I normally repair my faucets when they start to weep a bit - don't wait until there's a steady drip. So far, I've been able to do the job myself. Most home faucets, especially the older ones, are simple affairs and need only internal parts. But as things are going these days, there is a time coming when parts for the older ones will no longer be made or stocked. I hope to be gone before that happens to my faucets. I have a mix of two types in my house. If you have closed the shut-off valve (in the feed line to the faucet), know what parts you need, and then go get them, the job will be half done. All that's left is to install the parts.

What Outside is describing will happen to anyone who begins Medicare coverage before starting Social Security. For those not getting some kind of government pension, Medicare has to be paid in advance, quarterly. So thinking of calendar quarters, imagine you paid in Dec-Jan for the Jan-March coverage period. Your Social Security benefits, from which Medicare is always deducted, start for the month of February and so February and March Medicare premiums have been paid twice. Medicare refunds the overpayment promptly. There's no bonus, a double payment gets refunded.

As I recall.....you put a penny on a windowsill. Just one in a window on New Years Day, preferably just after midnight. For luck/money throughout the year. I should ad....my husband teased me.....we sold a house....one we didn't like for waaaay more than it should have sold for....the only house we ever sold with a penny in the window.....so he/my husband....ran around the house saying he wanted to put pennies in every window!!! Like a nut! His silly excitement was fun....as he attributed our apparent "luck/money to your household" to my penny in the window......teasing me. You don't have to sell the house to get the "lucky money"....just happened that way for us. :0) Or so it seems.

The lottery scratch winnings are still going strong. I got $28 yesterday off a $3 ticket. But not only that, I've had hubby's watch for sale for a while. The watch I liked best I got sized for me, but I'm selling another. As usual, I've had low-balls, but today I got an email inquiring about it. An older gentleman was interested and he came here. I met him downstairs, and we sat in his truck and had the nicest visit. It turns out he has the exact same watch but his is very worn, the bracelet is loosening and the face is all scratched. Ours is in mint condition. Because it was going to such a good home, and we commiserated with our sorrows (my recent loss and his of a son of a heart-attack at 47), I knocked some money off the price. He gave me the cash and then also the extra, and ask that I donate it; (the extra portion). I have it with the buried money and will certainly do that.