(Old) I owe, I owe, so off to Mump I go - A Tax Season MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
181

Monkey sez, “What up, yo” right on back.

And now, thanks to you, so do I.

Okay, note to self, stay outta FCM’s way today, she be cranky with the entire world and has every right to feel that way.

Darling, let’s do please try to contain our enthusiasm, shall we? 'Tis unseemly, this show of enthusiasm.

(^^ best said in one’s best and most snootiest of accents)

I’d like to thank the Academy, and my agent past Shoe for finally getting her ass off her chair shit somewhat together.

The rather garish teal color doesn’t thrill me, but microfiber is always comfy and deep pocket sheets are soooooooooo much easier to deal with.
Tossed ALL the blankets into the hamper (Future Shoe has yet more laundry on her agenda, the lucky bitch) and went nutz with the new batch, so I slept on/under a pile of completely clean fabric, with a head of clean - if slightly fluffy - hair.

Didn’t turn on white pink noise, nor the “Binaural Sleep Music” stuff off YouTube, nor put in earplugs, but gawd, did I sleep.
Probably helped that my ‘hood is rather quiet lately, and nobody’s idling their overly-bass Thumpmobile or racing down my block at half-past-stoopit o’dark o’clock, what with the coupla inches of snow both muffling ambient noise and dampening idiots’ inclination to idiot.

Aw, shit cripes, I forgot to do the “Midwestern during a lake effect snowstorm” thing and lift my wiper blades up last night.

{ peers outside }

I wonder if there’s any point, at this … uh … point.

{ puts on bathrobe and slippers, wanders outside into falling snow while muttering about football and occasionally saying, “Bet.” }

(^^ Texan just tryin’ to fit in. How’d I do?)

182

Ah, the backhanded compliment. Always fun. (“Ummm … thanks? I think?”)

Anyway, I didn’t see your update while I was composing my brief lil’ note, so {{ warmest of huggzz }} and I hope we’ll learn soon all about your fabbo new digs and even more fabbo new job!

183

I’m really not looking forward to the next couple of days. The Weather Channel predicts 15º/11º tomorrow. There’s a wind chill warning until at least Saturday morning. The weather guesser on the morning news says that temperatures tomorrow will be in the ‘low single digits’. He said that with the wind chill, the ‘feels like’ temperature will be -10º or even -15º. It’s 39º Ferret Height here right now according to TWC. They say Morning: 39º, Afternoon: 24º, Evening: 16º, and Overnight: 12º. They say 10º from 0600 to 0900 tomorrow morning. As I said, we’ve been enjoying the mild Winter.

From here [subject to updates - emphasis mine]:

Description

…WIND CHILL ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 4 PM THIS AFTERNOON TO 7 AM PST SATURDAY…

WHAT…Very cold wind chills expected. Wind chills as low as 20 below zero.

WHERE…Lowlands of western Whatcom County, including Point Roberts, Lummi Island, Bellingham, and Sumas.

WHEN…From 4 PM this afternoon to 7 AM PST Saturday.

IMPACTS…The cold wind chills could cause frostbite on exposed skin in as little as 30 minutes.

The link currently also has a Gale Warning, Wind Advisory, and Small Craft Advisory.

:cold_face: :cold_face: :cold_face:

184

Good morning. Things are marginally better today in that I didn’t roll over and go right back to bed after packing up and shipping out Wee Weasel. I stayed awake. Huzzah!

I’m trying to adjust my already extensive morning routine to include exercise and meditation. I re-arranged my daily tasks in my Finch app and got rid of a bunch of “wish I could” tasks that were overwhelming the real goals.

I’m dragging my feet but I’m getting through it all. I just enjoyed a nice long walk in the snow. While walking, I listened to the 10% Happier podcast with guest star Bill Hader (The director and star of Barry.) Apparently he suffers from anxiety. Who knew?

He said he takes the narrative out of anxiety. So instead of “I feel anxiety because…” He just says, “I feel anxiety.” And host Dan Harris said, "Why not just ‘Anxiety’? Why not take the “I” and the narrative out?

I was thinking about this more deeply because Spouse Weasel and I were discussing how as a culture we are always trying to reduce stress, like it’s an anomaly of our modern times, but actually ancient man was probably super stressed all the time, being always on the knife-edge of survival, so maybe stress is just what happens when you’re an animal in the world. It’s not anything going wrong, it’s just a condition of life. I am fearful because I am.

Can you tell I’ve been reading post-apocalyptic fiction?

Can’t wait to hear how it goes!

Hope your pipes stay toasty. We once lost water this way and it was no fun.

185

the michigan chocolate came from my secret santa. they were cherry flavoured from henderson and soooooo very good (they had the state stamped on the chocolate).

onward to thursday. hopefully a nice calm day. still no snow.

johnny_la, love the dot picture. that is brilliant!

186

You did just fine, we ol’ midwesterners are ecstatic to claim you as our very own one of us!

The only thing more you could do would be to use an old bath mat on your windshield (even more authentic, a flattened cardboard box) anchored by those wipers when snow/sleet/ice is expected. Pry mat/sheet of cardboard off and fling to the side of the driveway when you are daft enough to attempt to actually drive somewhere in this manical g-dforsaken windswept barren prairie lake effect death-defying winter shit storm.

And don’t forget to stock up on a bottle of cheap brandy off the bottom shelf at the likker sto’ for sloshing into nearly every cup of steaming hot cup or hot chocolate for the duration. We’re gonna need it, girl, to get through this. Cheap dark :tumbler_glass: rum works just dandy too. Just don’t let the weather shit storm catch you up supplied. Get the fifth size jug, a pint won’t be enough brandy or rum.

187

Mrs. L.A. bought a pool noodle that she intends to put over her wipers. I just lift mine up… if I remember.

188

I did not learn about lifting up the wiper blades until I moved to Jersey. Which is interesting, because Michigan used to have some harsh winters. You think we’d have come up with such an idea.

189

I see our overachieving FCM has some competition.

Absolutely unsolicited advice, but have you tried just … doing one thing at a time? You’re, like, Multi-task Central, but you’re tired. No wonder!

Nice walks in the snow are for listening to … nothing. The muffled nothingness of silence. Just your own breath.
Look at trees. Blink snowflakes off your lashes. Just. Be.

Their existence was probably a lot like ours, although the details would vary. But in between “oh shit, aw SHIT, ohshitohshitohshitfuck!” there were, just like for us, peaceful moments.

A full belly, a warm fire, a clear sky full of stars wheeling slowly overhead, is certainly peaceful bliss for many.

I have read multiple accounts describing various versions of a typical hunter-gatherer lifestyle, and yes - like driving in rush hour traffic - there’s imminent mortal danger, that with the proper skills and a bit of luck, you’ll survive, and yes - like dealing with one’s Idiot Boss - there are annoyances - but as with everything else, there are tradeoffs.

190

Hmmm, a mystery. The plumbers got here a little before 9am and once they got settled I told them I’d be out for an hour running errands and they said ok. So made a couple stops and was back about 10am…and the trucks are gone and no note that I can find, so either they were called away to an emergency or needed to pick up stuff somewhere. Will wait until 11am to check (may check phone, might have left a text). But curious.

Have the carpet people coming Monday (presuming the concrete is done today), so that is all set. Thinking about renting one of those deep carpet cleaners, since the carpet hasn’t had a proper cleaning in years and it’ll be mostly open and available. We’ll see.

Checked text messages, nothing from Plumbers.

Niner, just tell them next time “you ought to see me on my good days…” Bad news indeed on the car problems, but at least you have a little time to save up for it. Looking forward to hearing from you in your new digs.

Flyboy, that is getting into seriously cold times. Bundle up if you have to go outside. WInd Chill Factor is a phrase I really learned to hate up in N. Ohio.

Spicey, yeah, we tend to forget history, most humans lived a much more stressful life (and a large percentage still do) that was, to use a phrase ‘nasty, brutal, and short’. I always look to Billy Joel’s song “Pressure” to describe our modern times. YMMV.

I can’t remember ever putting something under my wiper blades, just hacked at the ice around them with the ice scraper until they came loose.

OK, it’s nearly 11am and nothing from the plumbers, so will call the office and see what’s what. Take care all.

191

Normally I do not listen to anything. Listening to a podcast was an anomaly. I didn’t particularly want to go outside and it helped motivate me to get out there today. And hey, I got something useful out of it. It’s a good podcast.

192

Did I mention I dug out my old ski clothes from the last time I went skiing? (Actually, my first attempt at snowboarding.) The lift ticket on the pants was from November 1998, a few weeks after my dad died. I think I did post about it earlier.

Anyway, I hope I don’t have to wear them in the house! I’ll bring in more firewood later. And get out my RAF ‘Irvin’ jacket. I never wear it because it’s never cold enough…

193

My kids went to an afterschool program either all to a few days a week until 4th or 5th grade, mostly because their friends were there. The days they didn’t go, they came home on their own. Going just two to three days a week started when they were in maybe 2nd or 3rd grade and wanted to putz around on their own for a while.

As far as going to the bus stop, they’ve gone on their own since 1st or 2nd. The stop is two houses away and used to be in front of our house, so I just poke my head out the door to make sure the bus is on time when I’m working at home. I’ve been super embarrassing for a while.

194

Happiest of birthdays, BBBoo!

fishy, I’m so sorry to hear about your troubles - sending healing vibes your way.

It’s a sunny day here, and the furnace has been decided upon, but I don’t know if the husband unit has told the HVAC people yet or no, so I’m going to pester him soon. The gift of pestering comes with talking too much.

Overlysister gets in this evening; I worked from home so I can clean during the hour I’d usually be driving. Overlyboy is done with finals - yay!!! - and playing video games to rest his tired brain. I’d rather he take a nap since he hasn’t gotten a decent night’s sleep since last week, but what do I know? He learns about whether he was admitted to his top college pick on Monday and I’m biting my nails for him. It’ll be a bit of a stretch, but I will unabashedly wet myself with joy if he gets in.

Anyway, it’s supposed to get really freaking cold over the weekend; if we’re very lucky we won’t turn into icicles. Luckily the CO2 monitors are in place now, so that’s good.

195

Thank you for the kind words, everyone. Honestly, any one of you would have done the same. The experience reminded me yet again of the misery and complexity that being homeless entails on the daily. I always wonder about their families. No mother holds her baby and thinks, “She’s going to be homeless some day.” OK, enough on that subject.

Today I get to go to the dentist. I’ve had a sore spot for almost 6 weeks, but I canceled my first appointment when I thought it was getting better. I have a feeling I’m going to hear the C-word (crown) or maybe the R-word (root canal) or both. They’ve been telling me it’s a wonder that molar has lasted as long as it has. I’m going to take the bus downtown and then walk from there (another mile or two), unless it’s too cold.

Cat Glove, just wanted to say that you and hubs are in my daily prayers, and even though I don’t always comment on your posts, I read them all and wish I could do more.

flyboy, BRRRR! Try not to freeze solid!

No laughter here. The salt from the chips must have made that even worse. My sympathies.

Poor Ace. I like to imagine the conversations Spot and Ace have when you’re not around.

Spot: Egad, canine slobber! Is there anything more uncouth?
Ace: Oh, yeah? Well, at least I poop outside, pal, and don’t stink up the joint! Uh-oh…

BooFae, what happened to your usual bus? Was there a notice of some kind that it wasn’t running, or did it just not show up? I hope the meetings aren’t too dull.

It sounds like he probably won’t. Whom would he freak out TO? Your MIL? Ugh. And may I say again that you’re so efficient and reasonable, I wish you’d run for president, either party? I’d vote for you, and I bet a lot of others would, too. Sure, you’d have a lot of problems to address, but then, no more wondering what to make for dinner, and I hear those Secret Service guys are good company.

196

And the plumbers came back, mostly to clean up and refill the trench they had dug…but apparently the folks who do the concrete to restore the floor to a smooth surface are either very busy or sick and can’t make it today. So waiting for a phone call on when they will be available. Oh joy. At least I now have water to the whole house without leaking any of it.

flyboy, yeah, you did, but it was a good story so telling it twice is fine. And had to look up Irvin Jacket (the things I have learned from other Mumpers…), I almost hope it does get cold enough because I am sure you’d look terrific in it.

talkie, fingers crossed for Overlyboy to be accepted, and would supply you some Depends if I could… :wink: :grinning: :dizzy_face:

nellie, you reminded me I have a dental appointment next Tuesday (so rug-reattachment is out for that morning). Just a regular checkup and cleaning for me, hoping that neither of us has to hear those Capital Letter words.

OK, back to waiting, but if I don’t get a call by 4pm…

197

I did get out the Irvin jacket. I do have a picture of me wearing one, but I was tens of pounds heavier and the one I’m wearing is my larger one. So here’s a generic pic for anyone who doesn’t want to look it up.

The only problem with Irvin jackets is that they have no pockets. (The USAAF B-3 jacket, which is similar, had one map pocket.) So I’ll need to wear gloves if I want to keep my hands warm. Too bad I don’t have any reproduction ones. I could wear them and the jacket with my flying boots. It’s a pity I can’t afford to fly in my flying togs.

198

Thank you-it was the nicest birthday in awhile, especially considering the sh*t show my December was-had me worried there but my Mumper friends made it warm and joyful.

:fist:t2: on :wood: for you, dear heart! I’ll be holding the good :tooth: Thoughts for you from the frigid, blustery afar.

Hoping the busses and the walk go smoothly for you too.

199

Okay, I apologize for the unsolicited (and clearly unneeded) advice.

200

The temperature has dropped below 30º Ferret Height, and it just started to snow.

I put the battery charger on the MGB to keep the battery from freezing over the next couple of days. I’ll go out and start the Jeep later.

Immediate update: It’s still snowing, but it’s sunny for the moment.