I had my brakes replaced in the Prius sometime last year. SWMBO told me to make sure to get the old parts back, so I did. She didn’t want to look at them. Apparently, she took her (former) Tacoma in to a dealer when she lived in Hoquiam and they replaced her battery without her permission and didn’t return any parts. So now she gets the parts back, even if she doesn’t have a desire to look at them. So I’ve had my rotors and pads/shoes (the rotors, and crescent-shaped pieces of metal anyway) in the back of the Prius all this time. Since she got her water pump back from the shop last week, and I put it into the metal/plastic recycling bin, I threw the Prius parts in there too. (The cardboard boxes went into the cardboard/paper bin.) I didn’t know if the recycling truck would accept the heavy parts, but they did. 
-2F this morning, but we should be warming in a few days.
Breakfast was avocado toast topped with fried eggs. Side-o-bacon. I finally found a good loaf of bread at our local grocery. A made in-house loaf that tastes a lot like my own herb-parmesan loaf. Nice crumb and toasts up nice. I was despairing of ever finding decent bread in this city.
Did exercise this morning. Our usual person (a PT) wasn’t here so we had to suffer through the activities director’s version of exercise, which is unprofessional and half-assed. But that’s not the worst part; she plays music to go along with it. And even that isn’t the worst part: she sings along with the songs in an off-key nasal voice that makes my entire being recoil in horror. She has a version of the worst Minnesota-nasal, non-inflected honk of a speaking voice. Shudder. So I basically just do exercises that I know will help me and ignore what she’s doing and saying.
Hubs has hit the age at which you have to take RMD (Required Minimum Distributions). If you have the RMD distributed directly to a charity, it won’t count as income to you. So, today is the 3rd time that I asked Hubs to call his guy at the financial org and get the form needed to be filed for RMD charitable distributions. He finally assured me today that he will. So, we will have future savings on our income taxes owed.
from last week’s mmp:
I scrub and wash the sweet taters very well then bake at 350*; time depends on how big they are. I personally like to savor the taste of the naked sweet tater, so yum; however, sometimes I add a little butter and occasionally some cinnamon. Last night butter was slathered on by Hubs and daughter and I think I saw Hubs put some BBQ sauce on as well.
cookie I’ve been in an exercise class a few times where the instructor wasn’t an A instructor so, like you, I just exercised to the march of my own drummer. I noticed that some peeps near me would follow my lead, ignoring what the instructor was saying to do. Ha.
flyguy good on you for recycling the used parts rather than putting them in the trash which would just end up in a landfill.
It’s that time of year when the weather has been below freezing for so long that I’m in a tea phase. Have made a pot every day for the past 4 days. So relaxing sitting with a cuppa with some honey to sweeten it.
Daughter uses the lactase pills but sometimes they aren’t enough. Sometimes she has to take 2 but mostly she avoids dairy unless it’s something very tasty.
I had forgotten that when I was up at 1am for a bio-break, my son told me the wok was shedding it’s nonstick coating. It went into the trash, I guess I can’t complain since it’s been in almost daily use for almost 10 years. I had been thinking about getting another one anyway since it gets used so much. Not that we cook Asian, but it worked for so many things.
I bought two today, one 12 inch and one 8 inch. Both come with lids, and the 8 inch has a steamer rack.
Lids will be nice.
So for sure not saving any money today.
Shoe, I hate doing returns. I’ll hang on to the shirts until I see my nieces. Neice2’s boys are 19, 17, 13, and 11. They’ll fit at least one of them.
My son packed on a few pounds over the holidays, I think if he lost about ten, he may like the shirts. He doesn’t like it when shirts ride up and show his belly when he lifts his arms up. It might not be a problem if he loses a little weight.
I drove an injured acquaintance to a warehouse to pick up a loaner cane, then didn’t stop for a breakfast sandwich, so that’s $6 or 7 right there.
I’ve almost lost my voice. What can help me get it back?
WV has a new governor! And a few other new elected officials. I just got done watching the live stream of the inauguration. Mr. Rilch is there, and I was hoping to get a screencap of him in the crowd. But what I saw turned out to be a different guy with the same color coat and scarf, but shorter hair of the wrong color. Oops!
Anyway, he’s there, so I can save my voice by not talking. 
Not a saving day for me. CVS, breakfast out, dr appt., grocery stop.
Now working from home. Going through the archive list to find things that can be shredded.
Shreeeeed. I enjoy shredding!
Well, I am a native Southern Californian. 
I got an email from the trash & recycling company, saying they will no longer accept certain recyclable items (clamshell carry-out containers – with the recycling symbol on them, mind you – comes to mind). I include them anyway. I won’t be the one to send them to a landfill!
Intentional typo?
Genuine question: is this, like, a thing?
It’s quite literally the 1st I’ve ever heard of anyone doing this, and I can’t imagine what for. (WTF would I do with worn-out brakes or a dead battery?)
Also, any work done on my car without prior permission simply isn’t paid for … right? Isn’t that why they call to get authorization for any additional items that need fixin’?
Seems like you could do that in the peace and comfort of your own, non-honked at, private home.
A decade? That’s amazing. I baby my nonstick stuff and get maybe three years.
Throw 'em in the dishwasher (or have my ex’s mother use a metal spatula, or my ex use a FORK { grumble } in them) and the expiration date swiftly moves up.
Bitch put my cast iron skillets in the dishwasher. After telling me she was a Southern country girl raised on a farm.
Ex got something of a pass, he couldn’t fix Triscuits out of a box when we met. By the time I’d gotten him somewhat housebroken, he could cook a decent lemon shrimp pasta.
Sorry, luv, I’m on your son’s side here. If they’re doing that, they’re too small.
Cite: many times in my life, I was a skinny, scrawny thing. Plenty of shirts would show my belly if I lifted my arms up, and I had no spare weight to lose.
They were just too damn small.
I’ve bought men’s shirts on Amazon and from Duluth that come in a “long” or “longtail” version … maybe those might work better for your son?
Like, Styrofoam? I’ve never seen clamshells made of anything else, and wasn’t aware of any recycling facilities that accepted either foam, or food-contaminated items.
May I ask what number is in the middle of the recycling symbol? (It tells what type of material you’re dealing with.)
We did our usual 2 1/2 mile indoor walk today and then went to our old gym and reactivated the membership. Y’all kept talking about swimming enough that I just had to do it.
To ensure that they did what they said they did. I’ve heard tell of unscrupulous mechanics who charge for work they don’t do, assuming the customer wouldn’t know and trusts them.
Some restaurants around here have heavy cardboard-like clamshells, or thin plastic. It all depends on the place.
Back from Food Lion - Moanday afternoon must be old-folks-blocking-the-aisles day. I was just there for a few items, and at least twice I had to turn around because of geezer blockage. Yeah, I’m no kid myself, but if I need to stop and decide what I want, I’m pulled over so other shoppers can pass.
Luckily, as I said, I just needed a few things and when I was ready to check out, there was a clerk standing idle, waiting for a customer - SCORE!! The self-checkout had a line feeding all 4 registers - people who apparently weren’t paying attention. Whatevs - I was in and out pretty quick.
I scored a hunk of dead cow that I cut in half - one piece in marinade in the freezer, another with just worcestershire that will be cooked sous vide for tomorrow’s supper. So it was a good trip. But I’m glad that’s behind me.
If I had more willpower than a feather, that would work. If I get off my ass and actually go down there, then I’m more likely to stay the entire half hour and get some benefit instead of doing five minutes and then go looking for a snack. It’s a necessary evil, basically. But if she doesn’t STFU about the goddamn Vikings. . .
I know other people do it, just to make sure the parts really needed replacement. Neither of us have the knowledge or expertise to tell though. But if SWMBO says to get the old parts, I know what’s good for me.
I think it is a law that no work in excess (or a certain amount of excess) work above the estimate shall not be performed without permission.
No, styrofoam goes into the trash. I haven’t seen styrofoam in a while. Here, they’re either recyclable (thick-ish, opaque) plastic, or a paper-based composit, or clear (recyclable) plastic. Of course I rinse the containers out before putting them into the bin. I never look at the number in the recycling symbol; only to make sure it’s not a slashed symbol.
I’ve seen a couple of FB reels showing people making poached eggs using a small sieve. One had the egg in a sieve suspended over boiling water, with a lid on top. The other had the egg in the sieve submerged in the water. For lunch, I had poached-egg-on-toast made the latter way. The shape was nicer than my usual stir-and-drop method, but now I have a sieve to wash. (I don’t like washing sieves.) But I’m doing a load of dishes, so it was no trouble just to put the sieve in with the restof the utensils.
I also nuked a Hebrew National hot dog, and ate it on a slice of bread with catsup, yellow mustard, and relish.
I keep hearing about the Year of the Snake coming up, so I thought I’d look at the horrorscope for my Chinese birth sign as to how it relates to the year.
Career
[You] can expect to be recognized by their superiors and receive promotions and salary raises. They may also have new career opportunities, especially those that involve other people.
Remember how I was stressing last week because I’ve been shifted from salaried to hourly? Sounds like I needn’t worry. OR… The 'new opportunities involving other people* might mean I’ll get laid off and have to take a job in retail. (Not that there’s anything wrong with retail jobs, but I do like telecommuting on the computer.)
Wealth
[You] may see increases in salary and good returns on investment. They may also be able to accumulate a significant amount of money in a short period of time.
Please, God, let this mean I’ll win a jackpot in a lottery!
Started Typing: 3:41 PM ET
Clicked Reply: 5:32 PM ET
I actually left my house today (for the first time in 8 days)! 
At lunchtime I took advantage of the sunny, 40°F weather and put gas in the car, took a box to the UPS Store for shipping, and went to the grocery store – which was busier than I expected. I actually had to wait (just a few minutes) for a self-checkout machine to be available, because 2-3 of them weren’t working: it was amus-i-tating* to watch person after person walk up to machines with screens that clearly said “CLOSED” in big red letters (I felt bad for the store employee monitoring the self-checkout, who had to say “this one isn’t open” time and time again). The line for the one open cashier was long and I didn’t have much stuff, so I didn’t mind waiting a little. This store’s machines are a lot better than the other big nearby chain’s machines, which are constantly yammering at me to “place your item in the bagging area” when I already have. They need manual overrides pretty often, but the machines at the store I went to today seem to work pretty smoothly.
*that’s amusing and frustrating at the same time
I haven’t saved any money yet today, and am not likely to save any in the next 8 hours. Whatever I gained by using my loyalty card at the store was offset by the small bag of strawberries-and-cream white chocolate truffles that jumped in my cart. 
I generally prefer dark or milk chocolate, but every now and then a little white chocolate is good (even if the name is divisive)!
Here is the completed Pac-Man set, including a little mini-scene that came with it:
A bigger version of this photo, plus pictures of my other completed sets and two main displays, can be seen in my Lego photo album. The mini-scene can be stored in the back of the main set (the back opens), but right now I have it displayed next to the set. So far I haven’t been able to get a good video of the mechanical game board action: when you turn the handle on the side (just visible above the white buttons), two separate “chains” move a Pac-Man and some ghosts around in circles – while the “trapped” ghost and the cherries below it also move. I need to keep trying different cell phone/iPad/stand configurations. All in all, this was a fiddly and painstaking set to build – hundreds and hundreds of tiny pieces – but it was also super interesting and a lot of fun.
What’s next, I can tell that you’re dying to know? Why, that would be the X-Wing Starfighter, which I ordered on Wednesday and is supposed to be delivered this evening was just delivered. I likely won’t start it until after work on Friday. Happily, I’ll have a 3-day weekend to build it (the 20th is a holiday).
Seems like everyone missed my heads up last Tuesday about Thursday’s holiday…
…but here’s another heads up to not check your mail on Monday! 
Oh, I definitely need reminders for all of my meds: Google Keep reminds me at 9am, noon, and 6pm (and the way I keep track of whether I took them is whether I’ve dismissed the reminder). I just tend to put off the 6pm meds, and before I made them ridiculously easy to take I wound up simply ignoring/dismissing that reminder more often than not.
The latter: compartment = segement. When I first started taking pills after my bariatric surgery some of them were quite large, and there are always multiple pills taken at the same time, so I needed a pill organizer with bigger compartments. 
“Paint me like one of your French girls!”
Some coffee-flavored frozen Greek yogurt bars also jumped into my cart at lunchtime. And the protein shakes I drink twice a day are “cafe mocha.” I don’t have the patience for actual coffee*, but I like coffee-flavored stuff even more than I like banana-flavored stuff.
*It starts off too hot so then I start doing stuff and next thing I know it’s too cold. I have the same issue with all hot drinks, which is why I’ve never owned a coffee maker and no longer own a Keurig.
That’s because you’re mispronouncing “pasty.”
(It’s pass-tee.)
Been there: my 2008 Mazda RX-8 would randomly stall – my top speed would suddenly and gradually start reducing until it would just stop a few minutes later – while it was in gear/while I was on the highway, and it wouldn’t restart for a little while. The first time it did that was right after I’d crested the Delaware Memorial Bridge: luckily (a) I was able to coast to the shoulder, and (b) I wasn’t actually on the bridge!
That car broke my heart. It was still under warranty when the bizarre behavior started, and Mazda could never figure out the problem so I wound up getting rid of it when it was less than 3 years old. It was only my second new car (I’d bought the first one in '94), and my first sports car. I loved it so much! I overcorrected and got an ultra-reliable Honda Accord, but the only reason I could tolerate driving it was the V6 (I got the coupe). A perfectly nice vehicle, but so boring to drive! As soon as I drove it off the lot, I knew that I really wanted another sports car: the minute I wasn’t upside-down on the loan I traded it for a used Nissan 370Z, which I kept for 7 years.
Now I know that you and I get paid on different Fridays! I love three-paycheck months, but I don’t have another one until March.
Oh, and I vote for treating yourself!!
My “gift with purchase” with the X-Wing is a Year of the Snake set. My 23-year-old nephew’s GF wants it, so I’ll give it to her…along with the Lucky Knots that came with Pac-Man.
Howdy Y’all! We are really addin ‘ to our RDOS cred today. Didn’t even bother to walk down to the mailbox. Whatever is there can wait for tomorrow. We did volunteer to head up the annual pancake supper over to the church house however. That will be March fourth which sounds like forever away, but will be here before we know it. I was surprised OYKW is willin’ but he is. Plus also we have volunteers already on board. OK, one productive thing today, the biiiiiig trash can got hauled all the way up from the road to where it lives. Well, two productive things cause sup got fixed and et.
I decided to go to the grocery store as it will be snow and 17 degrees tomorrow.
Still no magazines at the library.
I called my job, where I was hired a week ago.
Still no known date to start training.
Still more begging friends for toilet paper.
I do have a back up interview Wednesday just in case.
I have changed churches. Mine was good; the best choir, best songs.
I like the bouncy ones, where you stand, raise your hands and get into it.
But I was feeling invisible, women would say, Give me your number, we’ll do coffee. Never happened.
I had been visting another church, more…republican I should say.
They sing hymns, which isn’t uplifting to me.
But they seem to care about me.
At the old church, pastor would start with, “Whose happy about Jesus?” and we’d whoop it up and clap, etc.
My church ride said it sounds maybe like just emotion.
I’m not sure.
Laundry is going right now.
I went out earlier, there was beggar Moley.
How do I explain I would feed later?
I did.
He and the other 3 get fed and watered nightly by Ollie. Hes the only one they let touch them.
Evening all. Got my swimming in and had my DQ Triple Cheeseburger early since there is a soccer meeting at 6:30pm this evening. Got a call from Purple Heart reminding me they’ll pick up my donation tomorrow, so need to have that ready to go.
Oh my, that is one of my pet peeves with the Kroger machines. Sometimes I catch myself talking back to the thing when it says ‘scan your next item’ or ‘place your item in your cart or the bagging area’. I realize that for some folks that is probably necessary, but it irritates me no end.
Knots, thanks for the info, I am not lactose-intolerant and still drink milk occasion, but a little knowledge never hurts.
Sari, for any piece of cookware to last a decade these days is pretty special; did you get the same brand?
Snark Hunter, nice to have friends in high places…
Only place that gives me the old, replaced parts is the lawn mower service that does the annual tune-up for it.
Hippie, you won’t regret it.
Oopsie, love the complete Pac-Man set. Looking forward to the X-Wing.
OK, need to get up and head over to meeting place for the Soccer meeting.
Because some dishonorable mechanics will tell you that they’ve replaced parts that they didn’t.
:faints dead away:
I’m thinking like this.
Another cold Monday. We should have a couple more days of this bullshit lovely winter weather before it begins to warm back up.
Irked, walked Nelson, et and played around in the studio. Now it’s chillage.
Stay safe and healthy y’all!
Drove to work in the dark, but drove home in light dusk. Spring is coming!
(Who am I kidding? There’s the rest of January and all of February to get through. )
Hey ya’ll.
I was asked in the last MMP about starting to make cheese again. Well, that has happened but you folks won’t hear about the first results until around August. That will be a year since I put my first cheddar in the “cave”.
I love smoked cheese so much that I have smoked some sto bought cheese along with some cream cheese. This is the perfect weather to cold smoke food and next time I plan to smoke some salmon as well. I could eat that stuff every day and not get tired of it!
I’ve found a source for goat milk but of course they have dried up until spring so that’s not happening ATM. I love working with goat milk, it wants to be cheese!
It is a little cold for cheese making what with my leaky, drafty kitchen window but it is perfect baking weather. Today I tried making ciabatta rolls. T’was a dismal failure.
Hubs always took our cars to work and had the mechanics do the maintenance/repairs. He knew them, he worked next to them. He always wanted the old parts and would sometimes check to be sure they came out of our cars. He worked with them, he had after work beers with them and sometimes had them over to our place for dinner…but didn’t trust them to not do something hinky with the parts. If someone in the business feels that way about mechanics, ya gotta think he’s got good reason.
I managed to drag out big can out to the road. Din used one pan and took filling it with water and making it boil for a while. I do try to match your energy when I can!
Put the eggs in the sieve to let the runny part of the white drain out (that’s what makes your poached eggs look messy) and then put the egg in a pot of water that has been heated to 165 degrees. Let it sit for a few minutes before serving. You can leave it in the pot for quite a while before the yolk starts hardening. No stirring involved. You still have to wash the sieve, but that’s what dishwashers are for!
Good on you! I was able to get to the gym today and my back feels so much better. Are you going to swim boring ol’ laps or do a class or what? Just sitting in the hot tub helps improve your circulation.
No talking, warm tea with honey. Or a few shots of whiskey and then back to bed. (I know which one I’d pick) I hope you feel better soon. Dang about not getting the screenshot but I know that nothing on the internet is gone forever. You will find one
So today we learned that we saved a lot of money on our insurance…by moving to WV. There were 8 fires in the Lakes and Junction last year so they were declared to be a fire zone and everyone’s homeowner’s insurance got cancelled effective the first of this year. They had a couple of months warning but the insurance companies who would insure them wanted much more than their old policies.
TC friend says her insurance doubled and that her neighbor who didn’t act in time is now paying almost a thousand dollars a month on mortgage required homeowners insurance. Neighbor is scrambling to find something but is considered to be a bad risk because she let her policy lapse.
We also saved money by not going to the dispensary today. That doesn’t really count cause we are going tomorrow.
We were going to go for lunch and dispensary after I went to the gym, but he forgot and was eating an early lunch when I got home.
And this is why I go to the gym instead of promising myself to do online Tai Chi classes. Actually, that is why I started going to the gym, because I had signed up for online classes and never even watched a single one.
Was clutching my pearls so hard I couldn’t even quote!
I’ve also been happily pleased by how much later the dark is falling (we recently moved across the country, still getting used to things.). I used to just hate going to work in the dark and coming home in the dark.
Something that has been surprising me here is how bright it is after it snows. The big moon last night lit up the gulch like a spotlight. I’m also having to close the blinds at times because the glare is too much.