Autumn leaves are falling in the MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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This has been me the last week or so. Trying to get motivated and get things done. Fortuanately hubby’s getting out of his (deeper) funk, which then helps me.

So today is for getting out in the sunshine. It’s not all that warm, but blue skies and a big ball of fire helps.

We’re having chili (with beans!) which I made in March and put in the freezer during the lockdown.

Toasted some almonds for making coconut-chocolate-almond cookies later today. My husband had to eat store-bought cookies. Quelle Horreur!

My dad shared his recipe for smoked salmon chowder which calls for clam juice. The American foods store is out of stock and I don’t find another place in Switzerland which has Muschelsaft on-line, and I’m 99% certain my local store doesn’t have it. I did find it in local recipes, so I might have to go to one of the exclusive food stores and see if they have some. Or just try fish boullion. I looked at the thread about shortages and I think half the products I can’t buy anyway. Can’t even get fire-roasted diced tomatoes, so I have to doctor diced tomatoes.

So glad to have internet. When we moved here in 2000, we talked with a coworker who had moved to Switzerland from Ohio in 1989. He got the paper from England once a week (International Journal or something like that). Calling anybody back the U.S. was very expensive. And internet? Usenet was around and some people had email addresses and modems at home, but mostly only at work.

I can’t get everything here that I could in the U.S. and that’s okay.

That’s probably enough babble for now. Hugs to those who need them. Which is probably everybody. It’s very difficult to OD on hugs.

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Good morning.

It’s going to be a warm-ish day around these parts, today. Getting up around 55*! Not bad, considering it’s a frosty 24*, currently. There is talk from the local weather-guessers, that we may be having a thundershower, tonight. Weird to have frost in the morning, and thunderstorms that same evening. That’s Indiana weather, though. Since it’s been frosty a couple of days this week, I should be able to trim back my blackberry vines soon. Always something to keep me from being totally lazy. Damnit.

The agenda for today, is laundry. It’s always laundry. Then, whenever my husband gets home, I’ll have even more laundry. Two weeks worth of his stuff. See what I mean about there always being something to keep me from being totally lazy? Never fails.

This morning, I was up stupid early. Like around 3:30am early. Humbug. I had a few cups of coffee, and got myself all hepped up on that. So, since I had my daughter’s meager pile of beef slices in some marinade for the past 24 hours, I skewered them, and hung them in the oven, to turn them into jerky for her, as requested. I even did the dishes. Not that there were many. At least they’re done.

If hubby makes it home today, we’ll be having spaghetti & meatballs, along with a bit of garlic bread, for dinner. I made the sauce the other day, with tomatoes that I grew, and canned. It’s always so much better than stuff you buy at the store. It’s got a stronger tomato flavor, I think. The following day that he’s here, I’ll make some meatball subs, with the leftover meatballs, and sauce. That’ll work out just fine. He’ll have leftover spaghetti to take with him OTR. He’ll head out on Monday morning, and he won’t be back here again, until after Thanksgiving. Probably the 28th, or 29th. Depending. So, we’ll have our Thanksgiving one of those days. It’s no big deal. I’ll just cook up all the food, and we can eat whenever. Serve yourself when you’re hungry. I’m easy, like that. Anyway, I’m probably thinking too far ahead. I need to get my crap together, and get the immediate stuff done around here.

Geez, I ramble. I’ll shut up, now.

I hope we all have a decent day.

203

There must be a shift in the space-time continuum - I slept straight thru till 5:30!!! I forgot how human I feel after 7+ undisturbed hours…

Much to be done today. Laundry (hi, Nona!! ), turkey smokeage, banana bread bakeage, and possibly mixage of a batch of cookies (to be baked later.) I need to run into Leonardtown to pick up a prescription for FCD, with a stop at Food Lion for some Wickles that he wants to take for his dad. And I need to push the vacuum cleaner around, but that’s a fairly quick process. Oh, and I ran the dishwasher last night and the clean stuff needs to be put away. Then after lunch…

:open_mouth:

:rofl:

I made a funny!!!

But some time today, I’ll drive the new car. I need to feel more comfortable with it before we head down the road next Sat. Holy crap, I have a lot to do in one week… Yet here I am, farting around on line. But it’s still dark out, so I can’t do real chores, right?

Happy Saturday!!

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Good Morning Y’all! Up and caffeinatin’. YAWN ‘Tis 50 Amurrkin out and clear with a predicted high of 79 and N.O.S. for the day. I could mow da yahd today. Or not. Motivated to do so I am not as of yet. I yanked a hunk o’ beast outta da freezer last night. It shall become a pot roast for tomorrow’s either N.O.L. or sup. Possibly sup as I have ush duty for two services tomorrow. Other than that, who knows what the day holds.

shoe OYKW has a thing for “reality” shows on teevee as well as some cookin’ shows on TFN. Those do not appeal to me. I will binge Netflix stuff, as in, search ‘til I see sump’n I think is innerestin’ and go from there. Currently I am watchin’ Charite which is about a horsepistol in Berlin. It’s in German with subtitles. Little bit soapy, but good so far.

Now I need more caffeine and rumbly tummy demands sustenance. Then, onward into the day! Rah.

Happy Sattidy Y’all!

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8 days post surgery. I am still here. I guess recovery is going ok. I still feel weak as a kitten and I have no appetite.

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First load in the washer. Smoker is warming up and turkey has been rubbed with, um, rub. Dishwasher is emptied and refill has started. Second turkey is in a big bowl of water to thaw for rotissing tomorrow. Cat box has been scooped. Eggs and frozen bananas are coming to room temp before I make banana bread.

And it’s not 8:30 yet! Go me!!!

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And right after my last post, my washer timer went off, so second load in the washer, first in the dryer. Then I checked the smoker and it had come up to temp, so the bird is in the smoker. Now I’m going to do a puzzle because I can!

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I wish I had one-third of your energy!

Putting away laundry yesterday, I found the mate for a lone sock that’s been sitting out by my lamp … and replaced it with another mate-less sock. I expect to continue the shuffle next laundry day!

Off to irk in a couple of hours. I’m neither opening, nor closing (they’re trying out some weird mid-day shift) so I don’t know what my duties will be.

Same forecast for western Michigan. Jack Frost scribbled a beautiful design on my car this morning, and it’s blindingly sunny, but the prediction is for storms and rain here tonight, too.

I’m so happy for you!

209

I was awakened by a knock at the door at 0830. Was a mailman with hubby’s cremated remains. The normal mail here doesn’t run until after one so since the box said cremated remains I guess the PO made a special trip. That was nice. He’s back on the island he loved.

I have a few chores today. Since my company arrives late tomorrow I need to tidy up the house and do some laundry . I will strip amd change the bed, I really should go to the store and bank but that must be done by noon. Me and Buddy are back in bed after his walk. He had me awake a good part of the night nervous and trying to get on top of my head. I don’t know what was bothering him once I got the cat in and fed so I finally gave him 1/2 of his pills to calm him down. He was definitely spooked about something.

Y’all have a great Saturday everyone.

210

DH and I both woke up around 6am, so we’re both up. I think something about the “sleeping in” concept kind of eluded both of us.

My county is headed back into a more restrictive level, and according to conversation on NextDoor, “news” stations are talking about panic buying again. Consensus seems to be that news stories like that fuel that problem. Thankfully, I had the sense over the summer and what fall we had to gradually accumulate reserve supplies on a “little here, little there” basis, so I’m pretty relaxed about my inventory and shouldn’t need to go back to the “foraging squirrel” model for quite some time. We’re actually planning to avoid stores if we can, since agitated crowds are unpleasant for both of us.

Nice weekend coming up, may be able to open up for ventilation for a while tomorrow (today will probably not be warm enough). Minor errands, plus the usual sanitation. Hopefully, I’ll have the energy and motivation to finish that storage room over the weekend. I have found I had accumulated more of some items such as disinfectant spray than I had realized (just lost track of how much I had), so getting a handle on current inventory will be helpful. Irk is as irksome as always.

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I forced myself to open some mail, and got excellent news, Mumpers! I’ve been approved for PUA payments (pandemic un(der)employment assistance) so hopefully soon, I should be less worried about which bills to skip paying this month. Huzzah!

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Yet another little tidbit of good news: the local birds have discovered the feeder I hung last week. Even better, it hasn’t been mobbed by starlings yet. :slight_smile:
So far, a few chickadees and a titmouse have been flitting back & forth, and I saw a cardinal investigating the area yesterday, so hopefully he’ll be back.

It’s placed where the kitties can see it through the window. Basically, Kitty T.V. and I just paid the cable bill!
Basic cable, though: just things like the Sparrow Channel, the Chickadee Network, and the late-night Titmouse After Dark specials. :crazy_face:

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That’s the state of my front walk. I scatter bird seed on the cement and the LBBs treat it like a buffet. The cats can watch that for hours. The birds are holding up their end as well by NOT pooping all over my walkway. Once a week I hose the sucker down and send all the hulls and uneaten seed into the street to be washed into the storm sewers.

Today is a mix of Maintenance and food prep. I have 3 meat loaves to bake - 2 to take to dinner tonight and one to freeze for Thanksgiving lunches. Everything is prepped already - they just need to be assembled and cooked.

It’s amazing how much more comfortable the house is when it isn’t at ambient temperature! Happy Saturday, y’all!

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We ordered chicken parm from down the street for last night’s dinner. They must keep their giant 55-gallon drum of garlic next to the sauce pot and somebody accidentally tipped it over. That’s the only explanation. Holy crap! After 3 or 4 brushings, I still have a mouthful of garlic to go with my Cheerios and coffee this morning.

Shoe, great news on the PUA. I relied on unemployment for a few months this year and it was a godsend. We could probably have squeaked by on Mrs W’s salary, but it was nice not to have to. That’s what it’s there for.
I keep four mateless socks in a drawer that have lost their partners to holes or disappearance. On laundry day, I match them with a sock of the same style and then the odd socks out at the bottom of the basket replace the ones in the drawer for a week. Silly, I know, but I can’t bring myself to throw out perfectly good socks just because the other one is gone.

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I’m so glad you’re here too! The appetite will return and kittens are the cutest.

He’s back to the island that loves him. {{{{ }}}}

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Crikey, it’s seven-thirty! The day’s half gone!

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Last load in the dryer. FCD went to Food Lion with me and I drove his car. I think I have the seat and mirrors set to my satisfaction - the memory button will be nice as we head to Florida.

He’s a bit bummed that I’m not all excited about driving his car. I have told him again and again I just don’t care that much about cars. If they get me where I want to go safely, then I’m good. There are features that I don’t like - such as sitting waaaaaaay low to the ground or big blind spots, but for the most part, I truly don’t care. He seems to think I’m missing out by not having a car that I love to drive. I can’t seem to convince him that it doesn’t matter to me like it does to him.

Meanwhile, the turkey is smoking away. As soon as the last load comes out of the dryer, I’ll make the 'nanner bread and some ‘nanner muffins. The other turkey is just about thawed, so it’ll go back in the fridge till rotissin’ time tomorrow.

Still haven’t pulled out the vacuum cleaner, tho. Such a slacker am I…

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Afternoon, mumpers! I had a half-day yesterday as I’ve got to use 3.5 days of annual leave (I have 13.5 days, we are allowed to carry over 10 to next year this time), and 67 banked hours get through so I decided a Friday afternoon off was a good idea.

I didn’t have anything planned so I added a couple of thousand words to my NaNoWriMo thing and then started wrapping xmas presents. I’d ordered a bunch of stuff online that arrived over the course of the week so I decided I might as well start wrapping it. Got through ten gifts and the afternoon was gone!

Last night was chilli for dinner (leftovers from the freezer) followed by cocktails and movies. Went to bed very late, got up late, and have done very little all day. We were thinking to go into town as 'im indoors wanted something specific and then we were going to get takeaway lunch from a Chinese place that’s opened recently. He decided he didn’t feel like going out, I wasn’t bothered either, and it’s grim and grey out there so we stayed in. Have had lunch (fish that I shared with one of the cats) and done some more writing, and that is all. I am off to lay on the sofa now, I am told there’s a couple of episodes of Grey’s Anatomy waiting for me, and some offshoot zombie thing from The Walking Dead. He’s making dinner so I don’t have to do anything else except drink tea and wait for food to arrive. Life is good!

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ace, a few years ago, after a rotten weather plagued trip to Indiana for Thanksgiving, my niece and I decided that if there was such a physical place as hell, it was 38F and raining. I hope that your weather improves.

Up, caffeinating, bed stripped, sheets and towels in the wash, a load of jeans ready to go and fixing to do KP before sheveling and heading out to procure groceries.

Stay safe and healthy y’all!

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Morning (or it’ll be afternoon by the time I finish) all. Slept in until nearly 9am and then ran a couple loads of laundry (mattress pad and sheets), so that has been my major accomplishments so far. Need to mail a bill and get a few groceries in a bit, otherwise it’ll be the first Saturday without youth soccer in several months (it’s 67F and clear, we could still be playing if we wanted to).

{{{Butters}}}. Sounds like your husband’s colleagues are going to be a big help. Don’t get overwhelmed with family–and maybe see how you and granddaughter and the dogs do together before offering anything longer-term.

quietly, glad the furnace is in operation again. And you and shoe letting the birds entertain the cats…

hippy, just let your body heal at it’s rate. But make a list (lists always work for me) of some modest things to do each day, you’ll get back into it.

FCM, I’m like you, can think of only one car I really looked forward to driving (A Toyota Highlander, got it new after coming back from overseas) but the rest–if they fit my big carcass comfortably I was happy.

To everyone else, happy thoughts and {{{hugs}}} to all. Now need to make myself presentable to shop at Wal-Mart…