The "What's on your mind?" Thread -2017

[foxxycat]

Well this morning I woke up to a message on my Facebook about a dear friend I met on Facebook passed away. Anyone who was following "Andy Needs your help" facebook page unfortunately his momma passed away on Wednesday. I have tried to contact her various times this year to no success. The facebook page was disabled for whatever reason. I tried emails and text messages. My heart is heavy as we lost a coworker a week ago to a sudden heart attack. Last night was the memorial service. Please no more deaths for awhile.

I plan to cook up some macaroni salad when I get home-been wanting to do this for the past few days but got home too late. It's just a basic oil n garlic n spices with veggies chopped up with elbows.. nothing fancy. Bacon too. That's my plan after the grocery store since I didn't get anything for dinner this week. Oh I have to fry up a lb of hamburger I took out to defrost. Probably make a rice to go with that.

Arouetta I didn't see anything racist. Sounds like Losers trying to gang up on you who got caught stealing. If the shirt disappeared maybe they stuffed it down their pants. Won't be the first time it's happened.

 

[arouetta]

The younger woman was still in the racks so it's possible she had a cart or handbasket I couldn't see. I'm just totally amazed that someone of 100% Northern European lineage can be accused of being racist against white people. It is so ridiculous that it...well, it's crazy, and when a crazy person says something is crazy, that's a pretty extreme level of crazy.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

It was a bit crazy, and you didn't do a thing wrong. Some people just live to cause trouble for others, especially, it seems, sales clerks and the like. It gives them some small power, I guess. Now, ME, I track down managers at great length to tell them when someone has been helpful to me. I figure one "A customer told me how great you are" will go a LOT further towards that behavior repeating than a dig.

 

[Margret]

Now, ME, I track down managers at great length to tell them when someone has been helpful to me. I figure one "A customer told me how great you are" will go a LOT further towards that behavior repeating than a dig.

I remember several years ago, going into a restaurant late at night, just after they'd closed down their "Smoking" section for the night, but before they'd removed all the ash trays. The sign clearly said "No Smoking," but some jerk came in, sat at the table next to us (there were lots of tables available - we were the only people there before he came in), and began smoking. The server came over and informed him that there was no smoking allowed, and he claimed that the presence of an ashtray on the table was all that was necessary to make it a smoking section. The server told him that it wasn't, the no smoking sign took precedence, and at this hour smoking was not allowed anywhere in the restaurant. The customer became combative and demanded to speak to the manager, to complain about the server, then left in a huff. We breathed a sigh of relief and finished our meal in peace, and on our way out we also asked to speak with the manager, to let him know how much we appreciated the server for enforcing the no smoking rule. The manager thanked us and added that even if we hadn't spoken up he was well aware that this particular server was a model employee.

I should probably add that at all times during this encounter the server was a model of civility and politeness. I strongly suspect that the smoking customer was drunk.

Margret

 

[arouetta]

Whine post.

So my daughter and I decided to share a ride to work today, but that meant arriving early for me. My shift was supposed to start at 4pm, I got there around 2pm. I'm chilling in the food court and around 2:30pm my boss comes up to me and asks if I got my schedule wrong. I was explaining that my daughter and I shared a ride, which is why I was in so early. She informs me that I was actually supposed to be in at noon, and I got marked down as a no-call/no-show after 2 hours late. Ugh. She told me that I could either work or go home, it wouldn't make a difference. I chose to work. She did say though a few hours later that she was going to list me as late, so maybe my never being late like this for a year saved my butt. Either way though, I'm sure to be written up.

I was told to put away two shopping carts of folded shirts. It is utterly useless to put a stack of neatly folded shirts on a stack of balled up shirts, so I folded the tables first. The manager on duty at the time was concerned, time-wise, about me folding first, but I was confident I could pull it off. Until I'm pulling shirts out of the cart and realizing that they are new merchandise, not a replenishment of old merchandise, and I had nowhere to put them. Clearing off a table for them and giving them a halfway decent presentation took some time, time I had not scheduled into my planning. I ended up having a couple of stacks of jeans (maybe 12 pairs) and about the same number of shirts I gave to the person staying.

Keeping my shoulder in a sling is making it feel tons better. If I were to not use the sling and go back to normal use, it'd hurt again, I know it, but it's kinda nice that I can hold my arm out straight, move it across my body and not feel pain until my hand is roughly center of my body. (We're not going to talk about how if I do the same to my left arm, I can swing it until the joint just won't go farther and my left hand is past my right shoulder and then I can bend my left elbow until my fingers are wrapped nicely around my cervical vertebrae without an ounce of pain.) However.....yes, there's always a however it seems. The tennis elbow is also going away rapidly with rest. The golfer's elbow is getting worse since that part of the elbow is placed in the sling in such a way it's bearing all the weight of my upper arm. Ow.

Itchiness is a part of my life, and I don't do those joke "light scratches" that feel more like tickling. To me, I'm not satisfying the itch unless I'm digging in, those light scratches literally do feel like tickling and make the itches worse. I hate light touches too, it just feels horrible. Sensory diet thing. Anyway, a part of my lower arm was pressed in the sling wrong or rubbed wrong or something and I scratched it and peeled away some of the skin on accident. Normally I'd let that air dry, but being in the sling I put a bandaid on it for a couple of days. Huge bandaid, it was more like a tiny gauze pad with adhesive on all four sides. I changed it once a day after showering, but after day 2 I couldn't put a new one on. Apparently it triggered an adhesive allergy and I have hives in a half inch wide rectangular pattern all around the peeled skin. It's been two days and they are still there and I have no Benadryl gel to put on them.

Well, I signed on to the online team member services and checked the rest of my schedule, all that was right. So I'm hitting the sack.

 

[tallyollyopia]

I missed last night's lodge meeting-totally forgot-got to put up posters for September's meeting.

our business agent quit. This person is in Mass and has to drive an hour or more to come up here when there are conflicts-which is often. The prior chief and him got into an argument and almost a fist fight. What is it with MEN??! They always holler and yell. You know us ladies would have done it differently. But now the international will have to figure it out-the business agent said he wants us to split off into our own local which I think is a good idea. The other companies in our local don't really have anything to do with us-so why don't we have our own local??!

So maybe it will be a good thing to get a new business agent. The last one wasn't always honest with us if you know what I mean. They wouldn't fight for us and seemed on the company side rather than the contract wording. I am at the point where if neither party will abide by contract then get rid of it. Both sides try to cherry pick what they want and not follow the rules. Then fighting starts. Really hard to stay neutral. Especially when the company bigwigs make plans and do things that makes our work harder.

Like outside vendors screwing up parts=instead of reject work-they tell us to fix it...and you know it's very frustrating to have to work to a standard but the company accepts lesser standards than we are held to. Makes life very frustrating.

And of course on vacation found out VC Summer job got canned. They already shipped out the internals we were working on-Tomorrow is the last day for 11 of our guys-3 of which got saved because the senior 3 people will take early retirement. At least those people will get severance pay. So my standing outside on the front lawn for 2 weeks wasn't in vain.

Good luck!

Mamanyt1953 Honey I am so very sorry for your loss-I meant to say something yesterday but it slipped my mind.

You could sue, perhaps, but only if you never want to speak with the husband and his daughter ever again. My feeling is that the executor needs to come up with some solution that has the heirloom furniture going to AWM while the husband retains liability for the loan. That would probably mean requiring that the loan be paid off immediately, so the lender has no more claim on the furniture, and the cost of paying it off comes from the husband's portion of the estate. If the husband is the executor, you're up the creek with no paddle.

Margret

AWM thinks it's all in how the will is worded. I'm slightly reassured by the fact they haven't brought up selling the furniture again (not since I expressed interest in it), but then they haven't really had the opportunity to. (The funeral home making arrangements and the memorial service are not the places to bring that up.)

I'm going to show my stupidity here. I know what DH, DS, DD and all that means. What is AWM? I tried looking it up on Google and couldn't find anything.

The initials I use refer to family members. AWM is Awesomely Wise Mother (and she knows a lot more than I do about some things, and I'm slowly catching up about others), LS is Little Sister, RB is Responsible Brother, IB is Irresponsible Brother, DD is Dear Dad, SD is Step Dad, and other than referring to IB's GF (Girl Friend) I haven't really mentioned any others on this site.

Thank you. It's not a problem that it slipped your mind...you have a bit going on on your end!

Last night was so funny! I was sitting outside, and Dulcie came up and sat at the curb across the parking lot, watching me watching her. She sat there for a few, then scampered over behind a tree. She would peek out, I would say "I see you!" and she would duck back. We did this several times, then she came back out, walked to where she had been sitting, looked at me for a few moments, then left. I almost felt as if she knew that we were playing a game together, and wanted to let me know very politely that she had fun, but it was time to go. These ferals continue to amaze me.

I always enjoy these stories. Makes me smile.

Discovered some old CDS in my truck=came across the greatest hits of THE WHO. And I found several songs I really like. We Don't get fooled again and Who are you. Then some other obscure bands I loved in the 80s. Restless Heart and Randy Travis and other stuff...wow I love it when I hear music I haven't heard in years. ROCK ON!

I cleaned the refrigerator condenser coils today. It's under the fridge at the very back so kind of a pain to look under there with a flashlight and poke around with a long handled brush. A huge thick sheet of Leroy's fur came off No wonder my freezer temp occasionally swings up to 20F even though I have it set to 0F. The condender coil is a cylinder so I was only able to get the bottom clean. I have no idea if the top and sides of the condenser has a sheet of fur as well. I Googled a diagram of my fridge and at the back there is a removable plate and then you can access stuff. There is no way I'm moving the fridge by myself

It's amazing where that hair ends up, isn't it? (When we got to the memorial service we found that one of the bouquets had a huge clump of fur in it. Not sure how it got there--it was literally delivered less than an hour before we packed it and left.)

 

[tallyollyopia]

I had a rough night at work. I'm slower than usual when it comes to hanging and folding clothes and sorting the returned/found items so they can be put away. Kinda understandable, I've only got one functioning arm right now. But I got so backed up that I had a good hard cry during my lunch break because I was so frustrated and feeling overwhelmed.

Now for the backstory, before I kvetch my head off. While my brown hair and brown eyes clearly show that my Viking ancestors had a little fun while raiding England, I am one of the palest people you will ever know. Even with my nice suntan I am still paler than many people without any real suntan. For example, I asked for some makeup advice so I could look good before the next interview, but I haven't worn makeup in years and didn't know where to start. Suntanned, and possibly a mild case of rosacea because my nose and going into my cheeks a bit has a permanent sunburn, and still the clerk said "For foundation I would recommend Ivory. Maybe the next lighter color, but I would start with Ivory." So there is absolutely no way I could be mistaken for any ethnic group other than white.

So the returned items were coming back at a huge rate, and I had to pick up fallen items in Clearance all night as no customer bothers to pick up anything they knock off a hanger. Plus people love to just throw stuff over bars rather than take the 3 seconds to hang it back up, and right now I need a table to put things on a hanger, I can't just scoop up and hang. The phone is ringing off the hook, and Electronics won't tell me they are with a customer and can't pick up the phone until the customer on the phone has been on hold long enough to be rightfully upset. I can't bend over without pain and apparently all those knee down/stand up maneuvers ended up pulling a muscle in my left thigh, it's tight and tense and hurts, and we're not going to talk about the pain of going down or standing up. I ended up bending over at the waist the second half of the night, shoulder pain be d***ed. Plus a couple of customers got angry when they asked for an item and I told them we didn't have it.

So near the end of the night the manager on duty, who is my direct boss, called me into the employee area, opened HR's door and we had a little chat. More background, many people who change their mind about buying something don't do the employee friendly thing of taking it to the register and telling the cashier they changed their mind. (I knew it was the employee friendly thing long before I worked in retail, so I'm pretty sure it's common knowledge.) They just tend to leave the item wherever. Some people get sneaky about it and place it with something that visually looks the same, I guess to make it more of a challenge to find it and make it right, but most people are more "whatever" about finding a place.

So earlier in the day I had seen a woman my age with a much younger woman, probably a teen. They were both white. The teen was in the racks, the older woman in the aisle. The woman held up a shirt and asked "Do you want this?" to the teen. Then she walked into the racks and came out empty-handed. I looked at the teen and she wasn't holding it. Well I didn't want to be hunting it down in the wrong area later, so I asked "Are you buying that shirt?" That way if they said no, I could take the shirt and put it away in the right area/right brand. The teen said yes, so I went on my way.

Well according to the woman I was rude by asking that, I was loud in order to call attention to them, I made them feel like I thought they were stealing and (here's the fun part) I'm racist against white people.

Now on my end, I could have been more wordy to convey my intent. Instead I let my frustration with myself over being slow bleed over into being direct and moving on quick. But beyond that?

They also said it happened at the fitting room when it didn't. But everything else matched, so it's not a case of upsetting someone else when I ask (as customers leave the fitting room) "Do you want that?" so I can tell them to toss it into the basket instead of hunting it down later in the wrong area. All I can think is they must have gone to the fitting room and saw me being casual about counting items when dealing with a customer of a different ethnic group. Someone taking 15 items in, I do a count going out. Someone taking 3 in, I can eyeball that on the way out and not look like I'm actually counting.

From what I was told, the woman complained about me to the Guest Services manager, would not accept an apology, and a few hours later (when I was coincidentally crying my eyes out on break) called and asked for the manager on duty, repeated the complaint and said she's calling corporate in the morning. So this is going to be a Very Big Deal.

At least I have the satisfaction of knowing that the Guest Services manager was confused as all getout because the described behavior was so totally unlike me she couldn't believe it was me being talked about, and my boss told me that she also couldn't believe it as I'm one of her best people.

Pardon my paranoia for showing, but I'm highly suspicious of the fact that they claimed the encounter occurred in one of the few places the store can't, legally, film.

arouetta , did you find the green shirt?

1. First, the older woman was holding it.
2. Then she wasn't.
3. The teen wasn't holding it.
4. The teen said that they were buying it.

Does it strike you that something is missing here, specifically the green shirt? If they were buying it they should have obviously still been holding it. The woman went into the stacks with it, where you couldn't see her, and came out without it, or at least she didn't obviously have it. I think you interrupted a theft or attempted theft and the woman was afraid that you would tell security so she decided to complain about you first. The stuff about discriminating against whites is currently something of a buzzword; it has nothing to do with you or your color, and it's pretty good evidence of a smokescreen. I wouldn't be embarrassed by a question of whether or not I was planning to buy something, no matter how loud. But that's probably because I don't have a guilty conscience.

Margret

The younger woman was still in the racks so it's possible she had a cart or handbasket I couldn't see. I'm just totally amazed that someone of 100% Northern European lineage can be accused of being racist against white people. It is so ridiculous that it...well, it's crazy, and when a crazy person says something is crazy, that's a pretty extreme level of crazy.

In (very limited) defense, there are white people who are racist against white people.

I remember several years ago, going into a restaurant late at night, just after they'd closed down their "Smoking" section for the night, but before they'd removed all the ash trays. The sign clearly said "No Smoking," but some jerk came in, sat at the table next to us (there were lots of tables available - we were the only people there before he came in), and began smoking. The server came over and informed him that there was no smoking allowed, and he claimed that the presence of an ashtray on the table was all that was necessary to make it a smoking section. The server told him that it wasn't, the no smoking sign took precedence, and at this hour smoking was not allowed anywhere in the restaurant. The customer became combative and demanded to speak to the manager, to complain about the server, then left in a huff. We breathed a sigh of relief and finished our meal in peace, and on our way out we also asked to speak with the manager, to let him know how much we appreciated the server for enforcing the no smoking rule. The manager thanked us and added that even if we hadn't spoken up he was well aware that this particular server was a model employee.

I should probably add that at all times during this encounter the server was a model of civility and politeness. I strongly suspect that the smoking customer was drunk.

Margret

I get a lot of those at work too. The worst are the ones who, quite deliberately, light a cigarette in front of me and say it's okay to smoke indoors because they're "just vaping."

Whine post.

So my daughter and I decided to share a ride to work today, but that meant arriving early for me. My shift was supposed to start at 4pm, I got there around 2pm. I'm chilling in the food court and around 2:30pm my boss comes up to me and asks if I got my schedule wrong. I was explaining that my daughter and I shared a ride, which is why I was in so early. She informs me that I was actually supposed to be in at noon, and I got marked down as a no-call/no-show after 2 hours late. Ugh. She told me that I could either work or go home, it wouldn't make a difference. I chose to work. She did say though a few hours later that she was going to list me as late, so maybe my never being late like this for a year saved my butt. Either way though, I'm sure to be written up.

I was told to put away two shopping carts of folded shirts. It is utterly useless to put a stack of neatly folded shirts on a stack of balled up shirts, so I folded the tables first. The manager on duty at the time was concerned, time-wise, about me folding first, but I was confident I could pull it off. Until I'm pulling shirts out of the cart and realizing that they are new merchandise, not a replenishment of old merchandise, and I had nowhere to put them. Clearing off a table for them and giving them a halfway decent presentation took some time, time I had not scheduled into my planning. I ended up having a couple of stacks of jeans (maybe 12 pairs) and about the same number of shirts I gave to the person staying.

Keeping my shoulder in a sling is making it feel tons better. If I were to not use the sling and go back to normal use, it'd hurt again, I know it, but it's kinda nice that I can hold my arm out straight, move it across my body and not feel pain until my hand is roughly center of my body. (We're not going to talk about how if I do the same to my left arm, I can swing it until the joint just won't go farther and my left hand is past my right shoulder and then I can bend my left elbow until my fingers are wrapped nicely around my cervical vertebrae without an ounce of pain.) However.....yes, there's always a however it seems. The tennis elbow is also going away rapidly with rest. The golfer's elbow is getting worse since that part of the elbow is placed in the sling in such a way it's bearing all the weight of my upper arm. Ow.

Itchiness is a part of my life, and I don't do those joke "light scratches" that feel more like tickling. To me, I'm not satisfying the itch unless I'm digging in, those light scratches literally do feel like tickling and make the itches worse. I hate light touches too, it just feels horrible. Sensory diet thing. Anyway, a part of my lower arm was pressed in the sling wrong or rubbed wrong or something and I scratched it and peeled away some of the skin on accident. Normally I'd let that air dry, but being in the sling I put a bandaid on it for a couple of days. Huge bandaid, it was more like a tiny gauze pad with adhesive on all four sides. I changed it once a day after showering, but after day 2 I couldn't put a new one on. Apparently it triggered an adhesive allergy and I have hives in a half inch wide rectangular pattern all around the peeled skin. It's been two days and they are still there and I have no Benadryl gel to put on them.

Well, I signed on to the online team member services and checked the rest of my schedule, all that was right. So I'm hitting the sack.

Were you wrong that one day? Did they try to contact you at all (do you have a cell phone they can reach you at)? I don't think they can put you down as no call/no show unless they try to reach you first. (Of course, I could be wrong.)

 

[tallyollyopia]

Well, the service was today. I had work last night and was supposed to get off at six, but got off later.

Let me explain. We've had major problems with shoplifting except for when the manager and assistant manager are in the store. So, in order to keep the times they come in random in the eyes of the customers, they've been taken off the store schedule that's printed and hung in the office. Okay? Okay.

Six o'clock rolled around with no sign of my relief, but to be honest, my relief is almost never on time anyway. I wasn't too worried. Six twenty rolled around and I was getting antsy. I went back to check the schedule (remember, neither the manager nor the assistant manager are on it) and the next person scheduled to come was at ten in the morning. (The memorial service was at eleven.) No way. At six-thirty I began calling. At six-thirty-five, I reached my manager--who had overslept. Long story short, I wasn't able to get out until seven thirty (which, for those of you counting, was nine-and-a-half hours on my feet). I got home, found my church clothes (even if I could have gotten away with wearing a work uniform to service, no way could I have worn the same one I worked in--lots of stuff spills over the course of the night), ate something (because, ha-ha--no breaks), did dishes (so that I would have something to eat on), got ready, loaded into the truck with everyone else, and had to make a couple of stops on the way. One, the funeral home had forgotten to put Grandma's ashes in the cooling chamber so that they'd be ready for the urn this morning, so we had to swing by and pick her up. Then we went to pick up IU (Irresponsible Uncle--trust me, he earned it), who decided that he was going to follow us to the church instead. And then spent ten minutes circling the church looking for a place to park because the church is, quite literally, in the middle of a field with no paved lot or drive. (No, I don't know why; it predates me.) For some reason he had a problem parking in a field.

The service was beautiful and well done. They did a live feed on Facebook for those who couldn't come (my Grandpa, her ex-husband, even created a Facebook account so that he could watch it). Her husband's family came, including this one young woman who was with seven children (I'm not clear if they're all hers or if she was just watching them for other members of the congregation). I think I handled it well. Well, I handled it well until that young woman came up to me and asked if I felt like I was shaming my grandmother's memory by not dressing better for church. (After that conversation I did something bad--I gave all seven children two honey-sticks each so they'd be bouncing off the walls.)

As the daughter of the deceased, AWM had to stay after the ceremony, but since by this point I was approaching twenty hours without sleep (I have to get up three hours before work or I'm not awake enough to function at work), RB took me home. I was starting to feel guilty about hyping up all the kids that young woman had to take care of when, as we were leaving, she made a comment about how I didn't care enough to see the whole ceremony through. Nope. No guilt at all.

Changing this subject a bit, we were going through some boxes and papers of Grandma's when we discovered something: she kept every letter, every card, and every picture that we (her children and grandchildren) ever gave her. One of them was even a picture I drew in art class that I got in trouble for at school. (The subject was "Strange Worlds" so I drew and colored a picture of a person in a boat looking at an island in the sky that had trees growing cookies on it with a unicorn looking back at the figure in the boat. I thought it was appropriate, but the teacher thought it was bad because 1) cookies don't grow on trees and 2) tree bark isn't red. Apparently there was nothing wrong with the unicorn though.) Well, Grandma put a gold star on the back with the words "Most Creative". I teared up a little, seeing it.

 

[kashmir64]

(Small Rant, just to yell)

I am going to hurt these kittens (not really)
They have knocked over a fan and their cat tree. Box of tissues...gone, tore to shreds. Found the sensor to the Wii 2 rooms away. All I can hear is THUMP, BANG,CRASH.
It's like 2 children on a sugar high.

I'm going to scream now and tear my hair out.

Edit: Onsa just jumped on the back of old man beagle and is riding around like a horse.
I'm so glad he's good natured.

 

[Margret]

arouetta , can you get plain gauze pads and use sports wrap (stretchy tape that sticks only to itself) so you don't have adhesive touching your skin? Maybe even wrap the whole thing in a thin layer of gauze before using the sports wrap, just in case that activates your allergies.

tallyollyopia , that young woman sounds like an incredibly toxic person. It makes me feel sorry for the kids (and I don't mean because of the honey sticks!).

* * * * * *​

Late tomorrow night I'm leaving for Wyoming, planning to drive in the wee hours and take back roads to avoid the parking lot that the interstate is going to turn into. I'm hoping to make it to Glendo, a small town of about 250 that's smack dab in the center of the eclipse path. Before I leave I still have some last minute shopping and preparations to do, so don't anybody worry about me if I'm offline for a couple of days. I'll take my computer along just in case I can find a place with public Wi-Fi, but I'm not relying on it. I was fortunate enough to score an extremely good pair of eclipse glasses for free; a friend in my computer club brought a whole bunch of them in for us, so now it's just a question of whether I can get there, and then get home again (they're predicting that the roads will be even worse after the eclipse). I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll be able to find a hamburger place that's open so I can get at least a little bit of variety; the snack food I'm taking is likely to get tiresome if it's all I have to eat. (It will, however, prevent stomach pangs, and I'm packing some cookies in case of hypoglycemia, so that'll be okay.)

Binoculars are already in the car. (Yes, I do know that it isn't safe to use them while the eclipse is partial because I don't have separate filters for them. However, I've checked and it is not only safe but highly recommended to use them during totality; just make darn sure you put them down before any Baley's Beads show up.)

Margret

 

[tallyollyopia]

(Small Rant, just to yell)

I am going to hurt these kittens (not really)
They have knocked over a fan and their cat tree. Box of tissues...gone, tore to shreds. Found the sensor to the Wii 2 rooms away. All I can hear is THUMP, BANG,CRASH.
It's like 2 children on a sugar high.

I'm going to scream now and tear my hair out.

Edit: Onsa just jumped on the back of old man beagle and is riding around like a horse.
I'm so glad he's good natured.

(I'm sorry. My evil side came out for a moment.)

arouetta , can you get plain gauze pads and use sports wrap (stretchy tape that sticks only to itself) so you don't have adhesive touching your skin? Maybe even wrap the whole thing in a thin layer of gauze before using the sports wrap, just in case that activates your allergies.

tallyollyopia , that young woman sounds like an incredibly toxic person. It makes me feel sorry for the kids (and I don't mean because of the honey sticks!).

* * * * * *​

Late tomorrow night I'm leaving for Wyoming, planning to drive in the wee hours and take back roads to avoid the parking lot that the interstate is going to turn into. I'm hoping to make it to Glendo, a small town of about 250 that's smack dab in the center of the eclipse path. Before I leave I still have some last minute shopping and preparations to do, so don't anybody worry about me if I'm offline for a couple of days. I'll take my computer along just in case I can find a place with public Wi-Fi, but I'm not relying on it. I was fortunate enough to score an extremely good pair of eclipse glasses for free; a friend in my computer club brought a whole bunch of them in for us, so now it's just a question of whether I can get there, and then get home again (they're predicting that the roads will be even worse after the eclipse). I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll be able to find a hamburger place that's open so I can get at least a little bit of variety; the snack food I'm taking is likely to get tiresome if it's all I have to eat. (It will, however, prevent stomach pangs, and I'm packing some cookies in case of hypoglycemia, so that'll be okay.)

Binoculars are already in the car. (Yes, I do know that it isn't safe to use them while the eclipse is partial because I don't have separate filters for them. However, I've checked and it is not only safe but highly recommended to use them during totality; just make darn sure you put them down before any Baley's Beads show up.)

Margret

The gauze sounds like a good idea. arouetta , is that feasible for you?

AWM was ranting at me last night about the fact that when I got eclipse glasses I only got three pairs. I told her that, at the time I got them (back at the end of July, for perspective), there were only going to be three people here for the eclipse; AWM, RB, and me. I also pointed out that I told her exactly where the glasses and that she could easily have gotten more if she thought they weren't enough for all of us. (I know she's just lashing out. There was no heat; just me defending myself.)

 

[tallyollyopia]

All right, does anyone have advice about this? Ra has been skittish ever since the plate broke in front of him, and it's not getting better. (Bright side, it's not getting worse.) Is there anything I can do to help the cat reach his former levels of chill, not bothered by anything?

 

[tallyollyopia]

Late tomorrow night I'm leaving for Wyoming, planning to drive in the wee hours and take back roads to avoid the parking lot that the interstate is going to turn into. I'm hoping to make it to Glendo, a small town of about 250 that's smack dab in the center of the eclipse path. Before I leave I still have some last minute shopping and preparations to do, so don't anybody worry about me if I'm offline for a couple of days. I'll take my computer along just in case I can find a place with public Wi-Fi, but I'm not relying on it. I was fortunate enough to score an extremely good pair of eclipse glasses for free; a friend in my computer club brought a whole bunch of them in for us, so now it's just a question of whether I can get there, and then get home again (they're predicting that the roads will be even worse after the eclipse). I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll be able to find a hamburger place that's open so I can get at least a little bit of variety; the snack food I'm taking is likely to get tiresome if it's all I have to eat. (It will, however, prevent stomach pangs, and I'm packing some cookies in case of hypoglycemia, so that'll be okay.)

Binoculars are already in the car. (Yes, I do know that it isn't safe to use them while the eclipse is partial because I don't have separate filters for them. However, I've checked and it is not only safe but highly recommended to use them during totality; just make darn sure you put them down before any Baley's Beads show up.)

Margret

I hope you have lots of fun!

All right, at the risk of sounding manic (but I'm just waiting on painkillers to kick in before I can go back to bed), one of the things in Grandma's papers was this transport tube roll full of posters. There's about eight or nine of the things, and most of them are circus posters (no idea why). One of them is beautiful poster of the sun dawning through storm clouds over an ocean beach. (Maybe I can get AWM to take a picture of it so that I can post it here for everyone to see.) Here's the funny part; I did some research about framing and learned that one of the current trends is to make "floating" pictures, where there's a good span of glass between the picture and the edge of the frame. I thought it would be a fun project for this poster, so I got one from Wal-Mart (I was there anyway, getting milk). Here's the funny part--the picture fit exactly into the frame! I thought I got it too big, but it was perfect!

So, I mentioned that to ask this: what would be the best way to go about selling the vintage posters? Should we, or should we leave them in their protective tube for another generation?

(Another thing we found was a counseling letter that a priest--as in Catholic--sent Grandma when she was fifteen. He said that while he could, indeed, understand that she was utterly devoted to God, he didn't think that the convent was quite the right place for her. My mind was blown. After all, she had three kids and one divorce! And, once upon a time, she wanted to be a nun! Wow--just--wow. )

 

[artiemom]

It is very strange what you can find, going through a loved ones treasures...

 

[Mother Dragon]

All right, does anyone have advice about this? Ra has been skittish ever since the plate broke in front of him, and it's not getting better. (Bright side, it's not getting worse.) Is there anything I can do to help the cat reach his former levels of chill, not bothered by anything?

Have you tried a Feliway diffuser? Many vets and feline specialists use them. We find they help keep the peace around here. The downside is that they're expensive, even from Chewey, which seems to have the best price so far.

You might also start feeding him somewhat close to where the accident happened. Move the food gradually closer. You can give treats there, too, so he associates the place with something good instead of something bad. Play therapy is great, especially a cat dancer or laser beam. Those give him self-confidence because he can catch them. You might sit on the floor near where the noise occurred and let him come to you. When he does, pet him and softly reassure him that he's OK and all's right with the world. Once he'e sure the plate monster isn't going to get him again, all will be OK.

 

[segelkatt]

Well, the service was today. I had work last night and was supposed to get off at six, but got off later.

Let me explain. We've had major problems with shoplifting except for when the manager and assistant manager are in the store. So, in order to keep the times they come in random in the eyes of the customers, they've been taken off the store schedule that's printed and hung in the office. Okay? Okay.

Six o'clock rolled around with no sign of my relief, but to be honest, my relief is almost never on time anyway. I wasn't too worried. Six twenty rolled around and I was getting antsy. I went back to check the schedule (remember, neither the manager nor the assistant manager are on it) and the next person scheduled to come was at ten in the morning. (The memorial service was at eleven.) No way. At six-thirty I began calling. At six-thirty-five, I reached my manager--who had overslept. Long story short, I wasn't able to get out until seven thirty (which, for those of you counting, was nine-and-a-half hours on my feet). I got home, found my church clothes (even if I could have gotten away with wearing a work uniform to service, no way could I have worn the same one I worked in--lots of stuff spills over the course of the night), ate something (because, ha-ha--no breaks), did dishes (so that I would have something to eat on), got ready, loaded into the truck with everyone else, and had to make a couple of stops on the way. One, the funeral home had forgotten to put Grandma's ashes in the cooling chamber so that they'd be ready for the urn this morning, so we had to swing by and pick her up. Then we went to pick up IU (Irresponsible Uncle--trust me, he earned it), who decided that he was going to follow us to the church instead. And then spent ten minutes circling the church looking for a place to park because the church is, quite literally, in the middle of a field with no paved lot or drive. (No, I don't know why; it predates me.) For some reason he had a problem parking in a field.

The service was beautiful and well done. They did a live feed on Facebook for those who couldn't come (my Grandpa, her ex-husband, even created a Facebook account so that he could watch it). Her husband's family came, including this one young woman who was with seven children (I'm not clear if they're all hers or if she was just watching them for other members of the congregation). I think I handled it well. Well, I handled it well until that young woman came up to me and asked if I felt like I was shaming my grandmother's memory by not dressing better for church. (After that conversation I did something bad--I gave all seven children two honey-sticks each so they'd be bouncing off the walls.)

As the daughter of the deceased, AWM had to stay after the ceremony, but since by this point I was approaching twenty hours without sleep (I have to get up three hours before work or I'm not awake enough to function at work), RB took me home. I was starting to feel guilty about hyping up all the kids that young woman had to take care of when, as we were leaving, she made a comment about how I didn't care enough to see the whole ceremony through. Nope. No guilt at all.

Changing this subject a bit, we were going through some boxes and papers of Grandma's when we discovered something: she kept every letter, every card, and every picture that we (her children and grandchildren) ever gave her. One of them was even a picture I drew in art class that I got in trouble for at school. (The subject was "Strange Worlds" so I drew and colored a picture of a person in a boat looking at an island in the sky that had trees growing cookies on it with a unicorn looking back at the figure in the boat. I thought it was appropriate, but the teacher thought it was bad because 1) cookies don't grow on trees and 2) tree bark isn't red. Apparently there was nothing wrong with the unicorn though.) Well, Grandma put a gold star on the back with the words "Most Creative". I teared up a little, seeing it.

There is no such thing as a a"sugar high", that has been proven to be incorrect but the story keeps hanging on.

 

[kashmir64]

(I'm sorry. My evil side came out for a moment.)

No problem. It was either laugh like a crazy person or I would have hurt them.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

There is no such thing as a a"sugar high", that has been proven to be incorrect but the story keeps hanging on.

They keep telling me that but having reared two boys who loved sweets, I am not convinced. In fact, loving them myself, I am not completely convinced.

Late tomorrow night I'm leaving for Wyoming, planning to drive in the wee hours and take back roads to avoid the parking lot that the interstate is going to turn into. I'm hoping to make it to Glendo, a small town of about 250 that's smack dab in the center of the eclipse path. Before I leave I still have some last minute shopping and preparations to do, so don't anybody worry about me if I'm offline for a couple of days. I'll take my computer along just in case I can find a place with public Wi-Fi, but I'm not relying on it. I was fortunate enough to score an extremely good pair of eclipse glasses for free; a friend in my computer club brought a whole bunch of them in for us, so now it's just a question of whether I can get there, and then get home again (they're predicting that the roads will be even worse after the eclipse). I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll be able to find a hamburger place that's open so I can get at least a little bit of variety; the snack food I'm taking is likely to get tiresome if it's all I have to eat. (It will, however, prevent stomach pangs, and I'm packing some cookies in case of hypoglycemia, so that'll be okay.)

Binoculars are already in the car. (Yes, I do know that it isn't safe to use them while the eclipse is partial because I don't have separate filters for them. However, I've checked and it is not only safe but highly recommended to use them during totality; just make darn sure you put them down before any Baley's Beads show up.)

Margret

I'm right in the path of totality here, from what I'm seeing on the maps.

Tomorrow, instead of watching the eclipse, I shall be inside supervising (ie: watching) as the electrician replaces the damaged cable inside my apartment, which should correct my internet issues! I will be without internet or television for most of the afternoon, so I'm going to get the front of the apartment cleaned...again.

 

[arouetta]

​

They keep telling me that but having reared two boys who loved sweets, I am not convinced. In fact, loving them myself, I am not completely convinced.

Sugar, like any simple carb, can cause a quick burst of energy. That's the basis for those 5 hour energy drinks. However the burst of energy is super short-lived and maybe an hour later, maybe less, your blood glucose is even lower than before you ate the sugary item. That leads to a crash, a period of low energy as your body tries to preserve a bunch of the glucose for your brain. That's why they say there's no sugar high, because it crashes so quickly. However if you keep a steady consumption of sugar going then you are going to ward off the crash and stay on the high energy side.

But other things can mimic a sugar high. It took us a while to figure it out but my sister as a little girl was having a bad reaction to red food dye. Red food dye just made her go bonkers, like a sugar high times 100. Since you mostly find red food dye in candy, the sugar in the candy was blamed for a long time.

 

[tallyollyopia]

Have you tried a Feliway diffuser? Many vets and feline specialists use them. We find they help keep the peace around here. The downside is that they're expensive, even from Chewey, which seems to have the best price so far.

You might also start feeding him somewhat close to where the accident happened. Move the food gradually closer. You can give treats there, too, so he associates the place with something good instead of something bad. Play therapy is great, especially a cat dancer or laser beam. Those give him self-confidence because he can catch them. You might sit on the floor near where the noise occurred and let him come to you. When he does, pet him and softly reassure him that he's OK and all's right with the world. Once he'e sure the plate monster isn't going to get him again, all will be OK.

I'll have to try this.