Topic: Can we have a forum for "older" people with bc?

Nov 29, 2020 06:20AM CeliaC wrote:

Mary - More hopeful thoughts for your mammo.

Sounds like many had lovely TG food celebrations! Went an easy route this year. We had a delicious 1/4 spiral sliced ham with glaze from Trader Joe's (fully cooked, just had to heat up & apply the glaze) / dijon mustard & ginger mango chutney as condiments / also from TJs, a wonderful creamy potatoes/sweet potatoes/shrooms casserole / roasted carrots w/orange & herb butter / scalloped apples for dessert. DOTD was white wine & Chambord spritzers.

Cool and sunny here today, but early next week is supposed to be a bit dodgy. Happy Saturday to all!

Nov 29, 2020 12:05PM Puffin2014 wrote:

I called my Dad on Thanksgiving. He's 94 and lives in Burnsville, MN, near Minneapolis and about a 4 1/2 hour drive for me. We discussed Christmas and decided it would be safer for me not to come this year since both of our buildings now have covid. At that time his building was saying no visitors Dec. 26 and onward. That means I'd have to leave for home on Christmas Day, and with our unpredictable weather there's no guarantee it would even be safe to drive that day. Today Dad emailed me that their rules have changed to no visitors at all from today until further notice and they can't socialize amongst themselves either. It'll be the first Christmas ever we haven't spent together. He doesn't do Zoom or Facetime.

I've had my icicle lights on my patio railing for a couple weeks, put them up while the temps were warm so my fingers wouldn't get cold. Today I went down to the garage storage unit to get my Christmas tree and decorations. When Curtis built the unit for me last February and put the Christmas boxes on the top shelf we figured he'd come and take the tree and boxes down for me in December. My building is only allowing essential visitors too, M-F during office hours. I was very careful and managed to get everything down by myself and tomorrow I'll start decorating. The snow we'd gotten has melted so everything is brown and dingy, need some color and twinkle.

Nov 29, 2020 11:43PM karen1956 wrote:

Petite - happy anniversary

Nov 30, 2020 02:47AM Betrayal wrote:

Petite 1: Belated happy anniversary.

Puffin: Good for you decorating for Christmas. Sorry you will miss your Christmas visit with your Dad. Perhaps safer for both of you though?

I have been painting doors and door trim. We had the kitchen drywalled last fall and I just did not have time to paint the back hallway doors and wood trim. It is now done and looks so white and crisp. I have the window in the laundry room and the baseboard behind the washer and dryer left to finish that room. Although the painters for the restoration were painting bedrooms, they were not doing any baseboards, door trim nor the backs of doors. They did do the windows and trim beause they were all replaced. So I have been on a tear to paint the backs of doors, the trim and baseboards on the second floor. I have the window in the hall bath to finish that room, the baseboard in the second bedroom (did the closet doors, interior of the closet and back of the doorplus trim already), the linen closet backs of doors and trim are finished, and the third bedroom still needs the closet doors, trim, back of door and baseboards painted. Once the fourth bedroom is debulked of the master bedroom contents, I will do the closet doors and trim, the windows and trim, the back of the door and trim and the baseboards. The master bath window and trim need to be painted as well. Painting is a way of escaping the insanity of my unfinished house stress. Plus I am getting a lot of positive vibes for my efforts. It looks so crisp and clean.

They have finished installing and finishing the oak floors in the master bedroom and they look so good. They are "curing" but I should be getting the furniture (sent for refinishing a year ago) back in two weeks. I need to call for the bedframe and mattress I purchased a year ago to arrange for delivery. LOL I purchased an insurance policy on the bed at that time which has since expired. I will talk to the store about this and see what they can do, if anything.

So progress, though very slow, is being made. The tile guy is coming to replace the marble sill for the master bedroom bath on Tuesday and this room still needs to be painted. The painter was having the paint custom blended since the color is no longer available. The attic is still off limits due to A/C work, electrical work and bath exhaust fan work that still needs to be finished. It is the littlle things that are holding up restoring the rooms to their original look and use which is somewhat frustrating.

Have a good Sunday. It is sunny here but cool. I'll take the sun though.

Nov 30, 2020 06:19AM - edited Nov 30, 2020 06:21AM by ChiSandy

Gutter guys are coming today or tomorrow, ahead of the lake effect snow expected for tomorrow night into Tuesday, The only leaves remaining on the trees are the dead ones on the sycamore & oaks across the street--out back, our locust is bare (though during the warm spell, our magnolia actually started to bud). Our east neighbors had their walnut, maple & pine removed when they had to clear their yard enough to build their new garage; our west neighbors' locust (the twin of ours) is also bare.

I am alarmed that my size M scrubs are no longer too loose on me--gee thanks, back sprain (2-1/2 weeks and counting now). As badly as it hurts, I will have to bite the bullet and squat low enough to find & hit the "on" switch on my treadmill. That, and go back to near-keto once the leftovers are gone (taking my carb-blockers before each meal in the meantime). Also, see if my old cheap recumbent bike is easier on my back than my upright. (I would dearly love a recumbent elliptical, like the ones at the PT clinics--but besides the $4K price tag, those suckers would take up half the bedroom).

I went up to Evanston yesterday afternoon for some more Beaujolais Nouveau, and Wilmette to pick up an indoor basil starter kit. (One of the basil sprigs I bought in last week's grocery delivery has sprouted roots in water--and its plastic-bag "greenhouse"--and is developing new leaves, so I needn't buy more fresh basil...yet). Across the parking lot from Evanston First Liquors, I noticed the Barn steakhouse has greatly enlarged its tent and installed heaters, so we made a dinner res. last night. Unfortunately, they seated us in what had been the warmer part of their summer tent--retaining the fabric roof and infrared overhead heaters, shoring up the sides with ship-lap, and adding a ventilation system and standing radiant propane heater. I had some trepidation at the fact that it was warm enough to remove our coats, but the breeze did reassure me somewhat.

At 7pm, we were the only occupants of the four distanced tables. But as the meal progressed, the other 3 tables became occupied--including eventually the closest one, by a loud Gen-Y "girls' night out" party of five who unmasked themselves and began drinking, talking & laughing practically as soon as they sat down. Even Bob, who is normally philosophical enough to say "you need to weigh the probabilities of the risks you're willing to take" (citing that as his willingess to have pre-Thanksgiving inside the house with Gordy & Leslie, who prudently declined and celebrated outdoors with us instead), said "let's skip dessert, pack everything remaining, get the check, and run." We peeked through the fabric tent's windows as we walked back to our car--it had six far more widely-spaced tables, only 3 of which were occupied, two open window flaps and a couple of propane heaters. So that's where we'll insist on sitting next time, willing to keep our coats on and freeze if need be...should there be a "next time," given that we will carefully and assiduously check out other more prudent restaurants with vented tents & igloos, but do pickup as our first choice as much as we can.

Missing Cellars already. Had to make my own Sunday brunch for the first time in months. Hope they can reopen late this winter or early this spring.

Nov 30, 2020 11:38PM IllinoisLady wrote:

Attempting to "fit in" is not a worthy objective.
There is no point in feeling sad or upset when your plans, your ideas,
or even your fundamental nature do not "fit in" with the majority view.

Be the courageous hero and stay committed to your greatest ideas and ideals,
however they are received by those around you.

Do not follow where the path may lead.
Go, instead, where there is no path and leave a trail.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Dec 1, 2020 09:46AM IllinoisLady wrote:

Interesting day here. We had snow flurries several times. Have no idea what may happen tonight. We may wake up to a little dusting out there in the morning. I'm thinking nothing much will be open here other than carry out. We have foregone eating out much at all since this all thing started. Also, since daily I read more it seems in our hometown paper -- I get even edgier about being out.

Lots of people have their X-mas decorations up. Many seem to want them up by Thanksgiving Day. Even when I decorated ( long ago now ) that was too soon for me. At least working on it early you can often sneak it in on much warmer days. I'm sure that was the idea as well with a lot of people here. See a lot of them turned on now though and driving past houses with their trees up and the lights turned on. I hate to sound like an old Scrooge, but having a tree up a month I'd be sort of tired of looking at it by Xmas. Many people leave them up well after X-mas as well. In fairness though I don't think they always have the lights on afterwards near as much.

Hope you all have a great Monday.

Dec 1, 2020 02:41PM Puffin2014 wrote:

I put up and decorated my artificial tree today. It's covered with homemade ornaments. The women in Lew's and my family did a homemade ornament exchange for years and would write our initials and the date on the ornaments. I have ornaments going back to the 1970's. Putting up my tree is a trip down memory lane every year. I love the added color and sparkle it brings to the apartment, and will leave it up till New Year's Day.

I made seasoned oyster crackers and carmel puffed corn today and wrapped Dad's presents and got his box ready to mail. After Mom died those were the treats we'd have on hand over Christmas, he'd make the oyster crackers and I'd make the puffed corn. So this year I put a bag of each in his box so we can continue the tradition.

Dec 1, 2020 11:42PM Betrayal wrote:

Puffin: Love how you are continuing Christmas traditions. I have ornaments that date back to my childhood, some that I handmade many moons ago and these are what make my tree special. We always put the real tree up on Christmas eve and then leave it up until little Christmas in January.

When my children were small, their babysitter would put up a real tree in early December and one year it lasted until St. Patrick's day. She took off the Christmas ornaments in January and decorated it with hearts and cupids for Valentine's day. When that passed, she then put shamrocks and Leprechauns on it. It never dropped needles over these months which surprised me. The children loved it.

Dec 2, 2020 12:55AM carolehalston wrote:

We had beautiful white frost this morning. I didn't get up until 8 am and didn't hear dh when he got up at 7 am and turned on the heat and the coffee pot and closed the bedroom window before he got back in bed. The sun is shining.

I will get out my few Christmas decorations and replace the sun flowers in a vase with a red berry arrangement. Replace the fall leaves in the giant urn with large poinsettias.

One of our local hospitals had stopped all overnight elective surgeries because of rise in Covid patients.

Dec 2, 2020 04:23AM IllinoisLady wrote:

Beautiful sunny day here. On the cool side, but the sun is keeping it fairly pleasant. We are definitely in our cooler weather now. The light snow dust is all gone. In fact, was not able to hang around long at all once the sun got out nice and bright. Have a trip to the store planned for later. I will do the major portion at Walmart but likely stop at Aldi's for a couple of favorites I have there.

I'm not going to get a whole lot done today, but that is okay. Thurs. we go to Marion for me to have an Echogram. It is routine. Discovered in my medical records that I had not had a recent one -- so it is just to catch me up. I've had a heart murmur since the age of 8 when I had Rheumatic Fever. Had a good Pediatrician, but in this very sm. town he wasn't sure exactly how to treat it. I think he did just fine. Yrs. later the Army took me -- so I think it would not have been too bad. Still, now that I'm ahem' older -- likely it is better to keep a base-line and check now and then.

Hope you are all having a good day.

Dec 2, 2020 07:45AM Wren44 wrote:

My German grandmother said if you didn't remove all the tree & decorations by Jan 6, you would get elves in your house. My impression was that they were not nice elves,

Dec 2, 2020 09:49AM Wren44 wrote:

I hope it makes it. That's a hard freeze.

Dec 2, 2020 12:18PM CeliaC wrote:

Started in on some holiday decorating today. Worked for The Nature Company and Smith & Hawken for about 5 years & amassed a lot of lovely glass ornaments, plus had a few left over from childhood. Shipped these to daughter to enjoy. We have a small, pre-lit tree in a lovely red ceramic pot - decorate this with small ornaments that look like holiday painted eggs. I also have several containers in which arrange small & large colored glass ball ornaments & set these & various other items out here & there. Scented candles for that CM tree smell. Will break out the Spode on CM Eve. Plaid tablecloth & red linen napkins & placemats on the table as well. Still have to dig out wreath for front door. We used to put up lights outside, but will probably not bother.

At any rate, we got about 3 inches of snow here in N. Kentucky, so it does look like Christmas today.

Dec 2, 2020 10:59PM petite1 wrote:

Good morning, ladies. It is 28. I will have to trim it back, but I think it will live. It is about 15 ft tall. It is difficult to tell that from the photo. I have started using my Christmas coffee cups, but that is as far as I have gotten with that. LOL