Among Friends

[agnesann]

Hi, friends! My eyes are finally clearing up and I can breathe through one nostril - progress! A good thing since I have no more sick days and I’m borrowing from my few vacation days now.  Thank you for the prayers! 

Did you see your doctor again yet, Snappy? I feel like I have asthma and I wheeze too, but I know it’s bronchitis from the flu and bacterial respiratory infection. I'm inhaling steam with Vick's and doing the breathing exercises. Breathe in deeply through the nose, hold it in briefly, then exhale slowly through pursed lips - as though you're going to whistle. Repeat 3 times. It helps! 

Glad y'all are enjoying the Olympics. I watched some of the figure skating, then got bored. Joy loaned me the TV series, The Tudors on DVD. I've been watching that, since I couldn’t read due to gunky eyes. If anyone qualifies for a slug lately, it's me. 🐌 I remind myself of the sloth on the GEICO commercial! Only with a red, raw nose, seriously chapped lips and possibly permanent bed head. 

Selah and all, Becky called to tell me about the ring! She is so excited - loves it!! I can’t wait to see it in person, 'cos the pic she tried to txt is a blur. They're having a great time, though it's still rainy here. Jacob refuses to call Josh Josh. He insists on calling him Wolf, though I’ve told him 100 times that Lone Wolf is only his nickname. I hope Joshua won’t be offended! You know to Jacob it is the coolest thing that Josh is Native American. Kinda like with James being a fireman, Caleb being a NASCAR rep and Darrell being with LE.... But I sit here cringing with worry over what embarrassing or maybe even inappropriate things Jacob may ask him. Josh gave Jacob a pouch full of the most beautiful little smooth stones. Bless his heart. He remembered how he likes to collect things from nature. You know Jacob had to take those to school in his jacket pocket to show his friends. He sure didn’t care about any Valentines - it was all about his rocks! 😜 I bet he handed his cards out in record time. He gave me his bag full of those he received from his classmates. They are so cute! Said I could keep them and tape them on the wall to help me get well. That stinker. Anything with hearts just has to be for girls only. 

Josh gave Gracie fairy stones! I had never heard the legend before - so sweet and unique. You would think those two kids hit the lottery! Reminds me to appreciate the simple pleasures even more. 

I see they are upgrading this website again. It sort of reminds me of HSN's now. Maybe QVC hired their IT Dept and so things will improve here, after some tweaking. This is not the day to try to update your avatar pic. I wasted 20 mins on that. Right now everything is super scrunched on my iPad Mini, but I can stretch the posts to read them - and the box to type my own. 

I hope cute and everyone can sign in okay. That part is different and tiny, too. 

Time for my meds and more tea with honey. Hope you all have a nice weekend! 💐

[agnesann]

Although my new avatar kept saying “pending” it did show up by my post. At least on my end, it’s visible. So scratch that - what I said above. 😊

[SelahG]

Looking good up there, Agnes! Much better, PTL! 

But this site now reminds you of HSN's? I feel sorry for those folks over there then. Oh my dawg, y'all .... this is a MESS. A work still in progress I HOPE. I must have signed in a dozen times while trying to update my avatar -- which I can't crop or center correctly, so there it stays for now. As lop-sided as I am. Click it to enlarge and scroll down to my album to see the whole pic. This was taken soon after we moved here to NC -- before I cut my hair. Don't have a more recent one of myself on this phone.  

Agnes, please don't fret over anything that little Jacob might say. Believe me when I tell you, Josh/we have heard it all and it doesn't faze us in the least. Besides, he is an innocent. It's understandable and Josh will only chuckle and maybe gently give him the correct insights. He loves being called Wolf! All of his friends and most of the family call him that. I knew Jacob would love the rocks and Gracie would go ga-ga over the fairy stones! Can't wait to see the pics. 😍 Of Becky wearing her ring, too. So, that's that -- committed! Keep resting thru the weekend and maybe by Monday you can return to work. Light duty!

Snappy, thank you for the updates! Isn't it strange how the allergy pill Zyrtec helps with Shirley's symptoms? I get the Tylenol, but histimine obviously plays a role. Your DIL is a real go-getter like my step-daughter who is in the Navy. I can only envy high energy people tho I have always worked hard since the age of 14. Never knew any other way .... Just how it was and I'm kinda glad about that. Kept me out of more trouble than I managed to get into! I still plug along at a slower pace. Hope you enjoy your weekend with easier breathing. I'm going to turn in early, because tomorrow Tanya and I are both volunteering at the res' ministry all day. 

Lurky, the vet called and said that all of Mosi's labs came back just fine! She needs one more shot and that's it for a year. Woo-hoo! She was already spayed, which is stranger yet as to why no one has claimed her. 

Thank you for checking in here, Anu! Be sure to tell Frank we're all praying and since he has COPD ... maybe he should let someone else volunteer until this epidemic clears out, God-willing. It could take him down so easily. 

Waving to Issy, MsLomo, cute and all my KS sisters! Be chatting with you more soon. Have a great weekend!!! 😘

[DeLaney]

[Rowan72]

Ah, yes ... the weekend at last, Marcia. May it be relaxing and renewing for all. I bet you are working somehow or the other though, just the same. At least it's not housework!

Anu, thanks for the tip! I will do just that, since I'm still unable to learn much here. I didn't know that you have the Total Gym, too, but I'm not surprised. Both you and your hubby are in such great shape! Praying as you've requested and I hope you can get some quality rest this weekend. 

Lurky, I thought this link might interest you, since you love to travel vicariously and it relates to your beloved Moravian church and community here in our area: 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Salem

I recall it was near here that you finally located that old-world patterned quilt for your customer. Chay I went to an early dinner there, then shopped for cheeses, deli meats and spreads. What a selection and all natural (no preservatives or GMOs). Got to talking about the history with one of the shopkeepers and couldn't wait to learn more when I got home. 

I hope you're not having additional trouble reading and posting here since the latest changes to the website. I'm less than pleased so far, and like Selah ... I hope this is not the end result. Did we need more visual distractions and less space to type? 

Agnes, thank goodness you've finally turned the corner to feeling a bit better! What a blessing, too, that it hasn't spread throughout the family. Love your happy, glowing avatar! So fits your ever-evolving life toward peace and contentment. (Love Selah's, too, since it's rather edgy, like her personality.) 

Snappy, sorry you are still feeling so tired and winded at times. I'll be so relieved, as I know you will, to have your physician's help with these symptoms. Sometimes medications can cause it, too. At least we know it's not directly stemming from the CHF. I'm praying for your health and the driving issue, too. A tough challenge we will all face eventually if we are blessed with a long life. I have never really enjoyed driving as much as many people anyway. More like a necessary chore, but also a part of our personal freedom that can be taken for granted. I should appreciate that more and the traffic is much lighter down here. 

I don't know how those athletes, including the skaters maintain their courage to perform before the world stage. I only know I could never, ever do it. I lack whatever extra something they are endowed with, but I can yet relate to their despair when one little slip spoils their chances, after working so hard and coming so far. I'm thankful that it's been peaceful there - no attacks or anything sinister attempted. I can't stop anguishing for all those families in FL that lost loved ones - mostly children - to violence. 

Better get back to the house plans. Chay and I are going over the first rough draft this evening. I'm sure he'll want many changes once he actually sees it all on paper. I still wish he would have agreed to go with one of the model homes that are already drawn up. I suppose though his thinking is that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity, so he wants to seize the day. Stimulates him in enjoyable ways. Me, in unpleasant ways, but we are inching along.  Patience and compromise - what virtues to practice. 

Love and Peace of Grace to All! 

[LurkyLoo]

Leaping lizards!🦎 Nevermind the poltergeists and gremlins.. Are we under demon attack, or is it NK? 👀 Something really wrecked this site. It’s rendered my Fire tablet useless. I can stretch the page to read your posts on my iPad with JavaScript turned off before I need to turn to back on to sign in. Then naturally, I can’t recall all of your comments when trying to reply. Forgive an old woman until they hopefully finish fixing this. Your posts appear to be written in tiny ant trails. I know you didn’t decrease the font size yourselves and mine will likely appear the same to you, if this goes through. 

Rowan, thank you and Winona for giving me something to look forward to until our big reunion this summer! I'm planning to be at Tom's next weekend. Gwen is taking me and staying, too, so I or she will let you know when to call on FT. Hoping that mannish Smoky will cooperate! I'll take a special treat along. Can’t hurt. How cute that Mosi was so fascinated by the lions and tigers- oh my! They don’t appear so large on TV. Well, not on mine anyway. I'm so glad her labs came back okay and it appears she will be staying on there with your family. Have a lot to speak with Winona about anyway and neither of us care much for all this typing. Plus the other forum is too busy to keep up with at my age. I try and I thank everyone for understanding. I mostly read and learn a lot there and I do so love the video clips and photos! Wish I could see Agnes and Selah's new avatars here, but everyone's appears as just an X to me. Oh, well.. can see you all in person again very soon. I love the technology when used to bring people together- just don’t like to see people rip one another apart with it. 

When you next visit Delphi, click on Marcia’s nic. You'll find a thread there she started. A comparison quality and price analysis on the exercise machines. One man there in particular is a certified PT and he really knows his stuff. Many other replies with good info and merchant links that wouldn’t pass the censors here. You'll find it helpful, but I just hope your husband doesn’t see it, if it's meant to be a surprise for his birthday. Marcia didn’t adddress or tag you in her OP, likely for that reason. Maybe only read and then thank everyone there after the fact. I did see Chay there last night, but not in that Fitness forum- Travel Planning, I believe it was.

Speaking of which.. thank you for the informative link! I would love to visit, but this is the next best thing. Glad you had a nice dinner out and found goodies to take home, too. 😍 Gwen wants to do the D.C. tour with her fiancé rather I can go or not. I'm praying I can and leaving it in the Lord's worthy hands. 

Now I have to sign out, so I can read the next post, then back in to reply. What a bother! Until this is repaired, I'll be chatting with you KS ladies off-site, and only with Snappy and friends here. May have to only heart their posts after reading and catch up replying later. I know everyone understands that I can’t risk my eyesight and the dizziness, though I love you all and this little Friends forum. ❤️

[LurkyLoo]

Snappy, so good to see you, as well as I can, dear. I’m thankful that Valentine's Day no longer bothers you. I remember back when it used to, so we were all careful of your feelings on that day. You are making some progress along the never-ending (on earth) grief journey. How very sweet that your hubby so often treated you with bouquets of flowers! I can see how it would trigger hard memories now. In fact, carnations- even the scent alone always makes me sad. That pre-dates Angela's death, or even my mother’s. Funerals I attended as a child must cause me to associate their aroma with death. Odd how grief is so different for each person, but equally painful and lasting. It can also bring some relief and I can relate to that, too, because of my father who was so unkind to our mother. I had to forgive him, but he certainly made it trying. 

I never look on the Widows thread, since I'm not one and just feel that would be intrusive. I didn’t realize that so many have moved on. Could be a good sign for some.. others like poor Bobbiesue who started it, may be unable or without a computer. Nice to keep it going just the same, since new widows may seek out a place to share their grief and have the support of those who understand such pain first hand.

Sorry you didnt like the humidifier. I wouldn’t be without mine here in the winter since the rising heat to this third floor is so drying. I clean it weekly and about once per month, I add a little eucalyptus oil. Not only smells good and soothes sinuses, but kills germs and protects against mold. I sit mine in a shallow tray that fits perfectly in my chariot tray. So easy to transfer to the kitchen sink when nearly empty. 

Good of your friend to come pick up your tax papers! Remember when they were lost in the mail? What a stressful time that was and I prayed they weren’t intercepted by an identity thief. We have usually 2, sometimes 3 people who come (volunteer) to do our taxes. I try to get to it early and avoid the long wait. That’s a lot of tax preparing for 2 or 3 people! I give a little gift of some kind (hope I get a lady) since they refuse even tips of cash. We have 3 hairstylists and one barber on campus. Doesn’t seem fair to the men, but I have heard no complaints. I don’t suppose it takes near as long to do men’s hair- especially in this age group. I could use a trim myself. Hope yours turned out well. 

I'm on this special diet that is supposed to help with inflammation. It does as far as water weight, and it may help those whose RA is not so advanced as mine with swollen joints, too. I couldn’t tell you- only that it’s done nothing for me in that way. I hope my dr takes me off of it soon. I already ate mostly fresh or cooked vegetables with only a little very lean meat or fish. Love fruit, too. My only true culprits are sugar and breads. If I can limit those and eat a balanced diet in moderation, I feel better- stronger with less dizzy spells. The dietician here who lectures taught us all about healthy carbs, etc and to not overtax our kidneys and adrenal glands with too much protein or caffeine. All the stuff I’m sure you already know, too. If the dr refuses to let me eat normally- with threats of taking my one pain pill per night away.. I’ll look for another dr. I don’t want to risk falling from being light-headed. Have enough trouble getting around due to the RA. They are afraid because of the regulations, but some common sense needs to be applied. In all these years, I’ve never had the dosage upped or ran short on my 90 day refills. I'm hardly an opiate addict. It's beyond insulting, but I know of others in far worse condition who just pray for death. No quality of life at all. Just existing with their suffering. If something doesn’t change soon, the suicide rates will markedly increase and they are too high now. 

I'll check back soon to see how you are and I'm praying daily for you, Shirley and your DIL. Hope they fix the site. If not, look for my hearts and I’ll post when I can.

Love you my dear sister!

🙏❤️🙏

[WaJa61]

Dear Lurky, I hope you can see this before turning on JavaScript to sign in. 

When shopping here online, try using your new Fire tablet as it is. You will see the floating header that moves as you scroll which has the menu keys marked. You should NOT have the bouncing. 

When using the forums here, try the old iPad that can't be upgraded. You will NOT have the floating header, but you will have the bouncing. You'll have to look away as each page/post loads, as usual or more so.

Before signing in, go to:

Settings>>>General>>>Accessibility>>>Zoom

Slide the botton and follow the onscreen instructions once you are here to adjust the site to your screen size. 

If this does not also increase font size of posts within threads, return to Accessibility and go to: Larger Text

Try adjusting text size there. If this new software supports Dynamic Type it should help. 

Note: you will have to change all of this back when leaving this website, or all other sites will be HUGE. Fun times, right? 😜

I'm having no issues on the forums with the iMac or iPad Air II, other than the annoying floating header, that is a vast improvement over the bounce.

I haven't tried to shop yet. 

The moderators have replied to complaints in Customer Care and sent them on to the IT Team, so hopefully further adjustments will come... in time. If ever. 😚

Have a blessed Sunday. My love to all! ~Joy ❤️

[DeLaney]

And here was me thinking they finally did it! Succeeded in upgrading this website for ease of multi-device use for both shopping and chatting.

Could it be they've tweaked it since you ladies were here last? Hoping that's so, since I sympathize with you from the last disasterous results commonly referred to as an “upgrade.” 

Not bragging! Everything can change on a dime around here and chances are that when they fix some people's issues, the rest of us will suffer what you are now, or worse. 

The luck o' the Irish. ☘️ I'm all too familiar with it!

I could certainly do without the floating function of the header, as most websites learned some time ago, they are a nuisance. Especially on smartphones. This header could be stable and a bit shorter, so that the forum table need not be compressed. That could account for the smaller font some are seeing. I'm no web developer, nor do I play one on the internet. All I know is, I can yet stretch my screen to make the pages fit, though there's no need to in order to read anything. This is with both Apple and Android devices. Super fast load times, too! Love the menu buttons themselves and the search feature actually delivers now. 

Mom sent me to order her a pair of these Clark’s sandals: 

Even though I informed her of the reviews stating the back strap is too loose. She insisted they are perfect in every way under the sun. Got those ordered and scouted out their dress shoes and picked up these for myself: 

We are trying to tempt Spring out here. Record time through checkout. I'm really at a loss to know how they got it so right for me (and surely others) while so wrong for some. I haven’t read those complaints, Joy, but I take your word on it. Hope those tips will help Lurky. I know her poor iPad is too old to upgrade and that could be the thing. I haven’t tried the Kindle here yet. I will later in case she needs a hand sorting that out. Truly the techies should test these new platforms across all devices before just springing them on consumers. Not earth-shattering or anything, but that would be so much more professional. I'm sure they have more than one server to keep the site open, while testing on another. 

Rowan found us over there, btw, Lurky—TY! 

Prayers for Snappy, her DIL, Shirley, Frank and Agnes. 

Wishing you all a good and peaceful night. 

'Til Later,

—Marcia 💋

[LurkyLoo]

Thank you, Joy! The zoom works for the font, too, so I didn't have to do the rest. The only thing now is, when I zoom in enough to bring the font size up to normal, it throws those links on the left out of view. That really doesn't matter so much to me, because I generally only post here. I practiced a bit with this iPad zooming to different percentages. If I go down a bit, I can click those links, then zoom back up to read again. Not so hard really.

Saw the other complaints and the strangest thing is.. a few others with newer iPads than I own are getting the tiny font and can't stretch the page either. Yet others using iPads, like yourself and I assume Marcia aren't having those problems. I only use Safari as a browser, some prefer Chrome. I don't know if that has anything to do with it. 

Not confined to iPads either.. Some Android devices, laptops.. It seems to be a done deal- another pre-packaged upgrade that right now isn't compatable for all. Yes, the mods are trying to help and sending the complaints along and having to make the apologies. I feel bad for them- stuck in the middle as they are. As though they don't already have enough to keep up with here and helping with customer service issues, too. I'll just use this simple work around- no point in complaining, since they are aware of the problems. If it can be fixed, they will get around to it eventually. 

I will try the new Fire tablet for shopping only next. Yesterday I had both the bobbing banner with menu buttons AND the bouncing pages on that. Just my luck to score both! (And I'm not even Irish that I know of.) Maybe it has smoothed out a little now. Or I need to make adjustments on my end. 

If my font appears too small or large on your devices, just let me know. I can still use the edit buttons to increase or decrease it. Right now it's on 3 like we all agreed upon as being best before this update. Don't want to assault anyone's eyeballs! 👀

LOL, Marcia Gael! Selah will warn you that your face is going to stick like that. No, I hope any adjustments they make won't ruin things for you and the others who are having no trouble now. 

I love your mother's new shoes! They are just darling and I hope the strap fits okay. My feet hurt just looking at yours, but they'll look so nice on you. Have heard how comfortable the Clark's heels are compared to others, but I can't wear any of them anymore. Good luck with tempting an early Spring! I know your mother especially must have cabin fever by now. Send her my love!

Thank you for offering to help me, dear. I do enjoy browsing when I need something, but usually phone in my orders anyway. I won't worry- I can still chat with Snappy and friends. That's the main thing for me on this site. Now I hope they can get in when they want to and have no troubles posting. 

I'll have the couple who bought my house visiting with their little girl this afternoon. She told me not to fix lunch- they are bringing something. 😊 They are so good to me- almost like grandchildren. I picked up a stuffed bunny with long floppy ears for their daughter in the gift shop. I almost got her a little basket of jelly beans, too, but I noticed her mother is trying to control her sugar intake so thought better of it. 

Sending my appreciation and love out to all of you ladies. 💗