Saturday, April 5, 2025
Things to celebrate
Thursday, April 3, 2025
Cray Cray
I cannot even wrap my head around these 'proposed changes'. Who comes up with these things? Let me tell you who. Rich people who need workers, and are completely willing to break your children to do it. End meal breaks? 14 year olds working overnights? What about school? MAGA, my ass.
Today we worked in our kitchen doing the tiling. We got the long wall done while listening to the live updates on the stock market. After a long morning, Tim said, "What was it he said yesterday? This is the Golden Age of America?"I came home and repotted three plants. I'm sure they'll be fine, although they appear a bit bedraggled right this moment. Plants aren't the most grateful life forms I've ever known.
I broiled a chicken breast and sliced it up and made a grilled chicken salad for supper, which hit the spot for both of us.
We figure that we will spend a half day up at the new house tomorrow and be able to finish the tiling. We'll come home, clean up, and head out to see Lou Gramm in Erie.
Then:
Now:
Anyways...the old fogeys are headed out...and yes. I have earplugs.
Let's end on a laugh:
Wednesday, April 2, 2025
Today
This morning was an odd morning. I woke up, and I couldn't get back to sleep to save my soul. I had a tiny headache, but it didn't seem like enough to keep me awake, and then my mind started wandering from one thing to another like it does. I finally got up and took something for my headache, came back to bed, and managed to fall asleep, only to be jolted awake by my cell phone alarm. I shut it off. Why it was set? How did it get set? Who set it? I assumed that it was for something, so I got up and logged into my computer portal to check for appointments. I had none. I had one for tomorrow, but nothing today.
I finally decided to go back to bed, but I couldn't fall back asleep because I kept thinking that there had to be something that I was missing. By the time it was actually time to get up, I was bleary eyed and short sleeped.
Tim wants to build a shed to store his 'stuff'. He'll drive me crazy, the pack rat, but I figured I'd just let him go build his shed.
That's the nice thing about working on only one project. If I want to take a day to do laundry and get groceries and the like, I don't feel like a terrible person. I absolutely did not feel the slightest bit guilty about not helping him build a shed for stuff he really should be thinking of getting rid of anyway. IMHO.
So I got up when I felt like it, and had my coffee and breakfast in front of the computer.
A memory popped up on facebook from this day back in 2017:
I woke up to Tim standing beside the bed in holding his work gloves, saying, 'I can't believe that I overslept today, of ALL days...' Half asleep, I looked at the clock and it was 2 AM. I sat up in bed, confused and realized that Tim was sound asleep in bed, snoring gently.
Eight years later, it made me laugh again.
Anyways, so it was one of those days where there is nothing to report. Laundry is done. I got out and got a few groceries. The cat is tickled that I bought cat food. I stopped at Goodwill because I need a couple planters to repot a pothos that is surely rootbound and in need of dividing. They didn't have any planters, but that didn't stop me from having a bit of a nosey. I found a pile of plates, those collector type plates. Probably a dozen of them. They were painted with birds of all different kinds. One with cardinals. Another with blue jays. Blue birds. Robins. Chickadees. Gold finches. Birds I didn't know. And they were really beautiful. $1.49 each. They had the hangers. I picked them up, looking through and I was so tempted. Sooooooo tempted. Except we're downsizing. And where would I put them? I stood there holding the plates.
I turned to a woman standing nearby. "Do me a favor, will you?"
She looked surprised but said, "If I can..."
I said, "Look me in the eye and tell me that I do NOT need these plates. Say it in a firm voice, like you really, really mean it."
She said, "YOU. DO. NOT. NEED. THOSE. PLATES." She sounded like she really truly did mean it.
I put the plates back and said, "You're absolutely right. Thank you for pointing that out."
She was laughing as I walked away.
I ran my errands in a downpour. In the west, the lightning seemed to jag straight down to some unfortunate piece of ground far away behind the mountains and the thunder echoed across their peaks. It was a doozy of a storm, and I do love a good thunderstorm.
I found two planters, nice ones. Ceramic, and on clearance for $5.49. I consoled myself that $11.00 was not too much to spend on something that I really did need, especially since I had been so brave about not getting the decorative plates.
Tuesday, April 1, 2025
He's still talking.
And this is what we need to see, right here.
It's not only that he's talking, but that he's speaking eloquently. He has not had a bathroom break.
I'm not sure why the link I shared yesterday changed to private. He has held the floor for 23 hours and 50 minutes. If he holds it for another half hour, he will hold the record for the longest speech, beating out Strom Thurmond at 24 hours and 18 minutes. (Late Edit: He has done it!)
But it is not about that. It's not about records. It is about galvanizing our government to stand up and resist the unconstitutional activity we are seeing unfold before our very eyes.
I sent another e-mail to John Fetterman and Glenn Thompson, suggesting that they see Cory Booker as the role model. This was what they were elected and sent to Washington to do.
I am watching this now, and I know that I am witnessing history. I know also that when these awful days are done, Cory Booker's name will be writ in the history of our country.
Today, we met at the lawyer's office. Bless the man, we expected to go there and tell him what we wanted, and go back next week to sign a contract. He had it all laid out on his desk. He wrote in a few pertinent details, asked his questions, and wrote the contract out today. Mia was not prepared for it. Neither were we, but we walked out of there with the signed papers.
She said, "I was so sure that I was going to get here and find out that this was an April Fool's joke." It wasn't, of course. Her family is meeting up at her house to celebrate with pizza today.
Monday, March 31, 2025
Happy Stories
"This is not right or left. This is right or wrong." Cory Booker, March 31st.
Cory Booker is filibustering on the floor of the senate right now, and vows to continue as long as he is physically able.
https://www.newsweek.com/democrat-talking-long-hes-physically-able-protest-trump-2053378
Back the video up to the beginning to listen, otherwise it will take forever to buffer.
Please stop what you are doing and go here to thank him:
https://www.booker.senate.gov/contact/write-to-cory/form
We got the sink cut out of the counter top. Tim stressed mightily about this. If he would have screwed it up, it would have been a $400 loss. He measured, and measured again. I measured and measured again too. Finally, there was nothing left to do but to cut. He did. We set it all in place, dropped the sink in and it was perfect. The putty is curing right now.
Tomorrow we meet at the lawyer's office with the woman buying our house. Hopefully, once our lawyer knows what we need, he will be able to draw up a contract fairly quickly. I know that Mia is chomping at the bit to get started. Tomorrow, we will go over to the house with her. We're going to mark the wiring for her, so that she knows what wire does what. It will make it easier for her. She also wants to do some measuring and get some numbers.
It's also a big day for our new tenant as well. She is officially moving in tomorrow. We'll have to meet up with her as well at some point.
Daffodils are out!
We all need happy stories. Feel free to add your own happies in the comments.
Sunday, March 30, 2025
Plugging along.
We did not get a lot done today. I put the finish on the countertops. We used something called Rubio Monocoat, which is something Tim's cousin gave him the last time that we were at the Hardwood Mall in Emlenton. Like, 4 years ago or something. I think he forgot he had it. It was just a small bottle, but I rubbed that in, and it brought out the grain beautifully. It's not shiny, but it gleams. Tim's sold on the product.
Tim has the sink marked out but he wants to cut out the countertop outside to avoid raising all the dust inside. Just about the time that decision was made, the skies opened up. It was raining cats and dogs and showed no signs of letting up.
We unpacked the range hood, and he's pleased with that, but he did not like the wall mounts with the kit, which would require another trip to Lowes.
We do get in trouble at that store. Friday we spent $600. Yesterday we spent $300. Today, well...as long as we were going to be there...Tim wanted subway tile instead of the square tiles. (Inconsequential side note? We have 3 boxes of the square tile in the basement.) But he wanted subway tile with black grout. Picture below has nothing to do with our actual kitchen...just meant to show you the look he's going for.
Don't know how or when that popped in his head, but since we have a black composite sink and the appliances are stainless with black, well, it kind of works. Browsing around last night, I discovered that they had the subway tile he wanted. 4 x 12 for 79¢ each, which by my calculations, we would need about a hundred to do the job, which is kind of economical. As long as you don't consider the 3 boxes of square tile that we have in the basement already, which we actually paid nothing for. Someone had the boxes in their garage for years, and weren't going to use them, so we picked them up because we could use them. Well. We could have if Tim hadn't got an itch about the subway tile. Anyways, so we picked up another $100 worth of stuff today.
I said to Tim on the way out the door, "We need to stay away from Lowes for a while." He cheerfully said, "We can do that. We've got everything we need for the kitchen." Which is very cool.
We are still working on the raised beds.
I've dropped down below the milestone weight I was struggling to reach. I was dropping weight and then sort of 'plateaued' a few ounces above that milestone. I ran out of lettuce for my evening salad, and didn't have time to get more, so I had a small helping of the regular supper I had for Tim (venison roast with vegetables, lots of vegetables). I had small suppers for the next couple days until I got to the store, and much to my surprise, I lost two more pounds last week, which dropped me under that loss. It is my second 'milestone', so I'm pretty happy with myself.
My appointment is Thursday, and I will be interested to see if the A1C has dropped from that 6.4. December was my first high reading. With the weight loss, I think that I'm proving that I am serious about this. I haven't had dessert since January. No sugar in my coffee. Two meals a day. High protein, low carbohydrate, and lots and lots of water.
I didn't watch the news today, at all. I did catch that JD and Usha went to Greenland. The trip was supposed to last from Thursday to Saturday. However, once Greenland got wind that it wasn't just Usha coming, it was JD and an entourage, the invitations were revoked one after another. They could not find anyone that would host the group, and so they went to the only place they could: Pituffik, an American Space Base. 3 hours later, they head home
(DOGE? DOGE, can we talk about government waste?)
It appears that the EU and Canada are standing strong. European citizens are being told to stockpile 72 hours worth of food. (Experts are advising that this should be the minimum.) They are preparing for crisis. Because of us. Because of the aggression of the United States.
I cannot tell you how unbelievably sad this makes me.
For everyone out there wondering what is wrong with the United states, remember this: Only 17% of Americans approve the Gaza plan, 18% approve the annexation of Canada, and 19% approve the president's plan for Greenland. I hope that's a little comforting.
https://www.livenowfox.com/news/new-polls-little-support-us-takeover-canada-greenland-gaza
While we're on the topic of government waste that somehow DOGE has missed, there's this: Trump has spent 26 million dollars flying to Mar-a-Lago to play golf every weekend, and he rakes in significant amounts of money by from the government for meals and rooms at his club for his security team.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/17/trump-golf-taxes
https://www.pennlive.com/news/2025/03/trumps-golf-habit-costs-taxpayers-millions-author-says-there-is-a-dirty-secret-about-the-president-on-the-links.html
Elon is supposed to be leaving DOGE in May. I find that hard to believe. We'll see.
Saturday, March 29, 2025
Now we're cooking....
No pictures today, sorry. But the kitchen is taking shape. We hung the upper cupboards. We set the lowers in place. We have the counter top in place, but not yet attached.
The countertop comes with a story of its own, and you will see what a hard ass I can be. We were looking at countertops at our local big box store, and I saw what I wanted...live edge teak.
While I saw it displayed with a price, I could not find the product. Tim liked it too, so we thought that we'd ask about it. Perhaps it needed to be ordered. How long did a special order take? So we tracked down an employee who couldn't look the product up on his phone, so we followed him to his desk. He looked the product up and said that it was not available and that it couldn't be ordered.Disappointed, I said, "Well, I don't know why they would show it as an option." He shrugged and said, "I agree with you."
Now we had already told him that we intended to purchase countertop that day, but he made no move to assist. Shifting 10 foot sections of counter top requires employee assistance, but he leaned back in his chair, his hands behind his head and so I said, "Well. Let's go pick out something else, then."
We went by ourselves, and we settled on our next choice. I didn't like that nearly as much as I did the teak. Perhaps we could locate the product on line, but really, we just want to make forward progress, and really, so I gave in. It will need to be finished. (Feel free to hop in with suggestions).
We also wanted to look at range hoods. Not necessarily to buy today. We still have the backsplash to install, and so...we thought we could wait on that. We just wanted to find one that we both agreed on.
Friday, March 28, 2025
See Saw
I'm on political overload right now. This whole Signal debacle, and today, I am hearing about Trump's executive orders re: the Smithsonian.
https://www.npr.org/2025/03/27/nx-s1-5342914/smithsonian-president-trump-executive-order
Elon Musk is providing Starlink to the Whitehouse.
https://www.techdirt.com/2025/03/19/casual-white-house-starlink-use-is-a-cybersecurity-nightmare-a-transparency-problem-and-a-weird-marketing-stunt/
I dunno, but I was pretty sure they had a secure system set up in place before this, so I don't understand why, unless, of course, you take into consideration that it is believed that Hegseth used Signal because he had the messages set to automatically delete after 2 weeks (which was later changed to 4 weeks). This allowed plans to be made without worrying about an inconvenient record of events to answer to later.
(Signal was not only used for war plans. They've dug up accounts with a lot of eggplant emojis that are linked to venmo accounts. I'm waiting for the "official" explanation on this. Probably involve Italian restaurants and food delivery.
The official investigation is unfolding right now, and what we can know for sure is that these people are, at the very least, bald faced liars.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-gabbard-questioned-on-participating-in-signal-chat-where-war-plans-allegedly-leaked
That's a lot, isn't it? I came upon this, which I found encouraging.
https://ishouldbelaughing.blogspot.com/2025/03/i-didnt-say-it_01442929915.html
The correct pronoun is 'she'.
Thursday, March 27, 2025
Mom Duty
Yesterday, I had to run out and pick up some things. While I was there, I decided to look for a 'Bluey' t-shirt to go with the Bluey sunglasses I got for the youngest granddaughter's Easter. While I was looking, there was a new grandma shopping there as well. She has a grandson, and she was looking for little outfits.
I smiled to myself, because I remember that. The 'new'. The joy of it.
Before too long, she was joined by a huge guy, tall and sturdy. "What are you going to get your new nephew?" she asked.
He answered that he did not know, and she urged him to pick something out for him and that she would pay for it.
I found Bluey and looked for the correct size, and headed off and somehow found myself in front of the pair of them. I listened to the son say tell his mother that he had called off work. His mother expressed some amount of concern, but the son said, "I was worried too, but it occurred to me that I am the only night cashier they got, so they're not going to fire me."
A person with any amount of common sense would see immediately that this is not true. The young man is not working 7 days a week, so presumably there is another night cashier. Most of these jobs (I've worked them) cut off hours below the 40 hour mark to avoid paying full time benefits. Normally they will cut you off just below 32 hours so that if someone calls off, they use you to fill in those hours while still keeping you from full time status. It's a racket. It is the racket of multimillion dollar companies who are more concerned with profits and shareholders than they are the people who work for them.
So...I get it.
But as they followed along, I listened to the guy bragging about his importance, about the fact that he has job security because it is a shit position that would be impossible to fill if it were not for him. He was doing the company a favor, and they would be desperate to keep him on, no matter what.
The young man is in for a rude awakening. I'm not sure where his job was, but I'm going to guess that it is some convenience store or gas station. They go through employees like toilet paper. No one is indispensable. There is no such thing as job security.
I stopped to look at zip up hooded sweatshirts. They were getting rid of winter stock and had them on sale for $5, an amazing deal. Tim has 4 of them that he wears all the time. One has a tear, one has a broken zipper, and all of them are spotted up with paint or grease or something. It was a good opportunity to replace them.
The little group walked past, the son still talking about how important he was to his company. I'm old enough to know better. So is his mom. Just seems like she had a duty to make sure that he knew how things work. He might not have paid one bit of attention, but it needed saying.
Tuesday, March 25, 2025
Just Another 'nuther Day (and no one died).
Oh my gosh. Was today a day! We had the chicken coop on the truck, and we had to unload it. It is heavy, made of rough cut, so it had extra weight because it is not dry wood. Just the two of us concocted a plan to hook it to a chain, and come-along it down a set of wooden ramps. Of course, the thing did not want to drag properly, and then suddenly, it was leaning precariously off the back of the truck, and I was begging Tim to get out of the way because if it were to fall, I would not be able to stop it. Which made him impatient, of course, because he was watching out.
I texted my brother in law to come quickly if they were at home, even as Tim was telling me not to do that. They were home, and they dashed right over, although by that time, the chicken coop had crashed from the truck to the ground and nobody died, which in Tim's mind, proved his point that I should not be texting for help when we didn't need it at all.
We tilted it back up on its skids and Anna and Dave were able to admire how well built and sturdy it was.
(Which we proved by losing it off the back of the truck. It bounced, but there was no damage.)
We finished building our raised beds. I did remember to take pictures of those, because I knew Northsider has been anxious to see them. They are not yet filled with dirt and fym and sawdust, but that will happen. Siding the house is on the agenda too.
Today, I watched The Remarkable life of Ibelin. If you have netflix, I do recommend it. Tissues are required.
Monday, March 24, 2025
Just Another Day
Some years back, I saw a set of these Fireking Peach Lustre dishes at GoodWill, for some ridiculous price. I think it was something like $16 for a four place setting - four cups, four saucers, four small bowls, four desert plates, four dinner plates. They triggered some sort of half remembered thing in my brain. I recognized them immediately. I had a vision of them coming in washing powder. Did my mother get them that way? While I don't remember her having a set of these dishes, it was interesting to me to find that they were given in boxes of soap. Perhaps my mother had them, but I don't know for sure, since I can't connect them to a specific place or person. They simply felt so very familiar.
But, I digress. I snapped those peach lustre dishes up and they've been tucked away. I don't have a lot of cupboard space here, and so I've never pulled them out, but I can use them at the new house, and I'm excited about that. My Corelleware will go in the pantry in the hoosier cabinet for times when we have company.
Today, I got another 'want'.
Hampton Court, 1926, silver plate. 66 pieces for $30. They just were so delicate and shiiiiiiiiiny... Tim said, very sensibly, "You don't need them."
And he was right.
But I did want them, and that's almost the same thing. (Kind of.)
I went to look at them, telling myself that I didn't need them, but somehow they are sitting on my kitchen table even as we speak.
$30 isn't awful, I told myself. I felt better when I looked on ebay and found that I'd gotten a very nice deal on them, which made me feel loads better because I truly did not need them.
We showed the apartment today, and for the first time, we really had a discussion with a tenant about neighborhood safety. The house is on the quiet end of our street. We have three houses in a two block range, and we've never had to think about it before.
The person seemed very nervous when I talked to them on the phone. Some people do have difficulties. We recognize that. I made the appointment for 1PM, and we got to the house, knowing that this was going to be a different kind of situation.
We waited at the house, and right on schedule, the person showed up. The situation was much more different than we expected. They were a transvestitetransgender (thanks to Boud - I did not know. Now I do.) Very nice. Very nervous. They loved the apartment. They thought it was very well maintained. They loved the extra bedroom, and thought it could be used for yoga. Long distance runner. Mountain biker. The balcony was wonderful. The river was wonderful. (They are a nature photographer.)
I wasn't sure how to approach things, but decided to simply address the elephant in the room forthrightly. I said, "I want you to be happy here. I know that there are many LGTBQ supporters on this street, but I'm sure that you saw the T---P signs as well." Nervously, the answer was given. They don't drive. They walk or bike everywhere, and they use the bike trail (close to the house) every day. They've walked the street pretty much daily, and greeted the people they met, and no one has ever failed to greet them back.
I was glad to hear that. In these times, it just seems like the ugliest voices are the loudest. I explained that the downstairs tenant was an ally (I ushered at his nephew's wedding some years back) and that the house itself was safe.
They looked at me and said, "I've dealt with this before," and we all knew this was truth. They waited, anxiously, thinking that perhaps we would not rent to them. Which seems sad, really. We have protections. At least I thought we did. At this point, who can tell for sure though?
They took an application, but I think that it is merely a formality. We know all we need to know. This one is not a 'moaning minnie' (to quote Bovey Belle).
Tim picked up my chicken coop today, and we will take it to the new house tomorrow.
I can't even bring myself to address the new bombshell: the bombings in Yemen. The fact that the planning was carried out over a public server, and that an unauthorized person (a reporter!) was inadvertently cc'd. That a CIA member's identity was revealed. My god. Can it possibly get any more ridiculous? I mean, this is national security we're talking about, from the same folks who screamed about Hilary Clinton's e-mails.
Anyways, it gives me my topic for my e-mails to congress tonight.
Let's end on a laugh, shall we?
Saturday, March 22, 2025
Moving Right Along.
There's my chicken coop. It has a door on the other side for the chickens to go in and out, 3 roosts inside, and the nesting boxes which you can access from the outside. We can put motion detecting solar lighting on it, so that if something comes prowling around at night, the lights will come on automatically, alerting us inside. It has a metal roof and it is on skids. We are going to start out with it probably 75 feet from the house until we get an idea of what sort of problems we will have with predators, and then move it some place else if we can get away with it. It is very well built and I can't see how anything could get inside. We paid $200 cash for it, a 150 gallon tank and a soft ball sized ball of lead that Levi and the boys melt down to make sinkers for fishing.
Thursday, March 20, 2025
A Productive Day
It is a two bedroom. This is the main bedroom. It's a big room. Across the hall, there is a smaller bedroom, probably 8 x 12.
Wednesday, March 19, 2025
Done Deal
Today, we met up with the young mother and her father, and her little boy. I could tell that the father liked the house a lot. I kind of felt as if they needed time to talk, but they initiated the conversation right away. We all sat around the living room and discussed it. The practicalities. What we could do to help. What we could not do. What she could do. What she could not do.
After all the cards were laid on the table, I was surprised when Tim laid out a plan that worked for everyone.
We all mulled it over, and everyone thought it was a fine idea. I said, "Well...I guess that the only thing left to do is make it legal. We'll talk to our lawyer tomorrow."
It turns out that their lawyer and our lawyer is the same lawyer.
I said, "I think that we all need to be present to sit down and talk with Ken, for your protection, and for our protection too. We need to make absolutely sure that we are on the same page."
And the woman said, "Make the appointment. No matter what time. I will be there."
So... today we sold a house, a young mother bought one, and a little boy loved his new loft bed.
Tuesday, March 18, 2025
Entertaining Myself.
Just for giggles, I responded to a truck for sale. It was a very new truck, a luxury model, all the bells and whistles. The pictures were listed under one name, but interestingly enough the email address featured another name altogether.
They were asking $3700.
Any hindend could see that was a scam. But this hindend was looking for a laugh. FAFO. So. I did.
I responded to the ad with a question: 'Where is this truck located?'
I received a response.
Hi
Thanks for the email!The 2004 Chevrolet Silverado 2500 are available, price is $3,700 . Transmission: Automatic 4 speed ,mileage 123,370 , engine 6.0 gas Console, map lights, extendable folding rear view mirrors and sliding rear window. Optional 17" factory rims with low milage Cooper tires. Folding side mirrors and roof top running lights. Great condition truck with low miles set to work for you and keep you comfortable. New Kenwood stereo and CD player pushes great sound through the factory Bose speakers.This Truck belonged to my husband who unfortunately died, this it's the only reason for selling. Let me know if you are interested in buying them and I'll send you more details. A local pick is available if not, shipping isn't a problem. I can send some extra pics if you wish.
After my husband's funeral, I moved to my parents home in Billings, Mt, got a job here. The truck are already here in Billings and the transaction will be done through eBay. They will handle the payment and paper exchange. The truck are ready to be delivered in case a pick up is not possible. You will have free delivery (got a shipping voucher through them) and 5 days to test and inspect it before I receive any money.Attached you can find more pictures!
Thanks
If you want to buy it, please reply with your full name, shipping address and phone #. I will forward your details to eBay and they will contact you with all the info on how to purchase it.
Thanks
Surely you don't expect me to give you money for a truck before we have seen it, right?
If you want to buy it, please reply with your full name, shipping address and phone #. I will forward your details to eBay and they will contact you with all the info on how to purchase it.
Thanks
Weight and See
Things to celebrate
Last night was the big concert in Erie. Tim needed to go to the Home Depot. As long as I was there, I wanted to stop in at the Salvation Arm...