Up from naptime, having a Vieux Carré and Asian BBQ. Watching F1 from this morning.
I buy the dried ones. bonus: when you rehydrate you can run the liquid through a coffee filter and use it as a broth for your dinner. But I bet they ship the fresh ones Next Day air.
If he does show up, get an autogrpah.
By the time I showered and got downstairs it was around 3pm, and too close to dinnertime, so instead of having lunch I just had protein shake #2 (I’m required to have at least 60 grams of supplemental protein a day, which I get via two Ensure Max shakes). I also grabbed a banana, but wound up not eating it. I did hang out on my deck, though! It was really nice to comfortably spend some time outside, and I got through two of the six New Yorker issues I’m behind on. I’m surrounded by other townhouses, but there’s a corner I can face that has a view of a large, pretty crepe myrtle and slightly more greenery than building facades. The only thing I miss about my old house is the view of the back yard – a large grassy space surrounded by big trees – but this isn’t bad. Anyway, I sat outside until it was time to head to my BFFs’.
Dinner was great. They ordered Chinese food, which I hadn’t had in a while (kung pao chicken and fried rice, yum!), and the presents I brought for everyone – related to HusbandBFF’s recent prostate cancer diagnosis – were big hits. And they had presents for me! WifeBFF had recently ordered three pairs of pants that wound up not working well with the leg brace she wears: it turns out they’re all perfect fits for me (and sorely needed, as I’ve gradually been losing weight and many of my current pants are suddenly too big), and she refused to let me reimburse her for them. Plus, she and HusbandBFF got me a housewarming gift! After I applied for this place back in May I started referring to it as “the tree house,” because the street name is long and contains the word “tree,” and they got me a wonderful personalized wooden sign from Etsy:
It’s a perfect fit for the hallway between the front door and the kitchen:
It was also very cool to see my nephew. Turns out he and HusbandBFF aren’t leaving for OH until Monday, so we’re going to have lunch tomorrow: he’ll come see my new place, then we’ll go to the mall (less than 2 miles away) and get some lunch followed by a trip to the Lego store. He’s the reason I got into Lego in the first place; we always go shopping when we’re in the same city. 
I still enjoy spoiling him, plus I look forward to the quality time. I love him more than I love probably anyone else in the world, but I also like him.
There’s a big Lego fan convention coming to the Dallas area – where he lives – in early October, and he asked if I might be up for going with him and his girlfriend (who I also love). I just might! I’ve been to Lego conventions with them before. I need a little time to decide for sure, but I’m leaning toward a sooner-than-expected return to DFW (I was there in early March).
Now it’s a little after 10pm and I’ve been home for just over an hour. I’m happily hanging out in the TV room and typing at y’all while streaming an old episode of Elementary, which I’ve been binge-rewatching. Some cookies are calling my name (Pepperidge Farm Chessmen), and then it will be bedtime.
Yikes…that seems like more than just a cold! I’m glad you’re starting to come through it.
That sounds really good.
It came out VERY tasty.
9:30pm and time for the late-night final. Decided I’ll try the steak dinner at Chili’s tomorrow and see if they are worth putting on my rotational list. Also joined Experian and got a Credit Report from Equifax, I haven’t had any problems to date with info being stolen, but figured it was about time that I did something (more or less) proactive. Still need to study the data, but at least I have done something responsible this week.
And reading about the law firm texts and flyboy’s explanation, maybe it isn’t a bad thing to have someone keep an eye on my finances and personal data…
So, you’ll be spending the night as a hooker? (I’ll get my hat…)
shoe, sounds like sound business practice, haven’t ordered from home since the COVID days, but I bet that customer’s number will go in the book…
Cat Glove, enjoy your travels with daughter and hope you can meetup.
flyboy, good luck keeping the raccoon and felines apart. Hopefully Jimothy (presume that’s the local raccoon) has learned not to trespass at your house.
Oopsie, glad things are going so well with friends. And lovely and thoughtful gift! Happy Lego shopping!
And closing in on 10pm, so I need to finish this and prepare for my nightly trip to Slumberland. Catch up with y’all tomorrow.
Jimothy is a raccoon in the Ballard neighbourhood of Seattle, who has short spine syndrome, and has become an Internet celebrity.
Holy fucknuggets is my back bad today.
Hope y’all are feeling better than me.
Rather a late close, and I was feeling kinda rundown since I woke up, so - although I really should eat something - I’m already in bed.
I gave Monks some gooshy-fud, and forced myself to take a shower. It had been a very sweaty day and I knew it would feel good (and oh, man, did it ever!) but that was my last droplet of energy. Brushed my teeth, am having one last brief smoke while I relax & check in with y’all, then I’m turning off the nightlight and turning on some quiet music, or the storyteller I like whose stuff is geared towards drifting off to slumber.
Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and caffeinatin’. YAWN ‘Tis 74 Amurrkin out and mostly clear with a predicted high of 89 becomin’ cloudy late mornin’ and with possible rain/tstorms/apocalypse around four p.m. There was a rather large and in charge storm durin’ the memorial service yestiddy. Church house has a metal roof, so rain is somewhat loud, but not too bad. Thunder sounds somewhat muffled, but there was a lot, so I knew the storm was big. After the storm outside turned into a steam bath. Anywho, the service was well-attended and beautiful. The food afterward was amazin’! I cannot tell you what all it was, but will say it was so tasty! I got advice on what I absolutely must try and was not steered wrong. I also managed to deal with candle and other duties before I left. Other Verger volunteered to do the ten-thirty service this mornin’ and I readily agreed, thus I will serve the nine a.m. service and make my way back to da cave. OYKW told me he had planned already not to attend church, so we shall be RDOS layabouts the rest of the day. Any need to feed today will be via forage unless one of us decides to go pick up stoner food or some other type of comestibles.
I was so tahrd last night I went to bed at seven p.m. I awoke once around midnight to answer the call of nature. I woke again around five a.m. to the call of nature and felt refreshed, so decided I needed to begin caffeinatin’. I read all, but have not the bandwith to respond yet, so yays, boos, hugs, noogies, trouts, chitlins and how you doin’s all around as needed.
Now I need more caffeine and to feed rumbly tummy. Then purtification for deheathenization shall commence.
Happy Sunday Y’all!
Up, caffeinated, and sheveled. Off today. It’s currently 67 degrees Ferret Height(19.444 Centipedes) and cloudy, with a DENSE FOG ADVISORY. Spot is watching his shows in the sunroom. I shall start the cleaning shortly, after more coffee.
Hope you’re felling a little better this morning.
Morning, mumpers! It’s currently 18c/64f with a predicted high of 21c/70f and mostly cloudy. Weather app says “Cloudy with a slight change of a fucking clown flash mob. Because that’s not fucking scary at all.”
Have you considered parking FCD in a café with a coffee and a book or something, then you can walk around to your heart’s content and he can sit and wait for you?
Knots hope you feel better today and the French Dip was yummy.
Taters I am sorry Hubs is not great at watering plants. My mum would always remind us to water the plant, not the leaves!
Mollie I’m glad you have Mrs Magill back home and the trip went well. My university both sends and receives students on a semester or full year abroad. It looks very good on their transcript, and can impress future employers so it’s a worthwhile thing to do if Spike is really keen on it.
swampy I hope you enjoy the nummy Nigerian food and provide a full report on it! We have had a lot of Nigerians moving into my area, I’m still waiting for all the eateries to open up so we can try something new.
That sounds bad, hope you feel better soon and get lots of kitteh cuddles to help you recover!
Oopsie what a lovely thoughtful gift from your friends. I’m happy you had so much fun with them.
VanGo hope the back eases up soon!
Yesterday was a fun but busy day. I was up early to tend to the needs of cats and get myself ready to be around the Great Unwashed. We set up at the pet store and handed out sweets to the kids, and collected some cash from the adults. It’s never a massive amount (I think it was about £120 plus whatever electronic donations came via the till) but spending the required number of hours in-store means we fulfil our obligations as charity partner, and we will continue to get the occasional pallet of miscellaneous stuff from them.
I came home and had a cold drink while 'im indoors was getting himself organised. Due to him fannying around for too long, we had to rejig the order in which we did stuff. We went to the little retail park and headed across the road for lunch at Jack’s Café which is always good. Then we went into town for a couple of things, and back to the car. I drove us round the block via the secret ninja route I’d seen, and we went to the car wash so Keith is all shiny and clean again. Then we went to the supermarket and collected the new microwave he’d ordered the day before. We picked up some soft drinks from the store, along with some chicken as we hadn’t got much in the freezer, and saw that minty Magnum ice creams were on sale so some of those had to come home with us.
We went home, parked Keith in his usual space and unloaded the shopping. Then just had time for another cold drink before I summoned an Uber and we went back into town. First stop was The Posada where we had to settle for our second-favourite beer and went outside to the rear courtyard garden. There was some absolutely awful music coming from somewhere, then we heard a rather thickly-accented African voice and realised there was some kind of church event going on. I couldn’t see over the fence so had to climb on a table to see what was going on, and saw a load of people sitting in deckchairs in a carpark just down the street. From the sounds of things, someone was playing a load of gospel-pop from Spotify (it kept getting interrupted by ads). Found out later it was the “Victorious Voice of Freedom Church” that has taken over a building nearby. It did not sound very victorious to me, more like a bunch of rejects from Britain’s Got (No) Talent!
We finished our drinks and went over the road to the Lych Gate where it was much quieter as their beer garden is kind of tucked away down a side street at a lower level than the pub building. Leaving there, I had a flash of inspiration as there’s a relatively new cask ale place across the road that we went to shortly after they opened. Went in there and had a very nice pint, then popped down the road to the Giffard. We managed not to get dragged inside for too long, and headed to our final stop at the Clarendon Hotel where we had a delicious curry for dinner. As is our tradition, we picked up a pizza from Turkish Delight and that will be today’s lunch. Came home, fed the cats, gave them treats and then I headed to bed.
Today, I have very few plans. The cats are fed, litter trays are clean, I’ve had a bath, tea is being consumed, and I’m making chilli for dinner tonight. Might iron a pile of t-shirts this afternoon, might not. There will definitely be lots of tea drunk today, and much enjoyment of the cooler temperatures. There’s even a black cloud out there that might give us a spatter of rain. Here’s hoping!
Have you frozen your credit reports? We both did all 3 of ours a few years back. That way no one can take out any credit in your name, but you can unfreeze if you need a loan for something. Other than our car loan, we haven’t had to apply for credit in ages, so it seemed like a safe option. Plus it’s free, and easy to do on line.
Of all that things in the world that he might do to pass time, well, you couldn’t have suggested something he’d like less. Plus he’s feel “guilty” about not going with me - you’d think he was raised Catholic with all the stuff he feels “guilty” about. In any case, I can’t see us going to Indy anyway, then he’ll feel “guilty” about not visiting his last surviving aunt and uncle. He can make life interesting, for certain.
I found out yesterday that Daughter finally replaced the tires on her car. I was about to suggest that if bald tires led to an accident, insurance might not cover it, or even if it did, it’d cost more then 4 of the cheapest tires she could find. But I was spared that chat, so yay!
She and her spawn will be coming here for the afternoon, but SIL has to work. I don’t know if she’ll expect supper or not, but I’ve got some sketty sauce in the freezer. so I can feed them if they decide to stay.
Starting today with 61 Ferrets, bound for mid-80s, with the house still open! I am so loving this cooler spell!! And lest I jinx it, we’ll have highs in the 80s thru next week with rain here and there. Of course, the forecast can ( and probably will) change tomorrow, so I won’t get my hopes up… much.
Happy Sunday!!
Good morning, all! At 7:45am it’s a sunny 67°F and probably quite nice outside, but I have to work until my nephew arrives so my deck shall remain unused this morning. Sometime before Labor Day I’ll get new outdoor furniture: the folding table and chairs I have are sturdy, easy to clean, and quite serviceable (and the chairs are more comfortable than you’d think), but when it gets easier to spend more time outside I think I’ll get a fancy chaise…and a big shade umbrella…and maybe some citronella candles.
I’m looking forward to lunch and shopping with da nephew. I’m hoping to get enough work done this morning that I won’t feel the need to do any more this afternoon, in which case my only plan for the rest of the day will be doing laundry at some point.
Last night I did some research on October flights to DFW for the Lego convention, and I think that trip is doable. 
I’ll find out whether newphew and his girlfriend would prefer to go on Saturday vs Sunday, which will determine what day I get there, and then I’ll start actually booking things. I always make the hotel and rental car* reservations first, because those are easy to cancel; plane tix get purchased last, as I’m not willing to pay an extra $150+ to make them refundable.
*I could almost definitely get by with a combo of Uber and having my nephew pick me up, but I’m just not comfortable without a car. And I’m a sucker for renting super nice ones, even when I won’t be doing much driving…like the convertible Mustang I had when I was there in March. 
I think the key takeaway is simply to never engage with anyone you didn’t solicit.
I hope it’s better today… 
I don’t remember the last time I ironed anything, let alone a t-shirt!
76F at 0725 on a sunny Sunday that is likely to hit triple digits. Hopefully the HVAC will hold up.
Our niece will be coming for lunch along with an adult grand-nephew we haven’t seen since he was a young boy.
Got a huffy letter from our new bank (Chase) about the fact that we declined overdraft protection for our as-yet-to-be-received debit card. I’ve never used a debit card for purchases and am not going to start now. All I need from these people is ATM access and a place to park some cash, full stop. Maybe a credit card at some point.
Afternoon.
Lazy weekend here, I’m feeling more than a bit washed out. Yesterday was spent slobbing and it’s looking like the main plan for today as well. There are bits of rain passing over, but the nice rain I was promised has yet to arrive.
The first tomato is finally starting to turn colour- yellow, not red. The rest are still way behind.
I spent half of yesterday looking up alternative varieties that may also do well- turns out there are almost no tomatoes available bred in Scotland- I could find 2 varieties, one being the one I have that’s doing well. There’s plenty from other Northern countries and regions, but places that get a reliable summer, not the daily cloud roulette and fluctuating temperatures we can get.
I then wound up falling down a tomato breeding rabbit hole, which wound up with me attempting to emasculate some tomato flowers and try to cross the ones that are doing best with the ones with really good flavour. Probably won’t go anywhere, but my daft hobby list has been getting thin of late- why not try make my own tomato variety? It’ll only take about 10 years, if it works.
I brushed Spot. now it looks like I had a second cat that exploded.
Morning all. Bladder alerts at 1am, 4:30am, and 6:30am made sleep a patchy thing, but I am up and have done the Sunday NY Times shopping…and also got cornered by a box of Krispy Kreme donuts that wouldn’t let me go if I didn’t buy them, and then of course I needed the pecan sticky bun to go with them, so I am just a little over-sugared this morning. If I do go to Chili’s it’ll be for a late dinner, that’s for sure. Clouds and a little bit of rain, but temperature is supposed to reach 91F, so a good reason to stay indoors.
flyboy. lily, thanks for the information, I knew about that raccoon, but not the name.
VanGo, hope you can give the back some time off.
shoe, you should still be in dreamland as I type this, have a good day once you awaken.
Swampy, glad the food was good, and the RDOS time will be better. I usually turn in somewhere between 10-12pm most nights, but that early…it’s been awhile.
boo fae, sounds like an enjoyable night out, except for the church folks; And I’ve found the longer the Church name, the louder that they often are…
FCM, yes, I think I did that a couple years ago. Also have not needed credit for anything recently, so no reason not to do it. Glad Daughter got the tires replaced, I usually replace the new car tires at about 30,000 miles and get a good, long-lasting set for the balance of the time I have with the vehicle.
Oopsie, I usually do all three (car, hotel, flight) at the same time, but I see your logic. Keep an eye on the plane tickets, with fuel prices fluctuating as they are, the cost can change almost daily.
Wise words.
Cookie, yeah, banks like to get you on the hook for most everything in their arsenal, mine has been after me for years to get a credit card from them, but I have two that function just fine so no thanks.
Nut, hopefully the mad-tomato scientist in you will come up with something tasty, but no Killer Tomatoes, please! 
doggio, quite a collection…
And time for the usual Sunday internettin’. Y’all take care.
Swampy, it sounds like your parishioners got dressed in their Sunday best for a sauna, with a lot of damp neckties and mantillas.
Today’s high temp is predicted to be 87F. Right now, it’s 70F, and cloudy. Today’s NASCAR race is at Indianapolis. They call the track the brickyard, because the whole 2.5 mile track was paved with bricks when the first Indy 500 was held in 1911. There’s a yard-wide strip of the original bricks at the finish line. There are three curious rituals the Indy winner usually does. These things got carried over from the open-wheel Indy 500 to the NASCAR Brickyard 400. The oldest is the drinking of milk by the winner. Louis Meyer, the winner in 1933 and 1936, started it, and the folks in the dairy biz saw a marketing opportunity, and they’ve been supplying a cold bottle of milk for nearly every winner since. More recent traditions are the climbing of the fence and the kissing of the bricks.
Gosh, I sure blathered on. I hope you didn’t get bored.
Our television and/or its remote is/are getting really cranky, often refusing to pause, find Netflix, or respond at all to its remote control. This is complicated by the fact that the remote is light-powered. In theory, we can do some incantation to use a phone as a remote, but the spell starts with the TV’s own remote. The device is in a snit, so we’re stuck a square one. Is it the TV, the remote, or my fault?!
Good morning!
It’s 64F with some high clouds. It’s supposed to be cloudy to mostly cloudy today, with a high of 75F. Yesterday was supposed to be cloudy, too, but the sun broke out and stayed.
Nuts, that sounds like an interesting experiment. It’ll be fun to see how it turns out. Van
VanGo, I hope your back is doing much better today.
Mollie, I’m glad the Mrs. and your son have returned. My son spent a summer in Paris as part of his college requirements for his degree.
BooFae, I think the disconnect between how I do things and how my husband does things is that I’m more deliberate and intentional, and he’s very much “good enough”, which is fine for some things but not others. I come from the school of doing things right the first time, so I don’t have to keep doing things or repair/replace because I didn’t take enough care the first time. With that being said, if I can give the plants a good soak, I can safely skip a day of watering unless it’s too hot. His method of watering ensures they’ll be wilted and sad-looking by afternoon and require a second watering.
Seanette, I used to make hamburgers with Lipton beefy onion soup mix all the time. They were quite tasty!
Seeing the kids and grandkids again was wonderful. They showed up much earlier than I anticipated, but it was fine. It was so nice catching up. We all went to a park down the hill from us, and then came home. By that time, my son and Zeus had arrived, and we got lunch from the Korean fried chicken place. I “played” with Zoe quite a bit, and found out she’s a collector of various things, such as games and certain types of dolls.
Adam was not overly fond of the doggos, and I know it was because they were so loud and barky upon the family’s arrival. Hopefully, by the time they swing back around next week, he’ll be a little calmer around them. Poor Maisie (once she had settled down), wanted nothing more than to be his friend.
For dinner, I made the rotini pasta dish everyone in my family loves, and a good amount of it was eaten. We have plenty for leftovers, though, so that’s good.
The day was long, but in a good way, and noisy, and by the time everyone left late last night, the dogs were exhausted. I was pretty tired, too.
The kids are headed down south today to visit my son at his new place, and then will head over to the Washington coast for a couple of days to the place they stayed when they got married. After that, they’ll make their way south to the Oregon coast with about three or four stops along the way. Then, they’ll swing back up north, stay with some friends a couple days, and finish out their vacation at our place.
I don’t have anything on today’s agenda other than watering the plants or standing by while my husband does it. We shall see. My eyes are not bothering me at all. I guess I’ve been very lucky to not endure any type of scratchiness or irritation.
Well, I suppose I should get going. It may be a three-cup coffee day. For now, I’m going to relax.
As always, please remember to take care of yourselves.
I ironed some curtains that I altered for the boat. But I don’t think I’ve ever ironed a t-shirt. When I was a kid, Mom ironed (then taught me to iron) pillow cases and handkerchiefs. Not as a good way to teach my how to iron, but she really thought those things needed to be ironed. I don’t think she does any longer. I have a few garments which might benefit from a steamy pressing, but why bother when they don’t look all crisp and stuff after at most an hour…
That’s why we opened a credit union account here, despite using our FL CU for our main account. But as it worked out, we got an excellent financial advisor for free (tho he does get a commission on the annuities he set up for us.) And we do have a backup MasterCard with them to cover us when our VISA gets compromised (as has happened far too often.)
When the inlaws moved here, they kept their account with PNC, and we discovered that bank sucketh mightily. We were finally able to convince MIL to move her account to our CU, which made it easier for us top manage her finances, and since FCD was joint on her account, there was no fuss after she died. Which reminds me - we need to make Daughter joint on our accounts.
taters - is there a reason you don’t just snake a soaker hose thru your garden and water it that way?
I’m showered and dressed and the dishwasher is almost done sloshing. FCD is mowing the back - I really hate when he mows - he misses some grass without seeing it - but it’s just grass… I’m finding it hard to get in gear, but I will rollsuck - there’s too much of Otis on the carpet.
Off to get out the Shark!