I just got a response and happily, they do have another bowl they will send me. I was worried because they have a limited amount and I didn’t want my money back, I wanted a bowl.
They are lovely to work with, I’m still grateful you suggested them back then. Mom always says nice things about her boxes but has forgotten how to send her I phone pics to my droid 
Started Typing: 2:14 PM ET
Clicked Reply: 4:54 PM ET
I’m not a fan of cranberry as a side dish – even cranberry and orange – but I do like cranberries when they’re in things (like these cookies).
It has been cold and rainy all day, and will continue to be cold and rainy until tomorrow. It’s been in the upper 40s/low 50s, which isn’t really all that cold, but for the first time this season I felt chilly in the house: I bumped the thermostat up to 72 (vs the usual 70) and put a sweatshirt on (vs my usual t-shirt), and still felt the need to fire up the oil heater in my home office.
I have a fasting blood draw early tomorrow morning (7:45am), and had been hoping tonight’s 6:30 personal training session would get moved up so I’d be able to eat something afterwards (the lab orders call for a 12-hour fast). My trainer often gets day-of cancellations and winds up able to let me meet him at 5:30 or 6:00. He did text me first thing this morning to say I could meet him at 6:00, but it turned out he was mistaken and had to go back to 6:30. Between today’s rain and tomorrow’s lab work I decided that I’m just not up for the gym this evening, plus I know he’s never crazy about staying that late anyway, so I suggested that we cancel tonight and meet on Saturday morning instead. He was all for it. We’re already meeting on Friday afternoon vs Thursday evening because of Thanksgiving, so I’ll just go to the gym two days in a row.
I’ve done a lot of “catch up” training sessions on Saturday mornings: I thought I would hate that day/time, but I find that I actually don’t mind. We tend to meet at 10am, which is late enough that I don’t have to set an alarm but early enough that afterwards I still have the bulk of the day ahead of me. And, when it’s not raining I take Bailey for a walk when I get home. We’ll probably also have to meet on Saturday next weekend, because a week from today I have a 7pm volunteer-related meeting that I can’t miss; the 6:30 training session time won’t work for me. Hopefully his schedule will clear up in January and we’ll be able to go back to 5:30 sessions.
Anyway, I’m very happy that I’m not going anywhere today: the best thing about weather like this is being inside. 
(On preview: what FCM said! LOL!)
I’m not looking forward to waking up/leaving the house early tomorrow, but I’ll be relieved when the blood draw is done: I’m somewhat worried about the results – particularly my A1C – but once I’m in the chair and there’s nothing I can do about it I’ll be able to start letting go of that stress. And tomorrow evening I’ll resume eating cranberry cookies. 
My BFFs are a husband and wife; I’ve spent every Thanksgiving with them for the past 10-15 years. The Wife BFF (WBFF) normally does a bunch of cooking, but has been dealing with some serious infections for the past month or so – then, on Sunday a big tree fell on their house and the ceiling in their son’s room collapsed!! 
Luckily, he’s in Texas right now visiting his girlfriend (who goes to college there). It was just going to be the three of us on Thursday so I told her not to worry at all about Thanksgiving, but she decided it would be too depressing for her and Husband BFF (HBFF) to sit around and eat leftovers by themselves: she ordered three dinners from Wegman’s, and HBFF will go pick them up at around noon. Works for me! Their son’s girlfriend will be spending her winter break with them, and WBFF said she’ll do the whole homemade dinner thing sometime then.
In other news, I may have done a stupid thing at work… A few months ago, my boss – the program manager (PM) – got promoted. She’s wearing a few different hats for the rest of the year, until her replacement is sorted out. One day last month I happened to be in the office with the deputy program manager (DPM), who I like and get along with, and asked if he’d be willing to share whether he’d applied for the position. He had, and we started talking about career goals. Our program will be up for recompete* in about a year, and although there’s no reason we shouldn’t get the new contract you really just never know: I told him that if we don’t get it, I’d likely try to find a DPM position but that it would be tough because our company hardly has any nontechnical project managers**/DPMs. He said I just needed for someone to give me a chance, and that he thought I’d be a great DPM. Late last week I learned that he’d gotten the PM job! Yesterday I sent both him and the current PM an email, asking them to please consider – if they hadn’t already – whether a nontechnical DPM could provide the kind of support he’ll want. I said that if desired, I’d welcome an opportunity to discuss how a nontechnical deputy might be a good fit. There is now a meeting on my calendar for Monday morning…gulp! I’m 95% sure I’d be up for it if given the option, but suddenly I better think hard about all of the possible ramifications. Heh.
*recompete - when a government contract’s period of performance is ending but the work needs to continue, the government issues a new “request for proposals” and other companies can compete with the current company (aka the incumbent) for the new contract; while of course good performance is key, there are many factors that go into the government’s decision and sometimes confident incumbents get caught by a surprise loss
**nontechnical project manager - in my industry, most project managers start in some kind of technical role (cybersecurity, systems engineering, etc.); it can be useful for a DPM to have some experience with the technical work being done on a contract, but it really depends on the individual PM and what kind of support they want (e.g., I would focus more on the “administrivia” side of things, which I think the incoming PM might prefer)
Oh no! I’m glad you can get a replacement.
Good for you! Whenever I can afford to, I always opt for convenience/comfort.
Howdy Y’all! Laundry got laundered and put away. Nappage and day drinkin’ accomplished. Sup cooked and et along with kitchen clean up. Go Us! Rain has been hit and miss all day but now ‘tis rainin’ out heavily.
Oopsie shall we keep appropriate/inappropriate appendages crossed?
JtC yay for a good resolve to the bowl crisis!
MetalMouse I much prefer hangin’ in an airline lounge if’n I have to wait a long time. At least I did that when I traveled several times per year via airline. I’d do it again if’n I ever do any airline travel again, I reckon. However, I do not plan to travel by air ever again.
RealFish yay for the help for your dad! Good luck with the PT.
WetOne this gettin’ old stuff ain’t for sissies!
I’ve never considered cranberries as a side-dish. That would be like eating jelly out of a jar. But ya gotta have the Ocean Spray Cranberry Sauce outta da can (so you have the rings moulded in) to put on top of your bites of turkey.
The turkey’s been in the meat drawer (or ‘meat locker’, as I like to call it) in the fridge defrosting (I hope) for a week. We have Trader Joe’s stuffing, a yellow onion, celery, and dried cranberries. We have a bag of potatoes. We have two cans of French-cut green beans, a can of Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom Soup, and French’s fried onions. The turkey will provide the offal and the drippings for the gravy. I bought an apple pie, but the Spousal Unit has been eating on it. Maybe there will be some left on Thursday, but I’m not going to have any.
Your lunches are much more hedonistic than mine. Oh wait, there’s more to the sentence. Damn. It was a great idea while it lasted.
I’d be wearing long underwear and 4 layers if it was 70 in the house.
You will totally kick that out of the park. The good PMs / DPMs don’t try to be tech leads. It’s gonna be uncomfortable at first, but sooo rewarding as you grow into it.
Yaay for you!!
As to me…
I did have a short nap, then a pre-scheduled yak with my finance guy. All’s well in that department. Her Ladyship returned from some medical checkup and we set off together for late lunch & mini-shopping.
Went down to the tourist zone by the beach, sat outside to watch the bikinis & hunks walk by, and enjoyed a mahi wrap, stuffed clams, and their house special Bloody Mary which includes a big cocktail shrimp as one of the garnishes! Corny but yummy. They make the drink using clam juice too. Very oceanic.
Then we hit the 4 beach toys / tourist trinket shops right there looking for sweatshirts for she and me, and a local branded hokey Christmas ornament for our tree. We ended up with 2 sweatshirts for me from different shops, zero for her, and no ornaments. Next stop was the hardware store then home.
Now chillin. Dinner might be popcorn if I get up that much ambition.
Slacker! 
(I’m on the job at that unholy hour)
I’m glad your dad is getting more home help fishy.
Irked, went there (and home) in the rain. Just five more hours at irk and my weekend.
Stay safe and healthy y’all!
We get them in a can, but they seem to have whole berries in them, too. Growing up, my mom always sliced the canned ones and that’s how we always ate them.
Now married, we Schloop them out of the can and then mix 'em up. We started Thanksgiving last week and have been eating fixin’s ever since. We Schlooped three cans all together. The turkey still outlasted the sides.
Ugh lost power again. And my replacement battery got screwed up in shipping, so all I can run off the UPS is one lamp. At least the old tech is helping out, I’ve got two oil lamps going. Though one is grumpy cuz it just got a new wick and taking some time to get saturated. Seems the neighbors are waiting it out in their car, I can hear a movie from their driveway. And it’s cold tonight.
My mother made cranberry-orange compote even though we’re not having turkey. Had it with chicken tonight, yum.
Up from naptime, off to work. Roomie found a pill, possibly one of my Vit D pills on his cat condo. So either Spot is fighting osteoporosis, or he’s hopped up on goofballs.
Happy Toosday!
I have a lot of catching up to do!
No park today, it has been raining and miserable all day.
I was almost in an accident taking my son to irk as some asshole changed lanes and almost hit me. Then on the way home, so asshole pulled out of a parking space right in front of me. Two near misses in one night had me a bit rattled.
Rayleigh and Misiu missed the message about Shar Pei hating water.
They were outside most of the day, having a good time playing in the rain.
So much is going on around here.
Lots of people looking at the house. My realtor said there are supposed to be two offers coming in.
I don’t want to get my hopes up, so we’ll see.
I still haven’t gotten the basement sink fixed or rid of the logs out back.
There is still so much to do.
Pilot, I should have purged before moving, and I do have an awful lot of stuff I should get rid of. Some of the stuff I’m finding I thought I had gotten rid of. My son also found a bag of trash from the other house.
After watching all the hawks that have been circling around lately, I’m glad I left Adam over there. According to what I have read, he is too big to be carried off, but not too big to be killed and eaten on the ground. These hawks were going after the birds that were flying around.
I have been so tired, and the Tizanidine was making it worse. All I had to do was sit down and I was out. I started with chills again, and found out Tizanidine can cause that too.
I don’t like cranberry sauce, canned or homemade.
My son loves canned stuff, but Thanksgiving snuck up on me this year and I didn’t get any.
We have no plans for Thanksgiving and we’re both good with that.
Hopefully, I can catch up with y’all tomorrow.
I had to take Mauser to the vet again. Yesterday I arrived home early evening and he was limping and crying again. I just had time to call the vet, and got him in at 8:20 AM this morning. My sister loves the dog too so she helped get me there. I sat down in the car and she picked Mauser up and handed him to me so he wouldn’t hurt getting in himself.
One thing, his nails were really long and it turns out that may have hurt his walking. I feel guilty about that. And he does have a tender spot in his neck, so maybe some nerve issues or arthritis. So his nails got clipped and he got some meds in his ears (a totally different issure) He also has some pain pills. By this evening he’s walking almost completely normally. I am so relieved, I love that dog more than I do myself. After the meds and visit, and buying his next set of heartworm pills(that also prevent ticks and fleas) I laid down a chunk of money, but Mauser is worth it.
Give your pets extra skritches, they love you back.
I left the orifice at 15:15. Didn’t get home until 18:40. Yeesh.
I was thinking I’d have a couple of kebabs, tzatziki, feta, and Kalamata olives for dinner. Instead I made a scrambled cackleberry sandwich with cheese on toast.
I was shamefully productive today and it looks like more productivity will happen tomorrow
I picked up our fresh turkey today and brought it home, then went to the community center and picked up two T-day boxes for a couple of working single moms who couldn’t take time off to get their own.
When I called Mom, she told me that she eats lunch at a table with 7 other folks and was planning on taking the cookies I will be sending this week to share. I hadn’t packaged up that many, she doesn’t eat much and tends to forget she has food until it goes stale, so I made a couple more batches of cookies and packed them up to send out. PSA, don’t use a vacuum sealer for chocolate crinkle cookies, it sucks the air right out of them.
I dropped a scrap of parchment paper on the floor and GG thinks it is the best toy evah. We used to buy our cats Christmas presents and wrap them in pretty paper. Now they get a new box and brown paper bag and every one is happy.
Thanksgiving snuck up on most everyone this year, it just seems too early due to having 5 Thursdays this month.
Canned cranberry sauce lasts for years and it will be on sale next week, maybe grab a few cans then.
I am so sorry for both of you. We loves our fuzzbutts and it is horrible when they are hurting.
Oh. I also had a few pieces of pickled herring and onion.
This year I bought one can of cranberry sauce… because previously we’ve had two cans in the cupboard for two or more years. I heard on NPR today that fresh cranberries are cheap this year… but canned cranberries are more expensive than before, because the cans are more expensive. (Tariffs on imported steel, or something.)
Oh, so we’re judging now.
I’d be wearing flip-flops and a smile.
Don’t hurt yourself!
Actually, popcorn is a perfectly cromulent meal. It’s a whole grain (fiber!) and while I use it as a butter delivery vehicle, I’m suuuuure yours is healthier.
Bring snacks and ask if you could hang out and watch with them?
Finishing off a frozen chicken boobie thing (this one was Kiev) along with some chili crisp on buttered bread.
Monkey is anxiously flitting from one window to another, which I assume means his nemesis, the neighbor cat, is nearby.
If I was unclear, what I meant was, sometimes I eat jelly straight from the jar.
Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and caffeinatin’. ‘Tis 62 Amurrkin out and cloudy with a predicted high of 63 and partly N.O.S. for the day. The big item on today’s agenda is the preppin’ of foodstuffs for the big feast tomorrow. I have already been busy, as boiled aigs, to become satanized aigs, are coolin’ as I post. I shall make up the dressin’, and boil and chop the giblets for the gravy as well. The dressin’ and gravy will get cooked up tomorrow and the collard greens will just need to be heated up. Of course, the cranberry sauce is chillin’ and will be ready to “shwump” or “schloop” outta da can tomorrow. Other folks are bringin’ the rest of the comestibles. There will be eight of us participatin’ in gluttony around one p.m. tomorrow. Never fear, sloth, general overall uselessness, nappage, and day drinkin’ are also on the agenda. Any need to feed today will be via forage.
Now I need more caffeine and to feed rumbly tummy. Then, onward into the day! Rah.
Happy Hump Day Y’all!
This tickled me way more than it should have, but I could just hear the tone of voice…
I slept with Mel last night and it was good. Woke once but fell back to sleep - I got close to 9 hours!!
Today is baking day. After I tidy the kitchen and empty the dishwasher, I’ll make the pumpkin pies. And while they’re baking, I’ll clean up and do the dishes, then mix up the brownies so when the pies come out, the brownies go in.
Then MIL and I will assemble the dressing. I don’t eat the stuff and I’ve never made it, so I’ll just help her build it, and it’ll get baked tomorrow. I already informed everyone that tonight’s dinner will be emptying the fridge of leftovers. We’ve got salisbury steak, poke roast, chicken breast,rice, cabbage, and maybe other stuff - I need to sort thru.
MIL has been eating and drinking and she sleeps really well here - we really need to keep her longer but she’s insistent on going home Firday. So we’ll do what we can while we can. FCD is getting together all the paperwork for his brother’s apartment - that should be finalized next week. And it’s looking like BIL will be discharged on Firday, getting regular visits at home by a caseworker. We shall see how it all goes.
I’ve gotten all the smart plugs working and I’ve learned about “groups” on Alexa. We can turn on our lamps one at a time or all at once! I’ve learned to program on and off times. Heck, if so inclined, I can control MIL’s lamps from my tablet regardless of where I am!!! But I’d never do that, because I’m nice, dammit. Still, this smart home stuff is kinda amazing… and addicting…
I shouldn’t have to leave the house, but I forgot to check our milk yesterday - I may be forced to run to Food Lion after all. We shall see. But so far, things are on schedule. And there will be much food.
Happy Wednesday!!
Mornin all. It’s ~7:45, so an hourish after sunrise. Clear skies, a few puffies, and 73/23 on the way to 85/30. A little warm for this time of year but I’ll take it.
I’m up, sheveled, out, fed at the same diner as 2 days ago, and now lingering over excess coffee and wasting spending time with y’all before I set off up the freeway to today’s golf lesson. Should be home 11ish.
Like most of America and the MMPers, Her Ladyship has plans to prep most of the starchy stuff for tomorrow today. I’ve offered to help, but it seems that hiding in another room is the most helpful thing to do. I might go hide at the beach since I missed that yesterday.
I have done exactly that more than once. Thought I’d downsized my stuff a bunch, moved into the new smaller quarters and realized I paid $$$ to move halfway across the country about 2-1/2x as much as fit in the new place. Oops. I’ve also moved a trash bag. There’s no dishonor in any of that; moving is inherently chaotic.
I’ve told this story before, although maybe not in the MMP. Her Ladyship moved in with me into the large condo I’d had with my late first wife. I had decades of married accumulation in there. Whether it was furniture, kitchen, artwork, or just “stuff”, there was two lifetimes’ worth. Plus Her Ladyship’s stuff which she had partly culled on the way in.
Anyhow we disposed of nearly 100% of all of her and my (and late first wife’s) possessions & stuff in the course of first combining households and then moving again to where we are now a few months later.
What survived was my tablet, my work equipment, the newest 1/3rd of my clothes, and about 1/3rd of my kitchen & bar stuff. For her it was about 1/3rd of her kitchen stuff, 1/3rd of her clothes, and her sewing toys. That’s it. Everything else was disposed. It was dumpsters and dumpsters of stuff out the door. Plus the furniture and art we estate-saled that I should have simply dumpstered or donated too.
Everything else we own we got since moving here. Which isn’t much besides some furniture.
It was remarkably freeing. Yes we did have to buy some new furniture. A bedroom set, a couch & two recliners, a TV stand & coffee table, and 2 desks. That’s it. All sized for the new space. Which all could easily have been gotten used if we needed to economize; there’s no shortage of second-hand stuff around here.
IMO … Mentally start from zero and work up to what you keep. Don’t start from what you have and work down. The stuff you own today has to earn its way into being still owned tomorrow. The default is throw it out. All of it.
Separately, congrats on all the buyer interest in your old place. Real estate is weird; sometimes the buyers are beating down your door and sometimes they’re on strike. The former is much better for you.
How you doin??!!1!? Rowwwrrr! There might be a way to keep warm in those circumstances. 
Oh yeah. Popcorn is good eatin’. I usually pop it using peanut oil and that makes it greasy & flavorful enough. Butter makes it very tasty, but too goopy. I’m always wanting to use my hands for something else while eating it. Butter, at least the amount I use, always makes my hands unusably messy. 'Tis a conundrum.
Turns out making popcorn was too much irk. Actual dinner was an eggnog w rum, some plain yogurt & a mandarine, and later a large Scotch. Plus a Reese’s PB pumpkin for dessert. Dinner of champions.
Hooray for eating & sleeping lots!!
With my late aged MIL we never had her move in with us, but it was very evident she wasn’t eating well on her own. Which was spiraling her health and vigor right into the shitter. Once she got to the point she was willing to countenance Independent Living and we moved her into the place of her choice, she perked right up. Like putting water on a parched droopy houseplant, once she was eating 2 or 3 balanced and big enough meals per day everyday she was 15 years younger. Your challenge will be to get MIL to recognize how much perkier she is under your care and why that difference happened. Good luck!!!
Happy T-Prep day to all!!