Hi jali! Chocolate has an 18 month shelf life. Hard candy, who knows?
vbob, I had a VW Fox. It had that new fangled water cooling.
swampy, relax. If Drae is a zombie, gabriela can fix the problem. 
Okay, I’ve climbed out from under my pile of emails, and was able to read and respsond. Rest assured, swampy, I am not a zombie. But I suppose it’s only a matter of time.
God, that sucks on a hot summer day–but at least I made it to a service station before my engine seized. (I was nineteen, what did I know from oil changes?)
So, this weekend, I did stuff. Friday night, a couple of my friends came over, and we hadn’t seen them in weeks, so that was happy time. Then on Saturday, I started working on the dress for my Halloween costume, and we went shopping, went out to dinner, and watched movies. Yesterday, I went out to brunch and then worked on the dress some more. It’s almost finished, but now that I have a better idea what I’m doing, I might just start over, because I’m a perfectionist like that. Aw, hell, either way, it’s going to look like a dress I made. 
And we call everything from November to January Christmasolstikwanzaakahgiving.
Happy/Merry HalloThanksMas! I try to stay away from the stores at this time of year as all of the way-early xmas decorations and displays drive me crazy.
I did take the Nikita kitty to the vet on Friday… and got peed on in the process. Ugh. But the poor kitty is forgiven because she is Very Sick. She doesn’t know it and doesn’t act like it, but the vet thinks it’s her kidneys which are well on their way to giving out. And they don’t do kitty dialysis so there’s really not much we can do about it. She’s getting special kidney diet food, which should slow the progress, but it’s just a stop-gap measure. Poor kitty.
She’s acting fine though. Still playful and happy. So we’ll just keep going as long as she seems ok and isn’t suffering. She’s down to 5.6 lbs from a high of around 7 lbs. and is just all skin and bones. At least she seems to like the new food so maybe that’ll help her stop losing weight.
Yesterday **KeithT ** wanted to go fly his new stunt kite. But there wasn’t much wind so it didn’t do too well. But we saw a bald eagle while we were out so that was cool. And I made choco chip cookies yesterday so that made up for it.
aw, poor kitty. Just give her much love. and a twiggle-n-scritch for me
welcome, mindfield, (or is it welome back?) to where the cool kids hang. sacreficial chocolate offerings to **FairyChatMom ** are de rigeur. but they don’t have to be HalloThanksMas chocolate.
Woohoo! Alastair has a date! We’ll need details. Speaking of which, w\here’s Spats?
Got the laundry done. Time to do as many chores as possible before baking a pan of brownies for work. I am experimenting with sponge cake chemistry, and I think if you add melted chocolate you should get fudgy brownies.
Why thank you. Chocolate you say? Milk, dark or white? I prefer the real Swiss variety myself and am quite partial to Droste’s white chocolate pastilles. Is this an acceptable offering? If you’ll just direct me to the proper altar…
Good morning all and HappyHallo um…you know what I mean to you!
Very nice OP Swampy, and buying coats for those less fortunate than you was a very nice thing to do.
Thanks all for the good wishes in the previous MMP. Also, the new MetroNatural slogan? That ain’t NOTHIN’ compared to the one they just yanked after only running six months. Granted this particular yanked statement was for the state tourism office. Ready? Here it is: “Say WA”. Yep, that’s right. The most stupid slogan ever!
Hope all are healthy, happy and well. Welcome back to our sometime visitors!
I must work now. I don’t feel like it, but I’ve got to. Read you later!
Well, goodness gracious, where are my manners! Welcome to the cool kids spot Mindfield. Post anything ya want. That’s what the MMP’s all about. We keep the rest of the Dope nice and tidy by posting all our ramblings and great thoughts right here. Basically, it’s the place to post stuff you want to post but it’s not worth a whole new thread. We do this as a public service to the Dope because we’re nice, dammit!
FCM likes all kinds of chocolate. She also throws pots, so you might want to approach her carefully. 
Good morning, cool kids!
Great OP, Swampy. I’m real proud of you!
Not much going on at Chez Rebo. Tonight I’m gonna fry up a mess of fish that my dad brought back from his fishing trip.
Yesterday we had a canine visitor. Tom was cleaning out the garage and this stray kept hanging around. I, of course, fell in love with her and let her come in and visit for a while. She ate and drank a lot, and kept my dogs all antsy. She was such a sweetie, actually hugging me! Tom said no! He’s right of course. So we put her back outside, but she hung around all day, and into the evening. The guy across the street adopted her!
Doing laundry today. Ho-hum.
Hmmmm… let’s see, there’s Hallowe’en, Thanksgiving, Solstice, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, New Year’s, did I miss one?
Happy/Merry Hallo/Thanks/Solst/Chris/Hanuk/Kwanz/Year?
That made my head hurt! OW!
Happy Hallothanksmas to you, too!
the coat bit made me tear up. Good on you, swampy -you’re my favoritest hairy gay guy, ever! <throws kiss GA way>
I am off to run errands and buy daughter a Bday present. I am somewhat shocked to find that I have a 17 year old daughter. How did that happen? She wants a year membership to the local health club. How do you say no to that? So, while not cheap, it’s her only present. I also need to pay the garbage man-this I do by driving my check over there. It’s a quarterly bill and it’s not far. Such excitement for me today! I may need to lie down…
Sorry about the sick kitty. Hope those who feel poorly, feel better soon. After errands, research on rural libraries and their geneology collections…
Happy/Merry HallowThanksMas! Great OP, Swampy, and good on you for buying kiddie coats. We have a teddy bear toss every season at the Snake Pit - the bears go to the EMTs and the fire and police departments to help calm upset kidlets. I try to buy them when I see them all year long, so the bed in my spare room is already mounded with stuffed animals. I do not limit myself to bears.
Now that I am a player sponsor, it is time to start worrying that my player will be cut. From what I saw during the exhibition game he’s a keeper, but I’m not (and don’t want to be) the Coach.
Saw a report of an exhibition game between Knoxville and Huntsville - over 80 penalty minutes for each team. The entire game only lasts 60 minutes. The league has decided to strictly enforce the rules on holding, hooking, interference, etc. and it sure slowed down the flow of the game. I guess when the refs, linesmen and players get used to it, we will too.
I have not really been a fan of Christmas since I lost my mother many years ago and starting it in September doesn’t endear it to me. By the time it gets here I am throughly sick of it. Now that the cats have their own suite, I can have a Christmas tree, which is nice. I hadn’t had one for years 'cause I could only decorate the top three inches of it - the rest was a kitty toy.
Today is laundry day - then the Coach’s Show tonight. Dinner at Speakeasy and hockey talk! Yeah!
Well thanks, Swampy. So, when you boil it down, the MMP is really a subset of MPSIMS where all the mindless, pointless stuff that too mindless and pointless for MPSIMS proper goes. I can dig it.
FCM likes all kinds of chocolate. She also throws pots, so you might want to approach her carefully.
[/QUOTE]
I’m sure if I hold the chocolate out in front of me like a hostage, a more amicable resolution can be worked out. Chocolate, it is understood, is both an accomplished mediator and universal peacemaker. I have tried using beef jerky for this purpose, but while this certainly made me more amenable, it didn’t always have the desired effect on the opposition. More’s the pity.
Maybe I’ll just leave a plate of assorted chocolate goodies on the table with a note instead. The best way to avoid being hit by flying objects, after all, is to be elsewhere when they launch.
sportswise, I’m in hibernation until April (tho I may pop up to view a football game or two) which is actually just as well, because chorus stuff will keep me real busy until then anyway. No offense (pun intended) SCL, but I couldn’t give a hoot or a hollar about hockey, but you enjoy
Neither of my cats ever used the Christmas tree as anything but a remote water dish (yuck, but no aspirin or anything in it-just pine sap and H2O. For this, I am grateful.
Mika -I meant to tell you! I had some something yesterday. I am so articulate… A doctor (who golfs obsessively) came in a bit late, and he hadn’t called me back (which was unusual-no worries, he wasn’t needed stat or anything). I accused him of golfing whilst on call. He said, no he’d been to the temple for Diwali. Upon hearing this, I apologized (and then he said it was too cold to golf otherwise he would have, and his wife had insisted that they go to 2 temples and that was too much!). Anyhoo, he shared some of what he called the Mixture with us. It looked a bit like ground corn, with peanuts, sultanas and ground up curry leaves. It was salty, sweet, and hot (not Mexican food hot-different kind of heat).
anyway, it was good. So, if it’s not being to forward, Happy Diwali to you!
(I suppose we could add it to the mouthful that Swampy’s working on).
FESTIVUS FOR THE REST OF US …er. I mean, Happy/Merry HalloThanksMas! I can’t think of anyone better than swampus to ring in the holiday season for us Cool Kids.
Congrats to Alistair. At least he knows that the strumpet he’s wooing is interested in being wooed. Trust me, that makes things a lot easier. We were supposed to go dancing Saturday night. Didn’t happen. This, actually, doesn’t bother me. She had a family for which she babysits visiting, so I can see how plans and schedules would change, etc. What bothers me is that, at her Thursday night request, I sent her an email Friday asking about the plans for dancing. She never responded. Not an “oops, can’t make it” or an “oops, sorry I didn’t get back to you” - nothing. Romantic interest (or lack thereof) aside, it’s just courtesy to apologize for broken plans. Ah well.
Overall, the weekend was eh. Productivity needs to go back up some.
Here, have a pun. No really, I insist. My treat.
Today I study for my second midterm. I’m not worried.
But of course. Details shall be provided insofar as I can and still remain a gentleman ;).
My sister’s cats have taken to drinking from a watercan that my mother leaves sitting on their deck for the purpose of watering the various plants in the area. The bizzare thing is that the can only has a little opening that even the smallest of the cats can’t fit their head into, so to drink from it they need to dip a paw in and then lick the water off. Yet it is to the point now where none of the three cats will even use their convinient water dishes. If the watering can is empty they reach their paws in trying to find the liquid while meowing desperatley until someone fills it up again.
I am currently writing up my significant contributions for my rating. I hate, hate, hate doing this.
Also, I think my boss is slightly annoyed with me. I put my leave request in for the 31st due to MIL’s surgery/surgeries. He just sort of gave me a funny look and sighed.
I know it’s been kind of a pain to have me gone during all this crap that’s been going on for my mother and MIL. Really, I’ve only missed a total of FOUR days since MAY for the mom’s various health issues. I always ensure my stuff is covered or done. Also, it’s not like HE’S responding to completed taskers and projects I’ve sent to him. I’m still waiting for word on stuff I completed the first week of SEPTEMBER. I’ve sent him SEVERAL completed projects since then. I’m really becoming irked. I like the guy, he’s nice, seems forthright and honest; and, I know he’s busy. But JEEBUS, give me some frikkin’ feeback dude!
Sorry for the mini-rant. Back to my significant contributions.
Happy/Merry HallowThanksMas! One of my favorite parts of the holiday season is buying stuff for charities. My two favorites are buying books for kids and the Salvation Army toy drive. I love going to toy stores and buying stuff. Now that I don’t celebrate with my family, I can spend all that money on charity.
I got a new bed yesterday! It’s soooo nice and comfy. I went in just to look and well, you know how that goes. But I got 35% off and it’s a really nice bed. I had buyer’s remorse, right up until I saw it all set up in my bedroom. It’s about a foot higher than my old bed, which I thought was about 15 years old, but on stripping it, I think 20+ is a more reasonable estimate. It was more than time, I think. No backache this morning!
I’m about a month out of my annual review - I got skeerued last year because I earn more than the top tier at my level (or the top level at my tier - take your pick) and I am afraid the same will happen this year as well, because TPTB haven’t revamped the pay structure. Which royally bites because they won’t even give me a COL increase. grrrrr. but the benefits and perks are still outstandingly amazing so I try not to bitch
Still waiting for my 25th anniv party and present.