Destiny Skywalker

Well, we got Q a Gizmo watch that has phone and GPS. I decided we are definitely at least doing some walkie talkies this year because we did get separated once last year and it was really upsetting for her, but we get good cell service so I think that will work. I can force her watch to pick up, so if she wasn't picking up (say her arm was trapped), I could change a setting real fast to force it to go through. My Garmin watch also tracks me going down with force (like a bad fall) and sends an emergency alert to my husband. I've activated it once by accident... Do those sit in your helmet? I think in a real emergency, something voice activated would be key.

Does Murray have a favorite place not in the house? (Is the weather terrible yet?) I mean if you are more comfortable doing it at the vet, then by all means do it. Murray cares that you are there the most.

So this wasn't someone posting, but we stopped at a store for coffee and my husband went inside. Another car parked next to us and a couple got out. I started to notice that the car seemed to be rocking and heard thumping. I thought maybe there was a dog inside. My husband got back and said there was a kid making a ton of noise in the car, so we rolled the window down and distinctly heard HELP. My husband told me to call the cops, so I called 911 and reported a child in distress. I couldn't tell how old the kid was because the windows were heavily tinted. I got out to read the license plate number and the kid starts tapping the window at me. Another person thanked me for calling 911, he was also very concerned. Then 2 teenage boys get out of the car and try to act like they weren't doing anything. So I told the operator it was just some asshole teenagers. Then the kids went to the front of the store to wait for their parents, and they all come back smirking, including the father. They left before the police arrived, and I let the operator know they were leaving. They told me I could hang up but took down my name and number. Why are people idiots?

It was awful losing Isis. I just wanted more time, at least to feel like I said goodbye properly. Just don't wait until Murray is in lots of pain. I promise you that you will absolutely regret it and it will haunt you. Honestly I'm sobbing right now writing this, 6 years after the fact. The way she died is one of my greatest regrets, and losing that dog hurt more than losing my own mother. I recommend looking for a mobile vet that will come to you so Murphy can go to sleep one last time at home and not in a vet office. You may or may not want the boys there, you may not even be able to watch, but I can tell you it will be much more peaceful than losing him naturally and you will get to say a proper goodbye, on your terms. Talk with your wife about who should be there, my husband chose me to say goodbye because we both couldn't be there, and he knew I needed to be the one with her, even though she was his dog.

Come on guys I finally dressed up like a Star War so I need to show it to you.

It definitely won't be until December. Although it'd been cold af lately (but no precipitation either), so I know Alpental got a dusting the other day but that's probably it.

Have you ever searched for a recipe online? Dear God. Its the same.

Well I'm glad I'm not at the office because I'm ugly crying now.

That is amazing! Yeah they sound short. But he used her chin to measure. I've never replaced bindings either. I don't think I put enough days on my skis each year to justify it. I appreciate that they do it for season rentals because I think they get abused and treated like crap because people don't own them. I don't do that, but I've had way too much stuff that I've lent out get returned as broken. We've talked about buying an RV and someone suggested renting it out to pay for itself, but I know it will get trashed that way.

Yeah I've never gotten the appeal, either.

I think that's a somewhat normal reaction/feeling. I told the chaplain I was kind of pissed at my mom for fighting so hard when she was dying. I just wanted her to go peacefully, and she had to be a stubborn pain in the ass like she usually was. I had a friend whose dad was dying from CJKD and she told me when she got a moment alone with him, she literally told her dad to let go already because it was killing her mom and siblings to have it drag out so long. And she loved her dad dearly and was heartbroken to lose him. Your dad has been sick from addiction for a long time and watching him slowly die sucks. You aren't a monster. Watching someone die slowly is painful, and dementia usually makes people unpleasant, to put it lightly.

I think the thing about used cars is you do have to be more careful. Why do I get rid of a car? Because it's starting to be more trouble than it's worth. My 2008 Highlander lasted almost 12 years. Not bad, but I got rid of it because I kept having expensive engine sensor repairs every 6 months (or possibly a cracked cylinder head). My husband's 2013 Volvo was more a victim of needing a bigger car, but it lasted 8 years. The biggest issue was we had developed a slow oil leak, and the touch door locks were always finicky. So the used Volvo was probably a good buy but the used Toyota not so much. We just bought a year old Ford F-150 and that was a great deal. Something less than 5 years old might be ok, but if someone is getting rid of an older car, it's probably because it's a junker.

Good news, obstacle cleared, for now. This is still a year-long process, but I think I am better prepared than most people.

Ugh Optum bought our regional practice and they can't retain doctors anymore.

Q decided to run for Student Council at her school. Originally she was going to run for publicist or mascot. I told her that publicist was right up her alley. Then at the interest meeting there were a bunch of kids running for those positions so she decided to go big and run for Co-President. I love my kiddo and I think she'd make a killer Co-President, but these things are usually a popularity contest. For those of you I'm Facebook friends with, go check out her campaign video. It's super hilarious and my husband and I had way too much fun last night doing the music editing and filming E, who is adorable and hilarious.

I am super anxious about work. I got invited to apply for a position that is my career goal, and now it feels like some people have decided to block me because my rival was also invited and they clearly favor him and want to make sure I don't jeopardize his chances. I should know by tomorrow, but this has been absolute hell the last few weeks trying to jump through all the hoops they're trying to put in my way. I have a lot of supporters who have absolutely had my back (including my own family), but they aren't the decision makers. My boss's boss has threatened to nominate me without their blessing, we will see if he follows through on it.

We've been thinking about a trailer that you tow, but yeah, my husband loves the Airstreams and the price tag gives me the heebie jeebies. I really think we should just rent a few times. I don't see us going every weekend so it seems like rent vs buy is the better option for an occasional trip. Or we'd end up renting it out all the time and then we'd have to deal with the wear and tear. People don't care of stuff, especially when it's not theirs. I've gotten to the point where I don't lend many things out because they've come back broken.

That's a pretty short commute, both for time and mileage. Doesn't seem worth having a commuter car.

Holy shit, how much do you think you sunk into that place? Do you have receipts you could take her to small claims court or something? We are getting ready to do a kitchen/bath remodel downstairs. We have a half bath downstairs, and we have a laundry room with a giant hallway and you have to go through the laundry room via the hallways to get into our back room/den. It's currently where my husband hangs out playing video games or watching TV most evenings. It's also our guest room and has a wallbed. We're going to get rid of the hallway and move the laundry to where the bathroom is now, create a mudroom, and add a shower so that downstairs has more of a 2nd master suite. This is in case my dad has to move in with us and it will just make a nicer guest room. We are also going to get a small desk to put in there because pandemic promises did not happen (my husband thought they were going to let him wfh forever because he was super productive, hah!) and we do not need a dedicated office with a giant corner desk that is actually hard to get into. We will probably move the treadmill into the office and let the kids use that room to put their toys and crap so they stop dragging them all over the house. For the kitchen, we are going to gut it and rip out the center island because it's so crowded you can't open the fridge/freezer without standing to the side or unload the dishwasher and put dishes away in the cabinets on the island. We are going to add a bar and cabinets on the other side. My husband also wants this built in bench and table that I think is unnecessary, but sure more seating is good. This means changing the entrance to the backyard as well. We dreamed of having 2 big sliders coming out of the parlor, but the contractor is really hesitant because he doesn't know what the header looks like on that wall without essentially ripping into the wall. If they can't do it we are going to have to redo the whole bench seating thing.

How far do you commute to work? For us it's RV vs vacation home. Can't do both. We started talking about retirement and my husband thinks he wants to travel like his mom always said she would. I told him we need to massively downsize once the kids are at college and find a crash pad type place (hence the vacation home idea), or go full ex-pat and see if our company will transfer us to Europe the last few years before we retire and we just stay there and fly back to the US a few times a year to see the kids and their families (or heck they can come with, the US ain't that great). His mom moved to Florida intending to travel to Europe all the time, but instead dumped all of her money into her house, which is a shit ton of upkeep because it's way too big for her, got a bunch of pets that require boarding when she travels, and keeps having to put up hurricane shutters. So I think your RV idea sounds like a good one! Retire right.

Got Q's ski gear today. They gave us the same Rossignol Experience Pros she had 2 years ago that she loved so much lol. But this time I didn't get the premium package because now they're older. They did tell me that they use skis for multiple years but they replace bindings every year. That's good to know and will probably make me continue to shop there. She's on 128s which I think are a touch short (she's 4'10 now). And we have the same boot size.

Yeah I think parenting is a lot easier to preach than practice. This morning I was trying not to lose my shit with my kids while they ran all over the house, grabbing shit, not doing what I asked so we could get out of the house to go to a soccer game. I told them I couldn't handle them being so chaotic. They were having a great time and just kept amping themselves up even further. By the time we got in the car I was beyond irritated and snippy. I think depending on the family, having another family member step in is not the right choice. If you've grown up in a home with generational trauma, the other people are probably making the same mistakes that led to this situation in the first place. I don't have siblings or nephews/nieces, though, so I will probably never be in the situation. But I had to ask our friends if they would take our kids if something happened to us. There's no way I'm letting my in laws screw up my kids. I'm pretty sure my well-meaning but old school dad would mess up my daughter. We've just had so many horror stories out here about kids who should've been taken away from their parents who have ended up murdered. So I admittedly lean on the side of foster care is safer. We've had a few families who have gotten railroaded by the system but the kids were always safe in foster care, it was just that people didn't deserve to have their kids taken away (it's usually been because of medical reasons where the kid had a weird disease and a doctor mistakes it for abuse).

We got the F150 with the intent to haul a midsize RV and of course now we are rethinking it lol. I do have to step up to get into it but there are running boards so it's not bad (honestly might be easier than getting into my old Toyota Highlander). Are you actually going to use the pickup bed? I mean some of the SUVs have pretty good towing capacity and generally get better gas mileage. Admittedly right now we mostly treat ours like a big SUV. It is nice to have a roomy car again. I love my car for a daily driver and for skiing but it's way too small when all 4 of us are in it. We love the truck for road trips but man that gas mileage sucks.

Might also be a sign of constant constipation from withholding. Ask me how I know, sigh. (Although this was pre-K, not 2nd grade, thank God.) But in this case I'm worried that the withholding behavior is something trauma based for that poor girl. I know a fair few foster parents. They are good people. Are there really that many bad ones?

My experience is that Ford is awful to work with. Seriously the worst sales experience we've ever had. We intentionally saved cash from our home sale (awesome interest rate on the new home) in order to pay cash for the truck. I hate car loans, they are the worst.