Just need to talk to my friends (213)

Good morning.

Ron, it's nice that you're getting faster attention in Missouri.

Lorita, you be careful too on the icy ground!

Iris

Put together = connect speakers to each other and then to the cd player…piece of cake

Reminds me of the saying - some assembly required!!!

We had a wonderful time at our Christmas party yesterday. Great food, snacks, dessert, games and activities for everyone. We saw so many people we've not seen for awhile, that was great. I kept hearing "boy DH is social, he's all over the place." And they were right, he had a blast. They even had a baby grand piano and she played so beautifully. It was an afternoon of smiles for sure.

It feels like winter out, burr. Grey sky and damp with it 40. Frankly it feels much cooler than that. DH said we probably need a fire tonight.

Let's be careful out there. People are in a rush and it seems like they'd just as soon run you over as not. Be safe everyone.

good evening

Eaglemom, it looks like the party wore Santa out! It's nice that everyone had a good tuphill

.

I just came back from driving 29 miles to a dinner seminar on investing in gold and silver. Driving up was horrible. Rush hour traffic starts at 3pm. Fortunately, there was no rain. I saw the large beautiful full moon in the late afternoon but by nightfall there were too many clouds. Going up the traffic was so heavy that I drove only 10-15 mph for quite some time. Returning home was a bit better, although there was an area of road diet dropping from six lanes down to ONE lane, my speed was 5 mph. The funny thing is that I used to commute in that sort of traffic every day when I was working, although I do believe the traffic congestion has gotten much WORSE since then. I am so very THANKFUL that I don't have a daily commute any more!

Iris

Good morning.

It's dark and cold here today. I'm up early to do some laundry. Today was meant to be my at-home day, but DS wants me to go to the doctor with him. I guess he thinks it's "his turn". He's developed a rash on his arms— red, raised, itchy and warm to the tough. He's pretty miserable. This is a recurrence of a rash we thought was related to a new sunscreen a few years back, but circumstances are completely different. There have been no known changes to soaps or laundry detergents.

Judith— perhaps the disconnect between artistic talent and financial sense is at the root of the starving artist trope.

Iris— I'm sorry to hear of the sleep apnea. Mom has both central and obstructive, so she uses a machine at night. You may find treatment improves your sleep and how you feel during the day. I feel like traffic is worse here as well. The "evening rush" starts around 2:30 when the high schools dismiss and those busses and cars hit the roads. It lasts until about 6:30 during the week. I live north of mom on the main state road between our towns; fortunately, I have something of a reverse commute although there are times when getting home takes upwards of 40 minutes rather than 18. Back when I worked, I always seemed to have an hour drive. The worst commute took me through 9 of Philadelphia's 10 worst intersections for accidents.

Lorita— Carl is correct. Gen is a shortened version of generation. Relative to vehicles it refers to a model years between major redesigns. Car-people tend to talk about cars using the term.

Mint— Mom has that kind of scoliosis. Hers became fairly significant after an injury with compression fractures. It's added to her fall risk as it impacts her center of gravity. And it makes sewing/hemming for her a challenge.

G.G.— Tony Bennett is easy to appreciate. I enjoyed some of the things he's done with Lady Gaga. One of my niece's friend's dads makes a good living doing Tony Bennett tribute shows. He, too, have a great voice.

That weather forecast is a whole lot of bad knee and bad hair days for someone like me. I'd hide under the covers.

Ron— So you likely heard "Old Elvis" back in the day? Wow! I'm glad the VA seems on top of your care.

Eaglemom— The party sounds lovely. I loved the picture.


__________________________________________________________

The pulmo follow up brought some clarity to the situation. He listened and reviewed her X-rays and seems focused on the cardiac piece. He didn't come out and say it, but I'm pretty sure he thinks the breathing issues are related to worsening CHF and/or pulmonary hypotension. She'd been scheduled to see her cardiologist the end of January, but I was able to reschedule for next week so we'll have more information ahead of her follow up X-rays and pulmo check in 6 weeks. Alas this means driving her to the city because of the limitations of her POC and I would rather take the train.

I'm hoping to get her sorted out and stable by the time I get my knee replaced. I've ringed off the month of February but I fear I may need to reschedule.

I met my niece for haircuts and happy hour last night. She's been super busy of late with work and her dad and various siblings. Her dad is just a ghastly human

I hope all have a calm day.
HB

Good evening

Judith - At first I was like, 'What??? Assemble a CD player??" But then I read on, attaching the speakers is a much more reasonable thing to assemble. 😄

My perfect comfort zone? It's probably 70-90 degrees. I can tolerate weather in the 50s, but when it dips below that, I'm an unhappy camper. For better or worse I guess internally I'll always be a southern California girl.

Lorita - Snow that is 98% gone is the best kind.

eaglemom - I'm glad you guys had a great time at your Christmas party!

Iris - A road diet? I had to look that up, I'd never heard that term before. I've always heard lane reduction. I like road diet better. I'll add though - I don't like road congestion. I'm fine to drive in it, but I really don't like it.

HB - I hope your son's rash calms down. It sounds pretty awful. Could it be a food allergy?

Our weather forecast has changed - now, a week from Saturday where we might get overcast instead of rain? It's now been upgraded to rain. Yay. 😄 But at least we're not in the 30s!!! Today was rain and 50s - I'll take it.

Ron - Your photo is very pretty. What is the greenish/yellow light on the ground kind of by the house?

Carl - It sounds like a phishing call to me. I bet you that sometime in the past there was some kind of data breach involving information about your car, and that was how they know you have one.

I never saw that movie (but I've heard of it) - an orgy and then Tony Bennett, two things that I don't put together. Was Tony Bennett cool in the 1960s?

As for life in the PNW - we got our Christmas tree today. It's set up and we'll decorate it tomorrow when we have some light. I'm looking forward to that.

Ron, is that photo over your son's house?

Lorita, I could be happy with 70 degrees year-round, because I don't like cold and I don't like heat. Here in SoCal most trees don't turn color, but the other day I saw a maple tree with red and yellow leaves and half of them had fallen onto the ground. It brought me back to my childhood in NY, walking to school and swishing my shoes through the fallen leaves.

Carl, good for you in not taking the bait!

GG, road diet may be an LA term, because it's used all the time here. The problem here is that there are just too many cars on the road. Add the many trucks and getting around becomes an ordeal.

I just rested today, I didn't go out, I didn't even look at the full moon. Good night now.

Iris