what are you doing right now?

[minnesotapaintlady]

Dec 21, 2023 18:31:21 GMT -5 andi9899 said:

Dec 21, 2023 17:09:51 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Grrr...I took a half day tomorrow to drive up to get DS from school.  I wanted to do it yesterday when I was off since he was done with finals, but he still has a big project he's working on that isn't due until midnight tomorrow, so we agreed on Friday...which was still going to be kind of a PIA because it meant driving up to the cities twice in a few days (we're going up there Christmas morning).  It's a 5 hour round trip and still have Christmas prep to do.  Well today he gives me the old, "well...I'll have to work on the project in the car and bring my desktop computer home with me to finish in the evening".  I got annoyed by his obviously not wanting to get picked up yet and told him if he doesn't want to come home tomorrow, then he can take the bus home on Saturday or Sunday.  He said he can't do that because of all the stuff he needs to bring home (aka his gaming desktop I'm sure).  So, I said fine.  You can just stay up there until Christmas Day. 

Carrot is devastated.  My mom is like "WHAT?" (our family has Christmas on Christmas Eve).

I know damn well I'm going to be driving up there this weekend to get him.     I'm ready to put that one up for adoption.

Aren't your parents retired? Have them do it and get the hours at work. He's messing with your money.

ETA: I'm glad I'm not the only one giving up adult children for adoption. Hell, I may just throw in the twins. I just spent $100 on a bag of dog food, prebiotics, and a brush for them. They went and got old and got expensive.

Well, I wouldn't be working anyhow.  I have to take all these days off I've been taking or I'll lose them after next week, so it's not really about that.  It's more about having to constantly alter my plans at the last minute that's driving me bonkers. Also, part of it is I didn't think it was a good idea when he took 5 days to fly off and hang out with his friends just a couple weeks before the end of the semester and with all the stressing going on with this class I'm trying really hard not to say I TOLD YOU SO!  

 

[andi9899]

Dec 21, 2023 21:39:33 GMT -5 NomoreDramaQ1015 said:

Nothing quite as satisfying as kicking your daughter's butt after she boasts she can pin you.

I juat asked T2 if she thought she could pin me. Her response was "No. Why are you asking me that?"

[andi9899]

Dec 21, 2023 22:10:24 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Dec 21, 2023 18:31:21 GMT -5 andi9899 said:

Aren't your parents retired? Have them do it and get the hours at work. He's messing with your money.

ETA: I'm glad I'm not the only one giving up adult children for adoption. Hell, I may just throw in the twins. I just spent $100 on a bag of dog food, prebiotics, and a brush for them. They went and got old and got expensive.

Well, I wouldn't be working anyhow.  I have to take all these days off I've been taking or I'll lose them after next week, so it's not really about that.  It's more about having to constantly alter my plans at the last minute that's driving me bonkers. Also, part of it is I didn't think it was a good idea when he took 5 days to fly off and hang out with his friends just a couple weeks before the end of the semester and with all the stressing going on with this class I'm trying really hard not to say I TOLD YOU SO!  

 

Would you like me to hide in the bushes?

[finnime]

Good morning, you beautiful (invisible) people of Y Ma'am. Welcome to Friday, Christmas Eve eve eve for those who celebrate, and the second day of winter for everyone. I hope your day evidences respect and appreciation for you, and that there is an opportunity to imbibe adult beverages or nibble cookies.

It's 24 degrees here heading down to 22. Good morning for my heated gloves, a gift from DH last Christmas. Today I must go to the grocery store and buy sweet potatoes and blueberries for Monday. Our Christmas morning breakfast will be blueberry Swedish pancakes and bacon. The potatoes will be served with the prime rib ODB will be roasting.

The vaunted snowball cookies yesterday turned out to be sad little puddles of cooked dough. The recipe did not call for chilling the balls before baking. That was a mistake. Don't know if I'll bother trying again; we do have a lot of food in the offing. It's odd because an unqualified disaster when baking is a rare thing in my life. Ah well. I go on too much about food anyway.

I'm glad to see you're celebrating the days so well with your DD and DH, MarionTh230. I feel happy reading about it.

I hope everyone burdened with health concerns finds those burdens eased.

Yesterday's dawn was clear except for some clouds right on the horizon. It was tranquil:

[daisylu]

Woke up and perused FB. Ending up cutting ties with a long time friend who while describing a small altercation felt the need to "describe the gentleman as dark complected". I messaged her and told her exactly what I thought.  This person is maybe 5 years older than I am. It is almost 2024. I do not understand why anyone would feel the need to add that like it is a pertinent part of the story.

[daisylu]

DH will be busy today building a new hunting stand. I will log into work to finish up my slides for our presentation on the second. Manager messaged yesterday asking for then, but work stuff was turned off. Oh well.

Need to get a list together for grocery store for Christmas Eve with the ILs. MIL has handled main dishes and charcuterie, so I'm going simple with a veggie tray, chips, and dips. This will be the second year of "no fuss" holidays for us and I am grateful. 

[Opti]

Dec 21, 2023 20:56:24 GMT -5 busymom said:

Dec 21, 2023 20:23:29 GMT -5 chiver78 said:

wait, what? 🤯 here, your property stops at the sidewalk. if the town/city decides to repair or replace, it's on them, not the homeowners

     I wish.  It's in the "rulebook" here that the homeowner is on the hook for between 25-35% of the cost.  They claim they don't have the money to do complete infrastructure replacements, so here we are...    

Sorry. Are you in a HOA?

[giramomma]

Dec 21, 2023 22:10:24 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Dec 21, 2023 18:31:21 GMT -5 andi9899 said:

Aren't your parents retired? Have them do it and get the hours at work. He's messing with your money.

ETA: I'm glad I'm not the only one giving up adult children for adoption. Hell, I may just throw in the twins. I just spent $100 on a bag of dog food, prebiotics, and a brush for them. They went and got old and got expensive.

Well, I wouldn't be working anyhow.  I have to take all these days off I've been taking or I'll lose them after next week, so it's not really about that.  It's more about having to constantly alter my plans at the last minute that's driving me bonkers. Also, part of it is I didn't think it was a good idea when he took 5 days to fly off and hang out with his friends just a couple weeks before the end of the semester and with all the stressing going on with this class I'm trying really hard not to say I TOLD YOU SO!  

 

Meh. I would go with I told you so.

Your son has options. It's not your problem if he doesn't like them. He's almost a working adult. That's part of being an adult, is to not have the optimal choice for everything. Or, not asking a parent to come rescue you when you just don't want to be inconvenienced in some way.

He was capable of figuring out how to visit friends a while back. He's capable now of figuring this out himself now.

This is where having a lot of kids comes in handy. They know full well there's not enough of us parents to pull shifting plans like that.

It irks DD1, because she's all like  "and I want to be spontaneous." And I'm like, well, that's nice, and it works if you had less siblings. 

Since I can't do much about the sibling situation, now, I guess you need to give us some notice if you want our support in some way.

And maybe someday your son will feel badly for it. I wanted to get back to school so badly my freshman year, I asked my dad to drive me back to school the first day the dorms opened. Like, they just turned the heat on and it was 55-60 inside first day. Snow storm, bad enough that we were doing 40 on the interstate. He said are you sure. I said yes. He was like, OK. I would like to go back to my 18 year old self and smack her for that one.

I've apologized to my dad many times for that in my head. 

[giramomma]

We're right back to square one with the missy being sick, again.

It has been two months, and she clearly has been fighting ear infections for at least 2-3 weeks now.

You'd think medical types could come up with something better than "Well, we don't know how to help her, so we'll just throw everything and the kitchen sink at her and see what could work?" I mean. They do go to school for far longer than I did. They took harder classes than I did. You'd think they'd come up with more than what we've been doing, on and off, for two months in terms of home remedies, especially given that it's not helped all that much. (See the ear infections for 2-3 weeks).

And, of course, if she doesn't get better...we're just going to have to let her sick be at home, isolated, over Christmas. 

She's not sick enough for ER. And the random urgent care health care worker and the doctor that works in her peds clinic weren't all that useful. I'd rather go back to her peds clinic. Which won't be open until Tuesday. We probably won't even be able to get an appointment until mid or late week.

[giramomma]

Dec 21, 2023 15:36:39 GMT -5 andi9899 said:

I have next week off and I have a whole house clean/organize project planned. I want to get every last bit of moving done. I just have a few things I've thrown in my office and ignored.

I'm going through a room per day and organizing aand cleaning it. I mean washing walls and carpets and everything. I also plan to put all the Christmas stuff away in my storage area. I'm hoping to start 2024 with a clean house. We'll see how far I get.

You are welcome to do my house, after you get done with yours.

I got stalled out on our bedroom. And then I have to do the girl's room.

[giramomma]

Dec 21, 2023 20:07:24 GMT -5 MarionTh230 said:

Dec 21, 2023 18:58:29 GMT -5 daisylu said:

You've rarely gotten times like this with your DH's schedule in the past.  I am happy for you and enjoy hearing about it.  ❤️

I never really realized how burdensome his job/work schedule was until now. He was working retail when we met. It has just always been this way. Move events or celebrations around depending on his schedule. Do the best we can with whatever days he had to work. And we have done it every year with little complaint and a big heaping of acceptance. 

But now? With a kid who is so engaged at this age? With him here it is a total game changer. Quality of life is so much better. It has been so eye opening for both of us.

I also still really like the dude. Most days anyways   Which means it is usually nice having him around. 

You are a kind friend to listen my blubbering and enjoy it! 

This is one reason why we wanted to keep DH part time for as long as possible. He never has had to do what a SAHM does, and I never have to do what a working mom does.

[minnesotapaintlady]

Dec 22, 2023 8:18:50 GMT -5 giramomma said:

Dec 21, 2023 22:10:24 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Well, I wouldn't be working anyhow.  I have to take all these days off I've been taking or I'll lose them after next week, so it's not really about that.  It's more about having to constantly alter my plans at the last minute that's driving me bonkers. Also, part of it is I didn't think it was a good idea when he took 5 days to fly off and hang out with his friends just a couple weeks before the end of the semester and with all the stressing going on with this class I'm trying really hard not to say I TOLD YOU SO!  

 

Meh. I would go with I told you so.

Your son has options. It's not your problem if he doesn't like them. He's almost a working adult. That's part of being an adult, is to not have the optimal choice for everything. Or, not asking a parent to come rescue you when you just don't want to be inconvenienced in some way.

He was capable of figuring out how to visit friends a while back. He's capable now of figuring this out himself now.

This is where having a lot of kids comes in handy. They know full well there's not enough of us parents to pull shifting plans like that.

It irks DD1, because she's all like  "and I want to be spontaneous." And I'm like, well, that's nice, and it works if you had less siblings. 

Since I can't do much about the sibling situation, now, I guess you need to give us some notice if you want our support in some way.

And maybe someday your son will feel badly for it. I wanted to get back to school so badly my freshman year, I asked my dad to drive me back to school the first day the dorms opened. Like, they just turned the heat on and it was 55-60 inside first day. Snow storm, bad enough that we were doing 40 on the interstate. He said are you sure. I said yes. He was like, OK. I would like to go back to my 18 year old self and smack her for that one.

I've apologized to my dad many times for that in my head.

Oh, he's fine with staying up there until Christmas Day.  It's everyone else that is not happy with that option!  Not sure I want to have Christmas Eve at my parents ruined to teach him a lesson so he'll feel bad about it later.  It's pretty much the only holiday he ever sees them.  And really, when it comes right down to it, it doesn't make any difference logistically if I get him Wednesday or Friday or Saturday.   It's 5 hours of my time and $40 in gas either way. 

I'm sure my mom would go get him Saturday if I asked.  That would be sufficient punishment.  Borderline cruel and unusual actually.

[chiver78]

hallelujah - the last work day of 2023. I'm hoping it's going to be quiet, so I can clean up my overdue SOP training and maybe make some progress on filing shit in my inbox to the appropriate sites folders. 

I also need to call the vet for pain meds refills, and do a big grocery shop that I couldn't yesterday b/c I used the new sale flyer to make my list. 

[cooper88]

I'm stopping for doughnuts on the way in. Also, we may or may not get four hours of leave this afternoon. They are famous for letting us know at 11:30 or so, and we don't get it every year. Fingers crossed!

[minnesotapaintlady]

I brought a lunch forgetting I'm leaving at 11.  So, I decided to have breakfast today. 

[busymom]

Dec 22, 2023 7:36:11 GMT -5 Opti said:

Dec 21, 2023 20:56:24 GMT -5 busymom said:

     I wish.  It's in the "rulebook" here that the homeowner is on the hook for between 25-35% of the cost.  They claim they don't have the money to do complete infrastructure replacements, so here we are...    

Sorry. Are you in a HOA?

    Nope.  I just live in the "burbs".  My folks lived in the city, and they had the same problem when the city decided to replace the sidewalks in front of their place.  Assessments can be scary-expensive, and the local government doesn't always give enough time to plan for the additional expense.

[flamingo]

Thank god it's Friday and it's a long weekend. My boss is off, which has the added bonus of keeping my anxiety down, lol. I have a massage scheduled for this afternoon, and I'm super hoping my company let's us all leave early. They've only done that twice since I've been here, but I'm pretty sure most of us aren't working hard today anyway. 

Also, we have SO MANY holiday treats at my house. I'm pretty sure my lunch is going to be homemade chex mix and homemade chocolate fudge. My next cooking project is going to be lasagna to balance it out, lol.

[andi9899]

I can't wait to wrap up the last work daybof 2023. Hopefully they let us go early. Usually they do the day before a holiday.

[alabamagal]

Visiting with DS and GF in Atlanta. Went to see DH aunt yesterday. She is main contact with DH extended family since his mom passed away, so got our yearly dose of drama. And I got really annoyed at the trying to shove food in our mouths. No should mean no, and I shouldn’t have to politely decline 5 times in an hour. And then insisting we needed food to sustain us for the 1 hour drive to DS house. The drive is through Atlanta suburbs, not like we could get stuck in North Pole.

[giramomma]

I just put away a second batch of molasses cookies. And warned the family I was not making a third batch before Christmas.

[TheOtherMe]

Dec 21, 2023 20:18:52 GMT -5 busymom said:

I never did report back here about the meeting I went to last night.  They're replacing portions of the sidewalk & curbs in our neighborhood next year.  Unfortunately, this means we'll be getting hit up with assessment fees.  Our share could come to a bit over $4,000.  It could be worse, I suppose.  My parents owned a corner lot in the city, so they really got burned when the city was replacing sidewalks & street there.  

I have been through the sidewalk problem.  In the letter, we were given a 2 year deadline and told that it would be less expensive if we installed the sidewalk ourselves.  So I hired that done.

Beginning at my house, I have no curb and gutter.  All of these years, I have been waiting to get notified about that.  In the strange way this subdivision was annexed, my road and curb and gutter assessment will come from the county, not the city.  So far, it has not been mentioned as a priority at any Board of Supervisors meeting.  That's probably because it isn't very many houses and doesn't cause accidents.  Until it is mentioned by the Board of Supervisors, I am not concerned about it.  

I do get better snow plowing because the road is in the county.  You can see where the county plow stopped and the city takes over.  Major difference is the plowing I get.

[lurkyloo]

Dec 22, 2023 10:20:24 GMT -5 andi9899 said:

I can't wait to wrap up the last work daybof 2023. Hopefully they let us go early. Usually they do the day before a holiday.

Right there with you.  I am so bored and have no real action items bc everything’s pretty much wound down so I’m mostly reading technical articles and watching or rewatching lectures online.  

I had thought I didn’t have enough for DH to unwrap but it’s looking like I have plenty for DH but actually don’t have as much as I’d like for DS to unwrap    Already spaced on a new tshirt I wanted to order, just panic ordered more for him    He has a crapload of books as presents so there’s that.  I also have a lot of little things for MIL but just one specifically for FIL so hopefully DH will pick up my slack there…he’s the type to start his shopping 6 pm Christmas eve anyway 

[TheOtherMe]

It's a good thing I never had kids.  I would let them live with the consequences of their actions by the time they are in college.

If they can decide and actually go away for 5 days knowing about an assignment, everything caused by that decision would be on them.

If it ruins a holiday for someone else, let them do the explaining.  

Actions have consequences as do non actions.

[lurkyloo]

For even more fun I tried projecting total annual income and likely tax bill for 2023    Stupid year end stock rally.  Also nervously awaiting another big capital gains check that will probably wipe out the charitable donation and then some, with fingers crossed that a. they honor my request to distribute and not reinvest and b. the d*** thing doesn’t get lost in the mail.

[finnime]

I have to keep reminding myself it's Friday, not Saturday.

Have a few errands to run. Nothing major. Cleaning to do as well.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

[soupandstew]

After fixing breakfast, running laundry and cleaning the bathrooms, I'm sitting here trying to figure out how it can be almost year-end and time to deal with Quicken reports for taxes again.  

[lurkyloo]

Dammit.  Looks like TIAA reverted to auto deposit which is going to be a pain to move without commingling.  I’m really annoyed with them, they already disregarded the default FIFO when I requested a partial transfer and just took it as a percentage of all holdings.

[busymom]

Dec 22, 2023 11:08:00 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

Dec 21, 2023 20:18:52 GMT -5 busymom said:

I never did report back here about the meeting I went to last night.  They're replacing portions of the sidewalk & curbs in our neighborhood next year.  Unfortunately, this means we'll be getting hit up with assessment fees.  Our share could come to a bit over $4,000.  It could be worse, I suppose.  My parents owned a corner lot in the city, so they really got burned when the city was replacing sidewalks & street there.  

I have been through the sidewalk problem.  In the letter, we were given a 2 year deadline and told that it would be less expensive if we installed the sidewalk ourselves.  So I hired that done.

Beginning at my house, I have no curb and gutter.  All of these years, I have been waiting to get notified about that.  In the strange way this subdivision was annexed, my road and curb and gutter assessment will come from the county, not the city.  So far, it has not been mentioned as a priority at any Board of Supervisors meeting.  That's probably because it isn't very many houses and doesn't cause accidents.  Until it is mentioned by the Board of Supervisors, I am not concerned about it.  

I do get better snow plowing because the road is in the county.  You can see where the county plow stopped and the city takes over.  Major difference is the plowing I get.

    The plowing is fabulous in our community.  They get here more quickly than anywhere we've ever lived.  That's probably the main reason I put up with the small level of stupid here.  

[giramomma]

Dec 22, 2023 11:14:31 GMT -5 lurkyloo said:

Dec 22, 2023 10:20:24 GMT -5 andi9899 said:

I can't wait to wrap up the last work daybof 2023. Hopefully they let us go early. Usually they do the day before a holiday.

Right there with you.  I am so bored and have no real action items bc everything’s pretty much wound down so I’m mostly reading technical articles and watching or rewatching lectures online.  

I had thought I didn’t have enough for DH to unwrap but it’s looking like I have plenty for DH but actually don’t have as much as I’d like for DS to unwrap    Already spaced on a new tshirt I wanted to order, just panic ordered more for him    He has a crapload of books as presents so there’s that.  I also have a lot of little things for MIL but just one specifically for FIL so hopefully DH will pick up my slack there…he’s the type to start his shopping 6 pm Christmas eve anyway 

You can do my work for me...

I'm sure whatever you have for folks to unwrap is fine. 

[azucena]

Dec 22, 2023 11:19:42 GMT -5 lurkyloo said:

For even more fun I tried projecting total annual income and likely tax bill for 2023    Stupid year end stock rally.  Also nervously awaiting another big capital gains check that will probably wipe out the charitable donation and then some, with fingers crossed that a. they honor my request to distribute and not reinvest and b. the d*** thing doesn’t get lost in the mail.

Hey now, I'm enjoying the year end stock rally. I'm up 19% ytd. I'm letting it ride though so no taxes due for me on those.

Def not looking fwd to income taxes though. Largest bonus for me ever and DH actually got 3 small bonuses for the first time ever.