chiver78
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Post by chiver78 on May 4, 2024 13:08:12 GMT -5
I'm finally having something to eat, while I tune in to the start of today's Sox game. today's been productive so far! in addition to S mowing my lawn with her own mower after mine wouldn't start I was able to weed most of what's starting to come through the mulch beds. some of it wasn't big enough for me to grab and pull down to the roots, so I left it to grow a little more before I yank it. then, mooch texts to let me know that he'd be here by noon to put the outdoor shower online for the season. he brought M, and she made herself busy tending a fire in the fire pit. there was still a pile of the small sticks the landscapers cleaned up as they worked a few weeks ago. she got that pile down to nothing and started adding some of the crap wood (old landscape timbers, pieces of picket fencing, etc) that the guys had stacked on top of the good wood pile to get it out of the way. yay! less for me to have to burn later. I just wish I'd remembered to close the bedroom windows before she started, it smells like a bonfire in here. oops. I'll just leave the windows open to air the house out, until it's too cold. it got cloudy as everyone was heading out, and the temp dropped a good 10-15 degrees. ugh.
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Post by chiver78 on May 4, 2024 8:04:57 GMT -5
I'm also enjoying a cup of coffee while I fart around a little, debating some breakfast as well. I've been to the grocery store and back, and my friend S is coming by at 10 to mow the back lawn. she's also gonna show me how to operate my own mower and maybe I'll do it myself this year (let's be real, probably not...) tomorrow's not supposed to be all that great, weather-wise. so I want to spend as much time outside today as possible once I get out there. I could use a couple more degrees though haha. but I'm intending to weed the stuff that's coming up under the mulch beds, and use the leaf blower on the areas that the guys missed as they were cleaning up the sod work.
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Post by chiver78 on May 3, 2024 19:14:42 GMT -5
alright, I'm not current right now, and I'm sorry. but I need to air this rant rn. I closed all apps on my phone so I could enjoy a quiet dinner, maybe a quiet night. my phone still had some random audio playing, with no apps active. I've rebooted the damn thing 4 times already, and the audio continues even through the reboots. WTF?? that alone is going to bring me to an AT&T store tomorrow to unload this fucking thing. hard pass on all of it, and I'm about to rejoin my parents with their flip phones.
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chiver78
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Post by chiver78 on May 3, 2024 17:36:56 GMT -5
I've been exploring my local Aldi again recently. are these flatbreads in a fridge case or the bread aisle? I've had mixed feelings about the various flatbreads I've bought over the years, but I'd be up for giving these a whirl. I bought some tri-color cheese tortellini for about half what I'd have paid for Buitoni at even the cheapest store otherwise, and it was tasty. tonight I decided I'm making chicken piccata with the last BSCB hanging out in the fridge. I sniffed it, and it was fine, so I'll start prepping everything else in a few min. if I die tonight, someone tell the authorities to check the leftovers lol....
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Post by chiver78 on May 3, 2024 16:53:08 GMT -5
Had an awesome lunch with a couple peeps from my last group. One left a few months after I did, and the other just gave her notice last week-she has an excellent new job lined up. Sounds like it’s just in time too; the budget cuts have hit super hard and it sounds like most of my remaining former coworkers have been warned to start looking for new jobs Unclear whether the group will continue to exist. Always fun to marvel at the sheer toxicity of that place…. The one who left over a year ago just got an email yesterday from our former supervisor asking if she‘d like to meet up for lunch and discuss the future of the group. We’re betting he’s going to try to hire her back and she is under strict orders to meet up for lunch or at least on Teams to spill the tea afterwards. My first job, the lab of 12 people was down to 1 in about 6 months. I was the second to exit, and once the rest realized that the PI had fudged my predecessor’s data that I inadvertently mentioned, the gig was up. No one wanted to be tainted by that brush.same as my expedited exit from the train wreck place I ultimately called the FDA on. they had asked me to falsify a controlled document. that's way beyond a hard pass.
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Post by chiver78 on May 3, 2024 13:37:44 GMT -5
we were able to escape to the shore for a quick walkabout over lunch, and I've moved the party outside for the sunny afternoon to crank out some online refresher training while I listen to the court case. ETA: actually, I have a question. not sure if this is something that varies by state, but swamp - can a judge insist on not stating the reason for an objection when one comes up? just that she'll either sustain or overrule, and if it's not immediately clear as to why the objection was raised, that the discussion will be a sidebar? this case I'm watching, this judge has a sidebar like every 5th question. she's also cleared the jury a couple times already just today alone for further discussion. thanks!
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Post by chiver78 on May 3, 2024 10:21:46 GMT -5
On a positive note about mental loads...we are 5 weeks into home chef meal prep deliveries. Only one recipe has been so-so. The rest have been great. 4 servings usually stretches to 5 or 6. Ordering 3-4 per week and supplementing the rest of our meals from freezer, salad, pizza, etc. Intro deal was well priced, ongoing is a bit spendy but man is helping me. I do can shop less, waste less, eat better and dd11 has taken to cooking a couple nights a week without being asked or even asking many questions. Tonight she and I were at hair appt where she got blonde ombre put in as a big middle finger to leaving private school dress code in our dust. Came home at 530 and DH had cooked a meal from it without prompting. They are also weighing in on future orders so that's becoming not my problem too. When I cook them, it's so easy bc literally everything except salt, pepper and oil is included. Most are 20 min prep. Def a privileged option but so, so helpful for me. We’re on week 2 of dinnerly after a few months of blue apron. Generally dinnerly has been less expensive esp after initial BA deal expired, but less complete (still have five small garlic cloves and a bunch of spices from BA on the counter) which I think is a fair tradeoff. The protein portions are smaller though and the steaks last week weren’t great quality. But, the range of recipes offered is much better and I like the increased flexibility-BA really wanted us to do 3 recipes a week, no more no less without formally changing the plan, which was annoying sometimes. Dinnerly lets us add and subtract at will. The baked feta pasta wasn’t great (tbf I added way too much seasoning) but the pan fried gnocchi yesterday was delicious. Occasionally we are successful in getting DS to eat a vegetable. I will put home chef on the list for after we‘re bored with dinnerly remind me when you're ready to switch. I regularly get coupon codes for home chef in my online orders elsewhere. I'll try to remember not to recycle them, and can share.
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Post by chiver78 on May 2, 2024 17:50:21 GMT -5
wvu, your posts this week have had me craving black beans and rice. that might be tomorrow night. I've still got one BSCB from an open package, I can shred and douse in taco seasonings and have solid leftovers for the weekend. hmm....
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Post by chiver78 on May 2, 2024 17:48:29 GMT -5
the dishwasher is already running, so I don't want to dirty too much to leave in the sink til the am. I'm currently debating a can of poblano corn chowder or a freezer bag of cheesy broccoli over roasted tiny potatoes, either of which would get some added shredded chicken that I'll swipe from the fresh container in the pup stash.
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Post by chiver78 on May 2, 2024 14:48:38 GMT -5
I'm curious what the increase in electricity is after that gets up to temps and just hangs out there. can you report back after your first bill? that's a cute little hot tub, I could definitely get behind something like that here. not sure exactly where I'd put it, but maybe. haha
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Post by chiver78 on May 2, 2024 14:46:28 GMT -5
Take a look at this home I found on Realtor.com 604 E Summa St, Centralia $405,000 · 3beds · 1.5baths apps.realtor.com/mUAZ/virr827n[mention]countrygirl2 [/mention] I think you’re going to have to accept that it’s at least $500k to have anything close to what you need to purchase. How far away from Olympia are you willing to go live? This is 20 minutes from Tumwater. the bones are adorable. the cosmetics are a little much for me haha. I also loved the look of a small wallpaper runner either mid-wall or at the top, back in my first condo in 2002. but it's a great space, I'd say. I think her DH would want a much bigger shed/garage space, though.
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Post by chiver78 on May 2, 2024 9:47:37 GMT -5
right now, I'm listening to a painfully tedious call involving three different teams (some overlap of responsibility, but not much...) of folks involved in all parts of the manufacture of a certain product that we're trying to shrink the entire mfg process including shipping inter-country for the various sites involved down to 60 days. this process usually takes about 6 months at normal pace, but we're looking at stocking out on it after some upstream issues in recent batches. the person leading the call is down to the detail of things like "when the lot arrives at site B, it will trigger <some step> to start ahead of when it's needed, so that it's ready to go when it is needed" I'm getting a headache. I deal with packaging, not all this other shit.
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Post by chiver78 on May 1, 2024 18:38:35 GMT -5
some of these elder stories are a lot horrifying.... I feel like it's in my best interest to have a big CTJ chat with my mom to ask where she's listed me on stuff (since she very well knows the SSN she requested when I was a kid. I've got my card, but... ) to see if there's anything I don't already know about. she'll be here again in a few weeks for a day-long meeting in the opposite direction from pup daycare. maybe when I get home? but woof.
she's been very clear that I'm executor and POA (I need copies of both) and a few other things, b/c she "doesn't want my BIL to have clear access to anything". FTR, my BIL wouldn't even know where to start if he wanted to poach anything. he's blue collar and grew up with almost nothing. Malarky can vouch, she lives around the corner from the Frankenhouse (as it's known over there) I have zero idea how much of this garbage has been communicated to my sister by now. I also have no idea how that news will be received, and I'm expecting a big to-do when she finds out I've known about it for years already. I just want no part of any of it, TBH.
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Post by chiver78 on May 1, 2024 18:30:09 GMT -5
okay, so I saw your post earlier, and now this. what's a "hank" and why is it more difficult to deal with than a typical skein? I remember my sister's MIL re-rolling yarn back in the day, but I've never had a major issue just pulling from the center of a skein while crocheting. 🤷♀️ Yarn comes in skeins and hanks. Hanks are yarn that is wrapped around something and tied together around the circle of yarn. When you try to work from them, the yarn becomes a tangled mess and you spend more time untangling than knitting. Skeins are set up better to work from directly. My first project I brought with me was in skeins. My second project was hanks that had been caked (the yarn shop has a machine that balls the yarn up for you). The new yarn I bought in Tokyo, I could ball up myself (getting TD to hold his hands so I could wind it up). My sister did get me a winder and swift for Christmas, so I can do the hanks when I get home. It just means a some work before you start to avoid a huge amount of grief later. The second advantage of balling up a hank is that every inch of the yarn passes through your hands, so you can see if there are imperfections and deal with them before you run into them while knitting. thank you, that makes WAY more sense. projects always go sideways when you pull from the outside of a skein, which is what it sounds like is the case for the hanks in being wrapped around a core. I just remember being confused by the MIL, because she was working from skeins. apparently she re-rolled into balls that she could put into this feeder thingy that kept the strand clear of obstructions. and if there were knots, it contained those nicely as well.
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Post by chiver78 on May 1, 2024 17:53:30 GMT -5
pasta toss was delish last night, and will be rejoining the regular rotation. so simple, healthy, and tasty. I also go short on the pasta quantity so it is more appropriate proportions of ingredients. I had a small cup reheated for lunch today, and there's still two solid meals left in the fridge container.
tonight, I'm not really hungry yet. whatever I end up doing is going to be something brainless like opening a can of soup or baking off a frozen chicken patty for a sandwich. I'm over this week already.
ETA: waiting on a chicken patty to finish cooking, which is gonna get chopped over a basic Caesar salad. stick a fork in me, I'm done.
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Post by chiver78 on May 1, 2024 17:43:21 GMT -5
Add me to the mayo-haters list. I also like ketchup on its own (okay, as a condiment on fries etc on its own) but I‘ve never met a dish containing ketchup as an ingredient that I liked. For some reason my ipad keeps trying to predict Ivermectin instead of I‘ve. My ipad is republican Because Apple = the devil. At least in my house. 10,000% with you here. other than an iPod that got seized as part of a federal raid while it was out for repairs (I'm totally not kidding on this lol...) I haven't touched anything Apple since writing lab in HS. I'm sure not starting now.
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Post by chiver78 on May 1, 2024 17:39:03 GMT -5
So last night, after staring at the hanks of new yarn I’d need to ball up (I learned my lesson NOT to try to knit directly from a hank or you wind up with a tangled mess that takes forever to untangle) or figure out how to work with the yarn I have, alternating balls of yarn seemed to be the better answer. So started on another project last night. We have 4 more sea days, including 2 May 2. I should be able to get a good chunk done on this, depending on how much time I jack around online. One of my groups blew up last night and it took awhile to get it back on track. The other 2 mods were sleeping. I could have ignored it, but one was going nuts with conspiracy theories. To untangle the comments would have been impossible so I nuked it all. Discussed with the other mods this morning about putting this twit on post approval. Hate doing that, as it’s more work for us. I am appreciating the job TD used to do on the old YM more and more. We are now exactly halfway between the Russian peninsula that juts out into the Pacific, and Alaska mainland. Damn, those Aleutian Islands run a long way! okay, so I saw your post earlier, and now this. what's a "hank" and why is it more difficult to deal with than a typical skein? I remember my sister's MIL re-rolling yarn back in the day, but I've never had a major issue just pulling from the center of a skein while crocheting. 🤷♀️
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Post by chiver78 on May 1, 2024 14:20:08 GMT -5
I don't know if tzatziki is considered dressing, but I love that stuff. yup, sandwich dressing on gyros.
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Post by chiver78 on May 1, 2024 12:58:30 GMT -5
Catalina vs French dressing Although Catalina and French dressing share a host of the same ingredients, ratios are starkly different. Consequently, this has a role in differentiating the two sauces when it comes to color and even texture. Because Catalina tends to consist of a higher amount of ketchup, it boasts a deeper red hue. French dressing tends to be lighter in color given its higher concentration of oil and modest amount of ketchup or tomato-based ingredients. In cases where the dressing contains eggs or mayo, French dressing will have a pale, almost yellow-orange hue.
This difference in ingredient proportions also means that each condiment has a varying viscosity. While Catalina's recipe allows it to take on a thinner and less chunky texture, the same can't be said for French dressing. Not only does the increased amount of fat make the dressing thicker, it also produces a more luscious and velvety mouthfeel. Moreover, the presence of other spices and herbs in French dressing can also impact its thickness.linkmaybe that's why I can handle a little Catalina in that taco salad.... mayo is just, no.
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Post by chiver78 on May 1, 2024 12:40:30 GMT -5
Thousand island dressing is disgusting. So is French dressing. Yuck. Agreed. And aren't Catalina dressing and French dressing the same thing?
yes
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Post by chiver78 on May 1, 2024 12:39:05 GMT -5
speaking of salad dressings: My favorite and a favorite around here is crumbly bleu cheese with italian or vinaigrette. I have travelled enough to know it is not available every where. Is it just a Northeast thing? Is 1,000 Islands dressing also a NY thing or is that nationwide? Thousand island dressing is disgusting. So is French dressing. Yuck. the only.eay I'd ever eat French dressing was in this raco salad that a college roommate's grandmother used to bring to every party. it had broken doritos pieces and was tossed with Catalina dressing. sounds awful, but was tasty all mixed up. 🤷♀️
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Post by chiver78 on May 1, 2024 10:41:34 GMT -5
speaking of salad dressings: My favorite and a favorite around here is crumbly bleu cheese with italian or vinaigrette. I have travelled enough to know it is not available every where. Is it just a Northeast thing? Is 1,000 Islands dressing also a NY thing or is that nationwide? Thousand Island is available here. isn't that Big Mac sauce, too? idk... I don't like any of those thicker dressings or sauces. just give me a light vinaigrette or a thinner Caesar dressing and I'm all set. if I go for a Cobb salad, I don't even need that if there's guacamole in it.
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Post by chiver78 on May 1, 2024 10:06:45 GMT -5
I'm from the Midwest and I say breakfast lunch and dinner. Pretty much everyone I know does. On the big family farms when I was little it was always breakfast, dinner and supper. Dinner was at noon and was the big meal of the day when all the hired help came in to eat with the family. It was like a Thanksgiving meal every day it seemed to me as a kid. Grandma spent half the morning picking things fresh from the garden and prepping the meal. At night it was supper which was small and typically just dinner leftovers. Off the farm, when the noon meal is just something like a sandwich or leftovers, it's lunch. With supper/dinner used kind of interchangeably for the night meal. Holiday meals are always called dinner and are typically between noon and two. I was always told "dinner" is the big meal of the day. this is what I was taught as well, with the added confusion of meals with Dad's side being called by the French words.
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Post by chiver78 on Apr 30, 2024 16:33:55 GMT -5
your ship still has curtains in the cabin bathrooms? wow. I wonder if Carnival still does on the class I used to sail. NCL's got a sliding door in even the basic interior cabins.
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Post by chiver78 on Apr 30, 2024 15:57:38 GMT -5
Today's rhetorical question of the day: Why the frack are there always dirty dishes?
In other musings, Poor Bill the Dog is having a heck of a time getting out his doggy door. I think I'm just going to remove it and leave it the gap open. I feel bad for him. I also am tired of cleaning up potty messes.
Met with the therapist today. We've actually not started "therapy". We're still in diagnoses and testing modes and trying out some medications. I'm finally sleeping almost normally, so that's better. Now we're on to the results of some genetic testing and bloodwork.
We're getting a hot tub. I don't think it's necessary, but DH has wanted one for years. He's at the age that his back hurts most of the time. We have the room. The guy in charge of installation should be here in about 20 minutes to determine if where I want it to go is realistic. I have one of these over my kitchen door - Magic Mesh as I don't have a slider anywhere in the house that would accept a typical doggy door. it took a little bit of coaxing to get my two to go through it when it first went up, but that thing is a life saver for me. I put up a new one every spring as the bottom gets trashed over the winter. last year, I needed a replacement mid-summer as someone tore a hole in the screen at some point. my only complaint is that I need a 2nd person to put it up because it just isn't a one-person job once that strong adhesive is applied. best $15 As Seen on TV find ever! (it's also available at Home Depot, for those that hate Amazon)
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Post by chiver78 on Apr 30, 2024 8:38:44 GMT -5
trial started late today, with a massive accident on the interstate kind of near town. the highway has basically been shut down most of the morning for cleanup of that. the 1st responding officer on the scene is back on the stand for cross-examination, and he's getting absolutely destroyed already. the dispatch log and eventual report of the call have so much wrong information in them, from the times the officers arrived, to the actual address they were called to, to who was actually there. today's going to be spicy. daisylu - will you be able to listen at all today?
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Post by chiver78 on Apr 29, 2024 18:46:16 GMT -5
I lost today in listening to the livestream of a current local court case. dinner tonight ended up being a Bertolli meal, and I threw out what was left.
tomorrow, I'm going to channel early 30s chiver, and use one of the leftover BSCB in a pasta toss pan. I've got some fridge goblins that need to be used, and the end of a carton of chicken broth. I'll roast some of the veggies, and hsred the BSCB after par-cooking it in the big pan.
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Post by chiver78 on Apr 29, 2024 16:21:31 GMT -5
oh, they have an explanation for that - KR asked her to search for that at 6am when they found him. nevermind that the data extraction shows the search happened at 2am before he was even out in the snow. I cannot wait for the defense to cross examine any of these idiots and just destroy them. ETA: for anyone interested in following live, here's a local news station's YouTube channel. they will be streaming teh entire proceedings here, zero commentary. NBC10 BostonI've been watching this on Court TV. It makes me glad I moved and got away from the cop that was stalking me, years ago. That was scary shi+! Never knowing when he was going to show up, or pull me over. Knowing other cops in the area were letting him know when and where they saw me drive by. I have relatives that are good cops. But now I'm more afraid of them, than not. yikes.
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Post by chiver78 on Apr 29, 2024 14:43:25 GMT -5
oh, for sure. just that I didn't actually see it get in this time. I had one climbing the fence and dancing around when I let the dogs out to chase him out, not long after I moved here. it's funny, none of my neighbors need to use bungee cords to keep their lids closed. just me. the amount of processed shit in my trash is minimal, so of course it's gonna be stinky and tasty to wildlife.
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Post by chiver78 on Apr 29, 2024 14:34:47 GMT -5
WTF? that sounds like something he should have been on top of well before today.
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