Weekly Chat Thread Nov. 19 - 25

[Emerald_Door]

It's November 19.  On this day in history:  

1805: Lewis and Clark Expedition, led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, reached the Pacific Ocean, first European Americans to cross the west.


1863: US President Abraham Lincoln delivered his Gettysburg address beginning; "Four score and seven years ago..."  

This woman was born on November 19, 1917. Do you know who she is?

[val2525]

Wow! A trivia question I knew without Googling! (Although I did after I guessed just to verify LOL). Indira Ghandi. Her human rights record as PM sucks. Yet another gorgeous fall pic, Emerald! I can't wait to see what you come up with for December!

Ikea has a lot of their holiday decor on sale right now. Their shipping price is pretty reasonable too.

[allikat]

Happy early Thanksgiving to everyone. BF and I are doing a 5K Turkey trot, we will walk it because he is still working on his stamina. He has lost 22 pounds with the Whole30 eating plan and has another 20 to go. He has hit a plateau so he needs to lower calorie intake or increase exercise. I am for increasing exercise but he needs to be responsible for his choices. After the 5K we are going to his, not sure how to qualify this, in-laws?, wife's family's, for dinner but we cannot eat anything so we will be cooking a compliant turkey dinner on Friday.

Cat update....he let me pet his head for a long time I stopped before he told me to stop so I left him wanting more, lol. Also, switched his food to a pie plate to spread it out and it has really slowed him down no vomiting for almost a week. Thanks all for the links and advice.

[jesmelric]

Hope everyone is doing well. We are warm-ish and muggy-ish with rain and cooling expected later. They have taken us from a 65 degree and sunny Thanksgiving to a 58 and rainy day. Oh well, at least I won't have to run the a/c lol. Friday is supposed to be nice so hopefully we can take the Falcon out to the VV black Friday shopping.

We hit the bins yesterday, it wasn't as crowded as it usually is, so that was really nice. I found quite a bit And I always sleep well after the bins so that's good. Ever since "the change" I just don't sleep like I used to. The guy across the street doesn't help. Not sure if I ever mentioned. They've lived there a few years longer than we've been here, which is 24 years. They are across the street and two houses down. They thought he had autism (maybe he does too?) But about 10 years ago he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. I'd say he's 32 or 33 now. So for some reason (I'm guessing he's off his meds) for the last year or so he's started having these "incidents". They are usually in the middle of the night (midnight to 5 am or so). You  hear the door slam BANG then he starts pacing and yelling and cursing and pacing up and down the street. Janey barks like crazy and it happens from once a week to 3 or 4 times and it jolts you awake so it's hard to get back to sleep. I feel terrible for his parents but I know it's disturbing other neighbors as well as us. I don't know of anything that can be done. They started a FB thread about it, people not happy about it. They said they've called the police but the police say he's autistic and not violent? I know his brother told my nephew that he has threatened the whole family with a knife.

[Emerald_Door]

allikat,
Will it be awkward going to dinner and not eating anything? If you don't mind my asking, what's wrong with their food?

jesmelric,
The situation with your neighbor sounds awful. I hope he can get the help he needs and you can get the sleep you need.

[allikat]

Nov 20, 2023 19:08:13 GMT Emerald_Door said:

allikat ,
Will it be awkward going to dinner and not eating anything? If you don't mind my asking, what's wrong with their food?

jesmelric ,
The situation with your neighbor sounds awful. I hope he can get the help he needs and you can get the sleep you need.

Nothing wrong with their food, just doesn't fit with our eating plan on Whole 30.  Ate there last year, it is just so bad for us.  We have been no preservatives, no sugar, no alcohol, no dairy, no legumes, no grain eating for a few months.  It is really working for BF to lose weight once we hit the maintenance part we will phase some of those back in but for now its just best for us to skip.  He has no swelling in his ankles, has lost 22 pounds, cholesterol is down, high blood pressure is now low and getting ready to adjust his BP meds possibly get rid of them, he has so much more energy.  He had a massive heart attack in 2019 so it is important for him to take care of himself.  We are doing a 5K on Thanksgiving, it is his first one.  

We went to a picnic there in August and didn't eat just visited, we just explain what we are doing.  We are eating as close to nature as possible, it sounds like we are depriving ourselves but if you look at the recipes it is amazing how good the food is, search Whole 30 I cannot say enough good things about it.  

[Emerald_Door]

That's very similar to the way I eat. Good for you for sticking with it. I'm glad you're getting such great results.

[val2525]

Nov 20, 2023 17:06:21 GMT jesmelric said:

They started a FB thread about it, people not happy about it. They said they've called the police but the police say he's autistic and not violent? I know his brother told my nephew that he has threatened the whole family with a knife.

That's what the cops said about my across the street neighbor in ABQ. Until he started shooting trees and cars one day, including my car. And I was across a 4 lane boulevard with a large median. If our parking hadn't been 4 deep in front of the unit, either my unit or the landlord unit would have been hit. You and the other neighbors need to keep calling the cops. They get enough calls, they will HAVE to do something about it. Autistics might not usually be violent but schizophrenics can be. You have lazy cops.

[chapeaunoir]

Nov 20, 2023 15:02:21 GMT allikat said:

Happy early Thanksgiving to everyone. BF and I are doing a 5K Turkey trot, we will walk it because he is still working on his stamina. He has lost 22 pounds with the Whole30 eating plan and has another 20 to go. He has hit a plateau so he needs to lower calorie intake or increase exercise. I am for increasing exercise but he needs to be responsible for his choices. After the 5K we are going to his, not sure how to qualify this, in-laws?, wife's family's, for dinner but we cannot eat anything so we will be cooking a compliant turkey dinner on Friday.

Cat update....he let me pet his head for a long time I stopped before he told me to stop so I left him wanting more, lol. Also, switched his food to a pie plate to spread it out and it has really slowed him down no vomiting for almost a week. Thanks all for the links and advice.

FWIW - your BF should not cut calories - that's the way to weak and flabby because what's happening is his metabolism is starting to slow from the restrictive diet. He needs to up exercise AND up protein. Also, if he's not lifting weights, it's a good idea to begin - it helps a lot in many ways - body weight works great to start with - pushups and squats, for instance. But congrats on his progress so far! Walking the 5k will be fun - that's where the party is. My running friend and I are doing a turkey trot, also.

[val2525]

I have an order from Macy's that has been sitting in San Antonio for a week now. Macy's used LSO (Lone Star Overnight). I've sent two emails via the website - no reply. Their voicemail at one number says you can online chat but there is no chat option on the website. This morning I called every single number I could find online. Either the phone wasn't answered, the number was no longer in service, or it was answered by a recording, including the main office in Plano TX. Even the customer service number for shippers/new clients was no longer in service. I never could get a live person Then I googled for reviews. They have a 1.6 rating and it's current ratings. Lots of them. Pretty much all bad, too. I contacted Macy's online chat and they were great.  They're sending a new order out.  HOpefully NOT by LSO.

I just processed an AMZ return where my ONLY choices were take to the AMZ dropoff warehouse way on the east side of town or pay for the UPS label. WTH? This was shipped from AMZ, not a third party seller. NOr is it a very large or heavy package. I opted to pay for the stupid UPS label since I have to by a UPS Store tomorrow anyway.

Sunny and chilly here today with north winds and gusts up to 40 mph. They're about 18 mph right now and the usual items on my patio have blown over. I usually just wait until the wind dies and then put everything back. Since I have to clear off the patio to get the Christmas stuff up, I may do that tomorrow and just move the fallen stuff straight to the outside closet for now.

[kritter]

Several years ago I had a delivery by Lone Star Delivery. I think it is some kind of family run operation because a white pickup pulled up in front of my house and a girl jumped out and rummaged through the packages in the truck bed to find my package. No sign on the side of the truck. They were running late back then so apparently it has not gotten any better.

[staytuned]

I have a tale of 3 priority USPS packages friend in GA dropped off at her P.O. on Saturday. One was a large brown cardboard box with priority shipping label that she handed to the clerk requesting Priority tape or stickers to indicate it was Priority. Apparently, that wasn't done. Second package she left with pile of others at end of counter and third, dropped off later, went in large drop off bin. Both of those were in Priority boxes. Both wound up at my P.O. on Monday. One was delivered and for whatever reason, the other one went to visit another P.O. before returning today and being delivered. The one handed to the clerk, however, has never been scanned once. Tracking still shows label printed and P.O. waiting for it when it's been there since Saturday. I will definitely be filing a "where's my package?" tomorrow. Just waiting to find out which P.O. friend went to.

If this incompetence is happening now, I shudder to think what's going to happen next month when it really gets busy.

[val2525]

I'm happy that if I have to order anything, it won't be a time critical item and I'll probably order whatever it is for delivery to store. No AMZ for me thru the holidays unless it's something that I absoluletly cannot find at Walmart, Kohls or Target.

[labbypaws]

Our PO only had one worker this morning. Long line. Hope this doesn’t continue. I usually go at 8 AM but the cleaners came today so I was getting the house ready for them. Didn’t get there until 9:25 and was there until 9:40. I needed to wait for the scan as it was a Gucci watch,

[denise15601]

I am so glad that my family only wants gift cards or money for Christmas.

[kritter]

It is soooo freaking cold! I hate it so much.

[denise15601]

It was in the 30's today, windy and rainy. Not ready for this at all.

[labbypaws]

It rained from 2 PM on. Still raining at midnight. Cold wind driven stuff. Worked outside tonight. Warming up over night.

Ride home was not fun. Trees and branches down on the Main Line. The crew was clearing them ahead of me.

Got a larger crate for Smokey. We were going to use one we had but the Halligan decided to re-claim it so we needed another crate. Not like I wanted to buy one but Amazon had it $20 off. Not even going to begin to tell you how many crates of various sizes we have.

[chapeaunoir]

Nov 21, 2023 16:26:46 GMT kritter said:

Several years ago I had a delivery by Lone Star Delivery. I think it is some kind of family run operation because a white pickup pulled up in front of my house and a girl jumped out and rummaged through the packages in the truck bed to find my package. No sign on the side of the truck. They were running late back then so apparently it has not gotten any better.

Here a lot of Amazon packages are delivered like this - an indie contractor with his or her car backseat filled with packages - they drive up, frantically look through their packages, sprint to the doorstep with the package, scan and snap the photo, then jump back into their car and hustle off to the next delivery. I even saw two different Amazon delivery drivers, one with the van and one in a car, pass each other going to someone's front porch with their packages - they waved at each other. We're so ruthlessly efficient here that it just seems strange to have this odd patchwork delivery system, but it still works - it's always on time. I see these various Amazon and other delivery people a lot running or riding my bike in my neighbourhood - most of Shoreline must live on line for their stuff, including the DH (I don't buy much - whey protein, vitamins and I got a new jaw harp, that's about it).

Fed-Ex is another story though - people purchase routes and they're in the family and they seem to get lost an awful lot. I don't blame them - my area is all narrow roads winding chaotically through woods with street signs that make no sense.

[val2525]

LSO finally responded to my email and said my package was in their warehouse and would be delivered at a later date, then proceeded to also say they did not guarantee or provide delivery dates. I didn't bother to reply. Once I get the replacement order from Macys, I'm writing a letter to management and I'm going to include that LSO email. I may even include printouts of their latest Google ratings. Basically, LSO was telling me "you'll get your package when we get around to it." Whatever.

Sunny and 60 here today. Tomorrow it's cloudy and 56 but Friday looks pretty good for outside light hanging at a seasonal 65 Guess I better go get breakfast and coffee. I need to file two sales tax returns today, then I have a webinar at 11:30 and it's off to run errands this afternoon.

[kritter]

LSO finally responded to my email and said my package was in their warehouse

That "warehouse" would be their garage.

My order was from Dick's sporting Goods for 2 Yeti cups.  That order never showed up as scheduled and when I contacted Dick's, they sent me out another order for the two missing cups.  The initial order for the two cups was finally delivered by Lone Star.  I sold the two extra cups on ebay.

[val2525]

Nov 22, 2023 16:12:13 GMT kritter said:

LSO finally responded to my email and said my package was in their warehouse

That "warehouse" would be their garage.

That's assuming they paid their rent on the garage. I found a lot of references in the Google reviews mentioning that folks had to go from closed office to closed office until they found the actual current opened office. One person posted a pic of the evicition notice hanging on the door of one office for non payment of rent. Macy's customer service is good though, so as long as they don't send the replacement also by LSO, I'm good.

The water is off in the building. I'm guessing the noise and pounding going on is related to that outage Good thing I'll be out running errands this afternoon and not doing laundry They're going to love it next week when I report my bathtub not draining. I'm pretty sure they'll have to strip the plumbing again of the minerals buildup.

[kritter]

That's assuming they paid their rent on the garage.

I was thinking more of the garage at their house where they live.  Never once did I think this mom and pop operation had an actual office.  They are delivering in a white pickup without any signage on it.

[jesmelric]

Nov 21, 2023 0:00:58 GMT val2525 said:

Nov 20, 2023 17:06:21 GMT jesmelric said:

They started a FB thread about it, people not happy about it. They said they've called the police but the police say he's autistic and not violent? I know his brother told my nephew that he has threatened the whole family with a knife.

That's what the cops said about my across the street neighbor in ABQ. Until he started shooting trees and cars one day, including my car. And I was across a 4 lane boulevard with a large median. If our parking hadn't been 4 deep in front of the unit, either my unit or the landlord unit would have been hit. You and the other neighbors need to keep calling the cops. They get enough calls, they will HAVE to do something about it. Autistics might not usually be violent but schizophrenics can be. You have lazy cops.

I agree. I know it's a big city with a lot of crime, but this is no priority to them at all. They completely dismiss it, and if he does do something violent, it could certainly have been prevented. He wasn't out last night, but the night before he was out at 11:58 pm and 2:45 am The morning before that there were two ambulances in front of the house, which is also a frequent occurrence. But I don't think they medicate him or anything because he's often out later with the screaming and cursing.

I just had a package I ordered from Etsy not show scanned at all from label created for 8 days, till it finally got to TX and was scanned the day before it was delivered. Now I have an OVERLY CHATTY buyer who I said, ugh I hope she's not a problem. I dropped her package in the drop off Sunday and they still haven't scanned and of course she's automatically assuming I didn't send it when I said I would. WHY would it have to be her package that wasn't scanned?

[chapeaunoir]

Tomorrow is the Turkey Trot 10k up north in Mukilteo, which is an old mill town and harbour. My running friend is coming over at 6:30 a.m. and I'll drive us up there. I haven't run since Sunday when I ran 3 miles with hills - rode my bike for a half hour one day, so at least I'll be rested! I needed a slow week after all those long runs to nowhere which I now don't have to do.

He's doing the Seattle Marathon on Sunday after Thanksgiving. This is considered one of the roughest marathons in the country - frequently bad weather, lots of hills and wind. This time we won't have lashing wind and rain, but instead people will be running in below-freezing temps. When the marathon committee changed it to June for hopefully better weather, there was such an outcry that they changed it back to November - first off, it's an odd date so no conflicts. And also, it's a badge of honor to run it because the weather is often SO BAD, which is peak Pac NW lol - horrible weather and no relief? I'm IN!! Plus people cited their need to run off some of the feasting. I did the half marathon about 10 years ago and arrived at the finish completely beaten up, mostly by the cold rain and hills, and that's not easy to do. I'm giving it a pass this year.

[Emerald_Door]

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

[staytuned]

Happy Thanksgiving!

[val2525]

Happy Thanksgiving! Wishing everyone a happy, drama-free, food filled day.

[val2525]

For the first time ever, HEB shorted my order. They forgot to give me 2 bell peppers and a cucumber LOL. Not an expensive mistake. I'm impressed though, considering all the delivery and curbside pickup orders I've placed, this is the first mistake they've made. Impressive! I called last night and asked them to just refund me. Since I didn't need the peppers until Monday, I'll pop in the store Sunday and pick up some peppers. Or add them to my WM order this weekend. An easy problem to fix. Raining and cold here this morning.

I ran into my neighbor yesterday afternoon and chatted. She's not sure what their decorating theme will be this year for the patio. After talking with her, I'm keeping several things under wraps until the day of the contest (instead of just the 1 item). I was already holding back the lighted nutcracker banners, but I think I'll hold back at least the luminarias like someone here suggested. I found some cute tall metal outdoor holiday yard stakes (Santa, snowman, penquin) on clearance that I was going to use in front of the A/C units, I'll hold up until contest day to put those out too The patio and windows will still look really good with what I'll put out this weekend.

[frakinfashion]

Happy Thanksgiving!