themartianchick

21 minutes ago, Necie said:

Mostly been sitting in my recliner this morning and smoking 🚬 my brains out.  When I left my mom’s, I told her “I just wanna go home, sit in my recliner for 3 days, and smoke 18 packs of cigarettes.”  After 11 days of reduced nicotine, I was starting to have panic attacks. 😬 Nicotine is a horrible thing... tell your kids!! 
I did get bills made out— only 1 is late. 
Gotta get some laundry done and repack my BOBs before going back to mom’s on Monday. 
Need to make a batch of lotion for a customer. 
Those are the only HAVE TO do’s for the weekend. 

Your post made me realize something, Necie! Some smokers might want to stock up on a few nicotine patches to get them through times when they have limited access to cigarettes. It might take the edge off and most insurance will pay for the patches. My dad was a smoker in the 60s. When the Blizzard of 66 struck, he only had a few cigarettes. He tried to make them last, but the family was stuck in the house for a week. He dug in every ashtray in the car and house for stray cigarette butts and collected the tobacco to smoke in a pipe. He was a BEAR to deal with!!! I hadn't been born yet, so I have no first-hand knowledge. My family always told stories about how miserable he was, while everyone else had a blast being home from work/school.

21 minutes ago, Jeepers said:

I don't mind paying extra for a convenience that is important to me either. I just haven't found any that I care about...yet.  I do use reward benefits but they are automatic. I get them from Michaels, Best Buy, Giant Eagle, Barns and Noble and my credit cards. I have saved a small fortune using my credit cards. I pay them off every month though. I don't use an app but I suppose it's sort of the same thing. I have never even ordered anything online where I have to go pick it up like from Wal-Mart, Meijers or my grocery store. I'm not adverse to doing it, it just never crosses my mind to do it. I'm sure that will change when I get moved farther out in the country. I order a lot online but it's usually because I can't find what I'm looking for locally. I used Uber twice (ride from hospital) but someone else ordered it for me. I really appreciate that service!

 

The apps I have downloaded are used more like a link so I can just click on then to open a site faster like iHeart or a radio station or Pluto or Kindle. Not really a shopping app.

 

Maybe it's because I don't have a younger person showing me about using them. Maybe it's a generation gap thing?

I do have Uber on my phone, but I have only used it a few times to get to/from work. I used it to assist my sisters a couple of times because they didn't have it on their phones. There is one time when hubby and I were involved in a car accident in a nearby college town. Our vehicle had to be towed, so we called AAA. It was during COVID, so tow drivers wouldn't let you ride in the cab with them. I tried to get an Uber, but the app on my phone showed that there were no drivers even working. College students moonlighting as Uber drivers were no longer in town as the school had moved to remote. That was when I downloaded the Lyft app. I struggled and struggled to create the account. When I finally finished, it showed that there were no drivers in the area, as well! While I was staring at my phone, a lone Lyft appeared on the screen and I managed to snag it. The driver was from another town and he had just dropped someone off in the college town. We were so fortunate to get that ride home. He told us that he had been planning to see if he could find a fare to get him back home. Our fare actually took him further away from his house, but it paid pretty darn well for that inconvenience.

I now consider having the Lyft and Uber apps a preparedness item. You never know when you might need them and one service might not have a vehicle available when you need it. I have learned that there is a Youtube video for just about anything. You can watch a younger person demo the services there. (There oughta be a service called Rent-A-Tech-Savvy-Young-Person-To Help-Me-Figure-Out-All-Of-This-Newfangled-Stuff!)

A lot of retailers are trying to ease customers into the idea of using apps because the marketing costs are lower. Ideally, they don't want to have to mail out coupons for fast food deals. This past week, we have read several news stories about magazines that are laying off staff permanently and/or eliminating the print option. Sports Illustrated and National Geographic are 2 publications that come to mind. National Geographic is planning to only use freelance reporters and photographers.

I subscribed to the online version of the NY Times when they were offering a really low rate of $6/month. The teaser rate ran out and I contacted them to cancel. I only use it for the online puzzles, like Wordle, Spelling Bee and the Mini Cross. I explained that the newer pricing was too high considering that I didn't utilize the whole site. They gave me a discount that made it worth my while to keep the subscription. If their overall readership drops, they will have a hard time attracting advertisers. I think that most print media and combination print/digital media companies are in trouble. I am concerned that without professional journalists, we will be left with nothing but bloggers and podcasts for information. That information will likely be suspect because those people have no access to direct and factual information...at all!

Like Euphrasyne, I also think nothing of paying a little extra to get things delivered to my door. The trend started when I began taking care of my mom in 2018, because I had no access to a vehicle at her apartment complex. By the time that COVID rolled through, I was a pro! DoorDash, UberEats, Instacart, GrubHub, etc... I don't use a lot of apps for stores, though. I probably only have a couple on my phone. It isn't that I fear them, but the fact that I hate looking at a tiny phone screen. I usually have a laptop or desktop at hand, so I place orders in that way. I haven't tried Google Wallet, but I do use Apple Wallet for things like plane tickets. It is quite handy to already have your e-ticket ready before you leave home for a flight. I also take a screenshot of the ticket and text/email it to family members. This helps to ensure that I can access it from my phone, computer, tablet, etc.

I remember hearing that some folks with children keep cake mixes as part of their food storage. They like to set aside a bag containing a box of cake mix, a can of frosting, birthday candles and maybe some sprinkles for each child in the family. If the hooey hits the fan, they can still celebrate each child's birthday and keep up some sense of normalcy. 

I slept in this morning. Hubby had no plans for going out to clear the snow because it was still coming down. We received 7+ inches in CNY and it was the wet, heavy stuff! He held out for about an hour and then got antsy about it. I think that he was afraid that the neighbors would think that he was being lazy. I ended up helping for a little over an hour. He worked the snowblower and I cleared those annoying patches that build up on surfaces due to the wheels of the snowblower. I made soup, chicken salad, and unstuffed peppers yesterday, so I spent the rest of the day watching Amazon Prime and folding clothes. I love low-key days!

So glad that you are feeling better, Necie! Everyone has been getting hit with one kind of crud or another. I've been making pots of soup lately. It isn't that I think that it has medicinal powers. I just know that if hubby and I catch something, soup is probably the only thing that we'd probably eat.

Take it easy and don't try to rush the healing process!

Happy Birthday, Dee!

I was expecting to see a recipe for squirrel... I am highly disappointed!

I am not canning anything today, but I did score a new pressure canner over the weekend! My daughter's friend wanted to know if anybody wanted it. (Of course, I volunteered!) My daughter is only comfortable with a water bath canner and doesn't have time to learn to pressure can right now. I haven't seen it, but I have been told that it has never been used. I can't wait... I have only ever had one of each type, but a second pressure canner would allow me to do so much more.

I am at work today and it is pretty laid back... My family celebrated Christmas last weekend, so the holiday hustle has ended for us. We've had 2 funerals for relatives on my husband's side of the family, so I have been cooking to meet the needs of the holiday gathering and two repasts. All I want on December 25th is to sleep in and stay in my pajamas all day. Like Jeepers, I can't wait to put 2023 in the rearview mirror. I have plans to leave my job at the end of January, so that should help to make 2024 a happy new year.

After work, I have a rental property to inspect and a gift to drop off.  I will stop by the grocery store and then head home to clean. I suppose that I should do laundry, if I want to have enough clean pairs of pajamas to get me through Tuesday! Tomorrow should be a short day at work and I plan to relax for the holiday weekend! I have loaded my Kindle with novels and have plenty of firewood. 

The eclipse wasn't visible for us in NY. We were disappointed that it was so overcast.

On 10/5/2023 at 8:00 PM, Annarchy said:

DH mentioned the police are now playing current music, around the, so called reporters.  If they post a video & you can hear the music, they are able to arrest the ‘reporters’ for copyright infringement.    Maybe put a radio in your workstation….  Lol

I like this idea... Thanks, Annarchy!

So, to provide a little more information...

Our building has deputies near a front desk, but there is no requirement for anyone to check in and no metal detectors. All employees have a badge, but there is no one verifying that a person has a right to be there. Our badges can open some doors to gain entry, while other doors are require badges but are restricted to employees within certain departments. (Example: My badge can open some doors, but not ones in the Fiscal department because I have no business there.)

From what I have heard, there is no such thing as a press pass anymore. It isn't that major news organizations stopped issuing them, but the fact that there is a grey area as to what constitutes a journalist. With the rise of YouTube, podcasts, blogs, etc... Anyone can be a journalist!

By my standards, my current office is indefensible, if someone were to come in with a weapon. The wall with the outside corridor is so thin that I hear every conversation that occurs in the main hallway. Our office door is now locked and only other municipal employees can enter. There is only one way in and out.  Others must knock and someone peeks out the window to see if it is a friend or foe. The day that this happened, my information was not included on the website, and the "auditor" did not include it in his video. I am not being threatened outside of the phone calls and emails that we are receiving at work. A couple of my co-workers have not been so lucky.

Truthfully, I feel far safer in NY than I do in any other state. We have a second home in Florida and we no longer do anything recreational when we travel there. A trip to the grocery store can feel pretty threatening, at times. We were in residence there when a mother was shot by a neighbor after knocking on the front door. Our place in Florida is in the same county and we'd spent the prior evening enjoying a summer concert about 10 minutes from the crime scene.

While people may be leaving NY in some areas, that is not the case here. Our population is growing. The cost of living isn't bad, there are great school districts in the suburbs and a lot of economic development going on. We are heavily invested with both family and rental obligations and we have access to many amazing lakes, rivers, wildlife preserves, etc...here. We'll probably never cut ties to the area. The idea has always been to buy a place in Canada for the cooler summer weather and then spend a couple of winter months in Florida. We always thought that we'd spend some time in NY, if the house in Canada never materialized. We are re-thinking the Florida piece right now.

As far as the children and families that were violated by the "auditor",  I would assume that it would qualify as a HIPPA violation. They have the right to seek assistance from Social Services, medical services etc. without being shamed publicly. For the rest of the municipal employees, this has made for a hostile workplace. There has been no mention made of any changes to security measures, as of yet.

Thank you all for your concern...I have been mulling this over for the past few weeks and it really is unnerving. I woke up around 3 a.m. and checked my work email. Sure enough, there was a complaint from someone in Minnesota suggesting that there should be an investigation of our office staff and that we should all be fired. I was so excited to get this position and now, it is hard to get up enough energy to actually get up in the morning! The one thing that has remained constant is the level of support and camaraderie among my co-workers. We stuck together 3 weeks ago and we are still leaning on each other. 

Edited to add...We had 304 out-of-state phone calls yesterday and our office is comprised of 6 people.

3 minutes ago, Virginia said:

Cannot imagine this happening, and pray that someone, somewhere can get to the bottom of this and do something.

It is happening every day, across America.

I've always been pretty vigilant about safety in the workplace. My fears about workplace violence became even more heightened in 2022 when a shooter opened fire in a Buffalo NY supermarket. While most people were appalled by this event, I was especially shocked to learn that the shooter had done his homework prior to selecting that store. He told investigators that he had thought about coming to a grocery store in my city and to a specific zip code/side of town in order to kill minorities. My city would have been closer to his home and he wouldn't have had to drive as far. I happen to live in that zip code and the only full-service grocery store is one that I installed as part of an economic development project to support a neighborhood that had no food access. Every employee in that store lived in the neighborhood, as did most of the shoppers that day. I still consult with the nonprofit organization that conceived the project and I still think about the shooting that almost happened there. 

I mentioned this in another thread and I didn't want to hijack it. With that being said, I probably should share the story and hope that it can help someone else. I started a new job a few weeks ago. I still work for the same municipality, but I now have a more encompassing job title and work in a high-rise building. The building houses many departments, like social services, health department, etc. so the general public has access to the building.

On my second day, a man came into our office suite and felt that he had the right to walk through with a camera on a tripod and a body cam on. He stated that he was a journalist and that he was there to do an audit of the building to see what types of information and services were available to the public. We have sheriff's deputies in the building, but no one challenged his presence when he entered. We asked him not to record. Our staff blocked his access to our offices because permission is required for filming and photography. Also, we work with sensitive personal data. If published on the internet, it could lead to identity theft or simply a loss of privacy for our clients. He filmed all of us and later put the video on the internet, provided names and phone numbers of some of our staff members and maligned us for not complying with his demand for access. He created nicknames for coworkers in the building that he didn't like and incorporated those comments into the video.

The deputies came and asked him to leave, but did not force him out of the building. Ours wasn't the only department that he did this to. He did this in personnel, where he actually opened drawers and filmed personal family photos that workers had on their desks. Later, he visited a floor that had clients of our social services department and actually filmed the faces of children in the waiting room. He even visited the office that contains birth and death records and captured people there on video. He may have even captured some incredibly sensitive personal records there.

As a person of color, my relationship with the police is a complicated one. One deputy actually walked the cameraman through the sensitive areas with children and families and allowed him to film. For this reason, I don't feel that any of my coworkers are particularly safe when a cop needlessly places someone vulnerable, at risk.

None of this is okay and yet, there are people all over America who consider themselves to be patriots who are applauding this type of behavior and encouraging it. He has in excess of 100k followers and there are more "auditors" just like him out there. The comments that they left on his YouTube page were vile, with many referring to the women who run our municipal departments as b-words and c-words. They speculated about the sexuality of our supervisors and suggested the use of pepper spray (or worse) on us during his next visit. Our phones rang off the hook as his supporters called our offices and hung up or asked for people in our office by name, only to scream vile things into the phone. While the calls have slowed, they still continue to come in.

This is not okay. We all have a right to feel safe at work and now, we are all looking over our shoulders because there could be a whack-a-doodle out to get us. A little googling helped us to identify the guy with the camera. He was prosecuted for his role in the January 6th attack on the Capitol. He is still on probation. He even traveled to Uvalde after the school shooting and disrupted a council meeting. We don't know how dangerous he could be and we know absolutely nothing about his followers. What we do know is that we are not safe from people who believe that government employees are obligated to allow access to all of our work areas and allow anyone with a camera to surveil us.

Lastly, one interesting thing about the comments that were left on his YouTube page:

His followers left a lot of anti-women comments (name calling and insulting our intelligence)

There were a lot of homophobic comments about a female deputy who is heterosexual

A lot of racist comments

A lot of comments inciting violence

A few comments insinuating that child porn or abuse occur on the premises

The people who follow him on YouTube seem to fall into different categories, but they all seem to agree that he should continue harassing public employees at work.

I remember her well... I hope that she and her family are well and that she is living her best life!

Good afternoon!

I have been a pretty busy lately and haven't had much time to visit. I was determined to change that TODAY!

Today is dedicated to tying up loose ends and clearing some clutter...both mental and physical debris.

I have been straightening out some household paperwork, doing laundry and attempting to clean up some places that we've (hubby) has allowed to accumulate inappropriate items. If anyone is looking for the weedwhacker...it is in the dining room next to the fireplace. 

I have other work that I should be doing today, but I can't stand the visual clutter. We do have beautiful weather today and I plan to run up to the hospital to visit mom a little later. I also need to make a run to the grocery store. I really should have done that earlier in the week. Shelves are generally picked over by the time that the weekend arrives.

Have a great day everyone!

Dogmom, 

The beans at the top of the pick look like Jacob's Cattle Beans. I have a handful of those and couldn't remember the name. I Googled Cow Beans and found them! 

https://www.northbaytrading.com/more-ways-to-shop/jacobs-cattle-trout-beans?gclid=Cj0KCQjwmuiTBhDoARIsAPiv6L9b9W8W2R4Xk7nrL8cNQqHEjpSOJBRyoPzgBjeJdBsrYLFUAModgy8aAoAtEALw_wcB

I'm so sorry to hear about your friend, LittleSister. It is always difficult to lose someone. 

I am lounging around the house today before heading to the hospital to visit Mom. She is holding her own, but it will be a long road back.

Today's weather is beautiful and 55 degrees. At some point, I plan to get outside this weekend and survey the yard and do some spring cleanup/planning.

The new job is going well and it is good to have something different to apply myself to.

I won't be doing much cooking today, as hubby grilled some meat yesterday. It will be up to me to pull together a few side dishes to turn the meat into a meal, though. Asparagus will be one of them, as I can make that in 10 minutes.

Enjoy the day, everyone!

Thank you all for the thoughts and prayers. I spent time with mom yesterday. She was a little sleepy, but did stay awake to watch some of the court shows with me. Today, my sister took a turn sitting with her. Mom's condition is a bit more stable than it was, but her age is still a factor. Since, the hospital only allows one visitor per day, I went to work. Today was my first day at the new job. It felt like a good fit, though the facility is larger than what I am used to. Everyone was incredibly welcoming.

Thank you all for the thoughts and prayers. Mom had a small gain, followed by an unexpected setback today. She had made progress with the pneumonia and then had a cardiac arrest while i was visiting with her. It was really scary because I assumed that the monitoring machinery was malfunctioning. I could still hear her breathing and her oxygen levels never wavered the heart monitor reading actually flatlined. She is currently stable and responsive to the medical staff. (it was really scary, though!) I was supposed to start my new job tomorrow, but my new boss was incredibly supportive when I reached out. I will be spending tomorrow at Mom's bedside.

On 4/19/2022 at 9:50 PM, Becca_Anne said:

Things I do that help me deal with my stress (working mom and full time homeschooling with HIGH anxiety so it's a constant need to work on this)

1) Try to get at least 7-8 hrs sleep a night

2) Aromatherapy- I use essential oils a mix of lavendar, lemon and peppermint especially soothing to me

3) Classical Guitar or Violin/Cello music. I love this and it instantly lifts my spirit and soothes me

4) I figured out how to get my work to let me work from home. This eliminated my commute and also lets me pace my day.

5) Meal planning- knowing what is for dinner and being able to thaw it ahead of time if needed helps a lot

6) Spending time in nature- just sitting in a forest, or taking a hike or gardening helps me

7) I almost forgot- I use a breathing technique called 4 square breathing- in count of 4, hold count of 4, out count of 4, pause before inhaling again for a count of 4. SUPER helpful for me to regulate when I'm anxious

 

I grew up meditating (both my parents were TM teachers) and it is a tool I know I can use if I want to but the above help me personally more. I do enjoy doing yoga but I don't really find it relaxing more challenging 

Thank you, Becca_AnneI do try to get enough sleep, but I have had difficulty in defining the term "enough.

Lavender and peppermint are 2 favorites that I had forgotten about. I should dig some of my old oils out.

Working from home is not an option for me right now, but I will eventually return to my consulting business and set my own hours and workspace!

I can't remember when the last time was that I planned a dinner that wasn't a special occasion. Usually, I just cook whatever is quick and easy.

I have never heard of 4 square breathing, but I am intrigued!

On 4/19/2022 at 11:31 PM, out_of_the_ordinary said:

Magnesium helps me.   I'm magnesium deficient and magnesium helps us deal with stress (among hundreds of other things).    I keep rereading The Magnesium Miracle by Dr. Carolyn Dean.  

So, I have to laugh at this one!

Not at the idea of taking magnesium, but because I share the same name as Dr. Dean! I have come across her work online, but never read any of it. I do take magnesium and found that it helps me to sleep and also helps to slightly lower my blood pressure. Magnesium is a mild diuretic and allows the body to purge some excess water and apparently, being slightly dehydrated reduces the blood pressure.