A Routine MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
41

FCM, I pictured FCD in his new “I lost 40 pounds, and all I got was this new t-shirt.”
I know what you mean about having to try on jeans and shoes in person. It’s the same with made-to-size baseball caps. The pieces may be computer-cut, but the assembly is done by humans, who don’t make the same seam the same way every time. I have big hands, and when I buy winter gloves, I have to try on several, to find the pair that was accidentally made too big.

Egad, too long, didn’t edit. Need more caffeine.

As the daylight hours get shorter, I’m using the big therapy light before sunrise. It’s here in the office, so I’m typing to you instead of reading the comics in the other room.

42

He just bought himself a non-baseball cap and he really likes it because it has adjustable straps on the sides. Just a small adjustment on each and it fits perfectly.

And now I’m showered and dressed and thinking about crating Otis so I can get my grocery shopping out of the way. I hate having to lock him up, but I can’t trust him. Maybe when he gets past the puppy stage I won’t have to worry about him chewing up everything.

Yeah, I think I’ll take my list and get that chore out of the way. Then maybe by the time I get back, it’ll be less chilly and I can take the dog for a nice long walk.

43

Good morning.

It’s 41°F, dark and clear outside. It will be partly to mostly sunny most of the day, and the daytime high will be around 61°F.

Pilot, what a terrible blow for the GF’s housekeeper. I’m so sorry.

Metal Mouse, I saw the pics. Nice looking rig!

FCM, we don’t have “convenience centers” around here. We have to go to the landfill, which has different areas for different types of trash or recycling. Yard waste is free, but trash has a basic fee, plus more depending on the weight. Getting rid of batteries or appliances is very expensive there.

Swampy, I’m glad the effects of the shots aren’t too awful.

I am not sure what is on the agenda for today. I lost my good mushroom foraging knife, so I’m hunting for a new one. I have one that’ll do, for now, but I loved my old knife because it fit my hand just right. It also folded and was sharp. Maybe I’ll head to Dicks to see what they have.

I’m worried my friend will cancel because it’s supposed to rain on Saturday. If she does, I hope she gives me some notice so I can see if another friend wants to go. Rain doesn’t bother me; I have rain gear.

Well, that’s all the news that’s fit to print. I will make another cup of coffee, and peruse the interwebs for awhile. You all take care of yourselves, you hear!?

44

There is no bad weather, only bad clothing.

45

Morning all. Slept in until 7:30am and will shortly get dressed and clean out my old car in preparation to selling it today, then get the new car registered at the license bureau and hopefully that will finish up the procedures for the transfer. Nice day for it, it’s 60F heading to 71F later with a small chance of rain.

nellie, thanks for the story, gave me a grin for the morning. And then I read your next story and wasn’t grinning anymore…life sure can take some strange twists…
And just my usual; Jersey Mike’s #3 regular on white, with lettuce, tomato and pickles (usual routine).

boo fae, I hope to figure out most of the stuff this week, my goal today is to get the radio set up.

Feel better soon swampy.

Pilot,

I never thought of that. Just got confirmation that the new one has been issued, I’ll check with the Carmax folks and see if there is a problem.

Taters, hope the knife turns up or the replacement is a good one.

And time to dress and start the car cleaning. Have a good day all.

46

If you do the NYTimes Spelling Bee puzzle, you may have noticed a change for October. When you get to genius level, the notice for that normally shows the Bee with a mortar-board cap. Now it’s a witch’s hat.

47

I find that documentaries like that tend to put world (or at least European) history in perspective. You find out that sometimes, it’s just a big family feud on an international scale, but knowing the background makes it all make some sort of sense.

Feel better soonest, swampy!

Up, caffeinating, breakfasted and fixing to do KP. The only thing on the agenda today is making a batch of muffins. A couple of days a week, I like Greek yogurt, fruit and a muffin for breakfast. I make them a bit more diabetic friendly by using sucralose and subbing half the AP flour with rolled oats or whole grain flour. I’m loving having an HVAC system robust enough to bake during AC season!

It hit me yesterday that, while the move to Houston was the right move, I miss Nashville. Part of it is that I’m having to find my way around and part of it is finding an activity for social release. It will come, but I still miss the old life too.

Stay safe and healthy y’all!

48

I dunno - when I was in college, we had a major snowstorm with windchill of -80° Ferrets. That was bad weather. That was stay home under a warm blanket reading a trashy novel weather. :wink:

Back from Food Lion. I managed another shop at just over $50, so I’m a third of the way to my reward. I got a nice hunk of beef that will become a pot roast on Sunday. I’ll have the kids, and Daughter will be coming home from Akron to fetch them, so we’ll have a family supper. And if SIL leaves work early, I can feed him too.

It’s almost time for my early lunch, then I’ll harness up Otis and do a brisk walk around the neighborhood in the hopes (haha) of tiring him (haha) That’s my day so far.

49

~puts tornado-proof socks on~

The lab rollercoaster was not nice to me today. Stopped at the shop on the way home to get fancy hot chocolate ingredients to help cheer myself up. This protocol is just so unpredictable.. there doesn’t seem to be any reason why sometimes it works perfectly and sometimes it’s a complete flop.

I am also about ready to strangle my friend who left his luggage here- it appears that he still hasn’t arranged the collection, after getting all the information ready- everything measured and weighed- on Saturday. He wants it picked up on Friday, from my house, and that’s not flexible.It has to be that day. Apparently he asked them if Friday would be OK last week and they said it was fine, but he hasn’t actually booked it.

I’ve pointed out that just because they said the day was OK a week earlier doesn’t actually mean he can leave it until the last day before booking and assume the collection slot is still available but he keeps saying it’s fine, he’s checked… :roll_eyes: I mean, he told me yesterday that he’d definitely 100% get it booked today, so I don’t know why he thinks anyone else is going to be more reliable than he is…

Gaaah, having crazy friends is very entertaining, but they don’t half mess you around.

50

They only mess around the people who let them. You’re letting them.

This total experience with this person since the stuff was first delivered to you does not seem to be giving you joy. Mary Kondo had a point: If it doesn’t give you joy, gently but firmly banish it from your life. Sometimes that’s flat impossible. Other times it’s trivial. Worth a think IMO.

51

We did 1.75 miles - around the block plus in and out of one cul de sac. I forgot to set my timer - my cardiologist said 150 minutes a week so I don’t know where I stand. Dammit.

Otis is now out in the yard barking at the guy from the electric company who’s marking the yard for the landscapers (woohoo! Getting close!!) FCD is on his way home. I’m thinking I’ll sit and chill for a bit, and think about what we’ll do for supper.

52

Our building elevator is over 30 years old. About 2 years ago we got an letter from the manufacturer informing us that they are no longer able to supply replacement parts and we should modernize or replace it. Since it’s working, the majority of the neighbors don’t want to change it, especially since we just spent quite a bit on a new heating system. Probably it will stay until it dies, and then somebody’s on one of the upper floors will complain that we should have done something earlier. Since we we live on the ground floor it won’t bother us much.

Two good things in one day! Congrats on the new car.

Another exciting day at work. They want me to get all certified for project management, so I’m working through the coursework. It’s a great combination of really obvious information and very fiddly details. And I’ve got a lot of learning to do. :frowning:

53

The Saga of the Missing Hat.
So my Irish flat cap went missing last Tuesday, and I couldn’t find it, so I ordered another one when I came home(Da Jungle, same vendor as before).The hat that arrived Thursday was..lesser quality. So I ordered another one($20), and that got there Saturday. About the same quality, but a $20 bad hat is better than an $90 bad hat. I did the Amazon return thing, which meant dropping off the more expensive hat at Whole Foods, which I was gonna do today. But when I got to work, my missing hat was on the 200 Slide workstation. So now I have a good hat, a bad hat, and since I was at Whole Foods, I now have a 4pk of Samuel Smith Chocolate stout as well.
Workwise, I was on the 100 and 200 Sort tables, and the Senior Clerk was on the Slides. Funny thing is, I’m the only person who can access the Exception Resolution program on the 200 Workstation. I must have pleased The Robot Devil or something.

I wonder if there is an HR approved way to tell 'em “Get off the cross, we need the wood.”

52

Ultraviolence, or lately some minor noblemen from the Continent with a drop of Plantagenet blood. YMMV*

Narf!

All our trash and recycling(including hazmats) is free.
Hope you find the knife, or another good one.

If I did that, I’d be standing on the side of the road with just Spot, the coffee maker, and a fifth of gin.

54

Well, Pilot was right, they need the ‘newest’ Title to go ahead with the sale, and the State of Ali-bama just told me it was ‘issued’ today, so hopefully it will be in the mailbox in the next couple of days and I can get about transferring the plates and such to my new car. At least they inspected my car and confrimed the sale price, so it should be easy to get my money once the title arrives. Raining right now but looks like it will be departing in about a half-hour or so. Need to do a couple minor things around the house, then maybe an ‘easy’ day at the gym (I was down to 197.8lbs yesterday, which is a little less than I like, so need to add more calories–yum). Then back to slothing and probably reading my new car owners guide during the evening.

red, have fun being the Muffin Ma’am… And yeah, if you have something you can get into doing in Houston that you did back in Nashville, it helps…I’ve always had youth soccer to help cushion the change.

FCM, good luck on the shopping quest. Enjoy your Otis’ing (and I see you and he got some good walkies in. And I would guess at normal walking speed you got at bare minimum 40 minutes in.

Nut, I’d be at the stage of putting the stuff in the back yard, uncovered and at the mercy of the elements until ‘friend’ gets his bloody act together.

So you’ll be certifiable?

doggio

When tit comes to telling tales, my hat’s off to you…

And onward to the afternoon!

55

I follow a crime report page( local) on facebook.
This morn a stabbing one block from my building. I could walk there in 2 minutes.
Tomorrow I go get free clothes from a free clothing place, then training.
He gave me 2 days this week and 2 next week.

56

Yeah, we’re on the 3rd floor, which I may have mentioned, so it’s not a big deal to schlep down, or even back up. I feel bad for those who need a wheelchair or a walker to get around. They have no choice but to wait. And don’t get me started on the morons who push BOTH the up and down buttons, thus slowing things down even more.

Despite that, we’re going to do a mid-afternoon run to the grocery and hope we don’t end up with melted ice cream when we get back. Mid afternoon is usually pretty quiet around The Home, so maybe luck will be with us.

Well, I didn’t wake up in a better mood, but still put the call in to the CC place. Got someone almost immediately, but she was the wrong department, so she forwarded me to another number that also turned out to be the wrong department (after a 20 minute wait), who then forwarded me to yet another department who was finally able to help me. After all of this, they’ll probably end up denying me the card.

57

Ye gawds am I tired. Off to work. Yay, me.

Oh, I’m tentatively starting the process of going back to school, again (I have a master’s, why am I doing this?) to maybe get certified in radiology or something along those lines.

I can’t stand for nine hours on these tile floors for much longer.

58

Hooray for ambition. Where there is ambition, there is hope.

I’m sure I speak for the assembled MMPers when I say “You go girl! We’re so proud of you!!”

59

Apparently the collection slot has now been reserved, just he’s not finished the paperirk…

Thing is, this guy is one of those people who, although he is chaos incarnate, is also one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. He’s helped me out a bunch, especially with stats during my masters, often at very short notice and on basically no sleep due to doing way, way too much. He spent so much time helping everyone else he barely left enough time to scrape a passing grade himself, even though he could probably have comfortably taught the class.

He’s apparently incapable of refusing to help someone else. Like… his wife told me once, one of his old childhood friends phoned him up because she was making a sandwich and there was a tomato in the fridge that had gone so mouldy it was scaring her, so could he please come round and clean it out for her?
He did.
It was around 2 am.
He was in bed with his now wife, asleep. Got out of bed, drove across town, cleaned up the tomato, drove home, went back to bed. And thought this was a sensible thing to do because ‘she needed help!’

I’ve even met this mouldy-tomato-phobe because I went to my friend’s wedding, in Uruguay, and he had arranged places for me to stay for the whole trip and spent multiple days that probably should have been honeymoon showing me round.

I spent last Christmas with him 'n his wife, and he’s just invited me for NYE at their new place as well. He’s not one of those friends who just takes advantage, he’s just someone who agrees to do too many things and then completely overwhelms himself and crashes, and right now he’s crashing and it’s really bad timing.

This heap of crap was dumped on me in the first place because another friend who owned a huge house with massive garage who had offered to look after it suddenly split up and sold the house, as the final link in a chain of sit-com level bad luck. All his reasons for not getting it have been genuine if not realistic for a normal person with normal person luck.

So yeah, this isn’t someone I want to just go ‘Right, your stuff’s getting dumped end of the week’ and wash my hands of.

And who knows, maybe it really is sorted…

60

Oh, and Shoe, go for it! I bitch and whine about the PhD because.. well… there’s plenty to whine about, but I ain’t sorry I decided to get more edumacation despite being old enough to be some of the other students’ mum.