. My handyman never came over here yesterday; he called to tell me another customer had a no-heat issue. He was still going to come, with a more uncertain arrival, but I let him off the hook for now. I'm going to bundle a few odd jobs together so it's more cost-efficient having him come over, so it'll be fixing a sticky kitchen drawer (if I absolutely can't pull it out myself), weatherstripping 1 or 2 doors and possibly sealing the leaky greenhouse window (if I don't do that myself). I've caulked stuff before but sometimes you can make a mess if you're not careful. As for the kitchen drawer, I vaguely remember soaping the runner before, but I can't even pull it out this time. I'll try again.
Another distraction: discovered $75 from my mother's estate in the state unclaimed property website. It's super frustrating that the nursing home sent it straight to unclaimed property, necessitating a lot of paperwork by me after the fact, collecting of documents, getting things notarized, etc., when they could have mailed me the $$ directly. I still am at the same address with the same phone and email as I was 10 years ago, and they have my fiduciary documents.
So I filed the initial claim and state told me I could shortcut things by filing an affidavit instead of having to go back down to probate court to "reopen" the estate and and get an updated executor document. And then I remembered vaguely having attempted to claim this same $75 a few years ago but they didn't say anything about the shortcut affidavit, just that I'd have to go back to probate court. I remember the probate court people as being particularly unhelpful as I navigated my mother's estate through probate; it was almost as if they just wanted you to hire an attorney.
I don't know if they've loosened the rules for unclaimed property with values of less than $500 or if the original advice I got was bad, but at that time, I just dropped it and didn't feel the amount of money was worth pursuing based on the hassle and time consumption. I still don't, but I also don't feel it's right the state should benefit by keeping my family's money.
Now, to file the "expedited/simplified" affidavit, I have to find and again submit my mother's death certificate (I think it's in the cold attic) and then schedule an appointment with public library to get them to notarize the form, and for the library I need driver's license and passport. The appointment is set for Monday. Then I upload everything and hope they are satisfied.
I plan to at least start my taxes this weekend, which means printing out all the forms I'll need and going from there.
Oh, miracle of miracles..I finally got my new air quality monitor synced with the app. I was fiddling with it last night and could not pair the 2 together, between toggling back and forth among the device, its app and the settings on my phone...very confusing. I initiated a return at Amazon but this morning I kept trying because it displays some interesting stuff and I'm kind of a nerd that way. I was considering just keeping it and using it without the benefit of the app but luckily don't have to give that up now.
It displays indoor and outdoor air temp, relative humidity, noise (measured in decibels), 2 kindsof particulate matter, carbon dioxide and VOCs (generated from things like paints, new furniture outgassing, perfumes, etc). Mine shows it's slightly high but you're supposed to put it in an outdoor setting for about a half hour to calibrate it, and I haven't done that yet. The noise was a bit high because my microwave was heating up lunch.
January 30th, 2026 at 07:02 pm 1769799731
Massachusetts required a few estate forms, and I had to swear to disperse it fairly to other beneficiaries.
I brought my brother his $6.12 and told him it was the final gift from our mother.
Hardly worth the effort, but I have plenty of time for nonsense. Federal custody right now we’re arrested by the FBI.
January 30th, 2026 at 07:04 pm 1769799887
January 31st, 2026 at 05:32 am 1769837575
Uh anyways, as for the air quality monitor, that’s a great idea. I’m going to look into getting one as well. Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated, although it seems your unit does not seem reliable?
January 31st, 2026 at 02:57 pm 1769871447
As for the AQ monitor, the one I bought is the Qingping (not the "lite" version). From all the reviews I've read, it's a better price and gives you similar output as other brands.
It's not that it's unreliable, it's that ME and technology don't always mesh well together. As a way of seeing what else I could do, or see if I overlooked something, I went thru all but one button on the monitor to see what it did. I skipped the one button becus it didn't look like a Settings button. It was, and once I clicked on it, I was able to sync pretty easily.
January 31st, 2026 at 03:24 pm 1769873084
https://breathesafeair.com/qingping-air-monitor-review/
January 31st, 2026 at 08:19 pm 1769890762
Thanks for the AQ monitor feedback.