15th Dec

[Lavande]

Greetings to everyone,

We did end up with a light coating of snow last evening because the temp dropped to freezing. Roads were fine today except for the crazed shoppers. I need one more delivery from Amazon & my shopping for 2024 is done, haha! We stopped at a supermarket for some things & walked out with a free ham which we don’t eat. So we decided to gift it to an Amish family, they were delighted & sent us home with a package of freshly made beef bologna from a cow they recently had slaughtered. I don’t eat that either but YB probably will. Another family baked 8 loaves of spelt bread this morning & handed us one. Truly nice folks.

PQ, enjoy your 2 weeks of freedom, yay!!!
the main reason we started with air fryers was to save energy $$. I have 2 ovens in my kitchen, both electric & one is even a convection oven. But to heat up & bake in a full size oven costs a lot more than heating up a countertop oven. It’s definitely a $$ saver & time saver too. I still use my full size ovens from tine to time especially when roasting something large like a turkey or an oversized baking pan of something. I like having the option to choose.
Enjoy dinner with your brother.

Slo, what a shame about that young guy dying like that & with a brand new baby. I’ll never understand how these things happen.
Glad your Huxley time went as well as possible. I’ve been with grandkids in the doctor’s office too, such a thrill.
My ICU & hospital experience was a real eye opener but it answered a lot of lingering questions I had about former patients I had when I was working. It is scary when you’re coming out of an anesthesia/morphine haze & trying to figure out what’s going on. I had no clue whatsoever. I was admitted late on a Sunday evening & discharged the following Saturday morning. I couldn’t get out of there fast enough Lol.

Mick, I know you’re hands have been full, sorry you have another storm to deal with as well. At least you’re sleeping better now.
So next year’s pictures will be taken with a new camera & lens - cool!!!

Hello to Cyn, Pie & everyone.
Have a decent night all.

Lav

[Mick]

Hello everyone and how are we today then? Apologies for not being on the scene so much recently but things are a bit hectic over here. Julie's dad is still in hospital I think he will be there till at least after Christmas because with the work Julie has done, the consultant isn't very keen to discharge him to the care home without a multidisciplinary care assessment needs assessment and plan being put together full stop ina nutshell no one wants to take responsibility in case it goes pear-shaped. To be honest with you where he is now he's probably the best place for him we'll stop I was talking to my brother yesterday as well definitely issues there but he is so stubborn he makes me look like a saint. I will go and see him after Christmas it is pointless just now as the roads are pretty much snarled up all over the place. We are in the middle of another storm I don't know where they get them from having even a clue what this one's called but it's a certainly a wild one who start we are taking the van away just locally on Monday just simply for a break however if this keeps up and don't think that is going to be much you an option. Apart from that really not a lot to tell. Got the new mattress slept on it last night absolutely brilliant not sure if that is because the mattress is brilliant or I just needed sleep! I have traded in one of my lenses and got back a bit more actuallythan what I paid for it.. you can take the man out of Scotland but not Scotland out of the man! Saw in the new year I am buying another camera and lens to go with it. Hope everyone is okay and has a good weekend take care and look after yourself

[Slo]

Woo hoo, PQ! Let the two-week vacation begin! How is former childcare director doing?

The reason we were babysitting Huxley today is because they needed to attend the funeral of son-IL2’s work colleague from their small office. (They work for ex-HB). He was diagnosed suddenly with stomach cancer in September, and it was so advanced that he never returned to work; his stuff is still there. His wife was 38 weeks pregnant with their first child when he was diagnosed! So she delivered at the hospital he was at so he could attend the birth of his son, but he was too sick to be able to. He turned 37 in November, and died on Thanksgiving. His mother was hospitalized in the ICU at the same time he was, fighting her own advanced cancer. Geez!

We had an ok day with Huxley; getting him through a doctor visit that involved a shot and a blood draw (!); putting up with him at my house while awaiting my furniture delivery; driving him around to get a nap in; then taking him to a new activity gym, where his mom had made an appointment for him to play and meet a scary guy named Santa!
Afterwards Young Daughter & I treated ourselves to dinner out at a homey restaurant with great homemade potato pancakes.

Lav, that would be scary, being on a vent! Thankfully you made as well of a recovery as you did from the head injury -scary stuff.
I can almost picture the overly modern, cold new high school. And your other school with the charm of brick; mostly all burnt down. Out with the old, in with the ugly new.

G’night!

[porqoui]

MAE ALL...YAY It's Holiday Time YAY The last two days have been the longest I have gone through. The phone maybe rang 3 times, maybe had 4 emails that weren't spam and managed to sort out the 3 people who wanted to book on Jan 18th. I basically spent 2 days playing bridge on the computer and didn't feel guilty at all. LOL

Lav...first off, Happy Belated Birthday, sounds like you had a good day. No need to feel guilty about your weather, we are now above freezing and will remain that way throughout the Xmas break. Yay! No, I don't have an instant Pot, I really don't have any counter space. I'm thinking of an Air Fryer even if son keeps saying whatever you cook in the air fryer you can cook in the oven. I will investigate over the holidays and maybe pick something up on boxing day. I am going to brave the shops tomorrow, need a couple of things for the boys Xmas presents, then we've been invited to my brothers for dinner. It's been awhile since they've seen the boys and I always find out more of what's been going on with them when we're sitting around talking. LOL

Slo...yes, it was nice to have something to keep me occupied on Wednesday as Thursday & Friday really dragged. Sorry to hear about young daughter but glad it got figured out, even if she has to suffer through the antibiotic downside. This is day 15 of my quit and it's going ok. I've been a little cranky with the childcare director, I'm so done with listening to everything being about her, and the accountant who continues to screw up but of course she never makes a mistake. It's just as well I'm off for the next 2 weeks. LOL Glad to hear that the emotional releasing sessions are making a difference for you. Sounds pretty intense to me. Hope you and your daughter had a good time with Huxley today.

Mick...here's hoping that something will come of the changes Julie was able to achieve. I'm hoping you both have some comfort in knowing he's at the best place he should be for now.

Thinking of the rest of the gang. Have a good night all...PPQP

[Lavande]

Good evening all,

It’s been snowing lighly for a few hours but with no accumulation due to the temp being above freezing. That’s perfectly OK with me Lol
Busy all day catching up with cookie baking & gift wrapping. Christmas comes up on you fast!!!

Slo, sorry to hear about your daughter’s pneumonia. I warned my own daughter when she was away at college to seek out medical advice from the pros & not roommates, haha!
Antibiotics can wreak their own havoc for sure.
Thanks for the birthday wishes & yes the old hometown has changed a lot. There was very little open space when we left all those years ago & now there seems to be none, sad. It’s definitely not the same town we grew up in & our kids as well. Our old high school was torn down several years ago, the new one is just ridiculous looking. We drove past the Catholic elementary school that burned a few months ago. Nothing left but the stone exterior, no roof, ugh. Yep, I spent 4 days in ICU, was on a vent & totally messed up after my great fall. Had to learn to be patient while regaining strength, smell. & taste. It was something I could never go thru again, surely.

PQ, hello to you & hope you have a good weekend.
Mick, thinking of you. &the family.
Hello to Cyn, Pie & everyone.

Have a nice night all.
Lav

[Slo]

Morning!

Young Daughter is finishing up two different antibiotics for walking pneumonia, and is still coughing up a lung, but getting better. She had been sick for 5 weeks at college. Based on what Lav had said about walking pneumonia going around, I had suggested to her on the phone that she may have that. She had wondered that herself out loud to a roommate friend, who had made fun of her for that idea and poo-poo’d it. I could confirm for her that that was a real and likely possibility, and indeed it was walking pneumonia. Now she just has to deal with the antibiotic sequelae (diarrhea, yeast infection), but is on the mend!

I am realizing now that I missed your birthday, Lav, but happy belated! It sounds like a nice day connecting with your past at the cemetery and at your old hometown. Has your old hometown built a bunch of new subdivisions and apartment complexes? I love Greek food.
I didn’t realize that your head injury had involved a craniotomy! But it makes sense.

We have quite the blanket of snow out there! And the plows are out.

PQ, I suppose you are exhausted and sometimes out of sorts as you go through this challenging quit process. It is just part of the process, as you know, and just have to be gentle with yourself as you ride out the bumpy times.

The emotional releasing sessions that I am doing with the wires attached to my head and the music in the earphones and the glasses with the embedded flashing lights, really are working! I just blubber and snot uncontrollably for that half hour as the memories come up.

Young Daughter & I are babysitting Huxley today for about 4 hours. I am thankful to have help with the little whirling dervish!

[Lavande]

Good evening kids,

We made a successful roundtrip today, rain free which was nice. There’s SO much traffic now up where we used to live, glad we decided to move 21 1/2 years ago. I wold really be miserable dealing with all that on a daily basis. Stopped for lunch at a greek diner too .
My birthday is at such a busy time of they year, I always wanted to start celebrating half birthdays in June but never did haha!

PQ, I feel guilty having above freezing weather for a few days but I know the cold will be back soon enough. glad you quit smoking too, geez.
Do you have an Instant pot? I can post some of my favorite one pot meals if you like. It’s a great kitchen tool when you’re busy taking care of everything else.

Slo, glad you had a nice day with your daughter doing your fav things!
after I had my emergency craniotomy 24 years ago I lost the ability to smell or taste anything. Food just gagged me, ugh. It took nearly a year for all that to return while the severed nerves were repairing themselves. time will tell for you as well.

Hello to Cyn, Pie, Ted. everyone. thinking of all of you
Have a nice night all.

Lav

[Slo]

Oh, I had such a nice day today with Young Daughter! We went swimming together. She has to, to keep up with her college swim team swimming while on break. And I did the best I could to paddle around with my broken body, for a half hour. Then hit the whirlpool! tub! We lunched together, and shopped, and had tea & dessert in a coffee shop, and shopped some more! I effortlessly got a bunch of Christmas presents, with her good opinions and fine help!

My knee and foot held out pretty well! I think my therapies are helping! My doctor says that, with these intensive treatments, nerves can heal at a rate of one inch per month. Well that’s something anyways, although slow.

Mick, I wonder if FIL is getting close to the end of his life? He seems to have a lot of hospitalizations lately. I hope he isn’t suffering too much.

PQ, you really do understand what I’m saying, then, if you see this behavior in all the kids at the centre.
The booking came at a fortuitous time in the dregs of the afternoon, for keeping you alert through to the end of the day.

It snowed today! But sunny! Sending it your way for tomorrow’s travels, Lav.

[porqoui]

MAE ALL...what a cold, miserable day. Dark with heavy fog crystals most of the day and with the wind-chill it was -27C/-16F. Good thing I'm not smoking, don't think I'd survive popping out for a smoke. LOL It's going down to -20C/-4F (without wind-chill) overnight but the high tomorrow will be a balmy -7C/20F heatwave. LOL It was a very quiet day, had a booking starting at 2:30pm so that kept me awake.

Slo...so sorry about the Christmas concert, what a circus. I don't understand the permissive “gentle” parenting either. You can see it in most of our out of school care kids. I'm glad I raised my kids in the "sensible" era. You are so right in not bothering with that family.

Lav...hope you sorted out your design and machine troubles, nothing's ever simple. Well except maybe the Instant Pot supper. I'll take filling and tasty over gourmet anytime. Hope you get your dry sunny day tomorrow for your travels.

Mick...sorry to hear you and Julie continue to deal with the hospital fiascos. Sending positive vibes that things get sorted soon.

Waves to the rest of the gang. Have a good night all...PPQP

[Lavande]

Good evening all!

Stayed busy all day with finishing up some projects, stopping at an Amish greenhouse to pick up greens to take to the families cemeteries tomorrow & made one of those throw everything in the Instant Pot dinners that cooked in 5 min, Lol. Not exactly gourmet but filling & tasty. Just started raining which is fine as we will have a dry sunny day tomorrow for our travels.
Mick, thinking of you & Julie & hoping her Dad gets settled soon.

Slo, I sometimes wish I could smack some sense into my grown up kids. I know they know better but….
I always made sure they were dressed appropriately for school functions, that was my job as a mother, right? Every generation has their own style I suppose but I truly do not understand the permissiveness of today’s young parents. It’s going to come back & hit them hard at some point. You know what? I’d stayed away from my daughter too if she behaved toward me that way. Let her wonder & figure it out on her own. We all know that children need to have good examples & be taught how to behave decently in public.

Hello to Cyn, Pie, PQ & everyone.
Have a good night all!

Lav

[Slo]

Glad you had a festive day at work, PQ! Good job problem-solving the patch problem as you navigate through this quit.

You did get a lot done that day, Lav! And had some fun relaxing and connecting with your customer friends too.

You’d think it would be fun to go to grandkids’ Christmas concert, but I found it pretty miserable. I got inspired by seeing a clip of Andy’s faraway daycare concert. But that one knows how to behave! D1 was just being bossy & mean towards me. An hour before the concert, she has no idea what the kids are going to wear for their Christmas concert?! I say it should be like Christmas-y clothes. She says the Grinch T-shirts that they have on should be fine? So I tried to find things in Mabel’s closet & dresser for her to wear…Son-IL comes in 10 minutes before we have to leave and has to try to pull together outfits for them and get Mabel’s hair together. We could only find a red sweatshirt for her with leggings. She was the only girl without a pretty dress, and she misbehaved just very badly throughout the entire performance -the only kid who did. I am tired of the permissive “gentle” parenting up there, where the kids need to “express” themselves, and aren’t given guidance on how they are expected to behave. I am tired of D1 bossing me, and son-IL being short with me.
One could argue that Grandma could be buying the kids Christmas outfits, but, since stains are never pretreated up there, and so the clothes are ruined in a heartbeat; I learned early on not to bother with buying clothes for those kids, that are going to be ruined within one wear.
So I need to back off of bothering with them. Once a month will be enough from now on.

[Lavande]

Greetings,

Not to brag or anything but it was sunny & 62 degrees here today & I have no idea why LOL
The rain holding off until overnight is helpful. I'm trying to finish up a few embroidery jobs so I can get them shipped but of course having design troubles & machine troubles to boot - figures. I'll get it worked out.

PQ, glad things are looking up for you this week. good job on the smoke quit!
I hope the rest of the week is calm & easy for you.

Hello to Mick, dealing with FIL troubles again today sadly.
Hello to the rest of the gang & hope everyone has a decent night!

Lav

[porqoui]

MAE ALL...we're back to the deepfreeze, just in case we forgot it was winter. LOL -17C/62F but the chinook rolls back in on Friday so I can live with that. Yes, removing the patch at night has made a difference. Huge Xmas lunch/bridge game at work today. I wasn't playing bridge but I don't think I need to eat for a week!

Slo...Glad you're feeling better now that the full moon is done. How nice to see the grandkids in their Xmas concert, you'll love it.

Lav...sounds like you did get a lot done yesterday, well done. Yes, taking the patch off did make a difference and I'm so pumped that the quit is going better than I expected.

Mick...I hope you got your mattress sorted out.

Last day tomorrow for the boss then 2 more days for me. It's always quieter when he's not around. Shout out to the rest of the gang. Have a good night all...PPQP

[Lavande]

Hey everyone,

Just sitting down after running my a$$ off all day, Lol
Got a lot accomplished so it’s OK. Rained all night then started again tonight with a good deal of fog too. We met our friends/embroidery customers halfway for `dinner, it was nice.
I even got the dog in for a pedicure & a refill of one of her meds & my bridge glued back in that fell out 10 days ago haha!

Slo, I’m sorry you’re feeling so rough today. Please don’t give up hope, you’re too young for that. I think we all need to make adjustments in our lives from time to time relating to health conditions. You have to find the sweet spot between pushing yourself too hard & comfortably getting a thing or two done a day. I’m sure it’s hard but maybe your sister could assist for now if possible. My birthday is on the 19th, thanks for remembering

PQ, good idea to remove the patch when you don’t really need the extra help. I’ve heard of people getting headaches & becoming sleepless when leaving the patch on all night. Glad you’re feeling better now. Keep that quit going, you’ll be so happy in the end!

Hello to Mick, Cyn, Pie & everyone.
Have a nice night all.

Lav

[Slo]

Hi, PQ! Taking the patch off at night while you sleep just may work, to keep you from smoking cravings, yet also keep you from negative patch side effects. I am so glad that your quit is staying solid, and also going reasonably well.

How is Mick doing after a night on the thin camper mattress? It’s Monday, so hopefully action is being taken to get your real mattress to you instead of Warrington. Wherever that is.

Lav, let me guess: you’re making a pillow!


What a difference a day makes! Now that the full moon is over, I feel better.
I had another rough but cathartic emotional releasing session today over at the clinic (facilitated by electrodes in my head, glasses with embedded lights, and music).

Tomorrow I am headed up to see Mabel & Beckett in their preschool Christmas concert!
Young Daughter has made it home from college for the beginning of her Christmas break! She is with her dad tonight.