what did you do today? (2008-2015) (closed)

[ShortInSeattle]

+2

And it really doesn't help when you have relatives and friends who insist that "you really should keep that". Better to do a surgical strike. Good memories are lighter to carry.

Taking digital photographs and saving a photo album may be a way of hanging onto the memories without the clutter.

 

[simple girl]

Not at all easy to clean out after a family member leaves. It is intrusive and heartbreaking at the same time.

+3 Had to do this for my mother. So incredibly difficult. She left a personal note for me to read after her passing, basically telling me she would always be with me. She also made a cassette tape saying goodbye to all the children and singing us a song she used to sing to us as babies. OMG, heart wrenching - but so meaningful to have these things.

 

[Walt34]

We have just gone through this in clearing out FIL's house and selling it. It is very difficult to do. DW has a lot of the stuff here and is slowly going through what to keep and what to throw out or donate. But she is making steady progress on it.

In a different area, I was playing around with my new birthday present, a Nikon R1 light system for macro flash. A frequent problem with close-up photography is that by the time one gets the lens close enough for a photo the lens is blocking the light. One answer is to put the light on the lens. And there are signs of spring - the tree buds are on my next door neighbor's tree.

 

[seraphim]

Just received an air ride spring kit to install on the truck. Supposed to be a 'no drill' kit, but I guess that doesn't apply to the onboard compressor which has an optional bolt on kit. *sigh*. I can drill in somewhere to mount the compressor, but I have to find a spot. The engine compartment is full.

 

[seraphim]

Walt

Do they still make the ring flashes? I use off camera flashes.

 

[W2R]

Last night I received and set up my new Wii U, the last "toy" I bought before deciding to put the brakes on my discretionary spending for a while. I put the Wii on the new TV in my home gym, where there is room for the balance board and Wii Fit. The new Wii U is on my TV here in the den.

Today is my dental implant surgery, so it will be nice to have the Wii U to occupy my mind while I recover afterwards. Oh, and the forum too, of course! Being only human, naturally I am scared to death; but it will be behind me in only a few hours.

 

[Accidental Retiree]

Today is my dental implant surgery, so it will be nice to have the Wii U to occupy my mind while I recover afterwards. Oh, and the forum too, of course! Being only human, naturally I am scared to death; but it will be behind me in only a few hours.

Good luck and good drugs to you today!

 

[W2R]

Good luck and good drugs to you today!

Thanks! It went really well and wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I am so glad that is behind me.

 

[grasshopper]

I didn't know whether to post here, or What was your workout today. Beautiful day 60 in the AM, 60 at the top, 80's when we got home. The hard part was carrying water, about 2 gallons for the dogs and a gallon for us. So off we went to Silver Peak in the Chiricahua Mts, for a hike in the our backyard.

 

[ohyes]

W2R,

Glad the implant is behind you, too! Glad to hear it went so well.

 

[Accidental Retiree]

Thanks! It went really well and wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I am so glad that is behind me.

That is good news, W2R. Often we dread things and it helps me, at least, to hear from others who have gone through procedures and found them not as bad as expected.

I think sometimes we get ourselves all het up for no reason. I know I do. I fear needles somethin' awful. I put off a colonoscopy for a long time until my doctor tele-harassed me into getting it done. I wasn't afraid of the prep. Nope. I was afraid of the IV to put me out.

Having done it, I would never be fearful again. Not even of the needle that put me into LaLa land, or wherever I went. I hardly felt the needle at all. I have hurt myself much worse shaving my legs!

We don't always hear of good procedures, only the ones that are scary or go awry.

I am glad you came out on the other side more toothsome than before.

 

[Walt34]

Walt

Do they still make the ring flashes? I use off camera flashes.

They do indeed still make ring flashes, and they're a lot cheaper than the five figures they used to be.

I went with the Nikon system because the flashes come off the ring and are remotely operated with the Nikon CLS system so one can hand-hold one to get a different direction of light on a small subject. Or one could be tucked away in an inconspicuous spot to create a halo effect on a wall behind a portrait subject or light the interior of some machine, and the like. Much more versatile than a ring light. And although the kit comes with two lights, the ring will hold eight if one has a need for that many.

 

[Walt34]

Thanks! It went really well and wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I am so glad that is behind me.

Glad to hear that went well. It's also been my experience that such things usually get mentally magnified to be worse than they really are.

"Usually" though. Don't ask about getting a cortisone injection in my knee. That was a new experience in pain. And there I thought it was going to be just another injection. Surprises like that I can do without.

 

[W2R]

Thanks. I slept like a baby for a full 8 hours without awakening even once, last night. Essentially no pain at all, even though I have not taken any of the pain medication prescribed. Still, I am planning to take it easy today anyway just because it seems prudent. It is wonderful to have this over with.

In a week I will see him again for a quick checkup, and then in 4 months I can have the crown put into place.

 

[seraphim]

Walt

I carry a Metz CT4 and several small slave flashes

A site you might be interested in:

DPChallenge - A Digital Photography Contest

 

[seraphim]

Sat around work today bemoaning the fact the last 19 work days before retirement were dragging soooooo slooowly...

 

[freebird5825]

When my father died, I helped my mother dispose of his things. Mostly all I did was remind her that she had no obligation to my father or anybody else to keep anything of his she did not truly want. It is all too easy for a widow or widower to create a shrine of sorts for the deceased by keeping everything as it always was. So, I "gave her permission" (repeatedly) to send various items of his clothing or other personal items to Goodwill if she didn't want them for nostalgic or other reasons. She said that helped a lot more than I knew. In the process we took frequent breaks to reminisce over old photos and memorabilia and such, so that it wouldn't seem too harsh.

When my husband passed suddenly in late 2004 at the age of 50.5, I was devastated. It took months (and in some cases, years) for me to be able to do the cleaning out of things that were part of our lives built together from scratch. It was like walking on broken glass, every damn day.
I had the help of a fabulous grief counselor to face those dragons and get most of it done on my own.

In the first 3 months, I gave away several things that belonged to him only (not bought together) to several of his closest guy friends that he grew up with. The look of gratitude on their faces when I gently explained what these things were, was priceless. Many a saddened heart was healed with those gestures. I became stronger with the giving.

At 5 months, I had to enlist the help of a close friend to do the clothing. Whew!
Almost 9 years alter, I still have a lot of things that remind me of the happy times on vacations. This is good stuff.

For those who know a friend/relative going through something like this, be that person who makes such an awful ordeal a bit less stressful. I am currently doing this for a widower who just cannot face going through his late wife's kitchen stuff. No push, but little by little, emotional trigger stuff has to go.

Time does heal.

 

[freebird5825]

Thanks. I slept like a baby for a full 8 hours without awakening even once, last night. Essentially no pain at all, even though I have not taken any of the pain medication prescribed. Still, I am planning to take it easy today anyway just because it seems prudent. It is wonderful to have this over with.

In a week I will see him again for a quick checkup, and then in 4 months I can have the crown put into place.

Hope today is even better

 

[beowulf]

:Today we are somewhere between Bay of Islands, NZ and Tonga. Temp is 80 with a few clouds. Just another great day on the USS Assisted Living of the Seas.

I have some beautiful pics, but can't seem to attach any on an iPad due to slow satellite Internet.

 

[W2R]

Hope today is even better

It was, thanks! Last night I accidently overdid it. I was only trying to hook up some electronics and neaten up an evolving mess of wires, which involved crawling under some furniture and such. I was surprised at how little activity it took for me to become exhausted. So today I am doing absolutely nothing.

 

[tinlizzy]

"Usually" though. Don't ask about getting a cortisone injection in my knee. That was a new experience in pain. And there I thought it was going to be just another injection. Surprises like that I can do without.

This brought back memories of a bier block injected into my armpit. He says tell me when I hit the nerve....had I been a cat I would have been stuck to the ceiling!

I watched Skyfall 007 and Flight today. Flight was good. 007 was not good at all imo.

 

[keegs]

Went to dinner and after saw Aretha Franklin at NJPAC last night. She's slowing down some but she's still got it.

 

[pb4uski]

Yesterday I helped a neighbor install some laminate flooring in his dining room kitchen. He had done it before (his living room) and I hadn't. We struggled with it for a couple hours and I kept saying it shouldn't be this hard and then we discovered that the reason we were struggling is that we were going right to left rather than left to right. It seems he had done his entire living room the "wrong" way and just thought that was part of the process. After that revelation things went much quicker and easier.

However, with constantly getting up and down my legs are quite sore this morning.

 

[Walt34]

Went with DW to her nephew's wife's parent's house for dinner. Nephew & wife have a new addition to the family, Trixie, who is one of a litter of puppies left by the road in a bag.

She seems to be doing well.

 

[ohyes]

Trixie is really cute!

This morning, during our once-a-week trip to Panera's, DH and i decided to take a day trip to Crater of Diamonds State Park near Murfreesboro, AR. We took back roads, stopping in Hot Springs for lunch. Made it to the park, which closed at 5PM, about 3:45. Apparently, from the announcements, two diamonds were found today. We saw some sunburned folks, but our hour of digging didn't produce any side effects.

The parking lot had cars from all over the USA. Many of the diamond hunters had an incredible amount of buckets, sifters, shovels, etc. Doubt we will go again, but it was a beautiful day (73 degrees) and an interesting drive.

i love retirement.