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Hi guys. Think I'll stick around long enough to see a response?
 
Oops, missed ya, Chris.
How are things going in Idaho?
Hope you and your family are doing well and have a great Christmas. I'm guessing you got snow already. Some beer and a nice wood fire can help keep you warm though.
 
I did more cleaning in the kitchen. My brother *finally* took some of the trash out. He hasn't taken it out in months so I've been filling trash bags with trash & they've been piling up & stuff got spilled on the floor (partially bc he just throws it there & also bc of cats & dogs). So, I swept up the floor and filled another trash bag up. Mom had been griping about not being able to get through certain areas well so I cleared those spaces for her. Her initial response was to just gripe about the parts that hadn't been cleaned yet (bc my back decided to puss out on me).

My brother also decided he didn't want to be responsible for the 12 cats in the front room anymore so he just opened the doors and let them loose so now they are my problem. They sat on my bread, knocked the new toaster on the floor and dented it all up, unplugged the microwave, knocked over boxes, and then one of them got into my room & sprayed right behind one of my fans and knocked a heavy can down on my foot. The older cats are not happy about it & have been hiding out in my room. Predicate has been ultra clingy and wants me to carry him everywhere now. He literally screams if he sees the fluffy orange cat, Fry. The dogs don't like a couple of the kitties so they chase/bark at them. Hatshepsut hasn't figured out that she can come back in through the cat door so she climbs the screen on the front window and howls to be let back in.

For the most part, they are still getting along and they are all accounted for. Poor Gravy Jones is afraid to go very far so he will come just out of the front room and hover near the fridge. The others have made themselves at home all over the kitchen. They were coming into my room until I closed the door-- knocked over some lamps, my monitor, etc. They like the cat tree-- much to Predicate's chagrin. And I just discovered they go completely berserk over rotisserie chicken (I was trying to make a chicken burrito for Mom).

My sister and her husband went to DisneyWorld for X-mas. They drove down in his corvette & then stopped by a town north of us to meet up on the way back. We only spent a couple of hours with them before they had to get going again, but they like the food at the Chinese buffet and it was good seeing them. My brother-in-law had a cold but was still in good spirits. I'm hoping that next year we can have the house cleaned up enough for them to come out here.

My mother finally got fully on board with the laundry room reno (after I showed her my google sketchup drawings) and said she would pay for it. The idea of easier access to the laundry room was appealing. I'm trying to print it out, but the printer is being a pain. Keeps claiming we have a used or counterfit ink cartridge & refuses to print. It was printing ok earlier but I'll have to see if I can sort the stupid thing out later.

I think I've found the right flooring for the laundry room- a click lock waterproof vinyl plank with 20mil wear layer and built-in waterproof underlayment. It's currently on sale & even with tax will cost less than the flooring we were considering at Sam'sclub (which only had a 12mil wear layer & no underlayment). I'll post links in my thread.
 
3 more inches of rain expected here in Democrap land. I hear our new Governor is working on a way to tax us for the rain we are about to receive.

Speaking on our new idiot Governor Gavin Newsom, he is cancelling our much needed bullet train from Los Angeles to San Francisco, and spending the $100 BILLION towards that famous bullet train from Bakersfield to Merced, which will accommodate two Hispanic families who need to pick fruit. Silly *** politicians.
 
Spent most of the day dealing with just trying to get my front brakes replaced.
I just had it inspected last month, the pads where so far gone it destroyed the rotors, so it went from $25.00 in parts to over $200.00.
Of course they sold me the wrong pads, so that's another trip, I come back and find out the bearings and seals are shot also so there's another trip and more money.
I got lucky on the labor, the guy doing the work needed stumps ground and Crape Myrtle trees cut so I did that while he was working.
 
Spent most of the day dealing with just trying to get my front brakes replaced.
I just had it inspected last month, the pads where so far gone it destroyed the rotors, so it went from $25.00 in parts to over $200.00.
Of course they sold me the wrong pads, so that's another trip, I come back and find out the bearings and seals are shot also so there's another trip and more money.
I got lucky on the labor, the guy doing the work needed stumps ground and Crape Myrtle trees cut so I did that while he was working.
Story of my life, one little thing turns into one big thing...or two...
 
3 more inches of rain expected here in Democrap land. I hear our new Governor is working on a way to tax us for the rain we are about to receive.

Speaking on our new idiot Governor Gavin Newsom, he is cancelling our much needed bullet train from Los Angeles to San Francisco, and spending the $100 BILLION towards that famous bullet train from Bakersfield to Merced, which will accommodate two Hispanic families who need to pick fruit. Silly *** politicians.
You live in California?! That explains everything. ;)

Speaking of being taxed for rain...here in Oh Hah, some cities don't let you use rain barrels because (the argument goes) it depletes the amount of rainwater going back into the ground, which disrupts the sources the cities use to provide water as a public utility. I haven't looked into whether this is an argument formulated by politicians vs. people who know what they're talking about, but I guess I could see both sides: on one hand, groundwater is a huge source of fresh water; on the other hand, a city's water cycle is not a closed system -- and it's not like the water in a rain barrel disappears into an interdimensional portal or something.

Either way, I miss being able to legally own a rain barrel, mainly because I'm miserly and I hate to see good water flowing out of my downspouts and into the ground when I could be collecting it and it could be mine, all mine.
 
I wish I could send you guys some of my rain, but I don't think the land would handle it well since it's not used to as much rain as we get here. I think it's rained more in a single day here than it does for a year in California.

I can sort of see both sides, which, as much as Louisiana pisses me off with certain things, I am glad that we have plenty of water. Does California recycle the water like Singapore does?

I think the sales tax in town went down to 10.9% here (was 11%). I'm debating whether to cave and call the plumber on some things that I tried to fix that didn't work out. My friend pulled the toilet to replace the seal & found the flange was broken. Used a metal repair ring but it wasn't secured bc I couldn't find my screws (found them later). He pulled it again and secured the flange but the toilet still moves so it doesn't seem to be seating properly. I think the anchors for the repair ring conflict with the contours of the underside of the toilet or something. The plumber pulls toilets & installs them all the time so I think he'd have a better shot at getting it on right & tightening it down. I'm also considering getting a different type of seal under the toilet instead of wax. Something that won't be harmed by Lysol toilet cleaner. I'm thinking of checking the weather outside and seriously considering seeing if I can locate shutoffs for the defunct shower under the house. It involves crawling under from the opposite end of the house. Hopefully there are no snakes around.

I made a couple batches of hamburger stroganoff so there are leftovers to eat tonight. I also tried Bird's Eye frozen veggie pasta with Alfredo sauce and it was good. The "pasta" (made from cauliflower & lentils) actually tastes better than traditional noodles and seems to absorb the sauce flavors better.

Yesterday, my mother gave my best friend a red air fryer/oven thingy since his oven doesn't work. He just bought a "new" car for his fiance- a 2018 Ford Fusion with 20k miles on it but that has already had to go to the shop twice for repairs. I told him he was nuckin' futs for getting it. The car payments are more than half his fiance's monthly income. Even though he works on cars & is a certified mechanic, I have a better track record for picking reliable vehicles than he does.

The weather hasn't been too cold or too hot so I'm feeling a little better. I went for a walk outside and it was nice- although the cats kept trying to trip me & then the cow decided to start following me around. It wouldn't be a problem if she didn't have such huge horns & didn't accidentally bump me with them. I really need to get more exercise. Stepped on the scale at the doctor's office & I'm at 228lbs. I've almost caught up to my mother's weight.

My brother is enjoying his job as a line cook. Some of the staff mistakenly call him "Chef" & the supervisors and chefs are encouraging him to get a culinary degree to officially be a chef. He's finished his probationary period so that means a pay raise & more benefits.

I have to go clean the pantry in a bit because I unintentionally locked one of the cats in last night (he was hiding on a lower shelf) and he didn't have a litterbox.

I'm also looking at the lightbulb on my ceiling fan and it's dangling at least 6" from the fixture. It's dangling from a black wire with a blue nut in the middle & the white wire looks like it's broken off close to the fixture. I think I need to replace the whole socket bc it sparked and the bulb smoked awhile back. It's weird bc the whole fan sort of wobbles, and the broken fandelier part I made out of clear plastic beads (that my brother broke while playing with my Highlander sword) is swinging, but the bulb is staying completely still.
 
Haven't done much at all this winter. Just waiting on warmer weather,I have lots of things I want to do. It was 55* yesterday picked up the yard of fallen branches from the ice storm, now it's 16* today. So tired of winter!!!
 
Today? Did some aluminum trim on windows, then came home in first gear which was all that was working after a mile from the jobsite. This after having the transmission fully rebuilt about 6 months ago. It had a problem shortly after they got done; they put a selector switch in and said something was wrong with the computer but they couldn't say what which I thought was a BS answer so they're probably not going to warranty it now. Work and my health have been bad, I'm essentially broke, and without my workvan I don't know WTF I'm going to do.

Are we having fun yet?

Phil
 
Tuffy, it's good to hear from you. I hope the weather warms up soon.

Phil, that absolutely sucks. I hope you can get the work van fixed.
 
I made sketches of products that interest me for my cooking. I am currently visualizing which backsplash I will choose. But for the moment, for the counter of the island, several options interest me.

Jet sequoia.png Magma.png Marbre.png Petrified wood.png

What do you think?
 
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We also have had record rains here in VA and it's still not letting up.
It's rained for the past 3 days, more coming on Wed. and Sat.
I have many yards I can not even drive over with a lawn mower without getting stuck.
Everything I own is covered in mud
This time of year it's cutting down Pampas grass and Crape Myrtle trees time so if it's not raining or below 40 deg. I still have plenty to do
 
Today? Did some aluminum trim on windows, then came home in first gear which was all that was working after a mile from the jobsite. This after having the transmission fully rebuilt about 6 months ago. It had a problem shortly after they got done; they put a selector switch in and said something was wrong with the computer but they couldn't say what which I thought was a BS answer so they're probably not going to warranty it now. Work and my health have been bad, I'm essentially broke, and without my workvan I don't know WTF I'm going to do.

Are we having fun yet?

Phil
What kind of van is it (year/make/model)? Is this an automatic transmission? I've heard bad things about the automatics in Nissans and Hondas but I'm guessing your workvan is a Ford or Chevy...

I do know in these newer cars every last thing is very dependent upon computer control, and sometimes they put those computers in places where moisture can enter and cause shorts and things, so if they're saying the computer is causing this issue that actually sounds plausible to me.
 
I made sketches of products that interest me for my cooking. I am currently visualizing which backsplash I will choose. But for the moment, for the counter of the island, several options interest me.

View attachment 21641 View attachment 21642 View attachment 21643 View attachment 21644

What do you think?
I like the 1st and 3rd options for the counter top, but the 1st is my favorite.

I was going to be productive but pulled my back trying to take the trash out (which my brother is supposed to do).

I've been cooking for my mother every day (by "cooking" I mean mostly microwaving stuff, but I did make stroganof two nights in a row). Cats have knocked a bunch of stuff on the floor so it's harder to get around and I can't bend to pick stuff up so it's a pain. My best friend's fiance is going to come over next week and help me clean (she's in better shape & works a lot faster than me).
 
Watched 10 year old granddaughter compete in Gymnastics. In a meet against 11 and up, she got a first and two seconds. This was against several hundred girls.
 
Rusty, congrats to your granddaughter!

I took Mom's computer over to a friend to try to fix the user profile error. Just wanted him to use a win8.1 boot disk to get it into safe mode to fix it, but apparently the computer somehow updated itself to win10 and refused to do 8.1 & required a re-install (while keeping her files but borking her programs). While it was installing I took him to Lowes to get a new bedroom door bc his old one literally fell apart. Found one for about $80 & got military discount on it. He wanted to have the door swing out from his room, but the floor is very uneven & the floor in the outer room is much higher. I told him he should set the new prehung door in front of the doorway and see if it could swing outward & said it looked to me like it would hit the bottom of the door. He insisted it wasn't that much of a difference & we worked to get it set into the doorway (without nailing it yet) and I suggested he try to open the door-- it hit the floor & wouldn't swing. Since it was hollow core it couldn't really be cut much on the bottom & he had to have it swing into the room (like the old door did). While he and a friend were getting it nailed in, I took the doorknob off the broken door for him. Next time I went over the knob was missing-- it apparently broke after I left.

Friend's cat chewed his ethernet cord & her computer doesn't have a wireless network card so I had to bring over a cable to finish the updates & get Chrome installed & imported bookmarks. Removed IE from the task bar. Took it home and set it back in it's cubby (after I had a good swearing session & had to set it down on the couch while I cleared away trash she just left on the floor all over in front of where the computer goes. I plugged everything up, powered it on. Lights & fan came on. Monitor said "No signal". I checked to make sure monitor was still on, checked power cord, checked dvi cable tightness- still no signal. Ended up going to BestBuy to get a DVI to HDMI cable bc my friend had the video card plugged in to DVI at his house & it worked. I waited until she went to bed to attach the new cable and it worked. Fun part will be getting her games & programs back in order. One of the games is like 60Gb & I can't find the right cable for my portable drive.

But, her computer is working again so that's something. I'd love to be able to get one of those mini-computers we can hook to our TV so we can use it as a monitor & I could show her stuff on the internet when there's nothing good on TV.
 
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