(Old) I resolve to start the new MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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And a good first day of the new year to all. The night was either fairly quiet or I was tired, slept in until 7am and have done the end of the year financial collection (I try to check my annunities and Edward Jones accounts the start of each month, will shortly compare them to last year’s numbers). They I need to type up the soccer schedules and get them out to the parents and that should pretty much occupy the rest of the morning. We’re starting off much nicer, it’s 45F heading to 62F and while rain is expected on Firday the temperatures will stay about the same. Nothing much on the agenda, got most of the jobs done yesterday and this morning I hung up the sweatpants and sweatshirts I washed Wednesday so that is done. Gym will be open until 4pm so may visit them just to keep my routine the same.

Don’t think I had ever heard that before, looked it up and it’s rather interesting. My first reaction reading it, however, was to reply “Badger, Badger, Badger, Badger…” because my brain is weird…

Sensei, glad you made it there safely, driving in snow is not fun and I can still remember 30+ years ago ending up in the median area on an expressway waiting for a tow truck.

flyboy, I truly do wish that 2026 ends on a more happy note with you installed in a job you care for and leadership that cares for you.

{{red}}, be careful!

FCM, hope daughter has a safe trip, that’s cold weather to be driving in.

Keep feeling better, swampy, I’ve had that too where a good night’s sleep will change how I feel overnight.

Sticky Buns, happy lesson preparation.

And onward into the New Year.

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Good morning and Happy New Year!

It’s 31F with a very dense fog outside. The day calls for fog until around 10:00 a.m., a daytime high of 41F, and afternoon rain showers, though there is a possibility of some morning showers, too.

Sticky Buns, I hope both the practice and the recorded session go well.

FCM, I well remember being able to slide into clothes that were once too tight. I’m hoping that happens for me again. It was such a good feeling! I have a couple of coats I really like that I haven’t been able to wear for some time.

Metal Mouse, congrats on keeping up with your goal. That is some real work!

I’ve had bad venison, and I’ve had good venison. Venison can taste very gamey, and I’m sure that’s the weird taste you’re referring to, FCM. I don’t like it when it’s super gamey, either. But, if it’s well prepared and done right, venison is quite tasty.

The fireworks began here around 5:00 p.m. last night, and the last of the big booms ended at 3:00 a.m. this morning. I swear, the people up here on the hill have just become extra obnoxious over the last decade. It didn’t used to be so awful, especially on New Year’s. A few fireworks around midnight, but that was all. Now it’s becoming a second Independence Day. I wish they’d just outlaw (and enforce the law) the damn things.

And now, I sound like a Grumpy Gus…sigh.

I think I’ll start taking down the decorations today and probably do some laundry, too. That’s about the extent of my plans.

You all take care of yourselves.

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Afternoon all.

I was in bed before midnight, but planned to stay awake until the year changed- no point trying to sleep anyway, due to all the things going bang. They didn’t stop until rather late, and I didn’t wind up actually getting to sleep until about 4, then woke up at around 11. Not what I had planned for the day. I’ve got some laundry on, but I suspect that will be the main acheivement for the day.

I don’t know if someone sent me some snow, but it’s arrived- I don’t think it was packed properly though, it’s just blowing all over willy-nilly. I don’t think it’ll accumulate much here if at all, though it probably will a bit further inland.

A good day to have the fire lit and just slob in front of it.

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Daughter is on her way - apparently the surface roads were less than ideal, but the interstate is ok. And it appears the bad weather is south of her route. Theoretically, she’ll be here between 3 and 4.

The kids are painting and I’m hoping I can read. Otis is with FCD for a quick run to the marina to pick up some tools. For the moment, it’s quiet. Guess I just jinxed that. Oh well…

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Said it twice. Once when I got up to urinate, and one when I got up for the day.

:rabbit_face: :rabbit_face: :rabbit_face:

Here’s a pic from The Northern Light’s Farcebook page (Sorry, couldn’t find it on their website) of last night’s Ring of Fire and Hope. Their picture is better than the one I got on my phone.

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You have such a limited palate that I’m honestly surprised to hear this. Good on you for being so brave!

There are deer farms in AZ. You can take the kids to feed Bambi and then stop at the butcher shop to buy a hunk of Bambi’s dad for dinner. Farmed game/exotic meat is also found in some grocery stores which is why it surprised me that it can’t be sold in WV.

But…anyhow…this was sausage. Sausage is typically so highly spiced that you can’t really tell what animal its from anyhow. It didn’t have the fatty mouth feel of pork, but I would have easily believed it if I was told it was beef.

:people_hugging:

Can you make an appointment to speak to someone at the unemployment office about jobs. They usually know a lot about what is happening in the job market and like to help folks who actually want to get and keep a job.

Thank you! That just went on my library list, I’m planning on going tomorrow.

DANG about the fall, I hope you didn’t do more than bruise your pride.

I love your cartoon :slight_smile:

Happy New Year to you as well, may it be good to you.

I heard there was thundersnow in Morgantown, but we got nothing.

I’m glad MusicMan’s employer saw sense. Sick people get other people sick and should stay home.

I hope everyone starts feeling better soonist. I’m still a Novid, but I’ve nursed Hubs through three bouts of it and it doesn’t look like a lot of fun.

So it was quiet last night. I fell into a stitching trance around 2200 and was still at it at midnight. No bangs, no fireworks and no snow. I wrapped things up around 0100 and woke up to no snow.

Hubs has been tracking the new litter robot and it made it to Charleston last night. He was getting excited about it getting here today and I had to harsh his buzz with the news that no mail would be delivered.

He has a plan for when it arrives. He wants to put it together and let it sit by the old one so the cats have time to get used to a new thing. Then he plans to mix some of the used litter with new litter and put it in the new box to encourage them to use it. :roll_eyes:

It seems to me that he’s overthinking this and I am going to insist that the new robot has litter in it before letting the fuzzbutts see it. I think George is going to love it, its made for cats up to 25 lbs so he will have more room to move around.

I think today will be full of sloth. Nothing’s open and we don’t have anywhere we need to be anyhow. The house is clean and all laundry is done. I guess there’s nothing else to do but smoke weed and play with thread so I guess I should get started.

Have a great day everyone!

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Well, everyone except for my eldest canceled at the last minute, citing illness. So it will be a small gathering of four instead of ten others. I’m trying not to be depressed over it.

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Happy new year!

I went to bed around 10:30ish. Then the fireworks across the street woke me up. I am only able to see them from the reflection in windows. There were fireworks at the Delaware river at 6:pm and midnight. Those I could see. The cats were not amused. We finally settled down around 12:30am.

It is a bright, sunny, cold day in Philly. That super bright you get on very cold winter days. Went out to get breakies this morning. Some snow squalls came in the wee hours and dusted the city. Saw a mummer wench walking home from the parade. The building had a potluck brunch today, 11-1pm. So I stopped down there for a bit. Met up with some neighbours. Amazingly some of them slept through the fireworks.

Johnny-la, I hope you get an amazing new job this year.
Jtc, that sounds amazing!

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When I lived with a deer hunter, I would make meatloaf with 50% ground venison and 50% 73/27 ground beef. The mix balanced flavor and fat.

There were a lot of pro quality fireworks going on here too.

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Good afternoon, all. My Brother-in-law and his family are in town for New Year’s. We ate dinner at the local brewery. (I had a nice IPA - I’m a middle aged white guy; they’re my pumpkin spice latte.) We got back at about eight, and put out Christmas cookies and Seacrest on the boob tube. The cousins lasted until about nine-thirty, and their parents pumpkinned an hour later. Spike, Squeaky, and I played Bomb Busters until midnight. They had ginger ale, and I had a glass.of Secco, a semi-dry sparkling wine.

This morning, Mrs Magill, her SIL, our young niece, and I took Chloé for a nice long walk. The niece also inspected every neighborhood playground we passed. It was a pleasant morning overall. I have a ham in the oven and will start the black-eyed peas in a half hour.

I haven’t have and serious anxiety attacks in the last couple of days, just the now constant low grade stress in the back of my head. I’m almost afraid to see what will set my brane off next. I feel like it’s saving up for a big one. Watch the trigger be something incredibly trivial, loke socks.

Happy New Year, everyone!

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There used to be a restaurant close-ish to one of my grad programs that made an excellent venison entree. I could afford it only twice, but it was delicious.

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Happy New Year, all. I hope everyone has a significantly better 2026 than 2025.

I can’t keep up with everyone’s posts this week, but there are a few recent ones I wanted to mention, nevertheless:

Sticky Buns, what a relief that someone finally saw sanity about Music Man’s illness. I can’t believe how pigheaded HR people can be. Congrats on your weight loss so far, too!

metal mouse, congrats to you as well on continuing successful maintenance on your enviable weight loss! I really admire your discipline and commitment. Re venison, I’m with you. I had to eat a lot of it as a kid, my mother had no idea how to prepare it well, it was always gamey as f*** and I hate it to this day. I’ve prepared it a time or two to prove I could prepare it well, but I just can’t overcome my earliest experiences with it. In a word: Yuck. No offense to those who enjoy it, of course.

lily, the Ducks, right? I’m watching the game as I type. If they could just get out of their own way, they’d be miles ahead! I’m glad they’re ahead, but this is still anyone’s game (modified due to developments). Thank goodness for Atticus Sappington – he’s an excellent kicker! Today is the first time I’ve seen him miss a kick. And the Ducks are playing better than I expected. (Except for the snapper. Oy!)

JtC, stunning needlework, as always! I know you are an ultra-perfectionist and see every little bibble, but it all looks perfect and beautiful to me. :slight_smile: Good luck with the new litter robot. I always had luck putting new mechanical litter boxes side by side, filling each with fresh litter, then letting the cats move to the new one as the old one got too yucky. They will always choose clean, fresh litter, IME.

Yikes, red, scary fall! I’m relieved you’re back on your feet. Slow and steady wins the race, non?

It’s been a quiet week for me, characterized mostly by futzing with wood to keep warm. We had more heat pump killing weather, so home heat was all wood all the time. We did fine, but I am glad to have a respite starting today with warmer temperatures forecast for the week. Time for a heat pump tune-up, I think.

In happiest news, I think I have finally solved Ollie’s itchiness once and for all. The yeast baths help tremendously, but he was still scratching more than I wanted to see. I switched him from Cytopoint injections with daily doses of Apoquel to Zenrelia. Hasn’t scratched once! And bonus, Zenrelia is cheaper than Cytopoint/Apoquel.

I have finally cut the cord and am now exclusively streaming tee vee. It will be a nice savings each month, which is the whole reason why I invested in the expensive gigabit fiber optic line. Monthly internet costs are now half of what they were for ten times better speeds, and reduced expense for phones of more than $100/month by switching to VoIP. Altogether, I’ll save about $300/month, even accounting for the one new expense I took on for an adult cell phone. And I think I can do that for less per month, too.

I did not make it to midnight last night, threw in the towel around 11:30 p.m. No biggie. I celebrated early with a glass of brandy and egg nog. Woo! The neighbors (all far away) were blasting away with noisy things around 7:00 p.m. (odd time), but I couldn’t hear them except when I took Ollie out for a pee. I didn’t hear anything close to midnight, so they’re getting more considerate.

That’s it for now. :slight_smile:

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Good news on Ollie’s itch!

Yes; isn’t this always true for the Ducks?; Atticus was delightful; the snapper needs to manage his anxiety. A nice, clean game, soon to be followed by meatloaf.

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Always! They either under-perform or over-perform – rarely do they do what’s expected! Even with this outcome, the score looks like they played really well. But watching the game, I’d say the defense was awesome, but – surprisingly – the offense was not stellar.

We’ll see what happens at the next game. I hope Alabama gets crunched today in the Rose Bowl, even though it was Indiana the Ducks lost their one game to in the regular season. Either way, the Ducks have an uphill slog against either team. Meatloaf indeed.

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I see I never commented on this.

I have two.

The traditional one: get more exercise, whether that is gym or one of the machines here at home.

The non-traditional one: get back into piping. This is a long story. In spite of my nickname, I’ve not been piping for several years.

First, when covid hit, I couldn’t go for lessons anymore; my piping instructor had to shut down. The last thing that was wanted was people in a small room playing breath instruments, sharing all of our microbes in the air!

Then, even when things got better, my instructor had to move away for health reasons. He’s likely in his 80s, and I’ve heard from a friend that he’s in a memory care home; didn’t recognise my friend when he paid a call, and apparently doesn’t remember much from the past two decades. He was a natural story-teller, from an interesting life in the British Army. It’s sad when the story-teller can’t remember his stories anymore.

And then covid; I’ve had covid several times, and it really sapped my energy.

All that said, I’ve been gradually getting energy back, so I’m going to try to get back to piping. It will mean practising and getting my fingers back to action on the chanter, plus getting my skills back on the full set.

My goal is to play “The Maple Leaf Forever” on the shores of the lake on July 1. Hope I make it.

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Oh! I see I didn’t, either. But that’s because I never make them. This year is no exception. :wink:

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Good news on Ollie!

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The ham hocks have been shredded, bones and skin removed, and the meat added back to the black-eyed peas and the ham hock water for the collard greens. I’ve mixed the try ingredients for the cornbread, and got out a cast-iron frying pan.

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Thank you! :slight_smile: I am so happy he’s better at last. And may I wish you every success on your New Year’s goals this year – I am sure you will accomplish them!

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I did my grocery shopping, took a nap. Spot stomped on my. I also refilled the vermin feeder, since the fat squirrel knocked it over and pooped off the top. [quote=“JaneDoe42, post:146, topic:1026138”]
Happy New Year to you as well, may it be good to you.
[/quote]
Well, I still don’t have a jetpack…

< crosses fingers >

Outstanding!