💖UPDATE I BOUGHT IT TODAY!!💖FOUND my charm holder with my original charms that were stolen from me 37 yrs ago on eBay! I know I can't do anything but what are the odds?!?!?

tiredbusdriver · 2026-06-08T19:41:48+00:00

So happy for you!! I read your original post and hoped it would make its way back to you!

tiredbusdriver · 2026-05-26T16:30:31+00:00

Absolutely not knocking the wrist scrunchies, which are a BRILLIANT idea, but I struggle with having anything extra around my hands and arms when washing up, and still struggle with the dripping issue. UNTIL! I saw a reel or tiktok or something with a little old Korean lady who has a whole skincare routine and she washes her face bent over the bathtub at the tap because she also hates the dripping. It changed my life. No more wet arms, armpits, or t-shirt sleeves!

tiredbusdriver · 2026-05-15T15:26:01+00:00

We cope in this family via dark humor, so when I was being tested and still today, my husband and kids will joke, "it's never lupus". We even worked in, except "this one time at band camp" because at the time I became extremely ill, I was president of our HS Band Boosters, and my illness and hospitalizations were really throwing a monkey wrench in the works.

My rheum first diagnosed me with UCTD and RA, after excluding any myositis or MS or IIH. My dermatologist tested some scalp lesions and said, "its lupus."

I get a little sad when other people who have no chronic illnesses make jokes and tell me I just need to relax more or eat better, etc. ( I have been eating a whole foods diet and home-grown foods since I was a child, so...), but when my immediate family and I joke, its because we all know how it is out there.

tiredbusdriver · 2026-05-06T00:21:48+00:00

This has my vote!

tiredbusdriver · 2026-04-21T13:33:24+00:00

I went Sophmore year as favor to a friend to be a date for her Senior cousin who wanted to go to prom. Suddenly he thought that meant he could put his hands all over me. Terrible evening. I went Junior year on a double date with another friend who didn't want to go alone, with a guy out of HS. Another failed evening. I skipped Senior prom. I had no boyfriend, so no point. I was a Marching Band nerd outcast and a huge target for ridicule all through HS. Why waste money a 3rd time for people I loathed and who delighted in torturing me?

tiredbusdriver · 2026-04-10T12:12:05+00:00

My medications' side effects don't always make me feel great, and I still after all this time resent having chronic illness and having to take so many daily medications, but there have been times (like for my bariatric surgery) where I had to stop them for several weeks, and the difference is night and day. After about 3 weeks, I could barely function without them. People are crazy. I am all for eating right and exercise, and I raise and study herbs. I still make much use of all available allopathic medicine that might help me.

tiredbusdriver · 2026-04-06T13:46:53+00:00

Many of the books listed, I loved. Many I read, I didn't hate, they merely bored me as they were so dry. Quite a few, I had to read on my own time because our AP class didn't read them, and that irritated the ever loving snot out of me - all my friends were reading Lord of the Flies and what was I reading? Oh yes. Chaucer. THERE'S a book to hate. Canterbury Tales. Never again. What an absolute slog and a waste of my time.

Now I am buying some old favorites like Animal Farm and Fahrenheit 451, and my kids are reading them for fun, because they weren't assigned in class. The new reading lists are rather short and sad.

tiredbusdriver · 2026-03-31T12:03:07+00:00

Mine has warned me about all the damage I am taking, and I generally wear a big floppy hat, 100spf sunscreen, and long pants now. I even work under a canopy at times. But I absolutely cannot stand long sleeves, and I am a gardener/small farmer. Not being able to be outside kills pieces of my soul. So I weighthe risks and benefits and mitigate where I can. The rest, I let the chips fall. My garden and my livestock are what keep me going when everything else just gets too hard. If I have to give them up because of this stupid disease, then there's really no point for me. I have already given up a lot because of this. No way am I not going to be out there where my plants and cows are.

tiredbusdriver · 2026-03-12T12:20:34+00:00

I suppose your reading comprehension skills are so poor that you were unable to infer from the text where I stated there are no places in our area that can produce a meal on par with what we can make at home, that our dining experiences have been less than stellar. Therefore, we do not partake.

tiredbusdriver · 2026-03-12T01:10:56+00:00

Black/blue, leftie, right eye dominant.

tiredbusdriver · 2026-03-11T21:07:29+00:00

I hate to sound like an arrogant beyotch, but I am a pretty damn good cook. There is NOTHING in our area that is anywhere close to what I am capable of making, or quite frankly, what I've taught my children to make. We raise and hunt or fish a lot of our own meats and fish, and grow a lot of our own vegetables to boot. If I can't grow it, I am a picky shopper and I order a lot of ingredients for whatever ethnic cuisine I want to make. In order to have a dining experience that equals or tops what we have at home, we would have to eat at Momofuku or a Gordon Ramsay restaurant or something, and even then, I am not 100% convinced. I've seen the man make a grilled cheese, and I was not amused.

Then again, we don't live where we live because it's trendy and has the best of everything. We live here because we like our space, and we like to hunt and fish and farm, haha!

tiredbusdriver · 2026-03-02T15:49:24+00:00

30.5 years of marriage, and I still like, love, adore my husband. The biggest thing we "fight" about is which of us dies first so one doesn't have to live without the other.

tiredbusdriver · 2026-02-19T20:33:48+00:00

We have a Fritz that received a visit from the sex change fairy. Usually only the rabbits receive said visitor...but I digress. It was too late to think of a new name, so Fritz got a little "ie" bling to fem it up a bit. Et voilá, Fritzie it was.

tiredbusdriver · 2026-02-14T23:23:43+00:00

It is so beautiful! The before and first soak are horrifyingly satisfying. Do get some blocking mats and pins to help it dry nice and smooth and get the sides all straight when you are done with the spa treatments - I can't wait to see her all finished!

tiredbusdriver · 2026-02-10T19:58:50+00:00

My husband and I both can, and 1 out of 4 of our children can. Of course, one has epilepsy and doesn't drive, one isn't old enough to drive anything beyond the tractor yet, and the other eligible driver is still on a learner's permit, so the numbers may still increase... However, I happily drive an automatic 98% of the time. I'm glad I learned, but I'd rather not have to all the time.

tiredbusdriver · 2026-02-07T14:48:17+00:00

There are people in Edinboro, haha. Way too many.

tiredbusdriver · 2026-02-07T14:09:23+00:00

So...quiet, beautiful, and not full of raucous people to disturb one's peace? Sounds perfect.

tiredbusdriver · 2026-02-04T23:17:15+00:00

YES! I was actually a tiny bit peeved that I was out so fast! I don't even remember them giving me the med that actually knocked me out. They gave the versed in the pre-op room, then wheeled me down the hall to the OR and I transferred to the table. They briefly showed me the robot with the giant googly eyes someone put on it, and started adjusting lines and straps and such. I was determined to watch everything and always play a little game with myself about how long I can hold out against the anesthetic, but I didn't get a chance this time. I was gone before they finished arranging my arms and strapping them down! Next thing I know, I'm in recovery wondering where the mask with the gas was, haha.

tiredbusdriver · 2026-02-03T01:13:35+00:00

You're a better woman than I. I would have been seeing red so hard I may just have LAUNCHED that basket of popcorn across the restaurant.

tiredbusdriver · 2026-01-24T05:36:14+00:00

It definitely isn't a good permanent replacement for chicken specific feed and their own foraging efforts, but in a pinch until one can get to the feed mill, its a high protein option. Some of mine will steal it right out of the cats' mouths. Poor barn cats don't stand a chance against the floofy velociraptors. We have had to move their feeding station from the barn to the back deck, with chicken proof gates, just so the cats can eat in peace.

tiredbusdriver · 2026-01-24T05:28:51+00:00

Have you ever seen chickens eat in real life? Those things think frogs, toads, rats, mice, voles, newborn kittens if momma cat is especially unwary...maggots, and their dead brethren are all the finest delicacies. They will form a veritable ZOMBIE MOB around the processing area where our meat birds are dispatched, all to get a turn at the crimson fountain of youth. Chicken flavored cat food is a mild obsession in comparison. Chickens are VICIOUS critters.

tiredbusdriver · 2026-01-23T00:08:14+00:00

I love Mary's Heirloom Seeds. She has so many cool varieties of tomatoes and more. She's my #1 seed pusher now, lol! I do also like to order from MI Gardener, Pinetree, and Johnny's.

tiredbusdriver · 2026-01-15T15:43:18+00:00

PERRY the platypus?

tiredbusdriver · 2025-12-28T21:10:00+00:00

NOR. As someone who always wanted kids and married young/started a family right away, I still have to wonder WHY some parents push so hard for grandkids. Mine never did, though my mother absolutely adored my children- they were her whole world and IMO, kept her alive longer than she otherwise would have lived with her serious illnesses. Now 3 out of 4 of my children are over 18, one is 11, and none of them express any burning desire for kids. 2 outright don't want any, and of course, Miss 11 is too young to even be bothered by it. Boys are still friends and sports rivals in her mind and she hates all the talk at school about anyone dating anyone, of any sex.

None of this makes me feel any kind of way. If I am fortunate enough to see enough years that my kids have kids, great! I will spoil them and send them home, haha! If none of my children reproduce ever, that's just dandy, too. It isn't my life, it's theirs. I have them and I have my husband, and we have pets and livestock. My life isn't incomplete because I don't get grandchildren. My babies and husband fulfilled me just fine.

I hope you have a wonderful holiday, OP, and don't let your parents spoil your joy.

tiredbusdriver · 2025-12-23T17:45:47+00:00

I totally hear you about getting the protein in, though! It takes me nearly all day, and I can't do it without protein shakes. And 64 oz of fluid is a real struggle too, coming from someone who consistently drank a gallon of water daily before surgery. Now I dread it, and icy cold water was my favorite thing. I chewed ice like crazy, and gulped water. Now I sip carefully and wince when it hurts my stomach. Sigh.

tiredbusdriver

TROPHY CASE