Small Talk: We'll Be Right Back

[chessiegal]

18 minutes ago, mmecorday said:

I think it's the time of year, but I have been missing my maternal grandmother so much lately. She died 21 years ago, and I still think about her just about every day. She was an excellent cook and had her own catering business. I remember one day I told her that I was really craving one of her Yankee pot roasts and hot homemade yeast rolls. I came home from school the next day and she told me to come over to her house in an hour or so, supper was all prepared for us (I lived next door to my grandparents when I was growing up.) She had made the roast and the rolls while I was at school. We sat together in her dining room, which was only used for company and at Thanksgiving and Christmas, and we shared that delicious meal. I make pot roast today and it's good, but it's not quite like hers. She had other grandchildren, but I think I was her favorite.

Great, Now I'm crying.

Aww - what a wonderful memory. I never lived near any close relatives, still don't. I'm a step mom and grandma to kids many miles away. I love them all. My youngest stepdaughter visited when she was a teen and said she wanted to learn how to make Crème Brule. I didn't know either, but we learned how o do it together. It was delicious.

[proserpina65]

Regarding the insurance talk:

Quote

Is  that per unit price though? Like each unit would be $2500 for every $9.95 you added a month.

I have no idea.  I don't have that kind of insurance so I don't know how it works.  But $2500 would go a long way towards paying off my car loan, so my point that it's not an insignificant amount of money to some of us still stands.

[peacheslatour]

15 minutes ago, proserpina65 said:

Regarding the insurance talk:

I have no idea.  I don't have that kind of insurance so I don't know how it works.  But $2500 would go a long way towards paying off my car loan, so my point that it's not an insignificant amount of money to some of us still stands.

After you pay your final expenses?

[proserpina65]

On ‎11‎/‎15‎/‎2019 at 4:56 PM, peacheslatour said:

After you pay your final expenses?

I was thinking more in terms of in the event of my mother's death, what I could do with her insurance, but my heirs could certainly use my insurance money to pay off some bills.

[peacheslatour]

1 hour ago, proserpina65 said:

I was thinking more in terms of in the event of my mother's death, what I could do with her insurance, but my heirs could certainly use my insurance money to pay off some bills.

The point I was making is that when people get older they often have illness's which require long term care, hospitalization and if your family goes for that sort of thing, a funeral. $2500. is a drop in the ocean compared to those costs.

[proserpina65]

1 hour ago, peacheslatour said:

The point I was making is that when people get older they often have illness's which require long term care, hospitalization and if your family goes for that sort of thing, a funeral. $2500. is a drop in the ocean compared to those costs.

That's true, but it's not nothing.  $2500 can be a huge help depending on your finances.  It's not a piddly amount.

[peacheslatour]

9 minutes ago, proserpina65 said:

That's true, but it's not nothing.  $2500 can be a huge help depending on your finances.  It's not a piddly amount.

I'm taking care of my dad right now. He is in assisted living. It costs an average of $8500. per month. $2500 would last about a week.

[proserpina65]

Just now, peacheslatour said:

I'm taking care of my dad right now. He is in assisted living. It costs an average of $8500. per month. $2500 would last about a week.

I'm very sorry to hear that.

[funky-rat]

I could be way off base, and I admittedly ignore most of those commercials, but I always thought the $2500 was considered a supplement to coverage someone else has that may no longer be sufficient in today's times, and were unable to get more coverage any way else.

I have a policy on my husband and I that I started in our 20's.  I'm now in my 40's, and looked in to upping it.  I made the mistake of buying a policy that inscreases exponentially the older I get.  In just a few years, it's going to double in cost.  By the time I'm at retirement age, it's going to be like $1000 per month (I currently pay $25).  So in the next year, I'm going to have to get serious about a new policy.  When I bought that policy, I had no clue.  Sometimes I think they like it that way.

[Ashforth]

@Prevailing Wind, is Ad-Blocker+ a browser setting or a download? I use Chrome as my browser.

The new ads on these forums are about to drive me away.

[Prevailing Wind]

I use Firefox and Ad-Blocker+ is an add-on for it. Chrome probably has something similar, if not the same thing. I don't get the ads, but I do get fairly large gaps between some posts.

I'm too old - I don't buy much "stuff" anymore, so almost all ads are irrelevant to me; nobody's losing any revenue by my using an ad-blocker.

Edited November 19, 2019 by Prevailing Wind

[Popples]

1 hour ago, Ashforth said:

@Prevailing Wind, is Ad-Blocker+ a browser setting or a download? I use Chrome as my browser.

The new ads on these forums are about to drive me away.

I use Chrome and Ad-Block is a downloadable extension. Click on the three vertical dots in the top right corner under the X. Then go down to "More Tools" that will have an arrow next to it. Then go to "Extensions" and a new tab will pop up and you can search for ad-blockers.

I had to start using them because on some sites they would have the ads that would automatically play sound and stay on a loop and made it impossible to scroll past them. I used to feel slightly guilty about it, but if I'm unable to do anything on the site, they'd still lose ad revenue from me because I would stop visiting them.

[Jaded]

UBlock Origin uses less resources, doesn't have deals with particular companies to not block their ads and doesn't ask for donations. I was an Adblock + user until UBlock Origin came along.

[Silver Raven]

I use AdBlock, but there are a lot of news sites that won't let you in unless you disable it for their pages.  It's annoying.

[Ashforth]

I don't know whether it's the change I made to my settings in Chrome or if the forum admins dealt with the problem, but I'm not having the herky-jerky issue any longer. I didn't download anything. 

[peacheslatour]

20 hours ago, Silver Raven said:

I use AdBlock, but there are a lot of news sites that won't let you in unless you disable it for their pages.  It's annoying.

If you're using Chrome you can right click and use incognito mode.

[Popples]

6 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

If you're using Chrome you can right click and use incognito mode.

  It depends on what site. The New York Times, for instance, cuts off most of the article wanting the visitor to sign up for a free account if you use incognito.  

[ebk57]

On 11/22/2019 at 6:33 PM, Ashforth said:

I don't know whether it's the change I made to my settings in Chrome or if the forum admins dealt with the problem, but I'm not having the herky-jerky issue any longer. I didn't download anything. 

What settings did you change?  I hate the page-loading issues.  And I don't care about having ads - I'd think that the site wouldn't want folks using ad blockers because, you know, revenue.  So they should fix the page-load issues, dammit.   

[Ashforth]

On 11/24/2019 at 2:19 PM, ebk57 said:

What settings did you change?  I hate the page-loading issues.  And I don't care about having ads - I'd think that the site wouldn't want folks using ad blockers because, you know, revenue.  So they should fix the page-load issues, dammit.   

Honestly, I'm not sure what I changed. I already had the standard pop-up blocker on. I wandered thru the settings and did a thing or two and then changed them back when they didn't seem to work. My gut instinct is that the forum admins made a change I haven't gone to the Bugs forum to check.

[Ashforth]

🍗🥕🍠🥧🥂

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

[Annber03]

Happy Thanksgiving! Hope everyone celebrating has a great holiday (and safe travels, too-I know the weather's supposed to be messy in quite a few places this weekend). 

[smittykins]

Don’t gobble-gobble too much! 🦃

[ABay]

5 hours ago, smittykins said:

Don’t gobble-gobble too much! 🦃

Too late.

[Colleenna]

1 hour ago, ABay said:

Too late.

Gobble till you wobble? 

[mmecorday]

I'm almost 50 years old and I cooked my first turkey today! It was just a turkey breast, but I'm pretty darn proud that it turned out not only edible but delicious! I coasted the turkey in butter (real butter, none of that plant butter nonsense), salt and pepper and a drizzle of olive oil. I put a cup and a half of dry white wine, a cup and a half of water, lemon slices and sprigs of fresh thyme in the roasting pan. Very flavorful, not dry at all. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Edited November 29, 2019 by mmecorday

[Bastet]

13 hours ago, mmecorday said:

Very flavorful, not dry at all.

I'm glad you had such success on your first try!

Since there are only three of us, we always do a turkey breast.  We brine it, and then baste with butter while grilling it (this year was in the oven due to heavy rain, but it's usually done on a charcoal grill as we go camping [in a motorhome] for Thanksgiving).  I am a big proponent of brining meats that can tend towards the dry, like thin-cut pork chops.

[Prevailing Wind]

I ate so much of my SIL's cooking yesterday, I STILL have heartburn.

[Ashforth]

6 hours ago, Bastet said:

I'm glad you had such success on your first try!

Since there are only three of us, we always do a turkey breast.  We brine it, and then baste with butter while grilling it (this year was in the oven due to heavy rain, but it's usually done on a charcoal grill as we go camping [in a motorhome] for Thanksgiving).  I am a big proponent of brining meats that can tend towards the dry, like thin-cut pork chops.

Brining is the magic of meat! Wet brines for poultry and pork, dry brine for beef.

[Ashforth]

Sad news for those of us who value grammar. I'm not sure what the Apostrophe Protection Society actually did, but still...

https://www.npr.org/2019/12/02/784063204/founder-of-apostrophe-protection-society-disbands-group

"the ignorance and laziness present in modern times have won."

I have a persistent thought that we are regressing to the times of cave paintings and pretty soon all communication will be accomplished using only emojis.

Edited December 3, 2019 by Ashforth

[mmecorday]

Oh, Peloton gifting hubby, the internet is onto you and thinks you might be an abusive asshole. Seriously, I don't get Peloton at all. Are there scheduled live rides throughout the day? I thought the advantage of having a machine like this is that you get to use it when you have time. But maybe you have to get up at 6 a.m. (yay!) to join a class or do a "hard 20" after a long day at work because that's when your pigtailed instructor is going to congratulate you on your 50th ride? https://www.pajiba.com/miscellaneous/save-the-peloton-ad-lady-from-her-horrible-husband.php?fbclid=IwAR1PPymnTqo8has6SOrbOvDh5eUbkJm6L8Ay6nuigRdAXHkWrI8hjAcGSRw

[Ashforth]

I've lost the quote now, but the actor who plays the husband in the much-loathed Christmas gift Peloton commercial was interviewed and he sincerely wondered why people were creating so many narratives that extrapolated their feelings about the ad.

I feel for him in that his face is being associated with the negative feelings people have about the character he plays in the ad, but I can tell him that people are creating narratives because that is what people do. I work in the field of trial law, and I can tell him from experience that JURORS - who are supposed to make decisions based solely on the evidence presented at trial - frequently make up their own versions of events to "support" what they think the verdict should be.

One that stands out is when we learned that several jurors on a case in which a couple sued because their house was damaged decided that the couple was just in it for the money so they could split in when they got divorced. Because the couple didn't hold hands during the trial.  That was many years ago, the verdict ignored the evidence, they are still married.

[janie jones]

1 hour ago, Ashforth said:

I can tell him that people are creating narratives because that is what people do.

Yeah, isn't that what people do when they watch/read a narrative?  Make inferences about people's motivations?  I'm pretty sure I was required to do that about 2.7 million times in my k-12 education.  This website wouldn't exist if people didn't do that. 

[friendperidot]

re grocery shopping/ordering on line and having them delivered, I love it. I'm not crazy about Walmart, but it's the only delivery option I have in my part of town. I don't have a car and I can no longer walk long distances or even be on my feet for long, so it's a godsend for someone else to pick up my groceries for me. Taxis to and from the closest Walmart run me $10 each way plus tip. The delivery fee is $7.50 plus tip. There are things I don't want substituted, but I have to remember to mark those. I make pico de gallo often, so fresh tomatoes, peppers, onions, cilantro are important to me. The person doing the picking so far does a good job in picking out more what I want. I do wish there was a place to add notes about substitutions. Some things, I'd be ok with a substitution of brand, but not size and sometimes, size substitution is ok, but not brand. Maybe they'll get to that point some day.

And now just a little story that even is on topic, sort of about commercials. I got my Chewy delivery today, dog food and Christmas toys for the dogs and the cat. (my sister's, I'm allergic, but I though he needed a new toy.) I usually get Quark, my pit bull, Kong stuffed animals because those are his favorite toys.  Favorite toys is a judgement based on how quickly he destroys them and removes all stuffing. He's got a couple from 2 years ago that are nearly intact. He doesn't like them. But I saw Underdog in the stuffed dog toys, so I ordered him, he's not Kong, so it's an experiment to see how Underdog holds up. Quark loves him! And differently than most of his toys. He's carried that toy around all day, he took it outside, but he brought it back in! He's taken toys outside before, but I have to go retrieve them. And Underdog doesn't squeak, he says, "There's no need to fear! Underdog is here!" The first time Quark stepped on the toy and it did that he was so startled, I laughed out loud. I'm getting him Woody Woodpecker next month. He is now dismembering Underdog, I can hear him across the room.

[Prevailing Wind]

InstaCart is good with substitution. They'll text when the store is out of what  you want & they give you a link where you can "talk" to your shopper to get the right substitution.  We had a problem today when the first shopper's car wouldn't start, so they were late with my order, needing to find another shopper. I apologized to her for sounding cranky - I've had a cold for 11 days now, which explains the boxes of Kleenex, the chicken soup and the GALLON of OJ.  When she brought me the groceries, she said they were having a BOGO on Progresso Soup, so she got me twice the soup for the same money, figuring I'd need it.

It's SO nice not to have to lug cat litter up the steps to my condo.  I've recommended them to my neighbor, who's in a second story walk-up and needs knee surgery. This is gonna be such a relief to her and her hubby not to have to carry heavy groceries up two flights.

[elle]

11 minutes ago, Prevailing Wind said:

I've had a cold for 11 days now, which explains the boxes of Kleenex, the chicken soup and the GALLON of OJ.  

Excuse me for being nosy.  Have you had a fever during that time even a slight one?  Are you coughing?  I ask because my teen was sick recently with what we thought was a cold. Long story short turns out she had pnuemonia.  Her symptoms were not something that would have made us think that or even bronchitis. The most telling symptom was an elevated heart rate.  The nurse told us that any fever, even as low as 99o , lingering three days should be checked out.  Felt so foolish I didn't know that.  I've been telling anyone who will listen.

[Prevailing Wind]

Yes, I'm coughing, but, no, no fever. I've had two different pneumonia vaccinations, too. I think it's just a cold that won't let go. Just when I think I'm getting better, I start sneezing again and the whole cycle re-starts. When I called in sick today, I asked the office manager to send one of the vets over to do an at-home euthanasia to put me out of my misery. Stuff tastes funny, too, because of the clogged nasal passages.  Woke up with a rip-roaring headache this AM, and then realized I didn't have any caffeine yesterday, so I consumed some caffeine and the headache's gone; nose is still clogged, still coughing up a lung every now and then. I'm drinking so much orange juice, I'm starting to turn orange.  So now I'm thinking maybe it's NOT spray-on tan that Trump uses - he's just drinking too much orange juice. LOL.

But thanks for the concern. It IS an important thing to know.

[SoMuchTV]

5 hours ago, Prevailing Wind said:

When I called in sick today, I asked the office manager to send one of the vets over to do an at-home euthanasia to put me out of my misery.

Just checking in to make sure your office staff was not accommodating. 

[smittykins]

Feel better soon, @Prevailing Wind.

[friendperidot]

I swear by Zicam for colds. I've been using it for about 15 years and as soon as my eyes start that feeling like I've been crying for 12 hours, I reach for it. It comes in nasal swabs, nasal spray, throat spray, chewable tabs and I think nose drops. I prefer the nasal swabs. I started using it many years ago when everybody in my office starting getting this horrific cold, they were all so sick, but we weren't allowed off unless we were practically on our death beds. I started feeling bad on Friday afternoon, but it was Saturday morning before I could get to the drug store. I started feeling better and by Monday all my symptoms were gone, everyone else was still coughing, sneezing and were generally miserable, some even had the nerve to call in sick. I've kept Zicam on hand ever since. It does not help one little bit with the flu, been there and done that. But for colds, I cannot say enough about how good it is.

[proserpina65]

On ‎12‎/‎10‎/‎2019 at 12:16 AM, Prevailing Wind said:

It's SO nice not to have to lug cat litter up the steps to my condo.  I've recommended them to my neighbor, who's in a second story walk-up and needs knee surgery. This is gonna be such a relief to her and her hubby not to have to carry heavy groceries up two flights.

They actually carry the delivery up the stairs?  Wow.  Around here, it comes to your front step if you have an outside door, or to the designated mail area if you live in a condo/apartment building.  You still have to lug it in/up stairs yourself.

Obviously there are many perfectly legitimate reasons to use curbside pickup and/or delivery, including "I just want to".  It's not something I would do except in emergency circumstances, but I don't begrudge anyone their choice to use such a service.

I do, however, find Chewy.com's commercials a bit disingenuous though, especially when they talk about how much you'll save.  I did some research and discovered that only one of the cat products I purchase on a regular basis would be cheaper from Chewy, and the others would actually be more expensive.

[chessiegal]

My cat is on a prescription cat food - Chewy saves me over $7/case, plus I don't have to check with the vet to make sure they have it, then drive there, lug it to my car, then lug it into the house. It's made my life easier with money savings.

[GaT]

On 12/9/2019 at 9:39 PM, elle said:

Excuse me for being nosy.  Have you had a fever during that time even a slight one?  Are you coughing?  I ask because my teen was sick recently with what we thought was a cold. Long story short turns out she had pnuemonia.  Her symptoms were not something that would have made us think that or even bronchitis. The most telling symptom was an elevated heart rate.  The nurse told us that any fever, even as low as 99o , lingering three days should be checked out.  Felt so foolish I didn't know that.  I've been telling anyone who will listen.

Just curious, but did she hear something that sounded like a cat purring? As someone who has "enjoyed" having pneumonia three times, after the first time I recognized the warning sign of "not just a cold" & it was the sound of a purring cat which drove me crazy (since I didn't have a cat). Turns out that's the sound from the fluid in your lungs bubbling which is a bad thing, & a good indicator of pneumonia. 

[Colleenna]

57 minutes ago, proserpina65 said:

They actually carry the delivery up the stairs?  Wow.  Around here, it comes to your front step if you have an outside door, or to the designated mail area if you live in a condo/apartment building.  You still have to lug it in/up stairs yourself.

Obviously there are many perfectly legitimate reasons to use curbside pickup and/or delivery, including "I just want to".  It's not something I would do except in emergency circumstances, but I don't begrudge anyone their choice to use such a service.

I do, however, find Chewy.com's commercials a bit disingenuous though, especially when they talk about how much you'll save.  I did some research and discovered that only one of the cat products I purchase on a regular basis would be cheaper from Chewy, and the others would actually be more expensive.

That's interesting. The cat food I buy is $3 less per 30 can box than at Walmart. Since I buy 4 boxes a month, that's a $12 saving. On top of that, I save an additional 15% because I do Autoship..... Truly a case of YMMV. :-)

[proserpina65]

1 minute ago, Colleenna said:

That's interesting. The cat food I buy is $3 less per 30 can box than at Walmart. Since I buy 4 boxes a month, that's a $12 saving. On top of that, I save an additional 15% because I do Autoship..... Truly a case of YMMV. :-)

The canned cat food I buy was approximately 5 cents less on Chewy; the dry food was $2 more for one brand and $3 for another.  Autoship is pointless for me; I don't want it sent on a regular basis.  I buy the food when I need it, and that varies from month to month.

I also don't buy name brand food for the ferals I feed, and store brand at Walmart is much, much less expensive.

Now, I live 5 minutes from the nearest Walmart, so that makes a difference, too.

[Prevailing Wind]

UPDATE: Feeling somewhat better today - actually out of the jammies and into real clothes!

[peacheslatour]

14 minutes ago, Prevailing Wind said:

UPDATE: Feeling somewhat better today - actually out of the jammies and into real clothes!

Yay!

[elle]

4 hours ago, GaT said:

Just curious, but did she hear something that sounded like a cat purring? As someone who has "enjoyed" having pneumonia three times, after the first time I recognized the warning sign of "not just a cold" & it was the sound of a purring cat which drove me crazy (since I didn't have a cat). Turns out that's the sound from the fluid in your lungs bubbling which is a bad thing, & a good indicator of pneumonia. 

No, she never mentioned that and she would have. Her cough sounded dry.  She gets a cold every year usually brought on by allergies.  We thought that was what this was. Didn't even think to check her temperature until about two days in because she didn't feel warm.  It wasn't until she mentioned feeling cold then hot that I dug out the thermometer. 

Thank you for sharing that symptom. I am sorry to hear that you have had to experience it more than once.

On 12/10/2019 at 11:14 AM, Prevailing Wind said:

(extra quote box)

3 hours ago, Prevailing Wind said:

UPDATE: Feeling somewhat better today - actually out of the jammies and into real clothes!

Good to hear you are on the mend!  Are you less orange now?

Edited December 12, 2019 by elle

[mojoween]

Not to derail the conversation but speaking of cats...it’s picture day!

[peacheslatour]

He's majestic as hell.

[Brookside]

11 hours ago, mojoween said:

Not to derail the conversation but speaking of cats...it’s picture day!

Hello Grumpy Cat.  (I'd be Grumpy Me if forced to sit on Santa's lap.)