Daz 3D is part of 
Connect
DAZ Productions, Inc.
7533 S Center View Ct #4664
West Jordan, UT 84084
Licensing Agreement | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | EULA
© 2025 Daz Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Comments
I don't know what you thought of the Rachmaninoff 2nd Symphony, but it, like his 2nd Piano Concerto, and many of his other works fascinates me because the music is always going somewhere. Stagnant & boring is not in his repertoire. The ongoing melodies keep evolving. It's so easy to attach yourself to the melody and follow the notes while they carry you forward. One is hard pressed to find a spot where you'd want to stop listening because there is a subconscious promise of something even more interesting happening "soon". And then, before you know it, the end of the movement is upon you all tied up in beautiful exuberation, or exquisite quietude.
If there is any "favorite" composer and music that I've discovered over the last half century it is Rachmaninoff, the master of melody: 1st & 2nd Symphonies; 1st, 2nd & 3rd Piano concertos; Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini; Isle of the Dead; Prelude in C# Minor; Vocalise; Symphonic Dances; The Rock. All excellent mind candy.
I did a quick doodle today. I don't know why but I feel nervous and a tad anxious. I am not sure but I think the doodle shows some of the anxiety.
complaint: Gentle readers may recall my previous rants about dealing with getting services for Little Dude, and having to explain that there are not in fact 4 weeks in a month to the service rep. Well, guess what - it's renewal time again!! And they sent the budget IN WEEKS! And then, when I told them it needed to be in months, she said that they realized the grant budget was in months, "but that's not an exact way to calculate because month's have different amounts of days so the weeks are broken down in to full or partial weeks."
Like yes, that is correct. Months do not have an even number of weeks. Which is why, since my budget is MONTHLY, it needs to be cacluated BY MONTH, not by week!!!
And to top it off, she informed me that "I have reviewed the last four budget's and they are all shown in weeks as well."
1. We've only had three budgets.
2. No they weren't. In fact, here are copies of all three budgets, and they were all done in months.
At least I'm getting to cc: the county on this so they can see what utter ineptitude I am being subjected to.
Complaint: I spoke too soon about no mice in the kitchen this year. I've had a few mousetraps set around the house from last winter. Still baited with dried, cracked peanut butter but unsprung. A few days ago I heard a snap and thought it might be a mousetrap but I did a quick survey of the traps on the floor and all seemed still unsprung, hmmm..., must'a been silverware falling in the sink.
Last night I heard that sound again and did quick check and sure enough, the trap next to the stove had a victim. I let my victims die in peace and go cold to be sure they don't somehow fight back when I remove them.
I forgot about it until this afternoon and a tinge of smell began to waft around the kitchen.
Oh yeah, the mouse. So, I disposed of it and set about my business. A few hours later I started making my supper, opened the silverware drawer, and the dead mouse smell reannounced itself. Arghhh..., I forgot that I had put a trap in the silverware drawer because that seems to be their first stop in their tour of my kitchen. And yup, there it was, right behind the soup spoon I was going to grab. A quick think about the events of the last few days made me realize that the drawer mouse was the first to die and had been ripening in peace at the back of the drawer for three days and the smell wasn't going to go away easily.
So, tomorrow is going to be hand-wash-all-the-silverware day. Again!
This is my mum's idea on mouse control.
Oh she has no intention of calculating a fraction of a week. She just thinks if you add up all the months, pretend that's the yearly budget, and then you divide it by weeks, that's the same thing.
Which of course it isn't if you actually do the math.
I think the problem is that they're primarily a company that does home help caregiving, and they calculate their payroll weekly. So they're REALLY stuck on the idea that weeks are the only way that budgets can be handled. They just also handle payrolling for the county disability grants, but as far as I can tell, no actual training is provided for that, so they just try to beat the square peg into the round hole.
So the lady is like "but monthly is inconsistent because some months have 28 days and some have 31!" -- and yes, this is true, BUT ALSO, that's how the county does it. So it doesn't matter what she or I or anyone else about it; that's how it's done.
The other problem is that, as far as I can determine, they make everyone take an IQ test as part of the hiring process, and they refuse to hire anyone unless they score low enough. I have not had a single, solitary interaction with any of these people that's been smooth or positive, including during my onboarding process where they assigned me to someone who was out on extended medical leave with no one to cover for her, so I lost an entire month of grant money because no one was returning my calls, and the main line just shrugged and shunted me back to the person who wasn't there.
I would just very much like to know why it's okay for these people to be such blazing idiots, but not for me to tell them that they're blazing idiots. Like, she said she looked at our last four budgets (we only have three) and they were all weekly (they're not) -- why can't I just say "I don't know if you're lying or stupid, but try again"??
If you can get your hands on some unscented kitty litter, putting some of that in a shallow container can help absorb the smell.
Yep, cats will take care of a mouse problem. I got cats, two of them. No mouse problems. But cats produce a stink too. And more of it. But I love the little guys.
Cats.
Complaint on behalf of my brother: My brother's allergic to cats. And we have long hair cats which seem to agrovate cat allergies, meaning he can't come to see us.
Non-Complaint on my behalf: My brother's allergic to cats. And we have long hair cats which seem to agrovate cat allergies, meaning he can't come to see us. <Snigger>
Regards,
Richard
Non-complaint: Just one more week of budget stinginess if I can hold on to what's left in my checking account and finally be caught up. No doctor appointments, no out-of-town adventures, no scheduled breakfast with friends, no wedding gifts to be given, no orders from Amazon to be made, no laundry needs are imminent, and only minor grocery needs. Yay, I might make it to payday without going into the red at the bottom of my spreadsheet.
So to celebrate, I think I'll take a mini-adventure to an uptown grocery store tomorrow for a few specialty items, and catch a cheap breakfast where a tip is not expected i.e. Burger King or Tim Horton's. Living dangerously I am.
Weather tomorrow will be sunny, 50s(F) at 8:00AM but will be 70 by noon.
More non-complaints: It took a while but my silverware drawer is clean and unsmelly again.
Removed everything including the plethora of miscellaneous kitchen tools, sprayed the drawer with Windex then dried it and sprayed with Lysol, then let it dry, put down new drawer paper, washed all the silverware and the silverware tray and miscellaneous kitchen tools. Not fun but it needs to be done periodically anyway.
Also found my spare new mousetraps, baited them and reset them.
Also, house maintenance guy has been on the roof all day finishing the shingling. Yay! No leaks this winter.
Complaint: While washing my silverware today I just soaped them and instead of rinsing them immediately, just piled them on the drainboard and sprayed them with the sprayer afterwards en-masse. But apparently I sprayed water into my electronic kitchen timer and it has farted the blue smoke and given up the ghost. It was my tea timer.
Oh well, it's at least 10 years old. Just another thing on my shopping list for tomorrow.
This week I heard that someone I enjoyed listening to on 9News had passed away in August. His name was Corky Scholl and he was the same age as my son. And he was an incredible photojournalist who did human interests stories. 9News has been replaying them so as to honor his memory. Today was one that I think everyone can relate to:
COMPLAINT: Music played WAY too loud for hours keeping everyone in the area stressed out.
Corky's story: How one judge handled it.
I am linking to the YouTube page and it is at the top, and there are other wonderful pieces to enjoy. Please do and think of this man who could communicate in such a wonderful way. As they air the pieces, they will be adding to this playlist. I will miss him.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlV2Iuo79Cuqh7wQq9rv8SveWjeeRvTa-
Mary
complaint: My computer picked the worst possible time to stall out, and I was so panicked it didn't occur to me to just get on my tablet and check out from there. I went 30 seconds past changeover, tops, and my cart total hit the stratosphere. My mood is in the toilet right now.
Complaint: Arghhh... I've broken my kitchen scissors.
Plastic handle snapped in two. Oh well, they were right-handed scissors (I'm a lefty) and they'd been irritating me for years. They weren't able to slice thin things because the joint was wobbly. Anybody have any suggestions for some good, efficient, ambidextrous and durable kitchen scissors? At least high quality stainless steel or possibly even titanium. I hate cheap scissors.
Fiskar.
Not sure if they're available in the US. They're stainless blade with orange handles. I think they do them in left hand versions too. Finnish. I have a sewing pair, and they're so good my wife nicked them. They are quite pricy, though. I did gulp a little at £12 for 30mm thread scissors when I got them in 2014, by they do work.
Regards,
Richard
Fiskars.
Not sure if they're available in the US. They're stainless blade with orange handles. I think they do them in left hand versions too. Finnish. I have a sewing pair, and they're so good my wife nicked them. They are quite pricy, though. I did gulp a little at £12 for 30mm thread scissors when I got them in 2014, by they do work. UK source: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fiskars-Left-Handed-General-Purpose-Scissors/dp/B001J3C3A2/ref=asc_df_B001J3C3A2?mcid=b869a7faa74e396db804da6d9a624a76&hvocijid=13880581160832328106-B001J3C3A2-&hvexpln=74&tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=696285193871&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=13880581160832328106&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1007076&hvtargid=pla-2281435176658&gad_source=1&th=1
Regards,
Richard
Cool info, richardandtracy. This reminds me of a Simpsons episode, where Flanders opened a "Left Handed Emporium", selling all kinds of things for left haneded people. I'm not, but it's cool to know about this.
@ richardandtracy Thanks, ordered 'em through Amazon for the titanium, left-handed, 8 inch, gray version. $12.99. Seventy-seven years old and I've never owned a pair of left-handed scissors.
It's about time I splurged for a pair of decent scissors.
Ordered the scissors and a new kitchen timer. Wheee..., I'm back in business in the kitchen.
Note: The image below lies, I ordered the titanium version from the same catalog page
We have a couple of right-handed pairs, plus the kitchen scissors, branded as Wilkinson Sword which were presents from my grandmother - so early to mid nineties - and they are still going well.
We have this pair in our house. I'm a rightie, Teen Kiddo is a leftie, and we both like them.
ETA: Looked closer at the picture, these say True Left? Huh. Maybe mine are neutral? Regardless, that brand is quality stuff. That pair is newer to us (got them five years ago when we moved back into the house and realized we apparently no longer owned large scissors) but my parents only ever buy that brand, and I'm pretty sure the ones at their house have been around since the 90's.
I never watched Simpsons, but your comment made me wonder if there was such a thing online. Turns out there's at least one: https://www.leftyslefthanded.com/ -- I don't know why it never occurred to me to look before that. I'll have to send the link to Teen Kiddo and see if there's anything they want.
complaint: Had trouble getting to sleep because I was so upset about my lost cart, and then Little Dude woke earlier than expected... looks like I'm running on four hours of sleep and a crackerbarrel of regret today. And I have a virtual onboarding meeting today with the company that's in charge of my service plan for Little Dude. Under the old system, you wrote the service plan, turned it in, it got approved (or at least, mine always did) and you went on your merry way. Now you have to pick a company from a list, fill out a metric ton of forms, onboard with them, write your service plan yourself (as I understand it) and then give it to them to give to the county. Because why on earth would you not insert extra levels of complication if you have the opportunity, right?
Feeling salty. Maybe I flip my diet the bird today and make an indulgent coffee.
Fiskars are available on this side of the Pond. In fact I was about to recommend them as a fellow lefty. Their sewing scissors are great as well.
Today is a somber day. And it seems very humid in these parts of the woods too.
My computer mouse died. At least I found a way to use my num keys as a mouse until I can pick out a replacement mouse.
This is long. I'm sorry. Skip on by if you don't have "rant from a middle-aged mom screaming into the void" on your bingo card today, but I need to get this out so I can go be the patient, calm parent my kids deserve.
===
complaint: Companies that adminster/facilitate services to folk with complex needs but clearly do not train their people to deal with the reality of those lives. Or at least hire folk who center the person seeking help instead of themselves.
Turns out the stupid thing was on Teams, which I hadn't realized when I did the e-scheduling. (Maybe it was obvious? All my other onboardings have been over the phone, so I assumed... that was likely on me.) I emailed an hour and change early asking if we could do it over phone because my son gets dysregulated when I'm on video conferences. He doesn't like me on the phone, either, but it's a better shot. Got nothing back. Finally logged on, after having to download the app because apparently I didn't have it, felt guilty I wasn't on early, and sat there five minutes past the appointment waiting.
As soon as the guy comes on, I interrupt to ask if we can do over phone, and why.
"Yeah, I was just reading that and was surprised to see you logged on. I was about to call you."
Now, I don't mind that he was five minutes late. But... why wouldn't I be on? I was supposed to just know that he was was going to call me five minutes after the start, with no confirmation of that?
So okay, after a couple more minutes he does call.
He asks if I've been receiving services. The fact that I'm mandatory transitioning from CSG is on the paperwork but fine, I answer the question, and describe our current services.
"So you have a PCA you work with, then? Because with this system you can absolutely keep your current care assistant, in fact you have more choice -!"
That's great, but I'm not working with a PCA. I took the option to provide the care myself with a reduced number of credit hours, as I just mentioned, and I don't want anything different than what I have, but the county says I have work with you to keep getting it, so what do I need to do to make that happen with the least amount of effort?
At that point it became clear that he can't seem to execute the flexibility and critical thinking possessed by a tomato, as he went right back to reading from his PR script. He did not like it when I interrupted to point out (again) that I only wanted one thing: the thing I'd been getting.
"Well ma'am, can you just listen to me while I explain the other possibilities with this plan."
No. No I cannot, because we're on a timer, here. Any minute now my kid might start beating his head into the floor and screaming like he's being murdered because I'm on the phone and that's upsetting to him. We need to be efficient. What needs to happen to get me approved?
"Well ma'am this seems like this isn't a good time for this call. We should reschedule."
I had to schedule this call two weeks out. How do you suggest I pick which day two weeks from now my level-3 autistic kid will be feeling well-regulated, happy, independent, and not need anything for that particular hour, or notice I'm on the phone? This is as good as it gets. There is no better day. He's doing really well at the moment but that can change on a dime, so we need to do this now, and do it in the least amount of time possible. Are you going to work with me, or do I need to find someone else?
He could've chosen compassion. He coud've said something like "wow, seems like you've got a lot going on there; would this work better and be kinder to your kid if we did it over email?"
Instead I got a lecture in the "customer service talking to Karen" voice about how we weren't going to get anywhere on this phonecall if I wouldn't listen to him explain my options, so he'd be sending all this stuff to my email and I could write back. It was clear from his word choice and tone that this was meant as a punishment for being difficult and uncooperative.
As if I wanted to be on this phonecall to begin with.
I am so tired of being scolded for centering my kid's needs over the convenience of the grown adult who's paid to help him.
This shouldn't have to be a battle. It just shouldn't.
So apparently today I'm running on four hours of sleep, a crackerbarrel of regret, a metric ton of coffee, some migraine meds (here's hoping I caught that one before it gets worse), and unbridled rage.
As Teen Kiddo put it, "Even if you were an octopus, Mom, you still wouldn't have enough middle fingers to deal with today."
That's horrible. I'm so sorry.
Reminds me of the lady who threw my autistic son off of SSI when he turned 18, because I didn't have a car so couldn't drive 45 minutes to get to a meeting. I had to reapply and go through that process all over again because she wouldn't meet me somehwere local or do it over the phone. (This was years ago, and I don't think they had Zoom/Teams at the time.)
I'm so, so sorry. Not having accessable transportation is so common. Shame on her for not accomodating that.
It just boggles my mind how these systems that are supposedly designed to help folk with complex needs seem entirely designed around the idea that you have the time, ability, and resources to jump through their hoops at the exact angle they would prefer. And when you bring up your barrier, the response is almost always some variation of, "Well, have you tried just not having that problem? Because that would be easiest for us."
I'm feeling a little better now that I've gotten past my initial reaction enough to realize that -- unlike many situations -- in this case I have options. I sent the service lead an email that politely and firmly informed her that I want to be assigned to someone else, as my experience on the call was unpleasant and I don't trust this rep to be courteous, professional, or mindful of our needs in further interactions. If she declines, I'll inform the county that I'm picking a different service provider, and why. Either way, I'm done with this joker.
Good idea. They have no idea what parents go through. I hope the next person you get does better.
Be as mad as you want.
I still have Anger/Hate/Despise Issues with the Stupidist Nutritionist Ever, after 30 years, when we were doing WIC. ur 8 month old son had just had surgery for a congenital GI issue and I was pregnant with our second. And the fool wench got even stupider after our daughter was born.
ETA: you've got a good plan! So glad we only had to deal with such things for a few years, since our son's condition was a physical one that just required some replumbing so to speak.
I think my glasses are still in the bathroom. I'm on my bed in m room. Why can't they help me in there?