I never wanted any piercings. Never. Not ever. Nope.
When FCD took our daughter to get her ears pierced, I walked thru the mall trying not to faint. I honestly don’t get it - poking holes in one’s body. Gives me heebie-jeebies just thinking about it.
Big nope.
My ears are the only parts of me I’ve ever had any interest in piercing — one standard hole in each is just fine — but my BFF in our teens and 20s had multiple ear and other piercings. On the other hand, she really didn’t understand the allure of tattoos while I got my first ink in 1994.
In the summer of 1999, we went to a big tattoo convention in Richmond, VA: I wound up getting a fairly large tattoo, and she couldn’t watch. After the artist bandaged my arm, my friend and I stopped by the piercing area so she could look at stuff. At one point I kind of shuddered at something, and she just stopped and stared at me with an amused look on her face. I said, “What??” And she pointed at my arm and laughed, “You are literally bleeding, but piercing bothers you?!”
We both cracked up, and to this day it remains my favorite personal “to each their own” story. 
I am not surprised. He took me on a tour of the men’s room at Dubois Harley-Davidson.
… aaand?
My tiny little shriveled heart. It melted.
I believe that’s the whole “love language” thing. That’s how he showed he cared, and acknowledged your grownupedness.
He wasn’t mad at you; he was mad at time marching on and changing his little girl.
I had a hard time with the fact that my dad almost never said, “I love you,” and also, that he’d take my car to fill the gas or change the oil when I was a teen sometimes. I took it as his way of depriving me of my tiny shreds of hard-won independence, until my mother - in one of the only gentle moments I can remember - communicated that this was his way of showing that he loves me.
I hope you wear those earrings with love and pride.
I got my ears pierced at age 19. The doctor who performed it (Yes, an MD at a jewelry store.) couldn’t get the gun off the stud in my ear. I told him if he could do the same on the other side, I’d at least have a matched set. But my mom had it worse. In Italy, little girls’ ears were pierced at a young age with a needle and no pain relief. Mom went first. She really wanted to cry but was warned not to so her little sister wouldn’t get scared and fight it. For decades she was proud of herself for the stoicism that let her sister get here ears pierced. One day she was telling the story again, and my aunt said, puzzled, “I never got my ears pierced.” All mom’s courage was for naught. Her sister saw the needle and made a huge fuss.
What a sweet story! 
You people have GOT to finish these stories! What was unusual about this particular women’s bathroom and this men’s room? I’m glad you showed up, Ms. Owl. I All the talk about Russian rubles had me thinking of your Rubles.
MetalMouse, that sucketh mightily about your car. I hope the new rental is nice.
It’s not even 8:00, and I’m in bed. I got up at 3:00, so I’m tired. Swampy, I’m taking your wise advice to heart.
I miss my sister.
It had some nice coral decorations. Just funny that our tour guide knew there were nice decorations in the woman’s room. 
Here in Kansas, in a county north of here(I;m in Topeka) there is a high school called Royal Valley(home of the Cobras!) It is mostly underground, built in an old missile silo… It’s been there for well over forty years, I remember visiting the site when I was a tweener.
As for strange places, you should try Lucas Kansas. An old dude in the early part of the 20th century built wierd statues, it’s called the Garden of Eden. He and his first wife are buried on site, above ground, with his resting place on top of hers. HIS coffin has a window and you can look in to see what is left of him. I looked, the glass was smudged and he was rather green and fuzzy.
I am a happy worthless drain on society, sleep deprivation is not an issue for me!
I think that between the smoke and my allergies, my body just wanted some major sloth time cause I’m all hunkey-dory now.
I spent three years in Okinawa and traveled all around Asia thanks to military space-a flights. There were some really strange places out there. Prior to that, I won a trip to Germany and Romania before the wall fell and seeing soldiers with machine guns causally strolling around was really strange to my 15 year old mind.
The strangest place I’ve ever been was the Alamogordo Bombing Range almost 20 years ago. (They allow the public in once a year and you are NOT allowed to pick up glass or rocks or anything at all.) The world changed there and I don’t think it was for the better. It was very sobering and floozying didn’t happen, not even in Los Alamos. (I did floozy in Hiroshima in the mid 70’s but that was pretty vanilla because it involved a hotel room.)
Nowadays my latest milestone was to get healthy enough to get up off the floor without help.
Self care is so important, I’m glad you are paying attention to yourself. As to your lovely children…you did the best you did with the hand you were dealt.
Words of wisdom!!!
That is fabulous! I love the colors and your work is amazing!
Too late to edit, sorry for the double post. A skunk got hit by a car in front of our place and of course the driver didn’t stop. Hubs dispatched the mortally wounded skunk (.22 round to the head) because we couldn’t just leave it writhing and convulsing in pain. The body has been removed to the desert for the wildlife to deal with.
Hurray!
You are allowed to cuss if it hurts.
Totally agree!
I didn’t realize how sleep deprived I was when I was working, so it amazed me how much better I felt after I let my body tell me how long I should sleep instead of the alarm clock.
I didn’t really care about getting my ears pierced until I joined the USAF and learned that I could NOT wear pierced earrings during Basic Training. So of course I got my ears pierced (by a fellow recruit using a needle) and used little broom straws in the holes to keep them from closing.
Despite not wearing earrings more often than a couple of times a year, my ears have never closed up.
Hubs first got his ear pierced at one of those mall places with guns. He reports that hurt. He stopped wearing his earring for a while and his hole closed up so he got his ear re-pierced at the doctor’s office. He said that wasn’t nearly as bad but it got infected and he let it close up again. Finally he wanted a gauged earring and had that done at a tattoo place. He reports that was the best piercing experience he’s ever had.
Needlepoint seminars usually come with a fancy dress-up dinner the last day. Needlepoint seminars are usually attended by 98% women so the men’s restrooms are often repurposed for women to use during the dinner. Mom and I still laugh about the hotel that put velvet drapes in front of the urinals in the men’s room to avoid offending anyone’s sensibilities.
I absolutely loathe seeing that (main reason I can’t stand horror/gore flicks) so a giant thank you to you both, for doing a small kindness in this big ol’ world.
Wasn’t super worried about making my nails look all purty till I got this job & found out the G.M. at current 
job does. not. allow. polish. at. all.
Monkey see; monkey do.
Monkey can’t have; monkey WANT.
Now every damn bitch with gorgeous acrylics just makes me seethe (politely and within) cuz I can’t haz.
Up, caffeinated, and sheveled. Off to heave.
Well, George Clinton says Bite Me
Morning, mumpers! It’s currently 14c/57f with a predicted high of 19c/66f, and mostly cloudy. Weather app says “Asking someone to be positive about the weather is like asking them to fucking smile more. It’s fucking annoying.” I disagree - this is my favourite kind of weather, it’s dry but not hot, and not too bright (always a bonus for those of us with any degree of photophobia).
I have read much, and retained little…
hippie another beautiful piece of quilting, I am continually impressed with your talent.
nellie I’m sorry about the family situation but I can see you’ve done a fine job with the kids. You can’t help what the father was, or how that affected them, you did your best to raise them well and keep them protected from things. Sounds to me like they’ve turned out just fine.
shoe from what I remember, those tweenie vampire-wannabes didn’t sparkle, they shimmered. And I definitely do not shimmer
sari and metalmouse sorry that the car woes continue, it’s a real pain not having your own vehicle. I don’t use mine much but I feel almost stranded if I haven’t got access to a car, even though I live somewhere with relatively good public transport and I am a regular commuter on public services!
Wheelie conga-rats on the proofreading success, it’s a good project to be working on.
Back to irk today, and things are not too bad in my corner of academia. People are doing what they’re meant to be doing, and things are progressing as expected. That probably means there’s going to be a huge catastrophe pretty soon!
I was thinking about the strange places and milestones thing, I’ve been to a lot of places that are strange to me, eastern Europe has a lot of places that seem to still be living in the past. Fun to visit but I wouldn’t want to live there. Milestones are a bit more difficult, I suppose things that stand out are that every “significant” point in my younger days (finishing secondary school, going to sixth form etc) where times when we moved house so all of those milestones involved starting over in a new place where I didn’t know anyone.
These days my milestones are more like making it to the end of the week without hitting anyone with a chair!
Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and caffeinatin’. YAWN ‘Tis 74 Amurrkin out and clear with a predicted high of 91 and partly N.O.S. There’s a flood watch in effect through tomorrow as Idalia is expected to bring a bunch of rain sometime from tonight into tomorrow. We shall see. The big item on today’s agenda is laundry. The excitement is almost too much. We may or may not go get shorn. This depends on whether or not we can gather up the energy to don attire appropriate for bein’ amongst the great unwashed. Sup shall be tacos 'n fixin’s, rice, and refried beans. Fartfest to follow. There will, of course, be the usual sloth and general overall uselessness.
JtC sometimes one just needs to have a day or two of pure sloth, sleep, etc. I consider that to be a good thing.
Sari glad the procedure went well. Rest as you desire. Remember you are now in recovery and must be gentle with yourself. Do that for as long as you want or can get away with.
BooFae gettin’ through the irk week without causin’ major casualties is indeed a significant milestone.
Now I need more caffeine and to feed rumbly tummy. Then, onward into the day! Rah.
Happy Tuesday Y’all!
Yeah, that’s another thing I don’t get. Different strokes and all that…
I’m not even going to ask…
I think I’m finally getting to that point, tho it’s not usually an alarm clock. My circadian rhythm can’t seem to let go of 5AM regardless of when I go to bed. But yesterday I was hard asleep at 6:30 when my phone alarm went off and this morning, I made it to 6 before my bladder made itself known. So I’m getting there.
Yet another thing that holds no appeal for me. Honestly, when I see women with the long, fancy nails, I wonder how then get anything done! TP on a stick?? And the clacking when they use a keyboard would make me stabby if I had to listen to it all day.
Obviously I’m lacking some specific girly gene…
I must have dozed off while watching the local weather last night because I could have sworn they said something about Hurricane Laura being in the gulf, too, and I wondered how I missed all the letters in between. Anyway, this year, it’d be Lee if it gets that far. Hope Idalia doesn’t drown you too badly.
The back yard is a 72°F sauna this morning, if you can imagine that. I couldn’t believe how steamy it felt when I let Higgs out. I know it rained thru the night because when I woke briefly around 2, I heard pitter-patter on the roof. It’s supposed to continue thru tomorrow, then cool down and stop raining. We shall see.
Tobias and I will have a basement day. I’ll do some laundry and deal with the rags I washed yesterday and left in the dryer. I’ll also clean up the toys that have gotten everywhere. It won’t take long if I do it before he gets here, but maybe he’ll be in the right mood to help. Um yeah, that’s the ticket.
And after months of too much unhealthy eating and too much reacquisition of poundage, I’m making an effort to eat better and less. It’s a battle with my sweet tooth, but I intend to win! Dammit.
Happy Tuesday!
Good morning!
It’s 61F and raining with some rolling thunder. The rain is expected to stop in a bit but will return for a short while later this morning. The afternoon calls for temps around 70F with cloudy skies.
nellie, I’m glad you got out, but as others have noted, you did the best you could, and it does sound like your kids are great!
I can’t think of any strange places that I’ve visited. I’m sure there have been one or two, but none stand out now. As to milestones, just the usual: graduating high school, getting a so-called real job (started working for the feds at age 19), marriage, children, etc. I have a milestone coming up because 8 September officially marks 40 years of federal service. Ye gods, I am an old(ish) pharte.
When I said real job, I meant full-time 40 hours per week vs. part-time with a schedule that constantly changed.
Yesterday was an in-office day, so I was down in nellie’s town before 5:00 a.m., waiting for Haggen to open so I could grab some yogurt before heading to the office. I also grabbed some treats for folks at the office and arrived there at 5:10. Got my coffee going, put my yogurt in the fridge (I buy a bunch at a time and take the remainder home), set out the treats and was working by 5:25. The day was filled with frustration due to some lack of communication which made it difficult for me to answer questions asked by the national office, among other things.
The Great Pushback continues. We had the bi-weekly check-in with the SD and deputy, where I announced what I had told the MPA to take care of, and there was quite a list. I then listed all my due outs so there was no question that I was more than overburdened.
In a separate conversation with the MPA expressed my concerns about her taking on things outside her scope when she can’t even keep up with her work. Yes, I was pretty bold-faced about it. She wanted to help out another state who consistently needs help. I learned that the state’s director had gotten involved, so I now had to intervene. Since the SDs are involved, things should be handled differently. So, I cc’d EVERYONE on an email after talking to purchasing and someone from the Operations office in DC. I explained the MPA had a lot going on and that for us to help out, the MPA from the other state would need to provide a list of specific forms, set up a contact for my MPA to make the purchase, and ensure that the vendor they are attempting use, actually accepts government credit cards. Believe it or not, some of the vendors we use do not accept them, and then there is a whole other way we have to get them paid, which requires a lot more work.
After sending that email, I had another conversation with my MPA that my expectation going forward is that she will always make sure her regular work is done before she takes on more because I have been taking on way too much of her work, which has pushed many of my projects to the back burner. I clarified that “backing each other up” is a two-way street and that I expect short-fused important stuff to get done when I’m gone. I also told her if she is unsure of how to proceed in those cases, she needs to pick up the phone and ask questions.
When I expressed my reservations about her helping out the other state, and it was looking like I was going to say no, she asked me to call the requestors because she “hates being the bad guy”. 
What the everlovin’ frick?!! Jesus. I told her that since SDs were involved, I’d handle the call…this time, but from now on, she would have to buck up and start handling this kind of stuff on her own.
Never fear; I’m not backing down. The conversation with the deputy is this Wednesday. I’m looking forward to it. And, the conversation I had with the MPA was polite and professional. I asked for feedback on each point and asked for her input on trying to make things better. When she had none, I made suggestions and stated unless she had objections, my plan was how we’d handle a certain point. She had none, or if she did, she didn’t express them.
Finally, these conversations are relayed to the Deputy (who is in fact, her supervisor), so I’m not operating in a vacuum.
Today, I have wasted hours on a stupid training they signed me and the rest of the management team up for while I was on vacation.
Just two more days after today, and then I have a long weekend. Huzzah!
Hard to say what we’ll do, but we’re talking about taking a day to explore some more back roads and out-of-the-way places.
Huh, good for tornados I suppose. But kinda dreary. And why are they the Cobras, they should be the Missiles.
I’m not sure what is the strangest place I’ve ever been. A strict Mormon household in the 60s has got to be among the top, although the super secret Mormon temple ceremony has got to give anyone a run for their money.
I first went to Japan in 1982, and met many people in rural Kyushu who have never seen, let alone talk to a gaijin before. In the 41 years since then, I’ve spent all but six in Asia, so rural America is starting to become more and more strange to me.
Back to school for the kids and work for me.
Things are much better now at school. I was afraid that my seventh grade class would backslide during the summer, as they been the problem children in school when I had inherited them.
They were the class that the previous English teacher had not been able to control. After a few rounds of “No Toto, we aren’t in Kansas anymore.” and “There is a new sheriff in town.” they became one of my favorite classes.
I’m tough, I’m strict and I don’t put up with games, but I treat adolescents with respect and never infantilize them or talk down to them. Most importantly, their English is improving by leaps and bounds. Even the ones who are too cool to learn have improved.
We picked up right where we left off. The class is good, they follow directions and we are having the right level of fun. It’s nice when things go well.
Morning all. Rain has stopped but it had brought somewhat cooler temperatures (high today is supposed to be 83F). Trying to time my rental car return/pickup to the airline schedules so it’s not too busy, looks like 9:45-10:00am is my best bet. Re figured the 3-month budget I do at the end of every month and looks like it won’t be too uncomfortable and I can do the savings transfers I planned for October and November, unless something else comes up…
ruble seems to have had an inordinate interest in restrooms… (still miss him around the old MMP).
Have never had my ears pierced, being a Baby Boomer it just wasn’t done, dang-nabbit, and I hated needles getting stuck in me with a passion anyway. But a lovely story, Oopsie.
Cupcakes, I remember hearing that story of the guy buried above ground with a window somewhere, may have to venture to Kansas someday to see it.
It’s on my bucket list but have never made the effort to apply. I imagine with the movie Oppenheimer playing, it’s going to get a lot of interest. And while not a hunter, your Hubs did the humane thing for the poor skunk.
boo fae,
Do not tempt the great God Murphy!!
swampy, stay dry. Idalia on the weather map looks more like a hurricane now, we’ll see what direction it goes.
Taters, stay strong when the inevitable push-back to your push-back comes; it sounds like your MPA just can’t say no, so you may have to. And you are already Documenting everything, which is good. We’re in your corner here at the MMP.
Or at least the Titans, then they’d be remembered…
Sensei, I wish I could import your wisdom on dealing with kids to every teacher (for that matter, I need some of it, those 10-year old soccer players can be really annoying at times…)
OK, need to break my fast and then clean out the rental car good so they have no excuse to try and charge me any more. Have a good 2sDay all.
The combination of strange places and Baker’s missile silo high school brought this to mind.
As I have said, I grew up about seven miles as the crow flies from SAC headquarters in Offutt AFB. We have all seen depictions of the “War Room” in various movies. In the room directly behind all of those screens depicting the status of the Cold War was a diesel generator room that would keep the lights on while under attack.
a colleague and I ended up assigned to removing all of the CO2 cylinders that provided fire suppression in that room, hauling them back to our shop, hydrostaically testing, recharging and returning them to service. We were at it for a week.
I have been in a lot of secured areas in my career, but that was the tightest.
Good morning, all! I went to bed early, but the evening pain kept me up until 11 or so. Then I didn’t set the alarm to take pain meds, so the pain woke me up. But I AM making progress! We had a very hard rain and maybe some hail last night. Hopefully that’ll ease the fires. My daughter has been working with people who lost everything in the fires. !60 people lost their homes. 
My friend is coming to clean today. That’s about all I’ve got.
Thank you! You and the others are right. I love them dearly and don’t want them to get/be hurt. I have to keep telling myself, “They’re adults and can handle this.”
There’s no finer milestone, and we at the Society for the Preservation of Chairs thank you.
I love other people’s acrylics, but they feel silly on me, and like FCM said, I don’t see how they do any heavy manual labor. I could barely wash dishes with them on.
sari, I’m sorry the procedure hurt, but I hope it eases the pain of your condition.
Baker, the missile silo school sounds cool!
Ruble’s experiences were amazingly eclectic. I miss his posts.
waves belatedly.
Also, your MPA sounds like work. It seems like “being the bad guy” is part of her job, so she shouldn’t be ducking it. Why am I preaching to the choir?
Those are the essentials for every good teacher, all right. Good luck this term!