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Jaybee

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Everything posted by Jaybee

  1. I was sitting here feeling so self-righteous about the jello salad stuff, when I realized that one of our traditional Thanksgiving dishes is "cranberry salad," a jello based dish with cranberries, nuts, pineapple, etc. in it. (eye-roll emoji) In fact, this year, my family recommended I leave off cranberry sauce and just do the "salad." (It really is good, though, especially with the dressing.)
  2. Oh, Dawn. How horrific. I'm so sorry. ❤️
  3. For grandkids, I kept only the most used toys. That means primarily wooden blocks and legos. We have tons of legos that our grandkids are presently too young for. We may eventually get rid of them, but right now, we have room for the plastic boxes we use for storing them, and will hold on to them. Then we have a ball and a couple of toys we were given, and children's books, as well. I would have a hard time not buying more new things to keep on hand, but our grandbabies are far away, so I have a spot in a bathroom closet where I store the toys for younger kids. I pull them out when they come, or when we have young guests.
  4. I posted a list of things I wish I had, but I am also thankful for all the moves that made me get rid of things I would have held onto otherwise. Probably even some of the things I occasionally wish I still had, lol. I look at my siblings' homes and all the junk (imho) they have cluttering everything, and I am so thankful to have had that tendency (mostly) trained out of me. I am genetically inclined to hold onto things I don't really need. I am determined to not let stuff take over now that we are back in the U.S. and probably won't move again until retirement. My parents' home had loads and loads of stuff in it that had to be gone through. It's just too emotionally and physically exhausting to do that. Thankfully, my mother was willing to move and downsize, so that didn't have to be done quickly at a time of death. I think she is happier not having to worry about all that stuff as well. Some (most) of my family members are terribly sentimental. I have had to learn that I can feel sentimental about something without having to keep it. I can really like and enjoy something without having to buy it and have it in my home. And I can refuse something that someone else's sentimentality prods me to keep. Now I'm thinking about that china again, and whether I should go ahead and pass it on to someone...
  5. I got rid of some books, twice, that I wish I'd kept. (On the other hand, I probably need to purge more books.) Actually, the reason I wish I'd kept some of them is that my niece is now being homeschooled, and I wish I could have sent her a couple of books that were not common but really helpful to us; however, I knew we were through, so... The other thing is that I got rid of my old plan books, most of which were fine, but some of those younger years--I think it would have been helpful for my kids. And would also show them how much effort I put into their homeschooling, lol! I even impressed myself when I was looking through them, haha. I have had to purge belongings that I regret, but had no choice in because of international moves. Those include furniture I had finished and a nice oak dining set, some shelves bil made for us, books, and the hardest, a very nice piano. I would love to have all of those, but we couldn't move and/or store, and they all got nice homes. When we moved to our present location, I finished up a lot of purging. I still have a couple of boxes of papers, mostly including letters, that I need to go through. Some I want to keep and some I want to throw away, but the sorting is time consuming. And there is a trunk of photos, which I don't know what to do with. I have a set of china (we were given as wedding gifts) that I can't quite bring myself to get rid of, but it is not something I would choose now, and I don't use it. I have a nice set of everyday dishes that we use all the time, and I much prefer those. Maybe I can bring myself to get rid of the china for our next move...
  6. Our table is a small rectangular one which tightly seats six. It was bought when four of us were in an apartment with limited space, but has such a lovely wood grain that I don't want to part with it. And our kitchen countertops are great for buffet-style. They are made of a matte-finished tile and there is a peninsula area that is great for both food preparation and serving. So we often do buffet even when it is just the four of us, because it makes the table too crowded if we have more than 3 dishes. When we have guests, we put up a folding table so we can seat more people. With our setup, buffet helps the table/s look and feel more spacious.
  7. I'm with the others. I'd put the sweet potatoes aside and order Chinese take out, and pick up a gallon of peppermint/chocolate ice cream for dessert (we all like ice cream). Or the makings for sundaes, if everybody preferred. Then I'd snuggle down on the sofa and relax, watching a movie together or reading.
  8. I'm glad both young men in both situations are okay. Things can happen so fast, and while people often stand in judgment about the "he/she should have done" thing sometimes, none of us is a perfect driver, and we don't know what our automatic reaction would be in any given situation. And sometimes, there are just accidents. When we were newlyweds, we hit a car that ran a red light. Thankfully, nobody was hurt. The other car held a teenager and his date who were following a tall van through a light and turning left in front of us. They couldn't see the light for the van, and ran it. Yes, it was their fault, but they were so shaken up, and I will never forget the young man's dad showing up and chewing him out. He already felt horrible and was shaking, and that was not beneficial at all. I determined then that if something like that happened to my kids, I would make sure they were okay, and refrain from the chewing out.
  9. Our trips were normally 33 hours or more (3 or more flight legs). Once a teenager had a mishap and we had to buy clothes in the airport. Not cheap and hard to find in a hurry. Once a kid spilled a full drink all over self and seat at the beginning of a flight (a run through the airport with no time to eat had us getting on a flight with fast food meals). That was a sticky mess. Never happened to me, but I've known of others getting vomited on by a fellow passenger. We've had flights delayed and sometimes needed fresh clothes due to time, missing luggage, and too-warm flights rather than the usual cold ones. It may seem like too much and a hassle when you don't use the extra clothes, but when you do need them, it sure is great to have them! We usually only take one or two small snacks apiece (unless with a small child), because there is often a place on the long international flights where you can go pick up something if nothing is being served for awhile.
  10. The above are good suggestions and cover pretty much everything. Don't skimp on the extra outfit. Lots of things can happen both on or off the plane. Really.
  11. I had mine out many years ago. I wasn't told anything diet-wise, but never had any problems. I had been asked if I had indigestion a lot, and I said no. However, I realized after my gallbladder was removed, that I had had a lot more than I realized, because I felt much better. I have never noticed any effects from fat vs. low fat besides that heaviness that you feel anyway with high fat foods. Immediately after surgery, I don't remember diet issues, but I had been very sick from something else the week before, so was probably eating very lightly anyway.
  12. Us too. I really enjoy the traditional Thanksgiving meal--once a year. I have no desire to repeat it a month later. We started doing lasagna our first Christmas we were unable to go "home". Most of our married life we've lived far from family. I rarely make lasagna any other time, so it's special, but the meal isn't too much work for me to put together on my own. Christmas Eve we have lasagna, salad, homemade bread, and then for dessert, we have ice cream and a special cookie bar I only make at Christmas. Christmas morning, we have monkey bread, and bacon or sausage and eggs. The rest of the day we lounge around and have leftover lasagna and snacks, such as cheese ball and crackers, etc.
  13. That's a great shirt!--but all I've seen on there so far are. Thanks--me too. They are unusual, and I think they will.
  14. Your t-shirt link takes me back to this thread. But yes, I have found several things I want to order for gifts this year! (In very different fields.)
  15. I found this cool site today: https://www.patentearth.com/ I'm pretty fascinated by these, and such a variety of patents!
  16. Eventually, a craft closet and a good table for handling those crafts. (A sink nearby is helpful if you go this route.) Open-ended supplies of construction paper, markers, glue, craft sticks, pipe cleaners, googly eyes, pompoms, safety scissors, tape, drawing and painting supplies, etc. Then add some drawing books plus books with paper craft ideas. Our kids spent hours on projects they found in our supply of idea books.
  17. Well, on the material front--our heat went out right about the time that huge cold front went through last week. Thankfully, it's warmer now and the house isn't bad, but we are still waiting on the new heat unit to come in. Which has made me put one of those cozy electric throws on my Christmas list. Right this minute, that sounds so wonderful!
  18. I used to love all the Christmas hullabaloo. Then we lived overseas for years. At first, it was really hard and I missed the over-the-top celebrations. Then we developed quieter, more simple celebrations. Over the years, that became the preference. So now, when I feel melancholy at Christmas, I try to concentrate on simplifying: nice music, candles, reading or doing crafts (instead of being on my computer 😉like I am now). That helps me be reflective and focus on real meaning. As to the mom thing--I grew up with my mom baking mountains of cookies during December, in part due to all the parties, I guess. I might bake some cookies, but usually only bake one main cookie bar we all like for Christmas Eve. For Christmas Eve dinner, instead of fifty-jillion dishes, we have lasagna, salad, homemade bread, and for dessert, ice cream and the aforementioned cookie bar. On Christmas Day, we have leftovers and a lazy, relaxed day. Those kinds of simplifying help me not get all stressed because I have tons of work to do. It's still something special that I don't usually cook, but doesn't take lots of extra time. I'm still not sure how to eliminate a lot of the get-togethers that require food, and therefore preparation. I enjoy them, but the busyness plus the extra expense at a time our budget is stretched thin anyway is hard for me to handle. So yeah, still working on that part.
  19. This is me. I haven't sent them in years. When we were overseas, it was really hard to keep up with the changing addresses, though we still tried to send out a Christmas letter. When we returned, it just wasn't high on my priority list for the reasons above (stress, expense, and time), and I was kind of relieved not to feel obligated anymore. I do enjoy getting them.
  20. I sleep on my side--always have. No special bed, pillow, etc. When I have a cold, the moisturized air usually clears me up enough to sleep, even when I am stuffy during the day, though I may add an additional pillow to help put my head higher than my body. There have been a few occasions when I was so congested I couldn't use it. At those times, I slept on the couch (because I was coughing a lot), and propped my head up higher, which helped some. But overall, the Cpap helps me sleep better through a cold than I did pre-Cpap days.
  21. You sound very reasonable to me. It sounds like he is just wanting to do his own thing and run his own life--which I've seen happen with all of my boys about this age, to one degree or another. We've told them that we will usually let them do things (activities, practices, hang out, etc.), but they need to be respectful and responsible by letting us know when, where, with whom (which is only common courtesy, as we do that as his parents), and that occasionally we'll need to say no for some reason or another. And our flexibility depends in part on their being responsible in doing what we have asked (the above, plus don't be too late on a school night, etc.) For the most part, this approach has worked well. One of ours is much more social though, and it's harder because as you say, he pushes it a lot more. On the other hand, he is working so hard at keeping his grades up, which isn't easy due to a learning disability, so it makes me want to work hard to help him get what he wants socially. It can be a challenge working with teenaged sons, and seeing them through the "I'm my own boss" stage over to the "I'm responsible and considerate" stage. ETA: We, too, saw improvement at 17, but even more at 18 and up.
  22. I tried it, but it made me feel groggy and sluggish the next day, and it made me have bad dreams. I know lots of people benefit from it, though.
  23. I know that somehow some of my medical information is getting out there, because I get ads for medical paraphernalia as well as articles on Facebook that are applicable to me, even though I post none of that type of info on Facebook. 😡 It's infuriating.
  24. Even with just surgery, the feelings you have described are not uncommon; yet, you have gone through a whole bunch of stuff lately. Going back to the "just surgery" part: Years ago, I became quite ill, was hospitalized for a week, then in the process it was discovered that I also needed surgery (and the surgeon offered to combine another needed surgery with the initial one). So I went back the next week for the combined surgery, done laparoscopically (so a 'lesser' surgery, in a way). A few weeks after my surgery, I was losing a lot of my hair--not outwardly noticeable, but it was falling out much more than normal, and skin was peeling off in places. Whether a response to the sickness or to the surgery, or to both, I don't know. I'm sharing all that to say that those physical changes are a big blow to the body (to the extent that hair can fall out and skin can peel off). And that includes to the parts that govern emotions. It is common for people to be depressed for awhile after any surgery. And your surgery and the circumstances surrounding it involve emotionally-charged feelings about all the things A from Texas mentioned in her last two posts. Gently here, it almost sounds like you are not wanting to allow yourself to be human and feel the emotions that are so normal--maybe they are not normal for you, so you think you shouldn't be feeling weak and weepy and maybe very vulnerable. It's okay to feel those things. In fact, I'd think it would be healthier to lean in to them and really grieve, than it would to reject those feelings because you think for some reason you shouldn't be feeling them. Hugs to you, Jenny; you have been/are going through a lot, both physically and emotionally, and the lines between the physical and emotional are related and blurred.
  25. So...I read this as "Meet" Raffles, and clicked on it expecting to see a fluffy new pet of some variety.😜
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