General Chat

Sharron, forgot to mention, I have placed an order for a larger PC screen! ;=))

Gail glad Boyo is back, I am ready to say some nasty words to my corgi Rosie who is only 15 y/o. I came in the front door after we'd had the kids at the indoor water park for the afternoon, my arms full of wet towels, and promptly fell over the dog. Every time I sit down or turn around, she is right underneath me. One of these days one of us is really going to come to grief.
Liz I feel for you, you are not his doormat or punching bag, neither physical nor verbal.. I hope the time with the counsellor will allow you to get some of this out and reduce your anxiety.
Kids are back to school tomorrow after their "March break". WHEW.
Sadly Sarah had a seizure at the water park today, don't know if it was the fluorescent lights or her trip down the water slide that set her off. Anyway she is fine now.
I am very concerned re Gareth as he has gained 15 pounds since Christmas week. The Dr thinks it's related to the medication he is on, and says he thinks perhaps we should try anti-ADHD med instead, as he is constantly on the move, hopefully it may be able to replace one with the other. Can't have an 8 year old at 89 pounds!! 6.5 stone I do believe.
Hopefully this next week I can get the rest of the stitches out, feels like a burn.

Thinking of you all, today is the official first day of spring here.
Ironic, perhaps poignant, that yesterday I was focused on death and today brings thoughts and signs of new life.How totally appropriate.
Love and hugs,
Mary

Liz this is the first of his nine lives. OH and I had sat down over the weekend and talked about the dreaded decision having to be made if there was no improvement by Monday. Now he is on his way home. He is a very active cat and being locked up at the vets for 8 days is not good and quality of life, zero. The re-leaf this morning on getting the good news was very tearful to say the least.

If you have tears at the councillor, do not worry. Tears are good for you and a release of anxiety as well. So do not worry about crying.

As for the other silly bugger in your life, is he worth getting upset over?

Extra hugs for Liz today.

Gail

Hi Gail,

I am so pleased Boyo is home and ok - how many of his nine lives has he nearly used up? You will feel better once he is shadowing you again and the others follow suit.

Take care of yourself, and hope you can get a holiday later on after all

Love to all - very tired, will copy and paste a post I put on another thread, so you know why. Have the counsellor again today and I know I will end up in tears because of today:

From J.J. Thread - Bit tired tonight as got up early, o.h. was supposed to go to his father's and then back in time to wake me with a cuppa to go out to a National Trust place in Norfolk for the freebie visit. I heard lots of clomping about, had already been woken by neighbour and small grandson shouting, that child has never been taught to speak at a normal volume, he always yells, and then thought I heard o.h. go. I was already thirsty so thought I would get myself a drink and go back to sleep for a couple more hours. Went down to see o.h. in a real paddy, asked why he hadn't gone out and he said the car wouldn't start, the battery was flat! My heart sank as the other week I left the inside light on in the car, by mistake, and if the neighbour hadn't knocked and told me the light was on, he would have had to charge the battery. Then I remembered he used the car last this time - phew! My sigh of relief was in vain, this is a man who keeps jump leads in the garage not in the car (say no more!!!!) and despite my efforts to keep a set in the boot, for emergencies, they weren't there. He had obviously used them and put them somewhere and couldn't remember where, and in hunting for them, found some bags of my papers that I hadn't sorted but had put in the garage temporarily. He was fuming with me as he said the leads were behind the bags, but I think he must have dropped them behind there as I wouldn't have put the bags on top of them. I got it in the neck and he was yelling and shouting at me and as I was tired, I got upset. It turns out the stupid man came home from work on Saturday in the car, and left the key in the ignition, not properly turned off, so he hadn't locked the car and the battery was flat. He couldn't visit his father and was mad at me, I was tired and upset and the last thing I felt like was going out!

After a while he calmed down, charged the car up as the neighbour had gone out so he couldn't get a jumpstart, and I did get ready and we went to the Nat. Trust place which was a lovely old hall, and beautful grounds not far from Cromer where we went for Mother's Day. He even managed to take a wrong exit off a roundabout that he has driven round a million times and then I had to direct him, he couldn't remember us going that way just a week ago. I think his memory is getting worse and I can't stand the thought of being stuck with him if he loses his memory much more, it's a nightmare as it is reminding him of everything and then having to repeat myself constantly, I can't relax at all. He is only 56.


Lizx

So we can all now expect to see Sharron's bum on our PC's, at least you got a look in, we did not even get one of our pets in ours.

Lily, such a sad time for you, think of you.

Mary I know that rawness, I still get it every time I think of my dad, my biggest problem is that my family did not let me grieve or say goodbye in my own way. It is a real kick in the stomach when it happens.

Some good news, boyo (cat) has pulled through, and is coming home at last. He will be on a special diet and medication, but he is doing well. Boyo was given to me by my dad, okay dad had a spare kitten he wanted a home for, so was not ready to let him go. All our pets are special, and it hurts us when they are hurting. But, there goes our holiday this year with vet bills. Hopefully we can get saving again and get the kitty up by August.

Must say I will be so pleased to have my cat shadow back today. The dog and the cats follow me everywhere, and in the past week, none of them have been around me when I am outside or feeding the chickens. It has been very strange. They may think I will have them away at the vets.

Carole, hope you are starting to feel better and getting some sleep.

Caz, miss seeing ya around, but know I am thinking of you.

Love and hugs to all

Gail

Lol Sharron, preserved for posterity lol Can you send an autograph by return please ?

Lizx

There is evidently more than one picture as I have just approached from the other direction and yes,there is my bum in all it's glory,made even more glorious by my cardigan being pushed up to my waste the better to emphasise it.Thank you Google,tee-hee!

Hi everybody.
Just to let you know that I am on Google Earth.Mercifully,I had stood up by the time I was pictured and I am masked by our car but I am still extremely famous and expecting to be asked to go on TV at any time now!

((((((Hugs)))))) to you and all who need them Mary.

Thirty-six years ago today my Dad died after a brief, devastating decline of 3 weeks. For some reason, this year, the memory is surprisingly raw, after all this time. Can we please have a group hug for all those in pain at the moment. My moment will pass quickly I'm sure, but others, for whom the pain is new and acute, have our love and support as they embark on this road.
Mary

Dear Lily, sincere condolences to you and also to your cousin's wife, what a tragic few months she has suffered, bless her heart.
Big hugs to you dear,
Mary

Lily, my friend, I am so sorry to hear of Francis' death, what a loss for the family after so much heartache already. I hope his wife can find a little comfort that Robert has Francis with him now as well as his grandfather, and that they will look after each other and yet be with her in her heart, till they meet again one day.
May Francis rest in peace, after suffering with the cancer and the shock of his son's death.

Take care of yourself,
love
Lizxx

LIzx

Lily please accept my condolences on the death of your cousin, my thoughts are sent to his family, what a sad time they have had this year. he is out of pain now but his family have to carry on, so hard for them.

Hi Everyone, hope that you are all well. Glad Eileen that yoiur night out with family had a nice-ish time.
Carole glad that your daughter is getting over the shock of her friends death.Hope that your holiday is not compramized by your friends sons illness, they are probably trying to come to terms with the shock of his illness and his wellbeing and may not want to burden other people with it yet, to me it felt like i had lost my son that i had known all my life.
MaxiMary it sounds beautiful where you live.
If you can will you please have a thought for my cousin (Francis) who died last night(50 years) from cancer, it was his son (robert) who shot himself after christmas aged 26 years.His wife must be devestated as she lost her father since christmas as well.R.I.P.
YCaz i hope that you are well, have not seen you on here l have not seen you on lately either.
Take care everyone,
Lily

Hello all, I have been reading but not posting. Thank you Mary for the explanation of the sugar bush. Sounds quite a festive occasion.
Eileen, don't feel guilty about taking amitryptaline (sp?) as it is an old drug but a good one. IMHO the old ones are better than the newer SSRI drugs, but they have helped a lot of people, too.
I have been taking doxepin, also an old drug, on and off since 1985. It has a couple of minor side effects-- weight gain, dry mouth and makes me sleepy so I take it at night. Another thing I like about it is the cost. In Australia, we pay up to 33 dollars for each drug and doxepin costs about 17. On the dose I take at the moment that is for a bit under a month's supply. Oh, for a decent NHS.
Dutch, who used to post on this board seems to be going through a rough patch, as I am sure others are.
{hugs} to all I have missed mentioning. Colin

The school library for the books is a wonderful idea, maybe you could have a 'donated by, in memory of' inside the cover.

Liz, you should know that it is nearly noon here and I have done nothing all morning!! Are you proud of me?
To translate a couple of my previous comments.
'Sugar bush' is a stand or wood of sugar maple trees. The trees are 'tapped' in the spring as soon as the sap starts to run, they pop a little tap/spigot into the tree, then the sap drips into tubular buckets fastened to the sides of each tree trunk. The collected liquid clear sap is then boiled,and boiled and boiled to reduce the liquid into syrup. They also make what they call 'taffy' I would call it toffee, by pouring a bit of the boiled syrup onto (clean)snow, where it hardens up quickly. They have a log cabin where brekkie is served, then you jump on a hay cart for a ride down into the little valley where the 'bush' is. They take you on a guided walking tour through the wood and demonstrate how the Canadian Indians used to boil the syrup in a huge pot over an open fire (that wasn't our smartest move, the fire was MUCH too interesting to Gareth, as was the stream running through the property). At the end of the tour you go into the "sugar shack" for a demonstration - where the syrup is being boiled down in huge vats, esp interesting to someone seeing it for the first time. The kids LOVED the hayride and they each left with a maple sugar lollipop. (maple sugar results from boiling the syrup longer till it thickens and hardens.)
Now I have to explain 'pot luck'. Basically it's a buffet meal where everyone contributes a 'pot' of some fav food, and everyone shares, "takes their luck". As there is a great cross-section of ethnic backgrounds among the staff, the pot luck suppers tend to be very diverse and tasty.We will have Indian food, Italian food, Philippino food, Peruvian food, PuertoRican food, African food,Greek food etc etc. At the pot luck suppers I've attended I usually provided a large pile of Welsh cakes!! I really appreciate their doing this, they were talking about a restaurant but I expressed concern that many of the staff are struggling finanically and I didn't want anyone to feel pressured into paying top price at a restaurant, when they may not really be able to afford it. This is wonderful that they've decided to do it this way.
Thanks for the suggestions about the books.
Perhaps I will donate some of them to the school library.
Another lovely sunny day but a bit chilly, never mind, the sun is out.
I think we are going to the indoor water park later for a couple hours. let them wear off some energy.
Have a good day all.Mary

Must take washing off soon…feel rather smug at being able to dry it outside after the v.cold miserable weather we all had to suffer.

Am pleased to see your cat Boyo is on the mend Gail.Will def. Ask daughter to see to the Firefox or Chrome thingy when she has some spare time-as IF.

After reading your post Puss, I feel less guilty for taking Amitriptyline since 2006.Have thought about trying to ease myself off it, but, things (life) are far too difficult to deal with at times, so need my ‘crutch’.Others on this thread advised me to carry on with the meds., not long after I started posting here, was very grateful for the support, still am.

Must shift my backside off this chair and get something done.

Am useless at remembering all your names, but do have a little place in my heart for each of you.

Take care. Eileen

Mary, I am off to bed in a moment, you have made me very tired, just thinking of what you get up to.

Carole, glad you are on the mend hopefully the meds continue their magic.

Has Caz changed her e-mail, I keep getting things sent back, Caz if you have I had some photos to send.

Boyo, puss, is much brighter today, vet is very pleased. Boyo has a very sweet nature, today he attacked, bit and scratched the vet and his nurse when they tried to take blood. Now he has never done such a thing before but vet stated is is a good response. He has also started to eat and drink also promising. So no more needles as vet said he does not want to upset him again. Boyo is as big as a Maine Coon Cat, and more of a dog than a cat as is my shadow. Fingers crossed he continues to get well.

Eileen I agree with Carole, I use FireFox and never have a problem. Google Chrome is also great.

New York, so much to see and do Carole. Have fun, wish I could fit in a suitcase.

Ann my post often disappear into the great ciber space of never to be seen again, total mystery.

Deanna must be too comfy in her new chair, come out an play Deanna.

love and hugs

Gail at 1 AM

Hello from a very sunny, warm Holland.The washing I hung out an hour ago, is almost dry!

Will ask daughter to dowload Chrome or Firefox one of these days.I did ask her before, but she said it wasn’t necessary, so am using the Word program as Colin advised. Am amazed that I was able to. The box doesn’t jump around like a flea in a fit now.Lol.

Flying is def. Shorter Ann, but….ah well, we can’t have everything.

Lily, it wasn’t so bad as imagined last night, in fact, it turned out to be a pleasant evening No really bad drunks, maybe things hotted up after we left?.Only negative side to it was the ringing in our ears, probs. With balance…this was due to the giant loudspeakers blaring in our ears.Stupid of me, I didn’t understand why there was a space of a meter, in the completely jammed pub…everyone kept as much distsance as poss. from the loudspeakers. The band was a awful as we expected….and, I found my coat soaked in beer…had tucked it under one of the bars on a stool…

Mary, if we lived near each other, I would jump at the chance to have those books!! Ann has come up a brilliant solution though.
Just reading about all your activities makes me feel almost exhausted…lol.Btw, is the ‘sugar bush’ a restaurant or nature reserve etc.? Have never heard of this before. To be honest, the idea of maple syrup over bacon etc. doesn’t appeal much, have never liked sweet & savoury foods mixed, but your day out sounds idyllic.

Hope you are all having plenty of sunshine wherever you are.

Be safe. Eileen