We’re going to make cookies tonight, too. Wonder how many will last till tomorrow… heh
Do you know where he’s teaching? Seoul is a smaller place than you might think. Especially the ex-pat community.
My voice is on and off right now. The higher-level reading instructors have planned a ski trip today so I’m tagging along, but with this throat hitting the slopes is probably not the best idea…
Hullo, I’m back–been bizzy couple days…
Last night we went out to the airport to welcome home our Army friend who’s back from Iraq safe and sound, yay! He’s looking well, has an interesting scar on his elbow to show off and seems to be single minded about catching up on all the vices he missed in the Middle East. We helped him out with beervage and smoky treats, then it appears as though his sister did a little Big Pimpin’ and hooked him up with a friend of hers–we saw them get introduced to each other, there was a clinch of epic proportions (especially between people who’d just been introduced five seconds ago!) and then shortly thereafter the two of them disappeared somewhere… Young people, so impetuous!
The high winds we’ve been having caused a large tree limb to fall across the very dark road I was driving down last night and I only dodged enough for it to miss the van but it took out my passenger side sport mirror and crumpled the housing like tinfoil. Isn’t that great? Now BOTH my vehicles are down with busted mirrors! :rolleyes: On the plus side I did some hunting in the U-Pullit lots and found two immaculate doors for the Cavalier–hundred bucks. They’re being installed now. They’re the wrong color, but come from the same model so they have the extra body molding and rocker panels already painted so it’ll be much easier to paint the rest of the doors. If it wasn’t so damned cold and blowy out I’d go hunt down another mirror for the van, lucky for me I just did a lot of scouting through the junkyards so I know JUST where to go!
Himself finished his week of training and is going live and hot on Monday–they still haven’t completely resolved the VOIP glitch so he had to use his mobile phone all week and went through almost 1000 minutes. :eek: I’m gonna need to change the rate plan for this month to something that can handle that then change back in January–we’ve been on this same 700 minute plan for years and this is the first time we’ve ever gone over.
Bear-dog is bored today because it’s too nasty to play outside, Widget is all about the napping and the cats aren’t noted for playing well with others so I had no choice but to distribute yummy beef knuckle bones to both dogs. I’m hoping this will keep the little enthusiast busy and out of trouble–he keeps trying to play with Pratchett and it’s not gonna be pretty when he finds out what “playing” entails for a twenty pound, fairly aggressive cat!
I think I need to make an apple pie to go along with the Death Chicken I have planned for dinner. I’ve been promising one to Himself since Thanksgiving but I’ve barely been home all week to peel the darned apples. Sure wish apples weren’t so labor intensive, waaaah waaaah waaaah! 
I also have a shopping cart full of on-sale Smartwool socks at Sierra Trading Post and have not yet made up my mind whether to go ahead and order them or not. All of my wool socks are in a shocking state of holiness so I really do need them, and they are drastically on sale–I mean really, Smartwool socks for 6-8 bucks a pair? Decisions, decisions. If my feet were cold right now I’d probably have already ordered them, huh? :dubious:
Folks- I can’t do the MMP on Monday, sorry.
We just found out that my Brother-in-law had an aortic aneurysm and had a massive stroke on the OR table trying to repair it.
He’s brain dead.
We’ll be going to St. Louis soon for the funeral.
God. We were really close.
{{Soapy}} How very sad. Be safe in your travels. Prayers to you and yours.
Oh, I’m so sorry, Soapy. My prayers to your family, and travel safe, please.
Feel better soon, Mooom!
Papa Tigs is headed to San Antonio Monday for five days. Of course, the gummint travel system being what it is, could he just book himself a nonstop flight on Southwest, that leaves at a reasonable hour of the morning and gets him there before noon? Of course not. He has to catch a flight before dawn, then spend half the day sitting in Chicago (to go from Maryland to Texas, for heaven’s sake!), and won’t arrive there till suppertime. And same on the way back. He is seriously Not Pleased. Not that I blame him.
Today has been a quiet day. About all I’ve done is get my hair cut. Usually Saturdays are insanely busy at the Salon, but today I was the only client in there the whole time. I guess everyone took advantage of the sunny (albeit cold) day to go shopping. Not that I minded; she took a bit more time on my hair than she sometimes does. Not that she doesn’t always do a good job, but it was nice to not have her feel like she needed to rush to stay on schedule.
And since then I’ve been sitting here knitting more baby hats for Save the Children. I should be working on SIL’s hat with that really weird unspun Icelandic yarn, but two-color knitting, not to mention that funky and very delicate yarn, takes more mental energy than I’m willing to expend. I assume once it’s knitted up and I wash it so the fibers hook together a bit more, it’ll be nice and strong; but as it is, if I even pull it out of the wheel too hard, it starts pulling apart. So knitting with nice acrylic yarn that’s virtually indestructible is a good alternative. And then as soon as Papa Tigs leaves, I’ll work furiously on the scarf/hat set for him that he doesn’t know he’s getting for Christmas. In between earning a living and feeding the two insatiable Idiots, that is.
Speaking of the Idiots, they went to the school ball field that’s the unofficial neighborhood dog park this morning and Rusty learned that it’s not entirely safe to go racing up to strange dogs. He didn’t get hurt, but he ran into a grumpy female who did not appreciate being charged by an excessively happy and bouncy golden retriever, and nearly put him on the ground before the humans intervened. Then they were fine, of course; Rusty doesn’t grasp the idea that anyone or anything in the universe doesn’t love him and want to play, and he’s definitely not a fighter. But hopefully he’ll at least think before charging a strange dog again. Right. :rolleyes: 
(Yes, snowbunny, once you’ve picked yourself up off the floor from laughing hysterically at the concept of Rusty learning anything with his one functioning brain cell, you can just go back to work, young lady!)
I am officially Old. I got a new Time magazine today, and they’ve got all these lists of this and that. One was of the year’s best songs. Of the ten songs named, I had heard of four of the artists, and none of the songs. Oy.
**MamaTigs **- He couldn’t pick his own flights? That doth well and truly suck. We used to have to deal with that when I was working in Jax, but where I am now, I call the travel folks and tell them which flight and which hotel I want, and I get it. Maybe it’s an agency thing??
The soup was yummerrific. In a little bit, I’ll bake some cookies - perfect ending to a so-so day.
**FCD **got the woodstove all installed - tomorrow we’ll fire it off and see how well it heats the garage. Fingers crossed…
Moooom, he could pick his flights from the available ones, but he was limited to the airlines the gummint has contracts with, and apparently Southwest isn’t one of them. It well and truly sucketh, you are right. At least his hotel was picked by the folks hosting the event so that wasn’t a big deal. But calling “the travel folks”? I don’t think so! No, he had to do it himself. And because the trip info was originally entered wrong by the folks hosting the event, he also had to redo his reservations three separate times – the first two times the system would kill it if it hadn’t been through the entire approval process within two hours. He finished actual work at 2:30 yesterday, but ended up not being able to leave till after 5:00 – that’s how long it took him to make a simple flight reservation! I don’t know if it’s an agency thing, but I will say that the Army really makes a specialty out of making things as difficult as possible.
Just be careful not to burn the garage down! :eek:
I just finished baking a double batch of Tollhouse cookies with semi sweet and white chocolate chips. They are yummerrific! The house smells good and it’s nice and warm, too.
It’s a Wonderful Life is on NBC. Daughter has never seen it - we failed as parents…
**MamaTigs **- apparently the Navy has that over the Army then…
I only worked 12 hours today.
{{{{Soapy}}}}
Mama Tigs, I think my dad used the Guvernmint planner when he did my trips. Raleigh to Omaha via Minneapolis.:dubious:
FCM, I’ve never seen *It’s a Wonderful Life * either. My parents were cruel like that. 
{{{Soapy}}} I’m so sorry to hear that.
I think I’ve started working doggio’s hours, but he can have them back. Things with the booth are not going well. We are open, but nobody’s buying. The first day I was open nobody could tell what the cookie dough was. So I put up 3 signs with large font saying COOKIE DOUGH. Even still, people can’t quite grasp the concept. One person thought it was mashed potatoes.:rolleyes: It’s very frustrating and it doesn’t help that I suck at retail sales. I tend to take it more personally than I should when someone doesn’t buy something.
Oh well. Hate to whine and run, but I’ve got to go put another layer of clear coat on my jewelry that I’m making.
Hugs to all!
{{{{{{{{Soapy}}}}}}}} your family is in my thoughts and prayers; travel safely.
Different govt. agencies have different ways of doing travel, although all are -supposed- to use the same govt. airfares/airlines. The agency I work at, you have to use the online system to book your flight, hotel reservations, etc.–essentially, you do the travel authorization on line. I’ll say this: they seem to choose the most user-unfriendly system they can find! And trying to find a hotel is just ridiculous–if you don’t know anything about the city you’re going to, you’re about up the creek without a paddle, and I think you know which creek I’m talking about!! As an administrative asst., I used to make the travel reservations, do the authorizations and vouchers, but not any more. If they call a travel agency, they’re charged a (large!) fee! Oh, don’t get me started on govt. travel… LOL
Did someone say it was less than two weeks until Christmas?!
{{{{{Soapy}}}}}
We got a bit more snow than I realized, about four inches at my house. I found this out when I went to clean off my car to go to work. I can see that will be Not Fun after I do it a few more times, but hey, you do what you gotta do.
I’ve seen part of It’s a Wonderful Life but never the whole thing. Bad me.
MamaTigs, I suspect I would do no better at that list. So if that makes one Old, I’m not sure what that would make you since I’m younger and all.
He’s gone. Yesterday at 4pm he was fine. Tonight at 7 pm he was gone.
Rest easy, Ray.
Oh, Soapy, I am so sorry. I’m sending warmest thoughts to you and your family.
{{{{{Soapy}}}}}
Awww, {{{Soapy}}} I’m so sorry to hear that, how awful for you and your family. My thoughts are with you, please travel safely…
I’m so sorry to read about your brother-in-law, Soapy. Hugs for you and your family. Travel safely.
(I’ll pick up the MMP, by the way…)
Sorry you’re having trouble with the booth, Pie. Have you thought about baking up some of the dough so that people can taste samples and maybe make the connection more readily.
I’ve had a nice mix of a fun and productive day. Met up with friends for an early coffee and gift exchange, then went to brunch with a whole lot more friends, then went shopping for a few items, then came home to tear the office apart and put it back together again. I’m about half done and thinking about quitting, although I’m still pretty awake.
Back to…work or something.
More hugs for Soapy and for everyone.
GT
{{{Ivory}}}
Rest in Peace, Ray 
{{{Soapy}}} I’m so sorry for your loss. Ray, his family and you are in my thoughts and prayers.
Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and caffienatin’. I did not make any obscene sugar cookie mens/wimmens last night but my snowman cookies were better than anybody elses’ it was declared. ‘Twas a fun evenin’.
I (ok, we but it stays at my house!) have a big tray of goodies. Cookies, fudge, peanut and pecan brittle, and toffee all made by my friend who goes into a cookie/candy makin’ frenzy at Christmas. Seriously. She makes massive quantities of all this stuff and gives it away. She lurves doin’ it too.
Ok, need more caffiene and some sort of brekkies I suppose. We’ll get churchified and then I gotta get back to da cave to get the lasagna rolls baked. Guests can sip on Bloody Mary’s while that’s happenin’ so it’s all good.
Later Y’all!