Thunder (loud!) and lightning woke me up this morning. It is pouring rain right now and parts of my backyard look like a lake! SO glad I have a relatively new roof!!

Wow. That triggered a memory. We used to have both candy and a bowl of pennies on Halloween. When I went "treating," I had a small milk carton from UNICEF to collect pennies for the organization.

We did the Unicef thing, too!! I remember my Mom buying greeting cards from them.

hey everyone...great to see more activity on this thread!!

Barb, Texas hasn't been very welcoming for you Hope that things dry out quickly with no mold damage...glad you're safe!

Trish, so sorry to read about your latest challenges. Wow, your DGS is really saying a lot of words for his age!! You'll be able to hold him real soon...

Sal, glad to see you checking in regularly!! We all missed your posts!

Kelly, how are the kitties?

We have been busy still settling into the new house. DH installed a sprinkler system over the last few weeks. With all of the heavy labor that entailed along with putting up shelves, etc., he caught a really bad cold. Usually he doesn't want to be coddled, but he was so sick he let me tend to him, which told me how really sick he was. He's onto the annoying coughing phase now which means he's almost done with it.

DD & family came down the weekend before Halloween to have a family celebration of DGD's 1st birthday. It was great having everyone over, but my tolerance for the havoc and noise has lessened, so I don't seem to be able to enjoy the visit as much I'm trying to put on a smile and make the best of it, but occasionally I sneak off to a bathroom just to get away from it all.

We had a LOT of trick or treaters in our new neighborhood!! It was so much fun seeing new and familiar faces.

I've scheduled my old knee's replacement for early December...just can't deal with the limited mobility any longer.

Hope all are well...have a wonderful evening!!

Hi Everyone!

I remember the Unicef boxes too! It's so sad they don't do them any more.

Debbie - I find it hard to be around a lot of commotion, especially lately. It must have fun to see your daughter and her family though. I'm glad you had a lot of trick or treaters at your new place. That must have been fun. I hope your surgery goes well.

I really haven't been up to much. My insurance company gives me credits every quarter to use on things like OTC medicines, toothbrushes, first aid stuff, etc. I forgot about them and haven't used any this year. I had $320 in credits to use. So, I place my order today online. I got an message that they were unable to email me my confirmation and to call them. When I called the lady told me that I still had $2 in credits left (I stocked up on things I use a lot, but also got a couple of bigger things like a bp cuff since my bp has been low). I told her I knew but didn't know what they had for $2 and didn't really look. So, she starts rattling off all these things I could get for $2. I ended up adding a big bottle of hydrogen peroxide. That was the highlight of my day.

I hope you all have a great day/evening!

Our new insurance for next year has that program also. I thought we were both going to ave to use our $50/quarter to buy diapers for DH but we found out today that he has clostridium defficille. He will start on antibiotics tomorrow and from what I see on the internet it should work pretty quick. So maybe we won't have to buy diapers after all and we can spend that money on vitamins etc.

I'm so sorry your DH has C. Diff. I had a mild case after my surgery and was on antibiotics for a while. Then, about 10 days after stopping the antibiotics, I got it again but it was severe. I was readmitted to the hospital for a week. While in the hospital, a team of infectious disease doctors came to see me. They told me to start taking probiotics in the form of kefir or buttermilk or yogurt. I did some reading online about it and a few studies. I started with yogurt with every meal in the hospital, if I could eat as I had no appetite at all. Again, read up on it and see if you can find some probiotic your husband will like.

I will say some prayers for him as it is pretty miserable and in some cases difficult to treat.

You're exactly right, Trish!! Why in the he77 the docs don't tell patients that is beyond me...
My late FIL got it bad...ended up in the hospital/nursing home for a few months off and on. Once we began giving him milk with acidophilus in it, the side effects cleared up. The docs didn't recommend it--we found out by researching on line. DH would stop off at the nursing home every day to make him drink it.

The antibiotic that often brings it on kills all of the good gut bacteria. It's a very serious disorder!
Doydie, don't use the toilet after him, and clean it thoroughly with antiseptic wipes!!
You might want to drink a probiotic as well...

We have two bathrooms. He has been using the hallway bathroom just because it is closer. But since he is the one who sleeps in the master bedroom, that bathroom is assigned to him. But just in case he can't make it, he goes in the hallway one. So I have 3 of those containers of Clorox wipes. The germs that are covered are on the container. I hope there are more germs since C dif isn't one of the ones listed. I already have a zip lock bag full of a bunch of the for him to use when he is out. He loves buttermilk but will not eat yogurt even if he knows it is good for this. That is how stubborn he is. Just like he knows tomato juice really bothers his bowels. Within 10 minutes of drinking it, he has a stomach ache and he is having diarrhea but he still drinks it.

Hi everyone! It's been crazy around here so I haven't been on much. My mom came to visit last week and she was supposed to stay at my sister's because my niece had a tummy bug. So I drove to the airprt here for the first time, and brought her to my place. She was here until the heavy rain hit us on Fridayand I had the flooding issue so I took her over to my sister's as my niece was better. Well on Sunday morning my brother in law got sick. So she came back to my place. My sister then got sick on Sunday evening. We are still both okay, but figure if we are going to get it it will be soon.

They finally showed up on Tuesday to fix my window after I complained on the apartment's facebook page. About 20 apartments had similar problems. Luckily the water did not get into the carpeting, but I am sure there is mold under the floorboards in the bathroom. I plan on looking for a new place. I am hoping to buy a small house. If I give them 60 daays notice here, I have to pay one extra month's rent plus another fee that is almost
as much as my rent.

My mom is supposed to fly back to Ohio on Saturday if all goes well. 60% of the flights out of Austin have been cancelled or delayed for hours since last Friday as the air traffic controller building flodded and equipment was destroyed. supposedly things are supposed to be better by the end of the week. They have moved controllers to San Antionio to operate the airport here and both runways are now open. Praying she doesn't get sick. I have a feeling this will be her last trip to Texas. She almost didn't come this time. She obviously hasn't gotten to spend much time with my sister or niece and as we all know, flying just't isn't a lot of fun these days.

We are now under another flood watch until Saturday morning, but it doesn't look like we will get as much rain.

So that's the news from Texas. I am not loving El Nina!