Random Thoughts XII - This Thread Delivers

[Cyclones_R_GR8]

So when are we all planning on showing up in Madison to "help" CG with the baby?

 

[jcyclonee]

This post will be the definition of random so buckle up.

Had a very busy but productive weekend. Friday I worked a full day and then drove to Ames to close up our house for the summer since my roommates said they had moved out and wouldn't be back for a while. Stayed up until after midnight (after driving 3 hours to get there) cleaning and things of that nature. Saturday morning before I left I sent a message to both of my roommates letting them know I had turned off the water, turned up the thermostat, etc. and one of them replied that they would actually be back later that day to grab some more things. Great communication dude. I guess he just had to deal with turning everything back on.

Saturday I left Ames before 6 to do a survey in Carroll. That went well until a guy in a truck that was lifted 8 inches with tinted windows parked right in the line of sight of our equipment and walked into the movie theater before we had a chance to ask him to move. Any other vehicle, even a regular-sized truck, wouldn't have been a problem but he and the rain pretty much ended our day.

On Sunday my sister graduated from high school. It was a wonderful ceremony. Hard to believe she's old enough to graduate already. She'll be attending UNI in the fall so hopefully she doesn't turn into one of those crazy Panther-Hawks.

Here's where it gets really random. As I was driving back to NW Iowa last night at like 10:00, I was shuffling through radio stations and stopped on a program that had a pastor from Las Vegas on talking about how he believed that aliens are not actually from outer-space, but are demons that are signaling the end-times. Now, I consider myself a pretty devout Christian but that was a little too far out there for my taste. That prompted me to decide that I should listen to audiobooks on these long drives so if you have any suggestions let me know. That's enough of my ramblings; now back to your regularly scheduled programming!

I'm not sure you'll find an audiobook that's more entertaining than listening to a sermon about demon aliens.

 

[jcyclonee]

Just saw a job opening!

Northwestern University, so I'm already out. They'll hire Ivy League people, unless this specialty doesn't have any of them in the market.

Problem #2: It's a lecturer of Swahili. I guess I won't waste their time.

Chances are your interviewers won't speak Swahili so you should be able to fake it.

 

[jcyclonee]

so there is a bird trying to build a nest on our roof. We were gone Sunday and came home to a pile of straw on the roof. It's in a super weird, exposed spot. Say this is our house (I wish). See those bits of roof at the top of the entrance arch straight above their lights? We have two spots like that above our porch. The bird is trying to build on that little bit of roof. DH took it down Sunday night but I see it's back today. I'm taking to calling it the "derp bird" because seriously, any decent rain and that ain't going to work. Probably why they didn't rebuild Monday. Because it was raining.

We've had issues with birds building nests in our dryer vents (like inside the little flippy thing). Now I have plastic cages over them so birds won't build nests in there but I have to clean the cage things every couple of days to prevent them from becoming a fire hazard.

 

[jcyclonee]

The crowd was very heavily cheering for the K-pop BTS. Like, nothing else was even close.
Aguilera performance was very meh.....although she will always be the genie in a bottle singer, and that is worth something. Demi Lovato is repulsive.
DJ Khaled said "Get your hands up, make some noizzzzze"...again. That's all he's got. He and JLo should be ashamed of themselves for that display.
I wonder if Kelley Clarkson uses the same atrificial tear stimulant for her drama as our politicians have used?
Sangria wine....that's like saying budwieser beer or Dunkin Donuts fried pastries.
I was going to tell you my favorite performance...but there really wasn't one. Salt N Peppa deleivered a solid rewind I guess.

I walked into the living room for the Salt n Peppa performance. My wife was bobbing her head (because glory days music). Was Spinderella part of the show?

 

[jcyclonee]

I hate how true this will be. I especially dread the fact that one side has.....stuff of far more interest to most kids and we're going to have to figure out how to manage that. Maybe I'll be wrong though and my kids will prefer doing only quiet, indoor things. Holidays will be a big one to manage. One side is already far more demanding than the other. It becomes easy to skip out on the non-demanding side since they tend to be more understanding about it, but that's not really the way I want to handle it either.

Honestly, balancing holiday family time and trying to sooth everybody's feelings is the most difficult thing in our marriage.

Well, that, and the fact that I don't get as much booty as I did when we were first married.

 

[Cybirdy]

So when are we all planning on showing up in Madison to "help" CG with the baby?

I think we should all start by taking shifts at the hospital before she even gets there. That way she has a friendly face there when DH is out cold on the floor after seeing a needle.

 

[CycloneErik]

I think we should all start by taking shifts at the hospital before she even gets there. That way she has a friendly face there when DH is out cold on the floor after seeing a needle.

We need to make sure to tell her she's doing things wrong, too. What better place to start than the birthing suite?

 

[CloneGuy8]

I wouldn't be surprised if it is $100/MH, plus materials and equipment. They will also probably charge for time to and from the shop.

Pardon my ignorance, but what is MH? What do you think the total bill will be around? I was told 5 workers were there and it was out for 2-3 hours. I figure a high estimate is $70 per hour, so around a grand for labor.

 

[ImJustKCClone]

1. Grad parties. Geez people, don’t overthink them. Have survived 4. They are a better family reunion than a funeral. Everyone with high school kids gets invited to a million. No one feels compelled to go or even send money. Sometimes you are invited to a dozen at the same time, you can’t hit them all. If I invite someone with no interest in coming, fine, no one is upset. If I don’t invite someone who wonders why they are excluded, that is big ******* deal.

2. Babies. MIL only cared about my kids when they were babies. I don’t get it. I love babies, but prefer kids when they start having the ability to express thoughts and feelings. So when everyone flocks around new baby in the family, I get all the older kids to myself. They teach me about Paw Patrol, Peppa Pig, ninja skillz, Fortnite, and life in general.

The "funny" is for this last sentence!

 

[wxman1]

We need to make sure to tell her she's doing things wrong, too. What better place to start than the birthing suite?

"You are going to vaccinate it!?!?!?"

 

[cowgirl836]

Dear lord yes. You can't make everybody happy, so don't try. Set a date and a place and if they can't show, so be it.

part of this I didn't get into is we are already dealing with this exact thing with pre-baby events. There is upset because someone didn't take the date we picked seriously or thought we'd move it for them and are now unhappy that they can't attend. It is very unfortunate they can't attend but this is a very busy time of year with weddings, graduations, and such and we had to put our foot down and say the date is the date. There's more to it with my strong suspicion that it was an attempt to strong arm us into their preferred date and location and it looking like they didn't try all that hard to make a change until far too late so, yeah, guess it's good practice for the future.

 

[ImJustKCClone]

Pardon my ignorance, but what is MH? What do you think the total bill will be around? I was told 5 workers were there and it was out for 2-3 hours. I figure a high estimate is $70 per hour, so around a grand for labor.

Man hours - the number of people times the number of hours.

 

[cowgirl836]

So when are we all planning on showing up in Madison to "help" CG with the baby?

I only unlock the door for wine or rum.

Anybody catch the SNL royal wedding sketch this week? They showed Cecily as drunk Kate Middleton having fun after "being pregnant for the last six years". Harry asks "how much have you had to drink?!" and she goes "one glass of champagne!"

DH starts laughing and goes that'll be you in a few months.

 

[VeloClone]

the long, long story short is basically I found out today that a relative is planning to come stay with us for one or two weeks later this summer, uninvited. I know I said two weeks, in the PM there's a glimmer of hope that they may have meant one week. Either way, this is going on without DH and I being asked if we would like their "help" immediately following the calf's arrival. It is being presumed, incorrectly. And was quite the unpleasant shock for me to hear about.

There is nothing at all wrong with responding that you don't think that right after the baby is born will be a good time for a visit. You feel that you and DH can handle things and you want some time together with just your new family before accepting visitors. They may frame it as help but you need to frame it as YOUR TIME. Let them know you will evaluate when you will be ready for visitors after the arrival of little Bessy.

 

[cowgirl836]

We've had issues with birds building nests in our dryer vents (like inside the little flippy thing). Now I have plastic cages over them so birds won't build nests in there but I have to clean the cage things every couple of days to prevent them from becoming a fire hazard.

we had some very determined birds a couple years ago trying to build above the front door. At least that was covered by the porch, I suppose. DH hung aluminum foil there for a few days to stop them. I think that was our first summer in the house. Already showing the hood how classy we were with that foil hanging there, lol.

 

[cowgirl836]

I think we should all start by taking shifts at the hospital before she even gets there. That way she has a friendly face there when DH is out cold on the floor after seeing a needle.

I snorted.

 

[SCyclone]

Why does this make me think of a hok fan?

 

[cowgirl836]

There is nothing at all wrong with responding that you don't think that right after the baby is born will be a good time for a visit. You feel that you and DH can handle things and you want some time together with just your new family before accepting visitors. They may frame it as help but you need to frame it as YOUR TIME. Let them know you will evaluate when you will be ready for visitors after the arrival of little Bessy.

I'm going to have to add Bessy to the girl name list.

 

[CycloneErik]

part of this I didn't get into is we are already dealing with this exact thing with pre-baby events. There is upset because someone didn't take the date we picked seriously or thought we'd move it for them and are now unhappy that they can't attend. It is very unfortunate they can't attend but this is a very busy time of year with weddings, graduations, and such and we had to put our foot down and say the date is the date. There's more to it with my strong suspicion that it was an attempt to strong arm us into their preferred date and location and it looking like they didn't try all that hard to make a change until far too late so, yeah, guess it's good practice for the future.

And now they have the "you're always like this" card to throw around, which they certainly will.

I've spent my adult life working with children, soldiers, and college students, and nothing ever showed me how pathetically immature adults could be like having kids did.