The pumpkin spice (bleck!) MMP [Old]

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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34 messages since this morning…keeping up with you folks does help fill my day…

Got my swimming and sauna in, tomorrow is coaching soccer and refereeing (one game I’m refereeing is due to start while the eclipse is at 60% here, so could that be interesting). Otherwise a pretty quiet night, 66F heading down to about 60F for the evening. Soccer starts early Saturday, coaching at 8am and 10:15am, then referee at 12:30pm and maybe again at 2:30pm, so might be away from posting for awhile.

Oopsie, hope the rain decides to pause when you have to re-load the car.

OK, you folks have talked me into it; my 2024 New Year’s resolution is to find and hire a cleaning service.

Cookie, you should have said “Excelsior!” or at least “I’m King of the World!” Now let us know how it feels on Saturday…

nellie, for all your misery, it is good news that your eyesight is doing better. And does the cane have a sword in it?

talkie, :dizzy_face: :dizzy_face:on the layoffs; hope you are secure.

doggio, glad to hear the accident missed you and your rum has been replenished.

Flyboy, sounds like an industrious day; most fascinating and I could watch you do that all day… :wink: :wink:

VanGo, appropriate appendages crossed for a new (and lucrative) contract for you.

Hmmm, only 8pm but I need to be up at 6am tomorrow for a full day of soccer, so may make it an early turn-in. Take care all.

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I napped. I dreamed I was in a chruch beseiged by zombies, that were full of liquid Skittles. (The Dream Altar Guild is gonna have a fit when the have to clean that up). I made flounder, rice and spinach for dinner, along with a gin&tonic(Roku gin).

It’s not an ark is it?

one of my favorite lines.

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I do? Oh, I guess I’d forgotten I’d told y’all.

:wink:

Definitely positive! Good for you.

Pronounced “CHEEEH- hoh.” Means, “Shush!”

I predict your chief regret will be waiting as long as you did.

Got out of work stoopit early. Decided to treat myself to Tx Roadhouse, since I actually have time tonight.

On the drive here, it occurred to me that “celebrating” the fact that I was making slightly less $$ than I expected maybe wasn’t the most fiscally wise decision :face_with_raised_eyebrow: but I consoled myself with the thought that it should make at least two good meals, and I definitely won’t get anything fresh’n’hot tomorrow, as late as we close.

I ate a salad, so healthy points!

Now I’m having the charmingly named “Roadkill” (a smothered chop steak - basically a patty melt minus bread). My only complaint is they use weird pink light bulbs everywhere, which cast a bizarre light over your food.

I had the foresight to put my laundry in the wash before heading out, so I can just throw that in the dryer when I am safely ensconced back home.

Best of all, I got out early enough to convince G.C. to drive over once he’s done writing the essay he has due tonight.

So far, Friday the 13th is treating me well tonight. :sunglasses:

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In the basement? (NCIS reference. Or maybe Ghost Dog.)

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I predict she is right.

Tips on hiring, FWIW, from my years of managing cleaning people for my nursing clients:

:heavy_check_mark:Actually start looking in a couple of weeks because people will be looking to line up work to pay for Christmas.

:heavy_check_mark:Maybe post on Facebook on your neighborhood page that you are looking for housekeeping. Often, if a cleaner is already coming to your area they are glad to add a client-more earnings with less travel time and it makes them more likely to stick with you if they can get in a full day.

:heavy_check_mark:check with your handyman service, they might have good leads for you to reliable vetted people.

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Spent half my day on either the laptop or the cell phone filling out forms for the new job. Done! And I musta passed the drug test and the background check because I received a “see you Monday” message from the new boss with instructions for temporary parking space as they are in the process of repaving their entire lot. Yesterday, we finished up my office time just as the pavement crew was ready to dig up the sidewalk under where I had been told to park my car.

I’m so excited to have a weekend ahead of me that won’t involve job hunting. Whatever shall I do with my time? Oh, yeah, listen to racing. It’s Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta this weekend.

pilot, thank her ladyship for me because I am surely going to share that knitting blog with my yarn-crafty racing friends.

shoe, yeah, it’s been raining here since late yesterday. And will continue to do so until getting up time tomorrow. Here in my part of MN, we are absolutely thrilled about it. The ground is soaking it up quite well. Having been in extreme drought for the last few months has been tough on our landscape. Drink up, trees, drink up.

nettie, I hope the amount of work you need to do to make your home habitable is minimal. Yah, I know, but I still hope. May all go well for you.

Canes are wonderful. And you can use them for so many things, including swinging them around while yelling, “Get off my lawn!”

Actually, I’m very proud to be able to say that I have not had to use my cane once this year. That may change of course. But after doing massive injury to myself in 2020, I can walk further and with less pain than I have since before the injury. Not back to perfect, that will never happen but walking more than a couple of blocks is possible for me. May it be so for you soon. And glad the fever broke!

Cookie, congratulations on taking the stairs. Keep up the good work!

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We don’t use a service, I’ve heard too many bad things about them. Their rep is that they leave the place looking and smelling clean, but they don’t actually get the place clean. The floor you see will be beautiful, but don’t look under the couch or fridge.

But…that’s just what I’ve heard, not from experience. We found our housekeeper on Nextdoor and she’s been cleaning for us for over 5 years.

W00T!!!

Consideration like that is a very good sign. Many employers forget that their new peeps don’t know what is happening at their new work site.

AND you can go to the Dollar Sto and buy fake glittery tattoos to bling it up!

Hubs bought me a collapsible cane that I rarely use, but came in very handy when my bottle of water got hung up in a vending machine, I was able to push it up through the hole and whack my bottle enough to convince it to drop.

Congrats to vroom for walking caneless, that is always a great thing.

This! If you can’t get any in time, a welder’s hood would work as well.

I won’t be able to see much here, but it’s all OK because I’m going to see the full eclipse in April.

I’ve been stomping out CT fires in Nextdoor again, the ignorance just gives me a rash. I’m kinda scared to shut off my child filters atm, does anyone know what this means? :us::israel:

I know it was used as an insult, but don’t want to act if it is just a Bless Your Heart sort of thing.

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From my many clients’ experiences, I’d agree.

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Major “get the house in order” roadblock in the form of scheduled extermination services. Stuff can’t really be put away or the furniture put in usual spots until after they’ve been and gone.

On FRIDAY.

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Are they seriously telling you that you can’t go home for another week? That is totally unacceptable!

And it looks like a new symbol has been added to the lexicon. I’m really sure that the person who posted the u s i l thing didn’t mean it to be supportive, she hates the US and I can’t imagine her liking Jews much either.

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We can go home, just can’t get things fully put away/set up because of the need for exterminators to get at the walls, cabinet interiors, etc. It’ll be bloody inconvenient, but we can at least sleep in our own bed, etc.

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Sleeping in your own bed will make everyone much happier! Plus, your two feline overlords will have much fun exploring their “new” place that smells OK, but has new hidey holes.

And now there are RL piggies outside. There is a squadron of Javalina who have been visiting nightly for no reason at all but to upset VBC and poop on our patio. There is no food or water for them and they’ve eaten all of the pretty plants so nothing is left, so upsetting the feline homeowner is all they are going for.

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Up, caffeinated, and sheveled. Off to heave.

As a sports fan, that’s a level of petty I can appreciate

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Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and caffeinatin’ YAWN ‘Tis 64 Amurrkin out and cloudy with a predicted high of 80 and mostly N.O.S. for the day. The big item on today’s schedule is the ordination thingy over to the church house. It starts at two p.m. I have to be there at one p.m. I hope the ordinand appreciates my dedication as this is messin’ with me watchin’ my Dawgs today. They play at noon, so the game will be goin’ on durin’ the time I’ll be there. So I get to herd clergy etc. On the plus side, the reception afterward promises to have lots of nummy goodies to snarf down. Sup shall be chili/cheese/slaw/onion dawgs and oven fries. Fartfest to follow.

Vrooom yay for gettin’ a restful weekend and for the new gig!

shoe hope GC made it over and glad you had a good sup.

VanGo yay on the impendin’ boat buildin’ gig. Shall we cross appropriate/inappropriate appendages?

nellie yay for the better eyesight!

Now I need more caffeine and to feed rumbly tummy. Then I suppose I should get myself all cleanded up and make sure I am non-smelly. At least I can wait a while before I have to don appropriate attire. One must take solace where one can.

Happy Sattidy Y’all!

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Really? In our family, it meant “Knock it off this instant or you’re grounded for life!!!”
:rofl:
OK, not really, but the thought behind the word was there. We knew we were in deep doo-doo of Mom translated our names into Polish. We didn’t have middle names, so that was her alternative.

It’s raining, so obviously, they made the right call rescheduling this fundraiser. I got everything priced, so if I’m not there (that’s still up in the air) whoever deals with it won’t have to make any decisions.

I do plan to run to Food Lion before it gets overrun with people who only shop on Saturday. And I’ll help FCD in his shop a little. And I’ll probably crochet a little. But mostly it should be a laid-back sorta day. I already emptied the dishwasher, and I need to clean the critter fountain - that takes all of 15 minutes. So, yeah, mostly laid-back.

And I slept pretty well, despite waking a couple of times - I didn’t get out of bed till nearly 7!! That’s sleeping in for me!

Future excitement: next Firday, I’ll pay off our January cruise and get new tires on my car. The anticipation is overwhelming!!!

Happy Saturday!!

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Morning all. Coach two games then referee two games, the first referee job is right at the height of the eclipse (around 55% here), so that could be interesting… At least there is no rain and it’s 64F outside, so a good day to be out.

Thanks for the advice on housecleners, I’ll do some looking around. I admit I was looking at companies first but will explore other possibilities too.

Shoe, have dined on Roadkill at the Texas Roadhouse before, it’s pretty filling; and sometimes budget demands or no, ya gotta just get out and eat. And hope G.C. did make his promised visit.

Seanette, well, at least you can sleep in your own bed; and probably just as well the bug people do their job completely, even if it’s a %^&^&$%^ nuisance.

JtC, hopefully some neighbor will leave something out soon and the piggies will relocate there. Or maybe upsetting VBC is something they enjoy.

Happy Ordination Thingy day, swampy!!

FCM, sounds like you’re doing a lot of things a little. Enjoy. And ain’t it great when a trip is all paid for and it’s all anticipation…

OK, need to break fast and head off to the fields. All y’all have a good Sattiday.

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I have been retired for three years. I worked as a fire alarm technician. The company also serviced fire extinguishers. I was very fortunate to work for two very fine men in my time with the company and at a job that I really loved. When I started, Steve ran the company and after a few years bought the original owner out. It was a very small business at that time and when I started there were seven employees. We grew to twenty and moved into a larger building. Jason started there as a salesman and was the catalyst for the massive growth of the business. When Steve retired Jason bought him out. Since then, the company has doubled in size. At the time I retired we had outgrown the second building and had broken ground on a new, purpose built building.

During my time there I started collecting the tags off of the fire extinguishers the company serviced. I managed to find a sample of every year the company had been in business. I gave these to Jason on my last day.

The new building is complete. Jason sent me this:

It hangs in the vestibule at the main entrance. The plaque in the middle reads:

These inspection tags represent every year of (the company’s) existence from 1964 to 2019. These were collected by long time & cherished employee (longhair75) who retired after 41 years of superior service to (the company) and our clients.

It is wonderful to continue to be appreciated three years after I left. In my return text I thanked Jason and told him that I will always be a part of the company in my heart.

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hippie - that is very cool!!

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Fortunate indeed. So very few endeavors show this kind of sustained growth, and it sounds like like both Steve and Jason are gems of human beings.

What an absolutely beautiful tribute … TO YOU! And an interesting and visually stunning bit of company history.

I haz a very, very happy on your behalf.

That checkmark thing was cool, BBBoo. Hadn’t seen that before!

Enjoy slothage and the delightful anticipation of good times ahead. Or at least, gainfully employed times!

Didja get your VCR programmed yet?

:grin:

Yes, indeed he did.

(Clutch pearls as needed.)

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Mornin’ everyone.

It is raining and 55F outside. The expected high temperature is 63F, with an 80% chance of rain throughout the day. When it’s not raining, it’ll be cloudy. I doubt very much I’ll see any of the eclipse.

hippy, that is really cool!

VanGo, yay for work!

Well, I got my hair done-did yesterday and went to the mall. I picked out two carry-on suitcases, but the measurements exceeded the overall restrictions for domestic carry-ons. Domestic carry-ons can’t be any bigger than 22X9X14 (including wheels and handle), and the ones that I liked AND matched my current (Samsonite) bigger luggage were 23.75X15X10. So annoying! I thought about trying to chance it, but with my luck, the bags would be gate-checked. What’s annoying is that Macy’s luggage was on sale for 50 to 65% off so I would have gotten a really good deal.

There was only one of every other type out for the appropriately sized luggage. Very annoying. I’ll check out Kohl’s today and see what they have, and if I can’t find anything, I’ll have to go through Amazon.

Work was work and mercifully short.

I stayed in bed until 4:00 am today. Time to get some more coffee and face the day!