Howdy Y’all! Provisions were procured and stowed away. Soup and cornbread got made and et. Soup (except some for tomorrow) is in containers in da freezer. Nappage and day drinkin’ got accomplished. It was a full day! What? That’s a lot for two grumpy old retired drains on society.
Yanker yay for Lucy! I want to skritch those ears and give her many belly rubs!
Niner yay for second interview! Appropriate/inappropriate appendages crossed.
Some people are more forward thinking than others! I’ve only been using Outlook for maybe 10 years, but I started keeping calendars the year we got married, so um yeah, a long time ago.
When I was a food stamp worker, I quickly learned the trick of having three calendars on my cube wall so I could easily see last month, this month and next month at a glance. I didn’t keep ANY of those calendars, LOL!!!
It is a start. You can’t do anything without starting and now that you’ve got that part done, keeping up will be easier!
Big doings at the junction. The diner that used to buy my cheese, as well as the motel and RV park (all one large property) has been sold to a real estate developer. Nobody knows what’s going to happen, but most everyone thinks it won’t be good for the community. My money is on park model (tiny mobiles) rental units in the RV park. They would be cheaper than building tiny homes and they could probably get a bunch of identical units on sale.
I’m guessing that because the property has an existing sewage system that supports the property now, but they would probably have to improve it to build apartment buildings.
I’m so glad I’m not working anymore. That means I won’t have to drive through the construction mess every day.
Up from naptime, had a martini. Making diner with the last of the Thanksgiving leftovers. I did venture out earlier to get my car inspected. I met George the Maltese and his human, but I did not get her name.
SQUEEEEEE!!
Hi Lucy!(almost makes up for the year you’ve had)
Hopefully Peak, Caninie Flue, and the new weird dog virus will able shortly, so I can again have a dog to butler.
I used to work with a lady who would accept donations of cat hair to spin and knit into sweaters and purses. She specialized in little memorial purses.
If Roomie’s chair doesn’t have this feature, spraying some bitter apple is an alternative. We used to use that around the folks’ recliners.
Good luck niner!
Lucy is a real cutie pie yanker! She’ll keep you busy for a while.
I told one of the supes at irk that he needed to buy me a handle of top shelf likker today. He had 200 phones from a project that he wanted to have the software flashed, then cartonized and transferred back to him. They were all the same SKU, so it should have been an easy day for the flasher (my cow-orker) and a couple of hours for me. I began cartonization mid-afternoon yesterday. I didn’t finish until mid-afternoon today (granted, I did do a couple of other things for maybe an hour and a half).
The first thing that went wrong was that the serial numbers weren’t in the location that they were supposed to be, but in three different locations. It took ~3 hours to sort those out. Then, I found that the serial numbers weren’t in the location that the inventory was (he transferred them by SKU, not by serial). So, I had to recall my inventory reconciler days and do a reverse transfer to line them up. The icing on the cake was that two phones hadn’t even been received. Oy! That’s OK, I got a few other things done before leaving for the day.
Stay safe and healthy y’all!
Evening all. Swimming got swum and sauna got sweated so that was my major accomplishment for the afternoon. Oh, also car has been washed so there is that on the accomplishment side of the day. Volunteered to coach Indoor soccer this winter, I do it anyway and not much coaching, just keep the time and make the subs so everyone plays about the same amount. They have over 300 kids signed up so far, that’s a lot more than last year.
Sari, do as well with the “all about you” list as you did with all the other sh… stuff this year and it’ll benefit you a lot, I bet. Take care now.
Oopsie, hope the shipments come on time. And sorry, I am not a Panda Express diner (now, get 5 Guys to fund-raise for you and I am there… 
And hope any fortune that you ate comes to pass…
Usually when I need to check a calendar I just click the date/time on my computer and see it there. Appointments get attached to the bottom of my computer monitor (I have a dental appointment on January 17th).
JtC, ah, so I see progress is coming to your neck of the wilderness; hope the potential new neighbors in the maybe development behave themselves. And VBC trapping your husband in the chair… 
Yanker, sorry family caused you grief. And I always have at least two kinds of ID with me at airports, wonder what he thought he was doing. And that doggy picture is da bomb!! Not sure if you or Lucy is the luckiest one in the deal.
Pilot, I got in the habit of shredding stuff while working for the DoD, so it just seems natural for me to do it. Besides, gives me a reason to have a shredder…
OK, nearly 7pm so internettin’ and readin’ are in order. Yake care all.
You should have seen our shredder. It took up most of a small room. The results were between miniature confetti, and dust.
Evenin’ all. Had leftovers for lunch, decorated the Christmas tree, then wandered down the street to our first dance lesson which went well. Came back, hung out, had leftovers for dinner.
Then returned to the dance studio for an evening group social and free lesson. Three couples older than us, us, and one pair of 30yo hotties. He looked like a TV news anchor & she was trophy material too. Nice folks all, and nobody was a great expert. Lotta fun. I’m starting this dancing thing from capital K Klutz, but I can imagine some light might exist at the end of a long enough tunnel. So we’re now 3 sessions in. Handy the studio is nearby. They have a 1-hour event nearly every weeknight (holidays excepted), so this could turn into a default activity real easily. Just keep spending money on lessons so you can get the freebies. Of course there’s a catch.
Now having a nice wine and winding down.
Q: What’s worse than finding a fortune in your cookie?
A: Finding half a fortune.
Been there done that too many times to count. 
I hung on every word. I’ve tracked things like paydays and house cleaners too. Recurring appointments (and tasks) are a neat invention. Nowadays I track exciting things like cleaning hearing aids & re-ordering pills. See all the fun geezery stuff you have to look forward to?
My real complaint with paper calendars is I’m never where they are when I need to consult them or add to them. Of course back when we all worked at the same desk all day every day it was different.
Flyboy: Hooray for getting moving again. You’ll be up to full speed, and down to normal weight in no time. Just don’t fall on slippery ground and leaves and bruise your [whatever]. Been waaay too much of that falling and getting hurt here in the MMP recently.
Yaay! There’s a bright side to everything if you look hard enough. 
Yeah. We’ve got 2 high rises going up nearby and separately from them, a small bridge widening project that is setting new records for non-progress per day year. Each project shuts down a lane or two every workday, backing things up. Ugh. At least they just broke ground on yet another small building on yet another nearby artery, so we’re quickly running out of unobstructed alternate routes.
Somehow your words popped this into my head; gotta share: Maybe Yanker can get two more doggies named Sky and Diamond. Whaddawe think of this idea?
Or leave a cane beside the chair that the human occupant can use to sweep under there before closing the recliner. Critters are total professionals at sleeping; waking them is a non-event from their POV. Grumble, move 5 feet, collapse in a new heap, ZZZZZ! and they’re over it.
How come there are no easy tasks? Nothing seems to not have a built-in screw-up from either the boss or some other department. Are they all conspiring? Is it just a cluster of a company?
I know mine sure seemed that way many days. Is everyone out to get me? Nope, just almost everyone. But that’s enough.
Good luck and I hope the supe pays off. If not the Mumpers can take up a collection. I’ll kickstart it.
I too have a shredder. Which used to get a lot of use, but we just don’t handle much paper anymore. I know I shredded at least one sheet this month. But probably not 3. But even when we handled buttloads of paper I didn’t shred everything; just the stuff that mattered.
Today’s mail included an advertising card from a dental practice addressed to “Resident” at my apartment number. And a similar one from a home remodeling company. USPS delivered 400 of each those to our mailroom that day; one of each per apartment. By the time we collected our mail at almost 9pm, there was a very large pile of dental & remodeling cards in the big trash can kept in the mailroom specifically to collect all the trash USPS carefully distributes every day. We added our two to the pile without a care.
Yeah, it was pretty funny!
I heard some thumping and went in to find hubs pounding on the floor with the floor lamp and VBC looking both annoyed and smug. The hook end of my cane works nicely to drag a stubborn cat out from under the recliner when needed. (actually, she is a pretty smart kitty, when she hears me walk to where my cane lives at home, she struts out and jumps on hub’s lap just to make happy feet on his overfull bladder.
I’m pretty sure that I won’t be best pleased with the new developments at the Junction, but that’s not really surprising. Back in the late 90s an outlet mall wanted to buy and build at the junction. I was all for it, it would bring jobs, tax money and groundkeepers to keep it looking nice. It wouldn’t use that much water and the Junction was a good location for it.
The community hated the idea and the mall moved to Anthem instead.
The Junction now has four fast food places, two truck stops with another one planned, one booze sto, and two dollar stores.
And lots of litter, along with semi-truck fumes and driver poop and pee bottles, or even worse, drivers just dropping pants in front of gawd and everyone and pooping by the side of the road.
Yeah, gawd forbid the tax payers are actually able to use the roads they paid for.
When the big junction was being planned almost everyone in the Lakes petitioned to have two ways out instead of being forced to drive through the Junction. This was because a semi tanker fell over on the ramp and spilled gas and closed the only way in and out for a couple of days.
There are two paved ways out now, but both of them include going through the junction and my little econo car isn’t up to the unmaintained dirt roads.
Shakes cane, off my lawn everyone!
Too late to edit, but more excitement is happening!
The Family Dollar store’s freezers just went belly up and they are selling all of their frozen stuff for half off. When I got the email, I stood on my back porch and counted FIVE cars headed that way. Or maybe not, everyone has to go that way to leave the Lakes but that was a whole bunch of traffic in just a few minutes.
I hope they are able to sell or give everything away before it goes bad.
I am really upset at myself. I screwed up bread twice today.
I wanted to make a regular loaf and a haf size. It was for church on Sunday. But I feel asleep in the chair and it got somewhat over proofed and puffy. Still is good, just not sightly.
And then I did it again, getting involved in something else and then remembering it. Same results as before. Aargh, how could I do this twice?
Tomorrow morning I’ll try it one more time and this time I’ll set an alarm. I am very annoyed with myself that I could do something so stupid. As I said though, the bread will still taste good. But it’s just not as presentable as I’d want for service.
I’ve spent the last couple of days mostly riding buses to appointments and dealing with family medical stuff in between. On one bus today, the college kid across from me had four bags of groceries, three of which had torn handles. I couldn’t stand thinking of him trying to schlepp that mess home, so I offered him the nylon shopping bags I keep in my purse and helped him load his stuff in them. What a relief!
Holy frick. I’m speechless.
Yanker, Lucy is a cutie-pie. Yep, I Love Lucy. I wonder how she’d do with Tater’s Buster and Maisie.
Baker, please don’t be so hard on yourself.
I’ve read all but am yawning such big lawns I’m afraid I’ll swallow my keyboard.
Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and caffeinatin’. YAWN ‘Tis 30 Amurrkin out and clear with a predicted high of 61 and N.O.S. for the day. Today shall be a day of sloth, general overall uselessness, nappage and day drinkin’. It is deserved cause we did stuff yestiddy. Really, no need or want to leave da cave, so why should we. Sup shall be soup and cornbread.
CupCakes are you makin’ Communion bread? I’m just curious.
Now I need more caffeine and to feed rumbly tummy. Then, onward into the day! Rah.
Happy Thursday Y’all!
Or 3 - Ricky, Ethel, and Fred!
This is where my smart speaker comes in handy - assuming I’m close enough to hear it. I set reminders for laundry, starting dinner, checking the oven, reminding me of appointments - Alexa is my auxiliary brain.
Speaking of Alexa, our Echo Dot apparently lost it overnight. I had to do a factory reset this morning, and after a little futzing, it’s working fine now. Whew! I also updated the location info on MIL’s two units, tho I’m not sure that it matters much. And once BIL gets settled in his new place, I’ll take an Echo Pop and a couple of smart plugs to him and get it set up, assuming he wants them. Otherwise, we’ll find places here. Them things are surprisingly handy once you get used to them!
Main plan for today is making 'nanner bread. Which means Tobias will play upstairs while I’m baking, which means he’ll be “helping” me. But that’s fine - I’m sure I can find something for him to do. FCD is taking his mom to the kidney doc today - maybe he can scare her into eating and (more importantly) drinking more. They’ll be gone a good chunk of the day, since the Dr is at the hospital in Prince Frederick, which is about 40 minutes from us. And considering when the appointment is, I expect they’ll have lunch while there.
Then tomorrow, BIL signs his lease and we’ll start moving small stuff from our house to his new place - specifically the 9 boxes in the garage and possibly a desk chair from the basement. On Sat, Daughter and SIL will help move beds, the headboard, some recliners, and a chest of drawers. Our basement won’t be completely emptied of extraneous stuff, but the amount will be reduced. They we’ll have to rehome a queen mattress/spring set and a table with 4 chairs. I’ve been having good luck with FB marketplace, so fingers crossed.
While they’re doing the move on Sat, I’ll wrangle the kidlets. I feel bad about that - I get the easy job - but then again, with my still somewhat gimpy knee, maybe I won’t be much help anyway. SIL is very strong, as is Daughter - I hope they keep FCD from overdoing it. And, of course, BIL will do what he can.
Maybe, come Sunday, we can begin to relax… maybe…
Happy Thursday!
Mornin’ all. After a busy yesterday, this morning is slothful. Now about 2 hours post-get up and post-dawn. Been readin’ and postin’ and caffinatin’ the whole time. Her Ladyship is still abed and will be for quite awhile yet.
A bunch of happy puffy clouds outside, and 71/22 on the way to 79/26. Not quite warm enough for beaching and now too bright to balconate. So I’m stuck inside with the excessive air conditioning. First world problems.
Ever since you doxxed your location I’ve been interested in that settlement. Having flown over countless such places in the desert southwest for decades watching them slowly change (or more often not change) and driven through many while I lived there and visited a few in depth I think I have some OK-ish idea of the dynamics there.
I’d be amazed if that outlet could have succeeded. And a dead outlet mall is a really bad dead thing to have. You’re just too far out in the sticks to pull in suburbanites who spend frivolously. The truth about settlements like yours is that whether the inhabitants are poor, middle class, or comfy class, they have decided on a life of mostly anti-consumerism. Even if they have money, they don’t spend it on much beyond bare necessities. No frivolous money flow = no real businesses.
The truckers collectively are a drip irrigation system of money that just bubble it out at the various truck stops all along the highways. But truckers are very single-issue consumers: diesel fuel, fast food, and a smidgen of trucker toys. Plus some occasional whoring, and that’s about it. And providing those products (and services 
) takes very little local labor per dollar of revenue collected. And none of it skilled.
Plus of course all the other fine “fertilizer” truckers leave behind in addition to their money. 
.
Seems like from Bloody Basin Rd you could get onto 17 south towards Phoenix without passing through / over / around the junction proper. Although if 95% of your trips are north towards Prescott or Camp Verde and eventually Flagstaff you’re sorta stuck. It looks like you could eventually follow Bloody Basin northwesterly to get onto 69 northbound a couple miles north of home up towards Mayer proper, but wow that’s a long detour.
Because your mind isn’t on baking; you’re wrapped up in something else. It actually makes more sense to make the same mistake twice on one occasion than on two separate occasions.
FCM says she uses Alexa as her reminder. I prefer manually-set alarms on my phone, since that’s always in my pocket but I’d never hear an Alexa from another room. Her Ladyship uses Siri in her phone for all her kitchen timing tasks. But I never start something that takes longer than about 5 minutes without setting a timer, lest I forget. Unless I forget to set the timer and then … well … it won’t be pretty, and in fact it probably won’t be edible. The good news is I’ve never had to use the kitchen fire extinguisher. But it’s at the ready.
The best part about loaves so ghastly-looking that you won’t share them with friends is that’s more for you! Yaay for (microscopically slightly) ugly bread!
I’ve heard of coughing up a lung, and of horking up a hairball, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard of yawning up a lawn! That is a great image. Thank you! 
I suppose you could ask him to rearrange all the cabinets down at toddler level. He can sit on the floor, drag everything at his eye level out, bang on all of it, chew on some of the rest, and generally make a pile right where you need to stand. Then later you can get down there (grunt groan) and put it all away. Gimpy knee and all.
See, aren’t you glad you have internet friends to plan your day? You can perhaps see why Daughter isn’t so sure I’m a good influence on the 3yo foster grands.
Excellent news about BIL’s apartment being available for move-in so promptly. That could have gone very sideways for a couple of months.
Good afternoon, mumpers! It’s a toasty 4c/39f with no predicted change, and mostly sunny. Weather app says “Don’t be a dirty douchebaguette and fucking stay inside today. Get outside and do something with your fucking self.” I have indeed been outside and done something, I have made it to campus. Not that it wasn’t without bother today, after two very good trips to and from Scotland, the Travel Gods decided that we would not have any trains running between Big City and Campus today. Thus I had to slum it on a local bus.
Busy morning as I’ve had back-to-back meetings from 10am-2pm and have just had a rather late lunch. Luckily I’ve got nothing else in the calendar today, and have time to catch up with everything else I’ve missed in the week I’ve been off. Tomorrow is dentist day so I’ll be working at home instead of coming to campus, and have arranged to have three successive Monday afternoons off to use up the last of my annual leave before the new year starts.
That must mean I should be drinking tea because that’s something else I need to catch up on!
As it happens, I got 3 loaves of 'nanner bread in the oven just before the kid arrived. The kitchen is now tidy and the dishwasher is washing. Yummy smells are filling the house.
Tahred…
pullin, Lucy is adorable!
And Niner, my fingers and toes are crossed for you!
Today is a day. I’m on our company-wide meeting - it’s funny. They’re talking about the importance of “employee vitality.” Did I mention that they just laid nearly 3,000 people off, with more to go? Lil’ tone deaf, but I guess that’s corporate America.
After I recommended she peruse the bags of clothing herself, the sister unit decided that maybe donation was best after all. Yay! So I’m hoping to get my butt over to mom’s this weekend and load up a good-sized haul for our local donation center. My sister will also be over on Wednesday to help dig into some of the remaining stuff, which will be nice.
I forgot that I’d scheduled a weaving lesson at my local yarn shop while she’s here, so hopefully she’ll be good by herself for a few hours the following Saturday until I can get to mom’s to join her. What’s extra awesome is that I got the husband unit to agree to come with me. He’s been complaining that he hasn’t made it to the wood shop but has made no moves to do so, and talks about how cool weaving is, so I found a class that lets you purchase a small loom as part of the lesson. I have no illusions that he’ll suddenly start weaving on his own, but I’m happily surprised he agreed.
Anyway, work calls. I could’ve driven in today but couldn’t make myself. Bleh.
G’mornin’, kids. The electric panic-excitement has worn off and now I’m just nervous, not least because I now need to fit ~2 more tanks of gas and a couple meals out into my shoestring budget. I’m gonna be proper annoyed if I have to use a credit card to get by and then don’t even get the job! (I mean, I’ll be a lot more than ‘proper annoyed’ for much bigger reasons, but the budget’s what’s on my mind right now.)
Had my pre-evaluation meeting with my current boss yesterday and he said I’m the department’s star player and that I can expect a glowing evaluation and a recommendation for a (small) raise. So that’s nice. Just in time for me to (hopefully) bail on this place. It would maybe cover the rent increase I’m getting in the new year if I don’t leave. I’m so sick of scraping along.
On the shiny side, girlfriend’s coming down to hang out tomorrow night into Saturday. Gonna make tacos, will be nice. After she leaves I’ll have to spend the rest of the weekend brushing up on project management workshops so I can talk the lingo.
Morning all. Slept in past 8am today so slowly am getting into a normal rhythm, need to do a little banking and some other miscellaneous chores and also add time for cycling nowhere at the gym. No rain and highs of 61F today, but rain is due tonight and tomorrow, so best get things done outside today.
Pilot, first golf, now dancing…next thing, you’ll be going out to play Bingo… 
JtC, most truck stops around here are corporate-types and not to bad…but I have seen those that are wretched hives of scum and villainy before. And surprised you weren’t one of those rushing to the Family Dollar Store for a bargain…
Cupcakes, things happen. I am sure the sure the sun…and the bread…will rise just fine tomorrow/today.
nellie, nice of you to help out the student; give yourself a Gold Star for the day.
FCM, best wishes keeping Toby entertained. Hope all the logistics for BIL fall into place and that he does get (and accept) the help he needs.
talkier, enjoy the weaving.
Niner, it’s a nice feeling to know that you are wanted, isn’t it? Will your current place offer you more if/when they find out you’re leaving?
OK, need to get in motion and get the morning stuff done. Take care all.
Metalmouse, highly unlikely, and certainly they couldn’t pay enough for me to stick around. It’s a very small, entirely grant-funded operation. I’m frankly already one of the best-paid people outside actual administration. The low end of what the Library Tech Manager job position pays is $17,000/year more than I get now.
(also I hate it here and desperately want to be closer to the Twin Cities, which the LTM job is.)