I watched it a few nights ago and really enjoyed it. I also didn't know George Michael was the principal songwriter and producer. I agree with your take on Andrew, I didn't know much about him and yes, what a great friend he was to George. It is a fun documentary and a great reminder what an incredible talented entertainer George Michael was.

Thank y'all so much for replying! I feel "seen". I have a dear friend who feels the same way I do but I didn't realize there were more of us out there. Yes, introverted to the core and I crave quiet. Especially craving some quiet this month as life as been extra crazy & busy for me lately. Think I may turn my phone on silent on my birthday and just do as I please. @hjffkj, I hope one day you do enjoy your birthday. I am sorry it brings such anxiety to you. @Shoeless, I hope you do get the saltwater taffy you are wanting!

Why do I irrationally hate my birthday? I do not mind being one year older at all. I think it is a privilege to get to age. I've embraced the entire aging process. However, every year when my birthday rolls around, I become such a grump. I don't want it acknowledged, it embarrasses me and I see it as a general nuisance. I happily celebrate anyone else's birthday. It's just mine that irritates me to no end. Why? I have no childhood trauma associated with it. I don't know if it's because I don't make a fuss about my birthday but friends and family want me to make a fuss about it. I really don't like people telling me what to do - example "you should take the day off" or "you need to have your husband spoil you" etc, etc. I've had a family member get upset with me because I didn't go out to eat on my birthday. She was so put out that I wanted to stay home with my husband and kids for a low key meal. But that is what I WANTED to do. I know I am lucky, I have people who want me to celebrate my birthday in a special way but I just want a normal day to just do whatever. No muss or fuss. Please tell me I am normal in this.

I think it is attracting pests. There is an empty lot right there where he is tossing food. Yesterday, I saw a rat jump into the big pile of kudzu on that property. I keep waiting to see a family of racoons partying in the street when I drive down it at night but so far, nothing. It's incredibly annoying because my dogs are very interested in all the junk he tosses out...especially the egg shells.

Ooo, that is weird. I live in Georgia also. I have seen chicken bones on occasion but it's not a constant. I agree it's weird as all get out. Is it a "thing" here? I didn't know. What gets me is I have a neighbor who throws food out into the street behind his house...eggs, potatoes, spaghetti squash, even frozen spinach. The street is not a garbage disposal. He hasn't thrown out chicken bones. Yet.

I've been considering closing my FB account for about 3 years now. The thing that is keeping me from doing it is that there are pictures on there of my kids and funny posts about things they did when they were little. Is there an easy way to save all of that but still close the account? I tried just scrolling through to see how much I'd even want to save and it was absolute agony. It went sooooo slow...it was like FB knew what I was up to.

Yikes, I feel like this was written about me. I’m embarrassed to say I am often “that friend “. I’m just horrible about reaching out to do things. I keep in touch with a couple of good friends but my casual friends are the ones who ALWAYS reach out. I am quite the introvert-maybe she is too? It truly doesn’t cross my mind to go out and do things like coffee, lunch etc unless it’s brought up to me. I also have terrible bizarre food allergies that make eating out difficult. I do have anxiety too so that plays a part. I am just so content to be home. I really do love seeing my friends. I just honestly don’t think actively about it. I know it’s incredibly annoying to be the one who always reaches out but she may not realize it’s all on your end. Or she may and be fine with it. Speaking as an anxious, food allergy introvert-I think you should bring it up with her. She might be blushing as bad as I am now and either offer an explanation or try to reciprocate.

Sometimes they reschedule them but usually they just cancel them. He can totally continue the classes when he gets back, I just prefer things all finished up in May. I just have to get over it.

Ugh, just had another teacher leave. We only had 2 sessions scheduled with her but it was a booger to get them rescheduled. It is too close to the end of the traditional school year for this. DS will be leaving at the end of May to work summer camp and he won't be home until end of July so we are really need to wrap things up before he leaves.

We've been using Homeschool Spanish Academy (HSA) since August 2021. I've been pleased with the instruction and feedback DS has been receiving and he's enjoyed it also. Until early March of this year. When we first started, DS tried out a bunch of teachers and found one that he really liked and got along well with. So I scheduled the majority of his classes last year with this person. When we started back up in August 2022, I scheduled ALL my son's classes with this person. In hindsight-tremendously dumb as I put all our eggs in one basket. Well, this person was fired or quit back in early March. I had to scramble to reschedule the rest of this school years classes. The rescheduling bit is a me problem. I was irritated but in reality you can't just assume the same teacher will be there forever. Life happens. What I'm irritated about is that another person just left. I only had two classes scheduled with her but again, here I am scrambling to fill those 2 classes. When I looked at the syllabus to double check that DS will intend finish year 2 of Spanish this school year, the syllabus doesn't match up to the report card section. At all. I had to have DS sit down and confirm what he's done and what he has left. They seem incredibly disorganized and I'm wondering if there is a retention problem. DS wants to stop Spanish after this year, but I want him to have at least 3 years of HS Spanish on his transcript. Anyone else frustrated with HSA?

Hopping on to say yes to all of this. I'm relieved to see the word retrieval is a "thing" because boy howdy, I. Am. There. Yes, to fluctuating temps. Yes, to irritability. Yes, to IDGAF. Yes, to the odd sleeping. I have been waking up at 3 am for weeks now. Sometimes I go back to sleep, sometimes not. It's almost always 3:14 or 3:40. So bizarre. Yes, to alone time. It is much needed. Sometimes you just need a quiet reboot. Yes, to exercise and eating. It's so easy to gain a few pounds with no effort at all. I never had weight issues until I hit 40. And if I don't stay on a exercise regimen, it all goes to mush. Quickly.

Thanks for the ideas! Think I'll do a gift certificate, photo-no frame (I had not thought that through-a framed photo would be rather presumptuous) and will ask youngest to write a note.

I want to get a special gift for my son's co-op teacher. She has been teaching one or both of my sons every year since 2016. I usually get her a gift card to a book store as a year end gift but this is our last year with her. I am at a loss as to what to get her. She loves to read and travel. She has a new grandson who she adores and takes care of when she isn't teaching. Her house is immaculate and she really isn't a collector of anything other than books. I want to give her a gift that expresses our appreciation for being such a fantastic teacher all these years but I'm not sure what to do. Right now, I'm thinking a gift certificate for a nice meal out and maybe a picture of my boys to remember them by? Is that weird? Any good gift givers out there with unique ideas?

I have fibrocystic breasts. In my experience, the pain does get worse in your 40's. They also cause lots of call backs with mammograms until you get a good baseline established. I have found the best thing is taking B12 and wearing soft, comfy bras during the day. I can't wear a bra at night because it makes me crazy hot. I used to be one who'd lose the bra come wintertime but the pain got so bad I have to wear a bra every day. I do my yearly mammogram and then 6 mos later have an ultrasound. I'm considered high risk due to family history and since the fibrocystic breast give a dense image, the ultrasound can give another perspective.

I had it years ago at age 14, believe it or not. Best thing ever. My bunions were really bad at a young age and I'm forever thankful my mom pushed for me to have the surgery. I did both feet at once. Challenging but I had a lot of help from my mom. I remember the first two weeks being the hardest. Once they clear you for getting the stitches removed and you can start physical therapy it was an easy recovery. Mom had the surgery 6 months before I did. We still talk about it (more than 30 years later!) how glad we are that we had it done.

Here is my two cents as someone who recently tested positive for Covid. I'd test again if: you need to know because that will change how you treat it (isolate from family and/or get anti-viral) or if you need to know for an employer. If no matter the outcome, you treat as if it's covid, monitor your symptoms. Assuming you are not high risk, no need to drag yourself to a clinic. Here is my quick story-have had a sore throat since early December. Truly the only symptom I had until last week when my ears started hurting. Went to a walk in clinic at Walgreens and I insisted they do a strep test. Negative on the strep. She wouldn't consider it being covid, said it just looked like I had the beginnings of an ear infection. Fast forward to Tuesday morning when I woke up feeling pretty crappy. Took a covid test for poops and giggles and what do you know...positive! Had a virtual visit with my dr yesterday and he prescribed an antiviral Lagevrio. I've decided not to take it as it needs to be taken within 5 days of symptoms which, I believe started mid week last week, thereby exempting me from the antiviral. He got snippy with me when I wondered if maybe I had covid last week and said just take the antiviral. Oy, I guess that wasn't a quick story but you aren't alone in this. It's so annoying. I hope you feel better soon.

Anyone have experience with Lagevrio? I’m not eligible for Paxlovid due to other Rx I’m on. From what I’ve googled, Lagevrio is not nearly as effective. Not even close-Paxlovid is 90% effective and Lagevrio 30%. Doesn’t seem worth it to me.

I just got off the phone with my doctor’s office. I have a virtual visit tomorrow afternoon.

Oh I’m irritated. I woke up yesterday with my ears just killing me so I decided to start the amoxicillin. I just felt kinda crappy all day but just had the constant sore throat & ear pain. Woke up this morning feeling worse-along with chest heaviness & a cough. Took a covid test as a precaution and it’s positive. Fever kicked in 30 minutes ago. I’m fully vaccinated so hoping this will be a minor inconvenience.

Yep. She kept looking at me as if I'm crazy. All of her suggestions to alleviate the pain I have already tried. It felt like a pointless visit.

Back from walk in clinic. Rapid strep was negative and NP really didn't even want to test for it-I had to ask her to. She said I have a borderline ear infection but other than that found nothing. Suggested I try Flonase for a few days to see if that helps and if it doesn't take Amoxicillin. If that doesn't work, call either the GI doctor to see if it is acid reflux or call an ENT. She was truly stumped. I'm not keen on taking antibiotics unless I know for sure it's an infection but I guess I'll try the Amoxicillin if the Flonase doesn't calm my throat down. What is so weird about it is that I can pinpoint it to the day when it started hurting and it's not improved or worsened since then. That leads her to think it's not acid reflux. This is incredibly annoying. And painful.

OK appointment made at a walk in clinic near me. My doctor didn't have anything available until March 24. As always, thankful for the medical minds of the hive 🙂

If it is strep, wouldn't my husband be feeling it also? Strep is horribly contagious so I'd imagine he'd be showing symptoms. Honestly, the only symptom I have is the terrible sore throat. I do have allergies and acid reflux but this really doesn't seem to be either of those as the throat pain just came up on me late afternoon on Dec.3. I have decided to move my nightly nasal rinse to the morning to see if that helps. My tonsils were removed when I was a child so no inflamed or swollen tonsils. There is some white streakiness on my throat when I look in the mirror. I guess it could be Covid. I am fully vaccinated so I guess I could just have the one symptom? But for 8 weeks??

I'm already on Prilosec. I take one in the morning and one in the evening. I actually had an endoscopy a week after the sore throat started (endoscopy had been planned for months). I have some esophageal webbing but that's it. Gastro doctor said he saw some evidence of acid reflux damage but I haven't had the acid reflux symptoms since I started taking Prilosec twice a day. It's just weird because the pain started so suddenly on Dec.3 but has not abated since then.

My throat has been sore since December 3. I worked all day that day (work in retail) and then had to go to hubby's company Christmas party. I remember saying that before we got there my throat hurt from talking all day. Of course, at the party, there was a loud band so you had to raise your voice to talk to anyone. Since that day, my throat has been horribly sore. It feels like someone ran a fork down it. I'm not sick, in fact, never felt better (other than the throat). I don't have any other symptoms at all. I rested my voice on December 4 as I knew I needed to but the rest did nothing. Dealing with the holiday madness and working retail part time certainly doesn't help. But I was home all day yesterday and today. I made a point not to talk unless necessary and it still hurts. I've been drinking an obscene amount of water and lots of Yogi Throat Comfort tea. Obviously since it's been 8 weeks, I should call my doctor. But if it's just strained vocal cords, what can she recommend other than rest and fluids?