Cats & Bats & Healthy Chats - October 2024 W.I.S.H. Thread

[PAsFab5]

Good Monday Morning!!

For Saturday’s questions I would say my favorite Halloween memories are of when my kids were little and we all went out together. Our entire extended family used to gather at our house on Halloween and we would all eat pizza and then go out as a group with all the kids. Last year was the first year we did not do that, my nieces and nephews wanted to go with friends and DD was too old to trick or treat. Life is strange that you never know when the last time you will do something is.

We have never been to any Disney Halloween events but we will be at Disney for Halloween this year! If my sister and I make this a yearly event we are going to try a Halloween party next year!

Self care yesterday was sitting on the sofa after church and Sunday school duty and watching the Eagles play a fantastic game! Go Birds

I will stay on track today and tomorrow but I will be in full Disney food mode the rest of the week

 

[piglet1979]

DH and I made it to Long Beach where we're taking off on the cruise tomorrow. We're just chilling in the hotel right now. Kind of seems like a waste, but travel days just seem so long - so just kind of hanging out until we go somewhere for dinner.

Our cruise in early October went out of New York and since we have never been to New York, we walked the few blocks to Time Square and walked around. Then walked back to the hotel to rest and then walked back to the other side of Time Square for dinner. It was an awesome day but we were so tired. We walked over 20,000 steps but it was great to see a place that we have never been too. It was nice to be on the cruise the next day and just relax. Time Square we learned is not for us. Way too many people. I do want to see the 9/11 memorial and central park though.

I’m still quite overwhelmed and I really have trouble participating daily. I’m trying to get here when I can. I feel bad because I haven’t been carrying my weight. I can’t remember the last time I hosted.

For the month of November, the only week I can guarantee that I can host would be Thanksgiving week, the last week of November. Is that okay with everyone?

Don't feel bad about not hosting. I slack in this. I am always in my head that I will do a bad job because I haven't quite figured out how to post memes and stuff. The spring and summer are also rough because work can be a lot during this time. I also get very overwhelmed with DD a lot. I am hopeful that once we figure everything out with the low antibodies this will get better.

 

[piglet1979]

What is a favorite costume you've either worn yourself or helped someone put together? I don't know if I have a favorite but one year my mom made me a princess dress and I loved it. I was alo Minnie Mouse one year but I never wore it out because I ended up sick that year. My brother and sister asked for candy for me at the houses they went to.

Are you dressing up this year? I am not. We can dress up at work for the first time, so I got a shirt that has Piglet on it as my costume. I love Piglet. I tend to be a lot like Piglet and I think that is why I love that character.

How about a favorite Halloween memory? I would say going Trick or Treating with the kids. My dad and one of my brothers would come over and go with us too. My dad's birthday is on Halloween and my mom's is the day before. Also, going to my moms' the weekend before or after Halloween for a party for my mom's birthday. Since we all live in different towns this was also my mom's way of seeing the kids dressed up.

What is your favorite Halloween candy? How do you feel about candy corn? I like Reese Pieces the most. Thankfully they usually don't get many of these. I am really good at leaving their candy alone. I do not like Candy Corn. It is so gross but DD loves it so I usually get a bag every year.

Have you ever been to Mickey's Not So Scary or Oogie Boogie? I have not been to either. I have tried for many years to go to Mickey's not so scary party but it never worked out. When the kids were younger it started later in September the years we went to Disney and then would start in late August the years we didn't go. THey I had it all planned out and we were going to go the year we were going to go with my parents. But then COVID happened and the trip got cancelled. It is on my bucket list to do this party as well as the Christmas one though.

 

[piglet1979]

WSe had a great weekend. We haven't seen DH's grandmother in a long time because we were so sick and since we were all finally doing better, we picked her up on Saturday and took her to lunch. It was such a nice lunch. Yesterday, I made bean and bacon soup (for DH, I don't eat beans) and chicken pot pie. They both turned out great. Here are the recipes. Lots of veggies in both. I did add broccoli to the chicken pot pie and I think I will add green beans next time as well. We have been making our own chicken stock and we used that in the chicken pot pie.

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ree-drummond/bean-and-bacon-soup-20280419

https://www.thepioneerwoman.com/food-cooking/recipes/a11686/pot-pie/

 

[Oneanne]

Had a sick day today. I’m not sure what is going on, it feels like allergies x 10 but I’m not sure why it would be so bad right now. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Topic Tuesday - Our society often pushes people to do everything, when that's not realistic or healthy. How have you given yourself some grace in this department? What do you still need to work on?

 

[piglet1979]

This is my down fall. I either do it because I can't say no or because I have to and don't have a choice. Taking care of DD takes a lot out of me. I miss a lot of work and thankful work is good with it. I try to make up time missed all the time. In reality I can take some PTO. I have enough. My boss likes to remind me that my PTO is there for me to use for this and that I roll over 80 hours a year just in case. He knows I roll it over just incase something happens. So he tells me this is my just incase. Being a manager makes me not want to take PTO for all of the appointments and stuff. I just feel like I should be at work. I am working on changing this mindset. DH can help, but he has his own issues with doctors (and missing work. He is worse than me with this) and he gets really stressed about going. This has always been my forte.

The other is not being able to say no. I have gotten a bit better over the years at this. But when my boss came to me in September to ask if I thought I would be able to do the job of 2 people. I said yes. They had to move the other manager out of that spot because of a situation. I am fine now as this is our slow time but I am very concerned about the spring when everything gets really busy. They did make sure that I tell them if it gets to be too much. If it is we will think of something else.

 

[Oneanne]

I've been re-evaluating the cultural messages we get like "never quit", "never give up", "do more" etc. and have come to the conclusion that most of them are unhealthy. There are valid reasons for stopping, for walking away, for resting. It is challenging to change sometimes, particularly when applied to the work we earn money from, but I think so much better in the long run.

Feeling slightly better today, I've gotten out of my pj's and signed in for work... we'll see how far into the day I get.

 

[ShannyMcB]

Today’s topic actually kind of happened at work today. My boss was remote and I was in office and I made a comment to her about being annoyed with our tech partners not reading my emails and not executing a work around procedure which left me having to deal with the production repercussions while also doing my “day job.” Her words were along the lines of you can’t be expected to do all this…nope can’t. But unfortunately when people refuse to listen and don’t care about the people actually doing the work this is what happens. I can’t say exactly what my daily calendar said today because of the language but to paraphrase in rated g words sometimes you have to yell to get your point across.
But yes I am not always good at knowing when to say no at work because spreading myself thin periodically means I won’t be having to clean up a big mess later and my mentality has always been spend 20 mins now to save two hours next week. At home I am not good at no, it becomes not now. And i am getting a bit better at delegating now that the kids are getting older I can give them small tasks. Two or three small tasks does make a big difference!

 

[PollyannaMom]

(Art by the Coffee Besties)

What are you Woo-Hoo-ing today??

 

[piglet1979]

I am woohoo that I am still drinking more water then I did before I was sick. It is not as much as when I was sick but it is still more and less pop. If we go out I will get pop but that is it. I am not buying it for the house. I have gained 2 pounds since being home from vacation. I am not surprised because of the way I lost it but I have maintained it now for 2 weeks. SO I am still down 8 pounds since the end of August and I am happy with that. Now to get it to start moving down again.

 

[Oneanne]

Woohoo... I've had my granny squares laying out for a couple days and am still liking the result, so next step is blocking them and then figuring out how I want to hook them together. After that the red border will be added.


Woohoo... I felt better enough yesterday to go for a beach walk after work. The weather was really nice, so afterwards I drove out to the farm stand then wasn't ready to go home so kept driving to a beach park about 15 minutes away. It felt so good to be out and about and looking at fall. This morning it is stormy, so that makes me even gladder I did my wander yesterday.

Woohoo... to feeling better. I decided to try and unravel one thing at a time and stomach aches is something that has been happening, so I've started taking a really good pro-biotic which already seems to be helping.

 

[piglet1979]

I love the look of the afgan.

 

[newski_mom]

SOCIAL SATURDAY
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I don't seem to have good luck finding fun quizzes, so how about some Halloween questions.
What is a favorite costume you've either worn yourself or helped someone put together? I was never great with costumes for the kids, but we always had fun. Our church has done trunk or treat since they were little, so most Halloweens were spent at that. My favorite that we did was we were set up a souvenir stand for a baseball game and handed out candy from that. We all dressed in our favorite team's jersey.

Are you dressing up this year? We're on the ship and they will definitely have a dress up party, but DH and I will just watch and not dress up - for sure not his thing and really not mine either. I did bring a cute Halloween tshirt to wear though.
How about a favorite Halloween memory? Mainly revolve around the trunk or treats when my kids were growing up. My favorite when I was a kid is that I went with a friend who went as a mummy. Her mom wrapped her body so tight, she couldn't bend her legs to sits down or hardly to walk. It caused so many laughs the entire night!
What is your favorite Halloween candy? How do you feel about candy corn? Favorite candy would be the Reece's chocolate and peanut butter in the fun shapes! I try not to buy too many of them. I do like candy corn, but only when mixed with peanuts. It makes it taste like a payday candy bar. I really never buy them though. No one else in my family would eat it and I don't want to eat it lol!
Have you ever been to Mickey's Not So Scary or Oogie Boogie? I have not been there

catching up while I take a little downtime because as @PollyannaMom says - it's been too people-y for me the last few days! We're still on the cruise, DH headed down to the atrium and I"m just chilling in the room. He's much more social that I am and every now and then I just need to take a break and do a few normal things!

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Topic Tuesday - Our society often pushes people to do everything, when that's not realistic or healthy. How have you given yourself some grace in this department? What do you still need to work on?

I think the first time I realized that we tend to push too much was as my kids got older. As a parent, I worried so much about making choices that would put them at a disadvantage later in life - like if the girls didn't start dance or tumbling early enough, or if any of them started in the wrong sport, etc. As they got older, I realized that it all works out in the end and I believe it causes undue family stress when you try to do everything. Pretty early on, we fell into a pretty good routine of planned / scheduled things and downtime. Now that I'm through that family stage, I'm still settling into a new routine. I'm actually to the point that I'm ready to add a couple more scheduled things back to my list because our evenings seem the same all of the time.

 

[ShannyMcB]

Wooowhooing I didn’t punch anyone today…

 

[PollyannaMom]

(Art from The Coffee Besties on Instagram)

What are you thankful for on this Spooky Thursday?

 

[piglet1979]

I am thankful that this last round of blood tests came back better for DD. She still has low IgG (antibodies) but they are all working like they should. She just doesn't have enough of them. I did have to reschedule her CT scan as the Pulmonologist wants one that is with contrast and we now need to go to the main campus for it, as they need a much more in depth CT of her lungs. Then we will be back at the main campus around Thanksgiving for blood work as it is time sensitive and needs to be done here rather than at one closer to us. I hate going to main campus but I am really learning my way around and not getting lost any longer.

 

[Oneanne]

Today I am thankful for the heated seats in my car, which I forgot I had until going to get my coffee this morning. They heat up faster than the rest of the car and are so cozy.

I am also thankful my town is so enthusiastic about Halloween. There's the big parade down the main street followed by the shops giving out candy. I haven't put together a proper costume but will wear black and put on my witches' hat. One of these years I'm going to re-do my Joan of Arc costume. I loved it the first time I did it, but am haunted by not having added flames.

 

[piglet1979]

Today I am thankful for the heated seats in my car, which I forgot I had until going to get my coffee this morning. They heat up faster than the rest of the car and are so cozy.

I love my heated seats. I also have a heated steering wheel that is awesome as well.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Thankful for good weather fir the trick-or-treaters, and that my treats are a big hit so far!