MMP- Out of control

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
41

Luxury.

I forgot to add the two remotes for the vehicles to my remote count.

And when my sister and I were little Pittsburgh kiddies, we had five channels to choose from: KDKA(CBS), WTAE(ABC), WIIC(NBC, but I think they’ve changes their call letters), WQED (PBS - and I actually lived in Mr. Roger’s neighborhood until he moved to a suburb on the other side of the city), and WPGH, a UHF station. (Channel 53. Their studio wasn’t too far from where we lived.) And at my grandparent’s house in the city, they had one of those remote antennae rotators, a brown box with a dial that lit up when you moved it to tune in a station. They put pieces of tape on the dial with the channel numbers (so you knew where to move it to), and when it was moving from one position to the next it would go “KA-thump, KA-thump” really loud.

Oh, and I got a gnome too. This one is only about three inches tall, but it comes with a little book explaining all things gnomish. I meant to bring it into work today, but forgot.

42

My dad would get a look of concern on his face and say to one of us: “Stand up for a minute.” We’d immediately hop up and start checking ourselves for bugs or blood or somesuch, at which point, Dad would say: “While you’re up, change the channel/bring me some pretzels/get me a drink…” or whatever it was he wanted. With 5 kids, he got to use that a lot before we all figured it out. Then remotes were invented.

I’m back home - YAY! It was a nice holiday with the family, but I was so happy to spend last night in my own bed, even tho it was a very short night. Carrying over from last week’s MMP, our return trip lasted almost exactly 11 hours, but it wasn’t from Ocala. Yesterday morning, we drove to Orange Park, past the house where we used to live (gah - why did we ever thing that neighborhood was a good idea??) then over to see a couple of friends. We chatted with them, then took them to lunch for BBQ (haven’t found good BBQ in southern MD yet) then got on the road just before 2 yesterday afternoon. We pulled into our garage just before 1 this morning. After doing a few things like taking the furnace off stand-by and taking our meds (very late) we crashed into our HUUUUUGE king size bed (after 4 nights on a double) and FCD channel surfed a little and I zonked out (bringing us back to the OP)

We only have 2 remotes in the family room - one for the TV and most of the VCR functions, and one for the DVD player. The original VCR remote is long gone and I’ve yet to find a universal that’ll let me program the stoopit thing, so I have to do that right on the box. We haven’t got a stereo yet, which is fine since we haven’t built our entertainment center yet.

We’ve got 2 remotes in the bedroom - one for the TV and one for the ceiling fan/light. Then there’s the remote for the TV in the basement. And 2 for the garage door (one only works sporatically) and 2 for the Jetta. I’ve got an aftermarket remote for my car, but it works less than sporatically, so I don’t much mess with it.

Christmas was fun, because the rest of the family got to meet and torment my daughter’s new boyfriend. We’d met him on Thanksgiving and I like him just fine. Anyway, the inlaws wanted to do something “special” so we wound up making a banner that was shaped like a giant “T”. The top part spread across the top of a double window and said “MERRY CHRISTMAS - WELCOME!” The vertical part listed all my daughter’s boyfriends more or less in order with their longevity:
Perry (2 weeks)
David (summer camp)
Robbie (14 months)
[we listed the rest, but you get the idea]
Right down to the current guy, next to whose name we put (TBD) Oh yeah, and all of the ones above him were lined out. My darling daughter asked “What’s TBD? To Be Dumped?” Hilarity ensued.

For the record, new bf thought it was funny, and I think he was well received.

It was a lean Christmas - everyone is broke. I got slippers, a robe, some nice hand cream, and FCD and I got some gift cards from WalMart, Home Depot and Lowe’s - they’ll get good use. We didn’t give each other gifts again this year. It seems kind of silly since we just buy whatever we want.

Next year has already been declared home-made Christmas. When I first joined this family, we always made gifts for each other. So I asked them all what kind of ceramics they want next year. :smiley: Although I may knit. Dunno. We shall see.

And we’re home today. It was supposed to be a driving day, but I’m glad we came back a day early. I can do some laundry and we’re going to take our Home Depot card and see about blinds for the big front window. Bernie is glad to be home - no cairn terrier pestering her all day.

And on Saturday, we’ll go get our kitty! Woohoo!

Welcome newbies! [Hi, Rue][sup]2[/sup]!!

PS - Bobbio, I didn’t respond to your email since we were using their sloooooooow dial-up the last few days, but I was most impressed with your pic. Good going, you stud muffin, you! :wink:

43

That’s a lot of readin’ first thing in the morning, but I think I got through all of it. :slight_smile: Glad to see everybody made it through the weekend in one piece, hello to the new peoples, and all that.

I’m hung over. In fact, I may be still drunk. Yeah, that’s right.

44

Gah! I coudn’t get into the message boards until just now because they were down for maintenance! I was getting all antsy and stuff!

FCM, that banner thing sounds neat. It’s nice when people have a sense of humor! I’m glad you made it home safe and sound.

One of my Christmas presents was a very thick book on the history of Europe which starts out in the Ice Age and goes all the way up to the Cold War. My family was taking bets on how long it would take me to read it. After taking bets, they called me over to ask me how long I thought it would take me. I told them that if all I could do was read, I’d be through it in about three days. Their jaws just dropped, they all figured it would take me two weeks at the least.

I thought I was going to sit down and read all day yesterday, but I didn’t. Maybe I’ll get to read some of my tonight.

45

I know what you mean, Taters. I was really jonesin’ there…

You know you are addicted when you check if the board is back up every ten minutes from 8:30 to 2:30.

46

Well, I had a nice post all typed about remotes (10 one in the garage) and presents and Christmas dinner and it’s cold here but the durn hamsters et it. :mad:

I actually had to do some work most of the day! Jeesh!

47

We went out to breakfast, then picked out a recliner love seat that we may or may not buy, then went to try to spend our Home Depot gift card. But they don’t carry near as many window treatments as Lowe’s does, so we’ll redeem it for the materials to build the closet in our guest room.

I’m doing laundry, and my sweetie is crashed on the couch behind me. It’s a nice, lazy afternoon. I have sketty sauce thawing on the stove, so that’ll be dinner. And I’ve been snacking on fudge that our friends in Orange Park gave to us - yummmmm!

Three work days this week, and I’m off all next week with my baby girl. Yay!

48

Wow. We’re back! YAY! I made the jambalaya. I have decided that ACBG and I need to test it tonight to make sure it’s ok. There’s plenty, so if we each have a big bowl tonight, there’ll be more than enough still for tomorrow. I discussed this with him earlier and he has no problem with this. I kinda suggested a test taste of the cheesecake but was told no. The ol’ meanie! Also, my house is clean. I cleant it all up today cause I was off. Yay me! Tomorrow is back to work but only for three days so that ain’t all bad.

49

The Logitech Harmony remotes are looking to be the be-all and end-all universal. I’ve had one on my Amazon wish list, but nobody took the hint. The one I was eyeballing connects to a PC via USB and you program it with the PC. It can be as simple as telling it you have a Sony TV and cable TV, or you can get into all sorts of customizing to activate things that real-world people don’t have, like motorized drapes and room light dimming.

Anyone else’s mother have that super-sharp Mother Hearing that could tell when you turned the dial too fast and went “clunk-clunk-clunk” instead of “clunk. clunk. clunk.” and she’d holler from wherever she was “Don’t spin the dial!”?

Hmmm… How many remotes do I have?
Office: “mini” stereo, TV and satellite box: 3
Bedroom: TV and satellite box: 2
Family room: TV, DVD player, VCR, satellite box, squeezebox, stereo receiver, programmable remote (needs updating): 7
Garage: door opener, keyfobs for car: 4
Car: It’s a two-ton remote with programmable buttons in the console for the garage opener: 1
House: Alarm: 1
One of our clock-radios came with a remote, as did the sound card in my PC. Both of these are perma-lost, and we’re not the least bit worried: 2

Total count of 20. Far too many! We probably only use three of these on a regular basis - the rest get stuck in drawers, under the couch or simply ignored wherever they may be.

We’re continuing to work on reversing the home desecrating done by previous owners. This weekend’s project is to lay a Pergo-like floor in the family room. This room was chosen to be first as it’s where some of the rattiest carpet is.

One of our neighbors who was unaware of DH’s recent run-in with anaphylaxis brought over a plate of home-made turtles. :smack: I’ll be eating the little buggers all on my own.

50

So, who won the poll for FCM’s driving time trip? I’m too lazy to look.

51

Oh, and speaking of remotes, I am getting a new Mac computer at work. It comes with a remote. I can’t begin to figure out what in tarnation I would do with it.

Jambalya sounds really really good. Cheesecake I need like a sub needs a screen door.

52

I’m glad the SD is back. Heavens, I’ll be offline for more than four days! I don’t know how I’m going to stand it.

We have three remotes. TV, dvd player and stereo. We lost them all the time.
Here’s the first dress pic. Here’s Mr. Lissar looking scruffy, and thinking, "maybe it’ll be out of my living room now. Back of the dress, looking all wrinkled, but you can see the damn buttons. Full-length front view.

You can’t really see the yoke embroidery or the pattern on the fabric in these pics. It’s got an all-over faint leaf and vine motif- very pretty. The yoke is heavy raw silk embroidered with leaves and flowers. I did a matching stole out of the dress fabric and a purse. And I made a silk chiffon veil. I am never, never sewing silk chiffon again. Of course, I said that after the last wedding.

53

Lissla, I think my husband has the same pants as Mr. Lisslar - tho in a larger size.

Nice dress - you are a better woman than I. I wouldn’t make one for myself, much less for someone else! Ya gotta post a pic of the bride all decked out!

54

Wow, Lissla! Nice job! I can’t even hem up pants…

55

Well, if she doesn’t like the dress, I may be able to post pics of me murdering her with a pair of scissors. Thanks. I’m having panic attacks about it, “Oh, no! The back side panel isn’t cut perfectly on grain! There’s a slight difference in button setting! It’s all ruined!”. Seamstresses are all obsessive-compulsive. When I stand back and look at it objectively it’s very good, especially for something made in two weeks.

It’s actually almost white instead of creamy golden. Just off white.
Thank God there’s only one more promised wedding dress after this. And I can intimidate Quasi-Daughter much better than Other Quasi-Daughter. And QD isn’t engaged yet (must make broad engagement hints to Driving Husband over New Year’s) so it’ll be at least a year before I have to revisit Wedding Hell. And after that it’ll be over.

56

Awesome dress Lissa! The best I can do is fusable web and an iron. It’s taken a couple weeks to make a pair of curtains and they’re still not done!

57

Thanks VunderBob, but for now, I’m comfy in the chicken stage. Until recently I was doing very well on a low carb diet, 1/2 to 1 pound a week for almost a year, until some stress blew that up. I’m about to start it back up one more time before talking to doc about surgery, because even when my diets go kablooey, I’ve yet to gain back as much as I’ve lost, so I’m ahead.

58

I think you did a great job on the dress Lissa. I hate sewing with a passion and will do anything to avoid it. I can’t sew for doody.

I am so very ready for the day end so I can go home. But, I can’t go straight home; I need to stop at the grocery store and pick up some stuff.

There is a friggin’, fraggin’ gnat problem in my office. One of my office mates has many plants and I’m sure this is where they are originating. She went and got some bug killer stuff, but the little buggers are still flying around. Hopefully, they’ll die off in the next day or two.

Well, I better tidy my desk and get ready to go home. The good news is that there are only three more work days this week; it could be two, but I’m going to go ahead and work on Friday.

59

Okay, I’m back. Bit of a lull in my posting the past few days, mostly because I’ve been doing my extremely good impression of a bump on a log. Winter-break-itis. I need to get it together and get some of those grad school applications done. Say, while I’m on that subject, has anyone who read my MMP OP last week had enough experience with admissions to comment on the idea of using what I wrote as a statement in the application?

Looks like gotpasswords wins the remote count contest, beating my 17 with a solid 20. Also, homemade turtles? Aren’t turtles, y’know, born?

Lissla, I am thoroughly impressed with the dress. All of your hard work has most definitely paid off. The only thing I can do with cloth is wear it.

60

These turtles are little clusters of pecans, held together with caramel and drenched in chocolate. Very tasty little creatures.