this is the code for the render ad
Wedding Woes

Just another Manic Monday...

Actually, not that manic here.  But I like the song.  How were y'all's weekends?  What's up this week?

Riding Saturday.  Afterward, we took the kids to the Raptor Center and had a great time.  Eagle habitat was closed for nesting season, but we still didn't see everything, so it's not like we were hurting for things to do.  On the way home, we stopped at one of our old favorite Mexican restaurants that was 5 minutes from our old house, but which we don't get to much since the move. 

Yesterday, DS had swim, and then we hit the spring home and garden show.  Got a really good lead on a landscape architect, and picked up a lot of other info.  Talked to my mom, and she is worn out with radiation and work drama, but otherwise well.  (She said after chemo leaving her sick and exhausted, "only" being exhausted with radiation is a breeze.)  My grandmother is slowly declining, a bit at a time.  In a couple of weeks, she'll officially be 100-1/2, and it's been almost a year since her NPH diagnosis, so while it is sad, no one is caught off guard by it at this point.

Got DS's soccer schedule over the weekend, and we're going to have our hands full.  Two games per weekend mid-March through mid-May (although only two are Friday evenings, thankfully), plus everything else.  And guess who is Team Parent?  At least it's not coach. :)

I think we have summer camps sorted out, and Wooz has decided on a party theme/location.  (Her riding barn does parties on Sundays, when they're closed to lessons, and that's what she wants.  That makes the theme really easy!)  And I think she might actually spend a week at her Papa's this summer.  DH has been talking about it forever, but she was always too young.  This summer, she's open to it, and we think she might be ready.

Re: Just another Manic Monday...

  • Iiiii remembered my log in. *cheesy grin* 

    @Heffalump the raptor center sounds awesome. My birthday is in a week and I wish I could have a pony party!!

    weekend was good. 
    Everyone but me was sick on Thursday night so I went out dancing by myself and had a great time. 
    Friday, DH and I layed around since he still wasn't feeling the greatest. By evening though, he had recovered enough to walk to our friend's place for drinks.
    Saturday was spent recovering from those drinks. I swear hangovers are worse here and I am not the only one that thinks so. Or we are just getting old and don't want to admit it, lol.
    Sunday, I attempted to pick up a package from the post office but it was a fail so I explored around downtown for a bit.
    Today, DH was supposed to work nights this week so we slept in till 6 (DH) and 7:30 (me).Then we went downtown to pick up the package and to a tack shop to price helmets. DH napped all afternoon in preparation for working tonight. Then an hour before he was supposed to get there the client cancels or stalls or something, Idk. Regardless, he is still here. He does have some work to do so we went to the store to buy another transformer so he could set up his office. Took a cab there, picked it out, took a cab home, plugged everything in, and damn if the thing doesn't work. Oh well, we will try again tomorrow. :)
  • Weekend was all right.  I worked Saturday and it wasn't too bad.   

    It was a great food weekend. Saturday night for dinner we had steak, green beans with bacon, and roasted potatoes.  Yesterday, I took the left over potatoes and some bacon and made a breakfast hash.  My plans fell through for yesterday afternoon, so I made banana bread (one loaf w/o eggs so I can take to my banana monster of a nephew, who's severely allergic to them), breakfast frittata things to eat this week, and I tried my hand at pork fried rice for dinner last night...which turned out damn good. 

    Other than that, SSDD.  
  • edited March 2017
    Morning!

    Boring day ahead for me. Now that my large bids are behind me, I need to prospect some more so I'm going to do some phone cold calling. Whoopee!

    Weekend was okay, H is doing better so I'm glad.  It's still unclear to us if the family was invited to his funeral and chose not to go, or really weren't invited.  Instead, we all met at his aunt/uncles for brunch and everyone shared stories. It was really nice and fun for me to hear great stories about him. MIL is taking her bereavement days off of work to just stay home, so we will have her over for dinner this week. She's been all over the place waivering between distraught and angry so hopefully this time off helps. 

    I am so tired for no good reason. I slept SO much this weekend and there is still not enough coffee. Why oh why am I so tired?!

    ETA:  I forgot...despite having his obit in the paper, it was available online Saturday and was gone by Sunday with an error message and no one knows why. Anyone have any guesses as to why or how it'd be taken down?

    image
  • Weekend was great.  Friends came over from MS and we introduced them to Middle Eastern food.  They seemed to like it.  The weather was gorgeous and we spent the rest of the time hanging out on the deck.

    H and I went out for brunch on Sunday.  Delicious!  It was also a mystery shop, so I'll have the majority of it reimbursed.  Spent the rest of the day relaxing at home.

    Countdown to Tahoe!  Two days.

    Wedding Countdown Ticker
  • Also, I am trying to avoid wearing my FSIL out.  (My mom has been sending her a steady stream of outfits to critique, and I didn't want to add to it.)  Plus she was over here for work for several days, so I figured she had her hands full.  I just sent her a brief What'sApp asking if the hotel is ready to book (they have rented out the entire place, but guests are booking directly and she was waiting on a code); if she's settled on a flower girl dress for Wooz yet (I was holding off on ordering in case of growth spurts, but we should be close enough now); and which line(s) from a couple of designers are sufficiently formal.  (A couple of the dresses my mom liked turned out to be too casual.)  And I still have to get DS a suit.  I really like the suits at Crewcuts, but I'm loathe to spend that much on a suit he'll wear once before he outgrows it.  But I like them. :)
  • Good Morning

    I got hit hard with the crud on Thursday night.  DH had had it a week or so ago. I stayed home from work on Friday, slept, caught up on Bates Motel and This is Us.  Late Friday afternoon, DH primary care called with results of a chest CT he had on Weds.  A nodule they were following was gone (yay!) but they saw some pneumonia on the scan so they were starting him on 2 antibiotics.  I called my provider and talked to the nurse since I had the same symptoms, etc as DH did.  She said it was too early to know if I had pneumonia and my 99.5 degree temp was not considered a fever so they didn't want to see me.  

    Saturday, DH went to a birthday party for his older sister at Olive Garden and I stayed home.  He brought me take out.  I'm sure it was good but I couldn't taste anything.

    Sunday I was feeling sort of human again so we decided to take a drive.  We drove over to the Mississippi to see if we could spy some eagles as they are migrating up the river now with the ice thaw.  We didn't see any at the first place we stopped but by the second stop, they were everywhere.  At one place we saw over 30 of them sitting on the ice floes in the river.  Another place there were 2 sitting in trees right above the sidewalk along the shore - a bald and a golden.  We saw over 100 in total - it was amazing.  It's not unusual for us to see eagles in our area but never that many.  

    I'm back at work today and feeling about 75%.  Luckily it's a slow day and I'm doing mostly desk work.  

    Also, I had a dream this morning that I saw @Heffalump and her family sitting in the waiting area of my job.  I went up to her and said, "Don't think I'm weird, but are you Heff from WW?"  LOL!   I promise I'm not a stalker or anything!
    image
  • @Heffalump  I was singing 'manic monday' earlier lmao and jeez your mum is such a trooper! <3

    @charlotte989875  It's a good day when you don't have to get dressed

    @mrsconn23  wanna come cook at my place? :')


    Friday I got home and M and his buddy {who had been there most of the afternoon helping with brakes} were trying to push the car {Ford Escape ...} into the garage. I think because of the cold made it harder, because they broke a C clamp! Anyways, I had to hop in car and help steer while they pushed. Didn't work, so had to throw in reverse and gently back it in.

    Saturday a friend of mine came over and we essentially spent the day together. That night M and I basically did nothing.

    Sunday I woke up with congestion again Guh! I need vitamins again so I can kick this. Which is likely when winter is over lmao!
    Buddy came over to fix the brakes that were causing M issues on Friday.
    Went to my mum's place for my Granny's bday dinner.

    I had a little chat with my boss, so I won't be on TK as much during the day - I'll pop on when I can though :)
  • Took the baby on his first airplane trip last week, got home Saturday and he was pretty much fussy all day Sat and Sun. But he was awesome on the plane rides so I can't complain. 

    First day in daycare today and I'm back in the office. I know I'm "supposed" to feel sad but honestly I'm relieved. I love being with the little guy but after this weekend I needed a break.
  • @short+sassy I always thought it would be interesting to do the mystery shopping thing
  • I worked Saturday, but finally had a day off yesterday.  I need at least 3 more of those in a row.  DH and I watched crappy sci-fi movies all afternoon and made calzones for dinner.  Good thing, too; I was starting to forget what he looked like. 

    Twiggy is hobbling around on 3 legs, won't put any weight at all on one of them.  We're hoping it's just a muscle strain/sprain or some inflammation in the joint, but his leg hasn't gotten any better with rest and quiet and he's not quite his normal hellball self. He also had some really weird head twitching that makes us think it's going to be something else.  So he's going to the vet tonight.  

    Crossing my fingers...


    "And when they use our atoms to make new lives, they won’t just be able to take one, they’ll have to take two, one of you and one of me..."
    --Philip Pullman

  • @AtomicBlonde I am crossing my fingers and sending healthy vibes for Twiggy!
  • Ordered the new fridge Friday night. It will be delivered this Friday. So yesterday I cleaned out the existing fridge so that stuff could go out in the trash and recycling tomorrow. This morning I pulled the fridge out and vacuumed and cleaned behind it. Now I'm waiting to hear about someone to cut the cabinet back a bit - it is a counter depth fridge with cabinetry around it.

    Saturday's cycle-thon at the Y was great but I was whipped! Then we had people over for dinner. Not our best effort cooking wise, but it was ok.

    I was going to go try and get some donations for a fundraiser that our local art center is having next month, but it's rainy and yucky out. I'll wait until tomorrow.
  • @AtomicBlonde sending good vibes for Twiggy!

    @short+sassy what's a mystery shop?

    This weekend was not as productive as I had hoped, but apparently my body really needed rest after last week, so I got a lot of resting done. Saturday H and I went to Buy Buy Baby to start the registry process. We are going to go to Babies R Us this weekend to check out their cribs/strollers/car seats selection before we register for the big stuff. Wayfair only has wedding registries, but we may end up creating a "wedding" registry for the baby for bigger items like crib/dresser/changing table/rocker because they have much better prices than Buy Buy Baby or Babies R Us. 

    A couple of my friends who have toddlers are going to help me finish the registries in a couple of weeks - H is relieved that they offered to do this because it's like the blind leading the blind with the two of us in the baby stores LOL. 

    Saturday night we made ham and cheese calzones for dinner because cravings, and I had the leftovers for breakfast on Sunday with some honey. So good!

    Sunday I spent most of the day napping, but we did watch Masterminds which was pretty funny. 

    Oh and I tried to see what The Bump was all about this weekend and I got scared. 
  • Friday: K and I worked on costumes all night.

    Saturday: K worked and I worked on costumes all day until really good friends came to town for the night.  Had a couple of drinks with them, went to the first half of the roller derby game with them...went home and worked on costumes while K finished working the derby game.  Friends came home, we all chatted for approximately 20 minutes before we all fell asleep.

    Sunday: annual meeting of the board for my community center, re-nominated to the Board, added 3 board members, had strategic planning that took too damn long, went to friend's house to pick up lights to underlight K's skates for talent, then...went home and worked on costumes.  K went to work, got her hairs did for pageant (looks awesome) and then drove to OKC and back to get one of her costumes.

    Theme = rhinestones and glitter everywhere and I don't really have fingerprints right now because costumes.

    I am so ready for the pageant to be over.  So, So, SO ready.


  • @kvruns and @sparklepants41, mystery shopping (MSing) is a type of "gig" where an MS company hires you to evaluate the services/experience for one of their clients.  In this case, my H and I went to a restaurant and ate there.  The "mystery" part, is the staff doesn't know that is what you are doing.  After the experience, I fill out a report.  For my efforts, in this case, my meal gets reimbursed up to $35 (spent $38) and I'm also paid a $10 fee.  But there are all kinds of businesses/industries that get MSed.

    For anyone more interested in MSing, I recommend www.volition.com.  Do NOT google mystery shopping, lol.  It will just pop up a lot of semi-scam sites.  Volition is a free website with a huge forum about MSing and, more importantly, has a big list of all the legit MS companies to apply with.  Legit MS companies do not charge any fees to apply/sign up.

    The pros of mystery shopping: it can be a great way to make some extra, flexible income and/or be reimbursed for activities you do (or want to do) anyway.

    The cons of mystery shopping: The money is often not that great for the time spent.  NOT a full-time income, despite what some bogus websites like to claim.  Not even close.  There also isn't really any good way to tell which MS companies regularly have shops in your area.  You just have to take a "shotgun" approach and apply/sign up at a bunch of them. 

    Wedding Countdown Ticker
  • @short+sassy ooohhhh! that sounds really fun! Can you decline sometimes? Like if you already had plans, or if the restaurant they are sending you to you either don't like or it's too far??
  • short+sassyshort+sassy member
    Knottie Warrior 10000 Comments 500 Love Its 5 Answers
    edited March 2017
    @short+sassy ooohhhh! that sounds really fun! Can you decline sometimes? Like if you already had plans, or if the restaurant they are sending you to you either don't like or it's too far??


    Absolutely!  In fact, when you're signed up with an MS company, you only apply for the shops you want.  They won't automatically assign something you didn't request.  Some companies have their assignments set up as "self assign".  Meaning, if the shop is available, you can just assign it to yourself on the MS company's website.

    However, most companies have schedulers.  The schedulers will look at everyone who applied for a particular assignment and then award it to one of the shoppers.  If you're selected for that assignment, you'll get an e-mail that it was awarded to you.  The assigning process happens quickly, usually the same day.  So they don't leave you hanging forever.  And assignment details usually include date range/hours and fee/reimbursement amounts.  So you at least have some idea what you are getting into.

    Pro tip.  If you're applying for a restaurant shop and aren't that familiar with the menu, check it out online and make sure the reimbursement is fair.  I've made the mistake a few times taking a restaurant shop and then, even with careful ordering, still end up way over the reimbursement.

    Big cities -- good, have more assignments available.  bad, have more competition for assignments, especially the popular ones.

    Small cities -- good, no/little competition.  Can sometimes get fat bonuses from schedulers because no one picks up/requests those assignments.  bad, not many assignments available.

    Rule of thumb.  It's rare for mom and pop places to have MS programs.  It's more big, national companies and local chains. 

    Wedding Countdown Ticker
  • @AtomicBlonde, sending healing vibes for Twiggy!

    Saturday was good. FW and I both really liked the senior apartment complex we saw, and we had time to do a couple errands and grab lunch. Then I napped and met with my sponsor, and after that went to the 70s/80s dance with my friend. It was a great time, but I spent yesterday recovering instead of doing what I had planned to do (FW did make it to church without me, though.)

    Today: Six interview candidates coming in, three emergencies that happened during the weekend, and tons of questions from everyone. I didn't take lunch till almost 2:00. After work, a stop at two pet stores to get chews for the mutt (he ate one of FW's shoes and destroyed two pairs of my underwear this weekend) and wet food for the cats. Off to my meeting in a few.


  • GBCKGBCK member
    Knottie Warrior 5000 Comments 500 Love Its Name Dropper
    ugh, I'll update once this migraine is gone.
  • GBCK said:
    ugh, I'll update once this migraine is gone.
    Migraines suck! Hope you feel better soon!
  • @OurWildKingdom just reading about yours and @varunatt's weekends exhaust me!  I don't known how you do it!
    image
  • @OurWildKingdom just reading about yours and @varunatt's weekends exhaust me!  I don't known how you do it!
    I don't know either, half the time!  ;)
Sign In or Register to comment.
Choose Another Board
Search Boards