Just need to talk to my friends (203)

Iris L.

Has anyone experienced this? I have had to call Customer Service twice recently for two big companies. One is was in South Africa, the second one was in Chile. Do Americans not do Customer Service?

Lorita, I just saw an ad on YouTube for a "BarnOwl" which is a solar-powered camera for remote areas. You could check on the girls from your living room.

Iris

Carl46

HB, I think one of your missing posts just surfaced. Cue the "Twilight Zone" theme. 😁

My mother liked Aldi. She was a child of the Great Depression and prices were everything to her. Having a Starbucks on site meant nothing to her, because I am sure she never drank a cup of "Bigbucks" coffee in her life. Once, when she was shopping with me, she balked at buying potatoes because they were too expensive. "Mom, you have to eat something."

I have been to Aldi only a few times, but I'm not sure why I don't go more. They have really good deals on things like fresh produce in season, so you can buy a lot of blueberries and freeze them for example. I love their system of keeping their shopping carts locked up. You put in a quarter, get a cart, and get a quarter back when you return it. No stolen or damaged carts, no carts left strewn around the parking lot. You just have to keep a quarter in your car if you are an Aldi shopper.

What you don't find at Aldi is advertised "name" brands. I buy the store brands anyway, so that's no problem for me. I have found that a picture of Charley the Tuna on the can adds nothing to the taste or nutrition of the contents.

Live long and prosper, my friends.

Carl46

I remember why I don't usually shop at Aldi. Price Cutter is locally owned by its employees, and their slogan "Buy Local" has a certain appeal.

Mint

Good morning

HB nice daffodils are blooming. Mine are later variety, will be a little while yet.

JeriLynn glad you’re having a nice little getaway.

Yes Eagle life does take us over sometimes

Zetta nice to hear that you’re doing great with those teeth

HB I lost a lot of my hair after I It’s a little scary. It did return within months so hopefully your mom‘s will too. Hope you got to have your quiet day yesterday that’s nice.

Mint

Iris customer service frequently seems to be from a foreign land to me.

harshedbuzz

Good morning. It's lovely here this morning with temps headed into the upper 70s. I'll be meeting friends for dinner, and we hope to snag a table outside. I'm thinking maybe fried chicken tonight to go with my byob Chardonnay.

Carl— I am sorry for the weight of the decision you are facing. Your health matters in factoring this. My mom delayed placement until her blood pressure rose to dangerous levels which was overcorrected resulting in irreparable damage to her optic nerve and blindness in one eye. It's why she doesn't drive and why I have to manage her infused and pushed medications. Her decision robbed us both of the stage 8 we deserved.

Just remember, once a well-rested team relieves you of the custodial care, you can go back to being the doting husband. And the remember, too, that the door swings both ways. If it doesn't work for your situation, you can resume at-home caregiving.

Good catch on the zombie post— that thing is a week old.

Jerilynn— thanks for the reminder about the yeast issue. I am aware of the risk; I've been known to ask for a Diflucan chaser when prescribed antibiotics in the past. Just in case. She's pretty good about reporting side effects and isn't shy about sharing so I hesitate to mention it to mom as she is very prone to the power of suggestion. I fear if I bring it up, I'll be prowling the aisles at Rite Aid for an emergency Monistat before the day is out.

Iris— American customer service is a rarity. Rare enough that the few companies that have maintained it advertise the fact. It's cheaper to send it offshore and most companies are beholden to their stockholders, so offshore it often is. Chile is a new one for me. I usually get connected with India or the Caribbean. When I do get an American center, it's almost always the deep South complete with a drawl that is a challenge for me auditory processing. DH doesn't hear well, so I have become the official C/S caller at Chez Buzzed. Shout out to the folks at Comcast's India-based call centers— they're remarkably patient and knowledgeable. Between mom's house and mine, I spend a lot of time chatting with them. I'll take them over the health insurance calls any day.

That barn owl camera sounds awesome. A friend had something in his attic and installed a Go Pro camera which caught a family of raccoons. While not ideal roommates, the footage of them investigating the camera was really cute.

HB

loveskitties

Thanks for thinking of me Lorita. I am about worn out both physically and mentally. As you know my mother turned 100 back in November and she still lives alone, even after stern advice from her PCP to move to assisted living. Mother just won't budge, and since she is still legally of sound mind, my kids and my hands are tied.

It seems that since the first of the year, Mother has been more needy to have things done for her at the house and medically, and she is anti- everything suggested. She insists on making her own decisions and then complains when things go south.

Had a call this week from her neighbor that EMS was at her house. EMS called and said that they were taking her to ER for evaluation. Seems like she was too weak to get out of bed. Daughter and I rushed the 1 1/2 hr trip to be there. As expected by us, she was dehydrated and tests done showed nothing. She had already been to PCP twice in last 2 weeks for various complaints, which showed nothing new.

My daughter has been to her house one day every weekend for the last month or so to do things Mother think need doing. I have been on medical appointments of one sort or another at least one day every week, sometimes more. We are both about burned out.

I do try to read about everyone's posts, but have had nothing noteworthy on my end.

I do always pray that you all will have better health and good days.

Hugs to all, Marie

ronald71111

Carl, the statement you made about "a gray headed old man", brought back memories. I remember when I was going to the VA for my last radiation treatment for prostate cancer. This gray headed old man was pushing his DW down our wheel chair ramp when his feet slipped on the wet ramp. Held on to the wheelchair, but ended up down with the wheelchair and her on top of me. It took me a good 10 minutes to get to my phone and call for help. She wasn't hurt and I was just had few bruises. Also, your DW apologizing to you. Lou would ask, just who are you. I would tell her I'm Ronnie your husband and the biggest smile would come on her face as she replied , oh Ronnie I Love You so much. Those few words out of her mouth made all the painful experiences with her worthwhile.

Lorita, I'm glad your feeling better! I still read my front porch friends post, but just don't respond as often. Just know that any if you that are hurting or in harms way from storms, I am praying for you. We did have a tornado warning tracking just a couple of miles west of me yesterday, but no touch down.

I started physical therapy yesterday in my neck and sceduled for a shot in the neck to help with the pain until the neurosurgeon gets clearance from cardiologist that I'm not high risk for surgery.

Ron

Lorita

Morning, so good to hear from you, Marie and, you, Ron.

Marie, you all are having a rough and tiring time with your mother. Would she agree to have someone move in to be with her all the time or maybe just a few hours everyday? From what you say, probably not. I know it's hard to find someone to do that. She sounds like a very independent lady and that is sometimes hard to deal with. It's amazing that she can still live alone. I wish there was a good solution to your problem. Just rest when you can but I know you worry about her. I hope there can be a solution.

Ron, how scary about the tornado being so çlose. Years ago one passed about three miles south of us. Mother and I sat on the cellar steps watching the clouds but didn't know about the tornado until later. Sounds like we may have some bad weather later today. Right NIW it's sunny and very windy. Very cloudy and rainy looking this morning. I remember when you told us about the wheelchair incident.b. You were so lucky you weren't hurt.

I want to paint that section of wall today. I brought in a small tray and roller but can't locate it now. See, Sandy, still looking for things. I remember when I would come down to see mother or call her I would ask what she was doing and she would almost always say she was looking for this or that. Now I'm doing the same thing. Maybe I'll find it later when I stop looking.

I have found the same thing about customer service. The people are always courteous but sometimes hard to understand. When you call you're already upset and that just adds to the problem.

Wasn't the earthquake awful in Myanmar? I heard so far 1000 have been killed and at least 2500 injured. Back later.

ladyzetta

Good morning.

Marie. It was nice hearing from you, you have been missed. There have been others, I'm wondering about. Bless your Mom, she is trying so hard to care for herself. I hope when I get to be 100, I will have the strength she has. Hope her trip to ER, was helpful. 🙏

HB. You talked about taking the earlier train home. I love Trains, do you take a train often. Do you comute from home to town on a train?

Carl. Thanks for telling me about that Whopper, my daughter looked it up, we may be getting it soon. YUM.

Iris. SO, many times, I get annoyed when I made a call and can't understand what the person is saying. It's frighting when it's a important question.

Does any one know why we have not heard from Jo in a long time, I really miss her, wisdom and caring words.

Hugs to all, Zetta

eaglemom

Good afternoon everyone. I've gone back and I think I might be caught up, maybe.

I heard a discussion on placing your loved one once. For some reason it became a huge debate if it was harder on the LO or the caregiver. The conclusion reached was that its equally difficult on both, but in totally different ways. I totally understand that.

Customer service is almost non existent anymore. If you ask for a supervisor you won't get one either. Seems whenever I ask to speak to one they are always in a meeting and they never call me back. This week DH had an appt with his surgeon. We waited an hour and 5 minutes to see him. He literally came flying into the room, he had a copy of the MRI report, said what it showed, told us how we would proceed with care, said he'd refer us to pain management & see us in three months. Then stood up to leave. Seriously - that was the appt. He never ask how DH was doing? Was PT working? Pain level? So…….me be me moved my chair in front of the door and very calmly ask if we "couldn't have a little chat." He was surprised but said sure. I ask if he had any idea how long we waited, he had no idea & was a little shocked. Then I told him his office had a communication problem. I gave him an email that I'd sent his office 5 business days earlier, asking for a refill for pain medication. In a two week span, I'd called 3x's & left messages for the nurse, the pharmacy had called 2x's and faxed them 2x's also. I said I didn't think he wanted to run a facility that was being run this way in the background. He said he had no idea - I said I'm sure you didn't, you do now. He said he'd address this. We'll see. I'm not holding my breath and equally it doesn't matter how good of a PCP, surgeon or whatever you are, if I'm treated this way I'm clearly not that important to you. This surgeon understood my point. Ya, customer service……

Beautiful warm day here. I can't decide if I'm tossing a steak or a chicken on the grill for dinner. Maybe I'll do both then tomorrow taken care of also. I love tossing veggies on there to cook also.

Let's be safe everyone.

jfkoc

beautiful day here…the pear tree that has pears is now in full bloom…I miss working in the garden.

Maybe Trump can put a tariff on the out of country cunstomer service calls…lol. Speaking of teriffs…if you need to buy something do it now.

Interesting article re Aldi;

https://www.tastingtable.com/910536/the-connection-between-trader-joes-and-aldi/

My daughter sent me to Starbucks…instruction written on a piece of paper. When I got there and lined up I was asked if the order had been called in. I replied and read off the order which called for everything but the kitchen sink.

I shop locally too when possible.

Those who say they have noting to chat about please do pop in with a Hi so we know you are OK.

Iris L.

Good afternoon. BBL.

Iris

littleme

Hi cobbers

Nothing much going on here. Still writing, now have found my niche in books for kids. Find it much easier than coping with sex, violence, and bad language!

Had terrible sciatica in the left leg 30 years ago, which led to a major back operation. Now the right is playing up. Please not the same outcome!!!!!

Hugs to all

Barbara

Lorita

Hi Barbara, good to hear from you. I hope the same thing doesn't happen again, too. Once was enough. I had a friend who had sciatica and she said it was really painful.

Nice that you have found your niche writing children's books but I enjoyed the others, too.

I guess you are going into your fall season. We're in spring now with storms which are predicted for tonight. Take care of yourself and I.hope the sciatica gets better.

GothicGremlin

We didn't have the sunny day that most of you had, but we did have a bit of sun along with our clouds, and the temperature was in the mid-50s — I'll take it!

I spend most of today cleaning. I try to get it all done on Saturday, so that I can lounge around on Sunday and prepare for the upcoming week.

JeriLynn - I'm glad the RV trip is going so well!

All I can say about customer service is that really it's "customer service", if you know what I mean.

Oh my gosh, loveskitties, your mom is 100! That's a milestone. Spending that much time navigating doctor appointments is rough.

Zetta - I'm pretty sure I don't want to live to be 100. By that time, I'd probably be about three feet tall! 😄

jfkoc - pears ……. yum!

Iris L.

I had a Zoom meeting this morning, then I had to pay bills, then I went to Jo-Ann's to get some fabric. I bought a sewing machine from Aldi's a few days ago because I keep telling myself I want to get back into sewing. Mind you, I have not sewn since high school. But I found a cute print with cat faces. I'm going to make an apron. That's the first thing they taught us to make in HS. The fabric was $8/yard with a 2 yard minimum, and the spool of thread was $6, these were the going-out-of- business sale prices.

I'm going to try to write more tomorrow.

Iris

GothicGremlin

Iris - I've been thinking of getting a new sewing machine and stocking up on fabrics at Jo-Ann's before they close their doors. I don't sew a lot, but it's something I could and should do more of. I don't love it, but I don't hate it either - and I like the end results. 🙂

Carl46

Ron, I'm glad you're getting some relief for your pain. That wheelchair story is pretty funny, since you weren't seriously hurt.

Judith, I love pears. A neighbor who lived alone had a pear tree in her yard, and, after she had picked all she wanted, told my mother to take all she wanted. Mom wanted them all, so my brother and I took a bushel basket and filled it several times. We ate canned pears that winter until we were tired of them, and Mom flavored them with things like cinnamon to make them taste different.

Barbara, I have some sciatica on both sides, tingling on the left and numbness on the right. I had to use a cane for the numbness and weakness until I lost some weight and went back to doing my core-strengthening exercises. I hope conservative therapy can help you.

Some of the very best children's books have violence. "Treasure Island", "Tom Sawyer", and "Huckleberry Finn" all had violence. No sex or bad language though. Even some of the books written by Dr. Seuss had violence, such as "Barthlomew Cubbins and The King's Red Stilts." OTOH, books like "Horton Hatches An Egg" had dramatic conflict without violence.

Iris, sewing sounds great. One of the things my wife misses most is the ability to sew. She used to tailor clothing, embroider, and quilt, but no more. Enjoy!

One of my acquaintances is 100 years old and served in WWII. I saw him today, driving his car away from the diner. He eats there about every day, because he doesn't cook and gets tired of soup and sandwiches. If I can get to 100 like he has, I'll take it.

Looks like the thunderstorm we expect is still out west of Tulsa, so we won't get it until morning. Good night.

Mint

good morning

Nice to hear from you Marie. Sounds like you were in a situation where you will have to wait for the shoe to drop. I understand that that’s what I had to wait on.

Ron hope physical therapy is able to relieve some of your pain.

Zetta I am not seeing anything from JoC anywhere in quite a long time. Unfortunately that’s one bad thing about here. We come concerned for many, but the end can be very sudden and with no closure. The disease that JoC has is one of the tough ones. She just may be too tired and weary to continue here.

Barbara sciatica is a tough nut to deal with. I had it once and it took me a good year if not a little longer to get past it. I did get through it without surgery so I hope you do too.

Iris hope you enjoy the sewing machine . Seems like i find it hard to find time to use mine.

when I went to the mailbox yesterday I noticed my daffodils now have buds.

Lorita

Morning, so Joanna is going out of business, closing all stores? I have only been in the one in Tulsa once so don't remember much about it but sorry it's closing. I used to sew a lot, made most of my clothes. When I was working all of us made most of our clothes. This was in the sixties and seventies. We would work all day, stop at the fabric store after work to get material, make the garment that night and wear it to work next day.

I haven't made anything to wear in years. Fabric , patterns and notions got so expensive it was almost as inexpensive to buy readymade if you include your time. I thoroughly enjoyed sewing. It was relaxing to me. I made curtains, covered chair seats and even made a cover for a hassock. Doubt I could do it now. But clothing is so expensive niw. I remember buying pants for under $30, now they're twice that, or more.

We had a little rain last night, no storms here, thank goodness. It's much cooler today and cloudy. Three or four more chances for rain this week. We're abnormally dry according to the drought monitor, however Mike says it's too wet to harrow the land East of us.

The little tree is doing well. I have been watering it every day and I think I have located a little elm I may transplant. . If it is an elm it's from the big one. May be a mulberry though which is okay. The ones we had in the yard don't have berries. Hope all of you are well this morning.

Back later.

jfkoc

Late night for Oklahoma…tornado watch for almost the entire state…I stayed dressed until 1:30a in case I had to be picked up to go to the underground garage nearby.Yes, it is within my 1 mile radius. Most of us here have almost 1 acre lots lest everyone thinks everything is jammed onto my plateau.

Unfortunately the birds and squirrels get to the pears before I do. I think Lorita's cows eat her pears.

Children's books and violence? Three Little Pigs, Jack and the Beanstalk, Hansel and Greatel (sp), Little Red Riding Hood??? No wonder we were afraid of monsters!

Iris L.

Good afternoon.

Carl, in my area we have WinCo, which is an employee-owned supermarket. There was a time when I shopped at several markets in a week to catch the various sales. But not now. I had been shopping at one store for convenience, even though it was slightly more expensive. But it closed down, so now I will have to drive farther away and still shop at more than one store in order to get everything that I want. Aldi's has low prices but not everything that I want.

Welcome back, Marie and Barbara.

Iris

Lorita

Afternoon, we got half an inch of rain. Was going to drive around the road to see if pears were blooming but decided it might be too muddy. Judith is right, the girls love the pears when they fall off . But I always have tried to step on them so they wouldn't choke on them. We planted two Asian pears when we moved Into the MH 52 years ago so the trees are old. One bloomed last year but may not this year. They were looking pretty bad.

Just took down the trash and it's chil!y, Judith, 53 degrees. I went to sleep in my chair an hour ago so think I might take a nap. Almost out of power. Back later.

ronald71111

Lorita, my son sent me a picture of his pear tree in Missouri. It was in full bloom.

Ron

GothicGremlin

I feel like today is our first day of real spring. It's 60 degrees outside and sunny! I think the last time we saw 60 degrees was sometime last October. 😄 The camellia tree has exploded — so many pink flowers. I'll take a photo later on. I might go for a walk in the park in just a bit.

Lorita

Ron, do you know what kind of pear it is? I bet peach tees are ready to bloom, too.

When Charles and I moved back to the farm we planted Asian pears, two kinds of Apples,BIng cherries, peaches, plums and a.nectarine plus two pecans. Buck,.our horse ate the top out of one of the young pecans. It lived but no pecans and only a few from the other one. It's still living. All the trees are gone except one pear and one pecan. Of course, that was 51 years ago.

I think our black walnut has survived, at least part of it. So glad of that.

Hope all of you have a good rest tonight. We had a cool, cloudy day but sun came out a Couple of hours ago. Judith, I heard Mustang had tennis ball sized hail last night.

I

littleme

OK, so about the violence in kids books. I think what I meant was that you don't have to explain the violence, and the results, in great gory detail. And yes, mine do have threats of danger in them, and some physical contacts.

Barbara

Carl46

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/239644#Comment_239644

"He swore a terrible oath as he drew his sword . . ." No need to tell us just what he said, is there?

Good for you, Barbara. I used to tutor second graders in reading, and good literature suitable for children is priceless. Do you illustrate your books also?

Mint

Good morning