SEL, thank you! The food bank here receives donations from many sources: grocery stores mainly, Scouts, individuals...they are over capacity. The section I worked in this morning, I had to give away an excess for each individual.

I had no olives or olive juice for my dirty martini. I improvised and used caper brine. It turned out really good! I will need to find a use for my capers now.

I start my new position with Amazon the day after Memorial Day.

Maybe where you live. Our donation centers shut down where i live. I had a box ready to drop off.

@Flash wrote:

Goodwill has been accepting donations all through the shut down. It was the store itself that has been closed. Ours opened a few of their locations and I grabbed my son to get there promptly as he is still furnishing his house. We did about a hundred bucks in 'damage' as he got a really nice side table, bedside table for the guest room, night light for the bedside table, several paintings, a couple of chairs and some nice kitchen equipment. The knowledge that folks were using this time to clear out 'things' to Goodwill got us there before stuff got too banged around by customers. I was astonished that almost half a long shelf was devoted to toaster ovens packed two high.

Honny,
Congratulations on the new job!! Will you be commuting to Arlington? (VA, not Texas). Working remotely ?

Ran some errands, a little bit of work, grocery store. Nice easy day with beautiful weather.

1. Congrats for the new job!

2. Capers with schmear, lox, onion on bagel. Yumness!

@HonnyBrown wrote:

SEL, thank you! The food bank here receives donations from many sources: grocery stores mainly, Scouts, individuals...they are over capacity. The section I worked in this morning, I had to give away an excess for each individual.

I had no olives or olive juice for my dirty martini. I improvised and used caper brine. It turned out really good! I will need to find a use for my capers now.

I start my new position with Amazon the day after Memorial Day.

A Church (not mine) had a drive thru donation drive, so I dropped off my 1,000,000 hotel personal care items, since they listed them as an urgent need (specifically hotel sizes). Got some needed items at the store. Picked up more masks from a local lady who hand sewed them. Cute patterns (Dr Suess, Lilo and Stitch etc).

Thank you!

wales, I applied for the position in Lanham, which is an easy commute. During the interview, I confirmed the location because I could not find it on Google Maps. The interviewer said it was in Lanham.

After I was offered the position and before I accepted, I was told that the position was in Glen Burnie. That's not close to home, but the commute is doable.

It turns out, the Glen Burnie warehouse construction won't be completed until September. I will be working in Springfield until then.

That kind of bait and switch doesn't sit well with me.

That stinks.

Congratulations Honny! I am assuming that you will be in an engineering function?

Work. Watch movies. Fetch organizing tools for hubby's project. Add to my growing list of things to do while troglodyting.

kimmiemae, yes, I will be a Safety Engineer with them.

I volunteered at the Farmer's Market today. It was different due to COVID. There was no opening day band or jugglers. Access was limited due to social distancing. The participants were grateful that we were open. It was great seeing people I haven't seen in a while.

Part of my volunteer duties required me to walk around to ensure that people were not clumped together. That allowed me to see which vendors I wanted to buy from. I got empanadas from the bakery and mushrooms from the mushroom lady. The soap vendor, whom I really wanted to see, only did pick ups.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/11/2020 10:40AM by HonnyBrown.

Work. Lotsa little projects. Mention that genetics and gender might be factors in individual responses to covid-19. But isn't this just like it is with many other conditions? The blurb of the day mentioned that men are more likely to have an enzyme in their blood that is a covid-19 attractant or feeder. Other factors might explain why some people have devastating cases while others experience mild symptoms and recover relatively quickly.

The screen on my laptop has been dimming intermittently. I did a diagnostic on the power system, and found out the battery is fine, but the cord isn't making a connection. I ordered a power supply from Amazon and hopefully that will fix the problem.

I"m shopping for a new sofa. The old one broke last night. We knew we needed a new one but was hoping the old one would last until a vaccine is available. Alas, it was not to be. It's difficult shopping for a sofa online since I can't sit on it. For that reason we will get an inexpensive one for the interim. If we like it great! It was inexpensive and we like it. If we don't, well at least it was inexpensive and will tide us over until we can buy one in person. Thank goodness for reviews.

I like Wayfair, I know you can't sit on it and try it out, but I have been pleased with everything I have bought from them online over the past several years.

This may be a good time to look at Ikea's online store and opt for shipping to your door. Assembling most of their stuff takes only very basic tools. I have a couple of their easy chairs and am very pleased with the comfort and ergonomics. My sister just bought a furnished, high end beach side vacation unit that they will rent out. They were astonished to discover that the very comfortable LR sofa was from Ikea and that the slip covers could be easily washed in a large capacity washing machine, hung to dry and then lightly ironed when the piece needed "refreshing" after vacationers got stuff like suntan lotion on the white covers. She just did this and the piece looks like new.

I have been looking at Wayfair, Good to know someone is pleased with their stuff. I will also check out IKEA. Thanks guys.

I've had mixed comfort results with Ikea products. I could sit on some of their couches for hours. Others, not so much.

@KathyG wrote:

I've had mixed comfort results with Ikea products. I could sit on some of their couches for hours. Others, not so much.

I have found that true of everyone's sofas. It is just not something I would ever buy without sitting on it. If a sofa is purely for guests, it really doesn't matter much because no two people are likely to find the same sofa comfy.

My son is 6'2" and when he was looking for a new sofa sat on many I found comfy at Rooms to Go and he found them miserable. I am only 5'7". We went to IKEA and he sat every sofa there until he found THE one. I don't find it particularly comfortable because the seat is just a little too long, back to front, for me. My solution is a cushion behind that moves me forward enough that the seat length works.

Softness is also a criteria. Many sofas are almost as hard as a wood bench while many sink you in until you feel your bottom is almost resting on the floor, leaving you to chew on your kneecaps. How do you use your sofa? If it is guests primarily, stiff can work for most anyone while softly sinkable won't work, especially for the old and infirm.

Edited to add: While my son selected his stuff at IKEA, we went home and ordered on line for delivery. The delivery for several night tables, 4 sets of bookshelves, a sofa, a love seat, a chair and a bunch of other stuff was $149 total--the same as a delivery fee for just 1 bookshelf set. Gift cards for online use were purchased from Raise with about a 10% discount to pay on line for the order, and that more than covered the delivery cost.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/11/2020 06:38PM by Flash.

That's a great tip!

@Flash wrote:

Edited to add: While my son selected his stuff at IKEA, we went home and ordered on line for delivery. The delivery for several night tables, 4 sets of bookshelves, a sofa, a love seat, a chair and a bunch of other stuff was $149 total--the same as a delivery fee for just 1 bookshelf set. Gift cards for online use were purchased from Raise with about a 10% discount to pay on line for the order, and that more than covered the delivery cost.

Ikea is low quality and low ethics.
[nyulocal.com]
[www.commondreams.org]
Throwaway furniture for the masses.

YMMV. Personally I have enjoyed IKEA pieces for a long time. Their items are 'knock together furniture' that is priced around the same as similar knock togethers, looks better from the outset, is better design and quality from the outset and hasn't broken/fallen apart/peeled/taken humidity and swollen etc. like other knock together furniture. It has outlasted furniture store offerings from both NC and China, so I have no complaints there either.

As for ethics, tell me about any person/place/or thing that has not been accused of being unethical. It seems these days that if someone didn't get their way the other guy is "unethical" and "biased" and "unfair" and the accuser with their own agenda is only too ready to sling mud. My personal interactions with IKEA and their products have had no hint of unethical or deceptive practice or intent.

Nice phone chat with a friend in the morning, then picked up some masks I ordered from a woman I found on Next Door. Used one of the new masks when I ran into the ethnic market for a couple of items I needed for dinner. Came home and had hubby try on masks to see if he liked pleated or contoured style the best, then contacted woman and asked for two additional masks for him.

We cleaned out a couple of closets today. Not pretty. I'm in no rush to repeat that chore.

Kathy, you used a mask you got from some internet person? I'm sure it's fine, but that's taking a lot of risk.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/12/2020 09:45PM by HonnyBrown.

I have no idea why JAS was suspended but I read a different thread hinting the same. I apologize in advance for using the thread to ask what happened?

Edited to add: Found it!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/13/2020 05:09AM by Mum.

I woke up with allergy eyes. Not pleasant.

Today will be a trip to include 2 grocery stores and one pharmacy. Then a quick stop for fuel. I have been using the same batch of fuel since I last pumped gas 7 weeks ago. Time to use some of my grocery store reward for a fill-up while prices are low.

This afternoon I will get into my small front garden to deadhead some iris and geraniums, IF I can find my garden shears.

After Christmas, I got a Kamado grill that I really love and I have been BBQing a lot more. Today I'm looking at accessories for my grill so I can expand the things I'm making. I've done steaks and sausage but I have really had success with hamburgers.

Thanks for your concern, but I didn't see it that way. After finding the woman on Next Door we exchanged multiple emails. She sent my photos of fabrics I could choose (I found out later that she is a quilter with a well-stocked Etsy shop). The fabric lined masks have a pocket for a filter and a nose wire.

@HonnyBrown wrote:

Kathy, you used a mask you got from some internet person? I'm sure it's fine, but that's taking a lot of risk.