(Old) Tying up loose ends in the MMP

I love this one!

A joyous solstice to you all!

The holiday tea went well. I took a tea kettle as my dirty Santa gift and it was stolen twice (the limit for steals)! My great niece’s friend who got it had just purchased a home with her fiancé and said that it was something that they didn’t yet have. :slight_smile:

I brought home a goodie plate that will be lunch tomorrow (salad was tonight, since I hit my goodie limit for the day at the tea). Now, I’m surfing with a small, reddish dog in my arms. <3

Evening all. Left the house for the indoor soccer gym about 7:30am and between that, grabbing food here and there, and spending some time at the gym, haven’t had a chance to catch up until now, been reading your posts while pedaling at the gym but not really conducive to replying. Down to 33F and will get colder, so the heater is working overtime until sleep-time comes. Brother and Sis-in-Law are heading home with Nephew so I’ll leave Moanday to see them at Xmas, need to get things organized tomorrow and a bag packed so I can leave early. Should be about a 7 hour drive if the weather and the traffic cooperate.

Be cool, I don’t either (albeit it is not a bad idea, now that I think of it…for some other day).

Cat Glove, does your Kroger offer a “4x points on Friday” (with a digital coupon)? I’ve gotten 1,496 points this month by doing most of my shopping on Fridays. Should go over 1500 tomorrow so gas for my drive to my Brother’s will be cheap. And sounds like the trek with BF worked out well for both of you.

I do need to visit you one of these days… :wink: :laughing:

Bob-B, nice looking ride…don’t drown this one… :wink:

Taters, think it is somewhere in the code that all HVAC folks will try to upsell you, mine tried to get me to add to my insulation, might do it in 2025 but we’ll see. Take care.

flyboy, sounds like a very elegant meal; I’m going to have a Monster Burger at Red Robin tomorrow and suspect I’ll be a happier fellow…

Oopsie, glad you had a good time at the party.

FCM, glad your car is back where it belongs.

nellie, you do have a way with descriptions…and I’m with the Texas guy on that one, I go out to eat, not graze…

red, glad your gift ended up with someone who can use it.

And that’s a wrap (on the messages, still have to wrap my gifts tomorrow…). Take care all.

I suspect you will be. :slight_smile:

Mrs. L.A. wanted pizza tonight. We’ve been getting Sahara pizza, but she wanted Bordertown (because it’s in Blaine, right next to the border) tonight. The ‘small’ Greek salad was half the size of Sahara’s. The ‘medium’ all-meat pizza (I ordered thin crust, extra sauce) was smaller than the medium pizza at Sahara. Frankly, I like Sahara better. OTOH, we won’t have as much leftover pizza, which is good.

I don’t know why I don’t make Greek salads at home. I love them, and we almost always have feta and Kalamata olives. We usually don’t have green bell peppers, red onion, or peperoncini, but that’s fixable.

So…I think the latest squatters tenants guests upstairs are gone already. As I left the apartment, I heard a vacuum going upstairs, meaning the cleaning crew was up there. It can’t be a temp worker thing because who has a temp job for one day? I won’t count my chickens (because I don’t have any), but I’m guessing it’ll be quiet up there for a few days.

The shipping place asked if I wanted the package to arrive before Christmas. I said sure. They said, “$82.00, please.” I said after Christmas would be OK. 15 smackeroos, and it MIGHT get there by Christmas. I’m gobsmacked thinking of someone paying $82 for that. There was a long line after me, and as I left, two separate customers came staggering in with 8 or 9 parcels apiece, so maybe some people would.

My sister sent me jars of her homemade bread-and-butter pickles, pickled onions, and pickled carrots. She’s won blue ribbons for the first one. I’ve never had either of the others, have any of you? Would pickled onions be good on sandwiches or burgers?

I figure I’ve got all these words, so I might as well use 'em up.

My old neighbor used to make the best bread and butter pickles. I haven’t had homemade in years; I make-do with the Vlasic stackers. So good on a sammich!

I’d probably eat them straight from the jar, I love pickled onions. Bread and butter pickles don’t really have any bread or butter in them, they are just as easy as bread and butter.

I wasn’t sure the first time I tried them either…butter and vinegar and cukes just didn’t sound that great.

Isn’t that a great feeling! I love it when my stuff gets stolen!

I can’t imagine not wanting someone to eat my cookies cause I’m like you. I make them for other folks to enjoy.

I’d have wanted to stay and watch, the Texan was probably only carrying a six-shooter.

You are loved, of course everyone wants you close. I hope you find an answer soon, I know you would sleep better if you had a plan.

Kinda what I expected. If she hasn’t gotten over it by now, she will take it to the grave with her. I understand, I can hold some serious grudges as well.

Bless your heart.

I still laugh every time I remember that story :slight_smile:

Sending my hugs as well.

Hurray, we made it through the dark times once again!

I love it when I get regional treats in the Secret Santa, but wouldn’t mind a few of yours just to compare.

If I was a haint, I’d probably like some variety so I’ll look for some as well. I’ve seen blue beer bottles and some of the weed I get is packaged in blue bags so I can be creative.

Hubs is positive that things were missed during the deep clean after I moved in. I am positive nothing was missed, I was super picky and inspected every drawer and cabinet and closet before handing money over.

I don’t really believe in ghosts or god. I do believe that it is best for me to pretend like I do just in case I am wrong, so I’ll put up a haint tree and give the local church money for their food bank.

We did have an amusing/very sad call from his side of the family. Linda picked two cards off the church’s Angel tree and we didn’t understand that we were only expected to buy one of the suggested items in each category, Need, Want and Fun so we bought everything requested for both people.

Apparently people always take all of the children cards and several volunteers spend their year fixing old bikes for the teens, but nobody wants to buy unders and slippers for old folks.

Our boxes arrived and they asked if we would mind if they split the gifts up between our folks and the ones who’s cards didn’t get chosen.

Hubs, Linda and Jeff spent the rest of the afternoon dealing with that, Hubs wanted to order all of the things for all of the people and Linda and Jeff didn’t know how to scan the Angel tree cards so they were reading him the cards one by one while he was shopping.

I was entertained by listening to three deaf people spend the afternoon trying to communicate over the phone instead of just using their keyboards or smart phones.

Sunrise will continue to be later for a while, but technically days will be longer.

Tomorrow is my Bad Luck Day.

December 22nd 1978, I blew out my right ACL and suffered nerve damage in a skiing accident.

December 22nd 1979, I was in a car wreck and broke both knees.

Bob assures me that any year Cherokee Trailhawk has good skid plates on the undercarriage to protect such parts, so we should be fine there.

On the plus side, it’s been 45 years since the last disaster, so let’s hope you keep that streak going.

I love good bread and butter pickles! My mom always made good ones. When she canned them, she’d leave the cinnamon stick in the pint jar. Once, her dad had a jar of them on his kitchen table and my mom’s younger brother got all PO’d because he thought that someone had been trashy enough to put a cigar out in the pickle jar.

You sound like my dad.

  I do not understand the question.

  What has been solidly verified is that in back, there are spacers under the rear coil springs, which increase the distance between the axle and the body by a few inches.  Presumably, there are similar spaces in front, but I’ve not been able to get a good look at them.

  It’s a Trailhawk.  All Trailhawks include, as standard equipment, some very substantial skid plates underneath. The engine, transmission, fuel tank, and several other important components are very well protected.

  In the previous Jeep, we made an attempt at one trail that had us very uncomfortable, so we turned back not very far into it.  We were taking lots of very hard impacts to the skid plate, and I wasn’t sure how much of that it could take.  The next day, I crawled underneath to inspect the skid plates, and they were just fine.

I have emerged from Long Night, relatively unscathed.

The owner gave us all - as per his personal tradition - hand-signed cards, complete with a crisp Benjie for our holiday bonus.
He does this for every single employee at all three locations. How awesome is THAT?!

That, and S.M. - per her own tradition - got each of us a stocking, hand-decorated with our initial in glitter-glue, & stuffed with sweets + a pair of Christmas socks.
There was also a chocolate chip cookie “pizza” on the break table, plus some other random cookies.
That woman knows how to give us all diabetes motivate her crew.
Nothing like a sugar rush to get you through the dinner rush!

S.M. got us all Xmas hats, too, complete with tiny lights! You push a button to turn them on & to toggle between a couple of blinking settings.
So the whole crew looked cute. (And sugared to the max.)

I got sooooo many compliments from customers on the hat … but nearly had a heart attack on my lunch break from the damn thing.
Blinking red and blue lights inside a car on a dark street makes it look unnervingly like you’re getting pulled over!

Also, going into the walk-in for that one last thing you forgot, after you’re the one who turned off the lights in there, while still wearing a hat with flashing colored lights is … trippy as hell in the pitch dark at 1:30 in the morning when you’re tired as … well, tired as hell.

Trippy as hell; tired as hell. It’s all one and the same, eventually.


Okay, I turned on the oven when I walked in, so I need to shove some sort of frozen thing into it (probably a stuffed chicken boobie) so that I can eat non-cookies for dinner.


It’s 15 F outside right now, a chilly night for the drive-thru. But clear and not windy, which made it tolerable for work. (Precipitation and/or wind are incompatible with people shakily handing you a twenty dollar bill, or their phone for tap-pay, esp. when they blithely pull up about seventy bazillion yards away.)

The Oracles predict much snow on Monday, though, which will be my first Blessed Day Off. I foresee much time smushing my pillows that day, and smoking while hiding under roughly double my body weight in blankets and quilts, while Monkey does his snuggly thang.

Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and caffeinatin’. YAWN ‘Tis 29 Amurrkin out and clear with a predicted high of 55 and N. O. S. The big item on today’s agenda is deheathenization in which I have Verger duty. The church house will get decorated after the service, but we shall absent ourselves as it ain’t a thing for us. We’ll grab a McN.O.L. at the drive thru and eat it at da cave. The rest of the day will be spent in high RDOS inactivities.

Now I need more caffeine and to feed rumbly tummy. Then purtification for deheathenization must commence.

Happy Sunday Y’all!

So whatcha do is write each option on a slip of paper. Dump them all in a bowl. Close your eyes and pick one. There ya go!! You’re welcome! :wink:

Or you could just win the lottery or something.

It’s about 20° at the moment, and today’s high should reach 32°. Fa-la-la-la-laaaaa! :stuck_out_tongue: I’m good with staying in near the pellet stove. FCD was talking about going to check on the boat. I’m debating whether I’ll accompany him or not.

I get Roxy for a few hours tomorrow. SIL has been going to group to deal with his stress and anxiety and normally it’s not an issue, since Moanday and Tuesday are his days off. But Roxy is on break this week and next. No biggie - one kid at a time is pretty easy. OK in general having both is easy, too, since they play so well together.

Then when SIL comes to pick her up, he’ll get all his crap out of the trunk of my car, then fill the tank, since it was filled when he got it last week. Which means I can get my Aldi bags off the counter and back into my trunk.

I also get both kids on Thursday since both parents have to work. I might get brave and take them to the marine museum. Or I’ll be lazy and turn them loose in the basement. Anybody wanna place a bet?? :rofl:

Not sure what today’s plans are. I should go thru my yarn stash and figure out colors and patterns for the last few lap blankets. I think I’ve just got enough for 2 or 3, but with the random bags all in a pile, it’s hard to tell. Maybe I’ll haul it all to the dining room table and sort it all out. But that might take all of an hour if I take my time. Not sure how I’ll fill the rest of the day. I’ll figure something out.

Happy Sunday!!

Two of my aunts had some sort of argument in 1945. They never spoke again. They lived in the same neighborhood, shopped at the same grocery store and even went to the same church. I visited them in 1978 and had to meet with them separately. I was never told what the argument was about, but it made all of the family holidays in Pasedena awkward

Good morning everyone.

It’s 44F, and a light rain is falling. It’ll rain all day, and our high temperature is expected to be 52F. They expect a quarter inch of rain. In other words, it’s gonna be soggy. The sogginess is likely to continue past Christmas.

I took a day to do my thing yesterday, so today, I must be a grown-up and finish shopping for the last of the Christmas gifts. It’s too late for delivery, and besides, I’m missing some table-top Christmas decoration greenery, so I need to pick that up, too.

I plan to pick up my prime rib roast tomorrow morning, along with the taters, asparagus, and other fixings. I was planning to wait until the 24th, but I’d like to chill out on the 24th and 25th.
My son plans to spend a couple of days with us, but I’m unsure if he’s coming up the 24th or the 25th. His job has been incredibly nightmarish with long hours lately, so I’ll ensure everything is ready for his arrival by tomorrow night. I already washed the guest room bedding, so that’s good to go.

My parents divorced in the early 70s. It was pretty bitter. However, years later, they managed to be on friendly terms, and when my Dad moved back to my state, he even helped my mom out with some home maintenance stuff. We all spent a couple of Thanksgiving at my Dad and stepmother’s home, and everyone was at my place for Christmas many times. My mother attended my father’s funeral and reception, too. It wasn’t easy for her since my stepmother was the reason my parents divorced, but she did it. Believe me, she trash-talked my Dad and stepmom for years, but she stopped by the time I was a teenager, mainly because I asked her to.

Shoe, I’m glad your long shift contained so many pleasant surprises. I hope your blessed day off is filled with everything you want. I’m jealous of the snow. It’s been too damn warm here.

I allowed myself the luxury of sleeping in until 4:50 a.m. I need to get crack-a-lackin’. You all take care.

Up, caffeinated, and sheveled. Off today. I shall clean, launder, and watch afternoon hockey. It is currently 24 degrees Ferret Height(-4.4 Centipedes)

Dukes vs. Miracle Whip.

It sounded like the upstairs neighbors were bodyslamming Andre the Giant when I was going to bed.

Oy, Flyboy. Maybe stay in bed all day?

[Tommy Pickles]I don’t want to be a big people anymore.[/Tommy Pickles]

My next-to-the-youngest sister is hosting a Santa party today - she won an afternoon with Santa in a silent auction. We were invited, but since we’re driving up that way on Weds, there’s no way I wanted to do it today also. But Daughter is taking her spawn.

Tobias absolutely LOVES his red and black checkered boots - I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t wear them on Christmas. And Roxy has bright green bows at the ends of her braids. They’re both just too cute for words - I understand that trait is inherited directly from their maternal grandmother. :wink:

Anyway, I’m glad we declined the invite. My family can be a bit overwhelming and one day a week will be quite enough, thanks. I can’t believe I grew up around those crazy people!!!

:rofl:

Good morning all. Up and have procured my Sunday NY Times, so back in the house and warming up, it’s 24F outside which is pretty cold for Ali-bama. Need to do the packing stuff for heading up to Brother’s tomorrow, have a list of things to do, which of course I will leave until the last moment… A trip to Red Robin (Yum) and maybe some browsing at Barnes and Nobel will be the high points of the day.

nellie, I am supposed to have a delivery today of my last gift, so hopefully that will go as planned (Amazon status is showing ‘out for delivery’ so that’s promising). And yeah, the overnight mailing places make out like bandits right before the Holidays.

JtC, you and Hubs made a lot of folks happy, and that may be the best gift of all.

flyboy BE CAREFUL!!!

shoe, that sounds, despite the work and pressure, to be a very good place to work, compared with some I have seen. Happy snuggling.

swampy, happy Vergering.

And morning banana has been consumed so of to the wilds of the internet. Have a good Sunday all.

Afternoon, mumpers! It’s currently 5c/42f with no predicted change, and with isolated showers. Weather has been busy and tell me that “I polled the masses and fucking 99% of the people questioned said that rain fucking blows goats.” So there you have it!

Some do, some don’t. My gym is quite small so it doesn’t have a swimming pool or sauna which removes those elements from the “need to shower”. For most of the women, I think it depends what else their day holds. If you’re in the gym early, you may want to shower then head straight to work. Having a shower for most would also mean a hair wash so that means it then needs drying and styling which is a faff in the gym’s small changing room. Personally, I go home after the gym and shower etc there instead, then get on with my day.

The haints have finished giving you dirt and now they think you need to upgrade your silverware?

Hurrah! Sounds like the manager was not happy with the supply place, sometimes it’s just as easy to get the thing yourself instead.

I’m glad he found something suitable and is happy with it, so that you can have your own vehicles back and all will be well in the world of FairyChat driving.

You furriners make me laugh with this “tea kettle” lark. To me, it’s a kettle, or it’s a tea pot (two totally different items) but there’s no such thing as a tea kettle :slight_smile:

Bob-B nice vehicle, and thanks for the explanation too. Let’s hope this one survives longer than the last one!

Fingers crossed that it’s a better one this year!

That sounds like the universe calling you to a day of slothage!

I completely missed the MMP yesterday, the day kind of got away from me! I was up early to do feline tums and bums, then got myself sheveled and out of the house by 8.45am to drive over to the Pets at Home store at Merry Hell. I did a couple of hours fundraising there, and left at 11.30am for the drive home. Got back in the house at 12.15pm. Fed the cats, fed me, emptied the bins, cleaned all the litter trays, packed a change of clothes, left food and meds etc out for the catsitter, and left a couple of bags of presents downstairs for my Wednesday pub friends. Out of the house again by 1.30pm!

We went down to Hereford for the night and had arranged to meet up with friends there as we were staying in the same hotel. We got there long before they did so we checked in, had a cup of tea, got changed for the night and then went to find the place we were supposed to go. We’d decided to go and see a band down there, their singer has had to quit due to health issues and Saturday was their last performance together (the band does have another singer lined up). It was a free event, unticketed, and in a pub we’d never been to. Seemed sensible to go and locate the place, and of course when we got there, we had to have a beer out of politeness.

We stayed there until our friends caught up with us, then went to a local Asian restaurant for some food before the nights jollifications really started. Back to the pub in time for the 8.30pm start, and much fun was had! We left just after midnight when the band finally finished and got an Uber back to the hotel.

Since we were busy nattering still, we had a bottle of wine and sat in the hotel’s very comfortable lounge for another hour gossiping about stuff. Eventually went to bed, and were up by 9.30am for breakfast. Suitably stuffed, we packed up and headed home.

The catsitter had been round (twice) and sent some pics of the mogs, and my friend had called round to collect their gifts and leave some in their place. Now I have caught up on the day’s administrivia, caught up with all of you, and the next thing on my plan is to work out my grocery list for tomorrow. I am not going anywhere near a supermarket on xmas eve so it’s all got to be accomplished tomorrow. I have to take Shadow to the vet first thing for his blood test and arthritis shot, and they’ll clip his claws while we’re there. Then at some point in the, we’ll be off to the Gettin’ Sto’ to do the necessaries.

Right now, I am due for a bit of sloth time on the sofa with a good book.