Your kids use a litter box…interesting😏
The two-legged ones in my classroom I won’t vouch for. The four-legged ones that run my life are housebroken (finally, in the case of Tango).
Going to forward the above quotes to the library here, if you don’t mind.
::blushing::
Here’s more details on my library’s “Book bundles”.
https://lincolnlibraries.org/bookguide/bound-to-please-book-bundles/
Re: Christmas gifts, Mrs. W and I fill stockings for each other every year. No big gifts, just a dozen or so little trinkets or candies or books, each individually wrapped. We sip some bubbly and take turns opening our little surprises. It’s a fun little tradition.
The rest of my family has pretty much sopped exchanging gifts - though we sent a few bottles of good wine down to my brother and sister-in-law. We usually fly there for Thanksgiving, and buy the wine for dinner. Since we didn’t go this year, we decided to buy the wine anyway, and still saved a bunch of money.
Our tree is about a foot and a half tall and sits atop the bar. It is stored fully decorated, and has a string of AA-battery powered lights on a timer. No muss, no fuss.
Nut, all the best to you in the next chapter. All the best to all mumpers going through stuff right now, good or bad.
We coach each other through the gifts For her birthday six weeks ago I chose some Lagos earrings and then made sure I had chosen correctly. For Christmas I bought her the matching necklace.
For Christmas, she bought me a second power supply/charger for my macbook pro.
They MAKE frozen crab cakes? If my husband sees this, he’ll insist we hunt some down. 
Took a nap after calling out (Hades Annex mandates an actual phone call. Email is only acceptable in very rare circumstances, such as total lack of audible voice). Raging sinus headache is just going to have to hush at some point this afternoon/evening so I can run a necessary errand. After that, Nyquil becomes my buddy.
I had intended some deep-cleaning this weekend, but that plan may change to cold medicine and streaming video. The first episode of “The Stand” is a definite, don’t know yet what else.
@LH75, DH and I simply agree on price range each year, then the recipient chooses his/her own gift. It’s been working for us pretty much our whole marriage.
Well, the lab work shows my cholesterol level is higher than it should be. It runs in the family, but I’m still hoping I can bring it down. I’m not sure how, as I already get plenty of exercise, rarely eat meats other than chicken or fish (usually salmon) prepared without fats, use skim milk, or, more accurately, its equivalent (has been almond but am switching to oat), very rarely eat butter, eat only whole grain breads, etc. Scowl I guess I could eat more avocado and should go back to eating oatmeal with fresh fruit and walnuts in the morning. Ugh. Also [scowl]
Wow, lots of posts to catch up on today!
hippie, I’m going to go all Italian mama on you: What do you mean, boring us? We don’t hear from you, we worry. You want us to worry? Huh? Is that what you want for your friends? OK, then, it’s settled. You’ll post more often. 
nstrong textut, congrats on the job! I hope the moving plans are uncomplicated and the move swift and easy.
boo, what a great program your library has! Wish my library did that. I just checked their site last night. We’re still at 25% capacity regulations, so I’m trying to figure out when it’d be safe to go. Also
I know you meant “kibitz,” but I got a kick out of the idea of a Mumperville kibbutz.
Mooooom, I’ll never understand how you get so much done on so little sleep. Gallons of coffee?
What?! You’re not reading my endless drivel about my health obstacle course? Next thing you’ll be telling us you don’t read the disclaimers at the bottom of car ads! Hmph. Just for that, you won’t be getting my Christmas letter this year, and it’s a doozie, with a full paragraph on how I learned to make paper clip chains.
shoe, save the nice idea for Dad’s gift for next year and feed a wolf or two so they don’t feed on you. (But it says a lot about how sweet you are that you put gifts above your own personal wolves.)
Phoenix and Twister, hope you left Miss Owl and FWB alone while they were, uh, spending quality time together. It may come as a shock, but scratching at closed doors and meowing do not hurry things along.
wordy, I think an intervention sounds like just the ticket. I can’t imagine how you’ve kept from throwing things already.
Just a diet coke to start the day then I power forward. Coffee? ick. I’m guessing my body has decided it doesn’t need as much sleep. Stoopit body…
Incidentally, while I’m no authority, I seem to recall reading that sometimes no matter what you do, your cholesterol can be high. On the life-can-be-unfaiir side, I understand there are others who have great numbers despite crappy diets and lazy lifestyles. Just one of those things which sucketh mightily.
I have declared that supper shall be fridge forage. Whenever. Whatever. And that’s the way it is.
As predicted, PWAISDN is 100% out of work as of today. No idea how many weeks we’ll be shut down, but the rule is ICU capacity for the region must go back above 15% available beds and stay there for three weeks. We’ll be lucky if that happens before February.
My sister in law is a gym rat, a runner and does not eat meat. She takes the same dosage of Atorvistation that I do.
I have achieved sending my SDMB gift, and a hodge-podge package to my parents. Serves them right for all those times I drove back to college from their house with, like, a banana & a single light bulb from a 2-pack box & 1/2 of a quart of milk tucked into my car.
I am celebrating by allowing a local joint to make my dinner. I also bought myself a frozen yogurt & a tiny something (a $3 bracelet, if you must know) this afternoon while hunting for a last minute gift addition.
I did not, however, successfully procure the gift addition I had in mind. Ah, well. A suitable substitute was found in the end.
This lady knows her overbearing mama!
Auto predictive rides again. But I’m all for a kibbutz where we kibitz.
I concur, the oatmeal may be necessary. I found it’s easier on me if I set it up the night before (measure everything) and set it in the microwave so I can just stagger out in the morning and push 3 minutes. I’m a night person so every little thing helps. My favorite oatmeal because it’s thick cut and more traditional (read: less mushy and less like gruel or porridge) is:
I eat it for my cholesterol also. Bob’s is available at regular grocery stores, even Walmart. Doesn’t need to be special ordered or anything. I like to throw dried cranberries or blueberries in mine, occasionally a chopped up apple. So when you think of me reading the MMP in the mornings, imagine me spooning in thick cut oatmeal. In the winter the warmth and heartiness is nice.
Evening all. Spent a great deal of time on the puzzles, finally resorting to the greatest invention for puzzle-solvers, a hot bath. Guess it helped, got them all including the dreaded triple Sudoku. Watched some TeeVee and ate a Big Bowl O’Sallit for dinner, so all is right with the world.
OW cat’s…don’t be alarmed by any…odd…noises you might hear…humans are capable of a wide range of vocalizations when properly…um…stimulated…
gotti, hope PWAISDN finds something to do during his enforced exile from work.
hippy, wheelie, I just get gifts for Brother, SIL and their 3 grown kids. Each gets a Barnes and Noble and an Amazon Gift card. Neighbors who watch my house when I’m gone get an Amazon card this year. And that’s about it on the gift-buying list.
talky, you need one of those foam rubber baseball bats to whack him with when your last nerve is reached.
And to all a Good Firday night…soccer tomorrow from 9:30-4:30, so that should keep me busy.
If I can remember back that far, it seems like the dog was more of a problem then the cats. Scratch, whimper, “I can tell you’re both in bed, I should be in there and up on the bed with you”.
Woe is me, I have not. Tried but I ran out of steam part way through. Since the car accident I have no stamina at all, no energy and zero tolerance for frustration. All very typical of traumatic brain injuries but I fail at being a good sport about it. My kitties kept zooming through and rocketing off my quasi-organized piles which wore me out that much faster. I couldn’t scream epithets at them because my housemate works from home ten feet away, with only an interior door separating us. Heh, at least I got the wreath hung on the front door-that should count for something. I need a FCMoooooom clone to stop by every few days and coach me through actually accomplishing some things. Her or Mary Poppins.
Me too! The first round of lockdown, I got lassoed into laying new floors in his living room, dining room, hall, and kitchen, then remodeling the kitchen with new cabinets and butcher block countertops. Near the end I threatened him that MY house needs some love. Smaller projects were completed on my end - strip and repaint the hallway and add some power circuits to the kitchen so I can use more than one thing at a time.
Could be worse - he might want to practice coloring hair. Not much to be done style-wise as my normal style is a short fade that rarely gets log enough to grab. Prevents me from pulling my hair out at work. 
Howdy Y’all! Got bills paid and a few other things accomplished. Go Me! We napped, supped, and are now in chill mode. OK, we spend a lot of time in chill mode, but we are retired, so there.
Nuts congrats on the new gig. May it turn permanent. Hope the move is not too bad. Sometimes a change is what’s needed.
Hippie glad you are on the mend! Come in as often as you want and complain, whine, or ramble on as is your wont. All of that is welcome here.
Phoenix and Twister mommy and FWB are playin’ a game of naked hide and seek. It’s a game only grownups play, so don’t get upset if you hear screams and moans. They are a part of the game.
gotti here’s hopin’ PWAISDN is not out of irk for long.
We do not buy gifts for each other. We’re of the we’ll get it if we want it/can afford it style of gift givin’.
I decided to walk an errand that took me by the same grocery store I went to yesterday, where I’d checked to see if they had pork neck bones, even though I’d called and been told they didn’t. And miracles, of miracles, a meat department guy was putting out pork neck bones! Yaaaay! Christmas has been saved!
I got home seconds before it started raining. Another win! Holy mothah, the mall was busy when I walked past! What happened to the “no more than 25% max capacity” regulation, mall?
Thanks for the helpful insights re: cholesterol. One reason I’m so disheartened is that lupus patients have a nine times greater rate of atherosclerosis than the general population–yep, nine times. And my father died of atherosclerotic heart disease. Probably nutso, but I like to think if I do what I should, my body should do what it should. I bet hippie’s sister agrees.
Hah! My mom, who really was a good sort, was an unintentional guilt expert, though much more subtle than that. My college roomie and dear friend and I used to compare notes: her Jewish mama vs. my Italian Catholic mama. Hers won. I hope I didn’t guilt trip my kids, but I did guilt my mom: when she refused to wear one of those medical alert devices despite having fallen several times, I had to use Level 10 guilt on her: “If you don’t wear it, I’ll worry and won’t be able to sleep.” So she got one, and when she did have a bad fall, she waited 4 hours to use it because she didn’t want to bother anyone…the other side of empathetic mamas.
Boo, this is a revelation: the thick-cut oats only take 3 minutes to microwave? When I was teaching and got to school at 6:30 a.m., I used quick oats because they took one minute to zap. I could core and chop an apple in about 90 seconds because I did it so often. However, I think the steel-cut oats are better for you, so your take is especially valuable.
And kids trump dogs. “Mommy? I have to throw up.” “Mommy, the dog has to throw up.” “Mommy, the dog throwed up in my shoes.”
gostrong texttti, that guy owes you a floor, new cabinets, and new countertops.
Mrs W has decided it’s time for new furnitures. You want me to argue with her? What are you, crazy? So it seems that our big gift to each other is going to be a new sofa and chair for the living room.
We spent much of this afternoon on the Lovesac website. Their stuff is pricey, but it’s supposedly built to last, it’s versatile, and most importantly, it looks really comfortable. And it’s what she wants, so, again, not gonna argue.