Cake Day - A Sweet Treat in the MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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Happy Moonday!

No park today.

We have a plumber coming out tomorrow.
I’m debating going to the park, or maybe taking Cerby and Echo to daycare.
Cerby is not good with visitors, he bit more than a few people who had come to my mother’s house.
I hope the plumbing problem is outside, like last time, and they won’t need to come in.
We tried fixing it and it got better, until it got worse.

Ripple is acting weird. I don’t know if it’s because of Cerby, or just because he is being weird.
He annoyed me a bit by pulling all of my dirty socks out of the laundry basket and spreading them out across the living room floor.

I like most cakes.
No coconut for me either though.
Anything chocolate is best
I once had a pistachio cake with mascarpone icing at
Beans in the Belfry.
It was really good.
It’s a nice place, I don’t know why I’ve never been back. Probably because I hate getting dressed for public, and I hate driving.

I called about the stolen recycle bin today. The person on the phone gave me a hard time, asking if I was putting my stuff in plastic bags or putting regular trash in it.
WTF ever lady, I know how to recycle. I’ve probably been recycling longer than she has been alive.
They don’t bring us one, then screw it, we won’t recycle anymore. I’ll feel guilty about it, but I’m not in the mood for bullshit.

Yep, still got the grumpies.

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I like cake. :cake: But today is also Pickle Day! :cucumber: :cucumber: :cucumber:

Hi, my name is dogbutler, and I am apparently the building’s “another location”
I had all sorts of stuff dumped on me today. Luckily I make money off of people’s sloth and incompetence.
Janice, leaving: “Do you need anything else?”
Me: “A martini would be nice.”
Janice: “Now I have to worry about you, too. it’s nine in the morning.”

notes that silenus is actually Weebl’s sock…

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Go play some pickle ball!

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I stand beside you upon a hill shaped pie.

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One like this perhaps.

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My mother makes a mincemeat pie that sounds very similar.

:face_with_raised_eyebrow:

In general terms, we are in accord.

He sounds like my cats. During the hours in which we humans are awake, they are puddles of fur and sleep. During the sleeping hours, they are mad sock assassins. They drag them all over the house and kill them violently, yowling at the top of their little lungs. The next day I find socks in the most peculiar places. I don’t even know how they get all of these socks!

I like Brooklyn Blackout Cake. Nom, nom!

27

“Well, it’s 5PM somewhere in the world.”

Shopping done and sammich eaten. Nappage soon. Press on.

28

Is that lemon merengue?

Be still my beating heart!

29

Grab yer pearls Swampy, my favorite cake is good fruitcake, when I can get it. Harry & David’s is excellent, but spendy. I quite like Costco’s fruitcake, but it’s only available around this time of year. Sigh.
I used to love cheesecake, for our purposes it’s a cake, but can’t eat it anymore. (I’m now deathly allergic to milk.)
Second favorite is Boston Cream cake, but nobody makes a good one any more.
Third wold be German Chocolate, with pecans and coconut, lots of pecans and coconut.
I once had a cake at a place in Portland called Papa Haydn’s that I believe was called a Sacher Torte that was incredible. It was several layers of chocolate cake with different fillings between each layer. YUM!

Enough of that.

Interesting dream Nellie. I like it. I’m afraid that if I ever found myself in a room with murdoch and/or koch, mayhem would ensue. You’re much nicer than I, even in your dreams.

Sorry your job sucks, Taters.

I’m thinking I’m not gonna be asking my doctor about ozempic, Susan.

A good martini would be very nice. :thinking: That reminds me, we’re almost out of vodka.
(not for martinis though.)

Got the holes drilled to run the wires up into the wall for the bathroom fan yesterday. Started feeding the wires to go to the GFCI and ran into something about 2’ up. :open_mouth: :face_with_symbols_over_mouth:
Now debating what to do about that.

Onward into the week.

30

I like pie. One of my ongoing internal debates is which is my favorite, pecan or blueberry.

Today my BIL is undergoing the final major step of deep brain stimulation. He had the wires and control box implanted 4 weeks ago. Today he gets hooked up. Fingers crossed for a major improvement.

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Fingers duly crossed~ :crossed_fingers:t3::crossed_fingers:t3::crossed_fingers:t3::crossed_fingers:t3::crossed_fingers:t3:

First snowflakes of the season falling as I came out of teaching my immigrant literacy class at the downtown library~just the barest of flurries, but definitely snow. The ground temp is 32 so won’t last.

Time to dig out my snow boots and mittens.

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Here’s hoping!

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For cake day, this is our family recipe, passed down from my grandmother:

2 ½ cups flour
2 cups sugar
½ cup Hershey’s cocoa (or unsweetened natural cocoa powder)
2 rounded teaspoons baking soda
1 cup soured milk (add a teaspoon of white vinegar to whole milk and stir. Do not use 1% or 2%. Trust me)
1 cup vegetable oil (Canola oil works well)
½ teaspoon real vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 cup hot water (add this last)

The batter will look too thin. Again, trust me!

Combine all dry ingredients, then add the liquid ingredients. Pour into a 9x13 floured baking dish and bake in a pre heated 350 degree oven until a toothpick comes out dry, approximately 45 minutes.

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I was very worried for a second there. Vodka martinis are an abomination. Ah, who’m I kidding. Martinis are yucky. G&Ts are where it’s at.

When I helped my dad rewire our house many moons ago, we used high tech tricks like tying a string to the cat, putting him in the wall and calling him through to the next opening. I often wonder how I survived my childhood.

I’ll keep him in my thoughts.

Today can suck it. My property manager has disappeared. The tenants have moved in, but he hasn’t collected the rent. They are more than eager to pay it, he just keeps blowing them off. He doesn’t return my calls or emails. I’ll be serving him with written notice to terminate due to failure to provide services. That was issue number 1.

Issue number 2. Bank has lost its mind and is simultaneously telling me that a check has been accepted, that it wasn’t accepted, that a duplicate has been deposited, and to re-deposit. It will not accept a re-deposit, because (the bank says) “that check has already been deposited”. I need the money. They will call me back in 24-48 hours. I have been a customer for 15 years. The times, they are a-changing.

Issue number 3. Rent has been collected but not paid to us on our other property. I know and trust that property manager (and - hey! - he answers the phone). It will get straightened out, but I need the money.

Issue number 4. What with the “definitely not COVID” surge, there are no hospital beds and my daughter’s treatment has been put off until the second week of December. I feel so badly for her, and she is upset. She is another member of the TBI club. In her case, a 5 day infusion of DHE every 5 months really helps and she’s been able to return to school. She’s having to stop out again until she gets her treatment.

Issue number 5. My mom fell this weekend and has hurt her shoulder and her hip. She’s stubborn and has walked around with a broken bone for days before, so I really want her to get it checked out. She goes to Kaiser, so we’re playing games with phone trees and email systems. We may end up going to the ER, but she’d rather not and I don’t blame her.

I won’t even go into details about the mechanic losing my car. They found it, but you can imagine I was not happy while they figured it out.

To try and switch into a more positive mood, I have charged the batteries on my fancy SLR camera and am planning to start using that for my backyard photos. I’m enjoying taking pictures again.

35

Did get a little productivity achieved once Buddy let me get some sleep (he was in serious jerk mode last night/this morning about door yoyoing, and it was in the 30s out there!). Garbage taken out, most of today’s Amazon plunder put away (including installing a non-ticking bathroom alarm clock), just need a little help from DH on that flat of big cans of Monster. Garbage is taken out, laundry is progressing well, pot roast is brewing in the Instant Pot.

Amazing how much those cats had deposited in the litterbox since I changed it out yesterday. I think they’re having an excretion contest.

36

Well, the doo-doo has well and truly hit the fan, and I shall vent here because I know it won’t go any farther.

FIL got really belligerent this afternoon, so MIL called FCD and asked him to come. Short version: FIL bit MIL, then locked himself in the utility closet off their patio. FCD dialed 911 and the sheriff responded, then an ambulance was called. That’s the last I heard, about half an hour ago. I don’t know what to do - sitting here and waiting sucks. But I’m worried.

On the plus side, the smoked turkey is finishing in the oven, and we got the leaves in the yard cleaned up before MIL called. So there’s that.

Not a good day.

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wow I have one calm day and everyone else’s goes straight to hell for the most part … sorry yall …

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Before I get to my own rants, let me say, FCM, that that well and truly sucketh. Please let us know more when you no more. I feel so badly for you all.

And sunny, that is WAAAAAY too much bad stuff for one day. I’d pour you a glass of wine if I were closer. I hope your mom gets the medical attention she needs and without further frustrations. That sucks that your daughter’s surgery got postponed. How we can simultaneously say, “Hooray, it’s pretty much over!” and “Sorry, beds are full with COVID patients,” I don’t know.

OK, here are my frustrations:

  1. Have any of you heard of the Kia Boyz challenge? It’s another one of those stupid TikTok herd-thinning “challenges,” like the moronic Tide pod challenge. Apparently, it involves breaking into a Kia and hot-wiring it with a USB cable and taking it for a joyride, and there are how-to videos aplenty. Well, my daughter’s car got targeted: rear window smashed and wiring behind/under the dashboard seriously messed-up. It wasn’t actually moved, so I guess the Kia Boyz were too strung out to do the job right. The lowest repair estimate is $2,000. Hopefully insurance will cover it, but they have a $500 deductible, so ouch.

Hey, you want to damage your body by eating detergent, be my guest. You want to cost other people a lot of money, be my guest at the local jail…except they won’t get caught.

  1. I can’t get anyone at that freakin’ eye clinic to call me back. I’m still trying to reach a surgical consultant to get them to get a medical code from Medicare and submit the pre-authorization. I’ve called three times in two weeks, and…crickets. Yes, this is the same place with the contact lens person who never called back. I’m thinking of just going there tomorrow and planting myself in the lobby until one of them talks to me. WHY IS THIS HARD?

OK, done. Hippy, that sounds like a killer chocolate cake recipe, and I’m definitely going to try it soon. I’d do it now, but I’ve been dealing with various family problems and the clinic stuff and haven’t had any exercise. If a workout doesn’t destress me, I’ll have a vodka martini. Sorry, sunny, it’s the martini Mom and my aunt introduced me to years ago, so it’s the kind I prefer.

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Damn, Mooooooom! Sending good vibes 'cause that’s about all I can offer.

cookie and VanGo, you make me glad that I don’t live in the land of lake effects snow anymore.

metal mouse, we’re getting into the slow time of the year, so now that I’m in operations, yes, there are times that we will be coming in late / leaving early for lack of irk.

silenus, my late Uncle Roy shared your preference for pie over cake. For his birthday, there was usually a candle in a cherry pie.

{{{sunny}}} So you have a case of Schrodinger’s check? :d&r:

Irked for 6 hours and spent another .5 hour enrolling for my 2023 benefits. Cool thing is that they’re less expensive than this year. I need to call CVS to have them fill any prescriptions available for refill (not too many, as I just got 90 day refills) to help burn up my FSA $$. Whatever that doesn’t get, I’ll get test strips and pen needles to round it out.

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FCM, that sounds awful on all fronts. I am sorry that you’re all going through this. Maybe this could be the impetus for getting some services from state or county gov to help with your FiL. Sending supportive thoughts and hugs. I wish I could do more.