(Old) Happy Earthday in the MMP!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
141

When one of her friends does something dumb around her, my youngest sister will just say “You’re so pretty!” The tone of voice says it all!

Or as my BIL opines: “Just because they have a degree…” :roll_eyes:

But ice water, lemonade, soda, kool aid, juice… there are options.

One bit of good news yesterday - my youngest sis is finally getting her hernia surgery. A certain insurance company with the initials KP kept putting it off and refusing to approve it. She switched companies and she’s now scheduled for late in May. It’s been well over a year of pain that often reduced her to tears. So huzzah at last for her!!

And TX SIL will be coming here from May 8-15. She was married to late BIL the racist ass and she’s not my favorite person, but she’s coming to see MIL, not us so much. MIL is afraid to sleep in the basement (I have no idea) and she’s projected this on SIL and decided that SIL can sleep in her room and MIL will sleep on the couch.

Um, we have a perfectly nice futon in the basement, as well as 3 mattress sets, should the futon not be lovely enough. And the basement has its own bathroom and TV. I will be making it up for SIL. MIL is still concerned, despite the fact that we’ve lived here 20 years and no one has ever attempted to break into the basement and Daughter lived down there for 3 years… OK, enough about her “quirks”…

My plans today - dunno. For the next 3 days, highs will be 5-10° below average - maybe not too cold to do some work outside. We shall see. I do have to empty the dishwasher and MIL wants a shower this morning, so I’ll help with that. Maybe I’ll do some rollsuck. I need to go to Aldi some time soon. The day will be what it will be.

Happy Thursday!

142

Good morning, everyone.

It’s 49 degrees Fahrenheit, damp and cloudy outside. It’ll be cloudy with periods of rain all day, and the expected high temperature is 55 degrees Fahrenheit. At least I don’t need to worry about watering the posies.

I turn 60 next month. I’ve been eligible to retire since I was 56, but I’ll probably keep working until I’m 62, at the minimum. My retirement plan is pretty much dependent on my savings and TSP balance. I’m working hard to get that TSP balance up to a balance that will keep us comfortable. I need to get real and talk to a financial planner specializing in gov employees to make a truly informed decision. I run the numbers all the time with the on-line my planners my org provides, but they’re not truly accurate.

nellie, Ms. Dog is lucky to have a friend like you. She sounds like a wonderful pup!

My first lab, Cap’n, would take a mouthful of kibble out of his bowl, walk over to the great room, drop the kibble, and then start eating it. He wanted to eat with us, so if we were sitting in the great room, he brought his kibble (snacks) over. He was such a great dog and also had a lot of personality.

I tried southern sweet tea in Texas many years ago for the first time. It was different from old Nestea instant iced tea, and I liked it. I had it at some old hole-in-the-wall BBQ place, and it was just the right amount of sweet.

However, if I drink iced tea while out and about, I generally drink it unsweetened. I am increasingly sticking to water because the older I become, the less I want sweet stuff. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy a sweet treat now and again, but it’s not something I always want.

FCM, that visit is right around the corner. I hope that the visit passes quickly for you.

herald, I’m glad you were able to obtain an appointment so quickly. Pain is exhausting.

We finally got the reservation link for the hotel we’ll be staying in for our state-wide meeting/training. We’ll be up Johnny’s way. This place was third on my list, but after all the hassle we’ve gone through with them, we’ll never use it again as a meeting site. We have a block of 50 rooms, but they gave us all the rooms that face the parking lot. We’re paying them for the use of a meeting room, a/v, lunch, and all the fees associated with that. Plus, many thousands of dollars for the rooms, taxes, and resort fees. They could have sprinkled some water-view rooms in the room block.

If I hadn’t paid for a fence, I would have just paid for a nice room alone. I think I’m on the ground floor, and I don’t like ground-floor rooms, especially those that face a parking lot. It’s not an inexpensive place. I had one room choice for my nights (20-23 May). I’ll call the event planner and see if there is any way I can get at least a second-floor room.

I worked long hours yesterday, and today will probably be the same. It’s the same old stuff, with the added bonus of people not following directions provided to them, which even included pictures, for Cripe’s sake. I don’t know how much easier I can make it for folks.

On the other hand, it’s Thursday, and I only have one more wake-up for work this week. Maybe today I’ll be lucky and have a day that doesn’t require I talk to anyone. I girl can dream…

I hope you all have a good day!

143

That’s why the gods invented Coke, Dr Pepper, ginger beer, and lemonade.

144

Sounds a lot like my Brother’s Basset Hounds, who did the same thing.

Taters, with a 50-room reservation, surprised that they didn’t give you a break on the meeting room or some other freebies. I concur, don’t go back there anytime soon.

FCM, I think SIL will be fine in the basement, it is, in the end, your house and how you deal with guests is your call.

shoe, glad it was a small burn. Sending long-distances kisses to make it feel better. And thanks for some charming tales from the pizza place.

JtC, about 700-800 miles driving a day for 3 days is pushing it, hope Hubs feels better today. And my 30th birthday never bothered me, my 50th had the most angst for some reason. Past 70 now and it’s more counting down than up these days.

Another fine day outside, weather is nice and supposed to be near 80F today, so soccer will get practiced and might do some other outdoor stuff. Still evaluating the skin scrape on my knee regarding swimming, it covered more area (about silver-dollar size) than I originally thought but seems to be healing up nicely now.

Cheerios and milk have been assimilated and some morning internetting has taken place, so onward into the day. Take care all.

145

One of our cats will occasionally use her paw to scoop a single piece of kibble out of her dish onto the floor, and then eat it. She’ll do this four or five times before starting to eat the normal way.

146

Allie drinks water by dunking her paw in it, then licking it off her paw. I keep telling her her water would stay cleaner if she’d drink with her face like a normal cat. She just gives me the Siamese stare.

147

HAPPY PERFECT DATE DAY!!!

The smalls heaving went mostly OK. A ton of corrections to do in The Mez, I think somebody forgot Donna Qanon retired this month. But that’s how I make money.

Huzzah!
And if you sleep in the basement, the Morlocks, C.H.U.D.s, and Mole People can get you.

Spot occasionally wants my ice water, and if it is too low to lap, he sticks his foot in in. The only thing he does with his food is occasionally fling a toy mouse into the bowl, to protest the lack of decent food.

148

“I’d rather be pretty than smart, because you can fake being smart.” alina habba

i would say gg is smart. he knows his humans will give him the treat if he stares at it long enough.

i’m going to try the clear cup thing with my two tonight. i will report back.

149

Poor baby! Come here and let me put a little ice on that. You’ll be better soon. :kissing_heart:

(I had one child who absolutely needed someone to make a tiny fuss over her minor injuries before she worked herself up into a full-scale wail. With the other one, if you showed any concern at all, she’d become convinced she was at death’s door, so you had to just glance to be sure she didn’t need stitches and tell her she was fine. I’m good at both things.)

It’s outrageous she has to wait that long! About ten years ago, I was in the process of getting a prior approval for an MRI because there was a bulge near my bellybutton. In the intervening time, the bulge in my groin that the doctor hadn’t been too worried about (it disappeared when I was lying down) turned into a strangulated hernia and an emergency surgery. They still had to pay for an MRI, but I’m sure it cost more coming from the ER at midnight.

That’s where all the monsters live! It’s probably good that she’s scared; the last thing you need is
an old lady who’s determined to go down the basement stairs unaided.

This gives me flashbacks to when I was the organizer for a group who were getting together. It’s amazing how difficult it is to get a hotel to give you a block of decent rooms instead of the ones no one wants.

We had a cat like that! When Cisco did something stupid, we’d tell him the same thing. Now that I think about it, did we train him to be dumb?

I retired at 61, as soon as I was eligible, and I was ready. My pension doesn’t quite cover the cost of the lavish health plan that was my entire reason for staying until I was vested. Your plan sounds much better.

It really is that way here today! Luckily, I’ve watched the forecast, so I won’t be too disappointed when the winds crank up this afternoon, and I’m already planning to bake instead of gardening this weekend. The highs have been in the 80s here, but it’s supposed to get up only into the low 60s on Saturday before heading back into nice territory for the workweek.

I miss having a Siamese cat. Maybe, if I want to torment the two cats we have, I could find a kitten…

I’m off to finish watering everything in the yard. They say it might rain on Saturday, but I’ve heard that before.

150

I woke up sometime in the night with a charley horse. “OwOwOw!” Ms. Dog attempted to alleviate it with cold nose therapy. I showered with the door open, as she gets upset if I close it. Heck, I have to leave the bathroom door open whenever I’m in there. Then she sticks her muzzle in the shower, just in case an errant duck or two waddled in there. We walked a mile in the rain this morning. I’m not sure where we’ll go for the big walk this afternoon. Right now she’s sleeping on the sofa. I tried sneaking into the bedroom to strip the bed, but she was too fast for me.

Pro tip: Do not put this on Craigs List.

What kind of treats do you hand out? Little Milk Bones? My lab loved going to DQ because they gave her treats. She loved the bank drive-through for the same reason. Ditto the liquor store drive-through. She could never understand why she didn’t get a treat when we pulled up to the gas pump. She’d stick her head out the window and drool. I had to bring a treat along if we were running errands, and I couldn’t hand it back to her. No, I had to get out and hand it in through the window, or she’d continue to whimper pitifully. I sure miss her

Maybe she loved the plaid (which does sound cool) and didn’t want to shed on it. :slight_smile:

I think there should be a law that your employer has to buy you a cake and keep your work schedule light on your birthday. I usually had to teach, but I’d bring in homemade cookies or cupcakes for my students and colleagues. Birthdays are meant to be shared.

FCM, SIL is coming for an entire week? Yikes. I know she’s coming to see MIL, but will you have to entertain as well as feed her? Also, yay for FairyChatSis getting approved for surgery! Everyone I know in California raves about KP, but everyone I know elsewhere hates it.

151

Its sunny and 50 out. Nothing to do today. I got Fluticasone so I can wake and breathe through my nose. Seems to be working. Had a yogurt for breakfast.

152

In the minor “so that just happened” department, Monkey started chasing his tail a little while ago. He’s never, ever done that.

And I don’t mean like a gentle swat, I mean full-on berserk in a circle, like you’d expect if his tail-tip was being attacked by goblins or something.

That’s usually the best place to have it.

That is so true. It’s also invisible - show up to work with a black eye you can barely feel & everyone fusses, but when you’re in constant low-level agony, you just get known as “slow” or “crabby.”

(… or maybe that’s just me LOL)

Ah, but that could have spread resentment (“your room has a view of WHAT?!?”) but instead, this way, everyone gets to bond together over how crappy the parking lot view is … it’s team-building!

The who in the what now? Are these found in Michigan?
I sometimes nap on a yoga mat on my basement floor in the dead of summer - sleeping on concrete ain’t the most comfy, but it’s a lot cooler downstairs.
(Don’t worry, I put a sleeping bag and then a sheet on top of the yoga mat. Still not like sleeping on a cloud of marshmallows, but, well, I hate the heat!)

Thank you.

That is, indeed, a silver lining.

Yup. Well, it’s a box of the medium size, and I break 'em in half for the super-tiny ones. I’ve seen some itty-bitty puppies!

This was the sweetest story. Thank you for sharing it with us!

Are there any volunteer opportunities available nearby?
Your church may know of some charitable organization that needs a pair of hands to help with various simple tasks.

Alright, I’ve ingested a chicken-and-cheese sammich, and since I have both a bit of spare time before I gotta leave AND have running water (woooot!) imma go shower up.

Unfortunately, the Heights (where I live) still has a boil notice … whatever, live dangerously. If I die because I took a damn shower, they can tell my mother I lived a clean life. (HA! Yeah, right.)

153

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
Thanks, I needed that!

I don’t plan to do a lot of entertaining, but I may need to let her use my car. As for feeding, MIL will be covering the extra groceries. I manage her money so no biggie there. WE’RE HAVIN’ LOBSTER!!!

OK, not really, but I will use her account to supplement the grocery budget.

FCD came home from the boat early because he needs my help to figure out the electrical problem. Not that I’m an electrical savant, but he can’t be in the engine room and at the electrical panel at the same time. So we’ll figure out when we can go together.

Since he came home, I ran to Aldi, then stopped at Daughter’s because she was having problems with the carpet cleaner (dammit!) Either one of the water lines is plugged up or the switch on the handle is broke. I’ll figure it our when she brings it back. Always something.

Meanwhile, FCD is now at the oral surgeon and MIL is still asleep - it’s been 3 hours since her shower. Not good…

154

You’re not the only one. I was very freaked out on my 30th birthday. At one point I went in to my boss’s office and asked him if he wanted me to resign. I was just kind of out of my mind. I think that several things contributed to it; not sure which is more important but remember when we were growing up, a well known expression was “Don’t trust anyone over 30” and also, I hadn’t been able to get pregnant by then and we’d been trying for awhile (2 months later - Bingo)

Mostly I drink water with lemon but whenever I order a drink, I get an Arnold Palmer.

I’d love to get a shirt like that for Bella.

yeah, on the way to the Stem Cell Transplant clinic this morning the daffodils on westbound I94 seemed to have taken a hit from the cold temps last night but amazingly the daffodils on eastbound I94 looked great.

:smile:

The Dr said we can stop the infusions for the next week and see what effect it has on the blood draw next Thursday. Hubs was somewhat disappointed that they didn’t just take out the tri-fusion catheter today as he misunderstood what the Dr said last week.

Even though there’s tons to do, I’m feeling kinda lazy and have just been reading the mmp and watching some soaps and Amazing Race. Hopefully I’ll get motivated soon.

155

What a strange request…

When we receive separate customer and aging files, my program displays aging records that were dropped for not having a match in the customer file. e.g. ABC123 - ABC CHEWING GUM CO - Aging record not matched in Master file. I copied the nearly 60 lines in the display and pasted them into an email. My contact asked me if I could re-send them in an Excel file, so I did. But…

Could they not do that themselves? :thinking:

156

I babysat for a couple when I was in college, and when she turned 30, she spent the day crying. I didn’t get it. The only birthday that hit me was 37, and only because I realized I was a full-fledged adult with a husband, a kid, and a mortgage. I didn’t cry - I just felt weird.

Now, at 70, it has occurred to me that I’m definitely a senior citizen. I see photos of myself and I look old. I think the lack of gray hair keeps me from realizing that I’m old. But when did my throat get all wrinkly???

MIL finally woke up - she’s been asleep more than awake today. FCD is on his way home from the dentist. I’ve started supper. Life goes on…

157

Howdy Y’all! The things got done and we were bears who brunch. Then it was back to da cave for sloth, nappage, and day drinkin’. I am feelin’ a bit peckish so I foresee snackage soon. Life is lovely right now.

I never had a bday crisis. I had kind of a crisis when I realized I’d been out of kolledge twenty-five years, but got over that real soon. I did have a mid-life crisis when I turned fifty. Well, six of us who had either turned or were about to turn fifty did. I know I’ve mentioned this before. We went on a week long cruise and acted fools. When we got off the ship we were over the crisis.

I had a cocker spaniel, Jake AKA BoBo. I had a friend who managed a McDonald’s and knew BoBo, so when I’d come to the drive thru, if Steve were there, BoBo would get a plain cheeseburger treat. Thus, he came to expect this at a drive thru. He almost went through a drive thru window at Wendy’s wantin’ his cheeseburger. I had to stop takin’ him through the drive thru anywhere after that. Dang, I miss him! He’s been gone twenty-seven years and I don’t think I miss him any less.

158

I tried the clear cup thing with lager the lovey dovey. It took him 6 minutes and 53 seconds. That was with me pointing to the cup. He finally nosed it to an obstacle that helped tip the cup.

He is now cuddling on my lap.

159

Bloody Mary at 10:30 this morning, then Irish coffee, heavy on the KY bourbon to settle my stomach after a dodgy burrito salllit. I spent mucho money on horse things today. New reins for Ariel’s bridle, etc

160

Now lager is nosing the cup around hoping for more treats to magically appear.