Re: returning items to unrelated stores. Back in May I needed to return some clothing items from an online store and the nearest place to return it in person was GameStop 😂 I guess they’re being industrious.
I am a bit behind the podcasts and a bit all over the place these days, but I just heard Busy talk about needing to ship her pottery and wasn't sure the best way to pack the items. I am weirdly proud of my ability to pack delicate items for shipping (I worked in a store that sold crafts often shipped overseas.) The secret is double boxing, and ensuring the interior box, also snugly wrapped in bubble paper and intact, is surrounded with materials that keep the box unmovable, so that it won't get jostled in transit. Maybe this is general knowledge? I just thought I'd share in case it helps.
One thing I can always count on when I listen to the podcast episodes is they're going to bring up memories. When I was a kid, we didn't have much, but my folks were laser focused on me getting a college education. So when I was in the second grade or so, we bought the World Book Encyclopedia. We couldn't afford them all at once, but World Book had a deal where they'd send you a book with a letter's worth of facts one at a time until you got the whole alphabet's worth. For some reason, though, I seem to remember that words that started with "CH" were listed separately than words that started with just a "C" which could lead to some confusion. Back then, there were two choices. We could get the World Book or we could get the Encyclopedia Brittanica , but dad wanted to "buy American". So eventually, I had an entire alphabet's worth of facts sitting in a bookshelf where I could get to them. To keep things up to date, the World Book publishers would send us an order form each year and we could sign up to receive that years annual edition where, they would send us upgraded information for the things that had changed during the year. We got several years of these updates, but they made using the encyclopedia's hard as you could look something up but before you could use that information, you had to look through all the update volumes to make sure that you used the most up to date information and so eventually these books though beautifully bound were essentially useless.
Now we have the internet and it is fraught with its own issues. Is the information I'm looking at accurate? Is it the truth? Did someone just make it up? Sometimes it's hard to know. So we all have to be careful.
Bringing things down a bit, this has been kind of a difficult time for me. Almost eight years ago, I adopted a seven year old cat. When I adopted him, his name was Honey, but he weighted in at 18 pounds and I thought he needed a heftier name so I renamed him Gus Cat. Three weeks ago Gus Cat passed away. His health had been declining for a couple of years and each year when I took him in to his vet, we'd note that he was losing weight. We did some lab work that was inconclusive and I worked as hard as I could to keep searching for foods that he'd eat. but mid-October, there was a sudden downturn in his health and one Sunday morning, when I went downstairs to see why he didn't come up for breakfast, you could just tell. So I left him alone and when I went down later, he'd passed. The next day, I called one of the local funeral homes and arranged for cremation and now most of Gus Cat is in a cat shaped urn on the shelf of my bedroom. The reason I say just most of him is, is because on the day that I brought his ashes home, my letter carrier was coming down the street and to save him the walk up my driveway, I waited for him. He handed me a packet. A couple of years ago, I sponsored a chair in Gus Cat's name when our science center upgraded the Buhl Planetarium. When people asked me why, I said it was because I knew that cat's liked to look at the stars also. So in the packet were documents that the folks at the science center sent me. They registered a star in Gus Cat's name. So now Gus Cat is up near the constellation of Pisces, keeping an eye on me and playing amongst the stars. I loved Gus Cat and I miss Gus Cat, and sometimes I can swear that I feel him in the house, but all in all, it's how it should be and I celebrate the time I had with him.
Sorry to bring things down, especially before a holiday. Truly, I'm OK. I have good friends. In the bigger scheme of things I'm doing fine. It gets easier every day and every day, I work just a little harder to be kind and to do the best that I can.
I was cooking up a batch of your famous butternut squash soup when I turned this on last night! It was a fun little synchronicity to hear you say that your husband was cooking it up when you recorded :). It really is a fantastic recipe. And the blog post with the recipe is so funny.
Caissie, you so ably described the feelings around filling out complicated forms. The fear, the frustration, frankly the disinterest… And yet if we were stopped in a parking lot and someone needed help we would take the clipboard and say “we’re going to get through this.” 😭
I remember Google Eyes peanut butter! I remember the banana flavor and I can still taste it!
Re: returning items to unrelated stores. Back in May I needed to return some clothing items from an online store and the nearest place to return it in person was GameStop 😂 I guess they’re being industrious.
I am a bit behind the podcasts and a bit all over the place these days, but I just heard Busy talk about needing to ship her pottery and wasn't sure the best way to pack the items. I am weirdly proud of my ability to pack delicate items for shipping (I worked in a store that sold crafts often shipped overseas.) The secret is double boxing, and ensuring the interior box, also snugly wrapped in bubble paper and intact, is surrounded with materials that keep the box unmovable, so that it won't get jostled in transit. Maybe this is general knowledge? I just thought I'd share in case it helps.
One thing I can always count on when I listen to the podcast episodes is they're going to bring up memories. When I was a kid, we didn't have much, but my folks were laser focused on me getting a college education. So when I was in the second grade or so, we bought the World Book Encyclopedia. We couldn't afford them all at once, but World Book had a deal where they'd send you a book with a letter's worth of facts one at a time until you got the whole alphabet's worth. For some reason, though, I seem to remember that words that started with "CH" were listed separately than words that started with just a "C" which could lead to some confusion. Back then, there were two choices. We could get the World Book or we could get the Encyclopedia Brittanica , but dad wanted to "buy American". So eventually, I had an entire alphabet's worth of facts sitting in a bookshelf where I could get to them. To keep things up to date, the World Book publishers would send us an order form each year and we could sign up to receive that years annual edition where, they would send us upgraded information for the things that had changed during the year. We got several years of these updates, but they made using the encyclopedia's hard as you could look something up but before you could use that information, you had to look through all the update volumes to make sure that you used the most up to date information and so eventually these books though beautifully bound were essentially useless.
Now we have the internet and it is fraught with its own issues. Is the information I'm looking at accurate? Is it the truth? Did someone just make it up? Sometimes it's hard to know. So we all have to be careful.
Bringing things down a bit, this has been kind of a difficult time for me. Almost eight years ago, I adopted a seven year old cat. When I adopted him, his name was Honey, but he weighted in at 18 pounds and I thought he needed a heftier name so I renamed him Gus Cat. Three weeks ago Gus Cat passed away. His health had been declining for a couple of years and each year when I took him in to his vet, we'd note that he was losing weight. We did some lab work that was inconclusive and I worked as hard as I could to keep searching for foods that he'd eat. but mid-October, there was a sudden downturn in his health and one Sunday morning, when I went downstairs to see why he didn't come up for breakfast, you could just tell. So I left him alone and when I went down later, he'd passed. The next day, I called one of the local funeral homes and arranged for cremation and now most of Gus Cat is in a cat shaped urn on the shelf of my bedroom. The reason I say just most of him is, is because on the day that I brought his ashes home, my letter carrier was coming down the street and to save him the walk up my driveway, I waited for him. He handed me a packet. A couple of years ago, I sponsored a chair in Gus Cat's name when our science center upgraded the Buhl Planetarium. When people asked me why, I said it was because I knew that cat's liked to look at the stars also. So in the packet were documents that the folks at the science center sent me. They registered a star in Gus Cat's name. So now Gus Cat is up near the constellation of Pisces, keeping an eye on me and playing amongst the stars. I loved Gus Cat and I miss Gus Cat, and sometimes I can swear that I feel him in the house, but all in all, it's how it should be and I celebrate the time I had with him.
Sorry to bring things down, especially before a holiday. Truly, I'm OK. I have good friends. In the bigger scheme of things I'm doing fine. It gets easier every day and every day, I work just a little harder to be kind and to do the best that I can.
Thanks all, and enjoy the holiday.
I was cooking up a batch of your famous butternut squash soup when I turned this on last night! It was a fun little synchronicity to hear you say that your husband was cooking it up when you recorded :). It really is a fantastic recipe. And the blog post with the recipe is so funny.
Jared Leto is Animal. Attention seeking, long hair 😂
I have lifelong very dry skin AND post injury weird ankles 😂😂
For fans of Taika Waititi, Rhys Darby and/or Our Flag Means Death - this Instagram account is the most fun! Taika=Gonza, Rhys=Fonzie! https://instagram.com/gonzo_vs_taika?igshid=NGVhN2U2NjQ0Yg==
Still laughing at Caissie’s gentle correction: “DOCTOR Teeth. He didn’t go through four years of medical school to be called Mr.”
Caissie, you so ably described the feelings around filling out complicated forms. The fear, the frustration, frankly the disinterest… And yet if we were stopped in a parking lot and someone needed help we would take the clipboard and say “we’re going to get through this.” 😭
Jared Leto's Muppet is 1000000% Animal!
https://www.vermontcountrystore.com/lemon-up-shampoo-or-conditioner/product/72106
Although this doesn’t trigger any fond aunt memories for me, I’m interested in giving it a try:)