(Old) When Mom's Away...A Coasterless MMP

[overlyverbose]

I’m sorry to hear about your uncle, flyboy.

Cookie, enjoy the naan - hope you come back to tell us how it cooked up.

Sunny, I hope both you and your mom are recovered soon. That had to have been terrifying.

Today was forced fun day at work. I had to get there extra early for a meeting with a vendor that’s during my normal commute time when I go in. I missed the ping pong ball tournament for the most part - managed to arrive just as it was ending. Meetings, meetings, more meetings and here I am at home.

I haven’t waddled for a couple of days and had planned to do so today, but I’m so sleepy from being silly and staying up too late last night I’m going to have a go at it tomorrow. It’s frozen appetizer night tonight, also known as, “Mom’s tired and has no creativity left in her” night. We’ve got spanikopita, taquitos and guac and possibly a papusa or salad. Overlyboy also has some ribs from a meal out he’s going to polish off for me. He’s firmly in the “a whole pizza is a snack” phase now and probably will be for a few more years.

I did a silly thing and made the off comment that I kinda wanted to do another half marathon since overlyboy is training for one in the spring. So I may be waddling a half marathon in the spring. I haven’t done one since 2003 when I ran the Chicago full, so this could be disastrous. Or amazing. Or disastramazing. 'Spose I’ll find out. I’m tired and hungry, and that guac is not gonna eat itself. Off I go.

[Chefguy]

@overlyverbose

Cookie, enjoy the naan - hope you come back to tell us how it cooked up.

Came out very well. It’s not hard to make, but the dough does have to rise, so one must allow for that hour. Here’s the recipe I used. The only odd thing about it is that it calls for both yeast and baking powder. Perhaps because of the yogurt?

[missred]

@JaneDoe42

When the dryer full of towels buzzes, I always wake VBC up so she can follow me to the bedroom and burrow into the warm, clean towels for a nice nap.

Awww…I love how you spoil your kitteh!

@purplehorseshoe

I’ve seen cars with the bumper literally zip-tied into place. Bonus points for using red duct tape over the holes where the rear brake light gaps shine out. Yes, carS plural.

One broke ass time of my life, my car got bumped in a parking lot (no note, nada) and broke the brake light cover. I was one of those cars for a while.

@purplehorseshoe

My nuke has two primary functions: frozen TV dinners, and - look away, all ye British! - to heat a mug of water for tea.

Dear og shoe! Tea kettles are dirt cheap at Goodwill. Should I pick one up and send it towards the Mitten State?

@JaneDoe42

Well…due to the advertisements, he was also getting pleas for donations for formula and diapers. There is a legit charity in town that helps single moms with diapers, so hubs signed us up.

Those tend to be worthy donations. I’ve done volunteer work with Nashville Diaper Connection and, like you and Mr.Cane, have been impressed. The company that I work for is one of the corporate sponsors as well.

@The_Stainless_Steel_Rat

I feel fairly good but my cough is in my chest now and my nose is running like a politician,

It may be time to get the vaporizer out. I hope that things clear up soon.

I’m sorry about Steve, hippy. I’ll pile on about writing a letter to him. He may not know just how much he influenced your life.

cookie, you sound like the type of boss that I always liked. It does start a chain.

{{{sunny and mama}}}

TGIT! This is the first full irk week that I’ve irked since early December and I’m feeling it. I hope that we have a rain free day over the weekend to take Nelson to the dog park and maybe…just maybe, take the bike out.

Stay safe and healthy y’all!

[FairyChatMom]

The singing and dancing show was quite good, but my distance vision is weird. I see double on stage unless I close one eye. Daughter just made me an eye doc appt, so I need to tell my eye doc about this.

We’ll be passing Cape Horn in the dark of the morning. Then we’re going to see some monster iceberg on our way across Drake. We’ll be at sea till Falkland Island on Feb 2. It remains to be seen how rough the crossing will be.

For now, tho, I need sleepy-bye…zzzzzzzzzzzzz

[dogbutler]

I napped, it rained, I had a Royal Hawaiian, hockey, and got Bo seasoned chicken in the oven.

@missred

Dear og shoe! Tea kettles are dirt cheap at Goodwill. Should I pick one up and send it towards the Mitten State?

This is 'Murica, we nuke everything!

@FairyChatMom

We’ll be at sea till Falkland Island on Feb 2

Ooo! Sheep Minefield Bingo time!

[JaneDoe42]

@The_Stainless_Steel_Rat

JtC, we have pics of the new cats/dogs here, how about pics of the new freezer?

Cats and dogs are interesting and ever changing. Everyone knows what upright freezers look like, I don’t want to bore folks. That’s why I don’t share pics of cheese. How many pics of blocks or wheels of white dairy products would it take before everyone put me on ignore, LOL!

I don’t mind that we are now buying diapers, it just entertains me that trying to prank hubs ended up with us donating to a good cause.

BFF came over after the baby shower and offered to show hubs pics of her daughter modeling her new breast pumps. (I didn’t know that they came in two packs either. I just picked something off the registry and called it good.)

BFF and I both almost died at the horrified look on hubs’ face.

There were no pics.

I sure do hope you start feeling less congested. There’s a lot of icky stuff going around this winter, please take care of yourself.

@missred

I’ve done volunteer work with Nashville Diaper Connection and, like you and Mr.Cane, have been impressed.

Back in our biker days, we used to always bring big cans of baby formula to food runs. We used to see bikes pull in just covered with big packs of diapers bungy strapped everywhere and always kinda thought they were doing some virtue signaling. Bikers do love to be the best at anything!

It wasn’t until I started working at the food stamp office that I learned how important diapers were. In my defense, I’ve never had children and my sisters used cloth diapers. I really didn’t have any idea about the logistics of using cloth diapers until I heard single moms tell me the same things over and over.

@missred

I’m sorry about Steve, hippy. I’ll pile on about writing a letter to him. He may not know just how much he influenced your life.

I am positive Steve has no idea at how how important he was in hippy’s life. Learning how much he helped someone all those years ago will make a big difference in his day or days.

I like to think that I’ve made a positive difference in people’s lives, but nobody has ever told me so. If it ever happens, I will hold that memory to the day that I died.

[dogbutler]

@JaneDoe42

How many pics of blocks or wheels of white dairy products would it take before everyone put me on ignore, LOL!

I’m from Wisconsin. I’l put you on ignore if you don’t post cheese pics.

[purplehorseshoe]

@purplehorseshoe

And we’ve been dead-ass slow lately.

I anticipate a lot of stepping on each other’s toes - literally and figuratively - and a lotta standing around bored.

Shows what I know. We were decently busy.

But I did get out just in time to stop at the Dolla’ Sto’ for some inexpensive supplies. Plus gummy bears two-color Swedish Fish, which I’ve never seen before, so why not?

I kept hearing this scraping sound driving into work, though. Assumed it was leftover ice in my wheel well. Poked around by my car on my lunch break … and inadvertently startled the everloving crap outta New Kid who was getting out of his truck right next to where I was crouching by my hatchback. Neither of us knew the other was there; I stood up in the gloomy mist and slush just as he got out, and we both about had a heart attack AT each other.

Turns out, the scraping is a plastic bumper/protector thingie that’s bolted to the underside of my car, that’s now dangling loosely. No doubt it got scraped loose during my recent Ice Dam Driveway escapades.

@Spice_Weasel

What bothers me the most is when I have to ask other people for things at the last minute.

Your boss seems to have your back. Have you had a conversation with them about this { ahem } ongoing problem?

Other people’s lack of a sense of urgency is becoming a constant source of stress for you, one over which you seem to have no control (e.g. it’s not cuz you’re a slacker) and worse, impacts your ability to do your damn job.

This should (!!) now become your boss’s problem, too.

… in an ideal world/work environment, of course.

@Spice_Weasel

And I’m coming down with a cold now.

That’s definitely the constant stress running down your immune system. A nonstop stream of cortisol (the “stress hormone”) isn’t good for you.

@Johnny_L.A

A nice thing is that a CIO from a certain bank called me directly because my contact sent my advisory email to him. And it’s a good thin, too! We have not received their commercial accounts since August and no one answered my emails asking for them. It turns out they had a system change, and their program is not automatically sending my their file. So the CIO is going to look into it.

Sweeeeeet.

You gave people information they needed, and in turn, got a very useful bit of information in return.

@JaneDoe42

There is a legit charity in town that helps single moms with diapers, so hubs signed us up.

There’s hope for him yet.

@FairyChatMom

First stop was a cormorant rookery, second was a small island full of seals and cormorants, and finally, the penguin rookery.

At some point, you really oughta wander over to the “Seen in Nature” thread, show 'em how it’s really done!

Today in nature I saw

We have special feeders designed for woodpeckers. Not a day goes by that I don’t see downy and hairy woodpeckers.

@missred

Tea kettles are dirt cheap at Goodwill. Should I pick one up and send it towards the Mitten State?

I have a real kettle (got rid of the electric one) but I just don’t use it often.

Kettle takes five, maybe ten WHOLE minutes to boil.

Nukulator takes a minute anna half.

You think I got time to wait? I got shit to do pizzas to make!

@FairyChatMom

I see double on stage unless I close one eye.

How strong do they make those cruise drinks, anyway?

@FairyChatMom

, so I need to tell my eye doc about this.

All joking aside … yes, yes you most definitely do.

@JaneDoe42

her new breast pumps. (I didn’t know that they came in two packs either.

Considering boobies usually come in a two-pack, it only makes sense.

@JaneDoe42

BFF and I both almost died at the horrified look on hubs’ face.

Thank you, genuinely, for the lulz. I can just imagine.

---

And now, for something completely different …

… since SOME of y’all won’t stop yammering endlessly about cheese ( ) here’s a pic of our back-of-house cheese prep. (This place makes their own cheese blend.)

I love seeing them all stacked up (there’s a 2nd pic not visible in the preview):

[Album] Cheese prep

[Johnny_L.A]

I made the salmon chowder, only with clams instead of salmon. Mrs. L.A. declared it very good. We both ate too much.

It seems every time I make chowder, it’s a little sweet. I think it’s the yellow onions. The Spousal Units puts Angostura bitters in any soup she eats. Maybe I’ll try that.

[purplehorseshoe]

@Johnny_L.A

every time I make chowder, it’s a little sweet.

Garlic might counterbalance the onion sweetness.

Do you add potatoes to your chowder? They’re good at neutralizing too much salt; would that help?

[JaneDoe42]

@purplehorseshoe

And now, for something completely different …

Whooooo!!!

Be honest now…haven’t you ever wished you could take all of your clothes off and just wallow in cheese? Just one time before getting fired and jailed?

Mooooooaaaaannnnssss.

[Johnny_L.A]

@purplehorseshoe

Do you add potatoes to your chowder? They’re good at neutralizing too much salt; would that help?

Yes. Yukon Gold. Don’t need to neutralise salt. Need to tone down the sweetness.

[Sahirrnee]

Happy Thorsday!

Rainy and foggy day here, but in the 50s. It’s supposed to get warmer.

I hope the ice, snow, gravel roll in the driveway thaws soon. I think somebody was going to plow our driveway and then realized it’s gravel. We have a roll in front of the garage door we don’t use, too big to drive over. Once it melts my son can rake the gravel flat.
I think I’ll look into getting it paved in the spring.

Poor Misiu. I went through a drive through last night and the guy working said Misiu is scary looking. My poor Misiu is the wimpiest, mildest, sweetest baby. I told the guy that, but I’m not sure he was convinced. I think I need to get some new pictures.
Rayleigh has a little spunkiness to him, he still challenges Echo from time to time.
He had a big crawling across his foot tonight and he jumped up in a hurry and shook it off his foot. I told him to get it, but Echo came running and killed it first.

I have to get them neutered soon. I talked with the breeder and she said between 6 and 9 months is good. They will be 10 months in a few days. Since they are bigger than average, I want to give them a bit longer. The breeder said the biggest Shar Pei she has had was 70 pounds. I think Misiu will be 65-70 pounds, and Rayleigh will be 60-65 pounds. Rayleigh is slightly taller right now, but he has longer legs. They aren’t humping or spraying, and no signs of aggression from either. I don’t think I waited too long. I’d like to make sure the growth plates are closed.

I still have not gotten my Tramadol. Because it is a schedule 4 drug, I can get only a month’s supply at a time. I have to go into the doctor’s office once a month and take my pills with me so they can be counted. And I have to pee in a cup at intervals.
It’s a PITA.
I thought when I saw the PA Friday, she would call it in since I had only 3 pills left. Then I remembered, the office doesn’t irk that way. I have to call in and be switched to a prescription line. I KNOW I need to do this not last minute, but I forgot.
Friday, I called CVS to get the refill, hoping they could get it through, but I should have known better.
Moonday, I call the office and asked for a refill. Nothing, until today I got a text from CVS that my doctor hadn’t answered their request. I called the office and asked for the refill again, saying I had called Moonday and hadn’t heard anything.
I said something to Petey dad, who also goes there, and he said to call the office, select the appointment option and talk to a person. Which I did. The office called me back and said they sent the script over on Moonday and I need to call CVS.
This should be fun.
I hate CVS, everybody hates CVS, but they are the cheapest. Petey dad was shopping around and said none of the other pharmacies are accepting new customers who are prescribed opioids. So I am kind of stuck with CVS right now.

I’m sorry to hear about your marriage, Pilot.

Happy Travels FCM. It sounds like fun.

Taters, I get angry at the way the government wastes money. I used to work for the state, the waste just made me sick. Too bad the money isn’t coming out of the pockets of those in charge.

Hope you mom gets well, Sunny.

Which reminds me of a… irritant? maybe?
I got a get-well card for my son to send to his paternal grandmother. A nice pop-up card that opens to form a vase of flowers. We mailed it a week ago and nothing. No thank you, no acknowledgment of any kind.
Kind of rude I think, but then rudeness does seem to run in that family. It’s why I don’t get along with them.
I’m not good at dealing with people who are consistently late (60-90 minutes) and change plans on a whim and expect me to accommodate them.
I only ever tried for my son’s sake, but at this point, he doesn’t really care. They are strangers to him.
He has one cousin who really wants to meet him, she has the feminine version of his name. I thought that was a little weird, but whatever.

I should go to bed. I have no idea what time my son will get out of irk tonight. Inventory went pretty quickly so he expects to get out early.
I hope not.
My road is narrow and dark, and the fog makes it a lot worse.
B/H mom rode down it one day. She said she didn’t know it was so narrow. I said, I told you that if a car is coming the other way, you both have to slow down and scoot over. No street lights at all. She said it looks nice where it runs along the creek, I said yes, it’s nice. She said, but there’s no guardrail. I said I know, and twice I have seen yellow tape where I think a car may have gone over the edge. Not sure if that is what happened though.
And the deer. I’d say 50% of the time I see deer in or by the road.
I don’t drive fast.

[The_Stainless_Steel_Rat]

@FairyChatMom

We’ll be passing Cape Horn in the dark of the morning. Then we’re going to see some monster iceberg on our way across Drake. We’ll be at sea till Falkland Island on Feb 2. It remains to be seen how rough the crossing will be.

Of course you need this song for the Cape: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eacnVUCoSyg Safe passage.

talkie, meetings, meetings, meetings…where the minutes are kept and the hours are lost. And more power to you if you can do a half marathon; chasing 9-year old soccer players at a fast walk for 50 minutes wears me out. And if disastamazing isn’t a word, it ought to be.

red, got 570 calories pedaled tonight and while I had a few coughs nothing to drastic, plus I’ve been able to sleep un-medicated and pretty much undisturbed. Saturday looks pretty wet in the forecast, maybe Sunday.

JtC, you and BFF would have pranked me too.

shoe, I (and I expect many Mumpers) have had that kind of experience, neither person expecting to see another there. Hopefully you’ll both were laughing about it later.

Sari, hope the prescription gets straightened out soonest. And I think the pups are probably ready for ‘the cut’. And that road sounds like an accident waiting to happen. Take care of yourself.

Heading towards 2300 O’clock, so need to finish up here and head off to bed. Take care all.

[nelliebly]

I’m sorry I’ve been AWOL. There were family crises, plus I had a killer toothache. I went back to the dentist, and he still could find nothing wrong. He put me on antibiotics, though, and–knock on wood–so far, they seem to be helping.

pilot, I’m so sorry the marriage didn’t work out. There’s no shortcut through that kind of grief, but it sounds like you’re both being considerate and respectful, and that matters a lot.

@FairyChatMom

The singing and dancing show was quite good, but my distance vision is weird. I see double on stage unless I close one eye.

Please get your blood pressure checked right away. This happened to my sister. She drove with one eye closed for three days before she told her husband, who hustled her to the eye doc. It turned out to be dangerously high blood pressure. She had to be rushed to the ER. Not pretty. Don’t wait until you get home. Surely there’s a BP cuff somewhere on the ship.

Hugs to everyone. I haven’t waded through all the posts, but I’ve read a lot of them and hope to catch up tomorrow.

[purplehorseshoe]

@JaneDoe42

Whooooo!!!

I will tell you this: I can smell (in a good way!) when they’re grinding the cheese mix. And opening a fresh tub - mmm, that sweet dairy smell.

But as far as taking a bath in it? Honey, I’m literally up to my wrists in it some days already.

@Johnny_L.A

Don’t need to neutralise salt. Need to tone down the sweetness.

Was hoping if it was good at fixing one problem, it might fix the other …

@Sahirrnee

I went through a drive through last night and the guy working said Misiu is scary looking. My poor Misiu is the wimpiest, mildest, sweetest baby. I told the guy that, but I’m not sure he was convinced.

I work a drive-through. Wanna know how many “oh, don’t worry, he’s so sweeeeeet!” dogs have lunged at me?

Granted, I smell like pizza. But still!

They think I’m trespassing/attacking their owner.
Bro, chill, I’m trying to hand your person their credit card and the food they’ll probably share with you anyway, so back off, Killer!

Also, if your dog bites my hand … who’s out of work now?

@Sahirrnee

He had a big crawling across his foot tonight and he jumped up in a hurry and shook it off his foot. I told him to get it, but Echo came running and killed it first.

There was a crucial noun missing from this story.

A big … WHAT?! What the hell was IT?

And do I need to look out for its vengeful mate?

@Sahirrnee

none of the other pharmacies are accepting new customers who are prescribed opioids.

Healthcare - and pain management - in this country is, well,

@Sahirrnee

the waste just made me sick. Too bad the money isn’t coming out of the pockets of those in charge.

And therein lies the problem.

Not that it’ll ever change; it’s been this way since before the word “government” was a linguistic concept.

@The_Stainless_Steel_Rat

Hopefully you’ll both were laughing about it later.

Once we got over the initial “Oh, SHIT I did not see you!” yeah, we were laughing like idiots out there in the dark, misty slush.

[dogbutler]

Up, caffeinated, and sheveled. Off to heave.
I saw “Sinner” was trending on Twitter. Apprently it’s some guy who just beat the defending champ, and not Sister Mary Imaculata slamming me on social media for my behaivor in 5th grade.

@Sahirrnee

It’s a PITA.

WTF? Roomie is on Tramadol, and doesn’t have to go through all that.

@Sahirrnee

I have to get them neutered soon.

[purplehorseshoe]

@JaneDoe42

She is probably also trying to frame a careful, neutral text…

A solid day later, I got a reply; the sum total of which is: “thanks for asking, we are doing fine” which amounts to … well, pretty much what JtheC predicted.

I sent back an “Okay, have a nice evening!” fairly promptly, so ball’s back in her court, I guess.

Granted, this is the same woman who throws melodramatic poses of woe if I don’t call on her schedule (“I thought you were dead!”) but has to be reminded, constantly, that telephones are this nifty two-way technology …

[scareyfaerie]

Morning, mumpers! It’s a balmy 5c/41f with a predicted high of 7c/45f, and mostly sunny out there. Weather app says “This weather is fucking fine. Just don’t put on your make-up while you drive, you’ll fucking poke your eye out.” Sage advice, should I ever decide to start using make-up.

I have read much and retained little, it’s Friday and I can’t brain properly yet.

hippie I am so sorry to hear about Steve, and I will add my vote to the rest. Send him a handwritten letter, it will give him a smile and it will also give you some peace knowing that you said what you wanted to while you still had the chance.

flyboy I am sorry about your uncle.

Sunny sorry to hear about your mum, and it’s good to see you posting in here again. You’ve been missed!

sari sending you a hug because you always sound like you could do with one.

Taters it’s a shame your boss is making life difficult for you, but nice that there’s a decent lunch in the offing! Since it’s your boss, and the keyholder for the offices, can you not push the whole clearance project over to him and insist he gets you some additional help to get the job done in time?

Spicey I hope you feel better from the cold soon, and life gives you a bit less stress.

Moooom enjoy the wildlife, look forward to the pics later, and I hope you get your vision issues sorted out soon.

nellie sorry to hear that life is not treating you so well either

pilot I am really sorry to hear about your marriage, I hope you can both navigate through all of this and arrive at an amicable solution. It’s difficult and painful, but it does sound like the right decision for both of you.

I flatly refuse to read stuff about the travesty of tea-making over there! I despair of people like shoe who microwave the water instead of boiling it properly, you’ll never get a decent brew that way. And of course, you’ll need proper tea bags first

[FairyChatMom]

nellie, I should have added that the lighting in the theater and on stage seems to contribute to the double vision. When we’re outside looking at scenery and local critters, all is fine. The colored, moving stage lights and the light/dark contrast seem to contribute.

Up early while FCD snores away. I can tell we’re moving back into open water. It makes me wonder what it was like for the intrepid travelers and explorers in the age of wooden ships. If this massive vessel rocks and pitches so that walking is a challenge, imagine the much smaller sailing ships bobbing like corks!

I think we’ve scheduled 2 or 3 lectures for today - the Antarctic experts are really interesting! Plus today, there’s a talk about icebergs. Kinda like educational TV, only live!! So that will pass some time.

I think we could lose internet soon, so don’t panic if I disappear - MetalMouse will know if we sink.

Happy Firday!