[We need prayers right now (update in OP)]

Praying for your son, his medical team and your family! 

[I got a $15 drink at Starbucks!]

3 hours ago, DawnM said:

It was a bit too sweet for my liking, but I am glad I tried it.   I have some more in the fridge for later.   Since I put 6 espresso shots in it I am adding hot water at home to dilute it a bit.

My birthday was yesterday, thanks @Junie

Six espresso shots would have me in the hospital! 🤣Happy belated birthday! 

[hearing aids suggestions and advice]

We're trying to get MIL to try Costco because they get excellent reviews. I will get mine there when I need them. (Which will probably be soon lol.)

[S/O: What are your top 3 grocery splurges?]

For me personally:

Organic frozen fruit for my smoothies. Costco has made this more reasonable thankfully. 

Illy coffee - I have to stick with decaf nowadays, but their decaf is still pretty damn good. And I love the hiss when I open a can. I have their espresso machine, too. I will buy a can of pods for that once every other month. 

Owyn protein shakes - I do get decent deals at CVS every month or two, but otherwise they are $10 for a 4 pack. I like to have one every night. Occasionally dh will surprise me with a case of the bottled shakes. 

For the family:

The prime rib sliders at Sam's Club, and the brioche slider rolls. I don't eat meat very often, but I will have one of these when we buy them. We went last weekend, and they brought out 3 packs - we took all 3. 

Boneless leg of American lamb - this is more of a holiday/special occasion splurge. We did this for Easter, and it was $75. Dh has a recipe from Chef John I think, that uses pomegranate molasses and various spices. I ask him to leave out the rosemary, which I've never liked on lamb. It's delicious! Another one of the few times I will eat meat.

Cold cuts - we don't do this very often due to price and health reasons, but every few months we decide to do cold cuts for dinner. We put it all on a platter, put out rolls, bread, condiments, etc. and make our own sandwiches. I grew up on liverwurst, and it's one of the few times I will allow myself to eat it. My other fave is Boar's Head Blazing Buffalo chicken. It's crazy how expensive this has become. 

 

Ice cream used to be one of our splurges, but dh got me an ice cream maker for Christmas. I've perfected peppermint stick ice cream, my all time fave, as well as coffee, chocolate, and other basic types. I'm planning on trying some non-dairy recipes next. I try not to have too much dairy, but I have no control with peppermint stick!! 

[Remember Gandalf’s smoke rings?]

Wow, that's pretty cool!

[4.7 Earthquake in Northeast]

I was in the basement, as was dh. The whole house shook for about 25 seconds, not too badly. But it was definitely weird! My son was in the attic and ran downstairs right away. Dh was on the phone with someone, and he could hear stuff fall off her walls/shelves. Her mother had things coming out of her cabinets. The last earthquake I felt was the one in Virginia years ago. I was also in the basement laying on the couch, and it felt like someone kicked the couch I was on very hard. This one felt completely different, more of a rumbly-shaky feeling, and I could hear the rumbling. I didn't hear anything the last time. 

[How do you sleep?]

I'm a side sleeper, mainly because of GERD which will hit me even if I'm elevated. I will choke on it if I'm laying on my back, which is not pleasant in the middle of a deep sleep. I also get headaches when I sleep on my back. It sucks, because I prefer sleeping on my back. Sleeping on my side hurts my hips so I am constantly switching sides until I fall asleep. My husband bought a sound machine for my son but he hated it, so I started using it and it really helps me sleep better. It helps dh a little, but he is very sensitive to noise when he is sleeping, so he still wakes up from any unusual noises, like putting my Air pods back in the case. I used to have a body pillow, and I think I may buy a new one. Costco had a cooling body pillow for a reasonable amount, and I hope they still have it when I go back. My son can only sleep with the air conditioner running all night, even if it's 20 degrees outside. 🥶 It's partially for the sound but he is always hot. (I'm sure it has nothing to do with the 3 comforters he insists on having, lol.) Dh swears by using Breathe Right strips when he sleeps. I use them when I have a cold, and they do help. 

[Vertigo sucks]

I would only go to an ENT or PT that can perform these maneuvers if you still have some residual vertigo, otherwise I wouldn't bother. When I was following these videos I was getting some relief, but I still had a good amount of vertigo left. The ENT performed the Epley and it knocked the rest of it out. I haven't tried the Foster maneuver - I'll have to check it out. Luckily I haven't had positional vertigo in quite a while. 

[Helping DD process events]

My adult spectrum ds found my mil at the bottom of the stairs unconscious in the middle of the night, after obviously falling from the top of the stairs. It took him a long time to not jump at every sound at night or constantly check her during the day if he heard anything after she was back home, at least a year. One thing that helped in our situation was getting her a life alert pendant even though she is rarely alone in the house. There are 4 of us besides mil living here, but my son was the only one who thought he heard something the night she fell and got up to check. He has settled into a state of readiness to check on her if a loud sound is heard during the day or night or if her alert goes off (we all have!), but he no longer jumps at every little sound. While the life alert helped, time was the biggest factor. I have seen that myself with a traumatizing choking issue I experienced - it took me a few months to get back to somewhat normal, and I even had to go back on anxiety meds.

He will hold on to things that upset him and not want to discuss them, but he was willing to discuss what happened right away, especially as the fall was quite serious and led to mil being in the hospital and rehab for about 4 months. He understood immediately that she may have died if he didn't check out the sound that night, but we didn't want that to be made into a big deal knowing how he would be when she got home. 

[And my family wonders why I am tired without “physically doing that much”]

2 hours ago, saraha said:

I do remember years ago shouting at my dh “I am tired of being everyone’s brain!”

I've turned the tables and now dh is my brain! 🤣

[Help me figure out home care that I will need because dh going away for 15 days]

Even though she is not alone, my mil has Philip's Lifeline. We got this for her after she fell down a flight of stairs in the middle of the night. Dh and I never heard it, but thank God my son did, or she may have died. I would definitely look into that - I plan on getting one if my MS gets worse. Agencies can be very expensive. Mil was able to find people who were willing to work directly for her to help with her mother instead of the agency, but it took a while to find someone. They were paid cash, and it was about $10/hr cheaper. Not legal, but necessary financially. If you have the funds, there should be agencies that will take on temporary jobs if you are in a suburban/urban area. Mil never had trouble finding people, but again, it took a few weeks. She did start out with an agency, but most of the she paid cash came from the woman who handled the scheduling for the agency she used. She was also able to find people through the church to help with certain tasks. 

[Where to buy certified glasses to view the solar eclipse safely?]

I believe our local Walmart has them from Vision Scientific, ISO certified, so maybe yours will, too.

 

[Menopause sucks: shoe edition]

I gained a shoe size and now need wide shoes.🫤

 

[Shogun (original miniseries)]

I was trying to find somewhere to watch it, never thought of checking there, thanks! The opening music is terrible lol. 

[ADHD medication shortage]

Niece and nephew are having trouble getting their ADHD meds, not sure which ones they take. They often have to go to a pharmacy 45 minutes away. Mil recently had to switch one of her COPD meds because of supply issues. Thankfully the replacement seems to be helping her a little more than what she had been on. 

[If you only had to buy food for just yourself…]

If it was just me I could probably get away with $50 -75 a week, but $100 would be more realistic. I rarely eat meat, but I do like the expensive tuna fish that has just tuna and salt, no added water or oil. I love rice and beans, lentils, veggies, etc. For just me I would buy only organic but for our family of 5 I can't afford to do that, so I avoid the dirty dozen. It bothers me when we get inexpensive meat, because there's a reason it's cheap. When I was following a certain diet I only bought grass-fed and finished for myself, but I can't afford that for 5. But even if it was just me I wouldn't go back to that - meat doesn't like my body any more. Beef bothers my stomach a lot, but chicken is worse. If I eat meat it is only 2 - 3 ounces. I doubt I would buy it at all if I was just cooking for myself. I would be tempted to try some kind of meal kit service, or something like Hungryroot. There's also a local CSA that has a small share of organic fruits/veggies that would be tempting.

[Stand Mixers-worth it?]

Our Kitchen Aid is about 30 years old and gets almost daily use. We make a lot of bread, pizza dough, baked goods, etc. We do have a bread machine, and do use that on occasion, but most of our bread is done in the Kitchen Aid. We also use it for meatballs, mashed potatoes, meat loaf, I could go on... Dh is really the one who uses it the most. I have a few no-knead breads that I do, but he does the majority of cooking/baking. 

[Noise sensitivity and Air Pods Pro (2nd gen)]

I've always disliked eating out if the restaurant is very noise. I get anxiety when being in noisy environments, but we try to go out once a month for dinner, usually well before the dinner rush so it's more manageable for me.  We went to Longhorn the other day, and I had my Air Pods Pro in listening to an audiobook on the ride. I didn't take them out when we got to the restaurant, and forgot I had them in. Even though it was pretty early, they were mobbed and it was very loud. It was giving me anxiety, and it was only getting worse when I realized how long we would probably be there with service being pretty slow. I remembered my Air Pods, and decided to play around with the settings, so I set it to noise cancellation, and holy cow!!! I could still mostly hear what was being said at our table, but the background noise was reduced so much, and my anxiety just disappeared! It was one the most pleasant experiences eating out at that type of place. If only they had this type of technology when my son was younger! He was much worse than I am, but he has mostly outgrown his issues. The Air Pods Pro are the only thing I can put in my ear that don't give me an earache or headache. I've tried ear plugs in the past, but they are always too large and uncomfortable, and I can only last about an hour with them. I can't wait to try this at the next loud wedding we have to go to!! My husband was so unsure of these when he gifted them to me, but I love them so much, and now I love them even more! 

[Tell me about Costco, eyeglasses, and more]

I paid $550 for my son's previous pair of eyeglasses. The pair we bought at Costco was $250ish, and that included Transition lenses. That alone paid for our membership. (Edited to add - ds is rough on glasses and these have stood up well to his abuse.) We drive about 35 minutes depending on traffic. The gas lines are long by us, but it is cheaper than any other place. We buy things like cereal, cookies, filet mignon, OTC meds. My husband cannot sleep without Breathe Right strips, and they are a lot cheaper there than other stores. I like their eggs a lot - for some reason they peel so much easier than any other brands. My son likes to have frozen things that he can pop in the microwave, toaster oven or air fryer - things like ham and cheese filled croissants, pocket chicken sandwiches, pizza, breaded chicken pieces, etc. I will eventually get hearing aids there, and I'm trying to convince mil to get them. We will probably get our next dishwasher there. We got a great deal on a tv last year, and when it went on sale even cheaper I went online, filled out a form, and was refunded the difference. We will get the upgraded membership when we renew. We're a bit obsessed with Costco lol. Dh and ds love the hot dogs, and the price can't be beat, so we always have a cheap lunch or dinner when we go there. For some reason nobody uses the self checkout in ours, so we rarely wait on line for more than 5 minutes, and usually someone helps us check out anyway.

We also have Sam's Club and BJ's membership. We have different things we buy at each store. 

[Hot Seat- WTM edition`]

What is your current favorite podcast, blog, or person you follow?: Bible in a Year, Catechism in a Year, The Meditation Podcast, Weight Loss Made Real Podcast

What was your favorite book last year- fiction and/or non-fiction?: I've been rereading series from my past, which has been a lot of fun: Anne McCaffrey's Pern books, The Hobbit, LOTR, Harry Potter, Wheel of Time. I really can't pick a favorite out of those - maybe the Harper Hall trilogy out of the Pern books. Non-fiction: How Not to Age by Michael Greger. I have all of his books, and I am on his site all the time, I just can't listen to him. He has an odd way of speaking that he didn't have in his earlier days. 

Favorite purchase last year: A larger tv for our rec room and a wall mount, but my favorite has been LED light strips that go on the back of the TV and splash color onto the wall behind the tv. It has a camera that senses the colors on the screen, so the colors on the wall match the tv. I thought it was silly when dh ordered it, but it's made movie night a lot more immersive and fun! I was a bit reluctant to spend the money, but we got a surprise check from a judgement against a company we use for our business, so we decided we needed a splurge for ourselves. Plus the TV was a great price at Costco.

Best life hack: Hmm, I can't say I have any amazing hacks. When we make dinner, if it's something that freezes well we make double and freeze what's left for a busy night. This has saved dinner and kept us from ordering out quite a few nights. But there are those nights that we just want takeout.😁 We will also spend a weekend making personal size pot pies for the freezer. We do chicken, shepherd's pie, cottage pie and a creamy tarragon chicken one with a polenta topping. They get wrapped individually and everyone can pick which one they want. 

Biggest regret: We had a tough time making ends meet for 2022 until the beginning of last year, so I had to use credit cards for a few emergencies. Things are better now, thankfully. 

What did you do to make your life easier this year?: I stopped worrying about the amount of sleep I was getting and went with the recommendations of a sleep app I was using. It was recommending 1:30 am as my ideal bedtime. I decided to go with that time, and delay my wake up time. I'm fortunate that I work from home and can make my own hours. I sleep better, and I have much better focus during the day. It was a burden trying to fit into the 'norm' of sleep/wake times and work times, and I'm much happier this way.

High point of last year: Christmas! It was so much more relaxed this year. We didn't have financial pressures for once, family issues seemed to mellow for the holiday season, we were able to celebrate the way we wanted to. It was probably the best Christmas we've ever had. 

[Establishing Habits]

I can't stand trying to force myself to drink a large glass of water at once. I also don't really like having those big water bottles sitting in front of me. I have a 4 ounce glass, and I use that. I have water before every meal, every time I pass through the kitchen, when I think about it, etc. A 4 ounce glass seems much more doable. I also drink herbal tea, and I count that towards my water intake. 

I'm not an outdoor walker, but I do plenty of walking indoors. It's either too hot or too cold for me, and the weather affects my MS too much to safely deal with alone. Nobody will walk with me, so I adapted and now walk indoors with an audiobook that I love and only listen to while walking, or I will listen to a podcast. I also walk whenever I am waiting for something, like the tea water to boil, something heating in the microwave, etc. I also have one of those mini steppers. It's in the way from my desk to the rest of the house, so every time I need to get up I get on it for a minute or two. I will do a longer session at some point during the day. 

[Bullet Journaling revisited]

I'm still going strong, with something similar to the original method. The only difference is that I now use a Remarkable 2 instead of a notebook, and I create separate notebooks for tracking things like books I've read, projects, etc. I have a basic template that I use every month and it takes me about 5 minutes to set it up before the beginning of the month. 

The only resource I used was the original how-to from the website, so I'm not any help.🙂I've always used it strictly to keep myself on track, and never was into all the fancy stuff. As pretty as some people make their journals, for me it defeats the reason bullet journaling attracted me in the first place, which was rapid logging. There are a ton of videos on YouTube, and the website has a lot of info, but the site seems a lot different now than when I started years ago. I did find the book somewhat helpful.

[Dr. Hive: How to survive prednisone]

That dose doesn't bother me beyond the first 2 days of being a little hyper. Just have lots of healthy snacks around if it makes you hungry. Lower carb/no junk food at all, lots of veggies, some fruit is how I usually eat on steroids. Take advantage of increased energy and do some extra cleaning, etc. That's what I usually do. 😊 I find as long as I can deal with the increased hunger in a healthy way I don't put on more than a few pounds of water weight. 

My elderly neighbor was on that dose for about a year before they were able to taper him off, and he never had any side effects at all. He went through chemo and radiation with a half day of nausea, so I think he's one of those rare people that never have any side effects from any medication/treatment. 

[switching to "adult" doctor for a teen?]

21 hours ago, Kassia said:

I'm wondering if nephrologists just charge more in general? The most expensive office visit I ever had was with a nephrologist - she charged around $400 and it was a useless appointment.  She did nothing (I was told to drink less water and consume more salt and eat...bananas...for protein - yes, bananas).  

My kids all switched to our family doctor from their pediatrician at around 15 or so, but none of them had to see specialists, fortunately.  

Pediatric specialist of any kind seem to charge a lot in our experience. My son's neurologist charges $395 for a Zoom visit. He does spend a good amount of time, though, which translates to appointments being at least an hour late. At least it's better than when we had to sit in the office for an hour or two. We are lucky in that he will follow patients into adulthood, so we haven't had to find another doctor for him. It was hard finding a decent doctor for him! We've had other pediatric specialists in his younger years charge up to $1000 for a visit. I haven't noticed many regular specialists being much cheaper in our area and they wouldn't accept a pediatric patient. My neurologist charges me $85 a visit, but she's not a very good doctor. I keep her because I just need medications and MRIs. When I checked other neurologists they started at 350/visit.

[Dining room]

We have a china cabinet, but we also have two corner built-ins. The top has glass doors and grooves to display china, the bottoms have solid doors. We also have a cabinet built over the radiator, and to each side of the radiator there are doors with shelves. It's actually a good amount of storage space. Someday we will probably get rid of the china cabinet and replace it with something more modern, as well as modernize the built-ins. I kind of swing between wanting something more modern to loving the old-fashioned look of the built-ins.