Venting ahead… nothing to see here.
MIL and FCD were having a “conversation” - she’s absolutely convinced that no one can understand BIL like she does so she refuses to consider a group home environment for him, not that it’s her choice. And she keeps bringing up that he was in special ed… over 50 years ago!!! I’m sure there’s a lot of guilt or something in there, but also a lot of stubbornness. grrrrrr!!
The weather is glorious! I have the house open. Meatloaf for supper. YUM!
Started Typing: 12:53 PM ET
Clicked Reply: 3:13 PM ET
It’s still “mittens in the morning and leis at lunch” weather here, but this far into October it’s hard to complain about sunshine and highs in the upper 70s! Several windows are open, and the only downside is the work being done on the new construction catty-corner to my house: the yard and street are both all torn up, I assume for some kind of utility work. It’s kinda noisy, but it could be much worse. And Bailey is hugely entertained by all of the activity. 
I just took this from my home office window:
Speaking of homes and work: 5pm Friday came and went without a peep from my property manager or his brother, so this morning I requested a storm door measuring appointment from Home Depot. No particular reason why I chose them over Lowe’s – the costs and products seemed comparable – I just had to make a decision. Someone will call me this week to schedule the measuring. Here we (finally) go! 
Today’s lunch was from Subway, courtesy of DoorDash. I’ve been seeing ads for Subway’s new “sidekick” items: cheese, chicken & cheese, and pepperoni & cheese dippers (aka wraps), and footlong Cinnabon churros, Auntie Anne’s pretzels, and cookies. I never go to Subway anymore because their sandwiches are too much bread for me (and I’m not a fan of “breadless sandwich”/bowl-type meals), so the wraps sounded interesting – plus, Subway has always had some of my favorite cookies. When it was lunchtime and I wasn’t inspired by any of the food already in the house, I remembered about the sidekicks and decided to give them a go. I miiiight have gone a bit overboard: I got all three wraps and a footlong pretzel and some baked Lay’s – in addition to several cookies (regular, not footlong). 
The chips, pretzel, and half of a chicken & cheese wrap have been assimilated: the remaining 2.5 wraps are in the fridge, and should be good dinners/lunches for the next couple days.
My personal trainer was able to move tomorrow evening’s session (which I can’t make because of a work dinner) to today, so I won’t be going to DC for live jazz tonight. I’d been looking forward to it, but – while hearing live jazz vs working out should be a no-brainer – I’d rather go to the gym this evening and not have to worry about making up a session. Especially since this last month of personal training will be busy enough as it is, with other sessions I’m going to need to skip/reschedule (like Election Day).
(Ugh, I just had a handful of interruptions…suddenly it’s 2:45pm!)
If you don’t feel like you’re missing much, then you (really) aren’t! 
That’s a sign of a pretty good team.
The last time was when I became the Membership Chair of my NAACP branch. I’d only just joined the executive committee as a member-at-large (the smallest possible leadership role; dipping my toe into those waters), but at the first planning meeting the membership position was still vacant and it’s kind of important and I felt that I could do a good job. It’s my curse: whenever I volunteer, I wind up offering to lead/organize things. But I’ve been free for almost three months now, and it will be a looong time before I volunteer for anything again.
Indeed! 
Yay! The place and location sound great!
This is not venting, nor is it whining, but it’s definitely perplexing. MIL seems bothered that we don’t get much mail. I pointed out that since I do everything on line, I don’t get bills and most of what comes in my mailbox ends up in recycling. For some reason, that bothers her. She’ll ask me almost every day about checking the mail. Old habits, I guess.
The meatloaf is in the toaster oven and I can already smell it. The center was still frozen - it may end up getting nuked briefly - we’ll have to see. Sides will be seasoned russet wedges and maybe peas-n-carrots. I’ll figure that out later. For now, I’m going to check the mail… 
As recently as yesterday?
We had someone walk out mid-shift, so handling phone/drive-thru/fryers/ovens/actually making pizzas (!) became something of a tag-team.
Answering a call (“Hey, can I, um, get, um, a pizza, for delivery? Like a 20 inch supreme? Aaaaand an order of the shrimp bites?” “We do literally none of that.”) while dropping fryer food while eyeballing that pizza that just came out & needs to be sliced AND someone is honking outside?
All imma say is, thank all the gods for choc’lit covered coffee beans, and vapes in my pocket. (“Imma go get .. something … from the walk-in real quick!”)
What happens in the walk-in, stays in the walk-in. Farts included..
A bear aligned with my heart.
This entire 'graph made me happy for you.
One of us! One of us!!
In the “contrasting lives” department, I was too wired to even think about lying down till around 5 a.m. Eventually, I was like, “Shoe sweetie, it’s nearly dawn, maybe we should sleep a bit?”
Woke at 1 p.m. and did the math … no bio-break … eight friggin’ solid hours sleep.
Guess I was tahred!
Depending on the car, the hunk o’cow might be more.
Ha!
Where cats are involved, gooshy-fud solves mamy problems.
Monkey’s vet keeps a stash of squeezy-crack in a cabinet.
Hadn’t encountered that joke (yet) but I like it.
I … uh … what? These words appear to be written in English, but I need a Rosetta stone.
Understood “twiddling her thumbs” and … the word “and.”
Also “yeeted” because I’m not yet a hundred years old and am totes hip to what the cool kids these days are sayin’ ya feel me?
That, I understood.
… plus …
… equals … dang.
I kinda feel sorry for BIL. I’m sure he’s an ass and we’d dislike each other immediately IRL but on paper (screen?) he’s a victim of circumstances not of his making, at least not initially.
Not gonna lie, we had kind of a “kumbayah” moment towards the end of the shift.
.. after smack-talking him, and dragging a few other not-so-dearly departed into the mix. (“Yeah, but not as bad as THAT GUY!” “Oh, gawd, forgot about that asshole, he definitely was worse.”)
Mine is right by my front door and I open it, uh, maybe once a month?
Shoe, muttering: “Junk … junk … former tenant … really former tenant … bill I already paid online … bill I can’t pay till next paycheck anyway … junk … oooh, a credit card offer, and at only 30% APR lemme get right on top of that!”
Nuke then (toaster) oven.
A sign of a really good team.
I’ve only skimmed at the point. I’m sitting in the VA hospital in Cleveland waiting for MusicMan to get finished with his appointment. It was kind of discouraging. We got here around 12:45 and asked if we were in the right place. They said yes and checked him in early for his 3:30 appointment. They also said he might get taken back early. The. We sat here and waited until 3:47 for them to take him back.
I hope it was worthwhile when all is said and done.
After this we have to stop and pick up a copy of my MRI and X-rays. It’s literally just a mile down the street. And thank goodness they’re open until 5:30. If I didn’t have a copy of my stuff, I’d have to reschedule my Thursday appointment.
Apparently, Ziva is truly a mutant kitteh - she doesn’t like gooshy food. But she does like Aldi’s version of Temptations treats.
The kitchen smells amazing, what with meatloaf and the russet wedges (in the air fryer.) Petite peas are simmering. Good supper ahead!
As much as you enjoy several YT channels, I’m surprised that you don’t watch them on the TV.
Hugs to you,Moooom. That’s a lot on your plate.
Yay!
Since beef has gotten so high, I’ve mostly quit fixing it at home period. I do keep a package of angus burgers in the freezer for quick meals, but I haven’t bought any other beef for a while.
Sis just called to tell me that Nelson’s auntie (his father’s littermate) just passed. 
She was ~15 years old. I figured she’d go sometime around her parents’ ages (17 and 20), but she just took a nap and didn’t wake up. We all should be so lucky. She had gotten up to 3.5# in the last couple of months from 3# (she was petite like her teeny-tiny chihuahua father and looked like a slightly darker red, female version of him). Sis said that the other dogs are sniffing around the places she liked to lay down.
At irk, it was a bad start Monday. Between the system being down when I came in and the @$$holes from the department next door on the weekend raiding our area for charging cables (the bastiges tried to run off with the data cables and hub I need to program Motorolas and disconnected it), good boxes and racks. Oy!
I hope tomorrow will be better.
Stay safe and healthy y’all!
There was a big fire in the mountains and then the monsoons started so all of the water poured unimpeded into the Big Bug creek which promptly overflowed and flooded communities in it’s path. Last I was in Black Canyon City (2020), they were still digging washed away vehicles out of the creek.
I was outside smoking at home and heard screams and sirens so told hubs that it was flooding and went to the bridge to see what was going on. What was going on was water covering the bridge and no sirens because they were evacuating trailer parks in Mayer, 6 miles away. That was what I was hearing, not our little community because the flooding had just started.
While I was standing there awestruck by the force of nature happening in front of me, hubs called me to find out where I was. I looked around and saw wet, cold people at the church parking lot and told him to grab all of the towels and blankets we had, even the ratty ones we used for fosters and to meet me there.
Handing tattered towels to cold and wet young children after a flood was probably the loudest call to duty I’ve ever heard.
I also spent a week working at the emergency center helping people get their food stamps replaced or telling them about other services. I got paid for that, so didn’t count it as much.
Sighs. And I used to like you so much! LOL!!!
It matured very nicely and hubs thought it was yum.
Were you at the VA in Huntington? Hubs just loves it because they always get him in earlier. I wonder if there was something happening behind scenes?
Do you have any suggestions as to where to get a square yard of upholstery fabric? That I can actually see in person and touch with my hands before spending a bunch of money to send something back?
I bought an old claw foot wood chair that is the perfect height for stitching, but the cushion badly stained and it needs new padding. I know where to get more padding and I can have another bottom made if needed. I just cannot find the proper fabric here.
Hurray and I hope he gets things sorted in time. Not like your Chinese student.
That sounds wonderful, good for kitties and people. I’m sure they will allow you to bring her.
Not being a cow meat fan, the only reason I know about tri-tips is from my last trip to Idaho. The hotel had bbq’s in the closest smoking area and many of the residents were traveling security system workers. (yes I could tell the details, we were smoking buddies after all)
They said they loved it when they were able to go to ID and UT because they could get tri-tips which was apparently pretty rare where they were from.
Sounds lovely, I hope you have a great time!
Does this mean you aren’t getting paid for those hours? 
I once called the police on a woman at the food stamp office. There was a small UNATTENDED play area for parents and children to sit and wait. It was right next to the electric entrance doors which were five adult steps from the curb to a pretty busy entrance road to the parking lot.
This woman put her toddler in the play areas and ignored her so when the child wandered out the door the first time I told her to watch her child. She told me that she couldn’t tell her child not to go outside unattended, that was how children learn. I looked her dead in the eyes and said that I was calling the police and she flipped me off. I did her one better and walked across the hall to Child Protective Services and told them what was going on. Then I called the police.
Just because I don’t like kids doesn’t mean I don’t care if one gets hurt or killed on my watch.
Oh my, that looks SO exciting!
I do agree, which is why I am pretty sure that a suicidal meltdown will happen when MIL doesn’t wake up one morning. Then what is BIL going to do? She won’t be there to rescue him and he won’t have the skills to help himself.
My sister who failed to launch has finally realized that her meal ticket is getting old and has been trying to find a job because she has a very spotty work history and isn’t eligible for social security until she has gotten her 40 quarters in.
She’s in a bad situation. Mom has supported her and all of her children and some of the grandchildren all of their lives. They don’t know how to survive without mom and mom is in her late 80’s.
That whole thing sucks. I hope your Tuesday is better.
Howdy Y’all! Still don’t know what’s goin’ on with the laptop, so posting on my iPad. Home from men’s night over to the church house. Goo crowd and as usual we solved all the world’s problems, but no one ever listens to us. Now ‘tis time for sleep.
Sticky_buns cool someone wants your peas on Earth work, Hope the trip wasn’t too bad on the leg.
BooFae huzzah for ‘im indoors!
MOOOOOOM awww… that is just too keeyoote!
Flyboy yay for vacation!
Good to hear from you and I sure do understand your pain. I hope you get the laptop figured out soon, tablet posting isn’t great.
Lots of times at work (doggy daycare) I’ll put on some music from YouTube. I try to keep it mellow to keep the room calm, so I’m all about James Taylor and Jackson Browne and that kind of stuff. The other day I pulled up some jazz videos and I played a Miles Davis concert from 1964, and I’ve to come to a sad conclusion: I don’t get jazz. It sounds like five different people playing five different songs all at once.
I’ve enjoyed some jazz (Buddy Rich’s big band was a hit) … but when it comes to Davis and Charlie Parker being geniuses … fine, I’ll buy that, but what the hell are they doing up there?
No sir. I don’t get jazz.
I have 2 partial bolts of upholstery fabric - one a southwest type of print on a cream/beige background, and one a pink and white something (waves I think?) I’ll gladly send you a hunk if you’d like. I can message you a photo tomorrow (too tahred to mess with it tonight) and you can let me know.
I’m almost done the latest lap robe, but being tahred, I’m going to mosey back to bed. The nurse couldn’t come today, so she’ll be here tomorrow to see MIL. I’m hoping before she comes, I can run to Aldi or Food Lion. No other plans for tomorrow, so far. I’ll figure it out when the time comes.
For now - nighty-night!
Nope. Stokes VA in Cleveland.
Fabric, yes! In person, no. I absolutely adore Spoonflower, but yeah, they’re only online. Here’s my favorite pattern which I do have on some of my dining room chairs.
Oh yeah, almost forgot to add: Pictures of your new furniture, please!!!
I have bittersweet relationship with Jackson Browne’s music. I’ve seen him in concert several times with my dad. When the two of us weren’t getting along, it was hard for me to listen. But I’m warming back up to his music again.
We are home and I’m exhausted. My knee/leg did okish, I’m sitting in my recliner now, thankfully.
Lovely they might be…I couldn’t sit on those faces. (I also can’t use face coasters, putting a glass on Mom’s face just seemed so wrong)
I’d pay postage. Yes please to the pics, but I do trust you to know if the fabric you have is the good stuff instead of the flimsy pretty stuff.
I just got conformation that those really are flying (soaring) squirrels and not bats. Jolene was in the dining room just throwing a fit at the window so I shut the light off so we could both see what was going on out there. Those were NOT bats. I know how bats move and what they look like, so if our local night fliers are not bats. Their wings didn’t flap and they had round heads. They went into the neighbors bushes and got noisy, then scampered up the utility pole and soared back home? I think. No idea where they live, but I expect they hang out by the river.
It’s definitely not flimsy - we bought it to upholster boat cushions. I’ve had it forever and used it on barstools and bench cushions for my mom ages ago, and they still look decent. It’s been stored in dry, critter-free closets. I’ll message you some photos tomorrow. And now, for reals, I’m heading to bed.
I napped with Spot. Apart from when he was stomping my larynx. I dreamed I was at a falling apart resort, my amphibious ATV sank, and the bear(N.O.B.) stole my packets of Texas Pete. Now it’s cheeseburgers, fries, and an Old Fashioned.
Special Delivery Instruction: “Pizza made with upwind ingredients”
Diverter: angled metal thingie that diverts packages off a belt down a slide
Pig: 20 foot box truck, used for bulk deliveries. As in “Handles like a pig”
DELV: Delayed delivery: Target/Kohls/Old Navy pay less if we slow roll your package to the max allowable delivery time(usually by 1 day)
Table: slanted table where packages are sorted from the belt to the moving sorting boxes
Slide: Slanted slide below the Table where clerks retapes/re-scan packages, and put missorts back on the return belt
Mez: Clerk station at top of building where clerks fix address errors.
Surepost: UPS pays USPS to deliver packages, so the CEO can offload payroll costs from the Company to the US Taxpayer.
Yeet: Originally it was a vatiaion of YOLO, but since pic associated was a dude leaping off a cliff, the meaning became “Throw off a high place, and far away”. My favorite new word, and what Spot likes to do with my wireless mouse.
{{{{red and Nelson}}}}
I love it! And I hope the leg survived the trip up North.
Somebody stop me!! Pastel Rainbow Dumpster Fires small Fabric | Spoonflower
You already know this, but 
you’re my hero.
Why do I get the distinct sense that there’s a NSFW story there?
Those faces. Okay.
OMFG I’ve been wanting to see flying squirrels since I moved outta Tx to Mich.
I haz so much jealous right now.
Oh, well, that’s nice.
Can you rip apart a dress? Cuz I bought this, years ago … it’s hilarious how long I can go before anyone notices:
CowCow Womens Summer Sundresses Middle Finger Hands Pattern Fit and Flare Skater Dress,XS-5XL Amazon.com: CowCow Womens Summer Sundresses Middle Finger Hands Pattern Fit and Flare Skater Dress,XS-5XL : Clothing, Shoes & Jewelry