zooooooooooooooom
Busy week. Gotta get ready to head out tomorrow.
Entertain yourselves whilst I’m gone.
mooooooooooooooooz
Oh, lord. Before I even read the rest of the thread, may I say:
This Is An URBAN RUMOR. Do NOT, I Repeat, Do NOT Send Cards To “Any Soldier” At Walter Reed!!!
They can’t give them to patients (against the law). But they also can’t just throw them out because a lot of people enclose checks. (Which are donated to the Red Cross.) So that means that many, many, MANY manhours are devoted to opening them, removing the checks, and then getting rid of the rest. Last year it took a group of volunteers a MONTH to deal with the unwanted cards!!! (And we won’t go into the zillions of boxes of donated Girl Scout cookies, two large containers of which are still mouldering from last year’s cookie sale!)
So please, to ANYONE who sends you this email, tell them and everyone on their distribution list, straight from the source, from someone on the Walter Reed Commander’s staff:
This Is An URBAN RUMOR. Do NOT, I Repeat, Do NOT Send Cards To “Any Soldier” At Walter Reed!!!
If they want to do something for the soldiers? Tell them to make a donation to one of the many, many charitable organizations that help them. But this email that’s been making the rounds since before last Christmas is wrong, WRONG, WRONG.
Ahem. Now back to reading the rest of the thread.
Okay. Now that I’ve gotten my blood pressure back down to normal (and you’re right about the sphygmomanometer, Rigs – and Nava, I have gotten a bruised arm from one of the automated BP machines that not only pumped the pressure up insanely high but stayed there for about 30 seconds before starting to drop), I can post like a normal person. But trust me, you do NOT want to hear Papa Tigs on the subject of cards sent to the soldiers. You just don’t. <shudder>
:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:
I’m so sorry about your coworker, Shadow. That’s just awful.
I’m glad you’re getting your voice back, Haze. Are you sure a night of drinking is what it needs, however? Seems to me that might put you right back where you were, voiceless. Unless, of course, you want to take another sick day, in which case: Bottoms up!
Your list was a thing of beauty, Rigs. If only I could sneak it onto the front desk at that doctor’s office. And I just realized, she never called Papa Tigs last night like she assured me she would. Oops. Guess it’s time to find a new doctor because I can guarantee you that’s the last straw. Sigh.
Not much else is going on here today. I’m finishing up the last of the laundry, contemplating getting some work done, and trying to decide if I’m cold enough to put on a sweater. You know when you’re a kid and your mom says, “I’m cold – go put on a sweater?” I need that right now, someone to decide for me!
Hee… although I am so sorry that it sent your blood pressure sky high, MamaTigs :eek: Right after I posted that last night, I did a :smack: and wondered why I hadn’t looked that up on Snopes, which I did, and they advised NOT to send cards, but for a different reason: they cannot deliver cards adressed to no-one in particular, due to security concerns! The Red Cross is collecting cards for servicemen; there’s a link to this on the Snopes page. I guess the moral of this is … always check on Snopes first.
I think I’m gonna leave work a bit early today. Many preparations still to do for tomorrow, unfortunately. Happy Thanksgiving all. 
That’s what I was referring to when I said “against the law,” Herbs. It’s actually enacted in law that mail to military people has to be addressed to someone by name. But my request to let your correspondents know the facts still stands. I had to nip this one in the bud myself about ten times last year, and I shudder to think how many more times I will this year. Sigh. But they really do watch out for the folks at the hospital, and I for one appreciate it. The visitor rules are even stricter, and that’s a Very Good Thing, if you ask me – otherwise they’d be mobbed by visitors and not have any time to recover, and most of them have to spend several hours a day working on their physical therapy, etc. I do appreciate you checking Snopes on your own, though – even if their information is only one of the far too many reasons why sending that unsolicited mail is a very bad idea!
Hi, guys! I’m alive, even tho I didn’t check in yesterday. The lesson on wheels for the 2nd graders went well. Daughter and I went shopping and got just about everything we needed for tomorrow’s dinner. And this morning before I went to get my filling repaired, MIL and I made 4 punkin pies, a broccoli cheese casserole, stuffing, sweet potato casserole, and green stuff. Now we’re chilling, and tomorrow we’ll finish and dinner is at 2-ish.
Gonna go back now and get caught up. Kisses all around!!!
Didn’t want to post this, but find I can’t stop thinking about it.
A coworker of mine has a daughter who fell during an intramural wrestling meet (I didn’t know there was such a thing as female wrestling of the non-porno/titillation kind) and is now in the surgical ICU of a nearby hospital. She had to have a craniotomy (brain surgery to you and me) and they evacuated several blood clots and found an aneurysm. She is in a medical coma, on life support and it is said she can’t move her left side.
She just turned 18. Worked at Abercrombie and is a senior in a private school. Her mother is an aide; her father is a warehouse worker.
I am sick about this. Apparently the girl had injured herself a few weeks ago–badly enough to be seen by a neurologist who recommended taking some time off of the sport. The girl refused. The mother remonstrated and the girl said that she was using her own money to pay for the sport etc. And now this. 
A similar thing happened at the high school I did my student teaching at a few months ago. He got a mild concussion during practice and died after getting another concussion at the game that Friday night. It got a bit of attention at the time. People need to learn that even a mild knock on the noggin can mean Bad Times in the sports world. 
::waves frantically::
hi!
It’s actually been around for about 10 years - because I remember reading a similar email before I was transferred to the eastern office
oh, and I am officially changing my name to Blurfy Blurfington.
How sad, rigs. I can’t understand how people can be so casual about head injuries. Also, is TH going for a record number of :rolleyes:s in a week? And…don’t worry about venting here. It’s part of what makes the MMP interesting. Keeps us from having to cruise blogs elsewhere. :D:p Additionally, it’s what makes us friends, rather than internet strangers.
Sounds like you’re having a fun time, FCM.
Glad you’re doing better,** Haze**.
Yay for Bobbio finally getting Sharon what was coming to her. And…why aren’t you my neighbor again?
So, MamaT, did you have an opinion about sending stuff to any ol’ soldier? 
::waves at doggio, SO, snowbunny, and anyone else she’s forgetting::
I went to the grocery at 6:30 a.m. because I couldn’t stand the thought of going after work. I think I acquired everything I was supposed to get, except for something crunchy to put on the salad. I’m thinking I’ll toast some walnuts.
I’ma make the cheese ball they talked about on NPR this morning. It sounded good, plus I bought crumbled gorgonzola at Marc’s on Saturday. I’m also going to make a variation on this crockpot turkey breastrecipe. Stuffing, sweet potatoes, cheeseball and cranberry sauce will be made tonight, I think. That leaves turkey and salad for tomorrow, which is very do-able. I might even get to relax, although I’m in such an energetic mood that maybe I’ll do more cleaning and organizing. (There’s pretty much no end of that to be done at the moment.)
Off to the kitchen.
GT
Ok, am teary eyed over here. You won’t believe this, but Daughter and I just figured out that hey! we can video-chat over our Macbooks in real time. I just saw my daughter for the first time in 3 months. She looks great! She is at Harvard with her BFF, waiting for BFF’s dad to come get them for the Tgiving weekend. I can’t believe we were calling and facebooking etc. DUH. :smack:
She got to see her brothers and the cat. She was all teary eyed, too.
She can do more on her Mac than I can (boo, hiss). She can do all the bells and whistles that I have in Photobooth, but on her iCam. I wish I could! (or maybe only the sender can do the fun backgrounds and weird camera lenses? I don’t have the fun Paris background etc, but I have the andy warhol one, the weird lenses and others). anyhoo, it was fun.
I am rapidly feeling worse and worse (ironic, eh?). I think I may have Teh Sick. I feel like I’ve been beaten up and it’s getting worse as the day goes by… Ugh.
That is really sad about that poor girl, Rigs. One of Papa Tigs’ employees, a woman younger than me, had a brain aneurysm blow out a few months ago, and she’s still not doing well. What’s worse, she was the sibling primarily taking care of their very elderly and ill father, so her poor sister is just struggling to keep things together. It’s just a sad situation all around.
But yay for video chatting! That’s wonderful. My son is #1 on my shit list right now; he hasn’t called me in over two months – I actually went and looked at his bank account (which I’ve been on since he joined the Air Force years ago) just to make sure he was still alive by whether there was any activity! His grandmother talked to him yesterday, and he called his sister today, but does he call his mother? Nooo. He is in SUCH deep shit!
I have an actual important informational update on the cards for soldiers thing. Turns out they aren’t making it to the hospital at all any more; they are returned to sender by the post office. Which is a relief for the hospital! But if people do want to send a card, just go to the Red Cross website (or the Walter Reed website, which will direct you to the Red Cross); it’s entirely in their hands now. Needless to say, the hospital people are much relieved.
I spent the day not doing much, except finishing a sock leg down to the heel. It’s a design of my own making, just spiraling YO/SSKs down the leg and top of the foot; it’s really pretty, even if it is a bit of a pain in the rear. The first one was a lot more challenging, but this one has gone very smoothly; I finally worked the bugs out of it. I doubt I’ll write up the pattern, though, since it’s not something that’s easily described how to do (even though it’s easy to do, if you know what I mean). I really need to get this pair of socks done, though; it’s another project to knock off the on-the-needles list so I can get back to Christmas knitting! Plus I need another pair of warm socks!
Otherwise, it’s been a lovely quiet day. Took Isaac out for a loooooong play session, so he’s a tired and happy puppy this evening. I plan on watching mindless TV this evening and looking forward to tomorrow’s pigout. Thanksgiving is definitely my favorite holiday – in large part because the rampant commercialization that has taken over nearly every other holiday has nearly completely missed it, thank heaven! It’s just a day to appreciate what we have, which strikes me as an excellent way to pause in my life and assess it.
Next year we’ve decided we’re going to do Thanksgiving at the hospital chow hall. It’s not only a wonderful meal, but it’s served by the top brass. After all the grief they put Papa Tigs through, the least they can do is wait on him once a year!
Howdy Y’all! I’m here! Really! Just been snerk swamped snerk the past couple of days.
Besides work, I’ve been gettin’ stuff ready for the big feast. The dressin’ is made up and ready to cook tomorrow. The collards are cooked and in the fridge. I like ‘em better after they’ve been reheated. Giblets, and boiled aigs are all chopped up for gravy. Mr. turkey is prepped for fryin’ and Mr. ham is all prepped to be baked. I also made a batch of cheese straws for munchin’ whilst sippin’ on some wine before dindin, which will be at noon. Hey, it’s ok to drink wine at eleven a.m. on a holiday!
I’s tahred!
I’ve read over all the posts. Shadow sorry about your co-worker. Rigs that’s awful about that young girl! BBBobbio yay on gettin’ the thievin’ druggie! Yays, boos, hugs etc to everybody else for what I missed. My comprehension is not real good right now, so sorry for the stuff I missed.
Ima have me a beerverage. Ol’ y’all know who and I are prolly both gonna go beddy bye early tonight.
Later Y’all!
Probably an early bedtime for me as well. We were at the Dickens Fair until 1 AM last night / this morning blocking a show.
In case you missed that… we were there until ONE AYY EMM and did not get home until TWO, leaving us not even four hours of sleep as we both had to be up at 6:00 to go to work. Talk about blurf…
Finally met in person with one of the event managers to nail down the specifics of using this stage, the DJ will be here, the cake will be there, how to use tables to wall off the rest of the bay so our guests aren’t so inclined to wander off into the 120,000 Square Foot Woods (the building is enormous), and the finer points of getting stuff loaded in without torquing the fire marshall.
Yep, my brother is in it. Deep. To be fair, he only called me after I called him.
I’ve been working like crazy on the cross stitch Clumber Spaniel pattern I got for my aunt, and I was right; the mostly-white parts are going to go fast (there’s a lot of white on a Clumber!) and the colored parts are more complicated than they looked at first glance, but that’s fine because it’s going to be gorgeous when I’m done. Then I have to figure out where the heck to get it framed. I don’t know if I’ll get it done by Christmas but I’m sure going to try. I can’t wait for her to see it!
A quick googling revealed a bunch of places to get the cross-stitching framed, snowbunny, including Bird & Company, which if my memory serves me correctly is next door to your aunt’s shop? Anyway, you should have no problem finding someplace. The challenge will be finding someplace that doesn’t cost a fortune!
(quietly sits in the corner and waves)
Well, yeah, that’s the real issue. I’m sure there are places up here that can do a beautiful job. I’ll have to ask around, I guess.
Whew - finally caught up and able to relax a bit. The lasagne we had for supper wasn’t particularly good. Bummer. But since MIL made 4 punkin pies, we had one for dessert. Daughter is now reading in her room, SIL is at work, **FCD **and inlaws are watching COMA on DVD. Michael Douglas looks about 12 years old in this one.
Apart from prepping the turkey for the rotisserie, tomorrow will be a fairly easy cooking day. Most things are ready to be popped in the oven, including the french toast casserole for breakfast.
For now, I’m exhausted. I’m going to surf a little while longer, then crash. Dunno of I’ll get on line tomorrow. If not, have a great Thursday!