What did you do today? 2016 version

[Marita40]

After yet another price rise and after the bait and switch they pulled on me last August,I finally cut all ties with (boo, hiss) Centurylink. I've ported my landline phone to my cellphone, so for the first time ever I will have no landline. Why is there a small bit of sentiment attached to a landline that I feel? It must be a generational thing. I feel a bit like the emptiness of someone suddenly gone from my life. Odd. And now I'm also left with no Internet service at home so I guess I'll go crawling back to Comcast, who I also despise, just for internet service. My cable through DirectTv has a few more months of low prices before that, too, jumps up. At that point I'll need to decide whether to cut the cable. Baby steps. But at least my current nemesis, Centurylink, is TOAST. By the way I've been with them for 30 years (partly in their previous incarnation USWest/MaBell) and they didn't even ask me why I was leaving or attempt to talk me out of it. So much for customer service these days. I have decided that I would rather do without than deal with such companies. The only really horrible thing is the choice here is between only two terrible providers.

 

[W2R]

Good for you, Marita40!! I dropped my landline last summer and although AT&T tried for a half hour to persuade me to stay, they never offered any reduction at all in monthly charges.

By now I feel pretty secure about having only a cell phone. Be sure to keep your cell phone charged. I love having the extra money that I was paying for my landline and I think you will too.

What did I do today? We went to the gym and I did entirely too much there. The gym was hot and that made a hard workout pretty exhausting, too. Every muscle in my body hurts. You know, the "good hurt", but owww. So, tonight I am resting and sipping water. I'll feel much more lively tomorrow.

 

[tmm99]

My mom had quadruple heart bypass yesterday so am sitting in the hospital with her.

After losing my dad in January I was quite surprised when I got a phone call last Monday that mom was in the hospital and would be having bypass on Wednesday in Dallas.

At 74 she has smoked all her life, had 2 heart attacks and 2 strokes yet we can't get her to stop smoking. Her surgery was more than 24 hours ago and she's still not alert but her surgeon isn't concerned. Said her recovery is slow but positive.

I took a picture of her while she was on the ventilator with the chest wound showing (she was not conscious). I'm having the picture framed and giving it to her a month or so after she gets out which is about the time she'll want her first cigarette. Probably sounds like tough love but I need her to see what she looked like so that maybe she'll put down that cigarette!

Sorry to hear about your mom but good to hear that the surgery went well. The hardest is the first week of quitting and the rest is so much easier so if she can get off cigarettes while she is in the hospital, the worst is already over as far as nicotine withdrawals are concerned. I wish you could somehow convey that to her. There is a chart on the internet you could print out that shows daily/weekly/monthly/yearly physiological changes that take place healthy wise from the last puff of smoke. You may want to show it to her in a few days.


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[Meadbh]

My mom had quadruple heart bypass yesterday so am sitting in the hospital with her.

After losing my dad in January I was quite surprised when I got a phone call last Monday that mom was in the hospital and would be having bypass on Wednesday in Dallas.

At 74 she has smoked all her life, had 2 heart attacks and 2 strokes yet we can't get her to stop smoking. Her surgery was more than 24 hours ago and she's still not alert but her surgeon isn't concerned. Said her recovery is slow but positive.

I took a picture of her while she was on the ventilator with the chest wound showing (she was not conscious). I'm having the picture framed and giving it to her a month or so after she gets out which is about the time she'll want her first cigarette. Probably sounds like tough love but I need her to see what she looked like so that maybe she'll put down that cigarette!

Your mother is addicted to smoking. So was my mother. When faced with a total aortofemoral replacement, she managed to quit temporarily, but within six weeks of surgery she was sneaking cigarettes behind the woodshed. Within a few weeks she was again smoking like a chimney. She lived for another decade, by which time her new blood vessels were clogging up and she had developed lung cancer and heart failure. She was a very intelligent and well informed woman, but she was addicted and incapable of quitting long term.

 

[Samething]

Just got back from Augusta, Ga. Went to the first two rounds of the Masters. It was a real splurge for me but that's one less thing on the bucket list

 

[splitwdw]

My mom had quadruple heart bypass yesterday so am sitting in the hospital with her.

After losing my dad in January I was quite surprised when I got a phone call last Monday that mom was in the hospital and would be having bypass on Wednesday in Dallas.

At 74 she has smoked all her life, had 2 heart attacks and 2 strokes yet we can't get her to stop smoking. Her surgery was more than 24 hours ago and she's still not alert but her surgeon isn't concerned. Said her recovery is slow but positive.

I took a picture of her while she was on the ventilator with the chest wound showing (she was not conscious). I'm having the picture framed and giving it to her a month or so after she gets out which is about the time she'll want her first cigarette. Probably sounds like tough love but I need her to see what she looked like so that maybe she'll put down that cigarette!

Lisa99, Some people can't or won't quit. Taking a picture of her while she was unconscious to show it to her later it's going to make her quit if she's not ready. You could even make her angry. Enjoy your mother while you have her.

 

[DrRoy]

Ugh. Started laundry at my hotel because I am working through the weekend at a customer 660 miles from home. I was supposed to return home yesterday and ran out of clean clothes. A big reason why I am less than a year from RE.

 

[Souschef]

My mom had quadruple heart bypass yesterday so am sitting in the hospital with her.

After losing my dad in January I was quite surprised when I got a phone call last Monday that mom was in the hospital and would be having bypass on Wednesday in Dallas.

At 74 she has smoked all her life, had 2 heart attacks and 2 strokes yet we can't get her to stop smoking. Her surgery was more than 24 hours ago and she's still not alert but her surgeon isn't concerned. Said her recovery is slow but positive.

I took a picture of her while she was on the ventilator with the chest wound showing (she was not conscious). I'm having the picture framed and giving it to her a month or so after she gets out which is about the time she'll want her first cigarette. Probably sounds like tough love but I need her to see what she looked like so that maybe she'll put down that cigarette!

We are sending healing prayers to your mother. My wife was a smoker, but a serious lung infection hospitalized for 3 days in a hellhole in NY. That was a wake up call for her. She has switched to e-cigs and uses them quite a bit less.

 

[NW-Bound]

I woke up early, went over my tax return one last time, then hit "e-File". The return went through, showing that no scumbag has stolen my identity. The IRS will get the tax due from my checking account, and I have made sure to put more money there to cover it. Life is good.

We will have some friends over for lunch today. Then, my son, daughter and son-in-law will join us for dinner. I will make Chicken Cacciatore, served with a bottle of Pinot Grigio. See photo from the Web. What it misses is some basil leaves sprinkled on top, and I do have an abundance of basil from the garden.

Have I said that life is good?

 

[ivinsfan]

I woke up early, went over my tax return one last time, then hit "e-File". The return went through, showing that no scumbag has stolen my identity. The IRS will get the tax due from my checking account, and I have made sure to put more money there to cover it. Life is good.

We will have some friends over for lunch today. Then, my son, daughter and son-in-law will join us for dinner. I will make Chicken Cacciatore, served with a bottle of Pinot Grigio. See photo from the Web. What it misses is some basil leaves sprinkled on top, and I do have an abundance of basil from the garden.

Have I said that life is good?

It's a good feeling when you see "your return has been accepted"...how about a picture of the finished product so we can see how closely you match the web photo..my dishes never live up to the pictures

 

[Walt34]

..my dishes never live up to the pictures

There is an art unto itself for food photography. There are people who are full time food stylists for restaurants and food manufacturers, which is one reason why you'll never get a Big Mac that looks like the one in the picture. But there are some things you can do - search on "food photography tips" or some such and you'll get lots of links like this, picked at random:

11 Quick Food Photography Tips to Make Mouth Watering Images - Digital Photography School

From the little I've done, seconds matter because of rapid evaporation. Have your camera and lighting all set up before cooking. When it comes out of the oven or pan photograph it immediately, or if cold, the same applies but time is only a bit less critical, but then you may run into issues of condensation.

Nothing is simple... <sigh>

 

[NW-Bound]

It's been a busy day, and I just now got back to this forum. I did not think of taking a photo, and the whole pot was gone. I made plenty and had 3 pieces of chicken left, but my son and my son-in-law asked to take them home, so I do not have any left (we are heading out on our RV trek tomorrow and do not want to keep any left-over).

About food photography, yes my photos often do not look that good (I only have a pocket camera and have no experience like others here on this forum). However, most of the dishes I have made were well received by my guests. Cooking is a lot of fun, and I enjoy cooking for the family. I routinely host family parties for up to 30.

 

[Lisa99]

Your mother is addicted to smoking. So was my mother. When faced with a total aortofemoral replacement, she managed to quit temporarily, but within six weeks of surgery she was sneaking cigarettes behind the woodshed. Within a few weeks she was again smoking like a chimney. She lived for another decade, by which time her new blood vessels were clogging up and she had developed lung cancer and heart failure. She was a very intelligent and well informed woman, but she was addicted and incapable of quitting long term.

I'm sorry to hear about your mom. I don't understand the addiction but have read that's it's harder to stop smoking than using heroin (or maybe Cocaine I don't remember which).

The body has an amazing ability to forget pain so I don't expect her to quit; it's really just wishful thinking.

 

[spncity]

SNIP "your return has been accepted"...how about a picture of the finished product so we can see SNIP

Am I the only one who gets lots of chuckles from this forum even when nothing funny was being attempted?
http://www.early-retirement.org//www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/

 

[harley]

I'm sorry to hear about your mom. I don't understand the addiction but have read that's it's harder to stop smoking than using heroin (or maybe Cocaine I don't remember which).

The body has an amazing ability to forget pain so I don't expect her to quit; it's really just wishful thinking.

Lisa, I'm not trying to be hard hearted about this, but at your mom's age and condition, it might even be cruel to try to make her stop. Whatever damage the cigarettes are going to do has already been done, and living out her last weeks/months/years trying to fight that addiction would be miserable. I've seen it a couple of times with my in-laws, and with all that goes on during surgeries and treatments and such, trying to stop smoking is just a lot of added trauma. It would be different if she was going to recover and have many years of additional life. Then stopping could add to her quality of life.

DW and I don't smoke, and we despised the fact that smoking took her parents so relatively young. But after watching them battle both the cancer and the forced (by the doctors) attempts to stop smoking, I don't think it was the right thing to do. Especially since it didn't work. They would both smoke whenever they got the opportunity to do so.

JMO. I'm sorry your mom and your family are going through this. Good luck.

 

[Lisa99]

Thanks very much Harley for your post. It is a very good perspective and one that I hadn't thought about. She would be miserable without her cigarettes.

The surgery hastened her dementia so I'm not sure there is even the cognitive function there to quit successfully.

 

[keegs]

Took Jerome for a two hour walkies in the woods. We gotta get outta Dodge soon for the Realtor to show the place.

 

[ivinsfan]

It's been a busy day, and I just now got back to this forum. I did not think of taking a photo, and the whole pot was gone. I made plenty and had 3 pieces of chicken left, but my son and my son-in-law asked to take them home, so I do not have any left (we are heading out on our RV trek tomorrow and do not want to keep any left-over).

About food photography, yes my photos often do not look that good (I only have a pocket camera and have no experience like others here on this forum). However, most of the dishes I have made were well received by my guests. Cooking is a lot of fun, and I enjoy cooking for the family. I routinely host family parties for up to 30.

It's the taste that matters, but sometimes it's a little depressing when the recipe doesn't look like the picture(in particular for a special dessert item) however I think they might use "photoshop" for food.

 

[Gumby]

Inventoried and restocked the first aid kits in my three cars.

 

[harley]

It's the taste that matters, but sometimes it's a little depressing when the recipe doesn't look like the picture(in particular for a special dessert item) however I think they might use "photoshop" for food.

Buy a burger (or anything) at Wendy's (or anywhere) and compare it to the picture on the menu or commercial. I remember reading about a person who's job was food artist for one of the restaurant chains. I wonder what they majored in?

 

[Ronstar]

My photography teacher at junior college was a food photographer at one time. He and others would stage sets and lighting for several days, and take hundreds of practice shots before they got down to shooting the food. He said that the live shoot day would consist of the chef grilling steaks and preparing side items. He and the magazine staff would arrange the items and background as they had in practice and he would take the photos. The staff would have chefs keep preparing food and the process continued for several hours. He said he ate real well on those shoots.

 

[Bestwifeever]

A waitress once showed us a tray of desserts and DH pointed to one and asked what was in it. She took his question literally and said it was a scoop of crisco with chocolate sauce and a brownie.

One of DD's favorite stories is the time I sent a chain restaurant entree back to the kitchen because it didn't look like the picture in the giant photo-driven menu. But I was right.

 

[Walt34]

Started up my poor neglected pickup truck for the first time in about three weeks and drove it around for about an hour just to run it. DW was with me for backup driver in case too much pain came up. Ate a package of Lima beans for lunch and took a three-hour nap. DW has expressed concern that I'm sleeping so much but I think it's just catching up on sleep lost while I was in the hospital and general recovery. Leg and foot ever so slowly getting better with time, follow up with PCP on Tuesday, hopefully he will have thoughts on accelerating recovery.

 

[braumeister]

DW has expressed concern that I'm sleeping so much but I think it's just catching up on sleep lost while I was in the hospital and general recovery.

Pain takes a lot out of you. It's only natural you should need extra sleep.

IMHO, sleep is the best medicine there is, so don't try to fight it.

 

[MRG]

Buy a burger (or anything) at Wendy's (or anywhere) and compare it to the picture on the menu or commercial. I remember reading about a person who's job was food artist for one of the restaurant chains. I wonder what they majored in?

We were at a local Mexican place where they were taking food photos for a new menu or something.

Each dish took much longer in the kitchen and looked nothing like what anyone received. Fun to watch.