Fin De HalloHanuThanksChristKwazaa - A Post Holiday MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
321

Good Mornin’ Y’all and Happy New Year! 'Tis 60 Amurrkin out with a DENSE FOG ADVISORY and a predicted high of 74 and N.O.S. for the day. Gonna be a biiiiiig and loooooong day for us. We shall deheathenate (I have Chalice duty) and then back to da cave for the big NYD feast. Gotta cook the beastloaf, cornbread, mac 'n cheese (really just heat through to get the cheese on top all melty), and rice. The greens and peas will need to be heated up. Folks shall arrive around one for pre-feast champagne and cheese straws. The plan is to eat around two(ish) and hopefully have everyone gone by four. We stayed up until midnight due to the tackleball game. I love my Dawgs, but they dang near gave me a heart attack! They pulled off the win in the end, but JEEZ!

Hope everyone has a fun or mellow day as is your wont.

Now I need more caffeine and to feed rumbly tummy. Then purtification for deheathenization must commence.

Happy Sunday Y’all! Happy New Year, again!

322

Happy new year! I can’t remember if I’ve said we’re going to have our lucky meal on Chinese New Year instead of Gregorian New Year for a change of pace.

323

Rang in the new year by … paying rent. :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

It’s been pouring intermittently since yesterday evening, which dampened (HA!) the local artillery. There was some booming-around, but nothing like the “Baghdad shock ‘n’ awe” style nonsense of a few years back. (Last year was rather subdued. Year before was bananas.)

Had a crap day at work last night - not even because of customers, surprisingly, but because back of house crew were being :face_with_symbols_over_mouth: - and went home feeling very sorry for myself. Texted a “happy N Y” to G.C. and waved around a symbolic celebratory sparkler a few minutes before midnight, and then called it a damn night.

Side note: Monkey was, predictably, unimpressed with the sparkler. Not “hide in the basement from the nice, quiet plumber for hours” unimpressed, but he gave it a good side-eye from those lovely golden eyes and then decided he had urgent business in that other room over there.

Speaking of … the battery mousie I was so excited to present to Monkey doesn’t work, and I don’t know why. He seemed interested in playing with the “dead” version, but I coulda gotten him something at the dollar store if it’s just gonna sit there.

Now I hafta either troubleshoot, or return/exchange, or pitch it and be pissed off, and none of those options is a fun use of time and energy.

Oh, nutz, almost forgot … apparently, G.C. has a birthday approaching quickly. Huh. Should I, like, do something? (Bring the snark, y’all.)

324

I did fall back to sleep, on and off, so I can offer a proper Happy New Year now. Welcome to 2023 - may it be better than the last few years.

I have some of those, too. Plus I have a hand-written cookbook that MIL made for FCD’s first wife. She didn’t take it when she left him (go figure) so it became mine. I’ve gotten some recipes from it that I like, but mostly not. There’s far too much in there that requires cream-of-whatever soups which I refuse to make. But I’ll pass it on to my daughter. However, the stuff I’ve printed out needs to be evaluated - like why do I have 4 recipes for shepherd’s pie???

swampy - we had our fog yesterday, but today promises some sun and low 60s. More sun and more 60s tomorrow, and I have plans for some yard work tomorrow afternoon. Weds and Thurs, we get rain with a front and temps drop back to what one expects in the winter here. So we’ve got that to look forward to. :stuck_out_tongue:

I mark the first of every month by drugging my dog! :open_mouth: Higgs gets her heartworm meds and her flea & tick tab to celebrate every new month. Thank goodness for Outlook reminders!

This morning, I’m going with FCD to see his dad. I’m rather dreading it - I hate hospitals anyway. I don’t know if FIL will even know me - last time I saw him, he didn’t. But maybe it’ll help MIL - she’s really struggling. I can’t even imagine…

Tobias has figured out the trampoline, so I put the safety hand bar back on it. He doesn’t jump yet, but he bounces and giggles. He also loves my treadmill even tho I don’t turn it on for him. Roxy has decided she likes to run on it - we’ve told her she can’t do that when her brother is around.

Speaking of brother and sister - this was in their neighborhood a couple of days ago:
https://imgur.com/a/lIYZd1y
They’re so cute together - Tobias loves his sister and she loves him till he starts getting on her nerves! It’ll be interesting as he get less baby-like and more child-like to see how their interactions develop.

They may or may not come over on Moanday. Then on Tuesday, school starts again and I’ll have him 3 days a week again - time to put the car seats back in my car.

Onward! Happy Sunday!

325

Up, caffeinated, and sheveled. It ended up being a subdued fireworks night; the rain helped. The Giant Meteor didn’t hit overnight, so I shall clean and watch handegg on my middle day off.

Best case, he’s the Igor to her Victor Frankenstein. Worst case, she “upgrades” the treadmill in Grandad’s shop, and launches him into low Earth orbit. :wink:

The Wolfpack blew it on Friday. But at least UNC lost, so I can enjoy the suffering of my rival.

326

One of my drive-thru customers last night shushed me mid-greeting ("Hi, did you have an order wi-- " … “Hang on, they just scored a touchdown.”) and I very nearly asked who T.F. “they” are. Someone here probably knows, and is slapping their forehead.

As I live in western Michigan, I am apparently now expected to follow Univ. of Mich, Mich State, the Detroit something-or-other, plus local high school football, and y’all, it’s like Texas all over again, but at least without the ungodly heat.

327

In one of my jobs with the Navy, all new hires were subjected to an interrogation about where they went to college followed by a discussion of the football team. I don’t think I won any points when I told them I didn’t care about the team when I was at Purdue, and I certainly didn’t care all those years later.

I suppose there are worse hobbies/obsessions but I’ll pass, thanks.

328

Morning all and Happy New Year. Spent the first 6 hours of 2023 soundly sleeping, we had some intermittent fireworks but had no trouble falling asleep. Plan for today is pretty much the plan for yesterday, Do-little, solve puzzles and watch tackleball. Will head out to eat at Red Robin (yum!), they appear to be open for New Year’s. Pill taken and paper retrieved, it’s in the 50’sF heading for near 70F today with no rain so a nice way to start the year.

FCM, beautiful picture, Roxy is so ‘grown-up’ , but I suspect Toby will catch up with her in a very few years. Hang in there at the hospital.

shoe. I think you’ll come up with an ‘appropriate’ gift for G.C’s birthday (wink wink, nudge nudge…). And crew at work were probably just ticked they had to work on a notable party night…they’ll be ok in a day or so.

swampy, enjoy the meal. I was rooting for Ohio State, but both games were fantastic.

Does your wife know? :wink: :wink: :wink: :smile:

OK, enough innuendo for the first day of 2023. All y’all have a good one.

329

Good morning and Happy New Year.

It’s 40 degrees, dark and cloudy outside, with an expected high of 46 and cloudy skies.

The @#$holes started with fireworks around noon yesterday and didn’t let up until 1:00 am. The next-door neighbors are still partying at 5:12 am with loud music, drunken shouting outside, etc. I’m so sick of these jerks.

So, another night of no sleep for me. Fun times! I did drift off between 9:00 and midnight, but the husband woke me up to wish me a happy new year. So, I’ve been awake since then.

FCM, what a sweet picture of the grandkids!

330

Happy new year to all. I think we’ll start off with something exciting, like doing the laundry. No fireworks last night, unless they were far enough away that we couldn’t hear them, which suits us just fine. Restless night’s sleep, not helped by some sort of commotion down the hall, probably from the woman in 304. She’s not really all there and will likely have to move to a full-time care facility at some point. Also, I think I ate too much Chex mix while watching Yellowstone. We’re not drinkers, so no hangover to deal with.

331

Happy new year!

dicey, I did that with my recipes a couple of days ago. It’s amazing how they stack up.

That’s an adorable pic of RoxStar and the Tobester Moooooom.

I went to bed at my usual weekend hour last night, but was awakened at midnight by the extra fireworks across the fence. Nelson glued himself to my right hip most of the night for comfort, poor baby.

The black eyed peas are simmering, I’m going to clean, chop and start cooking the collards in a few minutes. The cornbread will be whipped up this afternoon.

Stay safe and healthy y’all!

332

Happy New Year, everybody!

There was an explosion or two at midnight, but that was all. It was pouring cats and dogs here, so that extinguished any excesses. However, a party somewhere in the neighborhood disbanded at 3:30 a.m., and the guests stood in the street screeching “g’bye!” for a quarter of an hour or so.

We’re going to go out and see who’s open New Year’s Day for lunch. I’m hoping for Japanese, but I know that NY is a big deal for them and probably every Japanese restaurant in the bay area will be closed today. Xiao Long Bao will be our Plan B.

333

Afternoon, mumpers! It’s 8c/47f with a predicted high of 9c/48f and cloudy. Weather app says “This is literally the perfect day to stay the fuck inside and try a new hobby. Might I suggest fucking witchcraft?” Sounds ideal to me! It’s been raining on and off all day so just wet and gloomy out there.

Last night was noisy, Shadow wasn’t bothered but Whisper is a complete wuss so he was hiding behind the sofa for most of the night. We worked out some years ago that people around here time their fireworks to the time it reaches midnight in their “home” countries. Pretty much anywhere from China working backwards through Europe…we get them almost hourly although some countries seem to be at 45mins past for some reason. Anyway, it was a noisy night - we stayed in, watched films and drank champagne.

Belated happies, Cupcakes, I hope yesterday was a fun day for you.

{{{{{Butters}}}}}

Mooooom it’s good that FCD was able to talk to someone sensible and get a real idea of what time FIL has left. Nothing will really prepare MIL for it, but my guess is that she will just know when the time is getting close. If she’s having a home hospice nurse visiting too, they will perhaps be able to clue her in as well.

I slept late, because I was up late, and have nothing planned for today apart from a long soaky bath and it’s my turn to make dinner. I’ve got a smoked gammon joint in the fridge so it’ll be that, with roasties, Yorkshire puds, stuffing, veggies and gravy. That will probably generate enough leftovers for lunch tomorrow but not much further than that as it’s not a massive piece of meat.

Tea, bath and proper slothage! Happy new year…start as you mean to go on :slight_smile:

334

I’ve been up for an hour, and the soaked black-eyed peas, ham hocks, and a couple of bay leaves are in the slow cooker, another ham hock (for the collard greens) is simmering on the stove, dishes are put away, I’m on my second cuppa joe, bacon is in the oven, and I’ve got some slices of baguette sitting out so I can make French toast for The Spousal Unit.

335

So far, I’m up, got some daily tasks dealt with and am working on my first-of-the-month domestic maintenance checklist (running appliance cleaners, changing HVAC filter, etc.). Would be nice if DH got up so I can do some of the noisier tasks.

Clear, windy, and cold here. Buddy stayed in overnight without godawful-o’clock fussing to go out, went out for a little while this morning, decided that coming back into the warm was a good move. :slight_smile: The cats are squabbling about as much as usual, when they’re not helping humans sleep.

Really should get something approximating breakfast. Maybe that leftover pork fried rice that really needs to be eaten. The zero-sugar version of Mt. Dew is going to take some getting used to, but I’ll just have to deal.

336

I changed the sheets and flipped the mattress. I changed all the water filers(Brita and Mr. Coffee), and cleaned the kitchen and dusted. Brunch today was a Japanese style quinoa bowl with peas, oyster and shiitake mushrooms, and seaweed, topped with fried eggs with some Mongolian Fire Oil. Time to rollsuck!

.

As a Wisconsin boy, I was rooting for the Dawgs and Frogs. :wink:

337

That’s on the list once DH is up. I dread the amount of filth I’ll find.

338

SWMBO said she doesn’t want any breakfast. Her stomach is bothering her. :frowning:

339

My plan for last night had been to binge-watch The Good Wife right up until midnight, but at a little after 11pm – just as I was about to start another episode – I suddenly decided to undecorate the house. So I switched the TV to a countdown show (I went with Ryan Seacrest; getting to hear Duran Duran was a nice surprise), and finished undecorating at 11:58pm! Perfect timing: I sat on the couch and caught my breath, then wished the doggy a happy new year, posted here and on FB, and went to bed. :slight_smile:

The neighborhood fireworks weren’t bad at all: there was nothing audible from inside the house until right at midnight, and then things got a little loud but only for 20-30 minutes. By the time I finished reading and was ready to go to sleep, the noise was done.

Sadly, though, I heard the first sirens of the year at 12:14am…that didn’t take long. :frowning:

Last night I left the two big Rubbermaid decoration containers out in the living room, just in case I was more tired than I thought and missed anything. Happily I did not, so later today I’ll put the containers back in BR #3 (aka the storage-and-treadmill room). I also still need to put the metal tree that held my crystal snowflakes back in its box, then put that in the BR. That will be the last of the undecorating cleanup, though.

Other than that – and changing the sheets sometime before I go to bed – I have no plans for the day. Which means more reading while I eat lunch, followed by a lot more The Good Wife. :smiley:

Where I went for undergrad was too small to have a football team, so I never got into college sports. We were very near Villanova University; at most, I root for their teams sometimes. I went to grad school at George Mason University: there was one year the men’s basketball team went pretty far during the NCAA finals, and it was fun to root for them then.

I’ve never cared much for the NFL, but in the late 2000s I dated an OSU fan for 2.5 years and started to really appreciate college football! After we broke up I missed having an excuse to watch those games more than I missed the guy. Heh. More than a decade later, I still remember most of the chants/songs…I consider myself “pre-loaded” in case I ever date another OSU fan (but there could be trouble if I were to fall for a Michigan fan). :wink:

I live close enough to FCM that our weather forecasts tend to be similar. Here’s mine for the coming week:

https://i.ibb.co/JnTS5PV/Screenshot-20230101-091420.png
Wednesday’s expected high of nearly 70 is hurting my head already (it’s early January! in DC!!).

So stinkin’ cute!! :smiley:

340

Happy New Year! I went to bed at 8:00 and was awakened @ 8:30 by a Happy NY call from elderly friends (in their 80’s) who go to bed early. Pretty pathetic, eh? I watched a movie (the 1950 Cheaper by the Dozen with Frederick March and Myrna Loy) and went back to sleep. Was awakened again by a barrage of booms, wished myself a Happy New Year, and slept again. Dreamed I lived on a Caribbean island .

Today is kids calling in day. I shall olso water plants. Instead of sorting through recipes, I’ll sort through photos.

FCM, how long have the in-laws been married? Must be 70-ish years? A long, long time of loving someone. Poor MIL. How do you even know who you are after losing someone who’s been your partner for that long? Hope your hospital visit isn’t too distressing.

And I love the photo of the grands.

Happy Football to those who are fans.