Currently I’m in an unusual block of time where I really don’t have anything scheduled, I can just live my life and do my things and get stuff done. IT WON’T LAST, so I’m enjoying it for what it is.
Last weekend, I spent Saturday just doing laundry and stuff, but had so much time and energy I ended up doing extra laundry, like the blankets and bedspreads and stuff. Also did house-org stuff like rearranging one of the spice cabinets to accommodate a Lazy Susan. I grew up in a household with a Lazy Susan spice rake, don’t know why it hadn’t occurred to me as a solution before, but that cabinet is so much more usable now.
For Sunday, Susan, plus mutual friend Janna, up visiting from suburban Philly, had invited me to our local French bistro for brunch. Since this a ‘cemetery’ Sunday, and the bistro is on the way home from the cemetery, I told them I’d join them at the bistro, or… venturing into new territory here… they could come to the cemetery with me. I usually go alone, for obvious reasons, but they both loved Charles a lot and I thought I’d at least ask if they wanted to. They were very happy to go, and we had a really nice visit. Of course, it was different from my normal visit, its own animal so to speak, but they were sensitive to the unusualness of making it a group visit and it was fine for all.
That cemetery is where Scott Joplin is buried, and they have an annual concert there, which Susan often attends. (This year, it’s on Charles’s deathday, so although invited, I declined.) But once we left the mausoleum, Susan drove us around the cemetery, which is lovely, and we found Joplin’s grave, which also has a memorial bench a few feet away. So I know where that is now and can take others to it.
And then we went to brunch and had a fabulous time.
Speaking of Mr. C, there is light at the end of the tunnel re the estate. (I have a vague goal of wrapping it up by summer, which will be a year, but of course there’s no actual need to do that.) Both joint checking accounts have been closed. As I bitched and moaned on FB, our household account was at Capital One and I’d created a matching just-me account to roll over into and to repoint the debit card at so I didn’t have to change the billing on all the utilities and such. Well, closing the joint account itself was a pain, because I had to time it so there was no pending charge on it, but we finally got that done. But even though every time I talked to Capital One, I clearly said, “and the debit card will point to the new account, right?”, turns out that’s not what happened. Once the joint account was closed, that card was dead and not coming back. (Why they hadn’t just already send me a new debit card for the new account is a mystery – that’s what Schwab did with the other one.) Anyway, I rolled my eyes, repointed all the bills to another card, and the new Cap 1 account won’t actually get used that much. (Cap 1 is the closest physical bank to me, at home and at the office, and so at least I can still use it to go get quarters for laundry.)
The retirement accounts C had at Schwab have now been rolled over into inherited IRAs. I’ll have to take a closer look at those later, but at least that’s all in my name now. Another retirement account (from his job) had already been rolled over into one of my accounts back in July, but at the end of the year, his company paid out his unused vacation time and put more money in the retirement account. I was like, WTF. So I need to transfer that out, but then I’m assuming that will not see any more activity.
I need to set up trusts for my niece’s kids, and that’s in progress.
And my co-op’s lawyer is talking to my estate lawyer and they’ve been sent a lot of documentation and at some point, we’ll have what was described to me as ‘a little closing’ and suddenly I will be a homeowner (of an apartment that I’ve lived in half my life). That will be new and different.
Upcoming trips: going out to Minnesota to visit niece Samantha and her family. Niece Allison will also be out (our trips overlap, not quite synced). I’ll be there for Easter, that will be nice.
Will be spending a weekend up in Connecticut with Vance and Craig, partially to go see friends in The Yeomen of the Guard, but mostly to visit.
Will be spending a weekend in Baltimore for a G&S sing thing, but of course also to revisit old (grad school) stomping grounds and get together with friends.
Usually I spend Memorial Day week in Durham with my family, but I am hoarding vacation days this year because of the two-week trip to England, so I’ll be just going down for the long weekend, essentially.
Media Consumption! I actually haven’t really been watching movies, although I may go see “Avatar” tomorrow afternoon before the Oscars. Evenings are news-and-knitting, then episodic TV, then Drag Race to finish up. Dramas: I watch The Good Doctor about once a week – usually on Hulu, but now I’ve set up my DVR to record it, and I need to get in that habit for other shows so I can maybe not have all the streaming subscriptions. Just finished The Crown Season 5 – lovely and sad, although sort of disappointing in that most of the plot lines aren’t about Queen Elizabeth, but her reacting to the Charles/Diana drama and such. (Side note: the scoring of The Crown has some very-well-played and lovely solo horn work.)
I saw The Book of Boba Fett, which was fine, and Josh and Mariah and I are enjoying Andor. Now watching The Mandalorian season 3, again, one episode a week. I do like a steady diet of Star Wars universe, I must say.
Will probably pick up White Lotus or Poker Face or both soon. And keep going with King of the Hill at my leisure, and start Abbott Elementary. And also finish off AJ and the Queen.
I’ve finished all the ‘regular’ Drag Races, although I guess I could go back and watch Seasons 1 and 2 – and all the all-stars, too. Have now done Canada’s Drag Race – the first I’ve seen without RuPaul and co, very interesting – and just started UK, although I already know who won.
Reading many many books. I did finish The City We Became by NK Jemisin, which is fantastic.
Yep, that’s it for now.
The Toast Point Page 