Weekly Chat Sept 11-17

[val2525]

Sorry for late start on the chat thread, gang! I forgot I promised Stay I'd start it today as she's still on vacation.

Can you believe it's been 22 years since 9/11? Wow. Time flies.

Sunny and hot here but more reasonable temps, mid 90s. Cheesy taco chicken in the slow cooker yesterday came out REALLY good. I'll have to make that recipe again, although I might add jalapenos next time instead of green chiles.

[labbypaws]

I still remember what I was doing. I was in the living room at our rental home waiting for John Edwards to come on. Such a sad day of remembrance. Hubby went up there to drop off some supplies. Several friends went up to help with the search. A friend that lived in Manhattan walked for hours that day.

[val2525]

My cousin worked in the twin towers at the time but was at home on maternity leave. She was supposed to have gone back to work that day but the week before she decided to extend her time off by another week. A friend also worked in the towers, in the second one. He went down with everyone, then they gave the all clear to re-enter the building. He said he thought, "no, that doesn't sound right, there's too much smoke", said to he!! with it and decided to go home where his wife was (also on maternity leave). I was driving into work in Houston, pondering what order to see the "Cows on Parade" during the upcoming weekend when the news came over the radio. The morning DJ couldn't believe it was happening at first. I hope it never happens here again, because quite honestly, I don't think this country would be able to come together as a whole to fight the enemy that bombed us

[staytuned]

Thanks for starting the thread this week, Val.

I remember where I was 22 years ago. Doing background checks for ChoicePoint. Everyone said the heck with work and went home when we found out one of the planes actually turned around over Cleveland. I felt guilty because we were leaving for Myrtle Beach early that afternoon and I went grocery shopping on the way home and glued to the t.v. We were on the beach the next day and military helicopters kept going along the beach as well as military jets flying over periodically.

There was a short parade in NMB this evening with police, fire and military that ended across Main St. with patriotic music and speeches Huge crowd and not a peep from anyone.

[denise15601]

I was cleaning a rich lady's house. So I turned on the TV's in each room as I cleaned. Flight 93 was only 45 miles from me.

[val2525]

Mostly sunny and 92 on tap for here today. I'm cranking out the business tax returns like crazy today. And of course clients are sending "extra" items at the last minute Personally, I think we need an in-house rule that we ask for all we need by August 15, and if client doesn't get it to us by Sept 1, we file with what we have, amend later and they get billed for the amendment. Why should we have to jump thru hoops because a client can't get their act together? /rant LOL

[labbypaws]

We are going to get rain and winds from Hurricane Lee tonight and tomorrow.

We have an escaped murderer on the loose about 15 miles from here. National news. Scary for those living in the area.

[denise15601]

Sept 12, 2023 19:52:45 GMT labbypaws said:

We are going to get rain and winds from Hurricane Lee tonight and tomorrow.

We have an escaped murderer on the loose about 15 miles from here. National news. Scary for those living isn’t in the area.

Wow Labby.  I was wondering how close that is to you.  How scary now that he has a rifle.  Stay safe!

[denise15601]

Labby-I heard on the news that he was confined to just 3 streets. Is that still around you? TG, you have enough dogs to alert you.

[labbypaws]

Sept 13, 2023 0:25:14 GMT denise15601 said:

Labby-I heard on the news that he was confined to just 3 streets. Is that still around you? TG, you have enough dogs to alert you.

Far enough away not to worry.

[chapeaunoir]

I remember when I was younger an escaped murder and rapist had vanished into the streets and alleys of my neighbourhood. He had been spotted no blocks from where I lived, a couple of times in people's back yards. It was summer, but I slept with my windows closed anyway because of fear of his getting into any open window he could find. I was going to night school and coming and going from school was very freaky. Huge sigh of relief when he was finally caught.

With this guy on the loose, I've been thinking of that time, and when I saw the Ring photos of that guy on someone's porch (they had been out) and that he had been hunting down his former coworkers, it gave me the creeps.

Anyway, here its been cool and rainy. Sales are really slow - I've been reading someone's crackpot theory about eBay putting sellers into value "tiers" and only feeding sales to the ones who sell a high enough dollar point, to get rid of the junk and garage sale sellers. I think that's just another crackpot theory, but do feel like one of those garage sale sellers.

[labbypaws]

Captured.

[denise15601]

So glad that he has been captured.

There used to be a large prison about 3 miles from me, but it has now been closed. Many times there were escapes and the helicopters would be flying over my house looking for the escapee.

Sales have been weird. I mailed 9 on Monday but no sales since then.

[jesmelric]

Sept 13, 2023 7:00:52 GMT chapeaunoir said:

I remember when I was younger an escaped murder and rapist had vanished into the streets and alleys of my neighbourhood. He had been spotted no blocks from where I lived, a couple of times in people's back yards. It was summer, but I slept with my windows closed anyway because of fear of his getting into any open window he could find. I was going to night school and coming and going from school was very freaky. Huge sigh of relief when he was finally caught.

With this guy on the loose, I've been thinking of that time, and when I saw the Ring photos of that guy on someone's porch (they had been out) and that he had been hunting down his former coworkers, it gave me the creeps.

Anyway, here its been cool and rainy. Sales are really slow - I've been reading someone's crackpot theory about eBay putting sellers into value "tiers" and only feeding sales to the ones who sell a high enough dollar point, to get rid of the junk and garage sale sellers. I think that's just another crackpot theory, but do feel like one of those garage sale sellers.

Well I can bust that theory because my sales really picked up last week (a bit slower this week) and I'm nowhere near a high dollar point

Hope everyone is doing well. I fell into a rabbit hole over the weekend cleaning out my closet. I kept WAY too much stuff from when my kids were little. And when you consider the oldest is 39 and the youngest 28, that stuff has been around a LONG time. I had way too much school stuff, art and pictures they drew, some toys and clothes too. Some of the clothes were dry rotted and/or had brown stains (age?) I threw away the bad condition stuff. A few things were good enough to donate. Made the kids each a bag (and one already mailed to DD in Portland) of most of the rest and they can do as they please with it. Of course I kept some things, probably more than I should have. But I took: 1 large container, 3 smaller containers, and 2 boxes and condensed all into the one large container. I felt so accomplished lol. But it was also a lot of nostalgia. And a WHOLE lot of OMG time goes so fast!! And now I have more room in my closet, so I shifted around the guest room closet, and made more room in there, too. Because I have ebay stuff in there too, sigh.

DH installed the Bosch dishwasher and WOW! I never realized what a huge difference a great dishwasher can make. There is a third "top rack" that's kind of flattish and you can put utensils and small stuff on it. And there's silverware slots. So I just removed the silverware basket from the bottom and made more room, and no bending over to reach the silverware when loading and unloading. There's rows of tines that hold dishes that you can fold down to make more room, or fold up to put more stuff in between.  That's both on the bottom and top rack. And the top rack goes up and down on each side. So you can go lower or higher on one side or the other or both to accommodate taller items in the top rack or in the bottom rack. There's no exposed heating element so you can put plastic on the bottom, too. It is QUIET! And the dishes are spotless and DRY! Maybe a tiny bit of moisture on a piece of plastic but that's it at most. It kind of makes me think, well damn, as many dishes as I do I should have gotten one of these a long time ago lol.

DS is coming over Saturday to build me a new computer. I'm excited about that, too. This one is almost 8 and is starting to do a few weird things, so I think it's time. It's a hassle switching over but will be worth it.

So glad he is captured! That was super scary for the area he was in, especially because he was armed.

[frakinfashion]

Haven't been around for a few days as I had some "minor" oral surgery which has been literally much more of a pain than I anticipated. 9/11 was pretty muted here this year. I don't like revisiting tragedy. I'll never forget it as I was in Manhattan and saw the second plane hit as I was on my way to work. A true life Twilight Zone episode. At least the damn news did not show the video of the planes hitting over and over because that revictimizes everyone, particularly people who lost someone. The weeks after were an absolute nightmare too and my daughter was only 8 at the time. And the missing posters and the endless funerals...no, not interested in revisiting that day and just let it pass hopefully unnoticed each year.

On a lighter note, I am going to Amelia Island, FL for a few days starting this weekend. Will meet my daughter there and then bring her up here for a few more days afterwards. We used to vacation there when she was very little. Hopefully we will dodge any hurricanes that Mother Nature throws over there with increasing frequency it seems. I haven't had a real vacation (other than visiting family every now and then) in over 10 years, I think, so a splurge is in order. I will try and stay masked the whole time on the flight.

[val2525]

(((((frakin))))) I hope you get decent weather for your trip!

Stay, how is your weather in MB?

The apartment office sent my lease renewal rates to me today. Not too bad, it went up just under 5% but is still less than what I expected it to increase so I can live with that. They're also offering a 14 month lease, which would have me moving at the end of January rather than the end of November (should I not renew again). I like January (or even first week of February) MUCH more than trying to move in December again  I know I'm eventually going to move, so I may go with the 14 month lease. I blame the damn property taxes here for the rent increases. We don't have a personal income tax so the cities/counties get you on high property taxes, and the state gets you with high sales tax. Such is life. Partly cloudy and 91 here today. Even better, we have some mid-80s temps creeping in during the 10 day forecast. Yay!

[denise15601]

It has been really nice here for the last few days. In the low 70's during the day and 50's at night.

Val-I'm glad that you will have temps in the 80's. I am still reeling from your post last week when you said the temp went DOWN to 97!!! Down?

Or don't you have the humidity that we have here?

When it is in the high 90's here, I have a hard time breathing when outside.

[staytuned]

Stay, how is your weather in MB?

Awesome, thanks for asking. What looked like a lot of rain daily has turned into a pretty intense rain Friday, some rain Saturday morning and other than one real "turn on the windshield wipers for a minute" and few drops a couple times today, it's been upper 80s for highs, humid and sunny.  Having a great time and our lousy time last year at the place we've stayed at for years was a godsend to get us trying 2 new places. We are absolutely thrilled with the choices we made. Looks like the rest of the week is sunny and dry so should be a good drive back on Saturday.

[val2525]

Woo hoo! Looks like we'll be in the 80's for the weekend. I can't wait for fall. I love fall

[denise15601]

My weather was in the 60's today...I prefer 70's.

My cable-internet bill went up $25 and I have also had problems with my Roku-enabled TV's. So I called my cable company (Xfinity). A tech is coming tomorrow for the TV problem.

And I asked about my bill. ($205) The rep said that there were no current promos for me, but then I asked about something that reduced my bill several years ago.
My internet service was geared towards a family of 4-ish who would all be using the internet. I told that guy that it is only me here.
So he was able to lower my bill by $37 and when I signed up for paperless billing, that took off another $10.

Apparently I still will have the same TV and internet service and at the same speed. But my price will be lower!

Not sure it this will help anyone else, but it doesn't hurt to ask.

I also get $30 off my bill since I am low-income.

[val2525]

LOL! The IRS is about to get the last laugh I think. They announced today they are immediately ceasing accepting new filings for the Employee Retention Credit. A lot of fly by night companies formed and were agressively pushing businesses to file for the credit, even when the biz didn't qualify. The tactics were questionable too. Several of our clients received letters suggesting they file for the credit and the letters looked like IRS notices to those who don't pay attention. I also noticed the ads for one company that was advertising heavily here on the board have stopped. Yay! It won't suprise me if some of our clients end up being audited. We told them last year they didn't qualify, but they filed anyway thru their payroll company. We didn't do their payroll, didn't file the amended returns claiming the credits, and have correspondence backing up the fact that we TOLD them they didn't qualify. This could be interesting

I think we got all of our biz tax returns done for the deadline tomorrow. Well, Ruby and I got ours anyway.  Don't know about the Senior Partner, he may have a couple to do tomorrow.  

Wow, I celebrated cheeseburger day and didn't even know it

[labbypaws]

Local news radio station has been playing those retention credit ads quite frequently. Sounded scammy.

Low in the 50’s and high in the low 7-‘s makes for great walking weather. Saw people wearing hoodies walking today. Nope. Won’t be sweat jacket weather until it is in the 40’s. I have a really light terry sweat jacket by Champion the]at I could wear in the low 50’s but then I have to lug it around as it warms up.

[val2525]

Darn. I celebrated Cheeseburger Day a day early. Hmnn. I may have to celebrate again today. I think Kritter gets home from her cruise late today. I hope she has lots of pics to post!

[val2525]

Belk messed up my order. I ordered a fall-colored small paisely print on navy. I got a large paisley print in assorted shades on a medium blue. Nothing like the picture. I also ordered a navy top with white pebble shaped dots. What I got was round multicolor dots on navy. Good thing I like both of the substitutes

[denise15601]

It was in the 30's here last night! But now 70. That's better.

[labbypaws]

People crashed AT&T’s website this morning. Was ordering two iPhones (have to do 2 separate orders as we send ours in) and it took me all morning. No idea if we got the first round of orders or not. We are getting them now and then in 2 years. We wait any longer and our 13’s won’t have the trade in value.

Anyway we are waiting for the cases to come in. Then we will order them.

[denise15601]

Another nice day. 50's overnight and 70 today. I went to the local farmer's market this morning, and then to the new Aldi that is in the former Staples store.
It is huggggge! It is only 3 miles from me.

I seldom shop on a Saturday, but they had a coupon for $5 off a $30 order. The aisles were crowded, but no one at the check-out. It is in the same plaza as Sam's Club and 1/2 mile from our super WM.

Our other Aldi is across town and a lot smaller.

Val-I just made air-fried carrots and they are super! Thanks for the info!

[chapeaunoir]

On our way up to Bellingham/Mt Baker for the DH's last event of the year (the race up to Artist's Point - it's a mountain race up hill). I've found a dirt road to run on - not as exciting, but I'll get my miles in. I have less than 3 months to train for a marathon so am on an accelerated schedule (I'd been doing great, then got sidetracked). My marathoning running friend is advising me and we're both doing a half marathon on 10/15 (neat historical town is hosting it) so I'm on the road a lot (or trails, depending). 

Upper 60s on tap here, with rain coming, but fortunately not until the DH and I are done our respective events! We might see 70 again this week but it's not really likely. 

I'm glad everyone got through various storms and the like! 

[staytuned]

We got up at 4am, left at 5am and DH decided to take a leisurely route that added about 40 minutes to trip home. 12 hours is my limit on the road before I get cranky. Had perfect weather all the way, 70s, sunny and low humidity. Traffic wasn't bad anywhere, either. It was a really good vacation. First time ever we had a room with dishwasher and washer/dryer so I did laundry because MIL's washer is on its last legs plus they were there for the using so why not.

Third year I put mail on hold, have confirmation and came home to mail crunched and crammed in the mailbox. grrrrrrr

MIL's at nursing facility doing rehab. At first she refused to go, then wanted to go because she wanted to get out of the hospital and she's adapted well to present situation. Will visit tomorrow.

[val2525]

Stay, how far ahead of your trip do you put the hold request in? I've been told by a couple of post offices over the years that it takes a few days for the address changes and mail holds to actually make it to the route sorters. I'm glad you had a good trip!

I made "creamy tuscan chicken" in the slow cooker and it came out pretty good. Sauce wasn't as thick as I would have liked, but it tasted really good and I can thicken it when I reheat the left overs. Tomorrow it's a pot of chili for the freezer.