(Old) Up late in the MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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Morning, mumpers! It’s currently 7c/45f with a predicted high of 10c/49f and cloudy. Weather app says “It’s gloomier outside than a fucking sad handjob, followed by sad trombone during the fucking sad climax.” Yup, that’s a very gloomy day.

Kilt and workboots has become a very popular combination, I have to say that it does look very good on a lot of guys!

That sounds very interesting, I hope you managed to get out and have a look at it.

I don’t think it was quite the riot act, Erstwhile Manager may have alluded to the fact that someone is often over-sensitive about some things and tends to make her own assumptions about what’s being said and why. Anyway, Minion was relatively happy for the rest of the day and that’s good enough for me.

Sounds like a productive day then, and a spare meatloaf in the freezer cannot be a bad thing.

Same here, and it’s a 20-minute job for me to do it by myself including the time it takes to persuade Cherry that she doesn’t really want to be under the bottom sheet. ‘im indoors never seems to be around when it’s time to change bedding, thus I have no idea whether he’s actually capable of said task.

Yesterday at irk was not too bad, I did Troublesome Minion’s workstation assessment and got that sent off. She now has a copy of it which should make her happy since she’s complained at length that she never got a copy of her Occupational Health report nor chair assessment from 16 years ago. I have restrained myself from reminding her that OH reports are shared with her before management see them, and if she wanted the documentation then she had to open her mouth and use her words. Anyway, she’s got a copy of this one so she can’t complain to me about it.

Then my other minion (who is far better at advocating for himself) messaged with a string of questions that I needed to gather info for. He has a recent ADHD diagnosis and has a list of requests/requirements that our senior management and HR aren’t moving very far with. I have next to no influence there, so I advised him to speak to the union and see what they could do. He has done, and they are helping him make a case. He’s also spoken to someone at a govt department (Work and Pensions) so they’ll be making contact for some information as well. I’ve shunted all of this towards Erstwhile Manager so that she’s aware of it all, and doing my best to get him as much as possible of what he wants or needs.

I managed to get some other things done that have been on my list for a while, then spent a bit of time emptying one of the storage units in the office as we need to do that before we move to the new office since we’ve been told we can’t take any outdated paperwork with us. We still have boxes of exam scripts, dissertations and other miscellaneous items that need to go to confidential waste or off-site storage, depending on the age of said paperwork and our current retention policy.

Got home, made meatballs and sketties for dinner, watched a film and went to bed. My plans for today have been thwarted…intended to go to the gym first thing but the car wouldn’t start. I have no idea why, the battery’s less than a year old so that shouldn’t be an issue, could be any other part of the starting process, I have no idea. There’s no point calling the breakdown service today as we are going up north to visit friends so we won’t be back until tomorrow. It’ll wait until Monday instead. Typically, I had just booked the car in for an MoT and service, and paid about £350 for the privilege…and now Keith does not want to start. Bah!

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Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and caffeinatin’. YAWN ‘Tis 40 Amurrkin out and clear with a predicted high of 61 and sunny. Not much on the agenda today. I will satisfy my gnawin’ and cravin’ for a Jack’s burger and fries for today’s main need to feed. RDOS inactivities will take up the rest of the day.

BooFae enjoy the trip. Hope whatever is wrong with Keith is not too expensive.

MetalMouse happy coachin’/refereein’.

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

Happy Sattidy Y’all!

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It is a good look. The formal, gussied-up kilted ensemble is very impressive, but in a different way from the working kilt look. Sadly, one doesn’t see it around my area/state/country.

Today started with 22 Ferrets which is higher than the forecast high. In addition to the cold, we’ve got a high wind warning, so that’ll be fun. But after tomorrow, temps should start creeping above freezing. Unless they don’t. Because weather…

FCD plans to clean his shop - it didn’t happen the other day. If he doesn’t want my help, I’ll sew. Otis has class at 1 - I’m really disappointed in this intermediate class. Partly because Otis just wants to rassle with Trevor, partly because the 3rd dog in the class barks constantly unless she’s dragged out of sight of all dogs in the store, which is tough in PetSmart. I may or may not take him by myself.

Both of our tax returns have been accepted by the appropriate offices - theoretically, we’ll get our refunds in a couple of weeks. I do like being able to submit them electronically, tho I should print out the applicable documentation against the possibility of computer suicide. Maybe that’ll go on this weekend’s agenda.

FCD has said he’d like to do a boat trip to/thru the Great Dismal Swamp. That may or may not happen this summer. I know he wants to do some long treks on the boat, but he doesn’t think in terms of us leaving the house for extended periods of time. While all bills are paid automatically, there’s a cat and a lawn and the general requirements of a house that he doesn’t think about. And since we don’t have anyone to move in while we’re gone, it just adds an element of planning, expense, and stress (at least on my part.) But that’s a discussion for a future date.

For now, the sun is rising, FCD is sleeping, Otis will need to be let out and fed in 30 minutes or so, and I get to enjoy some quiet time. Happy Saturday!!

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They’re the only ones I buy. Excellent products and you can get seedless!

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Morning all, up, pilled and broken fast already, soccer starts at 9am and goes until 4pm so that should keep me active. Nothing much else planned so the evening will be slothful. 35F now heading to nearly 50F and even warmer tomorrow, so not a bad weekend.

boo fae, sorry about the car problems; is the engine turning over or it is completely dead?

swampy, I was going to go help with an 8am game, but I am coaching three different teams today (one for a coach that is out sick) and refereeing at least one, so that should be enough for me to spend and extra hour lazing. Enjoy Jack’s.

FCM, I guess your the long-term planner for FCD; hope something can be worked out for the pets (you could always import Nellie as house/pet sitter…).

And closing in on 8am so need to finish here and get dressed for soccer and pack the goodies for the post-game snackage. See y’all later today.

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Awoke to zero ferrets. Not expected to get many more today. No dog park today, too bloody cold. I see laundry happening, not much else.

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Good morning.

It’s 44F and cloudy. Rain should be moving in any minute now. The forecast calls for rain throughout the day, and a daytime high of 53F. So, a rather gray and dreary day.

BooFae, sorry about the car woes. Hope it’s diagnosed and fixed quickly and inexpensively, too.

I think my husband has only helped me make the bed once or twice. I do it myself and probably get it done more quickly that way, too. I do ask for his help moving the mattress, though. My mattress must be moved end to end, and it does not flip. It would probably be easier to move on my own if I didn’t have a footboard.

As far as outings go, I only made it to the mailbox and back yesterday. Between showering, then drying and styling my hair, the dishes, and the trip to the mailbox (around 3/4 of a block to the mailbox), my ankle and leg were giving me quite a bit of grief. There was no way I was going to be able to wander around in the deli/cafe, too.

An old work colleague called me up yesterday, and we chatted for a bit. She had some questions concerning a letter she received from TSP, but I told her she was better off calling them. We caught up on some things and made plans to meet for lunch after I know what’s going on with my leg and ankle.

I am the planner and organizer for all trips, and always have been. When we traveled with friends, I was the planner and organizer, too. It’s kind of annoying, if I’m honest. Back when we camped, I had a four-part Excel spreadsheet that helped with the packing and to-dos to get ready. It would be nice to let someone else take care of things for once, but I know I’d be fretting about something or other, so I keep doing it. I don’t gripe about it because I know I’m at least part of the issue; I can’t give up control. And, honestly, I pay the bills, so my husband wouldn’t know what do about all that anyway.

That was probably way more information than you needed or wanted.

I’ll probably wash bedding today, and that’s about it.

You all take care of yourselves, please.

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Yep. Three pounds of dead animals, plus a couple of jumbo eggs, a cup of bread crumbs, a cup of DHMO, a third of a cup of catsup, (and of course, the soup mix), must have made a four-pound mixture. Best to freeze half for later.

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Mrs Magill is out of town for the Women’s Retreat this weekend, and Squeaky is at a robotics competition this morning, so I’m flying solo right now. The sheets are in the washer right now, so I’ll be making the bed by myself in a couple of hours. Right now, I figured I’d do something for me and am having my toes done right now.

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26 ferrets, (-3 centipedes), with a predicted high of 22 (-6) for the day. Big, fluffy flakes of snow coming down – I think we’ve already gotten more than the one inch dot.gov says to expect.

I’ve read Tactics of Mistake and at least one more Dorsai book, but my preferences are 1) Falkenberg, 2) Hammer, and 3) Dorsai. Speaking of Dickson, have you read the Hoka stories he and Poul Anderson wrote? I also recommend Michael Z Williamson’s Temporal Displacement series. Only two books thus far, but he’s working on a third one.

That one kept me up until 0200, back in the days when I had to be at work at 0430.

Shows how much attention I pay to football. :grinning_face: As an experiment, I just spent a full minute thinking about how many football players I could name. Five.


Cats were fed an hour ago, so theoretically they’re sleeping now and it should be possible to get to the kitchen and make some coffee without having the feline horde in the way looking for second breakfast.

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Fried SPAM® and cackleberries for breakfast.

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Good morning everyone, it is a bright, bright day. It was 12F when I got up and it is 19F now. James has been returned home and I am also washing sheets.

Our hard-sided waterbeds were nightmares to change, sometimes I’d put change it off for as much as two weeks. :face_vomiting:

Our current soft-sided bed is so much easier. I can totally change out the bed in less than five minutes if the cats are asleep in a different room.

We had a great time, yesterday. We ate and drank and laughed and binge watched and broke pencils. James is a light weight and he went to sleep about 2030 so I prepped breakfast (Scotch eggs (his first), homefries and berries with clotted cream (I don’t think its that great, but it always impresses folks so I keep making it).

Poor Jolene is exhausted. She has to be involved in everything and there were people in two rooms so she had to keep going back and forth. Next there were people sleeping in two rooms and this is the first we’ve had overnight guests since she joined our clowder.

Current ones? I don’t know any. I know about Joe Namath and Babe Ruth, but I think Babe Ruth played with different balls?

It took me a LONG time to realize this about myself, you are a very smart woman.

I hope it is an easy and inexpensive fix!

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Utilikilts are almost always worn with work boots .Enjoy your trip!

Up, caffeinating, breakfasted and fixing to do KP. Not a lot on the agenda today.

Last evening, I made an interactive card. It didn’t even take any tools except a paper trimmer and scissors!

Stay safe and healthy y’all!

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Correct on Ruth. My five were Namath, Starr, Perry, Rockne and Simpson, none of whom are current. And I’ll add Montana, so there’s a sixth one.

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Football players? I haven’t followed the game for at least five decades, so Montana, Namath, Tarkenton, Page, Eller (yeah, I was a Vikings fan in the 70s), Brady, Marino, Elway.

Savory oatmeal this morning and a banana. Salmon filets for dinner with sides of broccoli and rice.

Significant drop in temps today, but it will rebound by tomorrow and our meltdown will continue.

The wife wants to go to one or two of the early indoor spring floral displays, so that’s a probable road trip this week. Also an “outing” to a brunch restaurant that actually sounds like it may be decent. It’s located on some expensive real estate downtown, so it has to be good enough to have survived all these years.

Puzzling is all done, although the NYT crossword kicked my butt. I only made it through about a quarter before giving up.

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Whose balls did he play with?

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Quick check in, coached my 9am game and will be leaving shorty for the 1-5pm shift, kids did well and I only ate one cupcake and one brownie (so far) so am behaving pretty well for me.

I can make my bed in about 10-15 minutes, long as I don’t have to rotate/flip the mattress. And being single I plan my trips, but been using a travel agent (and friend) for most of my recent overseas ones. Last one I planned out (except for the cruise itself) was Antarctica 3-4 years ago.

Herald, thanks for the recommendations, have read several Hoka short stories but never the book-length ones, might keep an eye open the next time I’m at the used bookstore (called The Booklegger). Mostly doing re-reads these days, my last collecting binge was David Weber’s Honorverse and Eric Flints Ring of Fire series and both are due for a re-reading. Although you (and swampy) have me thinking about my copy of Lucifer’s Hammer…

JtC, glad the overnight visit went well.

Cookie, pleasant travels and the Firday and Sattiday NY Times crosswords almost always trip me up.

And time to head back to the (soccer) balls…

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Was Johnny Unitas one of them? He’s the first who came to my mind, but I did grow up in Baltimore. Even tho FCD occasionally watches a game, I don’t know if I could name 5 current players.

Taking a break from sewing and ripping out seams. I need to think of how to handle the short corners - I’ll deal with that when we get back from doggie school. My dining room is a disaster area and it will remain so till I’m done with the current projects. At least I haven’t dropped any pins in the carpet. Yet.

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The board ate my yesterday post. It basically said I made the bed and the kittens didn’t help, which makes me think they’re not real cats. However, I will learn them to pounce upon the sheets as they are lofted, else I won’t know how to do it.

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For the “things I didn’t need” file, I got rear-ended last night. It’s happened a could of times before in my life, but never really any damage. This over was pretty hard. So far I don’t think I’m hurt, but the back of my car is in rough shape.

I was on my way to pick up takeout, waiting at a yield for traffic to clear and the guy plowed into me. I drive a Honda Fit and he was in a Toyota Tacoma, so that’s hardly a fair fight. I ended up pulling into a QT parking lot where there happened to be a cop. He went and talked to the guy, who tried to claim that I was drunk or texting because I was swerving all over the place (I did have to react to a car in front of me that put on their left turn signal and pulled halfway into the next lane before swerving back into the turn lane in front of me, but that was the only swerving I did). The cop did not seem sympathetic with his position, as I was clearly not not drunk and clearly had been hit from behind.

Anyway, I’m fine and it will be fine and I’m insured and hopefully my insurance can recover my deductible, but really, I have enough going on right now.