Happy Friday! What is going on with you??

Dear All,

The year is coming to an end and our new year will begin.  I have my black eyed peas ready to go and thought, why do we southern gals feed our family the black eyed peas for prosperity, so I looked it up:  Black eye peas for prosperity came to the South (Georgia) via the Jewish Immigrants around the beginning of the Civil War.  The eating of the black eyed peas for prosperity can be traced to the Talmud around 300-500 CE—so that fabulous southern dish is really a Jewish dish—well except that we added the hog jaw and greens.  And, to add to the prosperity legend, during the Civil War when the Yanks came down and took food from the plantations and poor farmers, they left the black eyed pea and the corn cause they thought that they were cows’ feed.  So, that bit of good luck sealed the deal on the black eye peas for prosperity. 

Nancy, my mom had cobalt in her battle with cancer and it burned her stomach and back so much she had to have treatment for her skin burns.  And, my husband had radium implants for his prostate cancer and for the few days that the implants were live, he said that his bladder area really burned and after the first few days, when his radiation went to half-life, he began to feel less burning.  I know you are ready to get the show on the road but the docs know what’s up with the tissues and any damage that the radiation will cause. 

Eileen, good luck with the move.  The hard part is getting packed, and the unpacking, while hard, can be done at your leisure.  I wish I were there; I love to pack and unpack.  When I was married to my children’s father, and before the children, he worked for a moving company, and many times the people paid for packing and unpacking, and if I had the time off from work, I would go pack the stuff up.  I loved doing that and loved unpacking and putting everything in its own little new place.  Once, when I was packing this old woman’s house, she had tons and tons of stuff and way too much to move, so I went over days before and helped her sort through the stuff.  She paid me for the extra work but she also gave me a beautiful set of rose color dishes that I kept for years and when I decided to come to graduate school, my present hubby and I decided to sell some of the junk that I had in my attic.  When he saw the dishes, he said, oh my, these are worth a fortune and I had the entire set.  He called a friend of his in the business and let’s just say we paid our rent for a couple of years on the money we got for those dishes.  Funny how one person’s junk is another person’s treasure.  Gotta love it. 

Well, I hope you all have a good day.  My four girls are stretched out in front of the big window and they are absorbing the sun’s rays.  I reckon I best go in and find something in the freezer to cook…maybe some soup.  Yeah.  

Vickie,

Last year, my husband was working for his company as a sales rep and installer, so he was gone a lot.  I hated it because I never cooked.  I would pick at food; consequently, I ate a lot of food that really didn't fill me up.  I figured it out after the first month that if I was going to stay healthy I had to cook.  So, I would cook two or three chicken thighs, and make those my next three meals.  I tried to keep cooked meat in the refrig at all times and it did work.  Plus, I keep celery and carrot sticks in my frig at home and at work.  When I get the nibbles, I need healthy options.  I also try and keep peanut butter on hand and cheese and tuna.  They fill my pouch up for what seems like hours.  While soup is good, I only make it with chunks of meat, because soup is one of those good glider foods.  I can drink a gallon of broth or it seems like I can.  So, I use stew meat or cut up roast so I make myself eat chunks of meat.  Since WLS, I believe I could easily convert to a Vegan because I have such a hard time with meat, but I know I need to eat the meat to keep my pouch full and get my protein.  

 You really need to come up with healthy strategies to make yourself eat and eat well.  Being alone, even if it is just temporary, is difficult so take care of yourself because remember, if you don't take care of you, who will? 

To Nancy and my wonderful OFF family,

      Nancy:  I'm sure it is difficult for you to need to wait to begin the next stage to fight the cancer. Thinking of you often.

      Today is a quiet day only because I don't have so many appointments and only 2 calls to make. Not able to resolve my charges to the anesthesia group. The say I have a  $128.00 balance  Forward but when I called they couldn't tell me what or when it is for. The lady said she would have her supervisor, Sue, call me but she has not done so yet. It's frustrating but I know it's really not worth getting me worked up over.
    There is an older woman the lives in Tucson with my same name. Can you believe that. Maybe it's her debt. She and I had the same pulmonologist which was sometimes a problem. When I went to register at the local community college a few years ago they said I was already in their system. Can't be. I've never enrolled for a class before. The person ask if I lived at the Tucson address that is on file. I've never lived in Tucson proper. This Lady is in her mid 80's and going strong. I never thought I would ever have a person with my same name. I don't think Marguerite Pinkerton is a common name let alone living 30 miles from each other.
    Going to be trying on clothes (again) and boxing up those that are too big. Which is most of them. I guess I will just have to wear my nighties and robe. LOL
    Take care and be happy.    Mag     

Mag, I know what you mean with having a name that isn't so common.  A few years ago, I set up a savings account for my grandbabies, and since I have had my checking account since I was like 14, there has never really been a time that I had to go in and discuss accounts, but the new savings accounts required me coming in and signing papers and all of that.  Well, they said to me, you have savings acccounts at First National and I said, nope, don't use that bank, and they said, yep you do and they had my social security number and my name on this account.  I had to go to the police station, they had to contact the bank, they then contacted the woman, and guess what, she was using my social security number and my name.    So, they investigated and found out that she did steal my identity.  In fact, she had like four credit cards and a checking and savings account.  The federal folks got invovled because it became a federal thing.  Thankfully, she was not stealing from me other than my name and social security number; she was running from the cops in another state, so using my identity, she got a job, got credit, but she paid the credit.  When they arrested her, I felt so bad about it.  Even with a court order, the credit card companies still tried to stiff me with her balances.  I finally had to hire an attorney, sue her first, then sue the credit card companies and for once it turned out to be good for me because the credit card companies had to pay me for my time, my attorney, and the stress of them not taking the court order and still contacting me to pay the bills.  She is in prison for identity theft and her crime in her state, which had something to do with her stealing a lot of money from the company she worked for.  

Hopefully your name dopleganger is a true person and not stealing your identity--you did check, didn't you?   

Vickie,

Did they do your husband's as implants?  My husband felt some pretty uncomfortable burning but not enough to take pain meds. But, his urine was bloody for a few weeks.  He is still happy that he did the radiation versus the surgery.   

Thank you, Vickie:

I had breast cancer before..exactly twenty-one years ago... and had radiation then as well. I was so badly burned that the radiologist told us that after six treatments, I was burned as much as someone who had 26 treatments....man that was brutal..I couldn't wear a bra for two months..just a soft old cotton t-shirt of JBs..the skin fell off like a severe sumburn...not one of my fonder memories...lol.  But I will close my eyes and pretend I'm on the beach at Hawaii. *s*