Can we have a forum for "older" people with bc?
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Hi. Ladies. I was back in North Carolina at my little cabin. It does not have any closets, but has a big utility room with washer and dryer, hot water heater and lots of storage.
Chris, glad you made it through surgery.
Betrayal, Love the pictures
Cindy, love yours as well. I have been to DC and found it overwhelming. That was back in the 1980's
firefighter306, Welcome
Sandy, sounds like you are making good progress through the box
Good to hear from Carole, taco.
Canarycat, like the tropical look
and hi, to all I missed
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petite1, glad you were able to enjoy your new hideaway. I am sure it is lovely this time of the year. Have you taken Midnight Louie yet?
Chris, you really know your show characters. Hope your thumb is improving.
Sandy, the end of boxes seems to be in sight. Once you are back living in the house, you'll find you will still be making decisions about where things fit best, what stays and what goes and what decor you'll finalize. I think we all tend to "save" the good stuff for later use and then realize this might be later at some point.
cindyny, hope you enjoyed the dinner and the play.
Was able to pickup oximeter I need for overnight sleep study. Have been waiting since May for this to happen. They did contact me the day before I was leaving for the cruise.
Needed to go to CVS for the prescriptions ordered by pain management. I was surprised that Medicare paid for the real Lidocaine patches and not the generics. I must have reached some kind of threshold in my prescription plan because the last one I picked up plus today's was free.
Yesterday my back was very tender all day but the spasms were silent until 11pm. I had a really rough night as a result even taking a Tizanidine. Spent most of the night trying to find a comfortable position.
Today was overcast and then the rain came. It is to persist into tomorrow. I have chest CT and then I am done until I get my flu shot on 10/5.
Hope everyone had a great day. Waving "hi" to everyone.
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Had my facial today—PITA trying to park with all the street construction in River North (city is desperately trying to get all the sewer work done before the snow flies) and loads of moving vans. In Chicago, leases expire either 9/30 or 3/31, so there's a flurry of moving around the equinoxes.
We got a lot done today: Bob & our landscaper plowed through the pass-through room and now there's space to put our pillows (tons of 'em—we had no idea they would be salvageable, nor the down duvets) and whatever luggage we can wriggle out from behind the mountain of office cartons. My BFF & I unboxed crystal, china & some of the Carnival glass from a mutual friend who's a collector. I made room in the living toom breakfront by being ruthless in wrapping up breakable lesser glassware for donation. We still have tons to cull. Found all my mom's 1847 Rogers Bros. silverplate—which the silver specialists in Wilmette had refused to touch when I inherited it, but the restoration crew managed to get pretty clean. Still have a few Kirk-Stieff pieces missing: I bet they're in boxes in the office, or marked "basement" (many of which are stacked in the garage). I noticed boxes in the garage marked "pots & pans" and "books and paperwork." Oy.
My toenails are shredding from all the trying on of shoes for culling. Meanwhile, I think I found some decent but affordable display cabinets (Penny Mustard, Ashley, Joss & Main) online that fit the dimensions of where our piano used to be. I'm considering only those pieces eligible for "white glove" delivery—I'm not about to start assembling furniture—and that will arrive in the next couple of weeks. Surprisingly, both Macy's and Wayfair seem to carry only the DIY-assembly stuff (which is usually particle board). I'm amazed by how much good china cabinets cost now. Back in 1988 at a furniture discount store in Lincoln Park (the now-defunct Roy's), we got a full American Drew solid cherry dining set (huge lighted cabinet, oval table with leaves, 4 chairs, 2 armchairs) for…are you ready?…$2900. That cabinet alone today is almost $5K (on sale)—the entire set is over $10K now. Speaking of inflation, I went to Metropolis Coffee to pick up some decaf beans. They used to sell beans for $16-18/lb, in full-pound bags. Then 4 years ago the bags shrunk to 12 oz., and now they're 10.5 oz. for $18-20. At least they're less likely to get stale before I can use them.
Also need to get cracking on finding a painter soon. My HK is coming 10/4-19, staying at the house and I hope she can use the shower there (instead of having to come here to Lincolnwood). She will help me decide what goes where and what to keep. I discovered that the first floor bathroom fan switch is on the same plate as the sole GFCI outlet…but all the fan does is hum. We'll have to get that fixed too. And I'd like at least one more GFCI there and one installed in the upstairs bath.
I hope my fellow musicians aren't insulted by my discarding the freebie CDs we exchanged at conferences. Still a lot of empty jewel boxes and "orphaned" discs. There will be time enough to try to "reunite" them.
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Permanence, perseverance and persistence in spite of all obstacles, discouragements, and impossibilities: It is this, that in all things distinguishes the strong soul from the weak.
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Sandy - congratulations on making significant progress with the move back in. My head is spinning thinking of all you are handling. How much longer will you be in Lincolnwood? Happy to hear your HK will be returning next week to help.
Cindy - thinking of you and hoping today’s oral surgery visit went as well as can be expected.
Betrayal - I’m so sorry to hear the back spasms are still an issue. That really limits one’s activities. I hope the lidocaine patches offer relief. Good luck with the chest CT. Do you have another trip coming up? I’ll hope the back issues are resolved by that time.
My MRI/MRCP indicated the pancreatic cyst is stable. I’ll have another one in a year and then the GI doc will decide if I can go to having one every other year for the next 10 years. I’ll get the Covid and flu shots next month.
We signed a contract to have our pool removed. It will take the contractor a few weeks to have the permit pulled because our city likes to drag their feet. Apparently the city decides the cost of the permit on a case by case basis. Such a deal! Once the permit is pulled the contractor will schedule the pool removal. The goal is to have it done by Thanksgiving when we leave for Spain.
We officially pulled the trigger on the trip to Vietnam next March. My thought is this will be our last big trip as we are getting older and travel is expensive. I’m doing all the planning as I prefer to have control of the itinerary rather than have a TA tell me what to do. Basically I’m a bit of a control freak 🤷♀️ with travel. The airfare and hotels are booked. I can wait a few months to book tours which I will mostly do through the hotels. I did book business class airfare due to the distance we are travelling. While we’ve flown biz class previously I’ve always used miles if it’s personal travel or flown on my employer’s dime for business functions. I’m retired and out of miles so I found a decent fare and purchased it yesterday.
Waving hello to all.🙋♀️🙋♀️🙋♀️5 -
Back spasms do respond to Lidocaine patches, but they are only on for 12 hours, so results are limited. I am taking a steroid pack for 6 days to see if this will knock it out. Our next cruise to the Panama canal leaves on 10/9.
Last night I had the overnight pulse oximetry test and woke up 3 times because the sensor was so tight my left index finger was throbbing. I have bony changes due to arthritis and the snug fitting sensor caused a pressure sore on the bony joint. I finally moved it to the middle finger, but it was also snug there. I did report it and showed my finger to the supplier who responded. "no one else has complained about this". I do not have big fingers and feel sorry for anyone who uses it next if they have pudgy fingers. Not sure when I will hear results, but it was a night where I woke several times, and did manage to drift off again.
Today was the chest CT and have not seen results posted yet. Tech did say they will be posted on EPIC even though the practice doesn't participate in EPIC. They have their own portal which is exclusively for emails. I hate that a lot of the specialties are listed as members of the MLHS, but really aren't required to participate in EPIC. I know it is expensive, but it is a real issue since their portals are all different, requiring separate user names and passwords, and many times just plain crappy. I requested that the results be sent to my new PCP.
Today was Bonefish Grill's 25th Anniversary so if you booked a reservation and spent more than $25, you would receive a reward of $10 towards your next meal there. We like the local one and have gotten to know the manager quite well. Dinner was good and they had a pumpkin creme brulee that was delicious.
Today was rainy off and on with severe storms predicted for tonight. We had some real thunder claps last night and heavy downpours that I love to hear on the roof. We have a walnut tree that is dropping its nuts now and when they hit the roof it scares Leo. It's a loud boom when it hits.
Doing the last load of laundry now and plan on relaxing after.
harley07, your trip to Vietnam sounds nice. We have used a company named Viatour for planning local tours and found them to be very nice. They employ professional locals such as teachers, etc, so you get a native's perspective and not some canned tour. Not sure if they are available in Asia but in Europe we have used them in Italy, and the UK. They are usually smaller tours and the locals speak English. I love Spain and hope you enjoy that trip.
Sandy, the mystery boxes are like a gift. You seem to be finding items you have either forgotten about, not used in awhile or were saving for the right occasion. Once everything is sorted and culled, you'll be able to enjoy them again.
I love facials and had one on our cruise. I may schedule one for this cruise though they are pricey and the girls can be pushy with wanting to sell you the products used. I do like the brand, just not the prices. DD got a manicure and wanted me to get one, but my fingers are so disfigured by arthritis, that painted nails just make them more noticeable, so I passed. Hers has lasted for several weeks, so she lucked out.
Wavinng "hi" to everyone and hoping everyone had a great day.
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Betrayal, we used Viator in DC for the night tour. And we’ve used them for some other trip I can’t remember where.
The play was great, highly recommend seeing it if you can. It’s Neil Diamond's life story told through his therapy sessions, and around his songs. It was like a concert, very enjoyable. Our dinners were delicious too.
I had the tooth pulled this morning. It was done before I knew it. Extraction, bone graft with my platelets mixed in, and a mouth full of stitches. Minimal soreness, took Advil. The Xanax worked well, no stress and I slept on and off most of the afternoon. Only thing I didn’t plan for was eating cold soft foods. Lunch was yogurt and cottage cheese, dinner was more yogurt. I have to sleep propped up, no laying flat tonight. Taking the antibiotic as prescribed. My follow up is 10/9.
I need to shower and get in my jammies. I’ve been in my robe and fleece pants since getting home. It rained, rained and rained some more today. We were in a drought but so much over a few days is crazy. I’ll keep an eye on my basement , ugh.
Petite, I’m glad you were back to your cabin to enjoy it!Carole, times ticking for your trip back to LA. Safe journey, if I forget to say it later.
Sandy, use the good stuff. Life’s too short to save it. (Erma Bombeck said it I believe)
Harley, sad to know the pool will be gone but I’m hoping they get it done before you leave on your trip. That way upon your return it’s but a memory. Crazy with the permitting.
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Today I choose life. Every morning when I wake up I can choose joy, happiness, negativity, pain... To feel the freedom that comes from being able to continue to make mistakes and choices - today I choose to feel life, not to deny my humanity but embrace it.
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I had a port put in Wednesday and today it’s red and itchy. Using an ice pack today which seems to be calming the itch. I react to tape so that may be the problem. I agreed to using it but didn’t realize it would be on for a full week.
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betrayal, not a knowledge of characters as such. More an admiration of how much English culture— even in Vancouver— has changed in the past hundred years.
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@wren44 I had the same reaction as you when I had my port put in. Call and see if you can remove/replace it before it gets worse. Then, every time they access your port have them use the anti-allergy port tape. I think it is orange. They usually don't mind although they sometimes have to go and look for it. If they don't have it, you will be fine if it is on for only about 20 minutes. If longer, see what they are willing to do. I have had them try all sorts of things—anything is better than the rash I had to endure. I have never had a nurse complain about it in the three years mine has been in. I also either have them use a paper tape/guaze bandage once removed, or I remove the bandage as soon as I get in the car. Mine don't bleed so it is fine.
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Got a call today that family room rug was clean and repaired. There were some areas of low pile from DH rubbing his feet where he would sit so in front of the couch and his recliner. It looks brand new though it's over 60 years old. I thought about replacing it, but couldn't find anything I liked and it truly is one of a kind.
DD and DSIL helped move furniture and lay the rug so the room looks complete again. The couch is as old as the rug. My mom had it custom made and the frame is a heavy hard wood. I have had it reupholstered many times but it is so comfortable. If you sit on it you don't dare recline because you will never see the end of what you are watching.
Still waiting for CT results and annoyed that they take so long. At least my index finger sore is going away.
Decorated front porch today with the fall flag, door wreath, and fall silk flowers. It was warm today, but still overcast.
DD and DSIL picked up dinner from the Greek festival sponsored at a local church. The food is always good and we get 2 meals from their generous portions.
Hope everyone had a great day and waving "hi".
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Meant to say cindyny, I am glad your dental adventure is over and you are recovering without issues.
harley07, pool removal should be interesting to observe. Will they landscape after they fill the hole in?
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Betrayal - sorry to hear you are still waiting on the CT results. I waited a week for my MRI results. I wonder if there is a shortage of radiologists? Or just lots and lots of people getting imaging and overwhelming available resources.
We have a one page document outlining the steps to removing the pool. Once it is removed the contractor will backfill and compact the material. I think they will use clay as that is what our soil is. The city will inspect to make sure it is done to code to prevent a sinkhole or drainage issues. The top 4” inches will be dirt and then they will seed. It’s likely we will need to reseed in spring as well.
Thanks for the reminder about Viator. I’m also planning to look at their options in Vietnam.
Chris - how are the hands feeling?
Carole - safe travels back home.
Wren - when does chemo start? Don’t you have a trip coming up?
Cindy - hope your mouth is healing well and with minimal to no pain.
Petite - so happy to hear you are enjoying your cabin.
Volunteered at the food pantry today. Demand is up and we are consistently running out of food each week well before closing time. Given funding cuts our leadership is having to be creative with what food they can buy. We also receive a ‘recovery’ shipment from local grocery stores of food that is close to the expiration date. This week we received less than usual from the grocery stores in our area. We are cutting back on what we give to each family in order to stretch our resources and make sure everyone gets some food.
Waving hello to all.
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I spent the day doing odds and ends. Laundry was my biggest event. Ha! The spot where the tooth was pulled seems fine, the other two teeth it was between sort of ache if touched. I assume as it was pulled they were used as leverage. I’ll be fine over time.
Our electric & gas supplier, National Grid, came by and changed both meters today. They no longer will have someone drive by, now it will all be transmitted electronically back to billing. Our electricity went off with 8-10 minutes left of my soap opera, Y&R. It’s recorded on my DVR in Florida so I was able to pull it up on my phone to see the ending. But I had to laugh because I didn’t have the tv on all day, and when I did is when they replaced the meter.
Did I already tell you about getting on the flight in DC? I had checked my luggage but my SO wanted his with him. As we neared to board they wanted to tag it to go under the plane. I said - we have drugs in there. Lots of drugs! The agent didn’t skip a beat, just asked if we had to take any during the flight. My niece and grandniece were laughing like crazy - Aunt Cindy telling them she’s carrying drugs.I believe we’re heading to the Big E (multi state fair) tomorrow afternoon. It won’t be as much fun for me, having to watch what I eat and rinse with warm salt water after eating. I’ll have to be content to people watch.
Enjoy the weekend!
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If we are to be happy, we must first react against our tendency to follow the line of least resistance, a tendency that causes us either to remain as we are, or to look primarily to activities external to ourselves for what will provide new impetus to our lives.
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Betrayal, Jackie would have liked that quote. She was big into self-improvement.
Since I began wearing a version of the Fit Bit watch, I've learned I don't walk anywhere close to the 8000 steps I'm assigned, and I don't get a lot of deep sleep.
Packing up to leave is under way. I did clothes laundry yesterday and will do bedding and towels today. Hopefully, my next laundry will be in Louisiana. We're planning to depart on Tuesday rather than Monday. DH decided he wanted to play one more men's golf league on Monday.
Hi to all.
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Carole, lack of deep sleep is generally due to pain.
harley, achey. sometimes an erratic sharp pain. I find, just like before surgery, that immobilization helps. when i am doing things, i automatically use the right hand in highly practiced ways, and it delivers a payback. However, i am also dealing with the impulse to cut the cast off. easy, since it is more splint-like, half soft fiber. 6 more days.
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Harley, my first chemo is Wednesday, the second is October 29 and we leave Nov 4 for our trip. Plane is actually the 5th right after midnight. My time is spent trying to decide which art supplies to take. Paper is heavy unfortunately
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wren44, I hope your chemo goes well. I don't recall where you are going on your trip but hope it is a nice escape for you.
I was really just outside of juice today so I dabbled on Ancestry exploring my one Aunt's roots. Ironed a few items and straightened up a bit.
Looked out and managed to catch the young buck with the intact rack eating bird seed off the ground. He's gorgeous. I haven't seen the one with the one broken antler in awhile. Soon rut season will begin (mid October) so I expect to see him as well as the huge buck we see yearly.
It was a lovely day with a few showers and intermittent sun. Does have been eating the leaves on the lawn. I tell DH they are helping him with leaf control.
Hope everyone had a great day. Waving "hi".
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Carole, when I first started wearing my FitBit, it caused me so much stress over lack of sleep I almost tossed it. I had thought I was getting 7+ hours of sleep. Well I was in bed that long but my sleep was always 5.5-6+ hrs, never 7. It is what it is, I’ve kept it and even replaced it when it died. Every now and then I get over 7 hrs and it shocks me. 🤷♀️
Wren, wishing you an easy time with your chemo, in case I forget on Wednesday.
We did go to The Big E and had a great time. Weather was beautiful! We’re usually running with kids thru foods and on to rides, or vise versa. But with just us two, we went into the area with crafts and artists. Glass blowers, wood working, just a lot of fun. I bought myself a glass snowflake, and some fall potpourri - orange spice. And we ate dinner at the historic tavern - oysters for him, shrimp for me. I’d say no fair foods, but I did totally devour one of the fairs famous eclairs! Per FitBit I did walk 3.58 miles.
I need to floss, brush, rinse with warm salt water, and then rinse with the prescription mouth rinse. It’s a whole production!
Hope you all have a good weekend.
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The Big E photos
Clydesdales were there!
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That Big E looks like great fun, Cindy!
Good luck on your chemo, Wren—we'll be in your pocket.
Harley, we had to cancel our NYC trip because it'd be the same weekend our HK leaves (on Bob's birthday). Our next trip will be to NOLA in Jan. (my birthday weekend) for Folk Alliance. At this stage I'm not sure how much professional networking I'm up for—we used to try to maximize the number of private showcases we played, which can be exhausting, since they begin after the official ones end, after 10:30pm. The thought of performing to a few people in someone's hotel room at 2am no longer appeals. I'm going to limit myself to no more than 2 showcases per night, manybe 4 or 5 total. (In years past, I've done aa many as 14 in a weekend). I'll probably be going more for the socislizing and the entertainment. When I was in my 50s, the goal was to advance my late-bloomer career and seek validation. Now, it's just to have fun. Nothing to prove—and certainly not going to tour! Of course, there's also the food (albeit in smaller portions). The conference hotel is next to the casino, which makes Bob happy.
After that, the CBA's continuing education trip will be to Athens & Santorini in March. We've never been to Greece, so I'm hoping Bob will want to come with.
Went to Ashley on Friday and bought a modern china cabinet (same height as the old piano, about half the width, three shelves with glass doors, and two drawers below). We have quite a bit of wall space, so also bought a wine cabinet (4'high, 3' wide) with built-in stemware hangers, a 12-bottle wine cubby, and shelves tall enough to store decanters. Both made of rubberwood, same color as our floors. I took pictures of the glassware & crystal covering the breakfront and the miscellany on the dining room table and sent them to our HK, who said she will put everything where it belongs. At this point, the place is semi-livable but for the hazards of cats and glassware (and the constant parade of boxes being opened and in various stages of "open"—the latter is feline paradise). We found the switch for the 1st floor bathroom fan—it's on the single GFCI switchplate—but the fan only hums instead of blowing. Sigh. One more expensive repair.
We went through our inexpensive mugs, wineglasses & pilsners and wrapped them up for donation along with pressed-glass faux-crystal clocks we never used (a lot of stuff from Things Remembered and hospital-board souvenirs/promos). Going through duplicate kitchen utensils. Will donate my cheaper pots & pans, especially nonstick & aluminum. Have yet to locate my Instant Pot and the rest of the everyday white Corelle and good silver. Lots of artwork & stained glass to hang—but the hooks for the latter were removed by the contractor,. At our last apartment, which lacked cabinets & counters in the kitchen (it did have a pantry), we bought a tall white metal cabinet to store dishes and small appliances (and used a dinette table as a counter). We have a bar cart in the kitchen with a white tile top. We will move that into the dining room and put the metal cabinet in its stead. The contractor didn't include a slide-out for waste disposal. and the kitchen dinette set is big enough to block easy access to the step-on waste can we used to keep in a corner. There will be a lot of rearranging to do. Almost considering consulting a decorator (though our HK moonlights as one back in B'ham). I know where everything used to hang, but it was done gradually over the decades. All at once seems daunting.
We will likely be moved in with the cats before the last week of October, and take that time to get everything out of Lincolnwood and get the latter clean enough for the next tenant. We may have to go into part of November—and will be leaving a lot of stuff we bought to make the place more like a home than a vacation rental (e.g., plastic wineglasses, George Foreman grill, toaster-oven—all the Wal-Mart-grade things that weren't supplied by the owner). Dawned on me that there are no bookshelves or bookcases here, nor any A/V components other than the TVs.
Betrayal, glad the Lidoderm patches are working. Amazing how much that extra 1% can do! I used to alternate them with Flector (diclofenac) patches so neither one was on for more than 12 hrs. These days I make do with lidocaine roll-on, Bio-Freez, and generic Voltaren gel. Might see if any of the numerous dispensaries around here carry Mary's Medicinals: they make a CBD transdermal pen with a bit more THC than the over-the-counter drugstore stuff, and when I had a medical cannabis card it used to work well to pick up the slack that the other OTC topicals couldn't suffice. Hope you're feeling better in time for next week's cruise!
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Sandy, “all at once seems daunting” is an understatement! I’m not doing it and it’s overwhelming. The only bright spots I can come up with is you’ve gotten to purge so much, and you’re home (soon).
I woke at 6 to use the bathroom, and turned on my robot vacuum before heading back to bed. It’s nice to wake up to a vacuumed first floor! I should do that every time I wake too early.
I need to run to Aldi’s for a few things and maybe put a chicken in the oven when I get back. Temps should hit 81 today.
I received my credit card bill via email, which I saw last night. Endodontist, garage door repair, regular dentist, new leather couch, oral surgeon and the DC trip/gift, plus regular purchases. Wee oh, I don’t know if I’ve ever spent so much in a month. I should get bonus points or something, besides my shock.
Have a good day!2 -
Do not wait; the time will never be 'just right.' Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along.
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I've yet to set up my robot vac—I suppose I should while still here in Lincolnwood. I bought it because the carpet here is black and shows fur within 24 hrs of my cleaning lady's weekly visit, as well as the litter being tracked in on their little paws. Debating about whether to return it—still in the shipping box. After all, we have both a Fuller upright and stick vac back at the house, and those carpets are beige (the wall-to-wall ones in the front room & den are plush). A Swiffer should take care of the bare floors.
Woke up at 1pm—was up till 3am when I realized I hadn't laid out my pills, much less taken them. Took an hour for the night meds to kick in. Woke with a sore back (also forgot to do my stretches before giving the cats their lunch), so I'm operating on Aleve and half a Baclofen, plus my nukable buckwheat heating pad as I type this, have my coffee and figure out "which way 'up' is" (Bob's & my little shorthand for adjusting to being awake). Bob walked to the local brewpub for breakfast and football. I'm eating my leftover Greek chicken & green beans for brunch. Went to Cooper's Hawk last night, and I foolishly ate the pretzel bread and a cup of shrimp bisque (plus the portion of Bob's wedge salad he insisted I eat), so could get through only 1/3 of my entree (actually an appetizer): 3 barbacoa arancini (SW/Sicilian fusion) and roasted broccolini). That'll be tomorrow's brunch—we have stuff to sort through at the house and wil likely eat dinner nearby. We had 3 free bottles of wine coming on our membership, one of which is a magnum of a Cabernet blend, which we will drop off at the house. We are starting to return wines to there from Lincolnwood, where we'd brought them last year.
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Back an issue today, but not until it was too late to put on a Lidocaine patch. I decided to do some stretches to see if they would help. I have a long handled squeegee for windows so I dug it out and washed the 3 bay windows exterior, moved on to the exterior 3 windows in each garden window and the back door screen window. They are cleaner than they were though there are a few faint streaks. Hopefully rain will take care of them. I then used a squeegee on the interior of the bay window and it really looks good. The top of the windows is hard for me to reach, but the cheapy squeegee I bought online from Walmart gives me the reach I need. Back hurts less so I think the stretching helped, plus I got clean windows to boot.
It was in the mid-70's today and sunny so ideal weather for this time of year.
Sandy, we are getting an Eataly in King of Prussia. I know we will go there, so is there something you recommend to try? There is a Maggiano's there, so they will provide some competition. However, Maggiano's is usually packed on any given day.
cindyny, loved the photos especially the Clydesdales.
carole, thank you for the comment on the quote. I will never be able to replace Jackie for her timely quotes, but I do try to find ones that I hope appeal to some. I wish I knew what references she used. Safe trip to LA. My Fitbit tells me I average 6 plus hours of sleep even thought I feel like I am in bed for more than that. I think it deducts any bathroom trips and periods where it takes awhile to go back to sleep. The graphs are usually very good for explaining this.
Raided the freezer to see what we will have for dinner. I found some stuffed chicken breasts from Stolfus butcher in Lancaster (Amish country) and 2 Delmonico steaks. Tonight will be the chicken with steamed broccoli and the steaks will be for another night. I want a baked potato with them. I haven't had much of an appetite lately so interest in these is welcome.
Still not results on CT and this is annoying. I have never had to wait this long for results so I will think twice about going there for radiology studies. The others I have had there have been resulted the next day.
I hope everyone had a great day and waving "hi".
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Remember that the recommendation for eight hours began long before there were Fitbits. You need to get eight hours in bed (including potty times) for any hope of a good night's sleep. I think 6 to 6 1/2 hours according to the electronic monster is fine.
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Wren - I remember planning a trip around chemo. Had it on Friday and we left Saturday and returned in 3 weeks in time for the Friday appointment again. Hope the chemo doesn't give you too much trouble so you can enjoy your trip. I too don't remember where you are going.
Always love the pictures but especially all the pumpkins this time, Cindy. Betrayal, I too enjoy your choice of quotes. Don't know where you are finding them but they are appreciated.
Harley, travel while you can. You will treasure the memories. We no longer are even able to go to DD. It is just to hard on Ken, both physically and mentally.
Carole, travel safely. Have a good week everyone.
Taco
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Betrayal, Eataly's restaurant fare is far more sophisticated, authentic and varied than Maggiano's. Maggiano's (which was spun off from its original owner Lettuce Entertain You) is classic "old-school red-sauce" Italian-American stuff with obscene portions, which might explain its mass appeal. Sort of a step up from Olive Garden in both authenticity and abundance,
Most branches of Eataly have at least one sit-down waiter-service restaurant (the one in Boston is a wood-burning grill, with live music, but the Vegas one lacks an actual restaurant). Chicago's used to have four: Il Pesce (seafood), Il Carne (meat), Le Pizza e Le Pasta (self-explanatory—the pizza made Neapolitan-style in a woodburning oven), and a formal upscale joint in the basement. The latter folded after a year, as prices were as expensive as standalone restaurants; the fish & meat restaurants disappeared after 5 years. What remains of the waiter-service ones are the pizza/pasta and a central pan-Italian trattoria that spans several regions. There is also a seafood bar (including raw shellfish & sometimes crudos), a street-food bar (arancini, suppli, fried calamari, spiedini aka skewers), panini counter, Illy coffee bar (there used to be an additional espresso bar featuring Eataly's proprietary coffee), patisserie (cannolli filled to order) and gelateria—the latter three being on the first floor with lots of seating. There's also a greengrocer, salumeria (deli/charcuterie), butcher, fishmonger, and huge cheese dept. on the second floor, a small fresh-pasta and housemade ricotta & mozzarella station near the bakery, and a small takeaway case (panini, salads) by the entrance.
What I suggest you do first is browse. The bread is always great, fresh and baked in-house. The wine selection (Italian-only, including some spirits like grappa) is great and varied. There are olive-oil-and vinegar, dried pasta, cookies & candy, jarred sauces & pantry-staples/condiments sections; and a tiny (and IMHO waay overpriced) kitchenwares section. Walk around observing and smelling the various fresh-food bars and restaurants. Make a reservation at the eatery of your choice (the bars usually don't require one but seating is limited so you'd likely stand). If there's a wait, do your "window shopping" for pantry staples or wines till your name comes up. (Not sure if they have pagers; in smaller single-floor Eatalys you can hear your name called). Torino's (the original) was largest—you used to have to take a shuttle to get around it, but now downtown Rome's is the world's largest; Chicago's is the largest in the US, with L.A. & NY second & third. Get on their mailing list for special events (seasonal specials like truffle week, wine tastings, food fests, celebrity chef demos, etc). Checkout now is self-service but fairly painless. Buy a tote bag or two (usually $1-2)—they are usually sturdier than the usual recycled-poly supermarket ones, and machine-washable lightweight canvas. (During grand opening week your first tote may be a freebie). If your branch is in King of Prussia, it'll probably be surrounded by lots of free parking; here in Chicago there's a garage a block away with one hour free validated parking—but go one second over that and you'll be out $37 or more (SpotHero can cut that in half if you know you'll be there longer than an hour). There's also a CTA Red Line station (Grand & State) a block away. The Boston one is in the Pru center tower, and the Vegas one in the Park MGM. When we were holed up in the Homewood Suites downtown (River North) while they were getting the Lincolnwood rental ready for us, we dined there at least 3 of our 10 nights as it was around the corner and there was lots of variety.
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