Sunday December 3rd 2023

[Joe NightingMale, MSN, RN]

Tweety I understand  the anger, I've felt various levels of anger at all of the places I've worked, and need to work on staying calmer

Ado that's why I don't buy cat furniture, I'm afraid she would ignore it

Stars I'm not fond of budgeting either.  What I do instead is have automatic payments, and multiple accounts for specific expenses, and work with what remains

NJ22 glad your MIL  is home

Did get outside for a hike yesterday, thankfully it was not too wet.  Went to the dealership to  order something for the car and went out to lunch at a local place.  Did some more Christmas shopping  for niece and nephew.  Began watching another opera I got on DVD from the library, Tannhauser, planning to finish by Monday.  Watched Svengoolie too as he had an good one this time, Mystery of the Wax Museum

Today have church, have to be there early as I'm assisting.  Also planning to bake the cake for Friday's potluck today,  I'll freeze it and then unthaw and frost it shortly before the event.  A pumpkin spice cake, hope it will turn out  OK.  Might try to get outside  too if the rain will hold off long enough

Have been reflecting on ending counseling, it has been helpful but I did not plan for it to go on so long.  I have saved enough for the out of pocket maximum  and  then some, so I think I will continue into next year, but only a few sessions.  My plan was to complete counseling then begin dating again, and I'd like  to do that no later than February

Perhaps the thought of that is making me nervous, as I'm unexpectedly anxious  this morning for some reason

Going to be in the low 40s with rain at least for the morning, but  then it should  stop

 

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

Good morning!

J22, I hope MIL is comfortable and gets some rest.

Ado, as you know, urgent care today would be better if it's conjunctivitis.

Joe, I love pumpkin spice cake.  Dating is indeed nerve wracking.  All the best.

I might have told you about the date I went on and I guess because I was a nurse the guy was telling me about his heart attack and cardiac cath to explain why he ordered his salad dressing on the side.  This is the dating pool I'm in.  LOL.  Maybe I should go for younger men.  There are two much younger men interested in me, but they are both married.  Sorry, I'm not going to be anyone's FWB.  Sigh...part of me believes I'll just stay single.  I don't try much to change that to be honest.

Funny I just ordered a new budgeting book for next year.  I usually do as Joe does, automatic payments, including $100 every paycheck to emergency fund, and work with what's left.  I do need to budget though because I'm having to cut back due to rising insurance costs.  I need to come up with $200 a month more.

My biggest headache is my grocery bill which I can never stick to the budgeted amount, and things like music and books/cookbooks which I collect.  Also have the expense now of traveling home to see my parents and I need to have an emergency fund for that as well since at anytime I can be called home.  I also want to continue to travel and set aside money for that. I only have two accounts.  My emergency fund is at Synchrony, an internet only bank that pays higher interest than my credit union.  There isn't much in it since I took it all out to pay off the bathroom remodeling loan.  

We had a nice time at the light show.  Lots of people.  They had an ice skating rink indoors and it was fun watching people have a good time but we didn't skate.  I've roller bladed but never ice skated.  This is where we went.

https://enchantchristmas.com/st-petersburg-fl-tropicana-field/

[Ado Annie, ASN, RN]

Yes, Hubs and Gma are headed to the urgent care after she has her breakfast. We are going to see Handel's Messiah tonight so the sitter is coming; I guess we'd better let her know about Gma's condition in case she wants to change her mind. The house is messy -- not too bad, just needs to be picked up some. Darby has peed in the house the last 2 days. This carpet is 29 years old. Guess we'll replace it after the pets are gone. 

I need to budget better but I'm not good at it. 

I'm really glad I don't have to worry about dating at this stage of my life. Not sure if I would or would not want to date if something happened to Hubs. Companionship is great but I'd have a lot of anxiety about intimacy with someone new. Tweety, it should be a bit of an ego boost to have 2 younger guys interested but yeah the "married" bit would be a non-starter. 

[dianah, ASN]

Hello all!

Joe, sounds like a reasonable plan, to cut back on counseling.  I don't blame you for getting anxious re: dating, I think I would be the same.  At this stage in my life, if something happened to dh, I don't think I would even consider it.  Almost 69yo, yanno!  How is the car??

Tweety, that looks like a great place to visit (the light show), and watching others skate, well, I would be envious because I would likely spend MY time on the ice ---  ON the ice, on my BUM!!  I don't blame you for not being excited about dating, given that eye-rolling date you described.   And agree, two ppl showing interest but they're married already???  Nope.  Sheesh!  What are you cooking lately?

Ado, hope the visit to Urgent Care doesn't take too long, and that Nana is manageable.   Our carpet is old too (probably older than yours), and we can't get it replaced with our cats around, so we tolerate it. 

Yesterday we drove up to Apple Valley for a band practice, which didn't take long (the set is only 20 min).  Then fiddler did a little recording for a friend's CD project, and then we all went out for Pho and other food.  It was really good, and had a good time chatting.   The drive home was good, traffic-wise, and we got home around 9.  Today is relax day!  I need to return an item to Amazon, through Kohl's.  I have the item boxed and have printed out the two bar codes and return address, so I will need to get out and do that later.  Didn't sleep well last night, so a nap looms.  

Have a good day!

[toomuchbaloney]

Y'all are giving me anxiety talking about dating.  

[Ado Annie, ASN, RN]

dianah, you reminded me (somehow) that I have a book to pick up at the library. I've cut back a bit on recreational reading so I can work through the CIC study materials but a girl has to have some fun. 

The light show does sound fun. I would have been tempted to try to skate. I haven't done much ice-skating and never got adept at it. Used to love to roller skate. 

My counselor seemed to be trying to gently urge me to move along. The last time I saw him we set a time frame that would have had me see him in November, I think, and I never made that appointment. I had a lot going on at work what with travels and quarterly CMS reporting. Now I'm uncertain what to do. That avoidance thing again. 

[nursej22, MSN, RN]

Yeah, I don't see myself thinking about dating. I only dated one other person before dh. He and I married at age 19. I've felt "hit on" when playing table games in casinos, and that creeps me out. There was quite a scandal at a hospital that I used to work at with a key club among married staff, and I thought that was just gross. 

Budget? Well, all the utilities are autopay, I've paid off the cars, all the credit cards, and I have some online newspaper subscriptions. When the kids were little, I knew exactly how much I could spend on groceries and scoured ads and clipped coupons. I was a scold about turning off lights, and shutting doors to keep heat in or out. We've always driven our cars to the point of falling apart. All travel was by car and vacations were camping. I am enjoying traveling by plane now. 

I used to ice skate, but haven't done it for years. I took some lessons and learned 3 turns, back crossovers, and waltz jumps. And I learned how to do edges around a half circle (beginning figure skating). Now, I think I would need to wear a helmet, because I take a blood thinner. 

The University of Washington football team is #2, and is in the semi-finals for the national championship! dh thinks they will lose their next game (the Sugar Bowl) to Texas, but who knows? Go Dawgs! Woof!

[No Stars In My Eyes]

Late afternoon, mostly cloudy with peeks of sunshine, but approaching sunset fast. We've had some sprinkles at times, and it has been a lovely 73 degrees! 

BiL and SiL came over to pick up a bunch of papers for BiL's guardianship switch. They are going to help me move the furniture upstairs, so I can take over the bigger bedroom (with a bigger closet!) BiL is going to fix the ceiling light fixture in the bigger bedroom and the ceiling fan in the smaller bedroom. Also he is going to bring over a trailer into which we can dump the box-Spring and mattress, 2 old vacuum cleaners, small pieces of junk, odds and ends of furniture no longer at all useful, and he will deliver it all to the landfill. Also going to get the big table out of the kitchen, and return the smaller table to the area. (It's been stored in the dining room, which we don't ever use) Between these plans and watching HGTV, I am totally psyched up and ready to DO this! But it will have to be a little at a time. 

I will have at least 5 large (50 gal) bags stuffed full of hubby's shoes, boots, shirts, suits, jackets, pants, casual clothes, Winter-wear coats, etc. Just in time for Christmas and the 'real Winter' ....if we EVER get some Winter weather! Right now, I would just as soon go upstairs and tackle things, but it is almost time for Nannie's supper.

Tuesday is the day SiL will come over and I can bring the donations to the thrift shop, then head down to the dealership to take care of the low-tire light warning and make sure the tires are patched if necessary and pumped back up.

Okay, time to do something for Nannie to eat-----------

[Ado Annie, ASN, RN]

I'd love to see the Huskies beat Texas. OU beat Texas but then something strange happened and they lost to both Kansas and Okla State which left Okla State in the Big 12 championship game against Texas and Texas crushed them.

OSU has been in the news here because someone put a Longhorn carcass on the lawn of a frat house prior to the Big 12 champ game. So classy ?

We're on the way to the concert. Gosh it's a lot of work to get a night out!