Short recap of my recent VISA woes - I reported what I thought was a fradulent charge - turns out it was actually legit, but my card had already been canceled and the fraud unit of my credit union went to work. I called and told them it was a legit charge, but just today, I saw that the amount had been credited back to my account.
The charge was for Prime for a year and so far, my account still shows that I have prime to be rewed next Feb. So, do I wait to see if they cancel it, then restart it? Is there a way to make an ooops payment? I don’t want to lose Prime - we stream a lot - but I’m reluctant to just make another payment before they ask for it, since I fear it’d possibly screw things up more. Waiting is the best course, right? I’m not trying to cheat the system. So wait, right?
FCD got a call from his brother’s new caseworker and he’s supposed to call back this afternoon (we were out when she called.) We’re both curious about what’s going on. BIL is not forthcoming at all, tho I suppose he’d talk to me if I called. I don’t want to - I can’t get sucked in to being his mommy-surrogate. Anyway, FCD will be calling her any time now. The saga continues.
Back at my daughter’s for day 4 of extreme cold weather closing schools. Windchills down to 37 below. It was painful driving over from my house 15 minutes away. Even inside the car with hat, down coat, sweater underneath and LandsEnd gloves, my fingertips burned from the cold. Car never did warm up in the slightest. I dread the drive home after dark, especially since I have to stop and gas up whether I want to or not. Definitely going to need a hot toddy once I get home-hopefully to a cat that will forgive me for being gone for 7 long days and so grievously ignoring her basic needs for adoration and veneration. At least burying my fingertips in her fur will finally warm them up.
Did Covid booster happen with the flu shot? Covid rates in the Midwest are waaaaaay up too. Riding the bus and attending church gathering puts you at more risk for flu and covid, slightly less so for RSV (kids are a main vector for RSV so avoiding gatherings with kids might not be a bad idea until you have gotten all 3 vaccines).
So far this season Covid and the flu has laid several in my little family low but Tamiflu has helped greatly when it was the flu, both for my 7 yo grand daughter but also her 42 yo old dad and 38 yo mom. Knock on wood RSV has left us alone but both kids are vaxxed against it, as am I.
I did not have time for 2 shots that day.
The bus driver who had covid and the flu together said he’d been vaxxed.
I am making time to go Monday ( above freezing!) and will get it then.
I have a neck pillow with micro beads that can be nuked and stays warm for quite awhile. If I have any brain cells still firing by the time I get home I’ll look for it and stick my feet on it. After gassing up at 9:30pm and a windchill of -37 I may need it for my hands even more. My car always waits to turn on the “need to gas up” light until half a mile past the last gas station on the way to somewhere in daylight. I think it is in cahoots with google maps to make me suffer.
The Spousal Unit got a new pair of pyjama bottoms in the mail. She bought men’s, because she likes some bagginess. I pointed out that they also have pockets. She said, ‘And they have pockets!’
I told her pyjama bottoms need to have a pocket specifically for carrying bacon. It would be a porket. (It just popped into my head and escaped out of my mouth. But she actually laughed.)
I tend to fill the tank when I’m somewhere between 1/2 and 1/4 tank. I don’t like getting below a quarter of a tank - even when on the road, I start getting antsy when it’s that low. Just one of my adorable quirks.
FCD confessed to me that his A1C is right on the diabetes border. This from the man who keeps asking for Frosted Flakes. So I’ve been looking up high-fiber foods for him, and I’ll quit with the sweet stuff I was buying him. Luckily, he seems to like most of what’s on the list, and he’s OK using stevia as a sweetener. I’ve also been looking up high-fiber recipes. Are lentils any good? I’ve never had them but they seem to rate high on fiber lists.
Guess it’s time for some high-fiber grocery shopping.
In the meantime please do not go anywhere. But if you have to/choose to, please wear a mask, a KN95, and socially distance from others.
I’ve been doing this for almost 5 years, actually 4 years and 11 months, and I have not been sick at all during that time so please don’t tell me masking and socially distancing don’t work.
Dad and Hubs always said/say that when the temp gets low, it is important to keep at least a 1/4 of a tank so that you don’t get gas line freeze.
FCM I was a regular from ~2013 to ~2017, though I can’t think of any particular defining thing that might trigger your memory.
Today has been an interesting day thus far; I stayed home from work again to help Mrs Sario and Kid Rio, though fortunately both seem to be on the mend. Mrs Sario is currently at physical therapy (she tore her ACL last Sep), but this is her last PT appt so that’s also well on the mend.
Work wise, I’ve only gone in for 1.5 days this week so little has been accomplished. Next week will have to be a real nose to the grindstone kind of week.
The rest of today will be packing for a planned weekend trip to Dallas, to see a friend and visit an exhibit at one of the museums.
Can’t think of anything else to ramble about for now, so time to get busy.
On the irk front, one of our members hasn’t sent data since 2019. I tried to reach them for four years, and never got a response so I gave up. Recently, a new person took over as the Controller so I gave it another shot. She said they’d like to resume sending their commercial a/r files. It’s been so long that I need to have them reinstated by BMCRA, so I sent them the Data Agreement. They’ve signed it and returned it. I need to fill out our portion of the Agreement, sign it, and send it off to BMCRA. Unfortunately, Mrs. L.A.'s printer is blurry. Too blurry for a legal document. So I’ll have to print it, sign it, and scan it when I go down to the office on Tuesday to move my personal items from my desk.
Mrs. L.A. has decided when we’re going on vacation this year, down to Astoria, OR. I need to put in a PTO request. She’s wondering if we should take the cats with us. I would like to have them with us. Better than being alone in the house, with someone coming over once a day to give them their gooshy food, and they really didn’t like Cat Country Resort. (It sounded like they spent the whole week cowering in fear last time.) I have no idea of how to handle the logistics. They hate being in the car, and I’m sure they’ll want to use a litter box on the very long trip. And I worry that if we let them out of their carriers, they might try to exit the vehicle when we stop for fuel.
KittenMitten. I have food and books. Only going to church Sunday. There are elderly people there ( a 90 yr old woman) and they mask.
My former church used to go around hugging everyone each Sunday.
It’s mainly an antiquated system that has been jury-rigged over the years to the point where it doesn’t operate properly. Our heat came back this morning and now it’s out again, blowing cold air. I went down to the building manager’s office and told her about it and it’s apparently not building wide, as the offices have heat. Someone is supposed to come up here to “look at it”, but I know cold air from warm.
FCM, good news for Roxy. And no idea what the best step is on rhe Prime billing SNAFU, others wiser than me can probably help.
BBBoo, schools are open here at 25F, but I suspect would close well before we hit your bone-chilling numbers, Hope you can wrm up quickly,.
Rio, glad the family is doing better.
Cookie, good luck on the heating.
As for yours truly, I went to the gym earlier than usual and got the swimming I missed yesterday in. was going to also get my pedaling and walking done, but managed to forget to pack my gym shorts in my bag, so renewed my library card (it’s right across the street from the gym) and came on home to some cheese dogs. The recycle folks just emptied my bin, so will go out after typing this and put it back in the garage. May make it back to the gym tonight, we’ll see how it goes.
Which reminds me of the other thing I’m proud of. In Switzerland, the official German language is known as Hochdeutsch (High German). The various dialects which people actually speak is known as Schweizerdeutsch. Most foreigners only speak Hochdeutsch, which the locals consider a foreign language, at least for speaking.
The first speaker asked if anybody preferred Hochdeutsch, instead of Schweizerdeutsch. I said „Ja, bitte“.
The next speaker asked if they could speak Schweizerdeutsch. I said, „Nein“. Almost everybody laughed.
The third speaker repeated the question, and got the same response, and also the same amount of laughter.
Somebody came up to me later and said that they were really happy that somebody asked for Hochdeutsch because it was much easier for them to understand. I was one of at least 6 foreigners and I was the only one who was willing to speak up.
Today I asked a colleague which language he speaks in court. He said that all of the lawyers and judges speak Hochdeutsch. If a client or witness speaks Schweizerdeutsch, there is an official translator who does the translation, even though everyone understands Schweizerdeutsch. It’s actually required.
Yay! Good news for everybody involved. And you’ll be able to get back to your real work - building Lego sets.
I mostly officially onboarded with the museum today. Still need to fill out a i-9. I get benefits and PTO. I’ve never had PTO, working for yourself doesn’t really do that, and at the University I was at before, it was set up as we all took 2 weeks around X-mas, at the film studio before that we worked as much as possible.
I had my first PT session for my hamstring. The good news is that some of the hamstring is still attached. Eric is optimistic that we can strengthen the surrounding muscles for support. We did five exercises and I guess I’m not as strong as I thought I was cause they kind of wiped me out. That’s OK.
Then I went to Mart of the Wal for a stock up of kitty litter, tp, and other fun stuff. I checked egg prices. No price stickers on the shelves….
It took half a century for me to get here, you have shown that sort of improvement in less than a year. Be very proud!
Always bring a heavy jacket to the hospital!
I’m glad he came through with no issues and hope that his recovery is equally routine and boring.
Duct tape can be very useful for this sort of thing. Or if you have a drill, just put a few screws in yourself.
Oh good lord. I hear Lowes has pitchforks available and they will deliver if you make a large enough order. Share with your neighbors!
Thank you. I have no idea why I didn’t think about costume stores, I will be ordering something tonight. Another layer of clothing will be handy, I don’t move fast enough to be warm in 20f temps anymore.
Do you think I will still need a sign or will the garb be enough?
Please do not quit. Please encourage your co-workers to stand strong. The 50501 movement is only now starting to gain momentum but it is gaining speed really fast.
Five pictures. Five. How long did it take your committee to pick the paint for one hall? Do you really think they will be able to figure out FIVE pictures in one night? Such an optimist!
I’m kinda fond of decaf coffee with a shot each of spiced rum, cream de cocoa and heavy cream after a couple of hours on the picket line. Warms me up enough to make me forget how miserable it was, LOL!
The more the merrier, right?
That’s what I would do. It will only take a few minutes to get it turned back on if they do. If not, well I think Bezo will be just fine without your pittance.
I’m kinda worried about this. FCD shouldn’t be involved in this at all, his brother is not his responsibility, that’s what the case worker is for.
This is me as well. Under a quarter tank will be enough to get me to stop at expensive gas stations out in the middle of nowhere and consider the extra dollar a gallon to be my piss-poor-planning tax.
Lentils are very tasty and versatile imho. You can add them to soups and stews or make them the main character. They are also very inexpensive so you can toss half a bag away without feeling like you are breaking the bank.
Safe travels. Dallas is lovely but the traffic is the stuff of nightmares. I spent most of my driving time praying “please don’t hit me, please don’t hit me” while I poked along doing 80mph in the slow lane.
I hope everyone feels totally better in the morning!
I bought a wire dog kennel for GG. It was bigger than a carrier and had a removable plastic tray in case of accidental pee or puke. It was also very heavy and awkward and hard to handle. Of course, that won’t be as much of an issue for two young people as it was for one old crippled woman.
And right here is the problem. Do you keep cash handy? If so, can you bribe your maintenance guy to show you how to shut the heat off to the offices? I’ll bet the receptionist will be much more responsive when her fingers are getting numb.
I am so happy for you that I’ve got tears in my eyes. Congratulations!
This is very good news, I’m glad things aren’t quite as bad as you thought. Still bad, but better.
Don’t overdo it and hurt yourself!
So it was snowing when we went to bed last night and snowing in the morning. It stopped for a while during the day and has since started again.
I haven’t been able to find out anything more about the boil water advisory so I was planning on calling. Then we got an alert about the water being out in Logan and to please not call (not in those words) so I thought I’d give them a break. It is inconvenient but at least we still have water coming into our home.
I’m hearing that there are a lot of issues in Charleston because the antiquated storm drains overflowed and ruptured. It’s a shame the current administration took away the infrastructure money the last one had scheduled, that would probably have been very helpful.
The signs write themselves. Today’s sign said “I miss FEMA”.
I wasn’t planning on going to the capital today, but hubs had a doctor appointment so I dropped him off and milled around with a couple of dozen other people at the capital. My sign and I hung out by the donation point. (The state is asking people to donate supplies for the flood victims. I have chosen to not participate, that’s what I pay taxes for.)
When he called, I picked him up and we went to the Asian buffet for a late lunch/early dinner, then a quick stop at Aldi’s on the way home.
The weather was miserable, wet and windy and it will probably not be much nicer tomorrow. I know that you don’t catch diseases by standing out in the cold, but sometimes I wonder if I should get another flu shot just because.
Our driveway and walks were clear when we got home but we don’t have a clue who did it this time. I suspected Harry because he was bragging about ordering a snowplow attachment for his riding mower, but he claimed to be innocent when I called to thank him.
When we lived in AZ, we not only had a ring doorbell, we had three cameras in the front yard, one on each shed and two in the back yard. The fear was not mine, we lived in a very safe area. There were no break-in’s or home invasions and we have never lost anything to theft. I didn’t want the cameras, I felt they made us feel less safe and more fearful.
Now that he’s home, there are no cameras. I would like a couple of cameras for things like figuring out who shoveled our driveway and what critter was wandering around the back yard, but I don’t want to trigger his paranoia enough to suggest them.
So I’ve been looking up high-fiber foods for him, and I’ll quit with the sweet stuff I was buying him. Luckily, he seems to like most of what’s on the list, and he’s OK using stevia as a sweetener. I’ve also been looking up high-fiber recipes. Are lentils any good? I’ve never had them but they seem to rate high on fiber lists.
