My irk station is on the right side of the couch, below the shelves I put up for the kitties. Abbey chased Goo earlier, and Goo made a rapid, fluid movement from the floor to the arm of the couch and up to the shelves. Unfortunately, I was resting my arm on the arm of the couch and Goo’s hind claws dug into my hand. It looked like she tore a piece of skin from my right index finger. When I went to tear it off, I saw that it was one of her claws. So no torn skin, but I did get three minor punctures on two fingers.
And speaking of irk, I received a data verification request from Big Multinational Credit Reporting Agency. I conferred with our member, and the dispute was from one of their own companies. They’d been reporting internal accounts, and some of their divisions had been denied credit because of past due amounts. The company found it ironic (their word) that their divisions were being denied credit because they themselves were reporting on them. Anyway, I’ve asked BMCRA to delete the trade line, I’ve zeroed the amounts in the most recent file and re-sent it for loading, and the company will filter out internal accounts before sending their files.
OK, I truly did laugh loudly at that. Thank you doggio
boo fae, glad you decided to make it permanent, hopefully all the felines under your roof will be agreeable.
Wheelie, great news and cute kid, but why they wrap babies up like Egyptian mummies is a mystery to old bachelor me.
Oopsie, enjoy the new phone.
Spicy, hoping you stay well. And so glad the Zen thing went well for you.
Flyboy, glad you were able to straighten out the issue before it became a SNAFU, hope the hand is ok.
Well, my checking account balances with what the bank says I have and I have re-done my 3-month budget to cover the March-May timeframe, so the financial stuff is done for now. Will shortly proceed to the gym for some exercising and then decide if more activity is called for.
Went out to the spring Arboretum show. Lots of purty posies, mainly orchids. What really struck me was that the same ramps and stairs that gave me so much knee pain at last year’s show were of zero consequence this year. I still use a handrail on stairs, because I’m not an idiot; a fall would be disastrous. But being nearly pain-free is really wonderful.
Good for you! If you get over the initial bumps and get a reputation as a good worker, it’ll smooth your way!
It would never have occurred to me that you could move a saguaro of that size successfully! I’d always assumed they were too persnickety about their growing conditions. I know how attached you can get to landscaping plants, though. After I planted three new trees a couple of years ago, I realized I’m never going to want to leave them.
That’s how my FIL was, too. He’d spent all his life being independent and it was really hard for him to admit to himself he needed help. So he’d do something for himself that ended up needing more of my time and attention to fix than if he’d just let me in on it from the start.
He’s been gone for three and a half years, and he spent his last four years living with us. I’m just now starting to be able to remember him in the better times instead of that last maddening, frustrating, heartbreaking year. I wish I’d learned some useful wisdom, but all I’ve got for you is my empathy and best wishes.
My regular grocery store stopped carrying the peanut butter like that in favor of what seems like ten varieties of “natural” peanut butter with added sugar and palm oil. My daughter discovered that they have it at Walmart, of all places. I hate going in there, but they also carry the jars of yeast my store stopped carrying, so soulless megamart, here I come!
Back in pre-retirement days, my boss used to do that! It drove me nuts, and she never did get the message that it was no good for us or the organization. I’m glad your boss is able to listen!
It’s got to be tough living with other people’s ideas of what constitutes food, especially when you know you could do it better! It’s nice you have an alternative.
You’re a good houseguest (roommate?). You’d said something about maybe making it a long-term arrangement - is that a serious idea? I feel like sharing a house between two people who travel a lot is ideal, as long as you have similar ideas of how best to run a household. Think of the savings in housesitters alone!
The only check I ever bounced was because I’d made a $100 error in my checking account register. The check was to the IRS; I never did my adding without a calculator again. I discovered Quicken shortly afterward, and I’ve never looked back (i just go by what the bank tells me nowadays).
Foster fails are the best! Congratulations!
I always make excellent passwords for any accounts involving money. I know they’re excellent, because whenever I have to log in from a device that doesn’t have the information saved, I end up having to reset them.
Poor little void! I know it’s getting to be spring; hairball season is upon us. I love that yellow-eyed stare because it looks so familiar.
Congratulations! She doesn’t even look like she cares how much disruption she caused, dithering about when she’d make an appearance! It’ll be a good story for you to tell her one day. She’s a cutie!
That’s exciting! My late FIL was a locally famous jazz multi-instrumentalist, and I came to appreciate the genre over the years of seeing his live shows, but I secretly always liked the ones where the band had a singer.
I’m glad you’re finding your way to calm! It’s hard to change our go-go-go habits, and it’s inspiring seeing someone do it successfully.
Yikes! The perils of being part of the cat furniture, for sure.
That’s swaddling! It’s supposedly keeps them calm and helps with the traumatic transition from a tight, cozy space to the cold wide world. It worked for one of my babies, but the other one hated it.
It’s back to being sunny and unseasonably warm here after the winds blew through. I’m hoping it got close enough to freezing to discourage the plants from bursting out into full bloom before mid-March. It’s also making me believe in the link between storms and arthritis my grandfather always swore existed. Mr. L and I have felt creakier these past three days than we ever have before.
And yaay for boofae’s newly permanent foster critters.
Quite right. D’oh!
It was indeed Boston Red Sox at Washington Nationals. “MIN” is a very misleading abbreviation for Boston. The game I saw on Sun over in Ft. Myers across the state was MIN @ BOS and I glitched which of those two teams was coming here to play WSH. When the Nats are involved, the opposition doesn’t much matter.
Yaay for voice lessons. Sounds like great fun and satisfying to boot!
Yaay! Best news of the day.
I expect he’d be fine with me here for many months to a couple years. We get along well so far, but there are a lot of things I’d do differently if I had my own place so he was never underfoot rather than sometimes underfoot. As well, his habit of having other friends and family stay over at random for a night or 6 really leaves me in an odd spot socially and logistically. Nor can or should I have any say in that.
The upside is I have use of all his toys. The downside is I really don’t have enough space for many of my own personal effects, mostly clothes. His house is full enough of stuff I can’t really colonize any more closet space. Idea time! Might buy a cheapass white melamine closet-cabinet. Even 4 feet of rod would be a material increment and would fit OK in my room. Thanks for the hint.
The big obstacle to long-term housemate is that I’d feel real weird trying to have a GF or even fuckbuddy at my age and SES while renting a back bedroom of somebody else’s house. Right now while GF/FBs are out of the question until the divorce settles that’s not a limiting factor. But it will become one rather soon.
As to house-sitters, he’d never pay for one, so no savings to be had there. He’s got neighbors and family enough to do that. He’s also not real anal about that crap, so somebody stopping by every 3 weeks to see if the place is a smoldering crater is plenty good enough for him.
Speaking of the domino avalanche crater … the compressor repair was quick and easy and cheap. Naturally I could not get the exact same replacement part, but I did get a functionally equivalent one of the same brand and quality.
This coulda gone in the Pit, but y’all know enough back story to make it easier to vent here.
Yesterday was supposed to be a short shift. Come in late, early out. So I woke up all, “Yay! Easy short day!”
{ cue doom violins }
Sweet Manager texted and asked very nicely in advance if I could go in early to open.
She never does this.
But she caught me at a good mood, so I said sure.
{ Boss Music intensifies }
Came in to work kinda bopping away … like a lamb to slaughter.
So yesterday’s shift, in a nutshell:
Sweet Manager was sick as shit. I’ve never seen her look or sound so ill.
The manager from a sister location who was pulled in to cover closing mngr. duties said she sounded like she was about to cry when they had that negotiation, and I believe it.
Dear gawd, I hope I - or anyone I work with - did not catch her crud.
She called later and I heard she reported that she did NOT have the 'Rona. My response was basically, “Okay? { shrug } Cuz, um … She got somethin’ for sure, and I don’t want that.” Callous? Probably. Practical? I mean …
Old New Guy can’t be trusted for shit. He’s not thieving actual inventory, yet, that I know of, but dang he’s skirting some lines. Pretty sure he liberated about a dozen bottles of expired pop/soda to re-sell on the sly instead of throwing them away. I don’t know; I just sorta half-heard, cuz I was pulled over to run fryers after he made both a figurative and literal mess.
(Pro tip: “He’s new” only skates you so far, buddy.)
He cleans really fast, and understands “first in/first out” intuitively, so a lot of the usual newbie stuff doesn’t have to be explained to him.
I so wanted him to work out, for that reason alone. But, damn, dude. When I tell you how to do something here, don’t push back at me. I don’t make the friggin’ rules; I’m just tasked with telling them to you.
One of my other coworkers is dealing with a situation almost like FCM except it’s her own mom, so even more emotional, and there may be a malpractice suit a-brewin’ (so she’s a bit, shall we say, distracted).
I lean on her when we work together, since she’s worked there since God’s grandma was a little girl, and frankly, I prop her up too a lot - we communicate really well - so having her “here but not-here” threw a wrench into some already hinky workings.
I coined a new term. “Gravity Committee.”
It’s where people on the clock sit on their asses, making sure that chair doesn’t float away.
Suggested Usage:
“Where the eff is so-and-so?”
“Sitting in the Gravity Committee.”
“Oh.”
Staring and/or giggling into a phone seems to be a committee requirement.
Did I say short shift? 7.5 hours later I hangrily limped home, consoling myself that hey, double the expected hours = mo’ money, right?
I’m so glad to be through with the lease stuff and the income tax. Yuck to both. I’m finishing working on the chair today, then my umbrella and I will set out for the gym and, after that, the grocery store. I’m completely out of bread, and almost out of other stuff.
wheelz, that baby is adorable. Those cheeks!
Or a baby monitor/intercom? It’s encouraging that she asked for help.
I wonder if he’ll know about the falls. Hopefully FCD will mention them.
Yum! I prefer crunchy peanut butter, but I don’t keep it in the house because I’d eat it nonstop.
How our definition of “free day” changes when we retire! I hope the rest of the day goes smoothly for you.
I feel so ignorant. Are we supposed to get new pillows twice a year? I usually wait until they get flat and lumpy, which probably isn’t a good idea. Dad had an old lumpy pillow he refused to replace. He said the lumps in the pillow fit the lumps on his head.
Hooray! Congratulations!
MetalMouse, I don’t balance my checkbook any more. I write very few checks, so I’m mostly checking deposits once a week. I do check my credit card carefully, as twice (in one summer), my card got hacked, and I might not have caught it if I hadn’t checked my purchases.
Afternoon all. 75 minutes of pedaling to nowhere are complete and the recovery phase is now in session, some TV watching shortly and then forage for dinner. May have a appointment for an oil change tomorrow, but they have me booked at a different location, so may have to call them on that. 52F outside and lots of clouds about.
nellie, I keep my checking balance in a ledger and check it weekly against the bank’s on-line totals, probably redundant but it makes me feel better and keeps my math skills from deteriorating, or at least that is what I tell myself.
Shoe, hope you stay well and that the work force doesn’t become the irk-force.
Pilot, sounds like you’ll be looking around soon. Best of luck.
IL, used to use Quicken, these days just rather write it down in the ledger. Old-fashioned perhaps, but that’s just me.
cookie, that news about the ramp and stairs and being pain-free brought a smile to my face. Best wishes.
OK, TV time is almost here so I’ll see all y’all later tonight. Take care all.
The sun came out for a couple of seconds today, long enough to see that the eclipse viewer thingy ™ works. It’s basically a 6"x6"x18" box with a pinhole in one end and a viewing hole in the other. You point the pinhole at the sun and look at the cast image. If’n you want to be all hoity-toity, it’s a camera obscura. If the sun comes out longer tomorrow I’ll take some pics. I’m pondering making some and doing some kind of stencil on the side…2024 eclipse, Finger Lakes, blah blah blah.
I’m joining shoe in pizza cooking tonight, 'cept I’m only making 1. 'roni, feta, and sun dried maters, if anyone cares.
cookie That is great to hear that you can climb and walk easier!
pilot Good on you for fixing the domino disaster. In someone else’s workspace, no less.
I’m glad she called you, I hope it happens again. Have you thought about a wireless call button? Something like this?
Never, ever, ever! Good luck to you, I’m glad your boss was able to understand what he was doing, some folks would get all defensive and stuff.
Oops! It’s good that you are handy enough to do the repair, I hope you don’t have problems finding the right tools.
As is right and proper.
Oh…flower beds. I’ll bet a flower choosing committee is even more “fun” than the paint choosing committee. Keep us posted!
Awwww! I love hearing about foster failures, they are the best.
Hurray! What a cutie! I hope you get to meet her soon.
I hope you don’t catch the ick, there should be at least one healthy adult in the family.
Isn’t that a good feeling? Congrats!
Back when I worked in the valley, I knew someone who was in the business. From what he said, they are even more persnickety than we know. He used to bring a couple of barrels of dirt from their old home to mix with the dirt in their new hole to help stop transplant shock.
There also used to be another business in Phx that I thought was pretty neat. The owner was an Oz transplant who owned a tree nursery specializing in Eucalyptus Trees. He would sell and plant the trees but his main source of income was the daily harvest of tender young leaves and shoots that he shipped to zoos all over the country. Zoos have to prove that they have food sources for the exotic critters they want to acquire and he had contracts with over 40 Koala keeping zoos.
Holy cow, what a nightmare! I’m glad everyone survived the night.
Of course you want to do that, you want to make tourists want them for the souvenir aspect. Do be sure to market them as Camera Obscuras, people just love that sort of gimmick!
Good luck, I hope they are successful and that you make lots of money.
So, today was Tai Chi and I took the leftover produce with me to the library. NF was really happy to get the grapefruits and the library lady told me that there were a couple of people who had figured out that I (or my box of food) gets there on Thursday mornings, so come in Thursday afternoons to shop the food shelf.
After TC, I came home and got hubs so we could meet NF and her hubby for lunch. It is NF’s birthday tomorrow, so we made sure that the wait person knew to give us the check. We know better than to trust NF hubby, he is really fast and grabby.
NF and I discussed our upcoming trip but we’ve pretty much got everything figured out now. Both of us are getting pretty excited, I really hope we have good viewing weather.
I’m gonna hafta either have an incredibly awkward convo with Sweet Manager or stand back and see how the shit flies.
And I suspect others haven’t been so circumspect about texting Mrs. Boss Lady on her day off, when she’s sick, about stuff, so she probably already knows.
Seeing as how I was off for a day, it’s gonna be interesting what I walk into.
ETA: Sweet Manager = Mrs. Boss Lady. It’s just how I delineate the many roles she plays.
The woman brings me home-cooked meals. She also is in charge, and delegates. And every great once in a while, I simply say, “Yes, ma’am.”
Howdy Y’all! Stuff got did and fish and chikin got cut up. Then majik intartoobz pizza and sallit got et. That pretty much sums up the day. Tomorrow afternoon will involve cookin’ stuff for the fish fry. Cause we are nice dammit, there will be an option for grilled chikin tenders. This is mainly cause I know there are a few members who are allergic to seafood, and as a result, will not eat any kind of fish. I know some folks with seafood allergies who will eat freshwater fish. To each his/her own, I reckon.
Taters peanut butter on toast is pretty much my go to breakfast. Sometimes we will have actual breakfast foods for breakfast, but usually they are eaten for sup when the gnawin’ and cravin’ takes hold.
doggio DOK is Whiskypalian for a religious organization for women. It means Daughters of The King. Maybe one of the Whiskypalian DOK should slap Shaggy upside the haid and knock some sense into him and maybe make him see Jesus.
Trying to not sneeze so much. I can’t afford tissues; I use t.p.
Felt fatigued last night, better today.
For supper I am scarfing Delimex rolled tacos with sour cream.
Gotta get up way early to bus to first day of training.
I have finished last year’s mystery piece. This is titled Lovestruck and was designed by Kathy Rees.
I’m not happy with the bit with our initials and the date, but I also don’t want to take it apart a second time. I guess I’ll leave it out for a while to see if I have to redo it before it gets taken off the frame and put away.
I went through my stack of patterns for something small and found this pattern:
I don’t like the colors, Mom said she meant to order this one instead:
I guess I need to head back to the valley for more fabric and thread in the colors I like so I can finally get it finished, it looks like a lot of fun.
I ended up choosing a small Christmas ornament to keep myself busy until the we start getting the mystery kit instructions.
If it ends up looking too much like something one of our rotten cats would want to play with, I will send it off for the Secret Santa.
Last things first: JtC that is a beautiful bunch of work you’ve done. Rather kitschy design, but that’s not your fault.
Shoe: Sorry the workday sucked that badly. I can recall many of mine over the years that seemed pretty promising on paper the day before but were an absolute clusterf*** from wake-up to well-earned bed-time. Sounds like you had one for the record books there. I vote for an extra serving of MJ.
As to me:
My day ended well; much more free than I had feared.
Once I got ass in gear and got fed & sheveled it was quick to find & procure the compressor part & once back home I also got lucky finding all the tools I needed quickly. So by roughly noon:30 I was done.
Spent the afternoon enjoying the solitude of a big house and yard. Laid in the sun at the pool, fiddled on the internet, had a long nap in bed, set up my entertainment on the ship, chased a couple of admin rabbit trails, killed a load of laundry, and generally was a lazy home-user with none of the responsibilities of home-owner or home-cleaner. I could learn to like this set-up.
A few days ago his GF had brought over some sorta Publix-branded prefab heat’n’eat meals, and they were getting old. Mike wanted me to eat them or pitch them when the trash went out tonight. So I heated and ate one for dinner. Reminded me of an airline meal more than anything; not bad, not good, and zero effort. Yaay for that much!
Got my packing for the cruise done while the meal warmed in the oven. Now I just need to grab a couple last minute items in the morning and I’ll be ready.
The trash & excess aging food went into the wheeled trash cart which was rolled the 30 feet from the garage to the curb for tomorrow AM pickup.
Now around 9pm I’m out in the backyard sitting in a comfy outdoor deck chair looking up at partly cloudy skies, enjoying a Basil Hayden’s Rye on the rocks, and having one of my few stogies that I couldn’t smoke where I used to live. Mike has quite a humidor but we only smoke that stuff outside. The temp is presently 74/23 on the way down to 69/20; just fine in a winter-weight tracksuit with the jacket unzipped. Never did ride the bike(s). Today.
I made a neat discovery today that may be old news to the ladies in the crowd, but was a total revelation to me and that might be useful to some other folks.
As the weather has warmed up and I’ve become fond of sunning, I’ve also become fond of applying moisturizing lotion afterwards. I’ve never had the habit of messing with that stuff before; too much trouble and too greasy. But keeping the deliberately sun-exposed skin from drying out is the key to avoiding peeling.
Anyhow, I had bought a typical pump bottle of brand X lotion at Target. Which pump quit working when about 1/3rd of the lotion remained. The suction end of the pump had created a hollow in the viscous goop and was just sucking air. Shake as I might I couldn’t redistribute the goop to fill that void so the pump would work again. And it’s not practical to invert the bottle and pour the stuff out into your hand; too thick.
So I had an inspiration: I unscrewed the pump with its metal spring and popped the plastic bottle full of thick goopy lotion into the microwave for 30 seconds. The result was warm liquid a little thicker than room temp maple syrup. The pump now works great again and the warm lotion felt pretty nice going on, rather than the sometimes bracingly cool thick goop of yore. 30 seconds was a bit more than needed, but I’m gonna remember this trick for the future.
Approaching bedtime. Tomorrow is not early, but it ends real late with no good nap opportunities, so a good long sleep tonight is highly desirable.
I took the bus home from the store because it’s snowing. It’s not sticking, but I was cold and the bus was about to arrive, so I wimped out. Also, my stomach is hurting. I’m going to get in my jammies and lie down with a heating pad.
shoe, I feel sorry for your poor boss. I don’t suppose she can do much about Old New Guy until she returns, but maybe swampy can send a contingent of the DOK nuns. When’s your next day off? You must be exhausted.
JtC, that piece is gorgeous! I think the initials rectangle looks fine.
