u/JcWoman

I recently joined an APA league and discovered on day one that I was assigned team captain. I have no problem with the duties of that except for one: collecting the weekly dues. I didn't know this when I accepted to join the league, but the weekly team dues are required to be paid whether you show up or not. My team is organized so that each person pays their share of it. When people are absent, I feel awkward about asking them to pay anyway. I wouldn't want to pay if I wasn't playing, so I struggle to ask them to do that. How do you guys handle the dues?

Edited to add: I've only read a few replies so far (will keep reading though!), but wanted to add a little more detail. my team is entirely new people, including myself. That's how I got assigned captain, pretty much at random. And the team didn't decide how to handle the dues, we were just told that there are weekly dues that are required to be paid, and I was told separately by the LO that it was my job to make sure I collected the right amount every week. I supposed I should get them together and ask them all how we should handle it. Back to reading the replies...

I've looked online and I'm going to call my local medicaid office tomorrow morning to talk to them, but I could use some sanity checking. I enrolled successfully in badgercare last January. I'm divorced, 62 years old and my only income is alimony/spousal support of $3K/month and interest income from a savings account. When I enrolled I was told that alimony doesn't count as income for medicaid because the IRS counts it as non-taxable income. So that's how I qualified.

Now suddenly, medicaid has cut me off starting Sept 1st this month, citing the fact that my $3K/month income is over the cut off of $1330/month. Did something change?

I'm also thinking back to last year - before I signed up for it, I had attempted to get medical insurance on the ACA marketplace. At that time I found that with my $3K/month income, I didn't qualify for credits/subsidy/whatever, so they quoted me the full premium amounts that totalled well over my annual income. Even for the worst possible plans (highest deductibles, lowest coverage). If I no longer qualify for medicaid, and can't afford an ACA plan, I guess I'm self-insuring which kind of means no more health care for me until I'm old enough for medicare. Anybody else here fall into this trap? What did you do?

(I know I can look for a part time job that offers health insurance, but 1) I'd hate to take a job from a younger person who needs one, and 2) I retired so that I could spend my time on myself and doing volunteer work. I'll do that if I have to, but it's my plan B... or plan C.)

I recently got into doing jigsaw puzzles again, but can't afford to buy new ones every other week so I've been looking for puzzle swaps. My Google-Fu showed me that there is a swap area in the Waukesha public library, so I went last week to check it out. It's nice, fairly large but could be bigger (hint hint). I'd love to go there to swap puzzles but I'm not sure how often it's used by people. I'm adult, and usually look for random-cut puzzles in the 1000-1500 piece range.

Anybody here try it?

I'm recently divorced, 62 years old and moved to a new state where I don't know anyone. Well, one person: the man I'm dating. But as I started this new single life, I decided to do it in such a way that my life does NOT center around him. I live alone and thrive that way. Even back in college, I never could stand roommates. I've been in a meetup group of women over 50 who do things together and that's been great. I read a LOT. I can't stand to watch tv much so i don't. I play games on my computer and ipad. I volunteer a bit on a weekly basis. I signed up for a continual learning program and attend many of their local programs. I sign up for local exercise programs. I feel like I'm on a good path of taking good care of myself mentally and physically.

But here's the thing... When I'm home alone, I do sometimes feel lonely. I crave someone to talk to, companionship. The groups that I participate in are occasional, maybe once or twice a week. I still don't have a solid friend that I can call and hang out with. I'm sure that will come in time but when I'm missing companionship I still grind my teeth a bit. I keep having to stop myself from messaging him, asking to chat or visit.

My point here is that as social creatures we all need companionship at times. If you can't be with a boyfriend/husband, you still need a companion. That's, I think, what makes it so hard to decenter men. Pets can help, but for my own reasons I don't want one just now. I wish I had a woman friend who I could hang out with when my boyfriend cancels plans.

Just needed to say this as sort of proxy conversation with a friend. Most of the time I'm great but occasionally I feel moody like this and have nobody to talk to.

I'm helping a friend look for a new apartment for himself and his son, in a large metro area. I'm very good at online research so I've been sending him lists of places to contact. When he does, he finds that either there actually aren't any available units, or the rent for them is higher than what zillow/apartments.com/google/etc displayed. He's on a rather limited budget which makes things tricky but also means that this is turning a bit frustrating. I love and enjoy research but I'm starting to feel like this isn't the way to go. Is there a better way to find potential places that he can contact to set up tours/applications?

I've been learning stained glass at my local makerspace, which is huge and fantastic. But I'm struggling more than I feel I should with getting smooth solder lines on my projects. At first I thought it was just me having poor skills. But now I'm starting to think it's maybe the tools there. It's a well-run space but there are always people who don't take the best care of the tools, so... YMMV as they say.

When working on this piece, I started in the lower left corner and really fighting with the solder and getting frustrated that I couldn't smooth it out. I went and got a different iron and tried it... that's the lower right corner of the piece. As you can see it was better, and smoother without frustration.

I've also been watching some youtube videos about soldering. They show a few things that I haven't been able to do with the irons in my makerspace. For one, they pick up a drop of solder with the iron and then place it on the piece - when I tried it, that just didn't happen. The iron usually immediately dropped the drop, unable to hold it for the two seconds I needed to put it where I wanted it. Also, some videos show them holding the tip of the solder wire up high on the iron, and let the melted solder flow down to the tip. When I tried it, the solder didn't melt or flow at all. I have to hold the very tip of the iron against the solder wire to melt it.

I definitely still need more practice but I'm also now wondering if it's worth it to buy my own iron so that I know it's working properly and at the correct temp. Thoughts?

(Also, yes, I did a horrendous job on the foil. That one is definitely on my skills and not the tools, so I am going to work on that.)

https://preview.redd.it/sxwdwq7n2hah1.jpg?width=2448&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=39a78304696962deaa376a19a1b0fd2ec421a495

Relatively new, so my skills are iffy at best. This is my third project and I tried really hard to go slowly and carefully to put the copper foil on straight. But as you can see, it's still crooked. And on the clear glass it REALLY shows. The copper foil you can see is actually on the backside of the glass.

Can I heat up the solder to soften it, then take a metal tool and scrape the foil back a bit? Or would it just lift the edges and be sharp and still ugly?

Has anybody found a foiling tool that helps them get it nice and even?

https://preview.redd.it/zpg2k31aoj5h1.jpg?width=2874&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=343527fb6d7f16abc75385972b6f8ceb51facdf6

I just finished a nice in-person "how to play mahjong" class, so I'm a novice but feel confident enough to now try to find a group to play with on a regular basis. I found one near me through Facebook and when I started to sign up for one of their game dates, I was directed to a ticket system where I'd have to pay. It's only $12 (plus maybe taxes, I don't know) so not a huge amount. But there was no indication of what that money is used for.

Is this normal to have to pay to attend?

I know I should ask THEM, and will. But I think there's a chance that they might get defensive about the question so want to ask here how this generally works first.

I'm currently renting an apartment but looking at the possibility of buying a foreclosed house from the city. (City foreclosed previous owners due to unpaid property taxes and now is trying to unload them if they can, otherwise they get demo'ed.)

It has repairs mandated by the city to bring it up to code, which must be done in 180 days of closing. I've owned houses in the past and know that it can be hard to get contractors to even bid, depending on the size of the repair. So I'm curious, is it likely that the city has a list of contractors willing to bid and maybe do the work on houses like this (they have a list, only one of which I'm interested in) within the city's timeline? Especially since the mandated repairs are to bring it up to city codes and require permits (thus inspections).

Edit for clarity: what I'm wondering about is the timeline for the repairs. 180 days seems very short.