(Old) The first day of school in the MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
101

I had two lazy sessions at the cee-mint pond, absorbing my max daily ration of UV and nappage.

Our usual Tuesday craft tacos were yummy, as was the hot chile margarita I had with mine. One of those is plenty spice-wise. Were I to have a second for the booze, it would be a more traditional flavor. I did not do tonight, but have on other occasions.

Once home we watched the latest Jack Reacher movie. Her Ladyship likes that stuff & I put up with it. Entertaining enough once you ignore all the blatantly unbelievable parts. Which is most of it.

In vexatious news, I have cleverly and comprehensively killed our microwave. You don’t notice how often and in how many ways you use the thing until it’s gone. Ouch! It had been acting up for a month or so, where it often got confused about whether the door was closed or had been cycled. So it either wouldn’t start even with the door closed, or after you were done and had taken your stuff out and re-closed the door it’d keep beeping at you that you’d left your stuff in there.

The building maintenance folks fiddled with it once, readjusted something, and declared it fixed. It wasn’t. When called back out, they fiddled some more and declared it unfixable, but they have to get a replacement which will take “awhile”. That’s when I tried to improve matters fiddling with the door latch & broke it completely.

The good news about living in a rental is that they’ll handle it at no cost or effort to me. The bad news is that if I owned it, it’d long since already have been disassembled, fixed, reassembled, and working; or been replaced. Instead here I sit with no microwave. Oh well. A first world 21st century problem if ever there was one.

Tomorrow promises additional slothage and UV absorption. Bed now. Cheers all!

Seanette: Hooray for working HVACs, both of them. You need that a lot more than I need a silly microwave. Shame about the vexations humans. Sometimes I wonder about our species. Actually, most times I wonder.

102

Microwaves are quite essential, according to my husband. He considers problems with ours a major crisis.

Me? I’m happy to have it, but most foods fare better by other methods, IMO. It’s OK for reheating leftovers and good for things like chamomile tea and popcorn, but I could survive its absence. DH might have problems with that.

In August in Sacramento, being able to get the apartment’s temperature down to a range where I can sleep comfortably is rather more urgent as far as I’m concerned. :slight_smile:

I was much less misanthropic before call center and retail irk. These days, I have a much harder time convincing myself that h. sapiens truly qualifies as intelligent life.

103

One of my college roommates put it very pithily:

The more you think about it the more it grows on you.

I use 2 shots of microwave to make coffee every day, two more to make breakfast every day, one shot for the occasional cup of afternoon or evening tea, and other than that it’s only used for defrosting some frozen things and for heating leftovers. But about half our meals at home are leftovers. It gets used.

Except for poaching eggs daily I almost never actually cook something in it.

104

I remember being upgraded to the triangular one for first communion and then I never wore a headcovering after that. But that’s because I went a church with a really modern outlook by then. We were the first Catholic church in the U.S. to have a Saturday Mass that we counted for Sunday’s obligation, much to the consternation of other churches in the area. Our church even allowed jeans to be worn for Mass. Oh my, we were the gossip.

105

I don’t want to sound mean or anything, but were you as smart/always in trouble as young you looks in that pic? I mean, you were a cutiepie and all, but you do have that look…

I’ve always had the hat gene, I loved getting a new spring hat every year and I took care of the…unlike my sisters who just took them off and threw them around to get dirty.

When I was about 30, I had my first bit of skin cancer cut off and that is when my big hat gene evolved over night. I treat the sun like an allergen and avoid it as much as possible. Big floppy hats, long sleeves and long pants.

Currently I’m having a real hat issue…my favorite hat needs to be washed but it is so fragile now that it is 35 years old that the fabric is starting to fray. I’m too old to start breaking in another hat now :frowning:

Of course you will, you are a pretty smart cookie and it will become habit in no time at all! Take care of your hands, they are so important for your happiness.

For the record, I am a retired government worker because I’m a lazy pothead. I worked the private sector before figuring out that it was way too much work…plus pee tests to flip burgers didn’t spark joy in my life.

Do you want more? They are like wire coat hangers, they seem to breed when I’m not looking. (Actually, I am an ungrateful bitch. Friends buy them for me because they see me using them all the time and you can’t buy just one, they come in 50 packs or something insane like that and now I’ve got more threaders than threads.) (Well, not really but it’s probably pretty close.)

Just wait until you start losing your hair and then you will be sorry you don’t have your cat hat all the time.

LOL!

I hate days like that. Have some chocolate, you deserve it.

Small counter top microwaves are not that pricey and easy to dispose of. I bought one for my trip to Boise and donated it to a thrift store before I came home.

I made my own for my First Communion and hated wearing it because it was a scarf and not a hat. Mom suggested that if I learned to Tat, I might like it better. I tatted my next one and didn’t like it much either, but at least it was heavier and didn’t fly off my head when the bobby pins slipped out of my super fine hair.

I am not a fan of modern Catholic masses because I was not there to praise God, I was there for the pageantry.

So, today was even more slothful than usual. It rained overnight so I didn’t have to water the posies and we had nothing planned so hubs killed monsters and I stitched.

It has been so hot that everything stopped blooming, now that it has cooled down somewhat, I’m seeing flowers again which makes me happy. I’m also seeing wasps trying to make a nest on the porch ceiling which does not make me happy.

They have one specific area that they want to nest in and as it is right over the back steps, I do NOT want them nesting there. I keep knocking their nests down and even spraying them with water while they are in the beginning stages but they are stubborn. Tomorrow evening I am going to get the step ladder and soak the area down with vinegar to try to get rid of whatever is attracting them, this has been going on for a couple of years and now Hubs is getting mad enough to use poison. If anyone has any other suggestions, please share because I plant for the pollinators and it would not be cool to invite them in and then kill them.

106

I think we got everyone’s rain Sunday as it set a record and rained 18 hours straight remember all those boxes I mentioned we rearranged last week ? well about 40 percent of them are trash…aunt is going through them slowly…and I’ll be lugging wet and soggy boxes this time again for the foreseeable future …

actually until jr high it was rare I went to the same school 2 years in a row and if I did I usually moved in the 2nd year

in junior high LA county, the school for disabled and JD kids I attended and the kids on the normal side (there was a fence that separated us almost had a class action lawsuit against the school district for the condition of the food in my jr high cafeteria

leftovers that were frozen so long that it was green …crap like that …I mean the whole place was a dump but since both schools shared the cafeteria the fed government became involved and well the food was still crappy but you wouldn’t get poisoned by it

ironically it was so neglected that in 2005 or 6 they did a federal inspection of the whole place and found it would take almost 20 mil to fix it so it was closed down and sold to people who started a respected trade college and fixed the place up very nicely

Jane for the wasps … my aunt uses the artificial xmas snow in a can on the nest …just make sure to have something with water underneath for when the nest falls off and then scrub the place where they build the nest down with a cleaner of some sort

107

Home, finally. Well, home v 2.0 as I was asked to give my work friend (hereafter known as Work Friend) a ride to the bank and back.

I was wired as fuck for some reason when he called, that has nothing at all to do with the Red Bull I had earlier, so I didn’t mind driving around a bit and shooting the shit with him. He lives a couple of blocks from me, so I do this pretty frequently for him.

Besides, it’s a nice night, and it was enjoyable to feel the cool breeze while driving for a few minutes. Now I’m sitting on my side steps, trying to wind down, listening to the tree frogs and crickets.

Elegant phrasing.

Possible solution: add more onion?

:wink:

Oh, my goodness. That’s awful, and I feel badly for everyone involved.

You have a class of three … ? What kind of teaching do you do, if I may ask? (I’m just being nosy; please feel free to disregard if you don’t feel comfortable going into detail.)

We’re good; I might have overreacted a bit. I get snippy, and I’m sorry I brought the claws out in the usually-gentle thread.

If there are any Pentecostal churches in your area, you might give that a go.

Years ago, I attended a Greek Orthodox service (Mass?) and that was definitely something you’d enjoy. The book tucked into each pew was printed in Greek using Greek letters, Greek in “our” letters, and then also translated to English.
The Greek part looked to me like one gigantic physics equation.
Anyway, lots of icons of saints, swinging incense, the whole bit. Definitely heavy on the pageantry.

I wanna say there’s something about painting the ceiling of your porch blue … ? Sorry, my brain is kinda shutting down for the night now.

If you can’t find anything, lemme know and I’ll track down what I think I’m thinking of …

108

Up, caffeinated, and sheveled. Off to heave.

Oh, that ship done sailed a few years ago.

I also enjoy Greek icons.

Pilot, I second buying an el cheapo microwave till they fix the one. They are useful.

109

I work in a high-school classroom with autistic kids. These are just the ones who were deemed close enough to the school and one or two steps away from attending mainstream classes (and one is doing that anyway) to join us. Last year we had 4, and that was enough. Here’s hoping for a less drama-filled year.

110

Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and caffeinatin’. YAWN ‘Tis 75 Amurrkin out and clear with a predicted high of 97 with a heat advisory in effect, meanin’ it will feel like a hunnert and ten degrees Amurrkin out later today. The big item on today’s agenda is to procure provisions. Beyond that it will be a day of sloth and general overall uselessness inside in the a/c. I do not foresee any quality cee-mint pond time, at least for me. I got enough of outside yestiddy mornin’ to last me a couple of days at least. Sup shall be leftovers from last night’s sup.

Now I need more caffeine and to feed rumbly tummy. Then, alas and bother of bothers, I suppose I must purtify and don attire acceptable for bein’ amongst the great unwashed. Why must I suffer so!

Happy Hump Day Y’all!

111

That was my route to college, too. I lived on the east side of the river on Highland Ave (it was a higher elevation than the river) and the school was up the hill on the other side. It wasn’t too horrible walking, but it would have been torture on a bicycle. And, yes, it was known to snow there…

They gotta make sure it’s not woke… whatever that means.

I already used about twice as much as the recipe called for! But they all got smooshed into the dough so that there were no recognizable bits. I’m thinking next time, I won’t chop it so fine. Bigger chunks might help. It also needs some sort of herbs in there - maybe I’ll find an herb bread recipe then add onion to it?

We bought one for the boat. MIL is using it - weirdly enough, her apartment didn’t come with a nukelator! I can’t even imagine…

I use ours fairly often - like when I make a sammich, I’ll zap it long enough to make the cheese melty. Or if I forget to get out something for supper, the defrost setting makes short work of it. And reheating, of course. I’ll also cook veggies in there if I’m pressed for time and don’t want to wait for water to boil. We used the first one we installed till it died and were lucky enough to get a replacement model that was a slightly newer version of the old one, so it fit in the same place.

Roxy’s first day! I hope SIL takes a photo or two. Tobias won’t be here till after 9, giving me time to run John Deere around the yard. Rain is promised thru the end of the week, so I really need to get some mowage done. Then down to the basement to do laundry and keep the kid amused. We’ll start to set a new routine.

FCD has left for the school - he’s still got a few more things to wrap up. I’ll go over with him on Firday to pull the last few cables in the ceiling. Then apart from some things he was going to build in the shop and install for them, we should be done. I hope. Till the Oct 14 fund raiser - I need to get crocheting. In fact, I’m going to make some pumpkin wigs like I used to make for Butters’ events on base. I ordered some of those honeycomb tissue pumpkins as displays. I need to check my yarn inventory and decide what I need to buy.

But first, I need to don grubbies in a little bit and deal with the yard. Then shower, dress, and brace for the toddler invasion!

Happy Wednesday!!

112

I can be woke if you provide good coffee.

113

Sorry - I get my caffeine from Diet Coke - the way nature intended it! :wink:

114

Good morning, everyone.

It’s 59F and cloudy at the moment, although a very light rain just finished up. We’re supposed to have a little more rain at different times this morning, but it’ll be 77F with cloudy skies by afternoon.

seanette, it sounds like you and I had the same kind of day. I hope today is better for you.

pilot, I hope your microwave is fixed soon. I rarely use ours; it’s mainly to reheat, as others have noted.

doggio, I’m glad the contract was ratified.

As to millennials vs boomers vs Gen Z or whatever, it doesn’t make a difference. Some people work hard, some people don’t and it runs across all generations. For the record, the MPA is older than me by a few years.

Yesterday, she emailed in sick. After I responded to her priority email asking me for signature on documents that required a second level supervisor signature. Another this came in while you were on vacation thing. I sent her an email telling HER to send it to the forms to the SD, since the Deputy was gone. I was already handling writing up a policy for the state that reiterated the requirement for pre and post-inspection of fleet vehicles when driving them, along with a pictured guide. This is HER job. She’s the fleet manager, but her inaction has caused much drama, so I’m fixing it once again. I was also taking care of obtaining purchasing documentation because, once again, she didn’t follow through on some instructions I sent her both before I went on vacation AND the day I returned from vacation. This is in addition to staffing issues, office closures, data mining, and the list goes on. Yes, people got on my last damn nerve yesterday.

metal mouse, I meant to type SMART boards, which are actually interactive whiteboards, or fancy-ass monitors/VTC screens.

Time to get on with the day. Need to run the dishwasher and get ready to work. It should have been an in-office day, but since I had to drive to Yakima to take care of a fleet issue (yet again doing something the MPA should have done), I’m going to count that as an in-office day, so that and my two Mondays bring me to the required three for the pay period.

.

115

Afternoon, mumpers! It’s currently 18c/64f with a predicted high of 19c/67f, and cloudy. Weather app is not impressed and says “Fuck those fucking happy clouds”. It is cloudy, lots of blue sky too and a bit of sun here and there. Still not cool enough for a hoodie, suits me fine - pleasant to be out, and no hint of precipitation.

Pilot sorry to hear about the dead microwave. We have one at home, I use it to reheat/defrost food and that’s about all. The mere thought of using it to heat water for a cup of tea is likely to induce palpitations in a Brit, so I like to pretend I didn’t see that bit.

Mooom bread with a good dose of mixed herbs and onion is always good, I don’t make bread very often but that’s my loaf of choice.

Magiver what an awful and tragic start to the school year :cry:

Taters sounds like you are justified in hating the rest of the workforce today! I find it so frustrating to put so much effort into handover docs when I am going on leave, just to come back and find nobody’s looked at them, things that other people should have done remain undone, and I end up doing their job instead of mine. I hope you’re able to push back on what’s not your responsibility and let the chips fall where they may.

Nothing exciting in my day yet, blissfully uneventful commute to campus and very little drama when I got here. A couple of guys from Facilities were in the office swapping out plugs and extensions. They came to do an inspection yesterday and came back to replace the bits they weren’t happy with. Took them a couple of attempts to get everyone’s IT stuff working but apart from that, we’re all good.

Tonight is pub night with my friends, we have decided which hostelry to patronise so all I need to do is make sure I am ready at the appropriate hour. Off to scoff lunch now!

116

Good morning all. Mowage is the main item on the agenda today, I hope to start around 9am and do as much as the heat allows, then put the water sprinklers on it this evening. Since it’s already approaching 80F and it’s not even 8am yet, I suspect sweating and several water breaks will be included.

No youth soccer today, back at that tomorrow.

My microwave works fine, but if it broke it would get replaced fast, I assure you. Mostly used for defrosting or preparing frozen foods, so I could manage without it, but it’s used a lot more than the range/stove is.

Truth. I did a lot of different and interesting work my first 25 years in Government, but they kept changing the job requirements and tasks and the last seven years I pretty much coasted (compared to the years before).

Seanette, hope the AC keeps active.

Yeah, I remember when Saturday Mass became a thing. My parents just adjusted to it as another thing to be aware of, but I guess a lot of people were upset by it.

JtC, nice catch, I am a bit shame-faced as I teased doggio (IIRC) farther up the thread about a misspelling. Need to do a better job checking. Hope you can solve the Wasp Problem. I hopefully have solved my Bird Nest problem by putting an iron pipe up in the alcove and securing it there, so nests can’t be built.

shady, we courld use some of that rain down here in N/ Ali-bama.

Love Rhombus (we need a Mumper name for you…Sweet Math?? Somebody think of something better than that, please), you have an important, but wearying job. Best wishes.

boo fae, enjoy pub night.

OK, need to finish the internetting and then get to the mowage. Take care all.

117

Today and tomorrow excessive heat warning with real feel 110-115. The barn put the horses out at 6 and will bring them between 10 and 11. This means I can stay home. Might go out there tonight. Tomorrow the flooring install is scheduled but I’m not getting my hopes up.

118

Morning all, It’s just nasty hoomid out there. Luckily, the weather should break Friday for us which is a good thing. In the meantime, I bought my raspberries over the weekend and carefully froze them all. I’ve got peaches ripening so a batch of my RPC jam is about to be made. RPC stands for Raspberry Peach Champagne and, when successful, it is delicious on toast or vanilla ice cream. Something to look forward to.

In my new place though, the stovetop isn’t conducive to canning so I splurged on an electric water bath canner. Dang, that was expensive enough to put off several other purchases, but I love to can jams and share them with friends, so worth it IMO.

JtC, my early childhood church had all the pageantry you could wish for, including Mass said in Latin. At age 4, it was all a mystery to me. As an adult, I tried to find religion for myself and couldn’t. I understand why people like it, but I’d rather worship at the Farmer’s Market. So I do.

I do agree that you should check out Greek Orthodox for pageantry.

FCM, Best of first days to the GD.

Onion bread makes delicious grilled cheese sandwiches! Yum. I guess you’ll just have to keep experimenting until you get a version you like. Oh darn. :wink:

MetalMouse, go careful on that mowing. Lots of water/watered-down Gatorade drinking going on here today.

I agree with this statement completely. Not only that, but I think there are times when one gets it and works hard, and then times when one drifts a bit before being grounded again and finds oneself able to work hard.

Pilot, good luck with the microwave dilemma.

Many years ago now, my housemate and I chose to do without a microwave for healthier eating. Then she moved out and my parents came to spend a month with me. Horrified that I didn’t have a nukeulator, they ran out and got me one and then discovered there was no place to put it, as my ancient home didn’t have counter space for it. So they had to run back out and get that as well. They were quite taken aback that I wasn’t grateful for their gift. Now, of course, I rely on it just like everyone else.

Time to get on with my day and head to irk. There’s kitties and dogs that need temporary homes while their owners go vacating and it’s my job to help find them. Best get on with it. Have a good day. And to all Midwesterners, be careful in this heat, please.

119

I just realized I left the freezer door open all night. What a mess. I have to throw out almost everything. It’s a bottom mount freezer. I took out the bottom basket and can’t get it back in……

120

I have a snippet of good news: Overlyboy got into his first college! He only applied 5 days ago, so we weren’t expecting any responses until maybe November/December, but I was so very, very excited for him. The husband unit and I were dancing around each other last night (I picked a fight and was in the midst of apologizing) and we heard this tremendous whoop from upstairs. We had a mini-celebration and he was apparently so excited he couldn’t sleep.

Mom is not doing so hot. I think LSLGuy’s suggestion of calling hospice for more information ourselves is a really good one. During the appointment Monday, the primary PA gave her some excellent advice, sat down next to her and walked her through her directive line by line. Geniuses that we are, we didn’t realize mom wasn’t marking it down as she went. PA2 was there and PA1 had to go because the oncologist was out for the week and PA1 is next in line to see all his patients during clinic.

PA2 walked through the directive again providing heavy doses of opinion, confusing my mom, who wound up marking almost the direct opposite of what she’d already decided talking to with PA1. PA2 then immediately directed her to a notary before we could get a word in to say, “Hey, let’s think about this and talk to PA1 again.” To say I’m pissed is an understatement. Also, PA2 almost managed to convince mom to get a feeding tube; luckily the prospect of a 3-day hospital stay gave mom enough pause to say no. So mom’s still in limbo where she can’t take advantage of hospice but is literally declining by the day. Last week she took one nap a day if any. Now, she sleeps until 10:30, takes a nap around noon until 3, takes a nap at 5-8 or 9, takes her pills and goes to bed around 10. Food intake is falling, her oxygen levels are edging town because she can’t breathe well around the tumor in her throat and my greatest fear is that she will intubated only to pass shortly after anyway.

She doesn’t want oncology care anymore, but the word hospice scares her. We asked about virtual visits and the oncologist does physical, in-person exams only. The only good thing that came of the appointment was that she has some stronger pain medication to help manage the discomfort caused by the tumor pressing into her spinal cord and probably invading her vertebrae.

Anyway, sorry. Good stuff’s happening with overlyboy, but holy crap is everything else a massive shitshow.