What did you do today? 2017 version

[TromboneAl]

I was snacking while training the dog—don't get ahead of me—yes, I gave the dog some of my snack and ate one of the dog treats.

 

[Walt34]

Six year old and a friend were playing outside in a snow bank, and were told not to dig tunnels.

Six year old comes in to say that they weren't building a tunnel, but they were "Building entrances that were connected".

Can Law School be far away?

That's funny! Hey, it happens in the best of families....

Gym day today, minor grocery run, now we're back home in our toasty warm natural gas heated house with the extra insulation package and glad we had to foresight to buy that.

 

[aja8888]

I was snacking while training the dog—don't get ahead of me—yes, I gave the dog some of my snack and ate one of the dog treats.

I've tried a biscuit or two in the past. Won't hurt you and may throttle your bark.

Al, give us an update on you Leaf if you can. The new ones look very nice and have a great range.

 

[Nemo2]

That's funny! Hey, it happens in the best of families.....

When she was about 3 her dad used to negotiate with her to get her to eat certain vegetables she wasn't keen on......"if you eat that, you can have this" kinda thing......one time when we were there he tried to 'modify' the arrangement part way through......."That wasn't the deal" she replied.

 

[MRG]

I was snacking while training the dog—don't get ahead of me—yes, I gave the dog some of my snack and ate one of the dog treats.

Al, I love it.

A while back we discovered Greenies. The guy who developed them was around the area and suggested he'd return emails.

My email was genuine in thanking him for the product, but also a little funny. "Hey can I eat these too".

He took it and ran. "They are manufactured in a human food grade facility but....". He went on to describe how he personally sampled them during the development process. There was a hilarious story about he and his young son would gauging the length of a car trip by how many he could consume.

You'll be ok.

 

[TromboneAl]

I've tried a biscuit or two in the past. Won't hurt you and may throttle your bark.

Al, give us an update on you Leaf if you can. The new ones look very nice and have a great range.

I've tried milkbones in the past, and don't know why dogs like them. This one actually had some flavor in it.

-----------------

Love the Leaf. Very impressed with Nissan. Comfortable, well designed.

With the 2018's range, we would never have to recharge away from home.

 

[Philliefan33]

Spent most of the day making a list of intended home decorating projects. Since DD1 is getting married at the end of April we will be having guests from the West coast. There’s no better excuse to update the decor a bit.

So far everything on my list will be DIY at relatively little expense. Step one is to clean out the “treasures” left in the girls bedrooms when they moved out (do guests really care to see your dried corsage from prom?) and make them more like guest rooms. A fresh coat of paint and new linens will do wonders.

I also have plans for our breakfast room and living room (that we use more as a library). Change the paint colors, curtains, and wall decorations. DH may roll his eyes but since I do all the painting and can sew the window treatments there won’t be much for him to do.

DH is grousing that I am planning to replace things that haven’t worn out. Luckily for me, DD2 is visiting this week and can help reinforce the message that changing things up after 25 years is a good thing!

 

[GalaxyBoy]

Cleaned the gas stove today. I know, that doesn't sound like much but we've let it go far too long, and it had much baked-on grime. After an hour or so of scrubbing with a commercial gas stovetop degreaser, I Googled it and came up with - baking soda! A paste of soda and water did wonders, although there are still a bunch of tiny spots around each burner that just won't come off no matter what. I might be able to make progress if I took the burner bases off, but the manual says not to. But that shouldn't stop me!

A chore became something very satisfying.

 

[rodi]

I've been busy the past several days.... Christmas Eve we hosted a seven fishes dinner - for 14 people. We have a custom extension to our dining room table so we can all fit. Like others mentioned here - I pulled out my grandmothers china and silver for the occasion.

Christmas morning made quiches so we'd have sustenance while opening presents. My sister hosted dinner.... but I brought homemade pecan pies.

Yesterday I worked on my tally of 2017 spending, checked to see if I needed to rebalance, and planned my 2018 spending/budget. I also took my sons to their twice monthly volunteering at a local senior community... they offer tech support to the residents... Day after Christmas was good timing since many had received new phones and tablets... and had NO idea how to set them up.

Today I walked on the beach, picking up trash as usual. Then took my younger son to clean up a local park recycling area. People were grousing on Nextdoor.com about how awful the recycling dumpsters were because of all the piles of cardboard boxes next to the dumpsters. It's emptied daily but Christmas season is always worse. We spent 90 minutes breaking down boxes and got the huge piles of cardboard into the dumpsters. For one day, at least, the park looks nice again. It was also nice to be thanked by so many of the neighbors who were walking by.

That's enough do-gooding for me today.... time to go read a book.

 

[MRG]

Gym day. So much fun, but it feels good when you are done. After we tried a different local Mexican restaurant.

We had eaten there before and found the food very hot. My fault because I accidentally brought the hottest salsa from the bar. We went back despite DW's concerns..

DW loves chille relleno and said the other place we both like, the chilles were too mild.
I had Chille Verde, the waitress told me it was spicy, but what the heck.

Part way though the meal, I looked to DW, her face was red and sweating profusely. I was struggling to eat my liquid lava, green chille. Heck I used to eat habeneros in the garden, this stuff was insane.

I ended up choking on the peppers and almost called 911, but it was good eats. I don't think we'll go back soon.

 

[Nemo2]

I ended up choking on the peppers and almost called 911, but it was good eats. I don't think we'll go back soon.

I still recall, twenty years ago, eating at a little place in Rockport, Tx; the waitress brought the chips and salsa, and when she returned to take our order...I couldn't speak..........the food was great!

 

[NW-Bound]

With only a few days left in the year, I looked over our finances, and found that we still had room to withdraw some more money from our retirement accounts. So, I logged to my brokerage account, made a few mouse clicks, and the money "magically" jumped from an IRA account to the checking account, minus the cut to the government of course.

Really one of the wonderful things of the modern day technology. And if the value of the investment accounts keeps on growing far more than I can spend, that's close to a miracle. No? I hope it will continue.

 

[Souschef]

Really one of the wonderful things of the modern day technology. And if the value of the investment accounts keeps on growing far more than I can spend, that's close to a miracle. No? I hope it will continue.

I agree- at my present WR, it will take me over 20 years to spend it.

 

[NW-Bound]

You need to be spending more, and to contribute to Robbie's thread.

PS. Oops, I am in the same boat. At 2.5%WR, it's 40 years if I can get investment returns that barely match inflation. And when we claim SS, it's going to be "worse". Blow some dough? Maybe I can get some bitcoins. Just kidding. I can put money to better use than to give it to bitcoin sellers.

 

[lwp2017]

Cleaned out the sewer line to the septic tank. 44 degrees, misting rain.
Cold, wet, and muddy, the kind of working conditions that "builds character & Marines" my dad used to say.

Son in law flushes things not meant for septic systems. Gonna have a talk with that young man.

Had to rent a $78 motorized power snake, simple garden hose flush and manual snake couldn't clear it.

 

[ls99]

Woke up at the ungodly hour of 04 dark thirty. Reloaded the wood stove. Admired the flames for a while. Assebled my gym bag, off to the Y for workout. Then off to breakfest, and chat with the wiatress. Her Son was home a bit on Army leave, she can't stop talking about him. One proud momma.

 

[Gumby]

Completed my taxes, had a colonoscopy, went out to brunch with the young wife - and it's not even noon yet.

 

[travelover]

Completed my taxes, had a colonoscopy, ..........

Wow, cleaned out twice in one day.

 

[Gumby]

If I have to get hosed, I like it to happen all at once.

 

[target2019]

Woke up pretty, early, and went to the LTC facility to say goodbye to my F-I-L. What a great man he was. Had several nice chats with B-I-Ls. We're waiting to go to funeral home, where it will be slightly more difficult than necessary. However, it will be an honor to go and help with the arrangements.
Here's to all the great men who've passed in 2017.

 

[USA]

You’ve good perspective carrying you forward. Over time I learned grief and sadness was but a short period of a great and good mans life. I expect you’ll be caring and strong for the family in the days ahead. It can also be a teaching moment for others who will walk the path.

 

[braumeister]

Went to my local supermarket (Kroger) today for some milk and as I walked through the bakery section I noticed a new display "Imported From France". It was several different kinds of bread. Seriously? Bread? Imported from France?

As I paused, dumbstruck by the idea, I noticed that one of them was a brioche loaf, thick sliced, that really looked good. I figured "why not?" and bought a loaf. Brought it home, toasted a couple of slices and liberally buttered them.

OMG! It was some of the most delicious bread I've ever had. Amazingly good. And at $4.95 for a good sized loaf it wasn't that much different from any good local bread.

But I'm still trying to figure out the deal. It would make no sense to fly loaves of bread over from Europe, so i'm guessing they import the dough and bake it locally. But still ...

 

[Meadbh]

Went to my local supermarket (Kroger) today for some milk and as I walked through the bakery section I noticed a new display "Imported From France". It was several different kinds of bread. Seriously? Bread? Imported from France?

As I paused, dumbstruck by the idea, I noticed that one of them was a brioche loaf, thick sliced, that really looked good. I figured "why not?" and bought a loaf. Brought it home, toasted a couple of slices and liberally buttered them.

OMG! It was some of the most delicious bread I've ever had. Amazingly good. And at $4.95 for a good sized loaf it wasn't that much different from any good local bread.

But I'm still trying to figure out the deal. It would make no sense to fly loaves of bread over from Europe, so i'm guessing they import the dough and bake it locally. But still ...

Was it this Poilane bread?

https://www.pri.org/stories/2016-12...-freezer-and-why-it-made-me-think-about-death

My local Italian grocery store carries Italian baked bread. It arrives frozen and they thaw it. It doesn’t cost much more than bread baked locally.

 

[Walt34]

DH is grousing that I am planning to replace things that haven’t worn out. Luckily for me, DD2 is visiting this week and can help reinforce the message that changing things up after 25 years is a good thing!

I'm in your hubby's camp - "If it ain't broke don't fix it". It must be a gender thing though, my DW wanted to replace the kitchen blinds after only 15 years and they were working fine. So now we have curtains instead.

We had planned on going to the gym but it's dang cold out there, and I fell asleep, so we'll go tomorrow.

 

[braumeister]

Was it this Poilane bread?

https://www.pri.org/stories/2016-12...-freezer-and-why-it-made-me-think-about-death.

No, but if you can get Poilane sourdough bread locally, I am on record as being insanely jealous!!!