Chats, Challenges & Laughs 2nd home

[Cele21]

For all my Chats, Challenges & Laughs peeps! Since we can't get on the threads I thought I would start a discussion area for us. We may not be able to keep track of points standings easily but we can still talk.

I miss you!

[Jan2512]

Hi Everyone,

Hope you are all okay in this very scary world we inhabit.  I had to turn the telly off as I am getting overloaded between the situation in Ukraine, the floods in Qld & NSW and of course covid is still stick around.  My aunt in England (the one with dementia) has recovered from covid.  Our PM has just been diagnosed with it.  This follows the Queen (who we worried about as she is 95) and Prince Charles & his wife Camilla (both in their 70's).  Still at least they have all been triple vaxed so seem to be alright.

My Mum is about to undertake her first trip out by herself since the start of 2020.  Normally either myself or my brother would go with her but my brother has just started a full time job so he can drive her to the council offices before his afternoon shift but she has to walk back home.  Fortunately she walks quicker than I do so it should take her about 20 minutes.  I am not going with her because I am waiting for a delivery.  I ordered a recliner chair a few months ago but it was on back order.  I was supposed to arrive on Tuesday but I'm still waiting.  I have checked the tracker and apparently it is sitting in a depot about 20kms away.  My brother (Roy) has the same chair and I like sitting on his when he is out, it actually lifts you out of the seat which is handy when my arthritis is playing up.  It also heats and there is a vibrating mode as well.

We've made the arrangements to finally scatter Dad's ashes.  Due to covid lockdowns we had to wait.  We had to change the original day as Roy is now working full time not casual so we moved it to a Saturday.  On the day we will pick a rose bed to scatter them on.  His name a details have been placed in a book where the scattering is taking place.  It had to be sent to England to be done which took a few months.  Only myself, Mum, my brother and two friends will be attending.  The day before the scattering is my Mum's 80th birthday, we've still got to get out and buy her something, she doesn't want a fuss and just wants to celebrate with me & Roy.  

Take care everyone and stay safe.

[reszy]

I don't think I ever said , but my parents are Ukrainian,  escaped during ww2 . The saw many atrocities.  They saw Ukraine get free. Luckily they passed, not seeing their homeland under fire :fire: again.

[Jan2512]

Steve, do you have any family still in Ukraine?  My thoughts are with you.  I live in Australia and class this as home but when things happen in England I feel it.  We can only hope that the carnage will soon stop and that Ukraine is again free.

[reszy]

My mom had some there.but all predeceased her.My mom she felt lucky,  she thought she wouldn't last till 20, she made it to 89. My dad had 5 brothers, 3 died in ww2 he made to Denmark,  his last brother got to Canada. Thanks for prayers and kind words. 

[Brown001]

This is cute and awesome

[Cele21]

Hi Everyone!

I'm back! Knee surgery went very well 5 weeks ago today. I'm back at work for the first time since then though I was working from home part time for the last three weeks.  I am walking without assistance and still in physical therapy. I have my six week follow up next Tuesday. I can drive myself as it was my left knee. I did develop neuropathy on the bottom of my left foot and honestly, that is bothering me more than any thing going on with my knee. Still working on range of motion but it's already much better than it was pre-surgery.

On February 26th one of my nephews and his wife delivered twin boys - two months early (they came on the day of the baby shower). They have been in the NICU since and I found out yesterday that they are being released today! So happy for them.

What has everyone else been up to while I was out?

[reszy]

Glad that your surgery went smoothly. Finished a play , 25th annual Putnam County spelling bee,  fun time . I got a call ,out of the blue, my director of the place I was volunteering building theater sets.  Well he recommended me to another theater manager that was looking for a technical director,  fancy name for construction supervisor.  So now , I am doing Little shop of horrors. Fun play . People need a laugh now.  Me too. War in Ukraine  is making me sad , since that is where my parents were born. 

[Hmkitten]

I've gained 30 pounds since a little before my gallbladder surgery three months ago. I have only myself to blame. The treadmill at my parents' place died, so I couldn't walk safely there, then my own one went to heck and I had to buy a new one. Got that mostly set up and it works okay. The one at my parents'place is upstairs... Not ideal for lugging a large piece of equipment! 

So I'm starting again. I bought myself flowers to remind me to make good decisions. Now, off to work.

[Jan2512]

Hi Everyone,

So glad to see people still using the forum.  

Celeste - great to hear your knee surgery went well and your recovery sounds good.  Both my knees are in a bad way, when I'm not on medication (I'm on it for several days then I have to come off it for several days - just keep repeating the cycle) then pain is quite bad.  It's not the pain that gets me so much as the inability to stand for any real length of time and when they become very stiff walking (and things like getting in and out of chairs) becomes very difficult.  Hope your little nephews are doing well.  What are their names?  I am fascinated by names and why people choose them.  

Steve - your time in the theatre sounds fun and very busy.  It must be great to have the distraction from what is happening in Ukraine.  It breaks my heart every time I watch the news and what is happening to the people there.  It is hard to believe in the 21st century this would happen in Europe.  The situation is made so much worse by so many countries relying on Russia for fuel particularly Germany.  Every week I think it has got to end soon but then there is another terrible attack against defenseless people.

Hmkitten - hello, not sure if you were part of the old forum or just new here.  Anyway, welcome.

I had a message from Catherine, she has been looking at the posts but is unable to post herself.  She wanted to let everyone know she is around.

Elaine, Margaret, CJ and Glenda I miss you.

We were finally able to scatter Dad's ashes after, more than 20 months since he passed.  It was a lovely farewell.  It was just my Mum, Roy (my brother) and two close family friends.  There is a lovely cemetery about 18km from where we live (around 11 miles).  It is the largest one in Victoria and is so large that you could not walk around it by foot.  There is a bus route that goes through the cemetery. It even has a nice name - The Springvale Botanical Cemetery.  People from all denominations can be buried or ashes scattered or kept here.  Many famous Victorians are interned here.  We did not know what to expect but the man Rob who was assisting us was lovely.  We first went to the enclosed pavilion where the book with Dad's details are kept (the book has the name, date and place of birth and date and place of death, a beautiful hand drawn picture of a red rose Mum's details, mine and Roy's names and a personal message - "One family, four hearts, standing together, never apart".  The writing is beautiful as it is written by a  calligrapher .  After we visited the book Rob took us to the rose beds where we chose the spot for Dad's ashes - you can see the spot from the pavilion.  Then Rob moved the soil and dug a hole and laid rose petals in it.  Then Mum, Roy & I took turns scattering Dad's ashes over the petals.  Mum then placed red roses (Dad's favourites) and bright yellow flowers for joy and happiness over the ashes.  We had a few minutes of reflection then Rob placed my rose petals over the flowers and ashes in the shape of a heart.  It was very moving and special.  Afterwards Rob provided us with some chairs so we could sit nearby and chat.  We then went for coffee at the cemetery's cafe.  Our friends how were with us for the farewell said it was the nicest they had ever been to and although they are devout Catholics they both want this when the time comes.

We are counting the days till Roy finishes his job probation.  Even though he worked casually for Australia Post for over four months when you are offered full time you still are on probation for three months.  He has been full time for six weeks now.  Mum & I have spoken about how he has change for the better since getting this job.

Well, that is probably enough for now.  Hope to hear from everyone soon.

Stay safe and keep well.

[Cele21]

@Jan2512 - The ceremony for your father sounds lovely.  I would love to see such a wonderful cemetary.

To answer your question, the twins are Jordan Raymond and Cooper Thomas. I believe the first names are names the parents liked and the middle names are after his father (deceased) and her grandfather. Currently nick-named JR and Coops or Scoops for Super Cooper.

[Glenda]

I don't really know anything about gallbladder surgery but others in the Fitbit community have commented that unless you are forewarned you might have a weight gain problem after that.  AND you make me feel less alone in needing to get started with more determination in losing 10 pounds.  (I am very short so that is more significant than it might seem to others.)   I'm  going to walk more minutes even if I have to do it in several sessions on my treadmill, just to use a few more calories and try to remember my 10 minutes on my bike every day.  It is such a doable goal I don't mind doing it.  I can read during both of those activities anyway.  

[reszy]

The gall bladder processes fat so without it your body may not tolerate too much. My wife had it and she gets nausea if she eats high fatty foods. Hope the best for you.

[Hmkitten]

My buddy on our last hike.

Spent the week before last week on a no-sugar-added low carb diet while on vacation. Like keto, but with fruit. I lost three pounds, probably mostly water, but it seems to have persisted through the week. I'm having trouble post-gallbladder surgery with gut problems. What was interesting was that the issues were still erratic, with no real tie to fat content. I wish I knew what was causing the problems.

In other news, I have been exercising again. Got in several hikes while vacationing and also some last week while the temperature cooperated. That is out for this weekend since it is already 80 out there and clear sky. Maybe early tomorrow morning (ha! Me and mornings...). The treadmill will have to suffice.

Trying to not gain any more weight and get back down to where I was months ago. I'm 220 now and was 195 before surgery. Just disheartening.

[Jan2512]

Hope everyone is doing well and didn't overdo it over Easter.  This year we just bought three chocolate bunnies for the three of us and Roy brought home a couple of eggs that he was given at work.  We still have one of the bunnies.

Starting to get back to normal.  I've been to see my rugby league team - Melbourne Storm play a couple of times and have gone maskless.  We are supposed to wear masks on the train but I lower mine if I am just sitting next to Roy and there is no one in front.  The other week we had to catch a tram in the City and I did wear it than as there was so many people on it.  Basically, I just wear a mask on crowded public transport, the doctors surgery and the pharmacy.

Apart from Storm I haven't been much outside the house.  We did a house detox so we were spending a lot of time in the garage and laundry looking for chemicals that the could take to the detox centre.  Once a year the councils organise a detox your house day for free.  They take most household chemicals and out of date cosmetics, lotions and creams.  We got rid of quite a bit, not as much as last year.  A lot of the stuff we did not know what it was as it belonged to my Dad who was always doing something in the garage.  We thought we'd do a bit of a chuck out as we were in the mood to get rid of things.  We went through a couple of suitcases that had clothes in them (some items were from the '70's).  We did keep quite a bit but we also threw out a bag of clothes and donated two big bin bags to a charity shop.

Celeste - the names Jordan and Cooper are nice (over here they are quite fashionable especially Cooper).

Glenda - have you been able to keep the exercises going?

Steve - I think about you with every news bulletin about Ukraine.  So sad.

HmKitten - cute dog, what breed is Buddy.?  We have a border collie called Daisie.  She was a rescue dog.  We got her back in 2016 when she was about one year one and to this day she still has issues especially abandonment issues.

Catherine - are you still having problems with posting?  Maybe we could use a chat forum on the app.  I do miss hearing about what you are up to.

Elaine - I see you are inactive on the Fitbit app so I assume you did not buy another Fitbit tracker (but I like to think you still read posts from time to time).

Margaret & CJ - miss your posts as well

[Katrin]

Hey everyone - I'm back! I don't know why sometimes it says that my username is not recognized but thanks @Jan2512 for asking about me or I wouldn't have made a point of trying again today!

It's been so long I don't even know where to begin and I have a busy day so I've got to be quick. Here's some highlights!

Work is going well. Sometimes it's up. Sometimes it's down but generally there's a positive trend. I made my quota for the first time in March. But I didn't stop there. I caught 2 "whales" and got invited into the White Whales Club and evidently I have swag coming as a result of that. Also, I made "Dub Club" for signing 10+ deals (quota is usually about 7) and then also I made President's Club which I'm not sure quite how I even did that but somehow I did. I don't know yet what I get for that but I'm excited to find out. Also, I get paid my commission from last month tomorrow and it's going to be about 3 times what my biggest month to date was (in January) so my personal economic recovery is coming along! That said, I gave it my all to do so well last month and only have 3 deals signed thus far. I have 2 more that should be coming in but it's going to be a nailbiter next week for End of Month - I just feel it!

This Sunday I'm going to the Kennedy Center with my ex. It will be the first time that I've seen him since we broke up last June and I have considerable anxiety about what the night will look like. He got very $$$ tickets to the presentation of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor to Jon Stewart. We went a couple of years ago for the presentation to Dave Chappelle and it was one of the best nights of his life and I enjoyed it too. I know he bought the tickets with me in mind and it certainly is a grand gesture. I made a point of asking about his expectations and he replied simply that he thought I would enjoy it and be a good companion for it but I'm not convinced and his behavior since then has continued to be erratic - sometimes messaging me frequently about tiny little details as if we are back to talking every day and then sometimes being really curt and abrupt as though he's angry with me. I've felt like maybe saying yes was a mistake but I would like to go and also I would like to leave the relationship on a better level - somewhere closer to friends. So, I'm planning to get all dressed up, get my nails done, look great, feel great and give it my best but if it goes badly, I'll have my car nearby and can simply leave whenever I want.

My parents are okay. My mom has now been diagnosed with heart failure but it's so new we don't yet know what the prognosis is. I've done some reading and there are a lot of things we can do to prolong her life for years depending on the details. She had a big day of testing yesterday and we'll learn more soon. My dad is declining and my mom is super stressed about how quickly she feels like it's happening but I actually feel like it's not nearly as rapid as I'd feared. However, I've seen it coming on for years where she just was hit with it late last summer. I think she's just seeing stuff she missed before.

My health - it's a mixed bag but overall, I feel like the trend is good. What I can't tell is what's wrong with my sleeping. I think I'm entering that phase of hormonal issues triggering sleeplessness and possibly hot flashes but since I have sleep apnea, it got very complicated. Ever since we changed the clocks in the fall, I was feeling like I just wasn't catching up - even though we got the extra hour in the fall instead of losing it. I finally had a sleep study in January and my pressure was way off - going from 8 up to 15. Turns out my oxygen levels were very, very low at night (below 80) so no wonder! As a result of the increased pressure, my mask started leaking a whole lot more and as a result of that, I would wake during the night and have more apnea instances which was triggering restlessness and exhaustion. So now, when I'm hot/cold/hot/cold and my mask is leaking, is it hormones or the cpap pressure or what? How do I tell? I've been fitted for some new masks that are helping a tiny amount but I finally got so tired I started sleeping through the leaks and sometimes I feel like I slept okay and sometimes I'm up at 2:30 am and restless. Despite that, I somehow got aggressive with my other aspects of fitness and I'm down more than 10 pounds (according to my checkins on the fitbit app, 14 total) since the beginning of the year. I weigh every day so it does go up and down but the trend is definitely in the right direction and actually with this loss, I'm at the lowest I've been in about 4 years.

I've been reading along via email so please everyone keep sharing even if I can't respond - I love hearing about your lives and sharing with your experiences!

[Jan2512]

Not much going on at the moment.  We have been getting back to normal (well kinda normal).  I still carry a mask with me and wear one when I feel it is necessary.  I have been going to see my team, but there won’t be many more matches that we can attend as we have a lot coming up on Thursday & Friday evenings but Roy works 2:30pm to 10:21pm Monday to Friday so he can’t go and I won’t go on my own, still we can watch the matches live on TV.

I am meeting up with some friends (women I used to work with) on Friday.  We used to go to dinner two or three times a year prior to covid.  We have not been together since November 2019.

Taking Mum to the cinema in a couple of weeks (as part of her Mothers Day present).  We are going Gold Class to see the new “Downton Abbey” film.  I’ve been to the pictures a couple of times this year but nothing like pre covid when we just to go at least once per fortnight.

Our weather is getting colder and we can feel winter is definitely on its way.  We’ve had quite a bit of rain but fortunately the flooding didn’t affect Victoria.  The floods were very bad in northern NSW and southern QLD.

We are going to the polls in the next couple of weeks for the Federal election.  I postal vote rather than attend a polling booth as sometimes you have to queue for a long time and you often can’t find a park nearby meaning I have to walk a distance then stand for sometime.  So, therefore choose to postal vote.  Both my Mum & brother are doing this too.  I automatically qualify for a postal vote as I have a chronic illness.  You can just say you won’t be in your electorate on polling day and they let you postal vote.  Voting in Australia is compulsory.  I will be glad when it is over as I am fed up seeing our politicians on TV all the time.  I’ve had a least three letters sent just to me from our local member – the same letter three times, what a waste of money and resources.

CJ – So good to hear from you.  I got an email from Fitbit with your post but I can’t see it on the Fitbit forum, not sure what is going on there!  Geez CJ that seems like a very long winter.  Which state do you live in?  Congrats on you weight loss.  I’ve put on a bit lately, just not motivated, no problem with doing exercise but I can’t get my food under control.  I’ve had the 3rd shot, for the first two I had Astra Zeneca and the booster was Pfizer.  The over 65’s are being offered a fourth shot which in the next few months will be offered to everyone.  When I am able to get it I will definitely have it.

@Katrin  – I love your long posts.  I have to ask what are “whales”?  How did your evening with your ex go?  Sorry to hear about your Mum’s heart problems, the stress of your Dad’s condition would no doubt be a contributing factor.  80 is a very low oxygen level.  Before Dad passed we had to keep tabs on his oxygen levels (he was on an oxygen machine 24/7).  His lung capacity was only around 10% and this caused problems with oxygen levels.

Hope everyone else is well and happy.

[Glenda]

Good for you.  How great that you are 14 pounds lighter.  You are an inspiration.  I'm up 14 over what I would like to be.  Heck!

[Jan2512]

Not sure if anyone is out there, but I thought I would give it a try.  I am partially laid up at the moment.  I had a small fall tripping over a wire and fell against a chair.  I jarred my back and legs but I didn't realise I had hurt my left wrist.  I was a bit sore for a couple of days then my wrist started to be really painful.  I could only get to see my doctor today.  She examined me and said she was concerned with the swelling so sent me for x-rays.  As I don't drive I caught a cab to the medical centre for the x-ray, I decided to go private as you can wait ages if you go to a public hospital.  My doctor has just phoned me with the good news that it is not fractured just a bad sprain.  So, now my wrist is all wrapped up and secure.

Hope everyone is well.

[CJ_Here]

Sorry to hear about your fall, Jan.  Sprains can be worse than breaks.  Hopefully it's not your dominant wrist / hand .?.  Well, I'm glad someone was able to read my post, lol.  I wrote a six month update, went to edit it and thought it was out there but couldn't see it.  Very strange.  So if anyone else is still following along, I had posted that I gave up sugar Nov 1st and lost 45 lbs.  During the month of May, I started eating more maintenance style, even though I still have over 50 lbs to lose.  I ended up only losing 1 lb in May.  And, I started eating junk three days ago.  Why?  Because I started getting sloppy and probably cocky thinking I could have sweets every now and then.  Today, again, but seriously this time I hope, am going back to clean eating.  The last three days should be enough for me to realize I'll never be able to eat anything I want.  My brain is geared towards being a sugar addict.  While I'm no longer active in OA, I can't forget the awareness gained while studying the steps.  I am reading some Christian books on leaving the fleshy desires behind (gluttony) and living for and through Christ.  While I don't want to offend anyone, I realize I stopped living my own truth in order not to offend.  In doing so, I was offending myself and God.  I'm done with that.  I respect your beliefs.  I respect mine.  Hope everyone is doing OK in this crazy, destructive world we are living in.  

[jkevin01]

I am praying for you to be well, Darling.




Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android