Welcome, Pixies, to another week at the Whiner's Ball!
I promised to post, and forgot until now; which doesn't bode so well for my personal organization this week, but the week's still young, right?
There are several things on the agenda, including linguine and tasty meatballs for dinner, cleaning stuff up, trying to gather things to go donate already.
What's cooking at your house?
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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
71 comments:
You still got it posted around the same time as I did last week! Thanks for hosting, Kathy.
W: tiiiiiiiiiiired. There really isn't time in my life for this cold, which mostly only bothers me when I'm trying to sleep, and all of sudden my throat is too sore to sleep. Let me sleep, dangit!
Congratulations, Esperanza, I'm late to the party for saying so.
W: all my plans for how to make a yellow vest (for E's Halloween costume) easily keep falling through. I tried to repurpose a yellow t-shirt, but the material was really low quality, and the pattern kept showing through when I turned it inside out, and I got mad at it.
AW: Mr. Q's fabric store discount doesn't expire until January! And I forgot that he taught sewing last spring: I might delegate this task to him.
Delegation is good! But my fave fabric for costume vests is felt -- the kind on rolls at the fabric store. All you need to worry about are shoulder seams, and side seams. All the outer edges -- neckline, hem, lapels -- can just be trimmed to perfection with scissors. Very easy to do adjustments, add trim, etc. Costume cheating!
My daughter's elementary school chorus used red felt vests with a lapel look for a couple of years!
The other part of the cheat is using something like a t-shirt to make a basic pattern. Vests are a little looser, usually, so cut a little extra. Felt is sturdy, forgivable, and easy to work with. Think I still have the felt costumes I made when my kids were Peter Pan and Tinkerbell, which was a long long time ago...
Felt! That's what I can go and get from the fabric store. Good call! And I'm way happier about the idea of using a t-shirt as a pattern than trying to turn a t-shirt into a vest.
AW: I just figured out a curtain that can be repurposed as part of my own costume. (I'm being forced to go to a Halloween party on Saturday. With strangers.) I'm going to feel like Maria Von Trapp, wearing clothes that are secretly curtains.
Hooray for repurposing for costumes!
Y'ALL, VIRGINIA HAS SCRAPPED ITS TRAP LAWS. REPEAT, VIRGINIA HAS SCRAPPED ITS TRAP LAWS. All praise the SCOTUS decision in Whole Women's Health!!!
Hooray, Liz! How many more states have passed similar laws, which would likely also be scrapped?
W/AW: Mini didn't have strep after all--the culture was negative.
W/AW: so I guess my sore throat isn't strep either.
Belated but heartfelt congratulations esperanza!! WooHoo!!
Costumes of all varieties are outside my wheelhouse, so I'm impressed with all efforts in that department.
AW: My appointment went well today. The folks at the clinic are so great, they manage to make getting a lot of needles in the head a pleasant experience.
W: I'm sore and sleepy.
AW: Home tomorrow.
((( Sue ))) Here's for a good night's rest, and tomorrow being less ouchy. xoxo
QWP, used curtains are definitely prime for costumes. Done that, too! Iron on tape. Remember that.
* Iron on hem tape, I mean. It's a miracle! When I've lacked a sewing machine, I have sometimes made curtains entirely with hem tape. It is the best for quick shortening of hems or sleeves -- when I do not want to hand-sew, and fear my machine skills won't look right.
Sue, hope today is a gentle one!
Liz, yay for VA! (The law is already unconstitutional; they recognized that and fixed things up, which -- you'd think would be obvious, but some states sometimes want to keep fighting....)
Not sure if I mentioned the other day, my SIL fell again, and broke her arm again (same place as last year; apparently a minor fracture, since they are treating with a sling). She wasn't walking the morning after, but the ER evaluated and cleared her legs and hips, and she started walking again yesterday afternoon. We dodged the hip this time! But her degenerative neurological illness? It sucks.
Sweet says she wants to be a cheetah. She is not big on costumes. She wants only the shirt and has agreed that Mini can make some ears on a headband for her (this is the kind of creativity at which Mini excels). So, $10 later, we have a custom-made by Baboos cheetah shirt. Easy.
Congratulations Esperanza!!!
Woot! Costuming genius, Esperanza!
44 states and the District of Columbia all have some form of TRAP laws (Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers). This still includes Virginia, which has lessened but not entirely removed the restrictions. We still have, for example, the ultrasound requirement. From NARAL,
"Current State Measures
44 states and the District of Columbia have measures subjecting abortion providers to burdensome restrictions not imposed on other medical professionals: AL, AK, AZ, AR, CA, CT, DE, DC, FL, GA, HI, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, KY, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MS, MO, NE, NV, NJ, NM, NY, NC, ND, OH, OK, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA, WA, WI, WY.
All of these states prohibit some qualified health care professionals from providing abortion care.
6 states and the District of Columbia have expanded the scope of practice of advanced-practice clinicians to include medical and/or surgical abortion services: CA, CT, DC, IL, NY, RI, WA.
26 of these states restrict the provision of abortion care—often even in the early stages of pregnancy—to hospitals or other specialized facilities: AK, AR, CT, GA, ID, IN, MA, MN, MS, MO, NV, NJ, NY, NC, ND, OH, OK, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA, WI.
19 of these laws are at least partially unenforceable: AL, AK, AZ, ID, IL, IN, KS, LA, MA, MS, MO, NY, ND, OH, OK, PA, TN, TX, WI"
Bad laws = lotsa litigation....
Thanks for all that information, Liz! It will be something to see the ripple effects of the SCOTUS decision.
W: TIRED. Today was a very busy day.
AW: my family pitched in and helped quite a bit (my sister came over in the morning, and entertained E while I baked bread and cleaned, and then my parents came over in the afternoon, and my dad entertained E while Mom and I sorted garden produce in the garage).
W: I was slow getting to dealing with the beets that my inlaws gave me, and a bunch of them went moldy, and were so stinky that we could smell them outside of the garage.
AW: I managed to rescue a pail full of usable beets.
W: I now have to trim and properly store said beets tonight, so that they don't succumb to the fates of their stinky beet brethren.
QWP, you make having a garden sound so glamorous.
AW: a nice day with Sweet. She had a developmental pediatrician appointment in another city, so I let her take the whole day off from school.
AW: Said developmental pediatrician is the smartest person I've ever met.
W: The three-step instruction that she couldn't remember long enough to follow was also impossible for me to remember.
AW: But she could follow the complicated two-step instruction that she couldn't manage only 6 months ago. So that was good. ("Put the blue block on top of the red block and the green one under the yellow one.")
Yay, good dev.ped.! Go Sweet!
Also, I'm thinking Esperanza is in contention for Mullet, with the glamour of gardening.
Hooray for Sweet and the excellent developmental pediatrician!
Something very stressful and unbloggable got resolved! Yay!
Going to make stew, with the works.
W: Yesterday Muffin Man left his (pretty much only) chore undone for the second time in a week. The first time, I had him do everyone's laundry. This time Mr. Spock asked him to clean the surfaces in their shared bathroom (sinks, countertop, shower. Not the toilet or the floor). Well. After storming that he "wouldn't do it! No! No way! Not fair!", and losing his phone and other screens, he ended up quietly (without alerting us) spraying the whole bathroom with Kab00m, and then wiping it off half-assedly with toilet paper and called it done, and came downstairs to us to tell us (SURPRISE!) he'd done it. Whereupon I inspected his work.
Their shared bathroom was still covered in cleaning foam, nothing was actually cleaned, and their bathroom stank to high heaven of caustic cleaning stuff.
SO. We rinsed it all off, ran a fan and kept the windows open all night (went down to 35F hereabouts), and it still stank this morning. So I made him rinse it all again.
"Next time, TELL ME you're doing it so that I can watch you do it, so that I can give you guidance on HOW to do it so that we don't have to do it three times. But don't for a moment think that we're never going to have you clean a bathroom again because you did it so badly this time. No. You will learn how to properly clean a bathroom. This is a skill you need"
The stink is lessened, but it still stinks.
Good work, Mama Liz!
I voted. Forty five minutes in line. Surely we can be more efficient than this?
I really LOVE vote by mail, but that is so restricted in your state, Esperanza. Another friend was complaining about the early voting lines the other day. (Different city.)
Excellent parenting, Liz! But I'm sorry that you had to deal with all the clean up and smell.
Good job, voters!
AW: I finally got around to putting away my suitcase from the retreat a week and a half ago (classic QWP), and I decided to check all the pockets. And found the missing bookstore gift card from Christmas three years ago! I spent it immediately, of course. (I got a big, hardcover cookbook.)
W: how have I been working non-stop on this house for days, and yet it still looks chaotic? When does this start to resemble a clean home?
Just popping in to say that "Stinky Beet Brethren" would be a great band name.
DR. CORNDOG! We've missed you! How are things?
DR. CORNDOG!!! WOOT!!!
Also, that would be a great band name....
Yay for glamour gardening, QWP style!
I'm with Sweet when it comes to costumes - less is best. Yay Mini for providing added parts.
I'm glad your unbloggable thing is sorted kathy.
Go Liz!!! MM is testing his adolescent super-powers. The epic "Do it Badly, Never Do It Again" move has been stopped cold, and that's good.
*Muppet arms waving at Dr. Corndog* Hi!!
Hi all! Things are fine, which means I can anti-whine I guess, but that still seems to go against the spirit of this here establishment. Anyway, one small whine. Somebody observed on Twitter today that, with the clocks shifting back one hour on Nov. 6th, that makes this interminable election one hour longer. But anti-whine, if you are on Twitter, you need to follow @onlxn, whose TrumpLeaks (imagined conversations among the denizens of Rotting Pumpkin Land) are the funniest thing I've read in years.
Anti-whines are all good!
Thanks for the tip on some amusement.
Hey there Dr Corndog!
Kathy a, it is so uneven. Many friends have posted that they encountered very short lines. But in my county, I have a feeling they have not accounted for double digit growth and are using the same number of early voting locations they did for the last presidential election. Also, major cities all over the state are shattering records for turnout so far. (woot!) And yes, mail-in ballots are pretty restricted. Having whined about the wait, it really was kind of a nice experience. Strangers of diverse backgrounds, standing around in beautiful weather chatting about inconsequential matters. There are worse things to do with 45 minutes.
I forgot to do a happy dance with QWP for found surprise money!
Oh, I totally missed the surprise money in the suitcase, QWP! Usually, I just find things like spare sox and the emgergency chopsticks (in case I have leftovers at the hotel and no cutlery)...
Esperanza, yay for all the early voting, and that it went well despite the long wait!
My state has a long way to go in voter turnout, because we ranked last. As in 50th out of 50. But, I think it's wonderful that so many people are so motivated.
Corndog!! Hi!!!
I very much hope that you all have an easier time with your vote than we are having. Our election is a MESS tonight. The computerized counting system is glitching, and I'm starting to suspect that we're going to have to go back to hand counting. (We're used to hand counting, because this is the first time we didn't do that, but I suspect I won't know the results until morning.)
We have results! Apparently the problem was not with the counting system, but with the live result reporting on the election website. The city ended up first having to go old school, posting the result numbers on an overhead projector in the council chambers, and then having the media relay the results, and then they posted a pdf on the website.
W: my favourite candidate (for council) didn't win. But neither did any of the really dodgy candidates. I'm not a big fan of the incumbent (who won), but he's more reasonable than some of the people who ran.
AW: my friend is now a school board trustee!
QWP, I'm sorry your favourite candidate didn't win, but at the super dodgy ones weren't successful. Yay for your friend!
Physical therapy for my TMJ hurts more than the TMJ but will hopefully get rid of the TMJ pain.
((( Liz )))
(((((Liz)))))) I hope that this gives you long-term relief.
AW: swimming lessons went well this week! E had a bit of a rough night last night, and was grouchy this morning, and I wasn't feeling great, and I started toying with the idea of staying home this week. But E and I talked through it, and I told her, "I don't have the energy to fight with you to get you into the car, and then fight with you to get you ready in the change room, and then to get you out of the pool, and then into the shower, and then back into the car." She responded, "Then I won't fight with you! I'll be helpful!" And she was! We left the house an hour before lessons started, to be extra sure that we weren't late this time, and E helped me pack two snacks (one for before and one for after). We were so early that she got to play in the cool playground outside the pool, and everything went well!
Some days, it's still incredibly hard to reason with her, and just getting through the day is like pulling teeth. And then she has other days where we can talk through everything and problem solve together.
YAY QWP!!! It always amazes me when asking one's child for help works. And it's so beautiful when that happens.
W: MAH FACE IS ON FIRE. MAKE IT STAHP. I HAZ CHARLIE HORSE IN MAH FACE.
W: No. Seriously. I do. The physical therapist had me do all these resistance exercises with my jaw. RESISTANCE EXERCISES WITH MY JAW. Who knew that was even a thing?
W: I followed a recipe that someone posted. It was terrible.
W: Even worse, I thought of revising it as I was making it but decided to trust the recipe.
AW: There was food. We ate it.
I hope it wasn't one of mine!
Am about to put up a "no soliciting" sign and feeling oddly guilty about it. I shouldn't feel guilty about it, right? Since when I'm canvassing, I don't ring "no soliciting" doorbells, I just leave a note on the literature.
Yay QWP!!!!!! Yay E!!! I'm glad you had a good day.
(((Liz))) That sounds so painful. I do hope it results in no more tmj.
W: today began at 5am with a screaming, sick child. She says her ear and throat feel funny, and so does her tummy. She just threw up. But no fever.
Liz, so sorry about the ouchies! Have you tried heat / ice to soothe the aching muscles?
Esperanza, so sad when a recipe turns out meh. You should follow your cooking instincts next time!
Liz, it is OK to put out a no soliciting sign! I want one for my phones, but apparently those haven't been invented yet.
QWP: Hope Ms. E is feeling better! Barfing always convinces me that something's wrong. And ears feeling funny, no good can come of that.
Pet update: The Alert Cat is a food hog, who eats directly to the bottom of the kibble bowl and then tells me it is empty because some of the bottom is showing. If I shake the bowl to re-distribute, she is momentarily satisfied. This is what passes as entertainment around here.
Also, W: the great bathroom flood. From the throne-like fixture. Immediately upon arising! AW: Nothing a plunger and a load of towels couldn't fix. This was a level 1 disaster, not level 2.
Kathy, I am so sorry about your flood, but HOO BOY did your description make me laugh!!
Oh, no! I hope E is feeling better.
Liz, I can't remember who posted it. It was a Swedish meatballs recipe. Written by someone who doesn't know the difference between teaspoon and tablespoon. And doesn't know that a sauce needs a thickener, or it will be runny forever. Both things I know but ignored yesterday.
Kathy for the wildlife and plumbing awards.
Oh no: bad Swedish meatballs? That's an extra travesty. (I love them so much. My grandma made the best Swedish meatballs, which we are forever trying to replicate, because the recipe she had written down bears no resemblance to the food she made.)
Seriously: wildlife and plumbing and mullet awards for Kathy.
AW: child is asleep on a towel-covered couch (have finally dozed off during repeated episodes of Magic Schoolbus, since she refused to nap in her dark bedroom), and I've finally changed out of my pyjamas. And (knocking all adjacent wood) she has only puked the one time.
W: the ear is still giving her trouble. She says it feels like something is "squooshing around in there." Swimmer's ear? Planning a trip to the walk-in clinic tomorrow.
W/AW: had to cancel on a birthday party tonight, and am now a "maybe" for the birthday party tomorrow. I am sorry that I have to miss these events, but the introvert in me is relieved that this is no longer a two-party weekend.
W: It rained yesterday, so I had my lights on during errands, and I forgot until it was dark. Then, I stupidly failed to check my battery, which is dead. Will never hear the end of this.
So, I told my beloved, and he's all, "didn't the car tell you the lights were still on? Most cars do." I got this old car when he moved along a few years ago. This is the car that pops its trunk whenever I go over a bump. This is the car with a permanent "check engine" light on. This car doesn't *ever* tell me anything useful. And it was HIS car before!
But yeah, I messed up anyway.
Oh, I used to have a car that didn't have an alarm to tell me when my lights were off! I used to leave them on all the time. Things that helped me: a post-it on my dash, reminding me to check my lights every time, and a brightly-coloured sticker on the bottom of the headlight stick thingy, which would only show when my lights were twisted to "on."
My husband's car's license plate has stickers that indicate that his registration expired in August, but the website won't let me renew because his registration doesn't actually expire for at least another 6 months. WTF?
So I've printed out the DMV webpage that tells me this, and going to the DMV today.
Pray for me. On second thought, pray for the poor clerk.
W: E was too wakeful last night (thanks to that afternoon nap), but then seemed fine all morning (to the point that she went grocery shopping with Mr. Q). Now that she's tired in the afternoon, she's complaining about the earache again. But I still can't figure out whether it's just congestion (and improving), or whether it's time to go to the doctor. (Side note: I ALMOST took her to the doctor this afternoon, but I called the clinic, and it would be an hour wait. She would be a mess. If she's like this in the morning, we'll take her as soon as the clinic as soon as it opens.)
Also W: TIIIIIIRED.
Liz, hope all went well with the DMV.
Fingers crossed, QWP!
The car's battery is not only charged, but somebody had energy to burn and changed the oil, and washed the car, too. (Needless to say, that somebody was not me!)
QWP, I remember thinking, before either Baboo could talk "If she could only *tell* me what is bothering her." Then when they could talk, it's totally unhelpful information that still leaves me wondering if something is really wrong, or if she just needs to poop, for instance. In any case, hope E is really feeling better in the morning.
kathy, I'm glad someone had energy to burn. I cannot remember the last time I was in such a state.
DMV visit= success!!
QWP, I hope E feels better
Hooray for a successful DMV visit, Liz!
I'm glad that your car is all fixed up now, Kathy!
AW: we all slept through the night. (Okay, I was awake a bit in the night, but that was only me, and we weren't dealing with a child, and I went back to sleep.) E slept for 13 hours last night.
W: And her ear hurts, and she's very whiny today. I was starting to lean toward waiting until tomorrow, so that she could see her GP, but it looks like we're going to the clinic today. Mr. Q is now feeling under the weather, and so it might be taking her by myself.
No one will be surprised to hear that E has an ear infection. Time for 3 times a day of the fruit-flavoured amoxicillin, just in time for Halloween!
AW: at least the medicine will have been in her system for 24 hours in time for trick-or-treating, and we were only planning on going to about 5 or 6 houses (just the immediate neighbours). And we found that her big woolen monkey hood/toque/pull-over hat looks like puppy ears, if you put her little construction helmet over it and squish down the ears. And so, she can have her ears covered and warm, and she can still be a certain construction bulldog from a certain popular cartoon.
Glad E's getting medicated and will soon be on the mend!
Pouring rain at times today!
My son is finally coming by today. I think it was the Cubs uniform -- told him I'd found one that a friend gave him as a baby present! (Didn't even remember it until I saw the Cubs on TV the other night; it's in my secret mama stash of baby things to cute to give away.)
Son seemed rather less impressed with the teeny Cubs uniform than persons on the book of visages. Says he's rooting for Cincinnati now, anyway. His father volunteered that I jinxed the Cubs by remembering the uniform. Then they made bad jokes about the Cubs. I will never understand baseball. That is all.
Selfish W: I lose half of my alone time this week, because I'm keeping E home from preschool tomorrow.
AW/W: at least I don't have to exhaust myself getting her ready and walking to and from school, because I am also sick.
W: Mr. Q is also sick, and we are all feeling whiny and exhausted. (But he's decided that it's too much work to stay home tomorrow -- he'd have to stay up late to prepare for a sub -- and that he'd actually rest better if he hides out at school and naps during his prep time, than if he stayed at home where the sick preschooler is. He said, "Even during class time, I can give the kids work and then tell them that I'll be resting unless they have questions. I can't do that with E.")
Genuine AW: my sister came over with borscht, and then cleaned our kitchen for us.
QWP, I hope everyone feels better super quick
QWP - sending healing vibes your way. I remember too well the microbe incubator days of yore. But seriously, in what possible way can borscht be an anti-whine?
Kathy - I'm a baseball fan, and I don't understand other baseball fans.
Combination W/AW - older son had a semi-first date yesterday, of the Netflix and chill variety, except "Netflix" in this case was a DVD of "Casablanca" and "chill" really was chill, just talking on the sectional with plenty of space between them. At least when one of the parents found an excuse to walk by the living room every 20 minutes or so.
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