March 4 -- Where'd you all go?
9I am soooo bored… Hubby does not want me to overdo because I am still not feeling better. So I am on the couch watching NCIS re-runs…
Where did you all go? Don’t tell me you have lives outside of meh!
Let me live vicariously…what fun things did you do today??
- 18 comments, 107 replies
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Today my family went to volunteer at Feed My Starving Children and packed 156 meal boxes for children in Haiti.
They actually had some pretty good musci playing the whole time we were there too, so in addition to packing meals we also got in a fair amount of dancing and singing.
@zachdecker that is cool…what a great way to spend your Saturday!
@mikibell Oh yeah, pics or it didn’t happen
@zachdecker How beautiful!
@zachdecker - Awesome family!
But are you sending candy corn to the kids in Haiti? Because that’s not doing them any favors . . .
@zachdecker
/giphy not worthy
/giphy salute
I’m offline on Saturdays.
@PlacidPenguin ? Then how did you post this?
@mikibell
Correction. Saturday.
I’m online Saturnight.
@PlacidPenguin
/image catur day
/image catur night
Killed or drowned on the ship.
@mfladd Came here to say I was filing my taxes all day. This pic seems appropriate.
@mfladd better than being the sacrificial goat!
@mikibell
Have you ever tasted goat? Although I guess now it would be cannibalism in a sense.
@PlacidPenguin no… I am a wuss when it comes to trying different foods…
@mfladd
Again?
You really mind being killed by Gillian Anderson?
/giphy "bad mood"
I think I’m having an arthritis flare-up in my right hand, shooting pain from my wrist up through my thumb. Holy fuck, it hurts. Hard to hold the stylus. My hubby wrapped that area with a heat thing.
I slipped on my slip on Skechers and thought “gee, that feels wet” and I look down and damn it, it WAS wet, some asshole cat pissed in it. Shoes and socks in the laundry room. When Brian wrapped my hand, he wanted to know why I was barefoot. Thick socks on now. Need a nap.
@lisaviolet I seriously think I have arthritis in my collar bones and shoulder blades…they hurt like hell! I am sorry, thumbs are so important.
Pets…that is why I shipped my kids off today… Feel better!
Enjoy your nap… I took one earlier…
@lisaviolet
What causes or sets off the arthritis? Do you know?
@f00l I wish I knew. We discussed what I might have done to aggravate it, and could come up with nothing.
@mikibell Oh, man. I can’t type (watch me), but collar bones and shoulder, geez, you can’t move to look at things. At least my index finger works.
@lisaviolet breathing is the most annoying! Told dr he couldn’t tell me to stop when it hurts
love my dr, but too many aches lately…he keeps saying I am getting old. I think it is more than that. I think I need a minor anti-inflammatory, but not ibuprofen because of stomach reasons. Rheumatoid Arthritis runs in my family, I would be happy if it is simply getting old…last time I had my physical, my dr found a big prob…not looking forward to this year’s physical…
I keep telling him I was healthy before I started seeing him!!
@mikibell I get this cramp in my throat and it was scary when it first started, but drinking helps (not alcohol…lol). Just tipping my head up and swallowing helps loosen it. I always try to have water on hand wherever we go.
I can’t even imagine not being able to breathe.
I’m at work. Wearing cat pee socks might be an improvement…
@chienfou
You may want to rethink your life choices.
@chienfou the ER that bad on a Saturday? I know I hate to be there as a patient on Saturdays!
@mikibell @chienfou
Whoops. (I blame @mikibell)
Finished grading… Now I get to clean up cat poop that was deposited right next to the dirt box. Sigh. I was up late last night grading too so I am tired.
Discovered that a can of sweet potatoes had died horribly in the pantry, fortunately on plastic shelf liner. Cleaned that, decided to organize and inventory. I have ten cans of tuna, three of salmon, assorted kippers, twelve varieties of pasta, five jars of pasta sauce, eleven cans of soup, nine jars of jam/jelly/apple butter, two jars of honey, seven cans of enchilada sauce, nine cans of assorted beans, four boxes of tea bags, innumerable packets of sauces, packets of farro, quinoa, five kinds of rice, dried legumes, and a large bag of trash. All set for hurricane season. Do I know how to have fun?
@OldCatLady You need cans of cheap chili and a few boxes of mac and cheese. Nothing like chilimac and pbr to keep the natives happy.
@OldCatLady
What kinds of pasta?
Follow up question: Are they sorted alphabetically?
@PlacidPenguin Agnolotti through ziti. I’m counting the frozen pasta. Not any more, they had to be crammed into bins.
@cranky1950 Three kinds of mac and cheese. Cracker Barrel, Kraft and Kraft whole wheat. Plenty of beverages elsewhere.
@OldCatLady
Did you at least label what kinds of pasta are in which bin, and then alphabetize where possible (i.e the bins, and the pasta in the bins)?
I’m trying to see if people have “fun” preparing for hurricane season.
@OldCatLady
@RiotDemon
Hurricane season used to be late summer and fall. Has it gotten to year round yet? Even this far inland (300 miles), we’ve had notable flash flooding a few times.
@PlacidPenguin what’s fun about buying water and non perishables?
@PlacidPenguin Oh hell no, I like surprises. The idea is to use up what I have and not allow myself to shop for more. And to stop buying stuff like this:
@RiotDemon
(I’d start making comments about how people must have fun with hurricanes if they insist on living in those places, but I won’t go there.)I wasn’t referring so much to BUYING supplies, but rather with regards to organizing the supplies.
@f00l it’s June 1st through the end of November… But we’ve had some threats before the season officially starts.
@PlacidPenguin I don’t organize anything for a hurricane. If a hurricane hits, I’ll be eating all the stuff in my fridge and deep freezer before I touch anything else. I have plenty of food and propane for the grill.
The only things that make sure I have plenty of are meds for my cats, food for all the animals, and water. I’ll make sure to fill my bathtub as well.
@RiotDemon
How many summer ones do you get? I don’t really recall getting them before August.
@PlacidPenguin It’s very simple. I just put stuff into the pantry and into large bins in the garage labelled ‘hurricane’, and forget that I have them, and buy new stuff.
@f00l I’m not sure. Last few years have been eerily quiet.
@OldCatLady When’s dinner?
@mikibell
Prob @OldCatLady is serving dinner about the time the storm surge hits.
@OldCatLady Saving trash for a hurricane??? And what, pray tell, will you be doing with said trash in said hurricane? Throwing it out the window one by one to see how fast it blows away to decide it if is safe to go out?
Oil change, ordering a minor part, errands.
Misting outside all day but no RAIN!
/blame @mikibell
@f00l I got an oil change as well! I learned today that a full synthetic oil change basically costs half of my paycheck. The claim it will last 7000 miles, but I don’t know…
/giphy untrusting
@conandlibrarian
Yeah, this vehicle is synthetic. Ain’t cheap.
@f00l I call that spitting…where it is not enough rain to need wipers often, but you still need them…it makes me spitting mad!
@mikibell
We just need the rain. Summer prep.
Just getting home from work. My knee is swollen and making funny noises when I walk.
@RiotDemon
What happened? My knee wants to commiserate.
@f00l YOUR knee is a whiny little bitch who freaks out at the mere mention of orthopedic diagnosis. Don’t let it be a bad influence on @RiotDemon
@compunaut
My knee is a whiny little bitch, true. It is also exactly what the best ortho surgeon in Tarrant County could get me way back then (my Dad was tennis buddies with all the MD’s and could get me whatever surgeon, so I had the surgery here instead of Manhattan).
Do you really blame me for not desperately wanting surgery when it mostly works just fine, I only have to wear a brace a few times a year, and I’m not eager to take time off for crutches and all that, and I didn’t have health insurance for more than a decade?
@compunaut
PS. My knee was fine. Then you hurt its feelings. Now it’s moaning, and wants attention and pity.
/giphy sarcastic thanks
@f00l I’ve been having on and off problems for a long time. They’ve gotten worse lately when I started having to go up and down a bunch of stairs. I think I’m slowly grinding away all the cartilage. It’s swollen below and to the side of my knee cap. I was taping it and it stopped the grinding… But instead, the back of my knee started hurting… Now it feels all inflamed.
I’m not sure if I should use ice, heat, or the electro stimulator.
I walk around on concrete floors for 8+ hours a day, for many, many years.
@compunaut
PPS
Have you ever had a messed up knee? Do you know what orthos like to do to a messed up knee, first thing right out of the box?
They like to jerk on it every different way to see how loose it is!
They seem to think this is fun. “Oh, it won’t hurt. Calm down.”
Guess what? It hurts, and makes it get so loose it goes out too easily, and the last couple of times a surgeon looked at it, I had to wear a brace for a week afterwards. So much fun.
@f00l I certainly don’t. My right knee and I are familiar with Euflexxa 2x yearly, cortisone when needed, Flector patches (best invention of the decade), and I popped for stem cell and PRP.
@OldCatLady
So what’s going on with your knee? Would surgery help?
And what are all those treatments? I have no clue.
@RiotDemon
If you change out your shoes or wear a brace does that help? My prob is so specific - my knee can basically “go out”, which means that all the connective stuff isn’t strong enough to hold it in place properly. And when it “goes out” all the connective stuff can get torn or strained, and it can take weeks to get back to form. I supposedly don’t have cartilage or something on that knee anymore, but I don’t really know. When I was on concrete floors all the time, that didn’t really make my knee worse - but I was walking, not standing.
I’d certainly take the time to find out what’s up, if I had your prob.
@compunaut
PPPS
thanks to our fun knee discussion in @carl669’s CrossFit thread, guess what?
I’ve had dreams about crutches.
/giphy nightmare
@f00l Euflexxa is Synvisc, q.v. The doctor injects viscous fluid into your knee joint to keep the bones from grinding into each other. Relief lasts about 5 months. Beats the hell out of surgery. You have fluid in there, this just plumps it up. Medicare pays for mine, no copay. Blue Cross used to pay for it. Flector patches are a topical prescription NSAID (diclofenac) which soak into whatever tissue is below them and provide major pain relief. Keep it on for about 12 hours. Stem cells and platelet-rich plasma are extracted from your own blood, centrifuged, and injected into the knee. Your body regrows some knee cartilage. YMMV. I’m putting off knee replacement as long as I can.
@RiotDemon Rub some dirt on it and run it out! Go easy on the Ibu dialysis for life is a bitch.
@f00l I’ve tried changing my shoes several times. Doesn’t really help.
I had a terrible sprain in ankle of the same leg many years ago that probably tore a bunch of stuff. (They didn’t bother with an MRI but I’ve showed people photos of how bad the swelling and bruising was, and they’re all convinced I ripped stuff. I wore a boot for 6+ weeks and then had to go through physical therapy for several weeks. Afterwards I had bruising on that ankle for at least a year, maybe two…) Usually my ankle starts hurting when my knee does… So I’m not sure if one is causing the other, or they’re both just irritated.
I don’t really have money for knee surgery. I don’t have a brace. Ones that you buy off the shelf are usually too small.
My mom has hardly any cartilage in her knees. I wouldn’t be surprised if I inherited that gene.
@RiotDemon If you’ve ever been taped for sports, try taping your knee. Build up the tape on both sides of the knee then tape the knee from the about 6" down your calf to about 6" up your thigh and try walking. If that doesn’t help the the pain, a brace isn’t gonna do squat for you.
@cranky1950 I’ve been looking on websites recently because there’s so many different ways to tape the knee. The one that I’ve used is supposedly to help stabilize the knee cap which did help to lessen the grinding noises and the associated pain. It did not help the pain at the back of the knee.
@RiotDemon
I got these really long ace-type bandages I use sometimes. They can irritate the skin, so sometimes I put thin cloth such as cheesecloth or gauze under them.
If my knee is hurting, in the beginning I always want to put on the bandages way too tight. This gives me comfort for a while, and then starts to be really uncomfortable. So then I loosen it up to a tightness that means I can wear it all day that way.
I mostly use a neoprene thing with no steel in it, just to hold the joint in place since my main goal is to relieve stress on the ligaments and stop the knee from going way out of line (if it goes out badly, I’m not walking without crutches). I know some postal workers who manage daily on their feet using those braces with the steel posts. It can be a pain getting one to fit. I messed with a lot of them before I found what works. I could never deal with the ones with steel in them for very long - at least so far.
The ace-style bandages will fit anyone, but it takes practice to learn how to use them on yourself.
The ones I like best are similar to these
https://www.amazon.com/Yosoo-Compression-Support-Bandage-Injury/dp/B00WGB34AO/ref=sr_1_2_s_it?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1488688715&sr=1-2&keywords=elastic+bandage+velcro+knee+long
https://www.amazon.com/Luwint-Support-Breathable-Elastic-Compression/dp/B00X9V0QE2/ref=sr_1_51_s_it?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1488688990&sr=1-51&keywords=elastic+velcro
https://www.amazon.com/Therapists-Choice-Elastic-Bandage-Support/dp/B00LD9RVXG/ref=sr_1_55_s_it?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1488688990&sr=1-55&keywords=elastic+velcro
@RiotDemon
I’m guessing the pain at the back of the knee “feels differently” than the grinding pain and kneecap pain?
Does the pain at the back of the knee feel like soft tissue strain or inflammation pain? In that case, you won’t get instant relief from a bandage, but if the bandaging stabilizes the knee, you may get relief over time.
I have “long-term strain pain” in my knee that is quite different from the “I just overused my knee or fucked it up again” pain.
@RiotDemon You also might want to try an anti iflammatory diet if they both start hurting at the same time you might have a dose of gout too.
@RiotDemon oh man…and here I was complaining this week that it hurt to walk this week and my knees creaked going up the two small stairs to get into work… I have nothing to complain about in comparison…
Feel better…
@mikibell
Hey, Goat-with-Flu, you are allowed to feel bad. Back on the couch now. You get either the music of your choice, and a good book; or you get total control the remote.
You family gets to wait on you hand and foot.
This treatment is very strengthening to the immune system.
@f00l If me being sick was a rare thing, I would agree with you. Feeling better, but not great!
My family does spoil me, honest… They would all profess that I am the most spoiled in the house and I couldn’t argue the fact!
@mikibell
Triple blame this person.
@RiotDemon Funny?
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and asks “does this taste funny”
Sorry. My all time favorite stupid joke. Well, not really sorry.
@f00l Yeah, that “don’t jinx it” thing at work here.
@f00l yeah the pain at the back feels completely different. It hurts no matter what I’m doing. The grinding only bothers me when I have to walk up stairs or I have to squat. I thought I wasn’t going to be able to stand back up the other day. Luckily there was something I could grab to pull myself up, lol
I’ve changed the way I use the stairs to minimize pain. With my good leg I go up two steps and then take my bad leg and step onto the same step. This way I’m not super slow taking one step at a time. Going down I have been going sideways and having to do one step at a time.
I’m hoping that I’ll be able to avoid the stairs for a while to let my knee rest a bit.
I’m going to slap some pain patches on it later today and see if that helps.
@mikibell don’t worry, it’s not a contest on who hurts more. You can complain about the pain.
@RiotDemon
Kinda selfishly, I hope you get diagnosed. This sounds complex. Also they can like re-create a new knee out of your old one, sometimes without surgery, just with the sort of stuff @OldCatLady is doing.
Is the pain at the back kinda like a muscle pain or a deep ache? If so,
The elastic velcro bandages I use sometimes I either got at Walgreens, CVS, or Walmart. Can’t remember now, but last time I needed some and couldn’t find my old ones, I couldn’t wait for Amazon. Hope you give those or similar a try, if it’s as bad as it sounds.
Do you have stairs at work? Is this any way around the stairs? You might want to bandage the bad knee and then go up one stair at a time on the good one. If you start doing that, you may need to do Nautilus type work on both legs - this should not hurt your knee, since it’s not weight-bearing - I think?
@f00l I’m not sure how to describe the pain. Almost like the back of the knee was overstretched?
No stairs at work, just the concrete floors.
Stairs are not a normal place that I have to go to often… Just recently. It should not be too much more.
@RiotDemon
FWIW, when my knee is fussing non-psychosomatically, the pain in the back that feels like inflammation or strain doesn’t got away when I wrap it. That pain goes away over time, as the strain is reduced. Wearing a brace or bandaging the knee does start to relieve what I suspect is bone pain and swelling inside the joint and behind the kneecap pretty quickly.
I use ibuprofen then, but I’m not in pain all that often so I don’t have to worry about rationing nsaids. Also, for me, caffeine helps a bit with my awareness of pain or tolerance for it. And I don’t mind lots of caffeine on a day when something bothers me.
@RiotDemon Go see my knee doctor, who will show you on a chart just what muscle/tendon you are overusing to compensate for pain elsewhere. Then he will give you a shot at the end of the tendon (not the middle), and you feel better very soon. He’s not big on pills, but may also include Flector topical NSAID patches. What does your own knee doctor say? -Why not?
@OldCatLady never been. Usually it doesn’t hurt me for very long and goes away for a long time… But lately it’s been hurting more often, so it might be time for me to go.
My 10th grader did a research paper on Chiune Sugihara for his History Fair project. It won first place at his school & was placed into the Regional competition, so today we went to a local college to view all the entries & for announcement of winners.
His work came in 3rd place
@compunaut
Wow. For some reason, I never heard this story.
@PlacidPenguin We heard a short version of his story on some NPR radio program a while back, so when this history assignment came up we knew it might be unfamiliar enough to make a compelling subject.
@compunaut Congratulations to him. That’s a story I hadn’t heard, either.
@compunaut Congratulations…
@compunaut
New to me. Good stuff. Congrats to the teenager.
I slept later than planned (until 1:10 PM) and from then until ~6 PM did a bunch of cleaning and financial stuff (bill paying, planning future balance transfers, etc.).
At 6 PM, I took a quick shower and started making dinner. The girlfriend arrived about 6:35 PM and we tried a new cabernet that I got last week from Naked Wines. After we ate, I fought with her iPhone for a while and eventually convinced it that NYC is not in London, England. She left for home ~10 PM.
I called @miraclewhispers to see if she wanted to go to an estate sale with me tomorrow (they have a picture with like 50 rolling pins of various types among the other kitchen stuff for sale, and I know that she was wanting another rolling pin or two. We talked for a while (until the girlfriend called to say she was home) and then did some cleaning up on my Plex server, fixed a drink for myself and settled in to check email, meh and watch some more of The Expanse.
@baqui63 I dream of the day that I can sleep until 1:10. I am currently bird sitting and that little bugger is up by 8:00. He does not like being alone so he screeches until I get up and go into the living room with him.
@conandlibrarian A good friend of mine has seven parrots of various types and sizes including two cockatoos (one of which is indistinguishable from an older Uniden cordless phone). My friend expects several of the birds to outlive him and it will be my responsibility to find them homes at some point. I don’t think my cats will like this.
I really didn’t want to sleep so late this morning, but last night sleep did not come easily: I tossed and turned for over 90 minutes after I put my book down and turned on the CPAP. I eventually got up, ate 1/2 egg salad sandwich (on rye, of course) and finally got to sleep sometime after 4:06 AM.
@baqui63 dinner…yummy… I don’t think I ate dinner last night…hubs wanted me to make stew, but my get up and go, got up and went to bed
@baqui63 I tell Alexa ‘Play ocean sounds’, set to level 2, on a 30 minute loop, and it’s been working really well. Rainstorm sounds are also available.
Yard work, house work, car work. It’s been a busy day.
@narfcake
https://shirt.woot.com/offers/nyans-dream?ref=cnt_ctlg_dgn_39
@PlacidPenguin Purple.
https://shirt.woot.com/offers/nyans-dream-remix
@narfcake @Barney
OOS
@narfcake sweet…it is too cold for yardwork/car work for us…housework is a never ending battle.
I went to what was supposed to be the final session of my pottery class, and found out the instructor was sick this week and didn’t fire any of our pieces so he’s extending the class by a week. I had gone expecting to be glazing the 20 or so pieces I’d thrown and built so far and had nothing to do, so I made 2 more. Frustrating as some of the pieces that didn’t get fired were elements of a charity piece I have to submit next week for auction. So now I have to rethink it.
@moondrake That sucks… What was the original idea for the auction?
What type of pieces did you throw primarily or were they influenced by the class material?
I have tried silver clay, but don’t think I ever did tried pottery clay…same concept I would suspect, except pmc is quite expensive.
@mikibell PMC is crazy expensive, and I hated the clay but enjoyed the syringe and slip. If it were more reasonable priced I’d use the syringe to do silver inlay on cast bronze, but I can’t recoup the cost of it. I’m really enjoying the ceramics class, the throwing wheel is starting to feel natural. I already signed up to take classes again through April and May.
The charity gives various community jewelers identical handmade lampwork beads, and each artist incorporates them into a piece of jewelry which they donate. They are judged, there’s an artists’ reception where they display the pieces and hand out the prizes. Then there’s a $100 a plate dinner for their benefactors where they auction the jewelry. For the last couple of years I’ve done a cast bronze piece for them, but this season the casting class filled up with prioritized new students so the experienced students lost their seats.
This year we got five beads in blues and greens with black dots. I happen to have three bronze butterflies I cast just because I had space in my cannister. I bought some patinas I wanted to try on them. I’m taking this ceramics class so I made a few small butterflies and I bought a nice enameled butterfly and I was just going to make a double strand bead necklace with the various butterflies spaced along it with the focal beads. I may have worked it out to get the ceramic ones done, but it will only give me two days to actually make the piece. It’s a busy time right now so I’m not happy having to push this till the last minute.
I’m currently siting in the airport in San Francisco. Returning home from my epic ski trip to Whistler, Canada. Maybe I’ll get around to posting some pics.
@cinoclav We leave for Winter Park, CO @ 0Dark:30 next Saturday
@compunaut
@cinoclav
Mountains. Clean cold air. Jealous.
Enjoy!
@f00l
I could probably arrange for a jar of cold air to be sent your way from NY.
@compunaut I’m tempted to head there myself. I have a friend who owns a condo there. She and her husband volunteer on the weekends and get free lift tickets. They have season passes so she’s offering up free skiing for me. If it weren’t for this being my third long trip this winter I’d jump on the opportunity. Have a great time!
@f00l I did! Skiing, bobsled, skeleton, extreme snowmobiling… it was fucking amazing.
@cinoclav I am jealous of you people who can be out in the cold and still breathe!
Still…no pics, didn’t happen
@mikibell
I don’t mind the cold as much as I do the wind.
Yes, a cold winter breeze in a mountainous part of NY is refreshing and feels clean, but I’m not going to stand outside in the 20s just to enjoy the clean wind.
I was just kind of sitting around drooling in my lap.
@cranky1950 Sounds amazing. Maybe I will try to do this tomorrow, I don’t think I have nothing planned.
/giphy homer in a hammock
@conandlibrarian @cranky1950
(On the topic of toads…)
@cranky1950 oh thank goodness, I was going to be quite upset if you had a more exciting day than I!
@cranky1950
Pix or it didn’t happen. : )
Golden State Warroirs Blew a 3-1 lead in the finals. Today is 3-4
/giphy Golden State Warroirs Blew a 3-1 lead
@Kevin ?? Did you watch them play on tv or in person? More details…like what sport?
Took my dad out for lunch (my turn to pay), stopped at Walmart, and later painted my nails after I got home. Have been reading and playing on my tablet since.
@msklzannie sounds like a productive day! Is where you eat influenced by who is paying?
My cheapo father (said with love) has changed into a very generous father in the last few years, so he refuses to let us pay when we eat out… Even when we out number the parents 2 to 1!
@mikibell No, we take turns. Yesterday I decided on Smokey Row which is a little funny since it’s a coffee shop and neither of us drink coffee.
I was in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, eating goat tacos.
Old picture, but same order as what I got:
@Kawa aren’t you beautiful…even if you are being fresh!
Wasn’t it cold in the park yesterday?
@mikibell it was, though I meant it as the name of the neighborhood, not the actual recreational area.
@Kawa still too cold to be yanking the chain of a goat.
@mikibell
/giphy goat chain yanking
