Thursday

ei34

How's everyone today?  Vibes to all who need them!

ei34

@CharmedPam I'm glad that your vacation is moving at a nice place but sorry to hear about the aches and pains

Pretty ssdd here.  I pulled a gallon bag of chili from my freezer yesterday to thaw in the fridge, I've been in "I can't even" mode by Thursday these last few weeks and I am feeling that way now, so I'm glad for a weekend quality dinner that will take low effort on my part later.  Today's dress theme is character/celebrity day, I went the easy route and am just wearing a shirt I wore during my family's most recent trip to Disney.  Some of the teachers go all out and it's awesome.  I don't know who half of the students are dressed as lol but it's fun nonetheless.

banana468

I slept HARD last night.  I'm normally up at least once to use the bathroom and last night I was DOWN.  I could feel myself just getting SUPER tired while DH and I watched the 2nd episode of this season of Severance as I sipped a toddy and by bedtime I was done.  I think the time change had plenty to do with it. 

Chiquito and his Cub Scout den were invited to go bowling tonight with the Scouting America (Boy Scouts) which should be fun for him and DH.  I'm going to use the time to make my corned beef and maybe a soda bread.  I may have said it before but I make it the way my late aunt did which everyone loved.  You start off making a traditional corned beef in the pot with the seasoning packet that has to cook for hours until it's meat fork tender but instead of taking it out and calling it done at that point, I then put the hot corned beef on a sheet of aluminum foil, pat it all over the top and sides w/ brown sugar and then bake it at 250 for about an hour).  It's not fast but it's so delicious.

VarunaTT

@banana468 that sounds so amazing and luscious.

I was restless last night, so a friend and I went out to play pool and karaoke.  We had SUCH a good time.  I laughed so hard all night.  My throat is sore this morning, from singing and just having to talk loud -- when 95% of the time, I don't talk to anyone but Harley during the day.  I'm sleepy this morning, but it was worth it.

Not much else going on, just hitting the grind this morning.  I'm ready for the weekend.  A friend is coming into town to hang out AND IT'S RACE WEEK!!!  Finally.  I think the first practice is "tonight" -- they're in Australia, so the time difference is wicked.  I can't wait to see Hamilton out on the track in Ferrari red.  I guess I'm officially a Tifosi (that's the Italian word/name for Ferrari fans). 

levioosa

I am not a huge corned beef person but I love a soda bread slice warmed up with some butter. 

Last night we got burritos from our local Mexican place and they were delicious. We have leftovers for tonight and I'm already excited for that.

I am okay, just tired. I was telling SIL last night that I feel like I'm in a funk and I can't get out of it. While I could get more sleep I'm doing the other things (media breaks, eating real meals, exercise, journaling, reading, etc) and nothing I'm doing is making me feel any better. I can't decide if this falls under the umbrella of depression or not, because I still enjoy doing things, I just go right back to "meh" when I'm finished. This probably falls under the category of burnout more than depression. 

It's raining here again. Most of the time I don't really care if my office has a window or not, but on rainy days I like to look outside. Some of the roads I use to get to and from work are already flooded so I hope they don't get worse by the end of the day. 

Thinking of you and your H @MNNEBride

short+sassy

I've been mostly lurking and catching up this week.  So many illnesses and injuries going on in WW!  Healthy vibes to all who need it for themselves or family.

My H and I had a great time in Charleston/Savannah!  They both have such pretty and walkable historic downtown areas.  We went on lots of tours and mostly had delicious food.  Definitely ate our way through town, lol.  We didn't know this until we got there, but Charleston had a food truck festival for one of the days we were there.  It was a real treat to go one place and be able to try a variety of dishes.

I'm giving Breeze airlines a thumbs up.  Especially for a low budget airlines, things went really smoothly.  Easy check-in, friendly staff, and our flights were on time.  They were crazy cheap and the only airline that had direct flights between NOLA and Charleston.  Their biggest limitation is they have odd routes with some of them having very bizarre schedules.  For example, they fly to 70 cities but NOLA only has flights to 15-20 of them.  And most of those are only available for certain months, instead of year-round.  But when the cities and dates work out, **chef's kiss**!

Work has been crazy slow this week despite my missing 7 business days.  Though I might have some unexpected work this afternoon.  If I don't, I'll post Prudie.  But in the meantime, I'm going to be spending my lunch reading Prudie letters from LAST week, lol.

levioosa

I cannot for the life of me figure out what Southwest was thinking when they basically canceled the only perks which set them apart from other airlines. I don't think I've ever seen Breeze around here. I'll have to look for it. 

charlotte989875

M is back at school!!!

MNNEBride

Hi - I'm just quickly catching up on the n s. DH is still in the hospital. They did an angiogram but no stent as the blockage didn't meet the criteria. However, his kidney function is terrible, and they are doing some testing to rule out the cause. There are no discharge plans today, but maybe tomorrow. I'm physically and mentally exhausted. His mental state has been different for about three weeks. I am not sure if it's a slight advancement of dementia, a consequence of the kidney function, or that our nephew's cancer has stopped responding to treatment, and he's gone to hospice.  It's likely a combo of all the things.  He was super confused last night about where he was and where I was.  He called me at 1 AM wondering why I wasn't home and that he couldn't find the cat.  Scared me!  I had him push the call button and I spoke with the nurse when she came.  He's better today.  I'm trying to take care of a few work things while at the hospital.  The great thing is that I'm on the work network here but there are so many interruptions, it's hard to get anything done.

Healing vibes to all who need them!

banana468

I'm so sorry @MNNEBride.

@levioosa can kidney function be linked to issues with cognition?  I remember when DH's grandmother had UTIs that were more frequent as she was much older those appeared to accompany serious cognition issues that were far worse than her normal state. 

short+sassy

levioosa said:

I cannot for the life of me figure out what Southwest was thinking when they basically canceled the only perks which set them apart from other airlines. I don't think I've ever seen Breeze around here. I'll have to look for it. 

Southwest also hasn't been the low price leader for years.  I often find better deals with Delta or AA, even adding in the extra cost for a checked bag.

Breeze flies out of John Wayne in OC.  I was so excited!  Until I discovered there are no routes between OC and NOLA (big sigh).

They also have routes out of LAX, San Diego, and San Bernadino/Riverside.  Of course, none of those have routes to/from NOLA either!

Apparently it is my destiny to always have a layover in Dallas Ft. Worth when I visit my mom and sister, lol.

Oooohhh.  I just checked for the future.  There is a non-stop from Cincy to San Diego.  Around $99 each way.  But only in the summer months (May-Aug).

VarunaTT

I'm so sorry, @MNNEBride.  That's terrible to deal with. Big hugs and please try to take care of yourself too.

I want to buy a WW commune somewhere that we can all just randomly escape to and shut out the world.  "Where are you going?"  "Oh, my therapy center, in-patient stay" and it's just a cabin by a beach.  

levioosa

banana468 said:

I'm so sorry @MNNEBride.

@levioosa can kidney function be linked to issues with cognition?  I remember when DH's grandmother had UTIs that were more frequent as she was much older those appeared to accompany serious cognition issues that were far worse than her normal state. 

It can because your kidneys filter toxins. And if there is a big decline out of nowhere and something else is wrong and causing it (like an infection). So you can see confusion in people with acute kidney injury or sudden renal failure. Acute confusion in the hospital setting is usually a combo of factors. Someone with dementia (for whom structure is especially important) may really have a struggle with a change in their routine. I've seen that with my Grandmother in the past two weeks. She is a mess and the lack of routine is both exacerbating the dementia, and removing the mask that she's able to keep on most of the time. Hospitals aren't really all that therapeutic. You are woken up multiple times a night for labs and vitals checks, you sleep like shit, and you are in a new and scary environment, plus whatever acute health issue you have going on. And if you have other stressful things in your life (family concerns, financial concerns, etc) that will only exacerbate it. Delirium (which is very different from dementia) is a huge problem in hospitals and can really impact the healing process. This is when you see normally prim and proper Granny all of a sudden strip naked and cuss out the staff and then have no recollection of it later. You can have delirium by itself, or layered over pre-existing dementia. Delirium is temporary, dementia is not. And delirium can be accompanied by hallucinations, agitation, confusion, lethargy. 

short+sassy

VarunaTT said:

I'm so sorry, @MNNEBride.  That's terrible to deal with. Big hugs and please try to take care of yourself too.

I want to buy a WW commune somewhere that we can all just randomly escape to and shut out the world.  "Where are you going?"  "Oh, my therapy center, in-patient stay" and it's just a cabin by a beach.  

I'm in!  Lol.

CharmedPam

short+sassy said:

VarunaTT said:

I'm so sorry, @MNNEBride.  That's terrible to deal with. Big hugs and please try to take care of yourself too.

I want to buy a WW commune somewhere that we can all just randomly escape to and shut out the world.  "Where are you going?"  "Oh, my therapy center, in-patient stay" and it's just a cabin by a beach.  

I'm in!  Lol.

Yes, especially since I want to test this new breeze airline now! 

ei34

Are any of Breeze’s flights direct @short+sassy? You got me curious- no flights from the airports I usually fly out of (LaGuardia and JFK) but a small airport about an hour east of me does (MacArthur). Haven’t used the airport but know people who have. But it looked like a lot of flights with transfers which I don’t do. Excellent prices though!! Delta will always be my preferred airline but the budget airlines are intriguing. 

short+sassy

ei34 said:

Are any of Breeze’s flights direct @short+sassy? You got me curious- no flights from the airports I usually fly out of (LaGuardia and JFK) but a small airport about an hour east of me does (MacArthur). Haven’t used the airport but know people who have. But it looked like a lot of flights with transfers which I don’t do. Excellent prices though!! Delta will always be my preferred airline but the budget airlines are intriguing. 

I'm sorry to hear that!  It hasn't been my experience from looking up flights and reviews I've read about Breeze.  They seem to mostly have direct flights and often ones that nobody else has.  That's one of their "pros".  But there is a lot of variability with to/from destinations.

I remember seeing MacArthur because that is one of the airports with a route to/from New Orleans.  I had thought it was a direct flight, but I just looked it back up.  Not quite, but not too bad.  For that route, it has a "stop" but no plane change.

NYC is one of the few places I can fly directly to with all of the airlines and that's usually what I've done.  It's about a 4-hour flight direct, but Breeze even with the stop isn't far off from that.  It was 4:16 (hour:minutes) for the arrival and 4:51 for departure.

$135 r/t.  Cha-ching.  I'm glad I just looked this up to give you more insight.  I also have a 50% off coupon for the base fare through May (maybe June).  Now I need to make plans for a long weekend trip to NYC!

The flight we took to Charleston was a "stop" destination for some people.  They could stay on the plane.  Wait for Charleston passengers to disembark and the flight crew do a quick clean up.  Maybe onboarding for new passengers, if applicable.

short+sassy

That reminds me.  I was talking about vacations last weekend with my friend.

She said she doesn't understand why people go to NYC because there is nothing to do, except go to Broadway shows and maybe go see the Statue of Liberty.  I'm like, "What?!?!"  There is SO MUCH to do!  I rattled off just a partial list of things I've enjoyed.

I could also go to NYC and have a great trip doing nothing but eat AMAZING food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Lol.

She's pretty well traveled, so I assumed she'd been there.  But I didn't actually ask her and now I'm wondering.  She was curious and interested in why I liked the city.  And I wasn't talking about anything unusual, lol.

MNNEBride

They've not seen a UTI, and I think it's the lack of routine and different people coming in that are making him more confused and agitated.  I left the hospital at 4:30 PM yesterday as I was just spent, and he was being so critical and hard to please.  He called at 10 PM, all upset, thinking the overnight oximetry wristband they put on monitored his phone and might blow up.  He had a new nursing assistant and was confused about who he was.  They did give him some melatonin to help settle him and help him sleep.  He did rest some but hasn't slept for crap all week.  They are talking about possible discharge tomorrow.  I'm in the family lounge for a bit getting a break and checking on some work things.

banana468

short+sassy said:

That reminds me.  I was talking about vacations last weekend with my friend.

She said she doesn't understand why people go to NYC because there is nothing to do, except go to Broadway shows and maybe go see the Statue of Liberty.  I'm like, "What?!?!"  There is SO MUCH to do!  I rattled off just a partial list of things I've enjoyed.

I could also go to NYC and have a great trip doing nothing but eat AMAZING food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Lol.

She's pretty well traveled, so I assumed she'd been there.  But I didn't actually ask her and now I'm wondering.  She was curious and interested in why I liked the city.  And I wasn't talking about anything unusual, lol.

There's SO MUCH!  The museums alone are a great way to spend a few days.  I took Chiquita to the Museum of Natural History 8 years ago (How was it so long ago?!?) and need to take Chiquito.  There are a ton of sports teams, great food and that's just grazing the surface in Manhattan plus the athletic areas in boroughs. 

ei34

I love being a tourist here, the kids and I go in every 4-6 weeks or so.  

To be fair, I checked out macarthur to MCO, because the last couple plane trips have been to Disney and I just have that price point fresh as a point of reference, lol.  And the cost does not disappoint!  I actually didn't think to check if it was just a stop, or a plane change.  Flying alone with the kids, at their ages, is a bit daunting for me.  It'll get easier as they get older.  It's the plane change that overwhelms me.  A stop at the low price I could handle!  Thanks for sharing about Breeze!

levioosa

I can't fathom saying there's nothing to do in NYC. It's at the bottom of the list of cool things to do but I would love to go back just to visit my favorite tea maker's Tea House. I think I saw a statistic once about how long it would take you to eat at every single restaurant in NYC and it was like 28 years if you ate at one place per day. The food, the museums the shows! Also going during Christmas season when 5th Ave is decorated is my favorite. The smell is down, there's no humidity, it's gorgeous even if I can't afford anything in the windows, haha. 

CharmedPam

I can’t wait for my trip to NYC in September. A friend (maybe 2) are going in early to do all the NY stuff. the knockoff designer purchases alone! Lol

banana468

CharmedPam said:

I can’t wait for my trip to NYC in September. A friend (maybe 2) are going in early to do all the NY stuff. the knockoff designer purchases alone! Lol

Just a bit of a soapbox rant for that.  The knockoffs are supporting an underground industry making product that is unregulated or registered so there's no real way to know where your $is going.  On top of that, the selling always feels intimidating to me even with the stuff sprawled on blankets on a sidewalk.  

levioosa

banana468 said:

CharmedPam said:

I can’t wait for my trip to NYC in September. A friend (maybe 2) are going in early to do all the NY stuff. the knockoff designer purchases alone! Lol

Just a bit of a soapbox rant for that.  The knockoffs are supporting an underground industry making product that is unregulated or registered so there's no real way to know where your $is going.  On top of that, the selling always feels intimidating to me even with the stuff sprawled on blankets on a sidewalk.  

When I was younger I did love aggressively bargaining. This purse is $80? Watch me get it for $17. As an adult I'm too tired to bargain now. Life is hard. Also I want to know that my money isn't supporting something unethical like unpaid/underpaid labor. Not that most major retailers don't have that problem too (#noethicalconsumptionundercapitalism).