The Chit Chat Chit Chat Thread

[Songbird76]

Happy to hear you had an awesome Christmas.

Glad you were forgiven for what you didn't do. *I had one of those moments with my Mom on Christmas Eve. I had things to say so I went out and shoveled her driveway instead of saying them.

Well, maybe we weren't quite as forgiven as I thought. Hubby and I made lunch (my MIL calls it "brunch" but doesn't want to eat "brunch" until 1pm, and she wants breakfast when she wakes up...I don't think she understands the concept of an actual brunch) and did the cleanup, and then my BIL came over around 4:30 or 5 for dinner, and my MIL announced that from now on she's done with doing the Christmas dinners. We're welcome to come to their house, but we'll have to do our OWN shopping and bring it all to her house and cook it ourselves because she's not doing it. Now, I can understand the speech in regards to my BIL because it's pretty much standard that he comes over just before dinner and sits on the couch until dinner is ready, he eats, and then leaves before dessert so he doesn't have to help with the clean up. OR, he'll stay, and go sit on the couch while the rest of us clean up and when my MIL asks him to help, he'll take a dish or 2 from the table, set it in the kitchen on the counter and then go back and sit down and play on his phone. My husband and I have helped her make dinner AND done the clean up every year, for both Easter AND Christmas, AND we go on their birthdays and spend the day serving their guests so that she can sit and enjoy the party. And while we are cooking and cleaning up, she tries to micromanage everything and snaps at us for asking where she wants us to put a dish or where something is, so to treat us like we don't do anything to help did NOT sit well with us. DH said if she continues on like that, we won't go at all next year. It's one thing to say "I'm getting to old and I'd really like you guys to take over" or to pull my BIL aside and tell him he needs to actually do his part. But considering we have done just as much as she has every year, if not more, because SHE doesn't generally help with the clean up "because she cooked", it was uncalled for to accuse us of making her do all the work every year. DH called her on it and she begrudgingly admitted that yes, he had handled lunch. Yeah...I was just kitchen decoration apparently. She did go to HIM later and tell him that the speech had been for my BIL's benefit (He actually set the table this year! Though he forgot half the stuff...perhaps if he actually helps from now on, he'll learn what all needs to go on the table). But I call shenanigans because if that was the case, she could have just talked to him, OR she could have let us know before he got there that she was going to say something and that it was not meant for us. I think she was feeling a bit upset that no one came to church and was venting and maybe realized later that she had been in the wrong. But she never said anything to ME. We'll see how Easter goes...if it doesn't go well, I think we'll just have our own Christmas at home next year.

 

[Songbird76]

There is not an origin for the phrase other than it was Latin hundreds of years ago Primum non nocere Even the Masses I attended during the school day were in Latin but we were not all Irish, plenty of Italian and Polish in our school too. But for hundreds of years it has been attached to medical students education.

Yep, Nora under that name and several other pen names loves romance that includes magic and given her Irish ancestry she likely feeds off her own heritage. Her writing is very similar to the Harlequin Romance novels my Mom was addicted to while I was growing up. She has quit the following and my Mom now reads every book of hers too and she puts out so many each year. My thought she is more of a creative fictional writer over any sort of historian when she is pumping out her novels, I think they are more for entertainment than historical accuracy.

Being born in an Irish neighborhood we didn't have any Wiccans but 'others' not Irish talked about it as they talked about the Hungarian and Romanians being Gypsy thieves and so forth. When I was small in this region there wasn't much crossing of the line, even if you were Catholic you were Irish Catholic like I was raised, Italian Catholic, Polish Catholic, Hispanic Catholic and generally when you married back then if you were Italian ancestry you married that way...the blood line thing back then and in some families it is still 'right there.'
My Grans thought process was Birds of a Feather Flock Together. Wiccans she didn't speak of.

Oh it's definitely just for entertainment, not historical accuracy. I call it mindless fluff. But she DOES do research for her books, and I'm sure she's talked to some wiccans/self-proclaimed witches, and it's possible that many of them do believe in the same philosophy of not harming others...I think it's more of a moral rule than anything. It's kind of the base of any developed society's laws...do unto others, no murder, no stealing, do what you like as long as it doesn't hurt someone else. It's more the specific wording of it being the first priority to "harm none" that intrigues me.

 

[Songbird76]

I love The Gilmore Girls and am a fan of the writer of the show, very insightful woman. Likely why I liked the TV series so much.

Here was a cut from one episode on thinking about the meaning of a Christmas Gift. Lane Kim cracks me up.

RORY: Ok, I really need to talk about something else now.

LANE: You went shopping.

RORY: Yes I did. I got a moo-ing cow shaped timer for Sookie, some cardio-salsa tapes for Michel, a book for Dean -

LANE: You got Dean a book?

RORY: Yeah. ‘Metamorphosis’.

LANE: ‘Metamorphosis.’

RORY: It’s Kafta.

LANE: Very romantic.

RORY: I think it is romantic.

LANE: I know I’ve always dreamed that some day a guy would get me a really confusing Czechoslovakian novel.

RORY: I think he’ll appreciate it.

LANE: A book sends the wrong message.

RORY: What are you talking about?

LANE: You have to look at what a gift says to the other person, not to you. Remember two years ago, I got my mom that perfume?

RORY: Yeah.

LANE: Ok, to me that said, ‘Hey mom, you work hard, you deserve something fancy’. Now to my mother, it said ‘Hey mom, here’s some smelly sex juice, the kind I use to lure boys with’ and resulted in me being sent to bible camp all summer.

RORY: Yeah but -

LANE: Just imaging that you actually gave Dean something really romantic, and he gave you a football. Your hypothetical romantic present is saying that you really, really like him. And his present is saying ‘Hey man, let’s just be friends’.

RORY: And you’re saying that this book is -

LORELAI: Is a Czechoslovakian football, yes.

RORY: So then what do I get him?

LANE: What you should do is find out what he’s getting you and gage your gift accordingly.

RORY: But doesn’t that kinda take the fun out of it?

LANE: Gift giving is serious business. If you don’t believe me try spending a month at Korean bible camp.

Ha!! I was just thinking of this when we were discussing the "soup bowl" vs "Applebees/chillis giftcard" debacle.

 

[Songbird76]

As you chit chatters know, there was some family drama with hubs and I not attending his family's Christmas this year. Here's an update...

So tomorrow is the big family gathering. Today hub got an email from his uncle, there was another email attached it was from his twin sister (who lives in the Chicago area) to the uncle. In that email hub's sister told the uncle the time for the meal and informed him that we wouldn't be at Christmas this year because these are her words..."Brad's wife is unwilling to drive him and they are unwilling to fly." Nothing about them being unwilling to come up here, ever. Now hubs had not been included on that email but his uncle must have thought that he should see it as he included him in the reply to the sister. I don't think the uncle was trying to make any trouble because he is well aware of his nieces' personalities as he has had to miss gatherings to care for his wife that has MS. So hubs replied to his uncle and emailed another uncle and both were supportive of our situation and understand why were aren't going to come this year.

But those words just made me see red, combined with the fact that hub's older sister (the one who thinks she runs the family) did not respond to my husband's Merry Christmas text yesterday! She posted pictures of her kids on Facebook but couldn't return a simple text. Her husband and their kids texted him back even his twin sister at least texted back a simple Merry Christmas. So when today when hubs read that email to me I just exploded because to me they are just treating him like dirt and have for years. It was my tipping point. I told hubs that I'm done with them and honestly if I see his sisters and either one of them make some sort of comment about it in the future I don't think I can hold back. I'm pretty easy going and I've put up with their slights for years because I know they mean something to hubs but they just treated him poorly one too many times for me. I get very protective of people who mean a lot to me, so maybe I won't be seeing them in the future. Ugh!

Oh and a little bit ago hubs got a text from the one sister's husband that he mailed my present out today (I guess he had my name for Christmas). My first inclination is to send the present back because I really don't want anything from those people. However, it is probably a Disney book I've been wanting to read for months, the new one about the Ink and Paint Department. So what to do?

Oh thanks again for listening/reading, sorry. Again, you all are the best!

I'm sorry they are being jerks. I say if it's the book, keep it...it's a nice thing that they are willing to send it since you couldn't be there and you don't want them to go telling the rest of the family that you were petty. I'm assuming if he got your name, you got someone else's name and actually sent that person a present? If it's a legitimate exchange, you should get your present. At least it seems the rest of the family knows it's them and not you.

 

[Songbird76]

Ugh.

But intrigue....what kind of restaurant is the Daily Taste???

Oh it's just a little "cafeteria". They have fries and chicken nuggets and that kind of thing, but it's owned by a Turkish family so they also have standard Turkish fare like Doner kebab, shawarma....like, think of the Moroccan quick service place combined with McDonalds. Nothing big. But I love their Chicken grill thing...it's chunks of chicken, sauteed with peppers, onions, mushrooms, and some spices and served with pita bread. So good.

 

[Songbird76]

Speaking of which...DD has a couple of questions for you. Where do you order your fabric from when you order online? And are there minimum yards?

The other one is where did you get your headbands for your Minnie Ears you made? She is having a hard time finding ones that are long enough since the ears make the headbands top heavy.

We discovered that a wider hairband is easier to work with, and lining it with velvet ribbon helps them stay in your hair and not get blown off so easily...also more comfortable to wear.

 

[Goofyernmost]

Now I feel bad for complaining that it's only 50 degrees here...

It's 39 here and I believe we have laws against that kind of thing. Someone should be jailed for this.

 

[Gabe1]

It's 39 here and I believe we have laws against that kind of thing. Someone should be jailed for this.

Yeah Lock Em Up

 

[wdwfan4ver]

It's 39 here and I believe we have laws against that kind of thing. Someone should be jailed for this.

I'd take the temperature right now because its 3 degrees outside right now. Great thing one of my Christmas gifts was 10 packs of hot coca mix.

 

[Gabe1]

Maybe electro shock

So you are cold too?

 

[Gabe1]

Yea for my dh and James. Dh went in early got out early picked up James for an errand he had to run and while they were out they picked up everything I'll need until at least the weekend I'm not leaving the safety of my house until Friday Wind chills are expected to be bad through at least tomorrow.

Nice

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I'm sorry they are being jerks. I say if it's the book, keep it...it's a nice thing that they are willing to send it since you couldn't be there and you don't want them to go telling the rest of the family that you were petty. I'm assuming if he got your name, you got someone else's name and actually sent that person a present? If it's a legitimate exchange, you should get your present. At least it seems the rest of the family knows it's them and not you.

I'm thinking that I will probably keep the gift and yes hubby sent our gift down to the sister's house last week to make sure they would be there when everyone was together. Hubs was actually thinking that they wouldn't bother to send ours so he wanted to make sure they got theirs.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

It's 39 here and I believe we have laws against that kind of thing. Someone should be jailed for this.

I'm crying for you.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

It's 39 here and I believe we have laws against that kind of thing. Someone should be jailed for this.

Go find Elsa.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

On Hilton Head, there are community cats, cats that live outside, are neutered/spayed, eartipped, and taken care of by locals. We were at a restaurant tonight, and there were several outside. My mom was trying to pet some, and finally, a grey one allowed her to pet him. Meanwhile, I pet a grey one, and two other appeared from nowhere (the one my mom was paying attention to walked over to me). My mom started paying attention to some of them, so I walked over to a black one who was laying down to see if he would let me pet him. He did...and meanwhile, I was followed by the rest of the cats, some of whom were rubbing around my ankles. Also, said black cat would allow me to pet him, but not my mom.

I think they must sense crazy cat lady.

 

[wdwfan4ver]

Go find Elsa.

I'm guessing she's somewhere in Wisconsin right now. It was snowing during the day and afternoon in Wisconsin on Christmas eve has been less than 10 degrees outside for 2 straight days. There also are parts of Wisconsin over 10 degrees below zero including a couple places being 18 degrees below zero currently.

I expect Elsa to stay in Wisconsin on New Year's day with me guessing Olaf would be doing the Polar bear plunge. At this point, the two places in Wisconsin that is going to have the polar bear plunge on New Year's Day are going to be less than 10 degrees outside.

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

One of my Christmas gifts (from someone at work) was a nice pair of gloves and a scarf, but I realized that the colors, etc. didn't really go with any of my jackets. So today, I went to return them for store credit at Lord & Taylor, and I got there right when the mall opened this morning.

Progress?! Took 40 minutes to get these returned. Why?

Because ONE register on the floor was programmed correctly for returns. None of the software in the other registers had been updated, and all the sales people were having a cow. Their registers kept crashing, and customers were ticked off. Good grief--right in the middle of the busy "returns" season after Christmas and their system was down.

When I was in high school, I worked part-time in retail during holidays and summer. Back then, it was just credit card, cash, or check. And I can tell you that we processed all returns within minutes.

Progress.

 

[FutureCEO]

I'm guessing she's somewhere in Wisconsin right now. It was snowing during the day and afternoon in Wisconsin on Christmas eve has been less than 10 degrees outside for 2 straight days. There also are parts of Wisconsin over 10 degrees below zero including a couple places being 18 degrees below zero currently.

I expect Elsa to Stay in Wisconsin on New Year's day with me guessing Olaf would be doing the Polar bear plunge. At this point, the two places in Wisconsin that is going to have the polar bear plunge on New Year's Day is going to be less than 10 degrees outside.

Bottom line: the whole northern US and Canada is frozen.

Think on the bright side: towns in PA near Lake Erie has had near 100 inches of snowin December alone.

 

[Gabe1]

Power is up and running again at Disneyland but the jokes keep flying, photo: Rich Moore

 

[Cesar R M]

I needed that! Last night she called to say she was coming over to drop something off. I thought cool, she sees the error of her ways. It was a rolling chair from their barn storage.

omg.. at this point I would have slapped her