Weekly Chat Thread Dec. 3 - 9

[Emerald_Door]

It's December 3.  On this day in history...

Dr. Christiaan Barnard performed the first human heart transplant in 1967

In 1989 Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and President George H. W. Bush declared the Cold War over.

Do you recognize this man, born on December 3, 1927? (The microphone is a hint.)

[val2525]

Today is the last day to get discounted Penzeys gift cards. Buy two or more $35 gift cards for $17.50 each:

LAST DAY for the no-coupons-or-codes-needed Two $25 Gift Cards just $35, and free new $26.95 Care Gift Box with the purchase of five gift cards or the equivalent in spending ($87.50)

If anyone you shop for loves to cook, a Penzeys gift card would be an awesome present.

Partly cloudy and mid 70s here today. Time to put the outside lights up!

I had to think a minute or two, but the guy born today is Andy Williams.

[staytuned]

If the P.O. is getting wonky this soon, I'm afraid what's going to happen when it really gets busy in a week or so. I have yet another package that, for whatever reason, arrived at my P.O. was sent to another P.O. and back to mine again. I have another one from MI shipped on 11/28, arrived at Cleveland on 11/30 and keeps getting scanned "on its way to next destination". Had another small priority package from GA take a few days to get a scan, then another few to be delivered. If the P.O. wants to continue to raise rates, it would be nice to at least raise the quality of service as well.

[kritter]

I mailed an ebay package to Hawaii last Wednesday and it arrived in Laie, Hawaii this morning. She had chosen Ground Advantage but I nixed that and upgraded her to Priority. No other scans along the way but at least the package made it over there. All I care about is the scan at my post office and the Delivery scan.

[labbypaws]

Speaking of DC, good thing I kept my receipt from returning my cell phone to AT&T. Got my new phone the end of Sept. Sent back the old phone, in their box, Oct 4. Got an acceptance scan and saved the receipt.

Last Sunday I received an e-mail (of course at 11 AM when I am going to bed) stating they are charging me for not sending in my phone. Luckily I dug out my receipt. Went into an on-line chat and the woman said she saw I returned my phone and it was going to show returned on my bill.

I log in to print my bill today and they want about $900 including $600 for the phone. WTH.

So I wait until their lines open this morning and call a few times. Kept getting transferred around, telling my story to whomever I was talking with and/or told to hang up and call another number.

I finally had it and filed a dispute online. It goes right to their legal department. In the meantime I get another person on the line who transferred me to the back office. I provided the person with my DC (for the 5th or 6 time). They finally credited my account. The phone goes from the PO to a local warehouse (DC reflects the local place received it) where they collect the phones and send them in groups to AT&T or whomever is going to sell the phones.

Right before I turned off my phone, their arbitration department called. He said my bill reflected I returned my phone and that was the end of it. Bill does reflect it. I told him it better not show up on my bill again.

Geez, no nap for the second Sunday in a row.

Keep those receipts.

[val2525]

((((Labby))))) That's a PITA. I'm glad you finrally got it resolved.

Patio lights are up. Woo hoo! I couldn't use the oversized green bulbs - they connect end to end, but it's like a lamp, where one prong is larger than the other. So of course they don't connect to any other lights. They're in the GW bag. I got them on dirt cheap clearance so I'm not out much $. I put the snowflake lights where I was orginally putting the green bulbs, and they look better there than where I was originally putting them. So all is good Tomorrow and Tuesday I'm putting up the lights in the double windows. I have to put up the Command strips first. Wednesday will probably be the Christmas tree on the patio.

[labbypaws]

Sounds pretty Val!

[chapeaunoir]

It's pretty constant rain and slop here now - with the storms blowing through there's all sorts of grot and gribble on the roadways, and it gets mashed into slime and then pushed over to the shoulders. I got in a quick run between bouts of rain (my shoes don't do well in the rain - I need to get a pair that does) and going up and down the hills trying to avoid slipping wasn't easy. The DH got out for a ride but he kept booking it to stay ahead of the next front coming in. I'm meeeting my oldest friend for coffee and a stroll around tomorrow - he's up for it even though it'll be a steady rain. I wonder if we'll meet at the bookstore (his suggested meeting spot) and then just end up browsing and then going next door for coffee lol. We realised we've known each other for half of our lives. 

[denise15601]

Labby-sure glad that you got that straightened out. I always keep receipts, too.

[denise15601]

Pretty header, Val!

[Tabby]

Dec 4, 2023 18:01:51 GMT denise15601 said:

Pretty header, Val!

Yep! Great choice, Val.

It's definitely Christmas time now. 🎉

[frakinfashion]

val2525 Wanted to give kudos for the header too, Val! I'm trying to get into the spirit. When is decoration judgement day? I want you to take first prize this year.

[labbypaws]

Great look!

[val2525]

Dec 4, 2023 18:38:23 GMT frakinfashion said:

val2525 Wanted to give kudos for the header too, Val! I'm trying to get into the spirit. When is decoration judgement day? I want you to take first prize this year.

It's not until 12/20. I have the patio done except for the Christmas tree. The tree however is for my viewing out the dining room window. I may or may not put it up since it really won't make a difference from the street view. I found three different 3' trees at Kohls for the living room, bedroom and office that I can decorate and keep out of the range of the cats (they fit on the top of my plant stands - take that, kitties!!), so I may skip the patio tree. One night this week I'm putting up the window lights - outline in multicolor mini lights and those lighted silhoutte thingies Walmart carries, I have the snowflakes. They'll coordinate with the snowflakes on the patio   I must admit, the patio is REALLY bright when it's lit up  Bright enough the space station can probably see it.  I thought I had incandescent C7 & C9 lights, but nope, they're LED. Great for my power outlets and power bill, but not so much for my neighbors.   They'll get over it LOL.  I have them set to come on at dusk, go off in 6 hours (usually between 11:30-midnight), so it's not like I leave the bright lights on all night.  

This weekend I'll wrap the trees in front of my patio. Getting the step ladder to sit steady on the landscape rocks will be interesting.  I'm not sure when I'm putting out the luminarias, probably the weekend before the contest. The lighted nutcracker banners go up the day of the contest. That way my neighbors can't top it Well, that and the banners aren't very sturdy and I don't really know if they'll hold up to several days of weather.  

Good thing I don't have a house, or I'd have to hire help to put the lights up on the roofline Heaven forbid the house have a chimney

I'm going to do a better job of packing up all the decorations when I take them down in January, so decorating next year will be easier.

[Desire]

Val, the header pic and the border color choices look so nice. Great holiday spirit!

[val2525]

Twila has approved the Christmas cat cave:





But then, Twila likes all the cat caves. Her fave is the pink one under my nightstand by the bed. Simon was playing in the cave this afternoon but he was moving around so much I couldn't get a pic.

[val2525]

Phase I is complete. There is a bright halogen light to the right of my patio that makes it hard to get a decent night shot.





I think it needs the Christmas tree after all No meteor or icicle lights on the back wall - my stepladder doesn't reach high enough for me to hang them   I think I'll put out the luminarias this week, when I wrap the trees.

[kritter]

I think it needs the Christmas tree after all

It definitely needs something behind all the lights.  If you need a taller ladder, I can bring one over for you to use.

[denise15601]

Wow, Val! That is beautiful! Love it!

[val2525]

I'm such a dunce. I have two big wood Christmas presents (30" high I think) that I can elevate and put on either side of the Christmas tree. WM has an inexpensive outdoor spotlight I can use to shine on it all (even comes with white, red and green lens, you pick which one to use). Problem solved.

[val2525]

Dec 5, 2023 1:51:02 GMT kritter said:

I think it needs the Christmas tree after all

It definitely needs something behind all the lights.  If you need a taller ladder, I can bring one over for you to use.

Let me think about that. How tall is it? My stepstool ladder hoists me up about 3' or so. But now that I think about it, a regular ladder might be better for wrapping the trees too. Hmnnnn.

[kritter]

I have ladders in 3 different heights so there is a selection. Not sure what heights they are but maybe start at 5'or 6'.

[denise15601]

I think that a step ladder would be better since you can lean against it if you go up half-way.

[chapeaunoir]

Wow! Great decorating! I also like the new board colour scheme.

I met my friend this morning, and it was so cold, rainy and windy that even my big, tough, Norwegian friend said "let's just roost in a coffee shop". We were in a small town just north of me, very walkable. This town is very compact and has lots of coffee shops (we drink large amounts of strong coffee here - my friend jokes that we drink enough that we can thread a sewing machine while it's running lol). In streets dark with gloom and rain, these various coffee houses were like little islands of warmth and light spilling out onto the wet sidewalks - and they were all mostly full of people drinking coffee, eating pastries, chatting and laughing. So we caught up and chatted for quite a while, visited the bookshop, etc. I'm going to go up and visit that little town more often - I used to ride my bike up there on training rides a lot when I was younger and lived in Seattle, and also take the ferry to the San Juans, but I haven't spent that much time just strolling around.

[chapeaunoir]

Oh  man, the skiers were going crazy for all the snow in the mountains due to the constant heavy rain - unfortunately, because of the "pineapple express" it's just a few degrees warmer than usual and instead of having tons of snow, we're having flooding. Hopefully the temp will drop so the snow pack increases and hardens - a good snow pack is important for several reasons and we watch it carefully. Meanwhile the drainage ditches in my neighbourhood are filling up and washing onto the roads. Because our roads are 'perma-wet' when it gets really cold it's like a skating rink here, so at least we don't have that.

It's funny - with a good snow the area basically empties out on the weekend as so many go up to the mountains. But we don't have the glittering, powdery, soft snow - we have what is called "Cascade Concrete" - wet snow that packs solidly and is like cement. One of my cousins broke her ankle slamming into Cascade concrete X-country skiing a couple of years ago and was hobbling around over Christmas in a big boot. OUCH. But hey, that doesn't stop anybody!

[Emerald_Door]

The mystery man in the opening post is Andy Williams, the singer of "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year."

[sunsetpainter]

My mom was in looooooove with Andy Williams. And I still like to hear him sing "Moon River".

[val2525]

It's probably sacrilege to say this, but I like Brett Eldrege's verison of "It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" a little more than Andy Williams version. Actually, Brett sounds a lot like Andy. The official video for Brett's version sucks though.

[Desire]

Val, if you don't put up the tree, do you have a small holiday rug to put out in the center of the patio floor instead of the stripe one? If you had one with a Christmas tree or wreath design on it, it would look nice as people walked by during the day or even at night, with all the bright lights you'd probably see it. But I say go for the tree if you can do it.

If you have any fake red poinsettias they would look great in the corners of the patio and in front of the door where you have the mums. The dark red against the light-colored siding would fill in nicely. You make me want to do more decorating around here. We only have a few things out.

[kritter]

I have at least two Christmas rugs with cats on them if you want to use them.