Weekly Chat Thread Nov. 28th - Dec. 4th

[staytuned]

Good morning, everyone! Rounding the corner towards final month of the year already. Hope everybody stays healthy and has a great day!

[val2525]

Sunny and 75 here today. We're supposed to hit 77 tomorrow, then a cold front moves in and it will be 59 on Wednesday.

I discovered this morning you can use wasp spray to kill spiders. It doesn't kill them immediately though. Apparently it has to soak in. But the delayed action was worth it since the wasp killer sprays about 18'-20' but the spider spray is a wussy foot maybe. No way was I getting that close to a VERY big black spider on my patio wall.

Twila and Simon are having a blast running around, in between and jumping over all the moving boxes. They really liked it when I'd throw the toy over a tall stack boxes and they'd jump over them instead of just going around them

[staytuned]

Hope your move goes smoothly, Val. Always exciting to move into a new place, even with the work involved.

Only got up to 42 and light rain off/on, but boy, did it feel great to finally get out after almost a week being sick. Only remnant is a (thankfully) very infrequent cough which is at worst lying down trying to sleep the first hour or so. Hoping tonight's going to be nice and quiet all night. Definitely something going around as local drug store is almost wiped out of cold/flu products and cough drops.

[val2525]

Talk about a roller coaster weather forecast:





The cats are going to love the unpacking process this weekend. All those open boxes, half unpacked and sooooo inviting...

I logged into Amazon this morning to check on a delivery and was greeted by a message that said items on my save for later list had price changes. About half of the list, and they all increased. Good thing they aren't anything I need for Christmas.

I have a FedEx package that keeps bouncing from FedEx to USPS to FedEx to USPS in Dallas. Ever since last Thursday. FedEx is no longer giving me an estimated delivery date and the USPS number isn't available so I can't track it on USPS. I didn't care about the first item lost by UPS this month and QVC refunded me. But if FedEx lost this package, I'll be very upset. The item has sold out and only one retailer had it.

[labbypaws]

Amazon is infamous for that. Jacking up the price. They are like Kohls🤣🤬.

Today is Giving Tuesday. So far 2 webpages have failed me. I don’t like to give Facebook my credit card. Will try webpages on a desktop later. I usually break up a small donation amongst 4 Lab Rescues and/or local SPCAs.

[val2525]

I really like that HEB takes donations at checkout - talk about convenient. It's also noted on your receipt if you need it for taxes. They rotate the receiving charity monthly, and the ones popping up most often are the local food bank and one that helps military families (Operation Homefront I think). I can add the donation to checkout and put it on my credit card. Since I have X amount budgeted for groceries, that's part of the budget too I don't itemize so I can't take the deduction, but that's OK. I did see where a lot of companies are matching donations today, if you donate thru their website or at the store during checkout. I've never figured out what the benefit of that is to the stores.

[staytuned]

I've found many times Amazon shows increases one day, the next prices have decreased to where they were prior.

Happy to say my package actually did arrive today that bounced from TX to OH back to TX and back to OH.

[frakinfashion]

Nov 29, 2022 15:56:08 GMT val2525 said:

I did see where a lot of companies are matching donations today, if you donate thru their website or at the store during checkout. I've never figured out what the benefit of that is to the stores.

PR, it's goodwill with the community and makes people feel better about shopping with them. It's a cheaper and more targeted way to do it than bragging about it in a commercial.

[chapeaunoir]

Back in the US - bleh.  But at least it's snowing lightly here. We got out early to get everything done before the roads turn into skating rinks and now can just enjoy it.  Since my hiking boots are no more, no going out in it (my running shoes don't have much traction).  

My idea of unpacking is to upend my suitcase into the washing machine and bang the button. The DH is still sorting through his many items lol. There is SOME benefit to having a horrible little wardrobe like mine - here I am, a clothing seller, and I barely have anything decent, kind of like the plumber whose faucets are always dripping. 

[val2525]

Hopefully you'll get some new hiking shoes for Christmas, Chap!

Why did I never know about Giving Tuesday? I like how everyone makes it easy to donate. Favor, a local delivery food service, is matching donations today made thru the Favor site. Goes to Feeding Texas. Placed my food order, then donated. Easy peasy. So far, every NP I've donated to today has someone matching the donations. I'll have to go see who else is doing that.

[val2525]

I think my Favor delivery person is bored waiting for the restaurant to get my order ready It appears one item on my order, I got the last one. This restaurant is bad about running out of stuff early in the week so that didn't surprise me. I think they're having money problems and skimp on inventory until closer to the weekend. They closed their original location earlier this summer.

One of my neighbors smokes inside the unit (supposed to be a non-smoking complex). Unfortunately I don't know which unit it is so I can't report them. Been going on for about 2 weeks now and it's getting to me. Burning eyes/nose, headache, stuffed up, coughing. Ugh. Thanksgiving was nice because apparently they were out of town - no smoke until around 4:00 pm Sunday. Hopefully my new neighbors don't smoke. Although if they do, I'm complaining to the office.

[chapeaunoir]

One apartment building where I lived there was a section for smokers on one floor, walled off by a thick door.  Once I strayed into there and OMG, it was really bad - I wondered if people above and below that section of floor could smell the stank or not    Smoking isn't very popular here so there wasn't really a need for more than a section of one floor for it, nor any reason to have to deal with the deterioration of infrastructure caused by it. 

The DH hinted around about hiking boots.  We usually ask each other what we want, and for me it's either hiking boots or having my small collection of medieval texts framed. I have a feeling the hiking boots will win out as archival framing is a bit of a pain, particularly dealing with 900-year-old vellum - I'm nervous just to handle it and I'm used to handling old materials. 

Stay - I'm glad you're feeling better! 

[labbypaws]

Merrell had a great price on their shoes the other day. Not sure if it is still going on.

I was able to log in from home and donate a little bit to 4 organizations. I add a little bit to cover the fees.

[val2525]

Nov 30, 2022 4:10:22 GMT chapeaunoir said:

One apartment building where I lived there was a section for smokers on one floor, walled off by a thick door.

That doesn't really block it. Smoke is a gas. Anywhere water can get in, smoke can too. Fortunately today is the last day I have to put up with it.

[kritter]

The last of the many online orders that I placed over the Thanksgiving buying spree are arriving today. Chewy wins the star for the fastest fulfilling and shipping of their items. Amazon and Walmart were no slackers although a Walmart item that was delivered from a store took 4 days to get here. I think their local delivery service was overwhelmed and had a hard time making all the deliveries that were piling up.

I think they all did a better than expected job considering the amount of items that must have been ordered, packed, and shipped from these companies. My items were mostly delivered by FedEx and Amazon Delivery and were on my porch when they said they would be. No complaints here in regard to my spending spree.

[val2525]

My orders, most of which were between Nov 15-19, well before Black Friday, had some hiccups but they finally all arrived. The package that was stuck in Dallas bouncing from FedEx to the USPS finally decided to come on down to San Antonio and FedEx says it was delivered about an hour ago, but I haven't received a notice from the UPS Store that they have it. I don't know if "delivered" means FedEx delivered it, or turned it over the USPS to deliver.

[labbypaws]

Our local Facebook group has been discussing how bad their post office is. They had to bring in 5 carriers from another district to try to deliver the backed up mail. Some haven’t received any mail in quite some time even though the stuff is showing in their daily digest.

I got forced over until 3 AM. Ugh. I had planned on stopping at the store on my way home.

[val2525]

My orders shipped USPS have been arriving on time. FedEx OTOH is a joke.

[chapeaunoir]

That nice peaceful snowfall turned into a thumping wet dump that downed trees and snags and knocked out power lines all over the area.  We lost power yesterday evening and it finally came back on this evening at about 6:00.  

This morning I walked down to the lake (about 1 1/2 miles down the hill) to the town center where I get my hair cut.  It was like walking through a post-apocalypse with no lights anywhere and bound with icy fog. Then, at the very bottom of the hill I saw a light, the town center was a little oasis of light in the midst of the dark. I had an appointment tonight at 6 pm and stopped in to see if it was still on - our internet was down, as well, so we wouldn't have gotten any calls from them. There was only the stylist and the receptionist hanging out and they were happy to see me and took me in right away! 

So I warmed up there, then went to the Starbucks next to it - it was packed with people who had taken refuge to try to warm up and they were running out of everything because people were hanging around guzzling coffee and eating, trying to work, etc.  I managed to get a seat at the big common table at the center - one person across from me had had a tree fall right on her car, and a house full of cranky old relatives driving her and her husband crazy - she had come in for hot chocolate to bring home to warm everyone up and sooth tempers. A bunch of us traded stories. At one point the lights there started flickering and some went out and this big groan comes up, but they stayed on. I finally walked home as I was tired of wandering around - there was now a freezing rain, but it was uphill all the way so I stayed relatively warm. 

Then at home I shoveled out the walkway and the driveway and coaxed the car out, thinking to try to run SOME errands, but so many roads were closed that it was really hard to get anywhere - trees were down all over the place, snags down, I saw a tree down on a house. I'm driving around in the slushy snow having to do weird U-turns on narrow steep slopes, with other people trying to do the same, to try to find another road out. I have this long station wagon and it was tight maneuvering without sliding into anyone or into a ditch. I finally just came home.  It was in the 40s in the house so I put more clothes on and my robe over that, two pair of socks and climbed into bed. I was snoozing when I heard the front door, opened my eyes and the lights were back!  The DH said he saw our one single street light blink on when he turned the corner walking up the hill. 

[denise15601]

Wow Chap! What an adventure. Glad that your power is back on

[val2525]

Yikes, Chap! I'm glad you only lost power and didn't have any tree damage.

[val2525]

Two of the three cats are confined in the bathroom. The third one has escaped twice, even hissing and showing teeth at me once. The rebel is the last one I expected to be a problem - my sweet little Simon I expected Twila to be the wild one today but she's cooperating. Simon is somewhere in the apartment. The office opens in 40 minutes. I plan to get there right after they open to pay and get the keys. I'll then come back, stuff Twila and Trixie in the cat carriers and take them over to the new place. I'll have to wait and see if Simon comes out of hiding a little later this morning. I think he will. He's going to want food and he's going to wonder where his best bud is. I'm going to have to be careful if I have to chase him down, though. He bites. HARD. And that's when he's in a good mood, purring and happy. This will be interesting.


UPDATE: The rebel has been captured and is now in confinement with the girls Simon came out of hiding quicker than I expected. It was less than 15 minutes before he was out here wondering where Twila was. I have the water bottle sitting outside the door to use when I enter, to get them to move away from the door.

[kritter]

Sending calming vibes to my sweet lil knucklehead fosters to freaking behave themselves.

[chapeaunoir]

Simon probably wonders why everything is missing from his apartment and why he was not consulted in all of this.

[val2525]

Ha. All three cats were told of the move multiple times, even the day before. Simon can't blame me.

Mover yesterday didn't complete the job (his fault). I have a second mover coming this afternoon to finish. This meant I had to reschedule the cleaners to Monday as that is their next available day. I emailed the apartment office a few minutes ago to ask if I can turn the keys in Monday afternoon, and to get the amount of the extra rent so I can pay it. Fingers crossed they say yes. Worst case,office says no, I clean the place and lose what I paid to the cleaning company ( I'm past the cancelation deadline). I can live with that. Cleaning I can do. Moving the remaining stuff I can't do.

[staytuned]

Sorry things didn't go as smoothly as they should have, Val, but I hope moving gets finished and you can start settling into your new digs. I don't see why management would have a problem with cleaners coming in so less for their people to do to get the place ready for new tenant.

[chapeaunoir]

You notified Simon, but did you ASK him? Was he able to inspect the new place, check the view and sign off on it with his paw print? I mean, are we taking liberties here??

Cassie was outraged when we built the new deck.

It's snowing again - hope it won't be another wet dump that knocks everything out again. And YES, we were fortunate that we had no house damage, nor did our neighbours on our little road.

[labbypaws]

I try to avoid BJs and Costco after Thanksgiving but I may have misjudged how much dog food I needed. Went back up to Costco today. Of course dog food is furthest from the entrance. I did make it in and out but was getting annoyed at the window shoppers. I was on a mission.

Their dry dog food is made by Diamond foods. I switched to them about a year or 2 ago when dog food went up to $67 a big bag.

[chapeaunoir]

Our local Costco keeps the kitty litter at the back of the huge store - because we had two old cats with renal issues we purchased kitty litter by the 90 lb lot - plus all of our other stuff, it was like demolition derby steering that big shopping cart around all the Sunday drivers and looky-loos.

[val2525]

I'm not a very good cat mom. My attitude is when the kitties start earning money and help with the rent, they can have a say so in major decisions. Until then, I'm the alpha cat . But all decisions are made with them in mind.