what are you doing right now?

[chiver78]

Dec 5, 2023 10:46:48 GMT -5 skeeter said:

I've looked a couple of times, but must have missed the picture/s of the twins andi9899 . 
By chance, can they be posted again?  Was really looking forward to seeing what your fur babies looked like. 

I haven't had a chance to post them yet, the pics she sent me are a smidge too big to be attachments to posts here. I need to crop a little bit. 

ETA: thank you for the reminder. I'll try to do that today. 

[minnesotapaintlady]

Dec 5, 2023 10:51:55 GMT -5 andi9899 said:

Dec 4, 2023 21:28:56 GMT -5 chiver78 said:

I saw a FB meme over the weekend. it was something about the current generation going out on a Tuesday night and calling off work the next day. but those of us of a certain age went out, rolled in sideways with enough time to brush teeth and get to the office still dressed in last night's clothes with the bar stamp on the back of a hand.

he's practicing, so he can join the adults at the table. 😉

I don't think I could pull it off at this age, but I did that when I was younger. Go home to S/S/S and go to work. I might die if I tried that now. And I WFH!

My kid told me he got 6 hours of sleep total the 4 nights he was down there.  He's probably exaggerating, but judging by some of the 3am pictures he texted me...possibly not by much.   

[chiver78]

Dec 5, 2023 10:51:55 GMT -5 andi9899 said:

Dec 4, 2023 21:28:56 GMT -5 chiver78 said:

I saw a FB meme over the weekend. it was something about the current generation going out on a Tuesday night and calling off work the next day. but those of us of a certain age went out, rolled in sideways with enough time to brush teeth and get to the office still dressed in last night's clothes with the bar stamp on the back of a hand.

he's practicing, so he can join the adults at the table. 😉

I don't think I could pull it off at this age, but I did that when I was younger. Go home to S/S/S and go to work. I might die if I tried that now. And I WFH!

lol....same on all counts. 

[Opti]

Dec 5, 2023 10:06:57 GMT -5 andi9899 said:

Dec 4, 2023 14:20:08 GMT -5 Pink Cashmere said:

Last week, 2 guys at my job were talking, J is a 100% disabled veteran and he loves to brag about it, I guess it makes him feel rich or something, The other guy told him he has him beat, he’s also a 100% disabled veteran, he gets another check because he’s retired military, he gets a paycheck from working, and a check for something else I don’t remember. I got distracted from the conversation because I started wondering if he has all of that income, why he’s allowed things to get to the point that he’s missing so many teeth. I know we have decent dental benefits. Man use some of that income and fix your mouth!

I try not to judge people, but I feel like dental stuff is a necessity, and I wondered why someone with access to decent, affordable, dental insurance and all the income he was bragging about, wouldn’t take care of their teeth.

Just a random something that popped into my head while I was reading the retirement stuff here.

Some people just have bad teeth. It seems to be hereditary. My mom's side of the family has awful teeth. She is 71 and has had dentures for about 10 years. Her teeth were basically crumbling. She's never done drugs or had any medical problems outside of typical aging stuff. Her dad didn’t have any teeth really when he died. I had a friend that was in her 40s when she got her dentures because her teeth were so bad.

Pink, does he have ALL that income? How do you know? It might be a reverse brag too. I have it so bad I get money from these four different pots. Getting four different checks every month or whatever time period, tells you nothing about how much in the real that is actually received. A good portion of retired disabled military live in affordable housing, section 8 or are homeless. That alone should hint he is unlikely to be in as good of a financial position as you are now.

I have access to dental insurance now and pay for it at the level it is. (Not always affordable, but available). If you are underfunded like I am often your teeth take a back seat until they have to be more important than current food, clothing, and other medication needs. Speaking from RL experience here. I just got a primary dentist locked back in. Last time I had one was probably in the earlier naughts when I still had IT well paid employment.

[Opti]

Dec 5, 2023 10:26:34 GMT -5 NomoreDramaQ1015 said:

I found out the Christmas frog I got at the thrift store is from Avon and it's a singing frog!  I located the battery pack and put some in.  He works!  He croaks "Jingle Bells".

DH is "SUPER excited" I figured out how to make it sing. 

Can you post a pic of the frog? I want to see how jealous I should be.
Congrats. 

[andi9899]

Dec 5, 2023 10:46:12 GMT -5 soupandstew said:

Dec 5, 2023 10:41:23 GMT -5 andi9899 said:

Can I come over? That sounds delicious!

Sure!  More the merrier 

Don't make me get on a plane. I will.

[TheOtherMe]

I got the best Christmas card yesterday.  It's from my half sister.  She went and got a sister card and gave me her current phone number.

I have been asking for that since dad died.  I hope these means she has at least understood that I didn't do anything to her and I love her and want to be in touch with her.  

I'm busy today and tomorrow but hope to call her Thursday.  I need to know if she is the expected half sibling on Ancestry DNA or if I have another half sister out there.  

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Dec 5, 2023 10:06:57 GMT -5 andi9899 said:

Dec 4, 2023 14:20:08 GMT -5 Pink Cashmere said:

Last week, 2 guys at my job were talking, J is a 100% disabled veteran and he loves to brag about it, I guess it makes him feel rich or something, The other guy told him he has him beat, he’s also a 100% disabled veteran, he gets another check because he’s retired military, he gets a paycheck from working, and a check for something else I don’t remember. I got distracted from the conversation because I started wondering if he has all of that income, why he’s allowed things to get to the point that he’s missing so many teeth. I know we have decent dental benefits. Man use some of that income and fix your mouth!

I try not to judge people, but I feel like dental stuff is a necessity, and I wondered why someone with access to decent, affordable, dental insurance and all the income he was bragging about, wouldn’t take care of their teeth.

Just a random something that popped into my head while I was reading the retirement stuff here.

Some people just have bad teeth. It seems to be hereditary. My mom's side of the family has awful teeth. She is 71 and has had dentures for about 10 years. Her teeth were basically crumbling. She's never done drugs or had any medical problems outside of typical aging stuff. Her dad didn’t have any teeth really when he died. I had a friend that was in her 40s when she got her dentures because her teeth were so bad.

Yep.  Even with dental insurance, some things are very expensive.  About 35 years ago, the enamel started to crumble off of DH’s teeth.  To preserve them, he got them all crowned.  Even with dental insurance, he said that there were paychecks he just signed over to the dentists.

Fast forward to today, and these crowns are now failing.  He just mentioned this morning that another one is biting the dust.  They either fail catastrophically, or peter out.  This one is of the second variety.  It will likely entail a root canal and new crown ($2000) or an implant….about the same price.  Our budget for his mouth is about $5000/year, $1000 for me. Luckily, I have been well under budget this year, but last year my broken tooth was over $2000 to fix.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

I went to FM yesterday to check out the toy section.  Lego sets (around $35 or so) were under lock and key like razor cartridges and pregnancy tests.

[Opti]

Sigh. Some people like to think of scheduled times as suggestions. Since I am home sick, I decided to schedule something that has needed addressing for years, and should be quick. The first time window I picked was this afternoon after their usual lunch, 1PM. Before Noon is not early, it is unexpected and a problem. 


I am going to have to recover from being on the house phone i.e. not mobile while someone starts banging on my front door. I said come back in 5 to 10 (minutes) but it looks like they will just knock off for lunch early?



Oy, was going to call my PCP's office after shepherding a doctor's note via fax to HR. Only he can bump up the strength of my sleep helper meds. Which I need. I need to remember to see if he can add one the doctor at the clinic uses. And have them use the alternate pharmacy, which is reachable on the bus line after work. And does not require a zone differential. <Coughs>




  So tired. I really did not need that scare or being bumped out of my problem-solving zone for work. 

[steph08]

I was just at the dentist this morning, so this discussion is timely.

For 30 years, I never had a cavity. Not one. Ever. 

Then, I had children. I did not throw up during pregnancy. I still had cleanings every six months. I take fantastic care of my teeth. I waterpik. I floss. I brush. I had braces at 12 - I was still wearing my retainers almost every night at 30. 

But, I had children. And with one child, I had gestational diabetes. 

Turns out, sometimes pregnancy and breastfeeding and gestational diabetes can rot your teeth. 

I had something like 13 cavities after my pregnancies (2 kids less than 2 years apart). At 30, I had my first ever shot of Novocain. 

Now, I have had 2 root canals and 2 crowns. 1 crown failed due to dentist ineptitude, took what was left of my tooth and resulted in an implant (that originally failed but finally took). 

Today, I had a full set of x-rays and thankfully everything is looking good. 

This is all to say - do what you can to take care of your teeth but sometimes it just doesn't matter. But I highly recommend the dentist. Find a good one and stick with them! I was with my first dentist for 30 years, he retired and got in a quack (failed crown), left him within a year and love my new practice. 

[Opti]

Wow, thanks for that post. I read recently the stuff that came from the pharmacy for this new to me med. May yellow teeth. If you are under 8 it may be permanent. If you are an adult a cleaning might take care of it if needed or there might be whitening in one's future.

[Artemis Windsong]

Not much except cruising the internet.  Up next for excitement is a new audio book.  Then tuna salad for lunch since H. is gone and can't stand the odor.

[lurkyloo]

Dec 5, 2023 10:51:52 GMT -5 bean29 said:

Dec 5, 2023 10:39:39 GMT -5 giramomma said:

DD1 reminds me her friends are there to see her, not judge our house.

I like your daughter's attitude.  My house is too much of a disaster for me to go with that though.  Hence, the plan for a marathon cleaning session tonight.

This is what I’m saying 

I appreciate all the moral support, and recognize this is primarily an issue of my own feelings of inadequacy running amok.  I’m even less enthusiastic about dealing with those than cleaning or organizing  

We are definitely the fun house.  Neighbor insists her daughter wants to move in with us bc we’re so interactive-Sat we made whoopie pies and color changing lemonade; we’ve been known to make soft pretzels gnocchi and ravioli from scratch, and the pool, switch, kiddie pool of slime, big backyard and indoor trampoline are perennial draws.  I mostly don’t worry too much about what the kids think, which is progress.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

Dec 5, 2023 12:00:08 GMT -5 steph08 said:

I was just at the dentist this morning, so this discussion is timely.

For 30 years, I never had a cavity. Not one. Ever. 

Then, I had children. I did not throw up during pregnancy. I still had cleanings every six months. I take fantastic care of my teeth. I waterpik. I floss. I brush. I had braces at 12 - I was still wearing my retainers almost every night at 30. 

But, I had children. And with one child, I had gestational diabetes. 

Turns out, sometimes pregnancy and breastfeeding and gestational diabetes can rot your teeth. 

I had something like 13 cavities after my pregnancies (2 kids less than 2 years apart). At 30, I had my first ever shot of Novocain. 

Now, I have had 2 root canals and 2 crowns. 1 crown failed due to dentist ineptitude, took what was left of my tooth and resulted in an implant (that originally failed but finally took). 

Today, I had a full set of x-rays and thankfully everything is looking good. 

This is all to say - do what you can to take care of your teeth but sometimes it just doesn't matter. But I highly recommend the dentist. Find a good one and stick with them! I was with my first dentist for 30 years, he retired and got in a quack (failed crown), left him within a year and love my new practice. 

My teeth are doing good but I have a hereditary type of periodontal disease that really reared its head when I got pregnant.  I had to have a deep cleaning. 

Got it under control but I have to go to the dentist 4x a year.

We were getting to where I might be able to go down to two times a year then F-ing COVID struck.  The inflammation due to that caused my gums to flare up again and I am back to 4 times a year.

I think my hormones and possibly my anti-depressant are starting to mess with my teeth again as well.  So far during all my exams I am getting normal numbers so that is good at least but the random bleeding when brushing can be annoying.

According to all my dentists I have roots like a saber tooth tiger and amazing bone density so they are hopefully unlikely to go anywhere if I can keep the gum issues in check.

[lurkyloo]

Friend’s mom had to come through the house downstairs last night bc the boys had carefully planned to hide Friend in a giant amazon box down there and surprise his mom popping out, so that is the immediate inadequacy trigger.  Worth it to see them so pleased with their prank   I also figure it’s a public service bc everyone gets to feel better about their own housekeeping when they see ours 

[giramomma]

Dec 5, 2023 10:51:52 GMT -5 bean29 said:

Dec 5, 2023 10:39:39 GMT -5 giramomma said:

DD1 reminds me her friends are there to see her, not judge our house.

I like your daughter's attitude.  My house is too much of a disaster for me to go with that though.  Hence, the plan for a marathon cleaning session tonight.

Shit. You should see my house.

[azucena]

Dec 5, 2023 10:57:39 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Dec 5, 2023 10:51:55 GMT -5 andi9899 said:

I don't think I could pull it off at this age, but I did that when I was younger. Go home to S/S/S and go to work. I might die if I tried that now. And I WFH!

My kid told me he got 6 hours of sleep total the 4 nights he was down there.  He's probably exaggerating, but judging by some of the 3am pictures he texted me...possibly not by much.   

I seem to remember the days of you being worried because he didn't leave your basement. Curious if he's visiting a friend group and/or significant other? 

[minnesotapaintlady]

Dec 5, 2023 12:37:18 GMT -5 azucena said:

Dec 5, 2023 10:57:39 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

My kid told me he got 6 hours of sleep total the 4 nights he was down there.  He's probably exaggerating, but judging by some of the 3am pictures he texted me...possibly not by much.   

I seem to remember the days of you being worried because he didn't leave your basement. Curious if he's visiting a friend group and/or significant other? 

Oddly enough, he still rarely leaves the basement when home.  Even his room in his rental house is in the basement.  I think it's a group of online gaming/D & D friends.

[NastyWoman]

Dec 5, 2023 10:56:31 GMT -5 chiver78 said:

Dec 5, 2023 10:33:06 GMT -5 azucena said:

Random but the dental conversation reminded me of something new I learned from a friend last week...here's an excerpt of her fb post that she's given permission to share:

    "My untreated hearing loss has been *causing* brain damage. For 25+ years. I always thought of hearing as an ear problem, and that when I finally got around to getting hearing aids, that would fix everything. But my brain has actually been shrinking, and while there will be some improvement in memory and cognitive function with hearing aids, the brain will not bounce back. That significantly increases my risk for some form of dementia as I continue to age."

wow! I definitely would never have connected the two. 

Neither would I but you bet your petootie that I will use this as an excuse if/when I have a brain fart. I don't have to add that I most certainly did not wait all that long before getting hearing aids - only give the minimum of information if and when needed - right?

Oh, and since I promised countrygirl2 a while back:the hearing aids I got at Costco are working very well for me. The only drawback is that I discovered my whisper quiet dishwasher and rather quiet car are not all that quiet at all. On the plus side one of the reasons that I went ahead and got them was my difficulties following conversations in a larger group. I had my annual holiday brunch on Sunday and had no problems at all. If not for Covid I would have done this  years earlier but first WFH and then retiring meant that I am not often in large group settings anymore. Anyway long story short get your ears tested and, if recommended, get the hearing aids

[Pink Cashmere]

Dec 5, 2023 10:06:57 GMT -5 andi9899 said:

Dec 4, 2023 14:20:08 GMT -5 Pink Cashmere said:

Last week, 2 guys at my job were talking, J is a 100% disabled veteran and he loves to brag about it, I guess it makes him feel rich or something, The other guy told him he has him beat, he’s also a 100% disabled veteran, he gets another check because he’s retired military, he gets a paycheck from working, and a check for something else I don’t remember. I got distracted from the conversation because I started wondering if he has all of that income, why he’s allowed things to get to the point that he’s missing so many teeth. I know we have decent dental benefits. Man use some of that income and fix your mouth!

I try not to judge people, but I feel like dental stuff is a necessity, and I wondered why someone with access to decent, affordable, dental insurance and all the income he was bragging about, wouldn’t take care of their teeth.

Just a random something that popped into my head while I was reading the retirement stuff here.

Some people just have bad teeth. It seems to be hereditary. My mom's side of the family has awful teeth. She is 71 and has had dentures for about 10 years. Her teeth were basically crumbling. She's never done drugs or had any medical problems outside of typical aging stuff. Her dad didn’t have any teeth really when he died. I had a friend that was in her 40s when she got her dentures because her teeth were so bad.

I knew someone like that too, just had bad teeth. She was even younger when she got dentures.

I really was only judging the guy I was talking about, not other people. I knew he was missing several teeth, and never thought much about it, until I was looking at him while he was bragging about all of his sources of income, which a wild guess says amounts to close to $200k/year. That was what made me pay more attention, because it was just surprising to me that someone with the means to pay for dental care and at least get some dentures or something, chooses not to. At the very least, I imagine eating must be somewhat challenging.

I have another coworker who appears to only have a couple of teeth in his entire mouth. He’s only been there a few years though, and I don’t know his situation, so besides noticing, I’ve never paid it any attention.

[Pink Cashmere]

Dec 5, 2023 10:46:25 GMT -5 azucena said:

Pink is coming to StL!!!!

My musical and concert budget is out of control. But YOLO, right?

I wish I could! I am pretty sure I will have to work New Years Eve.  

[chiver78]

Dec 5, 2023 12:00:08 GMT -5 steph08 said:

I was just at the dentist this morning, so this discussion is timely.

For 30 years, I never had a cavity. Not one. Ever. 

Then, I had children. I did not throw up during pregnancy. I still had cleanings every six months. I take fantastic care of my teeth. I waterpik. I floss. I brush. I had braces at 12 - I was still wearing my retainers almost every night at 30. 

But, I had children. And with one child, I had gestational diabetes. 

Turns out, sometimes pregnancy and breastfeeding and gestational diabetes can rot your teeth. 

I had something like 13 cavities after my pregnancies (2 kids less than 2 years apart). At 30, I had my first ever shot of Novocain. 

Now, I have had 2 root canals and 2 crowns. 1 crown failed due to dentist ineptitude, took what was left of my tooth and resulted in an implant (that originally failed but finally took). 

Today, I had a full set of x-rays and thankfully everything is looking good. 

This is all to say - do what you can to take care of your teeth but sometimes it just doesn't matter. But I highly recommend the dentist. Find a good one and stick with them! I was with my first dentist for 30 years, he retired and got in a quack (failed crown), left him within a year and love my new practice. 

this!! I was blessed with fantastic teeth, and I'm very thankful for that. the only fillings I have are between upper molars on both sides, from when my teeth were too crowded to properly clean/floss. I've successfully completed Invisalign, and now need floss after eating seaweed salad, like any other normal person.      

I found my current dentist while researching Invisalign in my late 20s. I went in for the consult, and they took molds for the trays before removing my wisdom teeth. yeah, it's like that. I was so traumatized by going to the dentist as a child that once I graduated college and was on my own, I didn't go back to the dentist til I found this office. my parents told me they would pay for the Invisalign if I wanted to go that route.....that seemed like a solid kick in the ass.      anyway, I needed a quadrant scaling first, then a marathon wisdom tooth extraction session* before I could start Invisalign. I ask every cleaning, am I still the record holder for the longest case? yep. 

anyway, this dentist is near my old condo. I've been driving an hour each way to go to this specific office since 2015 when I moved to the Cape. I will continue to do so as long as my current Dr and hygienist are still there. I'm completely at ease going in now, which is just crazy. 

*I told the oral surgeon when she asked about two different appointments, that if she took 2 from one side and I didn't like how it all went, she wasn't seeing me again for the other two. so we agreed to take all four at the same time. 

[Pink Cashmere]

Dec 5, 2023 11:01:13 GMT -5 Opti said:

Dec 5, 2023 10:06:57 GMT -5 andi9899 said:

Some people just have bad teeth. It seems to be hereditary. My mom's side of the family has awful teeth. She is 71 and has had dentures for about 10 years. Her teeth were basically crumbling. She's never done drugs or had any medical problems outside of typical aging stuff. Her dad didn’t have any teeth really when he died. I had a friend that was in her 40s when she got her dentures because her teeth were so bad.

Pink, does he have ALL that income? How do you know? It might be a reverse brag too. I have it so bad I get money from these four different pots. Getting four different checks every month or whatever time period, tells you nothing about how much in the real that is actually received. A good portion of retired disabled military live in affordable housing, section 8 or are homeless. That alone should hint he is unlikely to be in as good of a financial position as you are now.

I have access to dental insurance now and pay for it at the level it is. (Not always affordable, but available). If you are underfunded like I am often your teeth take a back seat until they have to be more important than current food, clothing, and other medication needs. Speaking from RL experience here. I just got a primary dentist locked back in. Last time I had one was probably in the earlier naughts when I still had IT well paid employment.

His base salary is more than mine is. Idk if he works OT. He’s not homeless or living in section 8 housing lol. He retired from the military and came to work for our employer. He’s been at our job for decades. I know how much income disabled veterans get. Just because they are disabled in some way or several ways from their service, does not necessarily mean they are what we would consider handicapped. 

I work with a lot of veterans, many of them I’ve worked with for almost 26 years. Some are retired military, some are disabled veterans, some are both.

He’s not down and out.

[countrygirl2]

We see so many people without teeth around here it's just awful, both young and old. I hate to see a pretty young woman working at McD's with a front top tooth out, but with tattoos and piercings. Can't they see?? But maybe they have parents the same. I would do anything I had to do to keep my teeth good. And I'm hoping after they work for awhile maybe they will get it fixed, it sure isn't something you see at front desks or in many jobs. Wonder if they realize that?

Our son had let his go for awhile and got back to the US and finally got them fixed, he was missing one back aways but you could tell it, he got it fixed. His wife got hers done too, her russian dentistry wasn't good.

What really got me was the couple that bought our last house, she didn't have a tooth in her head.

I had great dental insurance well over 20 years ago and hubs got his worked on the end of one year and first of the next. They did all his back teeth in gold, to this day never had a problem. Now he is going to the dentist this month to have 2 teeth forward of those filled, but its been years since he has been to a dentist, so he is good. We pay for all our cleanings out of pocket and any work, no dental ins. So far we have all kept ours good.Hubs said when he went in the army his were so bad, had not had them cleaned, he had to go 4 different times to get them cleaned, said it hurt awful. He said after that he started brushing and flossing and took care of them. I also wanted him to have nice teeth. I guess just something some people don't put up there as important.

To me bad or no teeth really makes for a class difference be that right or wrong.

[Opti]

Trying to not run screaming into the night and instead chill and remind myself they are the problem. And parts of the problem I have added to intentionally or out of fear to preserve my employment, stop now. Ground hog week/month/Dec 2022 and its new version Dec 2023 ...

 x 1 trillion

[swamp]

So DS got accepted at a second college, SUNY Canton.   

He's probably not going to go there (too close to home, too many kids from his HS go there and he's the proverbial square peg in a round hole), but it's nice to have a backup. 

[swamp]

Speaking of teeth, my esthetician is running a special, buy 3 laser hair removal sessions and get a free teeth whitening session.  I think I'll do it.  

My teeth are actually very nice, but if I can get a whitening session for free, why not? 

[minnesotapaintlady]

Dec 5, 2023 15:24:56 GMT -5 swamp said:

So DS got accepted at a second college, SUNY Canton.   

He's probably not going to go there (too close to home, too many kids from his HS go there and he's the proverbial square peg in a round hole), but it's nice to have a backup. 

Does he know where he wants to go yet? (assuming acceptances and the price point coming in to a do-able level)

[swamp]

Dec 5, 2023 15:45:18 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Dec 5, 2023 15:24:56 GMT -5 swamp said:

So DS got accepted at a second college, SUNY Canton.   

He's probably not going to go there (too close to home, too many kids from his HS go there and he's the proverbial square peg in a round hole), but it's nice to have a backup. 

Does he know where he wants to go yet? (assuming acceptances and the price point coming in to a do-able level)

yes.  Syracuse University is his first choice. 

St. Lawrence University is 2nd, Clarkson University is 3rd.  

And all cost about $80k a year, so unless the financial aid gods cough up some serious cash, he's not going.  

If it's a state school, it's SUNY Plattsburgh.