Monday The 13th - The MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
121

For those of us who woke around 5 for decades while working, our idiotic internal clocks apparently take a while to adjust. I’ve been re-retired for a year anna half and I honestly don’t think there have been a dozen mornings where I was in bed past 7. Mostly (like today) I’m up between 5 and 6. Then again, I am a morning person. I think if I slept till 8, I’d feel like I lost my morning. So there’s that.

I’ve done some embroidery (very simple, basic stuff) but no needlepoint or cross stitch - I have neither the desire nor the patience. And while I recognize the skills and level of effort required to do needle arts, for the most part, I don’t really like the finished products. Just not to my taste. My MIL did a lot of cross-stitch before losing her sight and they are very detailed and very well done, but I don’t want them hanging on my walls, thanks.

I’ll stick with knitting and crocheting… except for granny squares. I hate granny squares!!!

< deep cleansing breath > OK. I’m ok…

“… and so male…?”

Speaking of the DC Beltway and rush hour, while I hate both it and the Baltimore Beltway, as long as there are no accidents, the traffic does tend to move along. But all it takes is one idiot doing one idiotic thing and everyone is screwed.

When we head up to visit my mom, we have the choice of MD5 to 495 to the BW Parkway or MD5 to US301 to I-97, which has more traffic lights, but can move faster if the other route exceeds its idiot quotient. Either way, it still takes over 2 hours between southern Merrylande and her place, which is about 13 miles from the PA state line. Still better than the 13 hours to the inlaws’ place.

We’ll leave a bit before 9 and head to Leonardtown for FCD’s appointment. He said he’d just drive himself. I don’t think so, especially since he’s taking tramadol for pain. I’ll take a book or my tablet and wait in the parking lot while he goes in. They won’t let anyone come in with the patient unless it’s a minor. Fine by me. I think the seats in the car are more comfy anyway.

The one I’m not looking forward to is his meeting at 3:30 this afternoon. It could run till 5 or longer. I’ll drop him off, then maybe head to WalMart and wander around till it’s time to fetch him. If I walk every aisle, it should kill a fair amount of time. Then, if he’s up to it, we’ll go somewhere for supper. If he’s not, we can drive thru somewhere on our way home. Either way.

Roxy wanted to call us last night, so we did a video chat on Messenger. She was showing us her Paw Patrol stickers. She was really excited about them. Of course, we couldn’t see the stickers the way she was holding them, but it was still hilarious listening to her! She’s coming over for lunch on Saturday (with her mama, of course) so Grandpa can get his dose of the RoxStar. He hasn’t seen her in almost 2 weeks, poor thing…

I’ve blathered on enough. If you’re still here - Happy Thursday!! :tada: :tada: :tada:

122

Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and caffeinatin’. YAWN ‘Tis 72 Amurrkin out and rainy with a predicted high of 83 and rain for the day. Mowage needs to happen but with rain predicted over the next three days, that ain’t likely to happen. The big item on today’s agenda is to get busy with gettin’ estimates for HVAC contracts. Luckily there is already a pretty detailed scope of work. Right now we have a contract on each buildin’. I would like to combine that into one contract for both buildin’s. I’d also like a pet miniature dragon. Anywho, that shall occupy a fair amount of the day. Throw in the requisite nappage and makeage of sup which shall be beef enhiladas, rice, and refried beans with fartfest to follow. OLÉ!

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

Happy Thursday Y’all!

123

Oops, mooom & swampy. I haven’t gone to bed yet. One of those days. Spent Tuesday shuttling my housemate to the Omaha airport. Lots of traffic (such as we get here) and interstate construction so that took the stuffings out of me and I waited til she texted me that she had landed in San Francisco and taken her $200 Uber ride to her friend’s in Napa.

Now I have to go nap til my speech therapy rehab appt at 11 and then come back home and nap some more.

124

Good morning everyone.

Nice work, unknown!

I am glad to hear Pixel is eating, Sunny!

Work has been insane and my folks WILL.NOT.LEAVE.ME.ALONE even when I tell them I am out of the net. Between training all day, year end budget stuff, some last minute class and payment details for one of the Program Managers, 4th quarter awards, and various and sundry other things, I was exhausted. I worked until after 5:00 pm, having logged in at 5:45. I didn’t take any breaks all day because during class breaks, I was taking care of work. Truth be known, I was also responding to emails and IMs during the class, as well as trying to take care of actual work during the class and respond to things in the class.

I would have kept working last night, but all of sudden I was super dizzy and woozy and getting downstairs was kind of a crapshoot. When I get dizzy that plays havoc with my stomach and makes me want to vomit. I stayed on the couch until just after 8:00 and went to bed. The dizziness just never really receded.

I feel less woozy today, although the throat still hurts and I still have an alternately squeaky and husky voice, it’s doing slightly better.

Today is the last day of class (thank God!) and I can finally concentrate on REAL work. I have deadlines to meet, work to get done, and I’m sure, a myriad of new fires or issues will crop up.

I ran my retirement numbers again, and I’m just not comfortable with that income. I probably would have leapt at the opportunity if my husband had not lost his job and then just gave up looking for work a few years ago, so I definitely need to keep working until I am 62 at the very least. That would mean another five years for me. I’ll check my numbers every year, but that’s what it looks like now. I’ve got 38 years in now, what’s another five?

I am very much a morning person, I was downstairs by 3:50 this morning. I like being up in the wee hours of the morning; it’s quiet and I have goof-off time. Also, when I do sleep in, I feel like I’ve wasted the day. I’ve been an early riser all my life, even as a kid, so I don’t see it changing upon retirement. It could, but I doubt it. I can still hear my Grandma saying “Time’s a-wastin!”.

Look at that! Time for another cup of coffee!

125

Morning all. Down here in the Southland, it’s Atlanta traffic that gets talked about in comparison to New York/Chicago/LA traffic. And the outer belt there is something I plan to avoid in my future.

FCM, took me a couple years to adjust and I still end up getting up around 5am for the morning micturation; just now I can go back to bed until 7-8am with no problem. New pillows were very comfy and the temperature is only supposed to get to 79F for a high today.

Taters, yeah, retiring at 57 is something most of us can’t do; I put in 34 years and retired at 63 and since I’m single I could put more away, and even then I did the calculations over and over again. Five years is easy…

Swampy, good luck with the contracts. And I think with the right permits you can import a dragon–of the Komodo variety…Komodo dragon - Wikipedia

Unknown, shoe, knew there was something about you I liked…

Oopsie, hope you are having a safe and speedy (for East coast levels of speed) trip.

OK, need to clean up the kitchen and other mundane tasks. All y’all take care.

126

Sitting in the car outside the Dr office. We’ll see how long this takes. FCD just texted that they’re running behind. Some years back, I had appointments with one of the other docs here. Both times she showed up 45minutes late, no explanation, no apology. And she was a real snot to me. I never went back.

Anyway, got my phone and a book of puzzles. And it’s not stupid hot, so I’m good. For a while…

127

shoe and unknown, that was probably the most refreshing back and forth I’ve seen all week.

I’ve been embroidering since I was 5, when my grandmother first taught me how to iron by showing me how to transfer a pattern onto a scrap of cloth. I still remember the pattern - it was a burro with a blanket on its back carrying a ton of fruit. I butchered it like only a 5 year old can. Ahhhh, memories.

Today is proving to be okay-ish. Work is irritating. I got a meeting invite entitled “Hair on fire.” I guess it’s an emergency? Also, one of my employees keeps sending my boss random things like reports that my boss doesn’t care about and will never, ever need to know about. Which prompts my boss to ask me to ask her to stop it. So I try talking to her nicely and she doesn’t get it, so I guess I can choose between being direct (but polite). Or, I can be nice (and less pointed). But not both. Dammit.

It’s bright and beautiful and the hummingbirds can’t seem to decide whether to migrate or not. They’ll stay away from the feeder for a day or two, then they’ll show up a la Hunger Games, then go away again. Guess I’ll feed them until they go away longer.

128

Heave, sweated, time for nappage. I went to Harris Teeter, they gave me the senior discount again. On one hand, outrage. :face_with_symbols_over_mouth: But on the other hand, discount. :heavy_dollar_sign:

It would have been cheaper to just bail out of the plane on approach to SF.

129

Happy Thorsday!

Damp morning at the park.
Not too many showed up which is not a surprise.

When I came home, I had no place to park. A tree company is out cutting up the branch that fell from my neighbor’s tree onto the other neighbor’s fence. They are parked in my parking pad. I motioned to them and instead of backing up the truck so I could park, they moved the one blocking the alley. By that time, I managed to get my truck in next to theirs by pulling in, backing up, pulling in, backing up, etc. until I was at an angle to get in. Good thing nobody was parked in the driveway across the alley.

I asked if one of them could get me an estimate to cut my tree, but it has to be the boss who does it. He’s supposed to get back to me. The tree guy did say that my tree really does need to come down.
I’m hoping if they do both our trees at the same time, we get a discount.

Kind of funny though, I said something about the neighbor two doors up being a bitch, and the tree guy, well he was trying to be professional about it, but from the look on his face, he knows.

I want to retire, but can’t yet.
My father retired at 50. Where he irked when your age plus your years of service equaled 81, you could retire. At 50 and a half, he had 30 and a half years of service and he was out. And he got an early retirement package as well.
I remember his retirement party. It was 12 - 13 guys retiring. All but one was in their early 50s and they all gave their little speeches about how you need to get the hell out as soon as you can. On guy was 68 and being forced to retire and all he talked about was how great it was working there and he really didn’t want to leave.

Nothing much on the agenda today but irk. I wish they would finish up out back because it’s a bit noisy and Ripple keeps barking at them.

130

Weren’t you tempted, just for a minute to ask loudly “Are you potty trained? You Are? Great! Jump in. We’re taking you instead!”

I’m sorry. I can’t help it.

That’s what she said.

{ ducks and runs away }
[/quote]
I like the way you think, woman. :grin:

I’m not touching that one.

131

Happy almost end of the week.

I’m currently waiting for contact adhesive to set enough to put these stupid chunks of laminate onto some furniture, after spending most of the morning waiting on a client to show up. [Inigo Montoya voice] “I hate waiting.”

And dammit, I forgot my wrist widget at home, so my arm is feeling poorly. Maybe I’ll knock off early and just go home. There are some perks to being your own boss.

132

That’s what she said (you started it)

'Beamer had a migraine today, so he didn’t go to school. I called the bus person and told them, but the bus showed up anyway. I need to take 'Beamer to get his new glasses. Hopefully that will help. Poor thing is almost blind in one eye.

Last night no one had dinner. Dunno why, I guess no one was hungry? I ended up making popcorn. Yum.

I think today will be slothful. There’s stuff that needs doing, but I’m short of spoons today, so I’ve decided not to push it.

Take care everyone. Happy Friday Eve!

133

Near as I can tell, flights into SFO don’t overfly Napa County at all. All the incoming flights from the north are over the ocean, then turn over the bay to land going into the wind, which is almost always from the West.

This has been a Thursday Nitpick. We now return you to your regularly scheduled thread.

134

It’s her very first airplane trip ever~I had all I could do to coax her as far as I did.

The shuttle is down because of Covid, so that $75 option was not there. The last bus through BART system, which would have been $16 total, left a half hour before Southwest got her into San Fran.SW switched her to a later flight a few weeks ago. Screwed up everything. When she returns I have to do a round trip to the Omaha airport with a pickup time of 11:00pm :eek!!: that’s lots of night driving and construction.

She’s a great roommate so its fine.

135

The sky has opened, of course, 20 minutes before we have to leave for FCD’s meeting. I hope it moves out fast and to the north. From the looks of weather radar, it’s highly localized over us, with nothing to the south, so that’s good. And we’re going to try to have supper out after his meeting - depending, of course, on how he’s feeling.

I did a couple of loads of laundry, including all the masks I could find. I divided them among our 3 vehicles, but I’m thinking I should put a couple in my purse, just in case.

All in all, it’s been a pretty lazy day - I did a few chores but never broke a sweat. :grin:

136

It’s Mexican Independence Day, so we’re having a Mexican food potluck in about an hour and a half. (Lunch at 13:00? By the time we finish, it’ll be time for me to start heading back up north!) I didn’t have the time to make anything, so I just went and got a chicken taco salad kit from Costco.

And no, I didn’t bring in the chile colorado. It was a small batch (only 1.5 pounds of beef), and it’s not really what people expect when you say ‘chili’.

137

Evenin’ all.

Well I’m just shocked at the filthy minds on display here. You dropped it after only a few posts, what’s going on>?

Been a mildly chaotic few days (not sure I have any other kind). Yesterday I discovered that the irk laptop, and systems thereon, wouldn’t play nice with the wifi setup here- there’s kind of a temp site version so us what are here but haven’t registered yet can still look at pictures of cats. I could get on OK with the irk phone, so I could check my emails and chat, but couldn’t access the system I actually irk on.

I spent all day yesterday trying to get it sorted. No go.

Luckily(?) the agency is national and their nearest office is only half an hour away, so today I went there. I’ll have to go tomorrow as well- luckily I don’t have to get up earlier though, 'cos they don’t open until 30 minutes after I usually start, so I’m just going to shift a bit later.

Fingers crossed I can get it working next week, when I register on the proper system. Worst case, I only have 5 more irking days until the end of the contract, so I can commute and sit like a grownup in an office that long. I would prefer to avoid the extra hour drive and be able to listen to my music and have my stuff to hand- aside from anything else, it’s way easier to do some stuff on my laptop than do it all on the little irk one.

In other news I have a minor sulk 'cos it looks like I can’t do the optional module I want- I think it may have been cancelled due to lack of students on the course it’s part of. Boo.

I’m also having fun trying to move stuff to my new address, because apparently, at least according to all the automated systems, it doesn’t exist. This is a non-residential area.

*squints at row of houses suspiciously*

I think I’ve managed to browbeat the driving licence online service into accepting it, but there’s a bunch of things still need changing. Ugh.

This weekend I shall tackle the big one- the insurance company, and maybe the bank, if I have enough brain left. I certainly don’t today- I’m wondering if 7.40 is too early for bed…

138

Well! I turn my back for one day, and this place turns into Maniacally Passionate Sex I Must Share. I always miss the good parties.

Itching continues, but I think I’ll stop posting about it. Nothing more irritating than reading incessant whining.

I suck at assembly. Seriously, if I’d been tasked with inventing the wheel, we’d all be sitting around staring at a pile of tree trunks. The main reason I invested in a new (cheap) dining table is that my chairs had no seat support. You felt like you were going to end up with your butt on the floor and knees to your chin. The 4 chairs arrived Tuesday, and I only have three put together. If I never see another Allen wrench again, it’ll be too soon.

Jane, beautiful piece you made there! I’m in awe of anyone who can do that sort of thing.

boo, hope you get some shut-eye.

nut, your address doesn’t exist? Maybe

" You are about to enter another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind.* A journey into a wondrous land of imagination. Next stop, the Twilight Zone! "

139

I survived Walmart and I’m back in the parking lot waiting for the meeting to end. Dunno if we’ll eat out or get something to go - it depends on how my sweetie is feeling.

I shall now do a crossword puzzle old school - pen and paper!:astonished:

140

{ curtsy }

I’m sorry, but this made me giggle.

I’ve been on both sides of this transaction. Been the “made face, plz don’t tell my boss” and been on the “oh, that face LOL” side.

Words of wisdom.