A Stormy MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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Good morning.

It’s currently 41 degrees and wet outside. The expected high is around 52 and we’ll see cloudy skies.

Yesterday was long, very long. Then I made it even longer because I got a wild hair up my tail and decided that after work was the perfect time to scrub and clean the blinds in the primary suite bathroom. You know how you look at something that’s been there for a long time but don’t really see it? I finally “saw” those blinds for real and just went “ew” and decided to rectify the situation. They are white faux wood blinds. The last bath from Polar didn’t help them at all. Anyway, they’re clean now, and at 8:00 pm last night, I got to sit down and relax. There are two windows in that bathroom, and they’re not small. It didn’t help that my work day ended at 5:00. I took an hour to eat some dinner and then catch up on some personal emails, and at 6:00 started on those blinds.

I am not thrilled with the results of yesterday’s meeting. However, I did tell the director and deputy that they need to be crystal clear about what we’re tracking and that I’m not going to hand-jam data because that leads to errors. The director thinks I should be doing this because I oversee the entire budget (planning, tracking expenditures, moving funds, and closing out the year). However, I have nothing to do with FTE ceilings (those decisions are made on high).

I am hoping that I’ll be out of there before long. I don’t have time to add more, and somehow I am now in charge of modernizing and updating the whole SharePoint site for our state, not just the Administration side. Updating the site is one of our strategic goals. I was trying to bring it in line with the National sites because our site is done the old way and is nothing but a wall of text. It’s not attractive or user-friendly. So, not only do I have that to do, but I have to create some metric tracker for the rest of our goals that shows outcomes, not just stats. An example of outcomes is how a pig farmer was able to get a solar energy grant, cutting his energy bill down to 25 a month (from 3500), which allowed him to grow his business by hiring new employees. Those are just the main points, there is more, and the expectation is that I will be a big part of this and do the rest of my job too. I will try and negotiate getting rid of some aspects of my job, such as COR/COTR duties.

Well, onward with the day and more coffee. I believe this is going to be a three-cup day.

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Got a fire going in the basement - I even brought in some more wood. I scooped the cat box. And I’m having a cup of hot tea since my cold Diet Coke gave me a chill. SIL is on the way with Tobias. So it begins…

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{{{{{FairyChats}}}}} My condolences to you and the entire family. Now you can finally mourn the man you loved, rather than the shell that was left.

MIL will definitely be both lost and exhausted after all of this, she will need rest and support to navigate not just the legal business, but the whole living without him business. When mum died, I had a copy of her Will and a list of all her assets including all her bank information. I gave it to the solicitor’s office and they did everything for me. I realise that means they took a chunk of the estate funds as their fee but it was so much easier than me having to do all the work. I still had to cancel subscriptions, cancel appointments, and deal with that side of things, but it was a relief having someone else to take care of the big stuff.

I don’t know how things work over there, I had to get the hospital to send paperwork to the funeral directors so they could collect mum’s body, then nothing else could happen until I’d officially registered the death. Once I’d done that and got a death certificate, everything else got under way.

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Morning all. Somber news to wake up to, my deepest condolences to all the FCM Family. I think you said it just right, Moooom, he’s finally free; from what you have written about him, he would not have wished to be a burden or caused such anguish for his family in his passing. Hopefully most of his affairs can be sorted out in the next week or two and having MIL there will help (it would have been a nightmare if they were still in Florida).

Again, all my condolences and {{{ }}}.

Taters, seems you have the Curse of Competence; so they load you down with even more stuff because they believe there is no limit to what you can do… Hope the new job search goes well.

Bat Boy, weight and stress do tend to go together. Besides cutting back on chocolate (maybe only at certain times/locations?), think of what else has changed in your eating habits post-job. I’m trying to adapt to Diet soda because I know I drink way to much of it and can reduce my calorie intake by at least 1,500 calories a week that way, the experiment is still ongoing. Take care.

JtC, nice of the folks to get you something; and says much about you that they got you something. Hope the cheese coloring goes better than expected.

nellie, hope the gym crowd slows down; is it some local place or a ‘name-brand’ gym? We have a plague of them around here.

shoe, :wink: :smile: :smile: Ya done what needed to be done.

Butters, enjoy the cruising. Most lines don’t require formal dress at dinner anymore, it’s ‘optional’, but most people do try to gussy up for 1-2 nights. The pantssuit ought to be great.

You’re evil…I like that in a person…

Up to 32F (but heading up to 60F) today, need to go out to the Verizon store and Well Fargo and then over to the gym for some bicycling to nowhere. Outside of that nothing else on the agenda, well see how the days goes.

Take care all.

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May flights of angels sing Bob to his rest.

I’m sorry for your loss. It is painful and a relief at the same time. My not solicited advice is to chill for a day. Then the legal stuff can start. The funeral home will do the needful regarding Social Security and Medicare and can provide copies of the death certificate. Get many copies of the certificate, like at least 10. The lawyer will be able to do the rest, or at least give you advice.

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Heaved, did my aldi run. Now it’s naptime.

I apppreciate your appreciation.

You have my condolences.
{{{{Fairychats}}}}

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Little Mr. Crankypants is napping - Tobias, not his grandpa… SIL will be taking off work early, so I shouldn’t have to stay at their house too long. Which is good.

I’m going to plant my derriere in my recliner and relax while the babby snoozes.

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A foggy morning here, but it’s supposed to burn off, and we’ll get finally get some sunshine. Then tomorrow, the rains start again. This makes me happy. I’m going to wash the bed linens today. Then I’ll decide if I go too the gym or on a very long walk.

FCM, it’s good FIL’s struggles are over. Wishing everyone peace and the chance to rest.

MetalMouse , it’s a national chain, the purple one that’s only $10 a month. The local gyms are smaller and charge well over 10 times as much, so when my old gym (also a chain) closed for good, I was grateful this one opened.

That’s the perfect way to put it. Taters, I hope you can find another job soon. I get tired just reading all you have to do.

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For various reasons, Bailey hasn’t gone to doggy daycare since October: lately I’ve been wondering whether she’s getting enough exercise, and apparently I’m subconsciously feeling a little guilty. It’s super rare for me to remember my dreams, but last night I dreamed that I was traveling with her (somewhere pretty remote, while visiting family) and she needed to go to the vet, so I took her to a place and had to leave her there. It was a holiday weekend and I went 3-4 days without either hearing from the place or calling them, and when I finally called on the day I was going back home they wouldn’t give her back to me! They claimed they didn’t have her. Somehow the place was both the size of a city block and in the middle of a residential neighborhood: I went there and had no luck with the staff, then walked all over outside calling for Bailey (and crying) but she was nowhere to be found.

Many things in that dream would never happen IRL – I never travel with Bailey, I would never go 3-4 hours without contacting a place where she was staying if she were hurt/sick, let alone 3-4 days, etc. – but I still woke up feeling very sad about losing my doggy, very worried about where she was/how she was doing, and very guilty because I hadn’t checked on her in so long and therefore losing her was my own fault. She got some extra attention this morning, and I’m thinking that tomorrow she’ll make a triumphant (and overdue) return to doggy daycare.

Man, I’m tearing up a little just writing about that stupid dream!!

Work has been relatively quiet so far today…I’m hoping it stays like this! :crossed_fingers: Tomorrow I’ll hold annual performance review conversations with both of my direct reports: I always worry about saying the right thing/doing right by them, plus one of them needs a lot of hand-holding, so I’m not looking forward to those meetings. My review conversation with my own manager is scheduled for Thursday: it should be positive, but I always get a little nervous.

Time for lunch, and a little (Kindle) reading… :open_book:

I think a lot of people take the week after New Year’s Day off; so, the “new year” – with its associated resolutions – doesn’t really start until this week. :slight_smile:

:people_hugging:

I deal with our COR a lot, and often think that I would not want to have that job. I hope things improve for you soon!

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A certain toddler wore more of his lunch than he got in his face. So I tossed him into a tub of warm water and let him splash for a while. As I told my daughter, it’s easier than running after him!

We’ll head out in about half an hour to let Cozmo pee then pick up Roxy. He only napped about 45 minutes so I expect he’ll fall asleep in the car.

Mac-n-cheese and broccoli for supper.

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Oooh, I am so proud of myself. Last time I made pot roast, I seared the extra meat, bagged & labeled it, popped into freezer.

Today, one of those chunks is sitting in my teensy slow cooker, now accompanied by a handful of baby carrots, one (1) stick of chopped celery, two (2) little potatoes, most of an onion & some garlic, plus healthy glugs of red wine, chicken broth, and woostershesheshirewhateverthehell sauce. Oh, and a coupla bay leaves and a bit of tomato paste.

Man, I am SO looking forward to coming home tonight!

(Living alone, it’s rare to return home to a hot, deliciously fragrant dinner.)

Off to work in an hour. Will have to locate clean socks’n’undies before then. (Don’t clutch any pearls; I know where they are.) Meanwhile, Monkey is holding down the grass outside - it might float away otherwise.

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Possibility of further thunderstorms here from noon to 8pm (I’m typing a few minutes before 11am). It’s noticeably darkened up outside and the wind has picked up in the less than hour I’ve been up (went back to bed once the early morning storm and the cats calmed down). There’s even apparently a small chance of tornadoes, which isn’t exactly routine in this area.

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BIL is out of rehab and on his way home. FCD will sleep at home tonight. I haz a happy.

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Blessings and good thoughts to all.

Yep, the Curse of Competence is definitely what is going on. Good luck finding a different job.

I agree that it was very nice of the budistas to get me something. I was really surprised and probably sounded like an ingrate or something cause I was pretty flabbergasted and speechless. I think I’ll take them a nice cheese board next time I go.

Cheese coloring…well, so far I’ve learned that cherry juice will turn cream cheese pink, not red. Colored and flavored cream cheeses are pretty popular with bagels so it doesn’t look as weird as red butter would. I’ve also made some with bits of chopped cherries and juice swirled in. I think that looks very attractive, but I wouldn’t be able to spread that into the molds without losing the nice swirl. I was able to make nice looking individual sized balls though.

European cream cheese isn’t as stiff as American style cream cheese but it is a little sweeter and has a better mouth feeling, so I think it words better with the cherries. I did make a very small batch of American style cream cheese so the owner can have that choice, European cream cheese is more expensive than American style.

We’re going to go to the diner in a couple of hours for supper and sample delivery. They were blasting again last night so hubs will probably want me to drive south. I really REALLY want to stop and turn over some of the rocks, I’ll bet the workers are finding some nice fossils.

I agree with this advice. Nothing bad will happen if you delay the paperwork for a day or so.

Before I retired I would sometimes have stress dreams that involved losing a cat in a strange neighborhood. They were always very unsettling and I would wake up in tears at times. You are not a bad doggy mama, it was just your subconscious acting up over something. (Reviews?)

According to the reports out here, you are either going to all drown, freeze to death without power or get swept away by a series of tornadoes.

Whenever we are under wildfire conditions, I always call mom and remind her that the news makes everything sound much more dramatic than it usually is.

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I would call the lawyer. There may be things he or she will want to put in motion and they’ll probably want a copy, at least, of the death certificate. My memory is fuzzy on all that, sorry. If so, you’ll want to ask if an e-mailed or faxed copy will do.
My heartfelt condolences. {{{{{{{{{{{{{{ FCs}}}}}}}}}}}}}

My father, with whom I had a very rocky relationship, appeared in a dream last night. :thinking:

Later.

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Any word from Sunny?

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So glad to read this. Hug each other tight. It’s been a long, hard slog for all. Will be thinking of you a lot over the next few days.

{{{{{ chats }}}}}

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BBB!!! We was getting a little worried about you!

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nelliebly had a bit of a psychic thing there.

may bob’s memory be eternal.

good news on brother in law. i hope he will be a comfort and a bit of a distraction for his mum.

when my mum passed, i got 25 death certificates, i used 24 of them and only have one left after 16 years. the last time i had to send one to a company was 5 years after she passed. nearly every thing needed an actual certificate with the embossed seal. sometimes you don’t get it back.

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Palmdale Water District posted pics of Littlerock Dam on their Facebook page. They say ‘Our entire team is so excited to see Littlerock Dam overflowing this morning! It’s been a few years since it has filled & spilled.’