Quarantine and chill and kindness chatty clubhouse: Jump in and join the conversation! All is welcome!

[lynxstch]

 

[NYCgrrl]

Whoa @easyas123 !
Amazing staging for the trophies! Particularly the detailing of the background of the black,brown, and white Old Squaw drake(?) opening his wings. Not my style but I can appreciate the beauty which reminds me of a Cabela diorama .

When I was much younger, my first coffee table was a lobster trap we dragged back to NYC from Cape Cod, Didn’t think through how difficult it would be to dust

Roasting the turkey parts now after butchering into sections that will fit in the toaster oven. I think Im about done with this experiment. Yes, sure I can bake/roast most anything in it but the capacity limitation is getting to me. Promising self a full sized range will be the first major appliance purchased post pandemic

 

[easyas123]

When I was much younger, my first coffee table was a lobster trap we dragged back to NYC from Cape Cod, Didn’t think through how difficult it would be to dust

Thanks - I naturally gravitate to muted earth colors for some reason-
Ok - so you will appreciate this then! I picked up that lobster trap many years ago with the intention of turning into a coffee table! Never could make it come together. Then we stored it. I'd keep looking at it trying to figure out what to do with it, finally we came up with putting it up on the wall. Decorators we are not! (husband calls my style "male sophomore dorm room, minus the cinder blocks")

 

[flyingdumbo127]

Wishing all a wonderful Wednesday!

I finished watching the Christmas movie "A Gift to Remember." I am still not quite sure what the story was about the ring Aidan had come to find as a surprise for his sister. However, I enjoyed the movie including the supporting cast. I really liked Darcy's landlady friend and the kind restaurant owner she fell in love with. Bailey the dog was adorable and yes, Aidan was handsome, too :d I Googled and it looks like there were two sequels made . I'll have to check that out.

 

[NYCgrrl]

I am wondering how you all keep all of your ornaments and decorations in such great shape? Ours always wind up all broken!!

I line lidded plastic or cardboard boxes with whatever is on hand to cushion them: quilted fabric; old blankets or bedspreads cut down, shelf liners. If the containers don’t come with separators I make my own from any weight cardboard (as thin as cereal boxes as sturdy as gift boxes) and in go the ornaments.
Oversized ornaments remain in their original box and I wrap them in acid free tissue paper. For the one I threw the original box away I use a wooden cigar box which used to be given away by cigar stores.

 

[lynxstch]

Cold outside again, but full sun. Calling for near 60 this weekend..whoo hoo! Guess I am officially 'old' now..got my silverscript Part D card, and my Aetna Part N cards in the mail today. Hubby hasn't gotten his, and his is the one the broker said should have been automatically approved since he's had full coverage forever, and I hadn't .
Wrapped the gifts that go in the one pkg I have to mail to FL. Got the box ready, did the click and ship online, and set pick up for tomorrow when carrier brings our mail. One more thing off the to do list!
Have a great day everyone!

 

[dazedx3]

Hello All,
Boxed up the cookies for my son, took them to the post office. Wow, $45.00 to ship!! The ingredients probably didn't cost that much. Oh well, if they give him a sense of home over the holidays, it is well worth it!
Today, I have off, so I'm putting some final touches on the tree, Not quite happy with it. I also did some straightening up that will help get things in order for the next few weeks. I haven't done any wrapping yet, maybe this weekend.

 

[flyingdumbo127]

Stay warm, Lynxstch! I hope your DH gets his new insurance cards soon!

Hooray for cookies! Aw what a nice thing to do for your son, DazedX3, I am sorry the cost was so high though!

Glittery Christmas cards from Amazon have been returned. Non glittery cheaper cards on Amazon ordered. This afternoon poor Dad has to call Walmart about slippers I ordered. Slippers would be great except what came was not the size I ordered! He did get some needed Target shopping done and saved the 10% too. Friendly FYI, this Target Circle offer is valid through Saturday.

I'm off to watch more of "It's Time I Came Home for Christmas"

Have a great afternoon/early evening all!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Hello All,
Boxed up the cookies for my son, took them to the post office. Wow, $45.00 to ship!! The ingredients probably didn't cost that much. Oh well, if they give him a sense of home over the holidays, it is well worth it!
Today, I have off, so I'm putting some final touches on the tree, Not quite happy with it. I also did some straightening up that will help get things in order for the next few weeks. I haven't done any wrapping yet, maybe this weekend.

Shipping costs have gotten crazy! I recently ran into the same issue, it cost me almost $100 to ship to inexpensive things!

 

[apirateslifeforme]

Happy Wednesday!

My mother is making potato pancakes and apple cinnamon pierogies for dinner tonight. I normally do not eat a lot of carbs, but the smell coming from the kitchen is SO inviting right now - and I have just felt like eating all day! I cannot wait for dinner!

Josh went back to school on Monday, but his teacher was absent both Monday and Tuesday. Even though she sent the assignments on their iPads, the sub didn't have them do any of it. Of course I couldn't get him to sit down to do it in the evenings, after being at school "all day already" (his words). So today, being the at-home day with asynchronous assignments...he had TWELVE things to get done. Ugh. We didn't do all of it yet. That's just too much for a 5-year-old (well, and his tired mommy, too).

We also didn't get it all done because we went to Bright Nights last night. It was one of their $10 ticket nights, which we'd purchased and could only be used that night. I just didn't think...of course it wasn't ONLY for the $10 ticket people, they certainly wouldn't turn away people who'd bought full price tickets. So, because there were so many cars trying to go through...we got in line at 6:09 p.m. and finally entered the Forest Park gates at 8:41 p.m. No joke. Then it was another 45 minutes to get through the park, so we didn't get home until just before 10 p.m. It was still beautiful, of course, but we will not take advantage of any of those specials in the future!

(As an aside, that's not the longest we've waited to get in. Back in 2008, on our 3rd date, my now-DH and I sat in the car for 4 hours to get in. We joke that it was our best date ever, because we were forced to talk to each other for that long. We certainly learned that we had plenty to talk about and we could tolerate each other! )

So yes, we're all tired today. Josh has been wearing his dinosaur blanket sleeper all day and I don't have it in me to make him put clothes on. It was clean when he put it on, it won't hurt him.

I received 2 more deliveries today, the photo desk calendars that I made for the grandmas, and a book called "Alphabreaths: The ABCs of Mindful Breathing" for Josh. That looks like a good one! Now I'm just waiting on 2 more items. One is my Duran Duran face mask, which is coming from England and has no tracking info attached, and that art print that took 10 days to be "accepted" at the company's local post office. It was supposed to be delivered yesterday, but of course now it just says "Arriving late" and "In transit within the USPS system," so who knows where it is. At least it's not a gift for anyone, just something I liked for the house.

Edited to add...it crossed my mind that today would have been my father's 70th birthday. I don't know if I told the story about how we stopped speaking when I was 14, and then the day before my 31st birthday, I found out by playing around on the internet that he'd died 6 months earlier. So I didn't really know him and it's not really much of a loss for me. I didn't mourn when I found out that he was dead and I still felt nothing when I visited his grave. But it still feels kind of weird to know that one of my parents would have hit that milestone already.

I went over the very basics with my little kindergarten-age charges this morning as well - the "light on the details, heavy on the respect" version, but they were actually quite interested.

We also started Christmas traditions in other countries. If anyone has used the NORAD Santa-tracking website before, you click on the "library" building on the page with the village, and then on the yellow book. It brings up a map, and the row of flag icons below it is how you choose countries to read about. ("Student A" this morning wants to move to Germany, because "they started Christmas yesterday!"- i.e., it talked about St. Nicholas Day. )

Thank you so much for posting this about the NORAD site! I looked at it and this is right up Josh's alley! Once we catch up on his regular assignments, we are going to start looking at it. I think I might have an old magazine somewhere that has an article about traditions around the world, too.

I am wondering how you all keep all of your ornaments and decorations in such great shape? Ours always wind up all broken!!

Almost all of my stuff is kept in its original packaging, which usually includes some type of tissue, paper towels, bubble wrap, or styrofoam. I save tissue from gifts and every couple of years, I replace the old storage wrappings. The few things that don't have boxes are wrapped with copious amounts of tissue. The nativity from when I was a child has a light on the back of it, but there is a small gap between the bulb and the manger, and several times the piece holding the bulb has broken off. Now I stuff the gap with tissue before wrapping the whole piece, then I put it on the top of the bin, manger side down/bulb side up, and there's a big sign on the bin lid "DON'T PLACE ANYTHING ON TOP." I have one bin for the boxed ornaments and every year, I joke about playing "ornament Tetris" when packing everything up. Framed photos do not get packed; those are gently stacked in a far corner of the cabinet part of my living room bookcases.

 

[Snowysmom]

Happy Wednesday. Everyone seems to be in the Christmas spirit. We are getting our tree on Friday morning but it probably won't be decorated until the weekend or even early next week. We keep our ornaments in an old storage box that I used for storing clothes in college. It has alot of wear and tear but the box is stored in a closet downstairs so the ornaments stay safe. I finished shopping for older DS and younger DDIL. The other 2 need to get ideas to me. I threatened that if they did not get ideas to me soon Dad would be shopping for their gifts.

It is still chilly here, around 34. Tomorrow it is supposed to be around 40 and a bit warmer Friday. Rainy weekend ahead but it is better than snow.

I have to figure out what to cook for Christmas once we know what will be going on. I like to do brunch foods like quiche, homemade granola, pancakes, and bacon. I know we won't see seeing older DS and family, probably doing a zoom Christmas. Younger DS may have us come over while the kids open the gifts. I can make brunch for just the 2 of us if need be. Leftovers are always good. I also make sugar cookies which I will give to the kids. I make a dairy free cookie for my youngest grandson who is allergic. Funny thing is everyone likes those cookies better. They went fast last year.

Have a good evening!

 

[flyingdumbo127]

Enjoy your dinner, Apirateslifeforme! I'm sorry the Bright Nights festival was so late but am glad you got to enjoy it. I still think what is expected of Josh school-wise is crazy (for him and you)! on your Dad.

Yikes, that is chilly, Snowysmom! Sugar cookies sound tasty!

 

[Breezy_Carol]

Good evening.

Don't feel much like typing today. I am making too many errors.

The two grandkids go to daycare at a church. It is a fairly large daycare. One of the moms of a baby in the infant room with DGS tested positive. DD had kept DGS home Monday because he didn't feel well cutting teeth. Sent him Tuesday because she had to go into the office. They were all getting tested Tuesday anyway before she found out about the mom. Kept him home today and then found out another infant in the room tested positive. So, the infant room is now closed for two weeks. DGD was still going but they are going to keep her home the rest of the week and all getting tested again on Friday. This is all such a mess.

Our library announced that the buildings are going to be closed December 14 until at least January 18. Will still be open to pick up holds by contactless pick up. We are going to try to go tomorrow or Friday to browse and stock up.

 

[flyingdumbo127]

and Carol for your grandkids and all the children testing positive. Heartbreaking.

 

[tazdev3225]

Been a busy couple days. We sorted out the canned goods yesterday. 36+ cases of soups, vegies, fruits, etc. Then had to run down to the distribution center for a pick up., Breads, potatoes and fruit. Thought today would be an easy day but had to run down to the distribution center again for another pick-up. Tomorrow the truck is coming with another load of who knows what. We will give out food from 1-3. Believe it or not there will be a huge amount of the food gone tomorrow afternoon. As we were unloading my car several people asked when we were giving it out. The word has spread in the neighborhood. The only question I have is what do we do with FORTY POUNDS of radishes.

I did manage to get most of my Christmas shopping done. My parents want nothing., at least that was what my mom said. My dad wants his two front teeth. I think I am going to the bakery and getting my mom some German Christmas cookies and a small Stollen. My grandfather was a German Baker and I know she misses those things. My kids and all the older grandkids are getting cash. I don't like doing that but this year it is the easiest thing to do.

My youngest grandson is out of school til next week in quarantine. Someone in his class tested positive. Of course today was my day to get them to school. I am going to need to wear a mask around the boys for a couple weeks to be safe. I think he will be OK though.

It has been an exhausting couple of days but it feels good to be able to help the community. I am off to bed to read for awhile. Hopefully I don't fall asleep wearing my glasses again. Good night all.

 

[NYCgrrl]

Busy days and nights this time of year and we are all in it .
DGD had a dental appointment this morning and it was gratifying to know the dentist feels she has been following through with her rubber band regime. She keeps this up and as I tell her she won’t have to be a metal mouth at the age of 30 .

No packages to mail thank goodness however did make it to the post office to buy some money orders, yesterday. New location, new worker, less hassle means I’ll be back to this one if needs be.
I looked at a picture of last year’s tree and decided:

a) maybe too many lights or at least the wrong type
b) I want a different treetop

We really haven’t been home for the past 3 Christmases so this will be the first time in a bit I can cast my critical eye on it and do what I really want. Always wanted a simple lit star with no glitter on the tree top (shades of my childhood) and have looked for it high and low. Found one that came close at Balsam Hill but the price was just too precious and if that site has a 50% off sale after the season I keep missing it. Trying to keep to my budget and decided a simple white dove would work as a stop gap but having problems finding that as well. Tomorrow, I’m heading to the now truncated artificial flower market in the 20’s off 7th Avenue, and maybe I’ll find at least that.

As for the tree lights going to order a strand of them online.

The turkey is now fully cooked excepting the carcass and wings. The rest will wait until tomorrow.

Off to bed now and may all have pleasant dream.

 

[lynxstch]

 

[chickapin parterre]

10%. How many of you will go shopping on Dec 26th because they are marking down their holiday leftover decor at 10% off. Or that 10% of the minimum wage check will be set aside for taxes. Or just how important is it it to know that 10% of ice cream eaters prefer vanilla and caramel blends. I can tell you that 100% of the folks who shop at my local grocery store love klondike bars. they were all gone by the time I arrived for a super sale on the foiled delicacy.


And foiled I was this morning at 1:30 a.m. M.S.T. that the 10% chance of rain turned into 100% rain. After many conversations yesterday with "old timers" at the Farmers Market where I sell my found objects to be repurposed elsewhere about what exactly 10% chance of rain looks like on the sunniest place on earth....I was pretty confident that set-up of the garage sale today for tomorrow would be a green light.

In 1994 a song was released that had the lyrics " like the desert miss the rain", the title of song "Missing" which went on to historical music chart records, including a ranking of #1 song of 1996, which is when I bought the cassette tape.. 24 years later I understand how the desert misses the rain , we have not seen a raindrop since April 11th, and I have not hiked the desert blocks down my street because of the dust and dirty smell. Now the desert is clean and smells really wonderful because when the oldest living plant on earth misses the rain...it puts out a fantastic fragrance that last for several days.

....and...my tables for putting wares on for the garage sale....all clean...not that it matters...10% chance that my garage sale is going to happen Friday....but at least it will have a clean smell.

🌦🌦☀☀

 

[lynxstch]

@chickapin parterre sorry about your rain, but it sounds like you really needed it..hope your garage sale happens after all

We have bright sunshine and temps going into the 50's today, 60 tomorrow. Still no rain or snow in site.
Hubby thought he was going to have a hard time adjusting to retirement..I told him that I think he's already adjusting to 'doing nothing', which is what he's done for the last 3 days, lol!

I told him he's going to have to sit through at least a few of the 22 Christmas movies on the TIVO , as I don't want to still have them on there by Valentine's Day.

Have a great Thursday everyone!
@lovemygoofy --Tina, if you're still out there,,please drop us a line on this thread to let us know you and Matt are doing okay,,we miss you!

 

[Bianca and Bernard]

Good morning! And it has been a good morning....

So far today

--DS has completed all but 2 classes for the semester, and those will be done by next week. He'd be done this week, but he has to read The Great Gatsby, and he hates it, so pushes it off as much as possible.
--went to the post office, no wait to pick up packages.
--Penzey's orders (3) have shipped.
--Starbucks had a 2 minute wait in the drive thru....and I LOVE the chestnut praline latte.
--And we figured out why I've been so tired the last week (like every 4 hours, I feel like I have to take a quick cat nap) and having heartburn (even water is killing me).............................................DD#1 is 6 weeks pregnant!
/happy dance