Schedules, Candy and Keeping That Boyish Figure, a Random and Happy Tuesday Post

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It's time once again for a random and happy Tuesday, linking up with Stacy's Random Thoughts at Stacy Uncorked and Sandee at Comedy Plus. 

Last Thursday, when i went to clean Ms. V's place, Carl chatted with me before he left for work.

"I think the schedule got hacked!" he told me.

The work schedule? i asked.

"Well...no..."

I asked if he meant the schedule at his work, his church, or the local park system, where he loves to go to various events.  He couldn't quite tell me, so i asked Ms. V later.

It turns out something has been done to the system at his work where he can only see his schedule at work on their computer, not get it on his phone.  He also cannot print it out.  This means we don't ever know when he's on the schedule or when he isn't, and he loses track.

Yesterday he was in the sleep chair when i arrived, so i looked at the kitchen timer.  It was set, meaning he had work, so i turned my attention to the laundry room.  He had damp clothes in the dryer and not yet soured clothes in the washer which had been run on a proper setting so they were clean, which was the good part.  

Then there were the dirty clothes in the laundry room sink.  Why they end up in the sink is anyone's guess, but at least they're in one place in that room.  In his room, they are everywhere, including on the hangers where i found two things he'd hung up dirty.

He's obviously been spending his evenings with his Legos.

The cupboard/fridge is bare.

I figured out why one of his pairs of shorts weighed so much (and found the missing shoe).

It looks like he has scored some candy.

A couple of minutes past his usual wake-up time i went to check and he was still sleeping.  I tried to rouse him and he said he had more time to sleep.

When i told him the actual time, he said, "No, it can't be!"

It was, but the clocks on both the microwave and the oven, where he sets his sleep timer, were off.  He got up and i reset those clocks.  I'll have to keep an eye on it, as those are how he gauges whether it's time to leave for work or not.

Once he got out of the shower clad only in his underwear, he started arguing with me over what he should wear.  I get it, the days start so cold there's ice on the windows of the cars, by afternoon you are sweating if you are standing in direct sun pushing shopping carts in a lot the way he is, and then it's cold again at night.  This makes it hard to know what to wear.

I convinced him to go with long pants, a short sleeve shirt over a long sleeve shirt, and once it got hot enough, he could go in to the restroom at work and take the long sleeve shirt off, putting the short sleeve one back on.

He talked as he ate and i packed lunch.  His sister-in-law was in a choir concert performance he attended this weekend and he was much impressed.  "They had an orchestra, and a kid choir, and lots of songs and everything!"

His father, Mr. L, had to rescue part of his breakfast.  Because he'd slept late, he was trying to cook everything in the toaster oven at once and while the toast goes in without the tray, the biscuit was threatening to fall apart and land on the bottom to burn.

During the operation of retrieving the biscuit, Carl turned to me and asked, "Do you think I should double up on my exercise?"

I smiled and repeated the question for Mr. L, who didn't have his hearing aids in yet.  Then i noted, You're asking if you should double your exercise because you are planning to eat a lot over the holiday, including some of that candy, aren't you?

He grinned his I-mean-mischief grin and said, "Well, I have to have sugar and good stuff for Christmas!"  We all laughed and i noted if he's going to be exercising his jaws that way, extra exercise for the rest of him would probably be a good idea.

Carl also asked me about some SpaceX rocket which was purposely destroyed, which we discussed for a moment, then he said, "They say they found ancient forests in Antarctica!"  He seemed astounded by it.

Yes, i told him, Antarctica used to be a forest, the fact is climates change, always have, always will.  The question now is how much human activity adds to it, and how we can better care for the beautiful planet we live on.

That's one he'll be thinking about for quite a while, i'm sure.

When i told him it was time to get a move on and get out the door, he asked, "What about Christmas cards?"

I told him if he needed some, i'm sure his parents have plenty and it was time for him to go and deal with cards later.

Back when i'd first arrived that morning, i noticed he had four quarters and two pennies on his counter.  At one point, just before leaving for work, i saw him reaching toward the coins and i imagined he would do as he always does, pick up everything but the pennies.

Imagine my surprise when later i found 3 quarters and a penny, meaning he'd picked up a grand total of 26 cents to take with him. I put the rest in the coin sorter.

I don't think any of us will every understand how he thinks, but it doesn't matter, Carl has a heart of gold.

How about more Christmas funnies.

Have a blessed and beautiful Tuesday, everyone!

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Today is:

Adam the Patriarch & Eve the Matriarch's Day -- Catholic Christian (Adam, Patron of gardeners and tailors; Eve, Patron of tailors)

Aofangadagskvold -- Iceland (arrival of the 13th and final Yule Lad)

     Icelandic Yuletide Lad of the Day, Kertasnikir -- Candle-beggar, who, as children did before light bulbs, wants the treat of a precious candle, and will steal one if he can

Bonfires on the Levee -- Louisiana, US (began among the Cajuns, now a big celebration for everyone, lighting the way for Papa Noel)

Calendas -- Oaxaca, Mexico

Celtic Tree Month Beth (Birch) commences

Christmas Eve

Constitution Day -- Transdniestra

Declaration of Christmas Peace -- Old Great Square of Turku, Finland's official Christmas City

Feast of the Seven Fishes (La Vigilia) -- Italy (traditional serving of seven kinds of seafood at dinner)

Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols -- King's College Chapel, Cambridge University, Cambridge, England (special Christmas Eve performance by the Choir of King's College held since 1918)

Independence Day -- Libya(1951)

Kolada -- Asatru/Slavic Pagan Calendar (various celebrations of the gods until Dec. 31)

Last Minute Shoppers Day

Mistletoe Time -- traditional day on which to hang the mistletoe

Modresnach -- Germanic/Scandinavian/Anglo-Saxon Odinist festival celebrating midwinter and motherhood (date approximate)

National Egg Nog Day

Noche Buena -- Spain and Spanish speaking countries

Remember to Read the Instructions First Night -- when assembling the kids' toys, of course

Silent Night, Holy Night Celebrations -- Austria (in honor of the hymn's composition in 1818)

St. Trasilla's Day (Patron of single laywomen)

Tolling the Devil's Knell -- All Saints Parish Church, Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, England (the church bell tolls once for each year since the birth of Christ, signaling when the Devil's demise was heralded)

T'owd 'oss -- Richmond, North Yorkshire, England (A tradition of dressing in hunting clothes and blowing the hunting horns on Christmas Eve.)

Yap Constitution Day -- Micronesia (regional)

Zerowork Season begins -- seriously, unless you work in retail, how much work really gets done between now and New Year's Eve at your office?

Birthdays Today:

Ryan Seacrest, 1974

Stephanie Meyer, 1973

Ricky Martin, 1971

Diedrich Bader, 45, 1966

Anil Kapoor, 1959

Mary Higgins Clark, 1929

Ava Gardner, 1922

Howard Hughes, 1905

Johnny Gruelle, 1880

Matthew Arnold, 1822

James Prescott Joule, 1818

Kit Carson, 1809

Debuting/Premiering Today:

The Aristocats(Disney animated film), 1970

"Amahl and the Night Visitors"(Opera, first performance and the first opera ever televised), 1951

"The Perry Como Show"(TV), 1948

"Aida"(Opera), 1871

Today in History:

The Byzantine church Hagia Sophia in Constantinople is dedicated for the second time after being destroyed by earthquakes, 563

Thomas Wolsey is appointed English Lord Chancellor, 1515

Kiritimati, also called Christmas Island, is "discovered" by James Cook, 1777

"Silent Night" is composed by Franz Joseph Gruber; it is first sung the next day, 1818

The Eggnog Riot at the United States Military Academy begins that night, wrapping up the following morning, 1826

Fire devastates the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., destroys 35,000 volumes, 1851

Henry Ford completes his first useful gas motor, 1893

Irving Fisher patents an archiving system with index cards, 1912

The first radio transmission of NCRV in Netherlands, 1924

NORAD Tracks Santa for the first time in what will become an annual Christmas Eve tradition, 1955

Shooting begins on "The Cage" the pilot for the Star Trek series, 1964

The crew of Apollo 8 enters into orbit around the Moon, becoming the first humans to do so, 1968

Cyclone Tracy devastates Darwin, Australia, 1974

The first European Ariane rocket is launched, 1979

For the first time since the death f Lenin, the bells of St. Basil's Cathedral, on Red Square in Moscow, ring to celebrate Christmas, 1990

The Spanish police thwart an attempt by ETA to detonate 50 kg of explosives at 3:55 p.m. inside Madrid's busy Chamartín Station, 2003

A video of SpaceX's latest test (on December 17) of the company's Grasshopper rocket with vertical takeoff and vertical landing, is released; the rocket rose 131 feet, hovered and landed safely on the landing pad, 2012

Northern and Northeastern China have a record cold spell, breaking Beijing's 1951 record for consecutive hours of sub-zero temperatures, reaching more than 300 hours, 2023