Earth Muffin's Mellow Coffee Shop

[toomuchreality]

Dec 9, 2023 11:37:00 GMT -5 busymom said:

Dec 9, 2023 2:04:52 GMT -5 Opti said:

There are many people on vacation and USPS is a subcontractor as well for Amazon and others. I saw three different delivery vehicles here in less than one hour. Order volume is way up so I'd try to find out where the problem lies as its more than 2 weeks before Christmas per my calendar.

I am not however trying to have anything to arrive in time for Christmas as I no longer do Xmas gifts unless it is my critters. The stuff I buy on sale for me are not Christmas gifts for me as I am usually waiting for the once yearly sales to buy shoes or whatever at the lowest price I know it usually sells for.

The gifts you are waiting on, was it USPS on both ends, i.e. shipped from a USPS facility to another USPS facility?

    They've been passing packages from one delivery company to another, like they're passing a football.  I might expect a delivery from USPS, and then a UPS truck shows up.  Sometimes FedEx gets involved too, but very rarely these days do I get a package from the original company I was told would deliver it.  It's frustrating to keep up, and I'm thankful I get text messages so I can halfway keep up.  It must be a nightmare to work for any delivery company these days.  It's certainly NOT unusual for packages to arrive after 8 pm here, and since it's dark by 5, I imagine reading house numbers is a royal pain.

The other night, I checked for packages around 10-10:30pm, before I went to bed. No packages. But when the police showed up at 1:30am, there was a delivered package, outside the door.
DD2s house numbers are hard to see during the day and I know what/where they are! I can't imagine reading them in the dark!

Speaking of which, I better go check for packages.

[busymom]

Dec 9, 2023 20:16:42 GMT -5 toomuchreality said:

Dec 9, 2023 11:37:00 GMT -5 busymom said:

    They've been passing packages from one delivery company to another, like they're passing a football.  I might expect a delivery from USPS, and then a UPS truck shows up.  Sometimes FedEx gets involved too, but very rarely these days do I get a package from the original company I was told would deliver it.  It's frustrating to keep up, and I'm thankful I get text messages so I can halfway keep up.  It must be a nightmare to work for any delivery company these days.  It's certainly NOT unusual for packages to arrive after 8 pm here, and since it's dark by 5, I imagine reading house numbers is a royal pain.

The other night, I checked for packages around 10-10:30pm, before I went to bed. No packages. But when the police showed up at 1:30am, there was a delivered package, outside the door.
DD2s house numbers are hard to see during the day and I know what/where they are! I can't imagine reading them in the dark!

Speaking of which, I better go check for packages.

     Please go home, & let your DD worry about her own packages.  Pretty ballsy of both her & your SIL to expect you to manage the fort when you're sick.  JMHO.

[toomuchreality]

Dec 9, 2023 14:36:51 GMT -5 NancysSummerSip said:

Peeps, I have had a great day so far, though not exactly to plan.

The race was great. Finished 8th of 23 in my five-year age group, so not unhappy with that, and very happy with the time. Never ran in a winery before. Weather was good, but a little warm.

I got a text on the drive up from my SIL, so I knew it could not be good.

She got COVID on the cruise. Yup, Miss Anti-Vax Forever got COVID. I did not text back "neener neener neener!" Just advised her and my brother to get home and to the nearest doc/clinic/hospital to get treated. I know she won't go. They will check her vaccination status on the state website.

So I got a quick bite on the way home, and got new running shoes for asphalt races, and some socks. Also did a Walmart stop; it was surprising civilized in there, considering it was late morning.

Got home and unpacked the car. DH said he was not ready for lunch yet, so we trimmed the hedges. I have two loads of laundry done and the house vacuumed.

I had two chicken breasts from last night that I did not cook. Mozzarella cheese was on sale this week, so chicken parm it is.

Congrats on your day/race!
Sorry about your SIL getting Covid, but not surprised.
My SonIL got it too. He's also an anti vaxxer. Shocker!


I'm all packed up and ready to go home tomorrow. DD said they won't get home until after 11pm. I told her, I will be gone before they get here. I will probably dress and go home, when I wake up (noon?). I'll shower when I get home, so I don't have to clean the shower glass etc, before I leave.

[toomuchreality]

I told DD I won't get the bedding changed before I go. She said, please don't worry about it.
Thank goodness!

[TheOtherMe]

Does she know you sick you have been?  I hope you are feeling better.

[toomuchreality]

Dec 9, 2023 22:36:55 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

Does she know you sick you have been?  I hope you are feeling better.

She knows a little more now.
I'm sure we'll discuss things more, after they get home.

[toomuchreality]

Dec 9, 2023 22:36:55 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

Does she know you sick you have been?  I hope you are feeling better.

Thanks.
Dr said to expect it to last at least 2 weeks minimum, possibly longer. I had it for months when I had it previously. And I was a lot sicker, that time. So hopefully, we caught it early, this time and it doesn't turn to that.
I'm glad I have some masks to wear, if I HAVE to go out, for anything. I don't want to make anyone else sick. Especially at Christmas/ New Years. That's just rude.

[NancysSummerSip]

How about a good brunch and a lot of hot beverages for those who need it?

[TheOtherMe]

Excellent.  Thank you, Nancy

[busymom]

Good Morning Kids!  It is COLD here.  Yes, the heat was on at church, but the building still felt cold.


We did get just enough snow to cover the grass, but it should melt off this week.  Unfortunately, the roads are slick, so you need to take your time driving.  Not everyone has gotten that memo, however...

[NancysSummerSip]

Rain just starting to move in as I was drying off my car (of course!) but at least it is clean. I had no plans to wax it until Christmas weekend, so clean inside and out is good.

Making salmon patties for dinner tonight, using some leftover challah from breakfast this morning.

[Opti]

I wish I was there with Nancy eating those Salmon patties. Apparently it is terrify Opti night again otherwise known as fundraising for volunteer fire companies. Here is this area, for some people it gives fun and joy to hear sqealing sirens and police cars making noises for it seems like forever. Since I live near major roads and in a complex, at first I always think something has gone terribly wrong. My next thought as my shoulders are past my ears is "This is why I would never survive working in NYC let alone living there" <Cowers under table>

What is the Christmas season night I hate above all other nights? When they do this and come storming through complex, taking the various fire trucks and Santa around the complex at least three times to scare those kids out. I don't know if any of the kids here are actually NJ natives. Of the kids I do know about that are say 5th grade and under, I don't think any of them would check the white people box in demographics. Many are spanish speaking, or black, or in our complex for some big ass project in NYC or a nearby town somewhere. MOst re perfectly fine kids but they aren't going to rush out of their apartments to go see santa. Heck many of us who have been here long enough are probably having PSTD from 9/11.

(Spanish speaking encompasses a huge part of the world from Spain to Colombia, from Peru to Mexico and way more other places.)
I wonder how the displaced young Ukrainian man felt? It will take me hours to get over this, and it looks like this year people can spend $50 or whatever to have Santa come to their driveway, so many possible torture nights until Christmas Eve.


  make it stop; and its closer ... 

[Opti]

It would be pretty if they would keep those damn sirens mostly off. Its seems to be Santa in a pickup truck this year as opposed to being on one of the big fire engines.

Dear God is it over yet?

[busymom]

Good Evening Kids!  It's been a long day with the guy working here on our ducts for a good part of the day.  He's supposed to be back here around 7 am tomorrow morning for another 4-5 hours, and I'm already exhausted.  But, it'll be nice to have it all done.  What's really cool is I can actually feel some heat in the basement.  It's going to make exercising down there more pleasant this Winter.  



Opti, they used to have the fire trucks drive all over our community too.  They were collecting food for the food shelf, and Santa would be seated on top of one of the trucks, and handing out candy canes to all the kids who donated food.  They've cut back on their "route", which is fine with me, now that my kids are older.  You used to be able to hear those trucks for about an hour when they'd get close to our house.  Their hearts are in the right place, but it's a bit much, especially on a school night.

[Opti]

Busy, its also a bit much if you were home the day of 9/11 in NJ. I turned on the TV and thought they were replaying the tower or whatever bombing. It was the day of my tests for my sinus surgery. So these sirens etc. really terrify the crap out of me. I was home alone and divorced when I got the surgery. At least if I had been in at work at big Pharma I would have had my coworkers nearby to experience this with. At that time most of us in New Jersey were wondering would Newark, Eliazbeth etc. be bombed or what. I watched people via TV news channels choose to leap to their deaths over death by fire. I think it some of it was live coverage by the helicopters who couldn't get close enough to the towers to help save people. 

Its very triggering. I did drive into that health center to get the tests done. But I was worried the entire time there and back home. It took days before we learned the how and why of the towers collapsing. If it was nukes, I and many new jerseyans weren't safe, at all. 

[busymom]

I can only imagine, Opti, what it was like to be so close to everything that happened that day.  It was terrifying just watching the t.v. that morning, and I remember that day well.  In fact, I had to drive towards the "big city" before all of the planes had been ordered to land, and every time I saw a large plane near the downtown area, I got a sick feeling in my stomach.  

We have a close friend who was working in Washington DC, and it was 2 days before we found out he was o.k.  He had a government job, and I'd forgotten which building he was in.  I mistakenly thought he worked in the Pentagon, but thankfully he didn't.  We reached him by telephone, and it was SO good to hear his voice, after seeing on the television all of the death & destruction.  (The days before the internet it was difficult to get in touch with people.)

[Opti]

I still have to watch the movies about the Pentagon and especially the flight that went down in that field. When I remember I always pray a prayer of thanks for those brave people who chose to do the best they could knowing they would likely die no matter what they decided. 

The first three weeks were scary as hell. The company I worked for had major data centers in Manhattan and NJ. The weekend before 9/11
I drove through NJ to a place I had never been on Staten Island. It was rough and I was late because of traffic. It really hit home watching all those people trying desperately to get home. I am not sure how I would have done it either, but I could see me walking across a big ass bridge into a different borough of NYC hoping it would get better. That I would somehow, someway get home.

I am glad I missed that. Someone I was working with wasn't near the towers but was working out of the Manhattan office. Most of the people on the bus were covered in that white dust. She flew out back to CA in less than a week to never return. I saved a bunch of those photos from that day on my laptop prior to this one. I want to forget, but I can't yet. And I didn't even lose anyone I knew in the Towers. But people I worked with and friends did. There are pieces of the steel from the Towers in most towns in my area of CNJ. Just saw one less than two weeks ago. Every town has a memorial, some have more than one. Many towns do their own reading of names every 9/11. 

Sorry for the TMI. This is really hard and might explain to me why I am having as hard of a time as I am managing my fall sinus crash. It brings up 9/11, Christmas in this area of NJ, etc. Other suburbs I lived in just did the pancake breakfasts or other fun fundraisers. And then there are the stop traffic on main through streets on Sunday with the buckets. I think I am going to have stay up all night to get 40oz of liquid in me. Crap.

[busymom]

Good Night Kids!  Gotta turn in early.  

[Sharon]

Just a quick drive by check in.  This is going to be a long week and I'm so tired all ready.  Most of us working on this big project have had to turn our teams notification to do not disturb as people won't stop bothering us with inane questions.  These are people who know we are involved in this big project and should know better.  Yes I'm starting to get cranky and still have to make it through next Saturday evening.  That is the projected time to be done with this insanity.

[toomuchreality]

Dec 12, 2023 7:07:04 GMT -5 Sharon said:

Just a quick drive by check in.  This is going to be a long week and I'm so tired all ready.  Most of us working on this big project have had to turn our teams notification to do not disturb as people won't stop bothering us with inane questions.  These are people who know we are involved in this big project and should know better.  Yes I'm starting to get cranky and still have to make it through next Saturday evening.  That is the projected time to be done with this insanity.

Good luck!

[busymom]

An Early Good Morning!  The workman is already here, so I'm going to attempt to do something productive, like write a few Christmas cards.  But, I'll need a lot more caffeine to "wake up".  


Wishing you the very best on that big project, Sharon.  That sounds SO annoying.


And speaking of annoying, our community is redoing some of our streets.  Including the one I live on.  So, of course, they're having a meeting about it next week, just before Christmas.  There will be assessments, which of course I'm not happy about.  

[busymom]

Well, at least the sun is shining today.  That alone motivates me to try & something done.  

[Opti]

Virtual doctor visit went well. I asked her to be my primary doctor starting in March as my PCP is retiring the end of February 2024.
So I'll be put on the every 6 months schedule much like dental cleanings. She said the updated lab tests did not make it to them, but perhaps Dr. B did not order them yet?

Hmmm. Learning about our patient portal stuff. And my head hurts already because of sinus congestion. Going to step outside to acknowledge I am alive and shake out a bathroom rug. Texted boss doctor's note is being written and the plan is to work on Saturday. I am scheduled and it is the last day my boss is Scheduled for Saturday work until she returns from her Xmas vacay.

[Opti]

Its official blow leaves around the complex season which makes my allergies and sinuses worse.    At least I don't have to watch small stones blown in my car with enough force to leave pits in the paint. Will get a car cover if I get a vehicle and am still living here. Leaves and pine needles and what not also get wedged in window wells, etc. 

[busymom]

Good Evening Kids!  I tried to get a lot done today, like I got my hair trimmed, I bought a lot of groceries, I picked up a gift card for my MIL, and I picked up another set of light bulbs for our new dining room light fixture (the 60 watt bulbs make the area a bit TOO bright, so we'll see if 40 watts works a bit better).  I've also been writing up some Christmas cards.

[busymom]

Good Morning Kids!  One of the last things that was accomplished last night is that our tree is up.  We won't decorate it for at least a day, because it was in one of those netting bags, and it needs time to "fluff".  

[busymom]

I'm going to take a break from writing cards, and go check out the nearest Scandinavian bakery.  Tis the season, after all...  

[toomuchreality]

Dec 14, 2023 14:33:21 GMT -5 busymom said:

I'm going to take a break from writing cards, and go check out the nearest Scandinavian bakery.  Tis the season, after all...  

This sounds delicious!
Much better than the loaf of bread and can of soup, I'm considering having delivered. And apparently the ultra pasteurized milk I bought is bad and I need to buy fresh, because I opened it, some time ago. That's what I was afraid of.
I think the adults are happy to not have to buy so many gifts, this year. It was so hard for me to ask them about that. I hope it's something we'll continue in future years. I know I don't want, or need anything. And I like watching what the girls get, instead of constantly hearing how I haven't opened my gifts yet. It's too many people and too much stuff, all at once. I don't enjoy the chaos.

[toomuchreality]

It has been a LONG time since I've seen my grands. Since Thanksgiving. And it's almost Christmas.
I think his mother loves that. She went to Disneyland and on the cruise with them.
Plus she moved to a new house near them. She spends thousands of dollars buying what they want, then telling him how she needs money. Like thousands of dollars!
They do help me with a couple hundred, to help with gas and watching the girls.
I think he's afraid I'm going to have to live with them. But that's not happening yet.

The main floor Christmas tree is pink this year. Last year, it was white and navy blue. White and gold prior to that. They have excellent taste. Expensive taste. Both of them.

Not choices I would make. But that's up to them.

[Sharon]

We are into the final countdown for the big project.  Yesterday was only a 10 hour day.  The grandkids Christmas concert was yesterday and I told them I wasn't missing that.  Both kids did really well at the concert and sang and knew all the hand movements that went with the songs.  Two years ago when DGD1 was in the pre-school she just sat on the riser and wouldn't sing.