I always park far away from the stores when I am in a parking lot. I pull through whenever possible, so that I don’t have to back out. I don’t park close to other cars unless there aren’t any spots available away from other cars - if I have to park by another car, I choose my spot carefully. Yet … someone managed to scrape against my front fender in a parking lot, given the scratch H saw when washing the car today. Some people should not be driving.
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I’m surprised by the pangs of emotion I feel about Pat Sajak leaving WoF - I have been watching the show since it was a daytime program with Chuck Woolery and the “for $200 I’ll take the kitchen countertop appliances” days - watched with my mom, my grandma, and still watch, now with my adult D (she makes me record weeks of episodes so when she visits we can play) -
I was a contestant on “best friends week” in 1996 and at the time, I found him to be one of the most genuine, kind, well spoken individuals. At one point my partner who is some kind of savant with puzzles (literally sees patterns in letters and can identify words by letter count even before a letter is shown, case in point: in our audition “pepperoni pizza” was the answer for the category ‘thing’ - she whispered it in my ear before even one letter was called - another was “Ernest Hemmingway’s A Farewell to Arms” after only the apostrophe was revealed) anyway, my friend got on the stage and something seriously bad happened to her, she got such stage fright that she began hyperventilating before they even began taping the episode. She told someone she thought she might faint and left the stage. While our producer (each team had their own) went to tend to her Pat came over to me and casually chatted about fear and the unknown. He assured me they’d seen it all, and that it would work out. When my friend came back, he asked if she was ok, and all she could do was nod. He gently patted her back and made a suggestion that she be the spinner and I do the talking. What a great idea. During the first commercial break, as he was getting makeup touched up, he checked in on her, and told her she was doing great. At one point in our episode, the camera is on the contestants as a new puzzle is revealed, she leaned over to me and whispered the answer - my facial reaction was priceless. We each won enough $ to buy cars (she needed one) but the wheel wasn’t in our favor that day - but dang, she knew every puzzle…including Tony Award Winner Bernadette Peters!
I love the game (I love all word games) and will continue to watch, I only hope Ryan Seacrest does a good job. I kind of like him too.
I’ve been getting email from Wheel asking me to audition. I think the statute of limitations is over for being able to go on again. I’m thinking about it. I just don’t want to go through the process until I’m assured that being a past contestant doesn’t impede my chances.
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New (to you) row boat/sailing dinghy out on CL. Would you sell the one you have now? Not necessarily…
What about the “real” boat? Oh, yeah. Take it out, but not until a “few” things are done. Sigh.
The rails still have to be fixed.
Maybe I can take one of the kayaks out. Or are you going to mess around with those as well?
At least all of my books don’t add up to one of those boats!
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Ugh. A little balanced reporting would be good. A student does not amass a debt of $100,000 for an undergraduate degree from federal loans. It’s not possible. Please report the full story … the vast majority of that debt was from private loans.
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I love sports! I appreciate the talent and discipline it takes to excel in one’s sport.
I’m currently watching the French Open and scrolling the news during commercial breaks. I just want to share a story from the French Open that made me smile and makes me hopeful for the future. The overall theme is friendship and caring support.
Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert:
For those who aren’t familiar with their story here’s an article about their enduring 50 year(!) friendship.
*sorry I don’t have a gift link and it’s very long.
And then there’s Fedal…the affectionate term for Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal. Their relationship is different but wonderful nonetheless.
I was at Roger’s last match at the Laver Cup. The open emotion shown by two great rivals on the court was absolutely moving.
*the video of Roger’s retirement speech may be less about his friendship with Rafa, but I love it in that it shows a different kind of masculinity.
Lastly, props to Lewis Hamilton. I don’t follow soccer closely but “big names” bringing awareness to our media consumption is a good thing imo.
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I enjoy being treasurer for organizations. I’ve done it for many years, since my boys were in Cub Scouts. It’s an easy job for me because I like numbers and I don’t have to deal with people.
EXCEPT for the transition from one treasurer to another. Oh, my gosh!! When I take over the job, I almost ALWAYS have a struggle to get the baton passed from the old treasurer. Just balance the books, get me the information, transfer me to the account, and be done already! And no, I’m not going to use the software you did because I don’t like it and it’s expensive.
I usually don’t mind that much, but this particular ex-treasurer gets defensive and rude. She asked me to come over Wednesday before last to make the transition. When I showed up at the appointed time, she said, “Oh, was it today?” Uh, yeah. And then she didn’t have anything ready. A week and a half later, she still hasn’t “tied up May” (weird phrasing) so I’m still waiting on her - it’s time sensitive because road assessment invoices need to go out.
The worst part is that this is what she does for a living, and she frequently insinuates to neighbors that she knows more than I do. Well, she might, but she doesn’t put her knowledge into action. 
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For days they’ve been warning about thunderstorms in my area, but not a drop. Sky turns black, thunder rumbles, but no water. Tonight the red warning banners were scrolling across the TV, but still no water. Hundreds of flights delayed at the airport in the last few days but no water.
So to fool mother nature, I just went out and hand watered the roses. My BIL (bless him) fixed the sprinklers as best he could yesterday so the front and side yards will get watered (back yard pipe is broken).
I’m sure it will rain now.
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Why am I being hit hard with projects I cannot 
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While the tornado went directly over our neighborhood, it fortuntately didn’t hit the ground. Thankful that the families whose homes were hit a mile away from us weren’t injured. We aren’t in Tornado Alley, so we aren’t used to the drill when the weather turns severe.
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Come on McDonald’s – it is time to bring back the Snack Wraps.
And if it’s not too much to ask… how about bringing back the Arch Deluxe too? That had sophisticated flavor and was actually pretty good. It’s not our fault you blew the TV marketing campaign.
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Happy First Anniversary to my amazing husband. I look forward to many more.
Te amo muito.
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Is there no one brave enough to stop this madness?
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On the plus side, the surgeon is thrilled with my weight loss. I’m within a couple of lbs of their max BMI to do the reconstruction surgery (DIEP flap).
On the not-so-plus side, she’d like me to lose another 18 lbs, which would allow for the best surgery results and recovery.
When I’m close, she’ll schedule me, but it will probably be 3 months from that point. Likely date at the start of 2025.
Two years. I am so sick of these expanders.
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I am no longer willing to be the cruise director of the extended family. If y’all want to know what there is to do around here in the summer, let Google be your guide and YOU figure it out for yourselves for once.
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I’m so thankful for my neighbor Pete, who taught me how to raise oysters on our beach, and also introduced me to the State shellfish toxin testing program. Now that I see there are toxin warnings for oysters up and down the Washington and Oregon coast, I’m thankful for the program and more so thankful for Pete’s help.
Pete played in the Rose Bowl around the time I was born and is now in assisted living.
I’ve never known a better person.
Edit to add: The shellfish from our beach are tested regularly and so far this season we’ve had no toxins whatsoever. We made oyster ceviche a couple days ago. Delicious!
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I’m sorry you are unhappy, but I just don’t have the bandwidth for this.
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It sure would be nice if H could talk on the phone to his sister without her H always being part of the conversation.
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You’ve been fired from every job you’ve ever had. I don’t think it’s the job that’s the problem…
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It is 15 degrees higher than normal at 100 degrees. Just got home from the PNW where I was wearing pants and long sleeves. The evaporative cooler we connected up at 5 AM. Soooo hottttt soooo early. We were not expecting to be at a critical level of heat when we got back.
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