how about drinking?

Morning from the mountains! Not sure why the pic is sideways. It is in the seventies with a slight breeze. Birds are chirping and all is good with the world. Well, I wish it was. We have talked, laughed and imbibed greatly. There is no beating good friends. One more night here than back to reality. SC is a Covid19 Hot spot now, so I will probably hibernate this summer.

Gordy (knock wood) still has his job, working from home for VividSeats. He is both investigating fraud and trying to convince customers to accept credits towards events for which the company is once again selling tickets (such as some pro and college sports and upcoming 2021 concerts and shows). Leslie is still tutoring online; but now that the school year (and parents needing some relief fro homeschooling) is over, and the SAT & ACT not being given in person (and many colleges no longer requiring them), a significant portion of her business--test prep--has been suspended.

Dinner last night was the end of my leftover fish & sweet potato chips, plus skillet-charring the leftover green beans. Brunch today was 1/4 of a 12" cauliflower-crust (365's pre-baked) pizza topped with fresh & sliced mozzarella, tomatoes, mushrooms & basil. Could've used some sea salt, though. When Bob comes home late tonight, I will give him the other 3/4--adding coppa ham, green peppers & onions.

Not sure yet about a DOTD. Likely a faux-jito for me and a real mojito for Bob.

Good morning my Lounge Lizards! I'll be back in a day or so, I do want to read. Got back Saturday afternoon, had a GREAT time. However, on Friday, I guess I was too aggressive when cleaning my teeth. I think whilst flossing I lifted a crown, or it cracked or something. Anyways, you guessed it, major pain and of course it's on a Friday and I'm in another state! So to the dentist I go this morning....I hope! Our friends son, wife and kids were visiting and their youngest, 4 yo Samuel couldn't remember my name and was always calling me Larry. We would tell him he was close. Eventually when asked he would say "Larry. Am I close". He knew he was wrong but just couldn't remember Lori. He was so cute!

Lori, hope you were able to get that crown replaced or repaired.

Kim, wish we could ship you some of our surplus rain. It's been a wet & stormy June and July promises more of the same. Severe weather is forecast all week--starting this afternoon.

Not sure about the DOTD--will depend on what I forage from the fridge & freezer for dinner. Thus far, the usual (coffee, ice water).

Fingers crossed, and in your pocket, Lori, for that long drive and endodontist visit. Phoenix is a "hot spot," so be sure to bring your mask & hand sanitizer. (The endodontist is at more risk from you than you are from him/her). Hoping for a good result or at least a workaround--extraction & implant perhaps?

My brain scans (MRI, MRV--veins, and MRA--arteries) are to determine the cause of my one-sided pulsatile tinnitus. My ENT, from my description, is almost certain the cause is vascular (either a narrowed vein or artery in my brain or near my ear); the MRI is to rule out anything pressing on my auditory nerve or a eustachian tube that won't close completely. If all results are normal, next step is a visit to a neuro-ophthalmologist to check for papilledema (pressure on the eyeball from behind), which would indicate a cerebrospinal fluid leak. Treatment for that would be a (relatively) minimally invasive neurosurgery. I'm hoping that at my age whatever it is isn't serious enough to kill or disable me before the end of my predicted lifespan, should we choose not to treat it.

JCS, amazing needlecraft! Must have taken forever and a day. It's gorgeous. And looks like you "got outta Dodge" and back at just the right time. Our friends who moved from Wilmette (Chi. suburb) to Del Webb Charleston excitedly e-mailed me that the lot next to theirs is available to build. Kind of broke my heart to tell them Bob is still working, we want to be near Gordy, and there's no way we intend to leave IL before either we get immunity (hopefully, from a vax) or there is a surefire treatment for the virus. (And no offense, but SC is a bit of a hot spot). Bob wants to take a road trip to VA (DC 'burbs) this fall to see my sis, but unless we can rent an RV (or something with its own toilet) I'm not gonna travel. Public restrooms don't have lids on their toilets--and flushing sends a "plume" of particles into the air, which not only remain suspended (and breathable) for at least 60 sec. but also settles on the walls, handles, floors, seat, etc. (And paper seat covers don't offer any protection). I've managed to dine out now without ever using the restroom--don't ask me how.

DOTD here is Kenneth Volk 2010 Tannat to go with pizza. First wine we've had for a while as DH hurt his back and his gi system doesn't do well when he mixes pain meds and alcohol.

Super early mornin ladies,

I didn't realize how long I was gone. Lori's back YAYAYAYA, or should I say Larry, now that cracked me up. Well leave it to u to have to go to almost Egypt to have ur tooth fixed. Oh Lori that has to hurt loads and then such a ride. Wacho LOL is doing OK right now.

JC beautiful pic. and u had a great time, u were waiting for this for months, but good thing u left when u did.

Beaver hope ur DH's back heals quickly, passing up wine means it's bad.

OK Sandy food sounds good and I hope ur plans for the RV all happens for the 4 of u, now that sounds like it could be fun with all of u.

How's Sadie???

I'd better try to sleep, been so busy with these damn A//C's everybody is crabby

LUBS U ALL

Good Morning, Loungettes!Happy hump day! Yesterday turned out to be quite the eventful day at work. First I went in early cuz one of the nurses hadn't sent a copy of her negative COVID test in and we didn't know if she would remember to bring it with her or not (no proof of COVID negative = not allowed to work). So my morning routine gets turned around and I go in to work not knowing what job I was actually going to be doing. Well, she did bring a copy of the test result, so I got to do my own job for the day. Throughout the day I find out that the Director of Nurses, the Scheduler, a Med Tech and 2 CNAs have turned in their notice and are leaving in a couple of weeks. Then I got an e-mail from HR "reminding" of a new employee orientation on Thursday. I'm not working Thursday, and shoot back an e-mail saying so. The HR director asks me to change my schedule to accommodate the orientation! She has been in the habit of announcing orientation sessions the day of and expecting everyone to be available. I've asked time and again for her to drop me a note when a new hire comes on as soon as the orientation dates are set so I can plan ahead, but she just won't, her system has worked for her for years and she's resistant to change. I sent back an e-mail that I can't reschedule this week at this point, if I had known last week I could have. Things are feeling a bit unsettled and with very little change in the COVID restrictions and talk of starting universal staff testing every week or two being started soon. At least we can put in for vacation time again now.I am looking forward to the coming long weekend to recharge. It's also been raining for the last couple of days, which is badly needed, but makes for gloomy conditions. It is nice to see things greening up again after getting so brown!Sadie says "Hi" to everyone, and wants me to remind everyone that her belly rub account is always accepting donations!

Goldie--Ounch for the damaged crown!So cute, sounds like your new name is "Larry. Am I close"!

Librarian--So glad you had a good time in the mountains. And glad you didn't get caught up in thestatue situation. The cross stitch is gorgeous!And younger DH getting work of being hired, is good news even if it is a month away, maybe they'll need him to do some work before opening so he'll be able to start sooner? At least there is hope there!

Chi--I wish we could get some of your rain, too! We need to talk to Mother Nature and set up accounts that we can transfer rain, snow, sun, warmth, coolth among to even things out for everyone.

Goldie--so sorry the tooth fixing didn't happen easily. I hope it's been fixed by now, but boy that's a long commute. I wonder what it will take to make that tooth happy again?

Chi--I'm impressed that you can go out to eat without using the facilities!

Celia--ah, proseco, a lovely evening sip!

Beaver--hoping DH's back gets better ASAP!

Cammy Cat--Sadie is very happy with her pool and getting lots of belly rubs and supervising the neighborhood activities.

DOTD:

Birch Beer Cordial with a splash of soda water on ice

Birch Beer is a New England flavor of soda. I absolutely love Birch Beer. The tastes is lighter than root beer but similar, not quite as sweet as root beer, with vanilla undertones much like cream soda.Birch Beer Cordial is a liquour made by a local distillery (very local to me, less than 10 miles from my house)

Goldie,

Thankfully, you were treated by an endodontist and now on the mend. A more pleasant 4th of July weekend.

Good Morning, Loungettes!Happy Thirsty Thursday! Sadie and I are getting up to one very foggy ayem. My little desk top hygrometer is saying the humidity is 72%, with the weather people saying it's 91% to 96%. Very sticky. Supposed to get thunder showers this peeyem. I think this is going to be a good day for not moving around too much. Sadie is moving in her slow-motion mode this ayem,And I have now officially join the ranks of the Uninsured.I cannot afford to pay $800 a month for health insurance that won't cover anything until I've paid a $5000 deductible. I'm not going to run up $5k of medical bills in a year at this point in my life unless something catastrophic happens, at which point I would have to stop working and would qualify for Medicaid. Obamacare really has not helped me at all. If something catastrophic comes up I'll be bankrupt if I have health insurance or not, so no point in throwing that much money away. Pretty sad state of societal affairs when the most logical financial choice for a professional working part time is to go uninsured, but them's the facts these days.

Goldie--I know the work situation sounds a lot like Hospice, but there are some very major differences--there is no bullying going on, I have a guaranteed minimum of 24 hours a week of paid work on a set schedule, and most of the people that are leaving have kind of negative attitudes that are not being helpful. I have a really hard time with the idea that sheets and things don't get changed at motels/hotels.I worked my way through nursing school primarily by chambermaiding, as it was called way back then, and would never have not changed the sheets and towels. Of course, wiping down all the surfaces was not a thing back then, but dusting them was, and hand washing the dishes left dirty in the cabins with kitchen (no dishwashers). I suppose there are all kinds of workers out there, though. I saw your Fb post. Glad you found the true problem and avoided unnecessary surgery. And to have to go so far to get it taken care of in a reasonable time frame, SMH.Is there such a thing as dental insurance any more? I haven't heard of it in years!

Morning, Teka!

Chi--scanxiety can rear it's ugly head at the most unexpected times! When will you get the scan results?

Cammy Cat--You are, indeed, FABULOUS!

Wet Money Cocktail

Ingredients

1 1/2 oz white rum

3/4 oz Torani Almond (Orgeat) Syrup

1/2 oz green chartreuse liqueur

1/2 oz fresh lime juice

Lime peel, for garnish

Crushed ice & ice cubes

Instructions

Pour ingredients into a cocktail shaker filled 2/3 of the way up with crushed ice. Shake well and strain over ice into a rocks glass. Garnish with lime peel.

From <https://www.torani.com/recipes/wet-money-cocktail>

Morning all! Today is my son’s birthday. We will celebrate with dinner tonight. I am sure there will be laughter and maybe some hugs! Hope to get some pictures. My kids are uncomfortable with having their picture taken. I got my hair cut and styled yesterday by my regular stylist. It looks much better. Think Jamie Lee Curtis. Now I will have to replicate her technique and attempt to get the same look.

Sandy - Definitely in your pocket for the scans. I totally understand the anxiety, both during the scan and waiting for the results.

Goldie - I often wonder why Medicare doesn’t cover eyes and teeth for the elderly. Antibiotics can be very harsh at times. Rest and let the medicine do what it can to cure you.

NM - The industry of group homes for the elderly is going to change tremendously due to this pandemic. You are a strong person to work there and try to give good service to the customers.

Cami - This time of year those phones are going to ring ALOT. I cannot stand the heat or the humidity. When it rains here you can see steam rising from the pavement. Could not live with my heat pump!

Hope all are able to enjoy a safe 4th of July. We will stay home, eat barbecue and watch NASCAR. I have plenty of books to read. Might start another cross stitch project. LOL

Last night was the "MRI IAC." The IAC (internal auditory canal scan, no contrast) was first, and took about 45 min. Super-noisy, and at one point the magnets actually shook me like the "tapping" setting on my massage chair (what the Bill McNeill character on the sitcom NewsRadio called "weekend in Thailand"). No music, just ear-protector headphones (Evanston's control room lacks a stereo, dang it, so I can't even bring my own CDs). So I went through the songs in one of my favorite albums in my mind's ear, albeit fairly slowly in rhythm with the background throb of the scanner. Then came the contrast injection and the brain part of the MRI--lasted only about 18 min. The only problems were my R shoulder felt a bit sore as I lay on my back with arms at my side (tomorrow I will ask for a little cushioning beneath it); and then about 12 min. into the contrast MRI I got one of those exasperating throat tickles--usually cured by sipping water but obviously that was not an option. So I had to cough w/o moving my head. The tech said it didn't blur the scan, and a few swallows of saliva (TMI, I know) stopped the tickle in its tracks. (Will take a couple of cough-suppressant gels tomorrow night and hope I don't have to pee after--more TMI). They said the procedures would take a total of 90 min., but it was much less. Tomorrow night is the non-contrast MRA (arteriogram) and then contrast MRV (venogram), each estimated to be 45 min.

Since this is a holiday weekend, and the scans aren't being done on an emergency basis, I doubt the radiologists will even read the scans till at least Tues., much less report to my ENT. (I don't have a followup appt. with her--she wants to see the scans first and proceed from there via my patient portal).

The scary part was the drive home. I was headed south along Ridge and decided instead of taking my usual route south and then east, I would cut over to Sheridan Rd. along the lakefront. Big mistake--Sheridan is one of the two "main drags" through East Rogers Park, which while pretty is getting increasingly dicey. I was still in Evanston, headed east toward the lake, when a WGN-TV mobile unit turned on to the street ahead of me. After crossing the city line, I could see blue lights off to the south about 1/2 mi.--then the mobile unit pulled over and extended its antenna & a cameraman stepped out. Uh-oh..."newsworthy" at night is never a good thing. Got a block further south when I saw a bunch of police SUVs, yellow crime scene tape, and a cop making everyone detour west. So the first couple of N-S cross-streets were either the wrong way or dead-ends; then the third one was also cordoned off at its intersection. Something told me not to take Ashland south, so I looked at the map in my nav system and found a parallel N-S street and then an E-W cross street without a cordon. But though it was 2-way, there was heavy traffic headed W on it and it was so narrow that at one point I had to fold my side mirrors back. Got to Sheridan, just s. of the other side of the cordon, and went on my way, listening to news radio but heard nothing about the roadblock.

Got home, turned on WGN-TV and found it had been a drive-by shooting that took place about an hour before I reached that intersection. A car was headed northbound on Sheridan when, acc. to terrified joggers, another northbound car pulled alongside it, opened fire and sped away. The driver and passenger were shot multiple times, lost control, and crashed into a parked car. A good Samaritan drove the victims to the nearest hospital where they were listed in good condition, with the wounds non-life-threatening. No motive was given, no report on whether it was gang-related, and nobody is in custody. Only description was of the shooters' car. And this morning, i learned of a 4-hr hostage standoff...in an apt. bldg. on Ashland--beginning precisely when & where I would have turned s. onto it.

Boring & routine is good--will take Ridge home tomorrow night!

Bob had dinner near his office, so with my nuked (vegan) dinner I had a little of the remaining Williams-Selyem rosé. All the DOTD I needed. Bob is staying at the hotel tonight (he has a very early echo-reading morning at nearby Advocate Christ tomorrow morning) so I will probably kill off the last couple oz. of the rosé with whatever I pull out of the freezer. No point in dining out alone.

I drink wine every night. I have done a lot of research and can’t find anything that says drinking after a breast cancer diagnosis will cause a recurrence. My onco agreed. Anybody’s onco provide any research proving alcohol can cause a recurrence? Please post. thank you