[BillBlueEyes]

Folks around here are acting as if winter was over even though we've not had big snow yet. I'm leary even though yesterday's walk was so pleasant that the gloves stayed in my pocket.

In my reading of Moby Dick, Ishmael has encountered Queequeg. I thought I'd never read the book before, but the characters certainly are familiar.

[silverbirch]

Away from home because of a family emergency. It's difficult to ensure 100% reasonable food as so much else is going on. I'm not much good at multi-tasking or doing lots of different things. The most difficult part is when I change from one subject/thing to another. I need an air-lock of some kind or a railway turntable. Food is not the best substitute for this.

[alinnell]

Sorry about the family emergency, Birchie. Hope all is well.

We were expecting rain yesterday and possibly today, but the wind drove out all the clouds yesterday and they're pretty scarce so far today. I really, really wanted it to rain.

Next week is my birthday and we're planning on going to a steak house for dinner. We were given a $300 gift card for this place at Christmas and there are four of us going. My in-laws said they'll cover anything over the $300. It'll be interesting to see if the bill goes much over that, but there is no way to tell as they don't put prices on their online menu.

[Mudpie]

Survived my birthday weekend and am at 137 lbs. No cake, but there were 2 beers and a bowl of sweet/salty popcorn. We are going out this coming weekend and my cousins are also planning on taking me out next week. I should be fine as long as I compensate by eating lightly at home.

I saw the Alvin Ailey Dance ensemble on Saturday. Great performance (except the middle bit which was too avant garde for me) and amazing bodies and moves from the dancers. I particularly like modern dance troupes because the female dancers are generally not stick thin like most ballerinas I've seen.

Good week all!

Dagmar

[traveling michele]

You will be in my thoughts, Birchie. Family emergencies are often not easy to handle and deal with.

Dagmar-- I would LOVE to see the dance troupe. That sounds amazing.

Allison-- we got your rain... wow.... still raining here.... backyard is flooded. Luckily dh was home for the weekend before leaving out of the country again this morning. He is going to Brazil-- hope he doesn't contract Zeka!-- and China for over 2 weeks... We had a nice weekend but it was way too short. Tried to cram in birthday stuff for me, on top of all the other things he needed to do pre and post trip as he just got back Friday. We got most of it done including a temporary fix on the fence that is falling down.

My book fair is next week and my read-a-thon just ended so I've got plenty to keep me busy the next couple of weeks!

Weight is okay..... should improve with dh away as long as I stay focused...

Allison-- Want to hear about your birthday dinner!!

My dh spoils me for my birthday buying me things I would NEVER consider for myself.... He bought me a silver Tiffany ring which he was dismayed was too small for me. He told the sales girls I'm very petite. I had to explain to him that petite is different from thin and I'm not petite. He said I am compared to him! True!! I'm apparently in between sizes so I'm getting 1/2 size up and I'll see once it comes in if it fits-- had to order it....

[silverbirch]

Thanks, everyone. I'm going home for a few days RnR and then back to it on Friday.

I stepped out of the house just now into the sharp and beautiful March evening, and breathed deeply. Perhaps that's what I should do, very consciously, when I'm changing subjects. It is an air lock, in a way. The thing is, as I'm sure you all know, that families have a way of behaving that interferes with slow breathing of the correct type of air.

[Shannon in ATL]

Birchie - my thoughts are with you, too. I like the idea of stepping out for conscious breathing of fresh air as a transition. My family most definitely interferes with my slow, deliberate breathing, especially in an election year.


Lots of birthdays!

Michele - I'm glad that you and DH had a good weekend before he went back out of town. So much travel!

Dagmar - high five surviving your birthday weekend!

Allison - we have steakhouse here in Atlanta that for two of us usually runs $150-200. They put their menu online, but with no prices. Enjoy your birthday dinner!

Bill - I've never read Moby Dick all the way through myself, but the characters are so much a part of the culture that they were familiar when I was reading as well.

Working from home this week, finishing up some tax forms that have a Friday deadline and needed some peace and quiet. So far, so good.

[HowlinAtTheMoon]

Thanks for all the support and advice regarding my decision to have chemo. It won't be fun but I'll get through it. It won't start until probably late April, so until then I'm enjoying a semi-normal life. I don't want to gain weight, since they say there is no such thing as too lean when dealing with estrogen-dependent cancer, but I'll make sure I don't lose any either. I think I could manage to eat ice cream no matter how lousy I feel.

Birchie, I hope your family problem resolves quickly and you can get back on your generally even keel.

Allison, it's been raining at my house and in Bakersfield. Not enough rain, but we'll take it. My newly planted baby plants love the moisture.

Michele, I hear you on the petite thing. Everyone says I'm so "tiny" now, but I still wear a size 9 MEN'S running shoe!

Dagmar, congrats on no gain during birthday celebrations!

I went for a short snowshoe on Saturday. I got up to about 8600 feet with no signs of lymphedema in my arm. That bodes well for being able to hike and backpack as usual this summer/fall.

Shannon, hooray for working from home and a little peace & quiet. My DH will be visiting his older son in Wash DC next week and I'm looking forward to no TV noise.

[JayZeeJay]

Howlin', I wish you the very best with your treatment plan. That sounds like it was quite a snowshoe hike, it's great news that you are doing that with no adverse effects.

[traveling michele]

Alice,
I didn't know that you should be so lean with your treatment. When my mom was going through chemo, when nothing else sounded good, we got her very decadent milkshakes from a fancy ice cream parlor. She had them daily for awhile!

Today is my Dachshund, Dewey's, 5th birthday. So far, I've sung him happy birthday (he was not impressed), gave him a birthday treat, and Ellie chased him around with the two of them snarling. He'll spend the day buried under a blanket on the couch while I'm work....

[Shannon in ATL]

Michele - I'm glad I'm not the only one who does birthdays for the pets in the house. My cat turned 15 in February, we don't know the exact date as she wandered us stray with baby teeth so we guessed. We tend to celebrate on my mom's birthday, as that is the day she showed up. We bought her a pack of snacks and sang to her. She stared at us like we are crazy.

Alice - I'm glad the snowshoe hike went well!

I have a mammogram today, so about to go clean up and get ready for that.

[Mudpie]

Shannon I'm at your cat's reaction. My pets get a special treat and a new toy (or chewy for Trixie) and we have just made their arrival days their birthdays. Trixie was most impressed with her birthday, Natalie (cat) not so much.

Dagmar

[Shannon in ATL]

Dagmar - my mom sends Gracie birthday cards every year. She likes those better than the singing as she gets a kick out of tearing up paper.

[neurodoc]

Bernie won MI. I'm very happy for my oldest DH, who is a political junkie and aspiring politician (heaven help him), and who has been volunteering for the Sanders campaign more than is good for him this last month. His grades took a nosedive and he's now nursing a nasty cold undoubtedly caught from one of the 100s of random human beings he's been interacting with at close quarters during days of marathon telephoning to get out the vote. He's supremely happy though (euphoric may not be too strong a word), and he seems to have learned a lot about "how to win friends and influence people" these last few weeks. Now if he'd just learn to stop seeing people in such black-and-white, all good or all bad terms and consider other peoples' viewpoints more, I think he'd actually become a good politician.

[alinnell]

My son's best friend, who started college as a computer science major, changed to political science his first year. He has spent summers volunteering for our local Congressman, Raul Ruiz, and was running some sort of class for middle and high schoolers interested in politics called YOTUS. My son has helped him out a lot. So we're expecting him to be some sort of politician, but at this point I'm not sure what kind. I expected he would be a Democrat, based on his volunteering. But with the news of Nancy Reagan's death, he's been reading a lot about her, and decided he wants to visit the Reagan museum (which I went to on Ronald's 100th birthday). I've also been to the Nixon museum. Not that I consider myself Republican--it's more the fact that both are located here in So. Cal. In any case, presidential museums are pretty interesting regardless of political affiliation. If none of you have visited, I recommend it. I've also been to the Oklahoma bombing museum (which I cried through--that was a tough one). DH wants to visit the 9/11 museum if we ever get to NY.