The day before yesterday I had an appointment with a lawyer (not the ambulance chasers' firm) who looked at my Will and said "So you are D1's mother!". It turns out that he knew D1 in the olden days when we were young. Anyway, he was just the sort of lawyer I had been looking for - listened to what I wanted, discussed the legal issues very knowledgeably, agreed that there was no problem about writing a Codicil and did not try to persuade me to change my mind about my instructions regarding the Advance Health Directive. I was very satisfied with my visit and hopefully it will not be too long before things are all organised.
Himself told me a few days ago that Herself had a blister on her back. I thought that it might be the beginning of a pressure sore but poor Herself has shingles. If she wasn't uncomfortable enough before she must be in great distress now; I understand that it is a very painful affliction. My general practitioner advised me to be vaccinated against it as there is a new vaccine; so I am protected. Most of my generation had chickenpox so we are all at risk of developing shingles.
I had no clients at COTA today so I spent the morning buying myself some new jeans and loading my new slow cooker up with the makings of a lamb stew. The new slow cooker is much superior to the old one which was starting to flake at the edges and worried me a bit that it might start showing its internal workings and become dangerous.
I am more than halfway through skein two of the Ankh Morpork/Cardamom spinning and suspect that the combination of the two will be similar to the waters (?) of the Ankh River - sort of grey, green and greasy. There will be enough to knit a sweater and I am looking forward to seeing it knitted up. I have tried photographing it but however much I tweak the picture I cannot get the colour right so I will not post it here. I will start knitting it before I have finished the spinning and as soon as I have finished the scarf now in progress from the colourway Cupcake which I obtained from GreenwoodFiberworks.com .
Thursday, July 23, 2015
Friday, July 17, 2015
Almost run over by an ambulance chaser ...
In view of the CVA suffered by Herself and her struggle to retrieve something of her former function I decided that perhaps the time had come to finalise my 'End of Life' arrangements. I already have a Will but want a codicil to change the ages at which the GBs inherit. There is a law firm opposite the bus stop by my hairdressers so I and decided to make an appointment to see someone there to get my affairs organised.
I telephoned them a couple of days ago and explained what I needed done so that I would be directed to the correct person for my needs and was immediately interrogated about exactly what I wanted. I was initially told that the fee would be $400.00 per hour and then I was asked name, address, phone number, email, age and how much I was worth. I don't think that she asked me for my knicker size but that may have been an oversight on her part.
She then informed me that it was not possible to write me a codicil and that I would have to have a new will written in their format. I could see that this would take as many hours as they could squeeze in and End of Life instructions and Enduring Power of Attorney would no doubt take many hours more to write them in there own format. I was beginning to realise that they thought that they would have me for the rest of my life and plague my executors after I was dead.
Anyway I made an appointment for next week. They then sent me a long form to fill out with questions about every possible relationship and marital connections, covering things which are never going to be relevant such as step children, step grandchildren, husbands, defactos, ex-husbands ex-husbands step children etc. Having digested all this I received a call to say that the lawyer I was to see was not able to see me and I would have to see someone else who was not able to write a codicil either. I said thank you very much but I thought that I could probably write a holographic codicil my self (as a genealogist I have read enough wills and codicils to get an idea of what is required) and cancelled my appointment.
I now have an appointment next week with a small (possibly a one man) practice with someone who asked a few relevant questions over the phone, says that he can't see any reason why he should not write a codicil but that he will need to see my will to make sure, will organise enduring power of attorney and End of Life stuff and I am seeing him next week. I don't even care of he writes a new will and charges me more than $400.00 per hour; I think that he will do what is necessary without swallowing me up in some legal maelstrom.
Watch this space ...
I telephoned them a couple of days ago and explained what I needed done so that I would be directed to the correct person for my needs and was immediately interrogated about exactly what I wanted. I was initially told that the fee would be $400.00 per hour and then I was asked name, address, phone number, email, age and how much I was worth. I don't think that she asked me for my knicker size but that may have been an oversight on her part.
She then informed me that it was not possible to write me a codicil and that I would have to have a new will written in their format. I could see that this would take as many hours as they could squeeze in and End of Life instructions and Enduring Power of Attorney would no doubt take many hours more to write them in there own format. I was beginning to realise that they thought that they would have me for the rest of my life and plague my executors after I was dead.
Anyway I made an appointment for next week. They then sent me a long form to fill out with questions about every possible relationship and marital connections, covering things which are never going to be relevant such as step children, step grandchildren, husbands, defactos, ex-husbands ex-husbands step children etc. Having digested all this I received a call to say that the lawyer I was to see was not able to see me and I would have to see someone else who was not able to write a codicil either. I said thank you very much but I thought that I could probably write a holographic codicil my self (as a genealogist I have read enough wills and codicils to get an idea of what is required) and cancelled my appointment.
I now have an appointment next week with a small (possibly a one man) practice with someone who asked a few relevant questions over the phone, says that he can't see any reason why he should not write a codicil but that he will need to see my will to make sure, will organise enduring power of attorney and End of Life stuff and I am seeing him next week. I don't even care of he writes a new will and charges me more than $400.00 per hour; I think that he will do what is necessary without swallowing me up in some legal maelstrom.
Watch this space ...
Monday, July 13, 2015
Now I know how Cassandra must have felt.
I was invited to join Himself and his daughter in a quick cup of coffee after they lunched in the CQ after visiting Herself in the nearby major hospital where she has been for the last ten days or so. They were rejoicing that she has had the drain removed from her brain and expect her to now recover fast and fully. The suggestion was that she could be home in a couple of months. I suggested that six months was a more realistic expectation but I really, unless a miracle occurs, don't think that she will be able to go home again at all because I don't think that the house would be suitable without major alterations and I don't think that Himself would be physically capable of looking after her unless she improves radically. I could be wrong ... I hope that I am wrong ... but considering the disabilities which she has at the moment I cannot see her being able to live even semi-independently.
I have finished my first skein of Ankh Morpork plied with Cardamom and it has turned out to be a rather tweedy green-grey - one of my major colours according to my "colours" so I am looking forward to knitting it up. I have selected a sweater pattern from a book which I am unable to get but looking at the picture of the sweater I am pretty sure that I can modify the basic raglan sweater pattern which I used for my sloppy joe - but several sizes smaller because the sloppy joe is sloppy (as it was meant to be).
I don't know what has come over the cats. Even without the 'happy juice' they are suddenly very cuddly - even Parsifal who considers cuddles to be 'girl' stuff. It may be the cold weather which inclines them to curl up together but whatever it is - long may it last!
I spent the morning trying to persuade my Surface Pro 3 that I would like to download Windows 10 when it becomes available and have managed to download the app. I am not sure if that qualifies me for a free download when it become available after July 29th. Watch this space but if all computers are going to eventually be converted then I need to get a handle on it. It would certainly be good to standardise all the Windows operating systems and I assume that is what all the daily upgrades are about but at the moment I never know what change I am going to wake up to. Techie offered to load a copy for me last time he was fixing up one of my computers and if all else fails I can go down that road but we will have to wait and see. That will be another thorn in our flesh at COTA - XP, Win 7 Win 8, Win 8.1 and last week I was landed with two women who wanted lessons in I-Pad which I don't know enough about to even pretend to teach, let alone that I was unable to connect the first one to the internet and I didn't even try with the second.
I have upgraded to the latest Family Tree Maker and it seems to work better than its predecessor but I can only hope that I don't lose all my data when this computer eventually rolls over to Win 10. (Note to self - copy onto a flash drive and cross fingers that it will not just be 'read only').
I have finished my first skein of Ankh Morpork plied with Cardamom and it has turned out to be a rather tweedy green-grey - one of my major colours according to my "colours" so I am looking forward to knitting it up. I have selected a sweater pattern from a book which I am unable to get but looking at the picture of the sweater I am pretty sure that I can modify the basic raglan sweater pattern which I used for my sloppy joe - but several sizes smaller because the sloppy joe is sloppy (as it was meant to be).
I don't know what has come over the cats. Even without the 'happy juice' they are suddenly very cuddly - even Parsifal who considers cuddles to be 'girl' stuff. It may be the cold weather which inclines them to curl up together but whatever it is - long may it last!
I spent the morning trying to persuade my Surface Pro 3 that I would like to download Windows 10 when it becomes available and have managed to download the app. I am not sure if that qualifies me for a free download when it become available after July 29th. Watch this space but if all computers are going to eventually be converted then I need to get a handle on it. It would certainly be good to standardise all the Windows operating systems and I assume that is what all the daily upgrades are about but at the moment I never know what change I am going to wake up to. Techie offered to load a copy for me last time he was fixing up one of my computers and if all else fails I can go down that road but we will have to wait and see. That will be another thorn in our flesh at COTA - XP, Win 7 Win 8, Win 8.1 and last week I was landed with two women who wanted lessons in I-Pad which I don't know enough about to even pretend to teach, let alone that I was unable to connect the first one to the internet and I didn't even try with the second.
I have upgraded to the latest Family Tree Maker and it seems to work better than its predecessor but I can only hope that I don't lose all my data when this computer eventually rolls over to Win 10. (Note to self - copy onto a flash drive and cross fingers that it will not just be 'read only').
Monday, July 6, 2015
I wandered, lonely as a cloud ...
I decided to cook up some comfort food so I dug out my recipe for Dahl and went shopping for the ingredients. I realised that there was no way that I would be able to buy red mustard seed at Coles but split peas? I zigzagged along all the shelves but was unable to find any dried pulses at all; I am sure that they must stock them somewhere but the shelf stackers have a very odd method of categorising their stock - toothpicks in the party section I can sort of understand but there are none in the dental section at all.
Anyway, I gave up on the split peas and went to Liquorice, the next door shop which sells fancy pulses, spices, teas and chocolates and bought my split peas and black mustard seed which is the same as red mustard as far as I can taste. So all I need to do is to fry the onions, chop up the chilli and the capsicum and throw all the ingredients into the slow cooker with enough water to cover it. It is my own recipe which I devised after much experimentation and it is delicious. It is pouring with rain outside so it can't come soon enough.
Herself has made some minor recovery. She now has a bit of feeling in her left side and is able to talk, although her speech is slurred. Himself is very matter of fact with his reporting and I am not sure if he has actually though ahead to the future or if he is just putting on a brave face; a bit of both, I suspect. There will have to be profound changes to both there lives, short of some miraculous recovery but perhaps gradual recognition of this will be kinder than an 'in your face' revelation.
Today is Knitting Club day and I am all packed and ready to go but the weather is going to discourage most, if not all the others. I only have a short walk and most of that is undercover so I will put in an appearance regardless.
I received a phishing email from Happy-tunes today containing an invoice for a tom-tom. Since I no longer own a car I knew that I hadn't, in a rush of blood, bought myself a GPS. There was a link to cancel if I had not bought the tom-tom and started to fill it out but got suspicious. I suggested that I would have paid by PayPal but the form insisted on my credit card number so I phoned Apple who asked me to forward the email to them, which I did. There were a couple of other pointers - asking for 'mother's name' rather than maiden or middle name and then I noticed that the amount charged was different to the amount on the invoice. I was almost caught with that one and that is a good reason to use PayPal - it avoids having to use my credit card number. Anyway, I was assured that I would not be charged and was sent an email telling me how to recognise a genuine missive from Apple in the future.
Anyway, I gave up on the split peas and went to Liquorice, the next door shop which sells fancy pulses, spices, teas and chocolates and bought my split peas and black mustard seed which is the same as red mustard as far as I can taste. So all I need to do is to fry the onions, chop up the chilli and the capsicum and throw all the ingredients into the slow cooker with enough water to cover it. It is my own recipe which I devised after much experimentation and it is delicious. It is pouring with rain outside so it can't come soon enough.
Herself has made some minor recovery. She now has a bit of feeling in her left side and is able to talk, although her speech is slurred. Himself is very matter of fact with his reporting and I am not sure if he has actually though ahead to the future or if he is just putting on a brave face; a bit of both, I suspect. There will have to be profound changes to both there lives, short of some miraculous recovery but perhaps gradual recognition of this will be kinder than an 'in your face' revelation.
Today is Knitting Club day and I am all packed and ready to go but the weather is going to discourage most, if not all the others. I only have a short walk and most of that is undercover so I will put in an appearance regardless.
I received a phishing email from Happy-tunes today containing an invoice for a tom-tom. Since I no longer own a car I knew that I hadn't, in a rush of blood, bought myself a GPS. There was a link to cancel if I had not bought the tom-tom and started to fill it out but got suspicious. I suggested that I would have paid by PayPal but the form insisted on my credit card number so I phoned Apple who asked me to forward the email to them, which I did. There were a couple of other pointers - asking for 'mother's name' rather than maiden or middle name and then I noticed that the amount charged was different to the amount on the invoice. I was almost caught with that one and that is a good reason to use PayPal - it avoids having to use my credit card number. Anyway, I was assured that I would not be charged and was sent an email telling me how to recognise a genuine missive from Apple in the future.
Friday, July 3, 2015
Make the most of life while you have it
Yesterday I walked around to D3's place after teaching computer at COTA and met the new puppy, Osku, who is a Lapphund. He is still smallish and very yappy - so much so that the cat Sebastian, has all but left home - poor baby. Osku has been toilet trained to use puppy nappies (I think that I have now heard almost everything) and so he thinks that he must come inside to pee which is driving D3 crazy. SIL's mother is pet sitting for four days while the family goes to Kalgoorlie and there is a big pile of doggy nappies so that she doesn't have to try to potty train him while the family is away.
Herself had a CVA on Wednesday evening and is currently in hospital. She is not out of the woods yet and is still in Intensive Care. If she lives she will almost certainly be handicapped to a greater or lesser degree and her family is in a state of shock at the moment. The only lucky thing about the whole affair was that she was very close to one of our major hospitals when it happened and she was rushed there immediately so there was no delay in starting to stabilise her.
D2 is in England at the moment and I am babysitting two of her cars; a customised lavender VW and a red air-cooled Porsche. Even though they are in the secure area I am terrified that someone will drive into them or otherwise damage them. The electronics in the building seem to be going awry at the moment and over the last two days I have had to buzz up two people because their fobs refused to work so I am not sure just how secure we are at the moment. This place seems to be falling to bits and it is only four years old.
Herself had a CVA on Wednesday evening and is currently in hospital. She is not out of the woods yet and is still in Intensive Care. If she lives she will almost certainly be handicapped to a greater or lesser degree and her family is in a state of shock at the moment. The only lucky thing about the whole affair was that she was very close to one of our major hospitals when it happened and she was rushed there immediately so there was no delay in starting to stabilise her.
D2 is in England at the moment and I am babysitting two of her cars; a customised lavender VW and a red air-cooled Porsche. Even though they are in the secure area I am terrified that someone will drive into them or otherwise damage them. The electronics in the building seem to be going awry at the moment and over the last two days I have had to buzz up two people because their fobs refused to work so I am not sure just how secure we are at the moment. This place seems to be falling to bits and it is only four years old.
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