Healthy Living Thread

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Happy Birthday, Dee Jay! I hope your cake was covered in sparkling diamonds. Ewe, think of the grease from the frosting that clouded up those pretty diamonds.

If Marty heard on his tests today, I didn't hear back from him. He got up at 1:30 with really bad pain in his lower back. He took his third and last antibiotic before heading to the airport at 6 a.m. He doesn't feel worse, but he doesn't feel better. He arrived in Kansas City before noon and headed to work. Poor guy is going to be so run down when he gets home next weekend. I was up most of the night worrying about him.

Sweet you found the purple glasses and got them out the door. One less thing to deal with now.

That's awesome Liam surprised you with roses, alcohol and dinner. What more could a girl ask for?

Your post-its are quite nice. I hope the cork screws are as well.

Yay for birthday happy hour. I am debating going out for something, door dashing something or seeing what I can scrounge up out of the freezer.

You can't complain about selling some holiday stuff already. I can't believe we are in September. I hope the website works out great for you.

So I was up at 1:30, tried to fall asleep again which I did at about 4. I woke up before 5 and thought of getting up, but didn't. I should have because if I fell asleep between than and 5:30 when my alarm was set for, it wasn't a deep sleep. And it was too late to see the dim comet. Marty left a little after 6. Brave guy, even ate some breakfast at the airport before boarding. He made it to KC without incident. The airport "announced" an IT issue after deplaning and shut down inbound flights for 45 minutes. He was delighted to see his suitcase was on the carousel when he arrived at baggage pick-up. I guess the other guys going for this, weren't going to rent cars (or so he thought) so he was going to get a big SUV as a rental.

I was very tired all day on little sleep, but still worked. Wish I believed in naps - technically - I wish I could take naps.

Laters,
Curby

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, I like your new business swap. Very nice.

As you know, I had a day. I ended up getting sunburned trying to scrub eggs off the deck and that was futile. Flies seem to love it. It did scrap off the patio okay - cement is harder and smoother than wood. Grr. I am so agitated.

I can't say I concentrated on work much today. I ran my 3rd quarter IRS payment to our tax lady, picked up some food and work off and on. I did lift.

Marty still doesn't feel better. And that I know of, he hasn't heard from the lab or doctor. The lady that cleans for me came today and her husband had the same darn thing happen from that milk. She managers the state park visitor's center out in that direction and some of her employees and some park visitors have all had issues with that place's milk. Why are they still operating?

Laters,
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Thursday kids!

Curby, this milk thing sounds like a real issue, ick. I can't believe those kids egged your house! And yuck for not being able to get it off the deck. For your quarterly tax payments have you ever thought of having the extra amount withheld from Marty's paycheck so you didn't have to make the quarterly payments?

Yesterday I actually got quite a bit of stuff done! I cleaned up the kitchen really well, had several teams meetings, finished importing the rest of the listings (622 -- what a slog that was!), and washed up the three sets of x-mas dishes I have yet to list. One set came in four boxes from an auction and I ended up giving all of them to the Salvation Army. They were all crazed, with the exception of the cups and a few bowls and I just couldn't be bothered to list those separately. Oh well, live and learn. I said to Liam AGAIN if he seems me raising my hand to bid on dishes at an auction to smack it right down! I also won a bunch of stuff over the past two nights at an online auction up north and I need to figured out whether to pick it up tomorrow or Saturday. I would of course rather go tomorrow but it's a lot of stuff and will take a while so I'm leaning toward Saturday so I don't have to rush.

I sold another listing of that Friendly Village set last night. That might be the only exception I make to the No More Dishes thing LOL.

The website is almost ready to go live. I went on last night and was pretty happy with the direction it's going. He's got a banner up (although not the same one on my Etsy store due to the photo size issue) and he's created all the sections so now I need to move everything into those categories. I'm hoping to have an announcement to put on Instagram this weekend.

Alight, off to get some real work done!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, I know about those punk kids. Jerks. I had not thought of having extra $$ withheld from Marty's checks. Generally I view that as the "bill and living money" and mine is play money. So I guess that's why I didn't think of that. Either way, it works. Good idea. I'll see how our taxes play out this year.

Yay for getting the rest of your listings. Did you site go "live" today? The categories sound like how Marty set up my sister's doll clothes website. I'd bet a $1 she hasn't updated it in years. I can't wait to make nasty comments on it - er I mean see it - when it's launched. How exciting.

Nice to have a productive day. Phooey those dishes weren't up to spec so you donated them to SA. That will make someone happy.

You know, a word of caution, since Liam sounds a lot like Marty I would NEVER give Marty the permission to smack my hand down. He'd take advantage of that offer. I'm kind of sad Marty isn't here because I bruised my middle finger putting weights away last night and I can't keep showing him I have a bruise on my middle finger. Yes, I do amuse myself.

That milk fiasco is still kicking Marty's butt. He lifted - or tried to - yesterday and could barely do anything. He's COLD, and weak and achy. Still had abdominal pain. Poor guy. It's no fun being miserable away from home.

Yesterday, I worked until 5 and met a friend for wine - oh and dinner - at a little Italian restaurant. Afterward, we wandered around the mall. She's my friend that wants a nicer diamond wedding ring. She found some lab EC studs she wanted. I didn't succeed is encouraging her to buy them. Of course, her husband quit his job in June and they bought a flooring franchise that is just getting started. So I get not spending money. I did buy something at the jewelry store, the 2023 St. Jude's teddy bear.

I got up at 4 today to try and see the comet. It was too low in the horizon to catch it. Got up again at 5:15 - by then the sky was too bright in that area. Guess I'll get up at 4:30 tomorrow, get dressed and haul my little scope out and just wait until it is high enough. Maybe I should bring in my larger scope just in case. I "might" have found it in my image stabilizing binoculars but since I can't be sure, I won't add it to my comets list.

I worked until 4 today and have no idea what I'll do this weekend. Usually, Marty and i do something or go somewhere. Culver's has a good flavor of the day tomorrow, that might be my "outing".

Have a great weekend. Text me the link once your website is live. I'll go explore it.

Laters,
Curby

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Wow, I slept great for a change. I woke up for the first time at 4 a.m. I checked out the window and it was starry but the area where that trickster elusive comet should be wasn't visible yet so I went back to sleep. I didn't wake up until 7:10. Yay.

I packed up some stuff to send my niece and couldn't find a box (out of Marty's supply in the basement) to safely sent solar eclipse glasses so I took it all the the UPS store and left it in their capable hands. They charge a pretty penny to pack it for you too. I sent her and her sister one of my constellation books, included each of them one of the Lenox mitten ornaments, plus a Snoopy astronaut blanket and stuffed Snoopy astronaut for her little 1 1/2 year toddler.

Other than that I was bored most of the day. I worked about two hours. I watched the last four episodes of of Secret Invasion and made popcorn for supper. Boring weekend with Marty gone. I dug out my old observing journal and read through it. I used to carefully write down things and even make illustration. The notebook is falling apart so I wanted to type up my comet list. I've got to see 33 comets so far. Sweet. Trying to bag #34. I'm sleeping in sweats tonight so all I have to do is put on shoes in the morning.

Is your website live? Yes, I answered my own questions. Off to explore it.

Laters,
Curby

 

[marcy]

I subscribed to your email and see 8 products. I like the drop down menu. That's a great idea.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Sunday kids!

Curby, I didn't even know he'd turned the site on again LOL! I guess those eight products are "test." He's actually going to modify the drop down menu organization (something about having six categories across the top and then drop downs from there... ?). I also need to crop the first picture of some of the listings because they are in Etsy's old landscape format and everything should be square for uniformity. The work on this thing has become A LOT, but I'm hoping it will all be worth it in the end. How much longer will Marty be gone? Is he feeling better from The Milk Debacle? Next time he goes somewhere I should make a quick trip and keep you company! Speaking of trips, sister #2 and I booked a jaunt to Switzerland in February. There will be some other people too, but I'm not sure who yet. It will be fun; I haven't been out of the country since the safari we went on in November of 2019 right before covid shut us all down.

Friday I listed and worked and listed and worked... meh. The last two batches of Christmas dishes are now up and I'm glad to have that done with! After dinner I washed up two big tubs of uranium glass from an estate sale about a month ago.

Yesterday I zipped up to the auction place first thing and picked up the lots I'd won during the week. When I got back I took pics of some of the uranium and Liam made us burgers on the grille for lunch. It was really nice out and we ate lunch on the deck. I don't think we've done that all summer! Later in the afternoon I convinced Liam to go with me to the office supply store and he got some hanging file folders. He bought an entire table full of old car brochures a couple of weeks ago and he's been listing them like mad but his organization is nil. When I say "a bunch of car brochures" I mean like THOUSANDS. Literally. So this lack of organization was just not sustainable.

Fried chicken for dinner and then I packed up two orders that had come in during the day. Last night I just sat at the kitchen table and drank wine and queued up listings for today. The counter has enough stuff ready for about ten and I really hope I can get through all of them.

Alright, I smell bacon downstairs and I committed to myself I'd get on it early this morning!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids,

Dee Jay, I might have just caught the website live when he was messing with it. I bet getting everything moved and images resized had to be a lot of work. Keeping it going will be much easier. Will you be loading your images or are you paying the web designer to maintain it for you?

Marty is not back to feeling normal. He's really weak and has stomach cramps. He has not called the doctor's office to see if they have results. And it sounds like he is unwilling to give up raw milk. You'd think this would convince him, it's not a good idea. We'll see.

He gets back the coming Saturday. So come on down. Party at Curby's house. It's cold here today. Feels like 44. I just switched the thermostat from AC to heat.

It sounds like you and Liam had a productive weekend. I am sure those old car brochures will sell quickly. I know, I always wish I'd kept mine and I finally started making sure I did save them. It sometimes has info in there that I want later. Putting them in a filing cabinet is a perfect idea. And drinking wine while queuing up events is a perfect way to handle such a task.

Mmm grilled burgers. I was going to do that today but it's too cold.

I had bacon for breakfast too. I made myself a bacon, egg and cheese toasted sandwich for breakfast.

Last night, I dug out my observing journal (notebook) that I started in 1987. I kept detailed and frequent entries in it for years but quit in the 90s sometime. The covers are falling off and they have a list of comets I've seen over the years. So I typed them up in a list and adding occultations, eclipses and novas I've seen. I tired to nail my 34th comet this morning. I was set too. I have out a telescope, binoculars, my camera was all set, the tripod was open and a jacket was hanging on the chair. This morning was going to be it! I set my alarm for 5 a.m. and went to bed. I peaked out the window at 4 a.m. It was totally cloudy. I turned off my alarm and went back to bed. Phooey, The forecast is bleak for days too.

I got laundry done - and much quicker with Marty gone - did my lifting and ventured to Sams Club to stock up on a few things.

I worked a little bit but will probably just loaf the rest of the day.

Laters,
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Monday kids!

Curby, holy cow (no pun intended)... Marty really needs to seek some medical help on this as it could be really serious. I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but geez! I'm paying the website guy to get it up and running, and then I'll likely pay him hourly with things I need on an ongoing basis, but I think I'll do posts to Insta and Pinterest myself. You did better than I on both the laundry front and the Sam's (well Costco for me) front this weekend -- I did neither!

I got some pics done yesterday and packed up an order that came in in the afternoon. Motivation kicked in around three o'clock and I went for a 10,000 step walk around the neighborhood! After dinner I did my nails again. I'm loving these Ohora! Getting them off is a real b!tch though -- even more so than getting off the gel polish I paint on.

No further progress on the website, even though he was supposed to modify my categories for the drop down meus by the end of day on Saturday and when I pinged him yesterday he didn't reply. I'm getting really really annoyed! Every day closer to X-mas is another day I'm not driving people directly to my site. Grrrrr.... !

Alright, off to do some real work.

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, LOL to “holy cow”. That is spot on.

Maintaining your website just to load images and take them down shouldn’t be too much trouble. Probably similar to Etsy and Shopify. Let’s hope anyway. Did you hear back from the website guy?

Nice to go for a 10,000 step walk. That is too bad getting those nails off it a PITA. I haven’t painted my nails i a few days. If I paint them now, I can’t show people the bruise under the nail on my middle finger. It does amuse me too.

I got another video done and scheduled today and then worked on several posts for the upcoming equinox. It was still chilly today and luckily I found a bowl of homemade soup in the freezer. It hit the spot for lunch.

Laters,
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Tuesday kids!

Curby, I DID hear back from the website guy! His message was actually waiting for me right after I put up my post that I hadn't heard from him LOL. He built out the categories for the drop downs and I spent a big chunk of time moving stuff around yesterday. About half way through I realized I could add things to more than one category so now I have to got back and fix all of that. Ugh. You could paint all but your middle finger so you can still wave that around at people -- ha!

After work yesterday Liam and I ran to Meijer to return some thing he bought for the TV (fire stick? roku? other? I have no idea!) that didn't work and then went to Best Buy to get something that WOULD work. We stopped at Panda Express to get take out on the way back home. I wrapped up an order for twelve glasses, answered questions for two non-U.S. based buyers (apparently Etsy has decided my target market is outside this country because they seem to be promoting my listings everywhere but here!) and then moved stuff into categories until I was about asleep at the kitchen table. Still not anywhere near done...

Today I've got a meeting with my boss about something we've been discussing for literally seven months. WTF. I also need to get some more training set up for my peeps. That is taking far longer than I had hoped it would.

Other than that, I'm just chugging along.

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, Sheboygan (Marty's Liam name) heard back from Urgent Care. They have NO idea what he has / had. You know he'll go buy their milk again.

Yay, the website guy is making progress. Phooey to going back and listing what categories your images go in. I remember that well, I did it for my sister's doll clothes website after Sheboygan made it for her.

Good plan to leave my middle finger polish free. Right now the bruise is nice and purple and bout 1/4 of an inch. I swear a gust of wind could bruise me.

I have not got the pleasure of visiting a Meijer. Marty likes them though. He found a total "everything you ever wanted tech / geek" store in Kansas. He was excited.

Thanks kind of crappy Etsy is hitting your site with some algorithm to target overseas buyers. Sounds like it's a good time to move off their site.

How did the meeting with your boss go today? Ugh to training.

I peaked out the window at 4 and the sky was mostly clear. So I got back up about 5:50 and it was too stinking light to see the comet. Again. I did enjoy seeing Venus and the moon though. I even took care of my scope, binoculars, tripod and camera bag. The comet is moving to the evening sky and I have a horrid view looking west, so I'll venture out this weekend somewhere and look for it.

I got another video ready for final preview. Making charts for the shorts (vertical videos) was a PITA. It took several tries, but I got it done. I grabbed a few groceries. Strange, it only cost $17. Amazing how cheaply we can eat when it's just me.

Laters,
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Friday kids!

Curby, how is Sheboygan doing? Still drinking milk straight from the cow? Have you seen the comet yet? LOL on the $17 grocery trip. Bill used to do all of our grocery shopping and one time when he was overseas for a two week work trip I was like, I got this! I'mma gonna take me to a Grocery Store! Well.. an hour and a half later, after wheeling the cart up and down every single aisle -- twice -- I left with some pepperoni and a tub of ice cream...

This week has been absolutely crazy at work. Add in the launch of the website and I'm just exhausted. We kept pushing it back and back and around mid-week we decided to launch next Friday, but I'm going to see my dad in Florida the following Monday so I didn't like the timing of that at all. And I didn't want to wait until the week after because we are getting wayyyy to close to the holidays. So today it is! It's actually live as of last night and the Instagram announcement will go out mid-day. Take a look at let me know what you think! I've still got some clean up, but what is it they say? Perfect is the enemy of good?!

So after a two and a half hour zoom call with the IT guy I then had to pack up five sales, which took until about one in the morning. Of course yesterday was the day where I sell a lot. Ugh. So tired... I did put a corkscrew and post-it notes in every order that I packed up so at least I've started that process.

Alright, off to shower and work on the Instagram announcement. THEN maybe I can take a NAP!

 

[Dee*Jay]

Forgot to say, I'll probably ask you to do a purchase (I'll put up a special listing reserved for you) to make sure the sales tax calculation thing is working. I'm going to do a sale in this state but I want to ensure it's working across the board. That's how I have it set up, but I'm never sure of things until I test them!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, sure, I'l be your test guinea pig to try your new site. Yay.

Marty gets home tomorrow. Right now there is NO milk in the house. We'll see how that goes over. LOL to wandering every isle of the grocery store and leaving with pepperoni and ice cream. Both delicious, but I don't know that i'd eat them together, one after another - of course.

I have not seen the comet yet. Tomorrow night is it! I'm sure of it.

So your site is live? I will go check it out. And your message on Instagram. I'll "see" if I can figure out how to share it with the few followers I have on Instagram. Sweet. How exciting. Yes, it is way closer to the holidays that we think. Ugh.

Darn that pesky work. I only worked 2 hours today and don't think I'll pursue anymore. My boss wants to take over my next few videos to get practice. And to start the day off, there was a huge thread going on for a few hours before I got up about my night sky guide and how disorganized it is. First, it was fine before the boss put the morning crew in charge of updating it all the time. Half of them know NOTHING about astronomy or star gazing so it's messed up all the time and out of order. Too many fingers in the pie. I rearranged it and left for Colorado.

My 20K maintenance On the Curbymobile took over 4 hours. I read for most of it. It was only $1238. I was shocked it was that cheap. I ate 4 Oreo's while waiting and visited with my sales guy for a while. He commented, I see you are still shrinking. They only had one Macan in stock - a cool orange color. But it's not a GTS, Marty wouldn't approve.

After I got back home, I went to Olive Garden and had fettuccine alfredo with crispy chicken and 9 ounces of pino noir. It was good.

I apparently need to make sure I eat breakfast at the dining room table where my blood pressure medicine is predominately featured on the table. I forgot for 2 days in a row since I ate standing up. Last night about 7, I was thinking - gee my heartbeat is sure fast for no apparent reason and thing "Bingo" I forgot to take my pills. The BP wasn't really that bad, but the heart beat sure was. That is probably from my wacky thyroid. I took the pill last night and am okay today. I was hoping with my lower BP in general, I could get off it. No such luck.

Have a great weekend.
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Sunday kids!

Curby, I first read your post about the Curbymobile maintenance to COST $20K, not that it was the 20K maintenance. I was like jeeeeeezzzzzuuuusssss -- what the he!! did they do to it?! How's Sheboygan? And the milk situation... ? Have you seen the comet yet? LOL on predominantly featuring the BP meds. I have a special place on my bathroom counter where I put the things I take morning and night... and half the time I got there and the pills are still sitting right where I put them. Oh well, I haven't died yet!

So yes, the site is LIVE! Friday was a sh!t show. We were supposed to do the Instagram announcement at noon... but around two it finally went up. That's OK. I had two people do fake purchases. The sales tax in IL worked just fine. The tax outside of IL did not... If I'm reading things correctly since I don't have a physical nexus in any state other than IL Shopify won't notify me about collecting and remitting tax in other states until I get to $10K in sales in those states... but what about the things I sell from Etsy and Ebay? I guess I could track all that... ? And since I only sold about $36K in each of the past two years I'm sure not more than $10K of it came from any one state... but... but... but?! Maybe the difference is that Etsy and Ebay are considered the sellers on those sites and I am considered the seller on my site... ? But I really don't know! So I guess I'll be talking with an accountant! I definitely don't want to run afoul of the taxing authorities.

Anyway, yesterday was jam packed. I woke up to a good order that I had to pack first thing so I could get it to the post office before the auction, was in and out of the auction by ten am (with two big boxes of glass of course!), took pics for four listings, ran YF back over to the auction so he could help Liam load a couple of filings cabinets and AN ELK HEAD (don't ask Curby... don't ask... ) in the truck, took a shower and ran downtown to check on my place, swung by the IT guy's house to give him some $$$, and went to a far flung suburb to have dinner with a friend I used to work with 20+ years ago. By the time I got home I was EXHAUSTED.

This morning I've put up my daily Instagram post, am drinking coffee while I wait for the bacon to cook, and then I will be a picture taking machine! I've got two orders to pack already, but I won't get to that 'til tonight in case anything else comes in through the day.

As you can see, the level here at The North Estate is absolutely OFF of the excite-o-meter!

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Monday kids!

Well yesterday was jam packed! I took pictures, went for a 10K step walk, packed up two orders (and of course another one came in about 10:30 last night so I packed that up too), washed sheets, and did a bunch of general cleaning up. By the time I wen to bed I felt like I'd been beaten! Speaking of bed... I finally went up about 1 am and laid there awake for ages. Finally when I did fall asleep my phone dinged (I SWEAR I'd turned that thing off before I put it on the bedside table) with a message from a Canadian buyer... and then I couldn't fall asleep again for sooooo long. This morning I am dragging.

I've got tons to do at work and I'm also trying to see if I can get my Audi in for the 40K services early because I'm taking it on a road trip to the east coast in a few weeks and I also want to make sure the tires are OK because Liam said there's a weird wear pattern on the driver's side front. It's always something!

Alright, off to look at some marketing materials. Ugh. One of my least favorite things...

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Tuesday kids!

Yesterday was a big PITA. I was about ready to reach through the screen and beat the marketing person TO DEATH. Ugh. But somehow I survived!

When I got home the keypad I'd ordered for my iphone was there. I figured it would make it easier for me to post on instagram... and it DOES... but the trackpad is pretty much useless... That was one of the reasons I bought that one. I'm going to Best Buy at lunch to see if they have anything better. If not I'm ordering a different one that folds into its own case, which I think will be safer for when I throw it in my purse for travel.

I also tried to update all my insta listings to remove the reference to the etsy page and put in my own site. That worked for about the first 40, but then I got a message that they limit certain activity for the safety of the forum (or some such crap like that) so they stopped me from doing the rest. Glad I started at the most recent ones! Maybe I can do the rest tonight. Or not.

Alright, off to kill another tree. I'm doing compliance training for a big group in an hour and I'll be passing out the magic compliance slide deck!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, you had several whirlwind days. That’s great you are up and running on your website and I hope you can get your link on Instagram. I post shorts for work on there and you can’t schedule them ahead of time. What a PITA. I hope you start getting orders off your website. I’ll share a link to it on my FB page. Who knows how far it might reach?

LOL to the elk head. Are the dogs enjoying it / ignoring it yet? We have a snarling boar head in the basement. My dad had it from some hunting trip.

I hope you don’t need new tires, but it‘s better to be safe than sorry. Especially for a road trip. I only have over 11,000 miles on the Curbymobile. I have four new Goodyear in my garage - remember I bought Michelin the first week after getting the Curbymobile home. They’ll go back on the car when I trade it in. Ha!

Marty got home without incident. So far he hasn’t ventured out to buy raw milk. I am stocking him up with pasteurized organic milk. He was delighted to have clear skies on Saturday night so took a poor man’s version of a Hubble deep filed image. It’s full of tiny galaxies. But you know that since I texted you that picture.

I spent my weekend reading and finishing a book. Sunday we grilled some porterhouse steaks - two for Marty, of course. I told Marty it was the first good meal I had since he left. Ha ha. I was shopping out of the freezer for meals, making PB sandwiches or ordering in Door Dash.

I got 2 new videos done and posted. I spent all of today finishing round one of the October charts. Darn that pesky work.

Laters,
Curby

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

I worked on videos most of the day. I'm getting faster at these things.

Dee Jay, someone who said they were a friend of yours posted a link to your page on Facebook, so I shared that post on my FB page. I hope you are so busy packing orders, you'll accidentally send me one of your fancy rings. Like I need another ring.

We had a lovely rain shower this afternoon with a very bright double rainbow. I was glad I went to get my iPad and noticed it.

The flavor of the day at Culvers is Andes Mint - I told Marty he could bring us supper from there on his way home from the gym tonight. Wasn't that nice of me?

I found a scratch on my car the other day. I have no idea were it came from. I dried a wet cloth on it to see if it was dirt. Nope, don't think so. Guess, I'll run it through a car wash and see if it's still there. Grr.

Laters,
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Friday kids!

Curby, Liam sent me a picture of a MOOSE head at an auction this weekend. I think I'm going to have to take control or else it's going to look like a hunting lodge in there! Poor Sonny and Blue are already like WTF is happing in our room?! I've also got a scratch -- actually scratchES -- on my car too. Blue was so excited to see me come home one day he ran over and jumped up and raked his paw down the side of the door. Ugh. I wonder who that could be on Facebook... ? I'm not on there so THANK YOU for sharing the link! Was it for Etsy or the new site? And OF COURSE I'll send you the ring of your choosing! Which one would you like?

I was crazy busy at work yesterday and I had two big sales, including a set of Christmas dishes with some serving pieces. After dinner I put myself down in the basement and packed it all up because I figured I might as well get it done. Today I've got some other actual work to do (wha....?!) and I need to clean up around here. My tech guy said he thinks he's go the Google Merchant thing almost figured out, so I hope that's finished today. I'm also going to try to post on Instagram this morning if my account has been unlocked. The two other keyboards I ordered are not great BTW, so I'm keeping the first one. Even though the trackpad is crap, the extra space at the end there where I rest my hands stabilizes it. The other two are so light they slight all over the place. Oh well, I guess I should be glad now I have a keyboard even if I don't have a trackpad.

There is an estate sale this weekend that has... say it with me... Christmas dishes! Trying to resist! They also have a bunch of crystal so I think I'll swing by there at lunch after I stop at the packaging place to get some bubble wrap and check it out. Everything will be half off tomorrow and it it's worth it I'll make that my early morning adventure.

Alright, off to get this Friday rolling!

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Saturday kids!

What day! I had a verrrrrry successful morning, loading up the car at three estate sales and a church bazaar. Yes... I bought more Christmas dishes... But in my defense, I sold a set of Imperial Carnival Glass Twelve Days of Christmas Collector Plates this morning before the first sale even started. Plates go out; more plates come in. So... yanno... cycle of life.

I'm just now back from an hour long joyride in BR. It was an eventful trip on the highway. I was going 121 when the cover flew off of a boat being towed a ways in front of me. Fortunately it went toward the field side of the road and not toward the median side where I was driving, but there was a moment... YIKES.

Decision time: Do I get the Christmas dishes washed up and ready to list tomorrow or should I do stemware? I feel like I haven't listed any clear stemware in agggggessss, and I did buy several sets this morning. I'm thinking that's the way to go for tomorrow's pictures and I'll just have to save the holiday stuff for next weekend when we're back from Florida.

Alright, off to find a new audio book to keep me company while I am in elbow deep in hot sudsy water for the next several hours!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, yay for packing up a bunch of orders. I hope your site is up and running with google set up. Yay for selling Christmas dishes and replacing them with something new. You did make the rounds and picked up some new things.

121? Sweet. I am glad the boat cover didn’t spear you at that speed.

What did you decide to wash? Listening to an audio book while doing the dishes is a fabulous idea.

Some of those keyboards are pretty crappy. I ordered one for my iPad before I bought the keyboard case and it’s not bad. It was $29 on Amazon - and blue - plus I ordered the $19 matching mouse. The mouse is crap. And I basically use the Apply keyboard case most of the time but I have pulled out that keyboard once or twice.

Has Liam brought home more animal heads yet? Or antlers? Too funny the pups don’t like it.

The rotten teenagers egged our house again last night. There were 4 of them this time and they got it all over the side of our house. Marty power washed it and it is all stained. He’s very, very quiet right now. I posted the video online to our community FaceBook page and someone messaged me who 3 of the 4 kids are, but how can I prove it? You know how poor infrared quality is. My hope was at least one of their parents would see it and do the right thing. Given, no one has knocked on our door and apologized and offer to pay for damages, I guess that’s why the punk kids are the way they are. The person who messaged me is a teacher and said she had to text their parents and threaten to file a harassment charges against them because they were ringing her door bell at all hours of the night. Their parents must be real pieces of work too. My blood pressure was pegged last night and Marty was already asleep. I turned off the TV about 10 and heard the damn eggs hitting again. I have no idea why we are their targets.

We went out for breakfast and I just ordered us steaks on Door Dash. It’s insanely windy here today. I bet the power wash was fun in the wind. I worked 5 hours getting a tedious chore done and finished a video. I won’t hit 200 hours this month. See I’m working less.

Laters,
Curby

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

I was grumpy today. I am still so agitated about those punks who egged our house. Poor Marty, I wandered by him a while ago and he's researching how to get egg off the house. I think there's an egg on our door in the garage that goes outside. Since the ground over there is either lumpy or with large gravel, I decided I'd leave it for him to check out.

I worked about 9 hours today. I had a growing list of things to do when I got up. I am glad I leave my phone on do not disturb. I did get over half of it done though.

I did finally paint my fingernails and you can still see my black bruise under my fingernail. Yay, I can still be immature and "show" people my wounded finger.

Marty got his new astro camera today and he's out in the backyard playing with it now. He's excited.

Laters,
Curby

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Not much new with us. We helped the library host a telescope session / star party on Tuesday night. I'd say there were about 50 people there. It was kind of fun, but limited viewing from downtown, street lights and trees. Marty got out his RV and set up his 20" telescope and then ran one of his cameras through his iPad showing the moon all night. One of my former students works at the library and she was trying to use their scope, but wasn't having much luck, so I sent the crowd over to our scopes. We saw a trail of Starlink satellites that night. As an amateur astronomer, I hate to think how much those thousands of satellite are cluttering up the sky, but it was cool to see them.

I got more videos done this week. I'm also expecting cookies from Martha Stewart anytime now. Ha Ha. MS Living linked to one of my articles. I feel so special.

We have an astronomy meeting tonight. I need to go lift since I didn't do it yesterday. I was trying to made little videos for my weekly charts and they kept coming our the wrong size. I was uttering some Gordon Ransey type words until I finally narrowed it down to - change the "size" of the video before exporting. Worked like a charm then.

Laters,
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Thursday kids!

Curby, MS linked to one of your articles? Damn -- you are now my brush with fame! Did you find a way to get the egg off? And WTF? I think you and Marty should get paintball guns and lay in wait for those kids. First of all, getting hit with a paintball hurts, and second, they'd have a helluva time explaining to their parents when they go home what happened. I guess I haven't thought about how many satellites there are up in the sky, but you're right -- there are A LOT!

So we are successfully back from the annual Orlando trip. May dad and his wife are still alive and kicking. Liam and I escaped one day to the outlet mall (where I bought nothing and Liam bought new underwear) and we escaped another day to shop the thrift stores (where I bought jeans and Liam got work shirts) but other than that not much happened.

When we got home I had half a dozen orders to pack up and we made a Costco run. Tomorrow, even though I'm still "on vacation" I have to approve a monthly distribution item. I've also got a bunch of stuff washed up and ready for pictures.

My boss's boss has been replaced and the new guy is fine with us being hybrid two days a week, but he doesn't want either of those days to be Monday or Friday. I am seriously thinking about retirement. No joke. If I sold my place in the city I would have literally no expenses. Of course the day I leave Liam I'd need to rent an apartment, but I could do that no problem LOL!

Alright, off to have another glass of wine and consider doing my nails.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Saturday kids!

Today was pretty productive! I packed up an order and was first in line at the post office when the counter opened at 8:30. Then I ran to the local auction and bought one set of glasses and got the heck out. There was more stuff, but based on the people who were there I knew it would go high, and it was going to take forever to get through everything, so I made the executive decision my time was better spent doing listings. I got done with that earlier than I expected so I packed up another order that came through my website (same lady as before -- she said her husband is going to "lose his cookies" at the amount of glass she's buying from me LOL) and ran back to the post office before they closed at one o'clock. I zipped over to the auction again on the off chance anything I'd wanted was coming up, and I did bid on one set of glasses but was beat out. That's OK, my heart wasn't in it at that point. Then I came back to The North Estate and cleaned everything up. By then Liam had come home and we just tooled around doing laundry from last week's trip an other not very important stuff until dinner (steaks on the grille!). After that I washed up the big set of Christmas dishes I'd bought last weekend. Now I'm in bed exhausted LOL.

Tomorrow will be more listings and packing up whatever orders come in though the day. Lather, rinse, repeat.

As you can see, the Excit-O-Meter here is off the charts, as per usual. Not!

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Monday kids!

Yesterday gets another tick in the "productive" box! I took pics of the last of the Christmas dishes (until I buy more, LOL), packed up two orders (one of which was an absolute bear... next time I want to by a drink set with a 23" long metal caddy I need to just keep on walkin'... ) and washed up three boxes of amber glass I got the weekend before.

This morning I had to drop my Audi at the dealer for the 40K service. I was running on time -- ahead of time, actually! -- right until I pulled into the Porsche dealer. Oops. No idea what I was thinking. I just automatically drove right over there and then was like WTF. Fortunately the Audi dealer is only about 7 minutes down the same road (but in the other direction) and they took me right in.

Today I'll be digging out from last week.

So Curby... I'm seriously thinking of checking out of corporate America after bonuses get paid next February. I need to find some sort of part time job though, just for my own sanity, preferably one I can do remotely. I'm going to talk to another real estate agent this week about selling my place downtown. Not sure if this whole thing will go anywhere, but since you just did something similar I welcome you're thoughts!

Alright, off to deal with the hundreds of emails in my inbox...

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, glad you survived your trip To Orlando.

I still have not received any cookies from MS - guess I’ll just cherish my millisecond of fame.

We did not find any way to get rid of the egg stains. I love the paintball gun idea, and yes they hurt and leave a “mark”. Of course these days we’d go to jail for it.

Bummer you can’t work from home on Monday or Friday. My old job was so stupid about it, they had you come in two or three days a week, just let them come in every other week.

That’s kind of funny that one lady keeps buying things from you. Hopefully her husband realizes she can have worse hobbies. A 23” long caddy is pretty big and fun to pack.

Too funny you tried to drop off you Audi at the Porsche dealer. Our dealer has Audi on one side of the building and Porsche on the other side. Then they have a separate building in the same lot for VW. What’s funny, I think the same mechanics work on all three models but their labor rate is certainly different. You’ve got a lot of miles on your Deemobile, but of course it’s those trips to the city and back.

Yep, my excite-o-meter is lacking activity as well.

I can’t say it was a bad idea for me to retire. And yes, you like to keep busy so you might find something part time to do and something you can do remotely is perfect. It is definitely a good time to sell your place downtown. And the bonus is you don’t need to find a new place to buy. Marty is interested in us moving to some semi-rural spot but after seeing the higher interest rates I’‘m not overly anxious to pursue that right now. One more egging and I might change my mind. I think you’ll know if it’s the right thing to do. Once I made up my mind, I was all in. Good luck with that decision and of course I’ll answer any questions you have.

Speaking of working and retiring, I did NOT hit 200 hours this month. Only 194.5. See, I cut back.

I noticed I haven’t posted since Wednesday. Thursday night we had an astronomy club meeting. Friday I worked late and had to get the astronomy newsletter done and ready for post. Saturday we wandered every hardware store and Sams Club looking for a small canopy for Marty to use for the upcoming solar eclipse. He is probably sorry he took me with him, we came home with three new Christmas decorations for the yard and they are all Snoopy. Of course, they’d be Snoopy. While at Sam’s Club we bought a 7.7 pound tenderloin strip that Marty grilled for supper. It was delicious.

I only worked 8 hours total this weekend. I wrote up my two scripts for videos this week.

We had a heck of a thunderstorm tonight, but other spots in the state had SNOW. Yes, SNOW. Boo.

Laters,
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Tuesday kids!

Curby, the Porsche dealer here is freestanding but the Audi dealer shares a building with another maker... I can't think of who at the moment. I would make sense if it was VW though! Please don't say snow. Not yet!!! Tenderloin sounds delicious! We're on a wild tear to reduce the amount of hamburger in the freezer. Ugh. So tired of burgers... New Snoopy decorations sound like fun! You're right, you might go to jail for shooting a kid with a paintball... but damn, in the moment it would be worth it!

Yesterday was a big long game of catch up. Today is a sh!t show. There are two big legal issues that came up while I was gone last week. One of them is of an ilk that someone should truly be fired. We'll see how that all pans out.

Not much else to report other than work work work and a haircut tonight at 6:15. How fabulous is my life?!?