Fin De HalloHanuThanksChristKwazaa - A Post Holiday MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
41

When I lived there, there were people who worked in aerospace, military (Air Force), and farmers. After high school, we shot a super-8 film called Mutilation Maniacs across the street from the (rather nice) housing where my best fiend lived. It was desert. One time, a guy landed his Huey next to the street. ISTR that by the time I moved away, that area all became housing. The deserted area (graded for housing, and with paved streets) where I used to fly my Guillow’s airplanes and launch my Estes rockets became housing. After moving ‘Down Below’ (i.e., Los Angeles, though ‘Down Below’ also referred to the San Fernando Valley), the Antelope Valley exploded with new housing. It was getting so expensive to live in L.A. and The Valley, people decided to make the commute so they could have affordable homes. By the time I moved away from L.A., the AV was getting quite the reputation for meth labs and crime. There’s a prison up there, and I understand L.A. inmates are released in the AV. Didn’t happen on my watch!

On the positive side, the desert is beautiful. There are Joshua trees, and out west there is the poppy preserve.

And now, I think I just saw the roofer pull up…

42

I’ve seen the season between Halloween and Epiphany referred to as PGDFF, pronounced pig-duff. It means “Pretty Go*Daed Fking Festive”. Sometimes I even remember to use it.

43

Howdy Y’all! We have supped up the leftovers. Sloth continues. It’s 38 Amurrkin out. Positively balmy compared to the past three days.

JtC true dat. I like to be comfy while I feed myself.

Morgyn that is a new one for me. I am more used to it bein’ called the Horror Days cause nuttin’ gets done. That was when I irked. Now that I’m a retired drain on society they’re just days like other days but with lights and more cake.

44

butters, I have a back up can of turnip greens just in case I can’t get fresh ones this week. I am open to collards or mustard greens though.

JtC, your book gifts remind me of when the nieces and nephews were young. I was known as the book auntie. :slight_smile:

doggio, I had to irk today too. I took Thursday as my holiday lieu day and the following Monday as my NY holiday so’s I can have five days off in a row.

flyboy, have you considered velcroing the cover to the framework?

Irked, froze my @$$ off there, came home, walked Nelson and et leftovers.

Stay safe and healthy y’all!

45

The books were eagerly unwrapped and admired. Two of the littles traded books, then told Gramma that they were going to a quiet place (Gramma’s bed) to read, so the rest of them followed and soon the bed was full of kids and books.

(Something Mom suggested and I have been doing for years is to buy gently used books at thrift stores and leave them where kids are. Laundromats, bus stops, food stamp offices, places where kids have to spend time waiting for their adults to do things, even those tiny libraries. It doesn’t cost much and I’ve noticed that while most of the books tend to go away quickly, the ones that don’t are not all torn up.)

Many pictures were taken and the cat came out from where ever she was hiding to get a bit of the people food.

The food was good, Herk and Hubs gave each other beers and BFF sent us home with ham which Hubs will probably have for breakfast.

Last Secret Santa, I received a Matryoshka doll which brought back many memories of playing with one at my Grandmother’s house so I put it on a shadowbox shelf and kinda forgot about it until I was wondering what we had that would make a nice White Elephant. I wrapped it up to take to the White Elephant gift exchange to see that the other gifts were all new store bought stuff, so I got a little worried because we were the only ones who brought a real White Elephant.

My BFF’s second daughter was the one to unwrap it and was SO excited and SO happy and just couldn’t get over really having a real Russian doll and squealed with joy every time she opened one to get a smaller one.

46

Many pictures were taken and the cat came out from where ever she was hiding to get a bit of the people food.

I remember when I was growing up we kids kept feeding the cat pieces of turkey, which he was eagerly gobbling up. Suddenly he threw it all back up.

47

I though any food related holiday included cleaning up puke from one species or another.

The LWT’s was just over with thank you notes from the twins. They can’t actually write, but they can hold crayons with the best of them and I could make out the tree and the car and what I think is a truck, so that’s just as good, right?

Of course we bought the kids toys and wrapped them up with sparkly paper and ribbons, but unlike the propane, I put a Santa hat on hubs and we delivered the toys to their door.

Yes, Christmas is for kids but I get a lot of joy out of giving to others so that is a gift to me as well.

48

So in the Monday-est thing that could happen , I tore the cork to my bourbon bottle in half pulling it out. Now I gotta rig up another cork.

Is the Director’s Cut Blue-Ray available? Because it sounds like my kind of flick.

My Dad got one from some Russians, back in the Soviet days. I think it’s next to the 2 headed snowman and roadkill snake I made in ceramics class.

49

So, this awkward. I’m not good at introducing myself, but here goes. I am a long time, very regular lurker, who decided to post the other night. People were so warm and welcoming, that I have decided to come out of the shadows and join you all as a poster :grin:. You guys have given me so much entertainment and enlightenment over the years, I can no longer resist your charms and join in :slightly_smiling_face:.

Briefly about me :upside_down_face:: I’m a mid 50s, widowed, mom/grandma. I work in mental health in a job I love most days. The grandkids are everything to me. I’m pretty awkward on the inside, but can usually do a good enough job at faking it. Anyway…nice meeting everyone!

50

Welcome to the madhouse! :slight_smile:

51

Me, too. Welcome to the club!

52

Welcome! I am so happy you took my advice, you are very welcome here!

You can pretty much share everything in the MMP. We try to avoid politics and religion and downer stuff like that but stories of Kids and Grands are always enjoyed. Plus, cats and dogs. Don’t forget them!

To all, GG likes to carry his furry balls to the spare bed and bat them between the bed and wall. Sometimes they fall through the little area between the mattress and corner of the walls and GG will fish them out with much pouncing and drama.

Apparently he has been moving the bed away from the wall during his antics which has gone unnoticed.

Until tonight when the fur ball went down the rabbit hole and GG dove after it and got about half way before getting stuck head down. The wailing commenced and when we looked in, GG was about half way down and his tail was circling around like a corkscrew and banging against the walls while his back legs were shoving against the blankets and pushing them away.

Hubs was trying to figure out how to safely grab GG by the back feets when I got bored and pulled the bed away from the wall, which Hubs didn’t want to do because of the time Hubs was trapped upside down and got released and fell into a painful heap because he wasn’t a cat.

Spoiler: GG was just fine the whole time and could have gotten himself out whenever he wanted to if his slaves didn’t respond before he got bored with being upside down.

53

It was available as an extra on the Night For Nixie DVD.

Chief of Police Dick Ruffman and Coroner Fred Sadizmo are on the trail of space aliens bent on mutilation. IIRC, it’s about 13 minutes. I get pulled off of a motorcycle and get ripped in half. (Sound effect is a bunch of plastic forks being twisted.)

54

I’m sitting on a sofa with the head of a snoozing dog on my lap and another on my foot, so I am well content. I did get ahold of Amtrak finally and got the whole thing worked out, so that was a relief. The trip up was uneventful except for the fact there was only 1 conductor for all 9 passenger cars. She had to deputize passengers to open the doors at each stop. Everyone was pretty cheerful, though.

It’s nice to be here with son and DIL. They’re spoiling me rotten, and I’m spoiling the dogs. The dogs slobber on me. It’s the Circle of Life.

Welcome, istacyi! And you did just fine introducing yourself. :slight_smile:

JtC, I love the idea of leaving books for littles!

Baker, your presence on the planet is worth celebrating twice.

There’s an easier, more entertaining solution, but you probably don’t want to work hungover tomorrow.

Everybody needs a best fiend.

55

Nellie, glad you got it worked out!

Welcome, istacyi.

56

Up, caffeinated, and sheveled. Off to heave. It’s 23 degrees at the moment.

Sounds like GG and Hubs switched brains for that incident. :wink:

Considering it’s 3/4 of a 5th, I’d likely not go to work at all. For 2 days. :wink:

57

We’ve had that happen enough for scotch, that we just keep the good corks when we finish a bottle. Worse is when the cork just falls apart and then there’s cork bits floating around.

I am 12. I know these are the balls that were attached to him, but I still smirked. GG’s better than most comedies on tv.

I do like a positive Amtrak story. I’m not ready to do a big trip with them, but I am hopeful that that day will come.

Today I got my hair cut, and I found frosted strawberry poptarts at the discount store, so hubby’s happy. I think they are manufactured in the Netherlands.

Lunch will be leftover chicken cacciatore (somebody here made it recently, so I decided to give it a try - hubby liked it, so it’s going in rotation) and then we’re going to the fancy grocery store to see if I can find Peychauds Bitters. We’ll also see what other fancy foodstuffs find their way to our home.

I sent an email because of the jar of cocktail cherries, but I couldn’t send a photo. I did get a response already and they asked for a photo, which I have just sent.

I actually made orange marmalade yesterday. U.S. food standards recommend a water bath, so I tried to do so with the pot that I have. However, it’s not quite deep enough, so we’ll order a new one, so that next time I can be more certain that I don’t accidentally poison us.

Maybe it’s time to warm up lunch. Or maybe some more time on the sofa. Decisions, decisions.

Stay safe & healthy!

58

Morning, mumpers! It’s 5c/41f with a predicted high of 8c/47f and rain showers. Weather app says “Do you know what is worse than fucking rain? Solving algebra problems while people are kicking you!” Yes, I should imagine it is!

No sign of the rain showers yet, it’s grey and a bit gloomy out there. I have to venture outside shortly as the recycling collection just happened (known here as “ringing the Bells of Bacchus” due to the number of empty bottles involved). I heard the recycling truck on the next street and had a giggle at the neighbour rushing out in her dressing gown and slippers to put her bin out before they reached us.

Welcome, istacyi - looks like a pretty good introduction to me!

Baker two birthdays in a year was always good enough for the Queen, so why not for you?

doggio why bother with a cork? Empty the bottle and buy a fresh one with a whole cork! Or use a wine bottle stopper :slight_smile:

nellie glad to hear you got through to Amtrak and everything worked out well in the end. I have very fond memories of a few Amtrak trips, we took the Coastal Starlight from San Jose to Seattle once, and also the California Zephyr from (I think) Emeryville to Grand Junction. We also took the CZ on another trip with the intention of boarding in Reno but the train was delayed by about 10 hours so Amtrak provided a bus service to take us part of the route so we could connect to another route elsewhere.

Mooom I hope MIL is a bit more open to discussions about care for FIL, she must be realising now that he is far more than she is capable of caring for, and the additional demands it places on you and FCD simply aren’t fair to anyone.

I am getting quite used to having no plans for the day - still off work as the university isn’t open again until 3rd Jan, and I will be working from home that week as the rail unions are still staging strikes so getting to campus is difficult. There’s no teaching happening so it isn’t exactly a hardship for me not to be there.

Not sure what today will entail, I have laundry to do and I should get back on the exercise path so maybe a Rockfit class this afternoon. Dinner is leftovers from the freezer, and anything else will be foraged from the fridge. No plans to go outside, except to rescue the recycling bin from the kerb.

More tea, then!

59

Buddy is yelling at me because it’s raining and he wants me to shut it off so he can go outside without getting soggy. Goofy cat.

60

Yeah, that’s where my mind went, too… I may grow up one day. :wink:

On first read, I saw “while people are licking you” which would be pretty disgusting… :open_mouth:

I don’t know if she’s more open, but today, we’ll do the paperwork for the VA facility. And probably some for the nursing home in Leonardtown. One way or another, we’ve got to get him in a controlled environment. FCD went over there last night for a few hours to get his dad settled in bed. It’s bad and getting worse. Sorry to be a downer…

I’m hoping to get some stuff accomplished today, since much of yesterday was a waste. The sketty sauce is bagged and it spent the night in the fridge, cooling down. I sent 2 bags to MIL and the other 4 will now go into the freezer. And I WILL sort the spice cabinet today and do a grocery inventory ahead of the new sale cycle starting tomorrow at Food Lion. I may even do some tidying.

My cough is just about gone, and my nose is only very occasionally snuffly, so I think I’m truly past my plague days. I still wear a mask, tho - if nothing else, it’s warm! This morning, it’s mid-20s in the yard - a nice change from 9° a few days ago. In a couple more days, we’re promised highs in the 50s and then low 60s. Starting the new year off with weird weather…

If I may be so bold and illogical as to dub our newest Mumper icy unless someone else has a better notion. It’s just the first thing that came to mind when I saw istacyi. Oh, and welcome to our playground. It’s your turn to make the snacks.

:rofl:

Happy Tuesday, all!!