what are you doing right now?

[chiver78]

Dec 23, 2022 14:03:57 GMT -5 finnime said:

Also glad I can sign in. I'm about to bake a pecan pie and cheesecake before we go out to eat at an Italian restaurant. It's been raining most of the day. I did wrap and wrap presents. Have more wrapping to go; also, need to decorate tree already. Maybe when DD wakes from her nap.

I have a card with $20 in it ready for the mail carrier. Do you do this--give the carrier anything at the holidays? DH thinks it's important. I agree it is for the trash and recycling crews, but the USPS? Unsure.

I always did at my last place, bc he was fantastic and actually a neighbor. so he got a GC to the village market. def good that you capped at $20, that's actually the limit they can accept (or so John told me once)

[countrygirl2]

I got back on this one finally. Like I said it was bad, I was starting to wonder if the flight was going to be cancelled.
The flight was full and lots kids. We figured it would be wild, but they were very well behaved. Noone got upset or rude, everyone was pleasant. 

We got DD wheelchairs which was our saving grace, the attendants helped us with everything which speeded our passages through the airports. I had not intended to but they were so helpful we tipped them $20 each.

The flight was very smooth, surprisingly.


Then we got to Seattle. Well, a worse mess, sleeting. They did not have our vehicle. We were trying to get insurance and didn't think we had to pay that much but with the storm we gave in. But when she wanted to charge more for another car I said NO. We aren't doing that, I was starting to get mad it was about 2AM or so and we were tired. I said a mid sized car and I'm not paying more, she tried to give us a truck or minivan, for more money! No. So she gave us a Mercedes, smaller, hubs said we will probably get hit for extra charges, I will be pi***d if we do. The rental car place was a mess, no more renting from Hertz. 

The highway was a sheet of ice. We saw a couple of spin outs and the other side of the road were some wrecks. Hubs and other cars got up to 40 a few times. It took us a couple of hours to get up there..

So anyway we finally made it at 3AM in the morning. We were supposed to be here at 9:30.  And we are glad to be here and will enjoy the family. 

[bookkeeper]

Dec 23, 2022 13:26:21 GMT -5 countrygirl2 said:

What a mess. We were stuck in indi for 3 hours. The plane was stuck to the ground.  Will write on different co Peter.

Good luck!  Traveling requires patience and a good paperback.  Safe travels to and from your son's home.  I also hope you have some luck house hunting.  DH and I bought a house close to our grandsons.  It has been wonderful, we really get to be part of their lives as they grow up.  I highly recommend it!

[stillmovingforward]

Dec 23, 2022 13:42:34 GMT -5 susana1954 said:

I'm baking a cake.

The first wave of family (my son's) came this morning.  They are all boys so the younger ones got stuff like Nerf guns and boxing gloves.  Penny was not amused.  She finally calmed down as she sat in my lap, but they kept trying to come near her.  She wasn't having it.  She didn't snap or anything, just warning growls and then barks.  I told them to count their fingers when they got here.  If they wanted to go home with the same number, they should leave Penny alone.

She's sleeping it off right now.  Poor baby.  We do it again tomorrow night, but this time with almost all girls.  I hope she and Carrie get along.  It has been a couple of years since Carrie has been here.

Would she be happier to snuggle in your bed by herself? One of our dogs is not very social and she's much happier to go into our bedroom and sleep. We leave the door open so she can come and go but no one is allowed in there.

[stillmovingforward]

CG2 - yes, our state is a big mess right now on the west side. Snow, freezing rain are no fun. Thankfully, this isn't common here and should get better quickly.

Enjoy your visit with your grandson!

[daisylu]

Dec 23, 2022 14:16:52 GMT -5 giramomma said:

I am really freaking out about everything. Quietly.

But, it would be nice if I didn't have to ask if it was OK if ate lunch for 5 minutes...

Hugs.

[MarionTh230]

Sitting with a glass of iced tea for just a few minutes. Dough needs another half hour in the fridge before we roll it out. Looks like we hit high temp around 1pm and it's dropping now. Kiddo wasn't really understanding that this is serious winter cold so I opened the backdoor. She wanted to go on the back porch. She stopped in the doorway and said ooooh mommy no! And shut the door. I think she understands now! She is getting a little antsy being stuck inside. After we bake the cookies I'll get all the Christmas crafts out for her.

[cooper88]

I made a cream cheese danish this morning. There are only two of us here. It will not see sundown.

[Pink Cashmere]

The door handle broke off the door this morning when Mister was trying to get in the Tahoe to go to work. I’ve never seen that happen and he was totally disgusted.

He still drove it to work. He said he’d rather drive the Jeep in these conditions. The back end of the Tahoe tried to get away from him a few times, but he was able to correct and made it to work with no incidents. 

Its 14 degrees right now and snow and ice as far as I can see outside my windows.

[TheOtherMe]

Dec 23, 2022 11:43:51 GMT -5 chiver78 said:

I just caught this story on my local news lol.... make sure you watch the whole video in the embedded tweet about halfway down. 🤣🤣🤣

people.com/human-interest/sports-reporter-makes-feelings-very-clear-when-covering-morning-weather-during-blizzard/

That is the station I normally watch.  Mark is not wrong.  Having reporters standing at the side of the road telling people not to drive is stupid.

[wvugurl26]

Sam's Club is done. They had all but 2 items on my list. My wallet is much lighter. I bought packages of steak and chicken but dang on the total. It's freezing.

[minnesotapaintlady]

I have done very little today.  I would like to say I finished the tree, but really my Minion did.  I told him it had to be done and the floors vacuumed before he could go on the PS5. 

[TheOtherMe]

I couldn't get on this morning either.  

Downtown Milwaukee didn't get all that much snow but the wind is still howling.  At my house, the wind is still setting off notifications on my alarm system.

It's -2 with a feels like of -18.  I'm not walking to Starbucks.  Not seeing much activity around here.  

I brought one of my ceramic Christmas trees with me and I'm glad I did.  Hotel is having limited dining for breakfast tomorrow and giving complimentary box lunches.  No food service on Christmas except for box lunches.  

giramomma   I was going to call DHS about my dad but my sister would know it was me because I was the only one who knew what I was going to tell them.  That was about the time the doctor represented hospice and when they came out, we were told they would not do home hospice in his current situation.  He had to go to assisted living or a nursing home.  My sister really questioned the social worker.  So I got my confirmation then, but still thought he needed a nursing home.  Sadly, I was correct.

[Deleted]

Dec 23, 2022 14:23:27 GMT -5 countrygirl2 said:

So anyway we finally made it at 3AM in the morning. We were supposed to be here at 9:30.  And we are glad to be here and will enjoy the family. 

I'm glad you finally made it!  There are lots of horror stories out there.   And yes, I agree with you that Hertz has no business charging your for a more expensive vehicle than the one you reserved just because they couldn't supply what you requested.  Did you check the rental contract?  The price should be on there.

I'm back inside after a wonderful outing here in Des Moines with DDIL and the kids.  I can handle the kids on my own but they WANTED Mom to come with them, which is so sweet.  Got DGS a haircut.  Two weeks ago when they were in KC I could get appointments for only 2 kids because Shear Madness had only one stylist.  It was the same here for DGS's haircut and the stylist said it was just the holidays- she was all they had.  I picked up a few things at the Indian grocery next door and then we had pizza in the same shopping center.  We did a Costco run after that.

It is brutal out there.  Temperature around zero but with the wind chill it's awful.  Since DDIL was with us I dropped her and the ids off at the door of Costco and parked the car- no reason for all of us to risk frostbite.  I'm not leaving the house again till Spring.  :-)

[minnesotapaintlady]

I was perusing the I90 weathercams...Carrot was asking me why the resolution was so bad in these pictures.  LOL  I understand why they shut the highway down.

eta:  I didn't realize this link keeps updating the picture.

[finnime]

Gave card to mail carrier. She really appreciated it; she was dropping off 2 packages. And I've got a cheesecake in the oven and I'm about to roll out the crust for the pecan pie. Then I'll mix up the filling and put it in the other oven (man, I'm so glad to have 2 ovens!) and be ready when it's time to go out to eat. Not too bad a day in the end.

[raeoflyte]

My kids are practicing a duet of a journey song. I expect this will end in mutual hatred but it's pretty cool while it lasts.

[giramomma]

DD1 and DD3 have been awesome helpers. We got two batches of cookies done in two hours.

I can get another batch of muffins in.

Then I'll almost be done with breakfast baking.

[teen persuasion]

Dec 23, 2022 14:13:32 GMT -5 giramomma said:

Dec 23, 2022 14:05:12 GMT -5 swamp said:

I was told not to go to work today. NYS shut us down. The mall is closed now too. 

My colleague told me Buffalo was supposed to get several feet of snow from the storm..

Yeah, but that's normal for the snow belt.  It's the 79mph wind gusts whipping up a blizzard that's once-in-a-generation abnormal.  Plus the extra 12ft of lake water pushed up to our end, and 24ft waves licking the shore.  They evacuated Hoover Beach ahead of the storm, because of the flooding prediction and winds throwing the lake water on the neighborhood to freeze (remember that ice-encased car on Rt 5 a few years back? Same area.)

DS4 is home - once our county FINALLY declared a travel ban I convinced DH to go pick him up early.  When they got to the storefront to clock out, bosmang casually mentioned they planned to close at 3pm (it was 2:45).  Gee, thanks for the lack of notice.  And then bosmang said "See you tomorrow" - Sure!  IFF the travel ban is ended (not likely - all Tops and Wegmans in the region closed early afternoon, and don't plan to reopen until 6 am Monday).

[mollyc]

I hope everyone is doing well in this weather. It’s a good thing DD and her man decided to stay on the Island for Christmas. DSis1’s step kids are supposed to be flying in tomorrow from Victoria. I don’t know if that is going to be happening. Lucky for DD, she left her winter tires on when she moved in the Fall. Snow plows are few and far between there but she’s been able to get to classes and work despite the snow.

Temperature is such a relative thing. It was only -29C with the windchill this morning. It was rather pleasant clearing the snow off my suv. My jacket was undone and everything.

DSis1 and her husband were able to pick up water and a propane heater for us yesterday so I didn’t need to leave work early. I picked up Indian on the way home so DH wouldn’t have to cook. The propane heater melted the ice really quickly. DH was almost giddy with happiness at how well the day ended compared to how it started. I remained perplexed that it took over 2 decades of mobile home ownership for him to consider this possibility. I suspect it was his inherent Scottishness that prohibited him from buying one until it was cheap enough in his view. So many hours of misery and effort could have been avoided

[Deleted]

We have reached a balmy 31 degrees before dipping down to 20-ish tonight. Some media personalities are predicting grid failure overnight or early tomorrow because, without last night's high winds, wind turbine generation and system capacity will be reduced while demand remains at a record high

[teen persuasion]

Video of Rt 5 lakeshore:

[Opti]

Glad I did not know about car door handles breaking off. Luckily work did an early close although I guess a little sooner might have been nicer. Rain and snow plus significant temperature drops. Really had to put some muscle into opening the driver side door of the car to go home. Unfortunately, when I got home my storm door would not open. Went looking for the super, no luck at the office nor at what used to be the super's apartment. Happy to say that when I punched in the push button with my fist, the storm door finalyy opened and I was able to get in. Still not fully warm from walking around looking for help.

Tomorrow is going to be very cold, and I don't know if I am willing to try to get my car to go to Xmas eve service tomorrow. My car has been making noises I don't like, and it is bad in the cold. Accidently chipped off another piece of rubber around the front windshield. Really need to see if I can find something to seal across the bottom. Would really improve defrosting, etc. 

So glad it will be warmer end of next week even if it means rain.

[Deleted]

I'm going to hit up Aldi in the am for vino since my car decided to start today. We checked out the new local liquor store next to Aldi and they are solid on hard stuff and beer, but not so much on wine. No Pinot Grigio at all. Super nice owner, safely tucked away behind a bullet-proof barrier.

[minnesotapaintlady]

My mom is fighting some weird pneumonia-like thing so Christmas Eve at their house has been postponed.  Her sisters took her to urgent care in FL 10 days ago and it still hasn't improved with antibiotics.  We shall be hunkered down an additional day at home I guess.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Dec 23, 2022 14:23:27 GMT -5 countrygirl2 said:

I got back on this one finally. Like I said it was bad, I was starting to wonder if the flight was going to be cancelled.
The flight was full and lots kids. We figured it would be wild, but they were very well behaved. Noone got upset or rude, everyone was pleasant. 

We got DD wheelchairs which was our saving grace, the attendants helped us with everything which speeded our passages through the airports. I had not intended to but they were so helpful we tipped them $20 each.

The flight was very smooth, surprisingly.


Then we got to Seattle. Well, a worse mess, sleeting. They did not have our vehicle. We were trying to get insurance and didn't think we had to pay that much but with the storm we gave in. But when she wanted to charge more for another car I said NO. We aren't doing that, I was starting to get mad it was about 2AM or so and we were tired. I said a mid sized car and I'm not paying more, she tried to give us a truck or minivan, for more money! No. So she gave us a Mercedes, smaller, hubs said we will probably get hit for extra charges, I will be pi***d if we do. The rental car place was a mess, no more renting from Hertz. 

The highway was a sheet of ice. We saw a couple of spin outs and the other side of the road were some wrecks. Hubs and other cars got up to 40 a few times. It took us a couple of hours to get up there..

So anyway we finally made it at 3AM in the morning. We were supposed to be here at 9:30.  And we are glad to be here and will enjoy the family. 

Remember when you were planning on driving it?

[Pink Cashmere]

Dec 23, 2022 17:36:57 GMT -5 Opti said:

Glad I did not know about car door handles breaking off. Luckily work did an early close although I guess a little sooner might have been nicer. Rain and snow plus significant temperature drops. Really had to put some muscle into opening the driver side door of the car to go home. Unfortunately, when I got home my storm door would not open. Went looking for the super, no luck at the office nor at what used to be the super's apartment. Happy to say that when I punched in the push button with my fist, the storm door finalyy opened and I was able to get in. Still not fully warm from walking around looking for help.

Tomorrow is going to be very cold, and I don't know if I am willing to try to get my car to go to Xmas eve service tomorrow. My car has been making noises I don't like, and it is bad in the cold. Accidently chipped off another piece of rubber around the front windshield. Really need to see if I can find something to seal across the bottom. Would really improve defrosting, etc. 

So glad it will be warmer end of next week even if it means rain.

Heyyyyyy! I hadn’t seen you post in a few days and I’ve been hoping you were okay. Another poster, I think jerseygirl asked about you a couple days ago. Good to “see” you now.

And yes, the door handle on the Tahoe came off this morning. I asked Mister if he was yanking on it trying to open the door, and he said no, it just came off when he tried to open the door. It was in the driveway and it got down to something like 4 degrees last night, so maybe it did that because it was frozen? Idk. I’ve never seen that before.

It’s too big to keep it in our tiny 2 car garage. It will clear the door in height, but just barely, but I think it’s too long to let the door down. Maybe if we moved stuff and got the front end an inch or so from the wall. But even if we managed to make it fit, it would be the only vehicle in the garage. My baby (my old Honda) is not use to living outside in the elements, so I insist she live in the garage here too. So we keep her and Mister’s Honda in the garage (and we have to park them just right, because the garage is so small), and everything else lives in the driveway.

I hope you get warm soon!

[chiver78]

Dec 23, 2022 15:08:53 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

Dec 23, 2022 11:43:51 GMT -5 chiver78 said:

I just caught this story on my local news lol.... make sure you watch the whole video in the embedded tweet about halfway down. 🤣🤣🤣

people.com/human-interest/sports-reporter-makes-feelings-very-clear-when-covering-morning-weather-during-blizzard/

That is the station I normally watch.  Mark is not wrong.  Having reporters standing at the side of the road telling people not to drive is stupid.

I don't disagree with that, at all. that said, the first comment on a local news station's FB post on the story was something like "well, they can't all be Shelby Scott!" see her obit from earlier this year, below. she was a legendary local weather reporter. Tenn might remember her as well, not sure exactly when he left this area.

www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/former-wbz-tv-anchor-reporter-shelby-scott-has-died/

[Pink Cashmere]

Mister, his Dad and Kiddo are gone to the hospital to visit his Mom.

Dad was in trouble again today when Mister got home. Mister gets frustrated because his Dad doesn’t listen. He use to say that about his Dad even before all this happened, and now I see what he means. When you are telling him something, he cuts you off, thinking he knows the rest of what you are going to say, and he is usually wrong lol. Or if you ask him to repeat what you just said, he can’t, because he was only pretending to be listening in the first place. So now, with him here with us, that habit of his causes him to not do what Mister is asking him to do. And it’s driving Mister crazy. He is constantly telling his Dad, stop talking and LISTEN to what I’m saying. 

I remember Mister talking about how his Dad doesn’t listen, so I don’t think that’s dementia, unless maybe if he does have dementia, it made it even worse. 

Mister is almost constantly trying to figure out what is just the way his Dad is and has always been, and what might be dementia. He doesn’t want to hold things that might be dementia against his Dad, but it’s also become very clear these last few months that there are things about his Dad that his Mom managed and handled behind the scenes and kept anyone from knowing, even her children. I respect that, because as his wife, she was presenting a united front and all that. But those things, Mister doesn’t have much patience for. He’s not interested in playing the role his Mom plays in his Dad’s life. Genuine memory issues and confusion, he does have patience for.

[empress of self-improvement]

Dec 23, 2022 18:46:24 GMT -5 chiver78 said:

Dec 23, 2022 15:08:53 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

That is the station I normally watch.  Mark is not wrong.  Having reporters standing at the side of the road telling people not to drive is stupid.

I don't disagree with that, at all. that said, the first comment on a local news station's FB post on the story was something like "well, they can't all be Shelby Scott!" see her obit from earlier this year, below. she was a legendary local weather reporter. Tenn might remember her as well, not sure exactly when he left this area.

www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/former-wbz-tv-anchor-reporter-shelby-scott-has-died/

I vaugely remember her name. Of course, I vaguely remember my own name so that's not saying much.