I appreciate the thought, that I’m too (morning-)sick to cook, but ending up with three turkey carcasses is not helping. Thank goodness I can freeze all that meat. I’m not even going to try and boils the bones for stock. We haven’t had a non-turkey themed meal in over a week, including breakfast (rolls and gravy, mmm!).
Day three of my FIL and wife’s grandmother being here and I am going nuts. My FIL doesn’t understand the basics of living with other people, like how to share the newspaper. You take a section and read it. You don’t take the whole fucking thing and spread out the section you are reading over it. Then there is waiting until my my wife and I are finishing up the last of the dishes after being on our feet in the kitchen all day while he read his book to ask if there is anything he can help with.
It’s an attempt to keep the cross border shopping under control. If there are also sales in Canada people are less likely to head to the US for a long weekend of Christmas shopping. Timing is everything in retail.
If you’re a slow reader, don’t take the biggest section of the newspaper first. My husband used to grab the A section first. I finally told him that he needed to let me read it first, as I could read it before he was finished with the comics section. If he takes the A section first, though, I will read everything except the sports section and then turn to my book before he’s done with it. Grrrr. Now personally, I prefer to read the paper like FIL does, and so did my mother, but even we understood that it’s only polite to share the paper when there’s another person waiting to read it.
As for waiting until the cleanup is done to ask if there’s anything to do…this is probably willful. You MIGHT be able to ask him “Dad, would you bring all the dishes to the sink and scrape them, please?” and then “Dad, would you wipe down the table and counters?” He might do it. Or he might get offended. I know very well that my mother’s father would absolutely blow his top if anyone had asked him to lift a finger to do household chores.
My mom is the opposite - I had to set some ground rules for both of us in the kitchen, because she wanted to help me with everything. Every time I turned around, I bumped into her “helping” me. I know that sounds terribly ungrateful, but I’m used to cooking by myself in the kitchen - it’s easier for me to cook alone than have help.
ETA: Forgot my rant from this morning’s commute - right-of-way is not size dependent (until you’re talking about semi type trucks). You being in a bigger vehicle than I am doesn’t mean I have to back off when I have right-of-way. I get so frigging tired of SUV, truck, and mini-van drivers trying to push me around and run right over me on the roads. :mad:
What cross-border shopping? An international electronics retailer is holding Black Friday sales in half of Europe!
My car’s no-starting thing has been solved by a new battery, but the a/c needs the compressor replaced. My poor wallet!
I have an inlaw who is unemployed. She was laid off about a year ago, IIRC. She put off looking for work for a few months afterwards, and also apparently turned down a relevant job offer; I don’t know why.
Now she’s distressed and depressed. And I haven’t revealed that we had a job opening as my coworker that was relevant to her field, and I didn’t tell her about it - though admittedly if she’d been looking, she would have found it. I would have thrown myself off the building if I had to work with her. She rushes to the worst possible judgement in almost every situation, to the point where she will finish your sentences with worst-case-scenario statements that aren’t true at all, and sounds surprised when you contradict her gray prediction.
She also believes in conspiracy theories directly relevant to the field (in addition to many others irrelevant to it) and which would adversely affect her job performance as a result.
I should probably feel guilty but I don’t.
Edit: Nava, I’m getting my car’s battery and alternator replaced right now. 
Black Friday, indeed.
Hey look, Facebook friends: I know that you are worried about all the violence and death that goes on in war zones. It makes me sad and worried, too. But please - you do not need to post gory pictures of dead children on Facebook to make your point. Okay? Thanks.
I don’t think you can drive from Canada to Europe. At least, not in one day. 
I don’t think that’s it - I’m not sure how big a problem cross-border shopping is in large amounts of Canada.
I dunno about other places, but here in New Brunswick it’s a MONSTROUS problem–the economy here is already in the shitter, and it’s only a couple hours’ drive to shop at all the gloriously-accommodating stores in Maine. So it’s like a goddamn Black Friday bonanza around here, complete with stores advertising “Shop before work–open 7am on Friday!” and all kinds of weird stuff like that. Retailers are desperate to cash in on some of that sale revenue, because it really makes a huge difference in this (relatively poor) part of the country.
I’m sure it’s not the case in a lot of other parts of Canada, but here it absolutely is.
Well it’s hard to find an accurate statistic, people seem to disagree on the actual numbers but the most common one seems to be that 75% of our population lives within 100km of the US border. 8 of the top 10 cities in Canada are in that band (the only exceptions are Calgary and Edmonton which might be why it’s not as apparent to you). Cross border shopping has been huge everywhere I’ve lived, people are crazy.
I haven’t lived up there in ages, but when I lived on the BC border, they came down every weekend, and those with motorhomes parked in the K Mart parking lot all weekend.
For some reason, this is outraging me so much. I’m serious about that. I donate books, I set books free, but stealing an e-reader and charging lame books is beyond the pale. I’m so verklempt right now that I don’t have words.
Good on you. I was listening to talk radio and the Nearly Famous Barry Young was telling about how much it helps to shout and scream at people to get them to change their minds. I took that advice seriously. Of course, I was about 28 when I heard it.
Your facebook friend will probably grow up and figure that out as well…but you don’t need to spend your time to teach him.
They come here in the winter as well. We call them Snowbirds and know to avoid any motorhome with turning signals blinking for miles with no turns.
My rant: My friends are vultures. While I was making dinner yesterday, my friends were cleaning up the mess and running the dishwasher just so they could take clean pans home. (OK, I just lied there…because they are taking all of my stuff to a womans’ shelter) AND, they want to come over at like 6am to pick up the big stuff.
I’m glad that they are doing this, the shelter needs support and I do need my stuff to go away. Bill has problems getting out of my waterbed, so that isn’t moving and I want it to go away, but I really don’t want to start draining it tonight. My friends already took the other bed away and the sofa bed is really uncomfortable.
Admit it, you just don’t wanna have to be up at 6am 
My duct work is leaking. I don’t know how, or why, but it is, and the only reason I know this is happening is because my burglar alarm went off at 1:30 in the morning and because I couldn’t get it to turn OFF, and the alarm service couldn’t get the panel to respond, the alarm service walked me through how to unplug the battery backup on it which involved going into the basement utility room where the furnace, water heater, and phone/alarm/cable panels are. Which is where I discovered quite a puddle of water on the concrete floor with more dripping at a very fast rate from, of all things, the damned DUCT WORK.
After I got off the phone with the alarm company (trying to think with the alarm going off is hard), I called an emergency plumber and they walked me through shutting off the house water. If it’s a leak in the basement, it’s probably plumbing, they said, and I suppose I can’t argue with that reasoning. They’ll be calling at 8 to set up an appointment for someone to come look at it. I wish someone could come now, but the guy said if the water to the house is shut off (and he had me run water from some taps to make sure it was, and it is), then we’ve solved the immediate problem and tracing and fixing the leak can wait. I guess I can’t argue with that reasoning, either.
So here I sit, WIDE AWAKE, no water, and worried that something will short out, although I do have containers under the drips now.
Maybe cut back on the Olestra?
OK, Monster-in-Law, thanks for adding mind reading and clairvoyance to the list of stuff I can do.
Background: Wife is disabled for a variety of reasons, both medical and mental. Wifes car is a ten year old van, from a manufacturer that has had two owners in the last decade. Said van was built the year things started to go very to hell with the manufacturer. Despite being demonic possessed, it ran for the little she used it. Latest complaint was it had a temp gage that was bouncing alot. After driving the 200 miles to the MIL, apparently it was having major problems. A trip to the shop down there reveled a cracked radiator. $475 later, problem fixed. Then I get the phone call. I should have known this. I put their lives in danger. As I was getting my ass reamed, I glanced out the window at the driveway, where, surprise, surprise, there was NO green lake where she parked. Heck there were no spots of any color indicating leaks. Note, the last time I was even in the van was getting it’s inspection sticker last month. How the holy frack am I supposed to know it has a problem when nobody tells me squat, AND there is no evidence?
Now the MIL wants her to get another car. Not used, mind you, but a 2012. She has $3000 saved up, and gets a disability check for $918 each month. She also has quite the habit of forgetting to pay her bills, so the odds of anyone giving her a note on a car are thisclose to zero.
She can’t look to me to help, after getting laid off, I am in school, the last unemployment check was at the beginning of October, and it is 10 more months until I can get on co-op to get some money.
I see a sign on the side of the road ahead: EPIC FAIL:smack:
Got a pretty decent gripe today.
The choral director at kayla’s high school had received an invitation to have the choir participate in a workshop/festival at Disneyland this December. The event includes a LOT of HS choirs, and after the workshop/performances are over, the kids spend the rest of the day in the park (easy, since the HS is in the same town). The only catch is that the choir has to raise about $2500 to cover the cost of the workshop and the park admission.
So, Choir Director plans a rummage sale, right on campus, to be held the Saturday morning before Thanksgiving (Nov. 17). Oops! The 16th comes along, and brings with it a forecast for rain. No matter, she’ll just reschedule for the Saturday after Thanksgiving (personally, I’m dubious about the prospect of raising NEARLY the amount required during a single rummage sale, no matter WHAT day it’s held, but the kids are all gung-ho and enthusiastic, and I don’t want to burst their collective bubble).
So, along comes this morning, and I get home from work, ready to take kayla to the school. She’s a little concerned; she got a text from one of the sopranos, who showed up at 0600 to set up. As of 0730 the Choir Director had not arrived. Who has the CD’s contact information? NO ONE!
Except the CD happens to be the roommate of the woman who gets brought in on an as-needed basis to do choreography for the choirs, and kayla and I are both friends with her on FB. I have kayla make an inquiry of her in chat. No response as of 0815, but more kids are arriving at the school to set up the sale, so I put kayla into the car, pick up a couple of dozen donuts, and drop her off.
I got back home at about 0850, saw that the choreographer had not yet responded in chat, and sent her a message my own self. I asked her to give the CD the number to kayla’s cell phone, and a request that she make some contact with the crowd.
So at 0930, I got a call from kayla. CD called her cell phone (so far, so good) and explained that she hadn’t gotten clearance from the school administration to hold the sale on the alternate day, so she wasn’t going to be showing up. All of the merchandise that was collected ahead of time is going to stay locked in the choir room today (notwithstanding that many of the kids brought their own contributions to the sale TODAY).
YOU STUPID BINT! YOU HAD THE KIDS ALL DAY ON TUESDAY, REHEARSING FOR THE CHRISTMAS CONCERT! YOU COULD HAVE MENTIONED THIS TO SOMEONE! OR ANYONE!
Jesus, GOD! I know you have a tough row to hoe, lady; you’re trying to fill the old CD’s shoes while taking on directing responsibilities at two schools, splitting your time between this high school and a local junior high. kayla’s morale is so low that she’s saying she doesn’t even want anyone to come to the holiday concert on December 3. I’m doing the best I can to persuade her that since she accepted the position of soprano section leader her job is to be supportive of you and work to make YOU succeed at this, so you can be offered the position full time next year. I want you to succeed, because that’s how the choir program is going to succeed. But because you can’t be bothered to communicate with people, those kids are going to spend most of the day out on a busy street, with little-to-no adult supervision, trying to sell the used junk from their homes to people who are just starting their Christmas shopping.
As I said, I WANT you to succeed. But if you don’t it’s going to be because you are treating this responsibility as a part-time job. You say you’ve been teaching for over twenty years? Start ACTING LIKE IT!
The good news is, I can shower once more. The plumber found the leak.
The bad news is, it’s not something he can fix: one of the pipes for the fire suppression system is leaking. And he doesn’t know who does.
The potentially good news is that MD has lifetime warranties on these things; maybe PA does, too. So I need to dig out the house paperwork and see if I can find info on who did the installation and what the warranty is.