wittenlover

So yesterday was "May the 4th be with you" and today is "Revenge of the 5th" for us Star Wars nerds. Mew (kitty in my picture) goes in for her semi-annual checkup this morning. We check her thyroid and bp twice a year since she's a senior kitty and is taking daily maintenance meds for both. She's not happy with me right now because, in order to safely handle the drive (we've discovered her heart rate spikes badly on longer than about a 10 minute ride), I have to give her a dose of gabapentin 2 hours before we leave. I know she hates the way it makes her feel, so I feel terrible giving it to her, with my only comfort being that it's better than the alternative for her. [If we could draw her blood remotely somehow, I'd totally spare her the "fun".] The gaba takes 8-12 hours to wear off after I administer it to her, so I do my best to set her appointments on my work from home days to minimize disruption to my work while allowing close monitoring of her to keep her safe and to make sure it actually does wear off properly. When she's feeling good otherwise, it does tend to wear off closer to the 8 hour range than the 12, thankfully. In other news, my "sister from another mister" mom's celebration of life has been scheduled for 5/24. This will be while us other two of the 3 musketeers are local, since that's Charlotte race week (this was not intentionally set up that way - just happened to be the best date for the family overall) so we will be able to be there for/with her as she says her last goodbye to her mama. In the meantime, we told her to keep us posted on how much of the race week stuff she wants to join us for, as we've committed to making the drive between her house in SC and Charlotte (roughly 2 hours each way) multiple times as needed. It'll be worth every minute and every penny we spend on gas to support her any way we can while we're that close.

As any race fan knows... This. Is. May. Bring on the annual Memorial Day weekend run to Charlotte with a helping of watching the Indy 500 on TV before we take our seats at Charlotte Motor Speedway for 600 more miles of racing. One of my "sisters from another mister" unexpectedly and tragically lost her mom to a heart attack yesterday morning. She is one that is always with me in Charlotte and is now VERY much counting the days until we are together. Our group of "three musketeers" are all feeling the loss today.

At this rate, I'd need a full on brush mower if I did a no-mow May... The dandelions are as big as my cats already!

Anyone else have "fun" trying to get a Switch 2 preordered last night/today online? I tried to grab one on Best Buy site last night but got white screened when I reached the "front" of the line the first time and they were gone by the time I got back to the front of the line the second time. Oof. Accomplished in-person pre-order at my local GameStop on my lunch break today. The location I went to had 45 total pre-orders available, 30-ish MK World bundles, the rest plain consoles. I missed the bundle by a few people but got a plain console and went ahead and ordered the physical copy of MK World to go with it. Once mine was reserved, only three plain console preorders remained. Crazy.

Started the week with the news this morning that a dear friend has passed away. She's been in hospice at home for the last couple of weeks. She was like a mom/grandma to me, as she was roughly my dad's age (80+) so, while not a shock, still a loss. Doubt very seriously that we have enough room in our church to hold all the folks that loved her dearly. As I told another of our friends when we got the news today, that is a great "problem" to have (to be that loved). Her name was Linda. I was blessed to call her a friend for over 25 years.

Oof... As if last Sunday in my store wasn't wretched enough (we were supposed to close at 6 and be gone by 6:30 - last customers finally left store at 6:30 and we didn't clock out till after 8). I saw the email about the Torrid Cash "after party" going on this weekend and just wanted to punch a wall. smh LOL

Watch out for the fools today! My birthday month has begun (and that's no foolin')! The birthday reward emails have begun rolling in so I am starting to plan which ones I can (and want to) take advantage of. Aside from that, as the weather warms, I am starting to plan out what I intend to plant/try to grow outside this year. Romaine, leaf lettuces, spinach, dill, and parsley are back in the plan, as all have done well in my garden boxes these past two years. Cucumbers have been a struggle, as I've battled fungus attacks. However, I am enclosing part of an existing tubular structure behind my house to turn it into a greenhouse of sorts and will try again to grow some cukes, knowing that the dang fungus is airborne and the enclosure might help me fend it off better. (If anyone has any suggestions on the battle front here, I'm listening!) As for flowers, I had some solid luck with what I called a "red, white, and blue corner" last year - I intend to repeat that with similar color scheme this year - maybe reverse color order. Last year, I did short (height) red, mid white, and tall (stalk flower style) blue. Thinking short blue (purple), mid white again, and stalk red this time around. Front porch will once again get hanging baskets - not sure what flowers just yet - just going to see what strikes my fancy when I make my trip to my local greenhouse. Hope my GDer family has been surviving the severe weather that's been crossing the country lately. I know we're due for another round here tomorrow. Color me thrilled (not).

March came roaring in with an $800 plumbing repair for the house. Blah. On the other hand, I leave for Vegas next week for the annual sojourn westward. Looking forward to the week with my "sisters from another mister". I bake the pile of cookies for our pit crew guys this Saturday. May have to have them start forking over moolah for those eggs... LOL

We were thrilled to hit 20* here today...

Most around me are closing. I don't hit Joann's often but I will miss them still for the times I did find stuff I needed there.

Happy early birthday! I have a dear friend who is also a Valentine's baby. Baking him his fave cookies and shipping them his way later this week.

Yes. SOOOOO many people don't realize just how much you can do in Vegas without it involving gambling (or drinking, as our group chooses not to partake of alcohol). There are so many interesting things to do, including some that we -still- haven't gotten around to (like the Neon Boneyard/Museum) that are truly worth the time if you enjoy those kinds of things. For an aquarium lover like me, Mandalay Bay's Shark Reef is a must visit every trip, for example.

We go out west for a week. Tuesday-Tuesday, usually.

Happy February, y'all! Some might recall I got rear-ended right before Thanksgiving (can't remember who all I told at this point). Well, I decided to not go the insurance claim route for a number of reasons. Instead, I am using a trusted small business auto repair shop (owner's name was given to me by both my dad and my insurance agent - though they don't know one another, so had no way of knowing they were recommending the same person to me - ha!). Since my car was drivable with the damage, I had the flexibility to wait until he could accommodate the needed work in his schedule. Well, the time has finally arrived! My car is in his capable hands as of this past Saturday morning and he expects to have the work done before the weekend. Good stuff. I am excited to have Blue (as I call her) back in one piece and looking good again soon. In other news, I am counting down to the annual Vegas run, coming up here in about a month or so. We've got all of our travel arrangements booked and can't wait to get back out that way for our first race trip of the year. That also means it'll be cookie baking time again soon for my pit crew buddies. Good times. Typically when we go out that way, we take one day for a "field trip" that alternates between the south rim of the Grand Canyon and the greater LA area. This year would have been an LA year but, with the recent fires and resulting devastation, we're heading back to the canyon. We know we'll enjoy it and the last thing we want to do is be in anyone's way or end up in a bad spot ourselves by trekking anywhere near the fire ravaged areas there in CA.

Same. While not quite to felony level with my job, similar legal limitations exist for me as well.

Not necessarily true... There are legal limitations/ramifications on parts of my job that I simply cannot do from home. I'm OK with that. That said, "just running to my office" to accomplish some tasks would waste half my day in packing up office/driving/resetting first in my office then back home because of where I live in proximity to my office. Sooooo.... I'm actually more productive being in just one place or the other on any given day. Fixed hybrid schedule gives my plants that I deal with the confidence of knowing when I'll be in office to accomplish tasks there vs when things might need to wait a day because I'm WFH. Urgent matters are always the exception to the rule and I will drop everything else on a WFH day to attend to those types of things, no matter the inconvenience. (Comes with the territory of my job and something I've known would be the nature of it from the very beginning.)

While we officially started back up for work last Thursday, today was first day back in the office. So, of course I woke up with a splitting headache. On a WFH day, I would've simply taken some ibuprofen, left most of my lights off, turned the brightness down on my laptop screen and been fine. But noooooo... I had to come into the office where every last stinkin light is on, the air is drier than heck, and people were being noisier than normal (since it was our first day back). I've made it through but I truly cannot wait to get home and become a hermit for the night. It's been a LONG day... That said, hope everyone that got snow/ice dumped on them in the last few days is OK. My bestie down in Indiana definitely got hammered, though she was blessed to not lose power (truly insult to injury for those that did with the frigid temps).

Dang... Lost 10 already... That's a shame. December does tend to get away from us quickly, though. That said, Happy New Year, GD fam! Rang in the new year with a bunch of the church family at our annual NYE party (that I host). Good times were had by all and, if anyone left hungry, it was ABSOLUTELY their own fault. We had a huge spread of snacks and treats to enjoy and the largest group since pre-covid days. Yay! Christmas was enjoyed with my dad at a local Chinese buffet. He got a kick out of the fact that I bought him exactly what he said he wanted (an electric staple gun) - guess he wasn't sure his daughter was paying attention when he mentioned it was something he could really use. LOL Winter will be returning with a vengeance in the next week or so, so I am very glad my outdoor decorations come down even more quickly than they go up. That will all come down early next week. Tree will be down by end of next week, most likely. The winter/holiday painting that my grandmother made years ago will remain on my wall till spring when it'll get switched out for one of her other paintings more reflective of warmer weather. (It was one of her many hobbies and I am blessed to have several of her canvases to enjoy and remind me of her. ) Officially back to work today, though we are WFH today and tomorrow with a return to our normal hybrid work schedule next week. Allows us to ease back in a bit before we jump back in to the full regular routine and all of us are appreciating that.

Pre/post unwrapping pics Thanks so much, ytmomof4!!! Such fun stuff! Lotions are already coming in handy and I will get great use out of the pot holder/oven mitt/towel set. Those Andes mints won’t last long, either… The NKOTB sticker was a great add-on, too - now to find it a good home on display somewhere… Merry Christmas! (Cats very much enjoying chasing the balled up wrapping paper as well )

Got my box today! Waiting till Christmas to open! Thanks, SS!!!

Congrats, winners!!!

Same, but I'll be putting the ornaments on mine throughout the week this week. The boxes of ornaments are in a handy location for easy access. Finished my outdoor decor yesterday since it was 50+ degrees out. Perfect to get the inflatables set up and staked down properly.

I've thought about them but my issue is their "zoomie" sessions when they're not paying attention to where they're going or what they're knocking over while they're chasing each other around. Hence, Wallflowers. Safest and no cleanup involved, as they can't knock them out of the outlets I put them in.

Some of the candle scents they have make me wish I didn't have two klutzy cats I don't dare trust around open flames... LOL I make do with Wallflowers. Maybe the next fuzzles in my house will be more graceful and I can enjoy the candles that have long been packed away once again.

I feel this. I have piles of baking to do but the "want to" just isn't there yet. I did, however, put myself on a bit of a clock for at least getting my much-loved peppermint brownies baked - sent out a "peppermint brownie advisory is now in effect" to two of my good buddies that most look forward to these and said they'd be available next week. Basically gave myself a kick in the tail to at least get things started. Best of luck finding your "want to" and give yourself grace if/when you don't. You've been through some things lately, to put it lightly. Those who love you will understand if the "want to" just doesn't come this year.