Thread: Everyday Chatting & Waffling {2021} Let's get to know each other!

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We are going through boxes of stuff from my father-in-law and mother-in-law - old letters and notes, old Bibles, cards, photographs, sermons (he was a preacher), scrapbooks containing the oddest of things, old records he sang on (he was known as the Golden Tenor), music he wrote, we are worn out trying to work out what to do with it all. It is hard to get rid of stuff that has been carefully collected over the years. I have managed to get rid of two boxes worth of stuff. There is so much more to go, though. Just ditching the strange binders has helped. They were all different kinds and some with the core, clips or posts rusted. Going through so much stuff is very stressful. I promised husband Rand that we would do this every Thursday. Unfortunately, it is Friday night and the tables with stuff all over them are still consuming the living room. I adore him, but he drives me crazy.
 
Michi, I hear the younger people get a worse reaction that the older people to the number 2 shot. I am hoping that I feel just fine after it :)
 
The Covid19 vaccine is still not available here in Australia and I am still hesitant about because of how I react to the flu vaccine.

For those interested in the Art Journal Challenge I host I have started the February one as I am about to close down this old computer and set up a new one. Hope it all goes well and I have not trouble installing my Photoshop CS6 with it being older software.

you can find my Art Journal Challenge HERE
 
Thanks for starting the new challenge, Anne-Marie. I love your art journaling challenges, they are very inspirational. Please feel free to remind us a few times during the month, if you like. I know I could use the reminder!!
 
A-M, hope to get to play in your new challenge soon.

We just got our new electrical box installed, I am telling you that I almost did not survive the week! I can tell you that I am so grateful for the amenities we have that we so often take for granted. When the service guys were installing the box, we had no heat like for 13 hours and we have dead of winter weather here right now! Well, we survived and now I am playing catch up this weekend for all the computer time I missed and I had to get 2 CT LO's done.

Lynnie, I know first hand after this week how hard it is to part with old stuff. I am such a pack-rat and I really have to just-let-it-go!! 1000 LO's is very impressive...is there really a limit on how many you can psot?

No Covid shots here for the general population...still working on medical staff, elderly and a few vulernable groups. They say it may be up to June until we can register for it. But...got to see my darling grand-daughter today, we so miss her visits being so far in between with the Covid. We just opened things up again with restricitions of only 2 visitors allowed per household. That means us 3 (hubby, son and self) can not visit son, DIL or grand-daughter so we settled for grand daughter to have weekly visits to our house. She so loves our new kitten!

Good-bye to January, hello to a fresh new February, have a great week everyone!
 
FormbyGirl said:
Michi, I hear the younger people get a worse reaction that the older people to the number 2 shot. I am hoping that I feel just fine after it :)
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Yes, many have more reactions on the second over the first. My daughter had hers on Friday. By evening and home from her shift at the hospital was quite tired and a bit of a headache [it was also day 3 of 3 in a row at 14 hours each]. Saturday, more headache and quite tired. She made it to the baseball tournament Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday. Never took anything for headache. Said her arm was stiff. She was doing quite well overall. She had the Moderna. Megan is 36.
Another dear friend, also a nurse same vaccine as Megan's reacted horribly! Severe headache and every muscle/bone hurt and chills. No fever. She is about age 60.

Older daughter [age 48] gets #2 on Wednesday so does hubby [73]. His is Pfizer. I will update.
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A-M said:
The Covid19 vaccine is still not available here in Australia and I am still hesitant about because of how I react to the flu vaccine.

For those interested in the Art Journal Challenge I host I have started the February one as I am about to close down this old computer and set up a new one. Hope it all goes well and I have not trouble installing my Photoshop CS6 with it being older software.

you can find my Art Journal Challenge HERE
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I did not know it wasn't available in Australia! I reacted poorly to the flu vaccine the one time I had it in the larger dose for age 65. Since then, I've gone back to the regular one, and have been ok.
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We were just given the opportunity for the shot today. I signed myself and husband up for the first slot available on February 18 in the morning.
 
I'm so glad you "mature" (my mom's word) ladies are getting the vaccine! Anne-Marie, that is so strange that it's not available in Australia. Do you know why that is? BTW, I do plan on completing your challenge this month. :)

I had a pretty good weekend after a week of no abdominal pain. It rained all day Saturday and we went out shopping. Yesterday, we had church and I had a nice nap since I woke up early with the pain. Today has been pretty good so far- had a call with my father-in-law. My 2nd son is living with him and he's a little concerned about him. He's not eating well or exercising much because his fiancee is not treating him well (they live about 1,000 miles apart, and that wears on him too). So all that wears on me too. All I can do at this point is pray for him, which helps. He's just always been the one we worry about, you know? I would love for him to catch a break for once. Sigh. OK, off my soapbox. :)

I hope everyone has a great week! :D
 
AJsRandom said:
I'm so glad you "mature" (my mom's word) ladies are getting the vaccine! Anne-Marie, that is so strange that it's not available in Australia. Do you know why that is? BTW, I do plan on completing your challenge this month. :)

I had a pretty good weekend after a week of no abdominal pain. It rained all day Saturday and we went out shopping. Yesterday, we had church and I had a nice nap since I woke up early with the pain. Today has been pretty good so far- had a call with my father-in-law. My 2nd son is living with him and he's a little concerned about him. He's not eating well or exercising much because his fiancee is not treating him well (they live about 1,000 miles apart, and that wears on him too). So all that wears on me too. All I can do at this point is pray for him, which helps. He's just always been the one we worry about, you know? I would love for him to catch a break for once. Sigh. OK, off my soapbox. :)

I hope everyone has a great week! :D
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I like your mom's word of 'mature'. Yay on lack of pain!
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My husband took my mum to get their vaccines and my mum had to use the loo! He wheeled her from the waiting area through the crowds of paramedics, police and medical personnel, all of a sudden, she announced "Help! I'm being kidnapped!" She loves to be dramatic. I keep telling her she needs to be careful these days. She told the doctor I beat her up once and he cautioned her. I offered to leave the room so she could talk to him and ensure she was safe. My husband is still laughing. He walks past muttering 'kidnapped,' and laughs again.

They have lifted the ban on outside dining in our area. My brother came over yesterday and we took mum to the 19 Restaurant (It is called 19 because it is on a golf course and it is the '19th hole!') We had lovely meals and it was very empty. The patio is beautiful. The restaurant is on a hill overlooking the golf course and the view is a panorama over the golf course and our little village with the mountains in the background. Our village is not charming, exactly, but it is a pretty view. It was light when we arrived and quite dark with pretty stars when we left. It was a very pleasant evening.
 
Oh dear Lynnie on that story! I can only imagine.

Life in Florida is currently : C O L D!!! We've had several chilly snaps. Yesterday was awful. A high of 54 and blustering winds no sun.

The weekend was good for baseball. They won 3 out of 4 games. Definitely outplayed in the final championship game. An incident occurred on game 2 Saturday. We were on the 3rd base side and see a dog run [unleashed] from the parking lot down the first base side. Then screams like you've never heard.... and dog went back to parking lot and disappeared.
{Short story} 3 younger siblings on the little playground by first base were bitten by this pit bull that came out of no where! Our team is 8 and under so these kids were...3-5. baseball game stopped. One of our coaches jumped the fence with a bat. 9 1 etc. called. We had everything with a siren show up. The dog and owner disappeared. My daughter had to give statement as she could identify and saw what occurred but across the field...Another dog walker with doggie on a leash knew who the biting dog was and told authorities. Dog was found and taken. Children will be ok. What a frightful experience!

Hubby vaccine #2 today. We shall see....
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A week from hell. We had our washer and dryer delivered but the delivery guy wouldn't hook them up because the water pipes were too old and the vent line to the dryer was too old. Had to pay for a plumber. Saturday my car wouldn't start. Used my father's car for work on Sunday. Monday was a snow day so I worked from home. I had trouble passing the "test" at the end of the four hours of reading, so I don't know if I'll get paid for the day. Didn't have car shoveled out in time for work on Tuesday. The snow blower died before Jeff finished. Than when he comes in Tuesday night he said dad's car had a flat. So I have two cars and neither one can be used to go to work on Wednesday. Long story short here... Dad's car insurance wouldn't tow car to fix flat because he can't answer for it. Ended up getting a jump for my car and brought it to get a new battery. On our way home, we got into an accident pulling into our driveway. Someone tried to go around us. We are all OK.

So I missed two days of work due to no car. And we are all shaken up because of the accident.

Hope all is going well. I get my second shot on Feb. 8th.
 
Lynnie, your mum is a stinker, LOL! I'm glad you could enjoy a nice dinner out for once. That sounds very nice. :)

Michi, that is pretty cold for FL! It's about to get colder too. That's so scary about the baseball game- I would definitely not gone after the dog! I hope your hubby's 2nd shot goes smoothly.

Lily Ann, wow, that was a pretty bad week! I'm so sorry you had to go through all that. And the snow didn't help at all. I'm glad you were able to get your washer and dryer in, and a new battery for your car. Been there, done that. Ugh.

Things are bumping along OK here. Eren returned to school 4 days/week this week. They don't particularly want to go, but they don't particularly like virtual learning either. Sigh. I get to take hubby to his colonoscopy on Friday. I plan to go with my phone and iPad fully charged so I don't go bonkers while waiting. That should round out my week of medical fun quite nicely (I had 2 appointments yesterday).
 
Oh no Lily Ane that's a lot of 'no fun' packed into a short time period. I sure hope things improve and get better soon.

Ane- Hoping the back to school goes well. I hear you on the medical appointments. I take my phone charged plus a book and either knitting or crochet, whichever is easier to tote.

Hubby is doing well with vaccine 2. Hoping it stays that way.

I participated in a speed scrap yesterday hosted by Dandelion Dust Designs on FB. It was fun and she is giving the entire month of February to complete the page.

This morning it was 39! A lot of frost on the grass and the houses. Plus a lot of steam coming off the ponds. Granddaughter wanted to know if she could ice skate on it. Told her no.
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Just an average day here. I have been sitting in my chair all day. My mother mentioned that she would like an iPad. She is 92, but not too bad with technology. Not great, but not bad. So... I bought her an iPad. I added the Kindle, Nook, Audible, Zinio (Magazine) and various news and game apps. I added a jigsaw app and bought a bunch of puzzles for her. I set up her email. Then I showed her how to use it.

She keeps getting into areas to change her apple password and a few other complications, but other than that, she is managing. It is not very different from her iPhone in many ways, so she is pretty happy, for the most part.

I did some scrapping, of course, and posted a layout. I also made a big pot of soup and did everyday housework.

What is everyone else up to :)
 
Well it looks like I've finally won LOTW! :D Thank you to everyone who voted for me! <3

Made it through waiting for hubby to do his colonoscopy. I don't like driving into the city, but I managed. We managed to make it home before I thought we would. We just kind of chilled the rest of the day. Discovered Bridgerton, and so far we like it.

No real plans for the rest of the weekend. Probably shopping tomorrow and online church on Sunday. We do get to go back to face-to-face church on Valentine's day, which is awesome. I'm not a particularly social person, but even I miss seeing the members of the congregation. :)
 
Last week seemed to fly by. Things at school are going well. Parent teacher conferences are next week. The kids are seeming a little off this semester, I think we are seeing the effects of all the stress we adults feel finally showing more outward in them. Dads first eye surgery is the week after conferences. I’ve been cleared to miss work for both surgeries and follow up appointments so that’s all good. This weekend I am taking my car in for its service since its complaining it needs an oil change. I realized it has been over a year, luckily it is a hybrid so that time period is okay according to its manual. Other than that I’m finishing conference reports and working on this weeks assignments for my photography course and art workshop that just started. Should be a nice creative weekend!
 
Hey everyone... been pretty busy and haven't checked in in a while. Read back through the posts I've missed... wow... lots going on! Glad to hear that some of you have been vaccinated. I should be getting the first shot within the next month. The school nurse in my district is really pushing for us to get access soon, so fingers crossed. My brother and sister have both had the first dose without any significant reactions. My niece, who is a nurse, got quite a reaction from the second shot. Fever, chills, etc. for a couple of days.

Glad to hear recovery is progressing, Lynnie!
LilyAnn... my word, what a crappy week! I hope the next one is better.
Michi - scary run in with the dog. Glad it was found and everyone is ok.
Ane - I have one son that I worry about constantly. He has yet to find his "direction" in life. There's always one... Congrats on LOTW! :) I sent your email. Enjoy Bridgerton - that was quite the series lol!

Working on various craft projects for my business today... counting down the days until school vacation. Four more in person days. Last week was crazy - Monday, our school had no heat, so they sent us home at 10am. Tuesday was a snow day, Wednesday is a regular remote day. By the time we got to Thursday, it seemed as though my 6th graders forgot how to "do school" - OMG. It was a very long 2 days.. let's just say that behavior wasn't quite up to par lol.

Have a great rest of the weekend - I'm going to my sister's to watch the Tom-pa Bay Buccaneers lol. I love Tom, and I'm glad that he is in the big game. :)
 
I have spent pretty much all day today scrapping and have spammed the gallery something fierce. I keep waiting for it to tell me "OK, you've had enough now" I am mostly trying to work through La Rocca di Angera, but I have also done a few one-off pages if I couldn't find something that felt right.
 
Hi everyone. I haven’t had a chance to go back and update on what everyone’s been up to.

Canada is having issues sourcing vaccines right now. So many countries doing the “we will only do ourselves”, and Canada at this point doesn’t have domestic manufacturing capabilities. The places canada had signed contracts with, have stopped shipping, delayed shipping. I’m not sure when we will get vaccinated. September or later if you listen to the government. Closer to December if you listen to opposition.

Kids are starting their second terms of school.

Its bitterly cold cold with cold warnings out the last few days -45C. It be cold.
 
Sherri, I'm sorry about Canada's vaccine sourcing problems. It's unfair to the people who are suffering now and could in the future. In other news, I think all of North America is freezing. Even Florida has had freezing temperatures.

I had my average weekend- shopping on Saturday and church/nap Sunday. I was pretty surprised at the Super Bowl results. I watched most of the game and commercials, but not much of halftime.

BTW, does anyone know how to get a blinkie into my siggy with my regular siggy so both with show? I tried for a while. but it kept telling me I had over 5 images there or something like that. So I'm puzzled.
 
AJsRandom said:
Sherri, I'm sorry about Canada's vaccine sourcing problems. It's unfair to the people who are suffering now and could in the future. In other news, I think all of North America is freezing. Even Florida has had freezing temperatures.

I had my average weekend- shopping on Saturday and church/nap Sunday. I was pretty surprised at the Super Bowl results. I watched most of the game and commercials, but not much of halftime.

BTW, does anyone know how to get a blinkie into my siggy with my regular siggy so both with show? I tried for a while. but it kept telling me I had over 5 images there or something like that. So I'm puzzled.
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Ane,

Try this (The link in here is the LOTW blinkie):

​

  • Click Settings
  • Click Edit Signature
    • In the Edit Signature Box
    • Click OK
    • Click Save

The Insert Picture Box is in the middle row, fourth group over, third icon. It looks like a little framed picture on a wall, it is between the remove link and insert video icons. If you hover your mouse over it, it will show you is is the insert image.
 
Michi, it sounds as though that was quite the adventure with the dog. Scary experience, hopefully the kids will not end up with a fear of dogs.

Oh Heavens, Lily Ann, what a week you had. Hopefuly all your cars are well and the washer and dryer is all installed. How is the weather? I hear it is quite bad back there.

Ane, yes, my mum is a stinker. My husband is still laughing.

Congratulations on your layout of the day. Hopefully the blinkie instructions I gave you work. They work for me, although everything looks a little funny in the gallery. That's always been an issue.

I miss my congregation, too. It has been almost a year since I have seen them in person.

Elizabeth, I hope your teaching schedule has settled down. I can't keep track of what states are in person, what are still virtual. I imagine the kids are off. Some kids don't do well in the uncertain environment. I don't know how I would have managed as a parent coping with work and school. How do families with one computer and multiple kids manage? I can't imagine. All I know is that even without children, I have a HUGE admiration for our teachers.

Lori, I had no reaction at all to my first shot. My second is scheduled on 20th, we will see how that goes.

I think teaching must be one of the most challenging jobs we have right now. Most jobs carry additional risk, but the challenges of in person vs zoom, juggling the two and trying to work out how to grade the children. I don't envy you, but I do admire you, and all the teachers we have.

We were cheering for KC, but Tom played an amazing game and deserved to win.

Sylfie, you are allowed up to 10 layouts a day and you spread yours across two days. I think it may have been over midnight US time, so it worked really well for you. Nice pages!

Sherri, Don't worry about keeping up with commenting on what everyone says. You have enough on your hands :) I am so sorry you are struggling with vaccines, especially with all the health conditions you and Alexis experience. Big hug to both of you and prayers that you both stay safe. And Sherri... -45C is pretty darn cold. You may win the battle of the cold weather. I feel pretty silly shivering at 52F.
 
I have not been really doing much of anything. I have not been taking photographs, pretty much just sitting around doing a little of this and that, but nothing much. Karen came over for Super Bowl Sunday. We don't see the kids very often, but we made an exception. We were careful, but there is always risk. Karen did her makeup with football stripes under her eyes. It is all about the event rather than the game. She is adorable.
 
Lynnie thank you - I managed to get the lotw blinkie in my siggy, it’s only been about a year.

I read your story story about your mom being kidnapped. I’ll share my story. I checked mom out of her long term care home about a year ago maybe more. Took her to a few stores looking for a few clothing items. She was getting tired, and cranky. She had one of those fugues, where she didn’t know who I was, insisted she didn’t need the wheelchair, and got up and walked, and told anyone that would listen that I was bothering her. Security had to contact the care home, id me and confirm mom.

Im always terrified to leave her at a door to go get the vehicle as she will wander, and I’ve lost her. Once she got out of the vehicle as I was returning the cart, and disappeared on me.

Alexis latest medical “trial” didn’t show expected results, she is scared and sad, and grumpy.
 
Update from us:
I don't know if anyone saw the page I made about our daughter this past week, but we've been having a very tough, exhausting week or two here. One week ago she was rocking and crying hysterically on the couch, unable to breathe well and her heart rate up to 125. She could not be calmed down. I slept with her that night, and every night since. Well, I laid down with her - the first 2 nights we barely slept at all. Each day it got better, and I had her take Melatonin. That got her at least to sleep, and I helped her breathing by talking softly with her and praying through St. Michael.

Each day things got a teeny bit better to where at night she only had a few episodes, but during the day she was remarkably free from them but a few times.

In the meantime, we took away all computer and gaming, cut out her caffeine, and cut down on sugar and starches. She went to bed at 10:00 regardless of if she was tired, and I woke her up regardless if she slept or not at 9 am.

Her blood tests were all smack dab normal. No glucose issues, no A1C elevated, normal cholesterol and triglycerides, WBC and RBC all normal. Negative for Celiac and thyroid was working perfectly. One hurdle down.


Cardiologist was SUPER wonderful. It was a Pediatrics Heart center as she's still until 18 until next week. They took an EKG strip, her blood pressure, and even did an ultrasound of her heart, esophagus, and stomach!! He asked a lot of questions and he was impressed with her ability to convey what was going on and the steps she had made to see if this was physical or not.
He felt after looking at everything that her heart, lungs, GI, were ALL perfectly normal and healthy. Her heart sounds, valves, everything were fine.


He put a monitor on her (about the size of a thumb drive) and she will have to wear it for a week and when/if she has any of those episodes, she pushes the button and writes in a journal what was going on and what she felt physically.


I shared with him that we had a difficult time with a referral to a therapist. They sent her to a practice that 1. was all male (I don't have a problem with that, but she specifically requested a female) and 2. Their specialty was schitzophrenia and drug and alcohol addictions - and not mainly for kids!! I finally got another name of a person to call for therapy for her and told him and he said, "She just needs a therapist to talk to and get some stress reduction help, and we have someone that we have FREE OF CHARGE to our patients. The only difference is that right now with Covid, it's not in person but on the phone/zoom. " SCORE!!!


She is scheduled for 11:30 am Friday for her first session.


His feeling is that she's perfectly fine and just needs help with coping with life right now. She's relieved and hasn't had a single issue today. She told me she feels guilty we spent the money to have nothing wrong and I told her that peace of mind was worth the money we spent.


I am relieved and hopeful that with talking to someone, she will come back to be the happy young lady I know...

On my front - I'm going to bed with hubby at 9:30, getting out of bed at 10, getting into bed with Melissa for an hour with head and back rubbing and soothing talk, then back to my bed, then back to getting up at 4 am to drive hubby to work. I'm exhausted and trying to stay awake by scrapping and getting Melissa focused on her schoolwork, something that has gone way by the wayside through all this craziness.

Our state is back to the numbers of November 2020 of Covid, and it's going down each day. Even with travel opened up and tourists coming here, we have turned the corner and numbers are way down. We are still on phase 1 (Front line health care workers) of the vaccinations, so I don't have to worry about making that decision for a LOOOOONNNG time. However, many are refusing the vaccine and the elderly are getting them now. I don't plan on taking it as of now. I am pro-vaccination, but there is not enough empirical evidence of long term effects yet for me to feel comfortable with it yet, and many of the health care workers I know are putting it off for now for the same reasons. Michael's work has "softly" asked each employee if they are planning on taking the vaccine, and he said No, but that if it was a requirement in order to continue to work there, he would do it, but he would not be happy to be forced to take it. His boss said he was on the same page.

Michael and Melissa both have their birthday on the 11th of this week - Melissa will be 18 and Michael is on his last year of his 50's! EEK. How did we get that old?? We aren't able to have a party for Melissa as most of her friends have some kind of medical issue and are quarantined inside their homes. Only one was willing to come out masked and go to a park, so we will have an "un-birthday" party when things are better.
 
@pachimac our kids are having a hard time seeing a future for themselves. It puts enormous stressors on them that we are left to try and deal with. My girl has gone through most of what you are experiencing since spring. It is exhausting. I’m constantly checking on her. I’m so sorry you are going through this. My boy turns 18 in July. And struggles too. Huge hugs.
 
Firstoscartgrouch said:
@pachimac our kids are having a hard time seeing a future for themselves. It puts enormous stressors on them that we are left to try and deal with. My girl has gone through most of what you are experiencing since spring. It is exhausting. I’m constantly checking on her. I’m so sorry you are going through this. My boy turns 18 in July. And struggles too. Huge hugs.
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It's so sad!! My nephew told me that his generation has NO HOPE. They drink, they do drugs, they are careless because they feel they have NO future. It's so hard to convince a generation that you make your OWN HOPE - you have to work hard and make it happen. However, they're so trained to get participation trophies, they're offended at everything and expect to be coddled because we did that to them. :(

I'm sorry you've gone through this and are going through this now. It's crazy. I would not want to be a teen growing up in this crazy, cancel culture world.
 
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