I’m testing posting from my phone. I have pictures. LOOK AT MY SEED BABIES!
Hmm. I guess the only problem is that I usually drastically cut down the size of my photos before I upload them. I wonder if I can do that easily. I hate the huge file size.
One more photo. It’s a bat in the bat house! It was screaming at me when I checked the mail. I’m worried about but though. Last time one was visible like this, it died. But that was mid summer. I checked around the bathouse to make sure a baby hadn’t fallen out, but didn’t see anything.
I mean, fuck knows what I would do if I DID find a baby. I’d figure it out though. We’d get that baby back up there.
I guess I’ll go research shrinking photos. Looks like Google photos doesn’t have that option.
Yesterday, I had an email thread I fucked up so very badly, that I’ve been sharing it with people to cheer them up. Because hey, I fucked that up like three ways — you should get a laugh and realize we all fuck up and look like dumbasses sometimes. Enjoy.
First, if you’re not someone who has known me long enough to realize it — I get words mixed up. I meet a Kevin or a Keith? Fuck no, they’re both 5 letters that start with a K — it’s not happening. My brain cannot process this. This happens a lot where I mix up words based on what they start with — sometimes going so far as to be the phonetic start and no the actual letter. My husband has become an excellent mind reader when I do this. Context clues, people! So with that in your head:
Wednesday, we had half of a team flying in to tour and meet up with the other half of the team. So I’m tagging along to tag up with my other half. This is an all day event. I’ve told everyone I’m busy all day and my status shows as busy. But I still have my good old leash. It’s a fucking iphone and I hate it because I’m an android person – CAN I GET A PIXEL? It’s half the fucking price! That has nothing to do with this though.
So where was I? So I get a TEAMS message asking me to email Shelby about the A1111 program funding. OK, I can do that. First, I ask for a last name and they’re like “it’s in your email.” Well, outlook on the iphone doesn’t have a goddamn search feature so is it SO HARD for you to type the damn name? It literally takes less strokes than writing out “It’s in your email.” So I’m thinking ShelbyA but this is a different Shelby. Also, note that I do more budget shit that anything else. I’m a configuration manager with experience as a software engineer and a computer science degree — why am I pushing contract money? So keep in mind also that I’m pushing money for shit I have nothing to do with. I don’t work these programs, I’m just submitting the contracts for the people who do.
So I email Shelby and ask about funding for the A2222 program real quick during my lunch break. They reply:
“Ma’am, I’m the POC [Point of contact] for the A1111 program.” Fuck.
So I’m flustered, embarrassed, and still don’t have a lot of time here to deal with emails so I reply with something close to:
“Ma’am, I sincerely apologize. I intended to ask about funding for A1111.”
They reply with the fact that they’re not continuing funding, they told my boss this last week, and….
“ALSO, I’m a man. Shelby is a unisex name.“
Fuck me.
How much dumber can I look to this person? Also, I didn’t even KNOW Shelby was a unisex name. In fact, I didn’t believe it so I googled that shit. Apparently it’s Norse and it means “from estate by the willow.” Ok, Viking name, badass. But how much did you get made fun of in school?
I’m southern — so when I hear Shelby, it’s Shelby from “Steel Magnolias” played by Julia Roberts. It’s a fucking fantastic, classic movie. If you live in the South, you know this movie by heart. Highly recommend. Look at the cast!
(I copied this from wikipedia and the links came along. You’re welcome, I guess?)
Also, the red velvet armadillo grooms cake? That shit is fucking GOLD.
Anyway, ShelbyA is also a female. I’ve never known a male Shelby. But then my husband points out some fancy sports car named after a Shelby and I’m like “but have you seen Steel Magnolias?” He has not.
The mouth is pretty jacked up, so ill probably work on that. Also, I feel like the green should have started sooner. Did I do an extra blue row or something? And how did I jack up one leg so badly? I did not notice that at all while I was making it. There are parts of it I am unhappy with, but I think it’s cute. I enjoyed making it. It was very much trust the process because it look JACKED-THE-FUCK-UP until I stuffed it. I should have taken a picture.
I really liked how the designer did the top to split it off into two points — very clever IMO. There are changes I would make if I did it again, but I won’t be doing it again. Super glad I bought an extra skein of blue because I sure did need it. I want to do a red mushroom, but I think responsibly, I should do Mario first so I know I have enough red for him first.
The Christmas blanket saga continues. But I’m honestly thinking of putting it aside. It’s not a project I am enjoying at all. I hate the yarn. I have more amigurumis I want to do — but I also really want to do a sampler blanket in greys. I could pick a yarn I actually LIKE. And each rectangle will be a different stitch. I think I’ll pick like three shades of greys — like this kit on Amazon that I am not going to buy:
1) I’ve had to buy compression gloves because working the Christmas blanket has hurt my hand.
2) I’m not enjoying it. It’s a chore, not a fun hobby.
3) The sampler blanket would let me pick a yarn I enjoy working with and that isn’t so damn hard to work with!
4) I’d get to learn a lot of new stitches. And it would keep changing up and not being a slog because once I finish one rectangle, the next would be totally different.
So yeah, thinking of putting the Christmas blanket aside for more enjoyable projects.
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Also this weekend, I washed the cars! I meant to wash mine inside and out, but I only got the outside done. But I also did Husband’s car. And I put it off for so long that I was still washing at dusk and got to see BATS IN THE BATHOUSE!
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I bought some of these camisoles at Duluth Trading. I’ve been living in them since. I would live in camisoles if I could. I get hot so easy. And if I’m cold, I can throw something on over it. But I can’t live in camisoles because I don’t like not wearing bras around people. I’m sorry, I’m an older generation and I don’t like my nipples showing. My boobs are awesome and do not need support — but I still have pointy nipples. Also, my mom was always braless at home growing up and it embarrassed me. Sorry mom. I wouldn’t have worn bras 24/7 either for my kids. Fuck that.
Anyway — these camisoles have the worthless “shelf bra” built in. BUT BUT BUT — with PADDED CUPS.
Holy fuck, it’s like I unlocked a new life reward. The camisole stays in place — no nip slips. and also NO POINTY NIPPLES.
Yall, they were on sale and I bought one of every color. And when the season changes, I’m gonna see if they have more colors and buy them too. You think I’m kidding? Husband is reading this thinking I spend too much money — honey, have you noticed me wearing that purple one, then the grey one, and now this teal one? Have you seen me wear anything else for like over a week? Do I have too many camisoles? Fuck yes. Burn all the others if you want to use that line of thinking. These are all I want now.
I can go out to the mailbox. My sister slept over and I didn’t have to put on a bra. I can answer the door if needed. No bras or robes required. I can live in my camisole now. It’s fucking amazing. BUY THIS SHIT (Clicky). 10 out of 10, 5 stars all the way.
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EDIT: FUCK, How could I forget? I started my first ever seed babies!
It’s all lemongrass. Lemongrass is crazy expensive, I learned last year. SO I’m just seeding a fuckton of it. It keeps mosquitoes away. I’m also gonna try to grow pumpkins this year!
I mean come on, Dremels are awesome. You can cut wood, plastic, metal – etch glass, sand anything, polish, grind stuff down, drill holes, sharpen your lawn mower blades (I don’t know why I have that attachment). So versatile! It’s not something you use everyday, but it is a life saver. It’s like “oh I have this problem! Whatever shall I do?” “I have a Dremel.“
So the last time I used it for a big project was redoing the mailbox post. We moved our mailbox but I still wanted a house number stand out on the street. A fancy one. I was shopping for them and then thought — damn, I have a nice post out there — it just has a damn mailbox on it. It’s a nice cast iron post my neighbor let us have after mailbox 3.0 (or somewhere in there) went down. And those posts were expensive. So I looked it over and realized the box was only held on by brackets. Cast-iron brackets, but I have a Dremel! And a 100 foot extension cord! So I sawed the brackets off, used the grinding bits to even it up, a new coat of shiny black paint and added a house number plaque! Wha la!
The top is the perfect size for my Dremel with extension attached and a huge pair of safety goggles. I have to have big googles to fit over my cateye glasses. It’s a perfect fit! I even tossed in the manuals in an envelope. The envelope looks fancy but it’s really because they were filthy and bent up from the terrible storage before…
Then, when you open up the front, you have access to 4 individual latching tackle boxes. These are perfect because the short dividers are not permanently set, so you can move them around to make the compartments the size you need.
And yall know, the Dremel comes with a ton of shit. I mean it does do EVERYTHING. I’ve got one tray for attachments. One for sanding, one for more sanding and also polishing, one for cutting and grinding. Look at all this organized shit:
So when I needed to cut some metal last night, I went out to my garage and grabbed my green box. It also has a big sticker that says “Fuck” on it because it’s mine. All my shit was right there. It wasn’t dusty. I didn’t have to look around for what I needed. I even had my safety glasses right there to remind me to use them. It’s perfect.
I’m torn between giving this 4 or 5 stars. In the end, I’m super happy with these. That said, I did do some heavy modifications on them.
My rock collection is small samples. My shelves are 2 inches deep and about 3 inches high. So my display samples are small. These were the smallest stands I could find. I love the super clean clinical look. It doesn’t take away from the stone at all. I like that adjustable arms can be moved to hold different stones. I love the clean look. I don’t want to just set a rock on the shelf. I want it displayed and labeled. I want a clean organized collection. Not just a pile of rocks.
So I thought these would be perfect. They almost were. Hence my considering 4 stars. If I were to use them as is, the only issue I have is the insanely tight fit in the base. One, I couldn’t get all the way in. I pushed on the top peg only and it pushed through the others. So then I pushed down on the lower pegs and that was enough to tear the thin metal wrapping them together. Not noticeable displayed on the shelf, but disappointing. It’s still just not fully inserted.
Now, another fact is that I heavily tweaked these. I need my specimens plus the stand to be around 3 inches. The stand actually holds the specimens a decent height off the shelf. I can’t measure this for you as I’ve already altered mine. I used my Dremel with a metal cutting wheel to take the height off the bottom (Dremels are magic). This allows the lower pegs to sit closer to the acrylic base.
This made me happy for some of my specimens, but wasn’t working for displaying the smaller slices and stones. They wanted to lay down because the arms are over 2 inches long. Time to get out the pliers. I was able to bend the back peg forward according to each stones need to display it exactly as I wanted (see picture). It’s a thick peg so it did require a bit of force.
Now they’re perfect! I added a tiny label to the acrylic and these look great on my shelves! Here are the 4 I ordered and tweaked (see picture). I’m very happy with the final result. I will buy again, but they need modification. I was also very disappointed in the one that tore the metal wrap when I tried to get it in the base. So I’m knocking it down the 4 stars.
So yesterday, I posted about how my car was 10 and needed a cleaning. Well, this weekend is my long weekend and my Friday plans I was excited about got damned, so I can clean my car! I looked up the weather. Nice. I’m gonna do this. I’ll clean the inside too! So I’ve got outside car stuff, I wanted to get the Armor All wipes for the inside. I don’t like bottled cleaners — wipes are so convenient. So I go to Amazon.
I find what I need and put it in my cart. We’re checking out — when’s this gonna arrive? NEXT TUESDAY? What the fuck? Six days? SIX DAYS? On a prime item!? Are you kidding me? You also have raised your prime cost multiple times and now put commercials in my shit. Not cool, Amazon.
So if I don’t wash my car this weekend, it aint getting done. So I figure — Walmart pickup. I get everything in my cart for pickup. I’ll grab it tomorrow cause I gotta go into the office. Then it’s like Walmart turned into a shiny demon … in the middle of the road. AND HE SAID
“Want this delivered?
For free?
Today?”
That’s right, bitches. Walmart plus is free for the first month with free same day delivery. If you choose to keep it, it’s only $13 a month after that. Oh AND it comes with Paramount+. Wait, don’t you already pay a hundred dollars a year for Paramount+? “hisssssssssssss.”
And here’s my shit. On my counter.
That’s right. I even added some heavy cat litter and frozen pizzas. Got here in a few hours — only that long because I didn’t give a fuck so chose a time that it said was a “slow time.”
And this is the license plate frame I’m gonna go with:
So yeah, Amazon is going down. You know I’m always way behind on trends so if I’m here — they’re done for. And have you seen all the articles and videos about how Amazon is just filled with drop shippers and fake Chinese knock offs now? You don’t see quality name brands on Amazon anymore. They’ve made it nearly impossible to sell on their platform for legitimate businesses and they don’t care. They want you to buy the cheap Chinese junk. And most of what you see is “Sponsored” shit that doesn’t even match your search inquiry well.
Dammit. I hate Walmart AND Amazon. But I need convenient and FAST. Amazon Prime and Walmart+ prove that people will pay more for the speed. Can I get Home Depot in on this?
Also, I had the “End of the World” music video mixed up in my head with the “Bad Day” video which I always found funny. So BONUS TRACK:
It’s been an absolute fucking shit show of a week in the C household so it’s appropriate too.
So Lumalee is my next project. He has two mushrooms with him. I bought Premiere Parfait Chunky Yarn ($4 US) for these Nintendo projects. And I special ordered the green from Istanbul. Why? Well, it’s damn hard to find baby blanket yarn in bright colors. So I asked the lady I bought the Mario and Luigi patterns from what green she used for her Luigi. Well, in Europe, Himalaya Dolphin Baby is the big cheap chenille yarn. USA doesn’t seem to have it. We have the Premiere Parfait. But we don’t have a bright green! So yes, I ordered this from Europe. It was $2 (US) a skein but shipping was going to be $50 for all the colors I needed. I was like, I can’t pay more for shipping than for the yarn! The seller said they just charge by the gram, sorry. So I ONLY ordered 4 skeins of this “grass green.”
They arrive vacuum packed which was funny. I wasn’t sure what the package was and thought my yarn hadn’t been delivered. Look at this:
This shit compacts. They also threw in some evil eyes. Thanks?
So yeah. I needed to see what crochet hook to use. Some people say 5mm and some say 4mm. I did this mushroom in a 5mm. I’m gonna go with that.
I will also note, the Himalaya Dolphin is WAY BETTER than the Chunky Parfait. They look the same, but working with them is very different. The Dolphin barely sheds at all. Only when cutting. The Parfait sheds a lot and you have to be very careful frogging and stitching is a pain. Shedding all over. LAME. I was easily able to do my magic circle in the Himalaya Dolphin, didn’t even question it. It was IMPOSSIBLE in the Parfait. I had to get out another yarn and do my 6 stitches on that yarn and then tie it tight to make the circle. Cause Chunky was NOT going to do it.
So someone start selling this shit for cheap in the US. Here’s what those 4 cost me. I better get Luigi plus a few 1 Ups. Maybe I should have ordered more? But no, because the shipping went up with every single one. Ugh. Glad I got the 4 though.
Item Total $10.60
Shipping $17.92
Sales Tax $0.85
Order Total $29.37
He very cute. OH, I got the pattern for Lumalee plus two mushrooms from AzeliaCrochet on Etsy. The pattern is well written with lots of pictures.
This weekend was supposed to be my blissful relaxation time. Four day weekend. Nothing needs to be done. Garage is clean, Both offices cleaned (I even spoofed up Husband’s). Garage and storage room — perfect. It’s too wet to rake leaves. I could put up the new ring camera, but I’ve got months to do that before the pool pump is on. So yeah. Fours days to RELAX.
Has it been that. FUCK NO. Meet my fans:
Yeah, those are industrial drying fans and a dehumidifier that have been running constantly since Friday morning and will continue to do so until AT LEAST 3:00pm on Monday when they come out and check on things. We had a washing machine incident. Downstairs is a stressful disaster. It sounds like Google’s server room and yeah, pieces of my floor and ceiling are missing. I will talk about it later.
Like, yall. Even the fucking cat is stressed the hell out. These fans are LOUD. We’ve all had to retreat to the upstairs. I live downstairs. I don’t like this.
But then, last night, we went out to a swanky dinner to celebrate K and husband looked so cute in his suit! And we got a great posed shot of my tattoo — plus I was looking hot!
I’ve also been working on my rock collection. I’ve added a few more specimens. And yes, I relabeled them all. Now the labels are all at the same level and straight. THANK YOU. I will also post more about this later. I’ve got a big Yooperlite coming in so yeah, there’s gonna be more rock pictures.
I did order more shelves. They didn’t have the distressed white anymore, so I had to order brown. So I had to spray paint them all to match each other. Which mean Walmart. Thankfully, I put out a call and K2 was willing to go to Walmart with me. We got three cans of Rustoleum white semi gloss primer and paint in one. Like one can extra.
No. No. I put the first coats on while they cut up my floor and ceiling. Then I had to run out to ACE before the septic people came to get TWO MORE CANS. Surely I don’t need two more? Yeah. Yeah I did. But they look awesome!
It looks like I don’t have room to expand, but I totally do. I liked it better with an extra vial on each shelf. Plus I mixed in some empty bottles to spread it out. I’m also going to acquire medium (2ish inch) specimens of my favorites. I have a two inch sphere of Yooperlite on the way. Then I’ve got my eye on some Petoskey stones. Then I want to get a natural uncut, UNDYED, Ruby that fluoresces. I’ve found two options I’m eyeing — click 1 and click 2. Obviously, the click 1 there is preferred, but it might sell out before I get to buying that one. I also want some peacock ore…
I was not aware that I gasped like a B movie actor in real life — nor that I snicker like a leprechaun stealing gold when I grab happy things. Apparently, I do. So there’s that. Let’s hope if I’m ever witness one of those dramatic “I’m pregnant with your baby” moments in real life, that I keep it together. I did buy this, obviously. However, kickstarters usually come so late and I never got a tracking notice so I was NOT expecting this.
LET’S OPEN IT! There is a lot of waste in this packaging because this guy has dense foam on the top and bottom and full corner pads. But it makes for a perfectly unblemished box.
I think it’s cute that it looks like a cargo crate, but I’m a bit sad that it doesn’t say “Firefly” on the side because that is what shows on my game shelves. So it’s not particularly attractive on my gaming shelves. It sticks out because it’s so large too. So it’s kind of unattractive on my shelf, to be honest. Insanely impressive when you get it out — but just not a looker on the shelf. (*See UPDATE at end of post)
The first layer is 4 token trays. Note that every tray in this box has a clear lid, they are removed for the photos so they don’t glare. So each of these trays has an individual lid for it. As you can see, I’ve already punched out all the tokens. Note that I put the round green tokens in the wrong place. They should go in the slot marked “Haven.” (*See UPDATE at end of post) I had to watch the gif of the packaging on the kickstarter a few times to get a screenshot of this level to see if I did it correctly.
I do love that everyone can have their own tray, or at most, share a tray with someone else. Less reaching around the table and huge game board. Less little piles of discarded fuel tokens all over the place where we’re not sure if you own that or just discarded it…
Level two has a lot to reveal. We can see they have a slot for the neoprene mat (which is actually part of the tray below this one). THANK YOU for giving us a place for the mat in the box. Holy shit, hallelujah!
In this tray we have all of the start up “stuff”. You’ve got your ship cards, the captain cards, and the drivecore cards here. Every ship has a custom matching die. The number six is marked by a Firefly. As you can see on the last die in the row, the number one is marked with a sad face. I think that is for a game variant.
We have the “Big Money” here. I wish it came with the regular money. This game takes up enough table space. I love the big money, but I wish they had included the small money to play with too. I don’t want to cannibalize it from my previous game because I might as well sell that game or give it away.
There’s also the setup cards, single player story cards, and regular story cards. I do love that they made in-theme envelopes to hold these large “decks.” However, there’s a major flaw. There are far too many cards to fit in the envelopes. (*I WAS WRONG See UPDATE at end of post). With all of the expansions plus all the kickstarter stretch goals, they just don’t fit. So pretty envelope with no purpose. Only the setup cards will fit. Another stretch goal was the dice bag. Unneeded since you have the slot to store them. I will use it to store the Haven tokens since I put those in the wrong slot in the token boards. You don’t need those every game so this is a nice option and location for those.
Lastly for this layer, we have the current player token in enamel. It is not very bright, but it is very nice and hefty. The punch outs also had the traditional dinosaur if you prefer to use it. This is also where they stashed one of the BEST PARTS of this campaign: EVERY SINGLE PROMO CARD EVER RELEASED. Holy fuck! Those will get distributed to their appropriate decks, but this is where they stashed them. So exciting! I only had a few promos before.
Below that level, we start to get into the card decks. We have the Navigation decks, Misbehaving decks, and various expansion decks. Plus… the mat.
Look at this baby! The original Firefly mat by itself was a pain in the ass. It folded out in 6 squares. You know those squares never laid perfectly flat. Then two expansions had additional mats for each side of the board. Now we have ALL OF IT in one beautiful mat. Might I add, nicest neoprene mat I’ve seen. Stitched edges and insanely heavy. Note that straight out of the box, BARELY any edge curling. And this is the first unroll with no effort to fix that corner. Top notch quality on this and it wasn’t even the “Vera” upgrade mat.
Did I mention it fits in the box? It does. It has its own slot in the box. No box plus mat bullshit. THANK YOU.
The last level brings us to the core decks. Firefly has a fuck ton of cards. Now they are all separated in their own beautiful compartments. That’s nice. Yes, you still have to shuffle — but this will really speed up setup.
One reason I didn’t get the “Vera” mat was that it had card deck locations. Yeah no. Aint nobody got arms long enough to reach the decks. When we play, we set up a separate card table with all of the shopping and job decks. This way everyone can take a look through the discard at any time without interrupting the game. Plan your turn, people, or never get invited back.
And whats that little box there? THE SHIPS!
Note that these do have the little stands. Those were up in the previous card level in an empty deck slot. All of the ships have been hand detailed and are made of resin. No more bent spikes on the Alliance Cruiser. The Jetwash and Esmeralda, being a newer class of Firefly ships, are larger than the others. You’ve also got other expansion ships, of course, like the Interceptor and the SS Walden. plus the others.
But can I point out the Reaver ships? They used the same mold for the three ships — standard practice. But they painted each differently. That’s such a nice touch! So they look like different ships even though it’s the same mold. I appreciate that.
I’m super happy with the ships.
I call Serenity with Jayne or Mal (maybe Zoe? I don’t know her captain stats as we didn’t have that expansion) as my captain since I bought the bougie game! I told husband this and he thought it was unfair. I was like I spent $220 plus shipping, so I get Serenity, dammit! He asked how long that lasted. At least the first fucking game night. Damn.
Though I have to point out, so worth the $220. Someone on r/boardgames (Reddit) said that was an insane price to pay for a game. Um, excuse me. First, the base game is a $70 game. And lets look at what is in this box IN ADDITION to that base game:
Two HUGE expansions that add on to the board itself:
Blue Sun
Kalidasa
Three full game expansions:
Crime and Punishment
Pirates and Bounty Hunters
Still Flying
One mini expansion:
Breakin’ Atmo
Two ship expansions (yes, they were packaged and sold separately):
Jetwash
Esmerelda
So you’ve already come to almost $400 just in the base game and expansions. And what else are we getting? How about a glorious play mat? Hand painted resin ships — the originals were all cast single-color plastic. Big Money (if you like that). Custom matching dice for each ship (only the expansion ships had matching dice before). New unreleased story cards for basic and solo play. The awesome storage box that makes set up and take down a breeze. Plus, every single promo card ever released — including the ones that were in the special lootcrate subscriptions. Plus all the new promo cards that came with the kickstarter stretch goals.
The value for your money here is huge. I actually feel really bad because one of our friends actually already owns every single expansion. So he paid a lot more than we did for our original game plus this anniversary edition and doesn’t have half the cool shit we do now. Husband had to point out that he paid a premium to have them all when they came out. Fair, I guess. I’d be pretty bitter about it though.
Also, don’t underestimate how much these huge boxes bring to the game just by themselves. We bought the big Terraforming Mars box when it came out. Like this, it holds every expansion, has trays for everyone’s pieces, two trays for the money tokens (one for each side of the board), card organization, etc. Takes setup and tear down time from over an hour to very short time. Having everything already sorted and ready to go with games like this is just like a cherry on top. Except way better, because I don’t like the cherries — so more like those milkshakes where they put like a whole-ass fucking slice of cheesecake on a stick on top of it and cake icing on the rim.
~~~~~ UPDATE ~~~~~
Today I got the game out and rearranged the token trays to be correct. I stored the Haven tokens in the dice pouch in an empty card deck slot.
I Also used some of the kickstarter stretch goal stickers to spiffy up the box. Now it looks much better om my shelf.
And furthermore, I actually tried out the Story Card envelopes. I was wrong, the cards do fit. Does the Story Card envelope close properly? No. It’s a chonker. But they DO FIT. I only wish the envelopes weren’t so thin since it’s going to take a beating with so many cards in it.
