I got burgers instead, so win.

So, I spent this past weekend on a whirlwind roadtrip with my mom and two of my brothers, going to visit another of my brothers.  I know for some people, this would hardly be the stuff of a 'Good Stuff' post, but I get along pretty well with my family, so it was good.

But the real good part is this--as we were on our way back home, driving through the barrens of mid-Nevada, Mom started asking if any of us had a carousel slide projector.  We've been working, in fits and starts, on trying to get some family history stuff done, and there's a HUGE chunk of it that's missing, because for decades, Dad shot pictures almost exclusively on slides (because they were easier to share with a group of people than prints were, I assume...and they take up less space to store...)  She thought most of them had vanished somewhere along the line, but she found a box full of them (and I mean FULL...), and now she's interested in trying to get them organized and scanned into a digital format.  Problem is, most of them aren't labelled...and while she has a slide viewer, and even a projector that will take slides one at a time, she wanted a faster way to review them and select the ones that actually mean something and should be scanned.

None of us have one, however...I only ever did stuff with slides during about four or five years of my life, I'm not sure my older brothers EVER did much with slides (I'm not even sure how much they actually bother taking pictures...)  So, Mom was a little disappointed and had started to resign herself to doing the project the hard way...

Well, earlier today, I was in a thrift store, shopping for props for one of the shows we're producing at work this summer...and there it was.  A carousel slide projector.  And I thought, "Hey, if this doesn't cost too much, Mom would probably love it..."  So I found the price tag--$5.  And then I thought, "If the light actually works, I should get this..."

And it did.  So I did.  And dropped it off at Mom's place, where we filled it up with slides and skimmed through them pretty quickly (most of them were taken before I was even born...)

I also got costume pieces for my friend's 80's-themed event this weekend (enough to make about four or five different outfits, I think...since she performs in an 80's band every few weeks, I'm pretty sure I'll find occasions to wear the ones I don't wear this weekend), AND I got several of the prop items I was looking for in the first place.  Good time to make a sweep through the area thrift stores!

Spent the afternoon with my four sisters on Saturday.  Our mother's birthday was last week, we've been celebrating it together as far as when my father was still alive, and we are trying to carry on the tradition even though both parents are gone now.  We get together as an extended family around the typical holiday occasions, but there are so many there we don't get the chance to interact much with siblings.  (My brother would be welcome too, but he lives in Ottawa, many hours away, though we do invite the one of my daughters who lives here now.)  It was, as always, great to see them, catch up on a bit of the news, and have a nice lunch - well, I think all of us had a second breakfast since the restaurant serves that through the day.

So, it finally happened...

I showed up for a show last night, with my full kit of emergency repair gear...with the exception of helping tape a couple of things up before the show started, I didn't have to fix anything.  No props to glue back together, no costumes to be repaired or altered...I actually got to sit back and enjoy the whole show, and socialize a bit before it started, even.

That NEVER happens...*grin*

After five years in a soul crushing job (3rd shift at a gas station) and a month of being unemployed, I have a new job! (Working at Bojangles)

Way to go Srgrosse! At least its not 2nds. ;)

I, myself, just got out of construction where I'm not the best fit, and opened a new Indy restaurant (Bacon, Legs, and Turntables if you're in the area.) There's talk of me moving to Minneapolis and taking my boss's job when we open the next one. Apparently I've been turning heads. :D

Since I didn't get along very well with one of the cats we acquired in the summer, and she also harassed the other cat (like siblings of the bad variety), we'd been looking to re-home her, not easy since we didn't want her to go to a collector, and her temperament meant her needs were a bit specialized.  A week ago she went to her new forever home, and apparently it's going extremely well.  The remaining cat also seems to be much more relaxed. so wins all round!

My husband came home early from work tonight to spend my birthday with me <3

That feeling when you learn that the 1.5 hour thing you had to do after work on the day before you leave for vacation gets canceled. XD

Inexperienced as I am, my coaching helped my friend shave almost ten strokes off his golf game today, including helping him overcome a tendency to stiffen up on his tee shots and miss the ball completely.

Now, if I can just figure out what to do about my putting game...

Oh, that glorious feeling of relief when that roiling, overbearing ball of whine decides he's had enough, quits, and walks out...

He thought he was screwing the company by leaving us short-staffed.

I'll gladly cover his hours just to be able work in peace!

In the course of two days at work, I reconstructed a fold-out bench, patched holes in a couple of theatrical drops, repaired two crates used as set pieces, managed to repair the same pocket-watch twice (different things breaking), and rebuilt an electronic candle that fell off a table onstage and broke into five or six pieces.  Now, I know I'm not the only person with the expertise to do all of that...

But I'm the only person who works there that has all that expertise.  And, perhaps more importantly, I'm the only person dumb enough to say, "Well, I don't know if I can fix that, but I'll take a look..."  Most of the time, the fix is actually relatively easy...but everyone else seems too intimidated by this stuff to look and see what's actually wrong with it.  (Either that, or they're just used to saying, "It's broken...he'll fix it...")

I'm nowhere near arrogant enough to presume that they wouldn't be able to keep operating without me...but they'd sure have a hard time finding people to do all the stuff I do.

The realization that for the first time, your baby slept 8 hours straight...

In reply to praguepride (msg # 609):

I find a weird sense of amusement reading the archived ooc threads of locked games.

I really like my new dentist. My Old Dentist removed a permanent retainer, but told me that he couldn't remove the bonds cementing them in place. So there were these rough lumps on the backside of my teeth. New Dentist saw them and said "No problem" and ground them off with a dremel. No harm done.

Finding a charging point open in the airport... and an empty chair right beside it.  Traveling win!

We were lucky!  Very bad storm here last night, probably a tornado just a few miles east, but all we had was a few twigs and already dead small branches down, the gazebo moved over a few feet and the very tall tomato plants were almost flat but still rooted.  Thanks, kids who own the house for having branches removed from the trees in the back, and one tree entirely removed from the front!  There are places nearby where there is still no power, where very large trees were totally uprooted (sometimes on top of vehicles), where buildings were at least partially destroyed but we are good.  Thank you, God, and I pray for those more unfortunate.

ME:                  1
NYC Department of Motor Vehicles Traffic Violations Bureau:  0

Feeling like powerful attorney, despite not actually doing much to accomplish that.
But happy anyway.

In reply to Eur512 (msg # 614):

Well, can't you share more of the story?  That's just a teaser!

Like I said I didn't really do much.  I had this whole line of logic prepared to fight a $138 ticket  (for the honor and rightness of my cause more than the money!) but the Judge found it and pursued it first.

Very smart woman.  After the officer described the situation, which involved a school bus, and then very officially testified that he had an unobstructed 360 degree field of view, the judge realized the same thing I did- not unobstructed, not with a BUS in the way!  So she asked him exactly where HE was, and he started to hem and haw and couldn't recall.  Of course he couldn't recall- he was on the far side of the bus.  That was the point I was going to make, but she figured it out immediately.

And I had taken pictures of the scene.  So she declared, "Not Guilty".  I didn't have to say a word.

In reply to Eur512 (msg # 616):

Nice!

Impressive: My 16 year-old daughter starts college next week.

Epic: My 13 year-old son skipped up from 7th to 9th grade today and is also starting college next week.

I better train in zombie killing, 'cuz with the brains in this family we'd be in a world of trouble if the zombie apocalypse started!

After a recent hiccup in health of a family member and myself I can now safely say things have returned to normal. A lot has been lost and yet gained. My work started to ease off with the night shifts and has now agreed to sign a contract with only daylight hours, this is such a huge relief for me and lifts stress off my shoulders by bounds.

I've also been accepted into a new job for next year. Training starts next year also but it's something to look forward to and something to bring more positive vibes into my life.

Plus side I've had such big support from my friends here on this site and even though it goes quiet sometimes I've finally found a place I can fill my spare time in. The simple things in life can be overlooked and I had done this every day whilst being under stress. But now that's gone I've found the simplicity and bliss this site gives me, that and the new paths opened up for me in the future.

Soppy moment over. But it needed to be said.

In reply to Little_Devil (msg # 619):

Little Devil I can't recall we have ever interacted with one another.  Having said that your positive upbeat attitude is refreshing.

I wish you well.

Muaadeeb

I've rented a room for nearly two years. The time came for me to move on to another worksite. I thought that I'd have to move on at least three months ago, but there was an emergency at home I had to take care off. She was so flexible with my schedule changes. When my transfer came through, I kept her updated and tomorrow is my move-out date.

Just a moment ago, I told her that I'd be leaving between 9:30 and 10am and I asked her if she'd like me to leave the key in her office or in the mail slot. I almost always slipped the rent through the mail slot, but sometimes, she'd ask me to drop it in her office with a note. She started to cry and told me that she was really going to miss me and if I ever came this way again, I was welcome to stay.

I had a sewing table and chair posted on Craigslist. They're darling, but I can't bring them along. She's so sweet, she bought them off me for more than my asking price. We were both in the hallway crying.