Quarantine and chill and kindness chatty clubhouse: Jump in and join the conversation! All is welcome!

[PollyannaMom]

I don't want to sound lonely and friendless and in need of pity...

You don't at all!! I took a while with my QOTD answer for the same reason. But to me, you simply sound like a person who draws what she needs socially from her family and from the kind of great conversations we're all able to have here.

 

[tazdev3225]

Evening all.

I have a kitchen, sort of. Most if the cabinets are installed. I am going to have so much storage, it's amazing.

I finally met LJ today. He is such a happy, pleasant baby. I will post pics later as they are in my phone and go on sideways. It truly was a blessed day and I may sleep well tonight.

 

[Breezy_Carol]

Hi all.

Got to church to do our duties and the worship chairperson was there doing other things so had already finished our jobs. WE went to Duck Donuts for a treat before coming home.

DH drove into Newark and picked up curbside from Applebees. He said it was the easiest and best curbside so far, probably because they were doing this before the pandemic.

We have a fire going in the fireplace and now going to watch some Breaking Bad on Netflix.

@tazdev3225, sounds like a great day for you! Cabinets and LJ, what more could you want. Will be glad to see pictures.

 

[flyingdumbo127]

Thank you so much my friend, PollyannaMom! I will Google. The stores I mentioned are just three of the only places I order from online from home right now on! I’m glad your DH and your son have happy feet

Welcome, Usnuzuloose! Thank you so much for your prayers. God indeed works in a most beautiful and mysterious way!

Praise God you got to meet LJ, Taz Dev. So happy for you! I look forward to pictures. Extra storage, especially right now, is a great thing to have!

How nice of the worship chairperson, Carol. Am so glad you and your DH got a treat today

Wishing each of you a lovely and cozy evening.

 

[Kirby]

Today's been a dreary day outside. Rain in the morning, warm and grey in the afternoon. My sister and I spent this morning going through another bin of pictures. A lot of them are old, we found one dated from the mid 1800's.

While I was looking at pictures with my sister, I received a phone call from my doctor's office. Someone had canceled their vaccine shot and they wanted to know if I would like to take their place. After hemming and hawing with the nurse I decided, what the heck, and took the appointment. I received the Pfizer vaccine and go back on March 20th for my second. As of right now, my arm is slightly sore at the shot sight, it doesn't bother me though.

I decided that DH and I needed to go out to dinner. We went to Super Shack for fried catfish. It was nice to be able to sit and chat awhile with each other.

 

[lynxstch]

Good morning! Just starting to rain,,we have a flood watch out. They say we could get 1 1/2-2" of rain today? Yikes..that's a lot. The ground is already pretty saturated from the melting snow, so I hope they are wrong. Will only get to a high of 45.
I have no plans for the day, didn't sleep well. Weird dreams and aching legs.

@tazdev3225--so glad your kitchen is coming along nicely.
@Kirby-wow..finding some pictures dating back to the mid 1800's is pretty neat! Glad you got your first vaccine, hope your arm doesn't stay sore too long

Have a nice morning all, going to try and sleep for another hour if possible.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Good Morning, Quackers!!

 

[easyas123]

Good morning everyone. Up since about 5, just couldn't sleep but that is okay for once my husband was able to have a lie in. He got up around 6:30 - late for him!
Not much on the agenda at all today. I have some laundry to fold.
We've decided to go to WDW for a few nights of holiday sights in early December, so just submitted my request to rent points from David's, fingers crossed we get our first request. Hoping to stay at a new to us resort this time.
It would seem the rain has started, or at least it is misting out. This morning while it was still dark I was out with the dogs and for the first time this year I heard the frogs chirping! A sure sigh of spring thinking about showing up around here.

About time to make breakfast. Cinnamon muffins w/ scrapple & eggs.

 

[sweetpeama]

As I write this it is a little after 4 AM Sunday morning. The past 8 days have been extremely hard on my little community. A week ago Friday night a one vehicle rollover caused by drifting snow and going too fast for conditions took the life of 3 high school students and put one in the hospital with serious injuries. This accident happened less than 5 miles from my house so we heard the sirens going off in the night around 9:30.
This was added to earlier in February a young high school girl was killed at an intersection after pulling out from a blind spot caused by people putting up a vinyl fence around their property replacing the low brick wall that was previously there. Her sister was left injured from that accident as well.
Thursday and Friday there was a lot of support for the students at the two high schools by wearing their school colors on those days as part of Stand Strong weekend. Some of our private schools even held fundraisers with the money going to help the families with expenses. Other private schools in the area held special prayers for the students of the two high schools during their weekly school chapel services.
Saturday the families of the students who were killed prepared to hold services and bury their children when added to the difficulties around here there was a 30-40 vehicle accident on the Yellowstone River Bridge on the Interstate.
I will let you read what our local media has to say about this and see the pictures.

https://www.kulr8.com/top_story/ice...cle_3adb591a-792e-11eb-a16e-3fb85d1a9c9d.html
https://billingsgazette.com/news/lo...f1a5adbd4.html#tracking-source=home-top-story
https://www.ktvq.com/news/local-news/massive-pile-up-along-i-90-in-billings
It has been found out via the go fund me fundraiser for the family that the two people who jumped over the bridge to the frozen ground 60 feet below in order to avoid being hit by a vehicle were a 17 and 19 year old siblings being raised along with 3 great grand children by their 77 year old grandmother. The siblings were saving children who were in a vehicle hanging over the bridge and were able to rescue the childen.
The siblings were taken to different hospitals which is standard in where there is an accident with potential multiple injuries and with as many vehicles involved there could have been multiple severe injuries. This is done so that one hospital doesn't end up being overwhelmed with serious injuries and the rest are just handing out bandaids and taking a few x-rays to make sure there are no broken bones. One of these young people suffered a broken back, broken pelvic bone, broken ankle and a lacerated kidney and is in the icu. The other was ended up with a broken leg, fractured back, fractured neck, puntured lung, and a dislocated shoulder. At last report this young person was in surgery according to the fundraiser set up by a niece of the grandmother to help with expenses since the family is from out of town.

Needless to say my plans to take the interstate like I normally do when going out to the fairgrounds which I needed to do as 13 year old had a photography project meeting with a twist. They set up that the kids signed up by emailing the county photography leader with their interest and any schedule conflicts that they had and then they were assigned a 30 minute time slot. 13 year old was assigned to the last slot of the day. She worked on taking portrait photos and pet photos by taking pictures of me and of me holding one of our cats. I have not seen the photos on her ipad as of yet but the assistant county photography leader (mother to the county photography leader) who works mainly with the lower level kids said that she did get some good shots though she has some that are blurry. She took pictures using all but one of the backdrops they had set up around the room. By the time she got to the last one she was signing all done all done which means not only are we done with this backdrop we are finished all together because my attention span is gone. She did a lot better having more space to herself instead of having all the other kids around and being shoved out of the way or just not wanting to wait so she decides she is done and that is it.
We also brought her record book from last year so the leaders could look at what she had done and we could get some tips for getting some of the project areas in the book that she did not do last year in order for her to complete the book this year.
We stopped by the grocery store on the way home so that I could go in and get some shopping done. The plan was to get some easy to eat items for 16 year old and some that I enjoy as well. This usually means instant soups and salads. I ended up coming out with close to $190 in groceries and a few packets of garden seeds to add to what I already have. I will need to get with my dad the first part of the week and get a few things started. I need to see if we can find some celery seeds and let him know I spotted some spicy peppers at the grocery store so he can check to see if that is what he wants for those. We are set for our bell peppers which is all we will get started this week.

It was cold in the low 30s but dry and no wind when I went into the store. By the time I finished and came out about 20 minutes later it was snowing so hard you could barely see across an intersection at the 4 way stop not far from the house coming home. We made it home after being out for a total of a little over 2 hours. I was cold from being out so I snuggled under a pile of blankets in my chair and ended up falling asleep for over 6 hours. Hence I am now awake and working on things on my computer.

 

[lynxstch]

@sweetpeama--How very sad and tragic. God bless everyone involved. How brave of the 2 who jumped to try and save others, how sad that they were so badly injured. It is always so hard when you live in a small, tight knit community when something like this happens. Sending prayers for those who were lost, those who were injured, their families and friends, and all of you who knew them.

 

[easyas123]

The past 8 days have been extremely hard on my little community

Those type of accidents involving HS kids are always so difficult to comprehend. It seems to hit every community at some point. I hope those injured recover from their ordeal.

 

[flyingdumbo127]

Good Sunday morning, Quacker friends,

Wow, Kirby, that is amazing and so very cool you discovered photos going back that long! Prayers you feel okay today from the vaccine. I am glad you and your DH got to have a dinner treat last night.

Hug, Lynn, I hope you did catch some extra zzz's. Prayers for no flooding!

The ducks are adorable, PollyannaMom, thank you

Enjoy your breakfast, Easyas! I am so glad to hear you and your DH will have something fun to look forward to in December

Prayers all-around, Sweetpeama, that is indeed heartbreaking

Wishing all of you a Happy Sunday!

 

[Breezy_Carol]

Good afternoon.

Cold, rainy day. Not much to do. I took down the winter decorations so have to box them and get them into the attic.

Plan on cooking a turkey breast for dinner. Maybe watch the Golden Globe Awards. Started another jigsaw puzzle and almost done the book I'm reading. DH is spackling an old hole in a bathroom ceiling to get ready to paint.

@Kirby, yay for getting the vaccine.

I heard the frogs chirping!

Were they what we call spring peepers? Can't wait to hear them. I mentioned spring peepers on social media one year and some people had no idea what I was talking about.

@sweetpeama, so sad about those high school students. I remember the year DD started high school there was an accident that killed 6 students. It was awful.

 

[apirateslifeforme]

@sweetpeama, so sorry to hear of what your community is going through right now. Extremely heartbreaking, I can't even imagine. Prayers to all.

Now I'm going to be the downer (again). I hate to say, "This month needs to just end now," but...THIS MONTH NEEDS TO END NOW. So my FIL passed away on the 6th, and my aunt passed on the 16th. Yesterday, my uncle - with severe breathing problems, COPD - was taken to the hospital (but he does not have COVID, as far as we know). Last night we were told that he was doing well. This morning, we hear that he was taken to the ICU and intubated. Not long afterward, we learn that my aunt's family had found a letter in the house, in my uncle's handwriting and signed by him, that he didn't want to be intubated. So the doctors at the hospital have to respect his wishes and remove it. OMG, is this really happening??? 3 people in my family in 3 weeks? And he's all alone...his daughter lives in Florida and her flight won't arrive in Illinois until 6-ish tonight. Another uncle was on vacation in Florida, but he knows someone who owns a charter jet and he was flying back immediately. At one point, my cousin called and said that his oxygen was down to 36%, but a few minutes ago my mother came in and said he's up to 50%. So who knows right now, but it doesn't sound good. They still expect him to pass today. I just can't believe this...I feel sick.

I also had a 4-day long bout with vertigo. I thought I was having some mild dizziness as a side effect of the Wellbutrin that my doctor prescribed, but it progressively got worse until it was definitely complete vertigo. Dramamine and all those various maneuvers didn't help at all. Today I feel perfectly normal, though, so if anyone can figure that out, please let me know.

I've kind of been avoiding responding, although I've been reading, because I didn't want to answer the QOTD. I figured I didn't have to answer. I am envious of people who have years long friendship and best friends. I really have no friends left from childhood. One or two out of state I keep touch on Facebook. Really no one from college. My job in home health didn't lend itself to making friends, more casual acquaintances. I was friends with my kids' friends' parents in scouts, soccer, etc, but they all ended when the kids moved on. I have many acquaintances through church but really never do anything socially with them. I do have some friends I've made through the DIS that I have met in real life and keep in touch with, but because of distance, no one I can call and say "let's do lunch."

I don't want to sound lonely and friendless and in need of pity, which is why I wasn't going to answer. Of course, you all are my friends but again, can't call and do lunch.

Same here. I had a great group of friends in high school, and then a smaller group of us were really close for several years after that. We would get together every Friday night, go out to dinner, then back to one of our houses to watch The X-Files. But then 2 of them got married (to each other), immediately had a baby, and then they moved to Arkansas. It just wasn't the same without them and we all grew apart at that point.

Now our closest friends are another family; the husband/father was a junior high and high school friend of DH's. They have 3 kids: a boy age 6, and two daughters, 5 and almost 4 (they are each exactly 15 months apart). So we get together once every month or two and do something all together. Of course, that's been difficult since COVID, but we did spend a day at Sturbridge Village over the summer and then we went to the zoo in September. But now we've only seen them at my FIL's visitation, and of course the kids didn't come with them.

 

[Snowysmom]

@sweetpeama So sad to hear about the accidents with the high school kids. The poor families. So tragic.

@TazDev Glad you got to met LJ. He sounds like a sweet happy little one.

I love it when the spring peepers come out.

Our youngest DGD turned 2 yesterday. We brought over gifts and had some cake. She dipped her cake in ketchup and loved it. Her brother and sister like her gifts too so they will keep all 3 occupied for a while. Older DS and his family attended the party via zoom.

It is cloudy but warmer today, around 44. Tomorrow will be rain and 44 again while Tuesday we go back to 30 degrees but sunny. March is the time for crazy weather.

I am not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow. It is going to be a very busy week for me as the first week of every month is our close week for the previous month, I am also helping out another department, and I have been asked to help out in yet another area. Keeps me busy and out of trouble I guess.

Have a nice Sunday.

 

[AuntieMe3]

Happy Sunday all. I've been out of town with my hubby for work...I'm going home tomorrow but he'll be staying a few more days. It's been nice to be out of the house.

My mom was transferred to a rehabilitation facility early last week after almost a month in the hospital. They tried to discharge her after 2 eeeks but she literally couldn't even sit up on her own and she was still just too sick that we had to take her back the next day. She was much more stable when they decided to finally transfer her to the rehab. She still has some medical issues to deal with but right now she's getting PT and OT to help build up her strength to come home until the other issues can be addressed. She's really happy about the therapies...she had a brain aneurysm almost 10 years ago, so she is partially paralyzed on her left side. Back when she had it, she went to more of a convalescent hospital than a rehab before coming home so she really couldn't do anything. We had to use a lift to get her in and out of bed and she had to wear diapers. She had very little therapy once she was sent home so it was sort of on us to get to more mobile. Before she went into the hospital she could walk herself to/from the bathroom with a hemi-walker and she could help my dad get her in and out of bed but really couldn't do much else. We're hoping with the therapy she might be able to do a little more than before....at least build up her stamina to walk a little more than just to the bathroom. As long as she can go back to doing what she was doing we'll be happy but any improvement will be great.

I missed the QOTD about friends and I wanted to answer because I love my friends. I don't have many friends but the ones I do have are the best.

So like PollyannaMom said, I have seasonal friends from the different stages of my life. I have a couple friends I've known since elementary school...we stay in contact through FB and texting, before last year we would get together a couple times a year. They all live in the same area we grew up and it's only about an hour/hour and half away from me.
Two of my very best friends are from high school, one is my HS boyfriend, actually...lol He(B) and I were together for 3 years, broke up about a year after we both graduated. We remained friends but kind of distant and he ended up coming out as gay not long after. As soon as he did that, I realized what we had in HS really was just a super close friendship and not really a real relationship so we were able to resume the closeness we had while we were in school and are still super close today...25+ years later (sooo weird it was over 25 years ago...) My other HS friend (A) I met through another friend and we ended up closer than the original friend that introduced us. The three of us are like family and we are there for each other. Again before last year, we would get together almost once a month for at least lunch or dinner and we would take weekend trips to Vegas as often as we could. A, B and me have a group chat and talk to each other pretty much everyday but even if we don't talk, we still know we'rether for each other.

I had some friendships that were only because they were parents of DDs friends but once the kids grew up, the parent relationships fizzled out. I was kind of amazed DD had some amazing friends but a lot of their parents were not great people so I'm kinda glad to be rid of those. LOL

Now we have our best couple friends, who actually feel like family to us. Hubby is a very social person so he knows a lot of people and has tried to bring friends into our lives throughout our marriage. I'm kind of an introvert so it's hard for me to get to know someone and be super comfortable around them, I was happy with MY friends and didn't think I needed any more. LoL When he met E at work, he could not stop talking about what a cool guy he was and how much they had in common. E ended up living just 2 blocks away from us and they started carpooling, they worked so much it was like spent more time together than they did with their families. When we finally got together, E and his wife(L), and DH and me, it was like we knew each other forever. It was an instant feeling of these are my people. LoL I think we met 8 years ago and it feels like we've always known each other, just a very comfortable relationship where we really feel like family. Even our kids love each other and refer to either set of parents as their second parents....lol We have not stopped seeing them through out the last year, we are either at their house or they are at ours. We've gone on trips together, we do breakfast, lunches, lots of dinners. We were there when their oldest son spontaneously got married in Vegas a couple years ago and helped plan and throw a backyard reception a couple weeks after the wedding. They are the kind of friends who drop everything they are doing to help us out and same goes for us for them. We love them.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Older DS and his family attended the party via zoom.

I also attended a Zoom birthday party yesterday - for my cousin's four-year-old. She thoroughly enjoyed herself, was excited about her presents, and chose marble cake.

They live close enough that we've attended previous birthdays in person, but it was nice to see/chat with some far-away relatives who hadn't been at her parties before, but could be included in this one.

Daily gratitudes (besides the above) -

• Pizza for dinner last night.
• And it's 46 degrees out!

 

[AuntieMe3]

I also had a 4-day long bout with vertigo. I thought I was having some mild dizziness as a side effect of the Wellbutrin that my doctor prescribed, but it progressively got worse until it was definitely complete vertigo. Dramamine and all those various maneuvers didn't help at all. Today I feel perfectly normal, though, so if anyone can figure that out, please let me know.

First off, I'm so sorry about your uncle. So sad. That's a lot of loss to deal with at one time.

And I wanted to say about the vertigo. Did you mention before you were on blood pressure pills? When I first started taking my blood pressure meds, I got vertigo bad. Turned out my potassium levels were all out of whack from the BP pills and Dr said that could cause vertigo so I started taking potassium pills and it went away soon after. As soon as my levels evened out I was able to stop the potassium but every once in awhile I can feel the vertigo coming back a little bit and I just start eating bananas or take a potassium pill.

 

[lynxstch]

@apirateslifefor me--you are right ..this month has to end..and today is the last day, so hopefully some of it will be behind you. Sorry to hear about your Uncle..but they are right in respecting his wishes. At least they found the letter before it was too late to do what he wanted.
I get vertigo every now and then,,but it usuallly doesn't last long. No idea what causes it, as my BP is fine. And I eat plenty of bananas, so it can't be potassium issue either.

@Snowysmom--your Granddaughter dipping her bd cake in ketchup made me LOL. Nothing better than a little one having birthday cake.

@AuntieMe3--glad that your Mom is doing somewhat better. What were they even thinking discharging her in the first place? I hope the rehab place can do her a lot of good.

It is 45 degrees here and has been dumping down rain since this morning. We have already had 1 1/2" and they say we could get another 1" before it ends sometime overnite. Lots of places are flooded already. We are on the higher side of the street, so we get no water, the other side of the street is down a hill..so the people on that side always get flooded in their basements when it happens. Thankfully all the snow here was melted before this rain hit. It had slowed down a bit, so I ran some trash out to the shed and fed the outdoor cats. They are all in safe dry places, so I know they are okay.

Just watched the 4 part Gilmore Girls 'reboot' they had on Netflix, and then on Freeform. I had tivo'd it way back in Dec, but never got to it today. One of my gratitudes for today is the fact that we can FF thru all the commercials, lol. Cooking a texas smokehouse tenderloin for dinner, with baked potato and steamed zucchini

Have a nice afternoon and evening all!

 

[AuntieMe3]

glad that your Mom is doing somewhat better. What were they even thinking discharging her in the first place? I hope the rehab place can do her a lot of good.

That's what we were thinking. They had all the paperwork signed before my dad even got there, he needed a nurse to help get her in the car and needed DH to help get her out when they got home. SIL is an RN and she said they should've done an evaluation with my dad there to see if he would be able to care for her safely at home before they discharged her. Three of us(DH, me and my daf) were there and it was hard, there was no way my dad would've been able to take care of her on his own at that point. I ended up staying the night to help but DH had to go to work. The next day did not get better and by late afternoon, we could tell she was not doing well so my dad took her back. Turned out her blood levels were all off, heart rate and blood pressure were low, a drain she had was clogged so nothing was coming out and she was super dehydrated. As soon as they admitted her again and she was back on the IV she said she felt great. She's feeling good now though and optimistic so that's great.