I realized this weekend that I had accidentally signed up to host this week. My subconscious must be really bent on further honing my already considerable procrastination skills. Oh, well.
This seems like a good week to focus on the little stuff: those stupid whines of no major consequence. (Other whines and antiwhines welcome, of course!)
1. Bit the bullet and got a new laptop weighing less than 85 lbs., since work will take me traveling about. My objective was to get in and get out with the cheapest reasonable piece of equipment. My first choice was a great price -- and not in stock. They could not sell the floor model, which will no doubt continue to attract disappointed customers. On the up side, I got something for only twice the price. Wish me luck with installing the not-included wordprocessing software.
2. AW: The snakes at the f@rm sent a letter officially stating they will no longer be trying to get us to pay for damage caused by the guy who stole our car. W: They sent it by certified mail, signature required, and I didn't hear the doorbell, so I had to go stand in line at the post office. This also cost them nearly $7 instead of the cost of a stamp (as well as the time of at least 2 lawyers on their end). And people wonder why insurance premiums keep going up.
3. AW: solar eclipse yesterday!
4. The usual: Cat bark. Zits, at my age. No dish fairy.
5. Senior Diva Cat has decided that my beloved -- upon whose chest she perches first thing every morning, purring and seeking the adoration she is due -- is a grave danger to national security when he walks by my office window while doing outdoor chores. She got so busy hissing and batting at him this weekend that she fell off the window sill.
What's happening with you?
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About Wednesday Whining
Wednesday Whining is a weekly blog with rotating hosts. Whines and Anti-Whines, both big and small, are welcome! Our purposes are mutual support and sharing a few laughs along the way.
The Wednesday Whining Community is diverse, and strives to be safe, welcoming, and supportive. To this end, comments that are personally abusive or otherwise disparaging [regarding race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation] will be deleted by moderators, along with spam and self-promotion.
The Wednesday Whining Community is diverse, and strives to be safe, welcoming, and supportive. To this end, comments that are personally abusive or otherwise disparaging [regarding race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation] will be deleted by moderators, along with spam and self-promotion.
FAQ
Q: When does Wednesday Whining appear?
A: The Whiner's Ball commences no later than Tuesday, and ends when Awards are given (usually Thursday in theory, but definitely before Monday).
Q: Awards? Really?
A: Yes, really. Traditional awards include Style [music, poetry, etc.], Old Skool [piddly little whines], and Elevated Risk of Mullet [funniest line in a whine], but other hand-crafted awards may be granted at the host's discretion, and nominations from commenters are encouraged.
Q: Can I whine about someone who just does not "get it"?
A: The Cluestick Posse is on hand for persons in need.
Q: Is there a mascot?
A: Ralph is the mascot.
Q: Are there other traditions I should know about?
A: The passing of virtual refreshments is appreciated.
Q: How did this all get started anyhow?
A: Phantom Scribbler was our muse and host for two years.
Q: What was the first prize ever awarded?
A: The Playdough Violin
A: The Whiner's Ball commences no later than Tuesday, and ends when Awards are given (usually Thursday in theory, but definitely before Monday).
Q: Awards? Really?
A: Yes, really. Traditional awards include Style [music, poetry, etc.], Old Skool [piddly little whines], and Elevated Risk of Mullet [funniest line in a whine], but other hand-crafted awards may be granted at the host's discretion, and nominations from commenters are encouraged.
Q: Can I whine about someone who just does not "get it"?
A: The Cluestick Posse is on hand for persons in need.
Q: Is there a mascot?
A: Ralph is the mascot.
Q: Are there other traditions I should know about?
A: The passing of virtual refreshments is appreciated.
Q: How did this all get started anyhow?
A: Phantom Scribbler was our muse and host for two years.
Q: What was the first prize ever awarded?
A: The Playdough Violin
42 comments:
Sorry about the computer kathy a. - as my mother would say "'Twas ever thus."
Sigh.
On a side note, I sometimes wonder how she would have managed in a digital age. I rarely saw her without some kind of paper reading material in her hands. Even so, I think she would have loved the instant book gratification of the e-book.
W: In a stunning "Pixie Magic" follow-up, just after I read that esperanza received the coveted (and well-deserved) Elevated Risk of Mullet award last week for reminding that I really need to stay out of the kitchen.... well, I burned my hand.
~ deep curtsy ~
I thought I could turn over some sweet potato fries without incident.
Silly me!
AW: Minor burn. No problem.
W: Email from our Board Chair. Subject line didn't give any clues, so I thought perhaps he was just checking in to say "hi". Not so much. It is work related but not urgent. I will not be responding. I'll take care of it when I get back.
Note to self: No. Church. Emails. Not even potentially friendly happy ones. Bah.
Sue, can you set your email to automatically respond to church folks with a message that says,
"Rev. Sue is on Sabbatical and will not be able to respond to emails until [x date].
If you are in need of pastoral care, please contact [y person], s/he is ready to help you in Rev. Sue's absence.
If you are writing about church business please contact [z person] who has agreed to take over those duties while Rev. Sue is away."
W: Cannot muster up energy/enthusiasm to cook supper. We are eating way too much crap, and spending too much on said crap and eating out.
AW: spent lovely day-before-my-birthday all. by. myself. in Big City. Eating not-crap, museuming, and shopping.
W: I'm looking for a fancy-ish dress. I tried on numerous fancy-ish dresses, all too big, in smallest size available. All complicated to alter. All expensive. Harumph.
Esperanza, are you near a Nordstroms?
I have a skirt somewhat like this one in black and I pair it with a top like this one (only with velvet collar and cuffs), or occasionally a fancy beaded short-sleeved top that I can't find online right now.
I find that separates are easier to get to fit than a single dress when you are difficult to size.
Since you are slender, you might have luck in the Juniors section, or even in Young Miss.
oh, sue. we did warn you about the kitchen. ;)
yay for the day out, esperanza!
liz, some good shopping thoughts, as usual. bah on whomever decided that standard sizes work for everybody. esperanza, if you go with separates, another idea is to sew a simple skirt yourself, and spend the bucks on a fabulous top.
tiring of cooking supper is, in my opinion, an old skool classic.
Thanks for the shopping tips. I usually avoid the juniors section, simply because I don't need to look that young and/or trashy. The separates is a good thought, especially the sewing a skirt part. I also am trying to accommodate wearing my great-grandmother's fancy necklace (it's not all *that* old, as she got it for their 50th anniversary in the 50's. But that makes it vintage, no?)
yes! 25 years is vintage/antique.
oh, pixies. someone stole my 3-prong adapter, which i needed for travel with and use of even my 85-lb. laptop, and i know who he is since he screwed it into a wall socket by his side of the bed. and the same person can't remember the passcode for the wireless router he bought to replace the old one. so the new laptop is parked on a kitchen counter, charging its battery and waiting for the internet love.
Can the hostess send out a cluestick posse on his derrière?
Esperanza, what about this beaded jacket over a lace-topped black camisole with either a long black skirt or flowy pants?
Ooh! I like this one better, and this one best of all.
Phooey, that last one is for plus sizes only.
The middle one comes in extra small and has a warning that it runs small, so it may really work for you
Ooooooooo.....pixie shopping!!!
Esperanza, I just received a lovely summer dress from "BB bean" - not super fancy, but workable for a summer outdoor wedding (attending as guest, not minister...yay!).
The sizes are very true to the body size chart, and they have small petite sizes....
Liz, that's the worst part....I've had the return message on since April! Some folks think the message is for everyone but them. Sheesh. I've ignored all of them so far and should have done the same in this case. Totally my fault, but now I know better.
I hope your interweb love finds its way to your new laptop!
AW: a lovely dinner tonight with our son and my in- laws to celebrate my MIL's birthday.
Eldest son (I get to visit him Out West in July!!) turned 30 on Sunday. Seriously? 30? Wow!
Sue - wishing for cluesticks for the congregation and not understanding sabbatical.
Esperanza - hope the shopping improves. Enough time for mail (internet) order?
Kathy - yay for new laptops. Even if it is vile to set it all up.
Liz - kudos for all of the good advice to us Pixies. I think I need some...
AW: my grandfather is home, in hospice care. He is alert, eating, sitting up, talking a bit. That's the good news.
W: He and my grandmother can't really be alone. She's not strong enough to help him. So family needs to be around 24/7. And when the doctors were giving him hours or days...everyone pitched in. And now we're looking at weeks (maybe months) and caretaker fatigue has set in.
W: My grandfather perks up the most for my mom. And she doesn't want to move there (about 2 hours away). The uncles are rumbling nursing home. I suggested we bring both of my grandparents here. It may be crazy, but it would be less disruptive for my mom.
W: my husband moved out this weekend. And his friends fell through for moving so he asked me to help. And Pixies, I was crazy/mature/trapped enough to do it.
W: I have a job lead, and life has to slow down enough for me to sit and wrote a cover letter.
liz is running the risk of becoming our collective personal shopper... ;)
wow, sue! my boy is coming up on his 25th. so glad you get to go see yours in july!
also, ta da! ze laptop, she is on ze intertubes, and with 2 kinds of wordprocessing and other bells/whistles installed! a spare 3 prong adapter was found. [another spare stolen from my stash of useful things, but who's counting?] in any event, no additional cluesticking is needed on my end tonight, which i consider a major miracle, considering the number of candidates.
oh dear lordy, sarah. you have it all going on. xoxoxo
of course your husband's friends fell through. i assume he picked them because they are like him. [oh, yes, i can be a bitch.] at least he is outta there, and you can move on. much love to you.
((Sarah)).
Ooh, Esperanza!!! Look at this one!! Again, it says sizes run small.
Wear it over a silk shell or cami that matches your skin tone, and you could wear black pants or a long skirt in any color at all. You could maybe match your cami to the skirt.
Whine: Why am I a software tester when it's obvious that I was born to be a personal shopper?
liz, you are a woman of many talents. :)
i'm having a work-related panic attack. thought something was organized for a meeting tomorrow, and it isn't, and the pieces needed are buried in about 20 different PDF places. arrrgh!
Kathy A. Deep breath in, blow it all out.
Deep breath in, blow it all out.
Find the first 5, take a break. Eat a cookie. Have some tea. Lather, rinse, repeat.
breathe, breathe. how silly i was, thinking the stuff was in only 20 different pdf places, marked by numbers and not content! am in danger of becoming curmudgeonly, but have rescheduled the meeting.
i'm not actually procrastinating. do you know how long it takes individual PDF's to print?
and yes, it is that crazy. the hard files were put into unmarked PDF files, requiring that they each be searched out, and because this is unworkable, i am printing the ones needed. the paperless office remains a distant dream.
((((Oh Sarah, many many hugs)))
Liz, you are indeed a woman of many talents. I love, love love that jacket!!!
Kathy, I'm glad the crisis was averted re: computer files! Good for you for the rescheduling.
AW: massage today. My massage therapist shares office space and today wasn't one of her scheduled days, so she brought her table etc....right to my door! Awesomeness in so many ways.
A house-call massage? You are a fortunate woman, Sue.
Re: dress. I actually have lots of time. It's for a Thanksgiving wedding. I was just shopping the other day b/c I was in Big City (where they do indeed have a Nordstrom's) without the Baboos. I'll keep thinking on it.
a house-call massage would be heaven.
esperanza, you are great to think so far ahead!
A/W: my committee from heck has decided to dispense with the horrible conference calls every two weeks. yay!
i'm not sure how to classify this one: it appears that daughter is calling the navy recruiter today, to see about becoming an intelligence officer.
Make sure she gets the promise of where they will place her IN WRITING beforehand. Otherwise, they can put her anywhere they damned please after she finishes OCS.
oh, liz. don't i know. her dad was a submarine officer. my dad was army intelligence during the korean war. a possible up side is that she has language skills, so she might go to the naval postgraduate school in monterey -- my fabulous aunt lives in that town! i'm not so worried about where she might go, right now -- she has some living abroad skills, and has lived a few places away from home in the US. it would really suck if she flunked the equivalent of boot camp, though.
Amen to that. It seems to me that if you're going to go into the military during a shooting war, Navy's the branch to go into, and intelligence is the section.
BIGGEST. ANTI-WHINE.EVER. after a hideous whine just this time last year.
May last year: My sweet nephew and his wife lost their son to a stupid car wreck that involved no other cars, no drugs, no phone, no alcohol-just an inexperienced driver's over-correction after a curve.
This year's anti-whine, in rhyme:
He's forty, it's true, and so is she,
Their children are all grown and gone.
The clock stopped for them in the face of disaster,
But life, as we know, carries on.
Their decades old marriage seems more like a week,
Still loving and caring and sweet,
So they hunkered down closely and went to bed,
No TV or Facebook or Tweet.
Through their valley of sorrow they slogged and they clawed up over the mountain of grief
They searched for answer-for any small sign-to offer a bit of relief.
Her period missed, and missed again-perhaps it was just a fluke?
"Not SO!" said the doctor and on May 24th
They will welcome their baby son, Luke.
Happy Birth-Day tomorrow to my dear great-nephew. We're very excited her in Auntie Yankee Land!
Oh, YT, I am just weeping here. How happy and sad.
YT, that is the best antiwhine after a disaster evah. and in verse! xoxoxoxoxoo
YT for Style!!!!
AW/W: both anti-whine and whine because while the head-to-toe FULL physical is important and good preventative medicine, it's not my first choice re: How to Spend An Otherwise Undesignated Day.
I did well in the rapid-fire question and answer segment of the morning. LMP? March 2006. Medication? Only one. Easy!
W: Plze to warm up zee *ahem* equipment before zee stirrruppp test. Plze???? Brrr...
AW: only two weeks until headache relief in Big City. Yay!
Hugs and hellos to all the pixies.
Yay for Yankee Transferred's antiwhine! Hooray!
yay sue for headache relief soon...and here's to ignoring unwanted sabbatical interruptions!
hugs to sarah
my whine: my pants are too tight. and while the antiwhine is that i am no longer mysteriously losing weight, I am now slowly gaining weight, much more like my body usually behaves... this is good, but also bad.
antiwhine: almost summer vacation
--Neighbor Lady
YT - Oh so incredibly sweet, and in rhyme!!
AW: nothing else really crazy is happening. And a neighbor invited me in for wine (and whine) at a playdate pick-up.
KathyA - the intelligence officer thing - I can see the W/AW. I hope she finds her way.
NL - too-tight pants is my least favorite feeling in the entire world. Old Skool for you!
P.S. He is here. He came on his own schedule, tonight. Baby Luke is on the planet earth and a sweet, lucky baby.
yay, YT! xoxoxoxo
Yay YT!!!
Sarah, I'm so glad for your neighbor for inviting you for wine and whine!
NL, definitely Old Skool on the sad tightening pants. Been there, done that... Not. Fun.
Esperanza, any shopping luck yet?
Kathy, my extended family includes a lot of Navy personnel, some Reserve force and some Regular Force. My sister is retiring this summer after 30 years in the reg force Navy, with 20 of those as a JAG officer.
All those years ago, she spent a few years identifying
her strengths as an officer and then looked for the best
way to use those gifts. Long process, but it worked well
in her case. I hope your daughter finds her place as well!
So, those of you with wee ones now, are any of them hooked on Tt(F)TE? Or has that gone the way of the dodo?
Tt(F)TE! how could he ever go out of style?
NL -- so hear you on the tightening pants.
so -- daughter is off on an interview at a pet day care. perhaps she will not join the navy just now.
she's been looking for work since december.
Pet Day Care!!! Yaaaayyyyy!!!! That's my dream retirement job. Seriously. There is the attached problem of picky owners wanting their pets back at the end of the day, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. :)
I hope the interview went well for your daughter kathy. Paws and appendages crossed here...
there is so much competition for every job. this interview went OK, except she told them she might be joining the navy. it's possible they might offer a job through summer, though. the pay is pretty good.
I hope the pet people and the Navy fight over your daughter, Kathy!
Liz - I am so stumped on Tt(F)TE...huh?
W/AW: my grandfather has switched from the wheelchair to a walker to now trying to walk without the walker. He better not break a hip! He is making my uncles question whether he really is ready for hospice. I feel like a medical apologist for believing the doctor's diagnosis. (Congestive heart failure with renal failure.)
According to my sources, Thomas the (Fireplacing) Train Engine is still a thing. Though not at our house. But among our friends who are boys, definitely a thing. Hope that helps.
Today had 36 hours already, yes?
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