Hold on there, partners. I’m mighty partial to shelter. I threw away everything except…
…sometimes I look at hubs and think “you aren’t exactly sparking joy in my life right now”.
Made the meatloaf(s) today. Had some with baked potato and some broccoli, then a sandwich later. The realtor came over for a chat about all the things one must do when one sells one’s home. She’s very good, really, but it’s exhausting.
I need to spend tomorrow tagging things that are NOT to be packed by the movers. Trundled the garbage bins out to the curb for tomorrow’s pickup, but that may be delayed because of our giant flurry. 
If the movers claim that they’re going to be a day late, I may have to get homicidal.
Thumper: As Red Green says - “If the women don’t find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.”
My sister is sleeping. She goes to bed with the chickens and is zonked before they finish settling their feathers. I thought I’d catch up with the MMP before it got into the double digits.
I’m SO enjoying having her here. We laugh a LOT. She is, however, a Southern hothouse flower and has been freezing cold since she got here. My apartment is now 70º, and she wears a hoodie and blanket most of the time. The other day we walked three blocks in 53º weather with a light rain, and she wore FOUR jackets. Of course, I’d melt in her climate. Anyway, it’s been golden, and I’m dreading her leaving on Wednesday.
The eye clinic says I have a $750 balance! 
I haven’t gotten any statements and was floored. Turns out the doc charged me AHEAD of my 4/21 appointment for a contact lens fitting. I said that was a lot of money for a CCL fitting–no contact lens included–and they said the DOCTOR sets the price, and that’s what she told them. It’s a big eye clinic, so don’t they have set rates? Also, CCL fitting fees are normally $100-$200. And this doc is an optometrist, not an ophthalmologist. My insurance won’t cover this, so it’s out of pocket. I told them I can’t afford $750. (I have the money, but I hate to dip into my savings just now.) They’re going to ask the doc if she’ll lower the charge. Very strange. It’s pretty iffy whether these new contacts would work, and I don’t want to be out $750 for nothing.
My neighbors are weird and fairly noisy, though at least the guys upstairs no longer vacuum at 1 a.m…
And for the record, that Marie Kondo stuff is not for people who like books. She recommends getting rid of books and getting them online. Nope. Not for me.
sunny, I’m sorry about your worrisome issues with your dad. I hope it all gets sorted. VanGo, glad the big project is over but appalled at the waste of them pitching the sets. Moooom, Happy Cruise Eve…or pretty close to it!
You people crack me up, and I’m stealing all of these.
Big hugs until Wednesday!
I’m glad you’re having fun with your sister. 
We’ve missed you rattling about the place.
It has been terrible windy all day and the only reason I left the house was to tend to the yard flock. We live on the south side of a big mountain, we always get a breeze but sometimes the wind is crazy. It’s still whipping around and the cats are so staticy that they pop every time we touch them. GG HATES the wind, but does like it when I wipe him down with a wet washcloth.
He’s a weird kitty. Ice baths are great, open toilets are fun and wet washcloths are OK. A squirt with the water bottle will send him off to pout for a while. Then he goes to sleep and forgets that he was mad.
Tonight we had Subway. Poor hubs was making a nice beef stew and accidentally dumped way too much salt in. We tried putting a potato in but we still had to throw it out. It’s been a long time since either of us made inedible food. (Except for cheddar, I suck at that and wouldn’t feed it to a coyote.)
We don’t get along with the next door neighbors because they keep very lonesome dogs in their front yard. The poor things live out there, the yard is constantly covered in poop and the kids play in the back yard because they don’t want to be bothered with the dogs or poop. The dogs get fed daily and they have a tarp covered dog house to sleep in when it snows, so Animal Control won’t do anything. I will NOT start ranting about how poorly people are allowed to care for their animals out this way. Moving on…
The kids across the street are pretty entertaining to watch, we were never that young and dumb, and we have a big privacy fence in the back yard so I don’t know the current renters. I know they have kids and dogs but that’s because I can see over our fence from my porch.
I’m posting this link just because I’m a very bad person who thinks that as long as the peccary was unharmed, the rest of it was funny as can be.
Laughter is such a good thing and sometimes so hard to find. I’m glad you have having fun with her, but I will say that if I was her, I’d be wearing my knee high sheep skin Uggs and layers of sweaters. If I wear two jackets, I forget which one has my pocket stuff.
This sounds very troubling, I hope the conversation comes to a peaceful conclusion.
That is really distressing, is there no way to reuse the props or wood? I’m glad you have been paid and that you are happily cleaning your shop. Hopefully the next big job is just around the corner.
“There are no bad dogs, just bad owners.” Well behaved pets are a lot of work, but the effort is worth it. It’s a real shame that she takes criticism about her dogs so personally. I’ve learned so much from other people noticing that I’m doing something wrong and helping me to learn how to do it right.
Up, caffeinated, and shveled. Off to heave. And speaking of things that do nor spark joy, the coffee maker has burnt the coffee this morning. Which means it has starting pinnin’ for the fjords after only 7 years, and I shall have to stop at Tar-Jay this morning for a new one.
Yeah, I could, if I could remember that I can do stuff like this. Parts of my brain are still in a papered society. Altho I do have an electronic vax link on my phone.
Just dashed off an email to the Transportation Manager for the county schools system. We’ll see how that goes.
Today we’ll do our COVID tests pre-cruise. We’re doing them via tele-appointment - FCD will do his this morning, and I’ll do mine after I take Toby to his mom. That is, assuming FCD’s gawd-awful cough is just my cold passed on to him and not the plague. So this is the last step before I’ll feel ready to pack. The suitcases are upstairs anyway.
Now, I don’t feel like doing a fancy poll or anything, so I’ll just pose this here:
I invite you to an event which will be held indoors. I tell you the dress code is “Smart Casual.”
What do you wear? And please answer without looking it up first. I had to look it up and I think I’d have picked OK.
And the reason I ask - it’s the dress code for the ship’s dining room.
OK, onward! Happy Tuesday!!
Aaaaaand shortly after I dispatched the email, I got a text from the bus owner with the local insurance rep’s name, so I’ll be calling there later this morning.
Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and caffeinatin’. YAWN ‘Tis 54 Amurrkin out and clear with a predicted high of 86 and mostly N.O.S. for the day. Today is laundry day. Woo and Hoo. OYKW will continue to get all touchy feely with his junk. He swears most of it is goin’ away. We shall see. I shall go over to the church house today to do what I have yet to do to get candles all ready for Easter Sunday. Sup shall be leftovers from yestiddy.
{{{Sunny}}} sorry things are gettin’ so bad with your dad and that you have to deal with havin’ a difficult conversation with your folks.
Nellie glad you and your sis are havin’ a good time together!
Now I need more caffeine and to feed rumbly tummy. Then, if I am to be about the public I suppose I should purtify and don appropriate attire. Bother!
Happy Tuesday Y’all!
Good morning everyone.
It’s 38 degrees and damp. There was a good bit of snow (for April) south of me, but I never saw any accumulation. I saw a couple of flurries and that was it. It was pretty breezy, though.
So, I survived Monday and just need to get through four more days. I was sneezing all day yesterday and by the time I went to bed my throat was sore and my voice was funny. So far today I feel normal, but time will tell. I had thoughts of going into the office tomorrow, but if I am catching a cold and I have symptoms, I will keep my germy butt home.
I hope you get some action from the local insurance agent, FCM. The whole thing sounds shady and definitely unorganized.
I’m glad you got paid, VanGo. I agree, it seems like such a waste to spend all that money and then toss that stuff out. Lumber is expensive!
I hope the eye appointment balance is a mistake, nellie. That just seems ridiculously high. If it’s not a mistake, I hope the doc is willing to work with you on the bill. I’m glad you are enjoying your sister’s visit, although I am laughing at her layering up. I had the window that I am sitting right next to open this morning when I came downstairs. I was too hot and the only reason I shut it was I got tired of listening to the door slamming from the house next door. Those folks can’t leave or enter the house without slamming the door so hard, I both hear and feel the force of the slam over at my house.
Well, I should finish my coffee and tidy the kitchen. The husband didn’t do it yesterday and I’m going crazy because I can’t stand a dirty kitchen.
Morning all. A little damp outside but supposed to clear up and temperatures are predicted to get to the high 70’sF. Need to hit the gym and do a couple cleaning and put-away tasks around the house, if I don’t manage to ‘forget’ them.
nellie, that bill sounds suspiciously high, keep after them, two pair of new glasses didn’t cost me that much, so a fitting without any new items should not be a bank-breaker. Oh, and…
I think we would get along just fine…enjoy the family visit.
Unknown, it disturbing how some people treat animals, so many love them unconditionally while others…
shoe, take care and just keep remembering how nice the next paycheck is going to look…
Sunny, that doesn’t sound good about dad…hope the conversation is not as difficult as you think it will be.
OK, get some instant breakfast into me and be about the chores for the morning. All y’all take care.
You realize this sounds filthy… 
FCD just did his COVID test and he’s good. I was about to do mine, but Toby woke up. I’m trying to get him back to sleep so I can get mine done. Rotten kid…
We need some chafing gear for our stern dock lines so they don’t chafe (duh!) against to dock (duh!) and sustain damage. We used to have some old firehose which is perfect for that application, but we have no idea what became of it. However, I saw FCD’s old chaps in the garage. He’s going to be selling his Harley and the chaps don’t fit him anyway, so we can cut a couple of pieces and stitch them up to protect the lines.
OK, let’s see if the kid is asleep so I can swab my nose.
Know what happens when you accidentally tap a live ember into the Home Depot bucket you’ve been using for years to hold the residue you tap out of your bong bowl before refilling, and don’t notice for 20 minutes or so? Remember the scene in “Fast Times At Ridgemont High” when Spicolli and friends open the door to his van and all the smoke rolls out? That was my garage yesterday. I made the World’s Largest hotbox. No damage other than to my calm, but the garage smells like a burning rope factory and my car has a film of smoke all over the windows to the point that it looked like fog this morning on my drive to work. Need to get the sucker detailed during my conference period before the campus drug dogs go all “J’accuse!” on my ass.
Hope everybody else’s week started out better.
I bought a Gyro and two beers (one for me and one for my buddy who gave me the ticket) and it came to $36.80. And that’s with a 20% season-ticket discount!
The game wasn’t so great, as games go. The Giants blew lots of offensive opportunities and showed some shaky defense, and lost 4-2. It was just great to be back out at a ballgame though. A baseball park (pretty much any baseball park) is my happy place, where the troubles of the world are not allowed to intrude. It was indeed cold, but I had lotsa layers on so it was OK.
I would wear a polo shirt and khakis. And if I’m wrong, that’s what I’m wearing anyway. What are they gonna do, throw me overboard?
So the whole Marie Kondo phenomenon has always kinda bugged me. The philosophy basically boils down to “throw out all your stuff when you get tired of it.” It seems to come from a place of enormous privilege, and doesn’t really address the inherent wastefulness of our overly consumeristic society. Maybe I’m over-thinking it, I dunno. The “spark joy” catchphrase grates on me regardless.
Sunny, sorry about the situation with your dad. Aging parents are no picnic. I wish you peace.
One way or another, this sounds like dirty work.
(I hope you avoid the drug dogs.)
Thank you for the support everyone.
I had to deal with court because of my neighbor.
They called 911 because our doxie would look out our windows (this means he’s inside) and stare at them in their yard and this was intimidating them. They filed a police report stating how our dogs were worst than Hitler because I leave them alone all of the time. The neighbors were really thorough with how long I was gone every day and the police investigation consisted of only talking to those neighbors.
So I talk to the city attorney and point out all of the inaccuracies (lies) and then the gut punch. It says here that I’m gone at least 12 hours per weekday. I work from home and an online consistently. And my social group after work was via Zoom meetings. It sure will be interesting when I subpoena all those people and get copies of the meetings showing me at home practically 24/7 during Covid.
It did not go to trial.
Morning, mumpers! Looks likewe will have an extea day here in Joseph as the road we planned to take out of here is currently closed due to snow. The alternative route has had 11" fallen already and it’s still coming down. The lovely people here are keeping an eye on weather news and have alreqdy offeed us a free night tonight if we are unable to leave. Just need to contact tonight’s hotel and let them know we may not make it. However, it’s sunny out there and we are off for a walk instead.
Mooom glad to hear the lurgy test went well for FCD, hope yours is ok too. For clothing, I would opt for a nice top and smart trousers - something a step up from jeans and a t-shirt.
nellie I hope the eye doc sees reason!
Sunny sorry to hear about your dad, I hope he gets sorted out.
Right…got a cup of proper tea to drink then we are off to play in the snow.
Ugh. I’m so sorry.
Today’s overgoods/damages are brought to you by the letter “R”. Seriously, we had 2 packs of 12" tall blue letter "R"s to deal with.
Well, his vision is, if he keeps that up. 
Poor thing would end up in Betty Ford.
Yay for negative brain scrapes!
I think your neighbor is tinfoil hat level nutter. Glad it got dismissed.
Sorry about the Dad situation, sunny.