Up bright and blurfy in the MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
181

Cheese sticks, goldfish crackers and a popsicle. Roxy will never tell. Then there is always cereal for supper, a time honored tradition.

Make it an outdoor activity? Sensory play smearing shaving cream all over and then running through the sprinkler? You could then offer to Roxy that she try it too or forbid her to if that would work better. Sneak a touch of no-tears shampoo when she’s not looking. Done this with my rug rat when she hated baths. (There’s an attempted tease in here. See if you can find it)

I have dilly-dallied around as long as I can get away with. Must go risk life and limb in the kitchen. An EPA toxic site if ever there was one.

Boo

182

Well, the mist burned away as I walked, so I was in full sun. Did I turn around and go home? Hah. That’d be too smart. No, my ever present never-quit kicked in, as it always does. I now have no knuckles on either hand. I can still type, though!

I barely beat my first Instacart order home. It was neck-and-neck for awhile. Who’d get here first, Alonzo from Costco or Kaelyn from Safeway? Alonzo for the win! The delivery window was 1-3, and they both arrived well before 1.

Sunny, you brought tears to my eyes. You are so kind and one of the many reasons I feel lucky to have found the MMP.

109º! Yikes!

Moooom, I’m on the red door side. (Quick! Let me in!) I love red doors. Unless your house is orange brick. I’m not a big fan of grey in general, but I can see why maybe a red porch and red door might be too much. Do you have red shutters, too?

Sari, the prettiest house in the neighborhood is quite an accomplishment! I hope you find a doc you’re happy with.

Boo, what a wonderful house you must have! It sounds lovely. Do you have to use special commission-approved paint?

183

Afternoon all. Just checked the NWS radar and looks like a thin belt of rain is due to past through in about 40 minutes…which will cause the Parks to close up and mess up my soccer practice again… The thing that gripes me the most is that there is no follow-up rain and the storm, looking at the radar, will be past in 10-15 minutes…Sorry, just frustrated.

Shopping and banking are done, had planned to pay the water bill while heading to the soccer fields, now maybe do it tomorrow. Big bowl O’Sallit is on the dinner menu.

Boo,, just to expound on Sunny’s notes, if somebody writes “it N.O.S outside” , they’re telling you it’s a bright sunshiny day, while if swampy is having 'mashed N.O.T.", it’s mashed potatoes he’s describing. Captain Obvious will now check out.

Sari, as one who has to read names of youth soccer players, Skylar is much easier to pronounce than Atreyu. And good luck with the Dr. Change.

flyboy, Goo will seem to forget until your wife forgets and does it again. Cats iz sneaky…

Thel, nicely done with the pantry. There are still more basically decent people than S.O.B.'s, albeit it’s hard to tell somedays.

Nellie, you have an attitude–and I wish more folks could share it. Good on ya!

gotti, good news on PWAISDN; and hope you’re not dying…

talky, blocking in that case is justifiable; I go on FB to connect with friends, not to buy stuff.

Boo fae, 2 PB’s?? You mean you ate two Peanut Butter sandwiches while working out??

OK, need to start getting ready for soccer and praying to the weather gods for the storms to miss us.

Take care all.

184

Remember those kitty aloha shirts I ordered that were too small? I’ve had enough with the vendor so I sent an email (with 11 emails showing I tried to resolve the issue) attached:

  1. I ordered two shirts from Trendy Gears Bandura AU.
  2. Upon arrival, I found that the shirts were too small and contacted the company, DBA Sporty Custom.
  3. The company made the unusual request that I PROVE the shirts are too small, and the unreasonable request that I send them photographs.
  4. I sent photographs of me wearing the shirts, showing they are too small around the middle.
  5. The company responded that the photographs were not good enough, and that I would have to send them more photographs.
  6. I sent them three photographs of one of their shirts placed on top of a properly-sized shirt of the same style:

a. Photo of their shirt on top of a properly-sized shirt of the same style showing the size discrepancy;
b. Photo of the size discrepancy with a ruler showing a discrepancy of five or six inches;
c. Photo of the size markings on both shirts.

  1. The company sent me an image of their size chart, and made the unreasonable request that I sent them my measurements; which I did.
  2. The company replied that their size chart is correct and refused a refund.
  3. My final email (not attached, since I accidentally deleted it) has not been answered.

I feel that this company’s demands are entirely unreasonable. I suspect that their strategy when dealing with dissatisfied customers is to make unreasonable demands and to waste their customers’ time until the customer just gives up. I feel that these practices are tantamount to mail fraud. I have met the company’s unreasonable demands, spending nearly two months seeking a resolution. Inasmuch as they appear to have no intention of resolving this issue, I hereby request you initiate a charge-back.

185

Howdy Y’all! Ribs and chikin boobs got smoked and in a fit of absolutely inexplicable productivity, I cleanded the smoker. Shock! I had a dip in the cee-mint pond to cool myself down and then a shower. Sup has been et and all is good.

BOO there is a MMP FAQ sticky at the top, or near 'bout the top, of MPSIMS that may prove helpful. Or not. It could also confuse you even more. We’re like that in the MMP.

gotti yay for feelin’ better and for PWAISDN havin’ a boomin’ business again.

Flyboy sic ‘em! Make their lives a livin’ hell and then report back with the details.

Thel what a great thing you’ve done with that food pantry!

186

Nelly, I feel you on Instacart/thinking of a life that seems so far away. I have a delivery tomorrow as well and feel about the same about it. Hooray! Basics! The dream I’m working toward at the moment is being able to leave the house and do things all by myself. I have a driving lesson scheduled so that I can see, with some professional backup, if I’d be safe to drive. I think I would, probably. But if I’m not, I could hurt someone or cause expensive property damage. I used to hike all over the place. I used to be careful about inviting my friends places because I didn’t want to put them in the position of not being able to keep up with me. I used to be in demand pretty much 24/7. Three jobs. Now I don’t have any.

Here’s something dumb I’m trying to figure out. How do I get from my car to the cool motorized carts in the grocery store? I suppose I could leave my wheelchair in the motorized cart area, but what if someone takes it? Like, even by accident thinking it’s a store-provided thing? Or I could transfer to the motorized one and then turn around and drag mine back to my car? I know this is an incredibly dumb question. But I’d still like to have a plan. I know people sometimes leave them there next to the disabled parking spots, but not always. I’m thinking, tbh, the best plan of action is probably to try to find something like a grocery basket attachment, but… I’m having more difficulty finding something like that than I expected. Maybe just a series of bungee cords? I don’t know.

As for Neverending Story… I didn’t get very far into it. I’m not generally in good shape (news at 11, I know) these days and even TV and movies are like… I’m too restless, anxious, anhedonic, unfocused, and tired for the huge majority of them. Not just the ones you’d think, either. Like it would make sense that those Paranormal Activity movies would make me nervous right now with the weirdly-quiet-but-not-quiet-enough house and that Pride and Prejudice would continue to not be my thing, but for Sweeney Todd to be too scary and Moana too boring? I mean, come on.

It’s on the list, though. Things to watch if I’m ever human again. Or approaching human.

Tonight, I’m considering ordering in. My grocery order isn’t coming til tomorrow (I put it in yesterday. They must be busy) and a band I like is doing a livestream show this evening. They used to do those once a week when quarantine started, then took a break, and this is their “season 2.” So… what the hell, right? Something to look forward to. Something that has nothing to do with trying to put my life back together/salvage what’s left of it/make the best effort I can before finally saying my goodbyes and leaving everyone with the knowledge that I really, truly tried my best/get through the night or day or time til the next appointment/whatever and is just… a normal just-for-fun thing that I would want to do anyway. Maybe I could indulge in overpriced and not-great-for-me food at the same time.

187

I was in a wheelchair for a while and here’s how I got to the cart. I’d pull into the disabled parking space and phone into the store. I’d say, “I’m outside in a white Saturn station wagon in the first disabled space. Can someone please bring a motorized cart out to me?” It was NEVER a problem. People love to help.

One morning I was coming out of my boyfriend’s house to go to work and I was having a hard time getting my wheelchair into the back seat of the car. (I stood on one leg while doing this due to cast on broken ankle and strict instructions to put NO weight on it.) A city street sweeper was coming down the street and the guy saw me, stopped, came over, and put my wheelchair in the car for me. Truth be told, I would have eventually done it, but I was very touched, and he was very happy to have helped.

188

That was me today - I highly recommend it! Had a chocolate ice cream cone for what essentially amounted to brunch, and am currently indulging in some hideously expensive chicken lettuce cups from a local Chinese takeout.

Monkey and Nikki and I are all enjoying the amazing weather - low 70s this afternoon, no humidity, bright blue sky.
It almost seemed criminal to nap through it. Almost. :wink: All the windows are wide open, so it’s like being outside anyway!

189

Sort was less out of sort today. Plus there were sno cones. The Invisible Mole People have been active today. Both Gordie and Brody the GP have been barking all day.

And I want it painted black.

gotti, eek!

They never forget

Bless his heart

. Alex Catt will occasionally hurl herself into the void when the mood strikes her.

190

:neutral_face: sooooo here’s how that bit of treat-yo-self went.

I order a sandwich and soup. Include a detailed description of exactly where my house is because GPS gets it wrong and takes you to the house behind mine. Include exactly where you can find the address (in two places). My experience with this sort of thing has tended to be that they go to the wrong house first, then look at the notes (WHYYYYYY not look at the notes first?) and figure it out.

So this guy COULD NOT figure it out. He called. I gave him very detailed directions from where he was. He couldn’t get it. He asked the guy at the (wrong) house, who gave him the same directions. He followed them about halfway and then… got confused? Kept telling me to come out. I kept trying to tell him that I literally cannot. There’s a step to the front porch and then a whole bunch more steps to get anywhere that I might conceivably be of any use to him, directions-wise. Just take the road the only way you can take the road. It only goes one way. Also, if you look at the map, you can visualize the exact problem and easily figure out how to get where you need to go. Nope. That wasn’t happening. He asks again if I can come out and wave. If I could leave my house on my own, I would have gone and gotten my own damn food and been able to eat it while it was warm and also wouldn’t have done even that because I would have been able to go to the grocery store yesterday instead of having to wait til tomorrow when they have an open slot.

So that was that. Eventually, it just wasn’t worth it. He wasn’t getting it, there was already something of a language barrier and when you add my stutter into the mix… it wasn’t going to happen. I didn’t want anyone else’s food to get cold because my house is, apparently, too confusing to find and I’m not a functional enough human to walk outside… ugh.

191

Dot, several weeks ago I had a similar experience. It was 100º outside, and I wasn’t about to walk anywhere. The GPS kept sending the guy to the wrong apartment complex, so he gave up. Hello? Where’s my dinner? Door Dash sent another driver, who got here with food.

You have every right other customers have. If a driver screws up, as mine did when he delivered my groceries to the apartment 18 steps below mine, you need to let Instacart know. A driver who can’t follow GPS directions and wants you to stand outside may be a great guy, but he’s not Instacart material. Most of my Instacart orders are fulfilled by people who are not native English speakers, and they have no problem.

You need food. When you order next, add comments explaining exactly where you are. If the driver still doesn’t get it, he’s clearly not meal-delivery material.

192

Highs are predicted to be 110F on Sunday, 108F on Moanday. DO. NOT. WANT.

Haven’t been feeling good most of the day, “thanks” in part to yet another boom car moron at about 0230 this morning. Apparently, the boom car kiddies not only do not grasp the concept of needing to sleep to be able to go to work, but their “parents” apparently never modeled this.

The callers were getting on everyone’s nerves today, and the “front line” were worse.

Facebook refuses to show me my feed in chronological order, as $DEITY ordained. If I try to sort chronologically, I get a “welcome to Facebook” screen that acts like I’m new there, even though it’s showing my groups and such along the side.

193

We are alone in our home!!!

Roxy’s dinner was mac-n-cheese-n-peas with grapes for dessert. I also managed to bathe her sorta - tho she screamed the whole time. I soaped her up, then used the hand-held to rinse her off. Then I wrapped her in a towel and held her till she calmed down. No way I was going to wash her hair. She’s cleaner, and she forgave me - we sat at the piano and sang Twinkle, Twinkle and Wheels On The Bus, and Itsy Bitsy Spider.

Anyway, they’re all in their new home, with their dog and cats. I hauled some stuff down there, set up Roxy’s high chair, swept their dining area, made Roxy’s bed, and installed the switch and outlet plates in her room. Daughter will call tomorrow to let me know when she needs me. I’ll take some more stuff. Oh, yeah, and tomorrow’s her b-day. My baby turns 35!! Where did the years go???

And so, off to bed.

194

Moooooom, I’ve seen some brick houses with dark aqua doors that really looked good.

dot, while this may not be a viable solution for you, my dad uses his walker to go into the store for a scooter, folds the walker up while he cruises the store and when he checks out, the checker sends someone out to help him load his groceries and bring the scooter badk. As for the address, my last place was on Cainsville Court and across the street, a house with the same street number as my apartment complex was on Cainsville Road. UPS never got it right. At times, I would have a cooler of insulin on the neighbor’s front porch for hours before it got figured out. I eventually gave the neighbor my phone number.

Nelson

Watson, Nelson and me

We had a great evening at the dog park with many small dogs involved. Now, I has a sleepy puppy. :slight_smile:

195

dot

Couple of ideas for grocery shopping-I’ll PM some brainstorming to you. I used to do this for a living, helping people return to independent living-15 years a home health nurse, followed by 2 years (and counting) after a disabling car accident myself. It was a rude awakening. I’m full of how-can-I-do that? This will be fun-sort of-at least it’s more fun in pairs.

Boo raring to go, two women can do anything!

196

You, dear Dot are clearly not the not functional enough human in this situation.

Hope your food, when you finally got it, was nourishing, body and spirit.

Granddaughter sitting all day tomorrow so you may not got my PM til mid evening CDT. My first thought re: getting to and from grocery store and car might be to get a simple cable bike lock and lock your wheelchair up inside near wherever you transfer to one of their electric carts. Make it real obvious so your wheelchair is much less appealing for anyone to try to use (or take). Ideally, if you can, lock it to something stationary in the store within sight of whichever staff is stacking carts and cleaning cart handles. If it is like it is here, they’ll be glad to be helpful and keep an eye on it.

:crossed_fingers:t3:

197

good luck with that paypal denied ours saying we got it as they described …

198

First night back on our own ended too early when Taz came into our room and got noisy. I don’t know exactly what he was doing, but I found him on the back windowsill - the windows are open and I guess he needed to look out into the dark. Idiot cat.

Anyway, I’m up. I’ve opened all the windows, fed the dog, then fed myself. I even pulled out the recycling from the can and put a new bag in place. Convenience center opens at 8 and I plan to be among the first with my trash and recycling.

Then I need to gather up more stuff to take to the kids’ house - there’s tons in the bathroom, the kitchen, and the baby’s room that can go. I looked in their room - ain’t touching that mess - they can do it themselves. I am rather pissed, tho, and the apparent disregard for our home…

Next, I need to concentrate on getting ready for the painter and carpenter. Much needs to be done in a short time. Gonna be a busy week here!

Happy Saturday!!

199

Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and caffeinatin’. YAWN ‘Tis 72 Amurrkin out and clear with a predicted high of 96 and mostly N.O.S. for the day. The big plan of the day is to festivate, sorta, out at the cee-mint pond followed by a feast of ribs, baked beans, N.O.T. sallit, garlic bread, and ‘nanner puddin’. Plus we shall nosh on stuffded jalapeños whilst at the cee-mint pond. I halved, deseeded and cleaned the peppers last night. Later this mornin’ I shall make the snausage stuffin’ (mild bulk snausage, cream cheese, and chopped ‘shrooms), stuff the peppers and shove ‘em in the oven for about twenty-five minutes. So good! At some point this afternoon the ribs and beans will go in the oven to do their thang. Should be a fun day with the four of us just hangin’ out and bein’ us. Much silliness shall ensue.

red Nelson and Watson are cuties. I bet, left to their own, they can get into all kinds of shenanigans! :dog: :dog:

dot do what you can do and don’t worry about the rest. You’ll get there. As to the delivery guy, I agree with others, he perhaps is not well suited to that kind of work.

nellie that fool on the video is most assuredly not southern and uncivilized to boot. He would be met with many bless your hearts.

MOOOOOM congrats on gettin’ the house back to yourselves. Maybe the kids will take better care of their place since it is now for real their place with a mortgage and all. Sometimes that changes folks.

Now I need more caffeine and to feed rumbly tummy. Then at some point I suppose I should make myself presentable to receive company and get busy with stuff.

Happy Sattidy Y’all!

200

Blurf. Off to irk. Y’all have a good day