A very drippy early morning here in western Mitten State. Having some (deliberately underbaked - I like 'em that way sometimes) whomp biscuits by the soft light of a single candle, and chilling with Monkey and you nice folks for a bit.
Sinuses are still wonky. I feel fine otherwise, so it’s not a cold or anything. Kinda drowsy again now, but having a hard time feeling like I can drift back off, and seriously considering - sigh - putting on pants and going to the closest pharmacy to get a Neti pot or similar sinus rinse thingy.
I’ve used them in the past and know they can sometimes be helpful.
But … yanno … the pants. The leaving of the house. Then I’d hafta stand in the shower for a while, waterboarding myself.
Okay. Imma make a deal with myself. I’ll blow out my candle & lie still for a few minutes. If I drift off, fine, if now, it’s off to the pharmacy.
My assorted appliances have 2 different homes. The rotisserie, toaster oven, toaster, air fryer, and ice maker live on the counters. There’s a small microwave there temporarily, also. The mixers (stand and hand), two crock pots, bread maker, blender, small chopper thingie, steamer, vacuum sealer, and coffee maker live in either of 2 cabinets, out of sight. I’d store the air fryer away, but it’s too tall for any of my cabinets, and the pantry is full. Luckily, I do have a lot of counter space.
Tho my bladder woke me around 3:30, I actually fell back to sleep for another 3 hours! I count that as a win!! I’ve tended the critters and had some toast and I’m in the middle of my “me” time while FCD still sleeps.
It’s mid-40s this morning but we’re promised mid-70s, so I may take Tobias to a playground if it warms enough before lunch. Then I need to decide what he gets for lunch - yesterday was ravioli, so he’s not getting that again today. I wish he liked sammiches. But he does love cucumbers, so maybe that and some string cheese - he seemed to enjoy it last week. Toddlers have a strange palate.
Looks like BIL will be released at the end of the week. FCD is all in a mess trying to figure out what to do. He knows his bro can’t cope with life on his own, but he refuses help from his older brother. And I know my sweetie will wallow in guilt if he just ignores his brother. I refuse to take him on - I don’t need a 64-y/o child. I think I’m going to contact the county’s mental health dept and see what’s available.
Sorry to keep dumping this here, but where else can I dump? MMP - lay your worries on our doorstep - we can advise or ignore all day long. Really - ignore me - once I’ve unburdened, I feel better.
Somewhere around here, we have a buttload of hooks for pegboards, and I need some for my display on Saturday. They’re not in the shop - FCD has organized pretty much the whole building and he hasn’t come across them. So the alternatives are the paint shed, the closet under the basement stairs, the closet next to the basement bathroom, and the back part of my studio. I’ll start in the next-to-the-bathroom closet - it’s the least cluttered.
I figured out last night that I’m going to need to take the truck on Saturday to set up for the fundraiser. I need my canopy, my display board, the assorted stands and cloths for the displays on the table, plus all of my crocheted stuff, as well as a cash box. Oh, and I need to make sure I get change. I hope $50 will be enough. And a big sign declaring that the school gets all the $$$ I take in.
The other day, I noticed some wear on my tires where they were getting dangerously thin, with a few spots of steel threads visible. Not something you want to see just before heading off to the city 30 minutes away.
It’s almost time to put on the snow tires so I went ahead and had that done. I’ll buy new summer tires in March.
TokyoGirl is having her farm experience with her class. They help on farms for 10 days. She developed a fever last night, 104° F, but was able to sleep it off. Fever was down today and she elected to stay and rest. They are going to have a BBQ tomorrow night and nothing comes between her and some meat, so she didn’t want me to go get her early.
PTA meeting tonight and the teacher said some nice things about TokyoBoy. He’s always better behaved in school than at home.
I heard somewhere that that’s actually a good thing. Kids build up stress and it’s better to release it at home than at school.
I’m teaching two online classes tonight that I’m waiting form
Mornin’ all. Just now sunrise on the train to the airport. I’ve been up about 2 hours. A few clouds and 79/26 on the way to 85/30. Which report is almost as useless to me as it is to you since none of us will be experiencing that weather.
Congrats metal mouse on a good final practice for the season. I’m assuming you see a lot of the same kids next year in the next age group?
Daughter had been a kindergarten teacher before switching to full time foster parent. The trunk or treat we attended a few days ago was not far from her old school. She was recognized by a couple of her former student who’re now in 3rd grade. They were excited to see her out of context and it was obvious she was really gratified to see them. They just keep growing.
Fishin’ is for people who need an excuse to do nuthin’. Excuuuses? I don’ need no steenkin’ excuses.
Zoomie: I worked 10s, 12s, and the occasional 14 or 16 up to very the end of my career. Not the best part of the job for sure. But the corresponding days off were great.
Shoe that sounds like an excellent meal and an excellent end to an excellent day. May you have many more. With less sneezing.
Once I get to sneezing, it loosens the goop in the sinuses which triggers more sneezing which triggers more loosening which … Gaah! I hate it when that happens. (Oh, that was last week. It drives me batty when that happens ). I get into that mode about once a week.
Garage sale, people. Garage sale.
I’m a walking breakfast cereal. Snap, Crackle, and Pop!
Yaay for unexpected mixers! Would be nice if he’d coordinated with you, but the urge to surprise is adorable.
FCM My (well, mostly Her Ladyship’s) appliances are about like yours: if we use it daily, it’s on the counter. If used less, it’s in a cupboard. There are a lot of cupboards full of single-purpose almost never-used appliances
Best of luck w BIL. The least bad answer is still gonna suck for him and to some extent for both of you too. {{Hugs}}.
Back to me:
I got interrupted as the train arrived. An hour later I’m now through security & just finished a decent breakfast at the club. Sipping a cappuccino and awaiting time to rejoin the horde at the gate. My pal should be here in a few minutes. Might even be time for day drinkin’ (in Swampy’s honor of course. Voyaging to the tropics one must be careful of both scurvy & malaria.)
Speaking of sunrise, I was unnerved to discover that sunrise in Indianapolis was around 8AM!! But, yeah, eastern time zone but lots farther west than we are. Still, it was weird.
OK, the kid will be here any moment. My time is no longer my own.
Morning all. Will dress and make my Wal-Mart run here in a little bit, get it over with early. No soccer on the agenda today, so swimmin’ and sauna will occur whenever I feel like it.
61F heading for the mid-70’s and no rain to be seen.
Pilot, enjoy the getaway; one big advantage of retirement is that you can get up and go when you want too (with some minimal prior planning of course), no waiting/counting your Leave/PTO days.
Never been a fisherman either, but also need no excuses; I’m a master of doing nothing.
But I won’t be seeing the kids again as a team; for one, the league mixes up teams every year, so that the stay balanced and competitive and no coach can create a “super-team”, plus I coach at several different ages and the Spring is when I usually coach girls teams. But I still have kids come up years later an ask if I remember them…nice memories.
Hope all the almost-sickies get to feeling better.
Sensei, glad all is going well and…
I like that kid.
FCM, good luck on the search for the hooks and in getting BIL treatment. And yes, you should make a list.
JtC, that was nice of Hubs to get the mixer for you, even if it’s a bother.
Today is St. Crispan’s Day, and the part of the French Army at Agincourt was played by the Smalls Dept. SSLAW #2 couldn’t even, and it being the busiest day, Unload kept heaving bags on the belt till it whimpered and quit. It took 30 some minutes of pulling off bags before it worked again, and when Shaggy and Sloth started putting the bags back on, it whimpered and quit again. So they re-unloaded. And the belt was still whimpering till a couple of minutes before we finished. At 0800. This bodes ill for Peak season.
A cloudy, foggy day in Mipples. Made frogbread for breakfast with some leftover sourdough bread.
The recent covid outbreak is over, with no new cases. So all activities resume as of today.
I’m thinking of picking up the guitar again. I do nothing for most of my days other than play solitaire games or watch old TV episodes, which is not good. I feel like my brain is deteriorating. I have a whole library of guitar lesson videos from when I had a teacher a few years ago, so really have no excuse other than laziness.
Well, the truck is loaded for the journey tomorrow. It would have gone smoother if the truck was at loading dock height, but got it done anyway, only slightly strained one elbow. Now must make the list and pack the tool bag. Touch-up paint, screwdrivers…hmmm what else?
Jesus. I subconsciously really didn’t wanna go. Been out cold, fast asleep, for about 5 hrs. Damn, that felt good!
Can he get a small portion of whatever you’re having?
Sometimes, seeing that they’re eating the exact same thing as The Big Grownups reaonates with certain little kids.
Do this NOW. Otherwise, what’s the current plan? To release him back to wherever he was when this crisis started? It’ll just happen again.
You and FCD cannot manage this situation alone, and as far as the logistics of your BIL’s life, MIL is essentially out of the picture - a benevolent visitor, for as long as she’s able, but she can’t provide actual, day-to-day help.
You need to be looking for resources, asking for references, hunting for local support groups … laundry can wait.
Oh, my, that’s a serious temp! I hope it was just a brief reaction to some unfamiliar-to-her-body critter (either big’n’furry or microscopic) and nothing of more concern.
Atta girl!
I’ve long idly wondered how on earth she - and the rare gems like her - support themselves. May I ask?
If that is too outrageously nosy of me, I humbly rescind the question.
I just … I mean, one needs money just to survive alone, let alone feeding hungry mouths attached to growing bodies.
They don’t call ‘em “airplane bottles” for nuthin’.
I followed the first four-five words, and the last. All the stuff in the middle went right over my head.
Do it!
Think of all the years you were busy - with work, with life - did you ever think to yourself, "Man, I’d love to just … "
While she was a public school kindergarten teacher she was also a volunteer foster Mom for 1 or 2 kids. That was unpaid, but each kid comes with a government stipend sufficient to feed them & buy thrift store clothing for them. There are charities to provide toys and baby or toddler paraphernalia. In all it was an sorta-expensive hobby for her, but not undoable.
When she quit teaching she became a paid employee of the foster care agency. Which is itself a joint public government / private charity venture. They issue her a furnished house, a big van, a horde of children each with their stipend, and a lot of equipment. The agency pays her a modest salary for her own needs. Like when she was free-lancing there are other kid-centric charities that help with hand-me-downs, Christmas presents, etc.
The foster kids all get all medical care, supportive special needs care, and day care paid for by the government. If any are adopted, they also get all in-state college tuition paid for when they get to that age.
The bottom line being that this is a job with a salary. Like being a teacher, she does spend a bunch of her own income on the kids. And between house & van, she’s got many of her own major expenses paid for. But she’s still money ahead at the end of the month. A little.
Nobody would choose this as a way to “play the government for big bux ranching toddlers for profit$$$”. But overall it works economically for her. Barely.
We’re about to arrive in Liberia, so this’ll be it for awhile. Cheers all!
Kitty was fine. She flicked her very bushy tail through the flame, and her fur immediately ignited. But Mrs W was right there and quickly snuffed it out before any actual tail got burned.
Whoops, not so fast. It now seems likely we’ll be cut loose perhaps as early as this Friday. Damn. Not that I wouldn’t have accepted a two-week project, but every dollar is welcome right now. Hopefully we can stretch into at least a couple days next week.
Contrary little booger that he is, he wants what’s on my plate even if the same is on his. Today he decided he wanted my yogurt, but if I’d given him his own, it would have been dumped. But in the end, he had a fairly well balanced lunch.
I’ll be so glad when he can tell me what he wants, besides Turtles crackers. And milk. His vocabulary is very limited.
Did that in the Foreign Service, along with French. Learned Spanish at some night courses. I’d be lucky to speak a complete sentence in any of them now.
Seems we’re going on a neighborhood architecture tour in about a half hour. The wife signs us up for things, many of which I veto because of the knee issues, but this one is in a van. This 'hood has a lot of old mansion-like homes built by the rich many years ago. Everything from Prairie Style to Victorian. Lots of columns of all different types; I’m a fan of Corinthian. My first thoughts when I look at these piles of rock are a) how much are the monthly utility bills, b) how much staff do they need to clean the place and c) what are the property taxes each year?
Afternoon all. Shopping run has been completed and mostly paid for by using my saved credit card ‘cash back’ money (I guess that’s what you call it) and lunch has been consumed, so all is right in the world. Champions League soccer is on shortly so I may wait until evening to get my swimming and sauna in. Otherwise a quiet day is expected at Case Rat.
doggio, hope somebody either repairs SSLAW#2 or at least puts it out of it’s misery…
Cookie, yeah, it takes some time to get a habit started, between youth soccer and the gym I at least have some excuses to be away from the computer (albeit I probably spend more time there than is good for me…I play Spider Solitare, BTW. Give it time.
Shoe, sometimes your body knows best when you need rest.
Pilot, fascinating story on how daughter does it. Enjoy your time.
OK, need to do a couple more things then prepare my slothage position for soccer-watching. All y’all take care.
Ventured out to the Gettin’ Sto’ to use up a couple “good” coupons (one for 35c off an easy, tasty, and already inexpensive microwave meal, the other for a free carton of chicken broth, no strings attached, and I go through that stuff like nobody’s bizness) and stopped briefly by Ye Olde Local Dispo that’s ever so conveniently right on my 2-minute drive home, mostly because the “just cuz I CAN!” joy hasn’t worn off yet.
I’d absolutely never even imagine thinking that.
Thank you for the explanation - I really did wonder how the hell she kept herself and everyone else fed, let alone in clean socks’n’undies - so I genuinely appreciate a glimpse into the inner mechanics of a life utterly unknown to me.
And I guarantee any shortage in $$ is more than adequately made up for in heart- and soul-warmth.
Enjoy your vacation, and bring back some GOOD stories!
Aw, naw.
Situations like this are why the proverb about not counting chickens before they’re hatched were coined. Sucks, man. Hope things stretch like a ballerina taking a yoga class.
That must be so frustrating for you.
Does he try to talk? Babble incoherently a bit, but making recognizable sounds? If you say words to him, does he try to repeat them back?
He talks, and some words are recognizable, but he can be stubborn sometimes about repeating what we say to him. It’ll come along, especially once he’s in school - at least it did for Roxy.
Oh, yeah, and also schlepped out some trash, and - even more satisfyingly - set up a return that worked nicely.
One the advice of … someone here, most likely … I got a timer so lights come on while I’m at work and my house (and black cat) aren’t in complete darkness when I get home OR I hafta remember to turn on lamps in the middle of the afternoon.
Anyway, timer arrived fine, but man, I could just NOT get it to set. You’re supposed to push down little tabs around the dial to set ON/OFF but they won’t budge.
Manufacturer suggested a ballpoint pen … man, I even tried (gently) pushing with the tip of closed scissors (sturdier and thinner than a pen tip) and also needlenose pliers … nope. No movement.
Seemed like way too much trouble to return for such a low-$$ item, and lo and behold, Amazon agreed! Set up a “no-return refund” which I did not know was a thing until now.
… I guess I can try to keep fiddling with it. But dammit, now I got my hopes set on this whole “having a timer” thing!
I gotta buy another one, and hope to hell that one works, and feel like an incompetent idiot when I can’t get a simple object to work …
{ throws tiny mental temper tantrum }
{ picks self off floor, straightens earrings & swipes on eyeliner, brushes teeth & ties kerchief over hair, goes to work like the grown-ass adult she pretends to be }
[excited Steve Martin voice] IT’S HERE! IT’S HERE!!! MY NEW STAND MIXER IS HERE!!![/excited Steve Martin voice]
It’s shiny and purty and only has one knob to turn and one button to push and I love it already.
For whatever reason, Hubs thought that today would be a good day to clean the air filter and cabin filters in our cars, so he’s got the hoods up and parts scattered about the front porch.
It’s probably just as well that I can’t go to town, I need to learn how to use my new toy before trying complicated stuff with boiling sugar. I’m thinking about making an egg custard pie, hubs likes those and I’ve got enough flour to make at least 4 pie crusts so hopefully I’ll end up with something worth bragging over.
I’m already loving it and I haven’t done anything yet but turn it on. Moving things around wasn’t nearly as much of a bother as I thought it would be…probably because I wanted to do it now, LOL!
Some of our appliances live under the kitchen island, but that’s pretty full now. I moved the InstantPot to the hobby room and I’ll probably move the Instant Air Fryer back later today.
Our kitchen looks big but really doesn’t have a lot of usable counter space because it is broken up by the sink and stove. The island is a great work area, so of course we can’t use it for storage. And we have soooo many toys. Normal people shouldn’t need two rooms just for cooking equipment storage…
I am so sorry for him and for you. The whole situation is a real mess and shouldn’t be FCDs responsibility but family is family and guilt is real. I agree that you need to start calling around for help because there are usually waiting lists for low-cost behavioral health care homes.
That sounds amazing, what a great experience. I hope she feels better fast.
That happened back in the “Repair, recycle or refurbish” days, replacing something simply because it was a little messy wasn’t an option.
OTOH, I currently have a crockpot that is dedicated to melting cheese wax…and yes, that did come from a thrift store. (and this is the reason we need two rooms for our toys, FML)
Sometimes he needs to just kick me in the butt because I really wouldn’t have bought one myself.
They wouldn’t do that if you didn’t have such a positive impact on their lives. You do good things
I think you should do it! Don’t forget about u-tube, there are some amazing people posting very good instructional videos about almost everything.
Safe travels and unloading. May the slightly strained elbow be the only roadblock.
Awesome!!!
Enjoy your trip!
Thank you! I’m so glad kitty wasn’t hurt.
Dang about the maybe not making money. Are you eligible for any sort of Unemployment during your down time. You could probably check online.
When you aren’t working, are you eligible for any low-income programs? Back when I first retired, there were a couple of months that we were eligible for some income based programs and signed up for a 25% discount on our electric bill.
Every year the electric company sends us a letter telling us that we have to requalify for the next year, every year we send them our tax returns showing that we clearly are NOT eligible anymore and every year they send us a letter saying we our discount will continue for another year.
I always look at the woodwork and marvel about being able to pay someone to do nothing all day but dust.
I do love those sort of tours, though. I hope you both had much fun.
I plan to go to a dispensary in New Mexico for just that reason!
Take your timer to work and see if anyone else can figure it out. Often a second pair of eyes is all that is needed.
Really - ignore me - once I’ve unburdened, I feel better.
). I get into that mode about once a week.
