In house staff will actually do the work for $15/load in their industrial machines, but the wife stubbornly resists the notion for some reason.
Taters and eggs for breakfast this morning (with bacon or sausage), I think, washed down with biscochito coffee from Pinon Coffee.
Finally gave up and went to bed. Closed the side door but left it unlatched - he knows how to push open doors.
Woke up to him standing on my hair.
Door’s latched and locked now. I’m having bio break time, mostly to be vertical for a while so my 
sinus can drain/open. He’s snoozing on his nest in my closet, where I leave the blinds way up so he has a nice view of the 'hood.
Once I can breathe comfortably again, through my nose like the gods intended, imma head back to bed.
Same ex whom you blocked but managed to leave you a v/m anyway?
No wonder he’s haunting your dreams!
This might be the best description of Ash Wednesday service I’ve ever encountered.
Huh. I’ve only ever used laundromats where you do in fact, do your own. They just provide the machines, and water, and heat. You’re still washing and folding your stuff yourself.
Gesundheit.
Morning all. A brisk 38F outside heading to 62F and not a trace of rain. Nothing much on the agenda except the usual Wednesday swimming time. Might even finish reading the Sunday NY Times (they pack a lot of words into one paper there).
JtC, there are smaller ones (1,000-2,000 passengers) and as FCM notes, even lots bigger ones, but there are quiet places, especially in the late mornings/early afternoons where one can escape to with minimal people. But to each their own. Trains are pretty cool too. And so happy your back is doing better.
Wheelie, yeah, Joe Davis stadium has been rebuilt for minor-league soccer and there is a new stadium that is supposedly really nice not far from me.
shoe, hope Monkey found his way home. And I see he did.
Taters, documentation has been the life-blood of bureau-crazy ever since paper was invented. Best of luck.
lucky, hope this fixes your water problems. As for mine…
Just checked the meter again. In 15 hours I flushed twice and washed out a small bowl…and used 25 gallons according to the meter, which is way too high. I’ll try to do the no use thing for the rest of the day and then check again tomorrow, but I got a Han Solo “bad feeling about this”.
Take care all.
Dang, MetalMouse.
I’ve gone from “can’t sleep cuz can’t breathe” to “too hungry to go back to sleep” so I’m trying to decide between a Wendy’s square “croissant” or a breakfast snacker thingie from Timmy H.
Must be a woman thing (hey, no hitting!). Spending a minimum of two hours (usually more) to do laundry is not my idea of a good time, especially since we have to schlepp it up and down the elevator. And did I mention that she HATES doing it? I really don’t understand the thinking behind not finding a solution for something that is so onerous to you.
HEYYY!! I found the damn blanket! It was neatly folded on a shelf in my closet. I must’ve put it there in a fit of cleanup/decluttering.
See? See what happens when I put shit away? Can’t find it again.
I rather like my cluttered nest; I know where things are.
With last-minute impulse potatoes, my Wendy’s total came to $6.66 
… told the cashier, “Guess it’s my lucky day!” and got a blank look.
Glad you found the blanket and that Monkey got his furry butt home.
Quite some time ago, DH had a standard McDonald’s meal that came to that total. He called it “the McMeal of the Beast”. 
Good morning and Happy Valentine’s Day. Got out the door for my walk early this morning so I had extra time to poke around. My son nagging me while I’m trying to meditate has been an excellent opportunity to practice with frustration.
I’m still trying to learn how to have fun. I’m not exactly a fun-oriented person, so this is like learning a new language, and I’m in the alphabet stage. According to this book, True Fun features connection, playfulness and flow. What this means practically is I have to do a lot of social things and the kinds of things I think I’d rather not do that usually turn out to have elements of fun. My default state is energy conservation so I basically have to go against my instinct.
The boy has returned to school, thus I have time to work today. Just struggling with the ol’ procrastination beast. I’m a little gobsmacked right now with some agency issues that keep coming up. I’m a deadline person, I like meeting deadlines on time - or preferably early, and sometimes it feels like my team is working against me.
No Valentine’s plans today. We got Outback takeout yesterday. My husband sent me a bunch of pics of us together. I am including one here. It’s from when we did the Painting With a Twist class a few months ago and they told us to make funny faces. That was fun.
Wow, you do great work!
It really makes a difference! I have found I have to alternate days because if I do it too many days in a row, I get painful cramps in my legs. So on alternate days, I just slowly rise up and down on my toes, like a shin splint exercise.
Oh that’s very sensible.
So far I am not sure how I am feeling about cross stitch. I think because I’m just starting, it’s a little frustrating rather than relaxing. I’ve screwed up a few times and when I’m trying to get the stitches out, the thread can easily become tangled, then I lose thread. I’m working on learning how to do that more efficiently.
I’m sorry. Trauma dreams suck.
So … don’t?
Or rather, don’t force yourself to do what other people dictate to be fun?
That’s not fun; that’s making the best of a bad situation.
… which is an excellent skill to have, but it’s not the same thing IMvHO.
That is literally the definition of the opposite of fun.
ETA: that’s a lovely painting!
I mean, I’m at least going to run the experiment. The whole idea is to find out what kinds of things you enjoy, and I have been keeping a journal to try to learn more about where fun pops up when I’m having it. I have felt for a long time that I need more good relationships in my life, as I lost my primary source of support and community when my writers group shut down. That was seven people in my life on a regular basis who just disappeared from everyday life. Well, in order to build relationships, especially to build community, you have to do social things.
I will keep doing it as long as I find it useful, and if it turns out not to fit me, I’ll move onto something else.
I read The NY Times cover to cover every day-on line edition. My home town paper isn’t worth paying their outrageous subscription price. I do only the NYT mini-crossword daily. Since the traumatic brain injury the main crossword is beyond me, although I used to be able to hack away at the big one. Even the week day Times takes me a couple of hours if I read all of it but at least I’m ready if nellie throws a current events pop quiz at us!
Very cool! 12:30am Saturday morning I’m supposed to be on the California Zephyr leaving Lincoln, Nebraska heading for Denver, to visit my younger son and his new bride. I’m really looking forward to the ride, even though it’ll be all night hours riding both directions.
I try never to put anything in a “logical” or “safe” place because I know I will never find it again.
Is there a yarn store anywhere close? Knitters use blunt needles.
So relieved Monkey came home. My kitty is not satisfied with standing on my hair; she washes it for me.
Reasonable heaving.Still more murmuring about some of the hub sorts being axed.
Nothing says “Southern Whiskeypalian Lent” like Yiddish!
Yeah, it is.
To quote the bowl of petunias, “Oh no, not again.”
Sorry about the bad dream, Coppertone
I knew Baltimore was sketchy, but fluffers at the laundromat? 
I suspect this is because you don’t yet know how to get the twist out of your thread before starting. I am assuming that you are using DMC floss, there are other methods for other fibers. Start by striping your thread and laying the individual strands out flat. If the strands don’t want to lay flat by themselves, dampen them with a little distilled water and lay them flat to dry.
This gives your work a more finished look and really does stop a lot of the twisting and tangling.
Are you left handed? Lefties tend to twist their threads the wrong way when they are stitching, Mom has several tricks she uses to overcome this, if needed I will ask her.
The year we lived on our boat just after Daughter was born, I was in the laundromat every week. Same for the brief period here in Merrylande when we lived on the boat before we took possession of the house. I have nothing against laundromats. I just don’t want some stranger dealing with my clothes. Face it, no one can fold my clothes correctly except me!
Back from erranding. Believe it or not, at WalMart I got exactly what I went for and nothing else!. Can’t say the same for Aldi, but I didn’t go too crazy. Next stop was Harrs Teeter for the turkey bacon FCD likes - OMG, what a huge, confusing store!! And expensive!!! But the place was packed!! Maybe some people don’t know or care what groceries cost, but I saw at least one item that was 25% more than it costs at Food Lion. Even if that was an extreme case, I honestly didn’t see anything that I usually buy priced lower than what I spend.
Anyway, last stop was Food Lion. MIL wants some cucumber salad. Plus I got the fixin’s for twice baked spuds. Well, except for the sack of russets. Dammit!
The little freezer is defrosted, so once I’m done with my lunch, I’ll dry it out and reload it. FCD gave me a couple of bins from his shop and I can use them for the individual poke chops and chickie tits that have a tendency to fall out of the freezer when I open it because they’re small and hard to wedge in properly. Once that’s done, I’ll make the cuke salad.
I don’t think I mentioned, but my knee is all better! All of a sudden, I noticed that I was kneeling on it and not experiencing shooting pains! So I guess it really was just a deep bruise. Huzzah!
OK, back to my salad…
Hi folks - Midmorning on Valetine’s day as I start this magnum opus of mostly pointless trivia. Hope folks with mates / SOs are doing something convivial and / or conjugal of the day.
Right now we’re about 20 miles north of the west end of Cuba headed east north easterly back towards Bimini off the coast of southeast Florida. We can see Cuba in the distance; it’s a semi-mountainous island that sticks up aways. Many pretty puffy clouds and a temp right now in the upper 70s/25ish, maaaybe 80/23. So net of the ship’s breeze, warm until the sun dips behind a cloud. The afternoon will be plenty warm for sunbathing.
Yesterday was fun but got long. The overcast and strong breeze persuaded me to go with long pants, short sleeve shirt, & a track-suit jacket for the dry part of the day, and carry my swim gear.
The ferry to the mainland was about 20 minutes of rockin’ and rollin’ at the dock while loading and another 20-ish minutes of the same riding across the strait. I was glad I’d dressed heavy because they had air-conditioned the boat to frigid to minimize seasickness. It didn’t work for everyone.
Then a short walk through town to the bus and a ~30 minute ride to Mayan Ruins of Tulum, Mexico. We had about 25 people on the bus divided into two groups of 12 with one guide each. Very informative & pleasant guide and a convivial gaggle of passengers from the ship. A pair of 50-something couples who were a little mobility challenged from their weight, a bunch of 30-something couples, and older solo me.
By then the sky had cleared and the breeze had lessened so we had a bright sunny walk seaside in temps around 82/28 for an hour amongst the various rock buildings. By the time it was over I was almost warmed up from the excessively air-conditioned bus.
After that walk, and working through the gauntlet of tourist schlock stores and pose-with-costumed-me vendors to / from the parking lot we set off for the next event: Rio Secreto Mexico Tours | Eco tours Riviera Maya. Can highly recommend. Except for the fact the tour was lit only by our helmet headlights and the guide’s flashlight, the pix on the website accurately show the experience.
Had a decent buffet lunch of ensalada, cochinita pibil, frijoles negros, y handmade local tortillas de masa. Tres yummy.
Then it was time to re-dress for swimming, then add a knees-to-neck wetsuit, flotation vest, and helmet to our respective ensembles. A short hike through the woods and down we go into the hole with the same guide as we’d had all day, plus a photographer / backup guide. The guide said he really lived to be down in the cave; he just loved that part of his job, and since we were the last tour of the day we could linger more than usual.
I’ve done many cave tours around the world, but this is first one that a) wasn’t dry, and b) wasn’t all lit up in garish fake colors. As said, they had zero lighting and zero stairs or concreted paths set up down there. Just real rock, real water, real dark, and us. The cave was also tight enough you were always within a few feet, maybe just a few inches of the roof, walls, and formations. Got a chance to really look up close and personal at the details, not just see something cool from 20 feet away. And take the time to really study this stuff.
We were in the cool (74/23) water nearly an hour, varying from too deep to stand, to chest deep to sometimes just walking through puddles to walking on dry rocks. In all comfortable enough, but I was cool throughout by the time we got done, including the long walk back to the bus in the fading light.
Undressed, dried off, switched back to my dry clothes, and bussed back to town, then walked through another phalanx of tourist shopping (and tourists) in Playa Del Carmen, then got on the ferry. This time I was smarter and went to the upper open-air deck where it was warm instead of the frigid indoors lower deck. This was the last ferry to the cruise ships, so the various ferry & tour reps were inventorying the people carefully to not leave anyone behind. Naturally there were stragglers so we sat, and sat, and sat, while the boat rocked and heaved in the incoming swells; the quay is not sheltered at all. Some folks turned green and disappeared for a few minutes. Too much tequila no doubt. 
Anyhow, while we were waiting a small ethnically Mayan-looking lady with a clipboard appeared and announced in a loud take-charge voice in her accented English that she was looking for “Brian Sawyer; if you’re here raise your hand.” I figured he was a missing straggler they were trying to find. I figured wrong.
Some 30-ish guy did raise his hand. At which point she announced it was Brian’s birthday, the ferry company wished him a happy birthday, and could we all sing for him? So with the lady leading about 150 strangers sang Brian a gusto-filled tequila-fueled version of Happy Birthday just as the sun set. Sometimes the best parties are unscripted.
Finally the last of the stragglers were found (or abandoned to their fate) and we set sail for Cozumel island where our ship awaited. Once we were all aboard, the ship lost no time in getting underway. Once I was aboard I wasted no time getting to my cabin, taking a hot shower to try to rewarm my chilled innards, then set out for a meal.
By now it’s 8:30pm and I had had reservations at the swanky Italian restaurant for 2 hours ago. And soon the big evening party is starting, so I expect most diners are still eating but not for long. Fearing the worst, I head over to the restaurant and explain my plight. No problem says the hostess, the excursion folks had told them I and many others would be late, they’d rolled our reservations forward and I had a table waiting. Yaay! Meanwhile I’d messaged the solo group to see if anyone wanted to join me for dinner, but no takers. Oh well. The folks who’d stayed on the ship had mostly already eaten and were now doing one of the shows or live music or …
So I ate alone. An antipasti of focaccia with oil and balsamic vinegar, 3 cheeses and 3 meats, plus roast nuts, and two variations on caponata. Followed by a roast Mediterranean sea bass. With some nice champagne alongside. Then it was time for dessert: an espresso, an OK sauvignon blanc, and bombalonis (think donut holes encrusted in cinnamon sugar), with vanilla-infused mascarpone, and some black currant compote. As expected, I could only withstand a bite or so of the hyper-sweet bombalonis, but the other stuff was great.
Virgin has something they call “Scarlet Night” which is [everybody doll up in red and go raise hell for a few hours], egged on by red-dressed crewmembers singing, performing, or otherwise being silly throughout the ship. This was another Virgin cruise feature I was blissfully unaware of. But I’ll be ready next time.
A lot of passengers take this real seriously and I saw guys in red-sequined sport coats or bright red suits, more amazing sparkly bright red dresses on ladies of every shape, age, and color, etc. They were all putting on the Ritz, the flooze, or a bit of each; collectively it was quite a show. By luck I’d brought a bright red shirt, and a red tracksuit jacket so I fit right in as to color if not as to degree of zoot.
With that intro I had a poignant moment during dinner. When I sat down the adjacent table held a good-looking 50-something couple. He looks executive, she looks kinda expensive; tall, still slender, tasteful jewelry, and professionally-done hair. She’s wearing an age-appropriate but very red very snug cocktail dress that shows a figure which gets lot of dietary and personal trainer attention paid to it. He’s wearing a red dress shirt and a good quality gray sport coat. IOW, they gonna party in their accustomed style after dinner. Were she unaccompanied I’d definitely have opened a conversation with her.
Their table had no food or used plates on it, the water glasses half full. I could not immediately tell where they were in the dinner process: Just sat down and awaiting cocktails, already ate the main course and awaiting dessert? Lingering before leaving? Somewhere in the middle?
Anyhow, they sat there for about 20 more minutes while I ordered and received my champagne and later my appetizer. Then they got up to leave. During that whole 20 minutes they sat there with erect postures facing one another with bland expressions. The only words they exchanged were “Are you ready? Yes.” just before standing up.
Reminded me so much of the many, many painfully sterile meals I shared with HL. GAWD am I glad I’m out of that forever.
Back to me … post meal some hell was raised and some dancin’ was done before my earlier thorough chilling took over and I flat ran out of energy then crashed in my cabin at midnight while the ship-wide party was still gathering steam.
Up today pre-dawn (of course), solo large 2-stage breakfast to recharge the fuel tank, and now back in my cabin which is the only warm part of the ship except laying in the sun out of the wind. Which is the next item on my half-assed agenda.
As to y’all, I’ve got ~40 posts to read and respond to. Here goes, and more thematically than chronologically …
Yaay @Wheelz that the reunion / party is still coming off in some form.
Booh metalmouse that the plumbing seems FUBARed again.
My ship is smallish, with a capacity of 2700 passengers, but probably only about 2000 aboard. Spread across 11 stories times 800 feet of length and about 100 feet of interior public width. This isn’t crowded by city / suburban standards.
But if you really don’t like being amongst dozens to hundreds of strangers, this isn’t for you. At least not any more. But as metal mouse said, there are always quiet spaces here and there and you see people quietly reading or tableting or whatever alone in those spots.
I see so many amazing young women and wonder how it was I got from age 10 to age 30+ never playing with any of them. Sigh. I just need to locate an over-the-hill-but-not-yet-finished floozy of my own.
Oh, I fully understand the historical process and current reality. I just don’t see any reason to subordinate my wishes to theirs. I’m happy that makes all y’all happy. Not my bag even a smidgen.
I see people, mostly men, but sometimes women, dumping a week’s worth of random laundry off at the dry cleaners all the time. Who also have a laundry service for things that don’t need dry cleaning. So pants, shirts, underwear, you name it. HL would never consent to anyone laundering her stuff. And certainly not me.
I may switch to the “let them do it” system someday. The big Easy button is the best solution if affordable. Making a fetish out of domestic labor beyond necessity seems ill-placed to me.
Fold? What is this “fold” of which you speak? Outerwear is hung and innerwear is dumped into piles in drawers segregated by type. Folding fits nowhere in my taxonomy. 
Shoe Yaay for finding blanket. And for Monkey’s triumphant return!
Shoe & Nettie: Hooray for $6.66 meals of the Beast!!! No matter where you find them.
We have a current thread on dumb jokes customers inflict on retail staff. I have to suspect that whenever a common order adds up to $6.66 the staff gets real tired of those jokes. Eventually the price or the taxes change and now the same meal is $6.79 and the jokes mercifully stop.
Yaay! I hope you actually end up on a train, not a replacement bus. And that it leaves within 6 hours of the scheduled time. Neither of those things can be counted on with Amtrak.
And a special greeting to them both from me / us MMPers.
Yaay!!
And an extra special Yaay to Taters for the back pain subsiding at least some. Here’s hoping for more.
Welp, that took way too long. Time to actually hit [send]! Cheers all. Happy Valentining!!
OMG, you’re one of those people!!! 
Well, my old Navy avionics troubleshooting training paid off. Our pellet stove had gone out - because I kinda sorta forgot to latch the door. But once I latched it, the blower kept coming on and off, but nothing was happening. I tried turning it off and letting it sit - nothing. I unplugged it (no small feat, as I had to crawl under my desk to reach the plug) - nothing. I pulled out the file folder with the info about the stove, ready to call the local company that services them, when I did one more check of the control panel.
Someone turned off the pellet feed. OK, it was probably me since I’m pretty much the only one who touches it. But I’m glad I found it before paying for a service call. As I write this, the room is warming up again.
So it’s time to reload the little freezer.
Hey. Two days in a row hes left voicemail. His numbers blocked. I am going to file a police report.
Not saying I don’t believe you, because I DO believe you, but how is that possible? Using someone else’s phone to call you?
His number shows up on my call log. Instead of a red phone symbol, its a blue line. Scam calls have showed up like that but they never left voicemail.
