Go-Go Vacation! - A MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
101

I usually refuel on Tuesdays, before my commute down to Burien. With my injury, I decided to work from home yesterday. And Wifey, RN made two trips to the ER with me for an unexpected additional 84 miles.

It’s been a long time since that car has hit 400 miles on a tankful of gas. I just got back from refuelling. 426.9 miles, and 9.449 gallons. I had almost a gallon and a half left in the tank. Of course the econometer lied to me. It said I averaged 48.2 mpg, but the calculated mpg was only 45.18.

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For those who are on – or about to be on – vacation: :tada: ! :slight_smile:

Thinking of you, Sari. :people_hugging:

Keeping fingers crossed for nellie… :crossed_fingers:

Continuing the good vibes toward shoe (and Sunny)! :revolving_hearts:

I got home at around 9:30 PM on Sunday, and spent an hour unpacking/putting stuff away before I was able to crash. All in all, it was a pretty good weekend! Traffic on the way home wasn’t bad, which I appreciated. I’d originally planned to pick Bailey up from the kennel after work on Monday, but there were evening storms in the forecast so I picked her up at noon instead. I’d missed my doggy. She mostly just slept Monday afternoon and all of yesterday, and today she’s back to “normal” except for being a little extra clingy – which is both sweet and kind of sad.

I was pretty beat Monday and yesterday, too. I’m only 50, but I guess I don’t recover from heat and driving as quickly as I used to! Meh! I probably should have taken Monday off. I’m pretty much all caught up now, except for still needing to go to the grocery store. Other than the quick kennel pick-up I am quarantining until Friday, because on Sunday afternoon I spent several hours inside with a bunch of maskless people of unknown vaccination status in a “high transmission” county. I figure I’ll take an at-home test on Friday, just to be on the safe side: if it’s negative and I’m still feeling fine, I’ll go to the store after work. Unfortunately the “good” store for deliveries is still doing the “we’ll send you a substitution of our choice if this item isn’t available” thing, with no way to opt out, which isn’t acceptable to me. One of these days I might have to try Instacart…

In other news, I’ve been asked to be a guest vocalist at two jazz shows next month! I don’t really have a following yet, so outside of festival performances guest spots are kind of perfect: I don’t have to worry about ticket sales or paying the band, and I only have to prepare 4-5 songs each time. I’m super honored that both people thought of/asked me, and I’m excited about the shows. And I get to do some shopping, because I don’t have any “stage” clothes in my new size! Woo hoo!!

:frowning:

That’s just…evil.

I drafted this post while reading through the thread, and my first sentence was originally about mentally turning the subject line into “Go-Go Gadget Vacation” every time. :smiley:

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The recipe makes a LOT of batter - enough to fill 2 containers (since I don’t own one big-ass container to hold it all!) I’m taking one container as is with us, and I’ve baked 18 (so far) muffins from the other batch. It’ll be lots easier to take the batter and bake it when we get there. I even bought cupcake papers and I’ll take my own pans. It’ll be easy to bake it all once there and load the excess into their freezer. They only take 15 minutes to bake.

Supper tonight will be burgers and crinkle fries. Roxy wanted to see her grandpa, so I’m bringing the kids back here tomorrow and Daughter will come after work for supper - pulled poke sammiches. There’s a chance I may have Tobias on Firday - SIL has only one coworker, and she was taking out in an ambulance yesterday. He doesn’t know if she’ll be back to work or not, so time will tell.

For now, tho, I have a little time to chill before putting together the burgers and fixins.

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Huzzah! That’s awesome news. Congratulations!

105

I washed my hands.

‘So, what? Who doesn’t wash their hands a dozen times a day?’

Going back to yesterday’s post, I did dab my wounds with a soapy washcloth; and I did keep my hand dry in the shower. As for my right hand, do you know how hard it is to wash a hand with the hand that is being washed? I decided my wounds looked OK, so an hour ago I washed both hands together like a normal person. And after my walk, when I take a shower, I’ll leave it uncovered. :slight_smile:

So I went on my errand earlier. On the way out, I said hi to my nextdoor neighbour who doesn’t live here. He asked how my hand was. I was confused, as I haven’t seen/spoken to him for a couple of weeks. I held my hand up, and he asked me if it had gotten infected. Huh? It turns out he thought my hand was still injured from the burn I got from the pressure washer a month ago. *L*

106

Atta girls shoe and sunny!

metal mouse, glad that you finally made contact with your brother.

Mooooooooom, like others have chimed in, my vote is for taking muffing batter (unfrozen) and baking there or taking baked muffins. The freezer does nasty things to leavening.

Irked on the island today. My lead has the plague and didn’t leave the SKU spreadsheets for me to finish up what would have taken me through the week. I took Miss Siso’s place on the island, since she too is out with the plague. I may have need for those free tests that Uncle Sam sent to me.

Stay safe and healthy y’all!

107

Howdy Y’all! We procured provisions for today’s productivity. The rest of the day was spent in sloth, quality cee-mint pond time, nappage, day drinkin’, eatin’ sup, and more sloth. A near perfect retired drain on society day!

108

Evening all. Swimmin-n-sauna have been completed, need to drop by the market and grab some milk and lettuce (there is an IGA (small market) right up the street from me, might see if they have these two items on-hand). Need to hand up my jeans (I usually dry them about 80% then hang them over the sectional to finish drying----heard something somewhere that you’re not supposed to completely dry jeans in a dryer.

flyboy, sounds like you damage yourself enough that the neighbors know you by that… And SWMBO and I wouldn’t get along–my thermometer is usually set at 77F for the house.

Oopsie, congrats on the guest appearances, hope they lead to more and bigger performances for you.

Wheelie, that’s sad news on the probable demise of steam at the zoo. Maybe enough people will protest and get roused by it’s leaving to make them chance their minds…we’ll see. I still like watching the steam trains in Lancaster, PA (excursions daily) on Virtual railfan, and hope to ride on them one of these days.

wet one, I never worked enough to qualify for SS payments (I’m under the US Government retirement plan that was in place before they changed it around and brought in Social Security/401K. But yeah, you’re old.

** Euphonious_Polemic** (it’ll take some doing to get a MMP name from that…), obviously the parents think that it’s better to disrupt the neighborhood than leave the kid inside with the drum and perhaps invite homicide…

OK, need to forage for some dinner. Take care all.

109

And she turns on the patio heater in the mornings. Go figure.

Walked and de-sweatified.

110

We picked Mom up at the airport yesterday, had Mexican on the way home and spent the rest of the night getting settled in. We are both looking to the seminar so much!

VBC was happy to see her, VBC has a very good memory when it comes to getting treats and stritches. GG wasn’t sure about her at first, but then he took a nap and when he woke up he had forgotten that she was new.

Things are going well and all is on track for our last get-away.

111

I :heart: you so hard.

112

I took out the recycling between storms I’m having a sakitini for cocktails(with hibiscus/oak/lavender bitters). Dinner tonihgt is honey teryaki stirfry.

Congrats!

I do now.

113

Honeys, I’m hooome. Holy frick, it’s hot here. Since I couldn’t go to the gym due to COVID concerns, I tried walking outdoors. Turns out I’m not enough of a masochist. So far, COVID tests have been negative, but I was still worried about infecting others. I wore a mask on the trip home and hoped for the best.

I’m quite sure nobody remembers, but a year ago, I got a scary letter from the IRS saying I owed $25k in taxes. I’m a retired teacher, and there’s no way I could owe that mucj, but it was very upsetting anyway. Well, I came home to a letter from the IRS saying they’ve corrected the error, along with a check for $56. My sister suggested I use it to buy “liquid sedative” (alcohol), and I’m considering it.

sunny. glad you survived the scary, stressful thing.

But did the Professor make a credit card machine out of coconuts?

I have a recipe for Six Week Refrigerator Bran Muffins I got from a prof’s wife when I was in college, and I thought that was what you were talking about. I agree you should bake and bring. I hope your in-laws know what a gem of a DIL they have.

Wheelz, that’s frustrating . If the PTB would check with customers first, they’d see the errors of their ways. I’m so sorry.

Oh, crud. Surely this violates some public disturbance statutes. Also, I believe the rule is, if you think your kid is the next Ginger Baker or Gene Krupa, YOU suffer through the practice sessions .

If it helps any, so am I. I hope Bailey is feeling reassured.

flyboy, I’m sooooo glad you’re married to a nurse

red, hope you remain plague free.

114

She said the hardware store isn’t going to rent me anything anymore. I looked at a couple of stumps and say, ‘You know? I need to rent a chainsaw.’

115

No. I’ve seen chainsaw wounds.

116

:rofl:
No, and neither did FCD! The very idea!!!

This batter supposedly keeps 6 weeks in the fridge… not that it’s ever lasted that long in our house! By my estimate, I should get 3-4 dozen from each container of batter. So far, I’ve made 18 muffins from one - we’ll see how close my estimate is.

Yeah, not pretty. Back in the early 80s when I was a baby Ensign in the Pentagon, one of the officers in my office (who had been involved in the failed hostage rescue in Iran) took a hunk out of one leg with a chainsaw. Fortunately, being a Marine, he was in good shape and he healed completely, but even at that, it took a while. Chainsaws are scary. I have a small electric one that I use to cut up fallen branches for firewood, and I’ve used a gas-powered one, but they still scare me and I’m super-cautious.

I actually slept uninterrupted till almost 5, but I made the mistake of thinking, so I got up. Dammit. I remembered that I need to order pellets for the stove - we got a postcard in the mail advertising sale prices and I need to get 2 tons… which means we need to clean the garage… but not till we get back… and I forgot to pop the dishwasher open so the dishes would dry (I refuse to use heated dry, always and forever.) Anyway, I’ve since showered, dressed, tended to the critters, popped open the dishwasher, breakfasted, and I’m caffeinating. We’re having Daughter and the grands here for supper, and somewhere along the way, I need to buy some chips to go with the pulled poke.

Here’s a question for all: Can you tell the difference between generic/store brand chips and name brands? Any flavor, any style - does it matter to you? Maybe I don’t have a discriminating palate, but to me, chips is chips. So I can’t see spending almost $5 for a bag when the $2 bag tastes the same.

Apart from dinner, my plan for today is making the liverwurst paté to take to FL. The recipe specified a food processor, but I don’t have one, so I use a potato masher, a wooden spoon, and what brute strength I can muster. It’ll help if I let the liverwurst, cream cheese, and butter all come to room temp first. (OMG! does that sound like a coronary in the making??) I’ll hope against hope that Tobias takes a longer nap so I can get it all done.

And I have him tomorrow - SIL’s sole coworker won’t be coming to work so he’s having to cover for her. Extra $$ for him but extra work for me. Still, it’s not like it’s his fault. I don’t understand why they don’t hire someone else, but it is a gummint job and they’re not always the most efficient at staffing. Been there, worked that, I know how it goes.

Thus beginneth the day. Happy Thursday!!

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oohh recipe? pls and thx?

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My mom used to make this when she had her catering business, which is why she mentioned a mold. And it works just fine on crackers, too.

Liverwurst Pate

16 ounces liverwurst
3 ounces cream cheese
½ stick butter, softened
2 tablespoons dry white wine or lemon juice
½ teaspoon dried basil
2 teaspoon minced onion
½ teaspoon garlic powder

Put all ingredients in food processor and combine thoroughly.

Line a mold or bowl with plastic wrap and pack mixture into it. Cover top with plastic wrap and chill.

To serve: Unmold onto a platter and remove plastic wrap. Serve with rye bread and /or pumpernickel.

119

Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and caffeinatin’. YAWN ‘Tis 73 Amurrkin out and clear with a predicted high of 92 and partly N.O.S. for the day with the chance of rain. No biggie plans for the day, so quality cee-mint pond time, nappage, day drinkin’ and overall uselessness are in store. Sup shall be majik intartoobz pizza (due to a gnawin’ and a cravin’ for pizza) and sallit.

Wheelie that sound like a stoopid decision re the train. I hope customers maket TPTB painfully aware of just how stoopid.

Oopsie congrats on bein’ asked to be a guest vocalist. I predict that soon you shall have many, many fans who worship and adore you.

Nellie glad you made it back safe and sound and so far plague free.

red may you be plague free as well.

flyboy just say no to chainsaws.

MOOOOOOM the pate recipe sounds really good.

JtC glad mom is there safe and sound. Perhaps GG will figure out she is a wonderful source of skritches and treats.

Now I need more caffeine and to feed rumbly tummy. Then, onward into the day! Rah,

Happy Thursday Y’all!

120

Morning, mumpers! It’s a balmy 18c/65f with a predicted high of 21c/69f and cloudy today. Weather app says “Calm your tits, it’s not that fucking bad outside”. Seems reasonable, it’s cool and cloudy but dry. We had a proper downpour yesterday evening which was much needed as the ground’s so dry.

I have no big plans for the day as I’m irking, I’ve got some bits and pieces to get on with and I am waiting for the Exams Office to publish the timetable for campus supplementary exams so I can fit that into my schedule. We have one department who have five exams but one of them is on campus whereas the rest are take-home papers. It’s a pain in the backside but has to be done…there will be clashes with our schedule so I’ll have to email students and let them know what extra time they’re allowed to compensate for it.

Wheelie I am sorry to hear about the train, I agree that it’s a daft idea. Steam trains are such an attraction, I’d definitely want to ride on one of those instead of a diesel version.

Oopsie congrats on your impending stardom!

nellie and red fingers crossed that you remain plague-free too, and can get back to enjoying normal life again.

flyboy chainsaws are definitely a Very Bad Idea. I have a friend who lost fingers and toes to a couple of chainsaw accidents, I wouldn’t want to be near one!

Right…time for a cup of tea and a new spreadsheet!