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Post by kds on Nov 21, 2022 15:48:22 GMT
Here I am, about two hours into my workday, and I'm struggling! There is something about knowing it's a short week that makes things worse, not better. I was already off Thursday-Friday this week, but this morning decided to take Wednesday afternoon, too.
Simple, routine things are agonizing. I complete some task, then I check my (personal) email, refresh this board in case some new post will distract me, sing along to whatever song is playing in the background ... I'm a weak man. I can't make myself focus on work today.
I'll admit I'm less than perfect, but that tends to be how I feel pretty much from now to the end of the year. I think it's a combination of the busy-ness of the Holidays, combined with the early darkness, but each year, I find that I need to work really hard to motivate myself to be productive this time of year.
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Post by Kapitan on Nov 21, 2022 15:52:59 GMT
Less than perfect? Not me! I'd never admit to such a thing!
Actually I totally relate to that. Plus, everybody is getting more time off in (whether official or just noticeable absences). Hell, I need to take some extra time beyond the obvious holidays just to burn PTO, lest I lose it. So when you're off a few days for Thanksgiving, off a week around Christmas (as I plan to be), and taking onesie-twosie days off in between, it's pretty hard to pretend to care the rest of the time.
But I'm chugging along, trying not to be a totally useless employee...
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Post by kds on Nov 21, 2022 15:59:06 GMT
Less than perfect? Not me! I'd never admit to such a thing!
Actually I totally relate to that. Plus, everybody is getting more time off in (whether official or just noticeable absences). Hell, I need to take some extra time beyond the obvious holidays just to burn PTO, lest I lose it. So when you're off a few days for Thanksgiving, off a week around Christmas (as I plan to be), and taking onesie-twosie days off in between, it's pretty hard to pretend to care the rest of the time.
But I'm chugging along, trying not to be a totally useless employee...
I've taken a few days also. I took off on Friday to give myself a long Thanksgiving Weekend. I also took a random Monday in early Dec, as well as a few days around Christmas. I actually realized that I scheduled a dental procedure for a scheduled day off. So, I need to call the dentist to reschedule, as that day was set aside for a few hours of laziness, and maybe watching a Christmas movie, which I've struggled to find time for since becoming a parent.
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Post by The Cincinnati Kid on Nov 21, 2022 16:50:20 GMT
I'm officially hosting my first holiday with Thanksgiving. I did have my parents over on Labor Day weekend for a cookout, but Thanksgiving and Christmas have always been our big holidays. With covid, we just had it at my parents' house the past couple years, but my girlfriend wanted to have it here since we usually cook everything. It was at my uncle's house for a long time, but I guess they're just not feeling up to it as they're in their mid 70s now. I don't even think they're coming, so it'll just be my girlfriend, my parents, my brother and my niece. That works out considering our dining table sits six.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Nov 23, 2022 13:20:23 GMT
Mama's in the kitchen making cookies and bread. The children are hungry, they're waiting to be fed. Happy Thanksgiving!
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Post by kds on Nov 23, 2022 13:22:25 GMT
Random Thanksgiving question.
Did anybody have mac and cheese as a side? For my mother in law's Thanksgiving meal tomorrow, my wife has been tasked with mac and cheese. My first thought was "mac and cheese isn't a Thanksgiving food." We never had it growing up.
Anyone else?
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Post by Kapitan on Nov 23, 2022 13:27:44 GMT
I believe it's traditional in the south as Thanksgiving food. I recall my sister (who moved to southern California after college) saying years ago that when her friends got together for a Thanksgiving, someone transplanted from the south asked who was bringing the mac 'n' cheese. And my sister had that same reaction you did!
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Post by kds on Nov 23, 2022 13:32:09 GMT
I think mac and cheese has risen in prominence in general in recent years, as I've seen it forced onto many a dish like crab dip and as a burger topping. I think it's being put on an undeserved pedestal.
Also, green bean casserole has started to show up more and more as a Thanksgiving side.
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Post by Kapitan on Nov 23, 2022 13:34:43 GMT
See, green bean casserole was a standard for my family (both paternal and maternal sides) all along. Though when I was kid, it was the somewhat nasty "'60s mass produced" kind: canned beans, canned cream of [mushroom or chicken] soup, and a container of fried onions. Over the years, after my grandparents passed, it moved toward fresh beans, actual cream (or none), and ... well, actually I don't think my mom ever did fry her own onions!
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Post by kds on Nov 23, 2022 13:40:04 GMT
We never had it because cooked kale was the dominant nasty looking green side. But, once my sister started to cook, she would bring it to my folks house. So, there would be two unappealing looking green sides on the table.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Nov 23, 2022 13:40:43 GMT
I think mac and cheese has risen in prominence in general in recent years, as I've seen it forced onto many a dish like crab dip and as a burger topping. I think it's being put on an undeserved pedestal. Also, green bean casserole has started to show up more and more as a Thanksgiving side. As a Thanksgiving meal staple, no, we did not have mac & cheese or a green bean casserole. However, I have a sister who occasionally hosted Thanksgiving and she likes to experiment with different dishes and she did, at least one year, offer mac & cheese and a green bean casserole.
It's funny you would mention that, because as I was driving around earlier this morning, I had on a radio station which had one of those surveys/polls, and they mentioned that a green bean casserole is moving up the poll of preferred Thanksgiving food and might soon be on the same level as other...favorites.
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Post by kds on Nov 23, 2022 13:45:25 GMT
I think mac and cheese has risen in prominence in general in recent years, as I've seen it forced onto many a dish like crab dip and as a burger topping. I think it's being put on an undeserved pedestal. Also, green bean casserole has started to show up more and more as a Thanksgiving side. As a Thanksgiving meal staple, no, we did not have mac & cheese or a green bean casserole. However, I have a sister who occasionally hosted Thanksgiving and she likes to experiment with different dishes and she did, at least one year, offer mac & cheese and a green bean casserole.
It's funny you would mention that, because as I was driving around earlier this morning, I had on a radio station which had one of those surveys/polls, and they mentioned that a green bean casserole is moving up the poll of preferred Thanksgiving food and might soon be on the same level as other...favorites. I think I've gotten a little bit better in middle age, but I'm still a fairly picky eater. If something doesn't look appealing, I can't get it. So, that instantly disqualifies green bean casserole.
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Post by Kapitan on Nov 23, 2022 14:13:55 GMT
We never had it because cooked kale was the dominant nasty looking green side. But, once my sister started to cook, she would bring it to my folks house. So, there would be two unappealing looking green sides on the table. See, whereas kale almost literally didn't exist in my neck of the woods. I'd never heard of it until ... college, maybe? It was not available in my hometown grocery store, and while I'd assume a person could find it in some larger stores in cities, neither of my grandparents ever served it. Which is funny, since (as a hearty and hardy green), you'd think it would have been a hit with my northern European-turned-upper Midwestern ancestors. Maybe they'd just all forgotten about it during the canned-and-frozen-everything decades of the mid-to-late 20th century.
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Post by kds on Nov 23, 2022 14:16:36 GMT
We never had it because cooked kale was the dominant nasty looking green side. But, once my sister started to cook, she would bring it to my folks house. So, there would be two unappealing looking green sides on the table. See, whereas kale almost literally didn't exist in my neck of the woods. I'd never heard of it until ... college, maybe? It was not available in my hometown grocery store, and while I'd assume a person could find it in some larger stores in cities, neither of my grandparents ever served it. Which is funny, since (as a hearty and hardy green), you'd think it would have been a hit with my northern European-turned-upper Midwestern ancestors. Maybe they'd just all forgotten about it during the canned-and-frozen-everything decades of the mid-to-late 20th century. Kale is a favorite of my father and my uncles. I think my grandmother used to make it for them because it was relatively cheap. Good for them for being into the superfood decades before it became hip.
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Post by Kapitan on Nov 23, 2022 14:26:56 GMT
Foods becoming hip (or unhip) is one of the dumbest things in the world to me. It's literally just like fashion trends: we wear this kind of jeans now (tight or baggy or bell-bottomed or torn) because, well, just because! And damnit, nowadays we eat bacon and kale, not salmon and spinach.
The height of absurdity. We humans are sheep.
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