Oh, I love the Sinterklaas story! It’s interesting to find out the ways other countries celebrate the holidays 😊

I hope everyone is well and staying warm…we might see snow this week! Definitely gets me in the holiday spirit. I’ve been watching lots of Christmas movies, there’s some really cute ones I hadn’t seen before.

Yes the NORAD Santa Tracker is awesome! I tried to see if anyone had mentioned getting the riftborn cookie from Major but didn’t find anything. I do know someone who said they received a kumos cookie from him, not sure what kind though.

Thanks for the info, and :) Sorry you're having a bad time, Jersey, I hope you feel better soon. Yes, Macker515, I loved the Norad Santa tracker. It made waiting for Santa fun for all of us. Thanks for the info on the cookie. I just wish someone would come out and say what the item is that you have to throw in the rift. But, if they did that then the cookie wouldn't be unbuyable, now would it? lol ;)

sending lots of love and hugs my dear!

the inflation on stuff seems nutso, but I’m not able to quest or anything in a long long time though.

have you decorated too?

I don't believe it's a specific item you throw. I think what you get back is just random.

I’m actually living with a friend right now and all my Christmas stuff is in storage but she goes all out decorating her house for the holidays. She hasn’t pulled her Christmas things out yet, but I know she likes to have it up right after Thanksgiving. I’ve helped her decorate the last couple years and it’s always fun!

I will ask around about the cookie and see what I can find out and let you know. I would LOVE to get that achievement but I still need four cookies. The crypt cookies have been impossible for me and then the rift and storm of course. We only have until the end of the year, right?

you’re in my thoughts and prayers ♥️

Update: I just got confirmation from my friend and she says… YES major drills does give out the kumos cookies, actually! He gave me one of the crypts ones the other day c: not sure if he gives ALL of them but he very likely does!

Hi all. My father had a stroke Wednesday on my brother's birthday. It was a small one but deep. It has affected his speech and his swallowing, and maybe other things that won't show until later. He can talk clearly, but what he says a lot of times doesn't make any sense. But he has been coherent sometimes and the neurologist thinks he will recover. She isn't sure at his age (96) that he will recover fully, but we hope so. He failed the test for swallowing twice now, and there is a distinct danger of food and drink going into his lungs. So he has had the horrible tube down his nose and into his stomach so he can at least get nutrients. It was awful getting it in - they had to do it 2x - then he pulled it out and they had to do it again. Each time it was worse of course. I'm sure his throat was abraded, not to mention the process was no fun at all. He also did not understand what they were doing and why it had to stay. They had to put mittens on his hands to keep him from pulling it out again. But at least he can move. The two other options were full restraints or make him comfortable. I'm glad this is working, but its awful too. He kept trying to pull out the other tubes too and other things I won't get into. Its really been hard to see him this way. I know how some of it feels, and can clearly imagine the rest. At least he has been sleeping most of the time and doesn't have to live moment to moment and watch the clock crawl. They are going to take the tube out on Monday and do the test again. They hope with it healing and the muscles getting stronger that he will be ok and slowly get to eat solid food again. They said if he passes he might be able to go home. He finally understood today why it was there and is really looking forward to Monday. They better say he passed. He esp but we all will be so glad he does.

Hugs

I understand it's only through the Rift as jersey said. I've been throwing in clothes because a lot of the time the Rift will toss out the same kind of object, or has before. But I have had zero luck and so has many people on this thread in the forum that have been throwing a big variety of things. As far as I know no one has gotten that elusive cookie. Ugh! Someone on the thread said they threw in one of the other cookies and the Rift stole it. Crap.

So sorry to hear about your dad's stroke. All the healing and good vibes to him, you and your fam. ❤ I'm glad to read he is starting to understand what's going on. I take that as a good sign. Hoping very much his swallowing improves enough to keep that tube out!

I do know of a single person that has gotten the rift cookie. So I know it's possible! It just seems stupid rare. I don't recall what they tossed in but it wasn't anything special.

Oh that sounds like a fun website. Never knew!

Seems i already got some stuff from composting... When i cam e and checked it said giveb. I gave up on it to busy and the stuff i had he did not want.

no worry you come first and if you can't do SS maybe someone can take over. If needed i can help.

oh now about your dads stroke. His age is not helping... i do hope he will recover

ohh that sounds fun! I have already decorated. 🤭

oh my goodness, I’m sorry. I will pray he is good to get that darn tue out tomorrow!

sending positive thoughts and prayers for your Dad and family, especially for tomorrow’s test 🥰

Thank your for the well wishes. <3 I'm hoping everything goes well. He will have a nurse and several types of therapists that will go to his house, so that is awesome too. Cory and I cleaned his room and bath really well and changed his sheets so it will be nice for him. Our family know its going to be difficult, but we hope for the best and will be so glad to see him out of that hospital bed. He is excited too when we mention it. He can't wait to be home. I felt the same every time I was in the hospital. :)

Oh friend I am so sorry to hear about your father's stroke. How horrible. I pray he passes his swallow test and is able to come home, where I pray he will continue to recover smoothly. If it's any encouragement, my MIL had a stroke after her heart stopped during the early part of her stay in the hospital. She already has issues swallowing because of previous cancer treatment on her throat. After the stroke she had loss of most motor function on her right side, and could not speak well. It was like she could understand what was said to her, but the pathway in her brain that was required for forming words and physically saying them was damaged. They weren't sure what her recovery would be. It's only a month and a half or two months after and she's fully coherent again, has no issues speaking or finding words (except being super quiet but that was how she was prior to this because of previous medical issues), she's able to use her right side again like normal and is just working on strengthening everything again. Before this, I had no understanding of the variation of impact from strokes or what recoveries could be like. She's not as old as your father, but she does have a ton of medical issues (comorbidities). So here's manifesting that if she can do it, so can your father! Praying for strength, peace, and comfort for him and for you all. Let me know if I can help you at all.

Toss items into the rift for the rift cookie! :)

I love a fireplace or bonfire. We have a fireplace in our house which is kinda funny because it's so hot here that we can only use it a few times a year. But we enjoy looking at it the rest of the year, something about it feels cozy.

I've heard some people find the "natural light" lamps super helpful for SAD. I believe there are some you can also set to follow the cycle of the sun from earlier seasons, so outside it's winter but inside it's summer lol. I also just saw something about using reptile heating lamps, the red glow ones I believe. I didn't stop to read about the science behind it but either option may be worth investigating?

oh my gosh I love this (the tradition of Sinterklass). How fun to have the "adventure" documented on the news for everyone!

I hope you're feeling alright!

I'm so sorry you've been in a bad headspace, and kept busy on top of it. I hope you're doing a bit better. Here if I can help.

Johnny (husband) and I had to build new lodging spaces for work friends (dogs staying with me) after the hurricanes destroyed the previous wall (3ft of icky water soaking the walls until they were a mold hazard and too damaged to keep). I helped him a lot more this time, and learned about framing walls and doing drywall. It's not professional level by any means but I'm proud of us for our hard work and success, and it felt good to learn some new things and get back to using tools and building things. I felt accomplished and empowered. Here's a photo of the framing for the walls. Not the best photo, but you can see the finished inside and gate. We still want to do a textured epoxy floor, install the minisplit AC (atm we're using small portable ACs and box fans), mount the TVs on the walls, and do some kind of fun colors on the walls (I'm thinking a pawprint stencil and two or three colors of spray paint). But we didn't get to that point because we were literally finishing the rooms like an hour before dogs arrived o.o

Photos of cute work friends because everyone can use cute animal photos, especially these days. These two are my god-pups. Both of them are so dear to me. The fluffy boy I actually pulled from a not-so-great shelter when I worked at the Humane Society (we would go to overcrowded and underfunded shelters and take some animals from there to our shelter). He was pretty uncomfortable in the kennels and was likely going to be euthanized. I'm actually the one who named him - when we brought animals in sometimes they just had numbers, and sometimes they had names but we opted to change them in our system - and his mom opted to keep the name I gave him. I also actually hand-picked his mom lol. She had been working on adopting a shepherd from us who had stranger danger. While the pup ended up doing well with her, once in the house she just wasn't having it with her mother (who the dog had met during meet and greets) so it didn't work out. But shortly after that is when I pulled his boy and I immediately called her because I just knew she'd be an amazing dog guardian, and I knew this boy was the right one for her. When I left the Humane Society and started my own business, she was my first client and I still work with them today! The other pup (the giant, less-fluffy one who is not even a year old yet and already weighs over 60lbs lol) I actually privately rescued from someone who was trying to rehome her. She wasn't vaccinated or spayed, and the person was going to give her away for free to the first person. I went and got her, fostered her for several weeks while she got spayed and vaccinated and dewormed by the Humane Society (I still work with them and they did me a favor and sponsored her). I happened to be watching the fluffy boy for a week and introduced them. His mom had been considering getting him a friend, but since he's a special lad with big feelings we wanted to make sure it was the right fit and done the right way. She met the pup and decided to give it a go. And the rest is history! I get to see them every week and just love how serendipitous it has all been.

Cute friends - a grumpy but loving older fellow and his chaotic energizer bunny little sister

Sweet and sensitive friend, has two brain cells and a big heart

My MIL is still in the hospital, but is back in a step-down rehabilitation unit after ending up back in the ICU. She's making so much progress and potentially has a release date of being "home" for Christmas! She may not be able to go "home, home" but rather to a rental so she can be close to a hospital that is equipped for her continued recovery. The nice thing is, there's one near us so hopefully if they can't be home at least they can be close to us.

My kitty Cranberry had to go in for an emergency vet visit two days ago after we woke to find her right eye having issues. It turns out she has a puncture in her eye and there was bleeding going on in the eye from it. Our best guess is an accident between her and one of our other kitties. We had heard a 10 second squabble the night before. It was super quick and none of them ever fight, but it seems likely someone swatted her in the face and just happened to get her eye. Poor baby. She's been a good trooper though and is tolerating the eye drops (4x a day) and pain meds (2x a day) well (as long as we give her lots of snacks). Cranberry being brave at the vet.

Thank you for the well wishes and information! So glad your MIL is doing so well too! <3 That's a lot of work and everything looks great. Love the pics of the dogs and your pretty kitty. Have to ask - why Cranberry? It's a neat name.

😂 😂 😂 Thank you, everyone, fir confirming the ways to get a riftborn cookie. You guys are the best!

I think you can only get the cookie until the end of the year. I think you can complete the achievement at any time. At least they haven't said that the achievement is only available until the end of the year? Do you need both crypt cookies? :)

- I forget what the web site is for the Santa Tracker but you should be able to google it once it's Christmas Eve.

- I'm so sorry, hon. I hope he passed his swallow test. The day I passed my swallow test is emblazoned on my memory because I wanted a glass of water so badly I was willing to try to walk to the sink in my room and just stick my head under the water flow. Now, I couldn't walk at all at that time(my legs were still paralyzed,) so you get the idea. ;) You know, I'm here for you. Hugs ❤

OMG I feel for you with the thirsty! He gets the wet sponges in his mouth and has saline and water IV's with a nutrient flow but no drinking or eating. He hasn't complained about being thirsty but he really wants to eat and get the tube and mittens gone. They didn't do the test today but will try tomorrow. I'm pretty miffed on the 'try'. Just another day of this. It's not fair. But he does still have to pass. How many times did they try with you? He's failed twice. I feel so bad for him.

- You have to undeerstand that your dad's stroke and mine were different. I take it he's been in the hospital since Wednesday? So that makes it almost a week. At this time, in my stroke timeline, I was in a coma and having multiple abdominal surgeries to get the sepsis cleaned out and piece my large intestine back together. My stoke happened on Jan 30. I came out of the coma on Feb 16. I was pretty incoherent from then until March 14 when I started coming around. They did the swallow test on March 28. So, I had essentially from Feb 16 to Mar 28to practice what I could to figure out what still worked. No legs, some arm movement, no body movement but I could move my face. OH, forgot to say I was intubated until March 17. That makes a big difference, too. No food or water the normal way when you've got a trachea tube. XD So, when they did the swallow test on me, I had been practicing how to swallow for a few days because those wet sponges do nothing to curb the thirst. Neither do the iv drips. (Sorry.) So, I passed the test the first time I did it. There was no way they were going to deny me water anymore. Also, I was 43 at the time, and that also does make a difference. Did they tell you why thewouldn't try today? Usually there's a good reaso when they don't do it. They want your dad to get better and go home too. Hugs (sorry about so much info but I wanted you to understand where I'm coming from. :D )

Wow life is hitting a lot of you.

I am sorry your father had stroke, but glad he is home. Strokes are very hard on all involved. Hugs.

so much going on. I hope recovery goes well. Such nice photos thank you for sharing.

the rift cookie is frustratingly rare. I have done it everyday like so many and nothing.

I am doing fine. Winter just exhausts me.
Mom is adjusting to her cochlear implant well. We are doing all the learning exercises for it and I got the tech set up like the tv audio to her device and the app on her phone.

I knew a lot of what had happened to you because of our previous conversations. I didn't know the timeline. But still it sounds like the recovery was just as horrendous as the causes. Your stoke was also a major one, tho that just seems like such an insignificant word for such an enormous God-awful one-two punch you suffered. Hugs back <3 Yes, my father had his stroke on Wednesday am sometime. They put in the Ng tube in Thursday I think. It might have been Wed night. Not sure now.

Ty but he's not home yet. We were hoping but not quite. Glad your mother is doing well. Are you affected in winter too from allergies or just the rest of the year and winter as a whole is tiring? I'm sure you have deep snow and all that. Makes things hard. I seem to have allergies all year round, just different stuff. But its far warmer here than where you live.

Very fair question lol. I have chronic sleep issues - have a very hard time falling asleep / staying asleep and have anxiety in my sleep causing me to wake up, have vivid and weird dreams, or have night sweats and such. I discovered a podcast called Stories Podcast on spotify. It's actually for kids, but the stories and the voice actors are perfect for helping me fall asleep! There's a series of stories about Dog King and his pals - essentially a group of stray / owned dogs who all hang out and have adventures. One story is about Thanksgiving. In it, a stray kitty keeps stealing food from the group of dogs. Once they finally corner her, they discover that her family had moved away and left her. She was starving and alone. They welcome her into their family. She says she has no name, so Pickles (one of the dogs) gives her the name "Cranberry" because everything she had stolen from their table had cranberries on / in it. And then she goes on to be in other stories because she's part of the group / family. Between the sweet story and the attachment I have to the stories because they are a saving grace at times helping me sleep, I totally had to name her that! I also love cranberries, especially cranberry bread (my mom and I would make it together as a holiday gift) and cranberry mead (Johnny makes it!).

Thank you for keeping us updated on your dad! Praying for you all <3

My MIL can finally use her FB again (has the motor skills / sight) and the first thing she posted was "who knew ice chips could "taste" so good" lol. She's so happy to finally be able to not have tubes in her throat. She hates the feeding tube with a passion. Because the issues it was having and the length of her need they gave her a port I believe. She wasn't allowed to have ice chips for a while because when they first tried she ended up aspirating / getting them in her lungs and then they melted and it was a whole thing.

I'm so sorry to hear what you went through Duck. You're so resilient! Glad to have you here and get to be inspired by your strength.

- no worries. I read through some of the link Chrysariel posted above and found out that Amber is planning on doing something in December that will get each of us at least one of each (yes, rift and storm ones too)cookie. She didn't say what though. I wonder if it's going to be part of Melody's gifting? :) I'm so glad your mom's implant is working out. It's neat that you can sink it up to the tv and the phone. :D

- The timeline is something I didn't even know until I got access to my medical records last year. Hubby and kids couldn't remember when what happened or when it happened, and I'm the one with memory issues. :)) I just wanted you to know that every case is different. How is he doing today? How are you doing? :D

- Thanks. :) I've had 10 years to be resilient, though. At first I was angry at everyone. It took me 5 years to get out of that depression although it does still effect me sometimes. :) I'm sorry you have such bad sleep issues. I have sleep issues too but it's from a thing called non-24. It just means that my sleep cycle is messed up because I can't see the rise and setting of the sun. It's all dark to me so my brain doesn't know what to do. XD