Weekly Chat Thread April 24th -30th

[staytuned]

Good morning, everyone! It may look like spring with blossoms and leaves growing on trees and even flowers planted, along with the April showers, but at 38 degrees, sure doesn't feel like it. Will be in 50s until maybe cracking 60 by weekend. Usually means we'll go from too chilly to too hot too fast. Hope everyone has a safe week!

[val2525]

LOL @ walking "5 Miles" every day!!

[staytuned]

Apr 24, 2023 14:44:06 GMT val2525 said:

LOL @ walking "5 Miles" every day!!

I saw that and immediately thought of labbypaws. Maybe that's what she should name their next lab pup.

[val2525]

eBay sellers can relate:

www.zulily.com/p/white-not-hoarding-plants-planter-saucer-611186-106089088.html?ref=from_this_event

[labbypaws]

Apr 24, 2023 15:05:02 GMT staytuned said:

Apr 24, 2023 14:44:06 GMT val2525 said:

LOL @ walking "5 Miles" every day!!

I saw that and immediately thought of labbypaws. Maybe that's what she should name their next lab pup.

Funny!  We have a name picked out as long as it fits him🤣.  Smokey

[staytuned]

Today is my 7th anniversary quitting smoking.  On 10 week program of Nicoderm patches that were 2 years past expiration date, too, lol.

[jesmelric]

Hello, how is everyone doing? We've had pretty pleasant weather for April, it's been really nice DH and I went to both Value Village stores this weekend as they had an Earth Day sale: 20% off if you spend $20, 30% if you spend $30 and 40% if you spend $40 or more. It wasn't quite 50% like they did last year, but then again it wasn't as crowded. I think some people don't want to spend $40 to get the higher discount. But it's easy for me to do. I had had a coincidence earlier in the week that had me convinced I would manifest a good woo hoo; alas it was just B&B but I was still glad to get the sale and get out on a lovely day.

We checked out a new store that had opened next to the thrift called Gordon Food Service. They sell in bulk (bags of sugar and flour that were as big as the big bags of dog food!) but are also open to the public and have some interesting things. I found some mini black and white cookies! As my parents are from New York I had them as a kid, they're not as easy to find here so that was fun.

My sister and mom came over yesterday for a visit and that was very nice, too. Apparently the boyfriend and his son got in a fight and he had to stay with his ex wife and then he fell, and while he wasn't injured other than a sore foot, he went to the hospital to be sure. And I believe his ex wife (his person of responsibility) is going to have him put in a different nursing home straight from the hospital. So depending on where that is, I'm not sure if mom will get to see him or not. The activities director, who is the nicest person ever, calls him each day from her cell phone so mom can talk to him for a few.

So DH and I have had Boost Mobile for a while now, but they made some recent changes and ever since then his texts aren't working right. He can text DD in Portland and receive texts from her. DS here he can receive and not send. And with my phone he can't receive or send. So I've done a bunch of online tech chats and even did a factory restore and it's still not working. They aren't much help either. So we are going to have to switch (him at least). We do prepaid, definitely don't have a contract. I was looking at  Xfinity but our phones aren't compatible and we'd have to buy new. I like Mint but you have to pay 3 months at a time. Visible looks good, and they will send you a (low end) phone to swap if yours isn't compatible. Ours are low end anyway. We pay $60 a month flat for two lines; unlimited calling and texts and 5GB of shared data (we never get anywhere near as we mostly use wifi). Does anyone have any recommendations? Has anyone used Visible? Thanks!

[frakinfashion]

Verizon will give you a new iPhone, I think, if you sign up with them. And check out T-Mobile too as they give you a new phone. If you don't have a good phone, it may pay to be with one of the biggies if you work out the numbers. All their prices are pretty comparable as competition among providers is high.

[denise15601]

When I left Verizon 3 years ago and went to Xfinity, my new phone price was included in my $60 a month bill. Now that it is paid for, my bill is only $40 a month.
But now that Verizon is giving free phones, Xfinity probably will.
Previously I was paying $98 monthly for Verizon service although my phone was paid for.

[val2525]

Door decoration for those who don't like strangers knocking on their door:

[kritter]

I am sticking with my land line and AT&T.

[denise15601]

Service quality depends on your area. Xfinity has the best (and cheapest) service around here and they use Verizon lines.

I have Comcast Xfinity internet while Verizon is very slow in the city. Verizon internet isn't available in my neighborhood since they blew up a house 2 miles from me while installing lines underground. So their internet service is now banned around here.

[val2525]

For anyone who shops At Home - this Saturday 4/29, between 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at participating stores - bring in a gently used household item for Habitat for Humanity and receive a coupon for 15% off in the store.


Participating Stores

[labbypaws]

We get a discount on AT&T with my college email address.

Busy day today. Can’t wait to get home. One dog went to the vet today. Hubby wakes me up at 4AM to ask me if he should feed the dog this morning. I had gone to bed at 1 and had to get up at 7:40. He wakes me up again at 6 to say he forgot and fed the dog anyway.

Had to get the house ready for the cleaners, walk 3 miles, take the dog to the vet, get home, put my house back in order, and get ready for work. And here I am.

My one Lab has a benign growth on his eyelid. His eye was all red this weekend. I was afraid it was rubbing his eye. Get checked it and gave us some drops to try. He is almost 13 and already had one growth removed from his eyelid. Just trying not to do surgery at his age.

[val2525]

Cloudy, humid and 80 on tap for here today.

The building across the lot from me is scheduled for powerwashing today. Most of the residents did not clean off their balconies/patios. This should be interesting because they're powerwashing the whole building - even the third floor. The neighbor directly opposite me covered her tall plants with a tarp but still has a lot of small stuff out that may get blown away if it's a decent pressure powerwash. I don't think she's ever had anything powerwashed My building is tomorrow but I cleared everything off today.

[staytuned]

Val, I hope there's a blurb about management and powerwashing company not responsible to objects left outside that get damaged/broken. SMH

[val2525]

Apr 26, 2023 23:51:29 GMT staytuned said:

Val, I hope there's a blurb about management and powerwashing company not responsible to objects left outside that get damaged/broken. SMH

They have that disclaimer in the email. Powerwashers didn't show up today. My building is due tomorrow. I wonder, if they show up, do they stick to the schedule or play catch up? Whatever. I'm set. They've painted a small area on two buildings in the new colors. It's nice. Currently we're a medium terra cotta with ivory trim on the stucco, pale washed out yellow on the siding (or maybe it's yellowed ivory?) and green doors. They're changing to a putty/sand/medium beige with white trim on the stucco and a greenish/brown on the doors and garage doors. It will look really nice when they're done. I'll just be happy to have clean windows and clean siding on the patio

[jesmelric]

Well we had some thunderstorms this morning, but it was nice to get some rain and cooler air. The closer we get to May the more I appreciate what cool air we might get before then Because once it gets hot here, it will be hot for a LLLOONNGG while.

We are going to Aldi's Saturday and since the Boost Mobile store is in the same strip, we decided to stop in and see if they can get it fixed. If not, I'm going to check out Verizon, thanks frankin. We live in Houston, and since it's a big metropolitan city we usually don't have issues with service. Ugh, I just hate messing around with technology issues, such a pain.

I had a landline till about 6 years ago. But it was up to $56 a month and I just couldn't justify that expense,  so I switched to VOIP. It's only $6 and change a month, and I got to keep my number. But the quality is not nearly as good as a landline and of course if the internet goes down, the phone does too.

[val2525]

I have a cell phone and a Google Voice account. I've started calling clients using GV on my PC. It seems to be clearer on their end. Plus I don't have to hold the phone up to my ear or listen to them complain about the speaker I do have to remind them though that the GV number is not the one to call me on - use my cell.

Powerwashers are here. Right now they're washing the first floor across the parking lot. Seems to me you'd start on the third floor and work down. Maybe common sense wasn't a required skill set with this contractor

[val2525]

Looks like it was just one guy going backwards. I was able to see a second guy start on the other half of the building across from me and he started on the 3rd floor. They're using ladders to clean the 2nd floor balconies. I guess they expected tenants to not pay attention and came prepared to work around the crap tenants left on their balconies. Bet they charge the apartment office more for that (as they should IMO!). Today ended up a nice sunny day. Nice change from all the clouds and rain we've been having. Looks like the rain is back tomorrow. That's OK by me, stuff is actually looking green around here instead of the dusty dried sage green I've seen ever since I got here (drought). Trees in the complex are gorgeous this year. Much fuller and greener.

[labbypaws]

Rainy weekend here. Got out and back home today just in time. Took Gunner for a 3 plus mile walk. Got home and took the oldest out for a very short walk - we do this to keep his legs moving as he is almost 14. Not sure how much longer he will be around. Right now, he can get up on his own and make it outside to pee. He can still do steps but at least if he can’t do them, he will be happy to sleep in the lower level. The last one we had that made it over 14 barked like crazy when he was in the lower level by himself.

Paid the local tax bill and sewer bill and got to BJs for meat.

Hoping the breeder sends up some puppy photos soon. This Sunday is a normal “safety point” as they will have the ability to get a fever to fight off some infections. He is very careful about things but you never know.

[jesmelric]

Well we had some storms again last night and then breezy and cool today, I love it Supposed to be nice again tomorrow, and I believe the humidity returns Wed. And then will probably he here until October But it was nice to  get so many cool days in April, a real treat.

We went to Aldi's this morning so we stopped at the Boost Mobile store after. The young woman working there was very nice and helpful. She said when Boost made the switch in early April DH's phone was too old and that's why it wasn't on the new network. But she said that's not your fault, so she ended up calling their customer service and basically we got a discount on a phone from $149 to $95 and then a $60 credit to our account (which is essentially one month free) so we basically paid $39 for the phone after taxes. So we were happy with that, however it took FOREVER! It's a low end phone but so was the one he had. We just don't have a need for fancy, expensive phones.

[chapeaunoir]

We're over on 'the dry side' for some r and r. The DH is still on his ride in the mountains, but I got back from the 10-miler I had planned a while ago. Started early to miss the heat (supposed to get to 88) but not early enough as I really started flagging the last 1 1/2 miles, but kept slogging along, got my second wind and felt good walking back to the hotel.

Beautiful day! The months of wet means the desert mountains have a bit of green, but the high mountains are still snow covered with the big sky stretching over all. We're doing a bit of thrifting but not a lot - I'm running out of invo so it's a good opportunity to shop some other places.

ETA jesmelric I had the entry level cheapest Samsung phone when I finally went from a tablet to a phone, and it was a great little phone - the only reason I got rid of it after about 4 years was because the battery was pooping out. It did absolutely everything I needed though.

[val2525]

We had a serious thunderstorm roll thru here last night, complete with wind and hail. At my place the hail was between pea and marble sized.  It was loud, pinging off the windows, but no damage that I could see outside.  Simon and Twila were fascinated by the bouncing hail as they watched the storm from the living room window   Nice day today, sunny with a breeze, low humidity and mid 70's. Sunny and warmer tomorrow, then followed by a week of cloudy, probably humid, and hopefully rainy days. It's nice to see the city looking bright green instead of the dusty almost dead green it's been since I got here.  Therefore I won't complain if it does end up raining a lot next week.

Basically a slow day here. I did assemble a shelving rack (just open and pop the shelves in place LOL) and an Ikea plant stand. I do need to put another Ikea shelving unit together. Ugh. But it's a repeat of one I've already done so other than the screws going in really tiny awkward spots, it's not overly complicated. While I'm on an assembly roll, I should probably put the final item together too, a small narrow bookcase I bought for a specific spot.

I've been reading reviews on various fake flower offerings and discovered two really nifty design tips. One person used a floral swag as an "arrangement" on the toilet cover. Another one used a floral headstone spray the same way. I couldn't find ones in the type flower I wanted for either bathroom, but I did find an inexpensive eucalyptus spray at WM that I can add my own flowers to.

[labbypaws]

Still raining here. Nothing hard today. Just irritating mist.

Got 4 more Apple AirTags and put them on 3 dog collars. Have one for the pup too. Can’t find my old “first puppy collar”. May have tossed it. Going to have to get one for Smokey. They don’t wear the smaller collars long. Probably going to have to run to Petsmart that day. Have to get a name tag anyway.

[val2525]

Oh joy. The critter is back. AGAIN. I really don't know WTH the office can't find a critter removal service that can get this fixed. It's beyond irritating now. I know it's a critter and not maintenance or a subcontractor because a) the time, and b) the room. I'm in the office and the noise is right above me. This room is carpeted so there's no way I'd be hearing scratching if it was a person up there. I'd just be hearing footsteps, if even that. *sigh*

[staytuned]

I really hope the critter problem gets solved, and sooner the better before it/they do more damage to the building.

[val2525]

I think they need to go back to the former company. This current one may have been able to get the critters out of bldg 17, but they're failing miserably with my bldg and the one across the parking lot.

[labbypaws]

More rain with a flood watch today. Luckily I work inside today. Rain tomorrow and Tuesday.

[kritter]

It's National Oatmeal Cookie Day-don't be fooled into thinking the raisins are chocolate chips!