Something About Nothing............ #14

[schumigirl]

The South and especially the south west are breaking records for the high heat.

Texas and sounding states have record breaking temps now.

It’s dreadful when you’re not used to it. Not many private homes hair aircon in Europe which makes it worse.

Second, very brief power outage. And it seems to have taken out the cable and internet.

Hope it comes back and no damage. Hope you don`t get as much rain as forecast. And yes, get as many estimates as possible, our rule of thumb is, never take the cheapest price, usually it`s false economy.

Is anyone in a position to see the northern lights this week? It’s suppose to be viewable further south than normal. News was saying there’s a chance we may see them.
What about you Pumpkin as you’re quite a bit north of me.

We can usually see them, but I don’t think we will this time around.

Charade I want to see the new movie too! Be careful with those flash floods

It gets terrible reviews. When we came out the cinema the other day folks were coming out from that movie booing it! Haven’t heard any good reviews about it yet. Don’t think I’ll bother till it comes on the movie channels. Hated the Crystal Skull movie of his too, it was dire!!

Yes, those seats are wonderful.






Lovely morning here, went out just after 6 for a walk, a bit cloudy so no sunrise picture today, but still so lovely, the sea was barely moving, rarely see it so still. Home, showered and heading back out now. Kyle is doing a 5K tonight in a city about an hour away, we were going to turn up and watch, but heavy rain and high winds don’t sound like fun. Race will still go ahead, but we’ll stay home and catch up with him tomorrow.

Getting some pictures printed off today to take up to mum, one from the TR we really like of the three of us, she’ll like that And a couple of others we like, off to do that now.

Spicy chicken thighs with salad for lunch today, dinner is pulled pork with salad and potato wedges…….and maybe a gin or wine tonight as a treat.

Still love that Friday feeling even though I’ve been a lady of leisure a long time now!!!

Have a wonderful Friday and weekend ​

 

[Lynne G]

Woke up, what was that? Oh, nice big boom of thunder. Ooh raining. But very quick one. Phone says rain stopping in 6 minutes. Thunder now sounding more distant. Or maybe not. They are loudly bowling up there. And rain stopped. Hehe, won’t even see wet roads. 0.15 inches of rain fell. Ooh that was loud. Eh by my weather radar, it’s just North of me. So still hearing a few more booms. Some blobs of yellow just went over me.

Well, maybe I’ll go back to sleep, maybe not.

And like Charade, rainy today, clouds for Saturday, rainy Sunday.

Eh still some thunder hearing. Guess I’ll go take a long hot shower. I’m up.

Friday it is. Yay a fabulous Friday to all. And thankful a lazy one for me. Woot, weekend ready, and two more days of lazy. Woot!


Oh and good morning to ya too.

 

[macraven]

schumi
your post on fitness is your passion made my morning

What a fabulous hoot!!

 

[Sue M]

Good morning Lynne! No T storms here. Just blue skies.

Schumi good luck to Kyle. When are you heading up to Scotland?


Youngest is heading out today to one of the gulf islands by ferry with her kayak for an ocean currents course This weekend.

No big plans for me today. Just meeting a friend for coffee to talk about her knee surgery. Then I’ll continue on to a Home Depot type store, Rona, close to coffee shop. Husband took lights out of fixture that need replacing. I volunteered to take them and find replacement since I’ll be near. Then go to Costco to hunt for luggage that airline cracked. Those luggage handlers! Sheesh. And warranty doesn’t cover damage due to airlines handling.

Time for some coffee!

 

[macraven]

Lots of rain for many of you today and hope it does not put a dent in your plans.

Can’t say we will be hit with it at this point but never know about that.

I am trying to become an early morning person and it’s a struggle.
Made my doctor appointments for 7:30 this morning and was quite nice to be in and out so quickly.

I really prefer to be a late night poster but got to change that habit.
I am on day 1 of being an early riser.
Had a 7:15 eye doctor appointment and quite enjoyed being in and out quickly

Going to give it my best shot for early bedtime and see how many days I can be an early riser.



Mr Mac says I will give up with in two days.
He knows me well….

 

[schumigirl]

schumi
your post on fitness is your passion made my morning

What a fabulous hoot!!

lol.....glad you liked it!! Just opened a bottle for tonight to let it breathe......screwtop, so no exercise there!! It`s funny how 30 years ago folks turned their noses up at screwtops, now it`s perfectly normal and some of our best wines don`t have corks anymore.

Good morning Lynne! No T storms here. Just blue skies.

Schumi good luck to Kyle. When are you heading up to Scotland?


Youngest is heading out today to one of the gulf islands by ferry with her kayak for an ocean currents course This weekend.

No big plans for me today. Just meeting a friend for coffee to talk about her knee surgery. Then I’ll continue on to a Home Depot type store, Rona, close to coffee shop. Husband took lights out of fixture that need replacing. I volunteered to take them and find replacement since I’ll be near. Then go to Costco to hunt for luggage that airline cracked. Those luggage handlers! Sheesh. And warranty doesn’t cover damage due to airlines handling.

Time for some coffee!

Thanks, looks like the rain won`t be as bad up there as predicted.

We leave very early Sunday morning for Scotland, takes us a good few hours to get there, so the earlier the better.

Lots of rain for many of you today and hope it does not put a dent in your plans.

Can’t say we will be hit with it at this point but never know about that.

I am trying to become an early morning person and it’s a struggle.
Made my doctor appointments for 7:30 this morning and was quite nice to be in and out so quickly.

I really prefer to be a late night poster but got to change that habit.
I am on day 1 of being an early riser.
Had a 7:15 eye doctor appointment and quite enjoyed being in and out quickly

Going to give it my best shot for early bedtime and see how many days I can be an early riser.



Mr Mac says I will give up with in two days.
He knows me well….

Yay!!! I`ll have company at lunchtime if you`re around early in your timezone.......I usually have no one to talk to! Although I`ll be gone from Sunday for a few days.....darn it......

mr mac may well be right though......lol......old habits die hard!! Hope the appointment went well!!




Our meat order was finally ready today after a delay, so we drove over to pick it up, nice drive as it wasn`t raining at that point, ended up having lunch in their coffee shop, just a couple of wraps with spicy chicken with some fries, very nice it was too. This afternoon has been tumble drying and will iron later as I got on with some more trip report.

Raining now though. I do hope the race has less rain than predicted tonight, although it`s a hilly course with high winds and rain, he`s not expecting a personal best tonight. As long as he enjoys it.

Got one of our suitcases down from the attic for the trip......

Maybe not 30, but we have four lunches and dinners plus outfits to travel in both ways!!! I cannot be blamed for wanting to have a change of clothes, plus hair dryer, straighteners, toiletries, gifts, shoes, sandals......I think we may need a second case after all now I think about it

Will be a much later dinner tonight I think.

Time for some Jing Tea.

 

[disneyseniors]

The South and especially the south west are breaking records for the high heat.

Texas and sounding states have record breaking temps now.

Yes, Mac, my sisterinlaw lives in Phoenix and it has been over 110 for days now. It got up to 115 the other day. I know it's hot there, but this heat wave is really unusual. I imagine she will head to our place when she can to have "normal" summer weather. Our summers are typically 70's with hotter days in July/August. I'm used to really mild summers and think 80 is really hot. My sisterinlaw would love even a low of 80's.

 

[schumigirl]

Yes, Mac, my sisterinlaw lives in Phoenix and it has been over 110 for days now. It got up to 115 the other day. I know it's hot there, but this heat wave is really unusual. I imagine she will head to our place when she can to have "normal" summer weather. Our summers are typically 70's with hotter days in July/August. I'm used to really mild summers and think 80 is really hot. My sisterinlaw would love even a low of 80's.

Our country falls to bits if we hit anything over 80F usually......lol.....but can`t imagine 110F! We`ve hit 106F in Orlando once or twice, but not often, we kinda hid those days shopping, didn`t fancy the parks in that heat!






Kyle called after he finished the race.....seems I wasn`t listening, he was doing a 10K not just the 5K and he finished 91 out of over 1200 runners. As always very proud of him, especially in the downpour they were running in, uphill for a lot of it and high winds, not bad!! Look forward to seeing his shirt and medal tomorrow.

Enjoyed a couple of glasses of wine tonight, watched some nonsense on Netflix, and marvelled how a younger Roger Moore looks exactly like one of my uncles used to look!

Bacon on top of Eggs Benedict tomorrow for breakfast......it`s quite bad I`m hungry right now, but at 10.30pm.....too late to eat.

Time for bed I think......we`re both yawning our heads off!

 

[Charade67]

Hope it comes back and no damage. Hope you don`t get as much rain as forecast.

Cable and internet weren’t out too long, but it stormed almost all night. We got about 4 inches of rain here. Some nearby ares got up to 7.

And like Charade, rainy today, clouds for Saturday, rainy Sunday.

So far no rain for us today. It has been sunny and clear. Maybe more storms tonight and tomorrow night though.

Then go to Costco to hunt for luggage that airline cracked. Those luggage handlers! Sheesh. And warranty doesn’t cover damage due to airlines handling.

How annoying. Good luck with your shopping.

I am trying to become an early morning person and it’s a struggle.
Made my doctor appointments for 7:30 this morning and was quite nice to be in and out so quickly.

I don’t think I could ever become a morning person. My normal wake up time is 7:30 and that’s too early.

B and I had a shopping day today. She needed new bedding. We had our first ever trip to Homegoods. She found a bedding set that she liked and the price was very reasonable. Also bought new sheets and pillows. Now we just need to wash everything.

I think tonight will be another quiet night at home.

 

[Charade67]

…..and the storms are back.

 

[Lynne G]

Be safe, Charade. We got notice of lightning in the area about two hours ago, but no storms seen. Guess went around us. Saying little chances of rain until, rainy Sunday.

Had bbq, for a late dinner, and now I’m full. Was national cheese day, and I think the mac and cheese that this bbq place does, is one of the best I have eaten. So, bbq order it was. Vinegar carrot slices, pulled bbq chicken breasts, and tater tots, with that side of mac and cheese. Yum.

Friday night, just relaxing.

Safe car travel to Schumi.

 

[disneyseniors]

Our country falls to bits if we hit anything over 80F usually......lol.....but can`t imagine 110F! We`ve hit 106F in Orlando once or twice, but not often, we kinda hid those days shopping, didn`t fancy the parks in that heat!






Kyle called after he finished the race.....seems I wasn`t listening, he was doing a 10K not just the 5K and he finished 91 out of over 1200 runners. As always very proud of him, especially in the downpour they were running in, uphill for a lot of it and high winds, not bad!! Look forward to seeing his shirt and medal tomorrow.

Enjoyed a couple of glasses of wine tonight, watched some nonsense on Netflix, and marvelled how a younger Roger Moore looks exactly like one of my uncles used to look!

Bacon on top of Eggs Benedict tomorrow for breakfast......it`s quite bad I`m hungry right now, but at 10.30pm.....too late to eat.

Time for bed I think......we`re both yawning our heads off!

Congratulations to Kyle. That is certainly an achievement to get 91 out of 1200!
Yes, over 110 is horrible out in that desert! I can't imagine. She usually comes here for a bit of relief from the heat. My brother is coming to visit from Tennessee to get out of their high heat and humidity. I guess living in the Northwoods has it's advantages after all Have a good night's sleep.

 

[Sue M]

Oh yay, breakfast at Schmi’s tomorrow! Yum. Congrats to Kyle doing so well in miserable conditions. I can not comment on your packing. I’m very bad about overpacking! We need choices lol. Then I get home and unpack, realizing I didn’t wear half of what I packed.

@Charade67 yuck for your storms. Stay safe. Costco was out of the luggage! I ended up ordering it online. At least when the airlines destroy your luggage Costco will take it back! I usually do buy at Costco but last set I bought at Hudson Bay. Lesson learned.
Sounds like you had a successful shopping trip!

@macraven how did doctor appt go? I wish I wasn’t a morning person sometimes. I’d love to be able to have a nice sleep in occasionally.

@disneyseniors it looks like finally we are cooling off. Today was hot! Tomorrow highs of 80F. I think it was 90 on my patio today. Then next week May go down to 70’s. We’ve never had these wild swings with temps. But I’ll take it. Anything will be better than the Heat Dome we had 2 yrs ago with sustained high temps in 90’s and hitting 100 some days. People died. Houses here never had AC. we never needed it, most just did with fans. Our temps were moderate. Now is a different story. People are starting to get air con in homes.


Today I had a nice coffee at a new place my friend suggested. Had a nice chin wag. Then went over to the home improvement store to pick up replacement light bulbs for laundry room. Never saw these before. circular florescent bulbs. I was worried they would be hard to find. But no problem. Trying to recycle them is another story. I took it to nearby recycling place and they didn’t take them. Ugh.

Tomorrow we’re going over to Husbands brother for dinner. We’ll bring dessert. Key Lime Pie.

 

[Lynne G]

Good night and I’ll be dreaming of key lime pie.

 

[schumigirl]

Cable and internet weren’t out too long, but it stormed almost all night. We got about 4 inches of rain here. Some nearby ares got up to 7.

So far no rain for us today. It has been sunny and clear. Maybe more storms tonight and tomorrow night though.

How annoying. Good luck with your shopping.

I don’t think I could ever become a morning person. My normal wake up time is 7:30 and that’s too early.

B and I had a shopping day today. She needed new bedding. We had our first ever trip to Homegoods. She found a bedding set that she liked and the price was very reasonable. Also bought new sheets and pillows. Now we just need to wash everything.

I think tonight will be another quiet night at home.

It`s lovely to have new bedding, yes once it`s all washed and ready to go on your bed is very nice moment.......love it!! I`ve always been an ealry riser since way back, one of my early jobs in the Explosives industry for 6 months I volunteered to do constant Early shift as no one wanted to do it, meant getting up almost in the middle of the night to start very early, my social life suffered a little during the week, but weekends were fine and I was finished by 2pm every day. So, yes, it never leaves you and although Tom likes to sleep a little longer than me he still likes to get up around 7ish and enjoy the day. Kyle is the exact same as me, up with the larks and always has been like that.

But each to their own, seems some folks think it`s a competition on who gets up earliest, you enjoy sleeping late if that`s what you like!!! I admit I would love one day....just once, to sleep till around 10am, I don`t think I could though.

When does your daughter start her temporary job? Hope she enjoys it.

Hope tomorrow brings less rain. Being without power or internet is a nightmare, so I`m glad you weren`t without it for too long.

…..and the storms are back.

Congratulations to Kyle. That is certainly an achievement to get 91 out of 1200!
Yes, over 110 is horrible out in that desert! I can't imagine. She usually comes here for a bit of relief from the heat. My brother is coming to visit from Tennessee to get out of their high heat and humidity. I guess living in the Northwoods has it's advantages after all Have a good night's sleep.

Thanks Ruth, he did really well, as it was so hilly he didn`t think he`d get as good a time, plus his knee is still not 100% so he`ll be resting it today I imagine.

How lovely your brother is coming for a visit, escaping from the heat, I know you`ll love seeing him.

One of the places my friend was visiting was Athens, and they are closing the Acropolis today between 11.30am till I think around 4.30pm or 5pm as it`s just too hot. She showed me her pictures from there and the crowds of people was just horrendous, cannot imagine being shoulder to shoulder in what might be 120F today!!! Not my idea of a vacation.

Hope you`re sleeping well now Ruth!!

Oh yay, breakfast at Schmi’s tomorrow! Yum. Congrats to Kyle doing so well in miserable conditions. I can not comment on your packing. I’m very bad about overpacking! We need choices lol. Then I get home and unpack, realizing I didn’t wear half of what I packed.

@Charade67 yuck for your storms. Stay safe. Costco was out of the luggage! I ended up ordering it online. At least when the airlines destroy your luggage Costco will take it back! I usually do buy at Costco but last set I bought at Hudson Bay. Lesson learned.
Sounds like you had a successful shopping trip!

@macraven how did doctor appt go? I wish I wasn’t a morning person sometimes. I’d love to be able to have a nice sleep in occasionally.

@disneyseniors it looks like finally we are cooling off. Today was hot! Tomorrow highs of 80F. I think it was 90 on my patio today. Then next week May go down to 70’s. We’ve never had these wild swings with temps. But I’ll take it. Anything will be better than the Heat Dome we had 2 yrs ago with sustained high temps in 90’s and hitting 100 some days. People died. Houses here never had AC. we never needed it, most just did with fans. Our temps were moderate. Now is a different story. People are starting to get air con in homes.


Today I had a nice coffee at a new place my friend suggested. Had a nice chin wag. Then went over to the home improvement store to pick up replacement light bulbs for laundry room. Never saw these before. circular florescent bulbs. I was worried they would be hard to find. But no problem. Trying to recycle them is another story. I took it to nearby recycling place and they didn’t take them. Ugh.

Tomorrow we’re going over to Husbands brother for dinner. We’ll bring dessert. Key Lime Pie.

Thank you, we`re always so proud of his running skills. I still wonder where he gets it from!!

Nothing wrong with overpacking, for Florida I don`t just take park clothes, I like a good selection of dresses to wear for dinner and so on, so I could cut down, but I don`t want to. I do like choices.

Enjoy dinner today. A good chin wag is a good thing.....not an expression you hear very often outside of Scotland so I always notice when someone uses it, always sounds odd not said in Scottish to my ear.......it`s as odd as when the very odd American says mum instead of mom.....actually I have never heard an American say mum now I think on it, would be very odd for sure.





Slept like I was in a coma last night. It`s a little fresher than it has been so sleeping with the windows open is very pleasant. I don`t miss the four poster bed we had for years, that top canopy always seemed to keep the heat in too. Looked beautiful though and very traditional but modern at the same time. Someone told me they thought a four poster bed just had the four poles at the corners of their bed, not, it has to have a proper closed canopy on top with elegant dressings....that`s a four poster bed, very traditional.

Not time for breakfast yet, far too early, but we both do our part, I make the sauce and toast the muffin or whatever we use, Tom does the bacon and poaches the eggs as he does it perfectly. Always look forward to that on a weekend with a nice pot of tea, very British.

The rest of the day, not much. I popped round to see my friend who collapsed in Europe last night with the heat, she looked ok but still wasn`t right. I saw the pics her husband took and yes she did look dreadful. So I might drive over to see her again today and take her some more goodies and flowers. So scary for them. Then I think we`ll have Thai take out tonight and share a bottle of wine, early night as we`ll leave very early tomorrow for the drive up. Will pack up just before we go to bed since we`re leaving so early.

But hope everyone has a lovely weekend, Saturdays are still one of the best days of the week although every day is like the weekend to be honest......

One of my best friends sent me an email with the first meme last night, with three words in the title....That`ll be us!!!!! She`s so right, we always laugh at the most inappropriate moments.......

Have a wonderful weekend​

 

[macraven]

your meme always are a hoot!

 

[schumigirl]

your meme always are a hoot!

LOL...... they are aren`t they!!!!

 

[macraven]

We are still busy working on our Ocala house.
Think Mr Mac needs more days at our Georgia house to recover
and clear up more paperwork work before he heads out to our FL house in a few days.

We are like a tag team
He handles the things I can’t do and I handle info and plans on our donation schedule.
I get off easy for that situation.

I am getting tired of all the trips he has to do.
But we set up a schedule and trying to finish up the priorities that needs attention first.

Each week the to do list shortens.
Probate won’t come anytime soon and will live with it.

Once it clears, we can start the process to put the house on the market.
It won’t be soon but hopefully when I am back from my vacation.

When we first moved to Georgia, I started a vegetable garden.
As the years passed, realized the vegetables stands down the road from us had better produce than us.

Each morning I wake up and tell myself to book my flights for Fl
I have everything done except flights.
So that is my job for tomorrow to take care of.

Do any of the homies here wait months out before they with flights?
I used to book flights out at 8 or 6 months and later cut back the time and book at 4 out as past trips over the years airlines would change flights regularly

Now I book 2 months out and hope no more changes.

How is the weather where you live?
Looks quite miserably hot in some places !

 

[Robo56]

Good Saturday morning everyone

Sounds like a lovely evening planned for you with the pizza party, always nice to celebrate with family. And shopping with the little one tomorrow will be fun I`m sure!

We had a nice time at the birthday party. This particular pizza restaurant has the best pizza. It was so nice to see everyone.

Crikey, just had a call from two of our friends who were spending 6 weeks touring France, Italy and Spain, she passed out from the heat and was hospitalised on Monday. They`re flying home tomorrow.

Sending get well prayers for your friend.

Good news here. B has a job interview next week. It’s a temporary position at the campus bookstore, but at least it is a source of income until she finds a permanent job.

Sending positive thoughts that B gets her job. Always nice to get your foot in the door somewhere until you find the job you really want.

He just phoned to tell us he was working at his workbench tinkering with something and a bear walked in! They looked at each other then Mr Bear ambled on his way.

That would have been shocking. Good thing the Bear took off without issue.

Glad the injection is working for your husband. Back pain is awful.
Enjoy your pizza party With family.
Nooooo, way too early to see Halloween decorations! Can’t we enjoy summer?

He is doing some better after the injection. It did not take the pain away totally, but it has helped for sure.

We leave very early Sunday morning for Scotland, takes us a good few hours to get there, so the earlier the better.

Have a safe trip up to Scotland and enjoy your time with hour mom and family.

Kyle called after he finished the race.....seems I wasn`t listening, he was doing a 10K not just the 5K and he finished 91 out of over 1200 runners. As always very proud of him, especially in the downpour they were running in, uphill for a lot of it and high winds, not bad!! Look forward to seeing his shirt and medal tomorrow.

He is doing really well in his times for someone who is fairly new to running. Good for him.

Oh yay, breakfast at Schmi’s tomorrow! Yum. Congrats to Kyle doing so well in miserable conditions. I can not comment on your packing. I’m very bad about overpacking! We need choices lol. Then I get home and unpack, realizing I didn’t wear half of what I packed.

Yep, always nice to have choices when packing for a trip. I hope you are feeling better Sue. Continued good thoughts and prayers coming your way.

Shout out to Janet hope you all had a wonderful trip.

Mac hope things are coming together for you all in settling your brothers estate.
Hope you are getting some sleep. Prayers being sent your way.


I had a wonderful time with Little J on Friday. We went shopping at Meijer and of course stopped at the Starbucks in the store for our drinks. J likes the apple juice and I got my coffee.

After dropping our shopping off at home we headed to the Mall for J to play in the play area. It was too hot to play outside. We made our lunch stop for his favorite Pretzel and cheese at Ben’s Soft Pretzels. It seemed like the day flew by and it was time to go home for his nap.

He is such a sweet little fella. I love getting to spend time with him. He is now into the Minions so of course I had to order him a Minion short outfit.

I went to Sam’s the other day and stocked up on fruit for our fruit smoothies in the morning. I brought everything home and cleaned the berries and let everything dry and then froze some of them.

I started on the fruit smoothies a few months ago and while my dad was visiting I got him drinking them in the morning too. Then hubby finally decided he would try them and he likes them now.

So far the mix has been bananas, cherries, blueberries, peaches, strawberries and pineapple. It sounds like a big mix, but it is so good.

I read above that a few of you ladies are doing the smoothies also. They are a wonderful way to get some fruit in your diet for the day and are yummy too.

I‘am going to stock up and freeze the dark sweet cherries that are in season. I did that last year and wished I had frozen more.

I saw the foot doc on Thursday. I did get my orthotic for my left foot replaced, but the injury from dropping my phone on my foot was not healing and continued to swell. I have a stress fracture on top of my foot. That was why it was not healing. So now I’am in a fracture boot.

My first thought was I need to get this foot thing fixed before HHN. There is plenty of walking as you all know at HHN and I want to be able to do that without problems.

I think my younger Sister might be coming again this year and my niece might fly in also for a few days. Hope it all works out.

Now onto HHN. I have not really been keeping up on a regular basis with the ticket prices etc…I finally looked at the mult-day passes and and the Tours and everything has gone up a lot. I should have booked the RIP Tour when I looked at it the first time as it has gone up $40.00, but I didn’t want to book a bunch of things and then have to cancel If health things are not advancing well with hubby or myself. Oh well I will see how things go.

Stranger Things house was announced this week. All the younger crowd and Stranger Things fans will be happy about this house for sure. Have a feeling Vecna will play heavily in this house for sure.



Not much planned today. It was stormy and dark this morning. It did rain a little. We needed it as it has been very hot. Hope it brings down the heat and humidity.

I need to go through a stack of pictures on the desk in my office and get them in the photo albums.

Yesterday was our sweet granddaughters birthday. She was 26. It only seems like yesterday she was a baby in my arms. She is out of town until tomorrow and we told her to pick a restaurant she wanted to have dinner at tomorrow evening. Reservations are taken care of.






Need to get moving this morning. Have a wonderful Saturday everyone doing whatever makes you happy.

 

[macraven]

Happy birthday wishes for your grand daughter Robbie!

I know that your foot aches!
So hope the fracture mends well and pain begins to subside.

Stress fractures hurt and can linger on longer than we wish