The Hyena Chat thread: Everyone's welcome!

[Alex2kMommy]

We lost pixster! I was wondering why she wasn't chatting, and just checked back a page, she's gone.

 

[staley7580]

I have no idea (since this is... what, 3rd hand information?) how set they are on the date. Hopefully not too hung up on having the big bash on his actual birthday.

I told my mom, "You know, with his birthday being on Christmas Eve, we're going to be going through this every year!" Maybe her family won't do a big bash every year on that day, but every year it's going to be his birthday on Christmas Eve. Even if they alternate years between the two families (that's how my brother and his ex used to handle it), we'll still need to celebrate his birthday and Christmas together. Poor kid!

I KNOW! I mean.. for me it was bad enough to have my birthday a few days after Christmas.. But to actually have it on Christmas Eve? Yikes! You know what they say... This is for Christmas, AND your birthday. .. You know what I used to think, right?? CHEAPO! Plus... its hard to be the one buying gifts! I never do anything for my birthday, because we are BROKE after buying stuff for the kids. Can you imagine having to shell out twice?

 

[staley7580]

Wow, I'm surprised I'm still wide awake! Must be the Diet Coke I had with dinner.

I have been bad today. I have been drinking Dr. pepper all day. I couldnt help it, its so tasty! I am willing to bet that is why the babies are so active right now.

We lost pixster! I was wondering why she wasn't chatting, and just checked back a page, she's gone.

Maybe we scared her off with talk of white chocolate in Advent calendars.

 

[Alex2kMommy]

I KNOW! I mean.. for me it was bad enough to have my birthday a few days after Christmas.. But to actually have it on Christmas Eve? Yikes! You know what they say... This is for Christmas, AND your birthday. .. You know what I used to think, right?? CHEAPO! Plus... its hard to be the one buying gifts! I never do anything for my birthday, because we are BROKE after buying stuff for the kids. Can you imagine having to shell out twice?

I know! And how do we explain to the other kids why the baby gets twice as many gifts as they do?

Actually, I think our kids are pretty good about that, they don't pay attention to that kind of thing. Double they probably would notice, though.

 

[Alex2kMommy]

Maybe we scared her off with talk of white chocolate in Advent calendars.

Hey, that even scared me, and I love chocolate!

 

[staley7580]

I know! And how do we explain to the other kids why the baby gets twice as many gifts as they do?

Actually, I think our kids are pretty good about that, they don't pay attention to that kind of thing. Double they probably would notice, though.

No kidding! My kids would notice.

 

[staley7580]

Okay... I am wiped, and I need to go to bed. The more I sleep... The less I want to eat.

 

[Alex2kMommy]

Okay... I am wiped, and I need to go to bed. The more I sleep... The less I want to eat.

Yeah, I should get to bed, too, else my wagon will be draggin' tomorrow.

 

[funnygarcia]

Because this was buggin me.. and with reading the politics of breast cancer and responses fomr Komen.. just a little factoid for you .
From National Cancer Institute

It is estimated that 182,460 women will be diagnosed with and 40,480 women will die of cancer of the breast in 2008

On January 1, 2005, in the United States there were approximately 2,477,847 women alive who had a history of cancer of the breast. This includes any person alive on January 1, 2005 who had been diagnosed with cancer of the breast at any point prior to January 1, 2005 and includes persons with active disease and those who are cured of their disease.

According to the National Kidney Foundation, about 26 million people in the United States suffer from chronic kidney disease and 350,000 are on dialysis. More than 70,000 are waiting for a kidney transplant.

Tons of statistics...
http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/kudiseases/pubs/kustats/index.htm

Prevalence (1999–2004): An estimated 7.69 percent of adults aged 20 or older (15.5 million adults) have physiological evidence of chronic kidney disease determined as a moderately or severely reduced glomerular filtration rate.

Tell me again how more money goes to research disease that is "more prevalent" and "touches your life in some way".

Kidney disease is a quiet killer and not "sexy" in the public eye.

Instead of pink ribbon cat food, let's have kidney shapes plastered on the bag. Heck you can make the food kidney shaped.. I know my cat wouldn't mind.

 

[tinkermell]

Morning!!

Alex, I don't envy you, and this Christmas problem. Hopefullly you will get it figured out, and everybody will still be happy with each other.

Today, I need to buy 3 baby girl gifts. So I need to get going.

Have a great day all!

 

[sameyeyam]

Those are the best kind! When chocolate had been in a vending machine for a while it gets that white color.. Still good. Trust me.

The chocolate gets that whitish color when it has a temperature change, going from hot to cold and cold to hot. This happens a lot in vending machines because they are in companies that turn off their heat at night. The cream and sugar separate a bit and causes that whitish looking color. It is nothing harmful, doesn't mean the chocolate is old, just has undergone a temperature change.

So, an interesting quandary for my family. I talked to my mom this evening, and she said my brother (the one with the Cambodian fiancee) stopped by. The fiancee's family wants to plan a BIIIIIIG dual-family get-together for the baby's first birthday. I gather her family here is quite large, much larger than my parents realized, so now Mom is in high panic mode. (She's very shy, and they aren't used to entertaining or socializing much anymore now that they're older.)

I said, "Where is this thing supposed to take place?", thinking maybe she was freaked out that this big bash was expected to take place at their house. She said at the girl's aunt and uncle's house, which is actually where my brother's family is living right now. But there's additional family in Everett, Federal Way, Kent, Auburn, etc. Whoa!

I asked, "OK, so when do they want to do this?"
"Christmas Eve."
"Christmas Eve? Why Christmas Eve? Was he actually born on the 24th?" (We never knew the exact day he was born...)
"Yes, he was born on Christmas Eve. That's why they want to have the get-together then, on the exact day."

Now for most families this wouldn't be such a big deal, but my family celebrates Christmas together on Christmas Eve, it's a Scandinavian tradition (Mom is Norwegian.)

Soooo... Now what? It would be incredibly poor manners to bring all our Christmas presents to this bash. So if we do the baby's birthday on Christmas Eve, when do we do Christmas Eve? My ex-SIL is certainly not going to let my brother have the kids on Christmas Day, he gets them only on Christmas Eve.

At first I suggested we move our Christmas celebration to another day. Not Christmas Day, because my niece and nephew can't be there and my ILs will flip out if we don't see them. But maybe the 23rd? The 26th? 27th?

But then my mom said, "You don't think the kids will have a problem not getting their Christmas presents on Christmas Eve?"

Ohhhh, the kids. Right. No presents on Christmas Eve would be terrible! And when then would we give them their stockings and other things from Santa? Lord, this is so complicated...

Flip a coin. It's not really important where you are on Christmas eve, what is important is that you are with family and friends. And who knows, if you do this event at your brother's it might be something really neat (especially with a different culture) and something that both families can embrace and incorporate into a very fun yearly event. But then again it might suck, so you just say so what and next year we go back to the old way.

Because this was buggin me.. and with reading the politics of breast cancer and responses fomr Komen.. just a little factoid for you .
From National Cancer Institute







Tons of statistics...
http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/kudiseases/pubs/kustats/index.htm






Tell me again how more money goes to research disease that is "more prevalent" and "touches your life in some way".

Kidney disease is a quiet killer and not "sexy" in the public eye.

Instead of pink ribbon cat food, let's have kidney shapes plastered on the bag. Heck you can make the food kidney shaped.. I know my cat wouldn't mind.

But Bernice, they have Kidney cat food already! Not sure what the kidney's are from, but my cat's enjoy it.

But on a more serious note...It does suck that all diseases aren't funded equally. I think breast cancer just happens to be the "disease of the decade" and everyone is jumping on the band wagon. I've gotta hand it to Nancy Brinker (Susan Komen's sister), she single handedly started all this breast cancer support when it wasn't even polite to mention it in public. I think it's really one of those things that started and just sort of snowballed. Not to long ago we had a woman with ovarian cancer that came to the Komen message board for help & support, because there was not really anyplace for her to go with ovarian cancer and I find that very sad.

I can't help but think that will all the gene research going on that in the next generation or two we will have cures for most of these diseases.

 

[Alex2kMommy]

Good morning, hyenas!
Not sunny... but trying!

Got the kids off to school today. DS4, as usual, was a bit of a pill... and why is there one of my frying pans in his bedroom anyway???

Just before I sent DS8 off, I asked if DH had been able to find something to adjust his palate expander. He said yes. "Really? Daddy adjusted it with something?" Yes again. Awesome! (Still want to have the orthodontist make another key, though... Maybe two...?)

So now I'm sucking some java, contemplating the next load of

 

[Alex2kMommy]

Tell me again how more money goes to research disease that is "more prevalent" and "touches your life in some way".

Kidney disease is a quiet killer and not "sexy" in the public eye.

Wow. I'm going to assume, since you are using my words from yesterday, that I'm the one that ticked you off, and that this is addressed to me.

Personally, I don't think any disease is "sexy". I think that is an unfortunate word choice to use in relation to something so deadly.

However, I think you meant something along the lines that breast cancer is a favorite cause of the moment. I would agree with that 100%, but I don't think it is for unwarranted reasons.

As for statistics, here are a few more:

An estimated 182,460 new cases of invasive breast cancer are expected to occur among women in the United States during 2008. An estimated 40,480 women will die from breast cancer. It is estimated that 1,990 men will be diagnosed and 450 men will die of breast cancer during 2008. In addition to invasive breast cancer, 67,770 new cases of in situ breast cancer are expected to occur among women in 2008. Of these, approximately 85 percent will be ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS).

Source: American Cancer Society Cancer Facts & Figures 2008.

From the CDC website:

Top 10 Causes of Death for Women in the United States‡
The graph below shows how breast cancer compares to other common causes of death in women of all ages.

‡Source: Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program (www.seer.cancer.gov) SEER*Stat Database: Mortality – All COD, Public-Use With State, Total U.S. (1969–2004), National Cancer Institute, DCCPS, Surveillance Research Program, Cancer Statistics Branch, released April 2007. Underlying mortality data provided by NCHS (www.cdc.gov/nchs).

Speaking just for myself, I don't have enough fingers and toes to count everyone I know who has had breast cancer. I don't know anyone personally who has suffered from permanent kidney disease, but of course I know of one person who is on dialysis; that would be your DH.

Several of my family members have had breast cancer; three current survivors have had mastectomies, one died. I have had suspicious lumps in my breast that had to be investigated; so has my DH. Fortunately for us, neither of us has yet been diagnosed with breast cancer.

I understand that it is frustrating that research into a cure for these diseases takes so long. Believe me, I feel the same way. But I don't begrudge ANY money spent on curing deady diseases. I donate toward heart disease and breast cancer research (no surprise to anyone who knows me, I'm sure.) I've donated toward research on other diseases, definitely, but we consistently donate to these two medical issues especially. These are the two that most impact us.

I would not be a bit surprised if you donated money toward renal disease research, and I would not be upset at all if you did not donate toward heart disease or breast cancer research. There are so many causes out there (aside from medical issues as well), and I would never presume to tell anyone how their donations should be allocated. I'm just glad people donate.

I hope that clears up what I meant when I said people choose to donate to the causes that affect them most.

 

[Alex2kMommy]

I can't help but think that will all the gene research going on that in the next generation or two we will have cures for most of these diseases.

I agree 100%! They've learned so much already from it, great leaps have been taken in many different types of research.

 

[Alex2kMommy]

Flip a coin. It's not really important where you are on Christmas eve, what is important is that you are with family and friends. And who knows, if you do this event at your brother's it might be something really neat (especially with a different culture) and something that both families can embrace and incorporate into a very fun yearly event. But then again it might suck, so you just say so what and next year we go back to the old way.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for having a big celebration for the baby's birthday, especially since they just arrived, you know? And I love learning about different customs and cultures, so that would be neat also.

The problems are the date (if they insist on the 24th) and the fact that they want the ENTIRE family there. Since my other brother only has his kids every other weekend (and his ex isn't too keen on any change unless it's to her advantage, and my brother lets her get away with things because he's afraid she won't let the kids see him if he stands up to her), getting all of my side of the family together is always a chore anyway. Adding the holiday into that timeframe (when DH and I have obligations with his Dad as well, as I would think people on her side of the family would as well), it just makes for a lot of complications.

And I think my brother isn't much help. He doesn't really think about anybody else's schedules or obligations. For instance, my mom has tried to make arrangements with him previously for some family get-together, and either can't reach him, or he doesn't respond for weeks. Finally when she gave up, he called out of the blue, said he and his (now ex) decided to have everyone over TOMORROW at X time. So my mom rushed to talk to notify everyone, and all the rest of the family scrambled to free up their schedules to try to make it. And of course they're the type to get ticked off if somebody can't come!

(I'm talking about my brother and the ex, not his fiancee and her family.)

Since we don't know them at all, and since we're dealing with another culture, my mom is really worried about offending them. We certainly don't want to start off on the wrong foot.

Oh, well, we kind of already did, at least in our own minds. Get this, you know the birthday bash we had a few weeks ago, to celebrate three birthdays? Turns out the fiancee's birthday was the day before! We had no idea! My brother dropped the bomb during dinner.

 

[funnygarcia]

Wow. I'm going to assume, since you are using my words from yesterday, that I'm the one that ticked you off, and that this is addressed to me.

Nope wasn't you in particular, it was the general reading from the Komen board and the article that they cited on MSNBC.

I could go on with how 1 in 150 children are diagnosed with Autism, lack of research because there is no money in that type of research.. and no answers as to how to prevent it from afflicing other children as well.

My sister cracked a joke yesterday that there should be puzzle piece ribbons on products just as much as pink ones.

Sadly, most people wouldn't even know that Autism has a ribbon symbol.

I could go on with how many have heart disease as well...but it was easier to find the kidney statistics.



Kidney failure (esrd- end stage renal disease or ckd5- chronic kidney disease stage 5 .... depending on what alphabet soup the kidney specialists find in vogue) is a progression of kidney disease.

Lots of people live with kidney disease, but have enough function to not require dialysis. Careful med and diet management will stave off complete failure for many people.

It's not individual donations to organizations that peeve me.. it's the sea of pink, is the money collected by various companies really going to research? How much does it beef up their profit margin to have the pink ribbon?

As was posted on the Komen board, more money should be put into prevention of breast cancer and helping women to break those socioeconomic barriers to get good professional health care.


I would like to see more money poured into stem cell research.

U of MN used a framework of a heart, washed out the cells, added new ones.. and the heart was able to beat. Exciting research!! Think of it!! They could use your own cells to make a new organ. No need for transplant meds!!

They could grow organs for the 100,318 on the UNOS list.

They could cures for millions of conditions.. but it takes time and money. And less headaches from the White House.

It's no one in particular that ticks me off.. I just get attached to a subject and growl about it for awhile..

Right now it happens to be research funding and the sea of pink ribbons.

Another day it might be early childhood education, health insurance, or the rising cost of my favorite tortilla.

 

[AZMickeyfans]

Alex are you here? I'll explain our DL schedule here if you are around. I wont bore the WDW people with it and they might think I'm a little too serious or strange when I tell you it.

 

[eatmypixiedust]

Hello Hyenas,

I went to the mall during my lunch break. I went to exchange something at Macy's and then exchanged an item at Victoria's Secret. I got some hair straightening balm from there and it smells nice. I also got some lotion on sale in their Pink collection. It's in the high 80's and I wish it would cool down here. Hope u are all having a good day. :

 

[staley7580]

Afternoon gals! Odd day. It seems every show I watched had twins in it. Bizarre. Anyhow. Then I had my first baby dream. Girls.. 2 of em. Obviously. and my dad was there. Weird.

 

[AZMickeyfans]

Here it is.

Wake up Jeff goes pee like we all do. Head out to the park, Jeff says wait, I have to go pee. Umm ok we wait outside in the parking lot for him because we are usually anxious.

wait ouside the gates until they open early to let us in

head to Market Cafe for coffee for dh. He likes the free refills here and doesnt mind the coffee

peek in shops until rope drop

Jeff finishes his coffee and runs back to get refill just as the rope drops.

heads over to buzz usually and rides buzz

crosses to go to bathroom

head to get space mountain fast pass and ride autopia

we ride autopia and he goes to bathroom after the ride

Before going on space he goes BACK to Market street cafe or whatever its called to get coffee again

we wait and then all ride space

hits the bathroom after space

heads to matterhorn

rides that and alice or teacups

hits that fantasyland bathroom

head deeper into fantasyland or over to frontierland for BTMRR

wants to get coffee before doing either

pees on the way back

after finishing coffee switches to iced tea at lunch

this continues thoughout the day.

I can laugh or get frustrated at him because we've had him checked out and the DR said "Ma'am your husband just has a tiny bladder have some sympathy"