I also was sent on a shopping trip to buy nearly $300 of beer and wine at Trader Joe's.

Retirees boozing it up, Theo?

This sounds like my father-in-law's retirement community. They have some serious parties there.

Grr, indeed, meara. I prefer to do my own laundry too. Other people will use high heat.

The news certainly has a watching train wreck feel lately. All about 45 blowing up is going to dominate the screen for the foreseeable future. Was at least relieved for the Dallas verdict today. Hope it brings the family some peace.

as a fed, the shit that's going down right now is goddamned horrifying. The Secretary of State is threatening to discipline DOS staffers who answer Congressional questions. He was told HR won't allow it and the shit is definitely hitting the fan.

Someone is going to die, I fear. And if the name of the whistleblower ever gets out, they'll have to go underground for the rest of their lives. The Trumpists will never let it go.

It's all horrifying.

And to make matters worse, my niece's new dog ran away from the dog-walker today: slipped his leash and took off. We spent 3 hours driving all over town, put up 200 flyers, and she already got a call from some asshole who wanted $1K. When she asked for a picture, he said he would take the dog to the pound. To which she said, "Excellent, that will be fine!" since she already put in a report at Animal Services and the dog is chipped.

But people suck.

Ugh, that is awful and what a fucking asshole. I hope the dog shows up.

I get to be up at stupid o'clock to get my kidney stone removed. Am not looking forward to it.

I did a Very Hard Thing for me (asked for a thing that I never asked for and will improve the next two years of my life very much) and now I am waiting to hear if that worked while trying (and failing) not to panic about it. Silly, silly brain weasels.

Update: oh, it worked!

Kidney~ma, PMM. Look forward to the relief.

Woo! Shir! Typing it out made it happen.

The Trump stuff gets worse every single day. Now he is calling it a coup. Yes, I am worried. It will get worse before it gets better.

With all the chaos going on -- in general, as well as changes in the agency where I work -- this fed has been planning to retire at the end of next year. I may move it up.

The main roadblock has been removed -- ex-Hubs and I signed the property settlement over the weekend. I can now retire without seeing my pension annuity reduced for survivor benefits.

I can only imagine how many highly qualified federal workers have given up and left after decades of service.

Also, {{Fred}}, I know finalization is always hard. Despite knowing it was the right decision it still hurt to divorce DH#1.

I can only imagine how many highly qualified federal workers have given up and left after decades of service.

We have a few friends in the State Dept who have decided to stick it out, but nobody's happy there anymore.

They are going to be needed desperately to put the pieces back together.