Quick drive by: I’m glad you and Olive made it safely to Seoul, Haze.
I have much to do here at work, so I better get back to it. I’ve been here for over an hour and already it feels like I’ve been here most of the day.
I have XP, chaoticbear – Papa Tigs won’t allow Vista in the house at this point. Maybe later generations, when they’ve worked out more of the bugs (although probably they’ll have added in several whole new sets as well). So we’re strictly an XP family. One reason we got the desktop now is because I can still get it through Dell Small Business for free – they’re going to start charging for it in a couple more months. Which sucks, to put it mildly. Anyway, I’ll see what I can find. I might call Steve the Affordable Computer Repair Guy, too, since he already migrated my dead hard drive last summer onto the nice large one that’s currently in my old desktop. Where it’ll stay for a year till my new desktop is out of warranty, and then will become hard drive #2 in my desktop. Like I’ll need an extra 160 gigs of hard drive. (Not being a gamer, that was sarcasm.)
Someone find beebs in another thread and tell him to get his behind back over here and tell us what’s going on! Doesn’t he know that once a Mumper, always a Mumper, and we worry about Mumpers because we’re nice, dammit?
I do live in the future, don’t I? It’s very exhausting. I don’t know how anyone lives at this speed.
It’s weird reading about y’all waking up and going to work. I can see the moon from my window right now.
So this means you can compute from your house, Haze? I thought you said you’d have to go out somewhere to find wireless. I’m glad I’m wrong.
So do you have some kind of cheap phone setup so you can talk to The Guy as much as you want?
Boo–if we change her name to So liquored Up Twunt, her acronym would be SLUT! Heh.
I am going through grad school stuff–not a bit of it stuck in my head. I also found an ad for a PT Ref librarian at a business college in NW IL–must be master’s prepared and all. Salary is <drum roll> $14.42/hr.
Dear god–the nurse’s aides make more than that (barely, but they do!).
I am not sure about this. I knew there was a drop in money and all, but I am addicted to money. There is no 12 step program for me.
I have some stuff to do. And I really need to clean. Have a good day, all! If I don’t get off line, I’ll waste the day. Gah.
grumble grumble… morning. bleh.
Lovely OP. My dad has been gone now for a year and a half. He was a good father. Some people are just simple open books with loving hearts and he was one.
Glad you got to Korea safe and sound, haze. Now give up those nasty coffin nails. Even if you sneak them when Mom and Dad aren’t around, they will still be able to smell them on you. Fact.
The pups look great, fcm. I wonder, have you ever considered shaving Bernie for the summer? A lion cut would be fetching and so, so much cooler. Easier on the vacuum cleaner, too.
doggio, is the dizziness worse when you look up?
Quiet weekend for the Anachis but nothing wrong with that. Little Tiki bird nibbled a little millet bud from my fingers on Sunday so I guess that’s progress of a sort.
Back to work.
Tupug
Glad your trip went ok, Haze. And that Olive’s adjusting well.
I called Dad yesterday to wish him a happy Father’s Day. We’re not particularly close, but he’s not a bad dad. He wasn’t really interested in me as a kid - I get my dislike of kids from him I think - so I was never daddy’s little girl. We got along ok as I got older, through college, and while I lived an hour away, and we would go to movies together and stuff like that.
Now though we’re back to just not having much interaction. Mom and I talk much more, both through email and on the phone. I talk to Dad for a while when I call them each week, but it’s just superficial kind of stuff. We’re both busy with our own stuff and don’t really have all that much to talk about. I kind of wish we were closer, but it’s just the way it is.
We went to the orchestra on Friday with some friends. It was good, and more importantly, I feel really good that we’ve made a set of “couple” friends. We’ve been here just over 2 years now, and I think we’re both starting to feel like we really fit in and belong here. I mean we’ve both been happy to be here, but now we have friends to do stuff with and that really makes a difference.
Last night I saw the 4 foxes that live near work. (No, I wasn’t working… I know there are foxes here and they come out when it’s quiet, which in a business park means in the evenings on the weekends. So I biked over to try to see them.) They were playing, chasing each other around just like any dogs would do. It was so cute! After a little while I think they saw me, and they all disappeared. I was just so glad that I got to see them, acting totally uninhibited for a little while. It’s really fun that there’s wildlife right here in a suburb with all the traffic and people and everything.
I was in Nordstroms department store- but any high end department store should do it-- even a place like Victoria’s Secret.
After I got over the “this is weird” factor, I was sooo pleased.
And for those of you who feel compelled to ask, no I will not provide a “cite” 
(you know who you are… )
I worry about beebs… has he posted elsewhere recently?
ETA: just saw bobbio’s post…
Good morning, y’all–I actually slept pretty well, all things considered. I seem to have ironed out my coffee situation fairly well, my cup does not taste like the combination of hemlock and ass I so enjoyed yesterday.
I know what you mean about urban wildlife, taxi, we have quite a lot of it around here. We get raccoons, possums, beaver (I once saw one crossing a street, in the crosswalk, mind you, to get to the other half of a park) deer up at the Butte, shitloads o’bunnies, coyotes (kinda scary when they’re right outside my house howling and one of the cats isn’t in!) and we’ve had cougar and black bear sightings within a few miles of me. Portland has these neat avenues of wild land that span the city and provide handy routes for the wildlife to get around. We also have peregrine falcons nesting on the Fremont bridge and bald eagles nesting on Ross Island right in the middle of the Willamette just south of downtown PDX. I’ve never seen a fox around here, though, they’re so cute–where are you located?
My daughter just texted me that she’s been puking and has diarrhea since last night–they laid down 7 yards of hemlock mulch, I wonder if that caused it? Anyone have an idea on that? 
Poor baby… I’d take her some chicken soup but she’s a vegetarian.
Re the bra fitting. I’m glad it worked for you, but I have been so fitted twice with not very good results. IME, the people there love, love, love underwire bras–I cannot wear them. They hurt after about 30 minutes. I now have 2 very expensive bras that adorn my undie drawer–bought on the assurance that it was me, not the bras. Yeah. Well, I’m still me and they still hurt.
That said, it is true that most American women are wearing the wrong size bra. It’s worthwhile to go get fitted.
signed,
Rigs, who now lives in utter comfort in sports bras.
Put me in the “I think the old man is still alive” camp. Think he’d be close to 80, which is beyond my lineage’s normal longevity, but no attorneys have contacted me about him yet.
We had a yard sale over the weekend. Didn’t exactly get rich from it, but we did reclaim a bunch of garage space, which is almost as important as making a few bucks. OTOH, on a dollars per hour basis, it might have been better to just chuck it all in the truck and pay the $25 or so at the dump and be done with it, leaving us the rest of the day to do something more fun or more useful.
Speaking of useful, I’ve got to at least pretend to be useful now and try to get some work done.
Usually my mother-in-law brings crafts and stuff to do with the kids when we camp, to help keep them occupied. (No, we don’t have kids, when I say “the kids” I mean my nieces and nephews.) She asked me for ideas yesterday! I’m looking for more. She always brings paper, coloring books, and crayons and books for them to read. Here’s what I have so far:
-Felt finger puppets (She’s planning on this one)
-Fingerpaints (I’m bringing the stuff for this)
-Bubbles
-Playdough
-Create your own cookie pizza. (She thought this one was great and I offered to make the “crust” for the pizza out of sugar cookie dough and she will bring the frosting and toppings to decorate it with)
-Decorate a sunvisor (write their names on them, then use foamies to decorate. She thought this was a good idea since the sunglasses usually get stepped on and broke)
I had more but my list is at home and I’m at work. What are some of your ideas? Free or inexpensive ones are perfect!
Oh and we have a wide variety of ages…from 2 up to about 8. Mainly my nieces and nephews, but other cousins and relations as well.
Glad to see you made it all right, Haze.
Beebs, get your butt in here and reassure people.
Got my check from the gubmint. Now I can stimulate the economy! And by stimulate the economy I mean take Petercat to the vet. His skinniness worries me.
Survived work - go me! 
**doggio ** - I know I got my dogs back - even Scruffy. She may be hairless, mostly, but the personality hadn’t changed a whit! Plus I know her snore when she crawls under my side of the bed.
**Puggy ** - we have had Bernie shaved a couple of times, but after the last time, the hair on her rump and partly on the sides didn’t grow back. It looks bizarre. I read on line that sometimes that happens to dogs who aren’t traditionally groomed by shaving and that it can take 2 years to grow back. heck, she’ll be dead by then. So, no, she’s not going to get shaved. Anyway, she’s an indoor doggie, lolling in the A/C all day!
That’s all for now. I’m gonna take the turkey broth I made last week and cook up a pot of turkey rice soup. Bad T-storms forecast for later today, followed by a wonderful cool front.
That’s all I’ve got. So far. Till later.
Lanyards and friendship bracelets are big with slightly older kids. All they take is some embroidery floss and a pattern (and good eyes and nimble fingers). “Klutz” has a bunch of good books for patterns–check your library, they probably have a copy or you can buy a book at any bookstore (Klutz books come with floss).
Cat’s cradle is fun for all ages–the older kids control the game, but the little ones can be a part of it, too (some cat’s cradles take 2 people).
songs especially ones that require gestures or ones that add on verses are always popular.
nature books, ie, searching for and finding specimens of tree leaves, weeds, rocks etc for scrap books are good.
running games like moving statues, red rover, kick the can (kick the water bottle?), hide and seek are good, too.
I’m out of ideas.
I am also :mad: at the stupid SCUBA place. #1 son’s mask is ready and is in Rock Falls, IL. NOT the scuba place. Godammit. I almost started screaming my head off. I am not one to get ugly, but by god, I came close. I actually said, “so, now I have to go to goddammed Rockford?” to Harold, the moron I dealt with. (at least he had an answer for me. Steve, the other moron, said he’d look for the mask at 0930 and hadn’t by the time I called again at 130pm). They KNEW #1 son was going to Australia tomorrow. Now we are going to pay to ship the damned thing to Oz and hope it catches up with him there. $160 for a prescription lens mask and now this.
I want to hurt something. Really badly.
My step-MiL brought us fresh from the field local strawberries. Have I mentioned recently how much I love my step-MiL? We had a good chat and bitched about my SiL, whom we both want to hit with a hammer.
I’ve been up since 5am and am unable to get back to sleep. Stupid jet lag.
MamaTigs - yeah, my parents have wireless. My dad couldn’t live without internet. Neither The Guy nor I are huge phone people, although I’ve been nagging at him to download Skype - I think for the most part we’re going to send each other ridiculously long emails.
McUne, I LOVED camp songs as a kid. I’m sure Wee Sing has a collection out there.
Upper Midwest. (Sorry for being vague… I’m attempting to retain a little anonymity on teh interwebs. It’s why I don’t have a location on **beebs **map either.)
I don’t really like these summer hours (8-6 M-Th then 8-12 on Fri). I mean I like the 1/2 day Fridays, but the extra hour the rest of the week sucks.
I’ll have to catch up later - I was biz-zee today