(Old) Things ya gotta 'splain in the MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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Oh gosh, the fun never ends! We just checked the mail and found my new passport!!! Hurray, I can prove that I’m a citizen!!! Finally!!!

It seems as though my lawyer was right about the State Dept not knowing what they are doing nowadays, though.

Anyone want to guess where I was born according to my new official citizenship verification booklet?

  1. California
  2. Arizona
  3. West Virginia

If you picked WV, you would be right! Mom says she doesn’t remember it happening that way and is pretty sure she’s never been in WV, but what does she know? The proof is right there in black and white!!!

I didn’t get my passport card, but looking back at the receipts it appears that I checked the right boxes but didn’t get charged for it. While I really did want the card to put in my wallet, I am not going to go back and complain about anything.

So hurray, that task has finally been crossed off my list!

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Glad it came!

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Afternoon all. Didn’t get to my morning missive, I was asked to monitor a new referee at a game starting at 8am…and I read the message at 7am… So left the house about 7:20am and got back home about 2:20pm, so pretty full day. Was fun, but cloudy, windy and cool (70F now but in the 50’s when we started). Still, was nice getting back into the routine. Was going to come home and change and eat an early dinner at Olive Garden, but they are paving the only road that I can use to access my housing development, so a bout with one-way traffic changed that idea. Will get my pasta fix tomorrow. Otherwise a quite day, should be getting a pile of mail (3 weeks worth) delivered here today so that’ll be a pleasure to wade through.

Now to do a lot of condiment (catch-up).

shoe, so, when do we see your new pair of Crocs…? We’re due to be in the 40’s the next couple of nights, but they are predicting highs of 80F by next weekend. Ah, springtime…

boo fae, exactly right, had pretty much emptied the refrigerator of anything perishable and had not bought frozen foods for a couple of weeks prior so if there was a power outage my loss would be minor. Enjoy the music.

Nut, family is we all have..whether we want them or not. Take care and the best for your father.

FCM, I await more deck destruction details (probably in posts I haven’t got to yet). And I see it all worked out in the end.

Taters, happy news on the pedicure, I’m having some aches in my right little toe that I may have to get it looked at (when it becomes enough of a nuisance, of course).

flyboy, same reason the pre-SuperBowl stuff lasts 4-5 hours; commercialism is king.

JtC, sorry your curiousity about other places was not satisfied, but I am a Riki-Tiki-Tavi sort–“run (well, stroll) and find out”. My dad was like Hubs, do or buy what you planned on and come on home. And Hooray for your new passport.

Flyboy, Long time ago I had the recipe for my Mom’s meatloaf, but it disappeared and never returned, so I depend on a couple places (Logan’s Roadhouse and Metro Diner) for my meatloaf fix.

And that’s got me caught up for the moment. Onward into the evening. Have a good one all.

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I’ll hafta scroll back & catch up with y’all once I’m home & it’s dark.

For now, I’m on my lunch break, enjoying the sunshine on my arms and cheeks not those cheeks and listening to a woodpecker doing its thing.

Trying to be calm & zen, since we had a hella start. Alternate Manager plumb forgot to turn on the ovens when she arrived (it’s generally one of the 1st tasks, because they take a looooong time to warm up) so we started a busy Saturday shift with a 45 minute wait time & “pending” pizzas lined up on every available surface.

Not an auspicious beginning, but once the oven train started rolling we banged those suckers out. :partying_face:

Oh, I did finally get my rent paid. Got a screenshot of the error code, mostly for amusement. It looks like aliens hacked a site from 1996.

Sometimes I hafta wait till the verrrrrry last minute to fork over rent, because for ex. the next paycheck I need comes the evening of the 4th. So I don’t wanna set something up for, say, the 2nd and then get $crewed.

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Exactly. I don’t need or want anything, I just want to look at the shiny stuff. Hubs has always been a “go, get what you need and go home” sort of guy, he’s just gotten really bad about it lately.

Had I told him in advance that we would be going to at least a dozen yard sales, he wouldn’t have fussed until I wanted to go to a thirteenth place.

I think I will go back on Thursday. I want another fushia for that pole and think that most folks will be donating their unsold glass to the local thrift stores. I’ll check in with ginger cat’s foster home and leave more gooshy fud, she still needs fattening up.

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Deck
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No deck
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Deck remnants - after half had been taken to the landfill.
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It was a successful day, apart from FCD not accepting help for much of it. SIL did a lot of heavy lift and carry, but he wasn’t interested in messing with power tools. Tobias and Roxy helped, tho she got bored early and he was, well, a 4-y/o. Daughter and FCD took a load to the dump and while they were gone, SIL and I cut up what was left with the reciprocating saw to go in the second load (we’ll take that on Moanday.)

There was much rot and insect damage - too much to repair, and replacing the whole deck would have been more than we want to spend. So I’ll clear the area and move the garden that was at the end of the deck to the end of the higher deck, and the rest will be grass again… someday. Far too many of my plants were damaged because for someone’s pigheadedness, but it wasn’t worth the fight. I’ll deal with it.

The kids are now bathing/showering (Tobias/Roxy) and I’m hoping they’ll wind down and go to bed early. HAHA!! I made a funny joke!!

My maternal grandfather was like that. He’d take my grandmother anywhere she needed to go, but he didn’t “shop” - You go in the store, you get your stuff, you go home. Detours were no on the agenda. I guess it’s a guy thing for some guys.

OK, gotta check on Tobias…

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And here I thought you were working on the deck of your boat…

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Doesn’t matter who’s driving (I was today), unplanned stops are just not done! Dad was the same so I got my coping skills from Mom. Leave him at home for shopping trips, bring him for focused trips with the promise of Margaritas and Mexican at the end.

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Howdy Y’all! I was all June Cleaver in the kitchen this mornin’ and all RDOS sloth this afternoon. The rain stopped around sixish and the sun came out for a bit. We accomplished nappage, day drinkin’ and et sup. Thus is the news from swampland.

Nuts all I can say is, you can’t pick your family, but you can pick your nose.

FlyBoy what’s even weirder is there are folks that will watch that five or six hours of talkin’ heads and beer commercials before the event.

Taters hope Mr. Taters, Maizie, Buster and you have a great day visitin’ your son and their boy.

JtC OYKW and I are like hubs when we go do stuff. We do the stuff and don’t want additional stuff added in. Huzzah for the passport!

shoe glad you got the rent paid. Now Monkey won’t be homeless.

MOOOOOOM glad the deck removal was successful.

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No - having the deck redone was actually part of the work we had done over the winter. Rotted teak was torn up and the deck was painted with a non-skid surface.

Yeah, my mom would take her mother for more leisurely excursions which would include lunch. I know my grandfather appreciated that!

Roxy is all clean and jammied and she’s playing solitaire (old school with actual cards!!!) and Tobias is still playing in the tub. I’ll give him another 15 minutes if he doesn’t give up sooner.

Turns out Daughter and SIL don’t have to drive to VA for their movie - it’s showing in the theater that’s right across the street from their neighborhood. So technically, I could have just watched their kids at their house. But a sleepover is an adventure for them, so why not?

OK, got my meds reminder - off I go to pop some pills.

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I popped into the Our Lady of Czestochowa Polish festival for a minute today. While I didn’t stay long (I had Nelson on a leash), I did manage to snag some mushroom pierogi for supper. They were yum!

I’m trying to wrap my head around this product.

I bought one of Joe V.'s meat bundles a couple of weeks ago that included a pound of ground beef. Since I rarely have ground beef loose on hand, I made the executive decision to make a meatloaf with mac and cheese and sauteed calabacitas tomorrow.

Yay!

Muffins are made, 'scrips picked up and a different Joe V.‘s scouted out (while a bit farther away, it’s easier to get in and out of). Nelson was happy to get out of the house and go for a ride. When I go the podiatrist Tuesday, I’ll leave a bit early and drop him off at Sis’ (the podiatrist is in her neighborhood) so he gets a ride and a play date.

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We had an early dinner - Squeaky has to work this evening. At least he went in with a belly full of flank steak and baked potato.

Mrs Magill’s glasses came in at Costco, so we headed out after the kitchen was cleaned. We only needed to pick up her glasses and a prescription. We spent $90 on other things. Curse you Costco!

We also ran by the winery to pick up our Wine Club order, now we’re richer by a bottle of riesling and a bottle of a red blend.

Time for lounging for the evening.

Mrs Magill and I didn’t coordinate plans. I thought we’d hit the Buttercup Festival after dinner, she had planned on the above errands. She went while I prepped the grill. She saw all the band kids - “Hey, Ms. Magill,” was said many times. She also saw some band moms. She’s thinking of creating a Band Parent Alumni Association page on Facebook, so they can all still network.

They’re my new “reward myself for having a good week” pants. Mid-rise straight leg jeans size 8. And they do interesting things to my backside.

FCM - Dang you all were busy. I get tired just looking at those photos.

Shoe - Alternate Manager should probably find a different work. Pizza ovens take a couple of hours to get up to temperature, don’t they? My little back porch one takes forty-five minutes.

Things I (we?) should buy in the MMP
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There is a machine for it, I don’t know all of the ins and outs but you can pay a couple grand and buy a machine to freeze dry and package just about anything.

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Wow, a ride AND a play date! The only thing better would be going through a drive through on the way so he can get cute little doggy treats.

Sometimes I miss having a Costco close by. Other times I’m grateful!

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I’m pooped and I’ve still got to deal with the grands for another hour or so. Dare I hope they’re as tahred as I am?? And I’ve still got several weeks of work ahead of me since I’m not going to ask FCD to help. He does so hate yard work!! But if I do it myself, I can do it my way!!

Tomorrow, he’ll go to the marina ahead of me. I’ll take the grands home, then go to the boat to do some painting. Hope we can make it a short day.

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Shouldn’t they be mint julep commercials?

/

I don’t know how to make meatloaf with only one pound of ground beef. Two pounds beet, one pound pork, one packet Lipton’s Onion Soup Mix. (And an egg, breadcrumbs, catsup, and water.)

I made sort of a chicken Florentine for dinner. Nice change from beef/pork/salmon. I cut the large chicken breasts in half widthwise (same planform, half the thickness) so there were six pieces of chicken. Four pieces left. I used a full pound of baby spinach. Never seems to be enough. Anyway, The Spousal Unit liked it. :slight_smile:

I got a haircut today, and then picked up raw beef fajitas, and some raw puerco al pastor, from the carnicería ‘next door’.

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I napped. I watched the F1 Sprint, F1 Quali, and the Derby. I had my Mint Julep. Spot was interested in the mint, but I had to explain to him that “intestinal distress including diarrhea” and “0300 Zoomies” were a bad combo. Now I’m watching the Canes play the Flyers. At some point I’ll make tonight’s Asian BBQ stirfry.

So it was sort of like the bishop golf scene from *Caddyshack?

Gotta have time for 7-8 juleps. And the bourbon commercials.

I have one close, but I don’t have a membership, because apart from TP and gin, I don’t need a 500 pack of anything.

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Yum.

I’m intrigued.

This may be the single most hilarious reason I’ve ever heard for someone finding religion.

… except … I know you’re a respectful person and I think you’ll genuinely find something in it. And I say that as an atheist & a very lapsed Catholic.

AND I got home before dark, so Mr. Not-Homeless has gotten some outside time. It is dang chilly out there, though.

You got off lightly.

Ah, it was an honest mistake.

Also, her mother is the friggin’ General Manager and A.M. quite literally grew up in the kitchens, so … yeah, no. Ain’t gonna happen.

She is quite competent - we all have occasional brain farts.

Alright, it’s getting full dark so I need to round up The Kitteh & shut the door.

Actually, what I REALLY need to do is take out the trash, but it’s cold and I donwanna.

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9:45 and Tobias has come out twice in the last 20 minutes informing me he’s not sleepy. I told him if he can’t go to sleep when I say so, he can’t have a sleepover here. I’m so mean. I can hear them talking - as long as it’s neither loud nor combative, I can ignore it. But how are they not tired? I’m exhausted!

Things I (we?) should buy in the MMP
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Day’s activity is getting to me, only 8:30pm and I am having trouble keeping my eyes open. Will watch some TV and try to stay awake until about 10pm so no waking up at 5am (I hope). Temperature is now 60F but will get to the 40’s tonight. Oh joy.

Last scrolling…

Shoe, glad the rent is paid up, need to remember that one of my credit cards is due on Wednesday, they both used to be due on the 20th of the month but one got hacked and the replacement had a different due date so…

FCM, now you see it, now you don’t. Hope the night with the kids was easy on the nerves.

And I have read all but the brain is not braining very much right now, so I think I’ll go lay down for about 8-9 hours and see if that helps. Catch y’all later.

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I may take him to Three Dog Bakery one day next week to get him a belated birthday cupcake.

My preference is actually 50/50 ground venison and pork sausage. Unfortunately, my deer hunter is no longer with us.