My mother almost bought a frozen turkey this morning with the intention of serving in tomorrow. Luckily, the butcher talked her out of it.

We have a church potluck tomorrow, for which I have made a loaf of bread, pumpkin rolls are in progress, and I frosted some cupcakes that were in the freezer. I am ridiculous.

BUT! I definitely needed the freezer space for my ICE CREAM ADVENT CALENDAR. I'll get it in two halves, so it won't actually be 24 cups of ice cream all at once, but still.

ICE CREAM ADVENT CALENDAR

Genius!

That also reminds me that I need to pick up some cinnamon Graeter's to go with the pumpkin pie.

I should probably re-up my pneumonia shot. I got it after I had a horrible case of pneumonia in 2008, so my 10-year window has long past.

Gee if only there had been an alternative to electing a man this year oh well.

I went looking for the like button on this one.

CDC changed their recommended age for a pneumonia vaccine -- it used to be 65, but they lowered the recommended age to 50

This is good to know. I need to look at all the medical stuff this week since my employer is switching insurance providers.

I hadn't realized you couldn't renew a passport earlier than 1 year from the expiration date. I have to wait until late April. I don't love that.

I am home from the pharmacy; after, the pharmacist handed me more paperwork and said "If you tolerate this all right, come back Monday as a walk-in and we'll get your RSV shot taken care of then." That will take care of all the vaccinations I can reasonably have: my Td booster was in '21, I've had Hep A & B, shingles, a MMR booster after my doctor drew titers and laughed . . . .

Which reminds me, I still need the Covid booster for this year.. while it's still this year. I did get my flu shot, at least, and RSV. And got the shots for Shingles! Don't forget that one!

I've been binging Elsbeth today. Tomorrow I'm getting together with some people from work to go to a wolf sanctuary and then walking along a North Shore beach and look for shells and such. Note to self: bring extra shoes and socks...

ALL THE VACCINES!!

I made it to southern Oregon, yay. My poor dog is carsick and unhappy. And I just looked at the weather and am a bit worried there’s a blizzard and I may not be able to drive further south tomorrow!! Oh dear.

I need to get my Covid Booster and Flu Shot. I'm pretty up to date on the rest of them.

*delurking*

My DH seems to be slowly peeking out from the laid-off-from-tech-job-at-57 slump of depression and existential angst he's been suffering with for the last three months. It's been a rough ride -- but pretty expected, given history. Any "Keep plugging, buddy! You got this!" ~ma his way appreciated.

Feeling that, Jen. ~ma

It's been a really, really, really awful couple of months in Cashmereville.

September 19th, I buggered up my left knee trying to run up some stairs. September 30th, DH lost his job with a re-org. (We got our insurance through him) October 3rd, My MRI results came in and I needed knee surgery. (See above re: insurance.)

I had a root tear on my meniscus, meaning orthoscopic surgery with no weight-bearing for six weeks. Six week off of work.

DH got a respectable severance and insurance coverage until the end of October so I was able to slip surgery in under the wire. And I have paid leave for my part-time job (yay!) and I was able to sign the family up for insurance through my job (double yay!)

Surgery went well on October 15th.

Java sent me an AMAZING gift of a walker/seat for rolling around the house and it's been much used. (Many thanks and kisses to generous, thoughtful buffistas.)

Then, well, election.

Stuck in a chair doomscrolling has not been conducive to good mental health. But both kids are coming home from college (Oliver is back, Robin is coming on Tuesday). I get to find out if I can return to work in December.

I need to ditch Facebook. I've dumped Threads, I quit Twitter last year, and switched to Bluesky (I'm Lisa70.Bluesky.social)

We are okay--severance should last awhile but DH was blindsided. It's the only time he's ever been let go. He's only had three jobs in 27 years. And finding a job at the end of the year when you're 53 and at he higher end of the pay scale for actuaries is...slow. But I am getting paid and we have insurance. We have money set aside for the kids' college so we're pretty secure. But I hate the not knowing.

Sorry for the long summary.

I wish I was going to Japan with Matilda.

Dag, Cash! That's a serious pile-up of stressful bullshit.

I'm hoping you guys get a break and are able to enjoy the holiday at least.

Where are the kids going to college?

I wish I was going to Japan with Matilda.

That would be fun! I'll pick up a souvenir while I'm over there.