Daily Reminder # 291

Another day under the desk for Angel today.... though she relaxed at the end.

A long post tonight, but not an interesting one. Sorry. 


It was a big day here on multiple fronts. Day three of the weatherizing team. Me up at dawn and very tired, Angel under the desk for much of the day. Tara came out and sat with us for a while. The insulation of the "attic" area is finished now and I think the furnace work is done. They still have to insulate the crawl space where the furnace lives. They changed out one light fixture which was fluorescent. They want to give me a new refrigerator which would be smaller (fine with me) and more energy efficient but the program doesn't offer bottom freezers and with my disability that really matters to me. It has been a life changer. They are going to see if they can get an exception and get the low freezer because of my problems. That would be nice,  but they have done so much for me that that would just be icing on the cake.

Not sure what those rolls were - some kind of insulation
I think. As you can see the day started foggy and wet
but at the end the sun came out and it the temperature
got up to the high 50s. Yippee!

So besides three strange (very nice) men thumping and hammering and coming and going and a freaked out kitty under the desk, I got into a very cranky battle with someone from the energy company. The way it works up here is NYSEG (which delivers the gas and electric) lets you buy your fuel from other sources. Last year I signed up with a company called NYSEG Solutions. I wasn't totally happy with them because I didn't think they made my options clear and once you've signed on with them for a year, it costs $35 each to opt out of electric and gas. They're renewal notice reads. "Thank you for continuing with us," so I thought they had resigned me without my permission and I was irked by that but not in the best place when it came so I let it ride. Then last week another company called and offered me this AWESOME deal. I told them about the issue with NYSEG Solutions. "No problem they said. It shouldn't be a conflict and if it is, you won't be approved for our program." (Lie.)  So that's the lead in. I got a letter yesterday from NYSEG saying I had opted out of the old program and this morning some snarky guy from NYSEG Solutions called me and was SO rude and told me it would cost me $70 to opt out and tried to tell me green was red an up was down. The call did not go well and we did not part friends. BUT later in the afternoon after I calmed myself I called them and asked to talk with a manager. Didn't actually need to do that. The young man (ain't I an old lady, though?) who answered was very helpful. He checked my account and the dates and said that I'm within the grace period to withdraw from them without penalty. I have until  the first week in April to make up my mind. I felt proud of myself for taking action and I actually feel better about NYSEG Solutions, though if the new place actually says in print what they said on the phone, I'll probably go with them since the cost is about half.

I don't know why Angel is so upset by the strange
people. They don't bother me a bit. As long as they
don't try to touch me, they can do whatever they want.

I know that's a boring story and I apologize, but it's always a big deal to me when I stand up for myself. I spent much of my life letting myself get run over by bullies and I still backslide sometimes. Amazing that by taking action - I got my anxiety lifted and I know that I have options. That said, the whole system is nuts.

Even before our "guests" arrived, Angel was
sad and anxious. Nothing good comes when her
human gets up at 7:00 am. Nothing.

I also went a little Huffington Post junky today, but while I was doing it I had what I think is a great idea. So I forget what I was reading but so much of what the GOP around the country is proposing for the country is truly regressive that I got this idea that Democrats and Progressives should start a campaign to "re-brand" them as the Regressives. (Someone responded to this suggestion offering the Grand Old Regressive Party or GORP, which I like too.) Anyway, the term is accurately descriptive of people who want to redefine rape, call miscarriages homicide, repeal child labor laws, and demolish unions, to name just a few examples. I think it's descriptive, accurate, catchy and funny. And a great response to a party that treats the word Progressive like it's a swear word. 

Towards the end of the day, Angel came out of hiding and relaxed
a bit. Not completely, but she seems to have decided that our
visitors don't actually wish to kill her.

So anyway, except that I'm REALLY tired, it was kind of a good day. The Weatherizers don't work on Fridays, so the girls and I have a few days to relax (and in my case sleep) before we are invaded again on Monday morning. I am feeling tired, but very blessed. I apologize this is a very self-interested, me, me, me post with not much inspiration in it. But I'm tired. And abnormally pleased with myself.

This is the nozzle thingy they put on my kitchen tap.
If you push up on the silver band, the water stream
becomes solid. How cool is that? Oh- and it's on
a ball, so you can point it in different directions.

Some things I'm grateful for today: (items in red are pre-gratitude.... are you listening Universe? The way it's supposed to work is I thank you and you cough up the loot. Of course, I think there's a thing where I'm supposed to have absolute faith that that will happen and I'm probably a little shaky on that, but couldn't you cut me some slack and manifest a clothes dryer or $25,000 or some paint? Or Nintendo would be fun...)

• Angel and Tara Grace
• Weatherization
• Spring (almost) temperatures
• Insulation
• furnace repair
• Delaware Opportunities
• standing up for myself
• my camera
• my computer
• good (I think) ideas
• SKYPE
• strawberry/banana yogurt smoothies
• coffee and International Delight
• the US mail
• email
• my nieces, my nephew and their families
• freshly painted living and bedroom walls
• a sun room on the back of my house
• winning lottery tickets
• zero balance on my credit cards
• Winning the HGTV Dream House (Saturday is the day)
• $5,000/week for life from PCH
• a Bose sound system
• $25,000
• Nintendo
• a clothes dryer
• paid off mortgage
• reiki
• angels
• the UN
• music
• Pandora radio
• my TV
• friends
• my telephone
• my Tibetan salt lamps
• the coming 3-day break from weatherizers
• ear phones
• my remote control
• Netflix
• Signs of SPRING
• most of the snow is melted
• robins, crows and turkey vultures
• funny new kitchen faucet toys
• water
• hope
• inspiration
• taste
• touch
• smell
• sight
• hearing
• beauty
• ideas
• the ability to read and write
• a functioning brain
• my red chair
• my cane
• that my legs still get me from room to room
• laughter
• kitty hugs
• life

Yes. I AM beautiful.

HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY!

MAY YOU BE INSPIRED AND INSPIRING!