how about drinking?

HAPPY VALENTINES' DAY LADIES.

OK Lori where r u keeping this man of urs.??? If u ever get done with him, send him out this way. Lori I swear I always forget about Google. I think it would make me look smarter too. 15.00 OMG, of course u can't take it back, so celebrate when u eat it.

Jazy that is beautiful. U know I watch a lot of reality shows and as I was looking at it now, I think I saw it on one of those and these women loved it. Have a great time.

Well Kim we'll see how long this NO lasts, and u have to be honest, Sadie will watch you. And ur right Joey has to make his own decisions, believe me I still think of him as my little boy.

How r u doing Illi and Mary??? Sending prayers.

OK Celia, I'm confused where do u live??? I thought u lived in KY but it sounds like u don't.

Well hoping everyone has a super day and feeling better.

LUBS U ALL

Jazzy- The salt cave is so cool! Its amazing to see all of these things, its like being on a different planet sometimes.

Cami - I am excited about your hair cut. I have been looking at hairstyles this week, but I don't know what I want. When I find one I think I like, I don't know if my hair will do it or if I like it because it is cute on the girl in the picture, but I realize I don't look like her. I think that the hairstylist will be able to tell you if your hair can have that cut and if it will be easy for you to fix. Post a picture.

Goldi- Your always picking up these good looking guys, but I think the donkey is cute. Have a fancy drink with your chicken dinner. It will make it feel worth the cost.

Celia- I am glad that you explained where you live. I was a little confused too. I see Ky., but got confused about the London part.

NM - Thanks for the explanation of ice quakes, I never heard about them before and it really is quite interesting. Glad you are saying NO to more work, you have been doing a lot of it and probably need some "me time".

Gemma and Illimae - hope all is going well for you.

JC - Enjoy all of your little trips.

Every one - Happy Friday/Valentines day!

Good morning loungettes, and happy day after Valentines Day, hope everyone had a nice one. My hubby made me crab legs, lobster tail and filet mignon and it was delish! He bought me socks, now I know that sounds weird and terribly unromantic but I found these compression socks that go just above the ankle and they are $!7/ pair and I have 2 pair and would eventually throw away all other socks so he bought me 2 more pair. I recycle my old socks into toys for Harvey, he destroys all store bought dog toys, rips holes in them pulls all the stuffing out and removes the squeakers. So I take the squeakers and sew them into socks and as he shreds those I just make a new one, much cheaper this way. all his blankets look like swiss cheese so as I buy him new ones I make toys out of them too. Oh and my DH bought me a gift cert for a pedicure too so not just socks. We are on such different pages when it comes to my dx, we went through this the first time, which was 6 years ago yesterday. I'll never forget it, he was in New Hampshire for business and it was VD and my breast surgeon called to tell me I had BC. DH called on his way to dinner to see if I heard and I lied and said no and then told him the truth when he got back to his hotel room. But anyway, we seem to bump heads when we talk about it, don't know how you mets girls do with your SO's but when it comes to this we bump heads. He's trying to tell me what I need to do to cope, like most men he wants to fix everything and he frustrated the shit out of me sometimes. I told him that in 5 years on Valentines Day I want to book a vacation to Disney in Florida with my son DIL and the 2 g-kids and he says... "I'm going to pay for everyone?" ???!!!!!!?? WTF!! My point was I'm going to be alive then!!!!! So I called him Ann which is his mothers name cause she's been sitting on her f-ing pile of money all her life and she's 91 and never had any fun. So I told him he'll have plenty of time to sit around and count his money when I'm gone. OK, done with my rant, this to shall pass, Venus and Mars and all that bullshit...

Today is my g-daughter Evelyn's first b-day party so we will be going to their house at 2. I haven't seen the kids in over a month which is way too long but between work and scans and doctor appts it just hasn't worked. I did video chat with them the other day, Nora and Jake (my son) have gotten into watching old music videos, she discovered Michael Jackson's Beat It so he found Weird Al Yankovick's Eat It and she's watched that one over and over so they been going thru the 80's music together, he says it's their father/daughter bonding time. She wasn't real sure about Thriller, said she liked it but it was scary.

Cami, hope Joey is feeling better soon, I'm with Lori, it sounds like a mexican dish. And I never heard of ice quakes either. We get crazy fisherman stuck on ice floes here every spring, it cracks me up, Lake Erie will freeze then they announce that the temps will be in the 40' s and these crazy ice fisherman drive their trucks or snow mobiles out there the ice brakes loose and they have to be rescued. I have never heard of a woman needing to be rescued, not once! Not this year tho cause the lake never froze. Love the catnip kitty! I used to have gerbils in an aquarium when I was married to the SD (sperm donor) and we had four cats and they watched them all day long, I always called it kitty tv.

NM, I have been reading this book called God Never Blinks, a neighbor gave it to me when I was dx the first time, I'd read about a third of it then forgot about it but I've picked it up and am reading it again. It's like the Chicken Soup books, little short stories about life. Anyway on of them made me think of you. The writer was dx with cancer and said she came up with three simple steps that can change your life. 1) Choose one thing you need to say no to. 2) Choose one thing you want to say yes to. 3) Share those two things- that yes and no- with your biggest cheerleaders to make it real, in this case I'm thinking us since we can try and remind you to say no to work! There was a lot more to the story but it made me think of you.. she ends the story with, life is short, live it to the fullest. That Fire and Ice cocktail is so pretty! Interesting about the ice quakes.

Lori, thanks for the Valentine! And I hope the chicken is the best ever, can't imagine it tasting different than the 99cent stuff but let us know.

JCS, pics are beautiful! So glad you are having such a nice time.

Jazzy, Wow the salt mine pictures are really amazing, I've never seen anything like that. How long do you stay in there, is it like a spa thing? Candy hearts are cute, each one sounds like it could've been written by my dogs.

Celia, you are not all that far from me, I'm near Cleveland, maybe 4 hours? How long did you live in London?

mistyeyes, I hear it's nice and warm in Florida now that I left, your welcome!

Anyway, sure I'm missing some and I've been running on and on , guess I'm in a talkative mood this morning. My biopsy report had not come back as of yesterday so I'll get it Monday when I see the MO. PET was approved by insurance and that's the following week. So everyone have a nice Saturday, prolly pop back in tonight or tomorrow.

Good Morning, Loungettes! Happy Sunny Saturday! Boy has it come off cold here. 9 below the donut this ayem. Sadie is on speed pee when she goes out, no stopping and sniffing around, just out, squat, piddle, and jump back in the house. And boy does her nose get cold! She likes to poke it under my arm to warm it up, and If I don't have long sleeves on I get the shivers! Still, it's fair trade for the bed warming she does for me, right? I hope everyone had a happy Valentine's Day.

Goldie--nice eye candy!

Jazzy--the Doggo Candy hearts are hilarious!!

Celia--I hear you on the cold and wind chill--brrrr!Sounds like a great collection of goodies to start the day with!

Cammy Cat--OK, I stopped at the scheduler's office as I arrived at work yesterday and said "no" to the shift she asked me to pick up. I was thinking of what you would do to me if I said "yes" the entire time!So there! Glad you asked Celia about London and Ky, I was confused, too.

Misty--I do want some "me" time, but mostly I want my work time back for doing my own job, especially right now as I'm reworking the entire in house education process to be more workable and less burdensome and still get everything covered. Trying some new approaches, and need the work time to get them researched, put together, trialed and evaluated.

Genny--oh my goodness, I never thought about recycling the doggy toy squeakers! That's a fantastic idea. Men and women do tend to look at things differently, that's for sure. LOL at the father-daughter 80's music bonding experience! That sounds like really good advice, the choosing one thing to say no to, one to say yes, and sharing with cheerleaders. Sorry the biopsy report didn't come in. Glad the PET was approved.

Naked Lady Cocktail

Ingredients

• 2.5 ounces rum I used gold
• 2.5 ounces sweet vermouth
• 1 ounce apricot brandy
• 1 ounce lemon juice freshly squeezed

Garnish

• 2 lemon wheels thinly sliced

Instructions

• Fill cocktail shaker 1/2 way with ice
• Add rum, vermouth, brandy and lemon juice
• Cap shaker and shake for 15 seconds
• Strain and divide into the martini glasses and float a lemon wheel in each glass
• Sip
• Smile
• Enjoy

From <https://dishesdelish.com/strangely-named-naked-lady-cocktail/#wprm-recipe-container-6872>

Good Morning, all! Had a nice “at home” Valentine’s. Ate a steak dinner and DH watched a NASCAR truck race until he fell asleep. I caught up on emails and read my book. Do you sit in the salt caves as part of the spa experience? Does it help your skin? NM, while I was working, I did have to learn to take vacation days. As the manager, my mind thought I had to be there all the time. You do get tired mentally and physically from overwork so watch it. Cold and sunny here. Going to lunch and shopping with a friend. We have a bunch of catching up to do. Still feeling good! I am taking some extra VitC so I don’t catch anything on the flight to Houston.

Take care everyone

Good morning friends- hope everyone had a happy V-day (or satisfied singles day) yesterday. Now we are on to half price flowers and candy weekend.

I had a fun packed 24 plus hours up in Santa Fe; salt caves, great concert Thurs night, then met a friend for lunch yesterday and bit of shopping. We both scores on some 60% off items, and then I went on my way home in plenty of time to catch the remains of the day to unload the car, take a short nap and then relaxed and went to bed early. Getting back to some home things today (mild weather is back) and meeting friends later today to have a celebratory drink around the house pay off (planned this back in December as the process began).

About the salt cave/halotherapy- it is not an actual salt mine, but a sort of vault-like thing they build where they put large blocks of Himalayan pink salt in to the walls, create a salt sand floor, create a starry ceiling to look at during your time in there, etc. Then during your 45 min treatment, they infuse air with fine salt to breathe in. Supposed to be very good for respiratory issues and I could feel a huge difference with my lungs right away (better than being on O2), but just overall came out feeling good. I was in there alone, so I had my own little private halo session. I asked the owner who built this for them and she said a woman out of Vermont has built them for many locations. I would do this again and if this idea interests you, do some googling to see if there is one in your area. Santa Fe is very well known for a lot of holistic and new age stuff, and this was one of the more interesting things I have done here. I will do this again too......

Genny- you can rant with us any time you need to about anything you need to. I am not married/no SO so I have not had to deal with having a partner get on board with health care, etc. That being said, I have had plenty of opportunity to listen through the years to people's opinions, fears, etc. with anything I have gone through. Managing other people's reactions is one of the worse parts of dealing with a cancer dx though, I remember it so well.

My sister got diagnosed with bc 3 months before I did. I went out to help her/them when she started chemo, her partner was talking to me about them going on a trip to HI during the middle of treatment. My sister had months of chemo to do, then was going to move straight to surgery, then recon. I had to kindly but firmly explain to the partner that there would be no vacations for awhile, that my sis had a lot more ahead of her and HI would be there to visit again some day (and we actually all went the following summer when everyone was done with treatment). I am not sure if this is helpful or not, but sometimes a third party who is is NOT the cancer patient can sometimes help better to explain things to the SO, and also listen to some of the fears, concerns, etc. Is there a family member or a close friend of both of you that could maybe help with that?

CelciaC- how fun you were able to live in London for awhile. I always wanted to live in a foreign country for awhile, and think it must have been such an awesome experience. What lead your family to move there for awhile? Work? You got some real nice treats yesterday!

Cami- I hope your DD is able to come over. When you get your new hairstyle, share a pic if you want? I saw somewhere here Joey might be sick and hope he feels better. I hope your BF's gave you some nice treats yesterday.

Goldie- Feb is feeling more like March right now with warm spring like days and intermittent blasts of winter. I was talking to a couple before the concert and they said Santa Fe has had more snow than a lot of the CO mountains, and had heard that from a CO friend too. Those weather types forcasted a drier winter, but glad we are getting all the moisture. Good for our water supply and and the fire risks. Sorry to hear you had wind damage at your property, we have had some very high winds here a few times so far and know the "big winds" cycle is starting here in the west once again. I love spring here except for the winds that last usually come from Feb- through May and expect the same for you. Should be a mild weekend for us both, enjoy!

And yes, I did take the pics in the salt cave. My Google Pixel 3 phone never fails to disappoint!

NM- I think it is good you can say "no" to extra shift work. Many FT jobs just add you to schedules without a conversation. You are very good at what you do and no doubt they trust you with the extra work. But as we all know, especially as we get older that overworking just leads to exhaustion and sickness. One of the healthcare used to try to get me to do way too much OT on projects and created boundaries in my contracts with it after I had cancer. Fortunately more recently, they were very cost focused so I only had to do a we bit of OT once during my last stint with them. Keep taking good care of yourself and hoping you and Sadie are having a nice warm weekend at home. Glad you liked the dog v-day candies.

Ill- thinking of you sister. Hoping your apts this week went okay and that you feeling stronger every day and with a bit more promise of healed vocal cords.

ChiSandy, Mistyeyes, Teka and everyone else I may have missed, hoping you are well too.

Ill- I think I was writing my post as you were sharing yours. I am so sorry about the blood clot and sending healing prayers your way sister

Cami, too funny with those Valentine's Day "Titanic" kitties, then going back the next day to "Itchy & Scratchy" (or is it both "Itchies"?) fighting!

Lori, wonder if what you grabbed was the air-chilled organic chicken--only thing I can think of that'd account for the price difference. As to the visit, remember, I have a helluva wine cellar--tell me what you want me to bring and I can probably oblige.

Ilona, hope you can finally catch a break. Shoulda spiked that berry Boost with some Chambord liqueur.

We didn't get much snow this time around--just enough to screw up our satellite dish again. (DirecTV is coming out Thurs. to de-ice & re-aim the LNBs & dish; think I'll hand the tech a can of Pam spray and tell him to have at it--it works on my snow shovel...). Then overnight just enough to mess with all the sidewalks on our block except ours--we put down enough ice-melt to keep a clear path. We did have a very short polar vortex plunge into Chiberia (got down to -1 Thurs. night), but it got back up to freezing today,

Last night for Valentine's Day we went to the Lyric Opera to see Madame Butterfly. It was great--the lead soprano was a bit long in the tooth to play a teenager, but way more believable than the sopranos who'd played the beautiful exotic Chinese princess Turandot (think the girth of two to three princesses) or seductress Carmen (a bit too zaftig to bewitch Don José--but the tenor playing him had a beer gut and a receding hairline). She was technically a dramatic soprano, but had a high pianissimo that was clear as a bell. We had great seats, too. We Ubered it down there because we had a late dinner res. afterward. We had the great luck to snag a taxi going the opposite direction from the long cab line, and got to dinner nearly an hour early!

Tonight we had our belated Valentine's Day dinner at Cellars.

DsOTD: yesterday a truly crummy California brut bubbly (likely bulk process) at the opera house--we would pick the one drink station that didn't have splits of Chandon--and a Ch. Vergile rosé (from Nîmes, FR) at dinner. I'd have preferred an Italian sparkler, but the restaurant was donating a buck per glass of that rosé to Chicago Animal Care & Control--gotta save those puppies & kitties. (They were also doing so for their cocktail of Sardinian sweet vermouth with blood orange, but we filled up pretty fast). Tonight at Cellars was a Domaine Collin brut sparkler from the Côtes de Limoux region of FR, and a Fess Parker Santa Rita Pinot Noir.

Good morning ladies- happy Sunday Funday! Yesterday was a nice spring like day. Got more done with de-cluttering and finishing cleaning out a closet (and some purses put together for my consignment apt tomorrow) and waded through my book shelf; books going to donations but also to some friends who are avid readers. I still have a lot of work to finish in the home office and with some paperwork decluttering/purging, but will continue on with that into the new week. I have enough yet to be read books that I am putting myself on a book purchasing diet for awhile.....

I went out with some friends yesterday to finally celebrate the house pay off (process finally completed in January). These same friends are about 8 years younger than me, but also with a goal to pay off their home in their 50s too. We had a bottle of Gruet champagne and some delicious apps (street tacos for me). I am enjoying not having mortgage payments, two so far so it all still feels very new!

Today is more house and yard stuff while the weather is warmer again. Going to do a bit of yard stuff and need to do a prune of my red oak (Feb is the time for that with my handy hand saw) and will get some things done in the garage too.

NM- it sounds to me like your mom needs a visit with an elder atty to talk through the pros and cons of buying a home at this point in her life. And elder atty might have some other suggestions about living arrangements that could work better for her. I have some things I will share with you via PM that might help.

ChiSandy- I love that you went to the opera for V-day. Sounds like a fab weekend for you so far!

Goldie- I agree that I don't know what we would do without our girlfriends. They have been the ones to show up for me the most in life, including the support I have had here on BCO. Some guy friends have been there for me too. Shout out to all our sisters here and the love and support they give us during the tough times and the good times too!

Teka- what is going on in North Country today?

Celia C, Mistyeyes, Cami and all the rest, hope your day is a good one.

For those who were wondering, here's how I ended up in N KY. Born & grew up in Ashtabula, OH. After grad from Ohio University, settled in Cleveland. While at last job there, was on assignment in Aylesbury, UK and travelling into London on weekends to meet up with an old college pal & another work associate for fun. On one weekend, both were busy so was on my own. Met DH in London that weekend, quite by chance (another story in itself). Engaged 3 weeks later. Moved to London 2/14/1990. Returned to the States in 1993 and to Cincinnati, OH as my sister's house was a "soft place to land." Eventually, purchased our home in N Kentucky, where we are now. Of course, this is the "abridged" version, but as you can see, I am a NE Ohio "native".

Genny - Yes, you are right about us being not too far away. I usually make a trip to NE Ohio once a year (in summer) to visit a few family members still in the area. Will have to try to connect. Lived on the West side mostly - in Lakewood, on Edgewater Dr before moving to London.

Everyone have a great day! DH just came back from grocery shopping, so need to lend him a hand with unpacking.

Good Morning, Loungettes!Temps are up out of the frigid range, and, of course, they are talking about more snow later in the week. So far most of these snow "events" have been pretty routine, no real storms yet. I'm sure there will be at least one before the winter is out. Sadie says Hi to everyone.Drinking my ayem coffee from my "Coffee Because Adulting is HARD" mug.

Jazzy --Not having a mortgage is a great feeling. I put the mortgage payment against some other loans until I got them paid off, now I have that money going into a separate account to use for house projects. It's amazing how fast that account is building up, and I don't miss the money, and love having the "extra" available for emergencies. I'll mention talking to an elder attorney to Mom, not sure if she will do it or not (unless she can find one who doesn't charge anything, which I doubt very much exists!). Thanks for the PM, very helpful!

Cammy Cat--Yes, you are making sense. I've been able to let go of a lot of the worry just by telling it to every one here. Bonus, I've gotten some great advice to use.

Celia--WOW, what a life story so far!

Mulled Pear Cider with Rum

Ingredients

• 1 liter Apple Cider, preferably a "cloudy" apple cider
• 2 - 3 Pears, I used Anjou Pears, thinly sliced - about 1/8" thick
• 1 Lemon, zest and juice
• 6 Cardamom pods
• 1 - 1 inch piece Ginger root, peeled
• 1 Tbsp Sugar, or to taste
• Cinnamon Sticks, to garnish
• Sliced Lemons, to garnish
• 1 cup Rum, optional

Instructions

1. In a large pot, add the Apple Juice, sliced Pears, 2 Cinnamon sticks, Zest and Juice of 1 Lemon and the squeezed Lemon, Cardamom pods, peeled Ginger root (left whole), and Sugar.
2. Bring to a boil, then reduce to low heat and simmer for at least 30 minutes. You can leave the spices if you'd like or remove them before serving. I like to leave them in until the end and top up with more pears and apple juice if needed.
3. To serve, add a slice of pear, a cinnamon stick, sliced lemon, and rum if desired - 2 parts Mulled Pear Cider to 1 part Rum.
4. Cheers!

From <https://www.littlefiggy.com/wp-json/mv-create/v1/creations/310/print>

my DH sent this to me, pretty funny and so True!

Marital Misunderstanding

Wife's Diary:

Tonight, I thought my husband was acting weird. We had made plans to meet at a nice restaurant for dinner.

I was shopping with my friends all day long, so I thought he was upset at the fact that I was a bit late, but he made no comment on it.

Conversation wasn't flowing, so I suggested that we go somewhere quiet so we could talk. He agreed, but he didn't say much.

I asked him what was wrong; He said, "nothing."

I asked him if it was my fault that he was upset.

He said he wasn't upset, that it had nothing to do with me, and not to worry about it.

On the way home, I told him that I loved him.

He smiled slightly, and kept driving. I can't explain his behavior. I don't know why he didn't say, "I love you, too."

When we got home, I felt as if I had lost him completely, as if he wanted nothing to do with me anymore. He just sat there quietly, and watched TV. He continued to seem distant and absent.

Finally, with silence all around us, I decided to go to bed. About 15 minutes later, he came to bed. But I still felt that he was distracted, and his thoughts were somewhere else. He fell asleep; I cried.

I don't know what to do. I'm almost sure that his thoughts are with someone else. My life is a disaster.

Husband's Diary:

A one-foot putt..

Who the hell misses a one-foot putt?

Just a funny. I ran into one of my chemo nurses in the grocery store yesterday. She asked if I was enjoying my chemo vacay. I mentioned I was going to Houston. She asked if it was for a second opinion! I laughed and said no, my sister lives there. We had a good giggle.

Mornin' ladies,

Mary LOL that's exactly what I meant for men an women, that was so funny. And ur pics, are great how cute. I'm sending prayers early today for ur app'ts and let us know cu I check back here too.

Kim I'm glad ur mind is more at rest about ur mom, it is good to have other opinions.. And of course ur DOTD's are always so so good. They always make me want to drink, it's funny tho nowadays I don't even know what some of these alcohol names are but I still want to drink them. I think most of us in the snow area are waiting for "the big one" to happen. None of the snow has really been significant to cause any closings or just staying home.

JC isn't it funny tho when u see someone out of character doing the same thing u r, it doesn't seem right. It makes them real.

Oh I forgot <this is just a silly story, so it's not important really> Saturday, Marty hurt his foot really bad so they went to the urgent care thing around here. So I was home alone and coming back from the bathroom I lost my balance, saw my glasses fly and I wasn't on any carpet an falling backwards, so I maneuvered my body to fall towards my left cheek <not on my face> cuz I actually thought of my tailbone. And down I was laying on the floor and the dog just watching me. Everytime I fall my body shakes a whole lot right after so all I could do was wait. Then I realized I was going to wait more cuz there was no one to call. So I laid there an calmed down for a little bit and said a prayer and right after the prayers the dog started going crazy so I knew my kids were home. Well they walked in and Leslie has a pitch in her voice that u want to punch and she gets hysterical and Marty could barely stand <he tore all kinds of ligaments>. So now there's Les hysterical, Marty thinking and our dog acting like he cares and I'm laughing at them. Then she gets madder. So she got behind me, Marty brought me a chair and he took my arms and 1.2.3 I was up. I was worried about her arm especially, but somehow she said she was fine. And I was fine, well later I started hurting and what I don't understand is why does my body shake so badly after, it's like I feel like I'm in shock and all day every so often I felt like that. Hey I warned u this was a stupid story so if ur still reading it's ur fault. I always said this was the house of Ziggy, entering it needs a sign of the cross at least. Holy water and a rosary would make it better. Somehow that took my whole weekend and I'm still hurting, but I'm fine. I usually don't fall backwards an hit my head. Again no one can tell the difference about my head.

Well hello to all I missed. Illi I hope u check in today. And yes I'm still interested in London, did u DH already live in England.

LUBS U ALL