Spoke a bit too soon. After her breakfast, she went in and pooped on the pee pad we have in front of her box. At least it wasn’t on the floor.
nothing like an east coast earthquake 4.7or 8. here in philly it felt like a heavy truck. some felt it, some didn’t. shut down air traffic for a bit and they are checking the various tracks.
the east coast has a lot of granite, granite really zings, so a shake can be felt a long way away.
of course, some people are doing the end of the world thing with an eclipse coming and now an earthquake. not to mention the crazy rain and flooding. good times.
And a good late morning to all. Did the Firday shopping (Razor blades are ridiculously high-priced, IMHO) and then went to Sunny Street Cafe, where they piled 4 large, fluffy buttermilk pancakes with plenty of butter and syrup in front of me, which I then made disappear in no time. So I am stuffed and the calorie-counting part of my brain may be going crazy, but I don’t give a damn, that was good eating! Home now letting it all digest, will take myself off to the gym for swimming a little later followed by coaching (cashing) 7 year olds at the soccer field, so I’ll work some of that off.
Hope the East Coasters are not to shaken.
Cookie, hoping for the best for Q’itih.
red, I hear ya, last week I though I was done with the space heater, it’s at work right now…
FCM, presuming you don;t have some weird type of prescription, the only thing I can think of is that the order got put on the wrong desk and just sat there for days. Hopefully they will get their act together.
IL, travel is never simple (or at least that is not the way to bet), but glad you’re with family and hopefully you can get some R&R.
And don’t forget all the grumpy and absent-minded, but loving uncles…
Have a good afternoon all as the stuffed rat meanders though the day.
The office manager said something about having to call the insurance company. I don’t know - I’ve been with VSP for ages and there’s never been a problem before. So I’m waiting for a callback.
First load in the dryer, second in the washer, one more after that. Good times!
If you recall from last week, we met a local schoolteacher in the parking lot of our local Mexican restaurant to give him the dead woman’s old Kindle that was found last year. We were going to have our early dinner, but the teacher said there had been a fire and the restaurant would be closed for a week. It turns out that it’s going to be closed for at least a month. 
Such a lot of woes and sorrows in the MMP today! I hope none of our east coast Dopers were too rattled by the quake.
I forgot to mention that the maintenance guy came to replace lightbulbs only two hours after my request. Hooray! He replaced all for kitchen lights with much brighter bulbs. My kitchen is now so bright, you could do surgery on a gnat in there, but it’s a cold light.
MetalMouse, I read that horrifying story days ago, and it has haunted me, too. It affects you so much because you’re a compassionate, empathetic human being. I had to spend some time reading about excellent parents and dogs who rescued their owners. This reminds me of when my daughter was nine and insisted on reading Romeo and Juliet. She’d been begging me for months. We read one scene every night. The last night, we read two scenes, and I told her to go right to sleep, as it was late. 30 minutes later, I caught her reading a comic book. “I was so depressed, I had to read an Archie comic,” she said.
Sometimes, we adults have to read the equivalent of an Archie comic book, not to forget, but to remind ourselves there’s goodness and comfort in the world.
Thank you for attending my TED talk.
FCM, I’m sorry your MIL is having a rough day, which means a rough day for you and FCD, too. When is her next doctor appointment? And I hope you get your specs in secs, or at least within the next few days. Are they open on Saturdays?
flyboy, I’m sorry about the restaurant.
Hugs to all!
I’ve fallen a bit behind, so I’m sure I’ve missed some things, but…
JtC, sorry the house didn’t work out. I’m sure you’ll find something you love!
Sticky, so sorry about your father. It’s a big shock to the system to lose a parent, even when you’re expecting it. You are paying him an excellent tribute.
Sari, you seem to be the one person in the world who’s been reluctant to cut B/H Mom out of your life. She seems to be the type who drives everyone away with her negativity. You do not owe her anything. Don’t feel guilty.
I just got offered three weeks in Wisconsin immediately following my two weeks in Indiana. I accepted because I need the money, but I don’t want that to happen too often. At least I will be home for the weekend in between. And I made myself unavailable for the following week, just in case.
Mrs W is finishing up getting ready and then we’ll head over to the hotel. I just need to put my shoes on, so I’m hanging on the couch with you folks. Happy Firday all!
Started Typing: 1:49 PM ET
Clicked Reply: 2:56 PM ET
I have a lot of family in NJ/NYC, and as soon as I heard about the earthquake I texted the cousin I’m closest to. Her father was one of the uncles I lost last year; her mother is 83 with mobility issues and terrible eyesight and dementia, and had to move in with her and her family. Anyway, when my cousin texted back that everyone was alright she gave me an update on her mom (my aunt): a week or two ago she developed a terrible bacterial infection and they had to take her to the hospital, and she recovered but now she isn’t walking. Or eating. She’s in a subacute rehab, and isn’t responding to treatment. And, the doctor said her dementia is now end-stage. Next week the rehab center is going to evaluate her for either hospice or long-term care. I was already planning a visit in June, because my cousin and I have tickets for a show, but now I’ve made arrangements for a quick trip up there in two weeks. It’s possible my aunt will still be mostly OK in June, but if she dies before then and I could have seen her I’ll feel horrible. If I do get to see her again in two months, it’ll be a bonus.
So, that’s the bad news.
The good news? When I go up there, I’ll be staying on an alpaca farm! 
In that part of NJ there aren’t really any hotels/motels: there are 1-2 ski resorts, and a couple of B&Bs. The B&B I used to always stay at went downhill after a change in owners, and the other one’s owner is kinda creepy, so when I was there in September for a family wedding I used Airbnb for the first time: I loved the ski resort condo I stayed in but it isn’t available, so I poked around and found this cottage on a farm! The location is perfect: it’s halfway between my cousin’s house and the rehab center. It’ll be pretty much the opposite of a ski resort condo, but it sounds comfortable and quiet and I’m liking that idea. Plus…yanno…alpacas.
In about 30 minutes I get to be a fly on the wall for a (hopefully short) conversation between one of our subcontractor companies and one of our hiring managers regarding a position that’s open (I’ll be listening just in case any general staffing questions come up), and then it will be time to take Bailey to the vet. She’ll be getting her next Bordatella vaccination – which now she’ll need in two weeks – and I also want to ask the doc about possible arthritis/pain med options. Work is quiet enough that when I log off for that I can be done for the day.
There’s some live jazz in DC tonight that I was thinking about going to, but turns out I’m still pretty firmly in hermit/“don’t wanna” mode. So once we get back from the vet, it’ll just be us and the couch for the evening. I have a couple of shows to catch up on, but I recently started re-watching How I Met Your Mother – first viewing since it aired – and it’s holding up quite well. It’s great for binge-watching.
The Ojai cookies were very good! I tend to like lemon-flavored things, and I like soft cookies.
Milanos are far and away the best Pepperidge Farm cookies. 
All of the Milano flavors are good – orange chocolate is yum! – but I think my favorite is mint. I also have a weakness for the shortbread Dublin cookies.
Oh no!
Oh, I’m so sorry. 
Ugh! Like you said, better to find out now, but…meh.
Reminds me of a FB status I posted a few years ago on a beautiful, all-the-windows-open day: “Nature is wonderful and beautiful and amazing and this woodpecker needs to STFU.” Heh.
Hi metal mouse the same thing happened to me earlier this week. On Monday as I lay in bed before falling asleep I was checking Instagram and someone had posted about the awful hospital annihilation in Gaza so when I woke up on Tuesday morning I was feeling very bad about it but then I read about the aid workers from World Central Kitchen being killed and I was even more upset. When I send a good morning text to my daughter each morning, I end it with a few emojis. On Tuesday morning I sent a tearful face. As I went about the tasks of the day, I pulled out of it a bit, was never happy but not totally upset. Then in the evening after dinner, we got the news that our neighbor directly across the street, Hubs bud, passed. So, back into very sad mode. So, a lot of prayers have been said this week.
So, to answer JtC as far as how long it’s going to take until being 24/7 caretaker diminishes. Not sure, a while yet, since he does not have much strength and can’t do any of the household tasks . . . except that he has retaken writing checks to pay the bills. Yes, it’s been difficult (and mowing the lawn hasn’t even started yet) but it’s a lot better than the alternative, which would be if Hubs hadn’t survived the Stem Cell Transplant. My heart is breaking for Hubs’ buds’ wife. We really aren’t friends, we’re friendly if we see each other but that generally was a once every 4 years kind of thing as she is somewhat of a hermit. But we went over to see Hubs bud about 3-4 weeks ago and he looked fine even though he had stage 4 lung cancer. He was dressed in shirt and tie and stood on his porch talking to us. Then about 2-3 weeks ago he began hospice at home. About a week ago he was put on morphine and a hospital bed was delivered last week Thursday so he didn’t have to go up and down the stairs. Then we got the news on Tuesday evening; so sad, just 74.
So, I’d much much much rather be very frazzled and tired with a million tasks that don’t all get done and my hands be in such bad shape from all the tasks and people annoying me over various things for Hubs than be sitting here alone.
So far today, I W’dFH then called my boss and asked for a raise. He agrees I deserve one and will put in for it but he doesn’t have a lot of hope as he recently put in for other staff and it doesn’t seem they are going to be approved. Then I got breakfast for Hubs, wrote out a grocery list, checked Hubs phone to ensure he had downloaded the digital coupons, sheveled, fed the fish (not sure I’ve mentioned the stupid fish but unless daughter is here, I have to deal with them as Hubs is not allowed to take care of them due to germs or mold or whatnot), went to Kroger, although I wasn’t able to complete my list as I suddenly needed to use the restroom so I just grabbed the critical things and hustled home. As I got out of the car, phone rings and it’s the delivery guy for the week’s infusion supplies calling to set up the delivery time. Ran into house and relieved self then put groceries away. Then checked on Hubs and made him lunch. Started a Word document detailing specifics for daughter on taking care of Hubs while I’m away over the weekend. Scraped the fish tank for algae, added algaefix to the tank, checked the pH and for the first time since I’ve been stuck taking care of the fish, the pH was in range. Then added water to the tank and refilled the bucket and added water conditioner to it. Called the insurance agent and a nice young man answered and said she wasn’t available and how could he help me. As a woman who endured my share of discrimination in business, I prefer to deal with a competent woman. I haven’t been able to speak to her in a long long time so since the premium isn’t due until next week I told the young man with the pleasant phone voice that no, I would prefer to speak to my agent and would he please ask her to call me. He’s not sure if she’ll have time today. If she doesn’t call me back, I’m strongly thinking about changing agents.
I bought a package of chicken breasts so I need to repackage half of them for the freezer and marinate the other half. Need to get sheets in the washing machine and do more dishes. I’d also like to workout as I haven’t done so since Tuesday. And then I need to pack so I can leave earlyish tomorrow. So, I’d better get off this chair and get it in gear.
Oopsie so sorry to hear your aunt is not doing well; as it’s been said it’s truly heck getting old. I think it’s very wise to take a quick trip up there in 2 weeks. I didn’t realize I’ve said this a number of times but my sister recently reminded me that I’ve said it’s better to take the time to see loved ones while they are alive rather than the alternative.
My favorite nurse at the Stem Cell Transplant clinic is originally from Tennessee. She lives on a small farm now in the Mitten and has 5 alpaca; they’re all women and are named Reba, Dolly, Patsy, Loretta and Tammy. She told us yesterday that it’s almost time to get them sheared. She’s going to send the fibers to get them spun into thread then give to some knitters to make caps that she will then give to the patients in the Stem Cell Transplant program. I have some alpaca socks and they are the softest and warmest. I wear them to bed at night.
Enjoy your stay on the alpaca farm.
Well the delivery guy came and I jumped up to get the package and put the medication packs in the refrigerator. I really didn’t need any tubing but I said I’d take one for a spare; they sent 3 packs of tubing. Now I really am going to start executing the tasks on my To Do list.
JtC, last time we were house-hunting, we pulled out when we learned that the crawlspace was inaccessible due to original rebar stuck in concrete, meaning, among other things, that no one had inspected the HVAC or under-house plumbing since the house was built. Nope. Better to find out now.
After the exhausting shower, MIL went back to sleep for 3 hours. She got up and dressed, had some cucumber salad and some fruit, folded a week’s worth of her unders and socks, put them away, then went back to bed. She seems to think she’s eating a lot, but I doubt she eats 1000 calories a day - maybe not even 800 - no wonder she’s losing weight. It’s not good. Maybe I’m overreacting.
Other than that, a big nothing of a day.
I greatly appreciate everyone’s warm concern and admonitions to take care of myself as well. But you know what, it’s hard to do that a lot of the time. One problem is that I rarely take the time to drink fluids anymore. I’ve been feeling particularly dehydrated today and that’s not good. I absolutely do not want to get kidney stones again; absolute blanking worst pain in my life. So, I’m back again because I’m taking the time to drink a large glass of water while sitting down instead a sip here and there while on my feet.
The insurance agent called me back and she was so sweet I think butter was melting in her mouth. So, that’s taken care of. Two chicken breasts are in the brine (not marinade, I couldn’t remember the correct word earlier) and the other two chicken breasts have been repackaged and are in the freezer. Decided to do darks/cold water wash and that’s going. Will do sheets tomorrow morning and daughter can hang them up after I leave. Fetched A&W root beer from downstairs for Hubs. Also folded and put away yesterday’s wash.
I understand about MIL thinking she’s eating a lot. The Drs ask Hubs how much he is eating and drinking and his replies haven’t matched reality. I have to nag him to get him to drink enough fluids and he doesn’t, even though I point out that the pills require copious amounts of fluid and remind him that the Drs want him to drink more. He’s now eating more; part of the problem in the first month after he was out of the hospital is that the chemo had totally killed his taste buds and nothing tasted good to him. He’s slowly getting some taste back but not totally.
Ok, water drank, time to go wash some dishes.
Howdy Y’all! I make some dang good chikin soup if’n I do say so myself. We et some today, will eat some tomorrow and the rest is in containers in da freezer for future slurpin’. We are not delicate soup eaters. Miss Manners would clutch her pearls and fall onto her faintin’ couch if she heard us eat soup. Sloth, nappage, and day drinkin’ have also been accomplished. Now 'tis time for some Netflix, chill, and popcorn.
shoe you also have one grumpy old guncle on your side.
Glad all you northeast coasters didn’t get shook up too badly in the earthquake part of the apocalypse. Now if we can get those who will be in the path of the eclipse part of the apocalypse to survive, we might just be OK.
IL glad y’all made it safe and sound. Enjoy the visit with the various relatives.
Wheelie yay for the extra irk, I guess. You’re right, you wouldn’t want too many like that too many weeks in a row. Enjoy Mrs. Wheelie’s bday weekend!
Oopsie although the reason for the visit is sad, how cool is it you get to stay on an alpaca farm! Hope you get to at least see, if not pet some alpacas.
Friday chores are done. I ordered groceries from the big Kroger instead of my usual one today. I usually go inside to shop at the little one, but there are some things that they don’t carry, so now and again, I’ll order from the big one (I absolutely hate going inside that one). Never again!
When I got my order home, they had tied the handles shut on all of the bags, meaning that I had to come inside to get a couple of my usual cloth bags to bring groceries in. That, along with the order labels sticking to multiple bags made all of them un-reusable and un-recycleable. To top it off, I forgot to tick the box requesting no substitutions and they made some weird ones that will leave me going to the store tomorrow to replace a couple of them (WTF? canned tomatoes for fresh Romas? Sugared / flavored yogurt for plain? That one, I’ll be giving to my neighbor who doesn’t have to watch her BG).
So much for my exciting day.
Sun Tai chi really does help with back pain.
There are different types of skin cancer. I had a bit taken off me back when I was in my early 30’s and while it changed my life, I never considered myself to be a cancer survivor. I started avoiding letting the sun touch my skin and changed how I dressed but that was because I did not want to become a cancer survivor sometime in the future.
I’ll bet it’s a Cardinal. I’ve never wanted to kill a bird as much as I wanted to kill the asshole that would sit next to our bedroom at the crack of dawn and use our window to help reverb his mating call. I was so happy when that fucker finally got laid.
Add me to the list of crabby aunts who love you. Do remember that I will be in Dallas this weekend and I still carry a big cane…
Please do report back, I could use some help with my weight too.
Yes! Do this and enjoy your time with your family.
I totally understand and I admire you for being able to do it all by yourself. I’m just ignorant about how long it takes to recover from something like that.
Can you get a large insulated cup that you can fill with water and keep close to you?
I HATE it when they do that. I try to always use my bags, but it seems like every time I forget them, someone ties the bags closed. Usually after double bagging one item. GRRRR.
So, I’m almost packed, I just have a few last minute things to toss in my suitcase in the morning and I still have to pack up my stitching but I can do that tonight.
Hubs wants me to take the laptop with me because he thinks I will need it. I used to carry it with me every time I was gone overnight or longer and most of the time I never took it out of it’s bag. Oh well, it is small and it won’t hurt for me to drag it around this trip.
I’m in the process of making a dozen scotch eggs, two for dinner and the rest for hubs to eat while I’m gone. I also made a batch of egg bites and baked a lb of bacon for his breakfasts and put together a tamale casserole for him to bake tomorrow or Sunday.
I know hubs won’t eat any rabbit food while I’m gone so didn’t bother putting a salad together. I gave the salad stuff to chicken guy so it wouldn’t go bad while I was gone. The eggs I got in exchange were slightly bigger than quail eggs so he gave me three dozen eggs to be sure I had enough, LOL!
He’s been looking at other homes in WV and has sent his cousins out on scouting trips, so he will have places to look at when he gets there next week.
Usual heaving. Did get sent home a bit before everything was done, probably to make up for all the extra hours on Wednesday. I napped. I dreamed I found part of the bar rail from the Bistro lying in the road, so I brought it to them in my truck. I ordered a beer, but the gave me a Mic Ultra. 
then I took my hefeweizen and went home, because one my friends gave me a bunch of medical paperwork to fill out. So now I’m sipping on an Obituary, and making some Cajun style fish and shrimp stew.
Hey! The rest of the virtual pseudo-family finds the potty mouth charming!
{{{{shoe}}}}
I’m sorry about your aund, Oopsie. But I guess alpacas will help a bit
Spot is due for his first visit for shots. This will not end well.
{{{{CatGlove and Hubs}}}}
{{{{FCM and FCMiL}}}}
Evening all. Swimming has been swum, soccer has been coached, and the Big Bowl O’Salad has been consumed. Need to work out my coaching plan for tomorrow’s games (need to get all the players in about the same amount of time) and get the stuff ready to go so I’m not rushing around at 7:15am trying to find stuff. They are predicting it will be about 42F at 8am tomorrow when I start, so need to be layered. Also signed up to referee in the afternoon, when it will get to the mid-50’s. All-in-all not a great spring day.
nellie. coaching 7 years olds with the attention span of a beagle puppy and just as lovable, will lift most spirits.
Wheelie, sounds like you’re getting to see the country…albeit very quickly and mostly from the place your working at.
Oopsie, hope your aunt recovers, but I sadly think you’re making the right choice to go sooner.Hope the alpaca B&B works out well, sounds like a treat.
Cat Glove, hang in there. I get weary just reading your list of things being done.
No, I don’t think you are. Any type of high-calorie food that she does like being available?
That would be a deal-breaker for me right there.
JtC, safe travels.
OK, better finish up, need to do a couple more things on-line, then work on the lineups, and then head off to bed, you probably won;'t hear from me until the afternoon on Sattiday. Have a good one all.
What about Boost or Ensure?
Legend, thanks! Hakodate is fairly close to where I live, about three hours from here.
One of my online students said she was in homeroom when the earthquake happened and that a classroom window broke.
SenWife and SenBoy are down in Taiwan now. The bike trip starts on Monday and goes through Hualien, the location of the earthquake. The school hasn’t decided exactly what they will do, but they were looking at alternative routes.
SenGirl and I are here by yourselves. She wanted to try some new dishes and found a YouTube short on deep fried ham-&-cheese stuffed chicken breast. It was a little more advanced than our typical cooking, but turned out not bad.
We also talked a lot about things that she remembers from her childhood. She’s got a lot of happy memories of things we did, including our special treat of going to McDonald’s when mommy was gone. It was a really nice day. We’ve got another week together although school starts Monday.