Oh I'm w/ you, Kat. The dropsies for me seem to be more recent, like in the past year.
I have stuff going on in my body that I want diagnosed but I don't want to be medicated for. I know they would want to send me to physical therapy, I think, but that literally comes out of my deductible, just like the chiropractic care does, and I can't afford that shit. PT is like 2-3 times a week at 40-60 a pop. HELL NO! They've GOT to do better than this - both insurance wise and care wise. But yeah, I wake up aching every damn day, which contributes to making me tired. I'm trying out some new supplements and I was actually quite motivated today to do things outside and step up my game. Did have to take some ibuprofen a few hours ago b/c my neck has been giving me intermittent issues that cause very bad headaches so I almost got through the day w/out any pain relievers.

He... really does not bring home much bacon.

More like he brings home the spam haha.

But I'm pretty good at buying deals. Like, when the 40lb buckets are on sale for like, $15 and you get a $5 or 10 gift card for buying two. I'll just buy four then, and that's enough to last a long time. And then I'll use the gift cards to buy other things.

The only things that ever got my aunts or my neighbors chickens were the bear, and once there was a coyote IN the chicken coop, but the fence was broken so the chickens ran into my yard instead. Maybe the small predators are too well fed to bother with chickens? I'm making them lazy.

And yeah Kat, I individually wrapped the ramen. Because I hate myself. :P

I always get them new toothbrushes for their stocking, and then they all get the kind of shampoo and conditioner they like, and the soap. I think they just like opening things, tbh :P

I meannnnn, so do I! So I won't sauy anything bad about it LOL.

I can't take advil (ibuprofin) while taking the meloxicam. I honestly am wondering if advil would work better. I do add tylenol when the pain gets to be too uncomfortable or I have a headache. Its ok to take that, but not NSAIDs. I agree, healthcare needs to be better. And less expensive. I still remember them giving me a tylenol in the hospital when Shane was born, and when I got the bill for it (I had private insurance back then also, tho I was on medicaid for Katie and paid cash for Nathan due to income/insurance issues), anyway, when I got the bill I looked at it, and saw they charged me $50 for the tylenol. Excuse me? SOO STUPID. If I can buy a bottle of tylenol at walmart for $3 that has 20 in it, why are you charging me $50 for one pill? Yes I know that pill was likely the dosage of two or even four of the regular pills, but it wasn't $50 worth!!! I didn't even look into the physical therapy because I knew I didn't have the $ for it, especially right now. I don't know if it will be billed to insurance or not I'll have to check that come January, otherwise I might just do a consult and ask them for things I can do at home to help because I cant pay!

I went and took an hourlong bath to soak my arm. Used the Eucalyptus/Spearmint moisturizing body wash the other preK teacher gave me. It was nice. I'm still achy tho. Cooking chili for dinner.

I like wrapping...and unwrapping. I just wish I had more gifts I could unwrap that I didn't know what they were :P I always seem to end up buying my own gifts, or else I don't get much. I know Katie has bought me things. I bought things and wrapped them and put Nathans name on them because he said to do so, he said he didn't feel like going and picking other things. Shane bought me two ornaments and hung them on the tree when I wasn't looking, when he was here briefly earlier today (thats my surprise gift from him) I do love them :) Ryan got me something, so at least there is one more gift besides Katie's that I don't know what it is. I sound a little grumpy about this, but I feel like I should be getting surprise gifts too. Everyone should. But no one seems to want to buy them for me :P

No way Kat, everyone deserves presents they don't know about!

E bought me something, but I don't know what it is. So I do have one thing I don't know about! The rest, I bought and wrapped myself :P

That was so sweet of Shane!

Oooh, the spearmint and Eucalyptus is such a good smell. Boo to being achy. :(

We had ham and cheese crossantwitches for dinner. Was supposed to be sloppy joes but uh... I don't want them.

You did too want sloppy joes, you said so earlier :P Changed your mind eh? Glad E bought you something to surprise you with :)

I might just go to bed early tonight. I fell asleep on the couch last night around 8 and dozed til like 945 and then went to bed. I woke up early again (before 5) but dozed again and didn't actually GET UP until after 6. But I am still very tired. Hope I'm not getting sick, between the aches, and the weird-ish headache I had earlier. Ever felt like your brain had padding all around it? Not like POUNDING, just a general ache in the head and cotton padding in my head. Ugh. I hate when I feel like that. I'd rather have a pounding headache so I know I can get rid of it with tylenol! :P

[edit] 610am I did go to bed early, however the stupid dog woke me up waaaaay too early, and then I couldn't go back to sleep. I laid on the couch so she'd stop whining for like 2hrs trying to sleep on the couch. I did doze. But not really sleep. Ugh I feel awful. And I just realized I am down to 2 rolls of toilet paper so I have to go back to the store today so I don't run out over the weekend. (I might not, but if I don't go get some, then I will, you know how that goes!) I might just go to dollar general since its closer. And its freaking 28* here and I'm freezing already (and its now supposed to get down to 10* :o by tomorrow morning!!) BRRRRRRRRRR So going to the DG would be faster/closer and less time out in the cold.

I'm laying here in bed listening to old Christmas songs... like, really old, lol. They're always the best. Gonna have to get up and plug the laptop in but more so b/c laying in bed makes my hips hurt.

It's... incredibly cold here, Kat. lol The wind chill is putting it at like -30 something. I've got candles burning around but these wind gusts are just finding every little crack it can seep into and there's a chill in the air. That sucks you have to go to the store today, but I guess it's better than tomorrow, lol. There's not a lot of anyone out today from what I've seen on the main road.

The spam comment.. omg Mieke that made me laugh out loud. I've never been good at finding deals... even when I did look. I think if I used different apps more often I would be able to find good deals but then I forget to get them in the time frame the coupon/deal is going on.

I hear ya on the gifts, Kat. I've rarely received gifts over the years until my youngest started working, she would always gift me whatever she could. It does leave a bit of emptiness inside.

Think I'm going to make some bacon and eggs. I'm hungry this morning.

I laughed myself at the spam commment Taarna! LOL.

I do my best to find coupons and deals for whatever I need, and thankfully, we have the space to stock up on things when they ARE on sale!

And yeah Kat, that's the problem with making the menu a week at a time. But it's fine, we'll eat the sloppy joes on Monday!

What's everyone having this weekend?

We always have french toast and bacon and sausage on Christmas. My Grandpa used to make it for us, and that' sjust.. that's just what we have.

And on Christmas Eve, we're having apps. All day, actually, since I couldn't decide what to get and so we got like.. um.. everything :P

We're having fried green beans (poor alex has to make them), mozz sticks, fried pickles, shrimp cocktail, pigs in a blanket (not the weird cabbage ones, the hillbilly croissant and weenies), and uh,... I'm sure there's more but honestly I don't remember.

OH! Nacho dip. Also the hillbilly kind, that's just velveeta and salsa. My aunt used to make it on Christmas Eve only, and it was like, the only thing that I'd eat at her house. So Christmas Eve has always been associated with nachos for me :P

Ooo making me hungry, Mieke.
The only major meal I'm making this weekend is the glazed ham, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes and some crescents. It's just my brother and I so I'm not making more than that.... although that velveeta dip sounds REALLY yummy. I can't remember the last time I even had that.

Here's the pic of my daughter's cart at the Asian grocer -

Here's a pic of the large candle I thought I had bought at the thrift store but it was actually in the clearance aisle at Walmart for 5 bucks. It's huge! I tried to put a remote there for context but I think the cooking chopsticks show it better.

Fried pickles.... mmmmm that sounds divine. What dipping sauce do you use for them?

I love making pigs in a blanket. What kind of cheese do you use - or do you?

I'm making sugar cookies to frost/decorate with whatever kids I can 😝 probably tonite tho. And on Christmas day with Shane. Nothing special tomorrow. Christmas day we had recently begun doing pancakes and bacon. I bought bacon so might do that. Or waffles if I still have the waffle maker. French toast sounds good tho but I suck at making it. And ham for lunch/dinner. And as I said, Ryan is smoking me a turkey breast. He will bring it tomorrow or Christmas ..whenever he cooks it.

That is a giant candle! Especially for $5!

We don't do cheese in them, funny enough, I... don't really like it for the most part? I've never even heard of people putting cheese in them, though! For the fried pickles, a ranch type dip, that I.. also don't eat :P

And I forgot, Alexs grandma used to make those... weird little grape jelly meatballs? So we might have those, too. Or were they weenies, too? Ugh IDK. BUT we might have those, too :P

I wish we had an asian grocery store around here, the nearest one is an hour and 45 minutes away. :(

I loveeee me some green bean casserole, but like.. leave the real stuff out. :P I want the canned green beans and the soup from a can LOL. Otherwise, it's just not the same.

Apparently, for me, the holidays are all about.. preservatives?

Kat, that all sounds yummy! We're having.. IDK what at Lynnes. Duck, I know. Whole roasted duck sounds.. enhhh.. though. I LOVE duck, but we always take it apart before we cook it. So we'll cook the breasts, take the wings and legs off and confit them, and roast the rest and then make a stock out of it.

This morning I'm making everyone do laundry and shower so we can fill the tub up with water, just in caseeeee the power goes out. Hopefully it doesn't!

Meatballs and lil smokies can both be made in the jelly stuff. Delish! I haven't tried it but once myself (making lil smokies that way). Appetizers for dinner sounds great if I only had more people to feed lol otherwise I have tons of leftovers and you all know me. I don't like many leftovers

Ryan brought Shane over to sell the crap explorer he bought that the guy never gave him a title for....lost $ on that but at least it's gone and he learned a lesson I hope. Anyway he took both boys back with him, Katie will be there around 1230 and he is taking them all to waffle house for lunch and then going back to his place to open presents

And then Katie will come here and bring Nathan home. And we are having pot roast for dinner and opening presents and decorations sugar cookies 😁

That is a big candle!! I love bigger ones but they cost too much now. I remember when you could get tons for a dollar and they were good sized and the big ones were 3-5$

Hell, some sweets sound good. Should've picked some up but I generally don't have sweets in mind. Would love a smoker. Smoked turkey sounds amazing.

Never had duck before. And YES for the canned green beans! lol The frozen or fresh kind just don't quite taste right. Grape jelly meatballs? A friend of mine makes meatballs with the little weenies and grape jelly that I've never tried before b/c it sounded weird, lol. Is that what you're talking about? I've never made pigs in a blanket w/out a slice of cheese in it. :P I usually use American but I think I'll try velveeta slices the next time.

Good idea on the water. How much snow did you get? Hope your electric doesn't go out. Here I've been hoping for the internet to go out just so I didn't have to work today. LOL There's literally nothing going on so the day is just dragging by. I'm ready for a nap.

All this food talk makes me want s/thing else. Cookies sound reeeally good.

That sounds really nice, Kat!

Taarna, we didn't get any snow yet. Well, we got some inches last night, but then we got a lot of rain, but we're expecting high winds. And maybe a few inches of snow today.

They're apparently grape jelly and bbq. I never liked them, and apparently Alex didn't either. So it would have just been from tradition :P Instead, we decided we're going to candy some bacon and wrap that up in the crescent and weenie. I'm looking forward to it!

UGH SO GUYS.

Jacob (Lilys ex) was threatening to show up here at our door with his Dad if she didn't give him my phone number. I was like.. he already has it. But whatever, I texted him. "Hi! I don't really know what you want from me, but Lily called the suicide hotline because she was scared and was asking for resources. They called the police to your door. I didn't know about it until the next day, and by then, the cops and guidance counselor had already been notified.

But I'm glad she did it, because if she would have told me, I'm a mandated reporter and would have had to go straight to the portal."

Then he called and was like "someone should have called me" and I was like "Well, I didn't know, and Jacob told Lily that you and Amy both hate her and talked bad about her, so it makes sense that she didn't want to go to you". "Well, he said she would be a spiteful little bitch about it, and I didn't see anything on his phone that said that" "OK, well, it was on snapchat, but I do believe she took some screenshots and showed them to Mr. Ronchi at the school. But then she said she deleted everything when Jacob started being nice to her and said he was fine again."

"OK, well, I'll be calling the school because if it was just out of spite, she should be expelled and maybe even arrested because this is really uncool and messing with our life and holiday".

like excuse me sir, WTF?!

These are 14/16 year old kids.

Umm, so ... if I read/understood that correctly, Jacob was threatening? And Lily was trying to get help? Seriously, if anyone said anything then it needs to be talked about and all!! My cousin's 16yr old suicided and no one had any clue why. I still don't know exactly what went on (I am not close with them, I didn't grow up with them but I am connected on facebook with them) and I feel horrible just with the little bit I know! You would think his parents would be over the moon making sure their kid was ok!!!!

And gawd, I hate when kids delete stuff. I mean, I am bad about deleting things too, but when its VERY important and deals with other people I tend to keep it for a while at least in case of ... whatever. Shane is the worlds worst about deleting things (and claiming his PHONE did it automatically) and just UGH because then there is only verbal he said she said instead of proof.

Oh and he's not got a smoker. It can be used to smoke, but its a grill. A pellet grill. He smoked one a few years ago on a regular grill - just put the charcoal off to one side and the meat on the other and its more smoked than grilled :) Its yum. And yes, grape jelly and bbq sauce. I like it, but not enough to eat TONS of it :P When other people make it and bring to school for sharing I always get a few of each :) It is a bit of a different flavor! But nope, don't make things you dont like! And ugh, cookies and candy are crazy around here. There is always something LOL I should try not to get so much, but even when I do that, I get it from other people sooooo..... (like, I got a box of Ferroche Rocher chocolates (or however you spell that), a homemade box of cookies, a tray of cake slices, peices of candy, candy canes, etc from the kids at school) LOL

Yes, he was threatening to kill himself.. he's done it MULTIPLE times, since he broke up with ehr and she wouldn't date him again. Like.. MULTIPLE.

And now the Dad is pissed off.

All teh conversations were on snapchat, so they automatically delete. She took some screenshots, but then deleted them when they started talking again, as friends. Now Jacob is saying that they got back together, and she broke up with him again, and then did this out of spite. Which ISN'T TRUE. And Lily talked to the guidance officer multiple times about various things Jacob related.

And like... I've got kids, we've got a storm coming, we've got multiple things going on over here. My mom died two years ago tomorrow and it's just all A LOT and I am tired of being harassed and bothered about timelines and such by him.

Goodness. I hope those parents come to realize this was to help their child and wasn't intended to cause problems. Lily did the right thing, going to someone for help. I guess, stop talking to him? I mean like, tell him, you've told him all you know and you've done all you could, and there is nothing more to be done right now. IF he persists, then call the cops on him for harassment? I mean, honestly that's what he is doing at this point, threatening to come over to your house, demanding to speak to you about this. As for him going to the school - well they will tell him the same thing! That it needed to be reported, that she did what she was supposed to, that you would have been required to do the same. And that he was contacted by who he was supposed to be contacted by. Its not YOUR job to go to the parent (though, I imagine you would have, if you knew the kid/parents well enough to feel comfortable doing so! And had the time/opportunity to do so!) Nor is it Lily's job to go to his parents, especially if she feels they don't like her! Who wants to talk to someone when you think they don't like you and then they won't believe you and then your friend gets no help!

Sounds like you need some ((((((HUGS)))) and some peaceful times (((((HUGS)))) <3

Exactly!

I just left my phone downstairs for now, I'm busy doing other things. Not interested in his drama.

For now, I'm trying to finish my quests. And I'm watching The Miracle on 34th Street. The Mara Wilson one. It always gets me. The kids are building a gingerbread house. And then I'm going to go make some eggnog rice pudding.

omg the DRAMA, Mieke! I've seen too much of that cry wolf kind of shit and all's it does is make it harder to recognize real situations. That kid needs help but I don't think it's for depression. He just needs to get his head on straight (or out of his ass) and the father needs to recognize it instead of catering to him.

More HUGS from me!

Eggnog rice pudding? Hmm... that sounds interesting.

Kat, I think my chickens would be getting all that sugar if I was given as much as you are. :P At least it's not fruitcake. :Joy:

I just finished up the last of my Lumi stuff so now I'm going to relax and wait for the clock to run down so I can log off of work. Maybe see if I can find any Christmas movies on that I haven't seen hundreds of time.

I never really watched that movie. Any version I am hoping to watch the Santa Clause with the kids tonight while doing cookies. Another one I watch is Smokey Mountain Christmas....And home alone lol

Oh another thing, if you haven't already (you probably did) ...TELL Lily she did the right thing. Praise her for it!!! Make sure she knows it was a good thing no matter the ruckus it's caused.

Oh gosh Kat, you HAVE to!

And yes, I've told Lily she did the right thing. So did the guidance counselor.

And yes. It's just rice pudding, but replace some of the milk with eggnog :P It's super yummy, without being quiteeeee as rich as eggnog. I'm looking forward to it!