(Old) Another lost great idea in the MMP

So much for sewing much. Turns out the thread I bought is waaaaaay too heavy for my machine and my application. But I’ve done some research and I found the right kind and just ordered it. It’ll probably get here next week.

Besides having a terrible time getting the needle threaded, the tension in the bobbin was all wrong because the thread is so heavy. Luckily, I just stitched a little, so no harm done.

Now I need to figure out how much fabric I need to reupholster the cushions on the flybridge. I have a little bit, but not nearly enough. And since there are a lot of pieces, some cushion size rectangles, some loooooong strips that could be done by sewing shorter strips together, I need to figure the least wasteful layout. I also need to convince FCD that it doesn’t have to be Sunbrella - there are other outdoor fabrics that should do nicely, especially once the new bimini is shading the seats.

Guess I should do some calculatin’…

Wow, noon already! Did the exercise thing, and I’m really sorry I skipped Monday’s session. Four days is too long of a break. Finished my puzzling except for Spelling Bee; I’m up to 41 words and still not done, apparently.

Sadie had a furball incident last night which I managed to step in on a trip to the bathroom.

We had a pretty blustery night with heavy snow and high winds. The ground is too warm for much snow to accumulate, so there were only about two inches on the grass and cars this morning. Up north of here was supposed to get up to 8".

In good news: the Dem candidate for Wisconsin’s supreme court won despite Musk’s antics over the past week. A small victory in a purple state.

Aye. And replies to it.

Yeah. Could be raini— oh.

I haven’t encountered this yet, and I was very proud of myself that I after a very brief :face_without_mouth: I understood!

… and then held up my hand, and stared at it for a moment, to visualize ezzactly where you meant.

Very useful, this hand-map thing!

It rained a lot today. Just hailed, thats rare.
Got some groceries, looking forward to bible class.

Ohhhhh, Monkey is a happy boy right now. Coupla days ago, Past Shoe tucked two of his little mousies into a canister of fresh catnip.

With the cold, rainy weather now, he doesn’t have cabin fever, he has Cabin FEVER!!1! so (after re-finding them, since I have to put such kitteh supplies in an out-of-the-way spot lest he pilfer, and, well, outta sight = outta mind) I just tossed him one.

Folks, there’s a black panther joyfully losin’ his damn mind in my kitchen right now.

Afternoon all. Had to buy a new can of paint for the wall, as the old (5 years) can went bad, turns out I could have waited a day, the handyman had a big job this morning and won’t get here until 2pm and I have a 3pm appointment, so he’ll do what he can and finish it tomorrow. Tile guy has yet to respond so may ask this guy if he does tile too, just to get the &%^&%& job done.

Cloudy and windy but 81F so not all bad.

BBBoo, y’all be sure to come south, bet we could get a great Mumpfest going.

Flyboy, happy workiversary. I think I lasted just over 33 years in my job with the DoD.

And on we go…

Hrmph.

MusicMan has to work on Saturday again. I believe that’s the 3rd one in a row. I mean, because who doesn’t want to work 60-70 hours a week every freaking week?!? They told him when he hired in that it would probably be 1 Saturday per month.

I was with BMCRA for nine years, and a DoD contractor for nine years before that. This is the longest I’ve been in one place.

I learned this morning that my brother-in-law died last night. I’m on the other side of the country now, but I was pretty close with him since he married my sister. We were in two bands together for like eight years. He was not in very good shape having been in a wheelchair for the last 10-plus years due to what was diagnosed as a spinal stroke (an extremely rare condition) but truthfully, they never really knew for sure. He was also diabetic and I don’t think he had been very conscious about his health, especially lately. He was exhausted of the pain and the routine and the being a burden and all of that. I don’t really know what I’m writing now, it started as a simple memorial but now I’m stream of consciousing and I think I ought to stop.

I feel really awful for my sister (who’ve yet to reach by phone except for a voicemail). I know she’s going to have some survivor’s guilt and there’s no doubt she’ll have to deal with the relief of not having to care for him anymore and I’m really worried about her. She’s always been an iron cage - always plays things really close to the vest. And I’m on the other side of the country and can’t really do anything about it.

Anyway, Dave Gosselin was a great drummer and one of the best carpenters/builders I’ve ever known. He had a lot of flaws but he was my brother-in-law and I loved him.

Thanks for letting me blabber.

{{{J-Bats & Sis}}}

may his memory be eternal.

Hey everyone.

It is super windy today. My poor baby lemon was almost bending double so we put her on the porch. I didn’t want to bring her back in, she’s gotten used to being outside now.

We went out and did errands which included stopping at Lowes. They had their blooming bulbs on sale, so another pot came home with me cause I wanted the fast color, but I’m also planning on planting them out by the fence for next spring.

After we got home, I checked my internet history and saw that at some point during my drunken pity party, I made all of the travel arrangements and reservations for Mom. (She got a smoking deal on a couple of rooms on a cruise to Alaska and wanted to take her daughters. As usual, she forgot that she has four daughters so once again, I’m not being included in the family trip.)

I was also as spiteful and petty as possible. The sisters who have to fly have middle seats at the back of steerage. Interior cruise rooms, no balconies or portholes or upgrades but I put them right next to the elevators in the middle of the ship. Mom needs to be close to an elevator but the smoking areas are all at the far ends of the ship so sisters will be getting their exercise.

I doubt anyone will bother looking over the itinerary that closely but if they do, they will have to call me to make changes because I password protected everything.

FCM, the lady at the dispensary said she loved your idea of using yarn scraps to make lap blankets and has completed and donated three to the local nursing home. Look at you-being a good influence to a stranger in a different state.

That really sucks, are the excuses at least half way reasonable?

Sometimes banging and crashing really is a joyful noise :slight_smile:

I’m glad she’s feeling well enough to cat again.

I haven’t seen them, but I haven’t asked about them either so have no idea. That is a good idea, thank you. Just sitting around is making me achy and swimming is about as low impact as one can get.

I usually don’t need to get gas when I eat onions, it tends to be included.

That sounds about right to me, but then I do tend to go a little crazy in the cheese aisle. I don’t know if all Food Lions have the same sales, but ours will have sirloin tip roasts for 4.99 lb tomorrow. Summer is just around the corner, hubs can slice the roasts into steaks and grill to his hearts content.

Starts making music playlist. I’ll bring the cheese!

Stay safe, I’ve been hearing about terrible things happening to people already. We are just on the outskirts of the storm zone and it is super windy here. Reminded us of the constant AZ wind in a “we sure don’t miss that” sort of way.

You be careful too, the predictions are rather dire.

Go you! Decluttering is so tedious but really does make your world feel nicer.

:people_hugging:

Speeling has never been my strong point, LOL!

Yes, the Purple Martens have come back and they did it in mass. There are at least twenty hanging around the gully and I can hear more in the forest.

Discovered that I was almost completely out of a certain crucial household supply, so during a lull in the rain, I did the sensible & responsible thing and high-tailed it to the local dispo with a ten-spot in my wallet.
Just as I was backing out of the driveway, Nugent’s “Stranglehold” came on the radio. If there hadn’t been a slowpoke in front of me at the drive-thru, I prolly woulda made it home just as it ended.
(I … dislike him as a person, but damn, that song has some good licks.)

The Oracles predict more tunder-boomers, but now I am all set for supplies. Well, possibly someone has been guzzling down my booze, but that’s rather easily remedied.

I think that was beautifully written.

My husband dealt with the same when his mother died, and 3+ months later, he still occasionally gets hit with guilt. It’s difficult and very personal. I hope your sister doesn’t let it burden her too long. Hugs to you and yours in this difficult time.

Since I’m the only one who left the Baltimore area, I’m often forgotten - including in my dad’s obituary. So I know what you mean.

Wow - my superpower!!

I just finished building and packaging a couple of meatloaves for the freezer. I also divided the other pack of ground beef into 2 lumps to be frozen. And I packaged and froze some chickie tits. I pulled an older hunk of ground beef out to thaw for sloppy joes, as well as a second chickie tit to go with the one I didn’t pack up. Tomorrow, I’ll make another chickie-grape-apple-pecan salad, because the other one was inhaled in short order.

I swear, it kills my mortgage company that I have a less-than-3% rate on less than $200K. They want me to take out an equity loan. Because, why not have 2 mortgage payments??? smh They send those offers to me at least monthly, and the envelopes don’t even make it into the house, since the recycle bin is in the garage right next to the kitchen door. I tend to open my mail while walking up the drive so I can dump the junk in recycling on the way.

The new bimini is installed and FCD says it looks good. He’s making me crazy about the cushion fabric - apparently polyester outdoor upholstery fabric isn’t good enough, despite everything I read indicating it is. The man makes me crazy. I’m going to order what I want and he can deal. I swear, if he had his way, every scrap of fabric on that boat would be solid gray. I want some patterns, dammit!

French toast for supper. Chillage till then.

Went on a walk down the beach and back. I met a three-legged chihuahua named Nacho. His ‘brother’ was another small dog, black, with longish fur, named Squish.

That’s high praise right there. Hugs and sympathy to all.

Damn cats! Bet he was the one who drank up all of your booze too.

So much agreement. How come so many very talented artists are such assholes irl?

Oddly enough, writers tend to be pretty nice and usually respond to fan mail. Maybe that’s because they live to write? (I’ve got a hand signed letter from the big SK in response to my letter about The Stand.)

Ah geeze, why did you bring that up? One of my sisters still owes me a couple of hundred for the flowers she demanded to have at Dad’s memorial - that I set up and paid for while Mom and her daughters were sharing memories over mimosas.

Whatever, that part of my life is pretty much over now, once Mom’s gone I won’t have any reason to keep in contact with the rest of the family and the only reason they ever contact me is for money.

Just wait until your mortgage is paid off, you will have to buy another trash can for the extra paper!

Does FCD actually look at the patterns or is he just wanting that certain fabric?

In the basement. Wife is on the road. Hopefully home soon.

I love love love your style!!! I wanna be like you when I grow up.

It’s a deal. Lots of classic rock and roll please, with a fair bit of Willie scattered in and some man-in-black.

And for the record, I like cheese with mold in it. I grew up down the street from Maytag blue cheese.

We are planning to start in the south. No point of saving the best for last. Then when it gets too hot and muggy we’ll head north for Michigan and beyond, all the way to Canada and the Pacific Northwest.

Indeed he can. Your fabric is really fun, I like it, go for it!

Started Typing: 4:51 PM ET
Clicked Reply: 5:24 PM ET

Belated happy birthday, nightshadea! :birthday_cake:

I’m finally getting a chance to post! I’m actually still at work right now, killing some time before I can reasonably head home. I mostly read the preceding 139 posts, but may have done some inadvertent skimming…sorry if I miss acknowledging anything that should be acknowledged!

So far, so good with the new job! I like my new boss and everyone I’ve met, and the commute isn’t bad: it’s been ~30 min in the mornings and ~40 min to get home (when there aren’t any accidents). Definitely tolerable. But I’m also definitely glad that I only have to do it Mon-Wed. :slight_smile: This program is huge, and there is a lot to learn: my boss said she expects me to spend the first week or two pretty much just reading, plus I’m sitting in on whatever meetings I can and going to some of the orientation/overview trainings that are offered periodically. I had an all-day meeting yesterday and three hours of meetings today, and will be in another all-day meeting tomorrow (from home, thankfully).

I’ll eventually manage 4 people, but two of them haven’t been hired yet and the others won’t transfer to me until all four are on board. It’s a new team, so it makes sense to wait and transfer everyone to me at once. The slight pause in being a manager works for me. :slight_smile: An offer is already pending for one of the two who haven’t been hired, and my boss will be sending me their resume as well as the resumes she’s received for the other position (I can provide some input on that one).

So far Bailey seems none the worse for wear in light of my new schedule, but I think she’ll be glad when I don’t leave the house tomorrow morning. I miss seeing her during the day! I don’t get to hang out with her in the evenings: she can’t get on the couch anymore, so unless she’s awake to eat or pee she’s sleeping in another room while I’m in the LR. I’ll come to the office on Thursdays if needed – like, if there’s ever a meeting with the customer or another reason why being in person would make sense – but I’m glad that most weeks I’ll only be commuting Mon-Wed.

In other news, I’ve been craving Trader Joe’s coffee bean mini ice cream cones: there’s a TJ a few blocks from my house, so I think I’ll make a stop on the way home today.

<takes “call shoe” off to-do list…>

Yay! And wow, I love her coloring!!

:people_hugging:

So nice to see your and BBBoo’s faces!! :smiley:

“Whenever I see your smiling face, I have to smile myself…”

I never saw Willow – I never had any interest in it – but Real Genius is one of my all-time-favorite movies. I think I’ll have to watch it this weekend.

I’ve been with my current company for 6.5 years; my previous record was 5 years.

Oh…oh no. I’m so sorry.