That darned bamboo is showing up everywhere. VWife is doing a crossstitch project right now with bamboo floss. It’s expensive and hard to find; Loki the Vunderdog ate one of the precious bundles of floss that had no extra. I thought she was going to kill the cur…
Very quiet weekend. The best thing about our neighborhood is that the houses are too small for family get-togethers, so it’s always deathly quiet Thanksgiving weekend. I vegged all weekend, and mostly just read. I own an astonishing amount of bad fiction (bad as in not-good, not so-bad-it’s good), including a truly dreadful re-write, *not * translation, of Dante’s Inferno. The fire is too good for it. Maybe it would make good compost.
I have a stabbing pain over my right eye. I think a migraine is attempting to make itself known. I’d really like to go home and go to bed, but AC called in sick today, naturally. I’m not sure why, but she wanted to stay on the line and chat with me. 
I was perfectly polite, honest, and told her to rest and take care of herself and not to worry. There won’t be much going on between now and the new year, anyway, not in either of our groups at any rate. 'Tis the season to use up PTO. Except for me, since I’ve spent all mine on doctor-ordered days off and doctor appointments. 
Great OP, BooFae! One of the homeless support organizations here held a similar sleep-out a few weeks ago - I understand there was quite a run on fridge and dishwasher boxes for a few days. Most of my charity money goes to animal related causes, with my blood going to the Red Cross.
Our Booster Club president decided to donate some of the money raised from the sale of the player painted paintings (say that quickly!) to a family with a seriously ill child. I told him there was going to be flack about it from some of the BC members, and I was right. Last night I discovered that the child’s dad has quit work because “he was tired of working”, and that both the children attend an expensive private school. I wonder about the wisdom of this donation - and all I can say is that I warned him when he brought it up. I knew this was going to happen.
One of the very few other message boards I visit regularly is hockey related (surprised?) and is run by a friend of mine. There has been much discussion lately about the team, and a guy posted this morning basically saying that since we are Southern, we have no right to discuss anything related to hockey. There just aren’t enough :rolleyes to do it justice.
I actually got a decent night’s sleep last night. I only woke up 2 times as opposed to every two hours.
Off to start the laundry.
Have a wonderful week, everyone! Don’t forget - my birthday is Saturday, so love offerings of dark chocolate and/or Baileys will be accepted through the cd drive! 
Good [del]morning[/del afternoon all! I am glad it’s Monday, Working all the time on weekends can really grind you down.
Great OP, BooFae! My church youth group did the starvathon thing a couple of times.
Hi Kai! Long time no see.
Bookcat, I hate snow. I end up working, while 99% of Raleigh stays home.
taxi, dogs are cool! It is always good to have one creature on Earth who is always insanely glad you are home.
swampy, I’ve been to parties where there were beer and motorcycles, but never chainsaws.
Time to clean!
dogbutler, rightie NTTATWWT
::: shrug ::: Sounds like fun to me. 
Bikers, chainsaws (I know how to use one), fire and beer. What’s not to like?
I’m just pissed you didn’t invite me. 
Take the spoon out of your coffee mug before drinking.
Your welcome…
If it really is a migraine, you have my sympathy.
Good for you! I was thinking of doing one of the Angel tree things again this year.
For those of you wondering about the homeless life, there’s an excellent one-act play out there called Blues. It deals with a bunch of different people who ended up being homeless different ways, and I think that it’s ideal because it really shows people that it’s not all drunks and druggies and lazy people who can’t hold a job. If you ever get a chance to see it, I suggest going.
Laundry is started.
I had to post again to let everyone know that our dear Swampy has influenced my writing style. I was sending an e-mail to the lady who gave Magic to us, and noticed I had written: “much wailing and gnashing of teeth ensued.”. Some people are such a bad influence!
Why is it colder in here than it is outside? It is a balmy 72 out there!
Great OP, BooFae. I’m afraid my days of doing dramatic things for causes are over now. These days we just give money to the Cancer Society and to Diabetes research, both of which have personal meaning for us. Our store also gives donations of gift baskets to various charity auctions in our little town. Auctions seem to be all the rage these days. Last week we gave a $50.00 basket to an auction to benefit the family of a 3-year-old who was run over and killed in a parking lot earlier this month. My work experience lady is a neighbor of the family, and Wifey and I know the driver of the car. He’s so crushed he refuses to leave his house. It’s all very sad, and I apologize for being all serious here.
I too am a lefty, more or less. At least I tend that way, I write left handed and throw a ball with my left hand, but most other things I do however I learned to do them, or I do with either hand. I play golf with right handed clubs 'cause I learned with my wife’s clubs. Any two-handed impliment, in fact, like a baseball bat, rifle, etc, I use right-handed, and scissors and can openers are no problem for me whatsoever. I think I stir clockwise more often than counter-clockwise, but I haven’t a strong preference.
I don’t remember much about Wuthering Heights except that I think everybody in it was named Catherine, or Katherine. Never finished it. Sorry.
And today looked to be starting off so well. Sigh. Right after I posted the last time, I get a phone call from Papa Tigs: He had a nosebleed this morning right after he’d gotten dressed for work, and managed to drip blood all down the front of one of his good dress shirts. But he’s in a hurry, so he just takes it off and then calls me to tell ME to take care of it.
Thank heaven for cold water.
And then no sooner had I taken care of that when I went to let the dogs out into the back yard and discovered that Rusty, our neurotic golden retriever who’s on doggie Prozac, had managed to half digest his doggie Prozac and then barf it and the liverwurst it was served in all over the carpet in the back room. The bad news was that the half-digested medication came out repulsive yellow. The good news was that at least he barfed almost entirely on the rubber-backed carpet I have under my sewing machine chair, which made it much easier to clean up.
I’ve restored my good humor, however, by making a trip to the bookstore to replace one of my old copies of a Dorothy Sayers – I was trying to reread Clouds of Witness from a 40-year-old paperback, and the pages were cracking apart in my hands. So the lady at the bookstore and I got into a nice discussion about how inadequate we feel not understanding enough Latin or French when reading her books. After all, hasn’t everybody read Latin at Oxford? It’s always nice to run into another fan of the classics.
Take care of that trying-to-be-a-migraine, Jahdra. I recommend chocolate and trashy novels. Hey, it cures almost anything I come down with.
As a Rightie, I am feeling left out. (I think I am channeling spats today).
I am up from my snooze in which I played a video game while the doctor examined my eyes. and the video game was a cross between that cartoon Ant and some kind of early Space Invaders. Apparently, in the logic of dreams, my score reflected how good my vision is. Most distressing. But, I feel much better and I CAN SEE. Hallelujah.
Toad up the Pole? That doesn’t sound nice, BooFae -you Brits need to treat your immigrant workers more kindly. And so what if it’s “just” sausage in “dough”? That’s a royal dinner here at la casa Rigby most nocs…
Swampy -were there tattoos and missing teeth? Were there kinda raggedy flannel shirts? Did someone pee on the fire? Anyone wearing a bandana? We need DETAILS, man! Jeesh.
Mama T -my mama LOVES Dorothy Sayers–and Ngaio Marsh. I like Sayers ok, I prefer Christie and Heyer. Most of my books were my mother’s (she doesn’t know I have them…hehehheh) and they are brown, brittle and falling apart like yours. My all time FAV, though, is Josephine Tey.
Re all things charitable: I used to help out once a month with the homeless shelter program we have here. I would pick up the laundry (clean) and return it to the church. Alas, I started work again and since my work days vary every week, I could no longer do that small, small thing. We do sponsor a family every Christmas through our church. Someday I would like to do something with adult literacy, but that’s for another day…
caninemanservant : NTTATWWT? huh?
Left out is the position I played on every softball team I was ever involved in…
Josephine Tey is also wonderful, Rigs. I’ve read quite a bit of Ngaio Marsh, but she’s not quite as much a fav as Sayers. There’s just something so civilized about Sayers. And heaven knows I need a civilizing influence!
I second the vote for more details, Swampy! If you don’t have actual pictures, at least give us more descriptions so we can picture it ourselves!
I’ve been working REALLY hard today.
I just wanted to make a Page Two appearance.
That is all.
Not That There is Anything Wrong With That
When I got my glasses this year, they had me sign the insurance paperwork after they had dilated, poked, prodded, puffed, and lasered me into virtual blindness.
Great OP BooFae, last time I did donate actual time to charity was probably four or five years ago working with Habitat for Humanity, but I am excited because this year is the first time I have had a steady income that can support giving to charity so when I get my next paycheck I am going to donate as much as I can to the Child’s Play charity for children’s hospitals, which I have been wanting to do since it started three years ago.
What is it with cats? I visited my parents for Thanksgiving last week and my youngest sister who is still living at home has three cats, all of whom seem to like me (and really, can you blame them?). Whenever I am sitting done one of them will jump up into my lap to be pet, which is perfectly fine with me (though after a mere several minutes it seems that I end up with more hair on my shirt than the cat on my lap ever had on it’s entire body, odd). What gets me is that they like to shift around a lot and change positions, and whenever they do that one leg will go out feeling for ‘solid ground’ on my lap to put all the weight on while the cat finds a more comfortable orientation, and it never fails that they decide to put all of that weight (and the two older cats are fairly large) right on my crotch earning a muffled grunt from me as I lift the cat in question up and reposition it myself.
I found out today that on top of having to fly out to Colorado next Thursday (and stay there for three days) for a company Christmas party (where I will know a total of two other people there as I work several thousand miles from the head quarters and interact with these people only on occasion through email) that my flight out there is going through Dallas! From Michigan to Colorado by way of Texas. That means that I get too spend a full 7 hours traveling instead of the already annoying 3.5 hours I was expecting. This is only my second business trip and I am already getting tired of this.
Oh, and add me to the list as another lefty MMPer who is well aware of his superiority.
Hey pugs! The bamboo flooring is an absolute riot with the pommies! Our older big white male cat, Kazzpurr, tolerates the pommies, although he will bop heads, sans claws, if he is irritated with the fluffbutts. Well, as soon as the flooring was down in the living room Kazz came in and sat right in the middle of the floor. Half of the dogs were on the kitchen side of him, the other half on the hall side. The pommies hadn’t chased a cat all day, so five poms came charging from one side, five more from the other. There is a cut off point where they put on the brakes and just stand there yelling at Kazz. Except this time they didn’t take into account the slide factor…there was a ten doggie pile up into a very irritated Kazz! He stood up on his hind legs and began bopping heads right and left! It was hilarious watching the poms scrambling, trying to get enough traction to get away from him! Kazz, on the other hand, was not amused!
I am sorry to hear that the Grumpuses are not doing well. I am glad that you are getting a break, you deserve it.
VunderBobby/FireGuy, tonight we have another practical for KickAss/Firefightin’ Girl class. All’s I gots left is practicals. Next Wednesday (not this coming Wednesday, the one next week) is my written final, and then the following Saturday, the 9th, is my practical final.
I thought tonight was auto rescue and extrication, but it’s fireground search and rescue. They smoke up the burn building and we have to go in as a crew and find the dummies hidden in various rooms. There is a strategy to it, and if we deviate from that plan, we’re screwed. I’m the crew leader, so it’s all on me.
I am very excited.
Hi db, I have missed all of you!!!
So when I finally put myself to bed this morning it was snowing like crazy, with about a six inch accumulation. It has changed to rain though, and it’s just a sloppy mess outside. I was watching the Weather Channel and had to laugh at the PNW reports of snow. Having been born and raised in the Greater Seattle area I bet the schools are closed and crazy driving accidents are happening all over. You PNW’ers take care, 'k?
Skiffman is still cutting and sealing meat and working on filling the freezer. It is nice to have an alternative to salmon, halibut, cod, crab, etc. He needs to get his duck stamp, and I also want him to get some ptarmigan and hare as well. Meat is a big budget item here at Safeway, so it’s nice when I don’t have to put it on the shopping list.
Life has been crazed, a lot of not good events, but I am trying to concentrate on the positive. It’s definetly a positive that I have my desk set up and am able to converse with you all!
Adding my voice to the praise of the OP - good job, BooFae!! When I was in high school, I did a couple of walk-a-thons for (I think) Muscular Dystrophy. 25 miles all over Baltimore - 2 years in a row. I was 2" taller from the blisters, but as I recall, I raised a nice chunk of change since I did the whole 25 miles.
My charitable ventures now are less adventurous - from giving cash to contributing ceramic works for silent auctions. I wouldn’t sleep in a parking lot, or even pretend to, but I’d gladly sponsor someone else in the effort.
So, it’s Monday. Work was *meh * - but I did get my computer issues addressed, so that’s good. I came home to a bunch of chewed-up door hunks on the floor - doggone Bernie tried to eat her way into the basement. There’s blood on the door remnants. I’m guessing there was something in “her” yard that she thought she could reach by going to the basement. Stoopit mutt.
Oh, and the project of which I am no longer project leader?? A certain idiot naval officer has declared that we will be wrapping up our analysis by Jan 19. Bear in mind, the preceeding project lasted 6 months and only cover about 1/3 of the data that this one will. And I am the only member of the old team still working this - al the others are coming in cold. Yet another reason I’m glad I’m not the leader - when it crashes and burns, it won’t be on me. I’d have told him flat out that this can’t be done. In fact, in the meeting today, one of the more senior analysts told idiot-man that even if one other analyst and I could get our parts done separately and coordinated (they’re related) we couldn’t do the other analysis unless we had at least 3 months to pull it all together. Stoopid-head-idiot-man thought I lied to him when I pointed out that engineering analysis takes time and you can’t do what he wants done in a matter of weeks.
Whew - glad it’s not my headache. Have I mentioned that this Navy guy is an ass? That’s not an indictment of all Navy personnel - just him. He’s a stupid-head-idiot-ass-man.
No, I don’t have much regard for him - why do you ask? I’d have asked to be released from the team if I didn’t feel so strongly that our project is very important and can make a significant difference in the lives of a lot of people who have no idea we exist… That’s the only thing that keeps me from punching out jerk-boy. Anyone else care to suggest pejoratives for him?
Now that that’s out of my system, I’ve heard three thunderous rumblings over the last few minutes. The windows haven’t rattled and I haven’t felt any tremors, so I’m guessing it’s probably some weapons training at the base or some really clumsy construction nearby. Or an alien invasion. Hmmmmm, aliens, eh??? I bet they’d have enjoyed swampy’s festivities!
That’s all for now. If you’ve read this whole post, you’ve suffered enough.