The Chit Chat Chit Chat Thread

[MinnieM123]

@MinnieM123 do you have today off?

Absolutely! I went out and bought stuff.

 

[MinnieM123]

Good morning everyone. After the beautiful weekend we had here, the weather shift must have done something to me and I caught a case of the sniffles. Actually I probably caught the cold from my students....so I'm stuck at home today. Why do colds have to be so miserable?

That stinks. You should be enjoying your holiday off -- not nursing the sniffles! Hope you see some good tv show or a movie at home. Maybe hubs could cook you something good for dinner. Or, better yet, order out for some delicious Chinese food.

 

[MinnieM123]

Thanks, I'm back to "normal", my speech has fully returned. I'm really back.

That is AWESOME!!!

 

[MinnieM123]

View attachment 190886

He's BAACCCKKK!!! Looks a little cloudy there today.

 

[MinnieM123]

Speaking of which, lately I have been making that a habit. Brief background, I mentioned having had an accident a few years back that involved my right leg. Short description, I completely severed my Quad muscle and associated nerve endings. Some of those nerves were not able to regenerate so I have a free range of motion in my knee when my leg moves forward. What that means is that movements that my leg make that would normally be automatically dealt with via nerves and brain do not send signals anymore. That is why walking down hill or down stairs is cause for concern. If I don't consciously flex the necessary muscles require to keep my knee from popping forward, it just goes out ahead of me which many times will cause me to lose my balance and make me try, sometimes unsuccessfully, to recover from it. A few weeks ago I bought a new pair of shoes, I won't mention the name because I don't want to get sued, and have had 4 such events that I hadn't had in probably 3 years previous. Of those 4 events I was only able to recover from 1 of them and the other three resulted in my falling forward in full face plant fashion. Happened twice last week. Once while walking in the Soarin queue at WDW and once again on some un-level ground in Universals IoA.

At least this time I was able to notice what happened previous to my fall. These shoes have super traction, so that when they make contact with a solid surface will stop instantly. That is a good thing when you are trying to stop, but, not if you are mid-stride, in order to recover I need to physically lift both feet off the ground at the same time. Because I am unable to do that, I fall forward. If the nerves in that leg had been active, it would have sent the signal immediately to the brain and the appropriate muscles would have reacted to prevent the fall. Having to think it out is too slow and therefore the needed action is delayed enough to create the situation. Tomorrow I will be searching for a new pair of shoes and these will become golf shoes where traction is desired.

End of sad, sad story!

Wow, your leg issue is a drag. Not that you need a cane for walking, but have you considered taking one with you when you go walking--just to help you catch your balance--if your knee goes out again?

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

That stinks. You should be enjoying your holiday off -- not nursing the sniffles! Hope you see some good tv show or a movie at home. Maybe hubs could cook you something good for dinner. Or, better yet, order out for some delicious Chinese food.

We didn't have the day off from school though, had to call in sick. I have been sleeping and working on my photobook and catching up on some show. At least I don't feel guilty for not taking Kapono for a walk, it is still raining here. Hubs is supposed to be bringing something home for dinner..

 

[MinnieM123]

Thanks for asking. I have a CT Scan on Friday. Last week I had a bad fall and hurt my wrist and shoulder and I'm not supposed to use it a lot. I can barely get on here.

Ugh. Sorry to hear that you are now dealing with this new ailment. You can't seem to get a break.

 

[MinnieM123]

We didn't have the day off from school though, had to call in sick. I have been sleeping and working on my photobook and catching up on some show. At least I don't feel guilty for not taking Kapono for a walk, it is still raining here. Hubs is supposed to be bringing something home for dinner..

But, isn't it Presidents Day in your state? It is here in MA, and most businesses (except for retail, restaurants and some others) are closed for the holiday. Banks are closed, as is the post office, state, city and federal offices.

 

[Mr Ferret 75]

He's BAACCCKKK!!! Looks a little cloudy there today.

Been crazy foggy on and off for about a week . not a good time to be an airline traveller.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

But, isn't it Presidents Day in your state? It is here in MA, and most businesses (except for retail, restaurants and some others) are closed for the holiday. Banks are closed, as is the post office, state, city and federal offices.

Yes it is President's Day here too, but our school is not closed. It is not a mandatory holiday for schools in our state. We have never had it off, or MLK Jr day either. The holidays that we usually have off are Thanksgiving, Labor Day,Christmas, Good Friday, and Memorial Day. Our post office is closed but I don't think the bank is.

Actually I think if people if our area were asked if they wanted Presidents Day off and go to school one day longer in June or go to school today and have one less day in June, about 95% would say go to school on President's Day.

 

[MOXOMUMD]

 

[Gabe1]

Thanks, I'm back to "normal", my speech has fully returned. I'm really back.

What exciting news. So happy for you Bets!

 

[donaldtoo]

May I extend my sympathy to you and your wife.

Thanks, Minnie.

 

[donaldtoo]

Thanks, I'm back to "normal", my speech has fully returned. I'm really back.

That's awesome news, Bets!!!!!
So happy for you, and so glad to have you back...!!!!!

 

[Goofyernmost]

Wow, your leg issue is a drag. Not that you need a cane for walking, but have you considered taking one with you when you go walking--just to help you catch your balance--if your knee goes out again?

Yes, but, I am desperately trying to avoid that until it is absolutely necessary. I'm still trying to create the illusion that I am young and vibrant. At just a little over a year before getting to be 70 it is getting harder and harder to fake that image.
I haven't had that "surprise" problem in years until I bought those shoes so I am going to try changing them. If that doesn't work we will go with the walking stick as plan "B".

 

[Goofyernmost]

And now for the next to the last installment of Orlando 2017: (A little long... I apologize)

My two day awesome adventure at Universal was very nice. Partially because of the great weather, but, also because I really like Universal Florida and always have.

I have to admit that my first day was not all that enjoyable because of a number of reasons. It started out alright and kind of fun when I pulled up to the toll booth for the parking garage. I nice young lady there looked at me and said... “I'd like to inform you of the preferred parking option”, to which I replied, “You can inform me if you want, but, I'm not old enough, rich enough or disabled enough to pay that much extra to save a couple hundred steps. She just stopped and started to laugh. Turned and told her helper in the booth what I had said, turned back to me and said... Thanks for making my day, that is the first time that I have heard it stated that way. Have a great day in the parks.

Anyway, they have a really extensive security set up mid-point on the walk from parking to the parks, one entrance covers all. Lines and lines of detectors for bags and pocket items, no exceptions. A minor inconvenience, but, understandable.

Back a few years ago I wrote about how Universal had actually acceded WDW for customer service in the lines of team members, smiling and helpful. That has changed. This year it was like they were all missing whereas, Disney seemed to have a lot of CM's everywhere. Even in parking there was hardly anyone around to direct you and the cone placement was anything but helpful. But, I digress!

I went in and went to IoA because I wanted to ride Spiderman, which I did and then made my way up to Harry Potter to ride Forbidden Journey. Last time I was there I couldn't ride it because I was just a little to big around the middle. I thought that I had lost more weight since my last visit, but, alas I was still unable to ride. Now I know and admit to being overweight, but, I am not a lot bigger then a athlete or just a big, non-fat person. They are only going for the skinny I guess. Kind of disappointing. So I went and drowned my sorrows with a mug of butter beer (flat cream soda) and headed for Hogwarts Express to London. What a great, novel thing that is. The detail in the station (both ends) the illusion of riding through the country side, the phantom characters shadows on the inner window looking for Harry and eating spiders and frogs. I can't even express it in words. Great ride and so original. I know a lot of the folks on the boards hate the use of screens, but, I cannot understand why. Great show, great story telling.

Upon arrival in “London” I went to The Escape from Gringotts and once again checked to see if I fit. I didn't, but, the TM told me that the measuring sample is set up for the first row and is the tightest and that if I went in and requested row 3 or 6 there was more room and I would fit alright. So, I got in line. One thing that Uni has always been good at is hiding lines, they still are. I walked for what seemed like miles and found where the bulk of the people were hiding out. We waited and waited then they made an announcement that the ride was having technical problems but was expected to be back on line soon. After waiting a total of 35 minutes (from the entrance) they finally announced that the ride was operational again. So with happy anticipation I stood in line and waited another 15 minutes and had only moved about 10 feet. I was currently at the 30 minute wait spot and and hour and 20 minutes is just to much. So I left thinking I would try again first thing the next morning.

I left there and jumped in the single rider line for “Men in Black” and then wondered over to the Simpsons area. I had ridden the ride before and really didn't care for it so I just looked around at the stuff that had been added since I was last there. Nicely themed but just a comical version of the much loved road side carnival over in Animal Kingdom. I did have lunch there and tried a chicken and waffle sandwich. (mmmm)

From there it was off to Shrek 4D. I enjoy that movie, and was even enjoyable after a relatively heady wait to get in. I hate to admit it, but, even though I enjoy the theme park experiences I feel that I am getting too long in the tooth to get the same enjoyment I once did. My feet hurt, by back aches and frankly, I get tired out so much faster then I used to and I don't like it. Not much I can do about it though except be thankful that I can still go at least. Anyway, I headed over to the gift shop and used up a Gift Card that someone gave me at Christmas time plus more for a couple of T's and some trinkets for the kids at home. Then headed out, determined to Aleve OD, to the point that I could get more stuff in the next day.

 

[donaldtoo]

Oh, o.k. Maybe they were trucked in from California. One of the local supermarkets here gets in a bunch of their produce from Mexico. That's why I asked where your fresh tomatoes came from. I've got nothing against Mexico (Cesar lives there--we like Cesar!! ), but I don't understand why--if they can get in produce from Mexico--then why can't they just truck in produce from California or Florida up here, too?

Maybe labor costs are so low down there they more than offset the costs of shipping the produce even way up y'all's way...?
Not sure, just a guess.

 

[donaldtoo]

Mmmmm, brisket!

 

[donaldtoo]

I figured with all the food you've shared lately I had to share too. I wish that avocado dish you shared would have been available at the place I went.

Also, even though it is sad that your wife's uncle has passed it is wonderful that there was such a nice turn out of people that the funeral. He must have meant a lot to many people and hopefully that is comforting to all of you.

Yes, the fried avocado is pretty amazing...it should definitely be on more menus.

Thanks. He was a great man, and will be missed very much, but, he left a great legacy.

 

[donaldtoo]

I'm waiting to see what @MinnieM123 has for me. Or am I in that brisket basket too?

There are worse places to be...!