Quote by JamesLlewellyn

Cog, are you swiping toys from Store #4 – again?

I thought we had this conversation: What happens in Store Room #4 STAYS in Store Room #4 – WITH ALL THE TOYS!

No, no, no. I didn’t touch anything in Store room #4. Everything on the island is brand new. Think of this as a 'taste of Store Room #4’ for those traveling. This is just a little something for any Rumps regulars who are looking for a little extra ‘aloha’ while spending time on the islands.

On that note, I will take a to-go cup of the Picasso Private Blend. I need to head downstairs and claim a chair by the pool.

I was going to take a break from writing while on vacation. Of course, one day into my trip, an idea hit me.

My Wife’s Birthday Present

I am trying to move away from “just smut” and push myself as an author. I feel like I am getting there.

Now I will take a break. Maybe. 🤣

Quote by KimmiBeGood

Morning, Rumpies

Big snow… and I really mean BIG SNOW… hitting the Bluegrass this weekend. I’m freakin’ a little. If it comes, we’ll all be snowed in for days which causes me some anxiety. Loading up on supplies today…

Stay warm and stay safe. Sending you warmth and hugs from Maui.

It may not stop the snow, but hopefully it will ease your anxiety to know that Storage Room 7 is now fully setup and operational! You should have seen the look on the bellhop’s faces when I pulled up with 42 giant black plastic tubs! I then asked them to “line them up in the hallway" outside a random door. What they didn’t know is that the door leads to the only storage room on property with an ocean view.

If anyone is in West Maui, let me know and I will share the key code for the door. Gotta keep it locked to prevent little ones from wandering in.

This is going to be EPIC!

Good morning and Aloha! Still mid-morning on Maui. And it’s a brisk 72 degrees. No worries, as it will jump up to a comfortable 78 degrees soon!

Quote by techgoddess

So, my garage door excitement was short lived. The installers didn’t include handles or locks. 🙈It’s always something. I’ve been told they will fix that. The question is when. 😫

Sorry about the handles and locks, Kat. I too would have just assumed that they were part of the package. Hopefully they can get those installed soon!

Nope. I am in my early-50’s. People tell me I look like I am in mid-to-late 30’s. That feels like a stretch. But I absolutely do not look like I am in my 50’s.

Wow…. First one in today. Yes, it’s early on the islands. But it’s late-morning for those on the east coast. Hmm…. This is, um, new.

Let’s start with some fresh beans that I grabbed yesterday. Hana Bliss from the best coffee shop in Maui, maybe the entire United States.

Teapot is cleaned and going. Just Yorkshire today. Everyone knows the process if you want something else

And here are some chill island tunes to start your day - Islands to Nashville by Common Kings.

(Sorry for not embedding the song directly - my iPhone is not playing nice today.)

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=V7_RutYo52o

Quote by techgoddess

Going for the Omnium Badge (a story in every category) made me stretch a lot and helped me try out new things.

Funny. I’ve actually been looking at some ideas I have that are not fully flushed out and then wondering “How would the story look different if went with genre A vs B?”

Aloha, Rumps! First sunrise in Maui should happen in around 15 minutes. Grabbing a cup ‘o Joe to tide me over until i get to the original Kick Ass Coffee store.

And speaking of “store”, I will look for an adequate place for a new Store Room #5. You’ll know it by the “KBG” sign on the door. 😊

Happy Friday, Rumps. Fly-by to grab some coffee. At the airport this morning. Next stop… Maui! Hope everyone has an amazing day!

Quote by fillelapine

Steals all the chocolate cream filled for myself and hides in storeroom #4!

Hehe. “cream filled” 😂

Okay, I am better now. Grabbing some tea and heading back to the office.

Quick fly by...

Grabbing some coffee and getting ready to fight traffic and start my week. Have a great day, everyone!

<edit> Just noticed the amazing songs playing this morning. Maybe I’ll sit down and have my first cup here. Then I’ll grab a second for the road.

Quote by Mandapanda2025

I would not mind replacing the one in the pipeline with the more complete version.

After you publish a story, you can go back and edit it. The key is to edit it within Lush (as opposed to doing a full ‘copy and paste’). If you tell the mods what you edited, they can see the changes and it should get fast tracked through the approval process.

Quote by fuzzy1954

Best get this 3rd set playing which I shall honour one and only Bob Weir, founding member of Grateful Dead and lately of Dead and Company he was a young 78.

Rest peaceful Bobby, I can only dream of the jam session with Jerry in heaven.

I finally came out of the Storage Room #4 yesterday afternoon. Had to watch a little football. Thanks for letting us newbies know about your stash, Kimmi. Everything is cleaned up and put back in it’s original place

Sad day for my Green Bay Packers. That’s all I can stomach to say today about that.

I also saw the news about Bob Weir. RIP Bobby. You will be missed. I’ve been a deadhead since college. I have seen the Dead several times, as well as Dead and Company. I still recall being at Jerry’s last show in Chicago a month before he passed away in 1995. Such an amazing group of people.

Folgers Lion? Really???

Congratulations, MC1982, cliff_edger, LYFBUZ and JamesLlewellyn!

Quote by JamesLlewellyn

And Cog – if you're going to be a regular in Store Room #4, just remember – there's a bucket and mop just outside the door, 'K?

<sticking my head out of Store Room #4> Gotchya!

<closing door to Store Room #4>

Quote by JamesLlewellyn

Our favourite GF baker was there, which is nice because we get home-baked gluten-free bread every week!

<sticking my head out of Store Room #4, again> Jealous. I am GF and it is hard to find good, fresh GF bakery items.

So… Mop, check. Tasty food, check. Um, can someone please bring me some coffee? No need to knock.

<closing door to Store Room #4>

Quote by KimmiBeGood

I’ll let you play with my toys in storeroom #4. I have a variety. Take a peek… if you dare! 😈

Why didn’t anyone tell me about this when I stumbled in??? 🤣

Morning Rumps!

Quote by fuzzy1954

☘️

This would NEVER happened IF the driver HAD complied to GET OUT of her vehicle.

Yes, a lot of things could have played out differently. The whole situation is just unfortunate on many levels. Despite the chaos, I can take some comfort in the fact that there has not been any violence since the tragic event took place.

Back to more positive programming… The sun is out here for the first time in weeks. I thrive on sunshine, so I am happy. We dodged a snow/ice storm last night. All good things! And I am looking forward to a quiet day today and a weekend full of football. Go Pack Go!

I hope everyone has an amazing Friday!!

Quote by techgoddess

So much for 2026 being a better year. 🙁

Technically, it’s early. We’ve got 357 days to turn this ship around. Maybe. Hopefully.

Morning, Rumps. It’s been a week. And yesterday's ICE shooting here in Minneapolis… Yeah, fucked up. I am spinning a little. Or a lot.

Regardless of where you are on the political spectrum, it should NEVER go this far.

Grabbing a to-go cup of the Lumberjack coffee blend and heading out to start my day. Extra cream today, please, to hopefully cut down on my bitter mood.

Happy Birthday, Kis!

Quote by wxt55uk

For me, it took about 2 years, but things can change quickly. I wrote a short I/F series and picked up 268 followers in a month... So, I went from something like 30 to around 300 followers in one month based on those 4 stories. I always wondered if that was a monthly Lush follower record. 😳

That’s crazy! It seems like are certain categories - I/F stories being one of them - that get a lot of reads, which I assume translates to followers.

I just realized that I hit 100 followers over the weekend! Started looking at my story stats. I joined Lush 67 days ago. I’ve published 8 stories (well, four “real” stories, one of which was spread across five chapters). And I’ve had almost 25,000 reads. I know that doesn’t sound like much. But I am feeling very humbled right now. 😊

Quote by Seeker4

Here's the band I am currently obsessing over. Very talented young ladies from Argentina.

Thanks for sharing, Ape. I like it. I will have to check out their other material.

Quote by fuzzy1954

Dropping off 6 full racks of Kansas City BBQ ribs & Cole slaw; can't have BBQ without Kansas City Boulevard Wheat beer as we all enjoy football.

🏉

I’ve got friends and family in the KC area. Love me some good KC BBQ and Boulevard. Granted, I went gluten free several years ago, which makes Boulevard and corn bread a no-go now. 😢

Watching the Packers right now. Nothing to play for this weekend. We have the 7th seed locked up. They are playing mostly 2nd and 3rd string players. Feels like August. Meh.

Quote by Seeker4

Good luck. I have some of my team going for AI development training later this month for a major project we've kicked off. I'm just project manager, not doing any dev work myself, so I am not taking it. Leaving it to the pros, so to speak. 😋

Small world. I spent a good chunk of my career in the PM space. Now I straddle that and digital product management.

Before I became a project manager, I was developer (20-30 years ago). I will always be a bit of a tech nerd and am fascinated by emerging technologies. My company doesn’t pay for any “technical” AI training, so I just do on my own.

Quote by KimmiBeGood

I’m so jealous! My cat Butters would never let me sleep anywhere close to 10am.

My dog is up at 6am every day! She will lay there, patiently waiting, until 8am on weekends. But then the “I am bored” whimpering starts. She doesn’t necessarily need to go outside, she’s not a breakfast/food motivated dog. She just gets bored being locked in a room with her people.

My wife got up earlier than me this morning and took care of her, so I was free to be lazy. It was wonderful!

Quote by Seeker4

Trying to write but I just don't seem to be engaged at the moment. Kind of poking around, learning stuff about Linux instead of actually writing. Oh well. The mood will hit me sooner or later.

I am in the reverse boat. I really need to focus on some AI certifications I’ve been pursuing and maybe dive deeper Peyton. But I keep coming up with new story ideas and I feel like I need to put words on paper. Sigh.

Quote by wxt55uk

I wasn't going to drop by Rumpee's today, but I got something to celebrate: 500 Lush followers. 😊

Congratulations, David! That is awesome!!

Quote by techgoddess

Three of us enjoyed the movie “Song Sung Blue” last night. I knew that Hugh Jackman could sing, but I didn’t know that Kate Hudson had such an incredible voice.

I have heard good things about the move.

The funny thing is that I had friends who went to college at UW Milwaukee in the early 90s. I’ve seen Thunder and Lightning several times, including when they performed with Eddie Vedder during a Pearl Jam concert at Summerfest in 1995.

Quote by fuzzy1954

This here's the question is three sets enough or does everyone's souls ask for more??

More. The answers is always ‘more’. ❤️🎶

Oh, and Happy 2026 everyone!!!!

Morning, Rumps!

Happy NYE to each and every one of you, including those who I have not met yet.

Just a quick fly by this morning. A little 454 Horse Power coffee blend with a dash or cream in my travel mug, and I am out the door to run some errands.