(Old) Strange Places and Milestones in the MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
201

I swear I’m single-handedly keeping my two local grocery stores in business! I needed protein shakes and other weekend provisions, so I did a quick trip at lunchtime. I went to Store A the last two times, but this time I went to Store B for the items I can only find there (e.g., sugar-free dark chocolate pudding) while also picking up more fruit, small trash bags, etc. And a single-serving bag of potato chips. And maybe a double chocolate muffin. :grin: I should probably examine my monthly grocery spending as part of the exercise that prompted the cord-cutting…NAH.

Work is super quiet at the moment (a little after 3pm); gotta love the Friday afternoon before a holiday!

I debated whether to keep rambling at y’all about watching live baseball, then decided why not. :grin: But I’m putting it at the end here, so it can be easily skipped by those of you who just rolled your eyes…

Turns out that Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV+ each air the occasional MLB game, and I already subscribe to both of them! Apple offers two games every Friday night. No Yankees or Nationals, but if I really start missing baseball I can watch one of those (whew). Amazon offers some Yankees games, but a few are only available to people in the “Yankees television territory” – however, the Prime site says “Prime Video’s live games will be available to MLB.TV subscribers living outside the Yankees’ television territory.” One such game will be on tonight…I look forward to finding out whether I’m able to watch it. :baseball: :slight_smile:

HA!

But yes, actually. It’s pretty much the only fitness-related thing I can do at the moment! :slight_smile:

Nothin’ wrong with baby steps… :people_hugging:

Like, one that was all strung together? Or were all of the bones separate? :skull:

202

I’m a guy, so it’s perhaps slightly less traumatic, but my first gray hair was about age 25 and my head was fully gray with faint blond highlights by the time I was 30. Now 35 years later the big change since then is how much more oh-so-sexy forehead and temple skin I’m showing.

And especial {{shoe}} hugs for your so-far secret sorrow.

Here’s hoping your Fri is busy enough to pass the time and busy enough to keep all your irritating cow-orkers occupied and off your nerves. But not so busy y’all are goin’ nuts and somebody burns herself again. Hint hint.

This. In spades. Hoo-ooo-ooo-RAY!!

As to Nellie & Cookie, it’s a darn shame we don’t have painless joint replacement yet. Best of luck battling through the recovery.

Yanker, that RV trip sounds awesome. We’ll all be here with you in spirit.

As to me:
Got home in fine fashion, then went to bed at 10pm and awoke at 8am. Wow - I must’ve been super-tired.

Today has been laundry and some loose-end tidying for post-retirement insurance. Plus clearing nearly a month of email backlog & smail mail backlog. Finally now after 3pm I’ve got time to waste take a break with y’all.

I did read everyone, but only commented on a few.

203

You want to see GRAY? Here’s Ruble.

204

Howdy Y’all! Been a day of high sloth, as promised. We did get some Bojangle’s fried chikin and bizkits. I nuked some leftover green beans and mac ‘n cheese to go along with. Made for a fine N.O.L. which was followed by some fine nappage. We did manage to accomplish day drinkin’ as well. Been an off and on rainy day, so a good day to sit on the back porch and quaff an adult beverage or three.

205

Afternoon, all! Up from nap on the back porch. All this Bo’jangles talk has put me in the mood for biscuits. And what goes good with biscuits? Sausage gravy. So that’s on the bill for dinner tonight.

206

Get off my lawn ya damn kids! (missred, whose red had to be adjusted for fifteen years before finally giving up and going blonde).

Got another biggish hunk of the invitation project done today. With any luck, it will be done by the end of the weekend. One more hour on it this evening and I’ll go back to surfing and watching TV with a little reddish dog in my lap. :slight_smile:

207

Doesn’t seem to be, but we gave her an aspirin since she did seem to be disinclined to lie down. I think she’ll be fine.

Dammit - I usually proof my posts - that one got away.

Well, as if my daughter hasn’t had enough crap to deal with, the county (which owns the school building) is raising their rent 300% (from $1k to $4k per month) and demanding that they make $250K in repairs to the building. yeah.

Apparently this great deal was negotiated by the former headmistress who was given a list 10 years ago of things that needed to be fixed, and she blew it off. The inspection this summer turned up the $250K list. One would think the landlord should be in charge of maintaining the building, but the contract specifies the county is responsible for the roof and the boiler and that’s all. Nice, huh?

Needless to say, the board will be meeting and they may have to find a new place for the school when their lease is up. Bastards! One of the teachers is also a real estate agent - that could be handy.

We got our flu shots, but the pharmacist recommended we wait till the newest COVID shot comes out later this month. After, we ran over to MIL’s and I gave her a bag of 'maters. Then we took her out to eat at Salsa’s, and we’re just now home. We’re meeting Daughter et al at Bob Evans tomorrow for breakfast. But the rest of tonight is for chillage.

208

We got our flu shots this morning. Four hours later I have all of the symptoms of a nasty cold. I did a hot soak and a shower and I am dressed warm to see if I can fight it off.

209

Evening all. Swimming and sauna were accomplished, Big Bowl O’Sallit took care of dinner, and You Tubing has occupied much of the evening. Heading down to about 70F so may rest the AC and open up some windows again. Soccer starts at 8am tomorrow and won’t finish until 3pm, so need to set the alarm clock for early rising.

Hippy, get well soon.

FCM, bad news on the school, especially after all the work you and FCD put into it.

Miss Owl, lovely picture, but more white than grey IMHO (the beard looks like mine, except Ruble’s is three times larger).

Oopsie, enjoy baseball. Once Saturday soccer is completed I’ll start watching English League soccer on Saturday mornings, we get it here on Direct TV.

Well, your head bone connected from your neck bone
Your neck bone connected from your shoulder bone
Your shoulder bone connected from your back bone
Your back bone connected from your hip bone

Be happy that you still have hair. And hoping for a busy night for you.

cookie, and extra {{ }} for Ms. Cookie, hope the shot helps.

OK, need to do some reading and then off to bed. Take care all.

210

Got even more administrivia done later. We now think we have 100% of everything done that we can do now. Just awaiting the final paychecks and bennie payouts. Of course I’m on call tomorrow at 4am, so I’d best not start counting my retirement chickens while I’m still gainfully employed.

Decided dinner would be at the nearby Spanish tapas place. Had a nice walk over under warm blue skies with a few puffies and took our place outdoors under their large awning. Halfway through the meal the sky abruptly opened up while the Sun kept shining and it slammed like mad for about 5 minutes. Then it quit as abruptly as it came. The radar showed one fussy little cloud about 1/2 mile in diameter with a bad case of short-man syndrome and a real attitude. Anyhow, it wandered off to rain on somebody else’s parade and we didn’t get wet coming, eating, or going.

I had 5 tapas in two courses while Her Ladyship made do with just one in one course. She enjoyed a sangria and I had two glasses of Duero Crianza. Very nice. A solo live musician set up to play some Spanish pop & classical with backup accompaniment on his iPad. Except for the fact he set his mix so it was louder than he was the overall result was nice. He seemed plenty skilled enough to take the lead sound.

So now I’m yakking with y’all while Her Ladyship is needlepointing a long-stemmed rose pattern. While I was irking the last few days she’s gotten all trained up to be a friend of the library and work their used book store plus other roles as yet TBD. She’s excited to get going.

211

JAILBREAAAAKE! I was going stir crazy and decided a trip to the supermarket, which has real, live humans, was in order. I knew I couldn’t walk a mile, so I limped out to the bus stop. I just did NOT tkae the walker’s because I don’t know how you manage a walker and a cart. Good thing, as there was only one of the mini-carts available, so no room for a walker. I’m hurting, but it was necessary.
On the bus home, a liitle rapscallion kept laughing and punching his mom. Mom: No, no. Don’ t. That’s not funny. I’m not putting up with this." Yet she DID put up with it, and for 20 minutes. She sounded exhausted, poor thing.

Wheelz, that clip made my day!

hippie, hope the side effects vanish pronto.

Moooom, what a headache. I hope they find a new buiding soon. How long do they have?

Would chat longer, but serious pain, and it’s not like RLS. Hmm. This, too, shall pass.

212

Up from naptime. I put away laundry, cleaned Spot’s litterbox, and did a few other minor chores. Now I’m sipping on a Royal Hawaiian. Dinner tonight is Old Bay cod, smoked paprika rice, and steamed broccoli.

Well it was a giant half skeleton. Arms, neck, ribs, and head were separate. And like any number of politicians, the cranium was shoved up into its thorax for shipping.

:slight_smile:
And this is the guy I let carry me around Pittsburgh on the back of a motorcycle. And I was sober(when I started anyways. :wink: )

So the Pergo doesn’t match the drapes. :wink:

Hope daughter can find a new building for the school.

Feel better, Cookie and hippie

Me, too. And good luck on the on call countdown.

213

Found my first at 28, still don’t have all that many at 54.

214

Poor lil Higgs, it must be tough to not feel safe in her own home. Have you considered an electric barrier? I know several people who use them and of course they have all tried them out themselves. I did too because I’m just that way. They don’t hurt, they startle and critters learn to leave them alone very quickly.

Dang about the school building, I hope things get figured out quickly.

:slight_smile: I’m really glad we met, they really are good people. Yesterday I also learned that NF and hubs are also Lovecraft fans so we gots a whole bunch of talking to do soon! They are planning on getting NF hubs an electric scooter and a car ramp to carry it and I’m really looking forward to being able to show them around. Being able to push Mom around in a borrowed wheelchair worked out so well for us, I hope NF and hubs have the same experience.

Sounds wonderful, it is always great to just put along and look at the scenery. Moab is beautiful and route 66 is pretty disappointing nowadays but you can still see some interesting country.

You totally rock!!!

I am so sorry. I had it for a week and it was terrible (my first thyroid med caused it). I can only imagine how much you suffer every night :frowning:

Way to put me to shame, LOL!!!

I’m sure it is Monkey’s fault…remember that night he didn’t come home until the cows came home? That’s when it happened.

Mom used to look at herself in the mirror and point at her gray hair and tell me just what I did to cause it. “See this? This is from when you bought that motorcycle. And see this, this is from when you caught your hair on fire, and see this…”

The main reason I never had children was because Mom used to tell me that when I grew up, I would have children and she hoped every one of them was just like me. I totally noped right out of having to deal with that shit and thank her on a regular basis for not smothering me in my sleep when I was in puberty.

Last night we had a very loud storm with not a bunch of rain but a whole bunch of wind. The storm visited Phx and knocked out power for thousands of people just in time for the long weekend. Hubs went to the junction for something and he said it was packed with assholes who were yelling at the poor poor clerks and other customers for all sorts of random shit. We’re guessing they just couldn’t take the muggy heat without AC, then spent hours in traffic to get half way to Prescott and were pissed off at the world.

While we were discussing it, I was surprised to learn that hubs thought that the number of customers without power meant number of people instead of number of meters. Once I pointed out that we have never reported number of residents in our homes to the electric company and that the local hotel counted as one customer due to only having one meter, he got it and was much more sympathetic to the larger number of people without power.

215

My mom did that, except she spread the blame around. “This is from when I caught your sister hitchhiking. This is from when you had pneumonia.” The silver badge of honor.

This is called The Mother’s Curse. Mom held off, but she did ensure we didn’t get cocky. At Christmas, we each got an onion in our stocking along with the treats. This was to remind us that we were good, but there’s always room for improvement. :slight_smile:

FCM, I missed the bit about poor ol’ Higgs. I hope he heals fast!

216

My sister used to write her name on the walls and then deny she did it. Mom didn’t fall for that and much scolding happened. One day much older sister and her daughter were at Mom’s house at the same time I was and sister started talking about daughter writing on the walls and how she didn’t understand why she was doing it because her slightly older son never did. I thought poor Mom was going to explode trying to hold her laughter in. I left the room before I started laughing and set Mom off.

217

Up, caffeinated, and sheveled. Off to heave.

And Jimmy Buffett just passed away. I have a sad.
:notes: I’m growing older but not up
My metabolic rate is pleasantly stuck
So let the winds of change blow over my head
I’d rather die while I’m living then live while I’m dead:notes:

218

Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and caffeinatin’. YAWN ‘Tis 72 Amurrkin out and mostly cloudy with a predicted high of 84 and mostly cloudy for the day. The big item on today’s agenda is to make foodstuffs to take to first Sunday brunch over to the church house tomorrow. I have a smallish spiral cut ham which will get baked, so’s I can take some tomorrow. I will also make a corn casserole and a gallon each of sweet and unsweet tea. That sounds ambitious and highly unslothful, but in reality, not a whole lot of work. Since it’s also Amurrkin Labor Day on Moanday, the ham will be on the menu for that along with N.O.T. sallit. JDD and Partner will come over to hang at the cee-mint pond. They’re bringin’ a pound cake. We’ll have ham sammiches, N.O.T. sallit, and pound cake with macerated strawberries and real whipped cream. Plus adult beverages will be consumed. Sup tonight shall be leftover poke tenderloin chopped up and drowned in bbq sauce for sammiches, along with coleslaw and fries. I promise sloth, nappage, day drinkin’ and other useless activities will get thrown in for good measure.

MOOOOOOM that sucks about daughter’s skool. Hope they’re able to find a nicer place. Also hope Higgs is better today, poor baby!

Hippie hope you’re feelin’ better today.

Cookie hope the missus and you are doin’ better today as well.

doggio I am also sad about Jimmy Buffet. I would not exactly call myself a parrothead, but I really like his music.

Now I need more caffeine and to feed rumbly tummy. Then, onward into the day! Rah.

Happy Sattidy Y’all!

219

Not just us - various volunteers painted the whole school, installed new LED lights, hung new whiteboards, and assorted other things I’m likely not aware of. I feel sorry for my daughter having to deal with this, and tho it’s unfair, I can’t help but wonder if the former headmistress or her #2 might have stirred some of this up. Probably unfounded suspicions…

I don’t know any other details - I’ll likely find out more at breakfast this morning.

Woke at 4, dammit. I tried and tried to fall back to sleep, but I gave up around 6. On the other hand, the dishwasher is now emptied, the ice maker is making ice, and I think Higgs is getting better - she’s moving better anyway.

Speaking of gray hair, if I have any, they’re not obvious, at least not to me. Then again, I can’t see the top of my head. Daughter claims she saw a couple, FCD can’t confirm. I really don’t care one way or another - heck, I’m almost 70, so it shouldn’t be a surprise. I do need a haircut, so I guess when I get around to it, I can ask the stylist. When we were at my mom’s last week, I noticed the sister who’s a year younger than I am is almost completely gray. Then again, she got her hair from Mom’s side of the family. I know my youngest sis colors hers, not sure about the other one. And bro wasn’t there, so I don’t know about him either.

Not sure what I’ll be doing today after our fambly breakfast. There’s much weeding required, and John Deere needs to have a go at the back yard, so maybe I’ll do some work outside. Or not. We’ll see.

Happy Saturday!

220

Afternoon, mumpers! It’s 20c/67f with a predicted high of 22c/71f and partly cloudy. Weather app says “Calm your tits, it’s not that fucking bad outside.” I’d agree with that, it was quite pleasant when I went to the gym earlier. Spin class was fun, there were only two of us so we did half spin and half HIIT just for a laugh. Then I stayed for some weights stuff and had a long natter with one of the other ladies in the class.

I also has a sad about Jimmy Buffet - he will always be a bit of a guilty pleasure for me, his music is way removed from what I usually listen to but it always makes me smile and makes me think he’ll always be having a good time wherever he is.

Mooom that’s bad news about the school, I hope Daughter and the Board can find some kind of resolution there, even it means finding new premises.

Cookie hope you and Mrs C are both feeling better today.

shoe still sending you big hugs for your secret sad, I hope you find a way to deal with it soon.

Yanker I am envious of your RV trip, I’d like to do that kind of thing one day but I’m not sure I’d be safe driving that kind of behemoth!

Taters I am so pleased you’ve dumped all that work back in the lap it belongs to, that must have made you feel a million times better!

Gym stuff has been done, just had a shower and washed my hair, got to get myself respectable enough to be seen out in public as we’re off to town for lunch at the Good Chinese Place. Then errands to be done, need to get petrol so we have enough for tomorrow’s jaunt, and then I have to run the rollsuck around the house.

Also need to email a friend who’s popping in tomorrow evening to tend to the mogs as we’ll be away all day. We’re off to a music festival for the day, staying overnight and hoofing it home on Monday morning as I have to irk in the afternoon.