Happy Place: Gratefulness And Smiles

[Anduin]

While catching up on some random bit of European history, I discovered this studly specimen, Philip the Handsome. What a hunk, hey? Aren't you sad you live 500 years too late to have him?

My best guess, beauty standards were vastly different back then.

[PRgal]

10 hours ago, Anduin said:

While catching up on some random bit of European history, I discovered this studly specimen, Philip the Handsome. What a hunk, hey? Aren't you sad you live 500 years too late to have him?

My best guess, beauty standards were vastly different back then.

That or it was pure sarcasm.  

[Anduin]

12 minutes ago, PRgal said:

That or it was pure sarcasm.  

Nope. Under the eiphets section, it looks genuine.

Quote

Many contemporaries noticed Philip's physical attractiveness. Vincenzo Querini, the Venetian ambassador, described Philip as "physically beautiful, vigorous and rich" (bello di corpo, gagliardo e prospero). Peter Martyr d'Anghiera and Lorenzo de Padilla also noted his good looks.[73][74] When Louis XII of France saw him, the king said, "What a handsome prince!" (Que voilà un beau prince)."[75]

 

[Snow Apple]

On 2/6/2025 at 7:24 AM, Anduin said:

Nope. Under the eiphets section, it looks genuine.

 

I  love reading about history and who's who and what's what. His wife, the daughter of Isabella and Ferdinand, was cruelly called "Joanna the Mad" and her story is heartbreaking. 

Edited February 7 by Snow Apple

[Anela]

I spent the entire day out with my dad, because he had a light day, and it was just what I needed.  

I also used up all the data I had left, until the 17th, so I couldn’t keep checking social media, or anything else.  

[PRgal]

We had our annual Spin of Prosperity dinner last weekend, delayed one week because my parents had to be out of town. It was Winterlicious (an annual restaurant festival.  Technically not annual, since there's also a Summerlicious, but it's not really the same thing), so there was a limited a la carte menu, but the prix fixe had things that I eat, so we were good!  Kiddo ordered from the children's menu, and THANK GOODNESS the kids' menu is more sophisticated than other places!!!  Kiddo had steak frites.

 And yesterday, my husband and I had an early Valentine's Day dinner, ordering takeout from a nice Italian restaurant and having a dessert (below) I picked up earlier in the day.

[Anduin]

Out and about today, I found myself in a room with five women. If anything happened, I was outnumbered. From that sprung the thought, imagine being mugged by the Spice Girls. You'd never live it down.

[SweetieDarling]

4 hours ago, Anduin said:

Out and about today, I found myself in a room with five women. If anything happened, I was outnumbered. From that sprung the thought, imagine being mugged by the Spice Girls. You'd never live it down.

Years ago there was a guy going around South Philly exposing himself to young girls. A group of girls from a local Catholic high school caught him and beat the crap out of him. You don't mess with South Philly girls!

[Anduin]

14 minutes ago, SweetieDarling said:

Years ago there was a guy going around South Philly exposing himself to young girls. A group of girls from a local Catholic high school caught him and beat the crap out of him. You don't mess with South Philly girls!

Serves him right! I hope they kicked him fair in the nuts. He deserves it.

[Blergh]

OK, my neck of the woods got a shot of winter weather early Wednesday morning which made a tricky commute but otherwise wasn't too much of an issue.

 The city didn't pick up the garbage and recycle that I'd put out on the street that day. ..or even Thursday or Friday when everything had melted.

BUT this morning Iheard garbage trucks driving through so I think this means that I've FINALLY had my garbage and recycle picked up! HOORAY!

[graybrown bird]

With the world in turmoil I know this is small potatoes, but I've had my first cataract surgery (second eye is tomorrow) and I can see CLEARLY without glasses for the first time since I was 10! (I'm in my mid-70s now.)  It is wonderful!  Thank you, modern science and superbly trained professionals!

[Wiendish Fitch]

That's wonderful! Modern science IS a blessing, isn't it?

[Dimity]

5 minutes ago, graybrown bird said:

With the world in turmoil I know this is small potatoes, but I've had my first cataract surgery (second eye is tomorrow) and I can see CLEARLY without glasses for the first time since I was 10! (I'm in my mid-70s now.)  It is wonderful!  Thank you, modern science and superbly trained professionals!

Isn't it glorious?  I remember being so afraid of the surgery and then it was easy peasy.  I found it took me a few days to stop pushing up my imaginary glasses on my nose and reaching for the glasses I no longer needed when I woke up in the morning!

Enjoy!

[EtheltoTillie]

Good for you on the cataract surgery.  It was also life changing for me.  I had it 5 years ago.

[PRgal]

 

On 3/18/2025 at 10:49 AM, graybrown bird said:

With the world in turmoil I know this is small potatoes, but I've had my first cataract surgery (second eye is tomorrow) and I can see CLEARLY without glasses for the first time since I was 10! (I'm in my mid-70s now.)  It is wonderful!  Thank you, modern science and superbly trained professionals!

Sounds amazing!  Why do they do one eye at a time?  And is your vision lopsided because only one eye has been done so far?  I once accidentally switched my contacts and it was...weird.

[AgathaC]

Congratulations on your vision and successful surgery!

My father and grandfather are/were ophthalmologists who did cataract surgery for years. It feels scary having people do things to your eye, but it really is super easy.

When it came time for my grandfather to have his done, they actually had to give him something to increase his heart rate before they could put him under. He was too calm and relaxed!

[EtheltoTillie]

1 hour ago, PRgal said:

 

Sounds amazing!  Why do they do one eye at a time?  And is your vision lopsided because only one eye has been done so far?  I once accidentally switched my contacts and it was...weird.

Ha I once did that with contacts and didn't figure it out right away.  Weird

No, of course they do one eye at a time.  I think no one would want to ever take a risk of losing both eyes at once. Slim chance but you just wouldn't do that.  My vision was not really lopsided during that one month period because I still wore the contact lens in the other eye.  But you could immediately see the effect of just the one eye after the first surgery. 

[graybrown bird]

1 hour ago, PRgal said:

 

Sounds amazing!  Why do they do one eye at a time?  And is your vision lopsided because only one eye has been done so far?  I once accidentally switched my contacts and it was...weird.

As far as I know, cataract surgery is almost always done one eye at a time so it gives one eye a chance to heal before the other one is done.  You are correct that vision between the two surgeries is lopsided.  In my case, I've always been extremely near-sighted so the difference between my operated eye (with 'distance' vision as my focal choice) and the non-operated eye was huge.  This is the reason the interval between my two surgeries was just one week. (The usual interval is two weeks, I think.)  But the vision in my operated eye was so good almost immediately that it took over my eyesight so I could see well ( the brain discounts the info from the still-blurry eye).

I am getting used to needing "readers" for using my phone, reading a book, etc.  Love looking across the room, across the street, or up into the trees and seeing clearly!

One minor peeve : The complicated and prolonged schedule of eye drops required before and after the surgery -- three kinds of drops, two of which go on for 28 days post-op.  BUT so worth this bit of effort!

Edited March 20 by graybrown bird
Added a thought.

[Dimity]

My six year old granddaughter is in competitive dance (I did not know there was such a thing) and in today's competition her group (5 girls and she is the teeny tiniest!) took home the gold.  The second place team got platinum and this has me puzzled.  But mine not to question why, mine but to beam with pride 😁.

[Blergh]

OK, having not had a COVID shot since September, I decided to see if I could get one now and, after checking out my local supermarket's clinic and not wanting to pay the $100+ bucks for it, I checked out my pharmacy chain and discovered that they WOULD do it.

Anyway, after doing the whole scan, then filling out the online form, I got it done yesterday morning for $0 which I'm rather grateful for due to worries about medicine and vaccine prices in these times.

Moreover, since I've got recurring asthma and I'm caring for my 90-something Mama while working, I wanted to reduce the probability of getting this affliction to pass it on to her (and, yes, despite the disses I'm still masking anytime I leave the house or car- though hoping that there are invisible forcefields around me whenever I eat maskless with others).

OK, it's DONE and I'm thankful that I should be covered for about six more months AND that I just have a slightly sore left arm that should be okay by the time I go back to work tomorrow morning!

 

[PRgal]

21 hours ago, Dimity said:

My six year old granddaughter is in competitive dance (I did not know there was such a thing) and in today's competition her group (5 girls and she is the teeny tiniest!) took home the gold.  The second place team got platinum and this has me puzzled.  But mine not to question why, mine but to beam with pride 😁.

 

I have a few friends whose daughters do this.  I'm not too familiar, being a mom to a "traditionally boy" son (think mud, insects, trucks and stuff like that), but it IS a thing.  My little guy is also tiny for his age...sometimes, I feel like he has to "prove" his masculinity by "playing rough." 

[supposebly]

Good news in March. And yes, there are some from the US.

 

[athousandclowns]

On 3/23/2025 at 2:25 PM, Blergh said:

OK, having not had a COVID shot since September, I decided to see if I could get one now and, after checking out my local supermarket's clinic and not wanting to pay the $100+ bucks for it, I checked out my pharmacy chain and discovered that they WOULD do it.

Anyway, after doing the whole scan, then filling out the online form, I got it done yesterday morning for $0 which I'm rather grateful for due to worries about medicine and vaccine prices in these times.

Moreover, since I've got recurring asthma and I'm caring for my 90-something Mama while working, I wanted to reduce the probability of getting this affliction to pass it on to her (and, yes, despite the disses I'm still masking anytime I leave the house or car- though hoping that there are invisible forcefields around me whenever I eat maskless with others).

OK, it's DONE and I'm thankful that I should be covered for about six more months AND that I just have a slightly sore left arm that should be okay by the time I go back to work tomorrow morning!

 

I got a text from my pharmacy at the grocery store saying I need the recommended second Covid vaccine. Since they don’t put it on a card for you anymore I must have looked up on the government site 3 times at my vaccine record and I’ve had 8 ! ,   Yet it’s circled in red saying overdue 3/11 25  my last dose was 9/11/24 right before I went on family vacation. Geez how many do we need ? The other questionable  thing government record says I have overdue DTP as of 1/14/25 I had one at the ER when I hit my head on a cabinet 7/4/24 I thought they lasted 10 years as shown I had one in 2010 for a job.   Whoops this is dangerously in  WRONG forum but I’m happy as snot I’ve not had COVID 

Thanks for that YouTube link supposedly im going to follow him 

[KWalkerInc]

I'm grateful that the (unusual for our area) severe weather never materialized today.  I wish that others in the area would be happy about this instead of getting  mad at the meterologist on our local station, who is getting all sorts of crap even though he thoroughly explained what happened to change things (for the better).  The worst part is that people aren't even upset over needlessly worrying; they just WANTED the storms because they think it would be cool.

I'm also grateful that this computer, which I turned off and unplugged because of the potential storm, did decide to continue to be operational even though it really does not like to be turned off or re-started.

[Browncoat]

I love that Kermit the Frog has been chosen to be the speaker at the University of Maryland's commencement this year.