slidergirl

I'm so sorry, Purple. Losing a pet just breaks my heart.

I think I'm just getting sensitive to young new bosses who want to carve their way instead of blending in. I've had this problem before 😸 I should be thinking "as long as the owners like him" since he needs to serve them. I've built up a great relationship with the owners and vendors over the past years, I'm old, and I don't like change... I meant to tell you all: if you are in the market for a pair of travel pants, RipSkirt Hawaii has put out a pair of travel pants. OOTD: Since it's the first day of Sundance Film Festival, black shirt and faded black jeans. We jokingly call people attending "PIBs" - People in Black. I have an appointment with my hairstylist in town, so I want to look "appropriate" 😉

If you want to grab a sandwich or charcuterie board with beer or wine, La Prosiutteria is a nice casual spot. Or, head to Mercato Centrale upstairs and let everyone pick from the various food stalls. Those 2 are my usual go-to's in Florence.

Purple - I'm so sorry about the pup. It is so hard to see the end of life happening for a beloved pet. Love to all of you. Snow, snow, snow again today. Big flakes. Roads are awful. I'm not going anywhere. Thankfully, it's my "Saturday" and I have nothing planned. Maybe listen to some Jose Andres podcasts, catch up on some series. $85 in tips came my way yesterday. It was my share of tips from the past 2 week's guests. We also divided up the alcohol we took from rooms. I ended up with 3 Peroni beers, 3 Stella Artois beers, 1 Dogfish beer. It was the best of the lot - tons of Miller Lite and White Claw, yuck. Getting mixed signals from the new boss. He was a little peeved at me yesterday because I was dealing with our coffee delivery guy - he told me "that's my job as manager" when I've been doing this for 3 years. OK. I won't look at what we need and tell them again. He told me last Friday that I am only to serve 1 red and 1 white wine per night at Wine & Cheese. Sorry, but that much wine doesn't go far with 10+ people. I did let the owners there know that I was told I had to cut back and if they want more to bring it up to him. He's new and hasn't been a hotel manager type before, only a restaurant manager. He has to learn, I guess. OOTD: Woolx leggings and a hoodie. Just cozying up today.

I sold my recliner when I got divorced. I'll have to buy a new one in the Spring. Glad the walker is giving him some stability. Boring day at work. No arrivals, no departures. Everyone was out skiing in the 24" of new snow. Now, I'm sitting at the FD, looking out at the snow-covered road. It's windy and the snow has definitely picked up again. I will be sooooo happy when Monday evening comes and the storms pass by for at least a day! OOTD: My gray Pact sweatshirt dress. Perfect for today. Black Woolx leggings underneath. My one coral plaid scarf that I picked up in Florence a few years ago. And for fun, some lace-top socks to stick out from the tops of my grey wool booties!!

Oh dear, poor Les. Give him my love. Does he have a recliner chair? That's going a be a best friend to him after his shoulder surgery! I had a friend recommend one to me before my first surgery years ago. I loved that chair! Lived in it for weeks. Trying to sleep with shoulder surgery is brutal - the recliner makes it almost tolerable. We're not as cold as CO, but we've got a Winter Storm Warning still in effect until Monday at 5pm. Yesterday was brutal - the wind was howling and causing whiteouts. Not fun skiing for my owners and guests. Not fun driving home last night. 2WD cars slipping & sliding down the Mine Rd, wind blowing snow over the roads and couldn't see. Took 45 minutes for my 10 mi drive last night - usually 15-20. Tonight was a little better with no winds, but the roads weren't very plowed when I went down. Only 30 minutes to get home tonight. At least my driveway is getting plowed!! OOTD: My black flowered hoodie (I love that thing!), my black jeans and a new little scarf/bandana to keep my neck covered and a little warm when the door opens in the lobby and lets all that cold air in.

Tell Les I'm sorry to hear about the diagnosis. We can be "healing buddies" this summer. The sling is a good idea - it will let it rest. OOTD: Heading to the pharmacy to pick up my Valtrex refill and get some food for the work week. It's actually a break in the snow today, but a little chilly (20f right now). So, Woolx leggings, long sleeve T, my tall Sorels (because I love 'em with leggings), Patagonia jacket and my knit bear toque.

Hi Lois! I thought of you and the others in FL when I saw reports of the storms and tornados in the state. I think we'e all in for another winter of weird weather. I had snow squalls yesterday evening and overnight. The wind was howling pretty good and at times I couldn't see across to the houses 100yds away. First time this Winter that I needed my driveway plowed - he got here half an hour ago. More snow supposed to come the rest of the week. Skiers and riders will be happy. Just happy that I'm not in PA with my niece - she got totally dumped on! The snow was up over the bottom of her car and she had to dig it out to get to work!! Thank goodness I'm feeling a little better today. But, I'm glad that I have today and tomorrow off to get totally better. OOTD: rerun of yesterday. Why not? I'm not going anywhere 😸

It was the Hotel de Tourny. Great location I thought. Easy walk everywhere. In a quiet neighborhood. There is a Paul down the street to grab your cafe e croissant 🙂 Yes, they had single rooms. It actually felt rather airy. I booked it via their website.

I'll vouch for Da Cesare in Rome. It's outside of the Centro Storico but extremely easy to get to. It's at the end of the #8 tram line at Casaletto. It is a casual place and it's outside looks belie the yumminess inside. The appetizer of fried gnocchi in cacio e pepe is to die for!

That is what do OTC - 4x200mg or usually 3x200mg. Yeah, that snow did miss us. The local radio station was getting everyone pumped up for 10" of snow. Our side of the Wasatch got maybe 1". The Cottonwoods side did get 10". That's where my one owner was stuck for 4 hours getting home. We're supposed to get 4" today, 10" tomorrow and 7" Friday. I'm sooooo happy I have my snowplow guy this time! I'm off work yesterday and today. Woke up yesterday with what felt like the start of a cold. Went to work, but my co-worker sent me home. We had no work to do and she didn't want me sitting there sick (and getting her sick). Today I added a sore throat to it. Nothing at work, so I stayed home. I'm off Wed and Thu so hopefully I can get rid of whatever this crud is. Saw my opthalmologist yesterday. Right eye was looking good, no spots on the back. The left has a little something new so she wants me to keep on the Valtrex and come back in 4 months to get another photo. May is getting busy with appointments! OOTD: light red Vuori Performance Joggers, faded yellow Laguna Sport hoodie sweatshirt. About as comfy as I can be.

I'm pretty sure my biceps tendon is involved - there's more than just shoulder bone and/or rotator cuff/labrum pain this time. Is he OK with NSAIDs like Advil? That's my drug of choice right now. I pop 3 every night and maybe 4 if it is hurting a lot after work. I figured 3 is OK since you can buy double-strength Advil up in Canada and that would be 2 tablets = 4 US. I suck it up the rest of the day. I have been told I have an extremely high pain tolerance. Like my shattered leg was an annoyance and I flew back from Florence overnighting at CDG and 2 more connections with just Advil. No money today, but I did get a nice bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon, Paraduxx, from a departing guest as a tip. I'll take it!! Vivino has it at $41, so that's more that what I would spend. If you don't have the Vivino app, give it a try! You take a photo of the bottle label and it tells you all sorts of stuff, ratings, taste, price. My OOTD was: black jeans, white w/ pink stripes short sleeve T and the alpaca short cardigan I picked up at the Real Housewives consignment store. Brought my Patagonia down shell and my knitted bear toque that I bought at the Fortress of the Bear in Sitka in case it snowed. It only spit for a little bit and stopped before I left tonight.

Melody - so bummed about Les! That had to be one scary episode. Here, I was ready to tell him to "suck it up" with the shoulder until after the cruise - if I can deal with a blown shoulder for over a year, he could do a month. Keep him safe and warm until that cruise! I got another $100 from an owner today! He was stuck over the hill at another ski area last night and the road down that canyon was a parking lot. What usually takes about an hour took him 4 hours!!! He called and asked if I'd feed his sweet Lab, Maggie, and take her on a little "bladder relief" walk. I love walking our owner dogs so I didn't mind at all. So, my holiday tips are up to $650!!! The most ever. However, our guest renters are leaving no tips at all and mediocre beer in the fridges. OOTD: black jeans and my tan oversize sweatshirt with the cool tiger face on it. A light green plaid scarf that I got in Florence kept my neck warm.

I wish a cortisone injection would help me. But, it didn't last time... It's one of those things - I just know it has to get repaired. Finally a little spit of snow today. Make the tourist happy. Saw my friend Squirrel today. He's been "on vacation" I think - I've only seen him once before today in the last month. OOTD: jeans and a sweatshirt. Have to go pick up some meds and groceries.

Lois - I cry the first time I get my Rybelsus refill for the year. Then, the deductible is gone and it's tolerable the rest off the year. Holidays are done at the Lodge. I truly enjoyed seeing all my owners again. We had a good night sitting and chatting for hours on Saturday. I had one bad incident with an owner and a guest over moving ski equipment and supposedly a missing ski helmet. Somehow, they were both screaming at me for the problem. Condescending and mainsplaining pricks. I came up with an (expensive - $700 for replacement helmet & goggles) solution just to get them to shut up and go away. Next day, they both discovered they were wrong - the guest picked the wrong ski locker and the owner took the guest's helmet & goggles and later found his own. Did I get an apology from either??? Nope. Gotta love the hospitality business😒. Good thing the owner has the sweetest dog who comes to see me!! I have to get my shoulder fixed this summer. I had a trip and fall the other day and landed right on the shoulder again. So, I'm thinking no big vacation plans until maybe November (after surgery and rehab). BUT, I'm thinking about maybe going to Phoenix for a couple of days in May and seeing The Rolling Stones in concert there. That could get me through. Day off. OOTD: joggers and a Tshirt. Too tired from the Holidays to do anything.

I'm so sorry that happened to your mother. Hopefully It will be an unremarkable recovery for her. I keep forgetting about the TJ's Dal packets. I used to keep one in the pantry for a quick meal. A hectic couple of days at work. Worked an extra half hour each night and didn't take a lunch time. Friday and tonight were my baking cookies late afternoon thing and then wine & cheese at 4:30. Utah law makes me stay up in the lounge when we have the wine, so I can't do anything else until I finish that at around 6. I leave at 7 (usually), so I have to hope that no one bothers me so I can get things done that last hour. Another owner came in today and she gave me a Christmas "thank you." So, I'm now up to $550 for my vacation fund! OOTD: my Pact checked tunic, leggings. Easy peasy.

Thanks all. My antlers were just a festive addition to the work day. I had one more owner couple give me a nice $100 Christmas "thank you." I hadn't seen them all weekend and they left today. So, I was able to put in a total of $450 to my vacation fund! It was one of those 'wheels off the wagon' kind of afternoon. After 4pm, I'm alone. At 4:15 all sorts of things happened seemingly at once! I should be used to these after these years, but it still leaves me with serious brain freeze. Fortunately, it is my Friday so I don't care what happens tomorrow!! OOTD: my flowered hoodie and black jeans.

I think I enjoyed it a little too much!!! I was bouncing off walls!!! Back to work today. It's going to be a tad hectic with the most arrivals of the year so far. I think we're ready, but we never know!

Like Lois, I want to thank all the "girls" here for making it another good year here. Honestly, I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have all of you to "talk" to and bounce things off of. Bless you all. Santa was very kind to me, via my owners, this year. $350. One owner brought me a scrumptious batch of different types of cookies to nosh on. My owner who has the villa in Tuscany brought me tonight a big plate of Honeybaked ham and a bottle of Prosecco to drink with it because "no Italian nanna would let you have that ham without Prosecco". And one of my newer owners gave me a very nice bottle of Sancerre from the Loire Valley from his cellar. So, I'm on my way to some vacation and have good drink for awhile. OOTD: My blue reindeer Tshirt, Woolx Elle pants, my short black boots. A scarf and my deer antler headband completed the ensemble. Bad photo is me standing next to our deer at the Front Desk.

If I had a shipload of money, I'd spend some time at a couple of those hotels, too. As the saying goes, I've got champagne taste but a tap water pocketbook. It's usually a beer pocketbook, but I've downgraded 😏

As far as feeling "safe" from violence in Italy: I have 2 owners who own a villa in Tuscany and spend months at a time there. They travel from there to here via Rome. They just got back here to the Lodge last weekend. They said they saw no issues anywhere they went again. I will say, you would never know how wealthy they are by what they wear and carry. That could be one of their little secrets. The pickpocket and TMS issues have been around for decades. Just be aware and use your common sense - most people leave their common sense at home on vacations (from someone who works in the hospitality business).

Hmmm. Maybe I shouldn't cruise anymore. The only three that I don't agree with are that I drink (not much, but maybe a drink or 3 during the cruise), I don't get seasick and I probably could do without Internet (since I get it free, I don't worry). <insert LOTS of sarcasm>

The soup extravaganza sounds wonderfully yummy! Can't go wrong with soup! One of my owners made a gingerbread house and brought it down to put on the Front Desk. It's cute and so thoughtful. And I was smelling its wonderful scent all night long. I was given 2 Christmas gratuities from some owners yesterday, too. I call it the start of my vacation fund. During the first round of COVID, the company did give refunds of money if someone couldn't come. Then, it was allowing the guest to reschedule. I'm not sure what's happening now. The company manager is retiring at the end of the month so I don't know if a more compassionate stance will happen with people not being able to come. Another guest tried to get out of it because one of her kids broke his arm and won't be able to ski. That was a non-starter - the kid can come, do other things, even sit on his phone/tablet all day and play games. Yes, we're tough. We want our money 😉 All that money for a stay - it's one of the reasons I can't do Reservations. It's just too much to be calm when someone is spending more than I make in 2 years for a ski vacation! Last evening was the first time I felt really cold. It was a surprisingly damp cold. Cold again this evening (in the teens) but not damp. It just gets cold in the Lobby with everyone going in and out the Front door and people making deliveries. Our fireplace is broken (again) so we can't go sit at the fireplace to warm up. I ended up wearing my Patagonia jacket for the last hour. OOTD: my embroidered jeans, dark grey turtleneck, boots. And the Patagonia. Since it's bright red, it fits in with the season. Have a wonderful Christmas Eve and Christmas to my friends who celebrate.

Sherri - I'm working Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Years Eve and New Years. I don't mind at all. I usually volunteer for them. It's just me here. I'd rather work and allow a co-worker to have those days off, anyway. It should be mellow, other than doing the linens of one owner - I told her I'd do them so they don't get mixed in with rental linens like they did last year. One of our guests had to cancel her stay with us in 4 days. Family got COVID. She has to negotiate with management to get at least a credit for a later stay. Usually it's use it or lose it. But, at $6,000 a night, I'd fight to get what I could!!!

Holy Cow Cynthia!!! You are taking retirement seriously!!! I had no idea you were taking another cruise so quickly. When I lived in LA, I would drive past the Getty up on the bluff from PCH (aka Coast Highway) to/from work when I worked up the coast a little ways in Camarillo/Westlake. I never visited the mansion, though. It's impressive from the road. At one point, it was in danger of falling down the bluff from all the erosion and rains. 2 days off. Mostly owners in-house the rest of the holidays. Hopefully, that will make it nice. OOTD: yesterday, a checked long tunic, leggings and my tall boots. Today, joggers & a Tshirt. Not doing anything today.