kitties, but this sounds like a different cat and issue. It’s sounds like you’ve been really busy lately and had some stress to handle as well.
Helene, you must be very organized to handle all the details of living half of the year in different locations. I can see where a mail snafu could really mess things up. I thought the post office would forward things for a year, but perhaps that has changed now.
I got a good night’s sleep last night and feel much better today. I was in bed and asleep by 9:30 last night and woke up at 7 this morning. I just had breakfast and am going to gather up a few things, then swing by MIL’s place to get a book for her that she wanted, then back to the hospital for the rest of the day and night. I’ll take plenty of snack and food options to help me stay with my diet.
I’m pleased to report that I have lost 3.2 pounds in the last 10 days, despite the challenges and without medication. I have been approved for meds and will receive them in about a week, I think.0 -
Pam - 3.2 pounds - WAY TO GO! It's so good of you to help take care of your MIL.
Helene - I can't imagine having to rely on post office forwarding. The post office is just so messed up. I know a lot of it is staff shortages but it makes it tough. We've moved so much online that if one of us died suddenly it could be a challenge to take care of everything. There would be no mail reminders or bills showing up.
Smokie is the girl we adopted after Gordy, our transplant cat, died in 2010. She's tiny and solid black and was put outside with the furniture when her people were evicted. A friend of a friend picked her up. She's always been healthy but had a mast cell tumor removed late last year. I asked the internist to monitor her cancer rechecks because the oncologist is in Annapolis and getting there is a PITA. One one recheck he found that her one ureter was apparently somewhat obstructed. He recommended another doctor in Columbia MD who had someone call and tell me I either wanted Friendship in DC or Penn. I decided to try Friendship.0 -
Pam, the PO will forward for a year if it’s a permanent change of address. They do 6 months for temporary which is what we use. The problem was the local post office was destroyed in the hurricane. They shipped all the mail to an annex building out by the airport about 20 miles away. We have a FL PO Box but we occasionally get some mail at the street address. So they would have to check both addresses when we trekked out there. Normally our box mail would be waiting for us in the box no matter how long it took us to arrive. With the volume of mail they were holding, I think they decided they’d hold mail 30 days then return mail to sender as unclaimed. It was a space issue and many residents came down later than usual because nobody had electricity. For sure I know I’m missing bank statements from my MA bank. They were probably returned so they stopped forwarding them. In this age of identity theft, I can understand that. I did get a bill for our safe deposit box and included a letter with the check explaining what happened and asked them to resume mailing the missing statements to the MA address. If they do that, they’ll be forwarded here to the temporary post office which is in the parking lot of the old post office. They have two trailers set up. One is for home delivery and the other trailer is for box holders. We pick up a couple times a week so nothing should be sent back. My financial advisor called to see if we had a new address because the original mailing was returned. I just figured out that DH’s letter about his doctor closing his practice must have been returned. I went to the website to get the phone number to make an appointment and saw the practice was permanently closed. I asked DH’s cardiologist if he knew where DR A went. He knew he’d returned to his home country. His PA wrote out a referral to one of the doctors in his old office. She went to him as a patient and told me she got a letter and that he moved back to Egypt. We may have missed other mail that I don’t know about yet, if ever. Living in a hurricane recovery area is not for the faint hearted.0
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Pam, I hope MIL continues to recover and that can stay healthy while you’re helping her. Maryanne, it sounds like you’re on the right track with the new vet but what a pita that’s it’s such a long drive. BTW, I can’t parallel park to save my life. I managed to do it 58 years ago to pass the driving test but too many years of parking lot and garage parking have done me in. Use or lose it is surely true for parking skills.0
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MIL is recovering from the infection, but is extremely weak. The hospital staff are recommending discharge to rehab or skilled nursing. Our preference is intensive rehab as she would get more therapies there, but there are fewer of them and it’s hard to get insurance to approve it, so she may end up going to skilled nursing. She will balk at either, but especially skilled nursing will be a hard sell. However, there is no way, IMO, that she could function at her assisted living center now, assuming that they would agree to let her return in her current state. I seriously doubt that they would agree to take her. I’m actually not too optimistic about her being able to return there at all, but we will see how things progress. In the meantime, DH and I have been taking turns staying with her. Tonight is my night to be at home. If the discharge planner can get her placed somewhere tomorrow, she may be discharged then or the next day. Fingers crossed.
So far, DH is recovering well from his bronchitis and I have managed to stay healthy, and stay on my diet. The diet has been challenging, since as one woman I encountered put it, “The vending machines are full of fat, sugar, and salt”, which made it hard to find anything decent to eat the first day when we were scrambling to figure out what was going on. I did eat in the hospital cafeteria one day for lunch, and last night I ordered a guest tray when I ordered MIL’s dinner, so I was able to make some good choices for those 2 meals, at least. I also made sure to pack plenty of allowed snacks like fruit, cheese sticks, raw veggies, etc.
Today is DH and my 40th anniversary. Not exactly how I had expected to spend it!0
