ASHES to ASHES and DUST TO DUST...Wed.

[zip2play]

Gee, Christianity has yet ANOTHER day to remind us we are gonna croak....what is that 319 of them? OK, we GET IT!
Gosh, would it be stupid to have a day to celebrate our HUMANITY instead? But NOOOOO (John Belushi moment).

Tending back with 4 SOMA (carisoprodyl and a 10 mg Valium (diazepam) yesterday. Heck, what am I saving the pills for. Better to walk around in a dull fog than with a cripsp mind (able to feel crisp pain.)

I hope this back doesn't interfere with shows Friday and Saturday. Friday for fun but Saturday requires a review that I've been looking forward to: TEA AT FIVE, two afternoons with Katherine Hepburn 1939, and 1978. The HOT concept is that Hepburn is played by Kate Mulgrew (Captain Janeway) making her NY stage debut. The first time I saw her in Star Trek, I thought of Kate Hepburn. I LOVE that woman (both of them actually.)

Well, we got our predicted high early (46° now) but raining and expected to go all day....I'll settle.

I was planning on a physical with my new (sight unseen) doctor. The physical is a freebie once a year so might as well go when back hurts. If I crawl in maybe I can get some yummy opiates for the Pharmica Magnifica (my medicine chest AND pill closet)

Linda,
I kind of figured that I'd take this wonky back to the grave with me (will need an orthopedic casket.) I've read so many horror stories on HealthBoards documenting one bad surgery after another to fix the previous one and continuous unabated and worsened pain and crippling, that I will have to wait til I'm found writhing on the street unable to get home. I think of one medical pundit who said NEVER walk into a hospital! (I'll make an exception for my ear.)
My advice to you: RETIRE(if you can)!

Shawnee,
Time to teach DH to cut and "colorize" YOUR hair- fair is fair.

Susan,
Sorry you have a bad disc but it's good you can squeeze it back in. Unfortunately, if I lie on my stomach, I'd best plan to stay there for several month. It's one thing I can count on to crucify me. My best comfort is in a hammock (with rear of vertebrae held as "open" as they get.


Tink,
You've got a lovely extended family. I like the cooperative effort on getting your pix on-line...call it the Photo Island Underground.

Ginny, looks like I lost 3 buds out of 8 because of the bitter cold night...them's the breaks. Flowers are nice, but less colorful than the first two go-rounds. But it looks like a couple more keiki (lord knows how it's spelled) are popping out.

Loretta, Enjoy the croci....at the first sighting of an outdoor flower, I'm going to sacrifice a fatted sheep, and burn incense and dance around naked til the cops come! This winter is the longest of my life.

Be well all...and don't take those ashes to heart!

[OrchidCactus]

Mornin' y'all,

Warm out today, but cloudy. No problem, I'll take it! Sure was nice last night to not need my jacket for the most part. Came home to a wonderful Carrot Cake (not LC, but delicious!) Will behave myself for the most part, but just can't turn down goodies like that completely.

Zip, hope the back gets normal soon for ya. Time to go to the Dr. on it I think. In Nashville, there are supposed to be a couple excellent surgeons (friend has back trouble too) so I'd imagine in your neck of the woods there should be some very good ones too.

Loretta, the warmth is still with us! Woohoo! Loving this! Sunshine is behind clouds once again, but we're supposed to be warm all week. Nothing outside blooming yet, but will have to look around and see what's popping up.

Linda, maybe you'll get lucky and get to stay retired. IMO, that would be a wonderful thing for you. I know you love to stay busy, but I'm sure you can find something to do that won't give the frustration you deal with now. Hope the truck is up and running soon!

Shawnee, how was the party? Did you have a chance to get your cut and color beforehand? I'm just letting my gray show up--I've earned it! I have a fairly good streak that shows depending on how my hair combs for the day, and with so many colors in the light brown hair, it almost looks like it's frosted--either that or I need new glasses! LOL

Susan, with all the groups you're doing, are you still getting out for your walks? How warm does it need to get before Oliver wants to go for extended excursions? Those little guys get cold fast, I know!

Pam, glad to see you back with us--we know you were having fun, but do miss you when you're gone! Now we need to see a whole family photo! Is one of the girls in the pageant shot the one they're working on adoption papers?

Shelly, hope all is well in your part of the country. What have you been up to?

Well, all, time for me to get my butt in gear...

[SuSUN]

Good Ashes and Sackcloth Day Zip, Ginny and all that follow,

We had another huge dumping on us today. The roads were functionalable (is that a word) by the time I left this morning for the Group. I had 9 attend, so they are pretty dedicated. It is not my work but their work that gets them through this. They have every minute of every hour when they are going through "breaking the addiction phase." Seems like the snow has ended and we had warmer temps -6 celsius, so a fair day temp wise.

Ginny:
Carrot Cake, yikes! Oh well it was Shrove Tuesday to finish off the sugary stuff. I have been hog wild since I allowed myself more carbs, gotta get this under control. Thanks for asking about the walks. I did manage to walk 3 days in a row last week. Nothing yet so far this week. Hence, the 125lbs on the scale, up 6lbs.

Zip:
Sounds like a great cocquetail of meds that you have concocted for the recurring backache. A visit to the new doc and a new script may just the ticket to add another condiment to your recipe! LOL! Watch out for those mixing and mis-matching Meds! Absolutely no ephedra with this brew! With 3 days of TLC and you should be able to gradually wean yourself down off the Meds for Friday for the review. When I first started with the herniated disc problems. I used to get into that position you described, back curved with vertebrae open. I did that evey time and had physical therapy too. Then, one of the flare ups I met a physical therapist who wanted to try something new and asked that I gently force the disc in from the other direction to take the disc off the nerves. In my case this worked. Do you have coverage for physical therapy, you only need a good assessment to know which way to suck the disc in. It is amazing what they can do just with biomechanics of the body. This saves me weeks of torture every time. I just get down on the floor and gently do this till it goes back in.

A high of 46F you Lucky Guy! and only rain.

In response to Ashes. I think I read somewhere that religion is to reduce anxiety by promising us everlasting life. They do remind us about the other often. I think it was a book on existentialism. I was trying to understand the differing religions of the world as the Canadian mosaic is made up from all nations and religions. Helps if you can understand a little. I try not to be egocentric by relating everything to my Christianity. I am learning all the time!

Susan 125lbs gotta get 6lbs off SOON!! FLA is coming in 3 weeks!

[tinkerpam]

Good afternoon. Sunny & cold here, though not as cold as other parts of the nation. Am working on getting sponsorships for the pageant. I gave one to the vet, where fur-baby "Ellie May" had shots yesterday. When I went to write out the check for payment, the receptionist informed me I had written it out to Ellie May, instead of the vet. Just another senior moment!
Zip--I feel for you with that back. Do take care!
Ginny--Yes the little blond, second from the front left, Kaitlyn, is the one. She's been like a daughter to me, as she's spent so much time with us. Also lived here for 1 1/2 years, when she and her mom escaped from the lunatic. DD is sending to the U.S Consulate for the American version of the death certificate of said lunatic. Not sure if the courts would accept the Mexican copy. Anyone know about such things?
Susan--Yes, it is the work of the people in the group, but YOU are their inspiration and guide them through it.
DD & I are hooked on the silly reality (?) show, "I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here." The 2 hr. finale is tonite. B rated celebrities, but once hooked on these things-----
Hey to Linda, Loretta, Shawnee, and Shelly.

[Loretta V]

Hi to all this late in the day

Just a busy day here shopping, getting boat license, car license those kinds of things.

Ashes to Ashes and dust to dust. MY DS told his fiancee that the church gets the ashes from cremated bodies. That kid of mine, just wait until I talk to him. I hope he was just in a jesting mood. She sounded upset about that one.

Cool, cloudy and rainy here today. Never got out to walk.

More tomorrow.

Loretta

[LoveMontana]

Oh damn Roger, I hope the meds kick in and help that back. I know about the horror back surgery stories. Gerard went through that before he had his 360 spinal fusion. Fortunately he found an excellent neuro surgeon. Have you ever made an appointment with that one from my book of the best? Hopefully you will feel great by Sat. so you can see that play.

One of the Plastic Surgeons I worked with always said as he was pointing to the hospital," Don't ever go in there, they will KILL you". LOL

I 'm really thinking about not going back there if they do renew my contract. I do so miss my retirement, but the extra money is nice especially since my Gov. version of the 401K is in such sad shape. Monthly distributions are half of what they were when I first retired. Still enough, but not enough to give me some great disposable income and play money. Damned greedy ******************** that I am.

Ginny, Wow! You didn't even need a jacket at work last night? I'm green with envy. Hopefully it's going to stay nice from now on for you.

Carrot cake??? Oh GROAN, did it have cream cheese frosting too?

Truck is still sick but will recover soon one way or another.. So how is Red Neck Girl treating you?

Susan, You are really helping guide your addicts through recovery. Be proud.
Our area is a mosaic of many different religions too. It's very interesting to learn about them.

Pam, LOL I've written out some pretty strange checks too. We are just overloaded with so much that we don't think clearly at times.

Enjoy your reality show. I need to watch something to get away from the damned news. Pretty soon we will all be watching "Bombs over Baghdad" I'm afraid. Brit coms on Sat are a nice diversion though.

Loretta, hope the weather is cooperating in your neck of the woods.
So what kind and how many fish did your dh catch yesterday?

Shawnee,How did the haircut and color come out? I don't dare cut mine but I do color it . LOL not often enough though, I have that "skunk" look right now. Gotta do something soon about it.
How was the birthday celebration?

Shelly, did you pick out a border for your daughter yet??

You gals in the south enjoy the nice temps and send it NORTH please. Susan, Zip and I really, really need it.

Later,
Linda

[shawneesioux]

Hi, Y'all

Everything's fine, I'm just busy..have company ..promise to catch up with y'all tomorrow...
be well
shawnee

[SuSUN]

Sneaking back tonight,

Tink,
Enjoy those gals! What a wonderful looking family. Love the Senior Moment....check writing error.....or was it? ummm!
Glad you are enjoying the Celeb, Get me out of Here. I was watching American Idol well about half of it, while doing other stuff tonight.

Loretta,
ROLMA! Wow, that one certainly got a chuckle out of me! I hope he doesnt believe his own stories. Does he know about Palm Sunday????? His poor GF she must be sick to her stomach walking around with that black cross on her forehead wondering whose ashes. Too funny!

Sound like you were busy getting licences for all the "toys" today!

Linda,
Yikes, sound complicated that 401K thing. We have one here called RRSP but we contribute totally to it. Then you have your government pension and the company pension if they have one or if you opt to go into it. Then the Healthcare coverage is still free, cuz you paid in while you were working. I think I will always try to do something for money, even if just a day a week into my Senior years. They start next year at 55 eh? Got the many senior moments to proove it! LOL!

Hope Gerard can get the truck repaired soon. I guess you dont need it so he can take his time.

Yep, those gals in the South send us some warmth up North. Zip, Linda and I are tired of the white stuff.

Hey, where is Shawnee and Shelley? What ya up to?

Tomorrow!

Susan 125 lbs