Reporting Live From.....A Tell-All MPP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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Good morning everyone.

I’m up, the coffee is brewing, and the dog has gone potty.

It is 14 degrees here. Brrrrrrrrrrr!

Soon, I’ll have to get cleaned up and prod my husband into getting cleaned up. We NEED to get the tree before the next round of snow hits. We were going to get it yesterday, but it was dark by the time we were done at the mall. My husband has promised we’ll get the tree today.

I also need to buy some groceries and order the prime rib roast from the butcher shop today.

So far, that’s all that’s going on here in Taterland. Off to cruise the Dope.

262

A Christmas Cookie…

A tale of bureaucracy and how Scrooge won’t let me sell anymore dough without some $$dough$$. Long story short, I am licensed in county A and attempting to sell in county B. These counties touch each other and my two locations are less than 10 miles apart. However, there is NO reciprocity and many hoops to jump through. As a result I’ve got a booth full of nothing (ok, some cookie cutters and jewelry) between now and at least the first of the year. So… for now all I can do is wait. Thanks, everybody for the hugs the other day.

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Aww, bureaucracy sucks, Pie, hope you get it resolved quickly and with minimum fu$$…

Well, we sure TRIED to sleep in this morning, but Bear has other ideas and what with the wrestling with Widget on one side of the bed, the discovery of a lost squeaky ball and the revelation of Himself’s ear needing licking on the other side of the bed, eventually it became obvious that we really DIDN’T want to sleep in at all! Silly us, what WERE we thinking?! Enthusiasts… :rolleyes: :stuck_out_tongue: So he lost the squeaky ball under the couch and unfortunately he is a VERY determined dog with a loooooong memory for the location of lost toys so he keeps trying to get under the couch to get it–under my feet, under the end table, no matter what he has to destroy or capsize he WILL have that toy, dammit!

The snow gods decided to dump another inch or two in the night and it’s about 23 F here this morning–not quite so bad as Taters, but still pretty damned chilly. Pratchett really wanted to go out back with the boys this morning but changed his mind as soon as he got a good look out the back door. Us human types are taking comfort in coffee and incredibly nommy cashew butter cookies. I found a very perfect recipe, all I changed on it was I subbed in raw sugar for white, upped the nut butter to a cup and I put in WAY more than half a cup of chocolate chips, of course! Oh, and I rolled them in raw sugar before squashing them down with the fork. They stay very soft and chewy, which is how I like my cookies. I’m kinda surprised Himself didn’t finish off the lot last night, tell ya the truth…

Sounds like a fun night there, Mahna[sup]2[/sup]! Bet you sure wouldn’t want any octopus sashimi for breakfast, huh? How about a raw egg? Yeah, I’m evil, what of it? :smiley:

Ooooh, candiru fish–perfect! You win, doggio!

The kids’ll be fine, FCM, no worry!

Oh dear, Bear is squaring off with Pratchett–not a good move there, dog! Yup, got his nose batted good and it frustrates him so he starts complaining and doing that funny husky talky thing. If you’ve never heard a husky or malemute “talk” you’re missing out on some of the funniest noises imaginable. Sounds like the weird noises bear cubs make when they play–guess we named him more aptly than we knew, since he only started vocalizing this way a couple weeks ago. They only do it with friends and family, to strangers it’s all about the normal doggy barking and growling.

Something tells me very little is going to get done today!

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I got off my butt! :: pats self on back::

I put some more ornaments on the tree! But I also went outside and cleaned up 10 jillion pounds of dog poop, and mowed the back yard. I know you snowed-in folks have no idea what it’s like to still have to mow a week before Christmas, but there you go. Welcome to Houston! It needed to get done before the cold front comes in tonight, bringing copious amounts of rain.

Then I took a shower, sorted the laundry, put in the first load, and ate lunch. A few more ornaments, and I’m back on the Dope. :smiley:

Aren’t you proud of me?

265

More snow. More ice. More freezing rain.

I didn’t mind it in New York, where it’s expected and TPTB budget and stockpile and plan for it – and where they throw conga-lines of snowplows on the road as the first flake falls.

PDX doesn’t usually get this much freezing stuff (it’s ARCTIC BLAST! here) – not to mention, is a bit more environmentally conscientious about how much chemistry they dump into the groundwater – and so it’s very slow and slippery going. And now they’re predicting blizzard conditions along the Columbia River Gorge. Swell fun, I tell ya!

I just got off the phone with my sis. I’m moving my flight on Monday to a bit later in the day, in hopes of actually getting to the airport and getting out.

And, I think I’ve made a mistake. I’m trying a new slow-cooker chuck roast recipe, and it’s starting to smell good. It’s only 10:30 a.m. It might be a loooong day!

266

Yay for Saturday even if it is the one just before Christmas. :smiley: It’s only cold here and we’ve gotten what seems like a lot of rain – guess I’m grateful that it was NOT snow. I got a fresh turkey at the store last weekend then did not put it in the freezer. sighs Needless to say, it went bad and I had to toss it. It was a small turkey and I got it on sale, but it was still $12 worth of food. It’s so awful when I do dumb stuff like that. :frowning: At least I do have a ham for Christmas dinner. Argh.

I gotta go forage for something to eat…I’ve been eating way too many sweets. :eek: Happy Saturday folks, enjoy!

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Just ordered my prime rib roast for Christmas Day dinner. I’m really looking forward to it! My favorite part is making soup with the leftovers. Mmmmmmmm!

Well, it’s time to get cleaned up and get a tree! I must move my ass now!

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Coming home. Stuck in Baltimore. Sigh.

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I hope you get home soon, Soapy. Hope your driveway is good too!:wink:

We’re getting ready to take off and get the tree. My daughter has asked if we’d drive her to work, but she doesn’t have to be there until two. So, we’ll wait until it’s just about time for her to be at work, take her, get the tree, unload the tree, and then I have to head back out and get groceries.

The state of my pantry, fridge and freezers is alarming. I need to get some food, dammit!

The clouds look rather threatening, so I imagine we will get the additional snow they’re talking about in the DIRE WEATHER WARNINGS!

270

Happy Saturday, everybody. Papa Tigs got home as expected late yesterday afternoon, and was kind enough to let me just stay in bed and catch up on all the rest I missed while he was out of town while I was taking care of the Idiots all by myself in pain. (Yeah, guilt is a wonderful thing. :smiley: )

Anyway, I slept nice and late and woke up feeling considerably more human. And fortunately, thus far the worst the giant horse pill antibiotics have done to me is leave a nasty taste in my mouth after I take them. And then both last night and today, when I rebandaged the toe, a lot of infection gunk had oozed out – yay for oozing green gunk! – and today the inflammation is also way down. So apparently the horse pills are actually doing what they’re supposed to. But the toe still hurts like a MF when I touch it wrong, so it’s got a long way to go.

All you folks in snow country, please take care! And if you have any elderly neighbors, please check up on them! My 88-year-old mom in Issaquah was fortunate to have a couple folks from her church make sure she was well stocked with everything she needs, and I verified all kinds of other stuff (lots of warm blankets/hats/gloves? Check. Telephone that works when the power is out? Check. Etc.) myself. And she’s in a senior community so I’m sure they have provisions if things go beyond a certain length of time. Anyway, she’s also under orders to call me if the power goes out for more than 12 hours. Her place is very weather-tight and shouldn’t get too cold, but she’s still 88 years old, so I guess I’m entitled to worry.

And snowbunny is definitely getting lots and lots of snow! See, that’s what happens when you ask for it, snowbunny. :slight_smile: Maybe you should be more careful next time, though, and just ask for it for ski resorts. The people who were going to do their Christmas shopping this weekend in the northern half of the country are probably not real thrilled with it right now. :smiley:

Time to get back to work. Since I’m actually feeling human enough to work today. At least yesterday evening I had a most excellent knitting session on SIL’s fancy-hat-for-Christmas present, even though that unspun yarn is driving me nuts. If it didn’t rejoin so well with a spit splice, I’d throw it out the window in frustration; it pulled apart on me four separate times yesterday evening. Which is really maddening!

Okay. Work. I keep saying that, don’t I?

271

I traded shifts so I can leave at seven instead of nine tomorrow; she lives right here and doesn’t drive, and it’s supposed to start snowing (as in a lot of it!) tomorrow afternoon, so the earlier I can get away the better. I am not fond of driving at night in snow for some reason. It gets dark up here!

Otherwise, nothing much happening. yawn

272

It’s been a lovely lazy Saturday here at Casa Mahna. We didn’t do much of anything with the morning, headed out for about an hour to enjoy the sunshine and find some boots for The Boy (and find boots we did, happily enough), and then came home to do a whole lot more nothing. I’m most pleased with this.

Hope you make it home safe and sound, Soapy. Hugs for you and yours.

273

Man, I am SO glad that I paid attention to the weather report and stocked up like crazy on food and other supplies! While everybody else it out slipping and sliding we’re taking pantry/freezer inventory and deciding what to make for dinner–tonight Himself is making a stir fry with pork and chicken chunks fried up in separate batters (sesame seed/garlic for the chicken, hot pepper for the pork) and mass veggies over brown rice. Tomorrow I’m doing lethal pasta–haven’t yet decided between chicken or bacon, decisions decisions! Seriously, the only thing we ran out of is milk but we happened to have a couple cans of spray whipped cream left over from making apple pie (they were BOGO at Slaveway) so Himself is indulging himself with whipped cream in his coffee instead of his usual 1%.

We have close to 6" on the ground, it’s been snowing heavily and steadily all day long (with that small grained stuff that makes a lovely powder on the ground and it stacks up like crazy) with no signs of slowing down. There’s a warm front moving in tomorrow, though, which will probably turn into freezing rain–on top of all this snow it’s gonna suck! They’re calling for 5-10" before it goes to freezing rain. This is hands down the most snow I’ve seen since we moved up here twelve years ago.

We went out and had a blast playing frisbee with the puppies, they were running around like complete idiots, plowing through the powder like hairy snow sharks and beating each other up to get the Kong frisbee. We tired them out reeeeal good! That was an hour or so ago, and our footprints out in the street are nearly filled in! Now they’re chewing up a couple of nice beef bones–nope no spoiled rotten puppies here, no way! :smiley:

274

Whew, long night and long day…

I hardly slept last night, part out of worry about the kids (they got to Orlando just fine about 10:30 today) and partly because my body couldn’t decide if it was exhausted or wired. I got up about 6:45, showered, fed the critters, then left for Mom’s. I was there about 4 hours or so and I fixed some of her computer problems, but she’s got some issues I can’t address. She sent me home with a bunch of cookies. Guess I passed **Soapy **enroute…

I’ve got a load of whites in the washer. We went out for a salad for supper. I expect to crash early tonight. Either melatonin or a toasted almond should help me sleep. Tomorrow, the new mattress is being delivered, so I’ll have to strip and remake the kids’ bed. And do some more laundry.

Yeah, that’s my exciting life. Try not to envy me too much… :rolleyes:

275

Whew! Tree bought! Still need to put it up, but it’s bought.

After that I hit the grocery store. Lord have mercy, what a freakin’ zoo it was! I was in there forever, mainly just standing in line. I’m well stocked up on groceries, so that’s a good thing. I still have to get the potatoes and side dishes for Christmas Day dinner, but I’m good otherwise. I totally spaced on that.

It’s been snowing since 1:00 here and hasn’t let up. It’s really starting to accumlate, plus it’s very cold out there.

I’m hoping that my area does NOT see the freezing rain. That would be really, really, really bad. It’s very hilly in this area.

Sigh, I guess I should think about starting dinner, but I just wanted to relax for a minute or so.

276

It’s snowing here now–big flakes and coming fast. I love it. I planned it so that I have nowhere to go tomorrow, but will stay home and BAKE.

Yes. Life is good.

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I’m not going anywhere tomorrow either, but it’s just supposed to be rainy, then windy. Which suits me fine…

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I can’t go anywhere tomorrow, unless the shovel fairy comes by

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What?! Are you saying you prefer not to participate in SNOWPOCALYPSE '08!!11!, FCM? But it’s so much fun! Here’s my front yard at sunset, a couple of hours ago… I could send you some snow, if you like… I have plenty! :stuck_out_tongue:

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Oh yeah, just to be all scientific and stuff, here’s a shot taken at 1820, two hours after the last pic was taken. Notice that the extensive footprint action is pretty much erased–and it’s still coming down like a banshee!