(OLD) It's Tax Time in the MMP!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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I’m about to hit this week’s Long Night (10-hr shift) at Le Local Pizza Place, so this gave me a bitter laugh.

Thanks, all! I’m already planning on embarking on a more fireworks-y version on black fabric. Thin arms, rather than filled all the way in (so the black shows) sort of like a spinning jellyfish.

I can picture the broad strokes, but I hafta figure out some details before I begin.

Having a frozen meatloaf’n’N.O.T. tray (don’t judge!) before slapping on some cuteness and embarking forth to feed the masses once again.

Supposed to be chilly tonight, so don’t tell anyone imma gonna be at work in warm PJs, okay? (They’re comfy. They have pockets. They’re pants. Nobody - and I do mean nobody - cares.)

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Woke up to finger pain, like it was jammed or broken. It wasn’t swollen. It hurt to move. It has gotten better as the day goes on. Another mysterious sleep injury.

Had a funeral first thing today. I don’t know what her husband will do now. He has Parkinson’s and a bit of dementia. Eugenia really kept him going. Now … I don’t know.

It was one of those funerals where everyone scattered far and wide, so it was good that we all met up.

I like to think that just as a death brings people together here, it brings a gather on the other side of existence.

Now I am with the cats rocking away.

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Afternoon fellow Mumpers. Soccer has been refereed, team picture taken and coaching duties performed, so staying off my feet for a little while. With the door closed to my ‘office’ it’s only a little roar and I can ignore that for awhile. And yes, Oopsie, insurance has said they’ll pay for the room.

Some general slothage for some time and then back to the hotel for the evening hours; still not sure if I’ll fix something in the roaring-loud kitchen or just eat out…we’ll see.

Pilot, hope Co-Pilot is feeling better and hope the restaurant treats you better than hippie’s place did.

Yeah, Eid al Fitr. Much like Easter and Xmas combined. Was always good for 3 days off work while I lived in Abu Dhabi. And great story on spending the per diem.

FCM, haven’t been over to Facebook recently, hope the sales went really well for you and daughter’s school.

doggio, I can tell the saga of Darci and Spot will keep you (and us) entertained for awhile.

swampy, hope you continue to feel better, doing first-rate slothful behavior is hard!!

Taters, that must be a big mall, five miles is a lot of walkin’. Get to feelin’ better soon.

Oopsie, safe travels tomorrow and hope things go as planned. And loved the USS Spot picture.

Don’t think I’ve even had food poisoning, guess I need to try harder…

VanGo, that is a tragic story, but also perhaps a warning given the apparently vindictiveness.

rocker, sorry about you friend and hope there is somebody to look after the husband. And weddings and funerals are where people see each other the most (haven’t been to either in 20 years or so).

Whew, keeping up with you folks is a full time job. Need to clean up a bit and then maybe get out of the house for awhile. All y’all take care.

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The washing machine is broken. I found a repair service on Thumbtack, that was linked on Nextdoor. Good reviews. $69 service call (waived if hired). They’re coming out Monday.

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I must confess, I really dislike 98% of country music, with some notable exceptions, mostly Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton (post-Porter Wagoner), and some Patsy Cline. I thought it was because I didn’t grow up with it, but my eldest sister didn’t grow up with it, either, and when I say I don’t like it, she throws pillows at me. I also don’t like most heavy metal because it’s so…heavy. Why is there no light metal? :slight_smile:

And based on what you’ve said about her, that’s saying something!

Taters, I hope you’re not sick for the trip. I hate to say this, but have you tested for Covid? We’re supposed to hit 70º on Thursday. Will you be back by then?

BooFae, I figured “barnet” was Cockney rhyming slang, and I see it is. Is it from “hairnet”? I hope we get to see photos of the new bathroom. What colors are you going with?

Pilot, your wife is a trouper, all righty. I assume you two will have a quiet weekend.

doggio, I like the nickname “Dari.” Also, are the ears always in Batgirl position, or do they occasionally bend a bit? And does she like to play with those toys, or are they more like a security blanket?

JtC’s story about GG and the Scary Salmon makes me think it might take awhile. On the other hand, Dari probably has more active brain cells than GG.

Hippy, I’m wracking my brain trying to figure out the restaurant name. What a terrible experience. I hope after you vented your spleen that the manager was apologetic.

MetalMouse, I hope you enjoy your hotel stay and that the work goes smoothly in your absence.

VanGo, damn, that breakup sucketh mightily–or rather, the ex-girlfriend did.
flyboy, wow, that was fast! I hope they’re efficient workers and that they’re done by next weekend, though I think cement takes a week to harden, right?

What a beautiful thought. I hope it does, too.

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Home - we all started closing down a bit after 2 because it was pretty obvious that rain was imminent. I was a little more than halfway home when I hit precip, and I just now heard some thunder. So we chose to quit in good time.

I think I sold about $100 of stuff, so I’m pleased. But I still came home with all the cat butt coasters! However, I sold half of the finger puppets, so yay for that!

It was actually one of the last before I started closing down! It’s so hard to tell what will be popular!

oooooo - I can sympathize. One doesn’t realize how much one can barf after one is empty. Hope she’s feeling better.

#@#@#@

OK, forgot to hit post before we ran out to get an early supper (since we didn’t have lunch.) Rain has continued. I’m now in my fuzzy robe because a cold front has come thru. Max chillage on tap for the rest of the evening.

BTW, the chair of today’s event was hoping the school would make at least $2400 - here’s hoping they succeeded!

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Howdy Y’all! I managed one more day of pitiful and got sympathy. Tomorrow will be back to what passes for normal around here. I can get a copy of the report on Moanday. Then we’ll see what happens.

Pilot hope Her Lady Ship is on the mend.

Taters hope you’re feeling better soonest.

Cat_Glove yay for the shot making hubs feel better!

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A few pics:
Coasters
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Critters and bags
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Finger puppets
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The oysters shells with the decoupage were donated by a student’s grandmother. I sold 1. They’re pretty, but to my mind, just something else to dust.

Oh, and Daughter said they made $3200 before the food trucks turned over their share (20% of their take was the agreement.)

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Yay for surpassing their goal! Sounds like this go-round was much more successful. I LOVE that rainbow hat and can’t believe it didn’t get snapped up first, even though the animals, finger puppets, etc. were adorable. Where did you get the hands? (Not sure what to call them…handstands?) It was such a clever way to showcase the finger puppets.

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Nellie, I was having a hard time figuring it out also. So I started with Baves, Caves, Daves, oh, oh, oh, that made figuring out the rhyme for Amos easy.

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I got my brown tweed sport coat from Amazon just now. It’s too small. :frowning:

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Now that’s funny!

I got “Famous” from “Amos” instantly but was totally lost on what “Saves” might represent. Regional differences matter.

There was a local chain of mall-based fresh-baked cookie stores in the western US called

They started out in Hollywood, CA. I see from their website that they’ve long since gotten out of the mall storefront biz and into distributing packaged factory-baked mini-cookies to ordinary retail stores & direct via that website. I’ve not eaten any in years and can’t vouch plus or minus for them today. But the brand now belongs to Kellogg’s and they seem to be nationally distributed.

Anyhow, “Famous Amos” is sorta all one word in many SoCal natives of a certain age. Kinda like “Ronald McDonald”, you can’t say either word without thinking of the other.


OTOH, I’ve never heard of Famous Dave’s before here just now. Their website tells me that despite being in 30 states and despite them having a couple of stores in each of the states I’ve lived in since childhood, none has ever been near where I lived was when I was there or am now here.

They seem to favor smaller cities & towns, so my extensive major metro-only touring of the USA for work has never found one either.

I see they have one waay down in Miami a few miles from the airport. So if they’re anything special some day I might stop by on the way home from irk. Certainly not worth a dedicated 50 mile each way trip just for franchise chain BBQ.

So Mumpers, is Famous Dave’s worth a stop if I’m already nearby? As long as I don’t eat the coleslaw? :grin:



Thanks to all for the kind wishes. Her Ladyship had one last barf about 2pm, a mere 14 hours after it started, and is otherwise sleeping it off nicely.

Aaaannnnd … I spoke too soon. Just now genteel barfing is happening again at 6pm, 18 hours after it started. Poor thing! It seems to come in waves every so often. The only thing she’s sure of that she feels OK-ish when she isn’t barfing and that she doesn’t want me to touch her no matter what. Sigh.

Now to see what sort of dinner I can rustle up for me. I know! An egg sandwich! Lemme see if I can find some ancient mayo to use. :grin:

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I traced my hand on foam core and my sweetie cut them out.

We like it, but then there aren’t a lot of BBQ joints around us. It’s good enough that we’ll drive 25 miles to eat there.

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Today’s progress on Murph:

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I’m a little over six hours in altogether, and honestly, it’s coming along faster than I expected. Still a lot more to do, though. The next step is to bolt this assembly to the wall, then I’ll build the actual bed into it. After that, the side cabinets can go up. As I said before, small bites.

In other news, I had a couple job interviews last week with an inventory management company, and was offered a position yesterday. This is good timing, as I need to start bringing some income into this family if we ever want to retire and be worthless drains on society like so many of my mumper friends.

In a nutshell, I’ll be part of a team going into clients’ warehouses, and counting and cataloguing their inventory. I’ll be an independent contractor, and thus can accept or decline any projects offered to me. This will be a good thing because most projects will require traveling for a week or two at a time, and I definitely want to be at home for a while between trips. We’ll see how it goes.

My experience with food poisoning: For Mrs W’s 40th birthday, we took a trip to Vegas. On the day itself, we gorged ourselves at a brunch buffet. Then we got massages and had martinis. At this point, I started feeling a little off, but didn’t think too much of it.
After the drinks — and this part was a surprise I had set up without Mrs W’s knowledge — a limo picked us up from the hotel and took us to the Little White Chapel, where we renewed our wedding vows. It was all very romantic until, mere moments after we kissed at the end of the ceremony, I ran to the bathroom and heaved my guts out. I spent the next 48 hours in the room, wearing a groove in the carpet between the bed and the bathroom, instead of doing all the fun Vegas-y things we’d planned. Not a fun experience. I’m sure it was something at the buffet that got me, but I ate so many different things I have no idea what.

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Looks like good progress to me Wheelie.

My food poisoning experience was at an IHOP in Etlanner. I was the only one of a group of six that got sick and the only one that ate link snausages. I now call IHOP International House of Puke.

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Not if there is anything else around. We have one and I haven’t eaten there in years, even in the depths of BBQ withdrawals.

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Nah. You live in the land of good seafood, rich and varied tacos, food stands and trucks of many varied and splendid cuisines. Take your chances with them.

Famous Dave’s is the Burger King/McDs of bbq. Doesn’t even rise to Applebees level. If it’s the only thing available, eat there but don’t be surprised if it is uninspired. My main objection is how hard they try to be cute and folksy.

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Howdy everyone!

Swampy sorry about your accident. I’m glad you weren’t hurt too bad.

Feel better soonest Taters, Her Ladyship, Cat Gloves hubby and everyone else feeling puny.

Loving the Darci pics. Need more Spot pics.

Sari and Nettie check in when you can.

Another boring day at Chez Butters. I watched bad TV all day. We had fried chicken for supper. I didn’t sleep well last night because I split my pill in half so tonight I shall partake of a whole one.

I finally broke down and found me a new PCP. He is an Indian Dr. that has practiced here for 30 years and was educated in NY and I liked him. He filled all my scripts to include BP meds, cholesterol meds, and my sleeping pill. This Dr. has geriatrics as part of his education. I am not at all geriatric but it’ll come in handy one day. Anyway, he ordered blood and urine tests, a mammogram and gave a referral for a colonoscopy. I am not amused. The GI Dr. left a message the other day and his name is Dr. Jekyll. Not sure how I feel about that. Anyway, I shall call on Moanday and start the process.

Mooommm. I love all the crochet items. So unique and creative.

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At least you got that part of the timing right. First vows, then kiss, then puke. No other order works nearly as well. :wink:

Damn fine assembly there on the murph. I hate it when I end up assembling stuff in the wrong order and foul my workspace with prematurely-assembled components that are now too heavy / bulky to move far enough out of the way. :growl:


Thanks silenus & Boo. We have some excellent local BBQ made by very large very black men from the Deep South. Dey knows dey ‘Que. We don’ need no steenkin’ Applebee’s equivalent franchise 'Que. I shall patronize their genius & tip heavily.


Her Ladyship yet alternates napping & barfing, but with little vigor.

My dinner (so far) was a turkey, cheddar, and mayo sandwich on Her Ladyship’s excellent homemade multigrain bread. The turkey was the first shards taken from the last ziploc of leftover turkey from our Thanksgiving 2022 bird. Which ziploc had nestled in the freezer until a few days ago when I had moved it to the fridge to defrost for subsequent sandwiches. Probably will get 3 more sandwiches out of that ziploc then that bird will be 100% historical. All the other ingredients were no worry. But I admit I sniffed the turkey before I ate it.

Now outside on the balcony long after sunset. Many airplanes, many bright city lights and just barely some stars. Live music wafts up from the nearest outdoor eatery. My first rye bourbon on the rocks was nice and I’m considering the second. Debating what round two of dinner shall be.

Almost forgot …
Moom: As Butters and everybody else says, those are beautiful. I can see which are the cat butt coasters by their tags, butt :slight_smile: why are they so named? I’d hoped to figure that out without embarrassing myself by asking, but you out-clevered me.

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I didn’t mean to be so cryptic. I was just trying to stop the search engines