I’m starting to think I have too many lists going. I need to list my lists.
I use ‘Google Keep’ for some memos. But then I have a series of ‘Google Drive’ spreadsheets to remember my design projects and another for paying bills. ‘Google Keep’ is nice because it is synchronized on my phone, and on my computer. The problem is I am really a pad and pen guy. Heck, I like to use fountain pens and I can barely type clean on my computer keyboard let alone my phone. Luckily the gods gave us spell check. Sometimes I write something in ‘Google Keep’ but I ‘Google Lose it’. When someone passes away there is a crapload of stuff to do. So, it helps to have reminders. One morning I woke up and realized I had left the front door open. I guess I’ll put that on a list.
Last Tuesday, things started to get back to normal. I got back to my graphic design work. Butler Hospital is changing the graphic style on some of their brochures. There could be a fair amount of production and design related work. I do a fairly regular newsletter design for them that needed to get out (before the month changes). I’m happy with anything. My days of being a know-it-all art director are behind me. Wait. I never knew it all.
I try to find time to take Marty for a walk every day. Or it might be the other way around. He has all kinds of energy going out the door. And as soon as we get near the Hampden Park he won’t let me turn around until we cross Main Street and go there too. He has a hard time waddling back up the hill to our house. And now he needs a little help to get up the porch stairs. While Marty and I were out for a walk, the other day my old boss from an ad agency called. He had seen Kathy’s obit in the Sunday newspaper. We talked about Huntington’s. Kathy worked there every once in a while in the 90s when they needed some extra help. I told him she was probably having some of the early symptoms when she worked there. We had a couple of laughs about some of the stuff that happened there when I was the art director.
By last Wednesday, some sympathy cards and a few gifts started arriving. I have the cards displayed in the room on a bureau that we used for supplies. People have been very kind and thoughtful. Naturally, I ate the gifts.
I try to clean or organize something every day. I keep chipping away at stuff. Or making calls. I try to clean one thing or area fairly well. I have done the kitchen table and the yellow table that had Kathy’s supplies on it. I finally cleaned off the old loveseat that is in my room. It was piled with boxes and files and last year’s tax records. Eventually, my room will go back to being a dining room, I guess. I mopped the living room floor where Kathy’s bed had been. The suction machine and the feeding pump and just general activity left the painted floor dirty. I rearranged the furniture so that it wouldn’t look or feel like a hospital room. Every day I sort out some more of the supplies or Kathy’s clothes. I made a few calls about donating some. Every few days Marty and I go out to move the leaves around. I think it’s good to relocate them every few days, so they don’t get too comfortable. After the storm last night most of them are down now. One good thing is that I don’t have to do as much laundry as I used to do. And there is less trash to worry about now.
There is still a lot of stuff to get rid of.
The basement is still filled with the extra briefs and pads. I decided to try to sell them cheap on Craigslist along with the Hoyer Lift. Craigslist is really a crapshoot. You have to be really careful. 
As soon as I posted the Hoyer lift I got a text. At first I was excited even though I said local only. The text was from a Pennsylvania number, but since you can move and keep your number I wasn’t worried – yet. Also, the text mentioned “the Hoyer lift” instead of asking “is your item still for sale?” When they don’t even take the time to repeat what you are selling it is a dead give away (pardon the pun). I sent them an email saying it was available and then I got the scam email…(I bolded some key terms)
Thanks for the response, Just to let you know that am okay with the
condition and price of the Item. I am ready to make instant purchase.
My mode of payment would be in Certified Bank Check via USPS or Fed Ex
1/2 days delivery. I’ll arrange for a local pick up as soon as you get the check
cashed and have your money in hand , I would have really love to come
for the viewing but due to my work frame that might not be possible
and i promise everything will go smoothly. Kindly get back to me with
your full name and address including your cell and land number so i
can make out payment .
Name to be on the check :
Address:
City: State: Zip Code:
Cell#:
Total amount for the item :
And as soon as this is provided, the payment will be overnight to you
and i will let you know when it’s mailed out. Thanks and i hope we
handle this in good faith while waiting to hear from you. i will add
an additional $50 so that you can hold it for me till the check reach
you.
Thanks
I replied nicely in an email that I was only selling the item locally. Then I changed the listings to say I would only respond to calls and not to email replies to Craigslist. The same thing happened when I tried to sell a flat file and then a wood stove. I received emails offering to pay me with MoneyGrams so the items could be shipped to his new job in England. (Who would ship a wood stove to England?) I decided to have some fun and played around with the guy for a while.I told the guy I was worried he would lose his money. He claimed he was worried about having a checking account. I emailed him that I would take PayPal and that would be safer for him, too. I did a Google search of the guy’s email address and it popped up as a Craigslist scammer. He didn’t bother to come up with a new fake email address for my stove.
The way this scam works is you get a follow-up email saying, in effect, “My office accidentally sent you a MoneyGram for too much. But, I trust you to send a money order for the difference.” A counterfeit money order or faux bank check arrives in the mail, and you send them your real money.
I never fell for it, but you have to be careful. I still have a fake money order around here someplace. I sold the flat file to an artist and the stove to someone local for cash. To be continued:)