Thursday

VarunaTT

Thursday is my favorite day, as much as Tuesday is my most loathed day.  I prefer Thursday over Friday b/c Friday you just want to be over. 

Not too much today.  I'm trying to figure out my meal plan right now.  I've been doing vegan, but I'm getting tired of it right now.  The vegetarian sounds better, but I really need to be done with diary, i think.  The low calorie looks good too and chicken is sounding good right now.  IDK, but I've got to decide soon and do some grocery shopping.

I'm excited about a few new projects I have.  I'm going to be helping to produce a variety show that'll be focused on performing arts of all types, focusing in on queer performers.  Right now we've got live vocalists, burlesque performers, drag performers, comedians, and acrobats stuff interested.  The other thing is starting my dinner and movie club, I think around March.  Just a group of friends together to have dinner, watch LGBTQ+ movies, and chat about them.  I'm looking forward to it.

Other than that, not much else.  Still waiting for reviews at work, but I did get my bonus.  It'd be nice if I'd get to know about any raise too.  I love my job and my direct boss, but the management in this place leaves so much to be desired.

levioosa

I definitely have the flu. Body aches, fever, headache, chills. I’m miserable. Even my kidneys hurt. Im torn on what to do for tomorrow because there is a training I need to complete that takes weeks to schedule. I might ask my manager if I can do it from my computer at home. 

banana468

levioosa said:

I definitely have the flu. Body aches, fever, headache, chills. I’m miserable. Even my kidneys hurt. Im torn on what to do for tomorrow because there is a training I need to complete that takes weeks to schedule. I might ask my manager if I can do it from my computer at home. 

I'm so sorry @levioosa!  It sucks to be sick as a grown up when you can't just lay on the couch and watch The Price is Right and reruns of I Love Lucy. 

It's SO COLD here today and then we're due for a warm up.   I'm trying to stay on top of the actual cleaning and soon I need to just start to throw out stuff.   DH wants me to sell of FB market place some of the more expensive kid toys and other things I want him to take to a shelter.   Even if we have another little one some day (although we'll both be 40) there is still SO MUCH CLUTTER of kid stuff right now.   I don't want my kids to grow up fast but I am looking forward to the age where all their stuff takes up less space.   There's a giant toy kitchen in their play area that is going to meet a garbage dump this summer.

Other than that SSDD.  I need the local booking person at the pub to call me.  I can't invite people to come join us for DH's birthday if they won't make room for us!

mrsconn23

Yesterday was my day off and I ended up spending most of it with my mom, which was nice.  We went shopping and to lunch, which I treasure more than ever because a few weeks ago she wouldn't have been able to go out running around like that.  I found her a super cute dress for her upcoming cruise at Nordstrom Rack.   She also talked to me a little bit about end of life stuff that she's prepping for and a few worries she has about dad if she's not around.  We all keep reassuring her that we will be there for dad and he'll be taken care of by us if he needs it. 

I think my sisters and I are going to do lunch and Little Women on Saturday.  Which is super exciting.  The three of us haven't gone out together in awhile and we have a lot of stuff to talk about to make sure we're all on the same page. DH and I are also pulling together our bday weekend plans for a couple weeks from now (our bdays are 3 days apart).  I ordered part of DH's bday gift and I am kind of geeked about it because I think it will be unexpected because it's nothing I've ever mentioned to him.  It's super sentimental.

I feel like I'm starting to come out of the funk I've been in since October/November.  Even DH said something to me the other day when I was being sassy and blowing him shit that he was glad to have me 'back' because sad mrsconn was worrying him.   

Other than that, SSDD.  The sunny days have been nice.  

Prudie on the way.  

mrsconn23

Oh no @levioosa!  That sucks!  Take care and rest up. 

MyNameIsNot

I'm also thrilled that it's Thursday. This 5 day work week is kicking my ass! I'm WFH today and tomorrow, so happy to have a little bit quieter days. 

An old friend tagged me in an article on FB this morning. Apparently, the kid who lived next door to me growing up (my same age) OD'd over the holidays. I hadn't talked to him since I moved away at 17, but I kind of knew he'd gotten pretty deep into the drug life. Apparently the outgoing governor released a bunch of drug offenders on his way out, without considering that some of them were being held until they could be placed in treatment facilities. As you can imagine, getting out suddenly with no plan, no resources, nowhere to go, dude went right back to using. It's just another example of how shitty we are at treating and managing addition problems in this country. I haven't seen this guy in 20+ years, but I'm surprised at how sad it makes me. He was my first platonic boy_friend, when we were in kindergarten.

Otherwise, SSDD here. I'm obsessing over houses and excited to go looking this weekend. No snow, but it's supposed to start raining Saturday and not quit for at least 10 days. I'm not excited about a muddy puppy. 

MissKittyDanger

@VarunaTT Sounds like you've got lots to plan

@levioosa booo sick

@banana468 We have one and I feel you on the friggen clutter! We're giving some of the baby stuff to M's old coworker who is having a daughter {idk when}, other stuff we'll sell at a garage sale/FB Marketplace and whatever is left we're going to just give away on a No Buy/No Sell fb page. One kid and so much .... I cannot imagine 2!

@mrsconn23 Glad you got to spend the day with your mom Nothing says immortality worries like health - yours or someone else's. My dad was 54 when he passed, and since a lot of people who knew my parents are around their age it definitely gave them a shock and forced them to look into their own plans.
Nosey self wants to know what you got your H

OliveOilsMom

Levioosa - Feel better soon!

MNIN - That is sad about your old friend/neighbor.  Addiction is terrible in so many ways.

Banana - Right there with the kid clutter stuff!  I have a friend also having a girl, so I'm looking forward to unloading all of DDs clothes!  I'm also giving her all of the equipment she wants!  And if its in decent condition, sell that kitchen.  I got DDs her kitchen from Craigslist! 

Last night was fine.   SSDD.  Our computers crapped out at work around 3:45.  I finally left at 4:30 and they came back online a few minutes after that!  Whoops!

climbingsingle

@levioosa that sucks! I hope you're feeling better soon. 

SSDD here. It's also stupid cold, but it looks like we'll be in the 60s on Saturday? 

missJeanLouise

@VarunaTT those both sound like fun projects! 
@levioosa Boo! I hope your have a speedy recovery and that you are able to do your training. What bad timing!
@banana468 (and everyone else) I have tried to be mindful of what we get for DS (open-ended toys, multi purpose toys, etc) but already feel like we have too much, especially vehicles. What do you feel like are a toys that aged well/ grown with/ definite value for money? DS loves to play with his friend's toy kitchen so I was planning on getting him one but maybe not???
@mrsconn23 that sounds like a wonderful day with your mom! 
@MyNameIsNot sometimes people hold a spot in your heart that we're not even aware of until something like this happens. I have a lot of people I think about on regular basis that I am sure don't remember me, lol.

I am flying through this quilt I started recently. My last one took so long and was so frustrating that I forgot what it was like to have a plan (and instructions). I feel like I need to order more fabric for my next one already! I have been following this one lady and I bought 3 of her designs, including the one I am working on now. The other 2 are more advanced than what I feel comfortable with right now but I am waiting to buy more until the  one I really want is released in June. I feel like this will be the year of her designs, lol.

DH, DS, and I went out for dinner tonight. It was really pleasant. DS is such a good baby. He ate so much and was just cheerful and a delight. 

CharmedPam

banana468

@missJeanLouise we have had the kitchen since Chiquita was 2 so it's going on 7 years that it's been here.   Chiquito is 5 and he has one in his K class.   I think for the money they're great.   I think we're just aging out of that kind of play now that the youngest is in K and he's more into cars than cooking.

It's going to depend on the kids' interest and in general I'm a fan of toys that foster creativity in the kid.   Your mileage will vary depending on the kids' interest:
-train table (wooden tracks can be combined with brio battery operated or just trains that you move by hand.   
-Legos
-Magnatiles or other magnet-type tile item
-For young kids - Mega Blocks (I plan to sell ours now). 
-Doctor kit stuff.  The kids actually loved my MIL's set up and she'd go to the dollar store for cheap band aids and ace bandages. 
-Wooden blocks

kvruns

feel better @levioosa

@VarunaTT what kind of diet does K eat? Or will they eat anything? 

I'm glad you had a good day with your mom @mrsconn23 and are coming out of your funk. especially if DH noticed it too

I'll trade you kids @missJeanLouise I don't know what it is to have a nice dinner at a restaurant where the kid behaves AND eats!

AFM I read the Wednesday thread this morning and it said "this is starting late" and I was thinking it is 9am it isn't that late. yeah, wrong day. I have no idea what happened to Wednesday in my head but apparently i missed it. I have been pretty busy at work, random situations keep blowing up and taking all of my mental energy. Baby B has a cold so his coughing wakes me up a bunch too. 

OliveOilsMom

MJL - DD is going into the 2nd year with the kitchen!  We bought the wooden food from Melissa & Doug and its holding up well - even to dog teeth!  A little sanding and its smooth again!  My SIL has had her kitchen toy for 10 years now (3 kids), starting with her oldest.  Her youngest is now 8 and its finally starting to wane interest.  I would say they are worth the investment.  We bought ours used, as I mentioned above, so definitely look for a used one.  They are made pretty sturdy, so just a good cleaning and they are as good as new.  Ours is a Step2 brand one and they have a big selection of replacement parts too.  We also got one of the M&D metal shopping carts, so very sturdy and DD loves pushing them around with babies and stuffed animals.  I got that one used too!

MissKittyDanger

@kvruns @missJeanLouise  BabyKitten is hit or miss with restaurants. As long as she's entertained {food or something} she's good. Otherwise she starts to fuss. Come spring, we're going to try {with my mum} going to a buffet. That way she can get out of the highchair sometimes.

kvruns

@misskittydanger nothing entertains him. Some kids are happy to color or read a book but not him. The only thing that would work is a phone but we have opted to not do phones for meals. I'd do it if it was a last resort like a big family gathering but for now we just don't go out much

MissKittyDanger

@kvruns fair just sucks. If you opt to, there is a VTech remote that BabyKitten is really into an I know there's other "phones" that are great to toss into a bag

kvruns

thanks MKD. He's a bit too old for those types of things. They would have entertained him when he was younger for sure.

charlotte989875

I was in a meeting this morning and said “oh I think we’re meeting with that team later in the week, maybe Friday?” And a coworker says, yeah that’s tomorrow. Tomorrow is Friday. So that’s how my week has been going. 

I’m exhausted, but was up early to have a Dr apt. All is good but I’ve been so congested (and not sleeping) my dr said to take some Benadryl before bed and that’s the best thing I’ve heard in a while. 

Feel better @levioosa that super sucks! 

Sounds like your Mom has a good day @mrsconn23! How’s your Dad doing? 

moira_rose_stan

I'm finally back to work after 2 full weeks off. That wasn't the plan but our dog had a massive seizure (never had she had one or any health issues previously) the morning we were supposed to leave for a mini vaca after Xmas and then we've had some financial stuff come up that's going to necessitate us selling our house and moving back to an apartment for the next year or so. 

Despite all that I'm actually in decent spirits and am not hating being at work so that's good? I mean I'm only 4 days in for the year so far but not dreading coming back to work this week meant I needed 2 weeks off more than I even realized. 

VarunaTT

@kvruns K will eat anything.  They love food.  I do too, I just like using my app for it and I have to choose the meal plan.  I'm tired of the vegan right now b/c they are brussel sprouts heavy (seasonal) and there hasn't been a lot of variety.  It's the middle of the winter, so vegan is a bit harder.  There's more variety in the other meal plans right now, so I'm probably going to switch and just choose ones that are as much dairy-free as possible.

missJeanLouise

@kvruns tbh, we were just lucky today. DS needed his pacifier (which I hate) to help in the beginning before the food came but by the time the food came it was past his normal feeding time so he was Hungry. There was also a table with another baby and some grandparents nearby so he was intrigued by them. We enjoyed our meal but didn't linger because we didn't want to push our luck with his good behavior. 

@charlotte989875 sorry you aren't sleeping well. I hope the benedryll works.

@moira_rose_stan is your dog okay? I feel like work should definitely be like 8 weeks on/ 2 weeks off. For everyone.

@VarunaTT which app do you use?

moira_rose_stan

missJeanLouise said:

@moira_rose_stan is your dog okay? I feel like work should definitely be like 8 weeks on/ 2 weeks off. For everyone.

We really don't know. The vet said it could be a brain tumor with her age (she's 12) as she's showed no signs of seizures or epilepsy previously. But she's 12 and we don't have the $ for an MRI to confirm, and none of us believe doing chemo or radiation would be the right step for her at this point.

She was extremely unsteady and would literally lose balance, stumble or fall over for days afterward. We're 2 weeks out from it tomorrow and she's seemingly about 85%, thank fuck. But the vet said it could happen again essentially anytime. So we're of course terrified to leave her for long periods of time and are putting her in a separate room where she can't jump on furniture so she doesn't hurt herself by falling off should she have a seizure while we're away, or fall over on one of the cats. It sucks but we're thankful that she's still 100% herself, though still seemingly recovering. If and when she starts to become not herself we will let her go. Thanks for asking, we don't have kids and our animals are family

short+sassy

To jump on the "what? working 5 days in a row bandwagon?".  This morning, it hits me that it's Thursday.  And I'm thinking, "I made it!  I've almost made it!  I just have to get through today.  Then it's my normal half-day Fri.  Then it's the weekend."  I can do this!  Lol.

I am really out of it today.  Nothing major, but it's been a really stressful last two days with the things I needed to get done.  Temporary stress and the "extras" are done now, so I'm back to my normal levels, lol.  But it wiped me out and I haven't gotten much sleep over the last two nights.  Today is "bare minimum, survival mode", lol.  I can at least finally go straight home when I get off work.  Such a small thing!  But I'm looking forward to it and it is my life raft to get me through the afternoon, lol.

ei34

@levioosa oh no, sorry to hear!
@mrsconn23Yay for your day today and your upcoming plans
@banana468 it feels soo good to get kid stuff (especially the bigger things) out of the house
@missJeanLouise a wooden train set, magnatiles, puppets, and play doh have been my kids' most used, "grow with them" toys

I engaged with a friend who sometimes irks me and sure enough, I'm irked.  She texted me this morning asking if I had any babysitter recs (she and her H moved into our old apartment when we moved into our house last year) in the area.  I did have a babysitter I adored but hesitated recommending her bc the friend picks everything apart.  She loved what I had to say but balked at her price ($20/hr for one child).  "That's insane...I pay $400/mo for my current sitter. She was playing you.  You'll pay anything.  You and Rob throw money around etc". Like stop.  Minimum wage in our area is $15/hr, so yeah a retired preschool teacher Masters in Early Childhood Ed Montessori trained first aid/CPR certified sitter was worth the price (for my three it was $30/hr).  I wanted to get a feel before even reaching out to the sitter and I'm glad I did, I'm not linking them up.  Our text exchange was earlier but the friend just shared what I paid in our ongoing friend group text, trying to get everyone to...take the bait? I guess? I don't know what her point is? But I'm annoyed...should've just said no I don't have a sitter rec 

OliveOilsMom

Eileen - It sounds like she is just trying to stir up some drama!  At the time she told me I was throwing money around - that would have been the full stop for me!  "Friend, she is highly trained and college educated.  She is well worth that money.  If its too rich for your blood, I understand, but no need to tell me how to spend MY money."

VarunaTT

@missJeanLouise I use the EMeals service.  They just redid their app and I'm not super happy with the app now, but it's still just too damn convenient for me and if it keeps me cooking at home, I'll get past the annoyances.

@moira_rose_stan I'm so sorry about your pup.  FWIW, Bennett had seizures as well, but they were pretty few and far between.  We did put him on the meds.  It seemed to take him about a week to get back to his normal, but he would.  Hugs to you and yours, I know how hard this is for you.

ei34

Thanks OOM...yeah it was just ridiculous.  I should've ended the convo there. So kind of my own fault.

@missJeanLouise I forgot to mention Safari Ltd animals.  I have several large/small combos (the kids call them mommies and babies), they've been a favorite for almost four years as far as an every single day toy.

short+sassy

@ei34, it's wise that you gave/got a little more info to just nip that referral in the bud.

It gives me great pleasure to refer someone that has given me excellent service. But I'm just as careful about not doing it, when I think it would be a bad situation for either/both party.  Because a BAD referral is worse than no referral.

I still remember a tenant I had who mistakenly thought I was a real estate agent.  His wife had gotten a job in the public school district and I guess one of the perks is she could get a home loan for no money down.  So they had started to think about buying their own home and asked if I'd be their agent.  I told him that, while I'd be happy to give them advice and answer their questions if I could, I wasn't an agent and couldn't pull listings or take them to showings or anything like that.

Then he asked me if I knew a good one.  ((Deer in head lights)).  These people were in no financial position to be buying a house, "no money down" or not.   I couldn't think fast enough to tell him the white lie that I didn't know one, lol.  So I told him instead that my agent was great and I'd e-mail them her contact info.  Then hoped he would never ask me about it again (he didn't) because no way was I actually going to e-mail her contact info to them.  They weren't going to be buying a house.  At least not at that point.  My agent is awesome and I didn't want them wasting her time.

I did however give him a friendly warning that, even with no down payment required, there are still a lot of costs involved in buying a house and they needed to be prepared for it.  I went over some of them, along with a quick summary of the home buying process.

ILoveBeachMusic

I agree with @banana468 about worthwhile kids stuff (even though my kids are y'all's ages probably). Mine and my grandboys like a play music set too. I know it makes lots of noise potentially but it is great for them to experiment with music. My kids also were big into books so we had (and still have) a ton of books.