I’m late to the party, but Happy Birthday to my favorite superhero, JtC! (It’s not midnight yet here.)
All the presents but one have been mailed out, and I’m waiting on a new address for that one. I had to build a box for gifts to my sister, but I practically encased it in packing tape, so I think it’ll get there OK. I hauled the boxes in my babushka cart with Christmas lights twinkling because I correctly figured lines would be long, and I wouldn’t be home before dark.
Oh, and I remembered I had a contact lens from the first, not-quite-right set that might help, so at least my left eye isn’t totally blurry.
I got that far before getting interrupted by a very loud, door-slamming, foot-stomping argument upstairs. Then my beloved brother called.
Boo, thanks for the hippie update. And nobody puts Boo in the corner!
Have you forgotten already that you’re Minister of Dumplings?
MetalMouse, congrats on the downsizing, and I hope the plumbers show up tomorrow
Red, sweet card!
Unless they’re an ace defensive lineman. Man, carrying one of those guys definitely slowed my running. Of course, it didn’t help that he kept kicking and yelling, “Take me back to Soldier Field right now!”
i read that article too and Lancaster has always been like a princess jumping on a table to avoid a mouse concerning homeless people… …the mayor and the now retired city manager wanted to move the Metrolink station to the middle of nowhere … so it wouldn’t encourage them coming in from la on the train …the state politely told them what they could go do with themselves …
the thing they didnt say is why theres a total change of shops every few years is … you get a sweetheart deal to move in but when the renewals happen its grab your ankles with no lube so most dont last longer than 3-4 years
Morning, mumpers! It’s a whopping 4c/39f with a predicted high of 8c/46f,and mostly cloudy. Weather app says “I often give zero fucks on days like today. Apparently fucking Mother Nature also gives zero fucks.” It’s not that bad, cloudy and grey and a bit gloomy but it’s dry and that’s the important bit.
I was absent from the MMP yesterday so have some catching up to do, but I am also tired and have the beginnings of a cold so I’m not able to brain properly either. Fortunately, it’s Friday and there are very few real demands on my time today so I can have a quiet one in the office with lots of tea.
JtC belated happies to you! I hope you enjoyed your buffday.
Mooooom sounds like good news for MIL on the kidneys, they’ve lasted well and perhaps her sister can persuade her to drink more water too.
Sari you have the patience of a saint with BarkyHumpyPerson, I am sure I would have ditched her a long time ago and probably told her why!
metalmouse congrats on the continued weight loss and the commitment to exercising! I need to get back on track after the holidays, I’m not one for new year resolutions but I realise that I have let things slip recently so it is time to put that right.
nellie hope you manage to get your lenses sorted quickly. Nobody likes to be living in Blursville.
Boo stop that slinking right now, young lady! Get back here where you are wanted, valued and needed! And thank you for the update on hippy, I am glad it is good news.
In other potential good news, I have been on my secondment since the end of March and am currently expected to be here until February 2024. Yesterday I heard that the person whose job I am covering has successfully got a job in our College wellbeing team (which is a role he really wanted) so it looks like my move over here may well be permanent!
FCD is on the road and I’m home. We’ll not discuss stubborn, but news of the storm that’ll hit hereabouts on Sunday spooked him - he didn’t want to have to spend the night along the road, then spend a second night with his aunt, which means he didn’t want to go to Roxy’s school show.
I’d already told Roxy I’d be there, and frankly, I want to see it. He didn’t like my suggestion that we drive to Columbus tonight, drop off MIL Sat morning, and immediately drive home. So he’s going to drive all day today, then get up stoopit early tomorrow and drive back.
On one hand, I’m relieved - I do hate long drives and I don’t know that I could listen to MIL say the same things over and over without losing my mind. I know she’s probably dealing with early dementia and I do try to be patient, but I swear every time she tells me the same thing for the umpteenth time, I need a deep, cleansing breath…
Anyway, I’ll try to video the kids, and I have a few errands I can run. And papers to sort and organize. And until he gets home, I’ll fret about FCD being on the road. And I’ll probably fall asleep in my chair at some point, since I didn’t get a lot of sleep.
Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and caffeinatin’. YAWN ‘Tis 43 Amurrkin out and clear with a predicted high of 63 and N.O.S. for the day. Sloth, general overall uselessness, nappage, day drinkin’, and bein’ retired drains on society is the plan of the day. I have dealt with the great unwashed for two days in a row, so this is deserved. Sup shall be chikin nachos due to a gnawin’ and a cravin’.
JtC yikes about the fence but glad it got fixed. I do love the stories about GG. Always good for a giggle.
Nettie hope you feel better today.
Boo thanks for the update on Hippie.
Everyone else, yays, boos, hugs, noogies, chitlins, trouts, and how you doin’s all around, as needed.
Now I need more caffeine and to feed rumbly tummy. Then, onward into the day! Rah.
It’s 39F and partly clear outside. The expected high is 49F with mostly cloudy skies.
Happy Belated Birthday, JtC! I’m glad your new neighbors did right by and fixed your fence.
boo, thanks so much for the update on hippy.
metal mouse, yay for smaller shirts!
FCM, sometimes it is just no use fighting the stubborn. Ask me how I know. My eyes should have shifted to the back of my head by now since I’ve rolled them so often at my husband’s stubbornness. I’ve found it’s best to walk away.
I’ve validated my timecard and will not attend the big meeting today. I’m supposed to be off. I’ve put in several extra hours this week and last, and I think the MPA should be able to handle taking notes. I called her last night and went over several things with her. She’s an adult and should be able to handle this. (Never mind the hours I spent editing her minutes from the last meeting). I have things to do, places to go, and stuff.
I have spent the better part of an hour trying to compose this. Many trips outside with the pups ensued between 3:30 and now. Hopefully, they’ll nap for a bit now that they’ve had some brekkies
Yays, hugs, boos, noogies as needed! I’ve lost my train of thought, darn it.
I m are it through the surgery. The pain is not as bad as I thought It would be. I am two days post surgery and I have almost no energy. They are talking about sending me home Sunday t
A couple hours after sunrise here on an unrelentingly gray, breezy, but thankfully dry day. We didn’t get enough rain overall near us to cause flooding, but the multi-day drip, drip, drip was getting monotonous. Presently 74/23 on the way to 76/23. Windy: 25-35mph worth. Yipes. With winds like that lots of palm fronds get knocked loose and end up laying in the street, sidewalk, etc. They’re huge, like 2+ feet x 10+ feet, but not real heavy. Still it’d hurt to get hit with one in flight; damn things are sharp.
Finished my early morning fasting blood & bodily fluid sampling, yakked a bit with the dear ladies at the lab, and now wrapping up breakfast at the nicer-than-Denny’s while Her Ladyship yet slumbers. The general plan of the day is wander home, have Big Boy lunch, and figure out how to piss away the day.
As I mentioned last week on the occasion of FCM’s 40th (congrats again!!), tomorrow is our 2 year anniversary. We have a potluck-style holiday party that evening with a social club we belong to, so that’ll be fun-ish. We haven’t been real active recently. The holiday party brings out a lot of the seldom participants like us, so it’ll mostly be strangers there. Convivial strangers, but strangers nevertheless.
We don’t have anniversary celebration plans … yet. That’ll be a topic to address today, but I expect Her Ladyship will prefer something low-key. That was the reaction last time I launched a trial balloon a couple weeks ago.
As to y’all …
I did not. That would have been unacceptably plebian and the hulking security dude might have oh-so-gently suggested I go hang with the other lowlifes at Armani next door. But here you go: Women’s Gifts for Special Occasions | PRADA. The “outlet” pricing and selection was different as always, but you get the idea. They are nicely made, but not that nicely made. Truly stupid.
Flying rats sound fun! A gentle toss is probably enough. (See more below.)
Yeah, that trick never works.
I haven’t done exactly that maneuver, but I did cook one on a pizza stone once that I’d over-toppinged and I didn’t notice some lava had flowed off the back & adhered to the stone. Pull the heavy hot awkward stone out of the oven, move over to the cool cookie sheet the pie was to be transferred to, tip the stone gently, then a bit more, and watch the dough slide off, leaving most of the toppings quickly searing themselves to the stone. Then I dropped the stone on top of the mess. Which broke, spreading molten lava everywhere. There was not pizza that night. It’s funny in the retelling, but there was nothing funny about the cleanup.
Yaay! A good-enough solution at least for temporary.
I always keep one spare pair in a case & solution. When I get a new batch, instead of throwing out the last of the batch I’m taking out, I replace the old spares with those newly used ones. Works whether the prescription is the same or has been newly updated. I typically get them in a pak of 6 pair, and about half the time I’ve lost or torn one before that pak is used up. Those spares are invaluable.
Speaking of contact lenses, I mentioned a couple weeks ago that I had been trying the “multifocal” lenses where one eye is corrected for far, the other for reading. Anyhow, that worked out great. I’ve since gotten a 6-pak of that new scrip and haven’t worn or carried old fogey readers with me for about 3 weeks now. That feels so freeing and youthifying. Color me very happy. The vision is less that perfect both near and far, but it’s plenty good enough. So far.
Great ideas! Which puts me in mind of what would happen if we could magically arrange a real world all-Mumper potluck party and everyone brought all their critters too. The hoomans would have some interesting yaks and world-class noshing, but can you imagine all the critter shenanigans as all the various species, personalities, and IQs collide in one room all at once? Happy and confused mayhem ensues. And no small amount of hiding. The vid would be priceless.
Yeah Shady, a lot of the desert communities are populated by folks who moved there to escape the “evils” of the big city/ suburbia and they’d totally favor putting up a wall to keep everyone from out of town out. There’s some of that too in small towns in the not-desert Midwest, but IME/IMO the desert folks are more hard-bitten about it.
Yeah, a lot of “urban renewal” projects amount to the taxpayers paying a real estate developer to fancify an area in an uneconomic fashion, then paying retailers to operate there uneconomically for a couple / few years, then once the taxpayer subsidy runs dry, economic gravity reasserts itself and the shiny redevelopment turns into an increasingly ratty and offputting ghost town. Meanwhile all that sweet sweet taxpayer money has been siphoned off to the developers and out-of-town business owners.
It totally can work out great. If there’s an inherent reason there for an influx of new people with new habits and new money to sustain the place after the subsidies are withdrawn. I lived in one of those redevelopment success stories for ~10 years. But the number of failed projects after a decade far outnumber the successes.
I had not known you were in a temporary role. But congrats on it probably becoming permanent! Sounds like that’s your preference too. Good thing!
Sounds like the right outcome albeit for the wrong reason. Enjoy the Roxy show! And sleep whenever and wherever you can while you can. That feels soooo good!
Taters, best of luck with your good day and with the infernal MPA.
Yaay for being back here with us at least!
IANA medical dude, but I’ve gotten a few folks out of a hospital after a stay. And your crew there does this every day. They know what trajectory to expect from somebody like you. Low energy is reaI common, but probably by Sunday you’ll be a LOT more powerful than now. If not, you’ll get a couple extra days there. Oh joy! For damned sure, take it easy-ish at home when you get there. A small stretch-goal every day is good: overdoing is a recipe for setbacks.
Shoot, at our house, Mom just cooked them up. They were, after all, free protein.
You may want to try the S23UL. They’re pretty much what replaced the Note.
Glad you got your fence fixed JtC!
Yay on heart surgery being over hippy! Here’s to continuing improvement.
Thank you all for the compliments on the cards. I like to make stuff like that.
Up, caffeinating, breakfasted, bed stripped, a load of towels / sheets in the dryer, jeans in the wash and fixing to do KP / clean house. I’ll hit the grocery store later, then prep the three cheese grits casserole for tomorrow so’s all I have to do is bake it in the morning while I get ready.
Morning all. Slept until near 8am again, apparently pedaling a bike until near 9pm let’s me sleep longer, but it’s a habit I don’t want to get used to. Swimming today if all goes as planned, outside of that no particular reason to be out and about, it’s 48F and nice heading for 60F.
Hippy!! Thanks for posting, just lie back and get your rest and recuperation in, we’ll continue to send prayers, thoughts, good vibes, positive waves, whatever each of us is comfortable with.
flyboy, glad the pizza was recoverable, you’ve learned something and it also generated a nice story by Pilot, so win-win from my perspective…
BBBoo, don’t slink; never heard the story before either (but did recognize the wordplay).
Pilot, been around a few stores like that, my plebeian brain simply refuses to pay that kind of price for some basic requirement (last time was in Seattle trying to find a jacket). And an early Happy Anniversary!
nellie, glad you have partial sight, hope it’s all back soon.
Be well, boo fae. I’m sure your exercise routine will return, I am retired so time is on my hands, when I was working, gym was not in my plans. Take care and fingers crossed on the job.
FCM, Men can be a bother (I know, I is one), but hope it works out for MIL.Enjoy the show.
OK, need to do some morning internettin’ and then break my fast. All y’all take care.
A cup of tea with you and a chance to watch Monkey play and zoomie would work, especially if he’d occasionally come over close so I could admire him properly. Allowing me a few pets and purrs would cinch the deal.
The Kindergarten Musical Extravaganza was ADORABLE!!! Today was Jammies Day at the school, and most of the kids were in holiday-themed pajamas. They sang 5 songs, including a Christmas Wrap Rap that was too cute! They also did something called The Wiggle Song and Roxy really got into the wiggling. Since she’s tall, she was on the top row, so we could mostly see her, as long as the people in front of us didn’t move too much. She also had a line introducing one of the songs - 3 or 4 kids for each song, reciting a poem of introduction. The whole thing took maybe 20 minutes?
And being an elementary school, there wasn’t exactly a lot of parking - I was in the dirt near where the school buses loaded. I think it was probably good MIL wasn’t there - she wouldn’t have been able to see much more than a big red and green blur of little kids, and I don’t know how much she’d have heard. (I’m sure they’re in Ohio by now.)
Guess I’ll have some lunch, then sort and organize all the papers accumulating around my desk. Good times…
{{RealFish}} I’m so sorry to read that you are experiencing so much pain. I hope that you can find relief soon. Have you had a referral to a doctor in a Pain Clinic? You might consider this; it worked for Hubs last May.
Meant to post last evening but never had a chance.
We started off in 2 cars and first went to a local pet store and purchased a squeaky Christmas garbed doggie and raw coated biscuits (duck recipe) for Bella.
Then we dropped my car off at Kroger gas since I was down to fumes.
Hopped into Hubs car and went to Lowe’s where we bought a number of items. First was a pack of 9 volt batteries and some electrical plug holders. Then we separated and I went in search of an alarm for the water heater and Ricardo helped me find a dual purpose water alarm. So thanks to those of you who mentioned this type of item. It needed a 9 volt battery so it was great it was a 2 pack since Hubs only needed one for the smoke detector.
Then we went to the pharmacy to pick up the rest of the vancomycin that wasn’t available yesterday.
As soon as we got out of the pharmacy, I called Sahara Restaurant to order a carryout of Shish Tawook (chicken).
Then on to Kroger gas where both cars were filled to the brim for $1.79/gallon. Mine took over 11 gallons; it’s a 12 gallon tank.
Then I went to pick up dinner and Hubs went to Home Depot to get a few items that he didn’t care for at Lowes.
The Shish Tawook was on a bed of rice and came with fattousch, hummus, pita bread and 4 small containers of garlic spread. So freaking delicious. Although, I’ve broken wind a couple of times this morning and if near me, you would definitely know I had a lot of garlic on my food last night.
Never got around to making the cookies yesterday maybe today.
Have showered, eaten an herb croissant, sent the daily transaction report to Treasury. Need to go Krogering today (4x gas points day), will walk with a friend and perhaps go to the Fitness Center with Hubs.
Speaking of kids’ concerts, a gazillion years ago when my daughter was in the elementary chorus (grades 2-5) this song was part of every Christmas concert. Always a favorite!
FCM that sounds like an adorable and well-organized show!
Y’all, my back is murdering me today. I can’t stand up without making weird noises, and I can’t do it quickly at all.
Doing some gentle stretching, but … yowza.
Got my laundry done last night, and have put away approximately two (2) items from it. The quilt is practically half of it; once I get that sucker folded, the hamper will magically be half-empty.
Bless your heart.
Until you’ve done it a few dozen times, with the right tools for the job.
Not gonna lie, we’ve had pizzas bubble up in the oven (picture the size of a cauliflower) or had it slide halfway off the cardboard round when being taken out of the oven.
We’ve had pizzas get burnt edges (“Make sure the sauce is going out to the edge, *please! Those of you working on the line.”) and those pizzas get what’s called a “haircut” where we trim off the burnt crust so the rest looks nice.
The other two happen at least a coupla times a night - it’s NBD and the customer invariably walks away happy, never knowing the difference.
We have long, very narrow, flat steel spatulas we call “swords” that can fix the most amazingly fucked-up pizzas.
… or we tell 'em it’ll be another 7 minutes and re-make it on the fly. Manager’s call.
Okay, I need to keep working on this Xmas gift box, while making horrid Halloween noises and contorting my torso. Monkey is exploring the great outdoors while my plants bask in the “OMG THE SUN IS LAVA” level of sunshine flooding in the open door.
swampie, you are a Southerner, so I have a question for you.
I’m trying to decide on what desset to make for Christmas dinner, and I want to do something new to me, but not too out there. I’ve been reading about Lane Cake, and the recipes all seem different. The only thing they all agree on is that it was invented by a Georgian and first made in Alabama. Do you have a recommendation for a good recipe?
Manager’s call.