how about drinking?

The US has the highest rate of Covid cases in the world, with 46,461,714 cases. China, where supposedly it came from, is only at 97,811 and Taiwan at only 16,442. We are NOT doing something right! Arizona is reporting anywhere from 2500-4000 new cases a day.

Coronavirus statistics - Bing

You are right BabyGirl. Just like for us in the US, California has the most cases, at 4,978,363. But if you go by per 100K, CA ranks 35th. AZ ranks at 13, TX at 20. TN ranks 1stm with most cases per capita.

State by State Coronavirus Cases as Percentage of Population Tracker (isabelcastillo.com)

The west is not doing well with COVID. We are over 1000 cases a day and deaths up too. Hospitals maxed out still. We are 73% vaxed too

Sorry MIchelle - I don't agree. It depends on the type of cancer & your individual stats whether alcohol MIGHT contribute to your risk of BC (or not). I'm not a statistics person, but this has been discussed so thoroughly on this site & everywhere else. I don't believe alcohol caused my ER/PR negative BC and I'm not giving up my nightly cocktail.

Edited to say - I don't think eating steak occasionally caused my BC. Or sleeping late on Saturday mornings. Or walking 6 miles a day or exercising 4 days a week. Or the fact that I don't like Kale but do like spinach. In short - we DID NOT cause our breast cancer.

Edited one more time to say that my oncologist, my surgeon, my cardiologist and my PCP all agree & approve a a drink or a glass of wine in the evenings - even throughout active treatment - and certainly now.

Good Morning, Loungettes! Happy Hump Day! The pool testing went really well, now we wait on the results. I got curious when the tubes weren't logged in as received at the lab by the end of the school day, come to find out the nearest lab is somewhere in Massachusetts! One of the big schools had a positive pool reported yesterday, the nurse there tested everyone in the pool, everyone tested negative. So they have to do the testing again today, hoping whoever it is will show positive on the rapid test today. Hopefully our results will post today, given that tomorrow is a holiday. Just have to wait and see.

Sadie says Hi to everyone!

Goldie--I don't hear much from the former workplaces, most of the people that I worked with have moved on to other positions. Once in a while I get a nugget of gossip, things don't seem to be going well at the nursing home. It was an independent nursing home, it's since been bought by one of the big nursing home management companies. It sounds like things are getting really difficult for you and DH. Such a horribly cruel disease. I hope the machine came and is helpful. And I think it's perfectly fine for you to tell everyone they are welcome to come to the house for Thanksgiving, but you will not be cooking due to needing to take care of DH, so they will have to arrange for feeding themselves. Leave clean linens on the beds and let them make their own beds. Leave a note in each room listing where the cleaning supplies are kept, where the garbage goes, where the broom/vacuum cleaner lives. They'll get the picture!I stole that from a couple I worked with in Hospice. Similar situation, large family that all wanted to come and stay for a few days during the summer. The visitors took care of themselves, even washed and remade the beds before they left, even cooked meals for everyone while they were visiting!

LOVE the DOTDs!Especially the Golden Dream!

These are both amazing and thought-provoking reports.

Illi--I bet Thanksgiving will be beautiful and peaceful at the cabin!

MicheleH57--I love the way it gets reported that 3 to 6 drinks per week increases risk 15%--whenever a relative risk is reported and not the actual risk number I expect there is exaggeration for effect happening. What is the baseline rate the 15% is based on? In my case chemotherapy would have reduced my risk of recurrence by 50%, but I turned it down and people think I'm crazy until I point out that the risk change was from 5% to 2.5%. Not worth the 33% chance of permanent nerve and cardiac damage from the chemo. I haven't tried the Ritual non-alcoholic spirits, but I have seen them advertised. Maybe you can try one and post a review?

Minus Two- good points, especially in light of the fact that medicine cannot tell us with certainty all the causes of any cancer. Yes, there are correlations, but very few have actual pathological evidence support causation. Asbestos and mesothelioma is one. I think the blaming the victim mindset comes from medical people who don't want to admit that their treatments are failing to cure their patients, so it gets turned around to say that the patient "failed" treatment. And it's not "my" cancer. I did not go out and buy it, and I am certainly not making a living off of it.If it belongs to anyone, it belongs to the oncologists!

Karen--My Mom prefers to hold a physical book when reading, too. I personally don't mind either way, but lean toward the e-reader as I can carry around a whole bunch of books very easily. It's wonderful living in a time with so many options and being able to choose what we like best!

Continuing the Gold theme:

Pot of Gold Cocktail

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 ounces Irish whiskey
• 1/4 ounce Islay scotch
• 3/4 ounce ginger honey syrup*
• 3/4 ounce lemon juice, freshly squeezed
• 1 egg white
• Garnish: edible gold flakes

Steps

1. Add the Irish whiskey, Islay whisky, ginger honey syrup, lemon juice and egg white into a cocktail shaker and dry-shake (no ice).
2. Add ice and shake again until well-chilled.
3. Double-strain into a chilled coupe glass.
4. Garnish with edible gold flakes.

*Ginger honey syrup: Combine 1/4 cup chopped ginger, 1 cup honey and 1/2 cup water in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat and simmer for 2 minutes, then let stand until room temperature. Strain into a container and refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.

From <https://www.liquor.com/recipes/pot-of-gold/>

Karen, I order books onto my tablet thru my library. I read so much I could never afford to buy new ones. I do prefer a book over the tablet but got into the habit when covid hit. I did get a gift card to B and N recently and spent that on paperbacks to take on vacation. If we go. Usually the resorts have a library you can leave them in before heading home.

Regarding the drinking podcast--I started reading it but then felt guilty. So I didn't finish it.

Covid!! Ugh. SIL in hospital with covid and pneumonia. Started getting sick Halloween eve and went in yesterday. She has chronic leukemia and her immune system is pretty wiped out from chemo. Yet she persists in going to parties, out shopping etc. That upsets me. We aren't in the clear yet.

Thanks for listening!

Kid, good reason to not finish watching the podcast. I hope you got a drink afterwards! Sorry about your SIL, I'm assuming sister in law, since you said "she". I have hard time feeling sorry for someone that gets covid that continues to go out partying, socializing, eating, shopping, etc. And we're always here to listen.

Karen, the maching is a non invasive ventilator, similar to a bi level, or bi pap. ALS patients can have o2, but they also have to have one of these machines. Just not o2 by itself. Oh my, my DD's are tiny, but then you don't look to be very tall either. That's a pretty big drop in substitutes Karen.

Surprisingly, DH LOVES this machine. A couple years ago, when he was diagnosed with Sleep Apnea, he was like "no way, forget it" I'm not trying to sleep with all that crap on my face. He slept all night, w/o waking up, no halucinations, he can breathe better now through his nose, he's not drooling as much. I can even see a change in his attitude. I sent Cami a message on Tuesday, but did not get a response. So I reached out to her DD yesterday. She's doing pretty good, has not had to have a transfusion in 6 weeks, eating 2 meals a day and maintaining her weight at 115.

Good Morning, Loungettes!Happy Thirsty Thursday!Thank you for your service to all Veterans on the boards and in the Lounge.

Sadie and I had a lovely sleep in this ayem, didn't get up till 6:30, when the sun was staring to come up!

Hmm, I just realized that this is short week by one day due to Veteran's Day, and next week is a 2 day week due to Thanksgiving! The year is moving along so fast.

Goldie--I'm with you on the "lost the battle" line. It's the same as saying "So-and-so allowed cancer to kill him/her" like we have so much control, or didn't fight hard enough, or somehow are responsible for our own deaths. No one says "So-and-So killed him/herself by not wearing a seatbelt when the accident occurred."or "So-and-So killed him/herself by driving drunk and crashing the car into a telephone pole." Makes me nuts sometimes. The one I like the best is "A car drove onto a sidewalk and into a crowd injuring several people." No human being involved, just the car driving itself!Sorry to hear about DH needing to go to the hospital. I take your point about how others clean and do things not being what you would be comfortable with. Wish I was close enough to be able to help out somehow.

KID1919--Sorry to hear about your SIL.It's hard to understand sometimes why people choose to risk their health and even their lives this way. Hugs.

Karen--odd coincidence, our school is having the first COVID vax clinic on the 19th! My district has half day classes on Fridays, with the afternoons reserved for teacher activities--Professional Development, I think. Anyway, the clinic is going to be in the afternoon with parents bringing their kids to the middle school. The hospital giving the shots wants parents to be present. One parent wrote a letter explaining how she and the divorced spouse have joint custody and joint decision-making capability, and how she does not want ANY medical care or procedures done outside of a medical facility and only with both parents being present. She very strongly feels that schools are not appropriate places for any medical care at all. I can understand not wanting the child to get a shot in a school clinic, but the nurse at that school is now wondering what to do if the child ever needs a band-aide or any first aid for an injury, as that would be giving medical care outside of a hospital or doctor's office. A lot of schools are closing early for Thanksgiving or switching over to remote learning due to the number of teachers, staff, bus drivers, out sick with COVID, in quarantine as close contacts to a confirmed case, or sick with the other nasty respiratory virus that's circulating right now. We have the same problem with subs here, too. Teachers are getting very stressed out with teaching in person and remote classes simultaneously.I was listening to the recording of a recent School Board meeting the other day and was amazed when one of the Board members talked about changing the district policy to no longer quarantine students or staff who are close contacts of confirmed cases. His reasoning is that the policy can be changed from following the Maine CDC guidelinesto whatever the Board wants because when the state of emergency expired, the guidelines became recommendations, and so can be adopted or ignored. The Board Member wants no one quarantined from school or any school activities, and also wants no masking during any sports activities. No masking would be ok for non-sports activities like band, chorus, drama, debate, etc, too.What was frightening was that the rest of the board looked like they were seriously considering the idea. I know everyone is getting tired of the COVID stuff, and frustrated with being in a state with one of the highest vaccination rates AND one of the highest daily new infection rates in the country, but to out and out ignore quarantine scares me.

Leather-Bound Book

ingredients:

• 2 oz Steel Horse Whiskey
• 0.25 oz Cascara Vanilla or Vanilla Extract
• 1-2 Drops of Crude Pooter Bitters (Smoked & Salted Bitters)
• 1 Smoked Sugar Cube (We used sugar cubes from Yes Cocktail Co.)
• 1/4 Cup Ice

Instructions

1. Combine the whiskey, Cascara/vanilla mix, and bitters into a cocktail mixing glass.

2. Muddle with the smoked sugar cube.

3. Fill 1/4 of the glass with ice.

4. Shake or stir for 30-seconds.

5. Strain the liquid into a rocks glass over a whiskey cube.

From <https://www.theuncorkedlibrarian.com/smokey-old-fashioned/>

Goldie - thanks for the Cami update.

Cami - if you're reading & just not posting WE MISS YOU and we're glad to hear you are doing OK.

Kim - I think you fast-forwarded one week to many. Thanksgiving is two weeks. Sounds like a perfectly reasonable thing to do with all the confusion going on at your school.

Misteyes - thinking of you today visiting your DH in his resting place 🙏

NM, or that person that got in the car crash, didn't lose their battle with the car! It's just stupid. If I were that nurse at the other school, if mom doesn't want any medical done, I would be calling her to come and get the child. And then she would be like "she only needs a bandaid". Ma'am, that's medical. You and I both jumped a week ahead. I'm so glad it's NOT next week. Surely the alarm clock going off was a dream.

Misty, we ARE old friends! LOL @ the Xmas wine.

Karen, safe travels and enjoy your visit. Bi level is working well for DH.

So yesterday morning, my husband says to me "would you marry me again?" Well, ya. Oh, you don't seem too excited. Well, I'm already married to you, I guess I don't look at that as something important to do. Ok, nevermind, you don't seem too excited.

Ok, so a little while later he's like, well I wanted to marry you again and invite all our families and I'm footing the bill. I plan on about 25-35K. WHAAAAAT? Oh, I see. It's another pity party for Darrell, or is it funeral #3?

Goldie, “I wanna blow 30k on a party for us, that you’ll have to do lots of preparation for” doesn’t sound sensible or romantic to me either.

Goldie0827...She is adorable!!! The little guy I watch is not quite 7 months old and is a sweety. She looks about the same age. And yes after the podcast exit I did have a drink! LOL

I have to agree with illimae, sounds super stressful and that is a lot of money!

SIL still in hospital but improving. You would think after being hospitalized once already with covid (spring it was I think) you would stay away from people as much as possible. She's a pain in the ass (I do love her but...).

Good Morning, Loungettes!Happy Saturday! Got through another windy and rainy night, a few more branches down in the yard but nothing else other than a few frozen over puddles. Not feeling terribly energetic this ayem, not a good sign when I need to write a paper this weekend. But I'll manage.

Working in a school is getting to be a strange experience. The other day I walked between a couple of students who were getting rowdy in the cafeteria. As I walked by, I tapped one student's knee with my finger to remind the student to turn round and sit with both feet on the same side of the bench. Yesterday the principal had to speak to me about doing that, because another child saw me do that and got upset and complained to parents. A new law went into effect recently that a child cannot be touched without their consent while in school. Yes, I knew about the new law. I didn't intentionally violate the law, I didn't even think about it. I had spoken to the child several times AFTER 2 other adults had spoken with the child, I have a relationship with the child, and the tap did the job--captured the child's attention. Legally, however, I assaulted the child. I went back and reviewed the new ruling. If a child is beating up on another child I cannot touch the child doing the beating without getting his/her permission. If a child is leaving the school room or school building, or school property, I cannot touch that child without getting his/her permission first. If a child is hitting, kicking, biting, or throwing things like chairs and desks at me, I cannot touch the child without getting permission first, not even to defend myself. A child can be touched without his/her permission ONLY if the child is in imminent danger of death or serious injury.

Goldie--You, me and the other nurse are all thinking along the same lines--she plans to call Mom every time the child needs ANYTHING from the nurse's office and have Mom sign that she was present when the band aid was put on and that Mom was waiving the requirement that Dad be present for that medical care. The really scary thing about the situation is that lawsuits are being filed against schools over just this scenario--a joint custody order but no copy given to the school, the one parent the school has ever dealt with brings a child in for a vaccination clinic and signs the consent form, the other parent disagrees and finds out the vax was given and sues the school for violating the custody agreement. At least this mom has sent in a copy of the custody document (after being asked to and reminded that the school cannot be held to an agreement we weren't even told existed when the child was registered). DH wants to marry you again with the families present? Did you two have a very small wedding so he's trying to give you the big wedding he thinks you always wanted? I can see it turning into a funeral event given the circumstances. Don't apologize for sharing the pics, she is the cutest little thing and I (and I expect everyone else) enjoy seeing them!

Illi--I hadn't thought about Goldie having to do a lot of work for the party, that really does shed a different light on it.

Karen--so it's your fault I though Thanksgiving was next week!Kidding--hope you have a great trip and come home to some wonderful you time!

Kidi--you would think that someone would be super careful after being hospitalized once, maybe SIL will be more careful after this second go-round?

Straight Law Cocktail

Mixed Drink Recipe from Cocktail Builder

3/4 oz of Gin

1 1/2 oz of Dry Sherry (or fortified wine)

Stir ingredients with ice, strain into a cocktail glass, and serve.

From <https://www.cocktailbuilder.com/recipe/straight-law-cocktail>

Morning all my friends! Geez, seems it's just hard to stay "normal" lately. All that is going on is just plain scary. My Husband is about the same I guess... It's just that taking care of someone, trying to help them, and not get frustrated, is sometimes heart-breaking. I just have to have more patience...

And I'm still so afraid of going "out" or doing things like we used to do, like just shop around, and even going up to Central City to gamble. So we mostly stay home, or go out before 9 to the store, for awhile. Thank heavens for our yards, and gardens I can go fool around in.

Except it's getting cooler now... and won't be long before the snow flies. Our one Daughter is always checking on us, twice a day at least, and comes by at least once a week with lunch on one of her days off! Our other Orlando Daughter is maybe coming out next month.... depending on how this virus crap is going on in this State!

So many people refuse to be vaccinated! And don't seem to care about other people!

I'm still having a hard time with losing my Brother... He was a year younger, and we were always buddies... But he didn't want to get the vaccine... He and his wife, who was on Dialysis lived in Nashville. So he calls me one morning, because he called the nurse, where they lived at June Carter Assisted Living, and with his fever, he tested positive. So he was told to quarantine... The next day, I called, but they had taken him to the hospital. I never got to talk to him again. The hospital finally let me "talk to him".... A nurse took the phone into his room, set it on the pillow, and I got to tell him how much I loved him and missed him..... He couldn't answer. Awhile later, my Husband and I went to the store, and I got a text from his Daughter, saying he had passed away. His Daughter's couldn't tell their Mom, that he was even in the Hospital! She was still in a nursing home!..... She just couldn't handle it... Then a week later, she passed away also......

You know, it's still hard to think about! You know, I AM lucky and blessed to still have my Husband, to be able to live by ourselves, and still do things.... but sometimes life and memories just make you sad..... I gotta go fix up a chocolate coke..

His biography is online... Kenny Malone, Nashville Drummer.