Random 5 for October 13 – Friends, mice, conversation, food, customer service

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The ladies of the gym – My former group of gym ladies had lunch this week. I couldn’t make it but got a full report from one of my walking group. (Keep in mind that I am the youngest in this group with the oldest around 90.) There was a spirited discussion on cremation and what to do with the remains. All the women there (four) are being cremated with no fancy urns and no memorials or celebrations of life. Two are not going to have newspaper notices. When asked how we would know if she passed, her answer was “I’m dead! I don’t care!” #thatstheattitude! #livelylunchconversations

I caught a mouse all by myself!

The mouse-capade – Sasha caught her first mouse. I heard her screaming in the dining room. (This cat does not lack for lung power!) She had a mouse in her mouth. I got her to drop it and it scurried away followed by three crazed cats and a crazed human. I caught her in a towel and re-homed her. Hopefully the mouse will remember her reception in this house and will not come back. In the meantime, Morgan and Gracie went back to sleep but Sasha patrolled around to find another playmate. #mousevirginnomore

Better not to comment – A woman I walk with has a husband with a progressive terminal illness. He’s struggling to continue doing what he’s always done (cutting down trees, cleaning gutters, etc.). Sometimes that works but sometimes he can’t breathe. I listen to her each week. She is all over with her feelings. Sometimes she’s annoyed he’s doing too much (he is) and sometimes she thinks he should die doing what he loves (he should). I have learned to just listen because no one wants my opinion. #keepyourtrapshut

Moving into winter meals – There is a huge difference between what we eat in the summer and what we eat in the winter. I like easy soups in crock pots (or most any crock pot dish) that last a few days served with fabulous breads. During the summer it’s about grilled foods with fresh corn on the cob and tomatoes. My internal switch was flipped this week and I bought some meat specifically for soup. #hmmmhmmmgood! #nocampbellshere!

Customer service or not? – I received an email from a magazine this week saying that it changed my address as requested. I didn’t request an address change and I don’t live in Kansas (the new address). I responded that it was wrong. I got another email back that said I lived in Kansas. (What? Did I move and not know it?) I checked my records and this magazine expired this month. I was on the fence about renewing as the content was going downhill. I’m off the fence, no renewal for sure. I did respond a third time explaining that they have two people with the same name but different accounts and they are emailing the wrong person. Again I got an email saying that my address change in Kansas went through. #seriously? #doyouunderstandenglish? #areyoufreakingnuts? #nomorebusinessforyou

So how was your week?

 

 

 

 

 

 

72 thoughts on “Random 5 for October 13 – Friends, mice, conversation, food, customer service”

  2. Two weeks ago today I took Winter coats to the cleaners in a sleeveless shirt – today it was 38 and frost when I left the house to pick them up. Congrats to Sasha on her first mouse (at your house) – I laughed at you re-homing it and hoping it remembered the reception in your home so he/she doesn’t come back! Cremation for me but I have no relatives, so one day I have to implement a plan. My mom always wanted to return to her homeland (Canada) and since my passport expired and after 911, you cannot cross the border without a passport, even using your alien card, I was up a Creek. Just by accident, I was talking to a woman while waiting at the beauty shop and she agreed to take the cremains over to Canada where she lived and take a picture. I am forever grateful to her for doing that – she picked a nice spot where we sometimes would have a Sunday drive to stop and look at the ducks, geese and swans … Mom would approve. My two canaries I did keep their cremains in the box they put it in.

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    • That was so nice of that woman to do that! One of the women, has a card with a phone number “in case of death.” Arrangements and payment are all done. Someone calls the number and they pick up the body and know what to do. I like that as no relatives need to make painful decisions. I remember my mother’s funeral. Some of the smallest decisions were hard — rubber gasket or no rubber gasket, slippers or not (her feet weren’t visible), etc.

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      • Yes, Sue volunteered readily and I was speechless. I did not know she was Canadian, nor lived there – she was just chitchatting about family, I told her I had none and mentioned my mom. I was merely telling her it was my mom’s wish to have her ashes scattered over in Canada. She asked me to meet her the next day and bring them because she had a few elderly women that she went to their homes to do their hair on that Friday afternoon and she wanted to go directly to the water and do this and take pictures for me when she left the shop. She lived in Windsor. My boss is my medical advocate because the new attorney my mom and I had to use after our attorney became a local district judge and could not be in private practice any more, would not be executor and medical advocate, so I chose Robb. His backup was my neighbor who passed away in 2017, so I really should make some type of arrangements in the event of my sudden demise. I was at the cleaners yesterday picking up my coats and an older man brought in his father’s suit … he had passed away earlier in the morning. He was quite upset and the counter clerk told him they clean funeral clothes for free as a courtesy to customers. He was overcome with that too (so was I a little – bothers me to see a man cry).

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  3. Good girl to Sasha, though I’m glad you saved the mouse! Me for soup and other crockpot meals at this time of year too. I just made crockpot beef stew and baked some break for Sunday supper. We’ll be working on that for a while 🙂

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  6. That mouse-capade sounded like it could’ve happened on a comedy series. 😆 Glad you got a handle on that one.

    Funny you should mention soups in the winter. Over the weekend I made a large container of Lentil Soup and a large container of Chicken Soup. I make a lot to freeze for later use.

    It sounds like you could understand what your friend is going through with her husband’s progressive illness.

    Well, have a nice week out there in Kansas…ur, uhm, I mean Pennsylvania. 😉

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  7. Fortunately my cats no longer have the opportunity to catch rodents. Previously I would put a paper bag over the cat’s head, turn the cat upside down while shaking it, the mouse would fall into the bag which enabled me to “re-home” the terrified critter.
    In my opinion, the IQ of the general population has gone down several points! People no longer think. Or they don’t care. Or you are dealing with a robot (human or non-human.) You took the best option not to renew… To me customer service has always been just as important as the product.

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  10. Just so they don’t charge you for your Kansas magazine.

    I like your wise comment that you’ve learned to just listen because no one wants your opinion.

    Soups are a good idea. I’m having a double birthday party on Saturday. I’m planning on serving soup. I’m wondering, though. Is it better to serve it buffet style? (They might spill it on the way to the table.) Or should we pass it around at the table? (It’s heavy.) But I have my heart set on soup.

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  11. Interesting conversations about death. To be honest, I don’t think I’ve ever had a frank conversations about my “end of life” desires with anyone beyond my husband. That others can do so freely interest me! And it really is important to just listen to someone dealing with a loved one, in particular a spouse, with a lingering disease. I watched my mother struggle with my dad’s Parkinson’s and given any day her emotions were so unreliable. It never seemed I could say the right thing, but when I listened, it was gold! Good words of advice!

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  12. Cremation here too. I have no desire to be in a fancy urn on one of the kid’s mantles nor do I want to be split up and handfuls given to each. I don’t want them to waste the money. Go to the beach and sprinkle me in the ocean. Congrats to Sasha (and to the mouse you saved). Happy Sunday.

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  13. Hmmm. Are you my new neighbor? (In Kansas?) Do they not read what you have written? Most of my magazines expire in November and are not being renewed. Recipes call for weird ingredients not readily available in small town Kansas.

    Our cats (4) are all outside cats for the most part. Haven’t seen any of them with a mouse lately. Maybe they have the area cleared? We’ll see this winter after snow melts – are there any mouse trails under the snow?

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    • Our yard backs up to a water retention area that is overgrown so it’s a great hiding place for small rodents and other critters too. That said, we have a ton of mice! (and groundhogs, squirrels and chipmunks) Maybe you will get my magazine although I think I got the last one. No they don’t read the messages. Jake my last indoor/outdoor cat preferred to catch chippies to mice.

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  15. Congrats to Sasha on her first catch! Elsa the dog is watching a squirrel who invades the front yard and can be seen through the window. Elsa is convinced the critter wants to play but it always runs away. Life’s little mysteries.

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  19. I met an American lady last week who was travelling with her daughter’s ashes to scatter around the world. I think she is planning to write a book about it.I don’t think I could do that.
    Congratulations to Sasha on her first mouse.

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  20. I always ask my husband what he wants me to do when he dies. “A cardboard box and cremation. Don’t spend any money!”

    I think I’d like to have my ashes used to nurture a tree, but then I think of how much pressure that would be to keep a single tree alive. “OMG! You forgot to water her and now Mom is dead AGAIN!”

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  21. Good girl Sasha. 😊
    I’m for cremation, and no church services. If one of the kids want to have a little get or not it doesn’t really matter. I’ve been working on my own obituary for someone to read, email or maybe put on my social media accounts. I’ll see when it’s done.
    Our menu definitely changes with the seasons around here too. I call our winter meals, oven foods. 😊

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  23. That mouse is happy ~> his friends and family didn’t have to write his obit, cremate his remains, purchase a burial plot, or otherwise deal with his untimely demise.

    Neither did my friends and family have to deal with mine. Huzzah!

    Our weather is perfect summer weather now. The heaviest of the heat & humidity has lifted and hurricane season is on the wane. Yesterday we did a beach walk in the morning and a beach sunset viewing in the evening . . . with ping pong and an Octoberfest celebration sandwiched in the middle. Good day!

    Have a fun Sunday, Kate. Enjoy that soup.

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  24. I love soup weather! Also known as slow cooker weather. Also known as casserole weather. And oven-roasted everything weather! 😋

    I already know I want a green burial. I like the idea of the components of my body being used to nourish the soil and plants which in turn will nourish other beings. Cycle of life and all that jazz!
    I plan to pre-arrange all that within the next year or two, after I sell my place and relocate to Vancouver Island. It brings me a lot of peace just thinking about it. Which sounds kinda weird but I don’t think I’m alone in feeling this way.

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  25. I guess you are like Dorothy and you accidentally clicked your heels 3x and ended up in Ksnsas. LOL! Meanwhile the other person who is really there is wondering why they aren’t getting their magazines! 🙂

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  26. Cremation for us here but still on the fence about “what then” with ashes. We have no family to speak of and my husband wants a “plot” to put the ashes in and I say “ashes to ashes” or something similar with no saving of them in any way (even in the ground). Sprinkle me over the BBQ pit, in the woods, over the neighbors’ fence, in the lake – whatever but a spot in the ground in a cemetery nobody will visit? Lemme think about it! Teddy has never caught a mouse but he’s VERY interested in the chipmunks outside – he has managed to catch some skinks over the summer though so he’s “honing his skills”. I’m a winter cook – love crockpot meals, soups, crusty breads, hot apple cider, etc. so this is MY season too! Customer service is a mystery – I think companies farm that duty out to people all over the world and they generally are dealing with “scripted” answers and have no power to change/fix anything. Frustrating isn’t it!

    Hugs, Pam

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    • I love dinners you can put together in the morning and eat at night. It may be a casserole or crockpot or leftovers. Any of that works. I don’t have any remains from my cats. Three are planted here in the yard although I am sure they are completely gone by now. Hazel passed in the middle of winter so she was cremated (we couldn’t dig). Spreading around sounds good.

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  28. I’m committed to cremation and no services nor obituary. My circle of people who would care grows smaller with time. I keep an updated list of people I would like to be notified of my passing, and my brother, whom I suspect will outlive me, has very clear instructions.

    I, too, bought the makings from some soups this week. I’m been craving the nesting process for a while, and I finally feel like I can start to indulge!

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    • The nesting process! That’s exactly what it is. I am yearning for that first fire in the fireplace too. Cozy and intimate. With cats and books and the beloved husband. Cremation always sounded good but we have a “family plot.” Lately I’ve been thinking I’d like to be free to float. Some obits seem like an opportunity to brag rather than a tribute but hey, you have to pay to have them in the paper so you get to do whatever they want.

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