Small Talk: The Prayer Closet

[MargeGunderson]

All of this snow talk reminds me that I have to try to start my snowblower. We’re supposed to get snow tomorrow but not sure how much. Last I heard it is 4-12 inches, depending on the rain/snow line. I’m near the coast so maybe I’ll be on the lower end of the totals. Fingers crossed the snowblower starts. Yesterday my car battery was totally dead and I had to call AAA for a jump (getting a new battery next Saturday.) 

[QuinnInND]

1 hour ago, DangerousMinds said:

That was my question too. I can’t figure out why his occupation was listed but no name. Unknown is unknown.

 

I think she didn't want to tell his name. Idk why his occupation got put down or why she revealed that.  She knew, she just didn't want to say it. 

21 minutes ago, crazycatlady58 said:

If Houston received that much snow we would go into shock and a lot of people would see it as a sign Christ's second coming ( just kidding, sort of),

My husband is from Houston, and what you said is true. 😂

[Oldernowiser]

2 minutes ago, rue721 said:

@Oldernowiser 
The vet gave me Trazodone. The dosage was 1-2 pills every 8 hours, but even the one pill seemed to do a number on Portia! I just couldn’t give it to her in good conscious, although I do really trust the vet in general. 

I was thinking it might be Trazodone. It’s an odd drug...I can give my lunk of a retriever Valium, Benadryl, Tramadol all day long (well, I wouldn’t but you know what I’m saying) and he just giggles and humps the couch. Doesn’t seem to do a thing. He had surgery in September and the vet had me give him 1.5 Trazodone the night before and I was supposed to give him the same dose two hours before the surgery the next morning but he was so completely gorked I was afraid to repeat it. On the other hand, Trazodone makes my BC even more frantic...it has the opposite reaction of what it’s supposed to do. 

There are other behavioral drugs for dogs...antidepressants, Anxitane, Valium...that she might tolerate better. So if the behavior returns, definitely call your vet and ask for another type of meds, yes?

 

[DangerousMinds]

37 minutes ago, Zella said:

Not that Arkansas is noted for its winter weather coping abilities either, but we had running jokes at the U of A about all the kids from Dallas who would freak out when we got anything. 🤣

In Northern California the students from Southern California would freak out if the temperature was anything less than 50 😆

[zoomama]

3 hours ago, Jeanne222 said:

A few years ago when I had a computer with the program to type letters.  I forget the name right now...word perfect maybe.  I started thinking about my life and different events.  Kind of like chapters.

We moved and they're filed away somewhere.

Recently my oldest granddaughter and I were discussing things that happened long ago to me.  She mentioned how much it would mean to her to learn about my life.

She's kind of made me think about finding a way to start writing again.

I think knowing about someone's life is priceless.

My life was surely no picnic and reading along others had it way worse.

With that said my earlier life was hard and interesting.  My later life peaceful and calm!  The ying and the yang!

thats why i started a blog and then each year have it printed and bound into a hardback book, for my grandkids. 

[QuinnInND]

With all this snow, of course everything is closed and canceled tomorrow, right? Snow day, right? Wrong. Everyone is doing virtual school tomorrow. Seriously FCPS?? Why can't we have a snow day? Grrr. 

[emma675]

47 minutes ago, Zella said:

Not that Arkansas is noted for its winter weather coping abilities either, but we had running jokes at the U of A about all the kids from Dallas who would freak out when we got anything. 🤣

Hey! I resemble that remark, lol. The last time Dallas proper got a ton of snow (which was about 7 inches) was in 2010. We've had pretty much nothing since then, stupid climate change. 

[iwantcookies]

I believe NY won’t have snow days for students anymore either. 
 

It’s snowing. I hope it won’t be 16 plus inches!

[Mindthinkr]

60 Minutes is doing a segment on genealogy and privacy concerns. 

[CalicoKitty]

There is a book available called something like "A Grandmother Remembers", which asks questions to fill out.  Things like childhood memories, family tree information, where she met her husband, information about your parent, etc.  It includes things like favorite recipes and room for photos.  I gave one to my grandmother over 40 years ago.  I don't think she wanted to work on it, but she said once she started it was a lot of fun.  I treasure that book.  She mentions the first time she heard a radio when she was in college, and how all the students in her elementary class (whole school--only one room) were allowed to go outside to watch whenever a car drove by.  The book asks leading questions to make it very easy to fill out.  I just checked. It is still available, and there a 30th anniversary edition available on Amazon for around $15.

[ChiCricket]

2 hours ago, Scarlett45 said:

I’m in Chicago- so we are used to it. Dont let my Mom get started about the snow of ‘67. 😜

Here's my two granddaughters who actually live in the city of Chicago.

They're shoveling out two spots for their parent's cars. They have their items all ready to "dibs" the parking spots😁 

  After they finished, they shoveled out spots and sidewalks for their elderly neighbors too.💕

(and they were adamant about not taking any payment for it.) 

[Zella]

On the good news front, I was one of the ones who had a New Year's resolution to try to start being healthier, so I've been eating better, walking more, and drinking more water.

I don't know how much weight I've actually lost, but the scale is 14 pounds lighter than it was on the 1st. I know that's not actual weight loss and is probably all or mostly water weight (I must have been a walking human aquarium), but in the past few days, now when I weigh myself, there's only very little weight variation instead of 10 pound variations, so I'm hoping this means that I've stopped retaining so much water. And it means I only need to lose about 65 pounds versus 80 to what would be healthier for me. Basically what I weighed in college before grad school and some bouts with depression hit in my mid-20s. 

I mean, I know 65 pounds is still a shitload of weight, but it just seems less daunting to me than 80. 

Edited February 1, 2021 by Zella

[Happyfatchick]

2 hours ago, QuinnInND said:

My husband is from Houston, and what you said is true. 😂

Pfffft.  HOUSTON!!!  Omagahhhh!!!  You should be in Georgia just ONCE when they predict snowfall.  That is a story to live through once.  
Here is the story of our last snow tragedy:

the weather said we were going to have “weather”, but Atlanta was going to be safe.  Snowfall was allllll going to be south of the perimeter.  And so everybody who commutes to the city dropped the kids at their schools and daycares in the burbs and went happily off to work.  As weather savvy as we are (not), Atlanta took their 2 snow worthy pieces of equipment to Forest Park (south of the city) and parked them.  Salt too, mountains of it.  Around 11 in Birmingham (an hour behind and with roughly the same latitude), the first snowflake fell.  The entire city raised its eyebrows collectively and said “this isn’t supposed to be HERE, snowfall is supposed to be south.  SOUTH of here.  But alas, It fell fast, thick and cheerily and within minutes, they were socked in.  It was on the news, how incredible that 2-4 inches of snow could lock down the city.  (Birmingham has about the same icy precip as we do in atanta).  We can’t drive in this crap, it only happens every five years and roads are clear usually by nightfall.  
We have no practice.  By now there were all 1.5 million of my bffs getting rumors that Birmingham got snow- and Atlanta collectively panicked (while praying it would turn SIUTH like the news man SAID).  Buildings closed, offices shut down and E-VER-Y-BODY headed for their various homes in the burbs.  At the same moment.  Everybody.  It was a traffic jam from HELL.  Only... none of us know how to drive in muck, the snowplows and salt are in Forest Park and JOHNNY IS AT DAYCARE!!!!!

a baby was born in a car on the freeway.  People were walking around between cars sharing snacks.  People from nearby apartments were walking up to the freeway with bottled waters and sandwiches and one guy (already home) went and got his baby from grade school on his lawnmower.  Lots of people slept in their cars.  Nobody died.  
other people look at that (John Stewart did a 10 minute segment on it the next night on the Daily Show) and think we are total idiots.  

and maybe we are.  but he didn’t say a dang word about Birmingham, and they did the exact same thing an hour earlier than we did.  But maybe that’s what made us idiots - we saw it happen in real time and still didn’t get out quick enough.  

[Zella]

On the subject of nightmarish weather, if any of you like historical fiction, I recently read Melanie Benjamin's new novel, The Children's Blizzard, about a notorious blizzard that hit the Northern Plains in 1888. It's a good book but makes for some disturbing reading since the blizzard had a high number of casualties because it hit as school was letting out.

[QuinnInND]

My backyard. 

[Scarlett45]

33 minutes ago, ChiCricket said:

Here's my two granddaughters who actually live in the city of Chicago.

They're shoveling out two spots for their parent's cars. They have their items all ready to "dibs" the parking spots😁 

  After they finished, they shoveled out spots and sidewalks for their elderly neighbors too.💕

(and they were adamant about not taking any payment for it.) 

Ah dibs! I see the crate and the cone. I remember those days before I had a garage. 

[MargeGunderson]

I honestly can’t get that worked up over a snowstorm in my area since the winter of 2014- 2015. We had more than 100 inches of snow, almost all of it during February. It was so bad that the city basically stopped plowing anything but some of the main roads, and we couldn’t get out of our driveway for more than a week. The snow piles were half way up the windows on the first floor. The above-ground portion of the subway near me didn’t run for more than a month. I recall having a complete breakdown on Valentine’s Day because there was another storm and my internet went out. At this point (especially working from home), if it’s not more than 2 feet of snow it’s no big deal.

On the other hand, my family in TN freaks out if there is more than an inch or two, but to be fair they aren’t prepared for it. 

Edited February 1, 2021 by MargeGunderson

[QuinnInND]

8 minutes ago, MargeGunderson said:

I honestly can’t get that worked up over a snowstorm in my area since the winter of 2014- 2015. We had more than 100 inches of snow, almost all of it during February. It was so bad that the city basically stopped plowing anything but some of the main roads, and we couldn’t get out of our driveway for more than a week. The snow piles were half way up the windows on the first floor. The above-ground portion of the subway near me didn’t run for more than a month. I recall having a complete breakdown on Valentine’s Day because there was another storm and my internet went out. At this point (especially working from home), if it’s not more than 2 feet of snow it’s no big deal.

On the other hand, my family in TN freaks out if there is more than an inch or two, but to be fair they aren’t prepared for it. 

Sounds like North Dakota a few years ago. After living there, it takes a lot to impress us. 

[DangerousMinds]

1 hour ago, Zella said:

On the subject of nightmarish weather, if any of you like historical fiction, I recently read Melanie Benjamin's new novel, The Children's Blizzard, about a notorious blizzard that hit the Northern Plains in 1888. It's a good book but makes for some disturbing reading since the blizzard had a high number of casualties because it hit as school was letting out.

I think I saw an episode about that on Little House on the Prairie years ago.

[iwantcookies]

When does one become a practicing doctor? At graduating medical school or end of residency? 
 

Basically if someone graduated medical school in 2000. Are they a practicing doctor in 2000 or end of residency in 2004? 
 

 

[Zella]

21 minutes ago, DangerousMinds said:

I think I saw an episode about that on Little House on the Prairie years ago.

Yeah there is an episode that has the same timing for the storm occurring and was probably loosely inspired by this. Laura Ingalls Wilder's book The Long Winter was based on an earlier winter, but it's set in the same general area as Benjamin's book. 

Edited February 1, 2021 by Zella

[rue721]

Stuff You Missed in History Class had an amazing episode on that blizzard. I listened to it years ago at this point, but it’s really stuck with me. The episode is called The Schoolhouse Blizzard, and (hopefully) here is a link.

[Minivanessa]

Dang. Here in Denver we've had a mild winter so far, and I'm beginning to hope we do get slammed with some serious snowstorms. Our whole state is way under normal for precipitation this winter. If this doesn't get better we'll probably have some nasty big wildfires this summer. BTW I grew up in Houston and remember exactly one time that it snowed in my 20 years there. Definitely not normal. 

I drove a friend to get her first COVID vaccine injection today. There was a big Saturday/Sunday drive through vaccination clinic and she got an appointment for late this morning. She's not in great health so I was happy to take her. They vaccinated 5000 people yesterday and 5000 today. It was SUPERBLY well organized and efficient. Her second shot will be in three weeks. 

I did experience something that was so freaking annoying. 😡. The organizers correctly expected that most of the drivers are those getting the vaccine but I assume they also expected there would be patients who were passengers. Twice we had to stop and talk to someone, and each time I pointed to my friend in the rear passenger seat and said "she's the patient, I'm just the driver." And yet the person STILL wanted to talk to me, actually to get HER name and date of birth. Good grief! My friend isn't incapacitated, she's just not driving. She's got great hearing and a big voice - and God knows the woman can speak up for herself. 🤣.  So we got her checked in, and then were directed to the actual spot where the vaccination team was. 

Again, I rolled down my window and an RN with a tablet started asking me stuff. And I said, pointing, "the lady in that seat is here for her vaccination, I'm just the driver." The person administering the shot went around to my friend, they slid open the minivan door at her seat, and the two of them were talking. But FFS, that RN just stood there and asked ME my friend's DOB, and a couple of other things that she should have been asking my friend. I was kinda irritated by then. But, my friend was talking with the other nurse who was giving her the shot, so I just finished answering the RN at my window. I think at one point my friend DID chime in. 

I was talking about that with a mutual friend on the phone this evening. This person has some medical issues including mobility limitations. She's now given up driving, and very logically has hired someone to drive her places including medical appointments. She is by NO means mentally limited, she's sharp as a tack in fact and as a retired hospital social worker (was head of that dept at a big university hospital where she taught/supervised teams of medical students every semester) certainly knows her way around medical matters. She told me she experiences that SAME thing. She shows up with her driver - and the nurses ask the DRIVER about her (my friend's) information, etc. She says she speaks up for herself, but sometimes the nurses persist in talking to her driver. It's gotten to the point that she asks her driver to not go into appointments with her if at all possible. 

How bloody demeaning it is for folks to assume that if you have an illness, a disability, or are being driven vs. driving yourself - that they shouldn't talk to you but to the person who happens to have brought you in. Especially when you are sitting there obviously awake, alert, composed, and aware of your surroundings. AARGH.

Edited February 1, 2021 by Jeeves

[doodlebug]

20 minutes ago, iwantcookies said:

When does one become a practicing doctor? At graduating medical school or end of residency? 
 

Basically if someone graduated medical school in 2000. Are they a practicing doctor in 2000 or end of residency in 2004? 
 

 

You get an MD degree when you graduate, so you are a medical doctor and people properly address you as doctor. Most states allow an MD to get their license to practice once they've passed the last part of the boards which is taken midway through the first year after medical school.  Some residents get their license then so they can do some moonlighting.  When working as a resident in the hospital, etc, doctors don't need to have their own licenses, the residency program covers that with a blanket licensure for all the residents.  However, if you want to work for someone else to make extra money, and many residents do it although they're told not to, you've got to pay and get a license and also get your own DEA number (once again residencies let you write prescriptions using a special DEA number for residents.  Technically, residents are practicing medicine just like attendings are.

In order to get hospital privileges as an attending physician, or even to get hired by a practice to work there; a doctor has to do a residency in their particular specialty.  Depending on the specialty, that can take from 3 (family practice, pediatrics, internal medicine) to 7 (cardiothoracic surgery, neurosurgery) years.  Then, some docs subspecialize from there which takes anywhere from 6 months to several years.

So, once you graduate medical school, you are a doctor and can practice under the auspices and supervision of a residency program; but you cannot work independently in your specialty without a residency.  Most hospitals also require that any doctor wanting admitting privileges be board eligible or board certified in their specialty.  Most surgical specialties require a couple years of practice before administering the certification exam and part of the certification process involves submitting information about the numbers of patients seen, the procedures performed and the outcomes.  

I did obstetrics.  As I said before, I went to med school for 3 years, nowadays it would be 4.   Then, an OB/GYN residency is 4 years.  In my second year, I got my medical license so I could moonlight at Planned Parenthood.  When I graduated the residency, I took the written portion of the specialty board exam in OB/GYN and passed, so I was board eligible.  Had I flunked, I wouldn't have been able to get hospital privileges and my job in private practice would've disappeared.  After practicing about 3 years, I took my board exams.  Each specialty does it differently.  OB/GYN is a three hour oral exam with a panel of 3 docs who can ask questions about anything, They have the case list that you submit when applying to take the exam and can ask specific questions like 'Why did you tie the tubes of a 21 year old, Dr Doodlebug.' My answer: "she was addicted to coke, her dealer was also her pimp and her babydaddy, she had just given birth to her fourth kid and I just didn't see how she was ever going to get her act together if she kept having a kid every year" seemed to satisfy them.  If the doc passes, then they are board certified which requires taking yearly maintenance exams which are not nearly so rigorous.

[Girl in a Cardigan]

2 hours ago, CalicoKitty said:

There is a book available called something like "A Grandmother Remembers", which asks questions to fill out.  Things like childhood memories, family tree information, where she met her husband, information about your parent, etc.  It includes things like favorite recipes and room for photos.  I gave one to my grandmother over 40 years ago.  I don't think she wanted to work on it, but she said once she started it was a lot of fun.  I treasure that book.  She mentions the first time she heard a radio when she was in college, and how all the students in her elementary class (whole school--only one room) were allowed to go outside to watch whenever a car drove by.  The book asks leading questions to make it very easy to fill out.  I just checked. It is still available, and there a 30th anniversary edition available on Amazon for around $15.

I gave books like this to my grandparents like 20 years ago. My grandmother never filled hers out and I never saw anything from my grandfather either, though he was totally into genealogy and storytelling. My grandmother had Alzheimer's and I figured there was just never any time.

But he passed away in 2019 and when my mom was going through his stuff, she found it. He had filled out some parts of it and she gave it to me at Thanksgiving later that year. I haven't been able to bring myself to read it yet, but just having his stories in his own handwriting that he left for me is priceless.

[Jeanne222]

5 hours ago, Scarlett45 said:

I’m in Chicago- so we are used to it. Dont let my Mom get started about the snow of ‘67. 😜

Why I just mentioned that today to one of my kiddos!  Lol.  The blizzard 1967!

[Happyfatchick]

I have something odd to add to this book making thing.  My mom herself go a book that looks like a diary with those questions about her life.  I have it.  I can put my hands on it in 3 seconds.  I’ve read a tiny bit here, a tiny bit there.  But I’ve never been able to work through the whole thing.  

and here’s why.  I adored my mother.  She was an AMAZING strong steel magnolia and could carry several massive overlapping issues on her back at once, while digging the foundation for the Pentagon.  She could sew ANYTHING, garden, work like a machine and did so every day, took care of a full sized regular family, foster babies and her invalid mother simultaneously WHILE gardening and putting stuff “up” for winter.   She canned, she pickled, she froze, she was the living representation of Proverbs 31.

but at the end of her life, she developed dementia and then full blown Alzheimer’s.  These things change a person fundamentally.  For the 16 years before those things consumed her, she was no longer the person who was my mother .  And the book started shortly after the onset.  And I can’t read it because it changes, somehow, the amazing, dedicated, loving, aggressive, talented mother I knew into something of a whiner, a wheedler, a needy person who seems to have felt sort of slighted.  I never EVER read that from her when she was at full capacity and I don’t want that to change for me.  Selfish of me, I think.  I will one day.  Not yet.  

[Absolom]

40 minutes ago, Jeeves said:

I did experience something that was so freaking annoying. 😡. The organizers correctly expected that most of the drivers are those getting the vaccine but I assume they also expected there would be patients who were passengers. Twice we had to stop and talk to someone, and each time I pointed to my friend in the rear passenger seat and said "she's the patient, I'm just the driver." And yet the person STILL wanted to talk to me, actually to get HER name and date of birth. Good grief! My friend isn't incapacitated,

I'm so sorry for you and especially your friend.  No one should be ignored that way or not given full acknowledgement.

I've had the opposite problem with my mother with dementia.  People persisted for years asking her questions long after she could no longer understand the questions or remember the information.  

[Minivanessa]

@Happyfatchick - I agree, don't read it unless and until you're really ready. And maybe you won't ever be ready to read it. You know who your mother was for most of her life until the disease hit, and that's what matters. I would think that reading what she wrote as the disease was beginning to take its toll would be less of a visit with the person your mother really was, than a journey through the effects of the disease on her, if that makes sense. And I think you should read that book only IF (and when) you ever want to make that trip into the time of her illness. 

[Minivanessa]

6 minutes ago, Absolom said:

I'm so sorry for you and especially your friend.  No one should be ignored that way or not given full acknowledgement.

I've had the opposite problem with my mother with dementia.  People persisted for years asking her questions long after she could no longer understand the questions or remember the information.  

I was thinking of the situation you describe, as I wrote that. I'm sure that healthcare workers often face that situation too, and I realize that they may see so many patients who are affected by dementia or the like, that they can get used to relying on the patient's companion. It must be a tricky situation for them to navigate. But it seems that if they just pay a little attention they could figure out who they should talk to. Sigh. ETA: And given the fast pace of this drive-through clinic I suppose they ought to get a pass, but it was still noticeable and irritating. 

Edited February 1, 2021 by Jeeves

[Mindthinkr]

@Jeeves I get how annoying that is. When I took (past tense) Mr Chemo for his infusion, due to Covid there was curbside check ins. As soon as my window came down they were trying to take my temperature before I could tell them that he was the patient. 

[awaken]

3 hours ago, CalicoKitty said:

There is a book available called something like "A Grandmother Remembers", which asks questions to fill out.  Things like childhood memories, family tree information, where she met her husband, information about your parent, etc.  It includes things like favorite recipes and room for photos.  I gave one to my grandmother over 40 years ago.  I don't think she wanted to work on it, but she said once she started it was a lot of fun.  I treasure that book.  She mentions the first time she heard a radio when she was in college, and how all the students in her elementary class (whole school--only one room) were allowed to go outside to watch whenever a car drove by.  The book asks leading questions to make it very easy to fill out.  I just checked. It is still available, and there a 30th anniversary edition available on Amazon for around $15.

My mother did one for me and it was tough. Honestly I had to go over it in therapy for months. It explained a lot that I had wondered about why she, and our lives were so f’d up, but it was really sad.  I think she thought it was an amazing heirloom of family stories to be treasured, but knowing she thinks that makes it even more painful. 

1 hour ago, rue721 said:

Stuff You Missed in History Class had an amazing episode on that blizzard. I listened to it years ago at this point, but it’s really stuck with me. The episode is called The Schoolhouse Blizzard, and (hopefully) here is a link.

My FAVORITE podcast!!  So glad to find another fan!  Holly and Tracey just cheer up my days. I don’t even care what they’re talking about; I enjoy having their voices keep me company!  I’ve learned so much from listening!  

[NotthebadVictoria]

41 minutes ago, Girl in a Cardigan said:

I gave books like this to my grandparents like 20 years ago. My grandmother never filled hers out and I never saw anything from my grandfather either, though he was totally into genealogy and storytelling. My grandmother had Alzheimer's and I figured there was just never any time.

But he passed away in 2019 and when my mom was going through his stuff, she found it. He had filled out some parts of it and she gave it to me at Thanksgiving later that year. I haven't been able to bring myself to read it yet, but just having his stories in his own handwriting that he left for me is priceless.

I am giving these to all of my grandparents to fill out for their greatgrands. And I’m going to ride them like seabiscuit until they are back in my custody! This is a wonderful idea. 

[Minivanessa]

My stepsister did a wonderful thing. She sat down with her mother (my stepmom who was my REAL mom from the time I was 6 years old) one day with a tape recorder going (this would have been in the mid 1980's) and got her talking about her (mom's) life. At first mom sounded a bit stilted but then she relaxed and there was some Q&A and conversation between the two of them. She got mom retelling some stories and giving information about her life and family.

My stepsister didn't say anything about that, but a few years later (in 1989) mom died very suddenly; had a stroke and didn't make it to the hospital alive. On the morning of her funeral I saw my stepsister was messing with her dual-cassette tape machine, but didn't think much about it. Well, she was making cassette tapes for each of us in the family of that conversation. It's one of my treasured possessions; I converted it to a digital sound file a few years ago. 

Then in the early 2000's, an aunt and uncle died within a few years of each other. They lived in another state, but my stepsister told me that at some time back in the 90's she'd traveled to visit them, and sat each of them down separately to talk about their lives for her cassette recorder. I was able to convert those tapes into digital and then make CDs for us and for each of the aunt and uncle's 4 kids. My copies of those recordings are also cherished. 

My stepsister and I have had a rocky relationship at times, but I will always be so grateful to her for those recorded talks she did. 

[Happyfatchick]

Oh shoot- I have something to say about dementia patients answering their own questions.  My mom would say to me (when the tech or doc was asking questions) “I can TALK, you know”.  She never did know she wasn’t in charge.  So I would stop answering and the tech would say “what was your blood sugar this morning?”  Crickets.  Mama would look at me.  I would look at her.  “Do YOU know?” She’d ask.  I do, yes.  “Well, SAY something!!”   

passsht.  
once, at the eye doc, she snipped at me for filling out the clipboard update.  I handed it over.  
what’s today’s date?  (She asks)
what’s my address?  (She asks)
what’s our phone number?  (She asks)

I liked having her do that because anything I “could” use to push her brain forward made me happy.  But she got to “date of birth”.  I told her, she wrote it down.  She looks back at today’s date.  Back at her birthdate.  She says “well THAT ain’t right, that would make me 80 years old!”

yyyyyup

[Zella]

My great-grandmother was still very much in possession of all her faculties until she died at 90, but she had issues with her youngest daughter (whom we all call "Boss Hog" and "The Mouth of the South") trying to answer for her at appointments. They had some real first-class rows in front of medical staff about it. Fortunately, I think most of them realized pretty quickly that my great-grandmother was still quite coherent and would redirect their attention to her. 

She was super blunt, though, which could take some getting used to. 

When she was 80, she fell off a ladder painting her smokehouse, and they were trying to check her for a concussion by asking her questions about what day it was and who was the president. She had no patience for this whatsoever and yelled at the doctor that she had fallen on her ass, not her head. 

Edited February 1, 2021 by Zella

[Love2dance]

Happy birthday @madpsych78! Hope you have a lovely celebration.

You should be very proud, @Zella of your health progress. Good job!

@Happyfatchick, I know I bug you every year to please write a book about your family adventures. Well, it’s a new year, so after your last several amazing posts, I’m asking you again. You are such a great storyteller.

[beckie]

Went to sleep early tonight,  and woke up about two hours ago with this incredibly LOUD ringing in my right ear. I've had a headache off and on all week and am prone to really awful attacks of vertigo. Not sure what to do about it. I'd really like to go back to sleep,  but can't because of the loud noise,  but I don't want to go to the hospital because of them being bogged down with covid stuff.

Last time something like this happened,  I had the noise in both ears and it was more like radio frequency that happened for two days then, wham I got hit with the worst attack of vertigo I'd ever had.  Dr's don't know why its happening.  The ear dr speculated after doing the tests that it MIGHT be migraines causing them because afterward I have the worst headaches for days. She also told me that I have some hearing loss in the ear that I'm hearing the loud noise in right now. I'm beginning to wish I had more than some hearing loss in this ear, because its annoying and I really want to go back to bed!

 

[DangerousMinds]

32 minutes ago, beckie said:

Went to sleep early tonight,  and woke up about two hours ago with this incredibly LOUD ringing in my right ear. I've had a headache off and on all week and am prone to really awful attacks of vertigo. Not sure what to do about it. I'd really like to go back to sleep,  but can't because of the loud noise,  but I don't want to go to the hospital because of them being bogged down with covid stuff.

Last time something like this happened,  I had the noise in both ears and it was more like radio frequency that happened for two days then, wham I got hit with the worst attack of vertigo I'd ever had.  Dr's don't know why its happening.  The ear dr speculated after doing the tests that it MIGHT be migraines causing them because afterward I have the worst headaches for days. She also told me that I have some hearing loss in the ear that I'm hearing the loud noise in right now. I'm beginning to wish I had more than some hearing loss in this ear, because its annoying and I really want to go back to bed!

 

That’s scary! Have you ever had any head injuries?

[kav]

1 hour ago, beckie said:

Went to sleep early tonight,  and woke up about two hours ago with this incredibly LOUD ringing in my right ear. I've had a headache off and on all week and am prone to really awful attacks of vertigo. Not sure what to do about it. I'd really like to go back to sleep,  but can't because of the loud noise,  but I don't want to go to the hospital because of them being bogged down with covid stuff.

Last time something like this happened,  I had the noise in both ears and it was more like radio frequency that happened for two days then, wham I got hit with the worst attack of vertigo I'd ever had.  Dr's don't know why its happening.  The ear dr speculated after doing the tests that it MIGHT be migraines causing them because afterward I have the worst headaches for days. She also told me that I have some hearing loss in the ear that I'm hearing the loud noise in right now. I'm beginning to wish I had more than some hearing loss in this ear, because its annoying and I really want to go back to bed!

 

It sounds like it could possibly be Vertigo, but just a thought.  I might have the name wrong, but I know there is something that causes ringing in the ear and selective hearing loss.

[beckie]

34 minutes ago, DangerousMinds said:

That’s scary! Have you ever had any head injuries?

Not that I'm aware of.

[kav]

8 hours ago, Happyfatchick said:

Pfffft.  HOUSTON!!!  Omagahhhh!!!  You should be in Georgia just ONCE when they predict snowfall.  That is a story to live through once.  
Here is the story of our last snow tragedy:

the weather said we were going to have “weather”, but Atlanta was going to be safe.  Snowfall was allllll going to be south of the perimeter.  And so everybody who commutes to the city dropped the kids at their schools and daycares in the burbs and went happily off to work.  As weather savvy as we are (not), Atlanta took their 2 snow worthy pieces of equipment to Forest Park (south of the city) and parked them.  Salt too, mountains of it.  Around 11 in Birmingham (an hour behind and with roughly the same latitude), the first snowflake fell.  The entire city raised its eyebrows collectively and said “this isn’t supposed to be HERE, snowfall is supposed to be south.  SOUTH of here.  But alas, It fell fast, thick and cheerily and within minutes, they were socked in.  It was on the news, how incredible that 2-4 inches of snow could lock down the city.  (Birmingham has about the same icy precip as we do in atanta).  We can’t drive in this crap, it only happens every five years and roads are clear usually by nightfall.  
We have no practice.  By now there were all 1.5 million of my bffs getting rumors that Birmingham got snow- and Atlanta collectively panicked (while praying it would turn SIUTH like the news man SAID).  Buildings closed, offices shut down and E-VER-Y-BODY headed for their various homes in the burbs.  At the same moment.  Everybody.  It was a traffic jam from HELL.  Only... none of us know how to drive in muck, the snowplows and salt are in Forest Park and JOHNNY IS AT DAYCARE!!!!!

a baby was born in a car on the freeway.  People were walking around between cars sharing snacks.  People from nearby apartments were walking up to the freeway with bottled waters and sandwiches and one guy (already home) went and got his baby from grade school on his lawnmower.  Lots of people slept in their cars.  Nobody died.  
other people look at that (John Stewart did a 10 minute segment on it the next night on the Daily Show) and think we are total idiots.  

and maybe we are.  but he didn’t say a dang word about Birmingham, and they did the exact same thing an hour earlier than we did.  But maybe that’s what made us idiots - we saw it happen in real time and still didn’t get out quick enough.  

I believe this was the winter right before I moved to Georgia.  

I remember last year in the Atlanta area in late January we received about an inch of snow and I was so excited to shovel my car out.

 

8 hours ago, MargeGunderson said:

I honestly can’t get that worked up over a snowstorm in my area since the winter of 2014- 2015. We had more than 100 inches of snow, almost all of it during February. It was so bad that the city basically stopped plowing anything but some of the main roads, and we couldn’t get out of our driveway for more than a week. The snow piles were half way up the windows on the first floor. The above-ground portion of the subway near me didn’t run for more than a month. I recall having a complete breakdown on Valentine’s Day because there was another storm and my internet went out. At this point (especially working from home), if it’s not more than 2 feet of snow it’s no big deal.

On the other hand, my family in TN freaks out if there is more than an inch or two, but to be fair they aren’t prepared for it. 

By any chance was this in New England?  I was in MA, and we had so much snow on the field of the school I worked at that the giant pile did not go away until like late April.

[GeeGolly]

10 hours ago, Mindthinkr said:

60 Minutes is doing a segment on genealogy and privacy concerns. 

I watched that too. I was hoping @Zella was watching - we're not paranoid! 😁

Regarding snow. I'm a life long New Englander and my husband grew up in the Great Lakes area and has lived in New England his adult life. Our cities and towns know how to keep our roads clear and we may be used to snow and know how to drive in it, but trust me, snow storms are huge pains in the ass, at least for the first day, and longer if its a big one and/or the power goes out.

Our 'winter of', is the Winter of '78. The '78 memes are already all over FB and this current storm isn't hitting us until today.

So now that I'm in my 50s, please excuse me while I run to the grocery store to grab "milk and bread". There's a snow storm a comin'.

[ChiCricket]

11 hours ago, GeeGolly said:

@Zella😁 <---- please ignore, can't get rid of this🙄

So now that I'm in my 50s, please excuse me while I run to the grocery store to grab "milk and bread". There's a snow storm a comin'.

I found this😂 

Replace Wisconsin with Illinois, and change  the Packers for the Bears if you read it though 😁

Edited February 1, 2021 by ChiCricket

[BetyBee]

@ChiCricket, that is hilarious! And I made the substitutions you suggested! 😉

We had a ton of snow in the Chicago area all through the winter of 78-79. I was very pregnant and it was a rough winter! My husband and I were poor and I didn't have good boots. The snow piled so high in our apt. parking lot, that the garbage men quit picking up (because they couldn't get to the dumpster) and my neighbors took to just throwing their bags of garbage at the humongous mound of snow. I called the health dept. and it got sorted out. Driving was crazy, especially on side streets where you had to creep out into the intersection in order to see if any cars were coming. I will never forget that winter. I was a kid during the blizzard of 67 and it was just fun to me. We had a blast playing in it and for once, school was cancelled. That doesn't happen often for Illinois schools.

[Scarlett45]

1 minute ago, BetyBee said:

@ChiCricket, that is hilarious! And I made the substitutions you suggested! 😉

We had a ton of snow in the Chicago area all through the winter of 78-79. I was very pregnant and it was a rough winter! My husband and I were poor and I didn't have good boots. The snow piled so high in our apt. parking lot, that the garbage men quit picking up (because they couldn't get to the dumpster) and my neighbors took to just throwing their bags of garbage at the humongous mound of snow. I called the health dept. and it got sorted out. Driving was crazy, especially on side streets where you had to creep out into the intersection in order to see if any cars were coming. I will never forget that winter. I was a kid during the blizzard of 67 and it was just fun to me. We had a blast playing in it and for once, school was cancelled. That doesn't happen often for Illinois schools.

My mom was in residency during the winter of 78-79 and got stuck on call! It’s fun to remember things like this and know what other people were doing. (I was not alive!)

[MargeGunderson]

4 hours ago, kav said:

I believe this was the winter right before I moved to Georgia.  

I remember last year in the Atlanta area in late January we received about an inch of snow and I was so excited to shovel my car out.

 

By any chance was this in New England?  I was in MA, and we had so much snow on the field of the school I worked at that the giant pile did not go away until like late April.

Yep, I’m in eastern MA! That was the worst winter. We had water damage from ice dams (I didn’t even know what they are before then) and the weight of the snow killed all of the bushes in my front yard. On the upside, I got to work from home for a month until the subway was fully functional. The one time I went it in took 3 hours each way, and my manager told me not to come in again. My cats liked all the extra time with me!

[QuinnInND]

4 hours ago, kav said:

It sounds like it could possibly be Vertigo, but just a thought.  I might have the name wrong, but I know there is something that causes ringing in the ear and selective hearing loss.

Tinnitus is the ringing in the ears. 

[Scarlett45]

Cosmo knows it’s Monday and we are back to work after vacation. He didn’t even want to walk in the snow at 6am. Here he is (Blake isn’t allowed in the office when I’m trying to work because he likes to walk on the keyboard)

 

[QuinnInND]

11 minutes ago, Scarlett45 said:

Cosmo knows it’s Monday and we are back to work after vacation. He didn’t even want to walk in the snow at 6am. Here he is (Blake isn’t allowed in the office when I’m trying to work because he likes to walk on the keyboard)

 

Awww.. He's just a sweetie and so cute. 

My kids are out playing in the snow before school starts.  They were up before me, wanting to go outside.  So outside they are. The dogs are watching from inside. They don't see the attraction.