Well…this is a little weird…my wake up times have been precessing for the past three days…two days ago I woke up at 5:14, yesterday, I woke up at 4:14, and today I woke up at 3:14…I damn well better not get up at 2:14 tomorrow morning…what’s next? Not sleeping at all? I was good last night and survived a boring night but have been so damn cold the past couple of days that I ended up shivering in bed last night…and pretty violently, too, but I was able to shake that…ha, ha…shake that….by just breathing into the covers for a few minutes but I am still cold again this morning and I m getting damn tired of how cold it’s been…haven’t been able to get on the bike in over a week and I feel damn sluggish from it…didn’t get much done yesterday but talk to the mortgage folks and I have been pushing them to get the closing scheduled earlier than the 23rd which will only give me a couple of days to prep for the move on the 27th….so I may have to move clothes and stuff afterward since I’ll have two weeks until my son gets here….I am going to get my second covid vaccination on Sunday and I am looking forward to it to finally put an end to worrying about getting sick, but that will take a couple of weeks after the shot which will be before the move so that timing is cool….not much to do today…just packing and more packing and a little soccer….more later..

Well…just a short one….the appraisal for my house came back and it is worth exactly what I paid for it…and with even paying 10K  over asking price, I made out okay….and, even though I won’t be selling it, knowing that I’m not underwater on it from the start is pretty cool…and with housing prices increasing at almost 10% per year…for now anyway, it should be worth 120K or so when I croak…and I should have it paid off by then….and my kids will get 30K each from it….never thought I’d be able to leave them anything….

Well…finally got some good news this morning from the IRS…no, they didn’t say they would send me the 600 dollar payment, but they did say they are sending me the instructions to file a tax return to get that payment and the 1400 dollar one that is being debated in the congress right now…so, a little work for me but I am going to look at filing it for free online…and that money will buy me my new washing machine, lawnmower, and pay for my house insurance for a year…so at least that saga is coming to a close…and the appraisal for the house should be in tomorrow and then we can close early next week…and I can get the utilities transferred into my name and get started moving…so there is some good news finally and I can get going on the move and the rest of my life….I can’t believe I am almost there….

Well…crap, crap, crap…..back to waking up at 4:14 and a major part of it was that I had the worst case of acid reflux that I can remember and had to eat a bunch of antacids before I could lay back down….and I never did get back to sleep so I gave up and got out of bed around 6….I did get some news on my ongoing saga of trying to get the 600 dollar check that was supposed to get to me at the end of last year…got a call back from the IRS yesterday and need to call them back this morning…but I know what they are going to say…that they sent the check and it was cashed so there is nothing they can do…I am surprised that I got some action from Pete Meijer’s office…oh, and I got an e-mail from Debbie Stabenow’s office yesterday, too, so I need to follow up with them after I talk to the IRS this morning…didn’t get a lot done yesterday and all I have to do today is pack more so that is what I’ll do….I am hoping that I get some word on the closing date on the house soon so I can get the utility stuff done soon and then start making the trips out there to clean before I get too much stuff in the house…..more later…

Well…darn, I still feel crappy here at 2 in the afternoon and it has to be from my really reduced calorie diet….only had two slices of rye bread toast for lunch today and I’m planning on having a chicken thigh and a small baked potato for dinner and that will give me a total of about 800 calories again today….I did get out and get groceries today and got a snow shovel for the new house…and I got the truck reserved for the move…and it looks like I’m bringing it back to gr since it is only about a buck less to one way it and I need to come back here to get my car anyway….so that is taken care of…it will take more gas but not much more so that’s okay…and this time I have it for the entire day so I don’t have to have it back until before 7 pm…should be done long before that since I really don’t have that much to move….I am going to pick it up around 8 am but don’t think anyone else is going to want to be here that early so maybe 10? Now all I need is to close and get things in motion….

Well…running a little late today and feel pretty crappy even with staying in bed til 6:30 and it may be from not doing hardly anything yesterday…just not used to no exercise and today is going to be another one of those days with the temp only staying in the teens again…at least I didn’t have to shovel snow yesterday and my back does feel a little better so I guess that’s something….I do have to run errands and do the grocery run today and then stop at U-haul and reserve the truck for the move in a couple of weeks…need to go out and get a snow shovel for the new house that I can fit in the car…Menard’s has one for only 12 bucks that looks good so I should stop there today and get one…going to need to shovel a lot out there just to be able to get to the door….and to the garage….I really do need to eat more since I think I went too low on calories the past few days…only had a ham sandwich and a small bowl of refried beans for the whole day and that’s only about 900 calories….and I’ll be feeling that later today…not much to do today…other than the errands, that is…and the first nascar race is on tonight so that will give me something to do later along with the idiot’s trial in the senate this afternoon…really do need to take it easy to heal up my back for the move…at least that’s my excuse….more later….

Well…damn, I wonder when I’m going to get a good nights sleep again? Up at 5:05 today and never got back to sleep again and I’m exhausted…and my brain isn’t working too well…this first sentence took almost 10 minutes and the rest of it is going to be pretty hard…at least I don’t have to shovel the snow today since it didn’t snow overnight but I do need to dig out the trash bins…a project that is going to wait a while since my motivation tank is empty…didn’t get anything done yesterday but move some stuff around to get ready for the move and that will be all I do today since I really don’t have much to do other than pack…shoveling the snow really hurt my back yesterday and it still hurts this morning and I’m glad I have a day off to heal….couldn’t lift a thing if the move was this week so I need to take it easy to make sure it will be better in two weeks…it’s only a week until I get my second vaccine and I am looking forward to that but my arm will hurt like crazy so I’m glad I have two weeks for it to heal…cripes, I’m getting old…more later…

Well…don’t really feel like doing a political one today with feeling like crap and hurting my back shoveling the snow today….and I’m not sure what is going on but I just can’t take the cold anymore and haven’t been able to warm up since being outside…I guess it might be that it was only 6 degrees when I went but that’s no excuse….and I had to wade through knee deep snow to fill the bird feeders since I have a cloud of sparrows that have been attacking them and emptying them as fast as I fill them…filled them twice yesterday but I refuse to go back out to fill them again today…just too damn cold and I’m running out of food…and the funny thing is I’m using a bag of feed that they wouldn’t touch earlier in the winter and I guess that must be because the other people in the neighborhood have stopped filling their feeders with how much snow there is out there. Had 15 sparrows on the two feeders at one time and that was causing some pushing and shoving and a couple of them just climbed into the food and sat down while they ate and attacked any other bird that tried to land…that was kind of funny….okay, that’s enough….I know I haven’t been eating enough and that’s why I’m so damn tired today…800 calories just isn’t going to cut it I guess…i need a nap…

Well…just couldn’t bring myself to shovel the driveway again before I went out to get the paper so I’m going to have tracks in it again that will probably take the rest of the winter to get rid of…but, it’s only 7 degrees out there and that’s not something I want to face this early…I did sleep okay last night and didn’t get out of bed until after 6:30 but I did notice the mattress on my bed is offset by about 6 inches and that means I tossed and turned all night and it could be why I feel so worn out…again…didn’t get anything done yesterday but…nope, didn’t get anything done but shovel the snow and that looks like what I’ll do today….I did talk to K and J and they are in to help for the move so I’ll have 6 people for this one instead of the three I had last time so that should make it easier…I am so glad this is my last move….or if it isn’t, I’ll spend the cash and have a mover do it next time….now I’m just waiting for my close date so I can get the utilities switched over to my name….I can’t wait to get started on the new house but I think I am going to take a week off after I move in and just relax…there is plenty of time to get the painting and stripping done and I need to put a plan together for the colors I want to use….not much to do today…it’s not snowing right now so I can wait a while before I get out and do the snow…this is going to be the coldest week of the winter with Friday only getting to 2 degrees for a high so there will be lots of packing and hibernating going on….more later….

Well…as you know, I bought a house out in Muskegon and have my move scheduled for the 27th of this month and it looks like a good date with only needing the appraisal to come back to be able to close…and there should be no problem there since I am only borrowing around 50K and the house should be worth almost double that…and, instead of trying to do the whole move with just me and my son and his wife, for the first time I’ve asked some friends  to help and every one of them have said they can…and K and J have said they can borrow a big covered trailer for the extra stuff that I am taking so I can get the smallest box truck again…and Tom is bringing his jeep that can hold some stuff so I won’t have to make so many runs out to the new house in the Miata and that will save some wear and tear…I still don’t have a lot of stuff but this means I won’t have to take the bikes out on the carrier or put the summer tires in the car to move them….damn, it’s nice to have friends and this will allow K to see both houses since she always wanted to see this one before I move….feeling a lot better about the move with how bad my back has been lately…..