Families -- a New Year's MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
141

Well, for that matter I have personality interaction with ACBG and he doesn’t need to be walked either. Plus… well, let’s just say he provides certain fringe benefits I particularly enjoy. :smiley: Oh and he’s never (at least to my knowledge nor in my presence) puked on the floor. And he’s cuddly and cute. All in all not a bad pet.

OOH! Remember how a couple months ago when it was announced everybody would be going to biweekly pay the world was gonna implode? Well, it didn’t! YAY! Let me explain…

See the last weekly paychecks were issued the Friday before Christmas. No one got paid this past Friday. The first of the biweekly checks for those who had previously been paid weekly come this Friday. No grumbles. No grouses. No wailing or gnashing of teeth. I was just up in payroll going over some timesheet stuff and our CFO and I were discussing how the world seems to be going on right along. Ok, there’s still a chance we’ll all be sucked into a black hole before Friday, but I figure that chance is pretty much always there and is in no way payroll related. Heck, it’s been a good three weeks since I’ve gotten so much as a stinkeye. Life is good.

142

I had a bundle of illnesses rolled into a cute gray puss who only survived for 13 months after I got him. But sometimes it is those “special needs” kitties who bring the greatest joy, isn’t it? It was heart breaking to have to put Teddy down, but I’d still consider taking on another kitty with problems in the future. He was just such a love.

143

Cats know when you’re sad so they cuddle up (on your lap or sholder) and purr for you. Better than a shot of burboun!

144

Ugh…it’s 6:30 in the am here, I’m wrangling The Son out of bed and I didn’t get much sleep. Like maybe an hour. The coffee maker just bing’ed, fortunately #3 has begun to drink it too, and she just offered to bring me a cup, what a dear child! It’s fricken cold, 12 degrees F with a wind chill of 3. No snow yet, although the tv keeps promising it’s coming.

Hey swampus! The house is, well, coming along is probably the best answer. There are some small things Jeff needs to come and do, for example my ceiling fan finally arrived and it would be real groovy if he would come and install it, and put the trim back around the windows and replace the outlet covers. He will, eventually, it’s just that time of year when it’s dark and cold and no one wants to go anywhere. He hasn’t finished texturing and painting the living room, but that’s because I decided I need to re-do the kitchen too, and the wall he built between the kitchen and living room has to come down as the kitchen cupboards and counter are supporting the wall. The kitchen floor isn’t fully edged for the same reason, Since I have been forced to accept that I will be spending a great deal of my time in the stupid chair he is going to make the kitchen chair accesible, including the kitchen sink. It sounds odd, but I will be happy to do the dishes when I don’t have to stretch and strain just to reach the faucets, into the sink, and into the drainer. stupid limitations The kitchen is really too small for a table, and I have been looking at this as an alternative. Oh, and in keeping with the bamboo flooring I have added a screen to hide my craft stuff, black painted wood with black bamboo painted on white rice paper, and two floor mats for in front of the door and under the shoe rack with a palm tree motif, and I have been looking at Jan Dressler stencils and found some very simple bamboo stalks which I think would look good in scattered groupings in a sage/moss green against the pale lilac walls. I am going for a tropical arctic theme, which is very Kodiak actually, we consider ourselves to be living on the northernmost Hawai’ian island! :smiley: Now I need to get new ti, hibiscus and plumeria plants going, and I’ll be set!

Oh, and btw, I am uncomfortable when I have less than 6 full cases of tp on hand. Living in the village taught me The Importance of Stocking Up! :smiley:

Clinical depression sucks. It runs in my family, and yes, I take my meds for it, thank you very much. It beats the alternative. Oh, and MamaKitty, good OP. I wrote some about my family, but it was just so…well, y’all don’t need to hear the ongoing melodrama which is my family, so I blogged it instead. My Mom and (step)Dad and I get along great. Now. :smiley:

Brilliant!!!

Oh, and swampus we also get to have whatever we want for dinner on our birthdays, either home cooked or at a restaurant. With my luck The Son will want hot dogs and mac and cheese! I have some king crab stashed in the freezer for when my birthday rolls around, and I think it will accompany some rib eye steaks, baked potatoes and a chopped vegetable salad. There is a bakery here run by some not-very-nice people, but the chef is a world class chef (an honest to God fancy French chef who specializes in baking and all that fondant and sugar stuff you see if you watch the Food Network Challenges) and he makes the most awesome lemon/raspberry/coconut cake. I have been boycotting him, but I am wanting some of that cake in a bad way!

Well, it is now 8:16 and the kids are off to school. The temp has dropped to 11 degrees with a windchill of -6. Everyone please keep your fingers crossed that my water doesn’t freeze. I just hiked the thermostat up, and I think I’m gonna get back under my quilt and maybe take a short nap. You all work hard while I snooze now! :smiley:

145

Yay! Papa Tigs just finally got his official gummint job offer letter with the renegotiated terms, and just sent in his official resignation letter to his company, so on 1/16 we’ll be feeders at the gummint trough again! Woo and hoo!

Best part? I’m seeing the knee surgeon before that date, so I won’t have to worry about brand-new insurance interfering (hopefully) with me getting my brand-new knee. Or at leaast not for my initial appointment with him to get it all set up.

I wish I could celebrate now by taking a nap. Sigh. Oh well, I’ll get this job done and then reward myself with an early bedtime! Or something. (Probably a wee-hours-of-the-morning bedtime, but I can be an foolhardy optimist on occasion.)

Back to the salt mines.

146

Kai we’ve done a lot of remodeling and retrofitting kitchens, bathrooms and such to make them more accessible. When I say we, I of course mean we get bids from contractors and pay them to do it. The money comes from fundraising and grants. I get to inspect the completed work and sign off on the paperwork so the contractors get paid. They can get as much as twenty-five percent upfront to cover labor and materials but the rest don’t come til I say so. Oh the power! Oh the poed contractors I’ve dealt with when I’ve made ‘em come back and redo stuff that was not right. Fortunately those have been few and far between. There’s a core of trusty contractors we much prefer to do bidness with. Those are the ones I know will do stuff right. It’s just the jakest thing ever to see the looks on people’s faces when they see their new bathroom/bedroom/kitchen/whatever. Heh. There was one man who I couldn’t get hold of for a couple weeks so I could come over and inspect his new ramp. I finally got him and went over. He apologized for being so hard to get but for the three years since his accident left him in a wheelchair the only times he got out was to go to the doctor and occasional other times cause it was so hard to get in and out of his house. With the ramp, he could get in and out and had been, as he put it, "burnin’ up the roads." I figured, if ever there was a good reason that was it. Then there was the lady who was in tears over being able to get in and out of her bathroom all by herself. Made me a big ol’ quiverin’ mass o’ bear. She lives not to far from the swampcave which was a good thing that day cause I had to go home and get sump’n to drink and pull myself together before going back to work.

Well, that was all kinds of rambly! Oh and I like the kitchen counter and chairs idea. I’ve been toying with somethin’ along that line myself. I kinda wanna do some remodeling in my kitchen.

Tigs how’s that job comin’ along, young lady? And yay for PapaTigs!

147

**Tigs ** - are you having total replacement? I’m having mine done in the spring

148

That means Rosie and Tigs will be bionic cool kids! :cool:

Kai I’m glad you understand the importance of plentiful tp. Haze understands that now, too. I feel like I’m beginning to make a difference.

Mindy, that reminds me, you have your own new place and a girlfriend now. Are you stocking up on tp? Nothing says I care like having plenty on hand so she never feels she’s using up the last of your tp. That’s a good lesson to learn.

149

For the record, whenever I buy, I also buy the 12 pack; And I never let my supply get below 3 rolls.

150

Hi all, driveby, I’ma gonna quit my job in 19 minutes. Woo hoo! 'Tis a good thing, promise. More later about the Pretty Princess[sup]TM[/sup] that was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

151

I dunno, rosie – my current orthopod suggests I’m a good candidate for a unicompartmental replacement, but I’m thinking it may be better to just do the whole thing and get it over and done with. I’ll see what the expert has to say. I’m just looking forward to having a functional knee again.

I’m working, Swampy, I really am! I feel like the Little Engine that Could, except that every time I get a-chuggin’, I hit a worse uphill slope and grind to a halt again. Like where I can’t hear the damn witness. Which is making me crazy. (Or should I say crazier than I am already?) Anyway, I’m trying, I really am!

152

I got my dishes–but plates should be round. Really. So, I didn’t get the patterned, square plates. I’ll try to find them on line, so you all can [del]criticize[/del]applaud my taste.

I have been stood up for lunch. This happens to me more than I am comfortable admitting and I am sitting here trying to figure out why. I sure hope she’s ok, but this has happened enough that I really dont’ think that at first (anymore)). I know, I suck as a person. AND lunch for tomorrow was cancelled as well, but that friend will try to make it Saturday (she is the one with the recuperating husband, so I don’t mind about her reschedule).

Off to find dishes online. (how?)

153

Here we go!

these look better in RL, really

I got the paisley mugs and cereal bowls, but plain ivory dinner plates and mustard salad plates. The cashew, while I love the color, clashes with my countertops for the breakfast bar. I bought two square plates for use as serving dishes. Hope the link works.

154

If you decide you have an extra, can I have it for my Shelf O’ Tacky Stuff?

155

I like them. Ignore welby.

156

Ouch.
Lisslar --they look very nice on my “pompeii red” countertops. I really like the pattern, but don’t really care for patterned plates-the pattern mixes with the food and makes an unsightly mess to these mildly OCD eyes… :slight_smile: I’ve decided after years of all matching dinnerware, that mix and match is the way to go. Strangely enough (because it wasn’t planned), the colors in the paisley bit are the same colors in our dining room. I did this same thing with the fine china, but the other way around–I had the china, and when I found the wallpaper I wanted for the DR, it turned out to almost match the china. Very odd and not intentional. Now I’ve done it again–it must mean something, but I don’t want to know what!

They really don’t look all that good in the picture, but in RL, the ivory is warm, and the paisley pattern is fresh and easy on the eyes.

RE the bellydancing–I did watch, but the video hitches and glitches, which makes the sinous movements jerky, so the overall effect was somewhat lost. She does have amazing abds, though!

157

I can’t even paint the place I am in now. The best I can do is hang things on the walls and look for a rug that ties the whole room together.

You’re right rigs, plates should be round. I don’t know what is so hard about that. I just got some square plates for my place since they were all I could find that were stonewear rather than glass (I hate the sound of metal utensils on glasswear), but I am still fightened of them. They are simply the wrong shape!

Oooh, more bellydancing videos. I must have missed those links, I’ll have to watch those when I get home from work today.

158

rigs I kinda like the pattern. At first I thought: “Paisley? Ick!” but then I looked. I agree that plates are supposed to be round. I did like the set of glassware I saw. Like I need any more glasses.

My “fine China”, which is actually ironstone is calledOld British Castles. Most of it is discontinued but I have enough for twelve place settings, so I’m good. F-aaaaaa-bu-lous ain’t it? :smiley: I bought the original eight place settings at an estate sale and managed to find four more complete settings plus four serving platters, the sugar and creamer, the tea and coffee pots and a gravy boat before it was discontinued. As you can see on the site most of the pieces cannot be found now. Well, maybe but not from Johnson Brothers.

159

Well now that’s not a very nice thing to say. :mad:
Actually, I kind of like them too, Rigs knows I was just joshin.

160

rigs, interesting stuff. We looked there, but ended up with this stuff from that other place. We got four different colors, 2 settings of each color, so we’re all mixin’ and matchin’.

Work today is kicking my butt.

I shall kick back if this keeps up!!