Small Talk: The Prayer Closet

[Love2dance]

8 hours ago, walnutqueen said:

So here I am.

But you cannot make me watch anything about those GODDAMNED Duggars - ever.

Which is my loss, because y'all are really nice people here, and I'd really like to stick around & chat sometimes ...

Everyone already said it better than I can.....stay and chat....I usually am the one bringing something chocolate and margaritas.   ??

Gosh, I guess I have to confess I do watch the show.....can’t look away from the train wreck. ? Plus, I love watching babies and toddlers. Aaaaaand, I’m hoping at least ONE of the kids will rebel and write a tell all.

Edited September 18, 2018 by Love2dance
Better word

[BitterApple]

14 minutes ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

For anybody on these boards thinking about donating money for Hurricane Florence,  I would like you to consider donating to Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Raleigh instead of the Red Cross.   The many farming communities currently under water have a sizeable Hispanic population.  Many of these families will look to the church before any government agency especially with the language barrier.  Thanks. 

That's a great suggestion. I always make it a point to donate to local organizations and I have a rabid hatred for the Red Cross. 

[lookeyloo]

Good suggestion.  I usually wait for the dust to die down and donate to local charities that someone recommends.  Sometimes it is for animal welfare and sometimes to a food bank.  Sometimes both.  I avoid the Red Cross and United Way.  After the great flood of 2016 in Baton Rouge, I donated to the food bank (they were flooded out) and gave money directly to two of my friends who needed it.  

[Ohiopirate02]

8 minutes ago, lookeyloo said:

Good suggestion.  I usually wait for the dust to die down and donate to local charities that someone recommends.  Sometimes it is for animal welfare and sometimes to a food bank.  Sometimes both.  I avoid the Red Cross and United Way.  After the great flood of 2016 in Baton Rouge, I donated to the food bank (they were flooded out) and gave money directly to two of my friends who needed it.  

I will also donate to the food bank here locally.  My country was spared for the most part, but there will be a need here when all the dust settles.

[DragonFaerie]

So a couple of nights ago I had a Duggar dream.  

It seems I ran into Boob and J'chelle at Walmart and they invited me home to meet one of their sons.  In the dream I was about 20 years younger than I am now and wasn't married.  However, in the dream, I was on these boards and knew exactly who these fools were and I went strictly for the snark factor and getting to report my adventure on here afterwards.  So we get to the TTH and they introduce me to their son John, NOT JD, and I was thinking, wait there's a John? Like we do with Jason and Justin and such.  Anyway the kid looked exactly like a kid I went to elementary/middle school with for 8 years and his name was John.  He is scowling the moment we walk in the door as Boob announces, "Hey John, we met someone in Walmart and brought her home to meet you!"  It seems John was older than JD and Jana and they were really desperate to get him married off.  So Boob starts talking about their family, and their faith and this John and we're in a hallway that opens into the pretty kitchen.  And all I can see, looking past Boob as he talks and J'chelle nods and simpers in agreement, is the disaster that is the hallway and kitchen floor behind them.  It's covered in clods of dirt, cereal and other debris.  I interrupt Boob and ask Do you have a broom?  he looks stunned and looks to J'chelle.  Um, mama do we have a broom?  She giggles and says, Well I'm sure we must.  Jana! Do we have a broom? In that sort of panicked voice we all envision her asking Jana - Where's my Xanax?!  Anyway Jana is trying to hide a smile and comes back with a broom and dust pan and hands them to Boob who holds them out to me.  I say, Oh it's not my house, it's yours. After all my grandmother always said not only is Cleanliness next to Godliness, but you should always show thankfulness for the gifts God has given you by keeping them clean and in good order.  Boob looks confused and I attempt to engage J'chelle in a conversation.  Boob just stands there holding the broom and dustpan until I say, Are you not going to sweep up the mess?  He laughs and says, oh no we have the girls for that and calls Jana and Johanna over.  I get a bit pissed and I'm like, are you telling me that you, the head of this family, think he is above helping to take care of the house that God has blessed you with?  I do believe that Jesus attended to the lepers and you think you are too good to sweep your own floor of the mess you and your family has made?  He does the open mouth fish thing and begins to sweep the floor, badly.  He calls over J'chelle to hold the dustpan for him and she can't, because, you know, that missing back muscle of hers.  Meanwhile John slides up next to me, gives a Slytherin worthy smirk and whispers, I've been waiting almost 30 years for someone to put him in his place.  The dream goes on for quite a while and I manage to make both Boob and J'chelle cry and wring their hands - one of the best moments is when I ask Jana and Johanna to show me their garden and we drag this John with us while I say, I'm sure your parents are quite capable of cooking dinner.  We leave and Boob is like what do we do? and J'chelle yells, How would I know?! I haven't cooked dinner in almost 20 years?!  They look around and only Josie is left in the main area, licking the countertop.  Oh for heaven's sake Josie, STOP LICKING EVERYTHING! J'chelle yells.  It ends with me liberating both John and Jana and driving away from the TTH while Boob is in a corner rocking himself. I probably need to cut back on the vodka, I'm thinking, if I'm getting dreams of the Duggars.

[Patti Jean]

I mostly lurk on here, but I did want to chip in with another suggestion for those who may want to donate to hurricane relief.

United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) is a great place to donate.  Since the hierarchy of the UMC administers their expenses, 100% of donations go to helping people.  While I was not personally affected by the floods in WV in June, 2016, I can vouch for the work they have done, and are doing for the folks who were in harm's way.  They were some of the first with "boots on the ground" to help victims, and are still helping folks rebuild and recover.

[Zella]

Thanks for the updates, @walnutqueen! I'll keep @Mindthinkr and her family in my thoughts and prayers. 

I don't watch the Duggars, but I do so love to bitch about them. :)  

Edited September 18, 2018 by Zella

[bythelake]

20 hours ago, walnutqueen said:

Hello again. 

Mindthinkr has requested that you pray for her daughter, who is stranded in the midst of flooding.  It sounds bad, and although Mindthinkr is safe for now, she cannot get to her daughter, who is not.

 

On a personal note, I'd like to thank you all for your care and concern. 

She also posts on the Jeopardy thread and they are worried about her as well. I relayed  your message over there so they at least know she’s safe. Hope she reunites with her daughter soon. 

[Happyfatchick]

This is a random jabber, not related to anything.

as you know (or don’t, or don’t care), I live on a road surrounded by 2 of my grown children and 6 of my grands.  (And my ex husband and his wife, and my brother).  Also, I am currently nursing a broken ankle and am sporting a handy-dandy knee scooter.  I’m sure there’s a better name for it, but basically, I prop my knee on there with the boot thing hanging off and scoot all over the house.  On the front of this scooter is a little zippered pouch.

this is what I have in my zippered pouch at this moment in time:

my wallet, a rubberized head band for thick hair, a Japanese folding fan, 2 little packets of tiny rubber bands for braces (I don’t have braces), various hair clips and a pack of Bobby pins, a pack of crackers, 3 thimbles, a fork, a straw and one sock.

Secretly I am McGuyver and I’m ready for any emergency.

Edited September 18, 2018 by Happyfatchick

[Westiepeach]

41 minutes ago, Happyfatchick said:

This is a random jabber, not related to anything.

as you know (or don’t, or don’t care), I live on a road surrounded by 2 of my grown children and 6 of my grands.  (And my ex husband and his wife, and my brother).  Also, I am currently nursing a broken ankle and am sporting a handy-dandy knee scooter.  I’m sure there’s a better name for it, but basically, I prop my knee on there with the boot thing hanging off and scoot all over the house.  On the front of this scooter is a little zippered pouch.

this is what I have in my zippered pouch at this moment in time:

my wallet, a rubberized head band for thick hair, a Japanese folding fan, 2 little packets of tiny rubber bands for braces (I don’t have braces), various hair clips and a pack of Bobby pins, a pack of crackers, 3 thimbles, a fork, a straw and one sock.

Secretly I am McGuyver and I’m ready for any emergency.

I would have all that. And wine. Because that is how I roll. (See what I did there?)

[Happyfatchick]

Even I can’t relate any incident to the one sock.  Why is there a sock in my pouch?(said the confused kangaroo).  Maybe I was on my way to the mystery one-sock drawer and got side tracked.  I really do keep the one lonely sock from a load of laundry, and I really do have a drawer full of them.  One day I’m going to meet a nice person with only one leg...  or invent a sock garland for the Christmas tree, post it on Pinterest and it’ll be all the rage.  Where DOES that other sock go??

[walnutqueen]

4 hours ago, lookeyloo said:

@walnutqueen welcome, and do we know you from another forum?

We certainly do.  I recognize your screen name.  Please don't ask me on which forum we crossed paths - I am all over the place, and have shit for brains.

 

3 hours ago, sixlets said:

Thank you for the updates Walnut.  Mind & her daughter are in my thoughts and prayers.

I have posted on some other shows, and I never felt all that welcome.  These folks were welcoming from day one, and I knew I found my people.  I do watch weekly just to make sure I hate these people as much I did before.  It's amazing that the dislike for one family can bring people together.  At that damn family did something right.

On another forum we were riffing on The Captain & Tenille (don't bother asking, but muskrats were involved). To paraphrase one of their hits : "Hate, hate will keep us together ..."

 

Evening update:  No power.  Roads are impassable, and they're running low on gas for the generators.  Mindthinkr has an awesome support group in her neighbors, and is still OK.  Water is still rising at her daughter's place, but they are all OK, too.

[Zella]

36 minutes ago, walnutqueen said:

On another forum we were riffing on The Captain & Tenille (don't bother asking, but muskrats were involved). To paraphrase one of their hits : "Hate, hate will keep us together ..."

 

If this Duggar forum had a coat of arms, that would be the motto. :) 

[walnutqueen]

25 minutes ago, Zella said:

If this Duggar forum had a coat of arms, that would be the motto. :) 

You could always get Craig from Southern Charm to embroider it on a pillow.  :-)

[galaxychaser]

I need to get this off my chest...

an acquance is getting married next June. 

She invited me to her engagement party. She told us to come to Times Square rooftop bar. Almost no one came due to the cost. That pissed her off majority.

and recently she accused me of not celebrating her engagement because I’m jealous of her. Uh no I am not.  So now I don’t even want to keep in touch anymore. Honestly I wish her well and all the happiness in the world.  But she has not even met his kid yet and refuses to work. 

p. S. Not to be mean but the guy is how to say nicely... developmentally delayed if you get my drift. I feel like she is taking advantage of him...

[doodlebug]

9 minutes ago, galaxychaser said:

I need to get this off my chest...

an acquance is getting married next June. 

She invited me to her engagement party. She told us to come to Times Square rooftop bar. Almost no one came due to the cost. That pissed her off majority.

and recently she accused me of not celebrating her engagement because I’m jealous of her. Uh no I am not.  So now I don’t even want to keep in touch anymore. Honestly I wish her well and all the happiness in the world.  But she has not even met his kid yet and refuses to work. 

p. S. Not to be mean but the guy is how to say nicely... developmentally delayed if you get my drift. I feel like she is taking advantage of him...

Personally, I’m having a hard time seeing what you’re getting out of this friendship.  This woman invites you to events that are outside of your budget and then complains and makes accusations when you don’t do her bidding.  Meanwhile, you’ve got your doubts about her relationship with her fiance.  I would think you wouldn’t be worried about ulterior motives if you didn’t think she was capable of it.

I’d avoid doing anything to let her think you’re a close friend, it sounds like you’re not and you’d like it that way. If you get invited to the wedding, decline.  Send her a card with best wishes, no gift.  If she’s as mercenary as she sounds, you won’t be hearing from her after that.  From what you’ve said, it sounds like she wants to make you feel guilty.  Don’t let her have that power over you.

[BitterApple]

I've never been to an engagement party where I've been expected to pay. What was the bride expecting you to dish out for?

[magpye29]

9 hours ago, walnutqueen said:

Which is my loss, because y'all are really nice people here, and I'd really like to stick around & chat sometimes ...

You should stick around.  This is an awesome group of people, and you'll fit right in.

[galaxychaser]

7 hours ago, BitterApple said:

I've never been to an engagement party where I've been expected to pay. What was the bride expecting you to dish out for?

My drinks and food. This bar a drink is $15-20. I don’t even drink. Had she picked a cheap place I would have went. Knowing her she also expected a gift. 

Im 100% sure after the wedding I will never hear from her.

she doesn’t give gifts, but she sure likes to ask for stuff.

[Mindthinkr]

Hello Everyone 

First I’d like to express my thanks to all of you for your well wishes and prayers. They worked. The kitties and I are ok. Last night I got power back. Finally a break from the heat and humidity  

Many thanks to @walnutqueen for keeping y’all posted. Lol...at first she gasped when I told her to let y’all know that I was ok. Favorite friend that she is, she came here despite her trepidation over the threads name lol. 

I have survived a hurricane, flooding which is still a big issue, and a tornado. It really does sound like a freight train coming at you. Kitties and I camped in the walk in closet through that. Lots of my trees were lost but gratefully no lives. I also lost one small window but that’s nothing compared to the devastation I see in other areas. My neighbors are the best. Those with generators allowed all of us without a phone charge and a hot meal. 12 of us stayed and we are bonded forever. Every night we came together to eat, drink and make a game plan for what we could do the next day. For the neighbors who didn’t stay we have emptied out their refrigerators and garbage. Cleaned up any major yard debris that was blocking driveways and for instance today I am fixing an outdoor attic access with another lady neighbor so that they don’t get a squirrel infestation, bats or more water damage. The men are out setting up pumps to get water off of the roads (5’ deep in some areas) so that emergency services and the electric company can restore their power. Our big HOA is useless and closed until next week. So our personal HOA guy has been working long days trying to do their job. He is a hero. Once he made sure our street was good he took the men and made things happen for others in our community. He deserves a medal. 

 Our city is still cut off. The main route to Wilmington I-40 is still closed in areas due to flooding. That means gas is at a premium and there’s no trucks to restock our food stores. Wrightsville Beach has just opened today to allow residents to their homes. It will take time for this area to get back to normal but we will. We are strong. 

My daughter continues to have flooding issues but I got to speak with her last night. A lot of her neighbors have it worse. 

Again I appreciate all of your concern and well wishes. It’s time for me to get to work now. There are messes to be cleaned and neighbors to be helped. Many still don’t have power as their transformers have fallen and are under water. 

A special shout out to the power guys from Ohio who came down this way and restored our power. You guys rock! 

[BitterApple]

2 hours ago, galaxychaser said:

My drinks and food. This bar a drink is $15-20. 

Wowwwww, how incredibly tacky. I have a cousin not quite as bad as your friend, but pretty close. She's always looking for any excuse to host a party where she'll get gifts. 

[Absolom]

4 hours ago, galaxychaser said:

My drinks and food. This bar a drink is $15-20. I don’t even drink. Had she picked a cheap place I would have went. Knowing her she also expected a gift. 

Run, don't walk, in the opposite direction.  She's a taker and always will be.  

[Happyfatchick]

@Mindthinkr thanks for the post!  It’s so HARD to imagine the conditions you speak of when we aren’t looking at it at all.  Hard to believe it’s right here, right around the corner.  When you get a chance. Bring us “in” there with you.  (I especially like hearing about things like everyone getting together at the neighbor’s house at night).  What’s open, what’s running?  How are food supplies being brought in?  It seems dry enough at this point to land helicopters.  Do you have drinkable water? (Like from the tap).  How do authorities communicate with you?  So you could know if it was safe to use tap water, for instance.  Did you not have any water damage at your house at all?  How are the kitties now?  How far are you from your daughter?  Do you have power at home now?  I have a MILLIION questions!!  

Im so hald

and so relieved you are safe.  Be careful helping with repairs.  Sounds like you’re making the best of it, because that’s who you are!  When you can, give us details.  XOXO

[Love2dance]

@Mindthinkr, how wonderful it was to wake up today and read that you and your daughter are ok. But what a formidable job you and your neighbors have in front of you. I just can’t imagine. Thank you and your friend @walnutqueen for keeping us informed. 

[Jynnan tonnix]

2 hours ago, Absolom said:

Run, don't walk, in the opposite direction.  She's a taker and always will be.  

Sounds like that story which seemed to be viral on Facebook a week or two ago, about this bride-to-be who was told by her psychic that she should have this over-the-top destination wedding  for which she asked for a donation of $1500 from every one of the gazillion people she had invited, never mind gifts on top of it, and was livid when only something like 9 people accepted the invitation, because, "it's only $1500...it's not like it's a lot of money", after which her fiance ended up ditching her in the aftermath with all her tantrums. Oh, and she she took the money which she actually HAD managed to grift and spent it on a months-long holiday for herself to recover from the trauma...I think there was something in there about her being pregnant as well...

[DragonFaerie]

2 hours ago, Love2dance said:

@Mindthinkr, how wonderful it was to wake up today and read that you and your daughter are ok. But what a formidable job you and your neighbors have in front of you. I just can’t imagine. Thank you and your friend @walnutqueen for keeping us informed. 

This 1000 times.  So glad to hear the you and daughter and furbabies are ok.  I'm so glad you have great neighbors and are coming together to be a great support system for each other.  May you all stay safe and may things like food and gas and water come quickly to you.  Um, water as in drinking water, NOT as in more rain.  LOL

[doodlebug]

1 hour ago, Jynnan tonnix said:

Sounds like that story which seemed to be viral on Facebook a week or two ago, about this bride-to-be who was told by her psychic that she should have this over-the-top destination wedding  for which she asked for a donation of $1500 from every one of the gazillion people she had invited, never mind gifts on top of it, and was livid when only something like 9 people accepted the invitation, because, "it's only $1500...it's not like it's a lot of money", after which her fiance ended up ditching her in the aftermath with all her tantrums. Oh, and she she took the money which she actually HAD managed to grift and spent it on a months-long holiday for herself to recover from the trauma...I think there was something in there about her being pregnant as well...

Here's an article about that particular bride.  Apparently, she became engaged and had a kid with the prospective groom before the age of 20.  She insisted he buy her a huge rock they couldn't really afford for an engagement ring and then, after consulting a psychic, decided that she deserved the destination wedding of her dreams in Aruba and that this could be accomplished by asking all the guests to give her $1500 apiece (in addition to airfare, hotel and food for themselves if they planned to come).  When only 8 guests even replied, she went ballistic, posting online that it was all their fault that she couldn't have the princess wedding that she wanted.  When her maid of honor, who had offered $5000 towards the proceedings, rescinded her offer, the bride tore her a new one online, too.  The groom suggested they go to Vegas instead, and, when she jumped all over him about it; he decided he'd had enough and left her.  And, to top it all off, she took the 15 grand that they had save for the wedding and is going on a 2 month backpacking trip in South America to recover from the trauma.

https://www.boredpanda.com/wedding-disaster-bride-asks-guests-1000-donation/

[Mindthinkr]

Update:

Just got word that they are going to have to shut our power off again and this time until Sunday. Urgh. We found a road that wasn’t flooded (lots of homes have been flooded and tees are down...as in on roofs). Got to a grocery store and I’m so glad that it was so busy (and so many items are sold out) that I only got enough to feed the neighbors tonight so I won’t face another spoilage in my refrigerator. Tonight is roasted potatoes and cheeseburgers. No fresh greens for salad but did get onion and tomatoes for the burgers). 

Gas stations have long lines. They stop traffic on some roadways because there’s nowhere else for them to go and line up.  The tornado was worse than I thought. So many trees are down. The men in my neighborhood have gone out to help. We call them the chainsaw brigade. I live amongst a lot of selfless people. The older men who can’t do the physical work have gone to get gas for generators and equipment. Anyone who can do anything helps. 

Wilmington is still cut off from the major roadways because of flooding. There are some backroads...if you know the countryside. With a lot of them being only one way due to obstruction this makes it difficult to get supplies in. There are also selfish people. They take everything they can get their hands on and I have one neighbor who won’t share because “he” has to be safe and have his needs met...sometimes to the detriment of others (like when we had no fuel for the generators and he had 10 five gallon containers of fuel but wouldn’t let one go to the others. Needless to say he hasn’t been invited to our get togethers. He is missing the best fellowship of all. Breaking bread (literally). Sad for him, but it is his choice. 

Water doesn’t seem to be an issue. The public utilities were running out of fuel (meaning they were going to shut our water off) but they did find a source and provide potable water. You can smell the chlorine. I prefer not to drink it.  I have 2 cases and 3 gallons left as well as ginger ale and wine. All of it is subject to sharing. I took the head of our HOA and his wife a bottle each of their favorites. He drinks red. She drinks white. I’d love to begin a go fund me page for them. They haven’t even touched the downed trees (tornado) in their yard because they have been out helping others. They lost 2k of landscaping that they cannot afford to redo. Why is it that sometimes the best get hit with the worst and like Job they just keep moving forward? They are our hero’s. 

The local tv station always brags about their weather and news app but it takes so much power that you can’t get it to work without WiFi. The NOAA app has been our best friend. It’s free and shows radar. We have radios but even NPR doesn’t devote a lot of air time with helpful news or telling people where to go for help. When the cable works we all get info. It’s kind of a free for all. We just take care of our own then spread out. 

The kitties are fine. They are spoiled with their usual food. Big boy went into the closet with me during the tornado but little girl didn’t join. That’s worrisome but I’m hoping she was smart enough to get under my bed. That’s his usual spot. I’m surprised actually that he joined me and gave me comfort (must have been the large amount of petting lol). Rotten I tell you, spoiled rotten. 

My daughter is 40-50 miles inland as the crow flies. She’s has worse flooding but they are out helping their neighbors. Her husband was an Eagle Scout, as is my grandson, and they are doing their organization proud. They are living off of a generator as they have no electricity. It’s too rural to expect it to come on anytime soon. I’m concerned but not too worried. This isn’t their first hurricane and they are well versed in what to do. (I must have done something right as a mother!). I’m sorry if this offends anyone but they all know how to hunt and can probably survive through most anything. They never hunt for sport. Only for food. 

Speaking of which...I saw someone returning to their home in Wilmington. With an assault rifle in hand.  Gee. 

Traffic is better than expected. A lot of lights are out but people give right of way and there weren’t too many clog ups. 

@Happyfatchick I hope this answers many of your questions. 

I’m enjoying the cool while I can and then I’m cooking the dinner tonight. I finally got a good sleep last night but the temp was in the 90’s and the humidity in the 80’s today and more of the same expected for tomorrow.  Just miserable outside. Also thanked all the crews working to give us power that came in from NY and Ohio. They too are our heroes. 

If y'all lose me again it’s a power issue and I’ll shoot @walnutqueen updates. 

Everyone be well. Heal. Get strong. Be happy. Stay safe and know that I care about each and every one of you. 

7 minutes ago, doodlebug said:

Here's an article about that particular bride.  Apparently, she became engaged and had a kid with the prospective groom before the age of 20.  She insisted he buy her a huge rock they couldn't really afford for an engagement ring and then, after consulting a psychic, decided that she deserved the destination wedding of her dreams in Aruba and that this could be accomplished by asking all the guests to give her $1500 apiece (in addition to airfare, hotel and food for themselves if they planned to come).  When only 8 guests even replied, she went ballistic, posting online that it was all their fault that she couldn't have the princess wedding that she wanted.  When her maid of honor, who had offered $5000 towards the proceedings, rescinded her offer, the bride tore her a new one online, too.  The groom suggested they go to Vegas instead, and, when she jumped all over him about it; he decided he'd had enough and left her.  And, to top it all off, she took the 15 grand that they had save for the wedding and is going on a 2 month backpacking trip in South America to recover from the trauma.

https://www.boredpanda.com/wedding-disaster-bride-asks-guests-1000-donation/

Brat. 

[GeeGolly]

You 'sound' great @Mindthinkr. So often the after-storm is much worse than the storm itself. I had the unfortunate experience of living through an intense weather event 7 years ago and our normal was never the same. It's so great you and your daughter have strong neighborhood support as it makes all the difference in the world.

My thoughts of strength, patience, humor and safety are still with you and your daughter.

[DragonFaerie]

Dear @Mindthinkr, I'm so glad you are doing well.  I've been through more tornadoes then I can count, multiple ice storms, 2 freak winter storms - where each dumped 22 inches on us within 24 hours in TN and then NC, and the inland hurricane weather - from both NC and lower Alabama - that's the other LA, in case anyone didn't know.  While I hesitate to give advice, the last time I did, folks looked like I was crazy and then began taking notes because they didn't know any of it.  So here goes:

Grocery store - shop like grandma did or ggrandma.  Everyone goes for milk and bread and meat.  Head to the baking aisle:  Powdered milk, bisquick, butter flavored crisco, evaporated milk/sweetened condensed milk, honey, nuts and heck just chocolate for that pick me up.  Powdered milk can be mixed with water and with a box of mac and cheese - if you can boil water - voila!  Lard - seriously - use that to grease any skillets with and it gives flavor to even basic johnny cakes or pancakes - and it's not going to go bad, just make sure to store it where animals can't get to it.  Honey works great as a sweetener and it's not going to go bad - it's also useful as a backwoods antibiotic for small wounds - just don't give it to babies or those under the age of 2 I believe.  Toilet paper, aluminum foil - depending on if you have the availbility of a gas/charcoal grill or a fire pit, kitty litter and garbage bags.  Look for cured meats like pepperoni and salami - while they are often in the fridge section they don't necessarily need to be.  Also string cheese.  I have no idea what they put in that but I've packed those three for 2, 6-10 day backpacking adventures and they were fine the entire time.  Root veggies in general last longer than fresh, grab things like garlic and onion for flavor if available.  Check the frozen section for frozen herbs - garlic, basil, ginger, cilantro - they can add a quick pick me up.  

Freezers and fridges - the fuller they are - the longer they will stay cool.  So talk to your neighbors that you are breaking bread with.  Have everyone do a written out inventory of fridge/freezer and combine things to make a neighbor's meal while using what's going to go bad the quickest.  If anyone has a chest or upright freezer that has space - mark things from other's freezers with duct tape, masking tape, markers, etc and stuff their freezer so that everything stays cooler longer.

Once you loose power, unplug things like tv, dvds, computer and fridge so that when you do regain power the first surge doesn't take everything down again. I've had that happen before.

Cats and Dogs - If you run out of kitty litter, start using shredded newspapers - not the glossy pages like coupons.  I worked at 2 vets in 2 states and that's what we used for any boarders or overnighters from surgery/ ER care. If it looks like you are going to run out of dry food - don't wait and switch to a different brand all at once - that can often cause digestive issues and then you may have diahhrea and then dehydration issues.  Start with a 3/4 old to 1/4 new - after about 2-4 days - 1/2 to 1/2 and then finally 3/4 new to 1/4 old and then finally new.  

Cooking - if you or the neighbors have access to a propane grill and propane let me know.  I haven't had an oven I could cook in for the past 4 years.  I've done everything from t'giving turkeys to fresh bread, christmas cookies, frozen and fresh pizzas, pies and cakes, casseroles and veggies on the grill.  I can talk you through it easily.

Potable water - start filling containers with it.  Often, I've found if you let it sit for overnight or about 24 hours the smell starts to disipate.  Use this for cleaning pots and pans and doing laundry and sponge baths and such.  Gather now in case something happens in a couple of days down the road and you don't have it.

Laundry - grab a 5 gal or 3 gal or heck an empty tidy cat litter bucket and a plunger.  Clean with some bleach water and this is now your washing machine.  Last time we moved it took 2 years to save up for the washer and dryer.  Add some laundry soap to the bucket and water.  Agitate with the plunger and dump in the cleanest laundry you have.  Plunge for a few minutes - it's a great way to use kids if there are any around.  Hand wring out.  Dump into a bucket of clean water and plunge to rinse.  Wring, hang on a line or whatever you have.  I tended to go from either white to lights to dark or from cleanest to dirtiest.  Also, from a lesson I learned in my college days - don't mix underwear together - like don't dump all the neighbors women's undies into one bucket.  If anyone has a yeast infection, the water needs to be hot enough to kill it.   Sorry if TMI.

Hope you do well and your neighbors sound like awesome folks.  Except for the hoarder guy with the gas. He's a jerk.

[Love2dance]

@DragonFaerie, thank you so much. I’m going to print out this message and put it in a safe place, hoping I never need it. But what a wealth of information you have shared.

@Mindthinkr, thanks for the newest update. I know so many of us would like to help, so if there is a charity or support group we could contribute to help where needed, please share if you have a recommendation. Sending more hugs and good wishes to you and your amazing neighbors and community.

[Mindthinkr]

@DragonFaerie You just gave such good advice. Although it’s a toughie to admit this in the south I began as a Yankee, and have been through blizzards and rough times. You really learn how to be practical and deal with the basics. Thx for all your hints and help. 

Peeve: We found out tonight that 300 gallons of fuel and pumps were hoarded by board members  at their homes and then they left! The mismanagement is unbelievable. Others are still suffering with their homes under water and without these pumps and fuel they are out of luck. My heroes (the men in my neighborhood) have gone out, bought gas and used their pumps to help others while the powers that Be seem to be on vacation. I’m not joking. They literally abandoned us. We got a notice that they won’t even open until next week. I’m ok. My street watches after their own. Karma might just bite them where it hurts. In the meantime I have been bonding with people and just so grateful. 

I’m sorry that I post so much but unless you have been there it’s hard to explain how these times test you. All of our tempers and patience are almost shot. We are all weary. Yet again we had dinner with people (I cooked and cleaned with my beau) and feel fortunate just to be able to sit at night and feel part of something greater than us. 

Edited September 19, 2018 by Mindthinkr

[Nysha]

15 hours ago, galaxychaser said:

she doesn’t give gifts, but she sure likes to ask for stuff.

Sounds like she was a Duggar in a past life.

@Mindthinkr, thank you for the live update. I'm glad you are doing as good as you are. I can't believe the board members who hoarded fuel and pumps, then left. If they didn't want to fulfill their responsibilities, the least they could have done was make sure that the people staying had access to those things.

@DragonFaerie , I love your hacks! Like Love2Dance , I'm going to print them out for future reference. I live in a pretty weather moderate part of Idaho, but you never know what Mother Nature is going to do these days.

Edited September 19, 2018 by Nysha

[galaxychaser]

39 minutes ago, Nysha said:

Sounds like she was a Duggar in a past life.

@Mindthinkr, thank you for the live update. I'm glad you are doing as good as you are. I can't believe the board members who hoarded fuel and pumps, then left. If they didn't want to fulfill their responsibilities, the least they could have done was make sure that the people staying had access to those things.

@DragonFaerie , I love your hacks! Like Love2Dance , I'm going to print them out for future reference. I live in a pretty weather moderate part of Idaho, but you never know what Mother Nature is going to do these days.

I refer to her as the grifter. I seem to attract people who aren’t good friends to me.

[Happyfatchick]

Wow, @DragonFaerie, FEMA needs you!  Dang, girl!  I feel like I should cyber send the contents of my pouch to you!  I’m quite certain with my one sock and braces rubber bands, you could have a buffalo roasting in a pit by nightfall.  

@Mindthinkr, I hope you have some idea how much love we’re sending you way.  I’m glad you’re being surrounded by such an awesome network (and your honey).  I can’t even express how happy I am you’re safe and getting thru this.  It has to feel like a the apocalypse right now, but y’all are persevering and One day soon, life will take on the lovely hue of normal again.  (Not always rosy, but normal stress instead of survival stress).  Thank you for bringing it home for us - the details make me know I’m listening to someone who thinks like me.  What an experience!   

Years ago, I was stranded on a mountain (cabin) with 5 other adults, 5 kids and 2 dogs for several days (snow and ice).  We rarely talk about that now but at the time, it surely felt like we were in big and large trouble.  We hadn’t “prepared” at all - the water in the toilet tank as frozen and we’d only brought food for the weekend.  No power.  It was dicey, but obviously we made it out alive.  All we really considered was how to dig out and get down that mountain to our “real” homes and get on with life.  And when we did, we left that horrible situation behind.  How much different from you - you can’t look for that day you can escape it.  You have to see it back to normalcy.  I think you are amazing!

Edited September 19, 2018 by Happyfatchick

[Happyfatchick]

Senior moment I can’t resist sharing:

immscooting around the house trying to straighten up a little and realize my cocker (usually stuck to me like glue) is nowhere to be seen.  I say to my pit boxer “where’s Ollie?”  Then, starting to realize how LONG it’s been since I saw him, louder “WHERE’S OLLIE???”  But then.  I remembered.  The groomers.  My husband dropped him off this morning before work.  

Ollie isn’t here.

[CalicoKitty]

I had the TV on yesterday while I was doing some paperwork, and an episode of Say Yes to the Dress was on.  I looked up, and there was the mother of the bride wearing the tin man dress.  It looked rather nice on her, as she was a tall, fit, lady.  The dress actually doesn't look as bad when the neckline is worn as designed, and there is no tee shirt under it.  In its natural state, the neck is not at all too low or revealing.  Still, probably not a dress I would opt to wear.

[ginger90]

One of the supermarkets I stop at has a senior discount on Tuesday. I do not qualify, yet. I looked at my receipt when I got in the car, and the cashier had given me the discount. I had mixed feelings about it.

 

Tonight I had this come up as a network suggestion, freaked me out for a second:

.

 

 

 

 

[Nysha]

My daughter had her 7th (and last) baby last week. Her oldest is 11 and lives with her father, the other five are boys ranging from 8 1/2 to just turned 3. I love my daughter and she tries very hard to be the best mother she can be, but her poor boys are starved for attention. Her husband's idea of interacting with his boys is to wrestle with them for 4-5 minutes and when they get really wound up, yell at them for being loud and send them to their rooms. She tries, but as soon as she gets one thing done there is a list of 10 more things that need to be done. And now with the new baby, she's not getting any sleep and still does all the parenting, cleaning, cooking, and yard work. Thank god she doesn't homeschool and she got her tubes tied because she'd be having her own laundry room breakdown about now. But having that many kids so close together just isn't good for them. 

[Christina87]

Ghost stories are fun. I have a whole lot, but I'll give you a few highlights!!!

Best experience: My grandma had Alzheimer's and was in the hospital for a broken hip, but nobody expected her to die! My dad was home alone that night, and kept having this dream over and over again where my grandma was saying, "it's my time to go. I'm at peace with it. I'm going to be fine, and so are you." He woke up three times, sweaty and ready to write the obituary, and then had the dream again! Finally, he went downstairs. There was a message on the answering machine from the hospital saying to call them. It had been turned down all the way, so he hadn't subconsciously heard it. He knew right away why they were calling! I've always had so much peace with my grandma's passing because I definitely believe it was her. 

Coolest experience: normally when you see ghosts, they are just going about their day...walking around or just sitting. It's usually not scary, and only lasts a few seconds. My favorite experience was when I was visiting my parents on a Sunday night, and was walking back up the driveway after putting something in the car. The back door flung open, and someone I assumed was my dad walked briskly out the door, focused on what was ahead. He looked taller than my dad, and I didn't think my dad was wearing white that day, but wasn't sure. I tried to make the white shirt into a Carolina shirt in my head somehow, but it looked more like a dress shirt. I was just caught off guard and not really paying it too much attention. Then my view of him was blocked by another car, so I lost sight of him. We have a breezeway between our back door and garage, so I figured he was going into the garage to get something for me. I stood where I could see the light and just waited, but the garage light never came on. Then I realized what had happened. With a spooky feeling, and my mind screaming that he was as real as anything else out there right then, I realized he didn't look THAT much like my dad! I found it odd that he hadn't acknowledged me either, but just stared straight ahead. I went inside, and sure enough, my dad was sitting in there, wearing a blue shirt! It was confirmed when my parents went outside, and they hadn't turned the lights on yet, so they looked dark in the breezeway. The man had been glowing!

best family experience: this happened to my great grandma. Her husband was a total POS and died at about thirty. When she was maybe sixty, she got up and went in the kitchen during the night. She saw him standing there! He didn't know he was dead, and she told him to go away and never come back. She went to her room, thinking she was crazy, when her son came into her bedroom. "Mom...you're gonna think I'm crazy...but I saw Dad walk by my bedroom door." They were also very quiet people who didn't like attention, so they never would have made it up to have a good story! My grandma was the only person they told. 

Scariest experience: most of mine are not scary...however...we had a dark spirit at my former workplace. Our school was brand new, but built over an old cemetery! I didn't know this fact until after the experiences started. This girl, Mary, was volatile and angry. The first I heard of it was one day when I was directing a play rehearsal, and this freaked-out seventh grader told me there was a lady standing backstage watching them. I looked and there was nobody there. That same day, another kid told me she'd seen a white streak running down the hall during class, too fast to be a person. Over the next couple years, several students from all grade levels and walks of life saw her, and their stories were eerily similar. She had long dark hair, and a lot of them said she looked down or had hair over her face. When they could see her face, she had a big scar on her cheek, and intensely angry eyes. I knew they were telling the truth, because they all had the exact same look on their face when they talked about her...a nauseous, disturbed, almost in tears look. Occasionally a kid would try to be like, "I saw it too!" but it was obvious who was truthful. I was never able to see her, but I had tons of creepy, unexplainable things happen. At a certain point, I got scared to go in the auditorium. Some days would be fine, but on others...the vibe was creepy. It's hard to explain, but there would be an angry, tense feeling as soon as I walked in. Some days it was there, but some days it wasn't. It finally got to the point that on a lot of the tense days, SOMETHING would happen...a book thrown in the air, a doorknob would jiggle  that only opened from this side, unexplained voices...and once I saw the door open and a black figure leave, but none of the kids had left the room. The door didn't open wide enough for a real person to pass through, IMO...just a shadow figure. 

But the real scary story about Mary...honestly the worst I have experienced...happened in my classroom. A teacher had come in to borrow a CD, and said she would bring it back soon. I was sitting in a circle with the kids, with my back to the door. While we were singing, the light changed somehow on my right side. I turned around to look, and as I did, I felt a person very clearly pass behind me!!!! They came really close and kind of bumped against me. It felt angry, and there was that heavy feeling of hostility in the air that I felt on some days in the auditorium. I assumed it was just the other teacher bringing back the CD, so I turned around the other way to speak to her...but no one was there. I have never felt so creeped out in my life!!! Usually I never mentioned the ghost to the kids, but I asked them if anyone had seen anyone walk behind me. A couple girls said they'd seen my hair move, like with a breeze, and it was weird. One girl looked super traumatized and said she'd seen something, but she wouldn't speak. It was the same look that all the other kids who had seen her wore. The next day, she confided in me that she'd seen Mary...the description matched exactly...with her hair over her face, walk through the room angrily. I'm glad I quit not long after that! I hope she haunts my crappy old boss. ???

most bizarre experience: my uncle was on the farm as a kid (same farm a lot of other things happened on) when he heard horses in the distance. Lots of horses. He realized they were coming towards him, but soon they were REALLY close! He realized he would get trampled if he didn't act fast, and jumped under the porch! He peered out, and saw nothing. He heard the hooves come right up to the house, go right past where he was, and disappear in the distance. Now, that one is hard to explain!

[lookeyloo]

8 minutes ago, Christina87 said:

Ghost stories are fun. I have a whole lot, but I'll give you a few highlights!!!

Best experience: My grandma had Alzheimer's and was in the hospital for a broken hip, but nobody expected her to die! My dad was home alone that night, and kept having this dream over and over again where my grandma was saying, "it's my time to go. I'm at peace with it. I'm going to be fine, and so are you." He woke up three times, sweaty and ready to write the obituary, and then had the dream again! Finally, he went downstairs. There was a message on the answering machine from the hospital saying to call them. It had been turned down all the way, so he hadn't subconsciously heard it. He knew right away why they were calling! I've always had so much peace with my grandma's passing because I definitely believe it was her. 

Coolest experience: normally when you see ghosts, they are just going about their day...walking around or just sitting. It's usually not scary, and only lasts a few seconds. My favorite experience was when I was visiting my parents on a Sunday night, and was walking back up the driveway after putting something in the car. The back door flung open, and someone I assumed was my dad walked briskly out the door, focused on what was ahead. He looked taller than my dad, and I didn't think my dad was wearing white that day, but wasn't sure. I tried to make the white shirt into a Carolina shirt in my head somehow, but it looked more like a dress shirt. I was just caught off guard and not really paying it too much attention. Then my view of him was blocked by another car, so I lost sight of him. We have a breezeway between our back door and garage, so I figured he was going into the garage to get something for me. I stood where I could see the light and just waited, but the garage light never came on. Then I realized what had happened. With a spooky feeling, and my mind screaming that he was as real as anything else out there right then, I realized he didn't look THAT much like my dad! I found it odd that he hadn't acknowledged me either, but just stared straight ahead. I went inside, and sure enough, my dad was sitting in there, wearing a blue shirt! It was confirmed when my parents went outside, and they hadn't turned the lights on yet, so they looked dark in the breezeway. The man had been glowing!

best family experience: this happened to my great grandma. Her husband was a total POS and died at about thirty. When she was maybe sixty, she got up and went in the kitchen during the night. She saw him standing there! He didn't know he was dead, and she told him to go away and never come back. She went to her room, thinking she was crazy, when her son came into her bedroom. "Mom...you're gonna think I'm crazy...but I saw Dad walk by my bedroom door." They were also very quiet people who didn't like attention, so they never would have made it up to have a good story! My grandma was the only person they told. 

Scariest experience: most of mine are not scary...however...we had a dark spirit at my former workplace. Our school was brand new, but built over an old cemetery! I didn't know this fact until after the experiences started. This girl, Mary, was volatile and angry. The first I heard of it was one day when I was directing a play rehearsal, and this freaked-out seventh grader told me there was a lady standing backstage watching them. I looked and there was nobody there. That same day, another kid told me she'd seen a white streak running down the hall during class, too fast to be a person. Over the next couple years, several students from all grade levels and walks of life saw her, and their stories were eerily similar. She had long dark hair, and a lot of them said she looked down or had hair over her face. When they could see her face, she had a big scar on her cheek, and intensely angry eyes. I knew they were telling the truth, because they all had the exact same look on their face when they talked about her...a nauseous, disturbed, almost in tears look. Occasionally a kid would try to be like, "I saw it too!" but it was obvious who was truthful. I was never able to see her, but I had tons of creepy, unexplainable things happen. At a certain point, I got scared to go in the auditorium. Some days would be fine, but on others...the vibe was creepy. It's hard to explain, but there would be an angry, tense feeling as soon as I walked in. Some days it was there, but some days it wasn't. It finally got to the point that on a lot of the tense days, SOMETHING would happen...a book thrown in the air, a doorknob would jiggle  that only opened from this side, unexplained voices...and once I saw the door open and a black figure leave, but none of the kids had left the room. The door didn't open wide enough for a real person to pass through, IMO...just a shadow figure. 

But the real scary story about Mary...honestly the worst I have experienced...happened in my classroom. A teacher had come in to borrow a CD, and said she would bring it back soon. I was sitting in a circle with the kids, with my back to the door. While we were singing, the light changed somehow on my right side. I turned around to look, and as I did, I felt a person very clearly pass behind me!!!! They came really close and kind of bumped against me. It felt angry, and there was that heavy feeling of hostility in the air that I felt on some days in the auditorium. I assumed it was just the other teacher bringing back the CD, so I turned around the other way to speak to her...but no one was there. I have never felt so creeped out in my life!!! Usually I never mentioned the ghost to the kids, but I asked them if anyone had seen anyone walk behind me. A couple girls said they'd seen my hair move, like with a breeze, and it was weird. One girl looked super traumatized and said she'd seen something, but she wouldn't speak. It was the same look that all the other kids who had seen her wore. The next day, she confided in me that she'd seen Mary...the description matched exactly...with her hair over her face, walk through the room angrily. I'm glad I quit not long after that! I hope she haunts my crappy old boss. ???

most bizarre experience: my uncle was on the farm as a kid (same farm a lot of other things happened on) when he heard horses in the distance. Lots of horses. He realized they were coming towards him, but soon they were REALLY close! He realized he would get trampled if he didn't act fast, and jumped under the porch! He peered out, and saw nothing. He heard the hooves come right up to the house, go right past where he was, and disappear in the distance. Now, that one is hard to explain!

I love your stories.  Here are two of mine.  One happened to me directly.  After my brother killed himself in October 2002, I was a miserable mess but after a couple weeks dragged myself to Sam's Club, just to get out.  Even though it was so long ago I still have a perfect memory of the store, how it looked, etc.  I was standing in that space between the displays and the cashiers. It was when the store first opened on a weekday morning.  I was of course a space cadet just trying to hold it together.  I stood with my cart, and for a second I felt a cold breeze on my face and the very strong cologne my brother always wore.  It woke me from my daze and I looked around.  There was no one even remotely near me.  I took it as a sign that he was there.  Related - Mr. lookeyloo said to me twice "can you smell him?" in our house.  But I couldn't. Only Mr. could.

Second event happened to my cousin as she sat with our Grandma in the hospital for her final hours.  She told me Grandma was "sleeping" and suddenly she bolted upright and said "Name of Grandpa" as clear as anything and laid back down.  she had been in sleeping mode for days.  She passed very shortly thereafter.  

Another thing not exactly ghost related, but after said brother died, I went to a person who had a good reputation for communicating with the departed.  I was skeptical and still am, but, I went and he first said he thought he had a gift and didn't want any money.  Then he said "why are you here"  I said "I have relatives that have passed" and he said "your brother is here".  It wasn't hokey or anything but he told me a whole bunch of stuff without asking if "anything with a B ring a bell"  - He just talked and I just listened and he told me things that either were good guesses or he knew something. I had never met this fellow and he came to my attention through a series of connections so not sure he knew anything at all about me.  But how could he know specific things about my brother.  Came home and told Mr. lookeyloo and he is a nonbeliever but even he was surprised by the level of detail.  That was my one and only visit.  I felt comforted.

[andromeda331]

I had one like that after my mother passed away. A year after my uncle died his wife told me she had dream with him in it and woke up completely at peace. She told me her grieving was over. I, who tend to prolong the grieving process wondered how that was possible. Well, a year and one day after my mother's passing I had a dream where I woke up in bed there was a white shadow that came floating down and turned into my mother. She then lectured me on making sure that I made sure Dad and I were eating heathy every word she said was exactly what my mother would say. When I pointed out Dad was you know a grown adult she immediately told me it was still up to me because we know if it was up to him he wouldn't eat any vegetables and someone had to try and make sure he did. That was me. Then went away. Then came back down the second time to tell me we needed to do more. Having more experiences, go on day trips and vacations. Which I admit confused me I get the whole make the most of the time you have message but I'm housebound due to medical problems which I pointed out and asked how I was suppose to do that when I physically can't. She never did answer that question. But when I woke up I felt completely at peace. I even think she came a day after the one year anniversary because the day of I was having a really bad day pain wise and depressed that I couldn't go to her gravesite that day. The first one makes so much sense because that's exactly what she'd tell me because she'd worry we weren't eating healthy when she wasn't around. The second one I'm more confused about unless it was her way of telling me I'm going to get better.

[Christina87]

19 minutes ago, lookeyloo said:

I love your stories.  Here are two of mine.  One happened to me directly.  After my brother killed himself in October 2002, I was a miserable mess but after a couple weeks dragged myself to Sam's Club, just to get out.  Even though it was so long ago I still have a perfect memory of the store, how it looked, etc.  I was standing in that space between the displays and the cashiers. It was when the store first opened on a weekday morning.  I was of course a space cadet just trying to hold it together.  I stood with my cart, and for a second I felt a cold breeze on my face and the very strong cologne my brother always wore.  It woke me from my daze and I looked around.  There was no one even remotely near me.  I took it as a sign that he was there.  Related - Mr. lookeyloo said to me twice "can you smell him?" in our house.  But I couldn't. Only Mr. could.

Second event happened to my cousin as she sat with our Grandma in the hospital for her final hours.  She told me Grandma was "sleeping" and suddenly she bolted upright and said "Name of Grandpa" as clear as anything and laid back down.  she had been in sleeping mode for days.  She passed very shortly thereafter.  

Another thing not exactly ghost related, but after said brother died, I went to a person who had a good reputation for communicating with the departed.  I was skeptical and still am, but, I went and he first said he thought he had a gift and didn't want any money.  Then he said "why are you here"  I said "I have relatives that have passed" and he said "your brother is here".  It wasn't hokey or anything but he told me a whole bunch of stuff without asking if "anything with a B ring a bell"  - He just talked and I just listened and he told me things that either were good guesses or he knew something. I had never met this fellow and he came to my attention through a series of connections so not sure he knew anything at all about me.  But how could he know specific things about my brother.  Came home and told Mr. lookeyloo and he is a nonbeliever but even he was surprised by the level of detail.  That was my one and only visit.  I felt comforted.

@lookeyloo I love those stories!!!! I have heard of people being able to smell spirits...I have never had that experience! Things always seem to happen to me in moments like yours in the store, where you're totally off-guard and just chilling. If you go out and LOOK for ghosts, you'll never find one! It's always in the moments you don't expect, at least for me. 

Your last story reminded me of something too. My mom had a horrible experience in 2010 when her mother and brother passed within a month of each other, and her brother's illness progressed very quickly (found out in January, died early April). She used to buy dog food from this lady who claimed online to be a psychic, but my mom never talked to her about that stuff. When she went to buy the dog food after the deaths, the lady kind of jumped back when she approached and looked visibly shaken. My mom always wondered if she brought some guests with her or something!

one more thing that your grandma story reminded me of...I'm not sure I believe this, but it's an interesting coincidence. When my uncle was very sick, my mom was heartbroken and desperately wished she could be with him. She was planning to go the next day. My dad claims that she walked over to get in bed, and while she got in bed, he saw an image of her...like...come out of her body and through the wall! I'm really not sure if I believe that, though. Can a soul leave a living person? I've never thought so. But anyway, my uncle hadn't spoken for days, and right around the time that happened, he woke up and clearly said, "[my mom's name] is the ONLY one who agrees with me!" I don't think her soul really left, honestly...I think my dad was maybe super upset or just so tired he wasn't quite lucid...but it makes you wonder!

[Love2dance]

I don’t have any ghost stories, sadly, but I love reading all of yours. It kinda gives me hope.

But reincarnation doesn’t really appeal to me at all....how is it comforting if you can’t remember? To me, it’s just the same as disappearing. 

Also, not meaning to be disrespectful to anyone’s religion, but most people I know don’t seem to grow, and change, and improve to the point where it could help them in their next life.

Edited September 21, 2018 by Love2dance
Added thought

[lookeyloo]

@Christina87 -so interesting!  I don't know what to believe, but I do think there are things we can't explain and some people discount them because they don't believe and who knows. That's the thing about faith, which I am lacking, but, I like to believe there is something else after we pass and one day I will be with my grandma and brother.  I loved a lot of my family that passed but, those two are special.  Something to wonder about for sure.  Most of it gives me comfort.

[doodlebug]

There are a lot of ghost stories on my mother's side of the family.  She was from rural PA and her family were straight from the hills in some ways.  One really memorable one involved my mother's father.  He developed cancer and went to stay with my uncle in Akron.  This was back in late 1963 when there wasn't effective treatment and he knew it would be fatal.  He was hospitalized in Akron, and my parents went to visit.  He told them about a 'dream' he had had.  He described going via a 'white ambulance' back to his hometown in PA.  He told them what roads they took which were off the beaten path, not the turnpike like most people used.  He told them that he came to 'this place' on the main street in town which they thought was a little strange because he had never lived on that street.  He was very excited about all the visitors he'd had, naming people he hadn't seen in years.  My mother thought it was due to his pain meds, she kept trying to change the subject while my dad kicked her in the shins cuz he wanted to hear the story.  Both of my parents said my grandfather seemed really amazed and excited about what he was saying, like he couldn't believe what had happened and seemed surprised that they weren't amazed, too.  He died a couple of weeks later.  The funeral was back in Pennsylvania.  The funeral home was on the main street, the street he told them he had gone to.  My father noticed something funny about the hearses at this funeral home; they were all white, looked like ambulances.  He asked the funeral director if he had taken the body from Akron in one of his hearses.  Yup.  Surely he took the turnpike!  Nope, he preferred the back roads for driving and gave my father the route; same one my grandfather told them weeks earlier.  During visiting hours, there were a lot of old friends visiting including the half dozen or so people my grandfather mentioned by name.  My mother believed in ghosts, my dad was a sceptic, but he verified the story.  In retrospect, they felt my grandfather saw his death and funeral in advance, somehow.

My own story:  I did a lot of babysitting as a teen, we lived in condos and a lot of neighbors used us.  One lady was a new widow, her husband had killed himself months earlier, using carbon monoxide in their garage.  A few months after he died, there was a major fire in her house while she and her two sons were away one night and her bedroom and the master bath were virtually destroyed. They moved out while repairs were made and, after several months, were moving back; her boys were about 4 and 6; I was 16 or 17.  The weekend she was moving back in, she asked me to babysit on a Saturday afternoon while she ran some errands.  I arrived at the back door where her kids were playing on the patio which was next to the dining room/kitchen.  I sat at the kitchen table watching the kids, doing homework and listening to the Indians' game on the radio, it was April, mid afternoon.  After a while, I heard voices upstairs.  She had one of the bedrooms set up as a TV room upstairs and I figured the kids had left the set on.  I went upstairs, turned at the top of the stair where I was looking directly into her bedroom.  Not 5 feet away from me, a young man wearing jeans, a white T shirt and workboots was walking into the walk-in closet just in front of her bedroom door on my right.  He was there, I saw him, heard his steps, it was broad daylight.  I thought that it was one of the guys still working on the house and I apologized for interrupting and went back downstairs.  I mentioned to the kids that I didn't know they were still working on the house.  The boys said the house was all finished, nobody had been there that day.  Oh no!  A burglar!  There were only two ways into the house: through the patio and kitchen where I had been sitting with the kids or the front door.  I ran to the front door, sure it would be standing wide open.  Not only was it not open, the fire department had knocked it down a few months earlier and it was boarded shut, no way anyone came in that way.  I went back upstairs and there was no one there, I looked everywhere.  When she came home, I told my neighbor about it, she asked if he was tall and did he have curly blond hair.  Her late husband was 6'4". I only saw the guy in profile from the shoulders down as he was half into the closet when I saw him from the side.  Other weird stuff, mostly auditory, happened while I and 2 of my sisters babysat at other times; mainly the back door to the garage opening and closing, somebody opening and closing a kitchen cupboard and then running up the stairs.  Same sequence, multiple times. The first couple times, I thought she'd come home early and started gathering my things to go.  After it kept happening, I started ignoring it.  I was never afraid of any of this, BTW.  I don't know why.

I

[Jynnan tonnix]

7 minutes ago, doodlebug said:

There are a lot of ghost stories on my mother's side of the family.  She was from rural PA and her family were straight from the hills in some ways.  One really memorable one involved my mother's father.  He developed cancer and went to stay with my uncle in Akron.  This was back in late 1963 when there wasn't effective treatment and he knew it would be fatal.  He in the hospital, very sick, and my parents went to visit.  He told them about a 'dream' he had had.  He described going via a 'white ambulance' back to his hometown in PA.  He told them what roads they took which were off the beaten path, not the turnpike like most people used.  He told them that he came to 'this place' on the main street in town which they thought was a little strange because he had never lived on that street.  He was very excited about all the visitors he'd had, naming people he hadn't seen in years.  My mother thought it was due to his pain meds, she kept trying to change the subject while my dad kicked her in the shins cuz he wanted to hear the story.  Both of my parents said my grandfather seemed really amazed and excited about what he was saying, like he couldn't believe he what had happened and he seemed surprised that they weren't amazed, too.  He died a couple of weeks later.  The funeral was back in Pennsylvania.  The funeral home was on the main street, the street he told them he had gone to.  My father noticed something funny about the hearses at this funeral home; they were all white, looked like ambulances.  He asked the funeral director if he had taken the body from Akron in one of his hearses.  Yup.  Surely he took the turnpike!  Nope, he preferred the back roads for driving and gave my father the route; same one my grandfather told them weeks earlier.  During visiting hours, there were a lot of old friends visiting including the half dozen or so people my grandfather mentioned by name.  My mother believed in ghosts, my dad was a sceptic, but he verified the story.  In retrospect, they felt my grandfather saw his death and funeral in advance, somehow.

My own story:  I did a lot of babysitting as a teen, we lived in condos and a lot of neighbors used us.  One lady was a new widow, her husband had killed himself months earlier, using carbon monoxide in their garage.  A few months after he died, there was a major fire in her house while she and her two sons were away one night and her bedroom and the master bath were virtually destroyed. They moved out while repairs were made and, after several months, were moving back; her boys were about 4 and 6; I was 16 or 17.  The weekend she was moving back in, she asked me to babysit on a Saturday afternoon while she ran some errands.  I arrived at the back door where her kids were playing on the patio which was next to the dining room/kitchen.  I sat at the kitchen table watching the kids, doing homework and listening to the Indians' game on the radio, it was April, mid afternoon.  After a while, I heard voices upstairs.  She had one of the bedrooms set up as a TV room upstairs and I figured the kids had left the set on.  I went upstairs, turned at the top of the stair where I was looking directly into her bedroom.  Not 5 feet away from me, a young man wearing jeans, a white T shirt and workboots was walking into the walk-in closet just in front of her bedroom door on my right.  He was there, I saw him, heard his steps, it was broad daylight.  I thought that it was one of the guys still working on the house and I apologized for interrupting and went back downstairs.  I mentioned to the kids that I didn't know they were still working on the house.  The boys said the house was all finished, nobody had been there that day.  Oh no!  A burglar!  There were only two ways into the house: through the patio and kitchen where I had been sitting with the kids or the front door.  I ran to the front door, sure it would be standing wide open.  Not only was it not open, the fire department had knocked it down a few months earlier and it was boarded shut, no way anyone came in that way.  I went back upstairs and there was no one there, I looked everywhere.  When she came home, I told my neighbor about it, she asked if he was tall and did he have curly blond hair.  Her late husband was 6'4". I only saw the guy in profile from the shoulders down as he was half into the closet when I saw him from the side.  Other weird stuff, mostly auditory, happened while I and 2 of my sisters babysat at other times; mainly the back door to the garage opening and closing, somebody opening and closing a kitchen cupboard and then running up the stairs.  Same sequence, multiple times.

I

Whoa! That first story in particular really gave me chills! That's the sort of story which is incredibly hard to dismiss. There's just really no entirely satisfactory explanation.

It did make me think, just a little, though, of a story I heard recently while watching a video of Neil deGrasse Tyson interviewing Richard Dawkins. If I recall correctly, Dawkins tells of a relative who was in the funeral home, alone, late, after the viewing hours were over, with the open casket with her father's body inside. She claimed that all of a sudden her father sat up in the casket to reassure her that he was happy and at peace, and when she related the story to Dawkins, he said that it was one of the times he was at a bit of a loss as to what to tell her, not wanting to appear too insensitive to a close relative. Tyson said that he would have said to her, "well, the next time this happens, ask him some questions - where are you? Is Mom there? Anyone else? How old are you? Do you have clothes?....etc, etc..." Not trying to downplay or disbelieve people's experiences, but it does rather seem a pattern that no one ever learns anything more useful from these communications than that their loved one is at peace. 

Sorry just the cynic in me coming through. Honestly, though, your story is definitely one that I'll keep on the "plus" side when it comes to things that just seem to fit into the question of an afterlife....

[DragonFaerie]

Not quite the "ghost story" but my grandmother used to tell the tale of when her grandfather died.  Grandma was born in 1903 and in the back "hollers" of TN so that may give you some clue.  Her grandfather had some type of lung issue - don't know if it was TB, cancer, pneumonia, etc, but he had had to sleep propped up on pillows for months before his death.  When he died and by the time the undertakers arrived in horse and carriage, rigor had set in.  They prepared the body and had to hold his shoulders down while another person tied a rope around his upper body and then tied a rope thru drilled holes in the bottom of the coffin to force his body to lie down.  So around 2 am during the sitting wake, with all the extended family and friends there, the rope breaks, GGGrandpa sits up in the coffin swiftly and every man in the room screamed and ran out of the house.  The women were all like, hmm, well that's odd.

[graefin]

1 hour ago, Christina87 said:

Can a soul leave a living person?

Astral projection?

[doodlebug]

Another weird personal story:  One of my sisters lost her son when he was 5 years old.  She'd always been into the ghost stories and family mythology and, after he died, she liked to talk to psychics.  The folks she would get would come out to the house and do a 'reading', they were usually locals who got business through word of mouth and for $5-10 would spend 15 minutes with each person.  Anyway, for whatever reason, she worked in retail and one of her coworkers supposedly had the 'gift' and did this stuff and she arranged to have her come to my house one evening and do readings for about half a dozen of us.  I was pretty skeptical (still am), but I and some of my friends thought it would be entertaining to say the least.

So, I sit down at the dining room table and she looks at my hands to read my palms.  She has never met me, my sister never told her anything other than that I was her sister.  She says to me, 'There are babies in your hands.  I see hundreds of babies' faces' What do you do for a living that you hold babies in your hands?  Weird, but maybe a good guess or my sister mentioned something at some point.  Then she tells me there is a ghost in my house.  I had just moved in and, being a smart-ass, told her it must've come with the property.  No, it was a young man, in his 20's (I was 34 at the time) and he knew me and spent time with me.  Who did I know who had died at Easter?  Nobody, but two male friends in their 20's had died of cancer over the years, both in May.  So, she tells me that she is going to tell me some stuff because he wants me to know he is there.  She is doodling on a legal pad while she talks, BTW.  Ok, this particular guy was some sort of mentor or teacher to me, someone who was also perhaps a peer, but taught me things.  (Yep).  He is very good looking, but I never had anything romantic with him because he was happily married, right? (yep)  He must've died just as he was reaching some sort of goal in his life, something that I have accomplished and he wants me to know that, since he helped teach me, he feels like he has gotten the chance to live through me and do the things that he always wanted (Yep).  That he is often present spiritually with me and he knows that I have felt his presence and he wants me to know he was there, it wasn't all in my head (yep).  She sees that he had a wife and children, did I know if his wife had remarried?  She had the impression that his wife was married again and his kids had a good father because he didn't need to spend much time with them (oh, yeah).  She also tells me that he was a very religious person, that he knows that I knew that and he wants me to know that God is real, that it is all true and also that he has sent me that message before (yeah, another weird thing).  She then turns over the legal pad and in big letters at the top is the name.  'His name is John.'  (yep)  BTW, she gave multiple other readings that night and nobody else had such a specific message/experience.

As a medical student and resident, there were a couple of people who were big influences on my decision to do OB/GYN.  One of them was an intern on my med school rotation who I later worked with when I was moonlighting on L&D for extra cash as a senior student.  I eventually entered that residency.  John was diagnosed with a brain tumor in his second year of residency and died in his fourth year, two weeks before he would've finished and gone out into practice.  I was in the same residency, he was a third year and then a chief resident over me.  On the day he died, one of my fellow residents took me aside in clinic after getting the call.  As he put his arm around my shoulder to tell me, I knew, I also had the most overwhelming sense of peace and joy and happiness.  It just lasted a few seconds. I remember thinking, 'John held open the door to heaven for a second so I could know he was happy.'  Years later, in private practice,I was doing a particularly difficult delivery, requiring some fancy maneuvers.  In my head, I very distinctly heard his voice, 'You know what to do.  Do it.' repeated over and over again.  I felt like he was there giving me encouragement.  

Once again, I am not a real strong believer in this stuff, but this is what happened.  BTW, the sister who lost the little boy died 3 years ago and, no, I have never considered asking a psychic about her.