@JaneDoe42 I love cat posts! Very cute!
@dogbutler Yes this prednisone is definitely not for the faint hearted. 60 mg is a lot at one time.
Evening all. It started raining about 6pm and hasn’t stopped yet, so skipped the gym and just slothed. Watched the last-ever “Grand Tour” program from the Top Gear presenters Jeremy Clarkson, James May, and Richard Hammond on Amazon and that occupied a fair amount of the evening. Seriously doubt soccer will be played tomorrow (rain is to continue through the night), so maybe make up the exercise tomorrow…or not.
JtC, at least you know it’s the bright collar that GG is reacting too, hopefully he’ll remember that is Jolene (but given GG, wouldn’t guarantee it…). And you are being a bad influence on *shoe (not that she needs any encouragement…)
It’s after 10pm and I’m heading off to do some reading pre-sleepage. Catch all y’all tomorrow.
Happy Friday!
Another pretty day, but I slept most of it.
That’s two days in a row. Maybe I’m not as better as I think I am.
Red, it has occurred to me that somebody sent my email somewhere that I am getting all this junk mail for my mother. All the emails address her by her first name, which is an unusual name. I think my grandmother made it up.
Speaking of weird names.
One of my cousins created a private family FB page. Usually all he posts are old pictures and asks if anybody knows who these people are, or he posts obituaries.
One day he posted a picture of 12-13 kids and their teacher standing in front of the schoolhouse. Everybody in the picture had been identified.
My great grandparents had 12 kids and in the picture were Uncle 4, my grandmother 5, Uncle 6, Uncle 7, and Uncle 8. I thought wow, that does not look like grandma. However, the picture was old, black and white, and my grandmother would have been about 12. People change. Uncles 4, 6, and 8 I could believe was them after seeing who they were. Uncle 7 is easily recognizable; he looked the same from childhood to elderly man.
Well, some woman I have never heard of said she thinks my ‘grandmother’ is her grandmother. Then her mother posts and says, yes, that is her mother and she recognizes her mother’s brother, Uncle 7.
I’m like whoa whoa whoa! Wth is going on here? My grandmother had another daughter I know nothing about? I know my grandmother was a bit of a floozy, but nobody told me about this.
Well, it is not my grandmother. It is my grandmother’s cousin. My great great grandfather had 27 kids by three different women. This girl in the picture happened to have the same unusual name as my grandmother, and had a brother the same name as Uncle 7.
I guess when you have 27 kids, there are going to be some duplicates in the grandkids’ names.
So that explains why my ‘grandmother’ didn’t look like my grandmother. It’s too weird that this other woman looks to be the same age as my grandmother would have been, and I wonder why my grandmother was not in the picture.
My son would kill me if I brought home another dog.
Isn’t Doggio still looking for another dog?
Shoe, you had asked before. The reason I need my son to go to the dog park with me is because I can’t handle three dogs and a walker at the same time.
He takes Echo and Misiu to the park, then comes back to get my walker out and to take Rayleigh to the park. Rayleigh is really bad on the leash when going from the truck to the park. My son can handle all three at the same time when leaving the park, or taking them anywhere else. Rayleigh gets a bit too excited when going down to the gate.
I’m way behind on reading. Maybe catch up tomorrow.
Coffee buds! We have a hand-crank coffee mill, but we bought it here, so we’ve never actually used it, as the longest we’ve lost power is about 2 minutes. The mill is purely decorative. But we do have a French Press for when the espresso machine needs major service. Needs to have coffee.
Glad that GG recognizes Jolene without her collar. Hope she’s okay.
Today’s packing day. Was supposed to start earlier, but this cold is sapping some of my energy. Fortunately I’m reaching the tail end of it, so flying tomorrow shouldn’t be too bad.
Making oatmeal for breakfast to use up the sad apple. Then I have limes to zest and juice, so that can go in the freezer, and then making sloppy joes for lunch, so the leftovers can go in the freezer.
I should have bought more milk yesterday - I forgot that I need milk for the oatmeal. I used more water than I usually do, so I wonder if hubby will even notice.
Happy Saturday!
Oh, I hope things don’t go that direction.
Mom’s already told me she’s wearing sneakers. Then again, she’s in her mid 80s, she’s earned the privilege.
Concur.
I have so many questions, such as … what kind of undergarments does one wear with that … whatever it is?
The fringe-y one from the 1st link is cute, if I was about two decades younger I could probably pull it off.
Thanks. I’m trying to make the best of it.
Last time there were plans afoot for me to go to Dallas to visit them, I broke down and cried at work, just straight up weeping while working the line.
… not a good look.
I’m hoping that despite what seems to be a very uninteresting event to attend, that otherwise we have a nice visit & then I emerge unscathed.
If y’all don’t hear from me around the 2nd week of October, uh, send help?
Oy, I’m a good girl, I am!
You’ve probably explained this before, and I’m sorry for asking again. My only excuse is having the memory of a lobotomized goldfish.
Whelp, survived Long Night on a Friday the 13th. The only reason I even knew that was the date was because I walked into work pure fucking chaos.
Someone called out, so we were short, which sucks anyway on a Friday night, but far worse was the internet no worky on opening, which meant for the first hour or so (until the cord was plugged back in or whatever the fix turned out to be) we couldn’t take credit cards and were cash only AND had to hand-write each order, like medieval peasants.
Plus Sweet Manager is still on vacation, and the backup managers are … fine, I guess, they can do their jobs and all, but they don’t RUN SHIT the way she can.
Half an hour into the shift and Grumpy Co-worker was already threatening to go buy cigarettes. (He’s a vape-only kind of guy.) I gave him a sideways glance and thought, “I haven’t had an actual tobacco cigarette in years, but … I’d probably bum one offa you.”
I found white feather butterflies on Da Jungle and my mom has already said she’d wear some with me, so that’s fun. We’ll glue butterflies all over ourselves.
Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and caffeinatin’. YAWN 'Tis 73 Amurrkin out and cloudy with a predicted high of 78 with rain. We shall see. I have no desire to leave da cave today. I think high RDOS inactivities are in order. My DAWGS play tonight at seven-thirty against the Kaintucky Kitty Kats. Any need to feed will be via forage as we have plenty of sammich makin’s, chips and so forth.
Now I need more caffeine and to feed rumbly tummy. Then, onward into the day! Rah.
Happy Sattidy Y’all!
Morning, mumpers! It’s currently 16c/60f with a predicted high of 17c/63f, and partly cloudy. Weather app says “This is the perfect fucking type of weather to not eat Tide Pods. Seriously, just stop with the fucking dumb internet stuff.” I agree! Also, it’s bright and shiny here but cool so I’m happy with that.
I hope they can restore power to you quickly, and you aren’t relying on the generator for too long. Also, fingers and paws crossed that Jolene is ok.
I don’t understand most of what you do, but it does sound very much like you’re putting in a lot of effort for other people’s benefit.
shoe if you had time to ship something from over my side of the pond, I would recommend this one! Or maybe this one…
VanGo I hope your day improved and your van did indeed go.
Busy day here, I was up reasonably early to do feline tums and bums, then went to the gym for a spin class and then a kettlebells class. I am still not totally recovered from the lurgy so I know I didn’t put in as much effort as I might normally do, and I decided against staying on to do any more exercise. I definitely felt better for it, but I know when I’ve had enough.
Now I’m back home with a cup of tea, got to get showered in a minute, and then put some dye on my hair. A friend from Bolton’s coming down later, we’re meeting up for dinner in the delicious Turkish place we went to last time she was here, then off to see a band in the Giffard. A venue once described as “hotter than a docker’s armpit”, and that’s in the middle of winter!
I predict a relatively late night, which means a late start tomorrow and a day of complete slothage.
MIL is starting to do some of the things that FIL used to do. When I was driving them from Ocala to Merrylande, he was in the front seat next to me, and he’d count the money in his wallet over and over and over again. ($13) And by that I mean as soon as he counted it, he’d count it again. Anyway, MIL is going that way, but not quite as extreme.
She insists on having at least $100 in her wallet, even tho she never goes shopping, so never spends it. But she’s asked me twice, or possibly thrice, to count it for her. And last night, she asked FCD to do it again. These are not all in the same day. but it’s all been within the last month or so.
And it used to be $200 when they were in Florida, just-in-case money because hurricanes would take out all power and they’d need cash. In their 23+ years in Ocala, I think a hurricane came close once and they didn’t even lose power. But old habits die hard. Anyway, the constant counting and re-counting is an unnerving sign.
Then yesterday she rearranged all the drawers in the dresser. No biggie, till last night when she couldn’t find the sock drawer and she went into the bathroom looking for her socks. What do you do with that?? At least she doesn’t have the mean dementia like FIL did. (He was sure there were 2 wives - Nice WIfe and Mean WIfe.)
Anyway, I meet Daughter and her crew at the Purple Playground around 1. FCD is taking his mom to the apartment complex for a bible study, then she’s going to hang with BIL for a while, which means she’ll take a nap till she’s ready to be picked up. I’m thinking tonight will be a sketty night, or a pasta bake, since I think that’s easier for her to eat.
I bought some trail mix yesterday because she asked for a different snack. It’s unsalted. I don’t recall seeing that on the label, but unsalted trail mix is, well, bizarre! I don’t know if taking a salt shaker to it will work. Too weird…
Much rain is forecast about mid-week, right before the county fair opens. If the weather-guesser on Channel 7 is correct, we could get 2" or so from Weds to Thurs. The fair opens on Thurs, but then the rest of the weekend is supposed to be really nice. Not sure if we’ll go - maybe. I may have to accompany Daughter to help corral the grands. We’ll see next weekend.
I think while FCD is taking his mom tis morning, I’ll get the front lawn mowed, and maybe the side strip along the street. Then I can shower and dress more or less for public viewing, not that anyone is ever at the playground. But I do plan to run into Aldi afterwards, and I need to stop for gas, so people at WaWa will see me. Like any of them care…
Anyway, Happy Saturday!! (Got it right today!!)
Up, caffeinated, and sheveled. Off today. Spot accidentally spent the night in my closet. For the love of God, Montresor!
Not the worst thing you can glue to yourself
But we shall organize a search party on the third week of October if necessary.
Mowage is done - I did the front yard and the strip along the street. Go me!! And of course, as I was chopping up the leaves on the front yard, more leaves were falling. Of course… 
That was the chore du jour. Chillage till I go meet Daughter and her spawn.
I was at my folks’ once when the power went out. We used the antique coffee grinder that had belonged to my great grandmother for our brew. Worked well for something made in the 19th century.
If you try a salt shaker, I would suggest using popcorn salt. While it may just go to the bottom of the bottom of the bowl, it does have a better chance of sticking, being ground finer. When I make warmed nuts, I begin with unsalted ones, shake them with a tiny bit of oil, season them with salt and anything else I want to flavor them with before warming them in the oven. Depending on how much fruit is in the mix, you may try that.
Up, caffeinating, breakfasted and fixing to do KP. I think I’ll make a pot of pork broth today, since the bone bag in the freezer is full. Other than that, I’ll hit the outlet grocery and sloth. It’s supposed to spit rain on and off today, so no outdoor activities.
Stay safe and healthy y’all!
Started Typing: 9:41 AM ET
Clicked Reply: 11:22 AM ET
Good morning, all! I woke up at around 7am, and so far the day has been nice and quiet. I was finally able to catch up here! It was in the low 60s when I got up/took Bailey outside, but now it’s 71°F and partly sunny. Still cool enough, with low enough humidity, to have the windows open this morning. The expected high is 84, so before I leave for the gym this afternoon I’ll close everything up: when I get back home, I’ll see how the temp is in the house before turning the a/c on. Lately I haven’t needed the a/c until the end of the day, when the sun has been the strongest on the front of the house, and I’ve been able to turn it off shortly after sunset.
The last couple of days were on the busy side, but my staycation officially started at 4:40pm yesterday. 
Next week I’ll be “on call” for one of my employees: he’s new enough to still be learning many of the nuances, and I’d much rather get a call/text than have him guess at anything. There’s a chance I won’t hear a peep, though. Also, it’s possible that one of the proposals I’m supporting might “go live” next week – we’re waiting for the gov’t to tell us the due date; it could happen any day now – in which case I’d postpone the remainder of my time off. I’m really hoping we don’t hear anything about that. 
On Wednesday I managed to get my car back from the shop for <$600, which isn’t bad for an oil change, brake fluid service, and alignment on a BMW. It’s 4.5 years old but only has 20,000 miles on it because of COVID/working from home, so as long as I don’t whack any other curbs it should only need scheduled maintenance for the foreseeable future. I think the run-flat tires are expected to last ~40,000 miles, which is good because those suckers will be quite expensive.
I kicked off my staycation with a 5pm appointment at CVS for flu and COVID vaccinations. I got one in each arm, just to compare. 
Both arms are a little sore this morning, but the COVID arm is more sore while the flu arm has a light bruise and some minor swelling. The flu arm also bled pretty freely after the injection; the COVID arm didn’t bleed at all. My completely uninformed WAG is that the flu injection’s needle moved a tiny bit during the jab, resulting in both the bleeding and today’s bruise. I got the same shots together last year, but in the same arm.
Previously I’ve whined to y’all about how hard it is to watch Yankees games without cable unless you live in the NY area, but I was able to watch us beat the Red Sox two nights in a row – including Aaron Judge’s grand slam last night! 
Thursday night’s game was on Fox (hooray for OTA antennas!), and last night’s game was on Apple TV+. I won’t get to watch them again this year unless they make the postseason.
I have no plans today other than a 2pm personal training session, to be followed by a stop at the grocery store. I bought two Lego sets for my staycation, and I think I’ll start building C-3PO this evening (no, I can’t wait until Monday 
).
Tomorrow afternoon I might go to a nearby church for a free pipe organ and trumpet concert (classical music). My father has been an organist since he was in high school – he’ll be 76 next month and still has a church gig – and over the years I developed a genuine appreciation for the sound of a good pipe organ. And I’ve always loved trumpets.
I have minimal staycation plans:
- On Monday I was gonna go to the Spy Museum with my BFFs, but Wife BFF has an infection/fever and all signs point to that getting cancelled. Instead, though, if she’s up for it I’ll go to their place for lunch…which will be just fine.
- Tuesday will be the busiest day: my dad is coming here (from Baltimore) for lunch, and that evening I actually have a work event. It’s the first “town hall” I can remember in the 6 years I’ve been with the company, and it’s at a hotel just down the road, so I’ll go. Also, I’m hoping the mobile dog groomer can come here on Tuesday morning: Bailey is due for a bath, brush-out, and nail trim (I submitted that request online a little while ago).
- I have no plans on Wednesday or Thursday; just a couple of “maybe” things that I won’t decide about until the last minute.
- Friday morning I’ll be going to a Red Cross training center for four hours of first aid and CPR recertification, and that afternoon I’ll have a virtual voice lesson.
- A week from today is my birthday: my BFFs will be taking me out to either lunch or dinner.
At some point next week I hope to also have a couple of personal training sessions: I can’t make either of my usual days/times (work event + birthday), so I’ll have to see what my trainer’s availability is like.
.
LOL!! 
My father is. That side of the family is 100% Irish, with all four of his grandparents arriving in the US between 1907 and 1915. He hasn’t done the same kind of research on my mother’s 100% Italian side – they divorced in the '80s – but I know that the immigration timeframes are similar.
Oh, that’s awesome! 
Very cool!
I got to go as a kid in the mid-'80s; we went to the areas where my dad’s people are from. We visited some distant cousins in Dublin – I couldn’t understand a single word they said, despite the fact that we’d been living in England for a year at that point! – went to a cèilidh, found an old family gravestone, and even got to see a house with a roof that my great-grandfather had thatched.
While browsing CVS during the “wait 10 minutes after your vaccinations to make sure you don’t die” period, I was amused to see that most of the laundry detergent pods were locked away…but not all of them. Heh.
Six That’s a very good taper. I’m very glad that it is helping your issues. Hubs’ current plan is 80 mg 3 days, 40 mg 4 days, 20 mg 15 days at which time we have an appointment with his Stem Cell Transplant Dr.
Bon voyage Dicey have a great trip.
hmmm, no form to write the CC info then manually input it after the system comes back up? perhaps I’ll send the one I prepared for where I work and it can be modified. Worked well a few weeks ago when the power was out.
I would think it would be fun to see the fair through the eyes of the grands.
Went upstairs and got in bed about 7:30pm last night, read for a short while then fell asleep about 8pm. Slept through until 6am so am feeling pretty good today. Made a batch of Banana Whole Wheat Oat Walnut Muffins. Going to go to the Rosary Rally at noon so I best be on my way. TTYL.
You’re adorable, but I’ve worked, at this job, with people who couldn’t read an analog clock. I routinely have the phone - on a live call - simply handed to me with a muttered, “Shoe they wanna pay over the phone. Here, you got this?”
Me: “Umm, I was in the middle of four different things and have raw sausage all over my hands, but, uh, sure, I got this??”
Fill out a form.
{ snortle }
My uterus hurt just reading that.
How was the sad oatmeal?
I guess I gotta root for the meow, then?
(Just kidding. Go dawgs.)
That second one made my eyes bug out. Holy banana peppers, I couldn’t have pulled that off in my hawt years; I sure as shootin’ ain’t trying now.
I am so sorry; that’s terrible.
The salt won’t stick, unless there’s a lot of sticky dried fruit and/or you gently bake the whole thing with a bit of oil - salt will stick to hot oil and to fruit juice, but just a bag of cold shelf-stable mix, it’ll all simply fall away.
… this is why I’m sometimes very quiet at work.
(Inner monologue to self: "Shut up, don’t say it, don’t say it … ")
Afternoon all. Would have sworn I posted something this morning but apparently not. As expected, soccer was cancelled after it rained most of the night (and off and on this morning), so went to the gym after breaking fast and got 1,200 yards of backstroking in. The pool was very crowded, so didn’t try to stay to do more, will go back later this afternoon and probably do the usual pedaling/sweating. Stopped at the library since a local Facebook friend mentioned they were having a book sale, so have seven books added to my library for only $7.50 . Outside of that nothing much constructive is planned.
My keyboard space key is intermittently sticking, which is irritating as heck, but I guess if that’s the worst I have to worry about…
Sari, feel better soon.
Dicey, safe and enjoyable travels.
shoe, glad you survived the Night of the Dead Internet. Amazing how much we depend on it these days, compared to olden times (like the 1980’s).
boo fae, I use Tide Pods for my laundry but they simply don’t look as appetizing as, say, popcorn. Enjoy the Turk and Music day.
FCM, I also carry more cash than I really need (TRADITION!), but usually only count it 1-2 a week after I’ve used it several times. Still getting used to using a debit card for small things.
Mildly surprised you still have a functioning closet door…
Oopsie, enjoy the staycation and hope that work doesn’t interfere too much.
All right, it’s nearly 1pm so I might actually arise from my desk and do something useful…nah, rather sloth. Take care all.
Did he find any wine in there?
The purple playground was nice - I was there a bit over an hour. Couple of pics on FB. Then I stopped to fill my car - $2.90/gallon!!! Lowest the price has been in eons!
We’ve gone with them the last few years. This year should be especially fun with Tobias. Weather permitting - one extended forecast shows rain thru most of the fair, so I guess we’ll see when it happens.
Home again. MIL is going off the deep end. She hasn’t moved her bowels in a week now. She refuses a suppository. She refuses prune juice and apple juice. She won’t even drink much water. Then she wonders why her bowels aren’t working. Hospice nurse was just here, and she pretty much gave up trying to help. And now she’s saying she wants to drive BIL’s electric bike when it gets here. Despite not being able to see much. Despite the damage a fall on asphalt or in a ditch could do to her. “Well, I’ve been OK from the falls the other day.” Um, yeah, not on the road…
< deep calming breaths >
It’s dementia. Not her fault. I need to keep repeating that.
Poor FCD is doing all he can not to grab her by the shoulders and try to shake some sense in to her. OK, not really, but he’s so frustrated with her.
Koritza has spent the work day in my closet a few times. Even with the reminder “count noses” on the exit door. I always feel bad. It is seriously dark in the closet.
She was a good girl each time, and went flying for the litter box when she was released.
found this amusing since i live maybe 45 minutes away
Nice surprise in the mail - a check from Hyundai, which I assume is the difference between what insurance paid and what we owed. It’s almost enough for one payment - just a buck short. So huzzah for that!