Fifth Disease (Really, that's what it's called)

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
141

I have so many things to say today, I don’t know where to begin.

  • On the fashion front - I am feeling particularly tropical today, 'cause I’m wearing a really pretty blue/aquamarine skirt that’s printed with palm trees and tropical flowers. And I’m wearing a sparkly necklace, so I’m feeling particularly special.

  • On the cat front - My poor kitty had to stay overnight last night at the vet so they could get a urine sample from her. Turns out she has kidney & bladder stones - the bladder stone gets removed next week. They’re just going to leave the kidney one where it is. My poor Sunshine - I’m sure it’s going to get to the point where she never wants me to go near her, because she’s afraid of what will be next.

  • On the everything else front - When I go to pick up my poor baby today, I will be stopping in the liquor store to get some amaretto. No - neither one of us need to get drunk, I’m just planning on making Raspberry-Topped Amaretto Tarts tomorrow night. It’s funny - just as I clear out the last of one type of liquor ( a six-pack of beer, used to make beer bread last night), I get more. I’m not a drinker, actually. It just doesn’t taste good to me.

Susan

142

Oh - the SPOINNNG bit was a bed-couch. Player pianos don’t SPOIIINNNNNNGGGG unless it’s at the end of a drop from the fifth floor, and at that point they’re not so much a player piano anymore as a collection of splinters and bent piano parts.

Bed couches / sofabeds just should not be.

My parents have a player piano that they say they originally put in through a set of French doors. They also say that it took only four people to move it in.
Well, after moving it OUT and into their NEW house, (which fortunately has a porch almost the exact same height as the bed on my brother’s truck, so we didn’t have to shove the thing up any stairs) I have to say that either mom & dad completely misremembered only needing four people to get that beast up the stairs to their old house, or all four of those people can bench-press a fully grown Oliphaunt. Good gravy, that thing’s heavy.
It’s now in their new house and I am not ever moving it again. I swear those things must carry their own little portable Gravity Generator or something, because you wouldn’t think anything could weigh that much unless it had a foundation.

143

I have a desk like that. It’s black. I think it’s made of lead.

144

:eek: I’m not sure whether to gouge out my mental eye or to add Privacy Fence to the list of requirements for any future houses.

145

Sunspace, it might be made of player-pianotium, which I swear is the Heaviest Substance In The Known Universe, And All The Other Universes Besides. My dad’s got a drafting desk made out of the same thing, I think.
I’m pretty sure they had to hire the entire Olympic Wrestling And Weightlifting Teams to get that puppy into the house.

146

My first exposure (heh) to Speedos was 22 years ago. Picture it, Sicily, 1983… I went on a bus trip to Catania, which is a resort town on the island. I was sitting there, minding my own business, looking at the beach and beach denizens, when I espied a large, almost spherical, hairy Italian man in a Speedo. To this day, I twitch ever so slightly when I remember him…

In happier news, I think I’ve found a Dr I can deal with. He actually sat and talked to me about my health concerns, did a real exam, told me he didn’t like throwing pills at problems, and gave me some guidance and a plan of action. I get my fasting blood work done on Monday, and I’ll see him again in 4 weeks unless they find something scary in my blood. Most impressively, I think he spent about 20 minutes with me! The only downside is his office is just over an hour from work and almost 40 minutes from the house. On the other hand, it’s adjacent to a hospital, which could be an advantage some day.

swampy, sweetcakes, you’re the MMP King of TMI this week. <shudder>

147

I guess that means you don’t want to know about the all-boy nudist camp that swampy, er, drove past the sign of a while back. :wink:

I have a privacy fence, but, unfortunately I do not have a pool. My nice nextdoor neighbor just put one in but I don’t think he’d be very happy about me and Mr. Anachi skinny-dipping in it.

I am pretty certain that we don’t have anything made of player-pianotium in our house. I see that’s a good thing. No basement or stairs neither.

148

I got my foot broke while moving a player piano onct. I don’t want to talk about it though, except to wonder who ever thought putting those little tiny metal wheels on something that heavy would be a good idea.

Aboot the fancy-schmantzy restaurant:

It was a big deal dinner for the director of the Chamber of Commerce and somebody (not me or Wifey) thought it would be a good idea to have it at the most expensive restaurant for 50 miles. But anyway-
It is in a renovated Victorian house, and it’s very nice inside, in a shabby/chic sorta way. When we got there they had some good wines for everybody, I had a beer, just because I wanted one. The wine was extra.
Anyway, once we commenced they served an appetizer of lobster flan. It was in a cup about the size of a silver dollar, but it was very good. Then we had crusty ‘artisan’ bread with butter.

Then we had our appetizers. I had a Salmon something-or-other. It was like a mousse but had a fancier name. It came with little pieces of crusty bread and sauteed onions to put on the bread withthe salmon stuff. It was very good.

My entree was boneless beef ribs with a (IIRC) burgangy glaze, ans sauteed veggies. There were even some sauteed fiddlehead ferns in there. Very tasty.

For dessert I had a white chocolate ravioli with apricots. Yum.

Wife had an asparagus with something thingy for an appetizer, Halibut with a horseradishy sauce for an entree, and a lemon merangue thingy for dessert.

I don’t remember all the fancy names for stuff, sorry. The presentation was very nice and artsy, and the staff was very attentive. I appreciated that.

Now for the kicker. the cost was $39.00 a person, plus an 18% gratuitity, and beer and wine was extra. Our (wifey and I) dinner was $101.00! :eek:

Now I like to eat, and I’m a pretty good cook, but I don’t think I’ll be going back there anytime soon.

149

We just have books. They’re heavy enough. I hate moving. The last person to live in our apartment was here for forty-seven years! Maybe we’ll stay until we’re 72. No, maybe not. Our books will need more room in a few years.

I need caffeine.

150

I can hardly believe there are so many people in the MMP Cool Kids Club that have relationships with player pianos.

Let me rephrase that.

Then again, this is the MMP. I’ll let it stand.

Still, it has to be a record. I not only don’t have one, I have never known anyone that has one.

On the pet front, I think, maybe, possibly, perhaps I saw what I think I saw, Flurry had some white fuzz on her tail! We may get tail fur yet!

Stay tuned for the continuing saga of the hairless ferret, at least until we get…

puppy pictures.

151

Seems like I saw a player piano recently, but I couldn’t tell you where it was. That’s the closest I get. Not really a relationship.
Puppy pictures, please.

Books, however, I have lots of. Yes, they’ve always been the heaviest part of what I was moving. I even got rid of a bunch last time I moved and still, I have about four very large bookcases full. Oops, forgot the closet. Maybe 6 large bookcases. In a very small house. I am never moving again. Really.
So, has anyone seen any puppy pictures, hanging around the MMP?

I’m not very good at remembering plots. I keep a list of what I’ve read. There are around 200 books since October 2002. Lots of mysteries. A few more serious books (mostly for the book group I belong to). Some relatively fluffy chick-lit. Maybe two non-fiction items. And those were probably for our book group.
Please, Unca Rue, we’d like some puppy pictures, pleeeeease!

Speedos, not such a good idea. How about some nice, not-too-short shorts? Good going on the weight loss, though, Bob!
My theory is that dangergene hasn’t returned due to the appalling lack of puppy pictures in the MMP.

Food: I’d like what Bumba and Mrs. Bumba ordered, with a nice amaretto rasperry tart provided by susan_foster. Instead, I’m having some tortellini with tomato, herbs, Asiago and goat cheese. Tasty, but not really as good as that fancy seafoody stuff.
You’re getting a real kick out of torturing us, aren’t you, Rue?

GT

152

Hey, I’m having tortellini tonight, too!

153

Excellent choice. What are you having with it?

GT

154

Truthfully, I’ve never liked player pianos. They make me feel as though I’m being cheated, of what, I don’t know.

Ah yes swampy, summer in the south. When it’s so muggy the air is green and your lungs feel liked they’re filled with pudding. But you don’t care because your will to live has been sucked out of you by the heat and it’s lying shriveled on the ground like somebody dropped one of those funky brown potato chips. It’s like that here too, only it gets to a hundred and twenty and there’s no polite folks possessing manners of any sort. Someone once called it Bagdad on the Border and it’s the only place in America that was ugly enough they shot Three Kings here. I missed meeting George Clooney by twenty minutes!

Plus nekkid men are great! The way I see it (hee hee), they’re either drool worthy or not. In which case you somehow manage to get them to run about. And nekkid men running is surely a sight.

The last time I moved I stopped counting boxes of books around number nine. And these were just the ones I loved so much I had to keep. I’d need an apartment just for books if I kept all I’ve read. My brother in law doesn’t read books, only cooking magazines, and that’s it. He says it makes him nervous to visit my place. Evidently books scare him. Yeah, there’s more than one reason I haven’t seen him in four years.

155

taxi, sweetie, trust me a privacy fence round the back yard is a good thing. That way, if nekkidness ensues, the neighbors don’t know. :smiley:

FCM I am the king of MMP TMI always and forever. Don’t ever forget that.

Speaking of pools and privacy fenced backyards… since I don’t get to see ACBG this week (we were supposed to have dinner tonight but he had to work later than he thought before his meeting… grr…) I decided to just relax in my pool when I got home today. I’ll let y’all decide whether or not I decided to wear anything. (Don’t forget about the privacy fence) Anyhoo, I got all relaxated and I feel real good right now.

Rue yer duct cleaners were shams! I bet they didn’t even have the decency to show buttcrack. HAH! Some duct cleaners they are!

I’m tired so I’m goin’ beddy bye. Y’all have a good night now!

156

Well, we certainly didn’t have any fancy-schmancy dinner tonight. Your dinner sounded very tasty Bumba. We ate Herfy’s take out again. I had a cheeseburger slathered with sauteed onions, mayo and all the fixin’s. It was sinfully good. I feel like I’m going to burst!

Well, the visit to the doctor’s office was…interesting. I explained what had been going on, how long, etc. I explained I don’t have any allergies and I’m not taking any medication. My blood pressure is decent (112/70) and my pulse was 76. This was with the nurse. Then the doc came in. I went through everything with him again, and gave him the timeline. He asked me why I waited this long and I explained that at first I thought it was just normal water weight gain that we women endure every month. I told him I started to worry when I gained eight pounds overnight and went through everything with him. At this point he happened to glance down at my feet and ankles (I was wearing sandals/slides). His eyes literally bugged out of his head. Now, this did not make me feel relaxed in the least. He exclaimed, “You’re sunburned!” I replied that I was NOT sunburned, that in fact, the bright redness was what really prompted me to make an appointment. At this point he looked at my arms too, which were turning red as well. Again, he said I was sunburned. At this point, he asked me to change into a gown (leaving bra and panties on), because he wanted to see the rest of my body. So, I obliged and he came back in to look me over. He checked my lungs and heart (all good). He kept talking about me being sunburned and at this point, I calmly, but firmly told him, that YES on May 28th (17 days ago) I got a little burned, but I am NOT burned now and in fact, have been very good about staying out of the sun and covering up. I told him that in the morning, I’m my usual pale self, but after I’ve been up a couple of hours things start turning pink and then red.

He mused out loud that perhaps I’d developed a light sensitivity. He asked me if I’d eaten anything new or unusual lately, to which I replied, “No”. Hmmm, says he. Light sensitivity is usually caused if you ingest something which your body does not like.

At any rate, I had to give blood and pee in a cup and we’ll see if anything turns up. His instructions are to stay out of the sun. Yeah, right says I. I explained that we just bought a boat and I fully intend to enjoy it. I also explained that I did use sunscreen and do use sunscreen. He interjected that I should use SPF 45 and I explained that I was already using SPF 30.

He had happened to glance through my medical history and was very intrigued by the fact that all during my 20s I had extremely elevated liver functions as well as a liver biopsy. The biopsy was unusual and I won’t go into it here. After the biopsy I followed up with blood tests every week. They never could figure out what was going on, so I gave up and quit going in. At any rate, nothing has really shown up since then so I guess it’s alright. However, he ordered extra tests on my blood because of that history.

So, unless something turns up in the labs I’m stuck dealing with this. He didn’t really want prescribe water pills for me. He could see that I’m still retaining water and asked if I’d lost any weight since the 8 pound gain. I told that I’d lost all of 3 pounds. So, no water pills either. Sheesh.

I’m gonna finish my fries and diet coke now.

P.S. I forgot to mention that Mr. Taters has been lurking here and on the rest of the SDMB, perhaps we’ll get him to join. I guess I’ll have to only say nice things about him from now on in.

157

Mr. Taters fork over the $14.95 and join up. You know you want to. Soon you’ll forget all about that silly ol’ boat cause you’ll be spending all your time on the Dope. BWAAAHAAHAAAHAAA!

Taters ick! I sure hope they find out what’s wrong soon.

I have to go torture…err… test somebody soon provided he shows up. He sounds like on of those I give about a 50/50 chance of not showing. Such is my life. Oh, and ACBG had a nurse up and quit on him yesterday! That means he’ll have to work all weekend. I’m a sad and mad swampy right now. Mean ol’ nurse! :frowning: :mad:

158

I’m not even going to mention the PP words. Nope! Somebody is just toying with our emotions. It’s quite cruel but I’m big enough to let it pass. I don’t know about some of you others, though. Some of you might just decide to boycott the MMP or sumpin’ like that. I’m just sayin’ is all. :wink:

I didn’t have no fancy schmancy dinner last night, neither. Just some cube steaks and corn on the cob. bumba, tell the truth. Did you feel like stoppin’ for a mega burger somewhere after you left the restaurant? I DO like all that artsy presentation stuff but, honestly, I’m usually still hungry after. Maybe it’s just me.

Mr. Taters, c’mon and join us. We have loads of fun!

Tupug

159

I had a doctor’s visit of my own yesterday, but it wasn’t as exciting as Taters’.

My stitches and staples came out, and 1 incision of 6 had a minor infection, quickly fixed with a shot of peroxide. I’ve officially lost 19 ponds to date from my pre-op baseline. I’m cleared to resume normal activity, provided I take the strenuous stuff slowly, and I can go back to work when I want (Monday).

Best of all, I can start the babyfood portion of the diet this weekend. I didn’t have the heart to tell him I already have… string cheese and blenderized boiled deli ham. I figured if I was pushing it, I’d learn quickly, 'cuz I’d ralph, but I haven’t yet.

160

Bobbio, 19 pounds. Tres svelte! You should mention to the wife you wanna go thong shopping. I bet she’d ralph at the thought. :smiley:

I got stood up. So no torture…err… testing today.