Revenge of the Fifth- A Post Holiday MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
41

I tend to follow the MMP threads and I always plan to participate, but somehow I (almost) never actually do! I think I made it to 2-3 consecutive MMPs once, a looong time ago. :slight_smile: Anyway, I’m tryin’ again and hope y’all don’t mind participation that might be in fits and starts…

Nava, your SiL and family (and you) are in my thoughts!

I’m a federal contractor and today is when the gov’t observes the Independence Day holiday, so it’s day 3 of my weekend. And, happily, I have nothing on my “to do” list other than to sit on the couch with my dog and finish watching the last season of The Sopranos. :smiley:

Yesterday I went to my best friends’ house for burgers and amateur fireworks: some of the latter looked great, but a lot of it was very loud and too close and my (mild but constant) tinnitus is bitching a little today. I felt kinda guilty about leaving my dog at home alone to deal with whatever racket my neighborhood came up with, but she seemed none the worse for wear when I got back. The last loud “boom” here was at around 11:30pm; I’m grateful there weren’t any super-late shenanigans.

I’m one of those weirdos who actually wants to get back to the office, and after nearly 16 months of working from home I’ll be returning tomorrow! My plan is to go in every T/W/TH. My company is being super flexible: folks were allowed to start returning last month, but corporate facilities won’t be considered “fully open” until after Labor Day – even then, most staff will be able to do pretty much whatever they want in terms of teleworking. Right now only two of my co-workers have regular “in the office” schedules, and they cover M/W/F. So I’ll be there by myself on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but at the very least those days will be a welcome change of pace/scenery. I don’t see anyone going in five days a week any time soon, but I’m hoping more folks will be back at least part-time by the fall.

On Saturday, I posted about my decision to have gastric bypass surgery: this week I should hear from the bariatric center’s patient coordinator, which will mean learning my insurance company’s requirements and hopefully getting some idea of when I might be able to have the procedure. I also have one of my first surgery-related appointments this week (a video consult with a dietitian). I’ve been feeling kind of “on hold” since Wednesday’s initial consult with the bariatric surgeon, but by the end of this week I should be feeling like there’s some solid progress.

FairyChatMom, I grew up near Baltimore but didn’t know there’s a maritime museum in Annapolis! I should have guessed, though. :slight_smile: That might be a nice day trip from Northern Virginia sometime!

Filbert, if you’re worried about second dose side effects I agree that you should wait. Maybe another opening will come up before the 20th, but at the very least you have that appointment. :slight_smile:

Nice!!

(I still have another 15-20 years to go… {sigh})

42

Those popsicles that have kept me sane throughout the heat are the old-skool kind, nutritionally void tubes of colored sugar water.

Current package has an impressive list of possible flavors:

  • strawberry
  • grape
  • orange
  • green apple
  • watermelon
  • cherry
  • mango
  • blue punch (?)
  • pina colada
  • banana (!)
  • lemon lime
  • peach

Imma tells you people, it is an absolute crapshoot when you cut off the top of one.

Me: “Yellow. Probably lemon … nope! Pina colada. Okay, odd flavor for a kid’s product, but …”

If there was a package of just pink’n’purple (strawberry & grape) I’d buy nothing else. Instead, I’m playing a sugary version of Russian roulette.

Weirdly, I haven’t run into mango or peach. Wouldn’t mind … and who knows what color they assigned to watermelon?

43

Nice to see you again Nava and Bats! Hope everything works out for SIL, Nava.

Nary a bang or poof here last night. As conservative as some folks are over here, we were kinda surprised, but there’s 3 active wild fires going in the county and people are mindful of that fact. In the valley, of course, there were outraged cries of Muh Freedumbs! when the city council issued a ban. Poor babies. :cry:

We have to go back tomorrow and do some more packing and donating. We’ll have a garage sale sometime soon too. Then more donating. I’m still trying to figger out where to put everything I want in the basement. :roll_eyes:

Y’all take care now.

44

There might be, but the one I’m talking about is the Calvert Marine Museum in Solomons. We live in St. Mary’s county, so we have to cross the Patuxent to visit the museum. My daughter has to go to Annapolis for some pre-natal procedure that can’t be done by her doc here. So I’m wrangling the toddler.

Anyway, I think CMM is worth a visit, regardless. We’ve been members for a number of years. And whereabouts in Baltimore? I spent my formative years near the border of Towson/Parkville, off exit 29 of the beltway. But after being in and working for the Navy at various and sundry bases, we settled here. My last fed job was at NSWC Dahlgren.

Just back from the knee replacement training. All three attendees have the same surgeon - I guess he’s the county’s knee guy. I learned a few things and I feel better prepared to deal with FCD’s recovery. Now I just need to stay on his case about doing the leg exercises ahead of surgery. It should help speed his recovery if his muscles are strong to begin with.

Meanwhile, noodle cake and salad for supper. So I have about an hour to kill till I have to pretend to cook. :rofl:

45

purplehorseshoe: Lately I am a popsicle fiend, but for me it’s the sugar-free ones…which, right now, I can only find in the classic grape-orange-cherry variety. Honestly, that’s fine with me: I don’t know if I could take the “surprise” element with that many options! LOL!

FairyChatMom: Ooooohhhhh! I completely misread your previous post: I thought you were all going to Annapolis and you were watching the toddler during your daughter’s appointment. Never mind. :grin: My dad was in the Army when I was born, but I mostly grew up in Glen Burnie. I moved to Northern Virginia when I was 26. Exactly 23 years ago, actually: I moved over the 4th of July weekend in 1998. :slight_smile:

46

oh
another from the armpit

47

Yes. This. Leg exercises ahead of time make it a lot easier. Wifey’s doc agrees with FCD’s doc. And it helped with her recovery a lot.

BTW, what is this ‘noodle cake’?

48

It’s what her way above average granddaughter calls lasagna.

49

Same granddaughter who sang happy birthday to fireworks… Yeah, she’s above average… :rofl::rofl::rofl:

50

Check out this kid - I watched him live at the park last night! What a hoot!!

51

Tonight’s dinner replicated a dish that my wife used to always order at a local jazz club. Then the club went out of business and was torn down. Homemade polenta, topped with a hunk of halibut and adorned with a blueberry balsamic reduction. Very tasty.

52

Honeys, I’m hoooooome! Dja miss me? :rofl:

I had a wonderful time. Daughter’s (rental) house is gorgeous, a Victorian with exposed beams and lots of beautiful features. I like a house with personality. Much merriment, and we were busy because her friends and in-laws wanted to see me. I felt loved. :slight_smile:

The only dark cloud was that one of daughter’s and SIL’s cats suddenly got very sick–no vomiting or anything, just suddenly extremely lethargic and refused to eat or drink–and rapid respiration. The only emergency vet around had a 12-hour wait. Luckily, said cat gradually got better and was fine today, but none of us got much sleep Saturday night because we were all so worried. They’ll take him to the vet this week just as a precaution. Other Cat was fine. Slept with me every night, so I invented several new yoga poses to accommodate her.

Oh, and here’s a strange thing. At the departure gate for the trip out there, I couldn’t hear which boarding group the agent was announcing. I picked a random guy in the crowd around me and asked him. Turned out he was not only in my boarding group, he was assigned the same seat! They moved him–good thing, as I didn’t want him on my lap–but what are the odds?

Nava, so good to see you again! I’ve been wondering what happened. I thought maybe it had to do with the change to the now-not-so-new site. I hope your SIL and occupant are OK. They’re in my prayers.

And welcome back, Batboy!

nut, unless you can get all the moving but yourself done beforehand, I’d wait. If there’s an opening now, there’s liable to be another one before the 20th, and if you get hit with side effects, you may not be able to do much.

shoe, I had an adult freezer pop (the kind you squeeze up from a tube) yesterday. 8% alcohol. It wasn’t pina colada flavor, but it was delicious.

Hugs all around! So nice to be back!

53

misnomer, I’ve purchased Popscicle ™ brand sugar free in several different variety packs. One was cola, Dr Pepper and rootbeer, one tropical and then the usual cherry-grape-orange. I like the Dr Pepper and the mango ones best.

Just spent 2 hours in the dentist chair and am now sporting a temporary crown and a billfold lightened considerably. It’s the first time in a couple of years where my front teeth match for the most part. :slight_smile:

54

{{ Freddie Mercury sings }}

bum bum bump

:musical_note: “Another one from the armpit.” :notes:
Aaaand another one comes, another one comes, another one from the armpit. "

55

Ooooo root beer and Dr. Pepper popsicles sound interesting, missred! The grocery store I use for deliveries theoretically has the tropical ones, but they’ve been out of stock online for a while. I’ll have to go to that store in person sometime. The other grocery store nearby didn’t have any sugar-free popsicles the last time I was there…they didn’t have any sugar-free Jell-o, either, which is my other staple dessert (the strawberry gelatin and the dark chocolate pudding).

56

SNORK
: massive applause :

57

Up, caffeinated, and sheveled. Off to heave.

58

Whelp, back to the 90s today, and I’m not talking time travel. We’ll see whether FCD wants to go to the ballgame this evening and sit in the heat. At least the way the stadium is oriented, most of the seats are shaded later in the day. But really, it’ll come down to whether his knees are up to the trek from the parking lot to a seat, and back again.

I want to make a quick run to Food Lion this morning - Diet Coke is on sale - then I’m going to attack my studio again. Apart from the tidying, the biggest chore will be reconstituting clay. It’s all dried out - we’re talking 50# blocks of the stuff! I’ve started by dumping water into the bags. As it softens, I’ll cut off hunks and work more water into it till it’s properly pliable. And speaking of clay, I’m glad I signed up for that class when I did - as of yesterday, it’s all sold out!

Welcome back nellie!! Glad you had such a good time! You were long overdue for it. Hope the kitteh was just having a 24-hour thing. Do critters have 24-hour things??

I usta live just north of Glen Burnout - this was the first house I ever bought - back in 1980. It wasn’t a bad neighborhood back then, but it has since declined. And the house wasn’t quite this ratty looking back then - I had flower gardens, a veggie patch, and I didn’t have all the crap piled in front of the garage - I could actually park in there! And to think, I planned for it to be my forever home… I much prefer our 3 acres in the boonies…

Ok, then. The days begins. Happy Tuesday!!

59

Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and caffeinatin’. YAWN ‘Tis 72 Amurrkin out and drizzly with a predicted high of 88 with rain/tstorms/apocalypse expected later this mornin’ and throughout the day. We shall see. Yestiddy afternoon and into early evenin’ were really rainy. MOOOOOOM to answer your question about Elsa, we shouldn’t get any fallout as that will stay east of us accordin’ to the present track. The rain we are gettin’ today and looks like tomorrow is comin’ in from the Gulf of Mexico it would appear. The big item on today’s agenda is laundry. Outside of that and makin’ sup which shall be beastloaf, mac 'n cheese, peas 'n butterbeans with okra, and cornbread, I foresee Netflix, nappage, and sloth. Just the things called for on a rainy day.

Batboy congrats on the new gig. May it be more creative and less irky as time goes on.

shoe the trash did get picked up yestiddy. Trash pickup is scheduled for five days a week, so if they take off on Moanday, they would have to work on Sattidy. So if a holiday like the Fourth happens on a weekend, they don’t take a weekday off. Makes sense, I reckon.

I read all but as usual retention is minimal, so, yays, boos, hugs, noogies, trouts, chitlins, and how you doin’a all around as needed.

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

Happy Tuesday Y’all!

60

Morning all. Up at 6:30am, why, I don’t know, but guess I’ll try to be useful today about the house. Really should get the trimmer out and whack the grasses my mower can’t get, we’ll see (another day near 90F). I think I forgot to take my pills yesterday, so was sure to remember today (hey, 1 day out of 90 ain’t bad). Down to 2 weeks supply and no refills so will have to see the Dr. soon to find out if I get refills or not.

nellie! Welcome back, glad your trip was nice, even with the sick cat.

FCM, that kid on the video has more moves than I’ve had in my life (not a dancer at all).

Misnomer, we need to get you a Mumper name; since misnomer means “a wrong or inaccurate use of a name or term.”, maybe Oops would work? Anyone else have a better idea (not difficult).

wet one, glad you had a good 4th with the horses and friends. Not my thing, sniffing burlap does nothing for me, but happy that you had a good time. And when you get down to counting hours left, then you know retirement is close at hand…

OK, onward into the day. All y’all take care.