The saga continues

Some new information on the assistant saga. I guess my boss had asked our in-house IT guy to see if he could find out if the company that runs our order system software has any way to look into it and see if he did any work in the system for the 5.25 hours he said he did that Sunday. Apparently they have a way to look in from the back end and the logs and he did not do any work in the system on that Sunday (as I already knew). As this information was coming into my boss, she and I were messaging about something else related to him.

At the end of the work day yesterday our IT migrated all our company shared files to a new system. Long story short my boss had thought the folder that I share with the assistant was not going to be moved to the new system, so I didn't do any of the steps we had been emailed about company wide, to prepare for this change. Well, this morning I try to access the shared file folder (this is where I drop all the work files assistant is supposed to work on for me) and couldn't access it. Come to find out this folder was part of the change, but my work "desktop" was not set up to see these folders. An hour so with our IT working on it and they got it added.  

Yesterday asst. has messaged us that he was going to work in the evening, yesterday, for his 2 hours, instead of during the day. Well, it's very likely, since that change to file sharing folders got made, when he logged in he also couldn't access our shared folder last night....boss say "so, was he able to work?" I said "good question!" I looked in our order entry system for yesterday and he did not enter anything, yet he shows being clocked in for 2 hours on his timecard. On Tues morning I had looked to see what work he got done Monday for his 2 hours and he had done a fair amount. Yesterday I didn't look to see what work he got done Tuesday, but just looked now. He did what would take about 15-20 minutes (at most) to enter into the system.  

I think boss felt better now that she has some actual proof that he didn't work that Sunday. She said she wanted to make SURE before she accused him of lying/not working. I'm hoping that was now what she needed to finally get rid of him.  I assumed when he logs in to do his 2 hours later this morning he wasn't going to be able to find the files. After he had been logged in for 35 minutes I was just starting to type a msg to my boss that he's been logged in 35 min. and no work done, when he msg's me that he can't access the folder....so I explain about the change. I so wanted to say "um..didn't you find this same issue when you tried to work last night? What did you work on?" But, I didn't say anything. That is for my boss to deal with. I just gave him the info to contact our IT and then let her know he had contacted me about it, 35 min after he supposedly started working.

I'm still not holding my breath that she will fire him. She'll probably give him yet another warning.

I haven't heard any bad news on my mom. No news is good news. I've tried calling her room 2x this morning, in between my dealing with IT and other work issues, but no answer. Now I have a meeting to do that will probably last an hour.

Mom's turn

Well, Covid finally caught up with my mom. The m/c called me after dinner and said she tested positive for Covid, but so far is doing fine. No fever and she had eaten all her dinner. Hopefully it will be a mild case. I will give the nurses station a call later this morning, after they have breakfast, to see how she's doing. It really is kind of a helpless feeling for me, but I'm glad she's where she is and will be cared for 24/7 and that she never got it while she was living in independent living, that's for sure. 

Not much else new. DH got all the fence lights up and the manger scene. We have a big battery operated light for it he hangs in the tree branch above it. Seems to light well and the battery lasts. I think it's a rechargeable kind. Today he will do the inflatables. The hard part of the manger (and will be same for the inflatables) is the ground is pretty frozen now and hard to pound the stakes in. LOL. 

I signed up for Hulu (with ads) yesterday on their special they were having for .99/mo for a year. Plus I get $1 back with Rakuten, so $11 bucks for a whole year. There are a lot of old series/sitcoms on there. Last night I started watch the Mary Tyler Moore show. We always watched that growing up and was one of my parents favorite, along with The Bob Newhart show. (I see that show is available to watch on Prime, so I will have to watch that, as well). Now I've had the Mary Tyler Moore theme song playing in my head, LOL. 

I checked on our passports status. DH's (a renewal) has been processed and his passport is being printed. Mine just says still in process.

Here's another weird thing I can't figure out. I just ordered that Christmas tree from Kohls. For payment I chose Paypal and then used a Visa CC I have as my default payment. When I look at the order history, to see that it has now shipped, the order shows my payment method as Discover with the last 4 digits of a card#. I do not have a Discover card, nor is that the last 4 digits of the Visa card I did use. And now that the order is complete/shipped, it's not showing as charged yet on my card. You'd think it would at least be showing as pending. Did someone else just pay for my tree?! LOL. I'm sure it will show up on my card, but for now sure looks strange. I just googled it and apparently Paypal is part of the Discover network, so that's likely why it's looking that way, but still odd that the charge hasn't posted to my card yet.

I just called the nurses desk at m/c and mom is still doing ok. She said she just had breakfast and is now out walking around the place a bit. Said she is still a little tired, but better and I guess she had a bit of a raspy voice for a day or two, but that is gone. Hoping this end up being a mild case for her.

Glad Monday is done

It was definitely a "Monday" day yesterday. First my boss messed up payroll really well, haha. Last week she was canceling the PTO days of those who had put in for the week between Christmas and New Years. Well, on 2 people she accidentally cancelled the days they requested/took in 2022! The system was trying to credit the people (I was one of them) back the PTO days. Neither she nor I could figure out how to fix it, so I was on hold forever with our payroll company and finally they fixed it somehow. Then our accounting program wouldn't work, so we had to have our IT fix that. After all that I was ready to be done. 

DD requested the recipe I made for that breakfast sausage and egg casserole. Her dh wanted her to make it and then they could have a breakfast to take to work all week. They have to leave so early in the morning, they usually just take something with them to eat after they get there. I heated my leftovers up for dinner last night and I don't know if I was just really hungry or what, but it tasted even better reheated.

DH got the Christmas lights put up on the house and the shop. Also did a little gutter cleaning of removing some pine needles while he was up there on the ladder. Today he is going to do the fence and tomorrow the inflatables.  I had ordered him a book for Christmas. It's out of print, so it's a used copy. I'd been watching prices for close to a year and they were like $80 cheapest, but I found one for $55 that said "good" condition. I opened the package to look at it yesterday. It looks brand new. And boy was it packaged well. You'd think it was made of glass, LOL.

Now it's my lower back hurting this morning. The pain just seems to rotate around my back, lately. Maybe because I didn't sit at my desk all week long last week and then after sitting in my chair all day working yesterday, I'm feeling it.

Amos loves sleeping under the Christmas tree. He had a busy day outside, supervising dh with the lights

I need to do some more ancestry research. So, when dd was in Scotland and went to the town (village?) my grandfather was born in, they toured the old castle of the town. It was built in like 1400's. Not being used anymore, just castle remains that can be toured/viewed. Anyway, dd had sent a few pics while touring it and one had some history with the family name....huh...my great great grandmother was from that last name. I wonder if she has history back to those Lords in the castle? Would be interesting to find out, if I can, on ancestry.

Christmas decor

We decided to just keep the Lowe's wreaths. From the distance they look ok. So....with the money saved from purchasing a Costco membership and the extra cost of the wreaths....I ordered another Christmas tree! LOL. This will be #4. It's a pencil tree that I ended up ordering from Kohls. I ordered this 7 1/2 ft tree that is frosted and has red berries. I don't plan to add any decor to it. I just want to put it in my entryway, near the stairs, in place of the regular fake tree I have there. On sale and w/coupon code it was $96. (Reg price $345 - yikes). Plus I earned $15 in Kohl's cash which I will put towards either a tree skirt for it, or towards the jeans I've been wanting (if they are still on sale)

I want one of those tree collars or boxes. For a collar or box, I guess I'll need to wait until I can measure the size of the base, as it's not in the description details. This is the tree that is there and it just doesn't fit "Christmas" haha.

I really don't want to work today. It really didn't feel like a whole week off, either. And today is payroll processing day, so I have to jump right in. Oh well. I'm not sure I mentioned it, but I was checking my work emails one day last week and there was an email that our office will be closed between Christmas and New Years, this year. I had already put in to take it off, but now I'll be able to save my PTO days for another time.

I suppose dh will get started with the outside Christmas lights and decor today. He's working up his ambition to go up and down the ladder umpteen times.

End of hunting season yesterday and I look out our back window yesterday afternoon and see 6 nice looking deer come over the river bank and head through Mr and Mrs backyard. Good job, deer! 

The end of the week off

Boy, it sure doesn't feel like I've had a week off. It was very nice having the help decorating the house. We got most of it done yesterday. DD and SIL left at 3pm, so we got most of the day with them and they got home by 9pm their time, so will have today to get stuff done or relax before they go back to work tomorrow.

I'm really thinking I should bite the bullet - pay the $60 for a Costco membership and go get 6 of those nice wreaths and see if I can return the really crappy ones I got at Lowe's. I really didn't want those crappy ones, but that's all I could see they had (we even went inside to look) and felt if I didn't get them, then we wouldn't have any, since we aren't likely to go shopping again for at least a week. But, then we went to Costco after Lowe's and I really should have just bought them and made dh drive back over to Lowe's so I could return. Now I'm thinking we should just go in to the city today and do it. We'd both be happier. DH thinks those wreaths we got are totally crappy, too. I would think Lowe's would let me return them. Their return policy online says holiday items just have to be returned before the holiday and it's only been 48 hours since I got them. I'll see what dh thinks when he gets up......

I tried the breakfast casserole recipe I found yesterday morning. It was pretty tasty, though I think if I made it again, I'd cut down on the sausage by about half. I'd prefer a more even ratio of sausage to egg, LOL. But it had good flavor and dh had seconds and later, while the dish of it was still sitting on the counter, cooling down, he took a couple bites out of it.

I was so exhausted by the time the kids left yesterday afternoon. I was taking a nap by 3:15 LOL. Amos came out of his hiding spot in my closet and was ready for a nap, too. I woke up at 4:30 and it was so quiet in the house, I thought maybe dh had decided to go outside and start doing the outside decor, but he had fallen asleep sitting in his desk chair, LOL. Dinner was just heated up turkey dinner leftovers. 

My $5 Temu purchase of Nutcracker banners look cute on our patio posts. Plus they take up no room when rolled up for storage. Ok, so I didn't realize dh did hang up one of the wreaths (the rest go on the fence). Ya know, it looks fine, I think I'll live with them. But, next year I'm going to Costco for the wreaths!

 

 

Good Black Friday

Our visit with mom went ok. They have a couple of covid cases in memory care again, so masks were preferred, per the sign at the door. We just stayed in her room visiting and while there one of the staff stopped by with a guy from a lab who was giving all the residents covid tests, so they did that quickly. So, it was good to know they test them, I didn't realize they were doing that to all of them. Mom was a bit "out of it" in terms of she didn't really realize this is where she lives and told dd she also had a second place she stays. I'm pretty sure she had no clue dd was her granddaughter, even though I introduced her that way and dd was calling her grandma. I was looking through her clothes to add on the sticky labels I got and didn't see her 2 new cardigan sweaters. Not in her hamper either. Oh, that made me mad and I was going to talk to the staff in the office when we left, but a few minutes later I realized they were on her bed under a small blanket she had bundled in a ball.

I wanted to stop and get milk so that we then probably won't need to go grocery shopping until next weekend. I also needed to stop at Lowe's to get wreaths and a replacement string of garland for the stairs that the lights went out. DD had brought some of their stuff (dog food, etc) in this neat collapsible bins that they had got at Costco. DH really liked it. She said she uses them when she picks up her groceries and we thought it would be nice to have some to use to put all our grocery bags in and then they collapse and stack when not in use. So, we went to Costco after Lowes and decided to get milk there to save another stop. They have regular milk and organic milk and I got the organic, but realized when we got home it says "A2" milk on it. I don't know what that is, LOL. Linda, I know you always get that - what is it? haha.

I was mad I didn't get the wreaths at Costco. They were $5 more and 10x better than the crappy thin ones we got at Lowes. Next year I'll try to remember Costco. I don't have a membership (we went in with DD's) but supposedly if dd got us a costco gift card you can go in without a membership to shop and pay with the card. What I don't know is, say the total is more than the gift card, will they let you pay with another method if you are not a member? After SIL showed his membership card to the checker I was able to pay with my credit card.

For being Black Friday (dh kept calling it Good Friday and then we were all calling it that) none of the stores were too busy. Even Costco was ok for me. No lines at the check out, which was awesome. We got 4 of the stackable bins. Then SIL wanted to go to Sportsman's Warehouse and of course dh was all for that. DH had seen a nice set of binoculars advertised that were almost half off, so we ended up getting those for him, along with some ammo they had 30% off, making the bullets like .05 cents each, which is a really good price. SIL found the magazines he'd been looking for last time they were here. He can't buy them in his state or even order them to deliver to his state, so he was happy to finally get them.

We stopped for an early dinner. Well the guys got burger meals, dd and I just got a little snack. After we got home we got the big 12 ft tree brought downstairs and started assembling and dd and I got it all fluffed. We also got the garland attached to the stairs, so all that was a really big help having an extra set of hands.

Being so busy and then after we started watching a Hallmark Christmas movie, I forgot to eat dinner. During the movie dd got up and got us all a slice of pie, so I had that, but when I went to bed I realized I'd had no dinner. SIL and dh had turkey sandwiches. I ended up with a headache the second half of my sleep, probably from not eating. After the Hallmark movie we just put on The Santa Claus, a good old favorite.

This morning I'm going to try making the breakfast casserole recipe. They plan to head back home this afternoon. We'll like start decorating the tree before they leave. No one is up yet. I had to go ahead and get up at my normal 7am. Amos wanted me up and I wanted to get rid of the headache, which is mostly gone now after a couple Tylenol and a cup of coffee. The set of Christmas mugs I just ordered a few days ago from Wayfair are already delivering today.

The day after

We had a very nice Thanksgiving day. Breakfast was just whatever you could find/wanted. I put the turkey in the oven at 10:30 and it was ready at 2:15. It had the little pop up thermometer in it. Last year was the first year I did not make the stuffing before and stuffed some inside the bird. We had to go pickup my mom and I wanted to shorten the cooking time, so then I just made the stuffing at the end, which I actually liked better than making it before I put the bird in the oven and then have to reheat it at the end. So, I didn't stuff it again this year.  Oh...and my 2nd year of defrosting the turkey in a higher sided pan so no leaked juice spilled inside my fridge and on the floor as I'm trying to pull it out the baking sheet......not one drop of juice in the pan again, LOL. 

We ate around 2:45 or so. Whew was I so tired by the time we were done eating. I had no energy. We sat awhile but around 4 dd and I got up and started cleaning up. She has always been the dishes/kitchen cleaner after these big meals, even when she was a kid. It's awesome, LOL. While I got the rest of the turkey off the bird for leftovers, she had most of the kitchen clean by then.

We all took a nap afterwards. We had kind of planned to start on some Christmas decorating but I don't think either of us really had the gumption, even after the naps. So, we had SIL "cast" their Scotland trip pictures to our tv and looked at those in a slide show. DH called our old "good neighbor", as he always does, to wish him a Happy Thanksgiving.

Amos is not very happy having a dog visitor here, but he's gradually coming around. He spends most of his time up on a shelf in my closet as his safe spot. 

The cake was such a hit we all ended up having cake for dessert instead of pumpkin pie, LOL. I'm thinking of having a slice of pie for breakfast, LOL.

Today we are going in to see my mom. I decided we'll go in after her lunch time. To have time to visit with her before she goes to lunch (usually they start heading them to the dining room at 11:15) we'd have to get out of here by 9:30 and I didn't think any of us (especially dh) would want to get up and ready to go by then. So, we'll leave here about noon and get there after she's had lunch, but before a 1pm activity would start. 

I also want to stop at either Home Depot or Lowes and pick up the fresh Christmas wreaths we put along our fence and at the front of our patio wood beam. I think we got last years at Home Depot and they had them cheaper there. Hopefully the store won't be too crowded for Black Friday. I remember the first year we moved here, they came over for Thanksgiving and we went into the city on Black Friday because they wanted to buy a washer and dryer set for their new home, at Lowes. No sales tax here, so they saved almost 10%. Anyway we went there and a couple other stores and were just amazed at how empty the stores were! So different from a BF where we came from. But every year since then, that I have been in the city on BF, it's never been like that again.

At least dinner will be easy tonight - leftovers.

Even dd mentioned that getting the dinner made was a lot easier not also having to try to have my mom here. I can't imagine how exhausted I would have been yesterday (even more than I was). Not to mention then having to deal with the sundowning right after dinner. And no more stressing out so bad having her here overnight, where she would wander. It's also so comforting to know she's in a safe place, being taken care of this year.

I hear people getting up. Time to go.

Happy Thanksgiving

The kids arrived at 1:20 yesterday and had an easy drive over the 3 mountain passes, no snow. It should be the same going back.

I was busy up until around noon. Got the pumpkin pie made and the cake frosting made and then the frozen cake frosted. It is easier to frost frozen, that's for sure. My back was hurting quite a bit by noon, so I took a short nap.

The red velvet cake is really really good! Picky dh even liked it. Very moist and not like a box cake much at all. The cream cheese frosting was very good, as well.

She loved her gifts, especially the Highland cows puzzle. She sent a picture of it to her friend they went to Scotland with and her friend replied just as dd thought she would "oh that is a perfect gift! When you decide to start it can I come over to help you? I'll bring wine!" LOL. I also got her a book set of the Outlander book series she wants to read and a coffee mug that has her name and "World's best daughter" on it (an inside joke with her). From my mom (who I know would of course get her something if she could/remembered) I got her an Amazon gift card.

I think I'm ready for turkey cooking and eating today. My list sure has helped. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wednesday prep

Yesterday was productive. I got the 2 red velvet cake rounds made and then wrapped in plastic wrap and then foil, as soon as they cooled down just a bit, and into the freezer. According to the recipe video I watched this is supposed to help seal in the moistness of the cake and also make it easier to frost. I'll take them out tomorrow morning and frost. Of course dh walks into the kitchen as I'm pouring the batter into the pans and says "why is is red? gross!" I said it just tastes like cake, mostly chocolate cake and just has red food coloring. I'm sure he won't even try a piece tomorrow after dinner, so I guess he can just have ice cream or have some of the cookies for dessert.

I got a wash load done, make a batch of peanut butter cookies, kept the kitchen cleaned as I went along baking. Took out the chicken to thaw for tomorrow nights "birthday" dinner. Did a bit of vacuuming and wrapped dd's birthday presents. 

The weather was sunny and mid 40's, so after lunch dh decided to take the car into town to fill up with gas and then he washed it when he got home and changed the oil that is was due for. He kept busy all day. 

My mom gave me a call just after lunch and she sounded really good. I'm glad her phone is back on. I texted uncle that her phone is working again.

DD and SIL said they were getting on the road this morning at 5:30 their time, so they should be here around 1:30 or 2pm our time. I messaged her about half hour ago, when I got up, but she hasn't replied. Maybe she is driving this first part of the trip. They are driving their new (used) truck they just got. They said they went and had new/better tires put on it. SIL is always very prepared for road trips, which I have always admired about him. 

I see the jeans dh wears are on Black Friday sale with Walmart for $13. Can't beat that price, so this is the time to buy some more to replace his wearing out pairs. When he gets up I'll ask him how many he wants/needs. I've had like $20 rewards to spend at Wayfair for a long time and finally ordered something yesterday: a set of 4 Christmas coffee mugs. I have thing on my kitchen wall (a rooster) that hangs 4 mugs and yesterday I was like "I need some Christmas mugs for it!". So I found some that were $27. (cheapest they had).

Today I will be making the pumpkin pie, making the cake frosting and frosting the cake. I'm also going to make some jello for tomorrow's dinner.  I just went to get the frozen pie crust out of the freezer to get thawed. This is a "deep dish" one by Pillsbury, I don't think I've gotten before. Well, good to read the directions I guess because it says to bake from frozen. 

Our bonus room is slow going, LOL. (4 1/2 years so far) At the beginning of this year I finally got the carpeting put in. That was the last we've done with it. It was a big expense, as it all seems to be. Now we have decided it's finally time for the pool table we've been wanting since we designed the house. We found one we love, so I'm going to order it, with installation delivery added on. But, first we need the pool table light and to get it installed (dh should be able to do this himself) and I have now ordered the light from an Etsy shop. But, it's coming from Bulgaria. It shipped out today, but will take like a month to get here. The shipping estimate says "between Dec 15th and Jan 8th" LOL. We don't want the pool table set up until we have this light up first. This is the one I picked out, but in "rust" color.

Even with the pool table addition there is still so much to finish in this room. Some kind of seating/couch to watch the big tv (at least I saved there with taking my mom's big tv) and some side chairs for another seating area. The bar area needs to be finished. It has a "bar" but no countertop and no shelves or anything back there. It's pre plumbed in the wall to have a small sink, so something will also have to be built to hold the sink. And we want a small fridge/cooler. Maybe by the time I'm ready to retire it will be done, LOL.

It's cake day

It sure was nice having yesterday off. I even slept in until 7:40. My back is feeling mostly fine (unless I start doing housework! LOL) so I just did a little work, took a break, did a little work. I got our bed sheets washed and remade. Got the toilets cleaned and also steam mopped our shower floor. A load of dishes washed in the dishwasher last night that are ready to get put away this morning. DH washed a few windows - all the ones the cat sits at and somehow get his nose and paw prints on. I went around and emptied all the small wastebaskets.

Today is red velvet cake making day! I hope it turns out good :) I will be freezing it and then taking it back out and putting the frosting on tomorrow. Tomorrow I will also make a pumpkin pie.

Someone must have noticed my mom's phone unplugged and plugged it back in, as I tried again (twice) yesterday and it was ringing again, but she wasn't in her room. I was kind of thinking to myself, the staff is obviously in her room everyday and someone cleaning weekly, and after me asking 2-3 times to check her phone, you'd think they could glance at her phone and see if it's still plugged in every so often. So, someone must have. Maybe I'll get through to her today.

Our cloudy gray weather also went away yesterday. It was some "inversion" that I didn't realize was also causing our air quality to not be so good, but I see this morning, per the weather app, it is back to good/normal. So far so good with the weather for dd and sil's drive over here.

Mrs Neighbor always decorates our 3 mailboxes out at the entrance of our street for Christmas and she texted yesterday afternoon she took advantage of the good weather to decorate them, sorry it's before Thanksgiving. I replied Thank you! :)  Doesn't bother me a bit if it's before Thanksgiving. 

I also want to cut some layers back into my hair after I take a shower this morning. Last time I cut a bunch of length off, I didn't put any layers back in. If I don't have it back in a pony tail, it looks much better with layers.

Preparing

I remembered to pull the turkey out of the freezer and it's now in the fridge. Between that and another loaf of bread being removed from the freezer, the freezer isn't feeling so stuffed now. Of course now, with an almost 18lb bird, the fridge is feeling stuffed, but I do still have a little room.

I had bought a loaf of cinnamon brioche bread. It was ok as toast, but I had it last night for french toast and it's really good for that. I put the rest of the loaf in the freezer to save for adding to breakfast when dd/sil are here.

I did dusting yesterday. I even dusted our wood stairs. Amazing how much dust gets on them. My new set of drinking glasses arrived in the mail (in 2 days!) and I really like them. Nice weight and no ridges in the side of the glass for decoration. I almost always have carnation instant breakfast powdered drink mixed with milk and have to stir it all up in the glass and it's nicer to stir when the glass is all smooth inside. No chocolate sticking to the sides in the crevices. 

I got my desk top cleaned off when I dusted. It wasn't as bad as it usually gets, with paperwork and whatnot. I was going to vacuum some today, but I think I'm going to have to wait until tomorrow. My stupid back! After I got done bent over/backing myself down the stairs while I dusted, my back did a freeze up on me. Some advil, a little heating pad and a nap later, it was fine. But during the night last night I woke up with it hurting so bad. It reminded of the days when I first hurt it from the car accident. I got into a position that wasn't as bad and fell asleep and it was pretty good this morning, but I know vacuuming is always the worst for my back. 

My dd said she thinks she will try to get most of her Christmas decorating done today, since they will be here for Thanksgiving and weekend. That way when she gets home it's all decorated for Christmas season. Otherwise she'd have to wait until the first weekend in December and lose another week of enjoying the decor out.

I thought I posted this earlier today, but I guess not! Better late than never.

Simple Saturday stuff

I got what I wanted to get done with work, before being off a week, by early afternoon yesterday, so that was helpful to my mood. That made the rest of the afternoon go smoothly and nothing rushed to try to get done before I'm off. I spent a little time putting some work in the shared folder for the assistant, so if he does work next week, there will be plenty for him to do. I set my out of office and signed out at 4:30 on the dot. 

I've got my daily to-do list/reminders on paper. Mostly the reminder to take the turkey out of the freezer and move to the fridge on Sunday morning. Always fun trying to make room in the fridge for a big turkey and try to have a fridge full of food getting ready for guests, LOL. But, it always gets done. I did finally get smart last year, and put the turkey in a deeper pan to thaw. I always put in on a baking tray with the low sides...and every dang time, some juices come out while thawing and as I'm trying to carefully lift the heavy turkey out the juices spill out into the fridge, on the floor....Why it took me all these years to get smarter about it, I have no idea. But of course, last year, I pull out the deep pan the turkey defrosted in and not one drop of juice was in it, LOL.

Not too much housecleaning is needed to prepare for guests (dd and sil). Just the usual cleaning, which I'll have plenty of time before they get here Wednesday. Other than my desk top (LOL) my house is never messy or cluttered, so I will just need to dust, vacuum, and mop.

I was looking at my AmEx account/card online and they were offering an upgrade to a different card. Sounded good with the benefits/rewards, until I got down to the bottom fine print. Nope, not paying $95/yr (after the first year) to have the card. No thank you. I've actually been considering just to close the card, so I think I will do that. I don't use it anymore. I'm also planning to cancel my Target credit card.

Well, dh had another late night talking on the phone with his buddy, so he's still sleeping. I'm going to go get the dusting stuff and do the dusting upstairs. That's quiet work :)

Friday tidbits

I looked at the time yesterday afternoon, to see if it was 4:30 (my quitting time) yet. It was 4:20. I was pretty much disgusted with the work day, so I just got up and was done for the day. Not that it really matters, as I'm salary and don't have to clock in and out, but I just didn't care if I was logging off 10 minutes early. 

I'm glad it's Friday and that I also have all next week off. It's much needed right now. Hopefully when I return to work on Monday, the 27th, I'll have a better disposition.

DH had ordered a shotgun from an online gun store last week. Something for home defense. It has to get shipped to someone with an FFL (Federal Firearms License) and picked up from that person, who runs the NICS check, and then you can have your firearm. DH found a guy who has the FFL and lives in our town and was able to go pick it up yesterday afternoon. This guy charges $35 for his services. It was good for dh to get out of the house and of course, while the NICS background check took all of a few minutes, he spent a good couple hours chatting with the guy. He found out the guy also restores old guns, so dh is going to have him restore that old rifle he got from his dad when he was a kid. We'll drop it off to the guy, next time we are in town. Saves an hour drive to take it to the other guy he had heard of.

Ever since I broke like 3 drinking glasses over the past year, we've been feeling like we run out of glasses before it's time to run the dishwasher. I finally just ordered a set of 4 from Amazon for like $13.I have been doing better (knock on wood) at not dropping things like glasses and cartons of milk, etc. My new cake pans arrived yesterday. Though I will say, that in 40 years of using my glass cake pans, I have never had a cake burn before. They've always come out fine, other than when I didn't grease it well enough and they occasionally stuck. Usually I butter and flour them. With the pans I am going to use parchment paper.

Apparently I accidentally got the chest freezer too stuffed on Sunday and the lid/door must not have been shut sealed. Wed evening dh went to get a loaf of bread out of it, and realized it was only about half frozen. He adjusted some and then everything went back to getting frozen properly. He was also grumbling at me that I'm not leaving space for air to circulate. I said well, not much I can do about it for this week - I needed all the stuff for Thanksgiving and starting Sunday, when I can take the biggest turkey out, and then a bunch more out as the week progresses, it will get back to normal.

I just tried to call my mom to say hi and she must have unplugged or disconnected the phone again. I hate to keep asking the staff to fix her phone all the time....I'll be seeing her next Friday, so I suppose it can wait until then. I'm kind of out of energy from this week to deal with it today. 

Well, as always with work, there are things to get done before going on vacation/time off. I'll be glad when today is done.

Rules for me, but not for thee

I really despise wasting my time for no purpose. And spending my time tracking what work the assistant is doing - or in our case not doing - and then not firing him when it was so blatant that he lied, is a huge waste of my time. What a crock of shit, to put it mildly. Because he was hired as a "favor" to this mentorship group, my boss does not feel she can fire him. Why, after repeated issues, I don't really know. She said she didn't know what to do, because of this. She said "if it were anyone else, they'd be fired". I said, well there's your answer and explanation to the mentorship. Add in minority status and welp, he's apparently got a free ride to be a shitty employee and lie and steal time/pay, where no "anyone else" would have that.

I'm angry and frustrated. This isn't (or wasn't supposed to be) a "mentorship" job. This was an actual job she posted out to the real world, that she said she wanted someone with some accounting background. I am not spending anymore of my time keeping track of what work he is going or not doing, when the only consequence is absolutely nothing. I am disappointed in my boss, for about the first time ever. Because the work he's not getting done eventually falls back on me to get done and the quality of work is my responsibility, in the end. 

How demoralizing for the rest of us employees, (you know those of us that classify as "anyone else") to be expected to be honest and responsible and work the hours we are getting paid for, while this guy gets to skate by, time and again. My dd said the company she works for even has a warning when they log into their time cards that falsifying hours worked will result in disciplinary action and possible civil or criminal liabilities.

To catch a thief (or liar)

OMG - this assistant is just unbelievable - a slick one. He's using an excuse that my boss really has no way to prove he's lying....so now what does she do? She asked him for specifics on what he worked on Sunday. He said he entered all the invoices from this one mfg report and worked on some payments. She replied, there is nothing in the system from Sunday at all. He then replied oh gosh, you are right. I'm not seeing any of the invoices I added either! I don't know what happened, but I swear I entered them all. 

B.S!!!!! This has never ever happened before. I can't tell you how many invoices I have added over the years and our receptionist adds most of them (while she's waiting for phone to ring, haha)  and she has added way more than I ever have over the years and not once has any we input just mysteriously disappeared. Basically, my boss is left with accepting his story or calling him a liar - which she can't really prove either way.

I just emailed her this morning saying I think his story is BS and there is no way he entered approximately 135 invoices from this one big report and not a single one of the invoices posted. I also detailed out to her why I think he is lying about the payments he says he posted, though he was very vague in his reply regarding the payments, so I told she should ask for more details, because what he says is likely not to match up with reality.

I was feeling pretty defeated and disgusted and then my boss just messaged me with screenshots of pages from the report he said he entered on Sunday. She was seeing, in our system, that he had already entered all these back on 10/13! When I had looked at the report he said he entered, I only looked up the first couple of invoices on page 1...that were not in the system, so I assumed nothing from the report was in the system. I didn't look further. Boss delved further into the report and realized other than the first few it all got entered already. I looked and sure enough, she was right! He started entering the invoices from this report on 10/12 and finished up on 10/13. 

So, we now have our proof that he lied. He did not enter all of these on Sunday and they somehow mysteriously aren't showing up when we run the report for invoices entered on Sunday. I'm waiting to hear back from boss, but assuming that is the final nail in the coffin for him. It better be!

Stay tuned.....

Assistant and a mystery charge

The assistant saga got a bit more interesting yesterday. About 45 min after he didn't log in for his Tuesday work time, my boss texted him. He called her right back. Here's his "story" so far. He got Covid and missed classes and work and is now trying to get caught back up with his classes. Boss told him that's no excuse for not communicating that you weren't going to be able to work. Of course he apologized profusely, with his sweet demeanor. Then boss asked him what he worked on Sunday for 5.25 hours because neither One or the other dept he does some small tasks for every so often can see that any work was done. He told her he was working on adding invoices and she told him she wants specifics - from what reports....what manufacturers? He said he just got out of class (this was 11:15am) and would need to get back to his work computer at home to get the details for her. Yes, you do that.

First off, with our system I can see all invoices entered into our order system, by date, by user, by time entered. There is absolutely nothing entered by him on Sunday. The last time he entered an invoice was the last day he clocked in, Monday 11/6. I screenshot this info to my boss. I said unless you can see something more that I am not, he did not enter invoices on Sunday. 

Secondly, if his work schedule on Tuesdays is 10:30 to 12:30 - how is he working at 10:30 every Tuesday if he has a class (that he supposedly just got out of?) until 11'ish? My boss said this same thought crossed her mind, too. I'm sure the Covid excuse is just a lie, as well. And what job in this universe is it ok to be out sick (for days) and not let your boss know? Even a part time job. And he apparently didn't get back in contact with my boss yesterday afternoon, after he got back home from school, to tell her what he worked on for Sunday. I'm sure he's scrambling to try to figure out a way to show some work....So far, as of this morning he has not contacted her back to give her the work info. Boss did say this morning she's 99% sure he's done.

I spent my "me time" hour before I started work this morning, figuring out a $5.16 charge to my checking account! It said it was a CapOne cc payment of $5.16. I hadn't made that payment. I do have a CapOne Walmart cc, but made no payments for that amount. My Kohl's card also recently got converted to a CapOne type card, but nothing on that either. I've never seen fraud that is a cc payment before. Then I remembered I have a CapOne card in dh's name that I opened for him years ago, just to get him some credit back in his name. But, haven't used it in years. I got online with that card and sure enough there is the $5.16 payment. I had to go back to the previous statement to see the charge - to Amazon. Ok, that helps. I have a bunch of payment methods on my Amazon account as well as on the Prime account I share with dd, and this card it still on both. I kept looking through order history on both and wasn't finding anything for that amount, charged on Oct 6.

I went back to the CapOne account online and saw they actually have a link with the transaction to view the order receipt w/Amazon. Well, that's handy. It took me to an order dd had done to purchase some cheap jeans, that she returned. But it shows the order was charged to her cc. So strange. The $5.16 is the amount of one pair of jeans, with sales tax. I messaged dd to ask her. We think we figured out what happened. She returned the jeans, they went on their trip and during the trip got notification their cc was hacked. At the same time she got a notification from Amazon that one of the pairs of jeans was not received back, so they recharged her card - only that card wouldn't work, now of course, so it must have went to the next card # on file, which was dh's card. Just glad to have it figured out and that it wasn't fraud. AND since we haven't used that cc in forever, I'm also glad I apparently had it set up on auto pay! otherwise I wouldn't have known the charge was there until it was late. Also, thankful it wasn't a large amount!

Yummy food

The past few months, when we stop for something to eat while in the city, we've been doing Taco Time quite often. DH has a big burrito and I get their chicken quesadilla. I decided to try making my own chicken quesadilla at home so I bought some ingredients. Oh! it was really good. I kinda surprised myself, LOL.

I made dh a burger last night and then made myself the quesadilla to try. I grilled some cut up chicken breast in a pan. I put the chicken, some fresh pico del gallo (bought in container at Walmart), some shredded pepperjack cheese and some shredded colby jack cheese. It was really good. DH tried a bite (I don't think he's even ever tried a quesadilla) and really liked it. The only problem with it was I only made it on half of one tortilla and folded it closed and that was just not enough to eat, LOL. I'm going to make full sized ones tonight for dinner, for both of us to eat.

So, my assistant at work - last week he only worked his 2 hours on Monday and nothing the rest of the week and no communication from him about not working. Then yesterday my boss messages me asking if I saw that he clocked in on Sunday and worked 5.25 hours? (it's ok if he works then, we have repeatedly told him he's welcome to work eve's and weekends if that works better for his school schedule, but he never has before). I hadn't seen it, I was just waiting to log into our timekeeping system when it was his scheduled time (11:30) to start yesterday, to see if he showed up this week. So.....ok, let's see what he got done on Sunday. I went into our order system and there was absolutely nothing in there from the prior day with his name attached (when we do payment reconciliations or add mfg invoices, it attaches the user name to the transactions). I told my boss, honestly, I cannot see that he did any work Sunday, at all. I will be very curious to see what he says he worked on! And yesterday he did not clock in at all, again, and no communication. Prior, my boss had told him (more than once I think) that if he's not working his scheduled time. 

It would be one thing if he had actually done work those 5.25 hours on Sunday. While my boss probably would have again reminded him he needs to keep us informed when he's changing the work schedule he gave us that he could work, but to not contact us AND do no work for hours clocked in.....what the hell?! He knows that we can tell if he got work done. I'm not holding my breath anymore that he will be let go, but I sure want to know what he will tell her he worked on all those hours on Sunday. I guess because he was hired through this mentorship program our company is very involved in, she doesn't feel like she can let him go....I don't know, that's the only thing I can think why she keeps letting this go on..but it sure would have been nice to have someone who had a regular schedule each week, that I could count on consistently. Another guess is that she probably feels like she would/should talk to the head of the mentorship program first, to let him know he's not working out, so it's going to be having to have 2 conversations to get this done, which she is probably just hoping to avoid. I really don't know why she isn't, but hopefully at some point soon she will just have had enough and pull the trigger on the firing and get it over with. 

We don't hear anything from him last week or this week, so far, but what do you want to bet, that when he gets his pay tomorrow, he's going to email or message me to ask why he wasn't paid for the hours he worked Sunday, LOL. Well, sorry bud, you weren't working or communicating with us last week, so we had no idea that you were going to work Sunday and payroll was already processed last Friday, so you will have to wait for those hours to be added to your next paycheck.

Ok, I have a couple of work calls I need to make and have been waiting for it to get past 8am in that time zone, LOL. 

The great grocery haul

I was getting a headache coming on yesterday morning, so dh wanted to just drive me into the city to pick up the groceries. I ended up deciding not to go see my mom. I just wanted to get the groceries and get back home, which in itself is almost a 3 hour trip.

I had set up pick up time between 11 and noon and we left at 10:15. First stop was a different grocery store. From their online website I saw they finally had their frozen hamburger patties I like back in stock and I wanted to get 2 packages, plus I had just gotten the notification of Walmart's substitutions and they were out of black forest ham lunch meat and wanted to sub it with some other type of ham, so I declined it and got the lunch meat at this first store.  I was in and out in about 5 minutes.

They have been out of the hamburger patties for awhile now, for some reason. I tried what I assumed would be the same thing from Walmart. Not even close. You could even see the difference - the Walmart patties were more of a pink gray color and just not that good of taste. Then from the other grocery store I tried a pricey box of patties of a different brand. While the meat tastes fine, they are a pain in the butt. It was a box of 20 patties and they are all frozen together and do not come apart. So, every time I want 2-3 patties out for dinner, I've been having to put all the patties in the microwave and defrost just enough until I can get the knife to separate some from the group. It's been annoying. I'll finish using them up, but glad the other kind was back in stock, finally.

We got to Walmart and I needed to go inside to pick out my turkeys, so I'd for sure get the sizes I wanted. It was about 11:10 when we pulled up to the pick up parking area and it was really full, so I said go park in front of the store and I'll go get the turkeys first. Everyone is here for their 11am pick up and maybe by the time we get back it'll be less. Dh went off to use the restroom and I headed for the turkeys. I got one 17# and one 12# (for just the 2 of us at Christmas) at .98/lb. The other store wanted $2.49/lb for this brand.

Wow, I had not been inside Walmart in quite awhile. Almost every checkout stand is now self checkout. I scanned my turkeys and then of course got beeped at that an associate would be over soon. Ok...,.the older lady that works there to help with this....she has a small dog on a leash....anyway, she looked at my transaction on the screen and says both turkeys rang up, I don't see what the issue is, you are clear to pay now. Got back out to the pickup with dh waiting there and he put them in the extra cooler we brought and then we drove back around to the pickup side. Ha! Only one car was waiting by this time! DH was like you are always right, LOL.

It was 11:45 and we were hungry, so did Wendy's drive through. I decided to try their classic chicken sandwich, since they stopped making the grilled chicken sandwich. It was pretty good. I'd probably get it again. We were back home by 12:45 and lots of groceries to get unloaded and put away, but at least by the time I was done getting them put away, I didn't then have to make lunch, LOL.

The rest of the day was uneventful. DH got the laundry done. I did take a bit of a nap, but still just a dull headache, but at least it's gone now.

My chest freezer in the garage is stocked full, for now. I needed to freeze the dinner rolls for Thanksgiving and the buns for dd's "birthday" dinner. The dinner rolls (which got substituted from what I really wanted, darn) are in a 12 pack, so I left them in the plastic bag they are in and also wrapped each one with foil. DD wanted brioche buns for the chicken burgers and I got those from Walmarts bakery. I took them out of the packaging and wrapped each one in cling wrap and then put inside a ziploc bag. I had also bought some bakery muffins. Those come in a hard plastic container, which I also put inside ziploc bags. Since most of this stuff is only going to be in the freezer a little over a week, I probably didn't need to go to all that trouble with the extra wrapping, but I wanted to make sure.

I was watching some videos and a couple of times the people used that Press 'n seal cling wrap. I have never tried that before, so I bought a roll. It is nicer and easier to use, that's for sure.  

I wanted to get some new cake pans. The metal, non-stick kind. The only cake pans I have had for 40 years are some glass ones. Every baking video I watch they use the metal non stick. I googled glass cake pans and I guess they aren't the best for baking cakes. They don't cook evenly or something. I had ordered a set of 2 with my grocery order, but then they said they were out of stock, so I just ordered some from Amazon that should be here in a few days.

the login and password meltdown

Yesterday was mostly relaxing and I didn't do much. Got my laundry done and the clean dishes in the dishwasher put away is about it. I finalized my grocery order with a few add-ons. I video chatted with dd for a little bit in the morning. Her dh had a day planned for her, but she didn't know what, haha.

They went up to a town about an hour from them. Did a Farmers Market and a little gift store type shopping. Then he told her they had an appointment somewhere at 3pm. She messaged me when they got there: it was a "cat cafe" LOL. They went back home to get ready to go out to dinner and when they got home there was a houseful of people with a surprise birthday party for her. Her dh did good! There was catered mexican food and one of her friends made her a nice birthday cake.

Why do people not write down their various website logins and passwords? My mom used to do this, too. Her "reason" was in case someone broke into her house, they'd steal her password list...so she wrote them down on little slips of paper, that were all paper clipped together, in her desk drawer. BUT, 90% of them had no indication of what website they were for....LOL. 

My dh just doesn't write them down at all. Apparently expect me to, which I did years ago and I try to update it, but ya...of course if he changes his password he never tells me and if he signs up for something new he doesn't tell me. When I switched him over to the new browser I was able to import all is favorites but he would still have to get re-signed in to his websites he uses regularly. I did that (from the list I have), but I didn't realize he had apparently gotten a twitter account about 6 months ago. He doesn't post on it, but it allows him to view things that his buddies put links to on the message board forum he participates in. 

So, of course he had no idea of his password, let alone what his user name even was. The "forgot password" function was a bit useless, LOL. You needed your email (which at least that he knew- haha) but then it asked for your user name. No clue. I'm like you're the one who set it up - how do you not know? I said just open Firefox back up (it's all still there, it just works slow, right?) and get it from that. He was starting to have a meltdown, literally.  He said I tried that! and he starts to show me that by opening firefox, and it was being slow to load (maybe because he already had another browser open too?). He wouldn't even give it 3 seconds before he's closing it back down. Meltdown ensues. I said let me sit down at your computer a few minutes, I'm sure I can figure it out. Complete meltdown ensues, so I just walked away and went to my desk to google how to get your user name and password, from my computer. Looks like no way, unless you know your user name. He continues to throw a fit, saying this is stupid, blah blah. I said you are supposed to write down your login and passwords. How hard is that? Keep a piece of paper or notebook in your desk. He said lets the computer "save" them. I said and then what happens when your computer crashes, as every computer will at some point? Then he tried to blame me! because I changed the browser (which is working perfectly, by the way).

As I went back downstairs he got up to go to the bathroom, so I sat down. Opened up Firefox and clicked on his twitter link, both of which opened up within seconds. He was already logged into Twitter on Firefox. There was his username on the bottom corner. Closed Firefox, opened Twitter in Edge, did forgot password, put in his email and user name and reset the password. He wasn't even back from the bathroom yet. When he got back I just said it's working now and went and took a nap. 

So again, why is it that hard to keep a list of your logins and passwords? I just don't get it. Apparently, it's a common thing, because when I was googling how to retrieve your Twitter user name/password, there were tons of posts asking this, especially in Reddit.

I have this "master" list of his logins/passwords at my desk. Today I am going to take it down to him and hand it over and say I'm retiring from being your login and password keeper. Here's your list. You are in charge of it now. I've got enough to keep track of with my own (tons, because I do so much online shopping), not to mention a list to keep track of for my jobs.

My cute password keeper:

28 years ago

Gradually, I'm sleeping a bit later. Made it to 6:40 this morning, LOL. The cat was doing "zoomies" upstairs right about then. He will race back and forth a couple of times from one end of the house to the other...very loudly LOL. He is the loudest cat ever. He comes down the wood stairs louder than me!

I need to do some laundry today of my clothes (dh takes care of everything else). I'm still looking over my grocery and menu list, trying to make sure I haven't forgotten anything.  We picked up groceries on Oct 31, like a week an a half ago, and I thought I had really gotten extra milk, like an extra week's worth. It will be interesting to see. I have about a gallon and a half left. I guess that might last me a week more. It just seems now like the fridge is empty, LOL. But, at least I do still have lots of bread left in the freezer. I still have until 7:30 tomorrow morning to make any changes to the order. I also plan to go over all the items in my cart and cross off on my list, again, to make sure nothing was forgotten. Every so often I will swear I had put something in my cart, but when I get home it's not with the order and not showing that I ordered it.

My mom called around 6 last night. She sounded really good, just wanted to say a quick hello it seemed. She said she just finished dinner and cleaned up her dishes, LOL I told her we just finished dinner too, but I hadn't cleaned up my dishes, yet ;)

I just did a video chat with dd to wish her a happy birthday. She's 28 now. She laughed and said she can't say she's in her mid 20's anymore, now it's late 20's. LOL.  She was born on 11/11 at 11:22, which is 11 minutes after 11:11.  DH isn't up yet and he will likely call her at 11:22 haha. 

 

Planning day Friday

I'm working on payroll this morning. 3 severance checks to enter and then 2 of the employees will be paid out and then just one more to pay for the next 3 payrolls. We have no idea what is going on with our p/t assistant, LOL.  He's supposed to be working like 2 hours per day and 4 hours on Fridays (per the schedule to work with his classes this quarter). He worked Monday and that's it this week. Haven't heard from him. I checked with my boss (who's been out sick Wed and Thurs) and she hasn't heard from him either. The way/timing of our payroll we estimate the last 4 days of the pay period and normally I have his estimated hours added per his schedule, but since he hasn't worked, nor has he contacted us, my boss said just don't pay him any estimated hours this payroll. If he ends up working any of the days, he'll just have to wait to get paid for them the next payroll. Well, he should just be let go ....but that's not my call to make.

I decided I will go get my turkeys and groceries on Sunday, so I used my time before work this morning to get my list finished. It's quite the list, due to extras while dd/sil we be here. Hopefully, I've remember everything. I decided to make a cream cheese frosting, from scratch, for the red velvet cake. I wanted to do a whip cream frosting, but then it will have to fit into the fridge and with a turkey thawing out in there there will be zero room for a cake.

I'm also going to try making us an egg/sausage/cheese breakfast casserole for breakfast one morning during their visit. I've got 99% of my order placed and my pick up time slot reserved. Once I started the order this morning and reserved the time, I had like an hour to get the order in to save my time slot. Then I have like 24 hours to edit/add to the order, which I ended up doing, as I ran out of time to get it all added before my time slot hold would run out. I have done this before and then lost my time slot. I'm sure I'll forget something, I always do. 

My plan on Sunday morning is to stop in to see my mom again and this time get her hair trimmed. Then we will be back to see her the day after Thanksgiving.

I stayed up an extra 45 minutes last night, hoping it would help me sleep in a little bit later. It helped 20 minutes, LOL

Trying to avoid frustrations

When I'm trying to type the - key, which I do often with numbers in accounting, I still keep hitting that sleep button right above it. GRRRR! It completely disconnects me from my VPN connection, so I have to log in all again, every time. And you don't know how many times I have logged back in, only to go to type my negative number again and do it again!

I googled if it was possible to reprogram a keyboard and it is, but I could not get it to work for the sleep button. Then I found a video showing the key can at least be turned off, in the windows control panel power settings, so now when I accidentally hit that key instead of the - key, nothing happens. I will still have to make sure I am getting the actual - button pressed, when needed, but at least I will no longer be disconnecting myself completely every time I hit it. It wouldn't be such an issue if it didn't disconnect my vpn connection every time.

DH didn't go to the gunsmith's place yesterday. I didn't ask why. It's been something he keeps saying he's going to do for like the past year now, ever since he heard of this gunsmith, LOL. It's an hour drive, but we have been to and through the town like 3 times this past year and he could have brought the rifle to drop it off there almost any of those times, as well. I doubt he would go today, as he does our laundry on Thursdays.

So, that's 2 computer "techy" things I figured out this week. That's my brains limit! No more, please.

I have Thanksgiving week off work. I need to figure out what day to go into the city to get the turkey and a load of groceries. I can't wait until Monday of that week, as likely by then the turkey pickings are pretty slim as well as that's not enough time to defrost it. So, it will have to be one day next week or maybe this weekend. I'm also going to pick up a smaller turkey for Christmas dinner for dh and I. Last year I had a hard time finding a turkey for Christmas dinner. DH only wants turkey, LOL. 

I'm also trying to plan meals and snacks for when dd and sil are here. I asked her what she wants for her "birthday" (belated, LOL) dinner when they get here the day before Thanksgiving. She said she is trying to decide between chicken enchiladas and chicken burgers. Typically for breakfast and lunch we all just eat something on our own time with what I have, but I want to figure out some more choices. Maybe for Saturday morning I will try an egg casserole and sausage dish. I just need to get it all figured out soon so that I get everything with my grocery order. Dinners Fri and Sat will just be leftover turkey and sides. With having all week off, I'd like to see what things I can pre prepare/make. The video I watched on the box red velvet cake hack, the lady also recommended freezing the baked cake first, as it is so much easier to frost that way, apparently (makes sense!), so I think I will make that on Tuesday, to thaw and frost on Wednesday.

Sad to say, but I think it will all be a bit more relaxed this holiday, without trying to have my mom here. At least more relaxed for me, that's for sure. Hours of answering the same couple of questions over and over wears me out very quickly. It will be much easier (on her and me!) to just go visit her for awhile the day after. Half of her overnight visit last year, she didn't even know where she was (which was stressful for her) and shortly after getting her back to her place, she had forgotten she was even here. Christmas was even worse.

I know when we go visit her on Christmas Eve, and take her a gift for Christmas, she still has enough memory to know she is "supposed" to also give a gift back. Knowing she doesn't have anything then she will say something like "well, I want to write you a check" or something like that. Any suggestions on something good to say to her? 

Good Lord - I have been trying to dispute this invoice for my work for a year! It's from one of our manufacturer's, for a sample. Only it's not our invoice! It's not even billed to us. It's for a rep halfway across the county. I keep telling them that, then a few months later they send the statement and invoice copy to me again. I don't know how to be any more clear that this is not our invoice. The reply is "it's for samples your company ordered to send direct to a customer" and I keep replying, BUT we are not the company you are billing on this invoice. We didn't order this and it's not our customer. This morning their a/r person forwarded it to her customer service manager and she sent me an email saying "this is samples requested by your company". And again I have replied but we are NOT xyz company, we are abc company! Good grief. If I get one more email from them, I am going to call and blow a cork, haha.

Still up early

Anyone else having trouble adjusting to the time change? I'm still awaking at 6am and don't need to get up until 7. I managed to stay in bed until 6:40 this morning. I'm doing ok with the bedtime adjustment, just not with the morning adjustment yet. 

Ya! Dh's computer viewing has worked great now since I changed the browser. Phone company tech support still hasn't called me about the ticket that got put in. There is supposed to be an option online to manage your tickets with them, but while I see the ticket, it won't let me cancel it. I guess I really didn't need to upgrade our internet speed, but we were at the lowest speed and even upgrading we are still at a low speed. It's certainly not considered high speed internet here, LOL.

I did get a call yesterday afternoon from side job's IT help and he fixed whatever the issue was quickly and I'm back in. But, by afternoon I was tired and past my lunch break to take any time to work on their stuff. I'll get started on it today. At least I was able to log in and get my monthly check printed out and deposited into my bank - a week late.

My Facebook memory from 9 years ago is a post with a picture of some red velvet and cream cheese bars that dd wanted me to try to make for her birthday, LOL. Still Red Velvet I see, haha. I don't know if I made them back then or not, I'm sure I did, but my comment on the post was this looks like it's going to be a Pinterest fail. When the kids were growing up, my tradition was I always let them pick out what they wanted me to make them for their birthday dinner. I wonder what she will pick out. (it has to be from something I normally make)

DH mentioned he might go out today to take care of a long wanted "project", I guess might be the word. When he and his younger (by 15 months) brother were kids his dad got each of them a rifle, with a scope. DH's had a dark colored wood stock and his brothers was a light colored. For some reason, after he grew up and moved out, dh left the rifle at his parents. Years later dh's brother "borrowed" it from their dad, so he could take his son hunting and never returned it.  After we got moved over here, and he was trying to reconnect with his brother, dh asked him if he still had dh's rifle. Brother was still taking any opportunity he could find to hurt and put down dh and he told dh that nope, he sold it. Dh said oh, ok...you sold mine, the dark colored one, right? and turns out brother sold (if he even really did) his own light colored rifle and not dh's dark colored stock rifle, LOL. Brother didn't even remember who's rifle was who's. DH just said "oh, well mine was the dark colored stock". Brother did at least tell him he would give him the rifle back and he did. Much the worse for wear, so dh has been wanting to have it restored and resighted (I guess that is the proper terminology) and there is a guy about an hour from us, who has been recommended to dh, who does this. DH is thinking of driving up there today and dropping the rifle off with the guy to be fixed back up to looking nice and in good working order.

My checks for the passports have cleared and the application and renewal are now in the process. Supposedly taking a couple of months, at this time, for processing.

Troublefree Tuesday (so far)

So far so good with dh using the different web browser. I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed. I was looking this morning how to clear his Firefox cache and when I went to settings to try this, it's all greyed out and won't let me. The only thing I can find online about that is that private browsing mode is set on, but it is not, so I have no idea why it's greyed out, but could also be an indication of one of the reasons why the browser has not been working well for him lately. I have a feeling it just needs to be uninstalled and reinstalled, but going to let him keep using Edge and if he's ok with that and it's working fine, I'm not going to bother taking the time to try to fix Firefox. The phone company tech advisor hasn't called me yet, but I'm going to leave the ticket open at least for today and make sure he's still not having issues.

I hadn't made the ham and swiss sliders for dinner in awhile, so that is what I made for dinner yesterday. But, this time I had purchased the Hawaiian rolls from the Walmart bakery, rather than the prepackaged King's Hawaiian rolls. A price difference of $3.24 to $4.68. A 30% savings. And the store bakery rolls tasted much better. And I put on ham and turkey lunch meat, this time. These tasted so good, I'm going to put this meal back in the rotation. As soon as I can get more of the rolls! haha. There are 3 rolls left, perfect for lunch or a snack today for one of us.

I was wide awake at 6am. Finally got up at 6:30. I hate trying to adjust the old body.

I didn't end up messaging my side job boss about the log in issue yesterday as I was already waiting for a call from my internet provider's tech support and didn't want to also be waiting for a call from their IT support. My luck has it that they would be trying to contact me at the same time. So, once it's around 9am her time, I'm going to text her to find out when we can get this resolved. 

I just texted her and as I figured, she totally forgot about it. She needs to put in a ticket with their IT. Hopefully she will get that done today. I don't know why she just didn't do that first thing last week, when I told her about it.

I was watching a video on "hacking" a store bought red velvet cake mix and then watched a couple other videos by the same lady. I liked her hack of taking a store bought can of frosting and whipping it with a hand mixer and it like doubles the volume of it. I'm going to try that next time. When I frost a cake with the can frosting I always feel like there isn't quite enough, but a whole extra can isn't needed.

Ok, the day is getting away from me and I've yet to finish this post. So, I guess this is it for today.

Trying to be an IT tech (ha!)

I decided not to make a cake. Trying to be good, have some willpower and watch the calories. Especially since we'll have a cake in a little over 2 weeks, when I make one for dd's birthday. 

I'm going to need a couple pair of jeans in the near future. The two pair I wear most often are getting pretty worn, so I decided to watch Kohl's pricing for awhile and try to pick them up at the best price. I think that might be now. The jeans are $28 regularly and on sale and w/code they are $17. Or maybe they'll be cheaper Black Friday. I'm in no rush, so I think I'll wait and see. If nothing else, this $17 price will roll around again, I'm sure.

Just got my quarterly garbage service bill. Up another $5. We started out our service at $142/qtr and now are up to $185/qtr. Obviously, the discussion at a county council meeting a couple months ago, with a rep from the garbage company in attendance, did nothing to stop our rates from going up yet again. 

I did get the upstairs all vacuumed yesterday and cleaned the master bathroom. 

I still haven't had my side job get me connected again. I'll have to bug her again here a little later this morning. I guess she thought this would magically fix itself? LOL.

I like to have extra hamburger buns in the freezer, but every so often after getting thawed they don't come out very soft and fresh. I had most of a package I needed to freeze, so I took the time to wrap each bun individually in plastic wrap and then put them all in a ziploc freezer bag. We'll see how that works out. 

The increase in internet speed hasn't fixed the problems dh has been having lately. He was finally able to show me what it's sometimes doing. He'll be watching a youtube video and the video freezes but the audio keeps going. Stuff like that, as well as slow connection to sites/pages, also off and on. I called for tech support through our phone company. I wanted to ask if our modem/router could be needing to be replaced. It's at least over 5 years old now, and I think it was the same modem we brought from our other house, so at least 7 years old. He had me give him the model # on it and had me do a restart and a speed test (all stuff I have tried myself!). Now he's put in a ticket and a service tech will be calling me. I don't think it's anything to do with dh's computer's wi-fi system/card, as I did a speed test from his computer and it comes out the same as mine. So frustrating. I had hoped bumping up to the next internet plan would fix the issues.

Ok, in googling the issue of youtube video freezing, but the audio keeps playing, one of the issues could be the browser being used. I forgot I thought of this awhile back, but never had dh test this theory out by using a different browser. We both use Firefox and maybe something got glitchy with his and it needs to be reinstalled. But, what I just did was import his bookmarks into Edge and am having him try doing his normal daily internet stuff today and see if he has any issues. I am hoping this is the problem!

Just stuff (because I can't think of a title)

Daylight savings time. I tried to sleep in. I ended up splitting the difference and getting up at 6:30. It'll take a few days, at least, to adjust. Plus Amos was standing on his hind legs looking at me eye level and tapping me with a paw to get up.

I did vacuum the main floor yesterday, as well as dh pulled out the refrigerator to vacuum and clean behind it. Oh boy, did that need it. Mostly clumps of long black dog fur in the back. That dog shed so bad and while I loved him to death, I will never get another dog like that again. 

The vehicles (most of them have been contractor/construction type pickups) coming into our neighborhood and stopping in front of DAN's lots has kept happening every so often. Sometimes it's just a car. We can't find that he has listed the lots for sale, but dh was thinking maybe he's just trying on his own to market it to builders. Yesterday afternoon DAN and another car came in at the same time and were in front of his property for 5 minutes and then both left. DAN headed towards town, the car headed the opposite direction towards the city. DH said this car was here by itself a couple weeks ago, too. We are still wondering what he will do, haha. DH speculation is he just finalized the sale to the guy in the car. My speculation is it's a realtor and no builder/contractor bought it up, he's now going to list it.....Obviously, something is going on, but either way, or no way, winter is upon us, so we won't have to see much, if anything, of DAN for the next 5 months or so.

I've been binge watching a show on Amazon Prime and yesterday realized I could download episodes to my ipad and then while I'm watching them, I'm not using up a bunch of our low internet speed, while dh is also trying to watch stuff and surf the internet. So, right now, while he's asleep and not using the computer, I'm downloading the next season :).  Then I can watch the episodes offline and not affect anything. 

My dd's husband is a car guy and one that likes to change his vehicles fairly often, LOL. But, he mostly buys used. DD's car is new (same car as I got), but the rest of their vehicles are used. Well, apparently while washing his white F-150 he noticed the paint all peeling off the top of the cab. His neighbor also has a white Ford truck and his is doing the same. So, SIL called up his family friend, who owns a Ford dealership and traded the truck in for a used Ford Raptor, LOL. Bright red and sporty looking. 

I just got my breakfast and the milk isn't as cold - I now remember dh messed with the refrigerator settings for some reason yesterday and then he couldn't remember what temp it was set at and set it at 38. Obviously it needs to be lower. I just went to lower the temp setting and was going to try 37, but apparently it only does it in 2 degree increments, so now it's 36. That's probably what it was set at before. I'll have to ask dh if he messed with the freezer setting as well, or just the fridge.

I didn't bake anything yesterday. DH totally slept in yesterday and by the time he got up and I could start making noise cleaning and get the sheets off the bed to wash and the time I got done vacuuming and remaking the bed and such, it was mid afternoon and I was tired. Maybe today....but then I tell myself we really do not need the extra calories from having cake and ice cream all week, LOL. Especially after all the Halloween candy we managed to eat.

A busy afternoon

Other than a bit of a wait past my appointment time, Operation Passport Application was a success. Whew! The guy told me I was the most organized customer he's ever had, LOL. I probably got him back on schedule 😄. I also had dh's passport renewal in a priority envelope to mail and kept looking at the line over at the regular counter. Ugh. Then as I was finishing up at the passport desk I asked the guy if I could pay for the postage with him and I could, so that saved time.

But, I hate being "off schedule" and I was leaving the post office when I had wanted to be at my mom's. We stopped at the bank on the way (forgotten errand from last trip) and then dh dropped me off at mom's and he went over to Sportsmans Warehouse to pick up something he ordered. I had 2 bags of clothes, plus the winter coat for mom and as I'm getting out I told dh, I'm just going to leave my purse in the truck. Of course then, after I get her clothes put away and then I realize the haircutting scissors I brought are in my purse...in the truck...oh well. It wouldn't be normal if I didn't forget something I was supposed to do when I have a list of to-do's/errands.

I put the white cardigan sweater on mom and fits nice and now her arms will be warm. As I was hanging up the rest in her closet one of the staff guys came in to empty her wastebasket. Only it was nowhere to be found. So, I started looking and found it in her hamper, buried under clothes, LOL. I also ordered some clothing labels with her name that I am going to also add to her clothes, in addition to the sharpie initials. 

She was doing ok, at least she wasn't planning to go home tomorrow ;). The repeated question this visit was asking 10 times how long I've been married. DH then texted me he stopped at Burger King and got us a couple burgers, so by the time he got back to pick me up, it was good timing for me to leave. It was quite warm out yesterday at almost 60 degrees.

Nothing urgent came up at work while I was gone (boss had decided to take the day off) other than an email I was able to reply to from my phone while waiting to do the passport. So, once I got home (about half hour later than planned) I didn't end up working much past that. Since we ate at 3pm, we didn't relly need dinner, though dh snacked later in the evening. I ended up taking a nap around 6pm.

I just tried to hook dh's computer up to ethernet, but it doesn't work. The phone jack has 2 plug ins. They had wired my office to the modem so I could be hardwired and I thought maybe they had done the same in the den, but I guess not. I just can't remember now, there was too much going on at the time and something in the back of my mind is telling me they didn't and I already tried plugging into that phone jack several years ago. I think it had something to do with there was no more room on the modem to plug another connection to, maybe that was it.

And I shouldn't have even told him I upgraded it, LOL! After it was on faster speed yesterday he kept telling me it was worse than before! I swear to God if I hadn't even told him he wouldn't have even noticed any difference either way.  

And it's a good thing my computer is able to do ethernet because for some reason it doesn't have a wi-fi card. What?! LOL. This is a computer I got through work, set up by our IT and then shipped to me. I thought all computers just standard came with wifi capabilities. Maybe the IT guy had asked me how I am connected, so he just left a wi-fi card out of the configuration when ordering the tower. My previous computer had wi-fi and I know one time our internet was down so I created a hotspot with my phone and was able to still work, so that would be a good reason to have wi-fi as backup, even though it only happened/was needed like one time.

I don't know what I'm doing today. Vacuum and wash sheets for sure. I might try making a cake, with the extra egg yolks and substitute melted butter for the oil, that one of the commenters suggested.

Our retired friend stopped by Thursday. We had not seen him since before we had Covid! And boy, his puppy got big. He brought her in on a leash and she did well, but he said she sure can get into stuff. When she leaves both dh and I always say, ok, we aren't ready for another puppy.

Let's speed up

I finally decided we need a bit faster internet. Not that I have a whole lot of choices, LOL, but when I first signed us up for the (through the phone company) internet (at our house in town) I decided to try their lowest basic plan and just see how that worked for us. Or maybe that's all that was available at that time. I can't remember now, but it has always worked well enough, but we're pushing it with streaming, I think. When we lived in town we had Dish for tv, so we weren't streaming much. It's only 12 mb, (says it's supposed to be 15) and supposedly good for 1-2 users, 4 devices. The next level up for $20 more a month is a whopping (said with extreme sarcasm) 25mb, good for 2-5 users and up to 8 devices. Hopefully this will make our streaming a little faster, especially when we are both streaming a show or video at the same time. DH has YouTube premium and he watches stuff on their all the time and says it just seems like it's getting slower and slower. This phone company is getting fiber optic out to some of their areas, but our area doesn't even seem to be on their map, yet. 

When I called to inquire about upgrading I wanted to know if I would need to change modems and/or change any settings on our google home wi-fi system. I first spoke to a tech person and he said no, it would just be upgraded remotely. Then I spoke with customer service and he said he had to check with another dept to see if the faster speed was even available where I live, LOL. He called me back shortly after and confirmed it was available and it will be 24-48 hours before it updates to the new speed. So, far this morning a speed test is showing we are still at our original speed. 

My mom called after lunch yesterday. Very confused, like an evening call usually is. She was going back home tomorrow in her car. Then said someone lost her car. We talked for almost 10 minutes and a few minutes later she called me again with no memory of just talking to me. I'll see her today after I have my passport appointment, to take her new clothes. Hopefully she got a good nights sleep and will be ok while I'm there.

I just checked our internet speed again and now it's up to the new speed. So, guess we'll see if it helps, especially when we are both trying to stream at the same time. My computer is hardwired to the internet with an ethernet cable into the phone jack in my office. Apparently this is supposed to be faster than wi-fi connection and this must be true. I've never done a speed test from dh's computer, which is connected via wi-fi, so I don't know what it was showing prior to my upgrade yesterday. My speedtest now shows 20mb (was showing 10-11 before most tests) and dh's computer shows the 10-11mb. I have no idea why we didn't plug his computer in via ethernet. I seem to recall the electricians mentioning it when they were putting the phone jack in the den. Maybe I just did wi-fi because I didn't realize a hardwired connection is faster? I have no idea, but I do have an extra ethernet cable, so I think I will try connecting his computer via ethernet and see if that brings him up to the full speed. Beats me, I really don't know enough about how all this works.

Hopefully all goes well with my passport appointment, but how much do you want to bet they are going to tell me this photo I got isn't acceptable. They do photos there, but I didn't make an appointment "with photo" so I can just see them saying, sorry you'll have to make a new appointment, LOL.

Wish me luck!

Thursday this and that

I see daylight savings time change is this weekend. I think I'm kind of glad - the cat wants out first thing in the mornings now, but it's too dark out, so I won't let him out until I can see out there. At least with the time change I should now be able to let him out when I get up.

The temperature has warmed up just enough that it's raining instead of snowing and supposed to rain all day, take a break tomorrow and start up again all weekend. Hopefully I'll get a dry drive back into the city tomorrow.

DAN showed up yesterday (twice) to haul his 2 pieces of construction machines out. I'm sure it's just because it's winter and he won't let them sit out there all winter, but it would have been nice if it was really because he was giving up, LOL. At least we shouldn't have to see him again for another 5 months 😁.

I see the shipment with my mom's clothes now got transferred from UPS to USPS yesterday and is still supposed to be here today, so I hope it makes it and I don't have to reschedule my passport appointment tomorrow. I also noticed my mom really needs a hair trim. Apparently they still have not gotten an new hairdresser to come in once a week, like they had before. I think I will just take my hair scissors with me and trim it up best I can.

Ok, to those of you who recommended the Folgers Black Silk coffee - I really do like it better than my old coffee. I've also noticed I am finishing it all before it gets cold, LOL. 

I'm feeling very stocked up in the pantry, fridge and freezer. I have like 8 loaves of bread in the freezer and lots of extra (with long dates) milk in the fridge. 

I still haven't gotten reconnected with my side job. Boss has to contact the IT and she emailed back yesterday afternoon that she was busy (with non work stuff) so hadn't gotten to it yet. It's not a rush for me (other than I would like to pay myself for October, haha). My luck it will be tomorrow, when I am gone, that they call me to work on it. I am definitely not high on their priority list now.

When reheating some of the mac & cheese in the microwave I recently decided to give the "sensor reheat" button a try. Never used it before. It's really good! Heated the plate of m&c up just right each time. No guessing on the time and then checking and having to turn it on for another 20 seconds. I still haven't used my oven's steam clean yet, but plan to this weekend.

Delayed again

I think I am just destined to not get a passport, LOL. Per the post office passport info for the office in the city, the "walk-in" hours were basically all day, other than an hour lunch time. I get there and there is a sign that says "no walk-ins today, all appointment times are booked". Well, C.R.A.P.  LOL. Who would have thunk there are that many people in this small city getting a passport every 15 minutes? 

I had tried to get a passport about a year and a half ago, as dd and I had wanted to drive up to Canada to see my half sister and her family. I had gone to Walgreens for the photos. Then made an appointment at the library as I could do it on a weekend day that I went to visit my mom. I get there for the appointment only to be told that my picture wasn't acceptable (damn white hair) and they didn't do photos there. So, I did not have time that week to get the photo retaken, nor make another appointment as I had to go over to work for a meeting mid week. So, while at DD's that next weekend, we stopped at a place and I got a new photo. Get back home and the next week, in chatting with sis, realize that Canada was only allowing Covid vaccinated people into the county, at that time. So, I never pursued applying for the passport.

Anyway, we at least were able to stop and pick up dh's order, then stop at our HVAC's place and get the filters and some other part dh needed. It was only like 3:15 or so but we were both really hungry, for some reason. Plus, I was grumbly about the passport. We stopped at Walmart and got the groceries and then decided to swing through Taco Time, as by then we were really hungry. In our hunger we totally forgot to stop at the bank, haha. Drove right by it. Oh well, it wasn't that important, just a want. DH had used a $100 bill from his wallet awhile back and wanted to replace it and wanted a hundred dollar bill again, not 20's from the ATM.

My mom's new clothes are supposed to be here UPS tomorrow, and I want to get those into her asap, so I decided I'll take off time again on Friday to make an appointment at the post office and then stop and drop off her clothes. I get online to make the appointment and there is only one appointment slot available at 1pm. Again, who would have thunk there are that many people getting a passport every day? LOL. Or they really don't book that many time slots a day and just block them out....because for tomorrow almost every single time slot is available...I have a feeling this is the case as I just checked if there are any times tomorrow and almost every time slot is available except a couple and for Friday it's all filled? Seems odd. DH said we should just go to the small town an hour north of us that has a post office that processes the applications, but I said no, because I still have to go into the city anyway to take my mom her clothes, so might as well do it on the same trip.

And getting my mom her stuff on Friday, I then won't have to go in this weekend, which will be nice. I shouldn't have to go back to the city for a couple weeks, when I will go see her again and get restocked with groceries and the Thanksgiving and Christmas frozen turkeys purchased.  Or maybe I'll just take the time on Friday to go inside Walmart and just get my 2 turkeys. They show them in stock. I'm pretty sure I want to get the Jennie-O turkeys, to try that gravy packet again. And at .98/lb, it seems a decent price and not likely to change at Walmart. It appears the other grocery store I shop at for some things might also be carrying this brand of turkey, but they just haven't stocked yet and aren't showing pricing, yet all their other turkey brands they do have are at least twice as expensive, though likely to go on sale. 

Well, through the magic of google searching I found the sale ad for last year's turkeys and this store had the Jennie-O frozen turkeys at $2.49/lb, so I doubt they will be any cheaper this year, so I will just go ahead and get it at Walmart for .98/lb.

I still can't get logged into my side job VPN, so I just emailed about it. Hopefully, it won't take too long for someone from their IT to contact me and resolve it. 

We didn't get the 2 neighbor kids trick or treating last night. When we were pulling into our street the 1st grader had just gotten off the bus so we stopped and said hello. He was Batman and had 2 big bags of candy. One for himself and one for his little sister. He said they were goig to go trick or treating in the city. He even named the neighborhood, LOL. (of course nice expensive homes). Crazy to drive almost an hour each way to go trick or treating. I'm sure there were plenty of houses along our main street in town that give out candy. So, I guess we're eating the bowl of candy ;)  DH thought for sure they'd stop by, as usual, but I didn't think so. She's still too annoyed that we expect her to keep her dog on her property and not running through while our driveway is being sealed. Also, she likely knows that Mrs. Neighbor isn't home to hand out candy this year. She flew down to see her son and family.

I was messaging my boss about the passport and having to go back in on Friday. I told her even though our trip isn't until next Sept, I just want to get it done, otherwise I know me and I'll keep procrastinating it off another month and another month and then I'll be rushing to try to get it. She replied I have NEVER known you to procrastinate anything! I said for work, I don't, but for some reason I always do in my personal life, LOL.