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Whatever Works
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
33 comments:
Our guests aren't due for 4 hours; so, it's quiet around here, especially since Dad, Daughter, and Dawg all went for a hike. I'm working on the last couple of items at a leisurely pace. All that will be left for during the party is setting out snacks, sticking the roast in the oven, and re-heating!
Went a little overboard on the stocking stuffers, and ended up with a "door prize" basket of extra jams, sauces, candy, etc. so guests can choose something they like.
The in-laws are bringing their newly adopted dog, so I guess the adoring canine fans will entertain themselves supervising the dog-fest.
My husband and I met exactly 37 years ago, at a house party hosted by our mutual friend's parents! You know, your traditional Jewish / Greek Christmas celebration -- it was pretty great.
I'm glad that you're having a nice, quiet start to your day, Kathy. We've had a quiet one, too. We opened presents, ate eggnog French toast, constructed furniture, Lego, and a cardboard castle (using all the discarded Kleenex boxes from our sick week). And then my cousin and her puppy stopped by with presents! And now I made blueberry sorbet, which was shockingly easy to make. I think I'll be rested up enough to handle extended family this evening!
Happy Boxing Day! Today is another holiday in Canada (and the UK), which is basically "What if Black Friday was a federal holiday, but after Christmas instead of Thanksgiving?" It's a billion below zero outside today, and so I doubt very many bargain hunters lined up outside the electronic stores this morning. We had a successful party with family last night (hilariously, E has no idea it happened, since everyone arrived once she was asleep), and we're slowly freezing grazing on leftovers, and reading through fliers, to find out if there are any deals that would make it worth plugging in the car's block heater, waiting an hour, and then leaving the house today.
Happy Boxing Day! My son took his dad fishing on a charter, so they got up at 4 a.m. to get to the pier by 5. At least it's a clear day, albeit chilly for here.
Christmas was wonderful! The dogs got along pretty well. The food turned out nicely, and there was lots of it! Appetizers were veg / dip, chips / hummus, brie / crackers, bits of sourdough w/cream cheese and smoked salmon, nuts, olives, pickles. Dinner was prime rib, mixed rice, chiles rellenos, quiche, green beans, rolls. Nobody had room for salad. They did dive into desserts anyway, but only tiny portions.
The family got a little carried away with the cat theme -- I got a print, a page a day desk calendar, a kitchen towel, a small dish, and a bathmat, all festooned with felines. My husband got several dog-related items, as well as a print featuring a cow (his favorite large animal).
I forgot about this squishy Japanese cat figure, lying on its back. My DIL explained, "just squish her stomach, it will make you feel better!" It kinda works!
That's so cute that your family coordinated your presents, Kathy!
E's Big Girl Bedroom (with a new bed from all her grandparents, and a yellow bedside table, plus under-bed organizers from us) is all set up, and it's now the nicest room in the house. I'm actually hanging out on E's bed right now, because it's so comfortable. My cousin stopped by with a quilt for E, which fits her room perfectly, and now lives folded across the foot of her bed.
W: while we've greatly improved (and Mr. Q is all better), the Cold of Doom lingers in E and me. I have an earache and laryngitis, and am going through Kleenex like they're going out of style, and E is still a big nose-blowy and croaky. I was whining about the earache to my MIL (who is a few days ahead of me with this same plague), and she said the earache cleared up after few days. Bleh. I've picked a date a few days from now, when I'll go to a clinic if my ear still hurts.
AW: we still have two more weeks of vacation. Mr. Q and I had declared that next week we're having do-over Christmas (or rather, we're going to celebrate all 12 of the days of Christmas), and will do all the baking/gingerbread houses that we've missed.
That is really sweet that everybody coordinated for E to have a fresh big-girl room! My kids also got similar presents at about the same age. My son moved out with his bed; and still has a comforter (featuring dinos) that went with it! My daughter's bed continued until she moved away forever this fall, and then it went to a refugee family. Furniture is a lasting gift.
High hopes for the vestiges of the plague passing swiftly.
W/AW: The ants came marching in. Fortunately, only in greater abundance today.
I'm having a moment. The dog found and dismembered a can of (toxic) spray meant to clean computers, so I noticed the (leaking) can on the floor, missing the sprayer parts that were later located in the sofa cushions. SOMEBODY has not properly puppy-proofed the dog room, is all I'm sayin.
Plus, the boat came in later than projected, and apparently crabs were caught, because they were being cooked when the human boyz checked in to say they were still alive and would be home sometime. Am trying to get myself in the proper frame of mind for their return, and to ignore the plaintive barks of the boy left behind and cruelly put outside.
I need to see about doggie day care tomorrow.
Yes, I have the contact info for the emergency vet; but suspect he only dismembered this item. That room needs a good going over; and tonight is probably not the night.
Oh my! I hope the pup continues to feel well, and only dismembered without consuming anything.
And ants? Ugh, my nemeses.
The dog is fine! The men got back with a lot of crab and fish, some of which were paired with leftovers for another dinner that couldn't be beat. (And more of which is headed to freezers, but holy cow, was my kitchen a mess for a time there.)
Apparently, dad was sick for a good part of the adventure, like the part where they fished. But they otherwise had a good time! And I sent my son home with copious leftovers from yesterday, all oriented toward his lovely and patient wife's tastes.
I hope everyone is enjoying a wonderful holiday break. Christmas Eve was wonderful, but exhausting. I slept like a proverbial baby that night. Christmas was good - we all spent the afternoon with MIL at the senior residence. She was so delighted to see my hubby, it was worth all the layers of clothing it required to get us all out. She was as good as I've seen her in weeks.
Our turkey was a dud. Tough old buzzard, that one... oh, well... :) We filled up on stuffing, potatoes, and yummy squash.
I'm home again today, taking a lieu day. Like QWP, we're in a cold snap. It's -38C out there, so I'm happy to stay in.
Did you have your dinner at the seniors' residence, Sue? We did that once, with my grandpa (you could pay to take part in a Christmas dinner). The stuffing somehow tasted like wood shavings and smoke.
Brrr, Sue and QWP!
Sue, glad that you had a wonderful visit with MIL.
Clyde has gone to doggy day care, where hopefully he can burn off some of that excess excitement. I just did an inspection, and moved another half dozen potentially bad items out of the dog's reach -- mostly stuff my husband uses for bicycle maintenance, but just stashes on whatever shelf is handy to him at the moment. The high shelf seems like a better location.
Daughter's off today, going to a movie and hanging out with her friend.
Christmas was lovely. My grandma’s birthday was awesome.
Any of y’all notice a resemblance between my grandma and Yoda? Just me?
Your grandma looks wise, indeed! Love the photo of your son listening raptly. He's so lucky to have a great-grand, and be old enough to remember her stories.
My great-grandmother was born somewhere around 1878, and we were fascinated by her stories. She remembered when her town got its first telephone; when people used horses and buggies, before autos became common. Her sister married the guy who invented the Gillette razor; and they had Albert Einstein as a houseguest during the time he was in Los Angeles, early 1930's. Amazing stories!
My husband has his heart set on fish stew, and no way am I going out to buy the additional seafood his best friend's fave recipe entails. (That would be a negatory on scallops, shrimp, mussels, and etc.) Plus, he gets to skin the fish when he gets home, and supervise the finishing. But I made a kick-ass sauce involving clam juice, tomato, white wine, chopped onion and some fennel (browned), garlic, few pinches of spices, few dashes of hot sauce; and put in potato (as requested) so it can soften up before the fish goes in. The fish pieces will cook in minutes. Rice also at the ready.
And, another good meal was enjoyed by all. :)
Yum!!
You know what's not fabulous? A slab of cold prime rib. Those leftovers are heading for a beef stew today. My husband took all the rest of the fish stew to work for his lunch...
Well, the beef stew was also a hit, many thanks to the crockpot, copious amounts of veggies (onion, celery, carrot, cauliflower), broth, spices, I forget what else, and time. Oh, potato, lentils, and split peas were also in the mix.
Daughter is leaving super-early on Saturday to go back to her home. We'll be visiting her favorite local Japanese restaurant tomorrow, before she goes. It doesn't seem like she was here long enough....
QWP, no, we had a small turkey at home later in the day. My FIL had lunch at the senior residence with MIL before hubby and I arrived. He admitted at supper that the turkey at the residence was better than ours. Just bad luck on our part, I suspect. :)
I loved the photos of your grandma's birthday, Liz!
kathy, the fish stew sounds super yummy! And beef stew!
It's been a blissfully quiet week at our house. My dad and stepmom left yesterday. They are tired, but glad they came for Christmas. My sister and BIL arrived home day before yesterday and found the house in one piece - they were pleased that neither of the seniors had fallen down the stairs.
I said to my sister: "I'm glad it went well, but it doesn't change the fact that it was a bad idea." Yes, I'm a grumpy old goat. They got lucky.
Anyway, it's warmed up to -21C today! QWP, have you warmed up?
I may venture outdoors this afternoon for a walk.
It warmed up to -21 in the middle of the night, but I believe that the temperature is dropping again, in that weird, extreme cold way things go. (Like how the cloudy days are warmer, because there hits a point were it's too frozen for clouds.) I just checked, and the windchill is -43, and so I have zero desire to leave the house today.
I have a small child who would like to register her complaint that it went from too warm to skate outside to too cold to skate outside.
Sue, what a relief that there were no accidents or medical emergencies during this visit! You were entirely right to be a grumpy goat about this.
Sue, so glad things were incident-free, and that you had a good visit! Sorry about the turkey.
I'm sorry, but my mind explodes when you speak of things "warming up" to negative something degrees!
Daughter's having an exciting day doing laundry for free, since it's not free at her apartment...
Our "warm" temperature is even still in the negatives in Fahrenheit! (-21C is -5.8F.) So yes: it's incredibly cold even at its warmest right now.
Hoping for an antiwhine: I just checked next week's forecast, and it promises that the cold snap is ending. (It's more along the lines of -9C/+16F, which is PRIME outdoor skating weather.)
Enjoy the last day of your time with Daughter, Kathy! Sorry that it had to be over so quickly.
Daughter is squishing things into a giant ziploc bag, to take less room in the luggage. I'm pretty sure she's taking home a bit less volume than she brought, but it's still a good thing she got a new giant roller duffel for this trip. I had sufficient excess to provide both boxes and bubble wrap for the breakables she's taking back.
Our trash / green / recycle bins, they overfloweth. Like the rest of my block, we assumed the city notification that holiday pickups would happen one day later applied at Thanksgiving (a national holiday) -- and boy were we surprised when the trucks came on Friday as usual, with few bins on the street. This time, we all put the bins out as usual, and no trucks showed up. Go figure!
16F sounds pretty freakin' cold. xoxo
AW: while there are still a few sniffles, I'm feeling better than I have in a couple of weeks. I'm finally catching up on laundry and dishes!
W: I'm so far behind on my own laundry (why do I only buy clothes that need to be washed on gentle and hung out laid flat to dry?) that I'm forced to wear the pair of skinny pants I accidentally bought last year, which have panels intended to lift the posterior. After a solid week of Christmas snacks, getting into these pants took some acrobatics.
Glad you're feeling better, QWP!
Daughter left at 5 a.m., arrived home fine.
Oh, I just was so cranky in the CVS. There was a problem with checking an order ahead of me, the cashier is young and new, so a manager was called. Meanwhile, the line was growing and growing. Finally, a second cashier showed up and took the next customer, and that's exactly when some woman sailed on in and went past us all to deal with her important lottery ticket related business at the newly opened register, which also took a while. When she finally got done, I put my basket down and called her out. "Ma'am? Ma'am? Excuse me, but you just cut in front of 6 people in line." She mumbled an apology and fled. I said, "Don't do it again," and was too flustered to add the "please."
Well, I guess my cashier kind of appreciated that display of orneriness. Perhaps also my fellow sufferers. I'm not usually such a loudmouth in public, but some people need to learn common decency in such a situation. Also, crankipants.
To clarify, I used the low, calm, stern, authoritative Mom voice; not a screechy angry voice. And my personal appearance is non-threatening, being 5'2", poofier in build than recommended, wearing a dress, and gray of hair.
Well done speaking up, Kathy!
I've gotten at least 60 emails today, the overwhelming majority wanting me to donate money by midnight. Gah.
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