(Old) Writing Letters - A Stationery MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
41

Happy Moonday!

Nice 55-degree morning at the park.
It was hot later though, in the 80s.

When we got home, I had to deal with Unemployment.
There are not enough cuss words nor middle fingers for dealing with them.
I tried again online; it wouldn’t irk.
I called several times, only to be hung up on, because there were too many people waiting.
Yes, Unemployment will hang up on you.
So, I tried chatting with the robot, only to be told it couldn’t handle the problem. It linked me to an email address where I could ask for help.
I got an email back telling me that the email system was no longer being used and to go out to the website and fill out a form.
Then I tried using live chat with a person, who told me she couldn’t handle the problem and I had to call to speak to somebody. I said every time I call, I get hung up on.
I called several more times and wonder of wonders I didn’t get hung up on.
Finally, I got a real person to answer, only she is obviously very stressed and apologized, but she had to take my info to call me back because she had to call the person she had just been talking to and that call had been disconnected.
About ten minutes later, she called me back. Still sounding flustered and harried.
She went through the entire process with us, and she got it to go through. Then my son had to listen to a loooong message and accept all the bullshit conditions.
The agent hit the send button and it was rejected.
We had to start the whole process all over again.
The second time it went through.
Then my son had to be transferred to a different number to verify he is really who he says he is.

By the time it was over I was done for the day.

We took a small break and then my son loaded up the truck and we went to the new house.
He did a lot there.
He got the sectional put together (I HATE it!), finished mowing the lawn, measured the windows for curtains, got halfway through putting a patio table together, put a lot of stuff away, and did a load of laundry.
I sat on my ass cutting up cardboard boxes for recycling.
We left there around 5, both of us starving as we hadn’t eaten since 9am.
We stopped at Wendy’s, then stopped to get gas.
The people in the car next to us got out to look at the pups. Rayleigh had to show his ass by barking at them, then trying to get in the back seat to hide. Misiu was trying to get to the window because he loves attention. They were in each other’s way, so neither got where they wanted to go.

My son was so tired he was slurring his words.
He went to bed a couple of hours ago.
I was ready hours ago, but I stayed up to take my pills on schedule.

Tomorrow is da jungle subscribe and save delivery day. We will be doing nothing except waiting for packages. Well, he will be doing nothing, I’ll be irking.

{{{Taters}}}

Welcome back Yankers

42

On those I just make a big X with my fingertip. Some clerks notice and laugh. It works just fine in terms of them getting paid and me getting billed. And avoids all the cursing. Try it; you might like it.


JtC: the Pyrex never goes in the freezer. And I’d rather not encourage more wackiness with an ice-filled cooler in the trunk. Although when she used to live in Tucson that was her standard routine for grocery shopping. I lived in Vegas for a decade, never bothered, and never suffered.

I didn’t think you did the “I cook you clean” thing. It sounded more like it’s “Hubs makes messes & Jane cleans. Whether for cooking or any other activity.” Which seems … frictional.


Yaay!! So not 2 weeks?

As to balconies if you’re in a single family house do you have a porch? Can you get a cheap gazebo / sun tent thingy and set it up in the backyard? Where there’s a will to sit outside & not get Sun-blasted or rain-soaked, there’s a way.


Sari: sorry to hear the sectional is a bust. But you two did get a lot done. And, against all odds, you defeated the Maryland bureaucracy. Hooray for a job well done, infuriating though it certainly was.


As to my useless day:
Her Ladyship returned from her retail extravaganza with mixed success as well. But happy enough. If a few bucks of cheap trinkets makes her happy who am I to complain?

I ordered the stupid soap dispenser for delivery; screw it, I’ll pay the extra few dollars. Of course had I done that 2 days ago I’d have had a 30% off coupon. Woot! I’ll doubtless have another one in a month. But never one when I want to buy. Perhaps part of their clever plan? Naah, couldn’t be. Could it?

Been slothing since, and just had snacky “dinner”; still kinda full from my 2-thighs & a drumstick lunch. Bed in awhile. Resisting the temptation for a drink; I sleep better without.

43

I napped. I dreamed I lost my car, my keys, and my phone on I-20, and had to wade through a muddy construction site(in the desert :face_with_raised_eyebrow:) to a mall food court. Then I was in the middle of superhero battle vs. some spray tanned orange zombie on trial day. Damn, what was in that shredded wheat? But I’m up, had my cheeseburger and Old Fashioned.

Sometimes I have to check their page to see if it’s Living Bob’s birthday, or Bob Who Bought the Farm In A Waffle House Knife Fight’s birthday.

I got a “C” in typing(On an Olympia!). So now a chunk of my job is typing.

Sadly, most of them are designed to be that way.

44

I do initials. Since I don’t plan to dispute the charge, it works for me.

One nice discovery today: my preferred Walmart now has a nice digital scale for produce that generates a QR code for Scan&Go’s benefit, so I was able to buy bananas while using the Scan&Go. Very helpful.

Not-so-nice discovery: someone dropped a hell of a lot of dumbass on the local “drivers” today.

Also see my post in the Workplace Rants thread for how my day went.

45

Yeay, sari and son, you did it! You outlasted the heartless, evil machinery and won! Good on you (I never could have done it, so I am in awe).

I just make a big, long, low smiley face~if the clerk notices, it always has gotten a smile. Plus one long swoop, plus two dots is much faster than my name and I get to be a bit of a rebel. The smiles if they notice are a bonus.

46

So my brother is visiting. Huzzah. What the hell do I do with my brother? Baseball season is over, so that’s out. Two days of this shit. Ok. Hide the booze. We really don’t have much to talk about. I dunno why he wants to stay for two days. Not happy.

47

Blue Cross/Shield paid for my MMJ doctor appointment, LOL!!!

There was a brief window (about 20 days) between the time I walked out of my last job and received my last pay and starting to collect retirement that allowed us to be eligible for food stamps. I applied, we were deemed eligible for 15 bucks and then were kicked off the next month.

My state paid BC/BS covered the $350 doctor appointment for my MMJ card and my food stamp card allowed for a 50% discount on the MMJ card itself. I also applied for 25% off our electric bill, every year they send us a letter asking us to verify that we are still low income, every year we send them a copy of our tax returns showing that we are NOT low income and every year someone approves our discount for another year.

Sitting on the other side of the food stamp desk for an afternoon certainly turned out to be a good use of my time.

Even my journal is saved on my comp now :frowning:

Of course, it is mostly planting and weather records anymore.

Where do you get ribbons? I still have a small typewriter in the shed and often think about getting it out and cleaning it up, but the ribbon question has been an issue.

Well, dang! Do you think you will like it better when the GR’s start decorating it?

Oh, once again I miscommunicated. I clean the kitchen to my standards. Ya gots to remember I make cheese. Cheese making demands a super clean work area because I need to be in control of which bacteria and spores go into the milk…which carries over to all cooking and food prep because I never want to mess with good habits.

We share all of the rest of the chores, except for the cleaning of litter boxes, taking out of trash and car/motorcycle maintenance and washing. Those are all his.

It’s worked for us for over 35 years, hopefully it will work for another 20.

You can buy a nice foldable insulated lunch bag that probably would work very nicely. Did she ever work food service? Those of us who have often have long standing habits that would be pretty hard to explain rationally, but they are OURS and keep up happy and comfortable.

Put him in your truck and turn into tour guide. Show him the lakes, where you sell your stuff, where your shop is, the pretty tree in front of the courthouse, the local library, etc. He’s from out of town, he’s not seen this stuff through your eyes so show off!

As to me, one of Hub’s hearing aids starting not working well so today he had an appointment with the audiologist to see if it could be fixed. They can’t repair rechargeable ones inhouse, so it got sent out for repair. This means I will be driving everywhere for a couple of weeks because driving deaf just isn’t safe.

Nothing has happened on the other side of the fence, the slackers! I spent most of the day porchifying in readiness of doing some geezer supervising, but nothing. Hubs looked it up and they will need to get a permit to drag the trailer out and says they aren’t doing anything until then. I say they should be getting off their butts and dealing with the fence and shed and trash before it gets too cold for me to sit out there, but nobody seems to care about my timetable. /pouts/

VBC doesn’t just barrel out the kitty door like GG, she pulls the flap open with her paw so she can see what is on the other side of the door first and then slips her head through and the flap slides along her back. Today she took her stuffed Javalina (the toy next to her in my profile pic) out through the kitty door and then brought it back in again. I was very impressed!

Sock Monkey and Piggy are both in my room now, she will drag them onto our bed in the middle of the night. Her new Draco will probably get dragged around as well, she’s so funny about it.

48

I have an old Olympia portable~I found ribbons for it here:

49

Years ago, I read about a guy who was curious as to whether anyone checked those signatures, so he started drawing a penis instead of signing. It was two full years before a clerk noticed and made a fuss. And that man’s name was…Anthony Weiner. OK, I kid, I kid, but some guy really did draw penises on the signature line.

50

Up, caffeinated sheveled. Off to heave.

One time I bought a gift card with my credit card, and the clerk thought that i was faking my signature.
Clerk: “I need to see your ID.”
dogbutler: < produces ID >
Clerk, comparing scrawl on slip, CC, and ID: “Oh my God, that is his signature.”

You would think he would have the same standards, being a brewer.

Oy.

51

Morning, mumpers! It’s currently 11c/51f with a predicted high of 15c/58f, and cloudy. Weather app doesn’t care today and instructs " Calm your fucking tits. It’s not that bad outside." True words, indeed. It’s sunny although it’s been raining overnight and there are grey clouds off in the distance. I have been outside this morning to add stuff to the biiiiiiig recycling bin that’s sitting on the pavement awaiting the arrival of the binmen who will be ringing the Bells of Bacchus this week.

{{{{{Taters}}}}}

Sari and son well done, you defeated the corporate machine and got lots done! I hope you both got a good sleep after all that effort, and I hope the sectional looks better once it’s put together and covered with dog fur.

VanGo I agree with JtC, play tour guide for your brother. There must be scenery you can show him and places you can visit that will take up some time. Go to the cinema or something?

nellie I still send birthday cards to a small group of friends, it is a treat to get something personal in the mail these days as mostly I just get bills, statements, or catalogues for places I don’t want to shop.

Bumba farcebook won’t allow anyone but the owner of an account to close it (or of course, someone who knows your log-in). When you die, your account stays open, if you’ve told farcebook your birthday then it will continue to remind friends of the occasion. My recently widowed friend has the log-in to her late husband’s account but she refuses to close it because she likes to go and look at the posts and the photos from trips that they shared.

Seanette I read your workplace rant, seems ridiculous to me too! My place has given us all generic job descriptions by grade, so their intention is that they can move people around departments where there’s a need to additional staff (or secondments become available, which are becoming more popular). Luckily we’re all on the same site so it’s not so bad, unless you get moved to a really grotty building.

Nothing exciting in my day today, I have a catch-up with our stand-in boss then a meeting with one of my minions, then we have a team meeting this afternoon. In between, I need to faff with personal tutor groups on our virtual learning thing, which will annoy me immensely because it’s a long-winded process and isn’t anywhere near as simple as it ought to be. Then after irk, I have to go grocery shopping. Also irksome.

52

Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and caffeinatin’. YAWN ‘Tis 57 Amurrkin out and clear with a predicted high of 85 and N.O.S. for the day. Today is laundry day. My excitatement level is through the roof. We might or might not go get shorn this mornin’. Sup shall be tacos, Mexican rice, and refried beans. Fartfest to follow. We even have all the fixin’s for margaritas! YAY!

sari congrats on winnin’ against the machine! Maybe you’ll like the sectional sofa better after you live with it a while. We bought a rug for the livin’ room five years ago. I am just now comin’ to terms with it. Furnishin’s be weird like that sometimes.

Now I need more caffeine and to feed rumbly tummy. Then, onward into the day! Rah.

Happy Tuesday Y’all!

53

Regarding FB reminders of the long-deceased, I avoid that by unfriending people who have died. It may be cold of me, but I don’t need sad reminders in my life. Memories are enough, thanks.

I woke up a bit confused as to what day it is - but then I remembered - it’s LAUNDRY DAY!! :confetti_ball: :confetti_ball: :confetti_ball: And not only do I have the usual stuff we’ve been wearing all week, but FCD has asked me to launder the turtlenecks that have been stored under the bed for the last year or so. Plus some clothes I ordered were delivered on Saturday, and I always wash new stuff. So it’ll be a long day downstairs.

I’m fighting the urge to yell at FCD. His Dr got on him about his a1c, and considering his bro on dialysis, one would think he’d take it seriously. Nope. He apparently views healthy eating as a punishment. I had some animal crackers for Tobias that I “hid” in a container rather than the bag they come in. This morning, the empty container was in the sink, and I know there was at least half a bag of cookies in there. I am so angry, I can hardly see straight.

How can someone so smart be so stupid?? I’m trying to calm down before he gets up because I don’t want to start the day fighting. I just don’t get it. Needless to say, I won’t be buying any more cookies. At least Tobias likes snacking on fruits - in fact, he seems to prefer fruit to anything.

Anyway, that’s how my day is starting. Happy Tuesday!

54

The devil’s merchant, Amazon, has different types for sale. It can be a little tricky if you have a relatively rare typewriter, but there are “universal” ribbons that allegedly fit most types. And one can go old school and rewind a new ribbon onto the original spools in the typewriter. Good luck! We have really enjoyed our slow correspondence.

55

Good morning.

It’s 55F, dark and cloudy outside. The expected high is 64F, and it’ll be mostly cloudy with light winds.

So, yesterday was very rough. My son came up, too. I did everything possible to pull Polar through this bout, but I still feel it wasn’t enough. On the other hand, I know Polar is no longer suffering, and the fact the happy dances and backtalk had stopped was a signal he was sending me.I spent his last hours in the great room with him, where he looked around for me every few minutes if he wasn’t sleeping. I petted and hugged him and let him know that he was the best boy.

Today, I have to put his stuff away, but it may wait because I started crying as soon as I saw his collar and leash.

Okay, enough with the sad stuff. I thank you all for letting me go on.

pullin, I’m glad you’re back, and sorry about all the stuff.

sari, glad you could stick it out with the unemployment issue. It sounds like you got a lot done at the house too. I hope your sectional grows on you. Maybe a nice area rug will help you to like it more.

seanette, I am sorry about the work issues. I will have to go over and read your rant.

I know there is more, but once again, it’s just a little hard to concentrate. I need to log on to my work computer in a while and I’m full of donwannas. I could take leave, but I’m already taking a week later this month and have a week scheduled around Christmas. Additionally, I have several Fridays scheduled to burn up use or lose.

My best to you all.

56

Morning all. A nice morning, (60F) so slept well, but heading for 90F again, so we’ll see how far into the day we can get without cranking up the AC. Some gym time is on the agenda but besides that, not much doing around Casa Rat.

Thanks all for the suggestions on signatures on pinpads, but I’m stubborn enough to still try and write my name, even if it looks more like a Picasso than anything else. At least the D to start and crossing the T still works…

Sari, add in my conga-rats for surviving the bureau-crazy and actually getting a result. Sorry the sectional doesn’t work for you; I have one and it’s a lot easier for me than moving 3-4 separate pieces of furniture.

Nettie, read your workplace rant, for some reason office managers are never happy with how things are arranged and they know in their hearts that with just a little management it’ll be so much better…and all of them are named Murphy. Be strong.

I hear you. Love my brother but he’s a very conservative, fundamentalist Christian and…I’m not. He also doesn’t talk much and has a short temper, so visits with him are mostly sitting in silence and watching whatever movies he has on Netflix or whatever service they subscribe too. Hang in there, tow days ain’t so bad.

JtC, obviously something the slow-grinding gears of bureaucracy make a mistake and actually benefit someone; glad it was you. And hopefully work will begin soon so you may regale us with the tales of change in the neighborhood.

FCM, can understand your frustration with FCD, but you know better than us he ain’t likely to change now, even with health issues. Just try and keep the ‘good stuff’ handy for him.

{{{Taters}}}. You loved him all his life and gave him the best send-off he could wish for–your love. So cry those tears when you need to. I just may have a tear in my eye as I type this.

OK, need to break my fast so will forage for sustenance. Take care all and have a great 2sDay.

57

We’ll be getting the latest COVID booster today at a local pharmacy. Spent a quiet day yesterday, which was the wife’s birthday. We don’t do big celebrations for that sort of thing. I had probably the best night’s sleep I’ve had since the surgery. That’s all I’ve got.

58

My finger signature is a big M followed by a squiggly line. It seems to work.

First load in the dryer, second in the washer. Toddler on my lap. Bluey on TV. Life is good.

59

Mornin’ all. A couple hours post-sunrise and Her Ladyship is up, sheveled, and gone to Daughter’s for birthday Extravaganza. I’m on-call for late afternoon arrival there and dinner, but otherwise solo. 83/28 on the way to 87/30, partly cloudy and sort of vaguely hazy/foggy.


Doggio I don’t know where the hell you get your dreams from, but can I meet your supplier? I can recall a dream maybe 2 or 3 times per year for a few seconds tops, and they’re usually rather mundane, if slightly weird. So a lot like awake me too. :slight_smile:


Cute! If you make little Vs for the eyes it’ll look like hearts. :heart_eyes: Ouch, Ouch, please stop hitting me! I was kidding; kidding I tell you! :grin:


Bros are always a bit awkward by our age under the best of circumstances. Which it smells like you don’t really have. It’ll be over soon enough and someday it’ll be impossible. I also second JtC’s motion to play tour guide. He’ll either be interested or bored to tears and decide to leave early. Either way you win.


No food service. Just a personality that prefers taking most 60/40 decisions to the 99.9/0.1% level. Balance and nuance are not her strongest suits. And yes I certainly understand how cheese production requires very strict hygiene control. A bag of baby carrots from the open cooler part of the produce dept? Spare me.

Damn the bad luck about hearing aids. I had to get one repaired a few months ago and they let me keep the other one. Which was much better than nothing. I’m not deaf without them, I just say “What?” & “Huh?” a lot. More.


I don’t use FB but my late first wife had a seldom-used account. FB has a process for the next-of-kin to transition a decedent’s account to a “memorial” status which changes a few things, including IIRC whether birthday reminders are sent out. You don’t need to access the decedent’s account to do this.

For a non-FB user like me, jumping through their “memorial” hoops was too hard, so I just gave up on that, logged on as her, posted a farewill post to notify her audience of her death, then configured her account to not send reminders about anything and left it fallow. Their problem now, not mine. Once I terminated her email address a few months later for other reasons, the seal was complete: no FB via her bugging me.


FCM I’m sorry FCD is hell-bent on eating himself into infirmity, or at least giving it a darn good try. I do pretty good, but as I’ve chronicled here for anyone watching closely, it gets harder. “Why bother, I’m getting old anyhow” is pretty seductive. Especially for someone of a fatalistic outlook in general or about health in particular.

My undoing, and probably his, is that for things like small cookies or crackers, or even small French fries, the first 1 or 4 truly aren’t harmful. But they set off a very obvious, but very hard to resist, craving. Which can easily result in half the box disappearing while you (me really) all but unconsciously stuff them into your (my) face almost not tasting them. Kinda of like the drinker who might be able to stop at one, but absolutely can’t stop at two, the only way to win that game is not to play.

Of course if everybody was good at dietary restraint, there would be almost zero obese Americans, instead of not quite half the adult population.


There is no one who’s ever cared for a deceased loved one (two- or four-legged) who didn’t have that regret. No one. Trust your heart that you did plenty. Don’t listen to your self-sabotaging mind. It’s not your friend about this. {{{Taters}}}.


Those sound like two very, very nice things to “got”. Congrats to you both for another milestone together, and hooray for healing which improves sleep which improves healing which …


My pen and ink sig is about that.

The first letters of my two (or three) names are a stylized printed, not cursive, uppercase letter. The rest is two (or three) squiggles ending in bold upstrokes that vaguely represent the final stroke of the last letters. Anyone could recognize the two or three initials, but nobody could identify anything else; there’s just nothing there to identify.


Just had yaks with a work pal on a day off. Busy days in his life, lazy ones in mine. Did receive my first pension payment on time yesterday. Woot! Shame it’s teeny, but I’m still grateful in that it’s more than the zero so many people get. Should see my first SS payment in a couple weeks, net of my IRMAA-swollen Medicare Parts B&D.

About time for me to decide on which chow and whether / which beach.

Cheers all!

60

Hey, I have a portable Olympia, too! 2 actually, both made in the early 1950s, one elite, one pica. They are pretty amazing machines. I also make carbon copies on onionskin, just because I can.