You did the right thing bumba.
What? No cabbage in your supper shoe? What kind of Polish American are you anyway? 
BTW, the roasted chickpeas sound nom. They’ve been coming up on Pinterest a lot for me lately.
DH will be getting an extra hug very shortly.
Discovered I’m walking through some poorly-lit areas after dark on the way home, so purchased a reflective vest. SUCH a lovely fashion statement, but it’ll give the alleged drivers in the area less excuse to fail to see me in a crosswalk. Also planning to acquire a heavy enough flashlight to double as a defensive tool if needed (DH thinks there are a couple of good candidates coming through the thrift store soon, so he says he’ll keep an eye on those and nab one for me). I do carry pepper spray. Wondering about some lovely little electrical defense tool.
In the morning, would someone please remind me to get the crockpot ceramic out of the fridge and get that pot roast cooking?
I can imagine there were some really good smells coming out of the oven. I have printed the recipe and will try it the next cold spell. Which is (looks at weather forecast) later this week. Yesterday was spring, which is confusing all the birds.
Up, caffeinated, and sheveled. Off to sort.
And for anybody in the USA, or anybody having elections in foreign lands today, VOTE!
0413 – talk about being up stupid early! Supposed to be at the polling place ready to work by 0515, and will have to drop my daughter off on the way since this time round they have us working at different places. Fortunately, it won’t be much of a detour. Hoping it won’t take long to get the paperwork done and everything stowed afterward…
Morning, mumpers! Bright and shiny over here today, we are off to brave the idiocy of grocery shopping this evening and then going to a local hostelry for curry before it has to shut down again.
Bumba, I wasn’t suggesting you did anything wrong, just that i wasn’t sure whether it was the done thing or not. I suppose I was waiting for Swampy to tell me that one! Anyway, I’m sure Butters will be glad that it’s known, and you’ve saved her the pain of having to go over it again.
wet one, forgot to congratulate you on the smokeiversary…congrats!
shoe your kitchen must have some delicious aromas! Snausage 'n onions looks really good, I think we’ll be trying that one out too.
So far today (aside from shevelling and caffeinating), I’ve put the recycling out for collection, moved the car out onto the street ready to go out later, done a load of laundry, shifted all the dry stuff and folded it, been to an irk meeting and answered a bunch of emails. One of them is part of an exchange with our Senior Exams Officer who seems to have a serious case of not understanding simple written words. Anyone got a spare clue-by-four?
And for those of you who’ve got an election…VOTE!! And make sure it’s for the right person!
SIL is keeping the RoxStar this morning which gave me a chance to sleep in. Not that I did - I was still awake before 5, but I stayed under the covers while playing one of my mindless tablet games. Since then, I’ve tended to the critters and breakfasted, and I’m caffeinating. I’ve got an alarm set for 11 to get me to their place by 11:30.
Today, FCD turns 64. One more year till Medicare. I asked if he wanted something special for supper, but he doesn’t. I’ll ask again before I head out. Maybe I should try to find a key chain with a Cadillac badge on it to go with his new toy. Dunno if there’s a caddy dealer in our county, tho.
I am glad we voted already. One less thing to fuss with today.
Happy Tuesday! And here’s hoping for a happy outcome later today… 
Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and caffeinatin’. YAWN ‘Tis 35 Amurrkin out and clear with a predicted high of 70 and N.O.S. for the day. Even a little frost on the ground and roofs are frosted this mornin’. BRRR! The big item on today’s agenda. We voted via absentee ballot about three weeks ago so that’s all done. Sup shall be fried chikin tenders, succotash, rice 'n gravy, and bizkits. Maybe I’ll make an apple crisp.
If you have not voted yet, get out there. If you have, then good for you!
Nettie don’t forget the crock pot!
Now I need more caffeine and to feed rumbly tummy. Then, onward into the day! Rah.
Happy Tuesday Y’all!
Here ya go, MOOooooommm
Went to bed ridiculously early (full bellies always promote sleep!) so I’m up before my alarm. Polished off the remaining sausage bake when I got up in the middle of the night - dammit, that was good. Easy peasy, too. Did mine in a disposable pie pan to minimize cleanup angst.
I open at irk today, and close tomorrow. Weather is nice: mild, temps in the 50s.
Being up early + time change + nice weather = kitties derping around outside. I hung a bird feeder yesterday where we can all see it (now that Coolio is no longer occupying that window) we’ll see how long it takes 'em to find it.
Off to shevel myself - I have got to wash my dang hair. Then, perhaps, aigs.
Thanks - I ordered him a couple of things for his new toy. 
Plus I added it to our insurance, so we just need to wait for it to appear. And clear some space in the garage, since it’s bigger than the HHR.
Time to push the vacuum cleaner around.
Washed, purtified, scrambled a pair of aigs. Cuppa tea, to fortify myself for the day.
All that, and I might (might!) still be early to irk.
Wow. I feel all kinds of on-top-of-shit today!
I’ve printed out a bunch of stuff, pushed around the vacuum cleaner, and hung some pictures in our bedroom. I think I’ll hang a few others in the hallway.
Slowly but surely, the house is being put together.
Morning, y’all. My principal totally screwed up my schedule for the day by moving tomorrow’s faculty meeting to this morning. So the day becomes very erratic. Meeting, then teach 4th period from home, drive to school during my conference period for counseling, then teach 6th period from my classroom.
On the up side, my CSA box was on the front porch when I got up, so it will be a veggie-rich diet for the week. Lots of stir fry.
Vote!!
Okay, let the bitching commence:
Upper management has been engaging in what I consider to be unethical practices. I get that the zoo took a huge financial hit being closed for four months. But I am not comfortable with how we’re squeezing extra money from our guests. We’re not allowed to raise our prices without approval from the City, which isn’t going to happen. So instead they’ve lowered the age for “adult” pricing from 16 to 12. And instead of kids 3 and under being admitted free (which had been the practice for decades) we now charge starting at age 2.
Every year at daylight saving time we close an hour earlier, and lower all prices by one dollar. Except this year. The word came down that we’re “giving our guests an extra hour in the park,” which is bullshit. They just want that extra buck a head. It’s only been three days and already there’s nobody here that last hour. In another week the sun will be setting before closing time, which is ridiculous.
The seasonal rates are poste Okay, let the bitching commence:
Upper management has been engaging in what I consider to be unethical practices. I get that the zoo took a huge financial hit being closed fir four months. But I am not comfortable with how we’re squeezing extra money from our guests. We’re not allowed to raise our prices without approval from the City, which isn’t going to happen. So instead they’ve lowered the age for “adult” pricing from 16 to 12. And instead of kids 3 and under being admitted free (which had been the practice for decades) we now charge starting at age 2.
Every year at daylight saving time we close an hour earlier, and lower all prices by one dollar. Except this year. The word came down that we’re “giving our guests an extra hour in the park,” which is bullshit. They just want that extra buck a head. It’s only been three days and already there’s nobody here that last hour. In another week the sun will be setting before closing time, which is ridiculous.
The seasonal rates are posted on a big board out front year-round. They covered up the winter rates one day before they were going to go into effect. That’s a fraudulent bait-and-switch if you ask me, and it pisses me off.
What’s more, I got stuck by myself again yesterday at the post I complained about a couple MMPs ago. It’s our train ride, and in the Before Times, it was an easy gig - you sell tickets at the booth, open the gate until the train is full, then close it.
Now, we have to:
- Unload the previous train row by row, so that everybody can social distance as they walk to the exit
- Wipe down every occupied seat with disinfectant (there are 21 rows; 10-12 are normally occupied each run)
- Load the next train by assigning seats front to back, leaving at least two rows between parties
- Go back in the booth and sell tickets for the next run, for about five minutes until the train comes back and do it all over again.
So yesterday morning I decided to go on a little slow-down strike, doing everything very deliberately and meticulously. But every time I saw the line building I would catch myself speeding up. I just can’t help it! Moreover, it turned out to not be very busy yesterday, so if management had come by (which they didn’t), they would not have thought, “wow, we really do need to staff a second person here,” but instead “Look, Wheelz is handling this just fine on his own!” (My boss’s boss is fond of walking by on a super-busy day just when there happens to be a 10-minute lull and saying “slow today, huh?”)
Anyway, all this is adding up to a less than ideal irk environment. I’m really trying to ride this out, thinking if we ever get back to some semblance of normal I’ll like my job again. But I’m less sure than ever that we’ll ever see “normal” again. I don’t want to look for a new job, especially now, but I keep leaning closer and closer to that decision.
I see I’ve rambled on and on. TL;DR: I used to really like my job and now I can barely stand to drag myself in five times a week. This sucks.
That was my go-to one-pan dish when on the road. No matter where I was, be it in Germany or in one of the SSRs, I could always find sausage, potatoes, onion and garlic to fry up. I still make it on occasion.
Greetings y’all. Everybody ready for this? Nothing to do but wait and see, I suppose.
I have more medical tests today. Whee!
Tonight for dinner, hmmm. Last night we did an assortment of dim sum. Today I could do steaks? Decisions, decisions.
Went out and voted. Along with around 300 other folks who thought that would be a good time…weaved in and back and around the parking lot, took a little over an hour to get inside the building, but voting was quick and I took a quick ride by 3 other precincts, all of them had lines stretching out the buildings, so I think voting here in N. Ali-bama is unusually heavy. We’ll see if it makes any difference.
Am now consuming lunch and have youth soccer practice in about 5 hours, so some cleanage and possibile nappage is in my future.
All y’all take care.
Back from Cozmo’s vet adventure. After I dropped them both off at home, I ran into Aldi for a few things. FCD wants fried chicken from Chaptico Deli, and while there, I’ll decide what, if anything, I want. I grabbed a 2-piece pack of cheesecake for his b-day dessert, because I’m nice, dammit.
His car is coming tomorrow - knowing our luck, the guy will get here when we’re at the lawyer’s office. Hope it doesn’t arrive till afternoon. But we shall see. I guess we’ll be clearing out the garage tomorrow to make room. So much for getting any real work done.
The question of the day - will I stay awake for election results? I did 4 years ago and it sucked. Hoping for a better result this time.
Happy Election Day! I love Election Day. As I’ve said, I didn’t get a sticker, so I made my own and wore it to my eye doctor appointment today. The temp-check lady, the tech, and the doc all said, “Hey, you voted! Where’d you get the sticker?” They wanted stickers, too. I swear, if I’m still around in 2022, I’m going to follow through on my plan to get a roll of stickers and pass 'em out at drop boxes. The public wants its stickers, dammit!
A friend in another state called to get my address so he could mail me a sticker. 
Yay.
Everybody knows what I’m having for dinner (BLT’s and Cheetos), plus some kind of alcohol.
Happy Birthday to FCD! Have you been singing the Beatles song to him?
If anybody is looking for a distraction from election stuff and has Netflix, I can recommend The Queen’s Gambit. Very well done, and you needn’t know a thing about chess to find it engaging.
We voted in the am as well - I cannot believe that I was able to get overlyhusband out of bed and into a car before 6 a.m. It’s practically a Christmas miracle.
Anyway, it took about 1.5 hours, which was fine. Once the polling place opened the line trucked right along. I even got to read for a while and drink coffee after I got home and before work. Took mom to the doc for her pre-op assessment and testing. Got back home, jumped right on a work call, which lasted two hours. I’m hitting my wall now - I just want to put my head down on my desk and sleep, but alas. The day is long and full of terrors (also known as kids that need feeding, a mom and husband who need attention and various and sundry items related to daily living).
Glad we got out to vote early. It took a long time, but it’s done. Of course, I hope the guy I voted for wins, but it was nice to see so many people motivated to vote during such a terrible time.