| Tillie | Posted: 06 April 2020 - 10:16 PM |
Hey Lately some of the sentences were incomplete and then visible and so forth and so on. To not offend anybody with Triskaidekaphobia I made this phase 14. See you soon π | |
Replies (1639)
| Tillie | Posted: 01 November 2020 - 09:36 AM |
G'mornin again Hi Subclinical About getting sick, I too am afraid that I would pass it on to someone else and I just never want to do that. This whole mess must be extra hard on young adults. They feel immortal and want the life they have envisioned with all the socializing. New spatulas! I was looking at them a while ago and they tend to be more expensive than they used to be. Happy Heart Gs is doing well at the school and hoping it becomes easier for him. (((HUG))) WTG! Dh for replacing the bulbs so it will be brighter for you. Most sincere condolences that the washer & dryer are simply just POS. Thank you for siding with me on outing Steven. Wish I could say something to help with your anxiety, nail biting and skin scratching. You should put out some Halloween decorations. I have three Halloween decorations that were Granma's. They are thin painted tin depictions of a black cat, jackolantern and witch riding her broom. | |
| Subclinical | Posted: 01 November 2020 - 05:28 AM |
Good morning. Sitting her with the moon and a body that says the time change is a lie. Tatoulia, the teaching is hard this year - it's hard because there are a lot of fun/cool things I can't do and I can't figure out how to adapt, and because I have to be constantly vigilant to keep them safe and enforce so many new rules. I am keeping very strict limits and protocols in my life, and I am not at all comfortable with some things that are "allowed". People think that I must be very afraid of getting sick. But I am not afraid of getting sick. I think I would be sick, and then I would be fine. I am very afraid of having this shut down my school, or much, much worse, spread in my classroom or through me and kill someone. Harder than teaching is the effect this has on my relationship with my youngest. She is making her own choices, and I understand that she is social and physical and young and in a new and fun relationship. She is also working two in person jobs. But she misses me, and I miss her, and she does not understand my position. And worse than wishing I could welcome her home and hug her and make the holidays fun for her, is the fact that I cannot help judging her for not understanding. Good luck with your donation bag and kitchen plans. Tillie, you do plenty! And good job outing Steven to his friends. It would be wonderful if he lost his enablers and truly improved! Any small victory is something. Yesterday I froze the ice cream, made fudge sauce, ran a load of laundry, made seven small rounds of the easy cheese, and ran the dishwasher. I meant to run a second load of dishes last night, but I forgot to put my glass in and start it. I did not carve my pumpkin. My favorite holidays are my birthday, Halloween, and Christmas. This year I "celebrated" my birthday by asking Dh for new kitchen spatulas, which he got me, and going to work - where they have left me off the staff birthday chart and where I did not tell anyone it was my birthday. β€οΈGs came by my room the next day to say "happy late birthday! I wanted to come tell you yesterday but my schedule got too busy." (Meaning one or more of his teachers probably grabbed him for something during his free choice - school has been rough for him, but he is doing worlds better with us than in public school.) My participation in the school spirit week (pun) leading up to Halloween was minimal and cynical at best (my "outfits" were a series of t-shirts or sweatshirts, that is so not me that other teachers commented) And the only decorations I put out were my Halloween table cloth and a jock-o-lantern candle for yoga. Yesterday was gorgeous here and I spent the day inside because I feel like the milk and the tomatoes and the housekeeping are all getting ahead of me and I am terrified that if I go into winter like this I will collapse under the weight of it all. I am biting my nails and scratching my skin raw again and I thank god I can't go into thrift stores. Today the weather is supposed to be rainy and windy and cold again, and my barn is also a mess (Dh, knowing I am light dependent, just replaced all the bulbs so it is super bright daylight spectrum in there to help me get through chores this winter) I am thinking about giving myself a do over on Halloween and putting my decorations out for the next week, but I don't know if it would help, and I'm not sure I can find the energy. I kind of just want it to be Halloween until all this is over. I can't think about the other holidays. The dryer is in, and now I am going to complain once about my new appliances and then accept the things I cannot change. These are not the same things I had. These are definitely a trade down. I should have spent a little more time looking at the controls and talking to Dh, but honestly, I am not going to go to a laundromat, so I would be doing all our laundry by hand, and these were available fast, and beggars can't be choosers. The washer is very loud. It makes a squeaky noise. You can hear it all over the house - I cannot start a load and go to bed. It has only cold as a rinse option. It does not have a hand wash cycle, which my old washer did have and which I used a lot in the winter for nice sweaters. I will be actually washing those sweaters by hand now. Which means I will also be spending a lot more time cleaning sinks. And they will take longer to dry without the gentle spin cycle, and there will be more towels to wash as I will roll them in a towel to squeeze the water out before putting them out to dry. The dryer has three settings - "air fluff", "medium" and "high". That's it. When I commented that it did not have a "low" heat setting, Dh asked "what do you dry on low heat?" And my reply was "everything." It was literally the only setting I used unless I was throwing in something with a wet towel to steam out wrinkles. It has a very loud buzzer that you can't turn off, so I can't start it and go to bed either. I also can't start it in the morning before Dh gets up, but since I can't do wash at night either, I guess that doesn't matter. So I have lost half the time I usually do laundry, and the odds of washing anything during the school week are pretty low. The lint trap feels cheap and fragile and I will probably break it. Neither machine has the lovely count down timer that was on both of my old machines and let me know when I should come back and change the load over. The new machines work. They are more attractive than the old machines. The washer has much more capacity than my old one, which Dh feels should make me happy because I was always looking for more capacity, but that was when I had three kids on a farm. Now it is just us and I rarely have a full load before I need to wash things. It does have a "bulky" setting that is supposed to keep it from getting unbalanced and trying to shake itself apart if you fill it with towels or a comforter or your quilted barn coveralls. That is nice. I have to remember to filter the vinegar today. I'm sorry I have written a whiney book. | |
| Tillie | Posted: 01 November 2020 - 05:00 AM |
Good Morning Hi Tatoulia Would be wonderful if the bathroom was all finished this year. Good luck getting donations to the car and the faucet in and measured. Halloween here was the same as always. Had my jack0lantern lit and Twinkles gacked up a hairball. I am awake because it's been seven hours since my last OTC pain meds so I'm awake. | |
| Tatoulia | Posted: 31 October 2020 - 07:17 PM |
Tillie you are doing a great job of taking care of yourself and doing chores. I so wish you could have some sleep! I had good sleep Thursday night and Friday night and today was up and ready for errands. SubC I cannot imagine the sheer anxiety of teaching in this environment. I applaud you and wish I could absorb some of the anxiety. Today I went and deposited my mother's ballot, so now we have both voted. I also picked up some meat to make her spaghetti tomorrow. I did a few errands with BF but ended up just sitting in the car and doing my crossword while he did errands. Then I walked up Whole Foods to get mom stuff and dropped it off, then walked back with BF to Whole Foods. I did a load of cat blankets today too, Tillie. I combined it with my slippers and jeans. Now I just did a load of unmentionable s and I hung them up and decided to do a bit more laundry. My goal this weekend is to get the donation bags up to my car. I need to contact that woman I met at goodwill as I have some nice things for her. I bought my faucet, and as soon as I get it out of my car and confirm it will work, I'll schedule someone to replace if for me. I ran into my painter while hunting for Tigger and asked him to do my kitchen in November. I think he'll need one coat of primer and two of the paint. I am in love with my bathroom and I hope to get my chandelier rewired and restored so I can have that hung. Maybe by Christmas! We got our first snow yesterday and it was such a pretty scene out the window by my desk. It's melted now for the most part. So odd to have a Halloween without all the little kids around. It's gotten progressively busier over the years, a far cry from my first year here and one of the young women upstairs asked me if I wanted to hand out candy. At that time, I was worried we'd get shot. I've watched this neighborhood for 25 years. Ok I need to make dinner. Crazy week but I got all my steps in! Thank you for supporting me. I really appreciate your friendship. | |
| Tillie | Posted: 31 October 2020 - 04:27 PM |
Carved my pumpkin π Ran the vacuum around but didn't move anything, just got up the fur Twinkles sheds all over. Doing a load of rags. Scooped litter box and swept the floor. That's enough. π | |
| Tillie | Posted: 31 October 2020 - 12:36 PM |
HAPPY HALLOWEEN π Hi Subclinical WTG! for cheese and tomato prep! π Hoping the dryer is exactly perfect for you. Still been seeing him periodically carry out one or two plastic grocery bags of trash from the garage. Since his "friend" died he no longer has anybody on his side telling him what a wonderful thing this hoard of his is. | |
| Subclinical | Posted: 31 October 2020 - 06:53 AM |
Tillie, I'm glad you are doing a little better. One kids was back healthy yesterday, the other two, no news. So far still no reported cases. We did send one student home with a fever two weeks ago whose angry father says she won't get tested, so she should be back 14 days after the fever broke - next week since I'm sure he'll claim the fever was gone in 24 hours. 5 weeks down, 27 to go. The washer is doing ok. I'm adjusting. Dryer might get installed today. Some time this weekend. I prepped ice cream last night and have skim milk in the fridge ready to make cheese. I'm going to work on the tomatoes some more too. They've been slowly ripening/rotting and I've put a couple of gallons of the best ones in the freezer to make into sauce later and fed about 1/2 bushel to the chickens. | |
| Tillie | Posted: 30 October 2020 - 08:26 PM |
Good Evening Got the dishes washed. Steven keeps waking me up when I am asleep, making lots of noises. Since I was awake at 5:30am I went ahead and washed some summertime curtains I took down when I put up the heavier wintertime ones. I laid the two hoses out straight in the sunlight so they will warm up and be easier to roll up to store over winter. Tired but no screaming pain today (knock on wood). | |
| Tillie | Posted: 29 October 2020 - 06:14 PM |
YEA!!!!WOOHOO!!!! I was hopeful since nobody could find him when you all searched. New sign at the office... Hope he is happy and well and so glad to be home again after his great adventure. πΈ Thank you Subclinical (((hug))) Any news on the sick school kids yet? How is the new washer doing? So far so good here with the virus tally. Was hoping the winter cold would stop a lot of the rallies, protests, mass violence and other huge gatherings around the world. | |
| Subclinical | Posted: 29 October 2020 - 04:40 PM |
ππ»Alleluia!ππ» Tatoulia, that is wonderful news! I am so happy to hear that he is safely back home! Tillie, one step at a time. Most important is to keep feeling better. | |
| Tatoulia | Posted: 29 October 2020 - 04:12 PM |
Tigger found! He's back! I picked him up at the MSPCA today! I couldn't believe when I got the call saying, we probably have your cat as someone dropped off a very old tabby cat on Tuesday. He lives! He pooped on the carrier on the way home. I'm good with that. Also helps that I was driving BF's car and not mine. What a miracle. I just called the news station (yes, the news showed up yesterday). It's been crazy. I was still crying last night but had made my peace with it. We learned Wednesday afternoon that someone saw a cat almost get hit by a car, then the person stopped and picked up the cat and put him in the car. So then we knew that he was okay. We even decided that if that person had the cat put to sleep, that was a five ending. We just didn't want him alone and scared. And then I got the call today. M I'm not caught up. At all. I'll read soon. Thank you all. | |
| Tillie | Posted: 29 October 2020 - 11:47 AM |
Good Morning... Doing a bit better today, managed to get a few hours sleep last night. It is driving me crazy to not be able to do all the things around here that need doing. Today I would like to wash the few dishes and do a wash load of my clothing. | |
| Tillie | Posted: 28 October 2020 - 11:28 PM |
Evenin Ya'll Hi CriticalMass Good luck and best wishes with your storage plans. YEA! for getting that doodad for the tablet. π Hi Subclinical Didn't know it is national Bat week. Happy the little ones understand the word. Hi Tatoulia ((((((HUG)))))) | |
| Subclinical | Posted: 28 October 2020 - 02:09 PM |
Tatoulia, I am truly sorry. Please take care of yourself though. Getting sick won't help tigger. Tillie, you keep taking care too. CM, I like weather underground. It's pretty reliable for me. Good luck on your planning and tasks. I have three kids out mystery sick so far today. Probably two olds and a headache. I don't know how you catch a cold if you are taking precautions against covid! Right now is my plan period, then one more class and home. It has been a pretty good day. Also, btw, it is national bat week. Bats eat mosquitos and pollinate chocolate, so they are our friends, but they also can have scary germs, so we have to appreciate them from afar, like our regular friends in the pandemic. My six year olds understand the word pandemic..... | |
| CriticalMass | Posted: 28 October 2020 - 01:25 PM |
Oh no, poor Tigger... π Sending hugs and prayers for you and BF, Tatoulia. Wish you could find him either way so you get closure. I'm still here, we've had that nasty white stuff βοΈ turning to rain today then nicer weather on the way tomorrow and beyond, for awhile anyway. I'm sad that we have to set the clocks back on Halloween. Usually there is a gap of a week so that doesn't spoil Halloween. Not that we do much special for Halloween, but still. The timing of things is just WEIRD this year. And into next year. I was fixing my paper monthly planning calendar, adding Social Security paydays and my Catholic holydays, birthdays, highlighting stuff, etc. This year on New Year's Eve, for instance, I have the payday that would normally be in January 2021. Then later on in March, payday falls on Good Friday (which is a day of fasting and one which I tend to spend quietly and not go out if I can avoid it, but I'll have to get out maybe, unless I have a strategy). Like I said, weird timing. Also lots of paydays next year end up with long stretches between them, so more time of being broke and penny pinching. I really hate monthly paydays, always have. They rarely time out well. Right now I'm rather broke, with no immediate end in sight. Bleah. But I did manage to get a doo-dad for my new tablet, for under $10, that lets me back up files to a USB flash drive. I have a lot of file sorting and backups to do now between the two tablets and the laptop. Today is the first day in several that has had a decent stretch of time to get some computer stuff done. Previous days have been disjointed still, and I've been doing poorly on sleep so also took some naps. Thanks everyone for reminding me about the fluffing of stuff in the storage unit. That helps me feel better. The weather is probably going to be nice enough again that I can accomplish more over there. So that's a happy thought. We're in somewhat of a holding pattern since roommate's surgery is coming up. But I can do some of my work in that week prior, then get ready to help out, take care of the pets, etc. The dog got his shots yesterday but I think she's not going to board him, to save money. I can manage him. The cats and bunnies I'm used to the routine for, and I've done the dog a few times too. We'll see what the weather will be like then. I hope not cold or sloppy and muddy. It may be cold on those days, though. I discovered the Weather Underground monthly forecast calendar recently so I use that. Hopefully I'll be more awake and organized and post more. Unless I'm over at the storage unit but if I'm there, that's a good thing. Probably starting Monday. Between now and then may run a few errands, exchange a fan that quit, misc. like that. | |
| Tillie | Posted: 28 October 2020 - 01:06 PM |
Good Morning Sunny and cold. | |
| Tillie | Posted: 27 October 2020 - 09:57 PM |
NOOOOOOOOO So so very very sorry Tatoulia ((((((((HUGS)))))))) Hi Subclinical It is hard to adjust to a new appliance that doesn't live up to the reputation of the old one. Hope your Dh gets all improved from the painful therapy. This is not a political post but just a local observation... | |
| Tatoulia | Posted: 27 October 2020 - 08:57 PM |
Tigger is lost and presumed dead. I am heartbroken. Took the day off looking for him. I can't believe this. BF and a team hunted til 3AM. I was notified about 7AM and spent the day looking for him. I don't think he would've survived the cold last night. I haven't had enough to drink today I am dehydrated. And I'm sick to my stomach. He was a strictly indoor cat but somehow he got out and the f-+&#= a$&()4 was told by a passerby, is it ok that tigger is outside and he not only said yes but he didn't tell BF. And when BF couldnt find him at the end of the night, he hunted everywhere and he called the kid who said, I may have seen him by the door. And at 12:50 AM the employee called, shocked that BF was at the office, and told the truth that customers had come in concerned that the cat was outside and he did nothing. I'm so upset and have been crying all day. | |
| Subclinical | Posted: 27 October 2020 - 07:56 PM |
Tillie, I'm very glad your have food and water. But three gallons is still 24#. I hope you didn't overdo it. Dh started physical therapy for his back this week. He's bern doing exercises and he says now everything is sore. The dryer is not switched out yet. I have mixed feelings about the washer, but I will have to process them later because they make me feel like a whiney spoiled brat. I have a washer. Millions of people don't even have clean water. I only had to wait one day! I got a load done last night. Yay for birthday cake and toilet seats and getting plastic up to stay warm! My dishwasher is running. I had a pretty good day at school, but I am very tired and my list only gets longer, not shorter. Today I realized I lost count of how many days of school are left. That is a good thing. There is now a tent outside the hospital I drive past to get to work. Obviously, that is not a good thing. | |
| Tillie | Posted: 27 October 2020 - 05:39 PM |
Well, I did it! There have been rumblings online that there will be another rush of hoarding happening and from the looks of the store it has begun. Still NO cleaning supplies to be had but there is plenty of toilet paper, the TP hoarders must still have their huge supplies. No hairball control cat snax but plenty of big bags of kitty cereal. Everything is brought in and put properly away. I'm tired and sore but happy I did it. | |
| Tillie | Posted: 27 October 2020 - 11:13 AM |
Good Morning Everybody Hi Tatoulia Good luck getting bags out, coffee table cleared and getting cleaning Fairies in π With the dining area window covered it stayed much warmer in here over night. | |
| Tatoulia | Posted: 26 October 2020 - 09:35 PM |
Thanks, Tillie! Please be careful tomorrow. I will feel better knowing that you and cats have food. SubC your comments about your sil's mother are so sweet. I'm just letting them roll around my brain and soul. Tillie once the faucet is changed out, the leak will stop. I've ignored it for too long. Time to fix that. Yes very little kitchen wall space but I do have 12 foot ceilings so the space is way up high! My goal for tomorrow is to get donation bags to car and to clear off coffee table. Cleaners come on Tuesday!' | |
| Tillie | Posted: 26 October 2020 - 08:34 PM |
WTG! Miss Kitty!!! π YEA!!! Tatoulia & Badger for putting on the new toilet seat!!! Sounds like Mom had a lovely Birthday ;D Yeah, if the color will be acceptable in the kitchen I say "GO FOR IT". Today the discomfort has not been as bad as yesterday. | |
| Tatoulia | Posted: 26 October 2020 - 07:06 PM |
Yay for seeing the Bean! Sleepy baby! And congratulations on the new washer and dryer! Boy, you've been productive, SubC! Wow! Tillie I worry so. I'm sorry about the pain. I'm sure the kitties appreciated the vacuumed perch. Well I changed the toilet seat! Did it tonight since it's trash night. So nice to have a new one! Trash is out! My next important task is to get a new bathroom faucet. This was a problem earlier in the year and it's driving me nuts. So even though I have a bunch of other things I want to do next, I'm going to go get the new faucet then hire a plumber. This will be an important upgrade to stop the leaking. I think over Thanksgiving I'll see if my painter can paint my kitchen with the leftover bathroom paint. There's enough. I did initiate a return but the postage and restocking fee and trying to package it took the thrill out of it for me. So I'll have him paint my kitchen. I'm got mom's cake (traditional birthday cake yellow cake and white buttercream frosting) and strawberry ice cream. The coat I bought her fit perfectly. I may have mentioned that one of my friends sent her flowers but ultimately two of my friends sent her flowers so she had a really wonderful day. I did not cook. Will do next weekend. I couldn't work out the timing and the chef was making her a special meal at 5 PM. ***Okay SubC look away. I have discovered that using a litter pan plastic liner has revolutionized my life. The box stays perfectly clean. *** My kitty has been a real champ and is using the new covered litter box. We are having no pee-related accidents. Okay that's the news. | |
| Tillie | Posted: 26 October 2020 - 04:25 PM |
Sounds like you have been having a very nice day Subclinical π So happy for you having the new machines there. Such happy times you and Bean have. Love your story about the clock. Got the dining area window properly plasticized/winterized and the temps went up nicely in here. | |
| Subclinical | Posted: 26 October 2020 - 04:05 PM |
Hi all! Bean is sleeping in my lap. We've had a good day and his mommy will pick him up in about 20 minutes. He was a super eater and was interested in some of the toys I got out and distracted "Paoa" into taking a long lunch. He hardly fusses at all. He likes the cuckoo clock too, which makes me happy. It belonged to my grandparents. My cousin was afraid of it, so they would stop it when she came over, then my grandfather would wait for me to restart it and hold me up so I could very carefully advance the hands to the right time, stopping to enjoy the cuckoo on each half circle. My new washer and dryer are in the truck, so the big project for this evening is clearing out the laundry room, bailing the washer, removing the old appliances, cleaning the floor, and putting the new appliances in. Or as far as we get. | |
| Tillie | Posted: 26 October 2020 - 10:18 AM |
Good Morning Everybody Hi Subclinical So relieved your Dh is working to get in another washer there. Have a wonderful time today with your Bean. π Finally managed to get a bit of sleep last night. Really need to plasticize dining area window!!! I put up two layers of plastic over it from the inside. | |
| Subclinical | Posted: 26 October 2020 - 04:25 AM |
Tillie, I'm really sorry. I hope you got some rest last night and today is better. The washing machine is very old and has been slowly failing - one cycle at a time. Yesterday the pump gave up. The plan has been to do some research, shop around, and replace it and the dryer - which has a cracked drum - at the end if the year. So I guess the washer had enough of 2020 too. Due to current shopping conditions and the sudden failure, "research" involved Dh getting online, deciding the pump was too expensive and not available fast enough to replace, and finding the current year model of the same appliances (which I have liked fine) available in store locally at a tiny discount. Today he will try to arrange pick up. The Grammie car seat is installed in my car and I will meet Dd at her job site at 11:00 to get my Bean (unless she decides she can't do her morning from home and calls me at 8.) | |
| Tillie | Posted: 25 October 2020 - 10:08 PM |
Good Evening Everyone Hi Subclinical WTG! Your Dh did fantastic shopping today!!! So depressing your washing machine is broken... Way To Go! Been a bad day for me. Too much pain to do anything but writhe around in bed. | |
| Subclinical | Posted: 25 October 2020 - 05:06 PM |
My washing machine is broken, my dishwasher is running for the second time, I planted my garlic, I made two wheels of mozzarella cheese and a pint of ricotta, and the ice cream maker is going. Kitchen isn't too bad, scullery is awful. Dh and I cleaned the chimney and he has been going around replacing light bulbs and repairing light fixtures. He had to go to a store and managed to find me four dozen regular sized lids! He had to buy them with bands, but that's ok. The bands wear out eventually and I will still need bands for my Reusable lids. Dsil texted me and asked if I might still be available to watch Bean tomorrow. I said of course. He is going to talk to Dd and get back to me. | |