Guess Who?

Guess who wouldn't give up? 
Guess who's not going to have to pay that money that I shouldn't owe anyway? Guess who's husband told her to not bother, just pay the $700+ and put it on a charge card?  Guess who is as tenacious as a pit bull?

Yep, that's right. 

Hubby saw all the grief and said, "well we'll just have to pay it?"
What? When do I just lay down when something is not fair or right? 

When have I ever just said, "oh well, let me bend over for you."  
I'm not giving up yet without a fight. This is taking advantage of me/us and I can't just lie down and take it.

The treasurer's office responded to my email listing tax law. WTF? 
Then the DMV called me on Wednesday morning at 8am and honestly I was just barely awake. (I didn't go to bed until 3am) 

I asked who this was and she said she was returning my call. WHAT? 

I did not call the DMV. Well, I did back in October but we got that issue resolved. So I groggily asked, "I'm sorry who are you, and why are you calling me?" 

She said, "I don't know I was told to call you." 

So assuming this was our issue from Sept when I left a VM to call me I said, "I think that has been resolved to thank you"  

About 3 hrs later I received an email stating that the DMV would be calling me from VA. Did they? Yes, but I didn't know they had anything to do with my taxes. 
I called them back and was on hold for 1 hour and gave up. Note to self - call early so wait times are less!

I called them at 8a on Thursday. I figured I'd wake them up this time. I got a great woman named Dana. I told her my issues and she said, "Oh my gosh that is awful let me help you."  (if I had been in person I would have wanted to hug and kiss her) It took 40 minutes of back and forth with questions but after Feb 1st when I get my license and registration I will be done with this shit. I then have to call the treasurer's office and tell them to see that my account has been cleared as of August 31, 2021. She repeated I will owe nothing!

Rick is beyond thrilled as am I. 🤸‍♀️
I told him he can buy me something with that savings for all my work on this. 

But damn, we don't have the money! That's what started this, to begin with.

Food!

I read the Washington Post and the NY Times. I saw a link while reading and thought I have got to read that. It took me off the NY Times site. It was a list of the top 15 Italian Subs, hoagies, grinders, whatever you call your big ass sandwiches.  The point was that Rick's all-time favorite was listed called, The Italian Store.

Honest to God when Rick would bring those subs home, just the smell sent me over the moon. I so wanted this sandwich. If I am about to die, I will eat this because who cares if I get sick it would be worth it and I'm dying anyway. Sadly I've thought about this. 

We loved going to the Italian store but neither location was close to us. 

We didn't care. 

If Rick was working in the area, he'd always stop and buy himself a sandwich to bring home for dinner. He'd also bring me wine, this candy from Italy that I grew up with but difficult to find unless you go to an Italian store that ships them here. The line during the week and sometimes on Saturdays has been out the door at least a block long waiting for their sandwiches or whatever they were buying from the deli. If not getting something from the deli you could just walk in and browse. I can't just browse here I always leave with something, usually wine.

To me, the trick is this. You order, they slice the meat after you order. Everything is fresh and made for you while you wait. The rolls are made there as well. OMG do they look good. The whole place smells like Grandma's house to me. (and fresh bread)  This trick of giving me celiac disease is just damn mean! I covet Italian bread, crusty outside, soft and chewy in the middle. All courtesy of gluten. Damn it!

When I was a kid after Sunday mass we drove into Erie. I lived in a suburb. We went to this Italian bakery. Dad and Mom would get rolls and other bread. As we drove there my parents listened to this comic that was on Sundays on the radio called Pat Cooper. (obviously not his real name) If I heard his voice I'd know it was him (but he's dead) My sister and I were in the back seat and we never got the jokes but we knew what was coming and that was all that mattered. So we just waited while Mom and Dad laughed because we knew we'd be there soon for a treat.

When we arrived at the bakery Mom would go in. Dad stayed in the car and laughed along to Pat. When Mom got back into the car she let my sister and I have a WARM crusty roll. Pam and I would rip those open and take out the insides that were so warm and chewy. Then we'd eat the outside. 

It was great even without butter. That is such a fond silly memory. 

Sometimes, and I imagine it had to do with if they had the money, they would go to Arnones after the bread store which was an Italian store. 

Dad would always get his olives out of this big wooden barrel and he'd always sneak me one to eat right there.  I would giggle and love that Dad acted like we were going to get in trouble by sneaking 1 olive. They were spicy and yummy to me. It was a bakery and a store. It had everything we ate so I just thought of it as a store, today it would be considered a specialty store. Mom went up and down the aisles and bought what she wanted. It was always a fun trip to these specialty stores in the heart of Little Italy.

Since reading this article about Rick's favorite hoagie shop in Arlington VA now all he wants is to go get one. We are in the south. It's not known for its Italian cuisine. But I just saw on NextDoor that a man from NY moved down here. He makes mozzarella. You have to put your order in so when they make the next batch you get some. Guess who just ordered some? 

That is going to be fabulous come summer with my garden tomatoes for a Caprese salad. My mouth is watering already.

In the meantime, we have been here for almost 3 months and we have not had Carolina BBQ. That is our goal for next week.  I loved pulled pork so hopefully, I can get GF BBQ sauce. Why there would be wheat in BBQ sauce is beyond me but it's there on the stuff you get in the grocery store. Not all brands so now I know what ones are good for me to eat. I'm hoping to learn how to make my own kick-ass BBQ sauce. 

What is a food memory for you when you think of your childhood?

Taxes

The ongoing fight with Loudoun County Tax people is driving us crazy.

You see in Loudoun County where I used to live you had to pay personal property taxes on your vehicles.

When we left Loudoun I had to contact them regarding our business license and property tax info on all the equipment in the office etc so we were not charged personal property taxes on those things either after we left. Everything was paid in full and closed down. Then we went to our personal side. I told them we were moving. So they were aware. We had a zero balance.

Upon arriving in NC as you all know we lived in temp housing for 5 weeks. During that time we thought it'd be a great time to get our license etc. BUT we were told we couldn't just walk into a DMV due to the pandemic so we'd have to make an appointment. Ricks was for mid January in a city called Clayton about 30 minutes or more from us. We balked but that was the best and earliest and if we wanted our city we'd have to wait longer. Okay then.

My appointment was for Feb 1st (2:30pm) in another city not far from me. 

Because you must have your license first then go to a place to register your vehicle. So we are waiting on our appointments. In the meantime we have received bills stating we are delinquent and not only owe them money for our personal property taxes but a $25 fee is added each month to each vehicle until paid.

I called them and got one snarky bitch after another. 

One laughed and said, "oh well, those are the rules." I asked if we could find a happy medium. She said this wasn't McDonalds and for the love of God I didn't know how that applied but just shut up.

I asked today to speak to a supervisor which I know she was not. I explained and she too told me it wasn't her issue, it was mine, the rules are the rules. You have not registered in NC therefore you pay us. 

I told her why I wasn't registered yet in NC. You need to have a license first to register your car and told her when my appointment was. This was out of my control, we are in a pandemic, you are being so inflexible that it feels deliberately malicious. She laughed.

I then emailed the treasurer. I see that he has read it. I wonder if I will get a response. I also went to WJLA 7 on your side in DC. They wrote back and said it may take a couple of weeks but they'd be in touch. 

I do not feel I should pay for this. I can't help it that my car can't be registered in their time frame or mine. I have had no choice in this. I don't live there they can see that. It's several hundred dollars per vehicle. It just sucks. And it sucks, even more, when you can't get any help or anyone to listen to you.

Talk about frustrating.

Any suggestions? I'm plum out of 'em.

This and That.

We found the owners of the 3 tables. Yippee.

Rick loaded up the car with them as well as Izzy and took off looking for the owners. The street is fairly new and it was indeed a brand new development. It was very close to us. 

Rick went to the road listed on the label and we only knew the last number was a zero to the house. A man of Hispanic origin couldn't speak a lick of English and Rick's Spanish/Mexican is minimal. So that was a bust. Rick said goodbye in the man's language and off he went.

Rick got in the car and saw a woman walking her dog. He waited for her to get up to the window of our car. He asked if she knew of someone in the neighborhood whose last name was Julian. She said, "That's me" 

Then she got suspicious. "Why?" she asked him.

Rick explained that someone had delivered items to our home by mistake. 

She was excited now as she asked, "Are there more than 1 and what are they?" 

Rick told her and passed the test. 

He said if you're okay I'll get out of the car and show you they are in the back. She said okay. (Rick being a big guy always asks first so females are not afraid of him.) 

She went to the back of the car at a safe distance and screamed, "YES THAT IS WHAT WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR!" 

She then told Rick her house number and he drove to her home which was 1 house away. He got them into her garage for her and she was so thankful and wanted to give him money. He said no, just pass it on, and if you get my girl scout cookies, please come find me. She laughed having no idea what the hell he was talking about.

So someone got their delivery anyway!

_____

Rick watches some reality tv. I do not. Amazing race from time to time. But it's not a real reality show. But this show on Food Network I began watching with him. I see the issue with the people quitting jobs and thinking they can do better. It all came to me last night over this episode.

First, you have to understand where I am coming from. I strongly believe that participation trophies ruined young people. It teaches them nothing. How to become a good loser. How to lose. How to congratulate the other team, sportsmanship.  Not everyone is a winner and one must learn how to navigate that because you need that in life, work etc. 

They think if they show up they should be given credit and applause. No. That is not how society works.

There is a competition show on the Food Network. 

It's the ultimate job interview and billed as such.

Guy Fieri is putting seven chefs to the test to see who has what it take to fry up success and take over one of his chicken guy franchises.

They are competing to be an owner of a fast-food chicken franchise.

None of the contestants are humble. All think they are the damn best around. Now in a competition, you need to think you are the best I get that. But c'mon don't be arrogant because everyone will want to take you down. Learn to be humble. The big take-down was happening last night.The ones who appear great just show you that, they don't feel the need to say it out loud to all at all times.

This young blue-haired tatted pierced woman can't take the criticism, she refuses to hear the things she needs to do to improve. She was a hot mess. She was not a good leader. She walks around telling everyone how great she is but things were falling apart in the kitchen and she wasn't there to address the issue. When the issue was told to her, she shrugged like it wasn't a big deal. Then she went to Guy and asked him to fix it. Oh no she didn't. She is interviewing for running a business. You don't go ask the owner to fix this for you it only shows you can't do this. She was told her situation was a 2. (that is how they are graded, 1 being the worst) She got all snippy with the judges and Guy (the owner and judge) and said I am never a 2! You're wrong! 

Oooh, The judges all looked at one another. One jumped in and told her no, she was wrong, and went into details about what she did wrong. She kept shaking her head and not listening. She even said I am not wrong and I am never a 2. I screamed at the tv to get over yourself.

She was not looking at this correctly. She may still be in the running but she will not win. She was so wrong here, Rick and I could see that easily. When they told her there was too much salt and it was not edible, she said, no it's not and if I start again I'll be behind. To which the head judge/helper told her to just do it. She was so pissed. Even if you think you are correct, listen, try it their way. In a competition no less. She is done. She is cooked. She will not get this job and she will never see why. The only other woman is as cocky as her with the same issues. If they get cut they will make excuses, they will be victims, they will not listen or learn. 

The blue-haired woman went off on everyone saying, I'm a winner (yes sweetie, your mom thinks that, but you have to look in the mirror) 

Instead of asking how could I have fixed that in the time that was given to her, she told them they were all wrong. The judges were floored by her reaction but Rick and I felt that is everyone to a T in society today under the age of 45.

I see daily on tik tok or some social media where people are quitting because they were asked to stay another hour to help out and they flip out and quit. Be it fast food or a nice restaurant. I saw one Saturday where the waitress was asked if she could stay an extra hour past her shift. He ASKED, he did not tell her to stay. Instead of saying no, I've got plans she flipped out, screamed at her mgr as if he was horrible to even ask then threw her apron at him and walked out. I didn't understand her anger. Someone asked if she was asked this before. She answered No. All she had to do was no, I've got plans or I have to take my mom to the dr or something. When I waitressed that happened a lot. You'd think you were leaving in an hour and your mgr asks you to stay an extra hour because someone wasn't coming in or going to be late. Especially if the place was busy you'd understand why he/she would ask. You just did it. 

(I'm weird I absolutely loved waitressing, short-term shit. awful customers will leave soon if a pain in the ass. I made a shit ton of money at age 17/18 I would bring in tips of $150 a night at a pancake house. that was big money for a kid in 1974)

I have had some horrific jobs only because of horrific bosses. And you take it until you can't but you have to 1. have another job or 2 be rich and don't need the money.

If I just quit who pays my bills? That is issue number 2. Todays parents take them in and let them lay on the sofa playing video games eating their food and not even paying parent any type of rent or help with food etc. 

My parents may have helped a bit but not enough for me to sit back and take my time to find a job. My father wanted to make my life hell for quitting and he would not even budge. Once when I asked for help I was told I could move back home but he was not giving me money for my rent. Guess who figured it out? Guess who got and worked two jobs to help myself? Would I have if Dad just let me have the money every time I was in a jam? 

What I thought was mean, was helping me grow up, made better decisions, and realize I am the only one who can help me!

Now don't get me wrong. My father would have done anything for me. But he was strict. If  I was indeed homeless of course that would be different. But I had a job I hated and when I spoke up at work I was demoted and given fewer hours. He felt it was my own fault. To him, you do as you're told. I knew I wasn't wrong but I shouldn't have done what I did. So he was not going to give me money because I talked back. To him, they may be lousy bosses but you don't walk away from a job unless you have a job or a lot of money to not have to lean on others. He also told me I was hurting my coworkers more than my boss. I never forgot that. Lesson learned Dad.

So as we watched this food network show we are seeing behavior that is so prominent in our society. We are rooting for the military man to win. He always looks so stern but when he smiles everyone melts. He is good. He can delegate. His military background and discipline show. When he lost a competition he didn't blame anyone or the milkshake machine as others did. He said I realized what I did wrong, I'm sorry, it won't happen again. And it hasn't. He learned. He took constructive criticism. And I think he would have if he didn't agree with it. He would just do it "their way" because that is what he was told by his bosses. I think he will win. I'd hire him in a heartbeat. 

Why do you think this is all so difficult for those 20-45? 

Ozark

Happy Monday!

We just had 3 inches of snow with a nice layer of ice underneath. 
But it's all gone already. Yeah. I love the snow in the south. Doesn't last at all. 

We were to get snow on Friday. But nothing. The person I was to meet (blogger buddy) canceled and we could have gone. But I understood her concerns. Friday night the snow began. Saturday I awoke to a pretty covering of snow. By 8:30 the sidewalk to my home was already melted. 

Today as I type this it's Sunday - it's all gone. Roads are dry everything back to normal. Normal temp this time of year according to the weather people on local TV tell me it should be 52. It was 22 this morning and it went up to 42. 

It will be back to normal later in the week.  I'll take it.

Speaking of tv weather people, did you see the TV anchor in W.VA who got hit by a car while on the air talking and she kept going?. She was down on the road saying, I'm okay, and she jumped up and continued her news reporting. We saw her get hit, I wouldn't think she could have gotten up. What a trouper. She was interviewed and said this is her 2nd time being hit. While in college as an intern the same thing happened. I think I'd change careers. It was her last day on the job too. She got a better job in a bigger city which I believe was Pittsburgh. Amazing she was fine if you watched it. 

The wonderful blogger known as Mike sent me girls scout cookies, but I did not know this.  He just text me to tell me to look on my porch. We had 3 large boxes on the porch. Never heard the doorbell so that was odd. 

I could see they were aluminum folding tables. The address is cut off on all the labels. We can see this '0 forest meadow drive.' 

We live on forest lane. The name on the label is also cut off. 'ytina julian' is what we can see. It does not have a UPS or FedEx label. It says the shipping company is something called Cal cartage.  

I was thinking why would Mike send us 3 aluminum folding tables? How strange. I text him/emailed him to ask about this. He told me he sent GS cookies, not tables. So why do we have these tables? 

Mike sent me the link he had from the shipping company. 

I clicked the link and it showed me it was indeed left on my porch but it went to my old house in VA.  I called my old neighbor and asked if he'd ask the guy to give me a call. I was going to have him ship it and I'd pay him Paypal or Venmo not only for shipping but for his troubles. But he never called me. Kevin the neighbor I texted didn't have his phone number but was going to leave a note on his door with my number. But I never heard from him.  Probably because he ate my cookies. I'll try one more time. In the meantime, I used the link to his granddaughter's GS Cookie site and ordered some cookies for us. I am going to try that new Gluten-Free Cookie. Fingers crossed it doesn't taste like dust. 🤞

Now to find the owner of these tables. We don't even know how the hell they got here? USPS? The road on the label is about 6 miles from us. Rick is going to go to the street which looks like it only has a few homes on it to see if he can find the owner. If not we'll try the post office. 

Our normal mail person was in a car accident and will be out for some time we are told. I think the people taking her place are just screwing up everything. I am not the only neighbor who has had issues. I know I will take shit for this but seriously, there are numbers and a name. How hard is that?

I used to say the same thing when someone would get on a plane and ask where their seat was. Just once I'd like the flight attendant to say, "there is a number and a letter, you can figure this out!" 

So 3 aluminum tables and no girl scout cookies. Damn. I don't need either but I'd sure like the cookies. I feel even worse for the kind and generous gift and me not getting them!! 

In other news. My husband is knee-deep tonight in bingeing Ozark. 

I do not watch Ozark so I'm typing away wishing I had ice cream. 

I made vanilla ice cream this afternoon. I wish I had made it earlier because I would like some now. It's not hard enough yet. More like soft serve. 

I prefer it to be more frozen. 

It's 3 ingredients no-churn ice cream. Seriously takes a few minutes and viola ice cream. Dangerous. I wanted chocolate and Rick wanted vanilla. I made vanilla this time. I'm telling you it's good and simple and I always have these 3 things so I make it every once in a while. Mix and freeze.

I split the ice cream into two Tupperware containers.  I made 1 of the containers of ice cream with miniature Reese cups broken up into it for Rick. I don't care for Reese cups. Peanut butter is something I've only recently begun to like so it's not something I get as excited about as Rick. Hell, as I told you I never even had a PB&J until I was in my 20s. Not something we ate in my home. I never had macaroni and cheese until I got a new mom after mine died.

From a box no less. HA, not even good mac and cheese. 

Macaroni and cheese in my home was fettucini alfredo.

'See' you all later.  He's taking a break from the show so maybe I'll get my hubby back.

Friday No Fun Day.

This is for Jean.  This kicked back from the email I attempted to send.

This is the puzzle I am referring to. This is it completely done. If I hadn't sent it to Rick's sister to do when Lockdown happened I'd send it to you. I found this online so you can always buy it online. ( I love that there were no square corners.) This was a fun puzzle that we did over a weekend. Harder than you think but fun nonetheless. The foreign money didn't make it any easier since I don't speak any other languages when you'd get a piece with just a word. 

 

Yesterday was a damn fine day. First locked out. Then I made the trek to Costco and to Walgreens to pick up an Rx. I hate Walgreens here. They are so inept. I waited 40 minutes in the drive-through because there was no place to park in the lot. I drove around the store 3 times. No available parking spaces. So I got in this very long line and SAT. I am not a patient person so that drove me crazy. 40 minutes is unacceptable. But Izzy was happy to be in the car far more than me.

Then I went to Costco. I honestly think that all Target's and Costco's should have the same layout in each of their stores. So if I go to Target in Minnesota it should be the same as the Target in Raleigh. Yes, I am aware there are superstores which are larger but again, they should be the same superstore in every city. Costco should do the same. They build the same sq footage building why must they change the layout in every damn city? 
I so hate that. I knew my store inside and out. In this store everything is backward and what isn't backward is just in a very different place. And the products are different. I looked for something Rick likes and couldn't find it anywhere. I asked someone and they said they don't carry it. 

The Costco employee asked, "did you get that at Costco before?"  

Yes sir.   He went to the computer to look. 

Nope, it is not something we carry. Okay weird.

I am finally getting home and Ms. Izzy has been with me and she is trying to get out of the car. She slipped, twisted her leg, went down on her face. I grabbed her and tried to stand her up. Her left front leg she didn't want to put down on the ground or put weight on it. Oh boy, I thought this day just keeps coming at me. It is pouring and I'm out in the driveway trying to get Izzy to walk. I call Rick to come out and help me. Izzy walked (limped) to the 2 steps and just looked at us. Damn. She's 77lbs. I can not lift her. Rick got her up the stairs and she came inside and laid down. Talk about guilt. Geez, I felt bad. I sat on the floor and rubbed her belly and her leg. She at least wagged her tail. But I knew she was hurting. She seems fine now but a bit limpy. She could have sprained it. 
We will wait and see I guess. Not that we can go anywhere anytime soon.

Everything around here is closing early. I'm sure tomorrow everything will be just closed.

We are getting a storm. 1-3 inches of snow and ice. As I stated it's been raining all day. It will change tonight to snow and ice. This one will hit us from the looks of things. We have food, wine, games, and tv. We'll be fine. Power shouldn't be an issue even though they mention it every 10 minutes on the news. Our lines are underground so I don't think we will but you never know with my luck of late. 

I look forward to the snow. I want to snuggle on the sofa, watch some movies I've been wanting to watch. And not work on this house. Rick is up for the snowstorm too. Any excuse to be lazy is how we are seeing it. We both have such issues with just doing nothing. It feels lazy but damn I think I could become accustomed to being lazy. I think I can get good at it. 

If that damn guilt wouldn't rear its head I'd be fine.

I'm going to enjoy this weekend if it kills me....and it may 🤣😂

Hope you are dry and safe wherever you are!

This Morning

Well, I had a fun morning.

Rick left for a doctors appointment at 7:15am

I followed him out the door in my pj's. I had bed head so grabbed a baseball cap, my coat, and Izzy and I went for a quick walk.

I came back home and the doors were locked. I had no keys. Shit.

Now for 21 years we never locked our doors. Only when we went to bed. 

To go outside you had to unlock the door so there was never a chance of locking yourself out. Here is a different story. We feel exposed being a corner lot. There was also something recently that happened that made us think, we need to lock our doors. This is also the first time I have walked Izzy in the early morning before coffee and barely awake. That is normally Rick's job at that hour. Remember I am not a morning person.

So I had to walk to a neighbor in my no bra pajamas with a hat and coat on. I looked ridiculous! Big ole pj's with clouds on them. 

I never ever bring my phone on a walk with me so I couldn't call for help. 

My sweet neighbor Gwen, called a locksmith for me. We sat in her living room for a bit and chatted. Her home is so pretty. Will mine ever be done?

Then Izzy and I sat on the porch in the cold waiting for the locksmith to show up. Izzy was hungry too. She hadn't even had breakfast and I had not had my coffee. Thank goodness I went to the bathroom before walking outside. Whew.

The man shows up sans mask and of course, while walking the dog I too didn't have one on. Great.

He got it open for $128. 

Izzy got fed, I made coffee and now I am going to collapse. 

What a horrific beginning to my day. 2.5 hours outside looking like a homeless person with a dog.

I need another cup of coffee. I hope your day is better than mine began.

Wednesday Tid Bits

I was to meet a blogger this coming Friday, the same one as last time that got canceled. But now this Friday is going to be another 'storm" here so she canceled. 

I hope it's just like the last 'storm' and we got nothing. 🤞

I don't much care about said storm. 

I don't have to go to work or drive in this if I don't want to. 

I  know they don't treat the roads well here so it's best to stay home. 

But damn, I think meeting her will never actually happen.

I am knee-deep into my office organization since I finally painted it. 

I am going to leave you with memes cuz I am still cleaning out all of these from my phone/computer.  I have decided that I am getting so damn good at painting that I could get a job doing this if I wanted. IF I wanted. I don't want to. But I sure wish I could paint without any objects in the room. That would really make me happy. In fact, it'd be orgasmic. 

Rick came into the room and didn't see me. I was sitting on the floor behind the bookcase painting the trim. He said, "Margaret are you in here?"  I laughed and told him where. He said I could never fit back there why didn't you call me to move the bookcase. Because I could fit and it was no big deal, besides you were in the workshop. I knew I'd fit. He then explained that this is why he can't paint. I laughed and said, "nice try but you can paint well, you just don't want to paint and help your old wife"  

He laughed as he walked out of the room and said, "Okay that too." 

He left quickly so I didn't get him to do the edging at the ceiling. I was using a step stool. I needed one more step. I was on the top step and on my tippy toes to do the ceiling area. I was too lazy to go out and ask for the ladder. 

I got it done. Hell if I didn't have these God-awful popcorn ceilings I'd have painted that too. Next year - those are going!!!!! POPCORN CEILINGS ARE THE WORST! I will pay someone to do this. I saw how it is scrapped and automatically goes into this vacuum attachment so it doesn't make a mess. I don't have that so I will pay someone to do it for me. The entire friggin' house. I hate them, did I tell you that? 😁

 

When anyone who is reading this sees the last episode of the last season of After Life, please share. I would love to discuss this. We felt it ended one way, I've had others say another way. Aah, it's driving me nuts. I hate that kind of ending. Especially when the show meant so much to me.

Happy Hump Day!

Updates.

We only got rain this past weekend. We had some ice for a few hours, but it went to the 40s so it was then just wet. The north of us got a dusting of snow and lots more ice and loss of power etc. We missed it all as I thought. But this Friday is another storm coming. So we shall see. Can we get that lucky a 2nd time? I hope so.

Some updates. 

I got a kick from your Sex and The City comments. My husband watched this with me. The first few episodes he'd go to another room and then one evening it was on and he came down the stairs and the women were in a sauna and as you know, you don't wear clothes in a sauna and he saw boobs and naked women and he said, "Why aren't I watching this?"  

And ever since then he'd watch it with me. I knew a lot of men who watched it with their partners. So I thought it was funny that you all referred to only women who watched this. 

Here are some memes and photos that I need to get off my computer.

What else is new right?

 Patti, I know you love Bill Engvall, this is for you.

Just me?

Boy, I liked this!

Scary eh?

Paul, this below is for you. We refer to these as pinnies, this one is a vest, but very similar and it is reflective so we can be seen at night time while walking our dog.

I loved this. And what isn't Alex Borstein great in?

This is Rick's first attempt at the yarn bowl. Once I told him that Barbara mentioned this he googled them to see what they were. But he didn't have the tool, a damn $10 tool, to make the swirl. He tried to do it freehand and as you can see that sucked. Again just a practice. I saw the 3 square pieces of wood that this started as. I kept saying this will be round and a bowl? He glued them together. That is another mistake you can see in the next one.

Okay not this one - this side is good.

See the glue line towards the bottom here? It looks black. That is a mistake. But it was 3 square blocks of wood glued together that made this. It may be just practice but not bad for 1st time. Guess who ran out to buy that $10 tool and he got it for only $8 on sale? I swear Rick has as many tools in the workshop as any ole Lowes or Home Depot. So the next one will be better I am certain. 

This week we are back at the boxes in the garage. We have been here now 2 months and 2 weeks. We are on phase II of the unpacking. Bringing in things from the garage and storage area. I will be moved in by the 1-year mark if it kills me. I have two more rooms to paint. The 3rd I am not doing. I will pay someone. Or do it much later. Probably pay someone if I can. I like to paint a lot, but even I am getting sick of it.  

Do any of you watch the Netflix show After Life with Ricky Gervais? 

I love everything this man does. Everything. My God, we watch this and laugh and cry. We pass the kleenex back and forth. I also learn a lot of words in British English that we don't say. Some of which I knew but a good many new ones I learned. 

I did not care for its ending and neither did Rick. If you have never seen this do yourself a favor and watch all 3 seasons. It is so damn good. I think it's sad, but it's funny too. It will pull at your heartstrings and then make you laugh like a damn fool. If you've seen the newest season to the end what did you think of how it ended? I just wanted to hug Ricky Gervais at the end.

I hope you are all warm and safe. 

I saw that Toronto had a real blizzard as did my Great Lakes region where my family lives. I do not miss the snow. It is so pretty to see the 24 inches of snow from afar. But I am glad to not have to shovel, snow blow, or be in that kind of cold weather. It's fun to visit, but I just can't do that kind of weather anymore. Funny how that happened to me. I absolutely used to love winter, snow, cross country skiing. I never minded shoveling either. When I first moved away from there I missed it terribly my first holiday. Christmas without snow felt weird to me. (or for that matter not freezing cold) But you'd be surprised how fast I got over it. To be honest it shocked even me. There is no going back now. I am a 4 season gal who likes winter being 40/45 degrees. 🥶

My Unsolicited Review of Just Like That

I was a loyal Sex and The City Fan. I watched them all. Even the 1st lousy movie. 

It was so bad I did not watch the 2nd movie. But I was happy to see them return to HBO in Just Like That.

No longer partying and having sex with strangers or all the 20/early 30s angst. Now all the women are in their 50s. I would hope they aren't still partying and doing the crazy things they did in their 20s.

Apparently, this got the majority of the people upset that the main character is mourning the loss of her husband and can't fathom dating. Another is in a miserable marriage and one who is happily married but has issues with her youngest daughter.  All typical things one goes through as we age.

While the clothes are to die for as before they are more adult and less tutu wearing as Sarah Jessica was known to wear when she was young. One had white hair, one of her friends said that she should color her hair, one doesn't care about her hair. The typical things when girlfriends are together that are discussed.

I am thrilled they are showing grown women and not girls anymore. I think it's great they are showing growth. But everyone in the reviews or other women who watched that I have spoken to are all upset that it's not the same.  It shouldn't be the same, they are in their mid to late 50s. If you are the same person doing the same thing you did at 28 as you are doing at 58 well, I'd be a bit sad for you. Everyone must have growth. 

I love them all behaving as 50 something. I love the clothes. I love the truthfulness and I love the comedy. When Charlotte was telling a story about her daughter coming in while she was on her knees. Her friend Carrie said, "Oh my God you still blow your husband, was it his birthday?"  Well that cracked me up. And of course all the women at the table howled.

I like the show. I feel like when I tune in I am with my girlfriends. No topic off the table. We say everything and anything and we support one another. 

Just like these 3 do. 

Is there anything more sad than a man or woman behaving the same as they did in their 20s? The only thing to me is the women who wear the same clothes, hairstyle and makeup from when they were in their 20s. You know them, a teddy bear sweatshirt on a 55 yr. is ridiculous. Or that baby blue eye shadow that was the thing in 1968. You know who you are. Don't do that. Time to move on just like these women have.

So poo-poo to the rest of the professional reviewers who are looking for 20 somethings doing their thing again. It's time to grow up and they did. This is a show about 50 somethings (rich 50 somethings). I can relate to this show just as I could with the first incarnation when I was 41 and first watching it. I was older than their characters but I wasn't that far off from that life when I was single. And they show the ups and downs of female friendship in such a realistic way. The love, the arguments, everything.

So that is my review. Pfft to the movie reviewers who want young Carrie. But I noticed most were men. They don't like watching 50-year-old women. So there is that aspect as well. 

If you were a Sex and The City watcher in the '90s and early 2000s do you watch the new incarnation? What are your thoughts?  Love to hear!

Oops!

This morning while watching The Today show a woman who by the way was dressed appropriately, vomited on tv.  Did any of you see this?

Yes, she tried to stop talking, and then she bends over and you hear her hurl but thankfully the cameraman turned away. 

Now it's not nice to laugh. But, Rick looked at me and we began to laugh. Then we were empathetic. The poor thing, we saw her struggling to talk, then a cough, and then there she blows.
But man was she a trooper. We saw her fight it. What could the poor thing do? Wonder if she may be pregnant?

Well, that was a first for her and us. We sure are seeing stranger things on TV news/weather these days don'tcha think?

After yesterday's post, I just had to share!

Fun Day

All the locals here have their panties in a twist because we are to get freezing rain. I am not sure why this is a big deal when the high that day is 41. That tells me it will melt. The rest of the week it's mid-40s.   

A neighbor asked, "Did you see all the conversations on Next Door? They say to stock up on essentials, isn't this for a 24 hr period? Why are they all in a tizzy?"  

Rick and I agreed that is just what they do in the south so listen with a grain of salt. We have underground power lines so power should be fine and while trees falling is an issue we are aware of it being an issue because of the weather people talk about it non-stop. The man moved here before us from New York state. (I want to say Rochester or possibly Syracuse area) He said he's never seen anything like this. Rick said, "Welcome to the south. If it isn't sunny and humid they panic. When we first moved to DC it was the same thing"  

The man said, "so global warming should make them happy"  

We laughed and went on our way. (we were walking the dog, and this is how we have met most of our neighbors)

Not having sidewalks and walking at night is crazy. Izzy has a collar we use at night that lights up a fluorescent green light. Rick wears a fluorescent pinny as well so he is seen. But we find it a tad bit too adventurous for us. I wish Izzy didn't need walks. And the fact that she has never ever had a yard to go in she won't do it in our yard. God knows we've tried. Pee yes, but nothing else. 

Another thing we've noticed here is the news. The anchors are 12 or 90. Nothing much in between. Because this is a small market I would assume the 21 yrs old are using this as their first gig before moving on and up. 

But the thing we laugh at is that there is no news here and yet it's on all damn day. They say the same thing over and over again. 

I had the TV on while painting one day. Noon news. Same as the news cut-ins from the Today show. Nothing new happened. Then from 4p to 7p is news. Each one is the exact same thing. WHY? Nothing happens here. It's a sleepy town of less than half a million people. Sure a crime here or there or a fire. Usually, racial related because I am in the south remember. But otherwise - NOTHING. Most of the time they spend it on national news. 

If something urgent were to happen they could cut into the programming. 

In the meantime, if you want national news you have cable news like CNN etc. Why must we have hours of news? 

Living in DC the local news was national news. We would have some hometown issues addressed but for the most part, our local news was your national news. But being that the metro area is 6.5 million it is certainly different from this area. But we still don't need 4 hours of news no matter where you live! We do not need to have all this negative shit seep into our psyche. 

We have had some real giggles with some of the anchors here locally. 

One young woman was dressed in the morning like she had just come from the club. It was such inappropriate dressing that Rick noticed. He just sat down with his coffee when he said, "Oh my, do you think she just rolled in from a night out, this is her walk of shame outfit?"  

I laughed and said maybe it is. She is super young and super cute but never ever dresses for the job, she dresses like she is a stripper. 

Wrong job.😉You'd think the station would help groom her. 

Do you know that in travel school I had to learn how to dress, shake hands and all this crazy shit. Travel school not only was what I wanted to learn, the GDS, or computer systems used in the travel industry, but I had to endure flight attendant shit, learn aircraft and sitting and proper dressing etc. Silliness that I am certain is not part of your AA degree in travel and tourism any longer. Rick being in HR used to tell me about people who dressed poorly in interviews. Some he wondered if they were too broke to buy a nice jacket or dress/pants for the interview or they were clueless. As I told you once a young man had a brand new sports coat on for his interview. He had a tag on the outside sleeve. Rick didn't know if he knew it was to come off or he wanted it there to return the jacket after the interview. He told me that it distracted him and he so wanted to ask him. Finally when the job interview was over, it was his 2nd. The young man was offered the job by Rick. 

Then Rick mentioned the tag on his arm. Rick said when I was your age I didn't know what I am about to tell you (lie to make him feel better) but that tag on your sleeve should come off if you are keeping it. But if you need to bring it back leave it on.

The kid said, OMG I didn't know. He was a kid from the foster care system who was able to get into college but no parent or adult could teach him this. He thought it was like the tag on the back of his Levi's. Rick said if you are keeping it, you'll want to remove it. If returning leave it on there.

The young man said, "I was keeping it. But even more so now that you just offered me the job!"  Rick interviewed a lot of kids out of college and he was always teaching them things. (like the girl with the sexykitten email address remember that one? oh my)

In my hometown I recall at the end of the newscast in the small print below it would state the clothes courtesy of such and such a store. That told me that this channel gave her a budget for clothes or in exchange for advertising she got clothing help. (when I had a business we did trades with the CBS, ABC, NBC channels in exchange for advertising dollars)

While we are on dressing we began to DVR a show that is on at noonish called My Carolina. It shares what is going on in the area. We have gotten a lot of good info from this and fun things to visit and do. But the two hosts dress badly. Again Rick brought this to my attention. I didn't wish to say it out loud. I said that it could possibly be pandemic-related. Maybe they used to dress better and wash their hair but they too are in pandemic clothing. 

Rick laughed at me and said, "yes that's it, their dirty hair is because of a pandemic" How are they able to stay in front of the camera. It is no exaggeration to say their clothing has a place but in front of the camera it does not belong. A county fair perhaps. Hanging with your friends, not even nice enough to wear out to dinner or go to a club. The 4H would work with their attire. 

Rick is correct they both sometimes have such greasy hair it is gross. Yesterday the one had on jeans that stopped above her ankles but not evenly. Perhaps having one leg one length and the other 2 inches longer is a new style I am unaware of. It looked like she just did a remote at a pig farm. Her jeans were filthy. Her socks out of her boots did not match, perhaps that is a new hip thing, I don't know. One white, the other blue. She was wearing nothing blue so as an old gal I assumed it was a mistake but it could be a new fad. 

Her shirt looked like it had been pulled out of the laundry basket so she could wear it. It was so wrinkled it was almost funny. I've done that in my young days. But I would then either iron it or put it under a sweater. 

Their clothing is so bad you can't help but notice. As I mentioned yesterday Rick is not observant at all but he comments every time he sees them. He finds their dirty clothing and dirty hair and unkempt appearance to be detracting from listening to them. He makes me laugh about this.

Is this because we are old? Is this because this is a small town/city? Is it pandemic related? Is it because we live in a city/town that is far less sophisticated than anywhere we have ever lived? (not counting hometown) 

Inquiring minds want to know.

You can't blame the anchors or young people if their station allows them to look like that on camera. But if they wish to move up would they use these reels to do so? Because I don't think that will help their cause to get beyond this little town. 

There was a young man I'd see locally doing field reporting. When I first moved to DC Metro I thought he was so young and cute. Then he made it to the local news anchor but at 4am. Then he made it to anchor on the local evening news. Then next thing I know I saw him on The Today Show. He made it. But it was the show that is on before the regular Today Show. Now I see him on NBC all the time in anchor positions. He made it to the big time. But when he was working locally he was always dressed for the part. In the field if he was interviewing someone after a storm, he'd be dressed in storm clothes. When he was on a 3am he was in a jacket but no tie. When he made the Today show he dressed in a suit. 

As my close work friend would tell me, dress for the part you want. I never forgot that. 

I think it is just the lack of sophistication here. It's all-new. The city is growing leaps and bounds and I think in 10 years the population will double and it will be a million people here. Because most are coming for the higher education type jobs in the medical field, IT, research, google, and amazon. Most are no longer toiling in the tobacco fields & the area is changing quickly. That is what upsets the locals in my hillbilly county. We Yankees. Now the new folks moving here can be from Texas but if you can put a sentence together without a double negative, you are called a Yankee. 

It was stated in a local real estate magazine that in the last 10 years the home prices have risen 98%. We saw a lot of that when we spent a 1.5yrs searching homes down here. By the time we could retire it was an entirely different realty market here. The average home price here was 225-250K when we started, when we could move it was now 400K+. 

I look forward to the growth for the fact that more sophistication will come and fewer guns. But it's still North Carolina. I don't expect miracles.

In the meantime, I wanted to give a shout-out to Barbara who suggested Rick look into making a yarn bowl. Neither of us knew what that was. So Rick googled it and said he had some wood that had warped or something and he could use that to practice & try to make this. I saw some of it yesterday. He wasn't finished yet. He was struggling with the loop for the yarn. But when it's done I'll show you. It's a good practice piece for sure. Not something he'd sell but something to learn from.

Sun is shining and it will be warm no matter what locals call it. Right now at 11:22am it's 50 degrees. I think that is swell for any day in January. 

I'm off to go play in this warm city and enjoy Friday Fun Day. 

Are you Observant?

I'll start with I notice everything. I've been told most don't. It's not something I try to do. I guess I just do. Once on Oprah, my friend called me from another city to tell me to turn it on and watch. She'd call me after the show she said. 

A detective was on and said how difficult it is for people to notice things around them. Why sometimes witnesses get things wrong. 

Oh okay, that is why she called me. Then they did some tests. 

They set up a room and you walked through and left through the TV of course. They had questions. While in the room a man ran through. 

Never stopping, just ran slowly through the room. No one could tell you the color of his shirt, what he was wearing, his hair color let alone all the things in the room. I noticed all but one thing. I was taking the test at home as suggested and writing down my info. When Melanie called me back we compared. You see I tell her she is not observant and she calls me a freak. So when she said she barely noticed the man walking through did you get his hair color and clothing? Yes. I missed something on the coffee table. 

We chatted about the show and when we hung up she called me a freak again. It's been a long standing joke.  Later that same month we went to this woman's house to pick something up. Melanie hates this woman but it was something we had to do for the organization we were volunteering for. When we left she made some snide comments and I said, "well if it makes you feel any better Little Miss Perfect's floors were gross as were her baseboards. And she's not a real blonde." Melanie laughed and said we were in the foyer for less than 5 minutes at best how do you see all this shit. I said I don't know. You didn't see the gallery of photos on the wall? And as we were standing in the foyer trying to keep our wet boats on the slate floor and not the rug I looked down and saw the dirt and dust." She laughed and hugged me as if I said these things on purpose for her to feel better. 

Then she told me she wants me at a crime scene. But am I observant or Melanie just isn't? I am not certain I am any more than anyone else. 

In fact, Rick and Melanie are identical in this area. I am normal. 

When we moved here we put things in a place and now that we've been living with it, some things are getting moved. The living room has been a difficult one for us. 

My furniture is big because my place was far bigger. So now I have big pieces that we've moved every which way to set up the living room. We are down to one leather L shape sofa and one ugly chair and a coffee table and side table. I can't afford new so don't suggest that to make me have an easier time. (the sofa sold Rick wasn't comfortable on and it did have a shorter length of the seat.)

At Thanksgiving, I wanted to try moving this in another direction. I said to Rick I wanted to try having the sofa over here and the chair over there. He said go for it. We lived with this arrangement since Thanksgiving. We liked how it worked far better for the chair but everything else made it closed off. But to be sure we wanted to wait for at least a month of living with it to see how we felt about it. A week ago Rick said, I think the first way is better what do think? I said the same thing. But neither of us moved it back at that moment. Then last night I was up again with insomnia. So at 2am I rearranged the living room quietly. After I was done I sat on the sofa and thought, wow wait until Rick wakes up and sees this!

Rick woke up after me. I was feeding the dog in the kitchen when he walked in and said good morning, kissed me, and high-tailed it to the coffee maker.

He never said a word about the living room. He just walked into the kitchen without walking around the sofa. How can this be? Now I know he's been awake, I heard the flush in the bathroom and since he was up I walked into the bedroom and he was brushing his teeth in the master bath. He looked up and nodded his head.  My point of this is to show you it's not like he hasn't been up for a bit. 

It is so different that he didn't have to walk around the sofa this morning surely he would notice this. I waited.

Then he took his coffee and sat down in his ugly chair. He still does not notice the chair is now on the opposite side of the room and not in front of the front window. 

How does he not see this? No wonder this blind man thinks I'm cute.

Finally, I'm about to burst and I say, "notice anything different?" 

"No."

"Richard for God's sake look at the living room."

He turns his head and begins to laugh and said, "this is when you bitch about me not noticing anything isn't it?"

"Ya think?"

He goes on, "OMG I'm an idiot."

"Yes, I won't disagree."

"When did you do this?"

"2am."

"You didn't need help?"

"I did fine. I put movers on the feet of the furniture and just moved it around. Being quiet was the hard part" 

Then he laughs again and says, "how the hell did I not notice?  I was too groggy I guess."  

This coming from a man who if I had no shirt on would notice if groggy, or would awake from a coma. The man who wakes up singing and whistling is not groggy. He just doesn't pay attention.

Would you have noticed if your chair was in an entirely different spot and your whole living room was entirely different? If your walk into the kitchen was different would you not notice? Yes, he missed all of these things. 

So who's observant Richard? Oh no, not you my love, not you!