The Chit Chat Chit Chat Thread

[MinnieM123]

Sorry for the blurry pic it's the first time I ever tried to get one from my phone

I think it's a Christmas tree, but not positive.

 

[MinnieM123]

Hi @Mr Ferret 88 and Mrs. Ferret -- MERRY CHRISTMAS, and enjoy a tasty treat today.

(Oh well, I tried to insert a photo but it wouldn't show up.) It was a ferret enjoying his ice cream.

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

Up at 5 and now putting together a Playmobil dollhouse. No snow on the ground, but it is super windy. Family is still supposed to be driving in from Jersey.

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

Croissants look delicious @Mr Ferret 88! Hope you and Donna have a lovely day.

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

Have a magical morning @DisneyBound2017 !
Safe travels @MouseDreaming!
Enjoy the magic and weather.

 

[Songbird76]

Here's why my family sucks and I like Halloween better than Christmas. My sister and her daughter gave $25 Applebee's and Chili's gift cards to every adult......each and every one. I, the person that bought all the food and hosted the get together got......a soup bowl. No gift card for me. "You don't go there"was the excuse. Yup, NEVER doing a family function again.

They couldn't have gotten you a gift card from somewhere you DO go? Or even to the grocery store?

 

[Songbird76]

Booo. Was it a nice soup bowl at least?

That would have to be one REALLY nice soup bowl.

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

They couldn't have gotten you a gift card from somewhere you DO go? Or even to the grocery store?

Agreed, considering that @MOXOMUMD was the hostess and worked so hard for everyone to have a delicious meal.
She could have gotten a Disney gift card.

 

[Songbird76]

From the local discount store. It still had the price tag on it. A big $1.47.

Might as well just slap you in the face. So many other options....a gift card from the grocery store to help defray the cost of the dinner, or a gift card for Amazon to buy something you want, or from the Disney store, or a different restaurant, or a voucher for something fun like a local museum or a spa day...or a gift basket full of things she knows you like. It's just so inconsiderate. Did anyone else say anything on your behalf?

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Merry Christmas everyone!
Hubs and I are going to open presents, eat some breakfast and then head to my sisters for the day. Oh and did i mention it is negative 3 right now! Brr.

 

[Songbird76]

Well, we had a really nice Christmas morning/afternoon. I think we're forgiven for Christmas Eve. It's not a holiday here, and since I had a concert on Saturday and didn't get home until 12:30 am, I slept in and then DD and I made brownies and stuffed mushrooms that my MIL asked me to make for Christmas Dinner. Hubby told her she didn't need to worry about dinner for us on Christmas Eve, we'd come in the evening after dinner and stay so we could be here for Christmas morning, and we'd make brunch and bring the stuffed mushrooms and brownies for dinner. Apparently what she HEARD was that we were going to church with them last night. She never asked or said when the service was, but we got a phone call as we were pulling out of our street, asking where we were...they had missed the first service waiting for us and the next one started in half an hour and they were waiting on us. Ummmm...? I guess she just assumed when we said we'd come in the evening that we meant to go with them to church. But when I talked to her earlier in the week, she didn't even know if THEY were going to church because my FIL is still not feeling well, and I had told her I didn't know when we were coming and DH called her later to let her know the plan. So we never gave indication that we planned on going to church with them. They weren't happy with us.
We only do gifts for the kids (though my MIL did knit me a Ravenclaw Scarf!!! And we gave her some craft things) and they were so excited about everything. DS put on almost every item of clothing we got him....Star Wars shirts, a Ravenclaw sweatshirt, Star wars sweat pants are probably what he'll wear tomorrow. And he literally jumped up and down when he opened the soap...he LOVES that soap and had just used the last of the stuff he got last year, so he was really happy to get a new supply. And I got both kids Harry Potter Bedding....one a castle, and the other Hedwig, and DS got the whole set of books in Dutch and DD got a bunch of HP throw pillows, slippers, a tshirt, and the DVD of Fantastic Beasts and where to Find Them, and of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. DS was also super excited about the light saber toothbrush. And a stuffed sheep (he LOVES sheep) that has a wheat bag you put in the microwave to warm up, then put it back in the sheep and it keeps you warm. And DD got the mood stone jewelry she's been wanting...the best thing about those is I got them on clearance for 1 euro! I never did find the dressing gown in her size, but she was over the moon about everything, so she's not disappointed at all. It was so much fun watching them be so excited about things I got for just a Euro or two.

 

[Songbird76]

Shocking behavior from that former tenant. Wow.

P.S.: Your motto is the motto of medical people--see it referenced a lot at the hospital where I work. (Note: Not a part of the Hippocratic Oath, however.)

Isn't it also a wiccan thing? I read a lot, and one of my favorite authors is Nora Roberts. Nora writes a lot about magic...particularly Irish people. And that's one of the things the "witches" always say..."and it harm none."

 

[Songbird76]

Oh dear. That's unfortunate. I'm sure some of the concert still went well though.

Parts of it were great. Our set that was just us went REALLY well...we got the biggest applause of the night and someone told one of our gals that the original artist (Dotan) could pack it up...ours was better. (That was the one I learned that morning...thank GOD we had a sound check before the performance or I would have been COMPLETELY caught off guard by the changes they made to it...as it was, I had only done it once before performing it, but it actually turned out really good. So that went well. But someone was REALLY flat on the entrance to one song, and then the finally was the one where we totally lost it. Earth Wind and Fire "September". We sang the first verse and chorus, started the second verse and then someone started singing the chorus again instead of carrying on with the rest of the verse, so we ended up singing nothing but "Badeya- deya- deya" for about 2 minutes straight...NO WAY that no one noticed. We did it really enthusiastically though, so hopefully people were at least entertained. There were a few people in the audience who were interested in joining...one was going to go get a voice teacher to find out if he had any talent whatsoever, so I guess we couldn't have been THAT bad, but to mess up the finale...that's the last impression you leave the audience with...not ideal. And I'm a perfectionist when it comes to my music. So I was quite embarrassed by the whole debacle, but in truth, it was probably only horrible to ME.

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

Parts of it were great. Our set that was just us went REALLY well...we got the biggest applause of the night and someone told one of our gals that the original artist (Dotan) could pack it up...ours was better. (That was the one I learned that morning...thank GOD we had a sound check before the performance or I would have been COMPLETELY caught off guard by the changes they made to it...as it was, I had only done it once before performing it, but it actually turned out really good. So that went well. But someone was REALLY flat on the entrance to one song, and then the finally was the one where we totally lost it. Earth Wind and Fire "September". We sang the first verse and chorus, started the second verse and then someone started singing the chorus again instead of carrying on with the rest of the verse, so we ended up singing nothing but "Badeya- deya- deya" for about 2 minutes straight...NO WAY that no one noticed. We did it really enthusiastically though, so hopefully people were at least entertained. There were a few people in the audience who were interested in joining...one was going to go get a voice teacher to find out if he had any talent whatsoever, so I guess we couldn't have been THAT bad, but to mess up the finale...that's the last impression you leave the audience with...not ideal. And I'm a perfectionist when it comes to my music. So I was quite embarrassed by the whole debacle, but in truth, it was probably only horrible to ME.

Sorry it did not go as well as you hoped. Only thing I am wondering about is, you sang “September”, for a Christmas concert?

 

[Songbird76]

What she said

Thanks. I can't find any videos from the concert, but I have a link to a different performance, before I was singing with them, but I helped them with English pronunciation, and we did Home from Phillip Phillips and the Home from Dotan one right after the other, and those were 2 that we did on Saturday night.

The last song is one that was written by our group. Some of the members wrote the lyrics, ran it past me, I corrected grammar/word choice, and then the director and pianist wrote the music together. We didn't do that one on Saturday because it didn't really fit with the whole Christmas feeling. Anyway, it gives the impression of what we normally sing. Saturday's was a bit different because we only got to do 4 songs with our band and the rest was the choice of the wind ensemble, and they picked stuff that's so far from what we normally do. Gaia from Valensia, for example...WEIRD song.

 

[Songbird76]

Hey, where's Perry?

FTFY

 

[Songbird76]

Agreed, considering that @MOXOMUMD was the hostess and worked so hard for everyone to have a delicious meal.
She could have gotten a Disney gift card.

Right? Like...have they never MET her? There are so so many options I just can't even fathom the "Hrmmm...we have to get her SOMETHING...can't show up with NOTHING." It's like the year my brother completely forgot my birthday, grabbed a Glade air freshener candle from his closet and gave it to me. Like I don't know you just grabbed something you already had at home so you didn't have to go to the effort of going to the store and looking for something I would actually like? And I know, gift cards have a bad reputation for being cop outs, too, but if you get someone a gift card for somewhere they love, like the Disney store, or if they read a lot, to a book store, or if they love a certain clothing brand, to that store...or to their favorite restaurant, it at least shows you KNOW them and what they like and you want them to LIKE the gift. A soup bowl just sounds like "I couldn't be bothered to go and find a real present, you aren't worth the time, so here's this thing I had lying around."

 

[Songbird76]

Sorry it did not go as well as you hoped. Only thing I am wondering about is, you sang “September”, for a Christmas concert?

That's what the wind ensemble chose. Because it has the word December in it. Yes, really. We did "Swinging Christmas" which our pianist arranged...it was a medley of some standard Jazz Christmas tunes: New Years Eve, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, and Let it Snow. Then Gaia from Valensia, which isn't per se a Christmas song, but it's all about making the world better. And Do they know it's Christmas Time, and September. Those were the ones we did with the wind Ensemble accompanying us and their director was actually BEHIND us, so we couldn't see him. Then we had one set with just us, where we got to choose our own songs...we don't normally do Christmas concerts, so it's not worth it to try to learn a bunch of new repertoire we won't use just for one concert. So instead, we choose things that fit in the Christmas feeling...messages of love and happiness and belonging. We did In My Place, Hold back the River, and then Home from Phillip Phillips merging into Home from Dotan. Then there was a soloist who sang Pie Jesu and Skyfall (from Adelle) and another soloist who did It's Beginning to look a Lot Like Christmas, and...Margherita or something like that...it's a Dutch thing. And then the Wind Ensemble did some Christmas Carol medleys, and the Dr. Who theme song, and they accompanied the other soloists, and they did some other thing that had an oboe solo in it. So it was kind of a mash up of Christmas and popular music, if that makes sense. We don't technically consider ourselves a "choir". We're a band with 20 singers...hence the name Catch20. Although right now we are more like Catch15 and we desperately need men...particularly bass/baritone!

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

Right? Like...have they never MET her? There are so so many options I just can't even fathom the "Hrmmm...we have to get her SOMETHING...can't show up with NOTHING." It's like the year my brother completely forgot my birthday, grabbed a Glade air freshener candle from his closet and gave it to me. Like I don't know you just grabbed something you already had at home so you didn't have to go to the effort of going to the store and looking for something I would actually like? And I know, gift cards have a bad reputation for being cop outs, too, but if you get someone a gift card for somewhere they love, like the Disney store, or if they read a lot, to a book store, or if they love a certain clothing brand, to that store...or to their favorite restaurant, it at least shows you KNOW them and what they like and you want them to LIKE the gift. A soup bowl just sounds like "I couldn't be bothered to go and find a real present, you aren't worth the time, so here's this thing I had lying around."

At least she could have removed the price tag. No effort period.