More moving stories – Three more things I learned

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Attics have secrets – In the back corner of the attic, we found a box of income tax returns going back to 1996. No, you don’t need to keep them back that far. They got pushed out of sight and mind. I had to go through them to shred anything with identifying information. Back then the IRS instructions came in a thick catalog that must have killed a tree or two. Receipts, forms, extra forms! So much paper! Everything is digital these days, you forget. I also forgot how cheap the real estate taxes were and still we complained. Maybe the lesson is not to have an attic as it attracts things you don’t need or don’t stay in the same house for such a long time.

Hospitals aren’t fun – Someone fell off a ladder this week and ended up in the ER with staples in his head. It wasn’t me. I tried to take the beloved husband to a walk-in center and when they saw the river of blood flowing from his head they said “to the ER!” It takes forever there. We blew the entire afternoon! They gave us doggie piddle pads to sop up the blood and we waited. It took two hours to see a doc. They did a CAT scan and all is well. It wasn’t a bad fall but he’s an easy bleeder. He looked like his aortic artery was torpedoed! He says his “landing spots” are sore and he can’t go through a metal detector anytime soon.

Help is good – We don’t ask for help often. We do things ourselves. This past weekend the beloved husband’s daughter flew east to help out. We got so much done with her riding herd on us. After she left we had to rest. We were exhausted but in a much better place. At our age we need to consider help with big projects like moving. What we really need is less stuff. She took a few “treasures” with her.

71 thoughts on “More moving stories – Three more things I learned”

  1. My goodness! How scary to see all that blood. My husband is on a blood thinner and any head wound looks like he’s done battle. And I think we can top you with old IRS paperwork. Perhaps at this point we will hold on to it so that one day our children will shake their heads at us! 😂

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  2. Hope hubby mends okay. Head injuries always bleed like crazy and scare you to death, even little ones. I gave up climbing when I fell backwards, landed on my tailbone and ended up in a wheel-chair for two weeks.

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  3. Ouch! Glad to hear the Beloved is well, though. That does answer a question I’ve always had about urgent care clinics: What don’t they accept? Now I know.

    Our accountant says to never toss the paper tax returns. I’m rebelling against her advice, though. Over ten years and I’m tossing. This decidedly middle class, 12% bracket dude will take his chances with the IRS. – Marty

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    • The doc was ready to look at it until she heard that he fell off of a ladder. That would require a CAT scan. I fractured my kneecap many years ago and they handled it referring me (and setting up the appointment) to an ortho for the next day. They had x-rays and an immobilizer to give me so I didn’t have to go to an ER. Yeah, well, I’m not in a tax bracket they are interested in either. I shredded the last of the old ones yesterday.

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  7. There is never a dull moment at your house! One long weekend, two co-workers spent time in the E.R., both from making a misstep and falling off a ladder. One broke an ankle, the other a wrist. When I change the pole light (two small candelabra-type bulbs), I have to use the ladder and the pole light is in the middle of a shrub garden and the mulch to me is not sturdy. I only change it once a year thankfully.

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      • Yes, those LED lights are great – I have a fixture in the den/TV room that is two circular fluorescent bulbs and they burned out last Summer … it’s a pain to change them, so I put a floor lamp in there and will just use that until I go to a store that carries them. I one time laid one of the new lights on the couch while changing them and it fell onto the carpet and shattered, so I don’t want to order it from Amazon or another store. A definite pain and one day I will get a different fixture.

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  9. Having cavalry ready is always a good idea! My Mum used to do that for me until she was 70, and then we changed places. I don’t think I could go through a move now without someone like her pushing me on!! Hope hubby continues to heal okay.

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  11. The last time I fell off a ladder, I broke my hip and ended up with extra hardware to hold it all together. I’m so glad your husband’s injury didn’t require a hospital stay. I hope he continues to do well – head injuries are nothing to take lightly. It (the move, I mean) will be over soon and you can relax in your new home.

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  12. Falls are scary even without blood. Good to know your hubs is fine though stapled.
    I have lived in my condo for 25 years. Last year I started going through stuff and either tossing or giving it away. There were four loads that went to Goodwill! There were two boxes that I had never opened after the move. I thought about just sending them to Goodwill without opening them but I did check them out and of course, there was nothing in them to keep. I have some boxes ready to go someday soon and there will be more. BTW I am not a hoarder! But I do have several closets that somehow are always full of stuff.

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  13. Glad your hubby is OK. How awful the ER made you wait so long with a head injury, I would think something like that should move one to the front of the line for fear of brain swelling,etc.
    I think we all have too much. My hubby has all his taxes going back to the 1970’s and won’t toss them-ugh!

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    • I finished shredding them today. That took a while! I only keep the last 7 years so how we kept the 1990s through mid-2000s is a mystery to me except that the box got put in back of another and was forgotten. As was a lot of other stuff!

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  14. Asking for help is now an art …. it seems to me.
    I rarely do it. Suffer in silence. Or always feel I am imposing.

    But yet we always hear, “If you need help, just call me. Just whistle.”
    (Never hear it from my kids. ) lol

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  16. Glad it wasn’t more serious for your hubby for two reasons. First, of course, is that you’re in this process of moving and you need him to help. Second, because if he’s like most men, he’ll try to milk his “injury” for everything it’s worth! 🙂

    I was always a paper-track kind of person, so it took me a while to finally commit to understanding how much of my information is available without paper now due to technology! I keep my shredder busy routinely these days!

    You’re lucky in that someone recognizes the sentimental value of treasures. I have just one brother left, and he’s a minimalist, so I’m learning constantly to let go of things – mostly by giving them to someone outside my family who I know will appreciate them. I figure that, when my time comes, he’s going to trash most of my ‘sentimental treasures’, so at least this way, someone else can get some enjoyment from then!

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    • It’s getting harder to find anyone interested these days. All of the kids are across the country so it’s a hassle to send out items that would be cheaper for them to buy there. We were lucky that she could pack a few pieces in her luggage. Most, if not all, of our friends are also downsizing. A lot of stuff is going to Purple Heart, Goodwill or the land fill.

      My husband is the opposite. He sometimes doesn’t mention aches and pains until it’s too late for an easy fix. He was screaming “I’m fine!” all the way to the ER.

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  18. Noooooo! We have to call NASA – the Bermuda Triangle/Black hole is mobile and moving.
    There must be something about age than means any wound will gush more than you can ever imagine.
    Local ERs don’t want to touch anything that looks serious. (But a nail gun nail shot accidentally their hand – that seems OK…shiver at the memory.
    Pack and leave the ladder behind…we left our giant one at the last house…they are much younger and more flexible than we. Those oak various heights oak bar stools are about to be added to the no use list here
    Stuff like this is making us realize being close (or close to airports) has become more important. Sometimes you need the calvary to show up even if you don’t realize it. How nice help came and was able to get so much done.
    Glad head wound guy is doing well. HUGS and healing thoughts sent (try to get some rest …which is harder than it sounds probably)

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    • Maybe those blood thinners! They make gushers out of us old folks! We are giving up a lot of “yard tools.” There never was any way you’d get me on a 24′ ladder even when I was young. We have young neighbors who are so eager (were we like that once?). Now we do the workman’s version of takeout! 🙂

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  19. Sorry about your husband’s accident. Hope all is good now.
    Years ago, Hubby fell out of the roof when the ladder became detached and cut his elbow down to the bone. I’d just passed by First Aid at Work certificate so had first hand practice! Being on blood thinners did not help and he bled profusely……. all over the reception desk at A&E when they tried to make him wait three hours!!

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  20. SSNS not allowed on ladders and not allowed to own or operate a chainsaw. Relieved your Hubby is doing well. I know you will be glad to get the whole moving thing over with and let us hope that you get to the finish line with no more injuries for the peeps or the four-legs. Help IS good… very kind and thoughtful of your husband’s daughter to come take some of the pressure off and keep you on course. It must have been a huge relief.

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    • That’s funny, we just talked about the chain saw this morning. Beloved husband is considering giving that up too. I didn’t realize how good help would be but it was so great to not have to to all the worrying especially at the hospital. There was another person to share the burden.

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  22. No more injuries, Kate. I mean it.
    Don’t make me come over there!

    Glad it wasn’t more serious. BFF got staples in his head once . . . from a commercial grade ceiling fan with metal blades. Not pretty. And no lasting damage that we’ve noticed so far. 😆

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  23. I’m glad you had help. Sometimes we all get stuck and need a person with fresh energy (and possibly a whip) to get us moving again.

    I’ve taken someone in my house to get staples before. (I’ll let you guess which of the boys ran into a brick pillar head first.) SO. MUCH. BLOOD.

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    • Thanks! It’s scary in the moment as I can’t catch him. He will take me down with him. I hate to see anyone whack their head because you never know. For him it was more about the blood than anything. He bleeds easily and profusely.

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    • We have a 24′ ladder that we rarely use. Mostly we loan it to people. We were considering what to do with it and this cinched it. We are giving it away. Neither of us have any business on a tall ladder. He was lucky that the ladder and cabinet he was removing didn’t fall on top of him. It was a freak accident and fortunately he is fine.

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  26. Many years ago, when I loved from Berkeley to Harrisburg, one of my new colleagues offered to help me unpack. She totally rode herd on me and would not permit me to take anything out of a box and put in down anywhere except where it was to reside permanently. I was unpacked in no time. She could have made a lot of money helping people unpack instead of being in publishing!

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  27. we hope the landing spots will heal up and we hope the pain goes away very fast… thanks to your helper who was there to support you… and all paws are crossed here that after you paid the “blood tax” everything goes smooth and all gods and godesses are with you.

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