Friday!

Heffalump

Good morning, WW!  What's going on?  What's on tap for the weekend?

I have a conference call in an hour, and I do not want to do it.  It's a follow up to one that was torture.  I'm going to bring my laptop and quietly return emails.  Or knot.  Either/or.

DS had his holiday culture show yesterday, and of the possible roles (crier, starer, yeller, etc.), he started out #teamblankstare, but eventually chimed in randomly.  He wore stuffed antlers, had his nose painted black, and wore a sign that said "Donner," and I wanted to die.  I did not get pics because I arrived at 5:00 for a 5:30 show, and I was stuck 2/3 of the way back from the stage.  Standing room only by the time it started.

In the continuing saga of room dad, I thought I had him all straightened out.  But gift cards are supposed to be due a week from today, and he has yet to email the parents.  I don't want Wooz's (excellent) teacher to get screwed because this guy can't get his shit together, but I also don't have time to micromanage a grown ass man.

In happier news, Sponsor a Family is winding down.  Everything is signed up for, people are starting to drop stuff off.  Just working with the mom to coordinate dropping it all off. 

I don't know if we should do something outdoorsy/active this weekend, or see Moana.  It's not supposed to crack 50 here all weekend, so I'm leaning toward Moana, but I know DH wanted to do something outside.  Luckily, he has the thinnest skin of us all, so he may change his tune on his own. 

6fsn

It's wind chill of like 8. I was up all night sick. We're supposed to go to my moms this weekend but I don't feel like moving. I hope it passes as quickly as everyone else's around me did. 

mrsconn23

Oh no 6!   I hope you feel better soon. 

I want to smack that room dad, Heffa.  YAY for a successful sponsorship. 

Last night was all right.  We did a quiet bday celebration with the kiddo.  He got some phone calls from family.  Tonight we're going out to dinner.  The boy wants some steak.  

DefConn is on the mend, yay!  A lot less coughing last night and no sad crying.  His voice is also mostly back.    I slept pretty well. 

Tomorrow, I have to work.  DH is taking DefConn to breakfast with Santa.  I'm contemplating calling into work and going.   We'll see if I want to pull myself together.   

Sunday is baking day at my sister's house.  YAY Christmas cookies.   

The weather is supposed to bullshit for the next week to 5 months.  LOL

mrsconn23

Ooh maybe we'll go see Moana with DefConn tomorrow night since the kiddo's staying with FIL this weekend.  

DrillSergeantCat

Went to see my mom last night. She's doing okay. They sat her up for 30 minutes yesterday but when they put her back in bed, they forgot to give her morphine button back and then wouldn't answer her call. She ended up calling her husband in a panic and thought they had moved her room. She was pretty hopped up on the goofball when we got there, but got to see Mouse and asked about baby girl.

H came home absolutely pissed last night. He's been working 55-60+ hours a week for the past few months and they won't get him any help because his department is an indirect activity so hours there negatively affect bonuses. All he's asking for is 1 helper M-W and 2 on Th&F. They just don't want to. His boss said he's willing to ask for volunteers to come in on Saturdays to help get caught up. Maybe it's just me, but labor hours are labor hours regardless of the day of the week they're labored. He's actually talking about finding another job.

This weekend, I know we're going to look at Christmas lights. It's supposed to be in the 60's here tomorrow after 2.5 days of 20-30's so he may put the lights on the house. We really need to get the carpet situation taken care of in the baby's room so we can get the nursery together. 

bleve0821

We're getting our Christmas tree and finishing hanging the Christmas lights.  Our to do list is a mile long, and I'm debating coming in to work some backshift Sunday night/Monday small morning hours.  I have so much gift wrapping to do (one of our closets is full up and I need it back), and I should finish our Christmas cards and get them in the mail, too.  I am making them by hand because I have always hated the way the photo cards are so impersonal (none of them have even been signed so far), but now I totally see the appeal.  

And I'm side-eyeing the absolute shit out of DH's SIL.  Big gender reveal announcement on Facebook, and DH's GM was basically told she needed to create a FB account or she'd be left out of the loop (although it doesn't sound like she's ever been in it up to this point).  Not that I expected anything less, but I think that's shitty to announce to Facebook but not even a phone call to family.  Still, though, after everything that's happened, I'd love to have one conversation with GMIL where I don't have to hear about this shit.  I understand her frustration, I would be shocked if she gets to meet her great-grandbaby, but DH's SIL is not a part of my life, and I am not making strides in any direction to change that.  Big fat fucking nope.

charlotte989875

Bought the warmest coat ever last night! It's like walking around in a sleeping bag and I couldnt be happier. 

Also met a friend for drinks/dinner last night. We had three glasses of wine and went to buy Christmas sweaters for a party this weekend. Mine has Snoopy on it because Charlie Brown's Christmas is the best Christmas special. 

Heffalump

6fsn said:

It's wind chill of like 8. I was up all night sick. We're supposed to go to my moms this weekend but I don't feel like moving. I hope it passes as quickly as everyone else's around me did. 

Boo.  Feel better soon.

mrsconn23 said:

I want to smack that room dad, Heffa.  

I was ready to smack him, too.  I sent a chipper email to ask what he thought about getting the email out today, so everyone has time to shop (including the weekend) if they want to participate.  He replied "I'll get it done today."  It's a Christmas freaking miracle! 

Sign Up for the class party is done, sponsor family is almost done--if Room Dad can get this email taken care of, all I have to do are teacher gifts for DS's teachers (and Wooz's afterschool) and I'm home free!

Heffalump

Apologies for the random double post.  Enjoy this Friday gif instead.

MissKittyDanger

@Heffalump  I vote Moana and yay DS for chiming in

@6fsn  oh no hopefully it's just a short deal sickness!

@mrsconn23  happy belated to your kiddo and yay DefConn feeling better

@DrillSergeantCat  that's crazy! He needs help and those hours are going to burn the poor guy out


Last night the original plan was do nothing after groceries, but my friend was in town with a guy she's been recently seeing so M and I ended up going out for a bit. He's nice, I like him.

Awkward moment is when we were leaving, my ex was at the bar and ended up coming out briefly. We didn't break up with an argument, but it's been awhile since I've run into him.
We were talking and he called me cute.
My ex. Called me cute. In front of my husband.
What.the.ever loving. fuck.

I look over at my friend and she said "yeh I guess she's cute"
I ended up giving M crap for not piping up, but he's not a huge fan of my ex.

Anyways .... needless to say I'm dragging a bit more than anticipated this morning.

This weekend, not much. I don't want anything busy since I'm just getting better and xmas is coming. Saturday is last of the shopping to do and Sunday is cleaning and wrapping.

If we get our make-shift decor up, I'll try to post photos

MissKittyDanger

@AtomicBlonde  how rude of your H's SIL! If we have kids and do a gender reveal and for whatever reason the grandparents can't go, I would personally tell them before posting on fb {with their own special way obv!}

charlotte989875

Ugh on your ex @MissKittyDanger, thats awkward What did you want M to say? I think your friend handled it the best way anyone could there. 

MissKittyDanger

@charlotte989875  Yeh super awkward. Idk, I figured he'd say what my friend said, but there was no real way to handle it otherwise lol Everyone went silent when he said it omg

bleve0821

MissKittyDanger said:

@AtomicBlonde  how rude of your H's SIL! If we have kids and do a gender reveal and for whatever reason the grandparents can't go, I would personally tell them before posting on fb {with their own special way obv!}

I've always been an insanely private person, but I can understand the excitement that starting a family brings, and the desire to share that excitement.  I personally don't see myself ever making a public announcement like this, but if I did, I would absolutely call every important family member and tell them first.  That's information that should be shared and heard first-hand, not through the grapevine.  If I didn't know better, I'd give her the benefit of the doubt and believe that it's just a "We think so-and-so is a yenta and will blab," but everyone knows that's not the way this family works. At all.  But I do know better.

Maybe it's because I'm not fortunate enough to have living GPs of my own and I'm so close with DH's, but I think this behavior is uncaring.

ETF words

thefanciestbeckler

Sorry you're feeling bad @6fsn! Hope you get well soon.

@Heffalump your stories about room dad are helping educate us future parents on how not to be if we become room moms. Thank you.

@AtomicBlonde that is so shitty of your SIL! I can't imagine not calling family to let them know. But she sounds like she's not too nice anyways.

That's crazy @MissKittyDanger! My H probably would have stood there dumbfounded. That is such a weird thing to say in front of M. Dude's got some balls.

Morning WW! TGIF.

I'm working today (kinda). I'm supposed to meet up with one of my high school best friends tonight. I haven't seen her in probably 10 years. She disappeared off the face of the earth for a really long time. Suddenly changed her number, deleted her Facebook, and the last time I was supposed to see her she stood me up. No fight or anything, she just disappeared. I have wondered about her for so long. We just recently reconnected on Facebook. We're supposed to go to dinner tonight to catch up, but I am not sure that it's going to happen. I messaged her yesterday to confirm and she hasn't answered. If she bails (or even worse, just never answers me) I guess I'm going to have to let it go.

Tomorrow morning I'm going to a friend's house to help her make candy for her husband to take to his clients. I've never done it before, but it sounds like fun. We're going to have mimosas and some good girl talk while we're at it. Tomorrow night I'm going to see one of my best friends' daughters in a play. I think we're going to grab dinner beforehand.

Sunday will be church and relaxing. I also want to start meal planning and prep again. I've gotten out of the habit the last few weeks and have been eating out every day for lunch. It's getting really expensive.

MissKittyDanger

@thefanciestbeckler  I'd like to say he had balls but tbh I feel like he just didn't realize MAYBE he shouldn't say it. He lacked etiquette in that way

OliveOilsMom

6 - I hope you feel better soon!

Atomic - I don't think I could do that to any grandparent.  Its very inconsiderate of SIL, but it seems to be par for the course, no?  When we found out the gender we told our parents first and then close friends.  We had found out before the end of the 1st trimester, so we didn't disclose it to anyone else.  I started spreading the info more once I was in the 2nd trimester.  And I only finally did a FB reveal about the pregnancy on Thanksgiving (over half way along!).  My BFF and sister were happy it was finally FB official! 

The office Holiday party last night was fun.  I went home with two babies, a food one and a real one!  Once I got home, we finally put the shelf back in the fridge so that we could fit all the groceries I had purchased away!  It's been out since the day before Thanksgiving so I could fit the pot of brining turkey in there! 

Then we settled in to wrap some presents, which H nicely helped me do.  We got maybe half done.  We do a family Pollyanna now, so I really only need to buy for my nieces and nephews and my friends' kids.  So there isn't too much wrapping that needs to be done.

Last night, while at the party, an email was circulated saying we are getting a holiday bonus.  Yay!  Only to realize when I arrived this morning that paralegals didn't get the bonus, we aren't included   It's a bummer, but we got a much larger than usual end of fiscal bonus that paralegals don't normally get, so I really shouldn't complain.  But we are trying to pay off a cc bill prior to baby's arrival and that money would have gone a long way.

Today, I'm going to try and do my Christmas cards at work.  Then after work, I'm going over to my friend's house for a holiday happy hour thing.  It's for essential oils and bath salts, but nothing we need to buy.  She is just having all that stuff out for us to mix together and take with us.  H wanted to paint the bathroom tonight, but forgot I was going to my friend's house.  I doubt he will paint it himself since he will need my steady hand to do at the ceiling.  I'm sure, he will get something done, hopefully knocking something off the check list below!

This weekend will be busy.  We are picking up a treadmill from my aunt on Saturday. And that is only thing actually scheduled.  But we also need to paint the bathroom more, fix the lights on the Christmas tree, start cleaning for my family's Christmas Eve celebration next Saturday, go to Church, make a run to Lowes and I know I'm probably forgetting something.

short+sassy

DrillSergeantCat said:

Went to see my mom last night. She's doing okay. They sat her up for 30 minutes yesterday but when they put her back in bed, they forgot to give her morphine button back and then wouldn't answer her call. She ended up calling her husband in a panic and thought they had moved her room. She was pretty hopped up on the goofball when we got there, but got to see Mouse and asked about baby girl.

H came home absolutely pissed last night. He's been working 55-60+ hours a week for the past few months and they won't get him any help because his department is an indirect activity so hours there negatively affect bonuses. All he's asking for is 1 helper M-W and 2 on Th&F. They just don't want to. His boss said he's willing to ask for volunteers to come in on Saturdays to help get caught up. Maybe it's just me, but labor hours are labor hours regardless of the day of the week they're labored. He's actually talking about finding another job.

This weekend, I know we're going to look at Christmas lights. It's supposed to be in the 60's here tomorrow after 2.5 days of 20-30's so he may put the lights on the house. We really need to get the carpet situation taken care of in the baby's room so we can get the nursery together. 

Grrrrrr.  Easier said than done.  But, if I were your H, I'd want to tell them, "Look, I've been telling you over and over I can't do this by myself anymore. I will only be working my normal X days for X hours.  And if s**t gets backed up, that's just too bad."  I mean, what are they going to do?  Fire him?  Not with that kind of backlog.

I had a similar issue at a previous job.  I was the assistant manager for a huge gas station/convenience store.  One of our busiest times was 6AM-8AM.  M-Th, when the store manager worked the AM shift, he had 4 people scheduled.  But when I worked it on Fridays, he only had one other person scheduled.  Half the people.  Lines would be out the door.  We'd run out of all the coffee and breakfast food items within the first 30 minutes, but neither of us could restock things.

My continued complaints of (nicely saying), "Are you nuts!?! You know I need at LEAST one more person," fell on deaf ears.  Response was always, "Sorry, I don't have the hours available."  Then, we had notice our regional manager and HIS boss was going to be coming by on a particular Fri. morning.  Again, I'm like, "Troy, of all the days you need to give me at least one more person, it is that Friday.  I'm telling you.  Every Fri. morning is an utter disaster and that is going to reflect poorly on you."  Same response, "Sorry, no hours available."

That Friday morning came and I could see the look of horror on those two manager's faces.

The regional manager (RM) came over to me, literally talked to me while I was ringing up customers, and asked, "Jennifer, what's going on?  Did someone call in sick?"

Me:  "No, Troy only scheduled me and Employee A.  But Employee B is coming in at 10:00AM."

RM:  "Does he usually only schedule you and Employee A."

Me:  "Yep.  I've told him how busy we are, but he has explained he doesn't have enough hours to schedule another person.  I know how hard it can be to control costs."  Trying to sound like a team player and not completely throwing him under the bus, but getting my point across.

The RM was livid!!! And he was usually an easy going guy.  He told me in the sternest voice, "This will not happen again.  I will make sure of that.  I'm not upset with you.  I know you are doing the best you can.  But this will not happen again."

And, magically, there were always three people on that shift afterwards! 

DrillSergeantCat

@short+sassy He did say that they had an engineer in a couple weeks back watching him and the other receiving employee work. They are trying to make production goals for them so that it will be taken from an indirect activity and not negatively affect (effect? I can never remember) bonuses. It will likely be after the first of the year, though. 

The part that really pisses me off is when he got this promotion, part of why he was so excited about it was that he was supposed to be able to get off earlier in the day. He was previously on the 10a-7pm shift and this was supposed to be 8a-5pm. He gets so upset because he only gets to see Mouse for a few minutes a day most days since he's not getting off work until 7 or later and he's been going in at 7 most mornings to catch up on paperwork.

It's going to work out, it's just frustrating right now. I feel like they're leading him on with the promise of another promotion, but at the same time jumping on him for his extensive OT. 

SaintPaulGal

I wrapped presents yesterday and realized I overbought for FI.  I think I will save a couple of things for Valentines Day.  Well, I guess I didn't exactly overbuy at this point, but I got half a set of pour over coffee things on sale and I wouldn't want to give something he couldn't use without buying more stuff.  So that means I need to order the other two items, and THEN I will have overbought.  I think vintage cufflinks and a pen/pencil set are getting "bumped" from the lineup.

After an absurd customer service nightmare couple of weeks, the holiday cards I ordered have finally been delivered.  Crossing my fingers that they are correct this time!  I think I will run home over lunch to check on them, since if they are wrong again I will need to get on the phone again ASAP.  Fingers crossed!

Tonight I am getting together with a couple of friends who moved out of state this summer.  They are back in town because they had to take their ex landlord to small claims court to get their deposit back, so they are certain to be grouchy about that, but I'm excited to see them!  I am going to officially ask the lady in the couple to be our officiant--we had talked casually about it before, but we weren't entirely sure what we wanted at that time. 

Then at the ass-crack of dawn I am headed to Boston for the weekend!  FI is away from home for two weeks for work, and he must have said a hundred times that he wished I could come with or at least come and visit.  So I'm doing it!  I decided to fly out there and surprise him with a nice dinner and some city wandering together.  I've never been to Boston and he hasn't been in a number of years.  Now if only I wasn't completely goddamn phobic about flying.  I straight up loved flying and did it all the time up to about age 25, when after 50+ flights it suddenly started triggering my claustrophobia hardcore.  Like full blown panic attack hardcore.  Now I have to basically incapacitate myself with xanax to make it happen.  Ugg.  Still crossing my fingers that this eventually goes away as quickly as it came on.

OurWildKingdom

Tonight is grocery shopping and our usual Friday night meeting. Tomorrow, FW and I are going to a potential new friend's church to bake cookies and decorate. Afterwards, I'm meeting with my sponsor, and then FW and I might go to a free concert. Sunday, FW has to study for her finals, so I'll use that time to work on Christmas cards, catch up on reading, and maybe write.

OliveOilsMom

DSC - I hope DH's job gets sorted out soon and he can get back to his regular schedule and see Mouse more!

SPG - I usually am in the same boat that I overbuy for H.  But this year, I am so stuck.  We do a $ limit and I can usually find lots of things he will like and want.  But I didn't find anything for him this year.  I did buy him a new belt because he needed one, but that was $5.  I've been searching various website for inspiration and nothing.  I finally told him I didn't know what to get him.  I had been asking questions - need any tool sets, electronics, etc?  And its always no.  He finally gave me a suggestion and its something that's more for both of us.  He said that didn't matter to him, so I will probably end up getting as much of his suggestion as I can within budget.

Heffalump

Random:  every day, I use my Spotify skips for the freaking Chipmunks.  How are they still a thing?

ETA: ditto for "All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth."

SaintPaulGal

Update: I ran home and got the holiday cards, and they are  exactly what I wanted all along!  It's beyond vexing how much time and effort it took on my part to get is sorted out, but I am very pleased with the final product.  Plus I got the official word from the post office that they don't requite any super-special extra-costly postage.  Woo!

mrsconn23

If you are morbid like me and love true crime stuff (esp. documentary series), the new Netflix series "Captive" is pretty good.  Very gripping stuff. 

drglitter

I'm an aunt again! Baby girl born yesterday, my little sister's first.

I managed to kill all but one of our fish so today I completely dismantled the aquarium, cleaned everything, threw out the fake plants and got new ones. We'll see if that helps with the next batch. On the bright side, the one surviving fish is living the life and seems completely unphased by the death of all his little friends.

VarunaTT

Dropping in b/c work has slowed down.  I still don't have an assigned desk, which is annoying, but there's not much to be done, so I'm just trying to keep a good attitude about it.  It's somewhat hard since I'm sitting in the file room and it's just loud.

I'm also getting ready to have a panic attack and I need to do it quickly and quietly.  K's big pageant is tomorrow night.  We have our to-do list and it's manageable, but I'm so nervous and anxious for her.  And I need to not let her know it, I've got to be chipper and supportive.  The presentation outfit is finished, talent is almost finished and tux is almost finished.  Mostly just rhinestoning things tonight. She has interview at 11 tomorrow, then call at 5, I think.  We've reserved 3 tables b/c we have loads of friends coming.  I think she's the only local king running.  We've creeped the suspected competitors.  There's one that's a helluva worry.

Otherwise, the new job is alright.  After this pageant, a lot of stress will finally be off of me.  I'm hoping I can enter 2017, at least personally and professionally, with a clear mind and start re-creating plans and dreams for my future.

kimmiinthemitten

*Saturday* because who needs computers on a Friday?!

@VarunaTT hi!  Hopefully even without a desk this job is better than the last!  Good luck this weekend!

@DrillSergeantCat hope your mom continues to heal well.  That sucks about your H's job.

Congrats on the niece @drglitter!

@Heffalump your room dad sounds exhausting!  It's almost like he wants the credit for doing it, but sucks on purpose so everyone else (namely you) does his job.

@mrsconn23 glad the fam is feeling better!

FI's BFF called last night and asked if he was too busy to hang out, FI said no, come on over - and it was actually awesome for me!  I got all 25 of our hotel bags done, wrapped all of our thank you gifts, boxed it all up, updated our newest to-do list and then had 2 guys to carry everything to the storage room for me.

During the day I picked up my veil and had my ring cleaned.  Since I only have one ring, I'm not wearing it again until the wedding and that's odd, but I have a fake ring I can wear if I get tweaky.

Today I'm working out then freeing the guest room from our shower gifts so my sis has a place to stay.

Tomorrow, @shessocold, it's going down for real!

ShesSoCold

kimmiinthemitten said:

Tomorrow, @shessocold, it's going down for real!

And the Bears, in true Bear fashion, lost to themselves.

I'm really looking forward to Sunday when there is a high of 5 and a chance of winning of zero.

kimmiinthemitten

ShesSoCold said:

kimmiinthemitten said:

Tomorrow, @shessocold, it's going down for real!

And the Bears, in true Bear fashion, lost to themselves.

I'm really looking forward to Sunday when there is a high of 5 and a chance of winning of zero.

We had a bussed in section of Bears fan next to us, and I have to give them props!  They had a great time, especially with that interception turned touchdown.

We didn't work too hard to win either, sadly.  Good luck Sunday!