Saturday, October 23, 2021

Saturday Schmatterings- House of Three Again

     


     I'm so happy for the weekend. I'm up bright and early  getting a few things tackled before the others wake up. The kid got home about 6:45-she had to drive through the height of rush hour because she left, once again, much later than her original plans, then got stuck in stand still traffic twice due to crashes. I'm making a batch of blueberry muffins and that will please both DH and college kid. Now there's three of us here again. Here's a few topics milling around in my head this fine Saturday.

Sisters Weekend

     We are hoping to return to a full weekend this year for our annual sisters weekend. The last time we stayed overnight as a full crew was in 2013, the week before my sister died. Another sister  suggested us staying the weekend (or at least overnight)at her family cabin. We'd do our usual  breakfast, followed by shopping and poking around little shops. A twist, this year a cousin owns a bar and grill  in the general vicinity and wants us to come there for dinner. We'll pass on lunch and do an early dinner, then  be at the cabin for an evening fire and copious amounts of liquid refreshments. We'll hopefully be early enough to stop and get artisan bread and jams, and as long as my sister has the coffee pot ready, I'll be happy with those treats. It's looking like it will be a go the same traditional first weekend of November. We'll honor my sister's memory as that's her birthday week. She would have been 64.

     I'm on vacation the following week, destination and plans still unknown. DH wrote a note in my anniversary card that next vacation, he gets to plan. Well, have at it sir! I'm waiting. I think he meant our next uber vacation, not just a random week of with local destinations, but still he's welcome to plan. Really it might be just a night or two away and a project week.

Last of the Local Produce

     I think the farmers market in town will still be open today, but probably very little fresh produce, but I'm hoping. I still have not got jalapenos for pepper jam. I'm in the mood for fresh picked apples, but we too are probably too late for this, but the orchards  should still have already picked in their little barn shops. I need to get some local honey crisp. I'll buy a pumpkin if the college kids wants to carve, otherwise, I'll just get a couple small ones, more as decorations and not for carving. They can then stay through Thanksgiving. I'm sure there will be more squash to be had-maybe potatoes as well. For those of you that garden, are you done for the season or do you still get a few things growing?

My Car Trunk

     When I ran on my extended lunch break to get a few groceries for the weekend/week,  thought I better grab another multi pack of TP because I just took the last roll of one multi pack for the upstairs bathroom. That's now my cue to buy the next back up. Loading my car, I saw I had one already in the way back of the trunk. Well, not going to complain about being more stocked up than I thought, but I promise I'm not going overboard. I suppose I carried cold stuff in, left the TP and forgot it was there. 

     My car trunk is becoming a room of doom. Also shoved way in the back is my punch bowl. It probably has been there for three years. A few months after my daughter moved back to the Twin Cities is 2018, a co-worker was about to go on family leave and they held a baby shower. Well, my family still does punch at showers-just a thing we have held onto, so that is what she knows for throwing baby and wedding showers. As the only women other than new mom, she got put in charge of organization and set up. ( Insert eye roll) She borrowed my punch bowl, and I suppose I took it home with me at some point in November and there it stayed. There's also a few bags of post Christmas  shopping items, left there for when I would eventually have a more organized system. Well, they are still there. Wrapping paper and ribbon, gift bags, and a few odds and ends holiday gifts all taking up room. Please share all your neat as a pin car trunk stories and properly shame me for having yet one more  place to hold clutter in my life.

Getting off the Career Ladder

     There is still a whole lot of limbo happening at work. Last spring my new boss, who was the person  that recruited me years ago, but left in 2017, came back to a promotion of heading up our division. It was good to have her back as she let people do their work, was a genuine road block remover, and had skills in technology and data, our team lacks. Then, out of the blue, I learned when I got back from my time off in August, she was leaving! Apparently she had an offer too good to turn down from her last job, so less than 6 months later, we are without a director. Now, several of us are being asked, "Are you applying? Do you want the job." My colleague who was the interim director for over a year said NO WAY. She is gearing up to retire in  few years, and did not want the added pressure. To back fill behind her, which never happened before, would take months, if ever.

     We've put feelers out to people we think might make good directors. It technically is a temporary job, as our Big Boss, is on leave, taking an executive position, which is also classified as temporary. I know-convoluted!  I fear we may end up with someone from a partner organization who was recently passed over for a promotion in her world, looking for an opportunity to climb. Not quite the mission passion I would hope for, but I guess no use complaining if I'm not willing to throw my hat into the ring. I'd rather just do my job well, and use any leftover brain power I have to put towards my personal interests. I was on the upward ladder track a decade ago, and it ate me up. My days of climbing this particular career ladder are done, but I certainly might  retire and have  a new hustle. I mean after all, I am making a fortune now as a blogger, right.

Another Blogger Meet-Up?

     I've got four weekends pretty booked, but would love to get another Zoom Blogger meet up if anyone is interested again. I'm probably not free until Saturday November 20th-or Sunday morning for my new friend Jan in Australia. Like before, send me an email at samandcoffee65@gmail.com if you are interested. The kind people at Zoom let us extend our meet up to a full hour, but we might be limited to 40 minutes. 

     Those are this weeks schmatterings I  felt like writing about. Nothing makes a full blog post, so glimpses into my brain. What are you mulling over in your head this weekend? 

27 comments:

  1. I’m envious of your sisters weekend! It sounds like a blast. I didn’t make it to a single farmer’s market this year. I have a Jeep so no real trunk space, though there’s a little hidey hole under the hatch. I keep the hatch clear but I do have an extra pair of sneakers, tennis rackets, ice scrapers, a picnic blanket, etc underneath. My job is also a staffing disaster. Our district manager quit and they paired us with the Metro New York DM, who thinks we’re small potatoes and couldn’t care less about us. Now we hear they are hiring from within a Market Manager to take care of the western PA stores through the holidays. Everyone is dying to know who it is. I have two guesses, but I found out my first idea is wrong, so we’ll see. Obviously it could be someone I don’t know but it kills me to think all this could have been avoided if when our old-old DM left they would have promoted my store manager into the job. She wanted it, was capable, well-liked, trusted. She left when they burned her, and the dominoes have fallen since then. 75% of our managers in the district have quit in the past year and a half. I’m incredibly underpaid right now but I’m a sucker, and that’s the only reason I stay. :) JoAnn

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    1. I didn't make it there today either. I was very slow going after I hit publish. I admire anyone who has kept their head afloat in retail this past year. I don't understand why keeping good employees isn't seen as a value.

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  2. I’m headed for my sister’s today. I have an abundance of apples and we’re going to make a few apple pies. I make the crusts from scratch- yes. I use Crisco- and she’ll do the prepping with an appliance she bought several years ago from Pampered Chef. I hate peeling and coring apples and yes, I’m pretty much a from scratch cook. I was a SAHM when my kids were growing up so plenty of time. Now I cook a big quantity and have leftovers several days. It works for me! Enjoy your daughter’s visit- GS’s school doesn’t have fall break and just 3 days at Thanksgiving but they are finished with classes the end of April. His brother a senior has applied to the same school for next year too! Good news is I am getting a new grandson- my son in California and his partner are expecting a boy in March. He wouldn’t let me tell anyone including his 2 sisters until she was 20 weeks. He’s 46 and she’s 42- first baby!! Now I’ll have 4 grandsons and 1 granddaughter. Nan

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    1. I na crust with vegetable oil a few years ago that I had OK success with. If a bottom only crust, I'll make my own as no one sees it. Congratulations on the new grand child.

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  3. Your Sisters Weekend sounds like great fun and a lovely way of honouring the sister you lost far too soon.
    The car boot (trunk) as a storeroom made me laugh. We've got a 1968 VW camper Jon uses to store stuff, if he can't find anything in the multitude of sheds there's a good chance it's in the van!
    I've just spent 5 hours in the garden, my brain is as numb as my fingers! xxx

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    1. I think that trunk might be on the project list this week. I'll keep the punch bowl, though obviously it get used very seldom, but it also makes a great serving bowl if I ever need a very large one. OT's the type of piece that only one person in a family or friend group needs and can loan out to others. We ended up it a completely gorgeous day, but we were walking and walking-not using our fingers. I hope you treated yourself to strong hot tea when you came in.

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  4. Hmmm... There is a beach umbrella, a regular umbrella, a portable camping chair, the mandatory emergency traffic kit with a fire extinguisher and empty tote bags for shopping in my trunk. I had to take them all out before I had it thoroughly washed last time. However, they are back in there. It is not unusual for me to leave detergent, TP or paper towels in it when I have to carry too much stuff.

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    1. I'm sure that is why the Christmas stuff never made it in-too much to carry. I only use the trunk for groceries and to grab a garden chair for things, so not thinking to clean out the stuff.

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  5. Hi Sam
    I have read your blog for a little while, but not commented before.
    I really enjoy hearing about your days. And your plans. The sisters weekend sounds wonderful

    Siobhan

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    1. Thank you so much for reading and for commenting and I hope you keep coming back. I love your beautiful name. I have two daughters both with names of Irish descent.

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  6. HA! "Neat as a pin car trunk." I don't really have a designated vehicle, that is to say, a car which is mine--I have a minivan which is shared between me, DH and, currently, Once-Again-College-Boy. Between books, bookbags, masks, water bottles, reusable shopping bags, junk mail, and a case of V-8, it's, well, hilariously messy. One of my kid's friends commented that you'd never know by the car how tidy our home is. I think there are just some things I have to let go, and the car, which I don't drive often, is one of them.

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    1. The thing is, my truck has a lot of stuff in in, but it is not really messy-just full. There is nothing not useable. I try and get the stuff out of the main part of the car every month or so, but am due for a good clean out and long overdue for a vacuum. When I was commuting I got used to a very neat car.

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  7. Your sisters weekend sounds lovely, and doing so in honor of your sister who passed away is so thoughtful. My sister who is closest to me in age and I am very emotionally close with, is in hospice with probably only weeks left. It is tearing me up but I go on, sit with her hours a day now. Do what you can to keep your relationship with your remaining family strong and bless you, Celie.

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    1. Don't ask us to toast with her horrible taste in beer, Miler Light though! I'm so sorry for your sister and the pain she is going through and your pain in her suffering. Both DH and I lost sisters, his at just 26, so even when they annoy us, we will love them all fully.

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  8. Glad your daughter got home safely, even if it was a bit later than you expected.
    I would love to be a part of the zoom meet up but I will be on the train headed to see
    the most beautiful girl in my world on the 20th.
    Right now my car is very neat, but only because TheHub cleaned it out a couple of weeks ago to take a bunch of people to the ball game, and I am leaving all donations in the house until Friday when the Exchange Club truck will pick it up.

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    1. I'm so happy for you getting go see Pip! I need to schedule a pick up as I am trying to get things ready and out right away.

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    2. I love train travel but haven’t done it since Covid. Have a great time. I had my booster yesterday and I think I need to plan a trip!

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  9. Hope you have a wonderful weekend and week with your girl home. The sisters weekend sounds fun! What a great idea!
    My brother and I started getting a cabin in the Smokies in December, and we have gone every year for 17 years now. It is good being together.
    I've been carrying around 40 pounds of kitty litter in my car plus 40 pounds of potting soil. I didn't want to bring my plants in until I replaced the dirt as I thought there might be creepy crawlies in there.

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    1. Smart plan! My heavy stuff is when I buy te 16# of dog food or cases of pop, but generally I don't leve those things behind. I will lug or ask DH too.

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  10. Have fun and the sister's weekend sounds lovely. DOn't want to be director? I would not want to be. I am very good at second in command. Just tell me what to do and I will do it.

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    1. Well, I was part of a team of four, second in command to our company president. I was Vice President of a national non-proft board of directors, and have been officers of four different Minnesota Boards. I just don't need that kind of stress and pressure any longer. What I liked about my two directors was they let us do our jobs-trusted we know the work better them them, and trusted we keep them in formed when decisions stretch beyond us. I hope we get that work style again.

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  11. At the moment I have a freezer bag with bags in my trunk, a 12 pk of Pepsi with 9 cans of Pepsi, a beach bag with a blanket, san tan lotion and a bunch of candy wrappers, a bag from CVS and get this a hand truck.

    The hand truck belongs to the school I work at. My hubby works there too and a group of his students tried to put it in his van, but it was locked; so they put it in mine. It has been there for 3 weeks. I just figured it out. SMH

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    1. I also have a bunch of papers in a bag that need secure destruction. I was going to bring to work for that. That's useful stuff you have in your trunk!

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  12. I hope you have fun with your sisters. My trunk is not neat, nor is Tommy's Nissan Rogue. One box has been in there for years. And, I put some wood in there as there is no other place to store the few pieces other than in the house. Not doing that. I can be in charge of a project or I can get the project completed, just tell me where I can work!

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    1. Well, the stuff I need done is a lot of reaching, crawling, boxing, and carrying.

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  13. It would be so great to have a sisters' weekend. They are special aren't they. Problem for me is my one sister is in England and the other in Denmark (and we don't speak anyway), but in the days when it could have been doable (including my late SIL) I know how much I would have loved it!

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    1. I should have clarified my sister-in-law comes too, my oldest brothers wife. They were married when my younger sister and I were 4&5 so don't really remember before she was family. She's like a grandma to my youngest- Godmother actually.

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