Chatterbox Thread-Cmon in and Jabber! Everyone is Welcome!

[funnygarcia]

Nothing like a planned trip to raise the spirit, hope you have a fun and safe trip.

Speaking of trips.. wonder how Megan is doing?

Kelly, tornado here is no big deal.. we get warnings and watch just about every night in the summer. If it gets evil looking and the sirens wail we hang in the stairwell.
The problem in CA though, no sirens to warn you and no basements to take cover. That would be a huge deal for me as I rely on the sirens as we do not have network TV. The year we lived in Moreno Valley they had a tornado, I was pissed because they let students out of school despite the warning. My boys were walking home in high winds and hail, the tornado was visible on the other side of town-- where my dh was teaching and also was not aware of the conditions. Do they not have severe weather radios at those schools??

Here if there is a warning they will not let students leave the building, even if it will delay dismissal time. They send out a phone call and email to let parents know.

Typically we know in advance that the conditions are there to create a nasty storm, but last spring we had a surprise touch down near downtown Mpls. Very rare event, no sirens until after the damage was done. Flooding, ripped up trees, damaged buildings. It was a fast and furious out of a clear blue sky. Odd! Thankfully it was a non student contact day for Mpls schools. And only a few people with minor injuries.

 

[funnygarcia]

oh boy, dh's school found out today that not only the principal and asst principal are being "excised" but it includes the teacher mentors and curriculum coaches.
However, the district waited until today to make that announcement. The positions were posted before they even told the staff!

The hiring committee have already done first round selection of candidates for next year. Staff will be filing a grievance and hopefully the selection process can be halted and those mentor/coaches will have a chance to apply.

It's a screwy situation, normally this would be a violation of contract. But, the district and union never agreed to a contract when the last one expired this year. They are still in negotiations since fall, the district paid a huge fine to the state by letting the contract expire.

Now even more teachers are thinking of applying elsewhere.
Talk about a moral buster.
Hard to get excited about planning end of year celebrations when the next school year looks so bleak.

 

[tinkermell]

Hi ladies!

This is drive by news.

My Son and DIL had a baby girl. I am so excited to have a granddaughter to spoil. Her name is Reese Emeleen. She is ittly bitty, weighing in at 6lbs. 5 oz, and 17 1/2 inches long.

I have been quite busy.

I wonder how Megan is doing. I wonder how the weather has been for them?

Take care!

Mel

 

[kelmac284]

Mel I saw that on the diva thread and I am glad you stopped in here. I was going to pm you but CONGRATS!! So does this mean this is your first grandaughter? How awesome! You will love having a grandaughter!! I always thought I wanted boys but then when I got 2 girls I have LOVED it. It has been SO fun. I bet she is a little doll!! YAY!!!

Bernice I am sorry about all the [edited] going on at your district. A lot of that is going on here and it is SO sad for all involved. As always they care less about the teachers and students then about the "money".

Our weather was REALLY wild yesterday. It rained like crazy and then last night we got crazy hail which, had I been in the midwest I sure would have thought it was gearing up for a tornado but none touched down round here, at least none that I heard about. We had one thunder clap and they didn't cancel swim but we didn't go nonetheless because I didn't want the girls out in that. It was pretty chilly as well and I don't want them sick, or sickER in Shelby's case.

Today the sun is back though and it is supposed to be back in the 80's by the weekend so I am looking forward to that. Should be perfect for time trials on saturday.

Not much on my agenda today except some laundry and chores round here.

Hope everyone is well and take care.

 

[MotoXPrincess99]

Good Morning!

 

[eatmypixiedust]

Hello,

Hope you are all having a good day. I am excited about my trip and I think it will be fun for me to just get away. My cousin asked if I would like to hit the mall with her to find some new clothes. She said that since I lost some weight, maybe she could help me find some cute stuff that is more comfortable and form fitting. I got some stuff that I would like to give to her daughter. I found a cute Hello Kitty t-shirt on sale at Target. It was on sale from $7.99 to $5. It's really cute and I hope she likes it.

I would like to try to start packing tonight so I don't wait until the last minute. My flight is so early in the morning on Thursday but I can sleep on the plane. I need to figure out what DVD's to bring so I can watch them on the plane and what books to bring.

 

[sameyeyam]

Howdy Ladies! Congrats on your new granddaughter Melody! Lots of fun clothes shopping now.

Hope everybody had a Happy Mother's Day.

Wasn't Megan supposed to be back about now??

 

[kelmac284]

Morning and happy Wed/hump day!

Not much new here. Yesterday I just spent the day doing chores round here and running around. Katy needs a new dress sweater as she grew out of her old one and it is right at that bad time of year where all the sweaters are long gone from the stores. It really stinks too cuz she needs a nice lightweight sweater to wear with her dresses to church and such. BUMMER! I also was looking for a new neck pillow for my bathtub as my is really old and getting ratty but I looked at 3 stores and could not find one. HMMMM

Anyway then last night Katy pulled out her LAST baby tooth. Unreal. When she started losing her first set in kindergarten she lost all 8 very quickly and in rapid succession then didn't lose any more till just recently and AGAIN she lost all of these remaining teeth VERY quickly. I can't believe she is DONE losing teeth and not even 11! Poor shelby didn't even lose her FIRST tooth till almost 7 and I don't think she will start losing her 2nd set till at LEAST 10 if not later and I think it will go on for awhile. She is SO jealous of her sister getting "rich" from the tooth fairy LOL. But I told her just to remember that cuz Katy has all her money NOW but eventually it will be HER turn and Katy's money will be LONG gone!

Anyway not much else on for today except more housework, swim practice and that's bout all. Just same ol same ol till the weekend. Luckily time trials isn't as bad as a real meet because they only swim the regular events for times and no relays. So hopefully it will go quick and not be too hot! I am just bummed cuz the girls will be missing our local town parade that they were in the last two years with girl scouts but I guess you can't do everything.

Hope everyone has a great day and talk soon!

 

[jordansmomma]

Hi ladies!

This is drive by news.

My Son and DIL had a baby girl. I am so excited to have a granddaughter to spoil. Her name is Reese Emeleen. She is ittly bitty, weighing in at 6lbs. 5 oz, and 17 1/2 inches long.

I have been quite busy.

I wonder how Megan is doing. I wonder how the weather has been for them?

Take care!

Mel

Congrats Mel! Now a granddaughter! You are going to have so much fun!
Reese is such a cute name!

 

[staley7580]

IM HOME!!! Who missed me? I had tons of fun... it was wicked hot.. glad to be home. Ill post more later, just wanted to let you all know Florida didnt kill me!

 

[funnygarcia]

IM HOME!!! Who missed me? I had tons of fun... it was wicked hot.. glad to be home. Ill post more later, just wanted to let you all know Florida didnt kill me!

Good to know the Staley clan is still alive and kicking.
I take it you came home with all of your assorted children in once piece.. good job!

Congrats Melanie, a granddaughter to spoil is a precious gift.
Hopefully my mom will have great granddaughters since she missed out on buying the pretty dresses and dolls with all of our boys.

It's another dreary wet and chilly day. I did some quick zooming around this morning to get three rounds of doubles. Once a month the store does 10 doubles for one day only. All three orders were over $30 each before coupons, paid $9, $3 (had to get a manager to key the register, I saved too much money!) and $15 (olive oil, spices and 2 jars of Parmesan cheese with some other oddballs made for a pricey order). I gave my sis a bunch of coupons, made it fun for her as she didn't have the high value ones that I found at another store.

We have our new device hooked up to do dialysis charting. Today we have to enter numbers manually as part of training, blah.. time consuming! Plus since it is still a pilot program we still need to do our paper flow sheets to make sure it is working. Lots of work!

 

[sameyeyam]

Morning and happy Wed/hump day!

Not much new here. Yesterday I just spent the day doing chores round here and running around. Katy needs a new dress sweater as she grew out of her old one and it is right at that bad time of year where all the sweaters are long gone from the stores. It really stinks too cuz she needs a nice lightweight sweater to wear with her dresses to church and such. BUMMER! I also was looking for a new neck pillow for my bathtub as my is really old and getting ratty but I looked at 3 stores and could not find one. HMMMM

Anyway then last night Katy pulled out her LAST baby tooth. Unreal. When she started losing her first set in kindergarten she lost all 8 very quickly and in rapid succession then didn't lose any more till just recently and AGAIN she lost all of these remaining teeth VERY quickly. I can't believe she is DONE losing teeth and not even 11! Poor shelby didn't even lose her FIRST tooth till almost 7 and I don't think she will start losing her 2nd set till at LEAST 10 if not later and I think it will go on for awhile. She is SO jealous of her sister getting "rich" from the tooth fairy LOL. But I told her just to remember that cuz Katy has all her money NOW but eventually it will be HER turn and Katy's money will be LONG gone!

Anyway not much else on for today except more housework, swim practice and that's bout all. Just same ol same ol till the weekend. Luckily time trials isn't as bad as a real meet because they only swim the regular events for times and no relays. So hopefully it will go quick and not be too hot! I am just bummed cuz the girls will be missing our local town parade that they were in the last two years with girl scouts but I guess you can't do everything.

Hope everyone has a great day and talk soon!

Wow, I'm impressed you know what teeth your kids lose and when they are done. I have no idea how many my kids lost? DD is 18 and obviously has lost all of her teeth, but DS is 11 and I have no idea if he's done. I know he lost one while we were on vacation. Nobody told me I was supposed to know the diff between the 1st and 2nd set. BTW, what is the difference?

IM HOME!!! Who missed me? I had tons of fun... it was wicked hot.. glad to be home. Ill post more later, just wanted to let you all know Florida didnt kill me!

I missed ya! Hope you had fun!

Good to know the Staley clan is still alive and kicking.
I take it you came home with all of your assorted children in once piece.. good job!

Congrats Melanie, a granddaughter to spoil is a precious gift.
Hopefully my mom will have great granddaughters since she missed out on buying the pretty dresses and dolls with all of our boys.

It's another dreary wet and chilly day. I did some quick zooming around this morning to get three rounds of doubles. Once a month the store does 10 doubles for one day only. All three orders were over $30 each before coupons, paid $9, $3 (had to get a manager to key the register, I saved too much money!) and $15 (olive oil, spices and 2 jars of Parmesan cheese with some other oddballs made for a pricey order). I gave my sis a bunch of coupons, made it fun for her as she didn't have the high value ones that I found at another store.

We have our new device hooked up to do dialysis charting. Today we have to enter numbers manually as part of training, blah.. time consuming! Plus since it is still a pilot program we still need to do our paper flow sheets to make sure it is working. Lots of work!

I sort of abandoned coupons a couple of weeks before spring break, then was working to many hours after I got back...I'm slowly building my coupons back up again. BTW, wasn't that Heinz 57 $2 off coupon great? I've printed about 5 of them and got bottles of it for 47 cents lately. Last summer I had an abundance of mayonnaise because of coupons, this year it looks like steak sauce.

 

[sameyeyam]

I've been in kind of a funk lately, so I guess it's time to talk. My dad was diagnosed with lung cancer a couple of weeks ago. So I've obviously been out of sorts. It is my biological dad, not my step dad that raised me. I have a relationship with him, but not as much as with my step dad.

That being said, he asked me 3 years ago when I was going thru cancer treatment if there was anything he could do. I told him yes "quit smoking" because you just can't imagine how horrible cancer treatment is. Well guess what? He obviously didn't listen.

I've looked up the type of cancer he has and it is about a 10% 5-year survival rate. Caught early, the survival rate is 30-40%. Not very good odds. He was in the hospital for something else and they caught it by accident. He's had the biopsy and next month goes in for surgery where they will remove the lower left lobe of his lung and 5 ribs. Let's just say, it doesn't look good. I will be praying for a miracle, but I also know the reality of what he is facing.

I'm torn right now between just wanting to bawl, being mad at him for giving himself cancer and being mad at cancer in general. This will be both parents that I've lost to smoking. My mom's aneurysm most likely would not have burst had she not been a smoker. So I have two dumb *$@ parents that decided I need to be an orphan due to their own stupidity! I know, 44 year old orphan sounds stupid, but that's how I feel.

I know that I would be dealing with it better if it were something else, anything else but cancer! Anyway, if I seem out of sorts, you know why. It's just going to take me a while to deal with all of this. Sorry to dump this on all of you, but hey what are friends for if not to tell me to shut up, get over it and go visit my dad!

 

[funnygarcia]

Sorry to dump this on all of you, but hey what are friends for if not to tell me to shut up, get over it and go visit my dad!

Well then, go do that!

And take our hugs with you and know that we are here anytime ready to listen (read).

For lack of better words, this just sucks! I can understand, why cancer? why does it have to be that!??! You've been ready to tuck that evil monster away and here it is back to laugh at you. It's not fair, it's not right.

And knowing that yes you may likely be an orphan... it's terrible sad .. even at 44.

 

[funnygarcia]

BTW, wasn't that Heinz 57 $2 off coupon great? I've printed about 5 of them and got bottles of it for 47 cents lately. Last summer I had an abundance of mayonnaise because of coupons, this year it looks like steak sauce.

I haven't used mine yet, terrible as they expire soon. I have the Worcestershire ones too and Rainbow finally knocked the price down to $2.50. Hopefully still on sale next week and I will use them to bump up an order to get to the $25 I need for doubling.

For me it's been boxes and boxes and more boxes of cereal. I gave away a bunch to the in-laws, still have more than I need. I buy the cereal to get free milk coupons, screwy I know but it cost less to buy cereal than to just buy the milk.

Oh yes, my stockpile of mayo from last year is gone! I hope there is some good ones coming out soon!

 

[XTinabell]

I've been in kind of a funk lately, so I guess it's time to talk. My dad was diagnosed with lung cancer a couple of weeks ago. So I've obviously been out of sorts. It is my biological dad, not my step dad that raised me. I have a relationship with him, but not as much as with my step dad.

That being said, he asked me 3 years ago when I was going thru cancer treatment if there was anything he could do. I told him yes "quit smoking" because you just can't imagine how horrible cancer treatment is. Well guess what? He obviously didn't listen.

I've looked up the type of cancer he has and it is about a 10% 5-year survival rate. Caught early, the survival rate is 30-40%. Not very good odds. He was in the hospital for something else and they caught it by accident. He's had the biopsy and next month goes in for surgery where they will remove the lower left lobe of his lung and 5 ribs. Let's just say, it doesn't look good. I will be praying for a miracle, but I also know the reality of what he is facing.

I'm torn right now between just wanting to bawl, being mad at him for giving himself cancer and being mad at cancer in general. This will be both parents that I've lost to smoking. My mom's aneurysm most likely would not have burst had she not been a smoker. So I have two dumb *$@ parents that decided I need to be an orphan due to their own stupidity! I know, 44 year old orphan sounds stupid, but that's how I feel.

I know that I would be dealing with it better if it were something else, anything else but cancer! Anyway, if I seem out of sorts, you know why. It's just going to take me a while to deal with all of this. Sorry to dump this on all of you, but hey what are friends for if not to tell me to shut up, get over it and go visit my dad!

Oh wow. Your dad is very lucky to have you in his life. Talk about stress. Get over there and see him, I imagine he quite needs you right now. Is it just or me or is 2010 turning into a very majorly stressful year?

 

[kelmac284]

Good morning gals.

First of all Alison BIG ((hugs)) to you and don't EVER feel bad about sharing something like this or ANYTHING for that matter. That is what we are here for!! I can only imagine how hard this must be for you. I wasn't here obviously when you went through your own battle but I know it must be scary and tough and I totally agree it must be frustrating to watch your parents when it seems so preventable (the smoking). Plus I am sure being that you had an estranged relationship with your dad makes it mixed feelings as well. Cancer is such an awful disease and robs so many of their loved ones. I lost my great aunt who was more like a grandmother to me and it was devestating to us. My dh lost his father at 45 to brain cancer and it was terribly hard on him and has affected him for years to come. DH was only 22 I believe when his dad passed. I will be praying for you all and I agree go spend time with your dad and I hope you can make the most of his time! And P.S. LOL about the teeth. Honestly the only reason I know so much is I have an 18 year old stepdaughter and we went through it with her and I remembered her losing the teeth in stages and so when my girls lost those first few I knew that they would eventually lose the next set but wasn't sure when or how many so I looked it up

Usually most kids don't start losing their eye teeth and beyond till around 10 and I think it can go on till 12 or later but Katy got her teeth early and lost them early. She has done EVERYTHING early except talk and potty train lol. Shelby on the other hand took forever for EVERYTHING. She didn't get teeth till almost 1 and didn't walk till 17 months! LOL. So I suspect she won't start losing her next set of teeth for a LONG time. Normally it wouldn't even be noticed except that the tooth fairy is a BIG event in our house!!

Bernice I am glad you finally got your new dialysis machine. I just hope it works well for you and doesn't cause more problems.

Staley welcome back! Glad you had a good time!! Yes May is VERY hot. That was when we went the first time and I about died! LOL. I bet you guys loved it anyway though. Pics???

I had a rather exciting day yesterday. A baby bird fell out of one of the many nests we have round here and my cat was trying to eat it. The girls found it and "rescued" it but thought it was dead and were trying to bury the poor thing and I found it and got it and wrapped it up and laid it on our patio table in the sun so it could be "comfortable" till the end. It was so mangled I thought for sure it would not last an hour. I kept checking on it throughout the day and every time I went out it was still moving and looked awful and I just wished it would pass peacefully or that there was SOMETHING I could do but having tried to save MANY baby birds over the years I know that there is not much you can do and the nest was WAY too high to try and put it back in. So anyway by the afternoon it had actually perked back up and looked pretty good so I tried to give it some bird seed but I think it is too young for that and I tried to give it a little water but then when dh got home he cut up a worm and I think he got it to eat a little of it. The true test was to see if it would make it through the night. We put it on our back porch so the cat could not get to it again and sure enough this morning it was chirping away. I still can't get it to eat though and so today I am going to try and find some type of rescue place. I sure hope it makes it!

Otherwise not much else on for today. Anxious to see survivor tonight and fringe as it is the start of the finale!

That's bout it for me.

BIG ((hugs)) to everyone and take care and have a good day!!

 

[funnygarcia]

RANT RANT RANT


Make it a pureflow machine and that is my day today.. ARGH!

Our control unit on the prureflow (the part that makes tap water into ultra pure dialysate solution to use during dialysis) decided to be stupid and alarm at me.

Did my stomp stomp pout dance, called tech support. Yep it sounds like you need a new control unit (after he had me wiggle this cord, check that cord.. blah blah blah.. dude it's broken, it was broken last time we called two days ago!)

He then goes on to say he will only send 3 days of bagged fluid, uhhhh wait a minute I only have 3 days on hand.

He runs 6 days a week, that leaves us with not enough bagged fluid for the water cultures to come back (about a week). It will be the weekend by the time the control unit arrives, can't even send cultures until Monday! Idiots!

Center policy: Need new cultures when we get a new control unit to make sure the part is working. Don't want any blood infections from bad solution!

I try to explain and the tech just doesn't get it.
Fine, I call customer support to see how many boxes will we get with the new order coming on Tuesday.. 3.. uhh that's only one treatment.. wth?!

Apparently they changed policy and now you only have ONE week in reserve bags. But no one told us that!
Instead of just agreeing to send another week's worth of boxes, they have to call our center. Which makes me wonder if it's a Davita policy to save $$ ? (Davita is a HUGE corporation, they own most of the dialysis centers in the US.. most Davita dialysis patients agree that the company is greedy and cuts corners whenever they can)

-----------------------

Update:

Our nurse called, went into this whole spiel abut patients using supplies inappropriately and how expensive it is to ship bagged fluid.. blah , blah , blah...

Okay I get it BUT if a policy has changed, why not tell your patients? We would totally understand if told WHY, instead we get hassled and reprimanded for not following the rules. (Rules that we didn't know existed!)

Anyway, we got to an agreement. The water culture guy is coming out to draw on Monday and will bring more bagged fluid. If we have a problem between now and next delivery, they will run out more bags to us.

Stingy, greedy.. arf arf arf Da Vita!

 

[staley7580]

I've been in kind of a funk lately, so I guess it's time to talk. My dad was diagnosed with lung cancer a couple of weeks ago. So I've obviously been out of sorts. It is my biological dad, not my step dad that raised me. I have a relationship with him, but not as much as with my step dad.

That being said, he asked me 3 years ago when I was going thru cancer treatment if there was anything he could do. I told him yes "quit smoking" because you just can't imagine how horrible cancer treatment is. Well guess what? He obviously didn't listen.

I've looked up the type of cancer he has and it is about a 10% 5-year survival rate. Caught early, the survival rate is 30-40%. Not very good odds. He was in the hospital for something else and they caught it by accident. He's had the biopsy and next month goes in for surgery where they will remove the lower left lobe of his lung and 5 ribs. Let's just say, it doesn't look good. I will be praying for a miracle, but I also know the reality of what he is facing.

I'm torn right now between just wanting to bawl, being mad at him for giving himself cancer and being mad at cancer in general. This will be both parents that I've lost to smoking. My mom's aneurysm most likely would not have burst had she not been a smoker. So I have two dumb *$@ parents that decided I need to be an orphan due to their own stupidity! I know, 44 year old orphan sounds stupid, but that's how I feel.

I know that I would be dealing with it better if it were something else, anything else but cancer! Anyway, if I seem out of sorts, you know why. It's just going to take me a while to deal with all of this. Sorry to dump this on all of you, but hey what are friends for if not to tell me to shut up, get over it and go visit my dad!

Im sorry Alison.

 

[funnygarcia]

Megan!