Miscellaneous Musings No. 21

Rabbit, rabbit! Well, hello there, Panoply friends. We made it through January! You know when you see the heading of Miscellaneous Musings, you know it's time for another brain dump. Little things amuse me, whether just plain cool, or funny -  ha-ha, or sarcasm-ly speaking. This is number 21. It's not the least bit adult-like as you normally think of 21.

Do you remember my concrete Bunny Van Gogh that I rescued from the street and had in my garden? 

Well, I purged him when we moved to the loft in 2019, and my daughter with the garden adopted him. My son-in-law is quite talented and, among other things, he owns and operates a 3D laser printer. Look what he surprised me with for Christmas - it's an exact miniature replica of Bunny Van Gogh!

Here they are, side by side. It was an awesome present!

Here are a few memento gifts I thought were also pretty awesome. My local Panoply sister made these (below) for my recently widowed Panoply sister to gift to her kids: a Christmas apron made from her husband's ties, and two toss pillows from his many wine t-shirts. She also made a bow tie out of one his ties for a grandson who loves wearing bow ties.

Since we're back in a house and garden, I've had family members who previously accepted purged items ask me if I wanted things back (no). But, when one Panoply sister decided to put a child's Hitchcock-style vintage rocker in our antique mall booth space (she had bought it among several items in a lot purchase from me, by the way), I bought it back, lol! My husband calls that incestuous shopping. I'm keeping it for Baby J.

In our new home, I've mentioned there are little nooks and cubbies. Well, apparently there's also a hide-y hole or two. In our master bath (yes, I'll choose to use that word over primary, thank you very much), it's got a separate closet for the toilet, while the shower and vanity are in a space of their own. We couldn't find an electrical outlet near the vanity mirrors to dry our hair! We used the toilet closet the first few days until...

I found a hide-y hole electrical outlet in the top, middle drawer of the vanity! It's a spring-coiled cord behind that outlet plate. Whodathunkit?!

And speaking of holes, in our guest bathroom, much of the tile is original, including the recessed toilet paper alcove. And today's super-sized toilet paper rolls do not fit in those tiny alcoves made in 1938. Did you know they make toilet paper extenders just for that first world problem?

My sister-in-law, whose bathroom dates to the 1950s, told me about that little gizmo. Seems our butts didn't grow huge along with the commensurate toilet paper rolls until...well, I really don't know when. When dinner plates went from 9" to 13"? When women started pulling fake junk in their trunks? (Btw, did you know that was around 1969?). 

Back to the subject of choice of terminology, did you know that Microsoft is choosing to autocorrect and filter words in order to push users away from what they consider offensive, such as postman (mail carrier), mankind (humankind), etc.? Wonder if they'll try to be more inclusive and autocorrect our WV State Senator from Manchin to Personchin??? A little too far to the left, if you ask me. 

Senator Joe Manchin, Official Portrait 2017 
Photo Source: Wikipedia 

With a new house comes new noises. A couple sounds which have scared the bejeezus out of us, even when we know they're coming are these:

Snow falling from a slate roof. Holy moly! It sounds like the entire roof is crashing down!

Lol, with our snowfall a week earlier than this post, Mr. P. was shoveling a path at the garage door, and a big pile fell right over his head where he had just shoveled.

Here's another sound that scares us almost every.single.time:

The sound of the mail slot when the mailman sends our mail through! It's a spring-based slot, and it's very loud!

Here's one for the person who needs their desk on the go (spotted on the boulevard as we were sitting at a red light): just put those post-it notes and papers all over that dashboard!

Okay, here's one that's just weird. I hope this uploaded video works.

I don't know what program she used, but a great niece of mine took the above photo, which was originally taken somewhere in the mid-1970s, and used a software that created what you see. My dad has long since passed away, and that is just....on the verge of creepy. It really captures his facial expressions, though, and that's what's SO weird.

My precious Baby J contracted Covid at the beginning of the year, as did her daddy and mama. They're all better now, thank God, but did you know they handle the nasal swab just the same for babies as they do adults?? As in, they go up the nasal passage until they reach the brain. 🧠 Poor thing. 

While the CDC guidelines are like a moving target, it was a work reconciliation nightmare for the parents. They were expected to be back to work after five days, but the baby couldn't go back to daycare for fourteen. They all had it at the same time. And, she had to have a negative test result before being allowed back in daycare. It's quite typical to test positive for up to 90 days, in case you didn't know. Baby J had to get a "return to daycare" permission slip from the Health Dept after she was well (which was fourteen days later, plus a few for the mid-month holiday weekend). I suppose that's one for the baby book - return to daycare permission slip. And Covid. #covidsucks

I caught up on magazine subscriptions in January. The prior three months of moving / organizing left little free time. I passed them along to a sister as I finished them.

As we head into February, here's a parting meme that captures the spirit of Ground Hog Day:

#covidsucks

Take care, everybody. 

Rita C. at Panoply

A special thanks to Barb of French Ethereal's Share Your Style #335 for featuring this post!

Parties I Share With: Pieced Pastimes, Love Your Creativity, BNOTP, All About Home Common Ground, All About Home Follow the Yellow Brick Home, A Stroll Thru Life, My Wee Abode, Zucchini Sisters, French Ethereal SYS, Happiness is Homemade, Traffic Jam Weekend, Follow the Yellow Brick Home TFT, Eclectic Red Barn TFT, Grace at Home, My Thrift Store Addiction, Our Hopeful Home, Karin's Kottage, My Hubbard Home FWF, County Road 407 Farmhouse Friday