Just need to talk to my friends (213)

Merry Christmas Beth, that snow globe center piece looks amazing. Was it very large?

Beth, what a fun restaurant!

Lotita, I hope Sheena will feel better very soon. Do you have to wipe her ears out?

I never heard of "Christmas gift" but when I was younger there used to be a tradition of having a man be the first person to enter a home on New Year's Day for good luck. I don't know if people still do this.

I'm proud of myself and frustrated at the same time. Today I'm proud because I accomplished several major tasks: taking care of my required minimum distributions, depositing a check that I had received in September, getting my car smog-checked, getting my car registration done and returning an overdue library book that I couldn't find because it was hidden in a bag. I'm frustrated because all of these tasks I had known about for weeks, but I procrastinated until now so I had to scramble to get them done before the end of the year. Why, oh why do I wait 'til the last minute? The library book was three weeks overdue, I had looked everywhere for it. I'm fed up with being disorganized and late!

Today was also the first day of Kwanzaa but I can't celebrate this year, I still have some tasks to accomplished before the end of the year. I'm very stressed!

Good night.

Iris

Good morning. It's pretty awful here. We got about an 1" of snow followed by sleet and freezing rain that has resulted in what DS describes as kind of a creme brulee situation. The walk and driveway were slick. I hit them with some salt which I hate to use. They brined the roads yesterday and plowed twice overnight, so the main roads look OK. DS needs to be in at 8:30 but I don't see that as reasonable. I may drive him in my car and have him Uber home.

Have a pleasant day.

HB

Best wishes, Iris. You've got this! Take a deep breath. It will all work out; you accomplished a lot yesterday. You can make the things happen that need done, and let the others go for a bit. Give yourself some grace. :)

Good morning all.

I'm glad everyone seems to be doing well. On the subject of weather, it was 86 here yesterday. We set a record and the same is expected today. Kiddo's behind us were even in the pool! We met friends for dinner and most people were in shorts. Unreal. Come Monday we have a cold front and we'll be back to normal temps, yea.

Lorita I'm so glad you were able to get to the vet. Ears make them feel bad. I hope the meds act quickly. Madison feels fine now. She only has ear drops.

Does anyone have NYE plans? Our plans are to not be out, which is what we usually plan! We used to go out and be more exciting, now we're very content being home. We might just have a pajama day with games.

Ron thanks for the pics, I love the smiles.

I would love to eat at the restaurant that looks like a snow globe. So fun.

Iris try not to pressure yourself too much. You'll get done what you can get done.

GG your sauce sounds amazing. I try to make enough sauce to freeze the extra myself. I try to cook enough for leftovers for another meal. DH has always liked leftover, me not so much. But now leftovers don't bother me.

I want to clean the hot tub filters while its warm outside. So I'm off to tackle my first job of the day.

Let's be safe everyone.

good morning

Iris I hope things get settled down. I understand that feeling I have it sometimes.

HB I thought about you when I heard the weather report cause it said you guys weren’t gonna have it a little nasty

looks like an interesting restaurant, Beth

another dark day here in North Central Ohio. We have a lot of that lately.

Marinate the duck, roast it, and eat it.

I recall that one of the serious drinkers with whom I worked many years ago called New Year's Eve "Amateur Night." I guess when you get a load on every night of the year, it isn't fun, it's just dinner.

The same friend who invited me for Christmas Eve is having another party for NYE, but it won't be a Saturnalia of drinking and flirting. It will be family friendly, with the grandchildren in attendance. His wife likes to bake and is good at it, so it will be a good time for those of us with sweet tooth.

The senior center is having a "Noon Year's" party with roast beef, music, games, and counting down to noon instead of to midnight.

DS has gone home, so I guess I'll strip the beds and do a load of laundry. You all take care of yourselves.

Zetta - In our family, Christmas Eve is the big deal, Christmas Day is pretty low key. We open all of our presents on Christmas Eve. I think this is because back in the day most of the older relatives insisted that we all go to Midnight Mass, so we needed to have some food in us to be able to stay up that late. So Christmas Day was always leftovers, with the adults playing poker, and the kids running amok. It was a good time. Now, Christmas Eve is still the main event, Christmas Day is still leftovers and a poker game or two, mass is optional.

I always enjoy hearing about how others do Christmas because ours never varies.

Beth - I love the snow globe restaurant!! It looks like my kind of place. What types of food do they serve there?

How The Grinch Stole Christmas has long been my favorite Christmas TV show. I watch it every year. 🙂

Iris - I'm with the others - give yourself some space. It's a busy time of year.

My trainer celebrates Kwanzaa, so I'm a little familiar with it. He also celebrates Christmas.

eaglemom - 86 degrees sounds like heaven. It got up to 42 today, the nights all this week will hover around 33-34 degrees.

We've already frozen three containers of sauce. I don't know if I'll get another one out of this batch. We'll see what's leftover after tonight.

Mint - I know how you feel with the dark days. That's how it is in the PNW right now too.

JeriLynn - It sounds like you had a (busy) and wonderful Christmas. It sounds like a lot of fun.

I love that you have a flamingo art piece named Pink Floyd. 🙂

Lorita - I'm glad you're getting to enjoy some warm weather, at least for now.

Today's been a quiet day for us. It's been good though, I feel like I'm recharging.

We're just starting to turn on all of the lights in the atrium. Later on I'll get the music going and we'll have a little dance party in there.

Iris, we expect partly cloudy weather NYE, with only a 1% chance of rain. We also expect a low temperature of 33 F, so no rain is fine with me!

Consumer Reports came today. In an article about car batteries, they say a battery should remain charged if you drive for 20 minutes every two weeks. Starting the car and letting it idle is not so good as driving it. CR also advises locking the doors, even if you park in a locked garage. Modern cars leave some systems powered on when the car is turned off so it will be ready to go when you start it, unless the doors are locked, and this can drain the battery if you don't drive often.

CR also advises getting the flu shot. Late September or early October is optimal but now is fine and might save your life.

Well, I woke at 1:30 AM, read a magazine, and ate an apple. Time to have another try at getting some sleep. Good night.

Good morning.

Beth— The Snow Globe looks amazing. That must be so fun.

Lorita— I'm glad your dog seems to be more comfortable.

Iris— That reminds me, I need to help mom take her RMD. Her account is online, so it should be pretty simple to distribute from the IRA into her money market since they're in the same place.

Your procrastination sounds like ADHD task avoidance. It's hard because sometimes the avoidance requires more energy than actually doing whatever it is. For many, this comes with feelings of shame which just makes it all worse. My niece used to really struggle with feeling badly about herself because of this; sometimes I wish my son was more bothered by it.

Interesting article. One of the local high schools has marched in the parade in the past. They're amazing.

Eagle— We did NYE last night. A group of us met at a nice byob for dinner. We swapped dates a few years ago because the NP in our group was working or on call. In a lot of ways it works out better. We get the full menu and it's cheaper. We paid $160/couple including tip last night. On the 31st, it'll be $125/a head plus 20% service charge.

We rescheduled family Christmas for NYE which is kind of ass-backwards.

Mint— It's been a dreary winter here so far as well. We've had several days where it seemed like dusk all day. I suspect today will be like that. It's 19F now, but the temperature is supposed to rise through the day and overnight to 53 tomorrow with rain. That will be messy for sure.

Jerilynn— That sounds like a whirlwind over the holidays. A fun whirlwind anyway.

Judith— I've had cats bring me a dead bird but never a nephew. That's different.

Carl— Your party sounds nice. A couple of the communities near me used to do family friendly First Night events. The one where I live ran from about 2pm in town with games for kids, shows, reenactments and such wrapping up with fireworks at midnight. They've all petered out over time. I don't think there are enough younger families to sustain interest and support it.

Zetta— I don't generally frequent chain restaurants, but I will make an exception for Cracker Barrel. And Waffle House. I've never had a bad meal there although I am disappointed that they no longer serve pure maple syrup.
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Digging out yesterday was an ordeal. We had a tiramisu of snow layered with sleet and then glazed with ice. It was about 1 1/2" thick on the cars. They'd brined the roads and plowed through the night so driving DS to work was the easy part. His car is awful in bad weather. He ubered home.

I was able to scrape the walkway and a path to the car after letting rock salt do soften thi. ngs a bit since we won't be having sun or temps above freezing until late this afternoon. Mom bragged that she'd scraped her walk and a path down the driveway. I swear she is trying to make me crazy. Her HOA takes care of snow removal if there is more than 4" so this wintery mix didn't activate that. But it was worse than snow. I don't know why she thinks it is OK for her— with CHF and untreated osteoporosis to go outside and shovel. To say nothing of the fact that I'd bet the rent she didn't wear her O2 concentrator while doing it. We're going to have to talk about this. I know she feels like I am constantly annoyed by her choices but she's making bad ones.

I think I'll do some cleaning today. My desk is overflowing with all manner of junk that needs sorting through. I hope all have a pleasant and productive day.

HB

More from the "Snowglobe"

Good morning.

We have clear blue skies and it's cold.

HB, your mom is scaring me, going outside by herself in the slippery snow. Also, heart attacks can come from shoveling snow.

"Task avoidance" is interesting. I have often pondered why I have so much trouble doing simple tasks.

Task avoidance in ADHD is a cycle where the brain resists starting difficult, boring, or overwhelming tasks due to challenges with motivation, emotional regulation, and executive functions, leading to stress and further avoidance, but it's manageable by breaking tasks down, using rewards, understanding emotional triggers, and employing strategies like the "5-Minute Rule". It's not laziness; it's a coping mechanism where avoidance feels like relief but creates a cycle of dread and shame, often manifesting as "procrastivity" (doing busywork instead).

I do have "procrastivity", because I spend a lot of time doing "other stuff", usually on my phone. Thanks for alerting me to this term in ADD. (I'm not at all hyperactive.)

I usually blame procrastination on poor sleep, which I have a lot of. But there's more to it.

I'm ready for breakfast now.

Iris