Daily Discussion Thread: 🦎 Wed 24 Jan 2024

This lightening is wicked!

Bill Cat is becoming jealous of Ted. If I pat and scritch Ted Bill comes running and boofs his way in. Bill doesn't like Ted sleeping too close to me either.

I think much more cuddles for both of them is required I think.

Last night I made some caramel to go with a cake my partner baked. Melted sugar and butter, the food version of napalm.

And I splashed the tiniest droplet of it onto my thumb knuckle - worst pain I've felt in a long time. I immediately ran it under cold water for 20 minutes and kept it on ice for the rest of the night, and it's looking pretty wack tbh

Owwww. Sugar cookery is plenty dangerous imo.
- Definitely! It was funny, I was showing my partner how to make it, and to be careful because it's so incredibly hot, nek minit I do this haha there must always be a blood sacrifice when I cook apparently lol
Ouch! And caramel isn’t even hard crack
Oh yeah. Molten sugar is on par with fucking lava

Woken up by a giant raindrop hitting my face. Was very confused until I woke up a bit more and closed the window lol.

Boom flash rain

o/

Breakfast 🍏🍎🍐🍊🍋🍈🫐🍓🍇🍉🍌🍒🍑🥭🍍🥥🥦🥑🫛🍆🍅🥝🥬🥒🌽🥕🥐🍠🫚🥔🧅🥯🍞🥖🥨🧀🧇🥞🧈🍳🥚🥓🥩🍗🍖🫓🍕🍟🍔🌭🥙🧆🌮🌯🥗🍲🍜🍝🥘🍛🍣🍱🥟🦪🍥🍘🍚🍙🐠🍤🪼🦀🐙 🍗🥮🍢🍡🍧🍰🧁🥧🍦🍨🎂🍮🍭🍬🍫🥜🌰🍪🍿🍯🥛☕️🍵🍺🍶🥤🧋🧃🥂🍷🥃🍸🍹🧉🔋

I don't know if it's my shoes, new undies or the weather but everything I touched in Aldi gave me a zap. I apologised to the near by shoppers who heard me say FUCK while reaching for the rice because it hurt.

I did not get a stick vacuum nor a carpet cleaner and I'm unimpressed.

Got my battery replaced for my car today, hooray!

Unexpected expense, boooo. Going to be slim pickings for the next fortnight.

Miss Meow has been helping me sort out my sewing room and is firmly of the opinion that I should throw out more stuff and keep the empty boxes.

Butternut Snap with wasabi spread. A curious treat for today

That's brave!
- 7/10 would eat again.
There is no limit to your depravity
- Speaking of depravity, haven’t seen a weird fish dinner post from you in a while and I would like to extend my gratitude for that.

I've tried three different pathologists phone and websites trying to find out if I need to book for a glucose test (because it runs over a couple of hours) and so far - I can't get through to a human, I can't find anything on the websites, I am getting conflicting information about whether a couple of them even exist anymore. WTF? I guess I just walk in and take my chances on the day?

Most pathology tests you just walk in, you don't need to book an appointment. But that's my experience with blood tests, not a glucose test. Have you tried contacting dorevitch pathology? They tend to be alright
- Yeah - kept getting bounced to recorded messages. I will walk down later and try to find a human

It's a bit steamy out there this morning.

I had a bit of minor damage to the garden overnight, including a tomato frame toppling over. It has been picked up, but I am a bit concerned about the lean my climbing bean's frame has developed.

In good news a lot of the hard rubbish stuff I put out yesterday has disappeared today, so I have space to put more things out. Which means I have more space inside 🙂. Space is good.

Woken up by a combination of the first rumbles of thunder, my bladder and Zooki, got out in time to rescue the washing.
It do be Margeing, folks.

Just paid all that myself recently on top of everything else.
Really really hurts right now.

Got the word from the insurance company before - Felicia is a write-off.
Body looked fine so they must have fucked the engine 😭.
Anyway already talked to my mechanic (who also sells second hand cars, and actually sold me Felicia) and he has another car ready to go, so I'll be having a look tomorrow.
But my poor car...

RIP Felicia. She's had it hard... Good that your mechanic has some cars ready, so much easier than trawling carsales and traveling all over Melbourne.
- Fifteen years to the day since I got her, so she's been a good solid workhorse. Not bad for $2500.
I’m sorry to hear about your car after all this time.
What happened to engine that made it a write off?
- No idea! I just sighted it when I took the spare key down and it looked fine, then the insurance company assessors phoned and said 'nah, write-off'.

I've actually emerged from my apartment to go into the CBD and it seems like I've caught the cool change. It's rather pleasant out!

gees, you know you're tired when you fall asleep while sitting up

Sky very pretty, sad I missed the storm but this is just beautiful

Dan Murphys has jars of Italian maraschino cherries for like $6 and they're so good. I've just been eating a few of them each day from the jar even though I'm sure they're meant to go on top of drinks.

You gotta make some better snacks in the oven or something or make pickles. Kimchi or something. Maraschinos are too like, preserved and also sugary and dyed 😅 not judging
They would go lovely in a black forest cake

Slept suuuper well after yesterday's hard work and my hand is blissfully okay. My thoroughly under-exercised muscles were whining from DOMS so I've pottered a bit on the balcony (sans any sun protection which was incredibly dumb).

.

I also finally harvested all the chillis off the balcony after forgetting about them a bit too long. (The manzanos in the box were harvested 3 weeks ago and kept in the fridge and need to be used asap.)

I think I'll do another nice chilli and garlic paste for the manzanos and freeze em. They are hot but mellow out with cooking and are very flavourful.

The hot Thai chillis OTOH stay mouth-punchingly hot even after cooking. What should I do with them?! Any ideas? One full sized chilli is enough for a stock pot worth of stew. The plant is very productive - last season I just chucked most of them.

I think I'll freeze the small ones as is, but the bigger ones... Get the gloves out and deseed them before making a chilli paste to freeze, maybe?

Hot sauce!
https://www.feastingathome.com/fermented-hot-sauce-simple-and-delicious/
Lasts forever in the fridge. Still rocking some from 3 yrs ago and no botulism yet.
OR
Chilli powder. I usually just cut them in half chuck them skin side down on baking paper. In the oven (middle rack) @ 60-70 degrees for 5+ hours keeping the oven door open a bit with a wooden spoon then blend.
OR
Chilli salt.
edit: nice haul though! mine aren't nearly ripe yet :(
Nice. None of my chilis, capsicum, tomatoes etc. are actually ripening - plenty of green fruit, but that's it. I planted a few borlotti beans this year and noticed the first pod on one of the plants, they are nice and decorative.

Went to the office to reimage a laptop but of course that meant that people I know spotted me and came over for a chat. Turns out talking for a bit completely flares up my cough so now I'm fucked again.

Ended up at Mr Grubb @ Oakdene in Wallington for dins last night for the first time.

Really nice relaxed place. Had the parma (they called it a parmie tsk tsk) which was really good.

Apparently the place is owned by an eccentric older lady who collects rusty.. everything. Big open shed out the back dedicated to rusty farm equip, bikes (maybe 50 of them), a rusty tram(!).. huge hoarding gene there.

9/10, not cheap but great atmosphere if you're ever down that way.

Was your meal served on plates or pre-loved hub caps?
- Heh. I probably still would've eaten it if they did.
  Not many chips although the thing was huge it was a struggle.

so tired from back pain I think my brain/memory is gone

Hello brain trust, back with some more catto questions. First, super exciting news, we're going on Saturday to the shelter to meet the cat we've selected woohooo!

The amazing cat lady has sent over a shopping list, and after some of my own research, I have made a list of items that I might need and I need some recs / suggestions for these as I don't know where to start.

Here we go:

Cat carrier
Litter Box x2
Cat litter
Cat food (dry + wet)
toys?
Scratching tower?
Gloves for cleaning litter?
Litter scoop
Separate bin for litter
Litter mat
Bed
Blanket
Cardboard box
Wipes to clean litter box?

I have found this window lounger which I kinda like https://www.petbarn.com.au/all-day-window-lounger-cat-furniture-grey thots?

You’ll want a bottle of Urine Off or Nature’s Miracle in case of pee accidents. You can also spray trays with it. Window lounger is great. Do you intend to harness train for walks? Some cats are Up cats, some Down. Up will appreciate the tallest cat tree you can fit, a Down might want a dome style bed. Get a natural fibre for the blanket. Feliway stress spray might help with the move in. You can get plug in diffusers but $$. Might want a little first aid book so not internet dependent. Hide all the aspirin well and never buy flowers that include lilies. Bowls are fine for water, but fountains exist. If you have unreliable work hours or go out lots consider an auto feeder. don’t get the triangular collapsing carrier, they suck.
- I’d also avoid the bubble backpack carrier until you know the cat better. The $2 shop can have good pet stuff on occasion.
If you're enviro conscious try some corn based litter. Compostable and very absorbent! The pee literally clumps them up into a soggy ball.
I tried some World's Best Cat Litter from Coles one day and absolutely loved it, but it was very expensive to buy in bulk from them. Ended up getting more from Rufus & Coco online.
Scratching tower is not optional. Although you might want to wait to see your catto prefers scratching vertically, or horizontally on the carpet. If your catto is a horizontal scratcher by preference, then you might want to swap the tower for floor level scratch pads. Tower is still useful for your cat to rest on out of the way of nuisancy hoomans underfoot. And a great launch pad for ambushes and zoomies. I would also add a box of cat grass if catto is to be an inside only catto. I think you've covered all bases for a start. You can always add more toys etc. later when you know what your catto likes. EDIT: forgot to mention hairbrush for grooming. Great way to get your cat used to being handled/cuddled, and reduces the amount of cat fur around.
- Try to go for a tall one where your cat can comfortably reach / stretch up and scratch on it. A bed on top of it would make a great viewing point for a cat that likes to be elevated or as high as possible.
  You can place this in front of a scratch prone couch to try encourage the cat to use the post instead of the couch.
  As for horizontal scratching, those cardboard scratching boxes are great for this. You can chuck em anywhere in their walkway and they'll use it as they go about their day. Makes for a good alternative bed if the cat is feeling like it.
- Awesome! Any recs for scratching tower / food / litter or is that all personal to the catto? Where do you get a nice quality tower? Don't mind spending a bit more if it means the quality is much higher
Not sure when or if it’s been recommendedbut stuff for fleas and worming?
Unless you’re getting that sorted later.
- What do I need?
Looks pretty good. We have a similar lounger (3 actually!) And they are well used. Look on Amazon for toys, springs are a hit and feather chasers are too. I don't use wipes on our boxes, once a week they get hosed off outside and soaked in homebrand napisan for a bit and dried in the sun. Some cats prefer running water so a fountain might be an option too.
- I live in a carpeted apartment so I will need to clean a bit more regularly (which is ok!) so I can't wash outside unfortunately! Although I could wash indoors and let dry in the balc.
  About the lounger, do you just stick it on a window?
You probably have bowls for water, but it's pretty important.
- Of course but will pick some up from Kmart

So my ADHD medication definitely needed to be reduced. Was starting to have weird interaction with the new anti depressent.

Forgot to reduce this morning and I felt like Id had 10 cups of coffee in a row.

Reduced this evening and am feeling really good. Hopefully things settle the next few days so I can start the job search again next week 🤞🏾

sometimes it's just easier to pay the price up front

Ordered an overshirt from the Country Road outlet but it's a bit big for me. Anyone know any where I (M) could get it altered? Country Road stores won't take it because it's from the outlet 🙄

Don't they have an online return policy?
- Possibly but I like the shirt and would like to size down. Also it's country road and I got it for cheap
Downsizing a shirt is difficult - depending on whether you want to reduce the length, the width or the sleeves etc. You would need to go to an alterations place and get a quote. There's a lot of moving parts in a shirt. Please note that downsizing the collar will be near impossible for a ready made shirt for anything reasonable in price.
The easiest and cheapest would be to reduce the sleeve length only. For the rest, I would just live with it as a roomy shirt.
Quite a few dry cleaners offer an alterations service for simple changes like sleeve length. Might be worth checking out your local.
You can’t exchange it through the online store for a smaller size?
- Unfortunately not, I think it was one of the last pieces 😪

Argh. Got a bit of a situation - interviewed for a role and they have come back and said I am a preferred candidate, but they want to follow up with reference checks. I have provided all my former managers but they said it's company policy to interview a current manager and something they need to move forward in the process.. My current manager doesn't know that I am looking for work and they've also had a few people leave the team lately (they are also kind of the culprit as to why) so I'm a bit stressed about having to bring this up with them. Any ideas?

That seems like a completely unreasonable request. Most people do not want to tell their current employers they are looking for other work and to insist that you do so because "policy" is bullshit. If they are that unreasonable and inflexible in their hiring process I would be pretty concerned about working there - you could end up going from the fire into the frying pan with that move.
You can say that you're uncomfortable in providing that information as the manager has shown a vindictive side in the past and is one of the reasons you're looking to move on.

Onya Brisbane Heat 💠 🏏

Watched so much television the past 1.5 weeks while I've been laid up.

Some was just amazing. Lots of documentaries. I find the foreign language shows more interesting in a way, more challenging for my mind?

And been getting so many ideas for art projects, just jotting them down for now and thinking about how to go about them. So that's been cool. :) One is a watercolour of Bill. I have the pic already. Just gotta mix some nice bluey greys.

I have a new little wheeled unit for art materials I am jumping at the bit to set up

and so many art books to read. :)

Not sure if it was here or reddit where I saw it recommended, but the virtual ED service is awesome. Unfortunately had to use it today and call an ambulance. I wasn’t sure if it was serious or not, so this service was just what I needed.

Hope this post lets more ppl know about it.

Hope everything turned out ok. hugs
Oh wow. I just looked it up. That's great. I have been stuck in the past unsure what to do and that would have been the right level of support.
Hope you are doing ok.

Housemate picked Hannibal as the house series, and holy batman I forgot how insane this show is! I'll also say this one is going to be super fun in terms of seeing the housemates reactions because it's fkn intense the way it all unfolds.

I remember being pleasantly surprised by this show, including how much gore there is. Doesn't shu away from much which is rare

Think I might lush out and pop the cooling on earlier than I usually would, the house is already feeling a little uncomfortable.

I have a headache, I'm tired but can't sleep.
\ I've drunk water, et dinner, so why do I feel weak?
\ Eyes and forehead sore under this crown of pain,
\ Tomorrow, at work, wellness I will feign.

gentle hugs
Maybe worked yourself too much plus the heat hanging around?

Pleasantly surprised that we didn't go over 25c today

pretty confident I got a stomach bug. 0 outta 10, would not rate.

Hydralyte and/or Gatorade (or similar)
Good luck homey
- smashing the teas which seems to be helping so far. Oats for lunch was a strange call, but made me feel heaps better.

Ugh... Due to worsening health I'm finding it hard to be as environmentally friendly as usual. Feels bad man. If I could be doing better on that front I would.

You've been banking environmental friendliness credits all your life. Make a withdrawal when necessary, in my opinion.