CANCER HAS HIT HOME

It's not as dreadful as it sounds but somehow generic blog names do not get as many reads!  I went to the dermatologist on Friday and had the most thorough evaluation ever.  On Saturday, MyChart had her two page synopsis that was written with great care and detail.  I feel like I have the best ever medical team!

I made this appointment in October 2021 ... yes!  Almost a year ago.  She explained that a lot of people did not do doctor appointments during Covid then when it was safer, everyone made a date with all their various doctors and dentists.

The bad news is she had to biopsy three suspicious spots. None that I would have ever seen ... behind my knee and two on my back. 

Others that looked worrisome to me were nothing.  It’s so interesting to me that things I notice on my skin are never anything but common Seborrheic Keratosis (barnacles) Cherry angioma (new to me), petechiae (thin skin … like bruising easily … she thinks maybe I cause them myself at night, fingernails barely touching my arm).

The worst news was that the spot on my upper thigh that I thought was a spider bite that never returned to normal skin color is lichen sclerosis!  On my thigh!  It's the most disgusting condition.  No known cause and no cure.  I've had it "down under" since 2018.  Little did I know it could appear on other places on my body.  It's not contagious.  It is more common in menopausal  women.

Annoying but so less stressful than my brother in law who has prostate cancer and is on last resort treatment, hormone therapy and radiation.  Or my sister in law who had a double mastectomy in December last year and is still on chemotherapy and still pretty bald.  I kinda hate complaining.

The good news??? I asked for advice for deep moisturizer for my face … damp skin and Aquaphor!!!

JUST THURSDAY

My sister's wedding in 1989 ... Kate was one of the flower girls (age 3)

From our front garden

My morning view of our patio

A group of condo gals celebrating TWO of our members who bought park benches!

These two brothers on a recent camping trip

QUERULOUS QUEEN

Yep.  Definitely crabby and all adjectives of the same.

A distant neighbor came knocking one day last week and wanted to relay some rumors she heard.  She's an anti-masker so when I handed her one (to come in) she refused so I masked myself and went to her condo.  The rumor is a near future assessment.

After listening, I came home and looked up our past three years of balance sheets and my oh my have we blown through a LOT of cash.

I sent an email to everyone in my building:

I think it is IMPORTANT that we attend the annual meeting next Weds, Aug 25.  5:30 on the patio, I think.

Rumors are about that there may be an assessment in our future (on top of an increase in monthly fees) as the Board has spent way more than was budgeted or in our Reserve Study.

We have prided ourselves on having a large reserve fund and have not had an assessment in my 12 years here.  Here is the balance sheet from June 30 (these documents should be forwarded to us every month, with the newsletter, as we did in the past). But they are on our web portal at CMI.

Expenses over $3,000 need to be voted upon.  Not just by the Board.  WHERE HAS ALL THE MONEY GONE?

Attached are June asset pages from 2022, 2021 and 2020 … read the TOTAL FUNDS line in each … in June 2020 we had almost $800,000.  In June this year, we have $200,000.

I don’t remember voting to spend this????

Stay tuned.  The same person has been on the Board since the beginning of time.  She never gets three quotes on major expenses (yes, remember when I was on the Board?).  Wednesday night is our Annual Meeting.

COMPUTER TROUBLE

 Sorry this is not my happy blog although it does have a happy almost-ending.

My computer died, went completely black, on Friday evening as I was streaming TV show.  I tried the usual things to get it to turn back on but nothing worked.  Even unplugged but it seemed to be getting hotter on the upper left side.

Sat morning I took it to our local Lake Oswego Mac Repair and this is what he said:

Unfortunately, your computer is not coming back. Sorry. It got too hot and the logic board is gone. It is over 4 years old and it is not worth replacing the logic board. Fans were packed with dust and there must have been heat warning, before it died.
Thank you.

(I did not get any warning)

I went to the local Apple store and worked with a great guy, Ethan, and bought a new laptop.  THEN he noticed my 16” was still under Apple Care!  Jesse took it to the Genius Bar Wednesday and they are going to fix or replace it ... and send it to my home!  NO CHARGE.

More later!   Slowly rebuilding my new baby and have ordered an external drive so I can use Time Machine every week.

GRUMPY OLD GAL

 

Grumpy Gal is going to whine and complain about inflation today.  Let's start with Starbucks.

• Starbucks’ brewed coffee price is $2.95 for a grande, 20.41% higher than it was one year ago.

• Starbucks’ Sausage, Cheddar & Egg Sandwich price is $4.75, 20.25% higher than it was one year ago.

Kevin Johnson, who reportedly received a nearly 40% pay raise in 2021.  He stepped down and Mr. Schultz has returned after five years with Johnson.  Johnson approved price increases in Oct 2021, Feb 2022 and July 2022

It’s the inflation you’re not supposed to see.  They didn't make any announcements and often not even their staff knew until they would ring up the prices.  So now instead of once a week for a treat, it will be once a month.  Maybe.

In the U.S., a small box of Kleenex now has 60 tissues; a few months ago, it had 65. Chobani Flips yogurts have shrunk from 5.3 ounces to 4.5 ounces

Then there is Frito Lay. Bags of Fritos Scoops marked “Party Size” used to be 18 ounces; but almost every other big chain is now advertising “Party Size” Fritos Scoops that are 15.5 ounces — and more expensive.  Often on sale, though.

Pepsi has changed their Gatorade bottles. The company recently began phasing out 32-ounce bottles in favor of 28-ounce ones, which are tapered in the middle so they are the same height, just 4 ounces less than before.

Domino’s Pizza announced in January that it was shrinking the size of its 10-piece chicken wings to eight pieces for the same $7.99 carryout price. (Domino’s cited the rising cost of chicken).

A local restaurant we used to visit 2-3 times a year for special occasions, raised their dinner prices from $17 to $25 (pasta carbonara)!!  

Good thing we all like to cook.

POLLYANNA

This is an experiment. I am going to try to only blog positive things on Thursdays and my crabby things on Sunday.  Stay tuned.

The family has sure made good use of their summer.  Besides ten days in Montana with Jesse's side of the family, they raft down a local river about once a week.  No rapids just a nice float for three hours.  The boys take turns in a huge swim tube tied to the raft .... so they feel that are on their own.  They pack snacks and fill up the water bottles then end their busy day with McDonalds.  I don't even have to go pick up one driver to take them to their starting point car as in the past few years.  It was tough for me as the two lane country road had people going 50 mph all the while the sun is in my eyes.  Now they take both cars and do it all!

Last week they went to a highly rated (and not too crowded swimming hole, Big Eddy) and had a blast.  It was hot as blue blazes and the water there is run off from snow pack, so very cold.  They packed Subway sandwiches and chairs and life jackets and big tubes and even the parents went in!

Next week they are going camping for three nights.  There is a stocked Small Fry lake where under 17 can fish for two catches per day.  It takes Jesse a day to pack up everything you can imagine, drive for 90 minutes and they the two of them set up like a well oiled machine.  Not sure they will allow campfires this season but usually the boys gather twigs and kindling.

And me?  No commotion or chaos and I can get an organizing project done, enjoy ethnic food they don't like and go to bed as early as I like.  A new upscale grocery opened just a mile away and I love love love looking. They have a great deli (where I get my exotic meals) and 10% off on Wednesdays.  I get a scoop of this and a scoop of that and enjoy new tastes (Coastal kale salad, two bean spinach salad, greek salad, a slice or two of skirt steak with chimichurri sauce, Asian turkey meatballs, etc).  They sell sample sizes of cheeses so one night I have new to me cheeses and fruit.

School starts Monday, August 29!

CRABBY OLD LADY

Microsoft users probably remember the Crabby Office Lady who answered questions for whatever program you were using.  I loved her smart Alec advice.  Sure do miss her.

About 20 years ago we had a local drugstore with a food counter in the back.  I often stopped in for a quick bite in between breakfast and when school got out and I went to pick up my Kidlet.  Every day there was a group of older guys having coffee and a donut and chit chatting away.  One of them explained they were a local group called SNOBs.  Senile Negative Old Bastards.  How perfect was that!  I need to start my own group.  Last week I was overwhelmed by scams and disappointments and fraudulent charges on my credit card.

I had a trip to the dentist to try to restructure my tooth so a crown would stay on.  I had asked to just have it pulled because the crown had come off 5-6 times.  He talked me into trying one more time.  I was a bit nervous as he would be removing some of my gum to expose the tooth.  They gave me some calming drops in water (should have been a martini) and lots of numbing meds so I didn't feel a thing.  He said "oh just wait til tomorrow".  I got up at 6am to take Aleve and kept the pain at bay.  NO PAIN!

He wouldn't even charge me.  So I tried to order tooth shaped sugar cookies to have delivered (with a little heart in the middle).  My regular place has gone up to $6 per cookie AND a three to four week wait list.  I tried my second choice and she has just not conquered sugar cookies and suggested cupcakes.  Too messy, I thought.

 

I then decided on an edible fruit arrangement!  Ordered on Friday for delivery on Tuesday.  When Tuesday rolled around and I didn't hear from the office ... I went online to track my order.  It showed the order was received by a local franchise but not delivered.  I called the number on the order (local number, I thought).  But just got the run around, not a local number and she didn't know why it wasn't delivered did I want to choose a different day.  NO!  I just will take my money back.  Oh, well she couldn't authorize that I would have to call the corporate office ... where I waited with Muzak in my ear for 27 minutes before I hung up.

I went back online to sent a CANCEL this order.  Twice.  Finally, two days later the refund showed up on my credit card.  Now my enthusiasm is gone.

I'll continue my whining and complaining in the next blog.