Family Get-Togethers - A Holiday-ish MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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I know you can’t tell us, but I do hope the cause those noble congresspeople tirelessly worked for was one of those Really Important ones such as Better Casinos in Atlantic City. :rolleyes: I admire your intestinal fortitude, MT.

Does your director get to select the quartet that helps you pass or do the competition officials do that, rosie?

My theory is that you get really tired on that kind of gig because it’s an assignment where you have to be more focused than you are in your routine work life. I know we get really tired when we have consultants or project teams in for on-site visits.

Here are a few hugs for you, Cutie Pie.

It’s FRIDAY!!! Yay!

GT

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I’m up, it’s 32 and raining, I have to work all day, and I have a giant truck to unload. Happ Firday.

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Ick. Hope the truck only contains lightweight stuff… (That’s the best I can think of at this early hour…)

GT

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the quartetting is for rehearsal purposes only - so we sing with our established quartet, of which Director is the bass. We still, as a chorus, work on the artistry of the song. Last night we spent a half hour on just the first 8 measures of each of the songs. The week after next (sing next week, we have a holiday sing) we’ll probably attack the next 8 of each.

I just heard on this the radio in a report about the presidential race:

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Good morning. I gave up last night and went to bed for a while; I reached my stomach’s limit on that drivel. And actually, GT, I can tell you exactly who and what it’s for – it’s a completely public forum, not one of the classified committees, which I couldn’t do anyway because unlike another Mooom around here, I don’t hold one of those super-secret eyes-only we-have-to-kill-you-if-you-see-it clearances. :smiley: But do you really care enough to find out? That is the question. I certainly don’t. And I did the stupid stuff.

Anyway, I’m off to feed the Idiots and then to a doctor’s appointment. And then back home to be extremely lazy for the rest of the day!

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Morning, everyone! I think I feel better. Thanks for the vibes.

I’m trying to reach my poor, overworked mother to ask her to take me grocery shopping. For the Big Freeze. I was going to wait until next week, but last night I realised that we don’t have that much readily accessible food in the house- lots of frozen lunches and buns for sandwiches, but not a lot of, say dinner stuff. So Driving Husband and Mr. Lissar and I ate crappy Chinese take-out. And homemade cake.
Pie, when you’re taking a nap, wrap your cell phone in a nice thick blanket. Or turn it off. You poor thing.

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Happy Firday!!!

It is going to be a bee-ute-iful day here–sunny and 80 You Ass degrees. One of my teams is taking us out to lunch at a Thai/sushi (yeah, I dunno either) place that has outside seating. That will be nice. I will probably avoid today’s festival of [del]gluttony[/del] treats.

mamatigs, good on you for standing up for yourself on that impossible tape. I’ve done some transcribing of focus group tapes because I had no choice and I would rather have a colonoscopy without sedation. :stuck_out_tongue:

li-li, is that the Goldon Compass you are talking about? I want to see that one.

That’s all I can think of for now. Toodles

Tupug

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Mawnin’ y’all. I have this Firday off! :slight_smile:

Somebody make me write my papers. Better yet, somebody write them for me. :smiley:

Everyone who has unwanted snow, you can send it down here. Think of all the Southern children who are growing up without a properly snowy winter. Won’t somebody PLEASE think of The Children?

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I wish I could. I know what it’s like to grow up as a snow-deprived child in the South. :: cue violin music ::

Here is the latest in the drama that is my life: That Guy has invited me to come spend Christmas with his family. I really have no idea how to interpret this.

Sympathy and rejoicing where needed. :: hugs :: I need some coffee and a shower. And maybe some Tylenol.

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I want to see The Golden Compass, too, (although the initial reviews aren’t stellar) but I was actually talking about The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, which is coming out in May. There’s a thread over in Cafe Society with a trailer link. Very fun.

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:eek: Run! Run far, far away!

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Haze, I agree with Taxi.

I’m vertical, sipping coffee, and soon I will be out of the house and picking up some birthday goodies for my son. We bought his prezzies last night. I can’t say what they are yet, because he likes to lurk here.

In other exciting news…well, I guess I don’t have any, I am the definition of mundanity. I don’t care if it’s not really a word, it’s staying.

My husband’s company informed the drivers that they will not be receiving a cost of living increase, because they are paid more than market. Yet, they went on to say how WELL the company is doing and what great profits they’re making. Argh, but apparently the company doesn’t feel generous enough to give the drivers who make that prosperity available to them, a damn raise. My husband hasn’t had a raise in five freakin’ years.

I wanted to see what the “market” was paying drivers for our area, so I went to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics and looked it up. I don’t know the company used, but I went to the salary comp that was most available. I have to admit, when you look at BLS site, my husband is doing alright.

In other interesting news from the company, next year they will no longer have OTR (over the road) drivers (long-haul for those of you who don’t know what that means). Everything will be sent by rail and then local and regional drivers will haul the freight to it’s final destination. You know, that’s around 8,000 drivers that won’t have jobs.

No snow here, and the flood waters are finally starting recede just a bit. I feel badly for those people who have lost virtually everything. It was a big mess and we have the politicians assigning blame to other politicians because funds weren’t used to fix a levee where the most severe flooding occurred. Freakin’ idiots, I tell ya. In good news, it was very heartwarming to see people in this region donating their time, items, and money to help the flood victims out. They had loaded five semi trucks and had collected well over $50,000.00 when I was watching the evening news. I don’t know what the final tally was, but I was very touched to see that.

There was one LOL (little old lady) who had lost her home in Katrina and moved up here. She lost everything, yet she came down with the few dollars she could spare to donate to these people.

Wow, that got a little long. Yays, boos, hugs, get betters for those who are in need.

I need some more coffee.

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You’d think that after Katrina everyone would be racing to put money into fixing the levees in their districts so this kind of thing wouldn’t happen again.

You’d also think that there’d be money to fix/replace bridges after the bridge collapse here last summer.

But no, it’s a much better option to wait until the next problem with a levee or bridge and then just blame the other politicians. It’s not MY fault! :rolleyes:

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Yowza! They went older with Caspian that I would have – I’m assuming so they can use the same actor in Dawn Treader – but he is HAWT! I’m going to have to see this movie just to drool over him, though I would see it anyway. Whoa.

Yay, Firday!

Haze, you have other plans for Christmas. And if you don’t, make some.

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Haze, well, I dunno, but I second taxi’s advice.

I talked to my mom last night about the fire. Since they’re in a rural area, when my grandfather called 911, the dispatcher wouldn’t or couldn’t dispatch. He actually had to **drive ** to the fire station to tell them his house was on fire. The trucks were there in 4 minutes. The local fire station is actually a California Department of Forestry fire station, so maybe that’s why the dispatcher couldn’t figure out who to send? It’s all hearsay, so I don’t know what actually happened. I can’t imagine that you’re thinking too clearly when you think that your house is going to burn down again.

It seems that my grandmother dumped ashes next to the fuel shed. The ashes were not cold, hence the fire. :smack: I’m not sure if this is her normal ditziness or not. Fire has played a significant role in my grandmother’s life, and it’s really not like her to be careless like that with fire. On the other hand, she’s done some incredibly idiotic things, such that it’s amazing she’s lived this long. Like using a chainsaw while **standing ** on top of her horse’s saddle. Anyway, the grandparents are going to buy an RV to live in while the house is refurbished and brought up to code. The fire took out the phone and electric lines, and I guess the electrical wiring inside the house is no longer up to code, either.

There’s a family meeting this afternoon, unrelated to the fire. However, I imagine it will be a topic of conversation. The really interesting conversations will be the ones that take place outside of the official ones, though. I’m afraid the fire has moved up the endgame for my grandfather, the wily old bastard. It’s going to get very nasty in the next few years, I think. My mother wants me to participate and “get what’s yours” but with this particular game, the only way for me to win is not to play.

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Yikes on the flooding Taters! We had a big one here in 1994. Nasty things. Glad the Taters family is ok.

Haze my gut instinct says run far, far away too.

I am brain dead. Jet lagged. Fatigued (said in a Bugs Bunny voice). Tahred. I did manage to fill out and mail off my expense report. Adding stuff up gave me a haid ache though. I foresee a nap.

I have a meatloaf ready to cook a little later. I decided I need meatloaf, mac & cheese, green beans and steamed carrots for supper tonight. Home cookin’ after about ten days of restaurant/hotel food just sounds soooooo good. Plus I know that ol’ y’all know who has been eatin’ whatever since I’ve been gone. He can cook but won’t for himself, so I know it’s been sammiches, teevee dinners and junk food for him. Speakin’ of which… tonight will be the first time I have seen him since Tuesday mornin’ last week. I predict much “appreciation”. :smiley:

YAWN Later Y’all!

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Well, dammit. My post got eaten.

Long story, short: The Taters family was not affected by the flood at all. The hardest hit areas were Centralia/Chehalis, the coast, some areas up north, and the Olympic and Kitsap Penninsulas.

The Centralia/Chehalis areas got most of the press coverage due to I-5 being shut down for several days. There’s billions in damage in the state, plus the four million dollar a day loss in commerce due to the interstate being shut down.

It’s all very sad, and I thank my lucky stars we weren’t affected. I feel badly for those who were, though.

I really need to get going. I keep saying that, yet I find myself goofing off.

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What would the word be then? Mundanitude? Mundanitosity? Mundanoso? Mundanlamadingdong? I think mundanity is a perfectly cromulent word.

And I’m home early - I left at noon since it was pretty dead in the office, and did a little gift shopping. I got stuff for the niece and nephews, plus what I wanted to send my Secret Santa victim, plus for the future newlyweds. We’re going to give the inlaws (mine, not his) a restaurant gift card. No idea what we’ll do for my mom - maybe just take her out ourselves one day. I know what her favorite restaurant is…

It’s miserably cold and drizzly - I may have to start a fire in a bit.

And I’m pooped - I had a horrible night! I woke at 1:45 for a nature call, and really never got back to sleep. My mind was running a mile a minute over stupid stuff, then the cat came to steal some body heat, followed by me drifting in and out of a bizarre dream. It had something to do with people house sitting for us, babies stuffing their mouths with carpet fuzz, a couple of guys using my shower, and a woman with a utility knife cutting our water lines (which were merely plastic hoses.) At some point, there was a 2’ deep flood in our basement, and I vaguely recall someone filling my closet with slutty underwear. So, no, I didn’t get much sleep. I’m thinking a kahlua and cream will help me catch up tonight.

I’ve about to make cheesecake squares - I found the recipe when looking for something else, so today’s the day I try it. I’ve also got to bag and freeze the leftover sketty sauce I made yesterday - it was *muy * yum!!! And I should empty the dishwasher. Yeah, we’ll see how all that goes.

For now, off to the kitchen with me. Hugs all around, whether you need one or not. You’re getting hugged, dammit! :smiley:

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In case you’re wondering, the house smells bake-a-licious!!!

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From what I’ve heard of your family, Shadow, it sounds like avoiding any and all family meetings/drama/insanity is the safest thing you can do for your sanity.

And I agree, Haze – you already have Christmas plans. Even if it’s just sitting home sharing a can of tuna with Olive, you’ve got plans. And they don’t involve That Guy or his family!

My mom has been keeping me informed on all the damage out your way, Taters. I’m glad you guys are unharmed. And I’m totally not surprised at the Katrina victim coming by to offer help – she of all people knows what it’s like to be in the situation of losing everything, and how much a little help can mean!

For your mom, why not do what Papa Tigs and I do for our moms, FCM – a 3-month subscription to Harry & David’s Fruit of the Month Club? The fruit is just amazingly gorgeous, and since both moms are at the point where they’re trying to avoid collecting any more stuff, it’s even more popular. This is our third year to do it, and I foresee many more in the future. It’s not particularly expensive, but definitely the most successful gift we’ve ever given.

I went to the doctor for routine scrip refills this morning, being fortunately only slightly late considering that there’s a water main break blocking portions of northbound Route 2, and then stopped at the Amish market to get a belated breakfast, but by the time I got home I was starting to feel just plain crappy. Now that Papa Tigs is on the way home, I am headed to bed. And have every plan of just staying there the rest of the day. So don’t have too much fun while I’m off having an exciting Firday evening eating pizza in bed with the cat for company. :rolleyes: