Post by Patsy Baloney on Jan 19, 2024 9:45:04 GMT -5
I think the new cat has 1 brain cell and she has been flexing it lately. This morning was picking 5:50am (10 minutes before alarms go off, the worst!) to smack the shades against the window so she could look outside. Never mind that we have a big, glass sliding door that is the same view and curtains were open on it. She’s gotta look out the window.
We’ve just started sing-shouting, “It’s the final brain cell” at her to the tune of Final Countdown whenever she does something too goofy to reason.
So excited for more snow today! Work said that we can put off anything that's not time-sensitive and my boss cancelled all our meetings, so I'm going to answer emails and then go sledding!
I am a broken record, my kids are out of school today. That brings them up to a total of 4 school days for 2024 so far. We are doing great. Can't get into any sort of routine. The only routine we know is slothing around.
I am taking the afternoon off. I can't handle working and mild childcare any longer.
We have school in WB. I kept checking my phone for the cancellation robocall this morning, knowing they canceled in your town last night.
Haven't heard anything about dropoff difficulty from H yet, so they must have been fine with dropoff. Although I'm sure it was actually bonkers because of snow accumulation. (I got my haircut at a salon in town last night and the locals said one of our city's plows, allegedly, is broken. lol. Small town talk, man.)
Yesterday my 30 minute commute was 1.5 hrs because of the snow, so let’s just say I’m very glad today is my regular WFH today because it’s snowing again today.
DS is home for a PA day, which makes it even better because neither of us needs to leave the house.
It’s been a week. Monday I got home to DS asking me if he would die if he ate one weed gummy. Apparently he ate a gummy skittle that a random kid was handing out on the bus. So that was a lovely little talk (along with me obsessively googling weed gummy symptoms in a child while watching him like a hawk all night - he was fine, so it obviously was just a regular candy he’d eaten).
Then yesterday his school called me to pick him up because he’d been involved (aka on the receiving end) in an “altercation” involving kicking snow where one kid flipped out and starting attacking the others. I had to take him in to a walk-in clinic to be checked for a concussion, so that was lovely (he’s fine).
My company is heavily involved in shipping so we’re getting daily updates from UPS and FedEx about all the delays due to the weather lately.
Whenever bad weather hits FedEx’s Tennessee hub shit goes awry across the country. UPS seems to have more hubs? But they also just decide to suck for no reason, so…
Today is our first and probably only snow day for this winter season (mild winter over here in central WA state). I can't even tell how much we got yesterday and overnight because it was so windy. Even the libraries are closed and it takes a lot for them to close. I was hoping for a 2 hour delay honestly. Now I have to entertain autistic DS(7.5) so he doesn't watch tv/play video games all day.
My company is heavily involved in shipping so we’re getting daily updates from UPS and FedEx about all the delays due to the weather lately.
Whenever bad weather hits FedEx’s Tennessee hub shit goes awry across the country. UPS seems to have more hubs? But they also just decide to suck for no reason, so…
Yeah bad timing for me, I guess. But it's my new watch coming to me and my suitcase going back to Monos for my exchange so two things I am very invested in!
Has anyone renewed a US passport recently? The internet is saying 6-8 week standard turnaround, does that seem accurate?
My parents are renewing theirs today, and debating paying to expedite. They have ~10 weeks before potentially needing to travel.
I renewed mine in August. The estimates were a bit longer then (maybe 10-12 weeks?), but similar to your parents, I was traveling a few weeks after that timeframe. I paid to expedite just so I wouldn't have to worry about it, and since they don't guarantee arrival within the estimate. It came back in about 2 weeks - I was shocked at how quickly it arrived. My guess is that they'd likely be fine with the standard, but depending on their risk tolerance and anxiety levels, it may be worth it to expedite.
I truly hate having a winter birthday. I think as I've gotten older it's made me care even less about it because 99% of the time it's cold and miserable.
My kid is all excited because it's tomorrow, which is a Saturday, which is a HUGE DEAL for her, but I'm just like "let's hope it doesn't snow."
One day I'll be somewhere tropical on my birthday. Covid ruined 40, maybe 45.
Grass is always greener? I hate my summer birthday. I always have. No one is ever around to celebrate and it’s too hot to do anything outdoors. This past year it was too hot to do anything even indoors because the AC couldn’t keep up at so many restaurants.
We are too far north to see any snow from this storm, which is rare. Fine by me.
You all had me looking up vacations and dreaming of warmer weather yesterday. I am not usually affected by the cold weather but man it would be nice to feel the sun.
Post by blondemoment123 on Jan 19, 2024 10:11:15 GMT -5
My aunt is renting a cabin in Asheville this summer so my parents, DS, and I are tagging along. I can't wait! I need a real vacation so badly and I love Asheville. It feels good to have something to look forward to.
Snow day here! They even closed the military base. But my H still went to work. He will likely have a productive day all by himself, hopefully he comes home early.
I went thrifting last night and I bought a painting that turns out to be worth several hundred dollars. I'm not necessarily a "reseller" but I have sold stuff here and there, mostly stuff I pick up at Estate Sales which funds my antiques habit. I've been doing a lot of work on my house and if I sell it, the proceeds would cover a good portion of my new doors, so I'm pretty excited about this find.
I am always so amazed at these occurrences! lavenderblue , may I ask how you gained your knowledge to have an eye for these things?
I think that it is just something that has developed over time. A lot of googling over the years but now most of the time I know what to look for. For example the painting I found last night, the frame was pretty recognizable as being mid-century, and then a quick examination of the canvas call tell you if it's a print or original (think straight edges vs uneven and flat/smooth surface vs textured). I didn't recognize the artist but was able to do a quick Google photo search and confirm that it was moderately valuable. I also flip furniture but that is a whole different process. If you are on TikTok, search "thrifting" and "thrift finds" and the like, lots of people post their haul videos and some go in to detail of how to identify stuff. I have an Etsy Shop for some of the small items that are easy to ship and then mostly utilize FB Marketplace for bigger items and just sell locally. Like I said, I don't sell a lot, but I've probably made a few thousand dollars over the years doing this.
My area is under a boil water advisory. The pipe has been fixed, but we have to for 24 hours. I ran to Kroger to get bottled water instead. The plastic will all get recycled.
So excited for more snow today! Work said that we can put off anything that's not time-sensitive and my boss cancelled all our meetings, so I'm going to answer emails and then go sledding!
We just did the kids and got them back in about 4 weeks. We were shocked.
Post by lilafowler on Jan 19, 2024 10:26:28 GMT -5
Another gripe-my kid has unfortunately inherited my giant clown feet which means she takes my shoes and wears them if hers can’t be found or are “inconvenient”. She wore my snow boots to school today-luckily it’s a WFH day so I don’t need to be out and about-because “I don’t know where mine are.” I found them in the closet underneath something after she insisted she “looked everywhere”.
She also takes my coats! I am 1000000 sizes bigger than her. I told her the people at school are going to think nobody loves her because she shows up looking like a hobo clown and realized I sound exactly like my mother. 😭
Snow day! They called it early last night so that took away the stress of wondering and I'm working from home. My son went to Medieval Times on a class trip yesterday and had such a blast. He got some crazy light up mug and I gave him money for a souvenir and he got a giant sword. Also light up. He Knighted the dog, excuse me, his trusty steed. So if you're wondering - 13 isn't "too old" for Medieval Times. LOL
My kids were funny this morning. We went out of the house through the garage to wait for the bus. They see my car, after not having it around the last 2 months, and wanted to go in it..just to check it out...because they missed it.
Basketball, playdates, parents' night out (so some childfree time!) this weekend. Busy, busy!
Post by followyourarrow on Jan 19, 2024 10:38:28 GMT -5
TMI Warning
With 4 dogs, 2 cats, and adult child in the house, sex can be challenging at our house. Last night the child was in her room with noise cancelling headphone on, playing a game. The dogs were all sleeping. We decided to take advantage of this. We were getting down to business when FI suddenly shrieks and jumps, one of the dogs had come and booped him in the butt with a cold wet nose. So much for that! LOL
heygrey this is a few months old now but in late August I renewed my passport with expedited. It specifically asks if you have upcoming travel plans, which I assume helps process it even quicker. I got it in 2 weeks, though my documents took a few more weeks to return to me (old passport, divorce docs since I was changing my name).
Has anyone renewed a US passport recently? The internet is saying 6-8 week standard turnaround, does that seem accurate?
My parents are renewing theirs today, and debating paying to expedite. They have ~10 weeks before potentially needing to travel.
I renewed mine in August. The estimates were a bit longer then (maybe 10-12 weeks?), but similar to your parents, I was traveling a few weeks after that timeframe. I paid to expedite just so I wouldn't have to worry about it, and since they don't guarantee arrival within the estimate. It came back in about 2 weeks - I was shocked at how quickly it arrived. My guess is that they'd likely be fine with the standard, but depending on their risk tolerance and anxiety levels, it may be worth it to expedite.
Their risk tolerance is about -100. I floated the idea of visiting them over spring break, but it means they have to pick us up in Toronto. Both of them thought their passports expired in august, but they checked last night and it’s actually February. They paid to have them expedited this morning before I could even talk to them.
A friend of mine has an eye for finding things that turn out to be quite valuable. Years ago she picked up a truly truly hideous looking doll at some garage sale or estate sale. I don’t remember how much she paid, but it was less than $10 and it turned out to be a highly collectible doll worth thousands of dollars.
I love watching antiques roadshow, and more often than not the things that turn out to be super valuable are things that I find so ugly I wouldn’t take them if someone had handed them to me for free! I guess I do not have an eye for fine art!
It's snowy here again today! My work actually closed but telework and telehealth is still happening, so for most of us that just means a normal workload day. We didn't close on Tuesday and I think they got a lot of complaints about it. This has been the first major snowfall since I've worked there (for over 2 years!) so I wasn't sure how they would handle it.
I made morning glory muffins this morning, which were delicious. We don't really have any plans to go anywhere this weekend - we are having friends over to play games tomorrow night and a couple of scheduled things to do from home tomorrow, but nothing outside of the house. I have become such a homebody in the last few years and never want to go anywhere, but I also know it's good for you to get out of the house sometimes... Maybe next weekend, lol.
I visited our dog at the shelter last night. He's super cute and seems relatively well behaved - he didn't really bark at all when he was out in the shelter's yard and there were plenty of things to bark at. He was playing with some other small dogs and was pretty into it, but when a little puppy tried to join he recognized that it was smaller and didn't jump all over it. I am hoping that bodes well for how he'll be with our cat. The only thing that I am a little worried about is that he marks a LOT - including indoors. He isn't neutered so hopefully having that done this weekend will help. And also shelters are stressful and full of other dogs, so it may not be as bad at home when he's the only one and it's chill here. But I have a feeling we're going to have to do some pretty careful training around this because I do NOT want our house full of dog pee! I ordered some belly bands to prevent problems in the meantime.
Snow day over here, too. For my dd (4th) it’s her first real snow day and she did not understand what we were saying when we told her. She’s still a little suspicious that she’s suppose to be signing on for virtual school and we’re lying to her, lol.
I exercised, cleaned a bit, now I’m going to have some coffee and make French toast with powdered sugar- just like my nana would do when I’d have a snow day. We’re suppose to meet up with friends to go sledding whenever ds wakes up, which will probably be sometime after lunch. Then they’re coming over for dinner tonight.
I’m glad to have so much going on today because we find out at 5pm if dd got into the same magnet middle school ds goes to and I’m very anxious. We love her school and it would be fine if she stayed, but this middle school is a huge opportunity and the schedule change would be amazing for H.
A friend of mine has an eye for finding things that turn out to be quite valuable. Years ago she picked up a truly truly hideous looking doll at some garage sale or estate sale. I don’t remember how much she paid, but it was less than $10 and it turned out to be a highly collectible doll worth thousands of dollars.
I love watching antiques roadshow, and more often than not the things that turn out to be super valuable are things that I find so ugly I wouldn’t take them if someone had handed them to me for free! I guess I do not have an eye for fine art!
H and I went to a taping of the antiques roadshow once! It was so much fun! We found out that the pin-watch thing from his grandmother was worth a few hundred, but if we could find the original watch that came in the box we brought it in it would be worth much, much more. What a fun mystery! Lol
Has anyone renewed a US passport recently? The internet is saying 6-8 week standard turnaround, does that seem accurate?
My parents are renewing theirs today, and debating paying to expedite. They have ~10 weeks before potentially needing to travel.
ETA: they decided to expedite them. I haven’t committed to visiting them yet, but the idea that a delay would mean I can’t was too much risk for their grandparent hearts. Now I guess I have to suck it up and pay for overpriced flights 🙃
We did them for the kids this fall and without paying for expediting we had them back in roughly 6 weeks. I was surprised.