Hello, hello.
As you can see by Itzl's concerned look, this group is for us to check in at to let people know we are alive, doing OK, and not affected by such things as heat, blizzards, floods, wild fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, power outages, or other such things that could keep us off DKos. It's also so we can find other Kossacks nearby for in-person checks when other methods of communication fail - a buddy system. Members come here to check in. If you're not here, or anywhere else on DKos, and there are adverse conditions in your area (floods, heatwaves, hurricanes, etc.), we and your buddy are going to check up on you. If you are going to be away from your computer for a day or a week, let us know here. We care!
We have split up the publishing duties, but we welcome everyone in IAN to do daily diaries for the group! Every member is an editor, so anyone can take a turn when they have something to say, photos and music to share, a cause to promote or news!
If you would like to fill in, either post in thread or send FloridaSNMom a Kosmail with the date. If you need someone to fill in, ditto. FSNMom is here on and off through the day usually from around 9:30 or 10 am eastern to around 11 pm eastern.
If you'd like to be part of the Itzl Alert Network, please leave a comment asking to join, or send us a message asking to join. We'd love to have you. The bigger our network, the less likely someone will be stranded all alone.
It's raining, it's pouring, .... It's the weather we've been used to have from October on, but haven't been getting this winter.
The snow is gone, except for the occasional dirty clump where somebody was especially assiduous about shoveling, or the snowplow did a particularly efficient job.
Monday I went to work in my boots and Yaktrax. Home without the Yaktrax. Tuesday, the boots only and I walked down the hill to my bus stop in the street in preference to landing on my butt every half-block. Since then, everything has been clear, if not dry.
Wednesday I got home and almost had a panic attack because the envelope face down on the floor (I have a useable mail slot in my front door) looked like the ones my bank uses and it wasn't time for my statement. I was wracking my brains trying to think of what I could possibly have forgotten to record to be getting an overdraft notice when I picked it up to find it was my state tax refund.
Thursday I went after work to deposit my refund and got out some money to cover a few things I routinely deal with on payday (which happened to be scheduled for the following day) and took myself across the street to a rather nice Thai restaurant for an early dinner. I am working my way through the Life Transforming Diet program at the moment and have decided that lunch and dinner out will have to be strictly vegetarian for the foreseeable future. I'm an unrepentant omnivore, but this will be no hardship - as long as it's not strictly vegan. The particular restaurant happens to have recently revamped their menu and there was a vegetarian won ton soup that was even better than the menu made it sound.
Friday I had to leave work a few hours early to get an errand run and go babysit so my grandkids' father could get to work - he doesn't usually work on Fridays, but it was Valentine's Day. My daughter couldn't get the afternoon off because the co-worker she substitutes for when he's gone already had it. My errand was running to my bank and getting a money order to pay for night one of my stay for NN14.
A friend of my daughter's came over a while after the kids' father left, to relieve me - I found out after a very nice 40-minute chat - because my daughter was going to get in the car and go pick something up before coming inside. My mail on Friday included my federal refund. When I got home, I made a chocolate snacking cake for a small birthday celebration on Saturday.
Saturday started off with the annoyance of finding the trunk of my car full of birthday presents. That curtailed my grocery shopping after my chiropractic appointment (cat food and litter only) - so I went to a convenient branch of my bank and deposited my new refund. Then I went to the Lloyd Center (which is what the bank branch is convenient to) and ordered and paid for new lenses for my distance vision glasses at LensCrafters, got a new pair of shoes at Payless Shoes, and a couple of things (including a birthday card for my granddaughter who was 8 as of about 1:45 AM) at Barnes & Noble. I am told that she is now both tall enough and old enough to get rid of the booster seat.
My very apologetic daughter was waiting for me to hand her her head when I got home. She had been hoping to catch me before I left and got up ten minutes after I was gone. They had gone down the hill to Sanborn's for breakfast to start my granddaughter's birthday off with a bang. The kid came over about 20 minutes later and cleaned the cat box - the resulting bag full of gunk was not, she decided, very heavy, so she took it out to the trash by herself and I followed her over to their place with the snacking cake and her birthday present. It was a very small and quiet party, because I was not going to be at the big whoopee on Sunday.
Sunday - grocery shopping for me, and my granddaughter's big birthday bash at a bowling alley. A My Little Pony cake, I'm told. The bowling alley is why I didn't go - I've been to bowling alleys and they make my ears hurt. Not as bad as game arcades do, but enough.