how about drinking?

Jazzy, sounds like you have a great year planned, good for you! I show your posts currently at 9999! I've been here since 08and only have half of that!

Wacko, so you did see the doc about your tummy? And now more problems? Good grief! What a gorgeous infinity pewl. You got your MMJ card didn't you?

Teka and Celia, good to see you goils in the lounge.

LOL at the pooping house!

Celia, sorry you had to cancel dinner plans.

Illona, been to Roswell. Went there on some anniversary, was a parade and such.Was funny, we were asking where all the doings were and the locals had no idea. We thought it pretty lame, unlike Jazzy! Looks like you and hubby enjoyed it.

Cindy, I was thinking the same thing about the ¼ mile walk, but in below 0 temps, I don't think so! How long of a drive is it from TX to FL. How long is Donese there for? Oh shoot, I see she is headed home tomorrow.

Cami, you did chemo 2 different times? Sorry some of your peeps are sick. I hope you don't get it. Glad to hear that Leslie has things lined up and her friend could help. AND….to have both done.

Your right Goldie...1/4 mile is far in the freezing cold. I cant take the cold at all any more. I will listen next time when Donese says to pack warm clothes. This time around it was one 9 hour day and one 10. 5 hour day....really should only be about two 8 hour days but traffic was an issue and the weather also.

NM.....Yes, stay inside. and cold toilet seats suck!

Hope you find your missing stone Jazzy.

Had a great night Cammi..thank you. We were supposed to go out to visit a friend today but decided to just be lazy and stay in...its raining and its just kind of blech out there and being Donese's last night it will be nice to just share it together alone. Her flight tomorrow isn't until 645pm so we will go see my parents and have linner after work and then take her to the airport. Hopefully no travel issues tomorrow. She used to be so nervous about travel but not anymore. I think I helped her with that phobia. Speaking of travel...I've been at work 4 hours and 45mins and only have taken 2 calls. It can just stay this way.

Later taters

Happy New Years friends! More music for you folks in the frigid temps (eek Teka!) Fast forward the video to 1:30 for the music (lots of other junk up front on this clip).

Just posting pics of my other foot. Will reply to everyone in the morning. The middle of the foot burns, hurts and itches.

Happy New Year, pink drinkin' buddies!

Lori, what a bummer about your foot! Hoping a compounding pharmacist can make you a cream with lidocaine in it to keep the burning at bay. Benadryl cream can help with the itching.

Dara, so unfair that your belly needed debridement. (Was watching a TiVOed episode of "The Good Doctor" the other night, and was driven buck-fug nuts by characters playing doctors pronouncing it "de-BRIDE-ment"). Hope they can find a treatment that won't put you out of commission for your new job.

Gordy texted back a photo of Leslie's family & him enjoying New Year's Eve dinner at their house. His smile looked genuine, so I was relieved (and he texted me a fireworks GIF at midnight).

We had a rather intimate gathering last night. Was supposed to be 14 of us, even w/o Gordy & Leslie (who are still down in Houston). First, on Friday two of our friends called to say they were staying down in Hilton Head an extra day (can't blame them). I gave the restaurant our final headcount of 12. Then, my BFF e-mailed to say her DH was having a rough time on his prescribed "drug holiday" and that only she'd attend. Down to 11. An hour before dinnertime, my housekeeper (whose car's heater was still broken) texted that her DH, who was going to drive them in his car, had a cold, and she didn't want to leave him home and drive his car. Down to a party of 9. My friend Joan, who came up from Minooka to stay over, and we bundled up and walked to the restaurant, at 12F with no wind. (I wore long johns beneath my fancy sequined velour pants set). For the first time in 4 years, I donned "Lamb Chop" (my long shearling hooded coat), with matching hat and mittens. A muffler covered my mouth and glasses covered my eyes--only my cheeks & nose were exposed. Was toasty-warm everywhere else. But Joan (similarly bundled but in wool & down) had to walk slowly due to having had two angioplasties and being in her seventies. For the first time ever, I had to walk slowly. But we made it there just fine, and sat down.

A mug of steaming-hot apple cider with rum was set before each of us. Heck, yeah. In walked one of Bob's colleagues (the widower of a dear friend of mine who died last June) from Oak Lawn with his son (one of Gordy's two lifelong BFFs) who'd flown in from L.A. Then my BFF walked in. I asked if her son & his fiancee were parking the car. "Didn't they call or text you?" I shook my head. Turns out the fiancee's mom had decided at the last moment to fly up from St. Louis and her plane was late. Okay--now down to a party of 7. Another friend walked in. Phoned Bob to find out how close he was: he informed me he'd been slammed with admissions for the two doctors whose calls he was covering, and would be lucky to make it home for champagne at midnight. But he wanted the entire 5-course meal to go, as the hospital cafeteria had closed before dusk and he was starving. So we were down to a final headcount of 6--but with a dinner check for 7. We ordered only one bottle each of prosecco & Jovino (OR) Pinot Noir (3 of us had seafood, 3 meat). To my delight, the house sent us not a prosecco, but an actual "trad. method" (akin to champagne) sparkler, Ferrari Brut, from the Veneto. (All bottles were $30 per--which made more sense than the usual wine-pairings for each course). I felt sort of sorry for the restaurant, because we weren't by any means the only party with major cancellations. One guy, a pilot, with whom we'd often sat at winemaker dinners, came over--his wife, still a flight attendant, left right after dessert to work a last-minute red-eye to L.A., so we invited him to sit with us for coffee. The friends from Oak Lawn left after dessert, because they didn't want to leave their dogs alone for too long. But they gave Joan a lift back to our place. so I gave her my door key because she'd doubtless get there before the remaining three of us.

We walked home as fast as our legs (and sidewalk conditions) could carry us. (And once again, I was requested to slow down)! Joan reached the front porch about 30 seconds ahead of us. And just as we were taking off our coats & boots, Bob walked in the back door. So we sat, drank coffee and talked till about 11:30--but then Kathy had to leave because her DH had texted her that he was having an anxiety attack. So as the clock struck midnight, only four of us raised our glasses of Taittinger Brut La Francaise to toast the New Year. (And of course, we still had a table full of midnight munchies for 12. We had to set aside the taco chips, which we caught one of our kitties happily licking).

_________________________

An episode of the local PBS restaurant review series "Check, Please!"--in which each of three people pick their fave restaurants and have the others eat at and review them--had one person give her occupation as "wine consultant" but pronounce the German wine terms "spatlese" and "auslese"--supposed to be "SPATE-lay-zuh" and "OWSH-lay-zuh"--as "SPOT-luh-ZAY" and "OSS-luh-ZAY" as if the words were French! Remind me not to ask her for wine advice. (Sorry about the lack of accent marks--my keyboard isn't bringing up those boxes when I press & hold a key, but instead just repeats the letter. No way to fix that under "System Preferences").

Good Morning, Loungettes!Happy first working day of 2018, at least for me. Another bitterly cold day here, but should warm up some over the next couple of days as we get ready for the next snow storm. Silly Sadie wasn't very silly this ayem, she stuck her nose out the door, gave me a dirty look, and ran back to the bed room and back into bed!

CynCyn--don't blame you for having a quiet last day with Donese, and I hope her travels are smooth. Sounds like you've been good for her.

Teka--Love the Poem!

Jazzy--nice song.

Mema--Good luck with the smoking cessation. It can make a huge difference in healing after surgery.

Goldie--oh, ouch. That looks so painful.

Morning, Illi!

Chi--oh, my, what a dinner saga! And what a hassle with the computer!

Lit Teetotaler's DOTD:

Flaming Huscroft Ingredients

• 2 oz Southern Comfort
• 1 oz Beer
• 1 oz Vodka
• 1/4 oz Everclear
• 1/2 oz Spiced Rum
• 24 Ice
• 4 oz Soda Water
• 1 oz Mountain Dew

Directions

Throw all in a glass and ignite. When flame goes down, chug but make sure you have a chaser, or you're in trouble.

Best served in a Beer Mug.

Good Morning,

Sounds like your evening went well...so nice to spend time with friends. Is Gordy your son?

Poor Sadie. Got you beat by one day NM...I returned to work yesterday and here I am again today..good thing is I'm on vaca again the 8th-22 of Jan....Jodi, My DD will arrive on the 8th.

Oh Goldie....ouchie

Mema , Good luck with everything...you can do this.

Talk later

xoxo

Had a glass of so-so “champagne” (probably Andre or Cook’s) at my gig tonight, but it was bought for me and it would have been churlish to turn it down. Did have two cups of hot Earl Grey with lemon & honey. Took a Lyft to the club--cheaper than I’d expected. My drinks were free, my dinner half-price, so no complaints. I got paid half again more than expected, and a colleague drove me home—so I came out ahead after all. The show went very well. Amazingly, it was warmer when we left the club at 11 pm than at 7:15 when I set out.

Gordy got home about 2am (flight delayed half an hour, and had to circle). He and Leslie’s folks hit it off quite well. Fingers crossed!

Hey all!

I'm going backwards on these, so bear with me. First of all I finally started Taxol and so far, so much less horrible than the Red Devil. Thank you thank you thank you!

ChiSandy,

I had Barefoot Sweet Red. Not bad at all. My dad preferred Korbels, but that was the brandy I believe, not the champagne that he drank. Anyway, I also tried my first Tom & Jerry's, but the mix was homemade by a friend. Delish. 😊

I'm glad you had a good show! 😊

I'm not sure I followed any of the post regarding the computer problems. I'm not illiterate by any means when it comes to the computer, but that one requires 5 reads before I perhaps follow it.

CeliaC

Hello, I'm newish to this site…September/October.

NM,

Sounds like the bitter cold here in Minnesota. So awful. I refuse to leave the house if I don't have to, so I'm with Sadie.

I need to try Downtown Abby! I'm binge re-watching charmed. Lol!

There is also some kind of drama in my family. Lol! Oh well.

And taxes…I do tax forms for 5500s at work and I have done my own on taxact.com for years. SO I'm no expert, but I throw it on tax act for them and show them how to use it. It's made pretty simple if you don't have anything overly complicated to report. Otherwise, I have accountant friends that I tap on. I will have to do that this year due to my book and wanting to be sure I'm writing things off correctly, which I don't think that I am.

Goldie,

Your poor feet, though reminds me to watch mine as they are so dry no matter how much stuff I put on them. Time to get the expensive stuff. Heal up fast. ☹

MemaSue56

Good luck with the surgery and quitting. I was not strong enough. I tried the gum and lozenges which only burned my mouth and I ended up spitting it out. I think I will have to try Chantix, which my surgeon recommended, but my oncologist doesn't like…ugh. I will be thinking of you and what you are dealing with as I know how hard it is. 😊 Sending love!

Camillegal

Thank you for the well wishes. SO far so great. I don't even have nausea at this point and not taken a nausea med. I actually go nauseated before they gave me anything. All the memories and smells made me so sick. I have gotten so sensitive to that once I think of treatment or I get there thanks to the red devil. Blah! My onc said that most people breeze through the Taxol. I'm hoping. I need the break after 8 weeks of crap. How is she doing?

We went down the road on New Years to a friend with my DD for a couple hours for a Fondue. But not your old school version with cheese and chocolate. But oil with steak, mushrooms and shrimp. So awesome. I want to add that thing to my registry. I didn't even think about resolutions this year either. I don't want to disappoint myself for the 40^th year in a row with unattainable goals. So instead I'll set 6 realistic baby goals daily.

Cyndielou

I feel sorry for us northerners too. After Christmas it's time for warmer weather I believe. I would be happy with 20 degrees and no windchill though. Good luck as you head back to work and with the sleep. I get that issue. I was up at 300 am again…for no reason. Will Donese be back soon? Or is this for the duration of her treatment?

Illimae,

I love Stranger Things I need to get caught up. But the Roswell visit looks awesome!

Dara

Hello to you as well. I feel like I have seen you on another forum on here though. I love New York! Have fun Or I hope you did. I'm MIA for days at a time it seems lately.

Jazzy

I have to agree with your secret admirer. 10,000 posts! That's a lot, but if it helps another woman in these horrible situations, more power to you. I'm hoping to be more of that person once my treatment is over. Or at least on pause. You will also be my inspiration for exercising. Lol!

My DD certainly makes me laugh and drives me nuts. She keeps me on my toes. 😊 I'm feeling so much better now, so that's good. And so far not even feeling nauseated. So that's good. However, the neuropathy cold be worse.

Happy New Year everyone.

I have lots of errands to run today. Blah! I have financial paperwork to mail before it's too late. I need to get my car traded in as the lease is due. With my financial issues I've been in touch with a lawyer, so will need to do some drastic measures, but before I do, I have to get into a car before I do anything else. I still need one of those for work and my DDs school and such. Then I have to drop tax forms to my friends as they have no car. And post office…and the list of phone calls for this medical stuff and life changing things does not stop. Not to mention making a wedding dance song list. (this is not easy to choose father daughter ones when I have my Uncle and Step dad and not my dad) Ugh!

But on the bright side, when it's all taken care of and just done, it's a lot of good. It's just doing these things really. It's not a complaint as much as what a complete list of things to accomplish. I will have to divide it over the week.

We have wonderful plans for DFs bday with some friends and I'm looking forward to that, but it must be the weekend as I don't like to drink the day of treatment or even close to it. And I don't feel I process alcohol the same anyway. Anyone else experience this?

Just a random share from Summer of 2016. She loves her rides and one of my besties is an awesome photographer.

Was up very late last night, as Gordy didn’t arrive home till 2:30 am. Dealing with having to re-establish all my accounts (only some showed up in my Keychain so I had to go through the whole password-reset doo-dah) kept me up past 5. Spent the next 2 hrs. continually waking up Bob to answer his phone calls & pages (one missed call or page can result in a lawsuit, not to mention harm to the patient). Fell asleep, only to be awakened at 8am by the shin muscles over my R tibial hardware firing like crazy and then a nasty neuropathy beneath my R big toe (felt like a yanked band-aid ripping open a blister. So I took a Lyrica. Fell into a long, realistic and fascinating dream (they all involve int’l & cross-country travel, as well as performances) and next thing I knew my alarm clock read “3:37 pm!” Slept through breakfast, lunch, Bob getting up & out, housekeeper gathering laundry (in my room) and my 2:30 mani appt. I don’t know how people with chronic neuropathy can take the stuff 3x/day as prescribed and not be zombies.

Shopped for odds & ends tonight (after fixing my MedAlert charm bracelet yet again—stupid jump rings on the ends keep coming loose and slipping out) and put together a shrimp & veggie Pad Thai for tonight. Tomorrow night will be bison strips in harissa sauce over couscous. (Or the leftover grilled chicken salad Bob just brought home). He stayed over at the Oak Lawn Hilton last night (early office hrs.) after spending a day kickin’ it old-school—he’d left his phone home and had only his pager and access to landlines. Oh, the humanity! And tomorrow night, it’s back to the hotel, for early morning echo readings. He asked if I wanted to go (and take our Oak Lawn friend and his son to dinner), but Fri. morning I have my rescheduled mani (which was tough to rebook). Sigh.

Gordy had a great time. Turns out it was the family’s “Meet the Boyfriends” weekend—Leslie’s sisters brought their boyfriends home for the first time. Everyone pitched in on cooking. Being Texas, there was much football and DIY alley fireworks (not set off by any of them, whew!). They went to several rock concerts. Gordy introduced Leslie to Kosher deli (the only one in town) but they didn’t get to try any Indian stuff (their Indo-Pak community is the equal of Chicago’s).

DOTD: leftover Piper Heidseck champagne with the Pad Thai. Made up for the awful stuff I drank the night before. Oh, and then an almond-milk hot chocolate.

Good Morning, Loungettes! Happy Blizzard Day! Yup, snow has started in the southern part of the state, looks to start here any time now. Woops, it's started. And the wind is already starting to pick up. The real wind isn't supposed to start until midday. I told them at Hospice that I'll work tomorrow instead of today cuz of the weather. 5 minutes later the Office Director announced that he wants everyone off the road by noon time today. Sadie and I are going to just putter around the house and watch the snow and wind. Maybe more Downton Abbey.

Karen--so glad the Taxol is better than the Red Devil! I pray it stays that way! This particularly bitter cold is on the extreme end of things for us here. Usually we're seeing temps in the 20's this time of year. Sub zero for days and days is not the usual. Great pic ofDD!!

Jazzy--those are impressive swimming stats! So good you can do that, and that it helps so much with the weight control.

Chi--sounds like you have very entertaining dreams. When people take medications like Lyrica regularly the sleepiness side effect tends to wear off after a week or so. Glad Gordy's visit was successful and he enjoyed himself. Poor Bob having to "old school" it with pagers and land lines! I remember when that was the norm! Cell phones have made some parts of life a lot easier to deal with.

Joy McSparkles' DOTD:

The Snowman Cocktail is the perfect drink to warm you right up during the holidays! This delicious beverage is easy to make and tastes great!
Rim the glass with white sprinkles. Garnish: Marshmallow Snowmen

+ Vanilla Ice Cream
+ 1 oz (30ml) Vanilla Vodka
+ 1 oz (30ml) Whipped Cream Vodka
+ 1 oz (30ml) Creme De Cacao
+ 1 oz (30ml) White Chocolate Liqueur Blend

Greetings from Eve McBlizzard- from what I hear too, the northeast is about to get pummeled with a blizzard too!

NM-I heard some sobering numbers that you may be waking up to -14 degrees tomorrow? Sadie is NOT going to be happy with you when you try to get her to go outside tomorrow morning. Normally any water dog would love the snow, but not in those temps. Be safe friend.

Chi- it sounds like a very successful visit for Gordie and his girlfriend this holiday season. Do keep us posted on what happens next?

Cyndie- no I don't swim competitively, but did get the idea last year (and with the support of swimmer friends) to go for the senior Olympics. They are end of July and last year, I had only been swimming in a bigger way for a few months and not ready. Plus it fell during follow up week and already had apts set up. So I may do it this summer, and just need to figure out where I will compete. I am more of a distance swimmer than a fast swimmer, so I am not sure what fits? I need to learn how to do the flip turns and there is a lifeguard at the pool who said she could help me learn that (swim lesson), but could not work it out last year. I saw her doing a lesson with someone yesterday so time to ask again. Swimming makes me happy and keeps me strong!

And as I go to yearly follow ups starting this summer, I can more easily just move my apts out a week without any problem. I just need to determine with some new project work if I can be off that week. I hope to give it a try to compete in the new year!

Ill- I love your snowperson name. How are you doing friend? Any issues from your treatment last year?

Karen- I am glad to hear the Taxol is going better than the red devil. Love the photo of your DD on the carnival ride. She looks so happy.

If you want to feel festive at the friends party, but respect your body's need to not have alcohol right now (I did not drink at all during treatment, just figured my body needed to focus on the medical care), get some nice sparkling water to bring to the party and and some limes or lemon slices. I love Voss water if you can find it, just tastes so good. Put it in a wine or champagne glass. Let the friends enjoy their adult beverages, and you can participate in a different way. Sometimes just making a blanket statement that alcohol is not recommended during treatment is all you need to say. No one usually will argue it. I say usually, because there is always that one in every crowd......

Well, I bought two powerball and two megamillions tix yesterday. I never do the lotteries, until the pots get big. And ooh are they big! No powerball winner last night, up over a half a billion now? I don't know about you, but I would like just a bit of that myself. Mega is tomorrow night. Good luck to all if you are playing this week!

Ha ha, my dream if I won big is to buy a villa in Tuscany and live there. My sister asked me last night if that was still my plan (yes, and even more so now....) After my last visit there in 2009, I told myself if I ever had the money, that would be my dream place to live. I bet all of you have one of those too?

Got some things to get to ladies and hope to finish putting away the holiday decorations today. Wishing everyone to be safe in the storm if you are in that part of the world.

Out of the box question...on taxol, can I use teeth whitner? Want to work on my teeth for the upcoming wedding?

Not much to say about today except blah. At least it’s my weekend. Cheers!

Good Morning, Loungettes! Well, storm Greyson has passed, I now have 20 inches more snow, poor Sadie is swimming in the stuff when she goes out, poor thing! Now the bitter cold is coming back in on the winds that are blowing the powdery stuff around. Sigh. Back to work for me today, got a light day of visits but it's going to take longer to get there, so it will all even out, I'm sure. Miss Sadie is going to stay home and comfy today.

Jazzy--that level of cold will work in through the day today. Currently 18 degrees, with a wind chill to 2 degrees. The new snow is literally as deep as Sadie is tall. Going to try to get a video of her out in it to share, but it will be a short one! My when-I-win-the-lottery dream is to buy a small island in the middle of one of the lakes around here. The whole island, and build a camp. Someplace where I can go and let the doggo run loose and not worry about her running off.

Chi--Love the meal planning notes!

Morning, Cyncyn, Chi, Karen!

Joy McSparkles DOTD:

Blizzard

Instructions

Mix all ingredients in a shaker with cracked ice until frosty. Serve in a chilled tall glass.

Ingredients

• 1 Oz Cranberry Juice
• 1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
• 2 Tbsp Sugar - Syrup
• 3 Oz Whiskey - Bourbon