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Monday, July 10, 2017

On the road edition

We're headed out this week on an apartment-hunting expedition, leaving tomorrow.  Host appearances might be scarce, with a side of extremely boring updates, because I bet you're dying to know whether we can find the Trader Joe's, and whether or not the bargain furniture store is a winner.

I've already got my laundry done and laptop charged, just need to print the boarding passes at the appropriate time, secure cash, and remember to line up a taxi.  My fab cousin will be checking in on the cats (we have warned that he might never see them -- but they'll be keeping on eye on the kibble levels, yes indeed). 

It must be more or less the mid-point of summer already!  How time flies.

What's happening at your place?

35 comments:

Liz said...

What did you decide on the dishes dilemma?

kathy a. said...

We shall figure that out later. I will probably get those dishes I want, though, once the dust settles.

Queen of West Procrastination said...

Happy travels, Kathy! Sorry, I was intending to sign up to host this week (since we're now home), but computer time was limited when we were up north.

Hi everyone! I'm back! Unlike how it sounded in the one whine from last week, we had an excellent week at camp, and we have actually come back feeling rested and happier (which has never happened before, travelling with kid). We are also relieved to be home, and back to a bed that doesn't damage our backs, and to air conditioning.

Old Skool/I make bad choices: I managed to take a giant swig of chocolate milk which had gone back, last night. (Lesson learned: when it's chocolate milk, it won't necessarily smell bad. But oh boy, will it ever taste bad.) Mr. Q thought I hadn't had enough to make me sick, but it turned out to be enough to give me severe stomach cramps. Today is a lot better, but my stomach is still pretty dubious with me.

kathy a. said...

Yay about the good week at camp! Boo on the ailment; hope it clears up fast.

Liz said...

Am on hold with my insurance company about the L@bC0rp fiasco. Got a letter from L@bC0rp basically denying all responsibility for billing correctly, they've sent the bill into collection.

UPDATE PROVING WHINING WORKS. Anthem is going to process the bill through again, Annie apparently went through channels to get it done.

kathy a. said...

VICTORY! That is so unacceptable, them screwing up the billing and then threatening bill collection. Great work on cluesticking and finding a way!!! Kudos to Annie.

Yay, daughter got an appointment for the apartment complex she really wants, 10 on Wed. 2 blocks from where she'll be going to school, decent size, very affordable! There are several other appointments, but assuming this place isn't a dump, it fits everything she wants. And then (knock wood) we'll have a lot of time to check the museums, get to know the town, go look at some of the places she wanted to know about for shopping. Also, all the places one can visit adoptable animals (her therapy of choice).

Anonymous said...

Yay Kathy! That sounds terrific.

Mr. Spock has written a strongly worded lawyer's letter to the offending corporation.

I am currently sitting in a Dunkin' Donuts waiting for MM's tap dancing class to finish up.

Thus the suburban mother

Liz on iPhone

Queen of West Procrastination said...

Hooray for success on the booking fiasco, Liz! And hooray for excellent apartment potential, Kathy!

You'll all laugh at the softness of this Canadian. It's 34C/93F outside right now, and I basically refuse to go outside. I attempted to use my grill on the back deck, but it's in direct sunlight right now, and was too hot to touch before I even turned it on, and so I noped my way back indoors, turned up the AC, and used my oven to cook supper.

esperanza said...

93 is hot, QWP! It's 96 here. It was still 90 at 9:30 last night. Yuck. But I've never refused to use the grill. And it's on the west side of the house.

Yay for apartment progress and insurance progress and good camping trips.

AW: I told the Baboo to put on their "helpful pants" at the grocery store, and we actually did ok. I should have invented helpful pants years ago.

Queen of West Procrastination said...

Helpful pants! I love it. I'll try it tomorrow.

Mr. Q wouldn't have refused to use the grill, but he was away and I was less willing to stand outside in the heat.

kathy a. said...

Crap crap crap. One of my heros -- I just got a video "tribute" to her work, recorded a couple days ago at an elite conference, and it took until halfway in to learn she isn't dead yet -- but close, only diagnosed a couple months ago. She literally taught everybody in the entire country to do the part of the work that I love love love the best, and I got to work with her directly for years. Am so out of the loop that I did not hear of her dire illness until now.

Well, I know the person who is guarding the gates and caring for her now, so will try to come up with some words.

Sue said...

Thanks for hosting kathy a. We have family arriving today for the rest of the week, and eldest sister has our time scheduled quite fully, so I won't be online much. *insert eye roll here* She means well, and we always have a great time, but I'm quite fine with gathering for coffee and saying, "So, what does everyone feel like doing today?" I know some folks feel better with an itinerary, but I don't. In any case, fun will be had.

I'm glad your week went well, QWP!!! Sorry about the choc milk. :( It's HOT out your way!!! We're hovering around room temp today.

Yay kathy, for a potential apartment!! I will have fingers crossed for tomorrow's appointment. Sorry to hear about your friend's illness.

Yay for helpful pants, esperanza!!

Sue said...

I'm glad the insurance whining worked, Liz!!

Liz said...

(((Kathy)))

Yay for Helpful Pants!

Mailed the strongly worded Lawyer Letter to L@bC0rp this morning, Next Day Mail, Signature Required. We. Are. Not. Playing. Around.

Ugh.

Queen of West Procrastination said...

Good plan, Liz.

Sue, your room-temp weather has reached my city now. It's been threatening to rain all day, and so we're getting all our yard work done while it's cool outside. I'm also using the oven a lot today, and have all the windows wide open. After yesterday, this is such relief.

Hugs, Kathy. I'm so sorry about your friend.

By the way, if you all can spare a prayer/good thought, my uncle is quite ill and in Ukraine. Their medical system is a mess, and he had some sort of emergency surgery, which was botched, and he ended up with sepsis. Thankfully, he's stable now, and out of ICU, but it's still dangerous, and the spotty nature of care/hospital environment is not helping. At least my cousins were able to fly out and help care and advocate for him.

esperanza said...

It's still 96 here. :)

Prayers for your uncle, QWP. That sounds scary.

The Baboos and I have another adventure planned for tomorrow: city bus to downtown to a museum and lunch and back home.

kathy a. said...

((( QWP ))) Scary, but I am so glad your uncle's doing better.

Esperanza, sounds like quite the adventure tomorrow!

We got a ride pretty early to the airport. Then the flight was delayed, and lunch didn't exactly happen. It's always strange driving in a new town -- and this is one with a lot of one-way streets, meandering highways, just out of town, etc. Saw one apartment; finally had an early dinner, which relieved some crankiness. The B&B, however, is fabulous! Lovely place built in 1892, with gardens and a gazebo, close to restaurants and stuff.

Somebody brought their poor cat on the flight. The cat had strong opinions about the ordeal.

Liz Miller said...

Thinking of your uncle, QWP

Sue said...

((((QWP))) Prayers and good thoughts for your uncle and all your family.

Thinking of you kathy. I'm glad the B&B is so nice!

kathy a. said...

My friend and mentor died today. Many in our community are consumed with memories about how she changed us, and changed our work for the better. I knew this was happening soon, but am all leaky anyway.

We saw 5 properties today, and two are clearly ahead in daughter's ratings. Also the natural and cultural history museum, lunch with a friend who works on campus, and all kinds of places to shop. V. Tired, but the mood is a lot better today.

esperanza said...

Oh, kathy a. I"m sorry, and leaky is completely ok.

AW: Baboos and I successfully navigated the bus (exciting!) and the museum (disappointing) and the pizza shop in a funky area (great pizza, cheap lunch, sitting outside was not so fun).

W: we returned home around 1:00 and took the rest of the afternoon to recuperate.

W: In my case, it is attributable to sleeping poorly after 3:45, when I was awakened by Mini screaming "Mama!!!" in her sleep, at top volume. She didn't believe me until Mr. E corroborated my story.

Sue said...

((((kathy)))) I'm sorry to hear about your mentor and friend. And yes, leaky is entirely appropriate. I'm glad the apartment hunting is going well.

esperanza, that sounds like a great day. I hope you had a better sleep last night!

Liz said...

((((Kathy))))

Sorry about the sleep, Esperanza, but glad you had a mostly good day!

Queen of West Procrastination said...

I'm so sorry, Kathy. So many hugs.

kathy a. said...

We're finally home! It was a good trip, and she's made her apartment choice. The one tour today was late, 6:30, so we had the entire day to waste. We therefore visited the pet adoption center, visited a couple of large parks with hiking paths, had Japanese for lunch, drove around some more, did more shopping + locating of stores, probably found the right mattress and a sofa-bed, stopped for tea, etc. Then we scooted on out to the airport, arriving 2 hours before the flight as instructed, and therefore had time for pizza and free wifi before boarding.

Thanks for the thoughts about my friend. xoxo

kathy a. said...

Shoot, I killed teh blog again. Sorry!

Mews: The cats are very happy we're home again, although they spent last night and most of today snubbing me for being so rude and going away. That's nermal for cats.

Apartment: Apparently when one lives at home after college, saving up the bucks while working, one lacks a recent rental history, and someone has to co-sign. Dad was volunteered, and happily accepted the challenge, so good for him! The form is on his chair. (heh.)

Sorry for blabbing on so much, and yet not saying a lot. This was a full week. xoxo

p_k said...

Still no summer schedule. We finally negotiated an agreement for this week a couple of hours before the exchange. Toddler finally pooped yesterday after 9 days of withholding. The dentist says I need to have 7-10 days of "no activity" after getting my tooth pulled, so we postponed that until next week when older kids will be around to help with toddler.

The sticking point is the DV assessment. STBX is calling places and asking them if they'll do an assessment when he already had one somewhere else, and reporting that he's being told no because they want to respect the other organization. He has never had a DV assessment. He had an anger management assessment. Two years ago. They recommended anger management classes for 16 weeks, he went to two and decided it was stupid and quit. There have been 3 other recommendations for the DV assessment since then. He suggested that he should go finish the AM classes and that should suffice. They are not at all the same thing. Argh.

kathy a. said...

That sounds like the kind of "sticking point" where he just wants you to fold. But this schedule only happens if he cooperates with the recommendations, right? I'd suggest talking to your lawyer about this. There is a problem with domestic violence, and he is still refusing to deal with it, as has been repeatedly recommended.

xoxo

Liz said...

PK, because that recommendation came from the GAL, can she get it enforced by a judge? A court-order is something he can't neglect to do.

kathy a. said...


Exactly, Liz. I think he's wanting you, PK, to fold so he does not have to face a judge. Your lawyer will have a better idea how this works than I do, but wanting to wiggle out of the GAL recommendation because he's sure he's "just fine" is not going to look good to a judge.

If this guess is accurate, he may escalate before he agrees to do the DV assessment. He's already shopping around for a friendlier person to do an assessment -- which shouldn't be how it works. So he may say (or may not) that everything is up for litigation if you do not give in on this point. Just speculating because he is a bully, where you are concerned, and that's putting it politely. xoxo

Queen of West Procrastination said...

I have no advice, pk, but I hope that you consult with your lawyer about this. Your STBX's behaviour continues to be concerning. (Hugs)

Kathy, it sounds like things have worked out well for your daughter's big move! I'm glad that you and she could go and tour around for a few days.

Sorry I've been so quiet this week! We've been fully into summer vacation here. One day, we rode the bus downtown, helped release ladybugs into the downtown park (as arranged by the parks department), and then spent the rest of the morning at the children's library. Today, we're going to make mango-lime-coconut ice cream, using an ancient electric ice cream maker (which my in-laws found stored in their garage, and assumed it was ours; no one else in the family claimed it, and so we'll take it!). Next week, Mr. Q will be running a day camp all week, and so we're getting in our summer fun when we can.

kathy a. said...

Free ice cream maker! Lime in the coconut, plus mango! Ladybugs! Library! That all sounds great.

So, guess you both will be running day camps next week. ;)

I just found the place on my daughter's campus that offers crafty stuff -- she was hoping at some point to work some creativity in amongst the studying law. It really is good she is starting a few years after college, so now she knows to find de-stressing, life-balancing things to do.

Our tour of the law library encouraged me considerably -- unlike back in my day, there was art! Much of the first floor of the library was devoted to non-legal books and DVD's and magazines! The school itself is a modern, open, welcoming building; and the natural history and culture museum is literally next door, also featuring a garden. And her apartment will be a couple long blocks away, best commute ever.

esperanza said...

I've been quiet too...funeral yesterday for a 94 yo, WW2 vet who was a German POW for several months, just as the war ended in Europe. Amazing. And with a very messed up family. So I'm tired from dealing with that, and the service, and Baboo arrangements in the midst of it.

kathy a. said...

Oh, Esperanza. I am very glad for the memorial and tribute to this vet, but it must have taken a lot.. oxxoxo

esperanza said...

Well, if people could arrange to die during the school year, it would really help me out.

AW: the funeral home guys were fun to hang out with. They have the best stories. Most of them worked with Mr. E a lot before we moved, so we felt comfortable with each other.