Beauty

[Hayfield]

Danky--Sorry about that, I meant your grandchildren, not our grandchildren! My brain and fingers don't work together very well!

[fancy pantsy]

good morning ladies!

well, yesterday i went to my doc and she said that my leg pain sounds like classic arthritis. just to be safe she is going to have blood work done to rule out some stuff, and xray done to confirm the arthritis. also, have to take some otc vitamins and suppliments. and she said i could take aleve or tyenol/arthritis for the pain.

well, last night i was taking bf over to one of the disney parks to see a special christmas light display (complete with SNOW !!) and just before we got in the car to drive over i took an aleve. HOLY COW. when i stepped out of the dang car i could not believe how GOOD my legs felt. who knew??? LOL i felt like i could dance all night !!! how funny.

do any of you take aleve or tylenol for anything like this? i am not one to take OTC pain meds for anything. most i take is maybe XS tylenol for a bad headache maybe 3-4 times a year. so i have some concern over the fact that i have actual pain and i am afraid of taking this stuff too often. but gosh, WHAT A DIFFERENCE it made. but it is so good to know that when the pain gets exceptionally bad that i have something to relieve it.

any thoughts/input would be appreciated.

[fancy pantsy]

helen, so sorry that you had to drive home in the rain the other day! it's soooooo nice tho, that they offer you the valet parking. after having to put in a long shift like you do, that is a wonderful bonus! and thank you so much for that beautiful christmas card!

hayfield: yes, of course lunch was included with gf the other day on our shopping trip! we went to my favorite, panera! i just can't seem to get enuf of that place! thanks for sharing about your arthritic knee, and i am so glad that it sounds like it is doing better. my doc did tell me not to shy away from exercise of any kind and that my body will tell me if it is the wrong one for me. i was glad to hear about that because i was a fraid to exercise till i saw the doc. and anyway, my favorite is the water exercise class. that is about the least harmful!

danky: being able to pop into manhattan like you are able to do now and then is so fabulous! i know that you appreciate it, and what a wonderful experience to give to your grands ... i would absolutely love to be able to visit manhattan once every two or three months for a long weekend. it is a fantasy of mine. but then ... i live 90 minutes from the main gate of walt disney world and NEVER did i think that i would be able to pop over there for an ice cream and a parade whenever i want! lol. and btw. your son's job sounds SO COOL. i was wondering what he did for a living when you mentioned the other day that he was going to delay his arrival for t'giving because of some kind of special perk from his job. HOW COOL.

like danky, my son has roommates also. my son lives in boston, tho. and like danky's son, he is always having to move and change roommates. lol

mocha: so sorry about your modem, but i am glad that you have a rescue on the way and hopefully it'll all get fixed and back to good soon. what a bummer when our technology takes a break. honestly. you don't want to be around me when my internet is out !!! i do hope that you have a fabulously fun day with your dd at that festival on saturday and then decorating the tree.

kat, my continued prayers for your friend's dh. i do hope that there is some kind of good news in the near future. congrats on your ninja purchase! let me know how you like it and how successful you are with using it on a regular basis. my dd gave me a nutra bullet a couple of years ago and i have only used it once or twice, but if you find a recipe that is good and you would care to share it, i would be very appreciative. i a a veggie lover too!

today i am going over for bloodwork later, per doc instructions. i don't have to go till 1:00 so i think that before that i will drag out my xmas tree from the garage and at least try to set it up. i think dd is coming over later today because today is her day off and she LOVES to decorate the tree.

hope you all have a beautiful today

[SleeplessinSD]

GOOD MORNING! I've been up for a little over an hour (ugh)...my DH had an early meeting and left at 6. I figure if the poor guy has to get up that early, the least I can do is get up and see him off. So, sweet Max and I are sitting here by the fireplace listening to the rain. Gosh, we got a heavy downpour during the night; it actually woke me up. CATWHISPERER, my lunch plans were postponed until tomorrow because of weather, so I watched Dr. Oz. Some very good tips on relaxation techniques, advice/danger on prescription meds taken too long, etc. I've been having good luck with an App I downloaded on my Ipad for sleep "sounds". Basically, you can pick one or more sounds like the ocean, rain, piano; all relaxing to calm you down and, hopefully, help you fall asleep. You can even set a timer and the sounds will play for 30 min. and then turn off. I've used it twice and both times, I've fallen asleep before the timer went off! Love it; just hope it continues to work. FANCY, IMO, I see nothing wrong in you taking over the counter meds whenever needed to help with pain. Prescription pain meds are another story; they're so addictive. Just think, you and your bf were able to go and have a good time last night at the park pain free! Please don't suffer needlessly. Good luck today with your blood work. Well, I need to get up and get another cup of coffee and take Max for a short walk; of course I have to wake him up first! I'm coloring my roots this morning; not sure what's happening later. Keeping good thoughts for PUDDLES, CINDY, CorisMom, SHORELADY, SPAMMOM and all our friends going through difficult times.....Everyone, have a nice, safe day.

[SleeplessinSD]

HAYFIELD, sounds like you had the perfect day from beginning to end. Nothing like a glass of wine (or two) at the end of the day to unwind. I'll drink to that! (-;!!!

[MariotaMurielle]

I'm just popping in to say good morning while I have internet connection. I never know when it's going to fizzle out again. hopefully these issues will be gone when the AT&T tech comes to change out the modem and the other tech changes the outside connections. I remember a time when there were no computers. when we were living in Tuscaloosa, Al in the early 80's was the first time I ever remember each nurses station having a computer. of course, back then the only person who actually used the computer was the unit secretary. nurses still did everything in writing in the paper charts. wow, have things changed. by the time I retired, everything was done on the computer. we didn't even have paper charts any more and practically nothing was hand written. I remember a few occasions at work when the computer system went down. because every single thing required online documentation, everything came to a standstill. it was crazy!

I got 13 packages wrapped yesterday. there are still more that have not been delivered yet. DH and I generally don't buy each other gifts. what we usually do is just decide on something that each of us would really like to have and ( if we can afford it) we just order/buy it for ourselves and that is our Christmas "treat". this year DH had been wanting a particular shotgun, so when it went on sale he bought it. for me, there is a pair of Frye boots I've been sort of drooling over for a year. as far as I could find, no one discounts Frye products but I did find a website that is on MrRebates with a 12% rebate ( that's kind of a "sale") and this website has it's own version of "easy-pay" which made the cost much more manageable, so I ordered them for myself.

Fancy, I'm so glad you found something to relieve your leg pain. but the old kidney nurse in me has to caution you about Aleve. it's a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (like Advil, Celebrex, etc) . while these drugs are very commonly used for arthritis pain they can cause some problems if taken too often or for an extended period of time, so they should be used judiciously.

Helen, I saw on the news that California finally got some desperately needed rain. but then, I also saw the news about the flooding. I guess the rain was a blessing and a curse at the same time. I feel so bad for those people who got stranded in their cars. that must be a terrifying experience. I never heard of that iPad app for sleeping sounds. I'm glad you have something that helps. it's a pretty miserable thing when you're tired but wide awake at 3 in the morning.

Hayfiled, what a smart and fun idea to make your photo into a Christmas card. I wish you would post it here. other than Helen posting those very nice graphics ( and lovestoteach also), I seem to be the only one here who posts photos. I realize this is a public forum, but it's nice to see the face of your "cyber-friend" sometimes. or even a photo of your Christmas decorations, or your garden, or your pet!

Danky, I've only been to NYC twice. that was way back when I was in my 20's and I was brave enough ( or dumb enough) to fly up there alone to see a guy I was dating. it was a whirlwind visit each time, but I remember it being a fascinating place. to give you an example of how naive I was: on one of my NY trips I had lobster for the very first time in my life. my BF took me to some really nice restaurant and ordered me a huge lobster. that thing was so big it covered the entire platter it came on. of course I couldn't eat it all so we had it put in a to-go box and took it back to his apartment. well, I had to fly home the next day so he said "let's freeze it overnight then we can wrap it up and you can take it home with you." so we wrapped it in foil and put it in my suitcase. my plane was delayed enough that by the time I got home I only had enough time to change clothes and rush to work, forgetting all about the lobster in my suitcase in the trunk of my car. I worked my 10 hour shift, then went home and slept for 10 hours. as you can imagine, by the time I got around to unloading my luggage OMG was that thing stinking! it took months to get that "something died in my trunk" smell to go away. besides the "lobster incident" ( as we came to call it) the most memorable part of my NYC experience was my visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I only spent one afternoon there, but I remember seeing all those stunning pieces of artwork and being just hypnotized. I would love to go back for that reason alone.

hello to RetRN, lovestoteach, Katcat, Cindy, catwhisperer, Shorelady, Corismom and all our friends here.

I'm hoping to hear from Spammom and sunshine soon. Cindy ( I hope you are feeling better today), I like Helen's idea about sending Spammom a message if you could.

Puddles, I'm thinking of you too, and hoping you are better every day.

BBL, if I can.

have a great Thursday, y'all.

[Hooty]

Helen, I am so sorry I didn't make it over here yesterday to report news about Puddles, but so glad that you saw it on the Cafe and posted, thank you so much!

I wish we could get some rain with cooler temps. here! We have had spring like weather, in the 70's here lately, and very dry! I don't like it this warm this time of the year, but that is AL for you!

Wishing all of you a great day!

[Katcat1]

Hi Ladies,

UPS really needs to do better or hire some holiday help. I was waiting all day Tuesday for a delivery and UPS never showed up. I checked online and it read that it would now be delivered on Wed. Wednesday comes and I am waiting all day and UPS shows up at 6:45 pm. The best part of all of this is the lamp base I purchased is defective so now I am going to Pottery Barn to return it. Heaven help me.

No sun again today. I would rather have snow than these overcast days. The Chicago area can get quite a few drab days in the winter.

Mocha, you sure have a lot of gifts to wrap. I love to wrap presents. I learned how to make a rose and leaf out of tissue paper for certain gifts.

fancy, glad you are feeling better. I hate to be sick around the holidays. Take care.

Okay, I am off to Pottery Barn. Talk to you later. Hi Helen, loves, Hayfield, corismom, h2be, and EVERYONE!

[corismom1]

Hi Guys,

Just a quick "hi" to my dear friends here. I had to go to have blood work done this AM. I Had to fast, so we came home quickly so I could get coffee and a muffin. I need food in order to take my AM pills.

Then after a quick shower ( not really quick as I still use a shower bench ) and got dressed for PT. She arrives shortly after lunch and we actually practiced stairs. I do very well climbing up but am deathly afraid of going down. Using a cane on the stairs with one bum leg is tricky. We did a lot of walking too and stretches and exercises. We spent 1 1/2 hours and I was really exhausted! We looked down and both my ankles were the size of cantaloupes. I was lucky because the nurse was coming later this afternoon.

The nurse came around 3:30 and my vitals were good but BP was high and my ankles were getting larger. I was getting nervous but we elevated them and she'll be back tomorrow to check for imprinting edema (sp?). I will post tomorrow and connect with all of you that wish me well. It means so much, you'll never know. I just appreciate the caring!. Some days seem so long and never ending.

[SleeplessinSD]

. CATWHISPERER, I picked up some of that tea today too. I haven't tried it yet; I plan to in the morning. I would love to be able to give up coffee completely. My doctor thinks it would help. I only have a few cups in the morning. I tried once and got horrible headaches. I think I was going through "withdrawals"! I'll let you know how it goes. MOCHAHONEY, I remember when I worked for the school district where we lived and they introduced computers. I think it was around 1983-84? I did a lot of typing on a manual typewriter and thought, no way, I will ever get to using a computer. Boy, was I wrong! Anyway, glad you're back up and running. My DH and I do the same as you, we don't buy each other anything for Christmas, but after go shopping either online or stores when everything is on sale. I will admit to all the ladies here, though, I've bought a few things for myself already! (-; KAT, oh my, all that waiting for your packages to come and then you have to return! I don't blame you for being frustrated. Hope you were able to get a new lamp. CorisMom, please let us know how you're doing now. I don't know anything about the edema you mentioned, but it sounds scary. Maybe you overdid? You poor thing! Isn't it always something?!! HOOTY, thanks for keeping us updated about PUDDLES. I'm always checking over on your Cafe thread for news, so didn't mind at all posting here to let everyone know. We're all in this together caring for our friend PUDDLES! I just pray she's healing and getting better as expected. HAYFIELD, thinking of you as I drink a glass of wine with my DH; hope you had a good day. FANCY, hope you're feeling better tonight. Did you and your DD get your tree decorated? Hope everyone had a good day and are settled in for the evening. It's still relatively early here and I have a kitchen to clean up, so I better go. Waving to you ALL!