Covered in dust.

One day you have a kitchen, an outdated and ugly one:

And the next day, you don’t:

Of course, the best thing about a kitchen renovation is kitchen archaeology. Wallpaper from days of yore:

Justlikethat, the process has begun. I worked at home Monday and Tuesday, while Wendy stayed close by my side, unnerved by the sounds of demolition downstairs. This crew works at a blistering pace. Monday: Demo. Tuesday: Subfloor. Today: Floor. Sas and his crew – Igor, Sergei and the other guy whose name I forget – are very nice. They speak Russian to one another all day but politely switch to English when I stick my head in. And of course it has snowed every night this week, and is snowing now, hard. I’ll go out and clear it once it stops. Three more inches coming Friday.

Thanks for all the advice. I’m trying to keep a semblance of normalcy, but it’s damn hard. I have the coffeemaker set up in the dining room, but am resigned to a lot of pizza and standup meals. It’s harder on Alan, but it’s like chair pose in yoga — it won’t last forever.

And now I have yet another day of work ahead. I was kind of looking forward to this project, if only because tile, cabinets and backsplashes probably stands the best chance of pushing you-know-what out of my head, but NOOOOOO. I am speaking, of course, of the military parade. Cadet Bone Spurs strikes again.

Have a good one, all.

Posted at 8:53 am in Current events, Same ol' same ol' |
 

70 responses to “Covered in dust.”

  1. Deborah said on February 7, 2018 at 9:00 am

    Wow, that was fast!

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  2. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on February 7, 2018 at 9:10 am

    Um, wait. That top photo looks exactly like my kitchen. What are you telling me? Do I have to do this now? Can I block this blog from my spouse’s browser? Oy.

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  3. JMG said on February 7, 2018 at 9:58 am

    We redid our kitchen, which was very necessary due to floor damage caused by a refrigerator malfunction, in February-March 2015. February was the snowiest month in Boston history, which is some record. But now we have a lovely kitchen. What’s a few suppressed memories compared to that?

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  4. Deborah said on February 7, 2018 at 10:25 am

    The kitchen in Santa Fe looked a lot like your before picture. We just stripped all the finish off and stained it grey and made a few other minor modifications and it made a big difference. Somehow the grey updated it. One of the minor modifications was to get rid of a scalloped freize (?) above the sink and replace it with a straight bottom edged piece of wood, that alone made a world of difference. The cabinet doors we were able to take outside and do the work but the structure had to be stripped and sanded in place which was very messy. All meals were take out and mostly eaten on the patio. And we’re renters there, we did all of the work ourselves. Our landlady loves us and let’s us do whatever we want.

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  5. Mark P said on February 7, 2018 at 10:30 am

    We lived about two months with a kitchen that looked like your gutted kitchen. We had to move into our new house before it was finished because the buyers of our old house had to move. We live so far from take-out places that food would be cold by the time we got home, so we ate out almost every night. It almost cured me of the desire to eat out.

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  6. Sherri said on February 7, 2018 at 10:33 am

    Connie from the last post, I feel for you with the million dollar dental plan! I just saw the dentist who is going to do my implant yesterday and got the info on the process for that, and I’m not looking forward to it, especially since it’s my front tooth.

    Maybe I’ll just tell everybody I’m a hockey player when I have to take the temporary tooth out to eat for six months!

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  7. Julie Robinson said on February 7, 2018 at 10:48 am

    On day two of kitchen demolition our daughter called and said her traveling team had cancellations; could she bring six people to stay for five days? The frig was in the entry, the microwave in the dining room, and dishes washed in the laundry room. Between soup in the crock pot and sloppy joes in the electric fry pan we made it happen. Because who says no to their daughter?

    Like jmg, I *may* have suppressed a few of the memories.

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  8. Heather said on February 7, 2018 at 10:52 am

    The only possible change I would want to make to my kitchen would be new cabinet doors (I like the wood but would prefer something more sleek and minimalist) and a new backsplash. I can live it it though. I need to get the floors refinished eventually–really not looking forward to that.

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  9. nancy said on February 7, 2018 at 10:54 am

    I want to stress that I am not one of those picky people who wants everything to be exactly how *I* want it. One thing you can’t see about these cabinets is, they’re breaking down. The bottoms of a couple are sagging and one day they would’ve buckled. The plumbing behind the sink is also showing its age.

    But honestly? The thing I’m looking forward to most? SOFT-CLOSE DRAWERS AND CABINETS. When I was working 9pm-1am, I sometimes tried to catch an hour’s nap after dinner, in the guest room. Between the slamming cabinets and the dropping toilet seat, I rarely got more than 10 minutes. That sound echoed throughout the house.

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  10. Mark P said on February 7, 2018 at 11:04 am

    Oh, yeah! Soft close doors are just the thing. And toilet seats, too.

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  11. Connie said on February 7, 2018 at 11:10 am

    Put my comment on the last page, so am reposting it.

    Big news at my house are the new hand controls that were installed in my Chevy last week. I am driving myself for the first time since Spring of 2016. I went to handicapped drivers ed for this. Spent close to $1,000 on classes, and $1,849 for the controls. Next comes a new front bumper and then I start my million dollar dental plan. Even with dental insurance this two year repair plan is going to cost a couple thousand. Starting with an implant. My Dad is a retired dentist. I never had to actually pay a dentist until I was 35 years old!

    So I am driving myself and we are going to need a second vehicle, as we lost the old van to a deer in December 16. Another expensive thing

    Also, I caught my husband reading the Nancy Nall comments this am. Better watch what I say!

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  12. Bitter Scribe said on February 7, 2018 at 11:19 am

    Your outdated, ugly kitchen looks better than mine. Oh well.

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  13. Connie said on February 7, 2018 at 11:31 am

    I have always loved the oak cabinets like you have. Seems like everything new today is white. Give me some wood grain please.

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  14. Judybusy said on February 7, 2018 at 11:42 am

    Connie, I’m glad you re-posted your news! Congratulations on driving again, and educating us on how expensive it is if you have a disability. Sheesh.

    I’m with the group that if my kitchen looked like Nancy’s (without the broken drawers) it would be an improvement over what we have.

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  15. Bitter Scribe said on February 7, 2018 at 11:52 am

    Great comment from Wonkette:

    Trump wants a military parade because he was impressed by the one they have in France for Bastille Day.

    He may not know exactly why the French celebrate Bastille Day.

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  16. Jeff Borden said on February 7, 2018 at 12:46 pm

    Bitter Scribe. . .I doubt this dunderhead could find France on a map.

    Didn’t the Orange King ask for a big show of military might for his inaugural parade? Wasn’t it nixed because of the damage it would do to D.C. streets? An Abrams M-1 tank weighs 62 metric tons, and we know our little fascist dictator wannabe would never settle for a single tank. There would have to be a fleet of them to satisfy him. Mobile missile launchers, etc. are also enormously heavy. These things are capable of collapsing bridges, etc., too.

    So long as there are veterans in need of health and mental care, so long as a lot of military housing and VA hospitals are subpar, so long as the men and women who serve are underpaid. . .this is an egregious waste of money.

    I’m waiting for a howl of protest to emerge from Congress. (Crickets) Looks like I’ll be waiting awhile.

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  17. Deborah said on February 7, 2018 at 1:13 pm

    The military parade is the absolute last straw for me. I have such little respect for Republicans these days, that pushes me into the strong dislike of them category, bordering on hate. If they ok spending money on that when they have supposedly such an aversion to government spending, of course we know now that’s just been a ruse to hobble Democratic administrations.

    LB got her results back from 23 and Me, that I had given her for Christmas. It’s been very interesting to study.

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  18. Minnie said on February 7, 2018 at 1:18 pm

    Jeff Borden, last night I registered my disgust over the wannabe dictator’s parade proposal with my senators (Democrats) and representative (ass-kissing Republican).

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  19. Snarkworth said on February 7, 2018 at 1:21 pm

    Deborah, I would have gotten rid of the scalloped frieze, too. Don’t know why, but curly detail annoys me.

    We’re looking at a reno or remodel, too, mostly countertop and backsplash. The kitchen is pre-Civil War; we don’t have any historic regulations limiting us, but want it to look appropriate.

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  20. Connie said on February 7, 2018 at 1:33 pm

    Deborah, my 23andme results said I was 100% European. I wanted it to say I was Dutch. Because 3 of my four grandparents were born to Dutch immigrants.

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  21. Jolene said on February 7, 2018 at 1:36 pm

    Reposting from yesterday re opposing the military parade:

    In addition to calling congressional representatives and the White House, consider calling the Pentagon’s public comment line. The number is 703-571-3343.

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  22. Dexter said on February 7, 2018 at 2:08 pm

    Back when I was attending baseball games regularly in Cleveland, one fine Labor Day I attended a day game, which coincided with the Cleveland Air Show. http://www.clevelandairshow.com/ The viewing stands were at Burke Lakefront Airport, and the big bombers flew low and LOUD over the downtown baseball park. It’s stunning, especially when you realize this is what our declared enemies live and die with daily…scary stuff when you realize that. Also, I have been in Wrigley Field, Chicago, and old Tiger Stadium, Detroit during the massive national air shows. That’s all I need. Trump’s call for an old Khrushchev-Brezhnev , really post WWII parade of might, is outdated, copycat, and ridiculous for a country that bills itself as the world’s peacekeeper. (Ha HA). But this is what the trumptards and trumpturds want, and Trump has the reins in his tiny fucking hands, standing there alongside dead-eyes Melania, applauding that giant flag…yep, our flag IS still there, ain’t it? Now let us shove that flag down every other nation’s throats. Parade? Sheee-itttt. Then again, there’s something to be said about “paradin'”, according to Paul’s grandfather… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2ujNVw8Shk

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  23. Little Bird said on February 7, 2018 at 2:16 pm

    Connie, my results were white. Really, really white. I posted them to my Facebook page and one person suggested I might actually be clear, while another suggested that I could make Larry Byrd seem ethnic.
    I was somewhat surprised actually. 100% European. Mostly german/french. No Italian popped up, and I totally expected it to do so.
    I feel a bit bland now.

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  24. Deborah said on February 7, 2018 at 2:32 pm

    Connie, LB’s results were more detailed, but she is 100% European, her largest percentage was French/German, which was kind of surprising.

    I want to call that Pentagon number, but I’m going to have to calm down a bit before I do so.

    We’re going to uncle J’s house this evening, back on Friday morning. My husband is his uncle’s power-of-attorney, and goes every week from Weds evening to Fri morning. I go about once a month, there’s not much for me to do while they go to meetings and such.

    Edit: LB and I must have been typing at the same time.

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  25. Connie said on February 7, 2018 at 2:37 pm

    Mine didn’t give me any nationality breakdown, just 100% European. Yup white, you can tell by looking at me, I am fair and freckly. Although I have been feeling pink these days.

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  26. Dexter said on February 7, 2018 at 2:50 pm

    Paradin’… Historian Doug Brinkley: “It smacks of something you see in a totalitarian country — unless there’s a genuine, earnest reason to be doing it.”

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  27. ROGirl said on February 7, 2018 at 2:51 pm

    I think he should go all out and have the soldiers goose step. Now THAT would be a parade!

    I did the Ancestry DNA test in December and got the results last week. A relative said it was reassuring when I told him I’m 95% European Jewish. The other 5% is pretty sketchy, but it reverses the migration that started in the middle East and went up into southern Europe and North and east. The one outlier is a trace amount of irish/scottish, I’m up for being Irish. I found 2 known cousins at the top of my possible relative list.

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  28. Icarus said on February 7, 2018 at 3:34 pm

    I did the Ancestry DNA and was disappointed. I’m Polish from my mom’s side but wanted to find out about Dads (he was never really in the picture) and all it told me was Eastern European. D’uh! IIRC there’s 2% Jewish or Middle Eastern as well.

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  29. Bitter Scribe said on February 7, 2018 at 3:35 pm

    If the day of the military parade is windy, Trump better wear a MAGA cap.

    Or maybe he could have a special Commander in Chief uniform, complete with hat, made just for the occasion. Something with epaulets and lots of gold braid. Leggings and a riding crop would be a nice touch. And it could be all in black.

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  30. Rana said on February 7, 2018 at 4:25 pm

    Soft-close cabinets and drawers are amazing. Our kitchen has them, and they are wonderful. One warning though: after you get used to them, and/or soft-close toilet lids, when you visit people who don’t have them, be prepared for a few accidental slams.

    Also, if you get sick of take-out and delivery, I can recommend the InstantPot. It’s not as amaaaaaaazing! as its cult members would claim, but it does a decent job cooking anything that doesn’t require an oven. Soups, rice, and beans are especially solid.

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  31. Bob (Not Greene) said on February 7, 2018 at 5:14 pm

    By the way, if you haven’t checked out this interview with Quincy Jones, well, you are missing out
    http://www.vulture.com/2018/02/quincy-jones-in-conversation.html

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  32. Jolene said on February 7, 2018 at 5:17 pm

    Jack Jacobs, who is a retired colonel, Medal of Honor recipient, and MSNBC commentator said on TV this AM that he thought the parade was a colossally stupid idea. He noted that Secretary Mattis had testified just this week that DoD lacks the resources to recruit, train, and compensate 20,000 people it thinks it needs to meet its commitments. Heaven knows why the military needs 20,000 more people, but, if that’s true, it hardly makes sense to spend millions on a parade.

    He also said that a parade is of no value to the military—that it takes a lot of time and work to carry it off and you learn nothing from it except how to create a parade.

    Of course, as any PBS watcher knows, the U.S. already finances two Washington-based celebrations—one on Memorial Day and one on the Fourth of July. Both honor service and sacrifice and feature military bands, choruses, color guards, and appearances by the Joint Chiefs. No tanks or RPG launchers though.

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  33. Jolene said on February 7, 2018 at 5:46 pm

    I’m very curious about the report that forced Rob Porter, a senior White House aide to resign because of allegations of domestic abuse against his ex-wives.

    Chief of Staff Kelly defended him, apparently before seeing a photo of Porter’s first wife with a black eye. Now, he is being criticized for that defense, in part because of the contrast between defending an abuser and his gratuitous insult toward DACA registrants in off-the-cuff remarks yesterday.

    Anyway, I would love to know how this story came to light. One wonders if someone at the FBI might have leaked this info, which they learned in checks for Porter’s security clearance, in retaliation for Trump’s attacks on the agency.

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  34. Jolene said on February 7, 2018 at 5:52 pm

    Prior to his work at the WH, Porter was a Senate staffer, having worked for both Rob Portman and Orrin Hatch. Hatch praised him wholeheartedly and is now having to walk back his earlier remarks.

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  35. David C. said on February 7, 2018 at 6:07 pm

    My wife and I got MyHeratige for each other for Christmas. We don’t have results yet. I expect mine will be more interesting than Mary’s. My family has been in the New World since the 1630s and originally came from the south of England near Weymouth. So I’m likely both a seaport mongrel and a New World mongrel. All of Mary’s great great grandparents came from Europe.

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  36. Deborah said on February 7, 2018 at 6:12 pm

    Porter seems awfully young to already have 2 ex wives. He’s Mormon so maybe he got married the first time really early. Also it seems like both of his wives found out soon what an asshole he was.

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  37. Colleen said on February 7, 2018 at 6:20 pm

    I did the Ancestry test. 33% Eastern European, 33% Irish and 33% Iberian peninsula. Whaaat?

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  38. Jolene said on February 7, 2018 at 6:35 pm

    Here’s the article I thought I was linking to—the one in which we see the photo of the first ex-wife with a black eye.

    Deborah, Porter would have been about 25 when he was first married, so young, but not extremely so. He was, at the time, a Rhodes Scholar.

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  39. Dave Kobiela said on February 7, 2018 at 7:02 pm

    Good luck with the kitchen renovation Nancy. My wife and I had a major addition and remodel done to our home last year, to coincide eith our retirements. We are so glad that we relied on a well known local contractor to do the work. They worked with us from design to final details of trim, paint and clean-up. We are really enjoying it now.
    Nancy, last week you mentioned injuring your knee. Hope you are recovering quickly.

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  40. Scout said on February 7, 2018 at 7:04 pm

    Can we have a round of applause for Nancy Pelosi? She stood for a record breaking 8 hours – in stilettos – filibustering for DACA protections. I’m in awe.
    https://twitter.com/RVAwonk/status/961378709914693632

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  41. alex said on February 7, 2018 at 7:16 pm

    Colleen, my mom had a bunch of Iberian peninsula on hers too in addition to some other surprises, including no British lineage at all, which suggests some hanky panky by a non-British woman somewhere along our Fitch line.

    “Iberian peninsula” I’ve been told encompasses pretty much anyone in the Mediterranean region over the past ten generations and could include Spanish, Portuguese, Greek, Albanian or Italian.

    I haven’t done my spit test yet; eager to see what comes out of that. My dad has always insisted his Magyar blood was as pure as you can find because his ancestors became protestants at the time of the Enlightenment and had arranged marriages in a society that separated itself from the much-diluted kraut-fucking Catholic mainstream. We shall see.

    Any suggestions as to what’s the best test?

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  42. Dexter said on February 7, 2018 at 8:50 pm

    We did the DNA test that Nat-Geo was pimping a few years ago. It was so vague it was worthless…”..swept across Iran and Russia and ended up in Europe…”. A radio producer who is a “lastling”…no living relatives he knows of, took the newer test and discovered he is 18% Ashkenazi Jew. I was brought up Methodist and was taught who Jews were, but never any details…I admit I had not heard the word ‘Ashkenazi’ before. So I guess the tests help educate sluggards from rural woodsy Indiana. http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-ashkenazi-jews-dna-diseases-20140909-story.html

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  43. Julie Robinson said on February 7, 2018 at 9:05 pm

    If you want to upload your DNA to compare with others, then you want one that gives you your raw data. I did mine through 23andMe, which will allow you to upload directly. It was fun to compare with other family members.

    Although I already knew I had black ancestry (only a little, 6.2%), there were still a couple of surprises. I grew up thinking I was half German, but I tested 10.5% French and German together. The 5.6% Scandinavian was unexpected, but we’ve surmised that since my mom’s father was from the far northern part of Germany, there had been some Viking raids going on.

    I’m also 3.5% Ashkenazi Jewish, so I fail the one drop test two different ways!

    Something I learned when the passing and non-passing sides of our family reunited: although the passing side had lost the non-passing, those identifying as black knew about the other side, while those identifying as white didn’t know about the other side. The explanation was that blacks don’t out those who are passing, even when it means all contact is lost over the generations.

    While I understand this more than when I started, I’m still very saddened.

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  44. brian stouder said on February 7, 2018 at 10:17 pm

    The wallpaper lost me at the bakery – but it is fascinating nonetheless!

    Further to the Woodstock talk, it predates me (I was 8 at the time) – but good ol’ Indiana University-Purdue University at Fort Wayne (soon to be Purdue at Fort Wayne) has a marvelous public program where they invite interesting people to come and speak, and admission is free.

    Over the years, we’ve caught many wonderful lectures (including from Justice Sandra Day O’Conner, for example) – and a few years back Country Joe McDonald.

    Our now-college-freshman accompanied me to that one (I think she was maybe 12 years old) – and at one point he lead the crowd with “Give me an F! Give me a U!….”etc – and then “What does that spell?” – and the look of shocked disbelief on my daughter’s face made me laugh uproariously then, and still does!

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  45. Brandon said on February 7, 2018 at 10:30 pm

    Re: ancestry tests

    I wonder if maoli ancestry will be revealed among some who undertake them. 🙂

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  46. Deborah said on February 7, 2018 at 10:37 pm

    I’m definitely doing the 23 and me kit one of these days. I’m fascinated by this stuff.

    It’s 3 where I am tonight, 2 hrs north of Chicago, going to get down to -3 and it’s icy too. I hate February. In 2 weeks I’ll be going back to NM. I like cold over hot, but it gets old when it’s icy and windy.

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  47. susan said on February 7, 2018 at 11:04 pm

    I think it would be interesting to do two or three of those ancestry tests to see how or if they match up. I’m still skeptical about how valid they are.

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  48. Jolene said on February 8, 2018 at 12:31 am

    A couple of days ago, the Post published an article re how people respond when they find out their ancestry is not what they thought it was, particularly when people who thought they were white turn out to have some African ancestry.

    Interestingly, but perhaps not surprisingly, researchers who have been studying this question find that women are more accepting of such knowledge than men, which is consistent with the idea that, for men, social identity is a matter of achievement whereas, for women, it is a matter of being. (Yes, I know I’m generalizing.)

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  49. FDChief said on February 8, 2018 at 12:32 am

    Here’s my take on this ridiculous GOParteitag:

    http://milpubblog.blogspot.com/2018/02/oh-just-go-ahead-and-rename-goddamn.html

    If Napoleorange needs a study guide, here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwoSFQb5HVk

    As we used to say in Division; what a fuckin’ fucked-up clusterfuck.

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  50. Dexter said on February 8, 2018 at 12:36 am

    Here’s a twist, brian…Country Joe was a US Navy vet (1959-1962) and was named Joseph for…get this: Joe Stalin, because at the time of his birth in 1942, both his parents were Communist Party members in Berkeley. Anyway, the ‘rents soon abandoned the loyalty to Joe Stalin, as the story goes.

    For Black History Month, my contribution to the thread, out of the blue to you, my fellow nallers and ballers:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3OjHIhLCDs

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  51. Connie said on February 8, 2018 at 8:12 am

    The NatGeo kit traced only mitochondrial DNA, which is comes down from your mother. And her mother. And her mother. And on and on. My SIL did it a couple of years ago, they think of themselves as precolonial English, but the mitochondrial test had her (and thus her siblings)down as 60% Dutch. Which we all found amusing as I am the Dutchy one.

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  52. Bitter Scribe said on February 8, 2018 at 11:57 am

    From the WaPo article linked to by Jolene @47:

    One white supremacist who discovered he had African DNA claimed on the white nationalist website Stormfront.com that the testing company was part of a Jewish conspiracy to “defame, confuse and deracinate young whites on a mass level.”

    If there’s an inconvenient fact, these people will explain it away as a conspiracy. They are so predictable.

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  53. Julie Robinson said on February 8, 2018 at 12:01 pm

    FWIW, I just got an email from Ancestry with a price reduction from $99 to $69, through February 25.

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  54. Charlotte said on February 8, 2018 at 12:18 pm

    I have an adopted cousin who did the Ancestry one. James came to us when he was about 3? and we didn’t know much about his background. An arm had been broken at one point, and it was kind of an emergency situation (the county called my Aunt and asked if she was interested — this was the 70s). He found that he had a older sister who remembered him and who had wound up in a series of not-great foster homes and although she was abused, she’s okay as an adult. My aunt died when James was about 9, and my cousin Jennifer(James’ older sister on our side) and I figure they must not have told my Aunt about her, because Lynn would have taken them both, especially as the sister is deaf. Anyhow, there are grandparents in Oklahoma on the father’s side who were both still alive, and had been actively searching for James for all these years, and they all found one another through Ancestry! He took his daughter out to meet them last summer, and has gotten to know his sister again, and it makes Jennifer and I cry because it’s all so poignant.

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  55. Julie Robinson said on February 8, 2018 at 12:52 pm

    Charlotte, that’s why I got tested too. My aunt gave a baby up for adoption and years later my cousin started looking for her bio mom. She found us through DNA matches, then the search began–was she my sister, or one of the other cousin’s? She eventually got her birth certificate and is still searching for her bio dad, who wasn’t listed.

    Sadly, my aunt died of cancer a few years after my cousin was born, and no one else with knowledge is alive. It’s been bittersweet for us and especially my cousin. We’re really happy to welcome her to the family but we wish we had more answers.

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  56. Mark P said on February 8, 2018 at 1:09 pm

    My brother did Ancestry and found a few percent African ancestry. That could mean a few different things but I think it’s kind of cool for a couple of freckled, red-haired kids like us.

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  57. Connie said on February 8, 2018 at 1:16 pm

    I did 23andme because my cousin’s son asked me to do it and give him my data, which I did. He is hoping to actually find my mysterious unknown greatgrandfather if he gets enough cousins to give him the data. My grandfather was the illegitimate child of a teen mother and was adopted by her older sister. Teen never named father. While I knew that grandfather was adopted I didn’t know much more of this story until recently.

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  58. basset said on February 8, 2018 at 1:59 pm

    100% white British/European here according to Ancestry, including a little Scandinavian and even less Italian/Greek, which I attribute to Viking & Roman invaders.

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  59. beb said on February 8, 2018 at 3:28 pm

    Recently there was a long article about the DNA testing from Ancestry, 23andme and others that I found quite interesting, wish I could find the link again. One point was that the ancestry clusters are created from test results from that area. So if your DNa comes back with, say, East Asian component it doesn’t neceassy mean there’s Chinese in your ancestry but maybe English who moved to the far east and had their DNA tested. So it’s always wise to take these results with a grain of salt.

    The Dems are in a hard place regarding the Budget. The Senate compromise doesn’t have anything about DACA in it. Also it bursts the budget. So do they keep the government open while DACA people are deported or make a stand about DACA. I’m for giving the finger to this budget until it gives protections to DACA. Except Republicans are only interested in opening concentration camps for illegals and have no interest in keeping the government working. In the short haul they love the idea of no government. Since I think failing to care for DREAMERS hurts the Democrats chances in the mid-terms I’m for saying no to any budget with relief for DACA.

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  60. Heather said on February 8, 2018 at 4:08 pm

    So, who else is trying not to look at their investments this afternoon?

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  61. David C. said on February 8, 2018 at 4:14 pm

    As Atrios says, “Another bad day at the dog track”. Earlier in the week when I heard Mike Dense say “The fundamentals of the economy are strong” I knew things were going to turn shitty fast.

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  62. Deborah said on February 8, 2018 at 5:59 pm

    Mike Dense, good one and so Napoleorange.

    I had an uplifting morning. Uncle J is a major donor for a program in his town that sends every 4th grader to a performance at a cool, old, renovated theater downtown. The performance was a troupe of Japanese drummers. Uncle J and his guests (us) got to go and mingle with 2,300 ten year olds. It was a hoot, the kids had a blast. The drummers we’re terrific, so much energy and skill. The perfect thing for the kids to enjoy. It was thrilling. The only thing I’m worried about now is my husband who refused to get a flu shot getting sick from high fiving all the kiddos.

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  63. susan said on February 8, 2018 at 8:18 pm

    Refused to get a flu shot???? Why?

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  64. Andrea said on February 8, 2018 at 8:23 pm

    The Olympics are on!!!

    Also, we are expecting tons of snow here in Chicago — schools already cancelled and the snow has started to come down. I told my staff to stay home tomorrow, and we rescheduled a board committee meeting already. Will be nice to work from home in jammies tomorrow.

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  65. Deborah said on February 8, 2018 at 8:51 pm

    Susan, if I knew I would tell you. I have argued with him so much about this it’s ridiculous. Kind of like antivaxers I guess. He’s stubborn.

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  66. Deborah said on February 8, 2018 at 9:02 pm

    Andrea we have to drive back to Chicago tomorrow morning, not looking forward to that. It’s supposed to be a two hour drive, will probably be longer.

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  67. Dexter said on February 8, 2018 at 10:04 pm

    I was checking my dvr at 3:00 AM today and on nbcsn, they were live-televising Olympic curling. I guess it was the real thing,(Norway was one of the nations) but the whole thing is being ballyhooed as a grand opening tomorrow night, so I guess all sorts of events will be over with before the Olympics even opens. It’s OK with me, who cares?

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  68. Icarus said on February 9, 2018 at 9:20 am

    we were talking about Smart Appliances the other day. I don’t need a fridge that can stream Game of Thrones. I need one I can lock so that my douche nugget children cannot open it and break any of the ridunkulously expensive drawers within. Don’t bother replacing those because finding the one for your exact model will be a Sisyphean task and will likely cost almost as much as a new fridge.
    Also want an oven that I can not only lock the door but burner knobs that can be disabled and re-enabled when children are around.
    Nancy, you may want features like this if your daughter ever has children that you are gonna babysit, even for a short amount of time.
     

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  69. Peter said on February 9, 2018 at 9:40 am

    Deborah, I made it to work in downtown Chicago earlier than normal – the Edens is EMPTY!!! I was doing 40 mph on the Kennedy – than God for cancelled classes!

    Besides, after yesterday’s stock extravaganza, I have to get to work.

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  70. Connie said on February 9, 2018 at 10:13 am

    I made it to work with no problems, but my parking lot plow crew has not yet shown up. Looks like five inches and growing to me. Most of the libraries in the metro area have closed, but not us.

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