Well, I'm not a night owl or an early bird, so I figured I would start a "just talking" thread for myself and all the other folks who are not night owls or early birds.... a thread to just talk about anything, meet new people, and get to know people better... or just a thread to talk.

So, how is life?

I feel so unprepared for Christmas. I live in New England, and usually at this time of year it is cold and snowy... but this year we have had very mild weather. Temps have been in the 50's for most of the month, and the only snow we have gotten have been 2 minor ustings that melted in less than 2 hours. We haven't even had to scrape the windows yet because we haven't had any real frost.

So it weird to be getting ready for christmas when it feels like it's late-October or early-November outside.

I have been playing a new computer game lately. Has anyone here ever played any of the Mystery Case Files games?

The first one was MCF-Huntsville, then they had MCF-Prime Suspects, and they just released the newest one MCF-Ravenhearst. I love these games, and the new one is fantastic! They are made by Big Fish Games, and I downloaded all of them from Reflexive.com -- you can play them for 60 minutes to test them out and see if you like it before you have to pay for it...

The thing I like the most about the MCF games is that even when you "finish" the game you can start over and play again and it's a whole different game with different clues to find...

I love playing games because they distract me from my pain. When I am concentrating on a game I stop focusing on my pain and other symptoms, so it's helpful for me to find good games that hold my attention.


So, what's going on with everyone else?

I'm so the same - am behind in my shopping and decorating.
But we've had some wind storms and power outages here and have had a couple of cold days- but it just doesn't seem like Christmas yet for me???

There used to be a little community that nearly the whole town would have decorations and many automated ones {that the farmers made themselves}.
But they stopped doing it- maybe the old fellows weren't able to do it anymore and the families didn't keep it going.

But it was so neat people from Portland would come out and drive the town to see it- it was only 3 miles away for us.

It seems the stores don't really get into decorating much anymore either.

My sis in law just had a blood clot in her arm and spent the nite in the hospital- they were going to have dinner & gifts at their place but we don't know if she will be up for all that- even if I help a lot.
but we can move that to Mom & dads place{my place is way too small for all the family}.
I'm making a big batch of spaghetti and also a pasta w/Alfredo sauce
and the others bring a salad, french bread & desserts.

We're doing the gift exchange where we draw numbers and go in order to pick a gift then the next one can steal that or pick a new gift and on and on- so the last person gets the best choice- It's fun and rowdy.

well better get on it- LOL

Hi Jo

I'm sorry to hear about your sister in law... I hope that she heals quickly and doesn't have any lingering difficulties.


I used to love driving around to see holiday decorations on peoples homes. My grandpa used to load up the car every year and we would drive around town listening to christmas music and looking for homes with great decorations. There were a few neighborhoods and a few homes that we would drive by every year because they always had great stuff.

I still have some shopping to do. One major thing is that I need to find something for my grandmother. I have no ideas and no clue what to get her. She is going blind, so all the things that she has loved in the past (books, crossword puzzles, jigsaw puzzles, etc...) are things that she can't do anymore, so I can't figure out what to get for her.

I am officially done with shopping, as of about two hours ago! Now, I just have to focus on food. Ugghhh. When you are gluten free you can't just "go anywhere"... you always have to think ahead and pack food. So, tonight I am making buns so we can have sandwiches at my sisters, and cookies, so my dd does not have to go without dessert.

BUT.. the good news is... I am done with shopping (and wrapping!) and ready to start the festivities! Well, I still have to buy candy for the stockings. Not sure when I'll fit that in.

We normally have cold and snow for Christmas, but today it hit 63 and it has been raining for TWO days. Flood warnings are being given. Hard to believe two weeks ago we had 17 inches of snow... and now..we are swimming.

Those darn squirrels are out in full force digging up the yard again!!

Oh gosh.. my other big news is that we have a new dishwasher and our glasses are sparkling clean again. Yippee! Our son made up for the last two years of missed birthdays, and missed mother's and father's day... and gave us a very sincere gift card to Lowe's. It is nice to have him off the family payroll, and giving back...lol! We had our Christmas with him last weekend.

Well, tomorrow morn we head "up north" for Christmas with folks and my sister in her log mansion on a lake. Should be very Norman Rockwell . They might even work out a horse driven sleigh.

Happy Holidays!

Cara

Guess what - this is my 1,000th post!

For post number 1,000 I suppose I should have something profound or important to say.... but I don't.

I didn't get any shopping done today. I didn't do any preparing for the holiday. I am having such a bad day with pain and muscle spasms and fatigue and electrical nerve pain.... I'm just too wiped out to do anything, and now I am headed back to the couch to lay down again because my tailbone area is screaming (I'm starting to thing I have CRPS/RSD of the tailbone, but that's a different story for a different day).

Sorry to hear you are having so much pain Liz . Take it easy, and I hope things are better tomorrow.

Cara

eesh RSD of the tail bone?
I hope it's not that after spending more time on the RSD forum and reading what pain they are in 24/7, {meds barely work} it just sounds like a horrible thing.
I hope beths SCS keeps working for her. {she posts mostly on the TOS forum though}

So far the pain is a little better today, but it is usually better in the morning anyway.

Jo, I don't want it to be RSD either... when all the tailbone problems started several months ago I typed the symptoms into google and RSD was the first to pop up. Reading the symptom list was like reading a list of my own symptoms. I asked my doctor about it and her response was that it would be "very rare" to have RSD in the tailbone area since it usually occurs in a limb, but then she said that based on my symptoms it was 'possible' and that 'time will tell'.

So, now it is several months later and all the symptoms remain and many have escalated. It sucks big time... the good thing is that the lidoderm patches do help to calm the nerve pain a bit, but the muscle spasms have not stopped in months.

Anyway, I have had a very strange day today. I woke up with no heat. I called the condo association emergency number and I was told that due to the holiday weekend that the residents would be charged to fix any problems... this is so screwy because I pay condo fees and any building fixes are supposed to come out of the condo fees fund.

Long story short - some sort of zone control thingy was broken. The good news is that this thingy controls the whole building and fixing it was only $300... and that gets divided between everyone in the building, so our cost is really cheap cause it's a big building with a lot of units.

I also found out this morning that my best friends brother passed away yesterday. I never knew her brother, but he had been sick for a long time (although no one expected him to pass away). My friend is an absolute mess and I spent a few hours at her place this morning. We sat in her kitchen drinking coffee in our pajamas (she lives in the condo complex so I just walked over there in my pj's when she called) and she was telling me all the good stories about her brother. I didn't even know him, but just hearing about what a good person he was made me cry with her.

It's only noon, and it's been a long day already.

((((liz)))))

Hi everyone.
Liz, I hope it isn't RSD in your tailbone area. That would be terrible.
It's awful that you have been in so much pain. Having no heat wouldn't help that at all. Glad that's been sorted out. No need for heat here 'cause it's Summer, but it's weird because we've only had a couple of really hot days so far. I'm not complaining of course... just edgy for what's to come.

I've stopped doing everything now. If something isn't done, well that's too bad. I was so tired yesterday that I lay down for a cat nap at about 11 am. I woke up about 1/2 an hour later and rolled over and slept for another 3 and 1/2 hours. In the daytime! So I figured I need it. lol

Was Summer Solstice a couple days ago of course. We've got about 5 or 6 months of pretty hot weather to go.

It's christmas eve morning here. Only have to set a table. My daughter and I are having dinner tonight all "posh" as we call it. Going to dress up and have candles on the table and everything. There's only the two of us so that'll be a fun thing to do while we listen to the carols and maybe watch a good movie later. Tomorrow at some stage we'll go to the beach. Usually it's really hot and that's where a lot of people go. It's almost tradition lol.

oh gosh. I just remembered I still have to make the white christmas and the rum balls.

Sounds as if there's a radar trap or breath testing unit nearby. Police sirens started whooping at 4.30am very close by here.

So, it's less than 19 hrs until the 25th here.
I don't feel coherent yet. I need caffeine.