General topics.

Gershun, I hope you are feeling better soon. I have been having some of those symptoms myself and am trying to cut back on coffee...I love my coffee though.The extreme cold and dry indoor air is wreaking havoc with my sinuses too I hope you feel better...could it be a stomach bug?

Shopping, an attack of extreme weakness, g.i. issues----
Too many tums can make it worse.
The doctor can help.
There is no diagnosis yet, but someone thought my g.e.r.d. symptoms were hiatal hernia.

Mom and I had names we made up for things like her Ativan was an "agi" for agitation, and blue for her liquid morphine,and poo poo powder for her miralax,and we just had our own language.God,I miss her!....We were 2 peas in a pod and now I'm just a lonely pea.

Katie, Yesterday, I forgot my coffee. Thankfully, those sharp pains in my head were just coffee withdrawal. So, I too will be cutting back-that huge cup will be less than 6 oz. each morning.

Hi Luckylu,
Have got to get moving today, but it is hard. I promised someone something, so I must do it. I will be back later, and hope you will get to visit someone today so you won't be so alone or lonely.

Thx Katie........yes, coffee is a problem I think........but, I love my coffee. It's really the only vice I allow myself. It's decaf too so I hate to have to give it up. But, I guess I have to weigh the pros and cons. Tummy problems, running to find a washroom when I am out, heartburn vrs. that warm rich taste of the coffee running through my veins. Hmmmm..........hang on, just finishing my coffee.

I have a huge mug of coffee in front of me right now! You would laugh if you saw how big the mug is....I love coffee and it is hard to cut back. I do add more cream to it and that seems to take some of the problem away. I also will try switching to a milder roast instead of the very dark roast and will see if that helps. I can't give it up entirely though!

I hear ya Katie!

A snow day today, which means no caregiver because she is a wimp and won't drive on a closed highway (just kidding lol). Thank goodness I moved to town and can walk to get almost everything I need if I really have to.

More snow headed our way, cwillie - 6-10" between tomorrow and Saturday, plus we're on the "line" of the storm where it changes from a freezing mix to all snow - so we could get a mess. We're just now kind of recovering from last week's storm, which dumped about 6" on us, but the U.P. got 46" over the past week, with heavy snow every single day - so I'll take our 6-10" and not complain too much!

I know there is weather due this weekend, and of course that is when everyone is supposed to be coming to our house. If it is a worst case scenario everything is closed and there is no question about cancelling, but anything less and we are left second guessing right up to the last minute.... ugh, I hate it.
I am fortunate to live south of the snow belt, for the most part squalls and road closures begin just north of town. The real heavy snow is well to the north up around Georgian Bay, I expect the ski resorts are happy enough with this weather.

I just got a text from furniture delivery nephew, they are out on their route and the roads have been closed. Did no one check the weather before sending them north??

And then the people getting the delivery will gripe about the mess being drug in, and water/snow on thier furniture. Good luck to your nephew.

Christmas shopping is scary.People are diving like maniacs.On the way home from the store,I saw a wreck and the 2 people involved arguing and I kept on going toward home and as I pulled in the driveway,the radio said that there was a man baracadid in his home shooting a gun out his front door and windows across from the school and they were letting the kids out early.I'm just glad to be back ay home and in where I'm safer.

Luckylu, the world seemed much safer back before we had access to 24 hour news on a dozen of stations. And sometimes the stations would repeat a crime story days later and you are thinking it is something new that happened today :P

I usually don't listen to the news on the radio but I read the newspaper everyday.It just happened to be on in the car but the shooting story,sad to say,was true and it was across the street from a local high school.
Cwillie ...That does stink having to worry and wonder about if your party will take place or not because of your weather.....~Sorry~......

I would like to see an inch or two here in Mississippi, but I know that is highly impossible where I live. It does happen occasionally, though not tooo often. Most people don't even know how to drive in it and certainly we don't have the clothes for it. We have been living on our secondary source of heat for the second year in a row this year. I just refuse to have the central fixed again. When the AC quits on that unit, we will replace it. Until then, we will get up and light up the space heaters, as we won't sleep with them on. It was 30 degrees here last night but 65 degrees at noon today.

I don't know whether I should send some of our snow your way or not Stew. Wouldn't it be nice if we could enjoy the snow without having to endure the cold? My ideal winter... gentle snowfall between midnight and 5 a.m., sunny days, temps hovering around the freezing mark. And I'll accept an occasional blizzard as long as it is followed by a thaw so I don't have to pile the snow too high. :)

Oh, please just send me 3 inches that would last about 10 days. It would be so beautiful and we Stewart's don't.? j

I am fed up.

Just rang hi-fi repair shop to say - well, I didn't get to say anything, wretched man wouldn't let me finish my sentence in spite of numerous attempts including one prefaced "please can I finish the sentence?" [apparently not, then.]

He's had the thing for six weeks, it's cost me 45 quid in repair bills, I shlep it home and now the deck he's fixed runs too fast and the CD player, which was fine, isn't working. I wanted to take it to him for spare bits and he could give me my repair money back. He wants me to take it back so he "can look at it." What, for another month?

It's going to the recycling dump. I have bought a new one. I am cross, but at least I now can't get any crosser.

Oh God, aren't those famous last words..?

People are infuriatingly stupid sometimes.

I received two voice messages and two emails from the insurance company (home/auto) trying to reach me about my mother's account (we use the same company/agent).

I call them and state "this is Maria XXX calling on behalf of my mother Joanna XXX. You have been trying to reach her - what do you need?"

Insurance guy: Her payment is late, would you like to make payment on her policy.

Me: Which house

Insurance Guy: 152 XXX Ct.

Me: She doesn't own that house - I do. Is there a payment missing for that house or for one of hers? What house do we owe money for?

Insurance guy (Leaves to look at records): I figured it out (proudly), she owes $794! do you want to make a payment?

Me: And, which house would that be. She owns XXX and XXX.

Insurance Guy: 152 XXX Ct. !

Me: She lives there but doesn't own that house. Call me back when you figure this out.

My confidence level is very low at this point.

Mom2mom, if I were you I would pressure them to be sure your accounts are properly registered, you can bet any screw ups will be used as an excuse not to pay up if you ever have a claim.

CM, wouldn't it be nice if people would just admit that they can't fix something instead of stringing us along? And to send it back more broken than before and you actually have to pay for their bungling....arrrgh!

M2M, you might like to record an outgoing message on your cellphone that says "please be sure to have your documentation and any reference numbers handy so that I can serve you even better."

The repair saga did get worse. Bad news, the clock that has been waiting since *May* still doesn't run right. Good news, the shop refused to charge anything at all for it. Bad news, the strap they'd got for my Bulova was hilariously bodged and frankly would have been a bit loose on the BFG. Good news, they didn't even think of charging for that (not completely sure how these jewellers are still in business, come to that).

Then the dog started whimpering to go home so I left the watch with her, packed up the clock and we headed out to the narrow pedestrians-only street. Where, bizarrely, a man in his ? sixties ? seventies who said he was an art student at the local college pressed a neatly wrapped package into my hands and explained this was an exercise in getting their work seen and would I please take it home for Christmas. Duh? I offered him a charity donation, he said no. I hope it's not a painting of his willy or something, it's been that kind of day and my MIL will be there...

Some days a painting of a willie would be the high point.... good luck there Church!

CM, I needed that laugh today! LOL

My mom loves 1/2 hot chocolate & 1/2 decaf coffee from Tim Horton's with just a hint of cream - she just about purrs -

Moecam, it's whatever makes them happy - and if that mixture makes your mom purr, then I say go for it!

Church it depends on whose willy it is right? I mean not all willies are the same.
Wink wink, nudge, nudge, say no more.

Church, that is too funny! Will you let us know what the subject matter of the painting is?

Mom2Mom, the stupidity of the insurance company reminds me of a time where I went to the family doctor as a teenager for something...and the doctor had my Mom's file on the table! Thankfully Mom and I had the same allergy. He didn't even check the birthdate on the file...Mom was 34 yrs. older then I. You would think he could tell the difference between someone middle aged and a skinny teenager. People's stupidity is scary and causes a lot of unnecessary grief.