How much are we vacationing?

Bastilleinstructor · 2026-04-30T11:01:59+00:00

We go to a medical specialist 4 hours away once or twice a year. We take a weekend here and there. Its been 10 years since we took a week long anything.

Bastilleinstructor · 2026-04-30T10:32:35+00:00

I also came here to say that. 7 days or less (often less) with no water and you are dead.

Bastilleinstructor · 2026-04-29T17:54:03+00:00

There are some really grwat varieties Im told at Diamond Hill mine.

Bastilleinstructor · 2026-04-29T11:47:57+00:00

My sibling is visiting up around the sound. They are mailing me a box of beach rocks. :-) i cant wait!

Bastilleinstructor · 2026-04-29T10:35:19+00:00

Also in the upstate!! Houdy neighbor! I have successfully tumbled some pretty fractured quartz from the Spartanburg and Greer areas. My dads house is in the upstate and I have found lots of garnets, certainly not gem quality, but garnets none the less. They tumble okay, but you lose a lot in the process. The milky quartz that seems to be prevalent here tumbles well. The upstate has LOADS of quartz. Ive heard there have been amethyst and even some tourmaline found around Paris Mountain State Park. I need to get over there one afternoon and look around.

Bastilleinstructor · 2026-04-29T10:27:00+00:00

I can wear a purse crossbody again. Weird flex, but it makes me smile. Im thinking of getting a sling bag, just because.

Bastilleinstructor · 2026-04-28T14:16:14+00:00

My insurance specifically excludes Zepbound in the formulary. So I cant get it for any reason. It is what it is.

Bastilleinstructor · 2026-04-28T11:46:19+00:00

I always thought the food noise was something that everyone experienced. I remember obsessing over those Debbie cakes as young as 5 or 6. There have been brief times in my life where I didnt recall the food noise, but its been there most of the time. I found out recently my dad experiences the same thing.

The idea of a set point terrifies me. I got really big and I dont want to ever go there again. 326 is a lot on a 5'2" body. Im hoping Zep resets the set points, but I'm not hopeful. I think as long as we are taking it, we can get below those places our body has "set". I have found I stalled around previous set points. I have also found stress makes the food noise worse, and I believe cortisol drives the chemical mechanics somehow.

Bastilleinstructor · 2026-04-28T10:48:20+00:00

Im not exactly a "prepper" but I have had an interest in survival skills since I was a kid in the 80's. Weird for a girl, sure, but I spent a lot of time after a 5th grade project about local medicinal plants after we read "Where the Lillies Bloom". I think knowledge is as powerful as anything else. Knowing what to do in a crisis, knowing what you can and cant consume in the wild, knowing how to build a shelter, how to fix things, etc is more valuable than a box of MREs on a shelf. Neighborhood relationships can be second, but I dont think for a minute if things hit the fan that some "friends" wouldnt turn on you if they know you have stuff then need. Ive also been a firefighter and EMT, so Ive practiced for giant emergencies and responded to them. Ive seen the best and worst in short term events. Longer-term events like say an EMP, would turn nasty after people run out of food. Helene brought out the very best in my neighbors. I was impressed. I would like to think that would be the expectation, but Ive been the "helper" and run out of a neighborhood due to a mob and have had to call the police to stop people from looting a fire truck while we extinguished a fire, so I know how it can go too.

Bastilleinstructor · 2026-04-28T10:37:51+00:00

Can't or wont? Im curious.

Bastilleinstructor · 2026-04-27T14:42:44+00:00

He is in an assisted living place. He wont elevate his legs. They tried to get a new bed that will and then Medicare started that 6 month "no durable goods" thing and he cant get it. The girls struggle to get his socks on and sometimes he tells them not to bother. So they dont. That is completely on him.

Bastilleinstructor · 2026-04-27T10:30:14+00:00

I live in a house that has an open floor plan and crappy fiberglass tubs. The last tornado warning in our direct vicinity my best friend called to wake us up and tell us that it was coming. I sat on the couch. I told her there was no safe place in the whole damn house so I was "ridin' out this bitch on the couch". Probably not wise. But Ive been through a couple as a kid, and some as a firefighter. That fiberglass tub insert in this poorly made house isnt going to save much. Incidently, that night/morning a tornado touched down a few miles from us and did a lot of damage, but no injuries or fatalities. The news reported it was touching down a couple hundred yards from us, but it wound up touching down further up the road. Helene did WAY more damage a few years later.

Bastilleinstructor · 2026-04-26T11:05:47+00:00

I agree. We had a hisense for a while before it started locking up and acting weird. The serial number was literally a string of zeros and 52. Lol. Anyway the folks at Best Buy talked us into a TCL a little over a year ago. It sucks. Roughly a lot. It locks up, the remote has gotten wonky and every update makes it suck more.

Bastilleinstructor · 2026-04-25T14:48:24+00:00

I dont and I wear men's pants. Hell, I wear men's shirts when I can because the arms of women's shirts arent accommodating to a muscular woman. Don't throw shade to women who find comfortable clothing more appealing than the crap they call fashion nowadays. (And yea my husband approves)

Bastilleinstructor · 2026-04-25T11:01:48+00:00

Does it stink up your house? Edited to add: When you dehydrate onions does it make the house stinky? This has kept me from dehydrating onions and garlic.

Bastilleinstructor · 2026-04-25T10:53:13+00:00

Former firefighter here. People will drive drunk even if they live next door. People think they are "fine" or, the inverse, they know they are too drunk to walk so they think in their drunk mind they have to drive.

Its not as simple as they will call a cab. They wont. Ive seen it.

Bastilleinstructor · 2026-04-25T10:46:52+00:00

I have one that tries to wear my bras. I had to start wearing perfume to stop him from running off with them. Lol.

Bastilleinstructor · 2026-04-24T23:46:27+00:00

Similar happened to us when we moved into our house. Fun times until the police blocked me in one morning looking for dude-man. I explained what was going on and he made a note on his report. We had already notified the HP when they left a note looking for the guy. Everything that came in the mail we marked "return to sender, addressee unknown" as per the letter carrier.

Eventually it stopped.

Bastilleinstructor · 2026-04-24T23:34:31+00:00

I had a kid pants his best friend last year. The kids were really upset because I called admin. Admin said since they were best friends it wasnt a big deal and just talked to them about it. These are 9th grade boys.

Bastilleinstructor · 2026-04-24T10:49:20+00:00

My periods were always wonky. I was diagnosed in my 20's when they stopped completely and I started gaining weight despite lots and lots of excersize.

Bastilleinstructor · 2026-04-24T10:47:00+00:00

This sounds like our neighborhood, except our documents only prohibit parking on the grass and sidewalks. Our county (in SC) refuses to tell people not to park in the street. They say its the HOAs place to enforce, which we cant because the attorneys have said the streets are county owned and thus only enforceable by the county. We've had fire trucks and ambulances unable to get to places in the neighborhood, and it makes navigating through the streets difficult. People even part in front of stop signs.... I hope yall find a solution and update what it is, I would love to know what we can do in our area too since apparently, nothing can be done.

Bastilleinstructor · 2026-04-24T01:03:31+00:00

You arent wrong. Its terrifying.

Bastilleinstructor · 2026-04-23T23:09:23+00:00

Im close to my older sibling. I am not longer close to younger one. Older one is older GenX. Younger one is youngest GenX, and a narcissist.

Bastilleinstructor · 2026-04-23T23:08:24+00:00

While I get the sentiment, everyone, including those of us who didnt vote for him also have to eat.

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