(NEW) SMART SPENDING CHAT THREAD

[Sharon]

Jan 31, 2017 23:18:55 GMT -5 Peace77 said:

Sharon,

What about a gift card for lunch such as Panera Bread?

My Mom always liked treats such as chocolate or pastry.

I could go for something like that except Mom hates gift cards.  She is also into the whole queen for the day thing.  Birthdays are your special day and you are to be treated special.   We frequently tangle over how I choose to celebrate my birthday.  She can't figure out why I don't want a huge fuss made.  Last year I got out foxed and Mom managed to arrange a family birthday for me at the local pizza place.  My niece was in town, from out of state, and wanted to have pizza one night.  Mom arranged for that night to be on my birthday, without consulting me.  I thought she was going to have a stroke when I dared to make my own birthday cake. 

Okay I knew it would upset her that I made my own cake so I did it on purpose since she saw fit to make those other arrangements.   Sometimes I feel the need to push back and try and set some type of boundaries.

I did find a local theater production that is putting on a comedy.  The tickets aren't too badly priced.  I tried to buy them online but it wouldn't let me so I will call them tomorrow.

ETA:  When dealing with my Mom there is her way and the wrong way.

[Peace77]

Tickets to a comedy sound like a good idea. Hope she enjoys the play.

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

Month #1 of eating my veggies = WIN! Woo hooo!

Month #1 of my wonderful DH's deployment = DONE! Woo hooo!

Not much going on around here ~ just life. Picked up our taxes from CPA today .... they've now been e-filed. In a few weeks I will go online and see when our refund will hit the bank account. (Yes, I know ... I know ... "you're giving an interest-free loan to the government, Harvie") Then I visited Trader Joes on the way home and bought egg salads, eggplant hummus, shredded carrots, bananas.  Came home, looked in the fridge, and discovered I had one opened bag of shredded carrots and one unopened bag of shredded carrots ... plus the new bag. At lunch, I finished the open bag. For some weird reasons, I need to quell my urge to buy shredded carrots every time I pass them in a produce department.

I've been trying to get some fresh air and sunshine on sunny days .... that's been the last 3 days in a row... so, yay. Of course, we've got clouds in the forecast. We're pretty much in the 60s for the next 10 days.... with 3 days of possible rain. No more overnights in the 30s, either..... solidly in the 40s for the next 10 days. I am enjoying this nice weather while it lasts ... last year, we hit 90 in March!

All is well with my wonderful DH. He has taken to sending me random food photos, which is interesting as I try to figure WHAT he's eating. He did mention that Diet Mountain Dews costs $1 per can there .... which ought to help him cut back on his intake. (He is not a coffee drinker)

So far, I've been able to get Jack in every night except 1 for the month of January ... yay! He's getting used to coming in, which is good. Still, I prefer the nights that I find him around 8pm and less so the nights when it's after 11pm! I'm also feeling better that the overnight lows aren't quite as low as they were in December and January. Good thing he likes toys, wet food, and neck rubs. This has also served to cut down on his bringing live rats onto the Catio later at night, too. (EEEK!)  (For those of you not up to speed on Jack ... he used to be the neighbor's outdoor cat but they moved away. This is the 3rd winter where we've been kidnapping him on winter evenings and locking him inside in a heated bed. We've also been putting flea meds on him for 3 years and providing vet care when he got sick. They moved a few months ago ... so Jack is now officially OURS. Our cats are all indoor-only. But Jack does not get along well enough with our kitty crew to cause World War III by keeping him inside with full house access.) 

[TheOtherMe]

Thanks for the get well wishes.  Yes, I am home and I am tired.  You don't get to sleep much in hospitals.

After the test that about did me in (nuclear imaging in one of those tubes), doctors think I have a problem with my gall bladder.  Thought that at the ER but then did the nuclear imaging Sunday morning.  Had a very rough night on Saturday so I just wanted to sleep on Sunday.  Took me for the test about 8:45 AM.  Test is a 60 minute test and I wasn't supposed to move.  They had put a warm blanket on me when bringing me from my room to the room for the test.  That machine put out a ton of heat and I got totally overheated.

To top things off, the gall bladder didn't appear for those 60 minutes.  That meant a dose of morphine because that makes the gall bladder appear.  I did make them give me about a 20 minute break and had them find a fan.  Also got a television so I could at least watch something and divert my mind from being still.  Gall bladder did appear.

I was told there was evidence of previous gall bladder attacks as well as gall stones.  Surgeon had stopped by on Saturday and said surgery did not need to be performed ASAP.  I'm thinking surgery is in my future as I have an appointment with a surgeon on February 14. 

At least my niece (my medical POA) works in surgery and knows all the surgeons.  Surgeon smiled when I told him she was my niece.  She told me he is probably her favorite general surgeon.  She likes a lot of the specialty surgeons but says some surgeons are just jerks. 

This has totally complicated my diet and I don't go to the nutritionist until after the surgeon. 

[Sharon]

I don't understand hospitals and the need to overheat you.  When I went for my mammogram last spring it was a very warm spring day and she was trying to give me a heated gown.  I told her no, it is warm outside, this building is plenty warm and I am prone to hot flashes.  She got me a room temperature gown.

We are on tap for another bout of wintery weather.  Possibly snow tonight or tomorrow followed by some freezing rain for Friday.  Fortunately we are to be back into rain by Friday evening or Saturday.

[wvugurl26]

I hope they get it figured out soon taxpro.

My options were immediate surgery to take the gallbladder out or live on antibiotics and whatever I could keep down for a month plus the pain I was in. I opted for surgery immediately. As it was I waited two days in the hospital to get on their schedule.

I'm not sure I would have been able to wait the four weeks anyway. I was very dehydrated and it was very infected. My white blood cell count was quite high. If I look at my labs, that number only started really going down once the gallbladder was out. This despite several days of 24-7 IV antibiotics and two different kinds. So I'm not sure they would have let me go with that kind of injection raging in my body.

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

I did some grocery shopping and laundry today ... woo hoo. Of course, the laundry is still in the dryer (does that still count?)  All of the avocados in the store were rock-hard, so I skipped them.

[TheOtherMe]

Feb 1, 2017 22:26:02 GMT -5 wvugurl26 said:

I hope they get it figured out soon taxpro.

My options were immediate surgery to take the gallbladder out or live on antibiotics and whatever I could keep down for a month plus the pain I was in. I opted for surgery immediately. As it was I waited two days in the hospital to get on their schedule.

I'm not sure I would have been able to wait the four weeks anyway. I was very dehydrated and it was very infected. My white blood cell count was quite high. If I look at my labs, that number only started really going down once the gallbladder was out. This despite several days of 24-7 IV antibiotics and two different kinds. So I'm not sure they would have let me go with that kind of injection raging in my body.

I saw my doctor today and the results of the nuclear medicine scan do indicate surgery is necessary.  She is concerned because my potassium count is so low.  She prescribed medication for that 3 times per day. 

I am dehydrated.  Thus, the potassium problem.  No infection at this point.  Surgeon said on Friday he didn't think immediate removal of the gall bladder was necessary.  We will see if potassium has not come up by Monday what is decided. 

I'm told liver function has returned to normal.  It's the potassium that is out of whack.

I actually felt hungry for the first time in a month last night and still feel that way today.  Dr. told me to eat a bland diet.  I hope I am not looking at a month wait for surgery.  I probably am since I don't see the surgeon until Feb. 14. 

Immediate surgery was discussed by the medical team last weekend and they decided against it.

My niece, the surgical nurse, said the surgery is much easier if done when not in a major flare up.  My doctor said it's inflamed. 

[Sharon]

I had my gall bladder out around 20 years ago.  It actually went fairly well and really the only issue afterwards was if I ate foods that were too high in fat.  Even now store bought cake with the piles of greasy frosting will kind of upset my stomach. 

[wvugurl26]

Taxpro I hope you can get some fluids down.

I think the infection might have been the tipping point for me. It wasn't emergency surgery, I waited two days to get on the surgeon's schedule but I wasn't leaving the hospital until I had surgery.

Despite inflammation and infection my surgery was fine. I recovered nicely.

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

Evenings are awfully quiet with my wonderful DH deployed. I did get to speak with him briefly on the telephone tonight, which was nice. All is well with him. We had rain last night and a bit today, but not very much (at least at my house) We've also got rain forecast for Friday, Sunday and next Friday ... subject to changes, of course. All 10 days are forecast for the 60s ... with overnights in the mid-40s to mid-50s or so. This concludes your weather report for central California. (smile)

I am still on my "eat more veggies" kick ~ and just generally really trying to be more mindful about what I'm eating. Picked up a pork chop at the store this afternoon, had that tonight with some mushrooms, greens, carrots, and some baked beans. I've got more mushrooms for tomorrow night, too. (And ~ of course ~ more greens and shredded carrots.) I also picked up some apples, cabbage and tomatoes at the store. Oh, and garbanzo beans. You will also be pleased to note that not only did I manage to remember to bring in the mail today (missed it yesterday), but I also managed to get my clean clothes OUT of the dryer, folded/hung up and generally "put away!"

Haven't seen Jack the Cat yet tonight ~ went out twice and called him. It's nice out (57.6 degrees), so I assume he's wandering happily around and looking for mousies. He did come in and hang out for an hour or two this afternoon and then wanted out again. I will keep trying until bedtime at which point I lock up the doors and he's on his own. Now that the super cold time of the year has passed, I will try not to worry so much. (Who am I kidding? Of course I will worry about him until he's tucked safely inside!)

Did I mention that my wonderful DH's pay issue will be fixed Feb 8? They seemed to have left one day off his pay for some inexplicable reason ... so on February 8 he will get paid for January 16 (it was missing from his Feb 1 pay.) At least this was easy to get fixed, right?

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

We had three kittens adopted today at Petco .... two of them were blind. All three were adorable. I got in plenty of kitten snuggling and cuddling today. (We still have two more blind kittens from the litter)

Talked to my wonderful DH tonight. He mentioned he may be out of communication for a few days ~ lack of internet. I'm glad he told me so I don't worry.

We got 1" of rain in an hour this afternoon and some parts of our City flooded. (We average 11" of rain in an entire YEAR ... so that was a lot.) There's some photos in the news story  (if you're interested) www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article130700779.html

[TheOtherMe]

Feb 2, 2017 21:21:27 GMT -5 wvugurl26 said:

Taxpro I hope you can get some fluids down.

I think the infection might have been the tipping point for me. It wasn't emergency surgery, I waited two days to get on the surgeon's schedule but I wasn't leaving the hospital until I had surgery.

Despite inflammation and infection my surgery was fine. I recovered nicely.

Last week at this time, the doctors were trying to decide if my gall gladder was coming out Saturday or Sunday.

Niece tells me surgeon only does surgery two days a week and one of the days isn't Friday, which is when my sister is off. 

Taking potassium tablets--big huge horse pills.

At three meals yesterday and breakfast this morning.  Drinking water.  Doing the best I can until I can get the gall bladder removed.

Niece said as long as they don't have to go to the big cut, recovery should not be bad.  From what I'm reading online, about 10 days.  Don't know what restrictions are.  As long as I can lift Lucy.

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

Three kittens adopted today at Petco.

[TheOtherMe]

Did blood work today.  Potassium is almost back to normal.  Dosage cut from 3 doses per day to 1 and keep eating!

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

We're forecast for clouds or rain all week long ~ no sunshine.

Went to Sprouts today. Will hit a different store tomorrow because ~ of course ~ no single store carries everything I want.  Friend is picking up sushi tomorrow night and coming over to watch a movie. Yay! A social life.

All is well with my wonderful DH.

[TheOtherMe]

Feb 6, 2017 23:49:08 GMT -5 ❤ mollymouser ❤ said:

All is well with my wonderful DH.

Great news. 

[TheOtherMe]

Harvie mentioned recently about expired yogurt.  Saturday I went to our local grocery/appliance store.  One of the things I bought was Easy Mac.  I know, but don't judge me.  Went to fix it on Saturday evening and it expired in November 2016.  I'm not eating food that has been expired that long so yesterday I returned it.

[Sharon]

We had a very long power outage last night so dinner was a bowl of cheerios with a banana.  I always pack my lunch in the evening since I don't do mornings well. No power = no hot water so I couldn't wash up all the little containers I use for my lunch so today's lunch was soup at Panera.  It tasted good.  I have picked up a cold this week so soup was a good choice.

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

Dinner tonight was sushi and yogurt. Yep, you can tell when my wonderful DH is gone, can't you?

Jack is safely tucked in.

Did some grocery shopping today and dragged the trash can up (in between rainstorms) Suppose to be 70 and partly cloudy tomorrow. Guess winter's over. The trees are getting buds and blossoms and I've got TWO blooming daffodils.

Went and got a foot massage today. It was relaxing and anxiety-producing (I'm ticklish!)

[TheOtherMe]

Finishing up the last of boxing up the paperwork on my volunteer rep payee.  By this time tomorrow, she will no longer be my client.

[TheOtherMe]

Easily found all paperwork (went back to 2011).  Didn't fit in one box.  It's in a box and a very full binder.

I will be so happy to be done with this. 

Once I have the gall bladder surgery, I will look in to volunteering some place where I can actually enjoy.

They were some clients I enjoyed, but not all.  One client didn't fit the profile for the service so if a volunteer didn't do it, they would have had to say no.  Her sister had been a major donor to the charity and they didn't want to tell her no.  I paid her sister's bills until she passed away. 

I do have some good memories from this but this final client has been a nightmare from day one and some days were worse than others. 

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

Jack is safely tucked in. He came in for a while this afternoon, too. He's definitely appreciative of our canned food, our toys, and getting petted.

Had been waiting to get my insulin delivered via UPS and it came today ~ yay! (I always like when I'm home when it arrives so I can stick it in the fridge before it gets stolen off our porch). Unlike most other packages which come in neutral cardboard boxes that sort of blend in with our front porch area, the insulin comes with ice packs in this large white styrofoam box that REALLY stands out from the street. Fortunately, we only have to deal with this every 90 days. But all of my regular meds come from the online pharmacy for insurance reasons.

It's rather amazing that the pay people have managed to mess up something ELSE on my wonderful DH's pay, isn't it? The Feb 15 pay stub (available now online) shows that they've shorted his Basic Allowance for Housing by $217.35. (sigh) Do you suppose there will be at least one thing wrong with every single paycheck between now and when he returns?  I emailed my wonderful DH so he can follow up with his base. (And ~ as always ~ this isn't a crisis, it's an annoyance)

I did some bush and tree trimming out front today, and picked a half-dozen grapefruit and lined them up on the curbside cable box in the hopes that one or more of my neighbors (or the gardeners tomorrow) will make them go away. (I can't eat them, and I hate to see them wasted, ya know?) The gardeners come tomorrow ... and so does Jenna (personal trainer) to torment and torture me.

Rain forecast for Thursday and Friday. We're pretty soggy.

[Sharon]

We are also getting quite a bit of rain.  The other day I opened the back patio door and Oreo shot outside.  I didn't even realize she was in the room.  Then I had to laugh when she realized it was raining and that she didn't really want to be out there.  Of course she wouldn't come back in when I opened the door but just stand there in the doorway and rub her face on the edge of the door.  I got the treats out and then she decided she would come back in.

I'm still fighting a cold.  I just worked a partial day yesterday and then decided to take the whole day off today.

[TheOtherMe]

Rep payee client is done for me!!!  I feel like the weight of the world has been lifted from my shoulders.  I did not know that they now charge $41 per month for the service.  Since I was a volunteer, she didn't have to pay but she will now.

Rant about Social Security:  Since I told them I was quitting, right after I got out of hospital, the agency has been trying to talk to a human at Social Security to get the rep payee changed.  Nobody would answer emails or return phone calls.  Even faxed them yesterday.  Employee called supervisor's number today and she had a million excuses about why nobody bothered to return calls, etc.  She did acknowledge getting the fax yesterday.  Employee explained situation and she said somebody who could help would call back.  Surprisingly somebody did call back.  I can not believe that nobody bothered to send an email or return a phone call in 2 weeks.

Of course, a bill that was being sent directly to me arrived in today's mail.  I'm going to forward it to the agency.

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

We had 14 plastic bins filled with cats dumped at the rescue between 4 and 5am this morning.
www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article131817339.html

[Sharon]

Tonight is the play performance that I got tickets to for Mom's birthday and I still have a stinking cold.  While I feel a lot better I hope I am not "THAT PERSON" who sniffles, clears their throat or coughs.  I am going to hit the store today and get some hard candies to slip into my pocket and some more mucinex to try and dry out more of this congestion.

[snapdragon]

Feb 9, 2017 21:07:11 GMT -5 ❤ mollymouser ❤ said:

We had 14 plastic bins filled with cats dumped at the rescue between 4 and 5am this morning.
www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article131817339.html

Molly people just suck sometimes. I have lots of thoughts on this - some good others bad. 

[Sharon]

The play last night was good and the venue was really interesting.  This little theater has been in the area for years but I have never been up there.  It is nestled in a really wooded area.  You walk through trees/ferns etc to get to the actual building.  When you enter the building you walk right into the seating area.  It has seats for 200-250 people.  It doesn't really have a stage but more of this open area.  It is a really intimate setting for a performance.  At intermission you can go back outside and stand on a nice wooden deck or go downstairs, from the deck, to an area where they sell wine/soda/water.  When we left I could hear water from a creek but couldn't see it.

[TheOtherMe]

Feb 9, 2017 21:07:11 GMT -5 ❤ mollymouser ❤ said:

We had 14 plastic bins filled with cats dumped at the rescue between 4 and 5am this morning.
www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article131817339.html

For how horrible this is, at least they left them at a rescue.

I adopted two kittens.  Their litter had been found in a dumpster.  I will be forever grateful to whoever found them and took them to the humane society.  The jerks that dumped the kittens also had shot one of my babies with a BB gun.