(Old) It's still dark MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
101

shoe, it seems to me that the tears aren’t because you can’t enjoy your happiness; they’re because you spent such a long time struggling in an emotional and financial desert. The relief can be almost painful, plus now that you’re out of the Sahara, it’s safe to cry. Maybe I’m reading too much or myself into your situation, but that’s how it seems to me. And I love your happy interactions with your customers.

I think you have to recognize that your mother has a disability: she’s missing the parts of her mind that would allow her to recognize how great your job is and how happy you are there. It’s like she’s color-blind or something. Not that that makes it any easier. Anyway, WE’RE thrilled for you!

JtC, I can’t see or smell salmon without thinking about GG and The Case of the Rattling Gate. As always, he makes me smile.

102

Up, caffeinated, and sheveled. Off to heave.
Me, waking up from naptime: “Spot, why is the cat food container on the floor, and popped open?”
Spot: “Uhhh…Antifa?”
He also pulled the treat bag out of the holder, and tossed that on the floor, but he hasn’t figured out ziploc bags. Yet.(I think I made a mistake adopting a smart cat.)

Awww. That’s why I always adopt the less wanted critters. and why I’m keeping my eye on a couple. Just in case.

What Nellie said. But I’m glad you’re getting a little happiness.

103

shoe It’s great to hear you have some good customers.

doggio Good thing Spot doesn’t have thumbs, no telling what he might do.

Didn’t sleep well last night. It’ll take a few more days to get the nights and days straight, plus it’s warm. Not as warm as PNW, but we’re getting there. :frowning:

This morning there are the dueling sounds of a riding mower and the banging of the scaffolding getting dismantled. The scaffolding’s supposed to be gone by Friday afternoon.

Today? More cleaning of the covered porch (yesterday’s got a lot of the crap, but today we can vacuum) and laundry. When we went on vacation the weather was cooler, so we still had the spring/fall duvet on the bed. Yesterday we switched that out, so the duvet is in the wash, plus towels and delicates later. Fun times!

104

Morning, mumpers! It’s currently 15c/58f with a predicted high of 21c/70f, and mostly sunny. Weather app says “It’s sunny outside and you’ll fucking like it.” So I will. We have a sporting event on campus starting tomorrow so the Estates guys are out cutting the grass and making everything look good. The event is the International Blind Sports Federation World Games, so we’re expecting campus to be busy for the next week or so.

shoe I can understand that you need to process the whole idea of being happy, you have had such a rough time for so long and this new situation takes a bit of getting used to.

JtC we still have a variety of foods that we bought for Ophelia so that she’d got nice things to have her meds on. I know it’s daft, but somehow I can’t bring myself to feed “her” food to the foster girlies. Shadow won’t touch it, he is firmly of the belief that cat food is a Very Bad Thing.

flyboy belated happy anniversary to you and Mrs LA!

I’m on campus today so I was up stupidly early. Managed to get Shadow to eat a teaspoon of salmon with his thyroid meds on it…small victory! I think he’s still got a dodgy tum but he hasn’t taken any of the probiotic paste mixed with his food. We might have to try shoving it straight in his mouth instead and I’ll need to ask the vet for some more because we only have one dose left.

Other than that, nothing exciting going on. I have to construct a module choices form for our incoming freshers - I updated one of them yesterday but my other dept hasn’t needed one before. Now they do, so I need to faff with MS Forms today. After a cup of tea, of course.

105

ouches … as someone who gets heat rash in that area at least once a year in summer you have my sympathy

:cry: you have my condolences…

hmm MK that casserole sounds good … i wonder if the Mexican cheese blend might work on it

try to catch up later …caused I’m physicALLY sore as hell FROM PREPARING FOR THE forth coming great FLOOD …bleh sorry for the caps

106

Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and caffeinatin’. YAWN ‘Tis 73 Amurrkin out and cloudy with a predicted high of 91 and partly N.O.S. for the day. Decidedly cooler than the last few days. Rain started late yestiddy afternoon and was off and on durin’ the night which has helped with the temps, but is makin’ the grass grow, so will have to think about mowage, but not today. The big item on today’s agenda is to procure provisions. We shall get fried chikin N.O,L.s from the Pubic sto’ for the main feed of the day. High sloth and general overall uselessness will follow.

shoe I’m glad you have some happiness in your life right now. Like others have said it can be kinda hard to adjust to it after havin’ had a rough time for so long. Glad your boss is a good source to be a confidant.

shades hope the great flood turns into the meh flood. In any case, be safe.

Now I need more caffeine and to feed rumbly tummy. Then, alas and bother, I suppose I must purtify and don attire acceptable for bein’ amongst the great unwashed. Oh woe!

Happy Hump Day Y’all!

107

We are dealing with this also. We are watching streaming services much more than cable. We have Apple TV+ and are now using their boxes to organize and view our streaming channels. Our plan right now is to drop our cable to just the basic package that will give us the local channels and drop all of the rest. At the same time we will bump out internet speed up.This will cut out cable bill in half and the increased speed will be an added bonus.

108

Adapting to new things takes time - deep, huh? You’ll figure it out and we’ll all be here to be happy with you!

Daughter’s pug once managed to de-lid the bin where she kept his food. She had just refilled it and Cozmo pretty much emptied it. She said his gut was enormous!! He ate till it was gone! And, no bad effects, other than having to buy another bag of kibbles, but she has since pug-proofed his food. Apparently pugs lack the part of the brain that says “tummy full” - we see the same with Higgs, minus eating a full bag.

Well, it was one of those nights. I could not fall asleep - it’s like I’d had a caffeine injection or something. I’d read, then try to sleep, realized I was still wide awake, and try reading some more. Then at one point, I figured out that I was a little cold and once I made a blanket adjustment, I kept nodding off in the next chapter. By then, tho, it was nearly 3, and I was awakened by my phone at 6. Dammit. It’s gonna be a long day. But taking the kids to the sprayground will make the afternoon easy.

FCD has left for work - he’s feeling overwhelmed by all the classes he has to teach - 5 different subjects every day! I wish I could help him, but there’s nothing I can do. Dammit. OK, maybe I can help with grading. Daughter still has the ad for a math teacher posted, so fingers crossed.

I did offer to take the classes for him if he took the grandspawn - the look I got was a firm NO! Don’t get me wrong - he loves the kids, but their high energy/manic insanity is more than he can handle except in little doses. I, on the other hand, kinda tune them out and filter for sounds of true distress. Guess it’s a mom-thing.

He did tell me he wants his earnings to be used for new canvas for the boat. I have no idea how much he’ll make (nor does he) but it’ll go into a separate savings account for boat stuff. And since he’s past his Full Retirement Age according to SS, there’s no limit on his earnings. So one less thing to worry about.

And so begins my day. I need to shower, dress, scoop the cat box, and stay awake.

Happy Wednesday!

109

Good morning!

It’s 65F and dark outside. The sky is clear, though. The expected high is 96F and it’ll be full on sunny all day. Yesterday it reached 99F at my house. Too freakin’ hot and uncomfortable. I was so uncomfortable that I went to bed at 8:00 p.m. because my bedroom has AC.

I woke up several times overnight and got out of bed at 3:15 a.m. Apparently, the heat is messing with Polar’s tummy because I found five piles of very loose stool downstairs. So, while I was making my coffee, I had to clean up poo and spot remover. Fortunately, the piles are on the throw rugs, so I can simply wash those. In the meantime, I treated the spots with stain remover.

And, I don’t know why, but my husband had shut the window in the den and it was blazing hot in here this morning. I have the window wide open and will instruct him that this window isn’t being closed until temps fall below 70F. No wonder poor Polar had problems!

shoe, I’m so glad you’re finding happiness! I know it’s been rough for you.

FCM, I hope that once FCD starts the work with the students, his stress level comes down a bit and that your daughter finds a math teacher quickly. I hope it’s just a case of making things harder/bigger than they need to be in his mind. I do that often, but once I do the thing, whatever it happens to be, it often turns out it wasn’t as bad/hard/stressful as I had thought it was going to be.

Belated anniversary wishes, flyboy!

I have also considered just keeping basic cable and internet and switching to streaming. Frankly, I think I pay too much money now, and I’m sick of it. On the other hand, I tend to watch a lot of TV, especially in winter, so I need to tot up how much I’d pay to stream the channels I watch. I’ll probably switch to streaming if there is a real cost savings. I tend to watch TLC (it’s my guilty pleasure, don’t judge), HGTV, the local PBS channels, Food Network, HBO, and Showtime. I currently stream PBS, Acorn, and BBC. I also have Prime and Netflix. Things will turn into a desert entertainment-wise with the writer/actor strike, so I’m not sure it’s even worth it. TLC contains my Trash TV Night offerings.

Well, I suppose I should get that kitchen cleaned up while it’s still cool out. Take it easy out there!

110

Speaking of happiness, it got down into the low 50s here last night. This is the 2nd morning in a row that I’ve woken up COLD. In August. :cold_face:

For someone who hates the heat, this is indeed a very good “problem” to have.

111

I think the biggest thing is the short fuse for lesson planning. All of his efforts have been on the electrical and network issues at the school, leaving no time to think of anything else. I hope the online lesson plans I found will help.

Dumped all but internet from our provider, and got YouTubeTV - it offers our local channels in the package, and not only do we not pay the cable subscription rate, we also don’t have to pay for boxes for each TV as well as rent their modem! Saved us a fortune and we still get local news.

OK, kids are enroute. Time to brace myself…

112

JtC, very belated hugs to you and your family. I’m so sorry to hear about COC. And buy a damn forest of trees if you want to. Mulberries sound delightful.

I’m home for a couple of hours today, long enough to do an industry presentation on my big computer setup, then go back to mom’s, where I’ve been sleeping. Things seem to have stabilized. This whole thing is a rollercoaster. She’ll be okay for a while, then plummet off a cliff, and every time we pull her back, she’s lost just a little more strength and function, so the next time it’s harder to pull her back. She’s gone from being able to get herself to her car and drive somewhere independently to not even being able to get herself to the building elevator without help to not being able to walk more than about 50 feet without needing to stop in about two weeks. Right now we’re at “okay to be left alone for a couple of hours, but if left alone too long will go to bed, terrified, and not get up.” All her hunger cues have disappeared, but she’s still asking for tiny dabs of soft foods, which probably won’t last too much longer.

She’s not officially in hospice yet - hasn’t signed the papers because she wants to talk to her oncologist one last time, though he’s the one that encouraged her to talk to hospice. Whatever she wants, we’ll make it happen, though.

It’s beautiful and sunny outside and definitely too cool for August. I wish I’d waddled this morning, but I slept well for the first time in several days and couldn’t drag my sorry hide outside. Maybe tonight. Maybe tomorrow morning. Definitely Friday. Maybe.

113

Anal probe.

:smiley:

That reminds me of this one.

114

Ursala Kitteh has recovered from yesterday’s poke. She is now in her paper bag. I was joking when I said I didn’t cry giving myself the Dupixent shot. When I was a littler kid I would get hysterical at the pediatrician’s office. I was usually soothed by a red Charms lollipop.

115

Life on the culinary cutting edge can be sooo exciting! :grin:

This morning at 3:30am I’m up, sheveled, and in the lobby handing my keycard back to the desk clerk before hopping on the van to irk. And in the open-air courtyard is a young couple sitting across from each other with a half-full bottle of amber booze (bourbon maybe?) on the cocktail table between them. As I’m watching he picks up the bottle and takes an unsteady swig from it. Yeah; that’s proof positive he and I are on opposite shifts. I’m gonna bet their “evening” ends with a headache and no effective sex. Oops on him.

Yeah. The “deal” through the cruise line is often a better deal for them than for you. Good idea to have that extra day in there.

Happy Anniversary!! Cute card too. IME TJ’s flowers are pretty but don’t last well. Conversely our local grocery store’s flowers aren’t quite as exotic but last much better for about the same money. Definitely a matter of local supply, so YMMV.

Yeah; avoiding overeating is my biggest problem these days. I find I just don’t care so much about my girlish figure. Though I sure should. It’s a lot easier to gain than to lose at our ages.


Sari: Yaay for checks and deposits and real progress at your pace, not theirs. Good luck with the other assorted obstacles that will. not. move.

We’re all creatures of habit. Your habits have been, of necessity, mostly geared towards survival not enjoyment. That’s both mental and physical habits.

As the others have said, disorientation and tears of confusion/ overwhelm / relief are normal. You’ve made it this far, you’ll climb out of this rut too. But it’ll be easier than the last struggles have been.

Yaay!!! You rock shoe. Even though all you did was relay the message.

That’s about how our final two weeks together went. Once she’s not interested in eating it doesn’t take long; the battle had/has already used up substantially all her reserves. You’re doing the right thing, painful though it is.

If you haven’t communicated with the hospice company recently you might warn them the situation is becoming imminent. In our case my wife keeled over from what you just described into “we need hospice in here stat” rather suddenly. They were quick, but that was a long 12 hours for everyone else. Had they been more aware they might have been able to be more responsive.


As to me:
My early-to-bed-early-to-rise went well as did the drone from TX to MIA and I’m now enjoying a cappuccino & a SDMB break before launching off to Central America for a long afternoon of fun & shopping.

Cheers All!!

116

Our experience is opposite. For us, TJ’s flowers last longer than others.

117

In Full Prep Mode for my sister’s arrival at noon. Running the dishwasher because it’s cooler now than it was lasts night. It’s heating up fast, though. I’ve made the welcome sign to put on my door (family tradition). Cornbread and tuna salad are made. Will make tortellini salad for tonight when everything else is ready. Two salads in one day? I figure they’re different enough that it won’t seem weird. Plus it’s going to be 95º today.

I loathe the heat and blame every frickin’ idiot who denies climate change. People born and raised here tell me it wasn’t like this 20 years ago. Sorry for the rant. Heat only makes me politically cranky.

FCM, I hope FCD has a great first week of school! Getting lesson plans off the internet is a great idea. It’s really hard to gage how long an activity will take until you’ve been teaching for awhile, so “canned” plans would be lifesavers. Besides, teaching requires doing so many things at once that he’ll have plenty to adapt to without trying to create lesson plans for the first time. I hope he loves the whole experience.

doggio, if Spot keeps this up, we’re going to have to change your mumper name to catio. :slight_smile:

taters, I feel sorry for Polar getting so hot and all. Wasn’t he sweet for selecting throw rugs only? I hope you all keep cool today.

118

Slow heave turned into a constant flow.

If he keeps up the antics, he’s gonna think his name is “WTF, man?” :wink:

119

Our old house had a bi-fold door to the pantry (Like this). One of our cats figured out that she could slip her paw under the middle of the door and pull to open it. We came downstairs one morning to find the pantry door open, not one but two bags of cat treats on the floor, their corners chewed through, and treats scattered all over the kitchen.
Opening that door became one of her favorite games, and we couldn’t break her of the habit. But the treats got moved to the back of the highest shelf after that.

120

Here, it stinketh.

The very wide low-tide mud flat, plus the hot weather, is really making this place aromatic. Could be worse, though. We could live a few blocks up the beach where it really smells even when our part of the beach doesn’t.

I was going to have an avocado for breakfast. Then I thought I wanted some eggs. So I made an avocado-and-cheese omelette with Sriracha sauce and avocados on top for breakfast.