(Old) A Day Off in the MMP

Jeans, polo shirts, and loafers. Haven’t worn slacks or a dress shirt since my last job interview, seven years ago. At home I’m normally barefoot and wearing my “sleep pants” (pyjamas).

I made Guiness Beef Stew for dinner, with a Wisconsin Old Fashioned. And I’m drinking the other Guinesses, because it’s a sin to waste beer. I used Aldi instead of Teeter beef stock, it came out a tad saltier than usual. So ends my day off, tomorrow starts official vacation.

I have 3 modes:
Work: dress like a backup dance on Sprockets
Day off: dress like Temu Thomas Magnum
Hockey game: one of the above, plus one of my 50 hockey jerseys

Dinner is cooking, and other than the usual sweeping and tidying, nothing else was accomplished.

I found out earlier today that another former co-worker died. He suffered a hemorrhagic stroke on Thursday, but didn’t officially pass away until yesterday. He was an organ donor so and two people will benefit. I also worked with his wife, and she is the one who told me. I am feeling pretty sad for her. E had retired about three years ago, and K was is going to retire at the end of September. They had so many plans. I know K has lots of love and support around her.

By the way, I think the April baby’s name is Nova. Both a star and a car.

I almost posted the start of this story yesterday, but was so happy to be out relatively early that I didn’t wanna complain about karma, and now I gotta catch y’all up!

Yesterday someone ordered a full slab of ribs and stuck us with the order (never showed, not even the courtesy to call back & cancel) and usually a yummy treat like that would be devoured after closing. (Employees can eat whatever, for free, except ribs cuz those suckers are :money_mouth_face:. So free ribs are a very rare treat.)

I left very slightly sad that the ribs went into the walk-in while I went home … but I got to hang with Monkey and enjoy the sunset ->dusk ->twilight so I figured it was a fair trade.

Came in today to find the ribs still sitting in the damn walk-in.

Made a semi-joking comment to S.M. about how they’re too good to go to waste … and even though I was Early Out and not a closer tonight, she sent me home with the ENTIRE RACK!

I told her I was more than happy to split them with the crew, but I also, uh, was really not in the mood to argue toooo hard about the matter.

Thus dinner is, as you Brits so charmingly put it, sorted!

PLUS we got tipped out today so I have cash in my wallet, and tomorrow just so happens to be a major holiday for my people, one frequently celebrated by sales, giveaways & other festivities at our favorite cash-only stores.

That would be 4/20. Tomorrow is Stoner Day.

But for now, it’s BRRRR chilly (beautiful sunny afternoon, but the sunshine was a lie :cold_face:) and there’s a freeze warning for tonight, so my agave & lemon tree need to be dragged back in & the big bin topped off with a few more bags o’trash and then dragged back out.

Lotta draggin’ … then, free ribs!

Narrator: Free food is the best food.

That was my thought as well. I am old enough to remember the No Go jokes because otherwise I wouldn’t have a clue. I think Nova would be a great name for a redhead, but that’s probably just me.

I have visiting clothes which include nice slacks and loafers, doing stuff clothes which includes sneaks and elastic waste bands and “yeah, I probably shouldn’t go outside wearing these” clothes.

Hurray for PTO for a week, Spot and your body will probably appreciate it.

This is the only day of the year that I schedule around sales! I’m glad you have money to spend and good fud for laters.

My feet do not like walking barefoot so I have house UGGs to schlept around in :slight_smile:

Dude, you are going to hurt yourself with all that social engagement! I’m glad you didn’t drop anything, that would be embarrassing.

Don’t 16 year old boys reek no matter how much deodorant is involved?

That someone was the across the street neighbor. Usually we communicate through Harry, but he wanted a favor so thought he should ask in person. He has a crew coming out next week to dig up his driveway so he can have heating strips installed and won’t be able to use the driveway for at least a week, so wants to park a couple of their vehicles in our driveway for the duration. That way they will have a safe place to park their trucks and the quads they will use to get to their trucks.

We have a lot of driveway space, two or three more vehicles won’t be an issue as long as they pay attention, so we agreed.

Then came the funny/horrifying part. Hubs complains about their lawn all the time. They don’t mow as often as he thinks they should and they let their dandelions bloom to spread seeds all over our yard. :winking_face_with_tongue:

Neighbor offered to take over mowing our yard for the rest of the year in exchange for using a bit of our driveway for a week. The look on Hubs face while he was trying to turn the lawn care down was enough to make me almost choke in my effort to not laugh.

I changed the deal to “plant my new cherry trees” and neighbor agreed that he would send a couple of his kids over when I was ready to plant. That works out great, I’ve found the trees I want, it was the hole digging part that was the issue. I have the cash, I just didn’t have anyone willing to dig for it.

After a week of nice warm weather, we are back under freeze warnings for the next couple of days. My lemon tree has been outside long enough to get thoroughly covered in bugs that we don’t want to bring into the house, so it is going to spend the next couple of nights in the water heater/storage room. I’ve put a good layer of mulch on all of the new plants and tomorrow I’ll probably cover them with towels.

I knew I should have waited until Mother’s day to plant, Mother Nature fooled me again.

{{{Taters}}}

Well, my dinner was the same as my lunch and breakfast: chicken broth, lemon Jell-o, and a couple of lemon candies. I’m saving the lemon sorbet for when my blood sugar crashes from lack of protein or fat. Guess what I’ll be eating tomorrow, too. Because I take Mounjaro, which causes gastric slowing, I’ve got to do clear food for two days rather than one. It should help with the vacation travel water weight, anyway.

S10. :stuck_out_tongue:

I’m sorry for the loss of your former coworker, taters. Often, we spend more time with them than we do our families.

Don’t forget to leave cookies and milk out for Snoop and Willie. :slight_smile:

I have several kinds of clothes. the around the house clothes are meemaw pants and a tee shirt, with a sweat shirt topper in cool weather. Standard errand clothes are jeans, blouse / tee shirt / sweater and sneakers. Slightly fancier are jeans, sweater and loafers. Marryin’ and buryin’ clothes are skirt or dress slacks, blouse, blazer and loafers. Dress up clothes (opera, ballet, etc) is a simple evening gown and 1" pumps. Around the house clothes are the ones worn mostly.

Squeaky had to go to work tonight, so I made dinner early[1]. I still have good ham leftover from Easter, so I made some ham & cheese sliders. He ate at least a third himself. I’m finally convinced the boy will have enough food in his belly for a shift at work.

Mrs Magill and I did our yoga, then (because the only one left who’s keeping us in line was at work) we collected the puppy-dog and headed to the Andy’s to have ice cream for dinner.

Since coming out to Mrs Magill and beginning counseling, it’s been harder and harder to not present at home. Squeaky still doesn’t know. I want to have all three together for that slice of personal hell conversation. The urges to present were easier to resist before I decided to be at peace with my identity.

I wonder if that’s a common occurrence.


  1. “Dunch” as Mrs Magill calls it ↩︎

{{{{*Mollie}}}}
Wish I could give you council on this.

Usually brownies, but I believe Martha has introduced some flexible recipes.

I am intrigued, but upon searching, Google had a myriad of ideas. Some looked comfy; some looked horrifying.

What are these “meemaw” pants, in your opinion?

How old is your Squeaky? It’s possible they know more than you think. Or not, but the opposite has been known to happen quite often.

Often with a side dose of, “Yeah, who cares. Whatevs.”

I hope things work out calmly and drama-free.

I work with a skinny 20-year-old dude, and he is an absolutely bottomless pit. I’ve seen him cook two pounds of chicken strips right when he’s starting his shift - that’s four (4) solid orders, and then before anyone can fuss (we have issues with food waste and employees cooking food they don’t eat) they were just .. all .. gone. (Plus the requisite disappearing into the potty awhile later, for … uh, where is ?.. dude, did you fall in?!)

Basically, pajama pants with pockets. The male version is papaw pants.