On a Cold Saturday Afternoon

 

Nothing on my agenda today; the car won’t be taken out of the garage.  No one to call; expecting no calls.  There would be the routine things I do each day during this lockdown:  morning tv mass, prayers, a little time spent cooking and maybe playing solitaire games as I eat, and then perhaps some puzzle books and/or reading.  It would be a boring day.

But today did bring some different things.

The mail was delivered early, and that triggered some events --- including my having to walk outside in that blustery cold.  I immediately noticed that my neighbor had shoveled my walk again for me; my snow blower went kaput last year and I think the neighbors are paying back what they view as due to a good neighbor.  This year I will remember them at Easter (as I usually do) with a nice basket for their kids --- I skipped that last year because of the lockdown, and I know the kids appreciate the candy and the books I give them.

The mailbox was quite full again, and I noticed a small Valentine’s Card in the pile, from someone who usually does not sent me Valentine’s cards, in fact, never does.  I opened the card to see what she had to say, only to see it was a Christmas card.  It was stamped by the Post Office on December 20, but I received it today, February 11th.  I wonder if I will get some more Christmas cards this summer?  I guess this was a God-reminder for me event, though, because I noticed that there remained on my kitchen counter two cards which had been returned by the post office a month ago --- a Christmas and an anniversary card I had sent to her son and wife, who apparently had moved.  I guess now I can call her and thank her for the Christmas/Valentine’s card I just received and get their new address.

Also, in the mail I received today was a couple of tax-related forms.  I think I must have received most of them from the banks and investment firms and social security and retirement funds by now, so I got to thinking about tax filing.  So, this afternoon I went to get that full folder from upstairs and sat down to sort through all the donation receipts/confirmations, check statements, Visa statements, and donation confirmations.  I still need to list and total all the donations, but that will be another afternoon.  Just sorting through the papers took me quite a while, but I think I am ready to get my TurboTax programs, which I use for my filing.  Or, I will get my TurboTax in a couple of weeks, since they told me yesterday, when I received my second Covid shot, that it would take two weeks for full effect.  Then I will feel a little more comfortable going out and shopping during the early morning slow times.  I will change to a modified lockdown, from my total aloneness.

No, I had nothing to do today, but it took me most of the day.  And I actually felt productive, something I haven’t felt in a long time.

Oh, and one more thing.  As I logged on to post this blog item, I again saw the many spam comments to my latest posts, advertisements for some drug companies or something.  I took the time to delete them all.  Another thing accomplished this day when I had nothing to do!

And now, I’ll say a prayer for you!