Weekly Chat Thread August 15th - 21st

[staytuned]

Good morning, everyone! Odd we're getting a break in temps and humidity this week. Normally, August is sweltering. Not complaining, but just hope this isn't an indication we're in for an early, frigid winter. One day at a time. Hope everyone has a positive day!

[labbypaws]

Humidity is back here/. Chance of rain this morning. But it is cooler. Got to work yesterday and we had no water or air conditioning in our building. Plumber screwed something up and broke something. They hope to have it fixed today. I don’t really tolerate incompetence that well. Plumber lied to his bosses saying there was enough pressure to flush the toilets. Nope. I was mad. Hopefully they have the part today.

Of course everyone else was just ignoring things. Thing is we are in an athletic building that opens early. So they were going to ignore that and let staff come in to use the gym and not be able to shower or wash their hands or fill a water bottle from the bottle machines.

[val2525]

We had a nice little rain here this morning. Another chance of rain this afternoon. Works for me, since the high will only by 90 today.

I finally replaced my futon mattress. It looks much better now, with the foam cushions IMO.  Not to mention it's also more comfortable.  






It was going to be expensive to get the old futon mattress disposed of. While talking to the handyman I use sometimes, he asked what was it made of. I unzipped the original cover that came with it, and it was batted cotton over foam. Easy to take apart. So I did. I now have 5 rolls of egg crate foam and about 5 bags of wadded cotton batting to toss in the dumpster. Much easier than trying to lug a full mattress down the stairs, into my car, and up into the dumpster at the bulk item disposal center .

I've been looking at houses on Zillow. You know what I don't get? People go to a lot of trouble to either renovate the inside, or stage the house, but they don't do anything to the outside. The outside is the first thing you see when you drive up to the house. How hard would it be to at least pressure wash the outside?

[blissfullymiserable]

Cliff's neighborhood is okay as far as landscaping but mine is a BIG hot mess. It's all rock, not one person has grass and the rocks have been there for decades. Some people park on the rocks. That's really the only thing that I hate about my neighborhood. Got my pre cancerous stuff removed from my back yesterday. Was glad that they did stitches. I really wasn't sure what to expect. Have to go back and have the stitches removed end of next week.

We've had a very active monsoon season which I think most people like. The temps continue to be rather mild for summer in AZ. today only 100 and there are quite a few days coming up in the 90's. Humidity is at 29% and even though it's only a 100, it still feels rather hot and uncortbable but it could be much worse.

[kritter]

Not inspired enough to start a new thread for this addition to Informed Delivery.  Also not sure if somebody else mentioned it.

Saw this on my USPS ID this morning first time I have seen it but then I don't sell much anymore.

Outbound

eBay powered by Pitney Bowes

9405508205499951680511

Estimated Delivery on: Friday, Aug 19

[Shirley U Geste]

 

[jandsknight]

About:

Outbound

eBay powered by Pitney Bowes

9405508205499951680511

Estimated Delivery on: Friday, Aug 19

I got my 1st message about "outbound" packages a few days ago. At first I didn't notice the "outbound" line and thought they'd goofed up. The 2nd time I saw it and realized they'd added a new feature. I'm getting them about 2 days after they were mailed.

[kritter]

[val2525]

It might be National Black Cat Day and National Thrift Shop Day, but my office has decided it's also National Idiot Day. We have clients asking us incredibly stupid questions today.

One client emails about a meeting and rates. Ruby replies with rates and that the rate is hourly. Client emails back, "are the rates hourly?"

Another client calls complaining he can't get a meeting with anyone. I text him back 2 options for next week, about 45 minutes after we got off the phone. Almost 5 hours later, no reply.

We send an invoice to a client, tell her she "can pay online thru the invoice, or call the office at xxx-xxx-xxx and Alexis can take your payment over the phone." Client replies, "can I call in to pay over the phone?"

Client says he needs help filing out a form but he doesn't want to do it over the phone. I tell him sure, he can drop by the office but call first if it's around lunchtime, to make sure Alexis or Ruby will be there. Alexis and/or Ruby deliver his payroll checks weekly. He knows who they are. He sees them weekly. He tells me that won't work since he's in NM and I'm in TX. This moron has been a client of ours for YEARS and knows the OFFICE is in Albuquerque and always has been.

Maybe "Idiot" is too nice a term

[denise15601]

I have also been getting the notices for outgoing mail for about a week.

[labbypaws]

Val it is idiot day here too. Contractor shows up to take apart gym equipment and does not have tools. Asks if we have a Philips head screwdriver. Nope and maintenance left for the day. He will be back next week.

Second guy comes to look at the gym to fix something. Oops he forgot to bring what he needs to make the repairs and will be back tomorrow.

Third person calls and says their card access isn't letting them in to a building. They called the wrong college.

And the students start filtering in Friday. International first year first. Regular first year nest Wednesday.

[chapeaunoir]

<<Contractor shows up to take apart gym equipment and does not have tools.>>

[labbypaws]

We have a box of dorm tools in our shift drawer but of course, some seem to have walked away. We have a drawer with stuff for our department but we don’t give them out for the same reason.

But seriously, a contractor without tools? Geez.

[treetop]

Aug 18, 2022 14:57:55 GMT labbypaws said:

We have a box of dorm tools in our shift drawer but of course, some seem to have walked away. We have a drawer with stuff for our department but we don’t give them out for the same reason.

But seriously, a contractor without tools? Geez.

A few years ago, we bought a new house and a window in the basement utility room didn’t latch properly. The builder sent Tweedle Dumb out to replace the window. After about 30 minutes, he came up and asked me for a screwdriver. Like you, I thought it was odd that he didn’t have his own tools, but I got one for him. A while later, he was back for a hammer. I got that for him (I then called DH, “OMG, this guy has had to ask to borrow both a screwdriver and a hammer, I do not have high hopes for the outcome of this…”) Soon he was back to let me know that the replacement window he brought was the wrong size and he’d have to order the right size and be back in 2 weeks. Sigh. A couple days later we had a torrential downpour and discovered that Tweedle Dumb had removed the old window and just left it out and water had poured into our basement, soaking several boxes that we hadn’t yet unpacked! We were lucky no animals or burglars had come in.

[val2525]

The "called the wrong college" cracked me up

[labbypaws]

Val, we have a “sister college”. That was where the student was living. Could have been one of our students living there this semester or their student lived here in the past but was now living there. But it was pretty funny🤣

[pyrexandpearls]

I absolutely love owning my own home, but oh boy is it kicking my butt lately! I think we've had a streak of bad luck. First, though not home related, DH's windshield cracked and we had to replace the whole windshield. Thankfully we had glass coverage on the insurance but still a pain. Since then, my 5 month old stove broke, my dryer broke, and I have a leaking pipe (maybe 2!!) in my laundry room. Ahhh!! Thankfully the stove was still under warranty so a repair tech was sent and able to fix it yesterday. I have been without a dryer for about two weeks now and I am not going to replace it yet. Because of the appliance shortages, dryers are quite pricey right now. I am not paying nearly $1K for a dryer. I have even been looking daily on FB marketplace and people want a ridiculous amount for used dryers with no guarantee they function properly. I have been air drying things around my house and bought a retractable clothes line for my laundry room, lol. I honestly could probably never replace the dryer if it weren't for towels and sheets. Air dried towels are so scratchy.

My house is 29 years old and I live in a cookie cutter, assembly line type neighborhood in the burbs. I think cheap materials were used and we are starting to see the effects of time on those materials. We have a giant window in the living room that is starting to near needing replaced but I dread the cost of that. It's about 5 feet wide by 6 feet tall. Issues and all I am still so thankful we were able to buy when we did. The homes prices and rents in our area have absolutely skyrocketed in the last few years. We pay less every month for our mortgage for a 1400 sq. ft house with a huge yard than it now costs to rent the 1 bedroom apartment we used to live in 5 years ago.

[labbypaws]

I think in the past 5 years we have re-placed just about all our appliances. Hot water heater and our HVAC will be due any time. Luckily we know a plumber.

I wrecked my back somehow. Spasms galore. May have to see a nurse practitioner or PA for some flexeril. I have one pill in my stash🤣 from too many years ago.

[denise15601]

((Labby)) join my sore back club!

[val2525]

I've been working on two related tax returns, where one is a sale of the business and the other is for the entity that bought the biz. We had this happen back in 2010 so I was able to reference the files for everything I needed to do except for one number we used then and I need to calculate for now. Nowhere in the file did we reference where we got this number from . I finally found something online that has the info I need. My brain is fried now though so I told my boss I was quitting for the day and would finish up Monday. I will definitely make sure this info is in our records for any future scenarios where we'll have to look it up again!

I have no desire to cook so I think I'm going to swing by HEB and splurge on some of their ready to cook single serve dinners. They're a tad pricey but probably cheaper in the long run than buying fresh that I won't cook .

Twila is getting bold. She's figured out today that if she walks on the desk in front of me, I'll pet her. It's the first time she's come to me for petting. . She's let me pet her in the past, but I always had to go to her. Progress!!

[chapeaunoir]

Jamie furry butt used to get onto my desk and lurk around. She wanted to be in my lap but it was really hard to work with her half on the keyboard and half on my lap, and she would end up pouting on the floor.

It's been muggy and hot here, with heavy cloud cover and today some rain. Despite our wet marine climate, when it gets hot here for summer it's usually dry, but not in the last week. It has also been really quiet, as if everyone has left town or are too enervated to do much save walk up and down our road. You can see a sort of steam rising up from all the swampy drainage ditches along our roads, the creeks and bogs, which makes it even more muggy.

At any rate, I managed to walk almost two miles today including a pretty good grade, so my foot seems to be healing. I tried running a few steps but not there yet. I've been hobbling since early April and am getting heartily tired of it - the podiatrist told me that if I'm not progressing well in another month or so, come back and he'll give me another cortisone shot, but I need to walk before I can run. I've started riding my bike with a group from a local bike club, though, called The Pie Ride - we ride up to a senior center fundraiser, have pie, ice cream and coffee, and ride back. For me it ends up being about 30 miles and I can take my time. Since I'm on this stupid calorie restriction I only have two bites of pie and bring a tupperware with me to put the rest in and have the rest for breakfast the next day. They bake a rhubarb pie with a crumble crust that's DIVINE.

[allikat]

Hi all, hope everyone is having a good weekend. Everything here still going really good, it sort of scares me, lol. DS and future DIL are on their honeymoon out west in Glacier and Yellowstone and a few things around that area. They are gone until next Monday and I am dog sitting. They have her in training and it has made a HUGE difference in her behavior, she is no longer crazy Nala, she is Nala GG (good girl, lol). My friend is allergic to dogs so I am trying to run interference between the 2 of them, lol.

I am starting to taste and smell more things here and there but not consistently and not correctly which is so odd. I am tasting all the chemicals in some of the prepared foods and I could smell the chemicals in my "non-scented" body lotion. I have been cooking and apparently I am pretty good at it even without being able to taste and adjust. My friend is allergic to onions so I am having to blindly adjust recipes leaving out onions so far so good.

[val2525]

For anyone on a low sodium diet - Boar's Head no salt added deli roast beef is REALLY good. TBH, you don't even need to be watching your sodium - the stuff is so good you won't even notice the missing salt.

Partly cloudy and 90 on tap for here today. It would be nice if we'd get some rain. Most of next week is forecast to be in the high 80's - I do hope it stays that way.


Two really cool DIY pet water fountains:










In the first one, the plants stay alive because the circulating water creates a hydroponic environment for the plants. You'd need to put the fountain somewhere that it gets some sunlight though (or at least indirect sunlight). The second one would be really unique if you used a colored planter, maybe something like a talavera planter.

[labbypaws]

Back is doing much better.

Work is so so. Can’t wait for the next 2 weeks or so to end.

[RetroMonde]

It was 90+ today here in Portland-ish area. Too darned hot but it's August so I should just shut up, lol :-) I'm still babysitting my granddaughter Ramona while her twin Riley is in the hospital. We passed the 3 week mark Wednesday. Her liver seems to be functioning better but she's not eating as much as the Dr wants so she's getting fed by bottle and by tube. There's rumors that they'll let her come home sometime in the next few days. I sure hope so- babysitting is HARD WORK! I went thrifting today- picked up household stuff & baby toys. Sure felt good to just mindlessly shop for a few hours.

We're getting ready for our kitchen remodel to begin in late September. I have TONS to sort, store or get rid of by then. I'm excited to finally have a 'new' kitchen but dreading being without a kitchen for 2 months.

[blissfullymiserable]

I WISH that our kitchen appliances would start dying. They're all white and either GE or Amana and from around 08. The handle on the microwave has been broken for about a year. Someone mentioned replacement parts but I just don't care that much. It still works. If it breaks off completely then he can figure it out. We do have new windows for the whole house on order though. It's taking a long time but they should be ready and installed with in the next month, hopefully. One thing at a time I guess.

I've been wanting to get to Denver to source inventory for a while now. It's been almost 2 years since I've gone. Finally sat down and checked airline prices/points then compared them against my gobs of southwest reward points. Was able to book round trip flights with rental car and I still have 23K points left. I'd never really thought about using points for rental car, was happy to see that you can. I didn't search that hard but I didn't see anything for hotel but that's okay, I'd rather save the remaining points for the next time I go.

The temps continue to be low for summer in AZ but 49% humidity makes it feel pretty yucky out there. We continue to have monsoon stores several times a week.

[labbypaws]

Today’s humidity is 70%.

[blissfullymiserable]

It's weird, I've lived here since I was a kid (moved here in 1980). I honestly don't remember ever having this humidty. It always used to be a "dry heat".

[frakinfashion]

Climate change is real.

[denise15601]

Aug 23, 2022 17:10:47 GMT frakinfashion said:

Climate change is real.

I was going to say that, but was afraid to.  Politics and all....