# Let's play Good News / Bad News



## Lin19687

I used to play this growing up, usually with my Mother and the Bad news was something she didn't like.

It can be Funny or not but has to be true.
It goes like this.  Someone says " I have Good news and Bad News ...
{I have 2, one old one that I will PRE-explain and one new one, no explanation which is usual for this game..}

1) To my mother who HATED my motorcycle and made me park it on the sidewalk....

"Hey Mum, I got Good news and Bad news, which do you want....  Mum Very suspiciously " Good"
I sold my Motorcycle ... Bad news (for you) is I bought a bigger old  
She didn't think that was funny, I did. I no longer have Motorcycles

2) Good news ...Yesterday I put up my free 5x7 shed all by my self !
Bad news ...  Got dirt in my eye and went to ER, Scratched Cornea


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## The Efficacious Gentleman

Good news - garden fence is finished, including the stone wall and digging out the old tree stumps. 

Bad news - I am pretty badly sunburnt!


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## Lin19687

Wasn't expecting to play again so soon...

Good news..  My BUD CUTTER arrived 

Bad news... New UPS driver left it NEXT DOOR for the 2ND TIME !

yeah I just emailed UPS. I will scream out the window tomorrow as my other package comes..


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## jcandleattic

Good news - I have an awesomely great job. 
Bad news - most of the time I don't want to be here, I want to be home, with my family, dog, in my lab, etc.,


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## Relle

Good news - I woke up this morning .
Bad news - I have to pay the tax department next week .


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## jcandleattic

Good news I'm motivated today. Bad news, I'm not motivated for the things that HAVE to be done, only the things I WANT to do. LOL


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## Lin19687

HAHAHHA  That's funny.

Good news I just got motivated to clean out the closet and toss old boxes, emptied dishwasher and re arranged stuff for the soap room.

Bad news, I will fizzle out before I get to the outside work


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## lrpolillo

Good news: i purchased all of my flowes and vegetable plants for my gardens in this beautiful day
Bad new: i found out its going down into the 30s tonight. My plants are now inside!!!!


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## Lin19687

Good news, I got the chicken coop cleaned out and set up.

Bad news, feed store gave me the wrong shavings so I have to go back tomorrow


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## Lin19687

Good news.. I got to go to the Gym today with my Gym Buddy

Bad news, no one should ever let me near M&P again


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## earlene

I've been under the weather the last couple of days, thought it might have something to do with the salad bar we ate at on Saturday.  But apparently not, since Hubby had no symptoms.  So it's just me. But I am doing somewhat better today than yesterday.  Sorry, bad was first.  Good was second.


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## soapygal2

Good news:
Daughter gave me two gallons of milk to make cheese
Bad news:
First batch, I got distracted and accidentally put in way too much salt.


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## amd

Good news: Son is playing 1st chair viola in the next orchestra concert.
Bad news: the next orchestra concert is tonight.


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## soapygal2

amd said:


> Good news: Son is playing 1st chair viola in the next orchestra concert.
> Bad news: the next orchestra concert is tonight.



Yikes!


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## Lin19687

So how did the Concert go ?!

Good New .. It is going to be 80 for tomorrow and Thursday

Bad News... We seems to have misplaced Spring somewhere


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## Lin19687

Bad news,,,  I wiped out on the deck just now (crappy slick thing after a rain) 

Good news... At least it wasn't on the STAIRS ! 

yes, I am ok, skinned knee


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## Susie

Good news:  We got an offer accepted on a house!

Bad news:  My husband's 24.5 year old truck decided she was done.  Just done.  She was a good truck, and he is grieving her something awful.  And today he has to go clean her out and get her listed on Craig's List.  She should sell fairly quickly to someone who wants a pre-computer truck that they can work on themselves.

Good news:  He went and got a nice new 2018 truck that has all the bells and whistles.


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## Lin19687

Susie, if he can't sell it, you can Donate it to WBUR, they take non running vehicles, it will sell at the auction.  You pay nothing, they even tow it !
I did that with 3 cars already
Congrats on the House
And tell your hubby I feel for him.  I cried when I sold my 2006 F-350 Diesel Crew cab


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## amd

Lin19687 said:


> So how did the Concert go ?!



It went really well! Probably the best that I have heard the HS orchestra play in several years. It was just frustrating for me because after my son reminding me at least once a week for the last month of the date and that he would be playing 1st chair, I still managed to forget. So in my head I had other plans made for the night, got his reminder text at 3, and had to do a brain shuffle to get my plans realigned with a concert smack dab in the middle of the evening. It's a good thing that kid knows me so well, otherwise I would have missed it completely. Kind of like my daughter's swim team awards that started at 5 on Sunday and I remembered about at 7... on Monday...

Bad News: I am failing epically as a parent.
Good News: My children are learning independence ??


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## jcandleattic

Good news/bad news with explanation - 

Good news we get to get rid of our gawd awful ugly stained up love seat in our front room. 
Bad news - it's getting replaced with a daybed that looks like a sofa, but will be my granddaughters bed. (which is not horribly bad news, but just wish we had an extra bedroom for her) 

Explanation, my daughter and son in law now live with us, so my granddaughter can no longer be in her mom's room. She was sleeping in my son's room when he was away at his girlfriend's house, but he's been putting so many hours in at work that she can't crash in his bed or she gets moved to the front room floor. We did set up a mattress, but it does look a little trashy to have a mattress just hanging out in the middle of the living room floor. LOL So that's my news.


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## Lin19687

Good news.. I got 4 CP batches done today.

Bad news... NONE of them behaved very well .  I am trying to use up old scents, most don't play well with others


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## dibbles

Good news...DH and I leave tomorrow for a 2 week vacation with 10 friends.

Bad news...I am ridiculously bad at packing


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## BattleGnome

Good news: I dropped the kinda gross spinach dip and now I don’t have to eat it.

Bad news: I dropped the kinda gross spinach dip and I had to clean it out of the carpet. 

At least my crackers are yummy and flavorful


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## Lin19687




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## shunt2011

Good News - Spending 1 on 1 time with my granddaughter for a few days
Bad News - Have a show Tomorrow and Saturday and not ready at all.


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## Susie

Oh, other good news is that the house we are probably buying is two exits from Lone Star Candle Supply...less than 10 miles away, even...not sure if that is good or bad news...


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## Lin19687

OMG SUSIE !!  I am SO JEALOUS !!  Crossing my fingers for you !


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## IrishLass

Susie said:


> Oh, other good news is that the house we are probably buying is two exits from Lone Star Candle Supply...less than 10 miles away, even...not sure if that is good or bad news...



Good new for soaping, but perhaps bad news for your wallet. 


IrishLass


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## Relle

Good news - calisivirus vaccination and health check went well for Pippi the rabbit.
Bad news - dh found a lump in one of her mammary glands. I didn't find out until we were at the vet. Good news - it's responding to the penicillin injections dh has to give her and is going down.  She is coping with the injections very well, just 8 more days to go.


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## Serene

Good News:  May have found a home closer to the MA border, which is where we want to be.
Bad News:  We have not hit our one year in this house.  This possible move means that I have to give up my amazing soap room.  Just as I had everything set up the way I want it.   Cant win.


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## Lin19687

Which boarder ? Prices go higher on the boarder 
on Serene's thought...
BAD news - I HATE this stupid rental, neighborhood sucks and I can't wait to find a house of my own .

Good News- it is Huge and still cheap for this town. I have my own soap room too


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## Serene

Lin, 

Currently in Farmington, NH.   Looking to move to Nashua, Pelham, etc.  We have something pending but not sure yet.  I am exhausted just thinking about the move.


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## Lin19687

Wow that WILL be a big far move. !

I'm on the Bedford/Lexington/ Burlington line near the Base.  Looking for Land/small farm but I can't find anything with decent $$.  So it looks like I may be moving to around Barre/Princeton ma or something out that way.

Bad news- I couldn't find the plastic sheet to cover the wire shelves I was looking for at Lowes

Good news- I may have found something better and cheaper !


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## soapygal2

Good news: my pants keep falling down
Bad news: I can't afford to buy a smaller size


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## jcandleattic

Good news: I got into the lab today. 
Bad news: It literally took me all day long to make 1 loaf of soap, and 4 candles. LOL


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## Lin19687

Good news - Spring finally arrived with a Sweet cool slightly breezy day

Bad news -- I stayed in and rearranged the drying racks and made only 2 batches of soap


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## SunRiseArts

Good news, I finally close on the land I wanted! 
Bad news, we want the one next to it and cannot afford it 



earlene said:


> I've been under the weather the last couple of days, thought it might have something to do with the salad bar we ate at on Saturday.  But apparently not, since Hubby had no symptoms.  So it's just me. But I am doing somewhat better today than yesterday.  Sorry, bad was first.  Good was second.



I hope you are feeling better.

Lin, I hope your knee is better!


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## Lin19687

Good News..  I got the yard weeded and let the chickens out.

Bad news I didn't get to do the grocery store today


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## Lin19687

Good news...  I found small glass jars WITH lids so I can pre-measure out FO's for my batches ahead of time

Bad news... I just had to eat 6 jars of fruit baby food - Only to find out it hold 1 oz too little 



actually they were good, and NO I did not buy the smashed veggies


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## Lin19687

I have a 800 Gal Koi pond.  Yesterday I finally was able to put in the filters I had bought years ago, just never got around to it.

Bad News ...  Woke up to the pond only having 6 inches of water !!  And I do NOT have an outside spigot !

Good news ---  Fish are FINE , I got to scrub out the pond and was able to hook up my 100' hose to the basement hose connection for the washing machine.

Oh and finally after 2 hours I can have my coffee


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## MKLonestar

Susie, my husband won't let go back over to Lonestar Candle Supply after my last trip over there.

Good news: I was able to get over to Lonestar Candle Supply without getting lost and taking only back roads to avoid the highway congestion.

Bad news: I spent 3x what I had originally planned to spend once I got there. However, I did get a bunch of great scents and other supplies.


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## Susie

MKLonestar said:


> Susie, my husband won't let go back over to Lonestar Candle Supply after my last trip over there.
> 
> Good news: I was able to get over to Lonestar Candle Supply without getting lost and taking only back roads to avoid the highway congestion.
> 
> Bad news: I spent 3x what I had originally planned to spend once I got there. However, I did get a bunch of great scents and other supplies.



The bad news is that I am allergic to so many fragrances that I don't expect to last long there.  The good news is that I don't make candles.  So the other good news is that I should not be banned from there.


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## cmzaha

Good News is I finally finished a crocheted shawl for a customer

Bad News is Joann's has discontinued the yarn which has been very popular for me


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## amd

Good news: I have no other "life duties" on the schedule for tonight.
Bad news: I have no idea what I should do first: make bubble scoops, make lip balm, do the water absorption test, masterbatching oils, making soap, or just hang it all and sit on the patio with a book and a cocktail.


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## Lin19687

I vote for Patio !


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## amd

I kind of did both. Patio until the skeeters came out, then worked in the soap lab on miscellaneous little projects.


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## lenarenee

When preparing to take the physiology class I need this fall, I learned that the school now requires 2 prerequisites, one of which I had but chemistry I didn't. So I was totally bummed to know I had to pass chemistry first. 

Luckily I had trouble with the website and had to call into the school where I learned that because I'd passed anatomy already, that I would be grandfathered into physiology - no delay, no chemistry!


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## jcandleattic

Good news ---- well, I'm alive, and breathing although barely, and have had the last week off... 

Bad news ---- well, I am barely breathing, and have had the last week off... Ended up with pneumonia somehow, and have been put on bed rest. Honestly, I think they would have hospitalized me last weekend had it not been a holiday weekend. 
Also, my house is a disaster, and yet, I still have to return to work on Monday. *sigh*


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## scard

Oh how miserable, take care of yourself.


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## angelwings2ltd

(Brief explanation... I have severe carpal tunnel & ulnar nerve damage..& need surgery.
Doctor and Hospital have separate bills.)

Good News:  Neuro surgeon says I can make a down payment, then payments for him doing the surgery.
Bad News:   Hospital thinks that carpal tunnel surgery is an Elective (-vs- necessity), & wants $5,000 deposit Before surgery (which is approx. 1/2 of the total)...

Good News:  My garden is growing rapidly due to all the rain we have been having, & I dont have to suffer with watering the Garden.
Bad News:  All the rain makes all the bugs hungry for my veggies, & I cant "dust" them in the rain!


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## Escott752

Good news: I finally made some great looking men's soaps.
Bad news: the fragrance oil faded so badly you can barely smell them


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## Misschief

Bad news is I'm home today with a pinched nerve in my neck (my skin hurts!). Good news is I managed to get a lot of prep done for the upcoming (June 17) market. I picked up a Square Reader for contactless & chip, as well as a dock, bought a portable charger, purchased a cash box, receipt book, some cute little chalkboard signs, and a few other supplies, and have them in an easy to carry box. I also put together a cash float (still need $5 and $10 bills) and created a newsletter sign up sheet. The biggest thing I have to do now is decide how much soap to take along and how to display it. Ideas are swirling around in my brain.


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## amd

Misschief said:


> Bad news is I'm home today with a pinched nerve in my neck (my skin hurts!). Good news is I managed to get a lot of prep done for the upcoming (June 17) market. I picked up a Square Reader for contactless & chip, as well as a dock, bought a portable charger, purchased a cash box, receipt book, some cute little chalkboard signs, and a few other supplies, and have them in an easy to carry box. I also put together a cash float (still need $5 and $10 bills) and created a newsletter sign up sheet. The biggest thing I have to do now is decide how much soap to take along and how to display it. Ideas are swirling around in my brain.



So excited for you!

Bad news: Amazon tent won't be here till next week.
Good news: Hubby and my mom were able to get the old tent into useable shape for the show this weekend.
Even better news: the Thursday night market that was causing so much drama in my life called to say that they have waived the fee altogether.


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## Lin19687

@Misschief I so rry you neck is pinched. I thought they were sending you the Square reader ?


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## Misschief

Lin19687 said:


> @Misschief I so rry you neck is pinched. I thought they were sending you the Square reader ?


Thanks Lin. I did get the reader but I've been doing a LOT of reading and I think the contactless square will be a good addition. It takes Debit cards where the Square reader doesn't. We shall see.


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## shunt2011

The square reader takes debit cards as long as they have a MC or Visa logo.  I use the contactless reader most times unless they don’t have a chip.  Also, square doesn’t support a dispute with the regular reader if the card has a chip. Only with the contactless reader\chip reader.


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## Lin19687

Yes, has to have the visa/mc logo which I think they all have now (?)
I plan on getting the chip/swipe reader at some point.  They are sending me the swipe for the time being.
i want to see how it all works in action then get the chip.

Good to know Shunt

Good news - ordered the free reader

Bad news - no idea when it is going to get here . Shipped DHL (where do these come from China ?) then gets given to USPS but no tracking.  Why bother with the DHL tracking number?


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## Misschief

Lin19687 said:


> Yes, has to have the visa/mc logo which I think they all have now (?)
> I plan on getting the chip/swipe reader at some point.  They are sending me the swipe for the time being.
> i want to see how it all works in action then get the chip.
> 
> Good to know Shunt
> 
> Good news - ordered the free reader
> 
> Bad news - no idea when it is going to get here . Shipped DHL (where do these come from China ?) then gets given to USPS but no tracking.  Why bother with the DHL tracking number?



I got mine within a 2-week time frame, if that helps any.


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## Lin19687

Good News- Got the reader today !! and it came with a sticker that says Square, v, mc,am,disc.

Bad news - now I got to figure it out


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## Misschief

Lin19687 said:


> Good News- Got the reader today !! and it came with a sticker that says Square, v, mc,am,disc.
> 
> Bad news - now I got to figure it out



It's pretty easy! You won't have any problems. Download the app and follow the prompts.


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## Lin19687

Yeah i thought so, I just couldn't think of a 'bad news' for the day.



Good News- I got almost all of the Coop roof tarped, 1 side netting up, fixed one of the outside cameras.  So proud to get it done

Bad news -  I am now sore and want to relax on the couch but DD has a school thing that doesn't start till 10 pm !  hate high schoolers...
it's only 8 and I am not sure I will make it till 10


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## amd

Lin19687 said:


> Good News- Got the reader today !! and it came with a sticker that says Square, v, mc,am,disc.
> 
> Bad news - now I got to figure it out



I think the hardest part for me to figure out was that I couldn't plug the reader into my phone until after I had the transaction ready to checkout. One year and two readers later I figured out that I couldn't just keep the reader plugged in and ready to go. I still struggle figuring out which way is "up" to swipe cards. When I have to do multiple swipes of a card I feel like such a criminal... like... is this person going to accuse me of stealing her card info?? That's the paranoid in me, I guess.

Anyways, I highly recommend setting up your library of items and any discounts that you want to use beforehand. It saves so much time!


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## Misschief

amd said:


> I think the hardest part for me to figure out was that I couldn't plug the reader into my phone until after I had the transaction ready to checkout. One year and two readers later I figured out that I couldn't just keep the reader plugged in and ready to go.



Ok, that I didn't know. So, don't plug it in until you're at the last stage of the transaction?


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## Lin19687

I didn't know that either !

I will start a SQUARE thread so we can learn a bit more.  Which forum should I post it in?


Good news - I got to watch the hen lay an egg

Bad news- there are 3 trying to get into the SAME nest box   I think I will make one BIG long box .  silly chickens


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## amd

Lin19687 said:


> I didn't know that either !
> 
> I will start a SQUARE thread so we can learn a bit more.  Which forum should I post it in?



I think the Business forum? https://www.soapmakingforum.com/forums/general-business-forum.23/



Misschief said:


> Ok, that I didn't know. So, don't plug it in until you're at the last stage of the transaction?



Yes. Although I just did a test sale so I could get a screen shot, and I see they have updated it since I used it last. After selecting the items and tapping the blue Charge bar, it says right at the top "connect a reader..." otherwise the other option for charge is 'manual card entry'. So they have made it a little bit easier for slow learners like me!

Screen shots hereView attachment 30663






ETA: ugh. Not sure why when posting from the app, it doesn't want to attach all the pictures. Hopefully you understand what I mean with only the one photo.


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## Susie

Lin19687 said:


> I didn't know that either !
> 
> I will start a SQUARE thread so we can learn a bit more.  Which forum should I post it in?
> 
> 
> Good news - I got to watch the hen lay an egg
> 
> Bad news- there are 3 trying to get into the SAME nest box   I think I will make one BIG long box .  silly chickens



I watched several YouTube videos that all say that all the chickens like the same nest box for some reason.  Perfectly normal for silly chickens.

Good news:  Found hen house with feeder and waterer on Craig's List for cheap!  Everything but the feeder is in great shape!  So all we need is to make one of those bucket/PVC feeders and build a run for them.  

Bad news:  Can't move in until last week of this month, so we had to rent another small storage to store them.


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## Lin19687

Hi Susie and Welcome to the Chicken world !  lol  Turns out they like any box that has an egg in it.  I tossed 2 fake ones in separate boxes and that is where they laid yesterday..

Good news - I can see the hens walking into the chicken tunnel

Bad News-  it is because the camera is slowly falling (bad tape job)


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## zolveria

BAD NEWS : I lost my phone and had to get a new one.
GOOD News: The Elite white Basketball Player WON 2 games and we are in the semifinals


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## Susie

Good news;  One more week before moving!!!!

Bad news:  The 125 gallon aquarium was loaded onto a truck yesterday from the facility, so it will get here before the move.  Now we have to rearrange the storage rooms to make space.


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## lenarenee

Susie said:


> Good news;  One more week before moving!!!!
> 
> Bad news:  The 125 gallon aquarium was loaded onto a truck yesterday from the facility, so it will get here before the move.  Now we have to rearrange the storage rooms to make space.



Salt or fresh?  I'm drooling here...!  I'd love to have a tank that size, freshwater, with lots of otocinclus and plants!  I love those little things.


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## jcandleattic

Good news - I'm on vacation next week! YAY 

Bad news - I have to get through this week to get to that vacation! BLEH


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## earlene

Bad news:  My car needs a new drive shaft
Good news: Hubby discovered this before I took a roadtrip somewhere and had the dang thing freeze up on me and ruin more than just the drive shaft
Bad news: Instead of him fixing it (he's replaced drive shafts before, so he is capable, but it took him 3 days to do it the last time) because he doesn't have enough time off to do this kind of repair, so I have to take it to a repair shop
Good news:  I take it in tomorrow (appointment made already)


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## steffamarie

Good news: I have this week off of work!! Yippee!! As soon as I get my Nurture order in, it'll be soap galore!

Bad news: I worked out too hard yesterday and can barely move today...also I sliced my finger with a bread knife before cutting my pinky toe on something my boyfriend had laying around. The universe is telling me to stay in bed.


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## earlene

I hope you cleaned both cuts really well.  Not sure I'd soak in a hot tub with newly cut skin, BUT for me, sore body aches from overworking the muscles is usually relieved by a good long soak in a tub of hot water.  Maybe you have some bath salts you can use and try a nice soak.  Then clean the cuts again after the soak and apply some anti-bacterial ointment to be on the safe side, if you are so inclined.


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## steffamarie

earlene said:


> I hope you cleaned both cuts really well.  Not sure I'd soak in a hot tub with newly cut skin, BUT for me, sore body aches from overworking the muscles is usually relieved by a good long soak in a tub of hot water.  Maybe you have some bath salts you can use and try a nice soak.  Then clean the cuts again after the soak and apply some anti-bacterial ointment to be on the safe side, if you are so inclined.


Oh man, a hot bath sounds amazing! I'm not sure I'd be able to get up afterwards though XD
I so appreciate your concern  I'm a very clumsy person!! I did clean both cuts well. When I'm not making soap, I'm a nurse, so I'm fortunate enough to have ample access to wound care stuff. When my hospital moved into a new building, they gave away a lot of the supplies they didn't need anymore, so I have an incredibly well-put-together first aid kit!! Ends up being a very useful thing considering how much I get hurt and how much my boyfriend tends to hurt himself. We must be cursed!


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## msunnerstood

Bad News - I decided to go play on the highway
Good news - There is NO traffic here.. see? <<<<<


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## Lin19687

Good news -  I got a lot ready for the FM on Saturday.

Bad news-- I still have a ton to do


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## steffamarie

Bad news: The Cards game was rain delayed for over an hour tonight due to the storms. 
Good news: This is the view from my front porch.


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## dibbles

Good News: Last night I met some friends from my elementary/jr. high school days. Most I hadn't seen in 50 years and it was really fun.
Bad News: I didn't know a couple of the ladies, and one of them rode (about an hour) there and back with my friend and I. She is a rep for a 'therapeutic grade' overpriced EO company. My tongue is sore from all the biting I had to do.


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## earlene

Good news:  My car is in the repair shop & I dodged a bullet because the CV axle/drive shaft does need to be replaced as my husband diagnosed.  I was hoping that maybe we could get by with just a new CV boot kit.  That's all I needed the last time this happened (on the other sided of the car), but this one was left too long.  Although neither of us knew there was a problem until this week, the boot was torn & the CV joint was open to the elements for too long.  Luckily I didn't learn about it the hard way with a CV joint failure and an immobile car somewhere out on the road.

Bad news:  The cost is going to be $1,059 and some odd cents.  About what we expected, but still not welcome news.


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## Lin19687

Good news - it's sunny out

Bad news - it is going to hit 90's today and tomorrow


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## Misschief

We're back to spring-like conditions here. It's been cloudy, rainy and much cooler than the past couple of weeks. I'm not complaining... this is fire season around here and the cooler it stays, the less fires there will be.


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## jcandleattic

Lin19687 said:


> Good news - it's sunny out
> 
> Bad news - it is going to hit 90's today and tomorrow


We got to 106° yesterday here (although the official record was only 102° because they take the official readings out at the airport which is not indicative of what it actually is everywhere else!! LOL) 
Today is supposed to be a bit better with only a high of 97°... 

Good news - the AC works good both here at work (I freeze usually) and at home.


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## Misschief

Good news - my Orange Sherbet bubble scoops look and smell amazingly edible.

Bad news - I stripped the gear on my good ice cream scoop and the 1 oz. scoop I bought is bigger than 1 oz and it's a piece of crap. I will be returning it shortly.


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## steffamarie

Lin19687 said:


> Good news - it's sunny out
> 
> Bad news - it is going to hit 90's today and tomorrow


Bad news: It's like 115 heat index here today........
Good news: Air conditioning!!!!! And I can go around singing the ¡Hace Calor! song from Sesame Street 

Secondary bad news: I spilled FO all over my counter and now I have to make sacrifices and burn incense to the Soap Gods to try and get my house not to smell like a cough drop XD 
Seriously, I have incense burning in my living room and in my kitchen...and I'm bathing my counters in vinegar + baking soda.


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## amd

Good news: my husband has finally realized that he needs to get his boys inline.

Bad news: he doesn't want to be the bad guy who enforces the rules, so he's stalled out at making his own rules, and is barely holding his head above water enforcing the rules that I have made.


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## earlene

Good news:  I picked up my car yesterday, so I am able to go where ever I want whenever I want again!  Hurray.
Bad news: I wanted to shop at Staples, but the store near the Volvo repair shop has apparently has been closed for almost 2 years (according to an article in the QC Times online) but the building still says Staples out front!

Good news: JoAnn's has sale for pretty paper at a huge savings, so I bought 21 sheets of various pretty papers I can use for labeling my soaps.
Bad news:  It was so hot & humid while out & about yesterday, my car's AC could barely handle it that made me rather irritable, which also made me cut my shopping short.

Good news:  Today is another day & I plan to go out as soon as stores open here in town in hopes of finding what I didn't go out to find yesterday.  Hopefully to cooler morning (ha! it's already 85°F) will hold me for an hour or so of shopping.


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## earlene

Not sure which is good & which is bad; it's a combination of both.

Instead of taking the train to the station, picking up our car and driving North last night, Hubby decided we'd drive home & depart for Wisconsin today.  

Surprising news: My Michaels order of paper expected next week, was to be delivered a week early.
Bad news: Delivery was scheduled while we are gone.
Good news: One part of the delivery arrived the day before we left, so it got moved into the house.
Good news: We were able to divert another part of the delivery due yesterday & so we can p/u at UPS next week.
Bad news:  We were unable to divert the third part of the order for some undetermined reason, so it was delivered yesterday.
Bad Bad news: The vellum paper from Michaels was deliverd Thursday on my doorstep and we had a downpour of rain yesterday.  The envelope was drenched and disintegrating by the time we got home last night.  One corner of the enclosed plastic packaging the vellum paper was also wet.
Good news:  Most of it dried un-damaged over-night.  Considering the cost of this paper (20 pages for over $6.00), I was not totally happy, but glad to have saved most of it.


----------



## SoapAddict415

Not sure how I've missed this thread until now.
Good news: Last night I got to go to my Ken's job and spend some extra time with him. We went out for breakfast when his shift ended.

Bad news: He works the late night shift at 7/11 and he got 2 unexpected stock deliveries. So I stocked the half of the shelves and the drinks cooler while he stocked the rest of the store and did all of the heavy lifting in between waiting on customers.


----------



## SoapAddict415

Good news: my Grandma turned 95 on 7/11.
Bad news: she passed away at 10:15 last night and I'm heartbroken [emoji22].


----------



## Misschief

SoapAddict415 said:


> Good news: my Grandma turned 95 on 7/11.
> Bad news: she passed away at 10:15 last night and I'm heartbroken [emoji22].



Hugs


----------



## dibbles

SoapAddict415 said:


> Good news: my Grandma turned 95 on 7/11.
> Bad news: she passed away at 10:15 last night and I'm heartbroken [emoji22].


I'm sorry for your loss. Grandparents are so special.


----------



## SoapAddict415

Thank you all


----------



## earlene

I am sorry you are heartbroken, but happy your grandma had such a long life and loving granddaughter.


----------



## Steve85569

Good news- Jan found one of the soapwort patches along the river.

Bad news - it's too hot to transplant any right now.


----------



## Lin19687

Bad news :  Left the B-Day steak on a bit too long, done instead of rare.

Good News: that is just the way my DD likes it, and her B-day is Friday... so it is still a B-day Steak


----------



## Sunnydeb76

Good news: it's finally raining
Bad news: I have to go visit at nursing home tonight

Thankful for the rain we need so badly


----------



## Holly8991

Good news....my daughter is home!  Bad news DH has to have part of intestine removed...I found that out today  :-(


----------



## Lin19687

Good news : I think I passed the kidney stone that I think I had.

Bad news :  I am still drinking a lot to make sure it is flushed and the cat is sleeping on my lap.... hmm how long can I hold this


----------



## Lin19687

Good news: found a good Japanese place to take DD out for her B-day dinner

Bad news: as I was telling her that we should go tonight, I became very tired   **** rain.


----------



## lindakschickens

Good News: my herbal dragons blood soap smells great!

Bad News: it smells like a cinnamon spice cake and looks like a brownie and the hubby says he almost ate it  but I seem to be missing my smallest piece.........


----------



## Lin19687

BWHAHAHAHHAAAAA

Ask him to Burp, if he bubbles at the mouth you can call him a liar


----------



## msunnerstood

Bad news, woke up with a headache and it lasted all day (and still there)
Good news, the neighbors from across the way brought us over a big basket of veggies from their fields.


----------



## Lin19687

Bad news :  I was on my way out to go to the Gym, then didn't.

Good News: Because I decided to work a little on a fence issue.  Got sweaty in the hot sun and played with the chickies.  So I think it was like the gym just different


----------



## Misschief

Good news.. my husband is finally on board with my making and selling soaps.

Bad news... he now wants me to get into every market I can. I refuse to work 7 days a week every week. Just nope! I intend to get into this slowly.


----------



## earlene

Hey, well at least he's accepted you make soap and doesn't take that as an deal breaker for the relationship.  That's progress, right?

So, is he an all or nothing kind of guy?


----------



## lindakschickens

Good news: I have decided to get in shape and lose weight.
Bad news: husband brought home pizza,potato wedges and cinnamon sticks with frosting


----------



## m.d. clark

good news-i reorganized my soap room and found wasted space  i can now use for a new storage  shelf 
bad news-  im fighting with my depression really bad this week and am having a family fight as well i just want to make soap but am out of lye


----------



## BattleGnome

lindakschickens said:


> Good news: I have decided to get in shape and lose weight.
> Bad news: husband brought home pizza,potato wedges and cinnamon sticks with frosting



Small changes. I lost 25lbs in the past 9 months by just focusing on the small. I started by quitting caffeinated soda (I had a bad caffeine addiction) then when I started seeing a plateau in the weight loss I picked another habit to adjust. Enjoy your pizza and maybe think about not having the soda/beer with it to offset things. Things go so much smoother if you make lifestyle changes instead of cutting everything at once



m.d. clark said:


> good news-i reorganized my soap room and found wasted space  i can now use for a new storage  shelf
> bad news-  im fighting with my depression really bad this week and am having a family fight as well i just want to make soap but am out of lye



Take care of yourself, it sounds like a lot going on at once.


----------



## amd

Good news: I was on stay-cation all last week.

Bad news: I didn't get anything done and am back to work today...putting in a 10 hour day because I have no back up and spent 3 hours training new people and an hour in a meeting... and my to do list is still waiting for me at home.


----------



## lindakschickens

BattleGnome said:


> Small changes. I lost 25lbs in the past 9 months by just focusing on the small. I started by quitting caffeinated soda (I had a bad caffeine addiction) then when I started seeing a plateau in the weight loss I picked another habit to adjust. Enjoy your pizza and maybe think about not having the soda/beer with it to offset things. Things go so much smoother if you make lifestyle changes instead of cutting everything at once


I'm addicted to pepsi and trying to quit soda is hard so I'm cutting back on the junky food with the hope of later cutting it out one by one.


----------



## Misschief

earlene said:


> Hey, well at least he's accepted you make soap and doesn't take that as an deal breaker for the relationship.  That's progress, right?
> 
> So, is he an all or nothing kind of guy?



Hmmm.. yeah, I guess he sort of is.


----------



## redhead1226

Bad News - I have tinnitus ( hissing noise in my ear ) for the last 4 years. It changes in pitch depending on whats happening in my life. ie - Stress etc.  When I try to put it out of my mind and get busy doing things I can deal with it. Wellllllll  last night around 11:30 when I was getting ready for bed it started to sound very loud to me and it was. Louder then it has ever been and it frightened me. It was so loud I couldnt even hear the TV without turning it way up. Which of course  started a panic attack and I'm alone. ( well my 2 dogs that could care less were here lol ) I have a BF for the past 11 years but we do not live together as I like it like that. I wanted to call him or my 3 sons who are married and do not live far - but I didn't want to disturb their sleep. So I sat here for 4 hours frightened and sometimes tearful until I finally fell asleep . I was so worried that this loudness was going to be the new "normal" sound and would I hear it at this volume when I woke up in the morning, 

Good News - I woke up and it was back to its normal annoying lower more tolerable pitch. 

Side note - I'm a very strong woman, who has endured many things. But this disorder is not for "Pu**y's!


----------



## Misschief

Good news... we're doing well at the market. Sales are growing, the venue is great, fellow vendors are awesome. Trin (my granddaughter) and I love it!

Bad news... we're not inputting all the transactions into Square so my inventory is way out! We're going to have to have a chat.


----------



## Alzie

Good news, I finished painting one bathroom today!
Bad news, I hate the color combo (after the fact) and will be redoing the trim & vanity over tomorrow....pastel on pastel ugh lol


----------



## Lin19687

To lose weight quicker/better try this.

Cut ALL sugar drinks, try cranberry (not sweetened) or other natural juices, Hot or Cold Tea not sweetened.  There are a lot that are a bit sweeter in nature.  I think Hot tea works better for the internal system but it is Summer so... For GOD SAKE NO SWEET TEA that they have down South.  Holy Moly that is like drinking a pound of sugar !

Cut ALL chips/snack that are in that category.  If you HAVE TO SNACK, try Plain Popcorn from an Air-popper, NO Microwave popcorn.  Or rice cakes with a THIN layer of natural PB ( good for a night time snack, PB helps keep the sugar up through the night.  DD is hypoglycemic and this helps at night for the morning.

Eat ONLY 3 GOOD meals a day, don't miss any, and make it healthy good things.  Pizza is ok on say Friday or Saturday as a Lunch but that's it.  Try Oatmeal for the morning, it is fast, filling and will help keep your Blood Sugar up throughout the day.  You can add a LITTLE brown sugar and some fresh fruit to make it yummy.

Take a LONG Walk Every night or morning, like 40 min to 1 hr.  Get the fresh air, don't rush just walk, walk faster as time goes on.  If you have someone to do it WITH you even BETTER !
If you have a Planet Fitness (or similar) try it.  $10 a month (once a year it's like $40 or 50 payment).  Just go and walk on the treadmill if you can't get outside (Winter/Hot Summer).  That is all I did for a year just to get Moving.  I am now this week doing abs and back which I NEED to get fit on for my Sciatica .  I do the $21 a month as they have a massage chair and water massage bed I use after workout there... so worth it just for the water massage bed on my sciatica when it hurts, even if I can't work out.

Do 5 only of each (either before bed or in the AM) sit ups, 'girl knee' push ups, leg lifts.  If you can do more great but keep it simple for a while of 5 each JUST to get in the habit of doing it every day !

What this all does is Breaks the Bad Habits with repetition to good choices and cutting the bad cold turkey.

If you can't do it cold turkey then you are not invested in it and you will quit and not lose anything or go right back to the bad ways.

@redhead1226  I can't think of the herb that might help with this, but search for it.  Also try Acupuncture, believe it will work and go.  I had a friends DD tried this and she had hope that it would help.  IT DID, she was so happy, it also helped with her Depression too - I think because of the new out look of no ringing    If you go in saying it won't work, it won't.  That goes with everything, but Acupuncture works for so many things.  My Sciatica too !  I refuse to take pain meds.
I'm going to be talking to my DD about this to help with her Focus issue she says she has, and hopefully help with depression too.


OHHHHH almost forgot 

Bad news: Fickin Cat wakes me at 3am with a live mouse and then proceeds to play with it on the way down the stairs till it goes behind the couch... MY Leather Couch, NOT my DD's crappy falling apart couch that she won't let me toss out !     I have Cats (obviously) so I can't put poison down.

GOOD NEWS :  I have an electric Rat Zapper https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06WRR9RR6/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
So I put that under my couch, it is a recliner so there is loads of room under it for this).  Cats can't get to it and it will Beep when it gets something.  I just unplug and tilt into Outside trashcan.  No touching cute little field mouse.
I do like little field mice, they have adorable eyes, just not in my house.  I already know they are in the walls/attic


WOW that was long, sorry


----------



## lindakschickens

Lin19687 said:


> To lose weight quicker/better try this.
> 
> Cut ALL sugar drinks, try cranberry (not sweetened) or other natural juices, Hot or Cold Tea not sweetened.  There are a lot that are a bit sweeter in nature.  I think Hot tea works better for the internal system but it is Summer so... For GOD SAKE NO SWEET TEA that they have down South.  Holy Moly that is like drinking a pound of sugar !
> 
> Cut ALL chips/snack that are in that category.  If you HAVE TO SNACK, try Plain Popcorn from an Air-popper, NO Microwave popcorn.  Or rice cakes with a THIN layer of natural PB ( good for a night time snack, PB helps keep the sugar up through the night.  DD is hypoglycemic and this helps at night for the morning.
> 
> Eat ONLY 3 GOOD meals a day, don't miss any, and make it healthy good things.  Pizza is ok on say Friday or Saturday as a Lunch but that's it.  Try Oatmeal for the morning, it is fast, filling and will help keep your Blood Sugar up throughout the day.  You can add a LITTLE brown sugar and some fresh fruit to make it yummy.
> 
> Take a LONG Walk Every night or morning, like 40 min to 1 hr.  Get the fresh air, don't rush just walk, walk faster as time goes on.  If you have someone to do it WITH you even BETTER !
> If you have a Planet Fitness (or similar) try it.  $10 a month (once a year it's like $40 or 50 payment).  Just go and walk on the treadmill if you can't get outside (Winter/Hot Summer).  That is all I did for a year just to get Moving.  I am now this week doing abs and back which I NEED to get fit on for my Sciatica .  I do the $21 a month as they have a massage chair and water massage bed I use after workout there... so worth it just for the water massage bed on my sciatica when it hurts, even if I can't work out.
> 
> Do 5 only of each (either before bed or in the AM) sit ups, 'girl knee' push ups, leg lifts.  If you can do more great but keep it simple for a while of 5 each JUST to get in the habit of doing it every day !
> 
> What this all does is Breaks the Bad Habits with repetition to good choices and cutting the bad cold turkey.
> 
> If you can't do it cold turkey then you are not invested in it and you will quit and not lose anything or go right back to the bad ways.
> 
> @redhead1226  I can't think of the herb that might help with this, but search for it.  Also try Acupuncture, believe it will work and go.  I had a friends DD tried this and she had hope that it would help.  IT DID, she was so happy, it also helped with her Depression too - I think because of the new out look of no ringing    If you go in saying it won't work, it won't.  That goes with everything, but Acupuncture works for so many things.  My Sciatica too !  I refuse to take pain meds.
> I'm going to be talking to my DD about this to help with her Focus issue she says she has, and hopefully help with depression too.
> 
> 
> OHHHHH almost forgot
> 
> Bad news: Fickin Cat wakes me at 3am with a live mouse and then proceeds to play with it on the way down the stairs till it goes behind the couch... MY Leather Couch, NOT my DD's crappy falling apart couch that she won't let me toss out !     I have Cats (obviously) so I can't put poison down.
> 
> GOOD NEWS :  I have an electric Rat Zapper https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06WRR9RR6/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
> So I put that under my couch, it is a recliner so there is loads of room under it for this).  Cats can't get to it and it will Beep when it gets something.  I just unplug and tilt into Outside trashcan.  No touching cute little field mouse.
> I do like little field mice, they have adorable eyes, just not in my house.  I already know they are in the walls/attic
> 
> 
> WOW that was long, sorry


Going to try all your tips. even the oatmeal which I'm not keen on thick it's the texture? lmao I remember my cat me kitty (seriously that was her name me kitty) she brought in a live mole dropped it right at my mothers feet freaked her out LOL.

Good news: have a healthy dinner planned and think some of my newer pullets are close to laying their first eggs yay (have over 50 chickens atm sure my neighbors love me...not)

Bad news: I can't my open bottle of lye I know it must have at least 100g of lye in it and cuz I can't find it I had to open a new bottle also the humidity is messing with my lye I think :s


----------



## shunt2011

Everyone's requirements to lose weight are different.  I need to cut all sugars (other than natural in berries) and carbs (other than in veggies).  I lost 115 lbs in 10 months.  It's been a lifetime struggle.   I gave up my Diet Pepsi addiction at the same time  and now only drink it on occasion. I drink a gallon of water a day and exercise at the gym at least 3 times a week.  I do splurge on special occasions but then get back on track.  My mind is clearer, my energy has tripled.

Bad News: I'm having a 60th Anniversary (surprise) party for my parents in 3 weeks and need to get the house in order.

Good News: Actually got my soaping room just about done. Now to just organize my FO/EO hoard. Then move on to the rest of the house.  A good time to purge.


----------



## lindakschickens

shunt2011 said:


> Everyone's requirements to lose weight are different.  I need to cut all sugars (other than natural in berries) and carbs (other than in veggies).  I lost 115 lbs in 10 months.  It's been a lifetime struggle.   I gave up my Diet Pepsi addiction at the same time  and now only drink it on occasion. I drink a gallon of water a day and exercise at the gym at least 3 times a week.  I do splurge on special occasions but then get back on track.  My mind is clearer, my energy has tripled.
> 
> Bad News: I'm having a 60th Anniversary (surprise) party for my parents in 3 weeks and need to get the house in order.
> 
> Good News: Actually got my soaping room just about done. Now to just organize my FO/EO hoard. Then move on to the rest of the house.  A good time to purge.


60th anniversary! now that is cool!


----------



## jcandleattic

Good news - going to Yellowstone for vacation. I haven't been since my daughter was like 2 months old (she's 26 now) and even then saw literally no wildlife at all - only birds, and a few small geysers (not Old Faithful, as we only drove through on our way to Sheridan WY) 

Bad news - not leaving until Sept. 1-9 and I'm so anxious, it's going to be a VERY LONG MONTH... *sigh*


----------



## Holly8991

Good news:   My oldest son passed a 4 hour oral exam to be promoted at work!

Bad news:  I have to go to the Dr tomorrow  for my blood cancer (not fatal and have not idea why they call it cancer)


----------



## m.d. clark

lindakschickens said:


> Good News: my herbal dragons blood soap smells great!
> 
> Bad News: it smells like a cinnamon spice cake and looks like a brownie and the hubby says he almost ate it  but I seem to be missing my smallest piece.........


thats funny my daughter spit a small tester one out in my hand once she thought it was fudge and it was soap the look on her face was priceless


----------



## earlene

*redhead1226*, I am sorry to read about your very scary night!  I hope you are feeling less stress now.

I thought I'd share my experience, with an unexpected reduction of my tinnitus.  Having lived with it for as long as I can remember, I never really expected it to go away or be less of an annoyance than it always has been.  But I was very happy to discover that my hearing aides actually alleviate my tinnitus.  That's not why I have hearing aides; it's because I am hearing impaired, and since I never brought it up, my doctor never mentioned that HA's might actually help.  I have since learned that hearing aides ARE a treatment modality used for many people with tinnitus.  Just putting it out there in case it's an option for you.


----------



## Lin19687

@earlene  THAT IS FANTASTIC !!!  Seems to simple, why have they not tried that all over   Sad when all can not benefit from something so simple.

My friends DD was sent to a house to troubled girls because they thought she was having issues,.  It was her Tinnitus that was the issue.


----------



## earlene

Good news:  My husband's wound has healed so my postponed roadtrip to California is back on.  I leave on Saturday.  He also replaced the rear brake pads in my car.

Bad news: Wildfires again, which are in the line of travel, again, altering my route somewhat.  Hopefully they will continue containment, as the two worst ones on my usual route are almost as close as when was there last year (visiting my son).

Good news:  Son was approved for low-income housing and found a house in-town, where he can also have his dog.  He moved a little over a month ago and his rent is how half what it was at the trailer park (which was rather a dive).  He has a small yard where he can grow a garden.  He is within a block of a grocery store, fast food restaurants, a trift store and even his best friend's house.  It's a small little place, but perfect for a single disabled person who needs to be close to resources in town.

More good news:  He is managing to stay on top of everything financially related since becoming his own payee and hasn't needed to call me in a panic over anything.  

Bad news:  He doesn't have hardly any furniture and the dog punctured a hole in his new air mattress and the only furniture I can fit into my car is  a bar stool (I got one for him at the Goodwill a couple of weeks ago.)  We have spare furniture, but no economical way to get it to him, so he will have to do what everyone else does and buy stuff when he can afford it and hope someone nearby can help him get it to his house.


----------



## Lin19687

That is good news.  Check out Craigs List in his area, many get rid of good furniture.

Bad news : my back is really bothering me, not painful but heavy ache in the hip area... could be my Sciatica.

Good News : IBU and Arnica balm seems to help a little


----------



## SoapAddict415

Good news: I FINALLY made my "Almond Joy" inspired soap! Seems like I've been planning it forever! I split the batter into thirds, colored 2 portions (1 white & 1 brown) & scented one portion with Coconut FO, one with Almond FO and the third with Chocolate FO and I did a angled wall pour.

Bad news: Ken called me twice then came home while I was making it. With all the distractions I forgot my butterfly embed and I forgot to make my sample bars.


----------



## KimT2au

Good news: my foster dog is going to the vet today to have his leg pain checked out.

Bad news: he will be steralised as well which means he will be ready for adoption.  He is, without a shadow of a doubt, the best foster dog I have ever had and I have no doubt he will be snapped up.  After 7 years of fostering greyhounds i know this simply means that another greyhound's life can be saved but giving up this foster is going to be particularly difficult for me.


----------



## Holly8991

Awwww our neighbor in Florida had 2 adopted greyhounds.  They were the sweetest little duo.  My kids loved them so much.


----------



## TeresaGG

Bad news: I was preping my bedroom to paint and found mold under my craft desk and the floor is soft about a foot-and-a-half into the room.
Good news: we have not sold the RV yet so I have a place to sleep. My breathing seems to be doing better after just one night.
Bad news: we're having difficulty finding someone to fix it since a lot of construction is done during the summer.
Good news: I might be getting a bigger closet while we are fixing the damage.


----------



## earlene

Good news:  The freezer in the fridge at this hotel room is so good that it freezes water into ice cubes in just a few short hours.

Bad news:  It also froze the glass water bottles I put in the fridge door and one of them broke inside the fridge; the top apparently even popped off and broke, too.  I just noticed today when I went to pull one out.  

Other bad news:  Even though the freezer is so super efficient, the ice cream I bought last night was much softer than I like it.

Other good news:  The ice cream still tasted fabulous and I ate it all. 

(After all, I had to turn down the temp after discovering a broken water bottle inside the fridge and the ice cream would have become even softer and I just don't like soft ice cream.)


----------



## Arimara

Good news- my carpal tunnel is mostly under control

Bad news- I'm still not posting here as much.


----------



## lenarenee

earlene said:


> *redhead1226*, I am sorry to read about your very scary night!  I hope you are feeling less stress now.
> 
> I thought I'd share my experience, with an unexpected reduction of my tinnitus.  Having lived with it for as long as I can remember, I never really expected it to go away or be less of an annoyance than it always has been.  But I was very happy to discover that my hearing aides actually alleviate my tinnitus.  That's not why I have hearing aides; it's because I am hearing impaired, and since I never brought it up, my doctor never mentioned that HA's might actually help.  I have since learned that hearing aides ARE a treatment modality used for many people with tinnitus.  Just putting it out there in case it's an option for you.



I wonder if it's not mentioned because hearing aids aren't covered by many insurances companies - a fact that really ticks me off!  Hearing is one of our senses and it's often older people that lose their hearing and can't afford a hearing aid, or to replace one that breaks or is lost.  Older people are already at more risk of being isolated - so let's add hearing trouble on top of it which greatly affects the ability to keep relationships and watch their depression rates skyrocket!!!  GRRRRR!!!!


----------



## earlene

lenarenee said:


> I wonder if it's not mentioned because hearing aids aren't covered by many insurances companies - a fact that really ticks me off!  Hearing is one of our senses and it's often older people that lose their hearing and can't afford a hearing aid, or to replace one that breaks or is lost.  Older people are already at more risk of being isolated - so let's add hearing trouble on top of it which greatly affects the ability to keep relationships and watch their depression rates skyrocket!!!  GRRRRR!!!!



I am right there with you on that, lenarenee!

Not only that, but Medicare covers NEITHER hearing aids nor dentures, let alone most dental care unless hospitalized.  How does it make any sense to deny the imperative need for proper nutrition (via being able to chew your food) and the ability to hear in order to protect yourself when out there in the world or dealing with those cagey dishonest telemarketers or simply crossing the street?


----------



## lenarenee

earlene said:


> I am right there with you on that, lenarenee!
> 
> Not only that, but Medicare covers NEITHER hearing aids nor dentures, let alone most dental care unless hospitalized.  How does it make any sense to deny the imperative need for proper nutrition (via being able to chew your food) and the ability to hear in order to protect yourself when out there in the world or dealing with those cagey dishonest telemarketers or simply crossing the street?



Seriously Earlene????  No teeth to eat nutritious foods?????  No hearing conversations, music, television, phone calls, SMOKE ALARMS?  No proper way to enjoy a meal???  Where is the phone number to reach the blooming idiots that came up with these restrictions???


----------



## earlene

Yes, seriously.  You didn't know?  Well President Johnson signed HR 6675 (the Social Security Act Amendments Act aka  Medicare) into law in 1965, so I'd guess there aren't a lot of politicians who wrote, debated and passed the Medicare regs are still around to answer phones.  Some  may still be some alive, but none are any longer serving in the House nor the Senate.  That was 53 years ago, and none currently in office have served longer than 45 years.   link

I wish I knew if it was ever discussed and what the discussion was.  I suspect both were ruled out as too costly.  

Here's a little historical background:  https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=false&doc=99#
https://www.ssa.gov/history/tally65.html
https://www.medicareresources.org/basic-medicare-information/brief-history-of-medicare/


----------



## LiLiSoapz

Good News:  My husband has a student tomorrow.

Bad news:  As I clean up, a little toddler is doing her best impression of a wrecking ball.


----------



## Lin19687

Good news : I got in at 7am to see the Dr about a pinched nerve in my neck.

Bad news: need to do Prednisone to see if that reduces any swelling and cures the tingling/numbing in my arm/back/leg, mainly arm.


----------



## IrishLass

Lin19687 said:


> Good news : I got in at 7am to see the Dr about a pinched nerve in my neck.
> 
> Bad news: need to do Prednisone to see if that reduces any swelling and cures the tingling/numbing in my arm/back/leg, mainly arm.



I'm not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV, but have you ever considered chiropractic care? My chiropractor is worth his weight in gold to me. It's pretty amazing what an adjustment will do for pinched nerves without having to resort to a round of anti-inflammatory drugs.

Bad news : we had a wicked microburst sweep through our neighborhood the other night that uprooted trees left and right and stripped many others entirely of their leaves. A huge limb from a tree in our neighbor's yard snapped right off and toppled into our back yard.

Good news: our own trees and home were spared any damage.


----------



## Lin19687

I'm not a fan of Chiropractors.  I like Acupuncture for the sciatica and will have to see how  the Pred goes.  But I am not starting it till tomorrow when I will be home all day ... I heard too much about the PEE issue and can't do that tonight at my FM


----------



## SoapAddict415

Good news: IT'S FRIDAY!!!!
Bad news: It's not quitting time yet. My manager and my work bff are both cranky and acting like jerks today. And our hyper co-worker is being EXTRA annoying today. He found out that I'm doing hourly parts inspections now. It's in addition to my regular job but he thinks I'm in quality control (despite what I told him) and I swear, every 20 minutes, he has an issue!


----------



## jcandleattic

Good news: I'm leaving work early. 

Bad news: (which really is not bad) I'm not going straight home, have a hair appointment this afternoon. I love the results and go without fail every 6 weeks, however it is such a time-suck that could be time better spent doing something productive.


----------



## amd

Good news: latest weather report says only 5% chance of rain tomorrow so now I can paint the house.

Bad news: Now I have to go paint the house.


----------



## SoapAddict415

Good news! I FINALLY made the brownies that I've been craving for 2 weeks [emoji1]. I put chocolate chips and big pieces of walnuts in them. They were SOOOOOO yummy [emoji7][emoji4]!

Bad news, this morning's migraine is making me think that I'm now allergic to walnuts. My doc told me that I'm allergic to pecans (I don't care for them so I rarely ate them) but until now, I've been able to enjoy other nuts without issue. I hope I won't have to cut nuts out of my diet. I've had to eliminate so much already because of the corn and wheat allergies [emoji853].


----------



## BattleGnome

Double check your chocolate chips. If you got a cheaper brand they may not be real chocolate and might have corn syrup or something as a filler. A few years ago I was reading that they expect “chocolate” won’t be real chocolate sooner rather than later due to supply issues.


----------



## SoapAddict415

BattleGnome said:


> Double check your chocolate chips. If you got a cheaper brand they may not be real chocolate and might have corn syrup or something as a filler. A few years ago I was reading that they expect “chocolate” won’t be real chocolate sooner rather than later due to supply issues.


Thanks [emoji3]. I try to check everything but sometimes not all of the ingredients are listed. I once bought a Seagram's lemonade cooler that had a limited ingredients list on the can. After 1 glass I started feeling ill. When I went online I saw a longer ingredients list and corn syrup was listed. The only ingredient in the chocolate chips that I was unsure of is lecithin. I didn't think it was derived from corn (like xanthan gum), I'll have to Google it.


----------



## earlene

Good News:  Yesterday I got my car back from the repair shop.

Bad News:   It was 'finished' at the end of the day on Friday, the last day of the work-week and as feared, some slackness of technique played a part in the job.  There was a hose not connected when I drove it back to my hotel, which caused a strange noise I could hear with my impaired hearing.  I don't know what the part is called that the hose was disconnected from, but I can easily point it out to my husband later to learn what it is called.  Anyway, the noise continued for a short bit after the engine was off, but stopped within a short time (30 seconds or less), so I just let the car sit overnight, but the same thing happened in the morning, so I opened the hood and took a look with the engine still running so I could find where it was coming from exactly.  The sound reminded me of a car horn that is dying (still sounds like a horn, but loosing intensity because it's wearing down the battery), but as soon as I saw the disconnected hose & re-attached it, the noise was gone.  So, I was irritated about the shoddy work, but of course, being Saturday, the service shop was not open when I drove over to talk to them about the disconnected hose.

More Bad News:  Then my engine hood wouldn't close all the way!  No obvious reason that I could see; None at all.   My departure was delayed trying to solve these annoying issues, and finally I just drove for about 35 miles or so with the hood latch, only partially closed and when I stopped for a rest stop tried closing it again.  After a bit of struggle, I got it to close, but feared opening it again and then closing it was going to be a real problem.

Good news:  My car's AC worked well for an hour or so.

Bad news:  The AC stopped blowing cold air and started blowing hot air after about an hour or so of driving.   It stayed at blowing 90°F air for quite some time, but got as high as 110°F air for an extended period of time. I was not a happy camper.  I left a couple of messages on the machine when the temps reached those horrendous numbers.  I told them I want my money back for the AC work because, obviously they were unsuccessful fixing the problem I described very clearly to them and now the same exact symptoms continued.

Bad Bad News:  I stopped at Donner Summit Rest Area to use the facilities and afterward, my car wouldn't start.  It took 3 hours from my first call for roadside assistance before the tow truck driver arrived.

Good news:  The tow truck driver ID'd the issue - a dead battery.   

Bad news:  I just spent over $700.00 in various repairs to my car (first AC - two attempts to fix failed; second oil flame trap replaced) and no-one tested the battery?!?!  I am amazed, shocked and more than a little disappointed in the workers at both establishments.  The second one has a 'warranty' posted on the website, so I plan to address this issue with them, for what good it's going to do.  None, I am pretty sure.

Good news:  After a tow to Truckee, I bought a battery and the tow truck driver installed it.

Bad news:  It cost me (according to my husband) $100.00 more than it should.  Most things cost more here, he seems to forget.  Plus California charges some additional fees he's not used to in Illinois.  And then he says, 'You bought the wrong battery.'  Get real!  I am stranded on the road and got my car taken care of, running again and you want to dis me for not buying the battery you would have bought if you were in charge?  

Good news:  I was able to cancel my hotel reservation in Elko, NV without any penalty.  The lady was very understanding and wished me the best of luck getting my car running again (this was while I was still waiting for the tow truck.)

Bad news:  I had no place to stay tonight.

Good news:   Hubby made a reservation for me in Reno since I couldn't get online.

Bad news:  It cost 3 times as much for one night in a Dive in Reno than it was going to cost me in a decent place in Elko.  This place is pretty disappointing, but at least it's a roof over my head and the TV works.  

I sure hope nothing more goes wrong with my car tomorrow or the rest of the trip home, for that matter.


----------



## SoapAddict415

Wow Earlene you've been thru a lot! I thought I was having a bad weekend. Sorry your vacation wasn't very relaxing. I hope you're able to make it back home without any more mishaps. I also hope that the warranty from the one repair place is honored and that you get some type of refund for the trouble.


----------



## Lin19687

omg you poor thing !!!!

I certainly hope that that car goes to the heap as soon as you get back !


----------



## dibbles

I do admire your level head, earlene. I am quite sure I wouldn't handle all of the car issues you've had as well. I hope the rest of your trip home is uneventful.


----------



## Alfa_Lazcares

Bad news: i was out most of today and when I arrived home noticed that my house and just a few more were out of power. The power went out for everyone a few minutes later and came back for everyone but the same houses including mine. 

Good news: it came back! Kinda sorta. There is not enough power to light a lightbulb but there is enough to keep my modem on and to charge my phone, hence why I am here in the dark on the forum. I hope it get fixed during the night...


----------



## Lin19687

Good News .. it is trash day

Bad news I have to wrap up and toss the stinky Fly trap .. the kind you fill with water and stink bait. 

Stinks to high heaven but MAN does it Work !  I just hate getting it off the pole


----------



## earlene

Thank you all.  It's a 2006 Volvo C70 (convertible).  It's not going to the heap.  I love this car.  Can't say I love the repair people, though.

In any case, no it's not gotten better.  But it's in a repair shop now and I am in a hotel.  I contacted my insurance company because the new repair shop said the Tow Truck driver installed the battery incorrectly and that it could have caused electrical damage.  Work on the vehicle yesterday did not get everything back to normal.  I have a new new new battery now, but other parts were also damaged.  My husband said something that surprised me.  He said, anybody can install a battery, if you can open a hood, you can install a battery correctly and not cause any damage.  Okay, maybe so, but I'm going with the repair guy who said it was installed incorrectly.  And I don't believe anyone who can open a hood knows how to install a battery.  I could have done it once, but it's been so long since I learned how, I don't know I might not connect things up wrong somehow.  Anyway, I'm here for another night at least.  I reserved the hotel for 2 nights because I didn't want to sit around the repair shop for 6 hours like I did yesterday.  This way my stuff can stay in the room and if the car isn't ready by the end of the day I still have a place to sleep tonight and not have to schlep my stuff hither and yon.

So bad news:  My car's not ready yet. 

But good news:  I am safe and have shelter and my insurance company is looking into a claim for faulty work done by the person who installed the battery.  

If they deny the claim (which is possible, I suppose), I'll live with it, but I am acting in good faith based on the information I've been given by the repair people.


----------



## Lin19687

Good news. At the FM and it is chilly enough for me to put on my flannel shirt.

Bad news.  It's slow and I forgot my ibuprofen and my back is sore


----------



## earlene

Good news:  It sounds like my insurance is going to cover the work currently being done to my car based on the damage caused by the faulty battery installation!  It's not guaranteed since I don't have it in writing, but it sure sounds that way from the conversations with the adjuster yesterday and even more so speaking with the appraiser today.

Bad news:  None!


----------



## SoapAddict415

Good news: I found a soap stamp that's perfect for my high OO Bastille soap for about $11 and a silicone mold that comes with 5 free loofahs (or is it 5 loofahs with a free silicone mold?) that's also perfect for that recipe for about $12 on Amazon and both had free shipping.

Bad news: I was so excited that I didn't notice until after Amazon emailed my order confirmation that neither item will be here until some time between September 20 and October 12! I was hoping to make that recipe next weekend for Christmas.


----------



## earlene

I hate when that happens,* Arianna*!  Since that has happened to me a couple of times, now I just move that item to my 'save for later' list because I don't want to wait, thinking I'll order it when I know I'll be home for an extended period.  Then I forget to order it and it gets sold off and is no longer available anyway.  Well at least that saves me some money and the frustration of not knowing when to expect a delivery.

My good news:  I am home again at last.

Bad news:  Hubby damaged the surface of the coffee table somehow, but was too irritable to tell me what happened so I don't know what for certain the correct action to fix it.  I tried furniture polish, but once the oil soaked in overnight, the whitish look has returned.  I think he put something really hot on the table and it damaged the finish.  I am trying petroleum jelly next.  If that doesn't work, I'll try this method tomorrow:



ETA: Oops, I forgot my sciatic pain won't allow me on my feet for long and I couldn't find where I moved the petroleum jelly.  It will have to wait.  Guess I'll watch Netflix and wait for the pain pill to kick in and try my sciatic exercises.  Today may be a day of not much physical movement.


----------



## Lin19687

@earlene try acupuncture.  I just went yesterday because I could barely get out of the car it was so bad !


----------



## earlene

I have no idea if anyone in my small rural town does acupuncture.  I doubt it, but I may look into it.  At this point, I can't drive anywhere anyway.  I do have a chiropractor, but he moved to the other side of town and it's just too painful to walk to his office now that he is so far away.  His former office was only 3 or 4 blocks away and I used to walk there for adjustments, but since he moved across town, I just don't bother anymore.


----------



## Lin19687

I don't like Chiro's, I went to the next town over for my Acupuncturist.  She is so sweet and actually teaches at the school for Acupuncture here in Boston.  out of pocket was $85 since I had been there before... SO WORTH IT !
I still have a little soreness but I go back Monday for a 'touch up'  lol.

For sciatica it is WORTH the weight in gold !  I refuse to take pain pills and I did 4 days of Ibuprofen at 800mg 4 times a day !  NOT WORTH IT when it doesn't work.

Good news - Yesterday's FM got me $200 for a free show !

Bad news - I have to go through all my soaps, re-label and re-do inventory into Square for my 4 day show next weekend..... but I am so excited


----------



## jcandleattic

Good news - only 4 days until I head up to Yellowstone for a 10 day vacation - 

Bad news - I still have 4 days until I head up to Yellowstone for a 10 day vacation. 


LOL


----------



## Lin19687

lol


----------



## SoapAddict415

Good news: I have an Amazon order coming by 9pm today!
Bad news: according to the map that was provided when I clicked on "track your package" it looks like it's still sitting at the Hazel Park post office and it's been there since 10:20am! It's almost 4:30pm, unless I'm walking to that post office, I don't live over 6 hours away! I REALLY want to take a post work nap (today was brutal) but I'm afraid that I'll miss the mail carrier and my order will get left outside of my building if I lay down.

Update: more bad news [emoji20]. It's 9pm so I checked the tracking on Amazon and although it still says that my package is out for delivery, my delivery date has changed from Aug 27 by 9pm to Aug 27-Aug 29 by 9pm [emoji35]! So, Amazon Prime 2-day delivery means I get my order 4 days after I order? I'm NOT a happy camper right now. I wanted to make soap Saturday but I was expecting my parents to swing by (they didn't). I could've made soap earlier but I kept thinking that I'd have to stop in the middle to retrieve my package so I waited. Now it's late, I'm irritated, frustrated and annoyed!


----------



## Lin19687

Bad news - Tomorrow is going to be a scorcher  ! and I had forgotten about my Tuesday FM

Good news- I am all set to go, only bringing 3 of each soap because really..... going to be too hot (not hat).


----------



## Relle

Lin19687 said:


> Bad news - Tomorrow is going to be a scorcher  ! and I had forgotten about my Tuesday FM
> 
> Good news- I am all set to go, only bringing 3 of each soap because really..... going to be too hat.



You might need two hats LOL.


----------



## Lin19687

ROFL... I need a fan lol
thanks for that, I needed a laugh


----------



## SoapAddict415

Good news! My Amazon order that was supposed to be here Monday came today.

Bad news: I was on my way to the library and the driver didn't leave the package like they normally do! If they had then I could've turned back and retrieved it. I was only 2 blocks away.

Good news: I have the chance to sell some soap and make a few extra dollars making flyers for a co-worker. 

Bad news: I don't have a computer that's why I went to the library. It closed at 5p. I didn't know that and the system kicked me off of the computer at 4:50p. I lost my soap labels and never got a chance to make the flyers.

More bad news: hubby thinks my co-worker is a jerk (& he's right) and doesn't want me doing anything for the co-worker even if it is a chance for me to make some extra spending money.

Good news! I just got a email from Ebates. I made $11 and they're sending me a check!


----------



## earlene

*SoapAddict*, you can sign up for text messages for all deliveries to your address at UPS, if it gets delivered by UPS.  I don't know if your deliveries are by actual Amazon drivers, though.  They don't come to my town, so it's only UPS or USPS who delivers my Amazon orders.  My point is, that maybe the texts would help you tract them better and next time you might know it is arriving early (or late, etc.)  Just a thought.


----------



## SoapAddict415

earlene said:


> *SoapAddict*, you can sign up for text messages for all deliveries to your address at UPS, if it gets delivered by UPS.  I don't know if your deliveries are by actual Amazon drivers, though.  They don't come to my town, so it's only UPS or USPS who delivers my Amazon orders.  My point is, that maybe the texts would help you tract them better and next time you might know it is arriving early (or late, etc.)  Just a thought.


I almost always get a text notification from Amazon no matter who delivers. That's how I knew when I'd missed the delivery. If they leave it outside then I get a notification with a picture of where they left it. If I'm home then I know to go downstairs and pick it up. If I'm not home then I'll text my Ken and have him grab it. I always pick Prime 2-day delivery and I only order when I know that 1 of us be here. The post office not delivering it Monday really put me in a bind because neither of us were home today. The same goes for tomorrow.


----------



## Lin19687

ALL of my texts for deliveries come WAY after it is delivered.  After talking to my USPS gal who subs, she says that she sends them all out when she hits that street (small streets here) and then delivers.  I know that because I went outside looking but couldn't find it, then she drove up 4 min later 
UPS is hit or miss when I get the text.  So I just stopped doing the text


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## earlene

Lin19687 said:


> ALL of my texts for deliveries come WAY after it is delivered.  After talking to my USPS gal who subs, she says that she sends them all out when she hits that street (small streets here) and then delivers.  I know that because I went outside looking but couldn't find it, then she drove up 4 min later
> UPS is hit or miss when I get the text.  So I just stopped doing the text


That's interesting.  I had that happen once, too where the text came before the package.  It was confusing.  I thought it had been mis-delivered, but this explains it!  Maybe it's a part of their training or your USPS delivery gal communicates with my USPS gal sonehow (a social media forum just for postal workers, perhaps).


----------



## Lin19687

LOL  maybe.  At least she does it.  The normal guy doesn't bother to do it I think because I may or maynot get a amazon text.
UPS guy is super good (the normal guy) If I am home I go out and meet him because I hear him.  He likes that 
I usually just look at the updates if I am not there.  I also have all my stuff delivered into my carport which is near my side/back deck.... driveway is on the side of the house as I live on a turn.

Good news.... I just got back from dropping all my stuff off at the 4 day Fair and saw the Beef jerky guy with all his yummy stuff.

BAD news....  Jerky guy was talking politics and when he said "Pocahontas sent me junk mail" I think (in my head, I was not facing him anyway) my mouth dropped open.    I won't be buying jerky at this fair.

Just to clarify--- I don't CARE who you like or dislike, but DON'T be an Arse.
NO I don't like trump, HATE him, my opinion and one reason is he disrespects everyone but wants everyone to respect him..... sorry it is a 2 way street.


----------



## Lin19687

OK you all are not posting !  lol


Good news -- I soap a TON of soap this Fair !

Bad news -  I am OUT of all the best ones !!!
so I have to make make make


----------



## SoapAddict415

Lin19687 said:


> OK you all are not posting !  lol
> 
> 
> Good news -- I soap a TON of soap this Fair !
> 
> Bad news -  I am OUT of all the best ones !!!
> so I have to make make make


Having to make more soap is always good news lol!


----------



## earlene

So far, no good news really.  No, that's never true.  There's always some good news.

Good news:  We have two trips planned.  Anniversary trip to Tennessee next week - only 3 days.  Europe next month - only 3 weeks.  I want to make Challenge soap this week.

Bad news, not related to the trips at all.  My strange health concerns are plaguing me, but I do have 2 appointments this week to look into the problem.  Plus another appointment with my audiologist on Friday (need to keep that one prior to trip to Europe.)  So technically, the appointments could interfere with soaping since they are all on different days of the week.  Still haven't found the clear plastic tote bag (sort of like you see employees carry who work in large stores so their employers can see if they are stealing) with important papers and receipts for the insurance company and a few other things I really would like to be able to use again.

Good news: Dentist office called and had a no-show so I got in early.  
More good news: It's not fungal (didn't think so), he doesn't think it looks at all like cancer (I didn't think so, but one never knows for sure just by looking in the mirror), it doesn't look like an infection.  He believes it's cancer sores.
Bad news: I have a lot of cancer sores in my mouth that aren't healing; cancer sores can take up to 3 weeks to heal; more seem to be showing up every day; he didn't prescribe prednisone for it be he is really strongly anti-steroids.  (We've had this discussion before, so I did not press him.  But I have some so could take it if I choose.)
Questionable news: He suggests decreasing my stress.  Well car is fixed, so that part is past, but new sores keep appearing every day.

He said to switch from salt water swishing/mouth rinsing to baking soda swishes/mouth rinsing and to swab all sores with MOM.  I told him I had read the MOM painting suggestion and tried it for a few days (a couple weeks ago now) and was surprised.  He said do those two things several times a day and call him on Friday if there is no change.  And to 'not stress' because cancer sores are caused by stress.  (Well there are other potential causes, so it's more likely a combination of these things in my case.)

Good news:  Baking soda rinsing is not as uncomfortable as salt water rinsing.  The MOM at home is thicker and easier to swab onto the sores than the waterier MOM I had with me when I was traveling (guess I'll toss that bottle & not buy MOM from Dollar General again), so it seems to coat the sores much better for longer.  And the pain decreases for a little while.  I was even able to eat vegetable lo mein and rice and drink tea without much discomfort when we were able to arrive at the Chinese restaurant early enough to take advantage of the lunch specials.  

Bad news: None of this is going to help the sores not healing in other areas, but I'll address that with my primary physician on Thursday.


----------



## amd

@earlene My kids and I get canker sores all the time. My dad and his siblings get them a lot, so I suspect it is genetic. anyways, I mix equal parts MOM and liquid children's tylenol for swishing. It reduces the pain a lot and speeds up healing time.


----------



## earlene

*amd*, I had read about mixing MOM with liquid anti-histimine but all I could find is that horribly syrupy children's benedryl so didn't give that a try.  I really dislike sweet syrupy stuff.   Do they sell any kids liquid stuff that's not syrupy?  I might look next time I'm in a store, but I don't remember ever seeing anything buy cherry, grape or orange flavored stuff and that all sounds pretty syrupy to me.  And right now sugary stuff (ice cream) is as uncomfortable as acidic things.  

I do believe I am losing a bit of weight, at least.  But this isn't how I like to do that.

I've increased some vitamins to support healing, particularly since eating is so uncomfortable, but I sure would like to find a way to decrease the pain.


----------



## BattleGnome

I had a roommate in college who had canker sore issues, her doc told her to suck on an antacid when they hurt. Now when I get a sore I stick and antacid on ituntil I can’t stand the mouth sensation anymore and my sores are gone in a day or two. The same trick doesn’t work for my husband, but I generally have a stronger immune system than he does. 

You could always leave the liquid MOM uncovered for a few days to let it evaporate a bit. I did that when I was using MOM and deo and it would turn into a paste as opposed to the liquid.

I hope you figure things out soon, it sounds like your last trip really did a number on you


----------



## earlene

Thanks, *BattleGnome*.  I can see how an antacid would work.  Although they aren't all made with the same formula, I suspect it's the acid neutralizing effect that is at work and it may not matter that it's not magnesium hydroxide specifically.  Of the active ingredient in the antacid I use it's about 60% aluminum hydroxide and 40% magnesium hydroxide.  I'll give your method a try between the dentist's plan.  It's a bit of an inconvenient ordeal to rinse and swish and then paint my tongue, but it's pretty easy to suck on an antacid.  Plus I stopped taking my GERD medication for a bit and the antacid will help with that, too.  I just did it and can report the pain is decreased at least for now, so thank you again!

In the meantime, I think I've lost about 12 pounds since this started.  I see my primary physician on Thursday and will find out what my weight was on my last visit so I can be sure about that, because I really don't pay very close attention to my weight.  Eating is so painful and everything hurts, so I've been eating less often and less at each meal.  This morning, for example, I had two bites of a banana and that's all I could tolerate before quitting.  Plain milk was not painful a couple of weeks ago, but it is now, but I'm still attempting to drink a glass of milk a day in order to manage some nourishment.


----------



## amd

earlene said:


> Do they sell any kids liquid stuff that's not syrupy?  I might look next time I'm in a store, but I don't remember ever seeing anything buy cherry, grape or orange flavored stuff and that all sounds pretty syrupy to me.  And right now sugary stuff (ice cream) is as uncomfortable as acidic things.



I can't recall ever seeing an unflavored tylenol. Have you tried a Lysine supplement? If I'm under a lot of stress I'll start popping one just as a preventative measure. I don't know if they will help treat or heal existing sores.


----------



## steffamarie

@earlene I used to work oncology and my chemo patients ended up getting bad mouth sores. We have what we call “magic mouthwash” which is 1:1:1 liquid lidocaine, liquid Benadryl, and Maalox. My friend used it when she found out she was allergic to Bactrim - it gave her horrible stomatitis. If you’re able to stand the syrups, maybe our magic mouthwash will help you! Swish and spit or swish and swallow depending on how much Benadryl you’d like to ingest


----------



## earlene

steffamarie said:


> @earlene I used to work oncology and my chemo patients ended up getting bad mouth sores. We have what we call “magic mouthwash” which is 1:1:1 liquid lidocaine, liquid Benadryl, and Maalox. My friend used it when she found out she was allergic to Bactrim - it gave her horrible stomatitis. If you’re able to stand the syrups, maybe our magic mouthwash will help you! Swish and spit or swish and swallow depending on how much Benadryl you’d like to ingest



I actually went looking for liquid benedryl while I was on my trip to mix with MOM, but there were no non-syrupy benedryl liquids available.  And I really hate sugary-sweet syrupy stuff, so I just bought benadryl capsules.  I opened one capsule & dissolved the benedryl in hot water, then mixed it with MOM and did the swish & rinse.   It was awful tasting & made the sores in my mouth burn worse than before, so after I finished finished with the stuff I had mixed, I didn't mix anymore.  I have not seen liquid lidocaine sold OTC anywhere, but then I've never looked for it either.  

But there is benzocaine if Orajel toothache cream & I did buy some of that, that when painted onto the sores does relieve the pain for about an hour or two.  But it's only supposed to be used 4xd which is easy to stick to because it also numbs the back of my throat, which I don't like at all, so am not much interested in using more often than recommended.  Plus it doesn't taste very good either.  But it does help when the pain is really unbearable. 

Maybe my primary physician tomorrow will have a remedy and if not, on my way home from that appointment, perhaps I'll break down and buy some of that horrible kiddy sweet liquid benedryl and try the magic mouthwash.

*amd*, thanks for the reminder about lysine.  I used to take it when I felt a cold sore coming on, but hadn't even thought of it this time and I am pretty sure I have some.  That's what surprised me really, getting all these sores in my mouth but no cold sore eruption at all.   So I'll go take a lysine right after I click 'post reply'.


----------



## steffamarie

earlene said:


> have not seen liquid lidocaine sold OTC anywhere, but then I've never looked for it either.



I got liquid lidocaine prescribed when I had a sore throat once. I think they can prescribe the magic mw outright if you can't find something similar. It's expensive (probably a lot cheaper to mix yourself) and it will not taste good. But I think it could really help.


----------



## MarnieSoapien

Good news - I finally got all of my soap making supplies!
Bad news - When I went to make my first batch of soap, the super cheap thermometer I ordered was acting like it was possessed.
It finally mellowed out enough for me to get a batch made. Looks like I'm going to be getting a new thermometer!


----------



## earlene

Good news:  Primary doc prescribed an anti-fungal & anti-viral which I filled and started yesterday after my visit & my mouth sores were much improved this morning.  This afternoon after a second dose of each (they are both once daily) my mouth sores are almost gone; some are gone already!  So forget the mouth washes.  Next time (if ever, and boy do I hope not) I will first go to a Medical Doctor, preferably my own primary physician.

Bad news:  I still can't find the packet of missing important papers I've been unsuccessfully searching for.  (Yes, I do continue to look again in the likely places as well as the unlikely places - again and again and again.)

Good news:  My audiologist waived the required coupon that offered a free visit (a once in my 4-year relationship with them).  It is also one of the many papers in that missing packet.  My hearing aids are all nice and clean with new domes, tubes & lanyards. Plus we had a nice chat about our insurance coverage and how to prepare for my husband's retirement (and subsequent loss of insurance coverage that pays a larger than usual portion of the cost of my hearing aids.)  She suggested that my husband should also get hearing tested in case he needs hearing aids before he retires.  A very good idea since should he need them they will likely no longer be covered once he retires.  We haven't verified it, but from what we read of the contract, as soon as either of us starts on Medicare, the insurance will no longer cover anything that Medicare doesn't cover, and it doesn't cover hearing aids.

Bad news:  The cost of our insurance after his retirement will remain the same (with annual increases) as it does now, but the coverage will be less because it will become secondary to Medicare.  He is really bummed about that, and I have to say, so am I.  This is one reason why we really wish our country would adopt a universal health care plan that covers everyone equally.


----------



## msunnerstood

Good news: My mother is moved after 14 hours today. Still have to go back tomorrow and unpack the stuff we were just too tired to get to but she now lives just 6 miles from me.
Bad news: I feel like i got hit by a truck. I have a bad back and that much standing, walking, and lifting have taken a toll. I will likely be unable to sleep tonight


----------



## Karens62

Bad news is I got laid off a week ago. This is the first time in 40 years I have been unemployed.

Good news is, well duh, more soaping time and Even if I don’t find a comparable job, we will be okay, just not as much disposable income.


----------



## jcandleattic

Good news- just got back from vacation and was feeling nice and refreshed and relaxed. 
Bad news- came in to 1000+ emails, and now need another vacation. LOL


----------



## Lin19687

Good news, I went to pick up my PKO on Monday, my extra molds came too and was going to do big soaping all of Tuesday with the Lye that was being delivered.

Bad news Fedex is a butt and I still don't have my Lye.  I am in the most fowl mood (pun, I have chickens)


----------



## SoapAddict415

Good news: I finally made the 3 Wise Men soap that I was supposed to make 3 weeks ago. I also made the 72% Olive Oil soap that I'd been wanting to make and I got to use the new stamp that I bought for it. And a second family friend had expressed an interest in buying my soaps for Christmas gifts.

Bad news: My Ken said the friend told him she wanted to buy $200+ worth of product. Now I'm nervous and hoping he's exaggerating. I'm a small scale operation. I'm not sure what she thinks I have (I'll find out Sunday) but all I have is soap and I was considering making bath bombs for another friend. Hope I don't disappoint.


----------



## Steve85569

Good news: I got my Potassium Hydroxide order so I can learn to make liquid soap!

Bad new: When I opened the box it was Sodium Hydroxide.

Good new: The supplier is going to send the KOH and let me keep the Sodium hydroxide! WooHoo! Ima making soap now!!


----------



## jcandleattic

Good news - My new fridge was delivered, the electical fire is behind us, and I was able to make up 200 lbs of masterbatch. 

Bad news - what a time suck all of that was. I was only able to make 1 soap in the last week or so due to living out of a cooler, and having to work full time.


----------



## dibbles

jcandleattic said:


> Good news - My new fridge was delivered, the electical fire is behind us, and I was able to make up 200 lbs of masterbatch.
> 
> Bad news - what a time suck all of that was. I was only able to make 1 soap in the last week or so due to living out of a cooler, and having to work full time.


Glad everything is getting back to normal.


----------



## Steve85569

Reminds me of my days living in an RV and working.
Glad you're back to normal.


----------



## Lin19687

Good News : Koi are finally coming to the top to look for food (long story why not).

Bad News:  still looking for the Ai Matsuba (guessing the color) is still missing, but the green water is not helping with that either.  Hoping the Opossum my son said he saw at the pond didn't get him


----------



## jcandleattic

Steve85569 said:


> Reminds me of my days living in an RV and working.


It felt like I was living in our RV! We RV camp a lot, so I didn't mind, but am very glad things are settling down now.


----------



## Misschief

Good news is I have the week off. Bad news is, I have it off because I have bronchitis.


----------



## BattleGnome

Good news: I know what bug has been bugging me since we got back from Greece and have antibiotics for it

Bad news: I got a call from the health department about it. It’s a common food borne illness but one of the ones they track cuz it could mean bad things if locally caught. My best guess is that I caught it at the beach but most definitely in Greece based on bacteria life cycle


----------



## Lin19687

Bad news :  Had to put one of our Kitties to sleep tonight   He was my DD cat of 13 years.

good news:  He is no longer going to be suffering from anything and will be in Kitty Play heaven to run around outside (he was strictly indoors here).


----------



## shunt2011

Lin19687 said:


> Bad news :  Had to put one of our Kitties to sleep tonight   He was my DD cat of 13 years.
> 
> good news:  He is no longer going to be suffering from anything and will be in Kitty Play heaven to run around outside (he was strictly indoors here).



Sorry for your loss. [emoji25]


----------



## cmzaha

Good News managed to crochet 13 hat and 6 hoodies for market tomorrow. 
Bad News I now have to sew 13 flowers and buttons on the hats.
Hoodies already have their button and flower sewn on. Yeah, I really hate sewing flowers on hats, but I really like to sell the hats


----------



## TeresaGG

Good news it rained. They might be lifting the burn ban so we can burn all the Blackberry brambles.
Bad news it rained. The material for a project that I left out is now wet. I'm hoping it's not ruined.


----------



## amd

Good news: Got a five day weekend off work.
Bad news: I had to get sinus infection, double ear infection, and the clinic called this morning to tell me the strep culture came back positive, so I have that going for me too. I haven't even been awake long enough this week to enjoy having the TV to myself.


----------



## Misschief

amd said:


> Good news: Got a five day weekend off work.
> Bad news: I had to get sinus infection, double ear infection, and the clinic called this morning to tell me the strep culture came back positive, so I have that going for me too. I haven't even been awake long enough this week to enjoy having the TV to myself.


Oh, I hear you. I've been off all week with bronchitis. I had scheduled Thursday and Friday off, giving me 5 day weekend for soap making. Instead, I'll have a total of 10 days off and I've only made two batches of soap because of being sick. And now, John (dh) is sick, too.


----------



## jcandleattic

amd said:


> Good news: Got a five day weekend off work.
> Bad news: I had to get sinus infection, double ear infection, and the clinic called this morning to tell me the strep culture came back positive, so I have that going for me too. I haven't even been awake long enough this week to enjoy having the TV to myself.


That's rough. I've had bronchitis, and a double ear infection at the same time, but strep on top of that!! Feel better soon! 
(I've actually never had strep, I believe I'm a carrier though)



Misschief said:


> Oh, I hear you. I've been off all week with bronchitis. I had scheduled Thursday and Friday off, giving me 5 day weekend for soap making. Instead, I'll have a total of 10 days off and I've only made two batches of soap because of being sick. And now, John (dh) is sick, too.


Oh geeze!! I hope you and your DH feel better too!! 

I was out of work for 3 weeks earlier this summer with pneumonia, and I get acute bronchitis quite often, so I feel ya.


----------



## Lin19687

Good news - did a HUGE Fall event that had a ton of people.

bad news, not a huge seller and an hour away


----------



## jcandleattic

Bad News: I had an order that was supposedly "attempted" to be delivered yesterday by Amazon. I got an email explaining the reason they didn't deliver my packages is because there was no secure location to leave our packages - and since we wouldn't give them the code to our house, they refused to deliver. Umm, we were all home, when they supposedly "attempted" to deliver my packages, so what would it matter if they had a secure location - all they would have had to do is knock on the dang door!
Good News: I called this morning to complain and told them that under no circumstances EVER would I give a stranger the code to get inside my home, and that they  absolutely did NOT "attempt" to deliver our packages, since there were 7 of us in the house last night, and 99.9% of the time this is always going to be somebody home at my house, so why wouldn't knocking on the door be part of the the "attempt" at delivery? Anyway, because I have prime, they couldn't really refund my shipping on the late packages, and because they had already loaded the truck, they said my packages wouldn't be back out for delivery until tomorrow. 
So I told them "basically I get screwed because your driver didn't knock on my door?" After some apologies from them, they tended up crediting my account $50. I had some errands to run, and when I got home, my packages were all here. My husband said they didn't come on a truck that they were hand delivered in a personal vehicle. 

Not too shabby of a job making it right.. ​


----------



## Lin19687

It was most likely Amazon delivery... they suck and I hate to do one day delivery because if it.  They ALWAYS leave it at the other side of the Duplex.  2nd time I yelled out the window.  I wanted to say.  Gee Can you NOT see the 20x24 fully covered Carport on the SIDE of the house.... the side you JUST DROVE BY ??

I do sometimes feel bad for the person that answers the calls for Amazon.  One day, me calling to complain about exact same thing as you, I ended up chatting with her for 40 minutes !  They work from home, make crappy money but it is all on the Puter Viop or what ever they call it .


Speaking of Amazon.  Good news - I bought a new cell phone and it is coming today, one day delivery.

Bad news - It is coming via USPS (so it says) so I don't know if it will actually GET here today or tomorrow.  

BUT ............. Good news, my USPS guy is good and leaves my packages in the carport on something so it doesn't get wet...    

Bad news, I doubt the text alerts will be accurate


----------



## jcandleattic

Lin19687 said:


> It was most likely Amazon delivery.


It was Amazon delivery. I called, let my frustration with the situation be known and also told the person on the phone I was not frustrated with her and sorry she was getting my angry voice. 
I also feel bad for customer service reps, and try to be respectful of them, just not the situation. Unless they are rude to me first, I rarely take out the situation on them. 
I was just mad because they lied and said they attempted the delivery when it was so obvious they didn't because there were 7 of us in the house. That AND the fact they said the only way they would deliver in the future is if we gave them the code to our door lock to put the packages "securely inside our house". Umm, nope. My parents don't even have that code, no way on earth I'm giving it to a complete stranger... Which I told them, so supposedly they wrote in the notes that leaving it on the porch has been approved by me. We'll see what happens. I have a couple more packages on their way the rest of this week. We'll see if they get left.


----------



## Lin19687

Good news, My New cell got here, USPS and they are almost always great here.

Gripe, I have to wait to tonight to move everything over because the case isn't coming till today.

@jcandleattic I too always tell the phone person that I am not mad at them, it's a hard job.   I would NEVER give out a code to let some stranger in my home.  Do people really think they screen Amazon delivery people ?  It is a Contract job and pays poopy.   Also, WHAT CODE ?  do they think that every one has a lock box on their house? Or a hid-a-key lock box ?  Even if I worked at Amazon delivery I would NOT go in someones house, I would feel very uncomfortable with that.


----------



## jcandleattic

Lin19687 said:


> do they think that every one has a lock box on their house


They do, because it's a delivery option they rolled out about a year ago - I wrote this post about it when I first saw it- 
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/is-it-just-me-or.65668/

I understand their reasoning - porch thieves and all that - but as I told the person on the phone, if I have porch thieves, I will take that up with the local police, just deliver my stuff!! It's what I pay all those exorbitant Prime fees for - to have Amazon Prime and free *2 day *shipping, not whenever/wherever we feel you might want to get/receive your packages.


----------



## amd

When I lived in my "bachelorette" house (haha), I lived on the edge of a small town so my house was well sheltered from the prying eyes of neighbors on either side and behind me, but you could see my house from the main road. This made me nervous having packages delivered, so I had a locked tote that sat permanently on my door step. (I guess someone who really wanted my stuff could have just taken the tote and smashed in the plastic, but that never happened.) All of my delivery instructions told where the key for the lock was. I had one package that was placed on the tote, rather than in the tote, so I called about it. They investigated and the result was "the driver was in a hurry and did not do it". That was the only time it was ever a problem with that delivery service (I think it was UPS, but can't remember anymore). Of course, after I started the soap biz, I got rid of the tote and just left my side door unlocked (the door opened into a small mudroom of sorts with another door that I could lock to the main house) and had deliveries left inside as the boxes were usually too big for the tote.


----------



## redhead1226

Bad New - Good News - Bad News! lol

The bad news is I have Tinnitus. A hissing noise in my ear or head that I have unfortunately had for 4 1/2 years.  I have managed even though personally I would not wish this on anyone.  After years of reading and visiting specialists and trying all sorts of things, believe it or not I was getting some relief from an over the counter concoction "Lipo flavinoids". Who knew!  After a few weeks I could hardly hear the hissing. 

I had noticed that I was short of breath doing menial chores like taking the garbage out and thought I was having some heart issue. After numerous tests and scans I was just fine. It was a side effect of the Lipo Flavinoids! WHAT!!! Finally some relief from this torture of never having a moment of silence! And I have to stop?? Yep!

Sooooo Im back to listening to birds chirping and white noise through earbuds.


----------



## shunt2011

redhead1226 said:


> Bad New - Good News - Bad News! lol
> 
> The bad news is I have Tinnitus. A hissing noise in my ear or head that I have unfortunately had for 4 1/2 years.  I have managed even though personally I would not wish this on anyone.  After years of reading and visiting specialists and trying all sorts of things, believe it or not I was getting some relief from an over the counter concoction "Lipo flavinoids". Who knew!  After a few weeks I could hardly hear the hissing.
> 
> I had noticed that I was short of breath doing menial chores like taking the garbage out and thought I was having some heart issue. After numerous tests and scans I was just fine. It was a side effect of the Lipo Flavinoids! WHAT!!! Finally some relief from this torture of never having a moment of silence! And I have to stop?? Yep!
> 
> Sooooo Im back to listening to birds chirping and white noise through earbuds.



That's terrible.  My father has had tinnitus for the last 8 years or so.  Sometimes it's better than others.  He hasn't found anything to help much either.


----------



## redhead1226

shunt2011 said:


> That's terrible.  My father has had tinnitus for the last 8 years or so.  Sometimes it's better than others.  He hasn't found anything to help much either.



The Lipo Flavinoids did help. It was not completely gone, but sooooo much better. Yes sometimes it is better then others but 3-4 months ago it got louder and that is the "new normal" for me. Shortness of breath is not a side effect for everyone and amazon reviews even said that it helped many people. It is an OTC medication and easy to obtain and affordable. About $20 a month. Maybe he could try it.


----------



## SoapAddict415

Good news! I finally got health insurance and it came with an app that allowed me to do a video chat with a doc! Seems that I have chronic contact dermatitis from the parts I handle at work.
Bad news, the steroidal ointment stings like crazy! It's a side effect that'll go away with continued use. I don't know what's worse, the stinging from the treatment or the intense itching from the dermatitis!


----------



## Relle

I have had tinnitus for about 30 years, can't remember a time when I didn't have it, it's just always there, not sure there is anything to fix it.


----------



## steffamarie

Bad news: I worked from 0530 to midnight yesterday and really busted my butt getting stuff done. In the meantime, the FedEx man wouldn't deliver my FOs because he needed a signature.

Good news: Since I worked past midnight, I get today off! Which means I can catch the FedEx man, make him give me my FOs, and hopefully make a couple batches of soap


----------



## Lin19687

Good news: Had interview at my past Hospital I worked for all on the same day as my 17 y/o DD dr appt - one place 2 appts 

Bad news: someone had a vomiting fit in the hallway where she was waiting for me to finish.  She wigged out and interrupted my meeting 
---
Bad news:   The Animal ER I applied to pays  Jack fluff  

Good News: the Hospital interview HR just called so they are offering me a job back there ........... hope they don't try and pay me any less then the crap they paid me before..


----------



## Misschief

The Good News: My daughter's bf/fiance has given her the gift of a brand new start. He's found a home for all of them (5 bedrooms; between them there are 4 kids); each of the kids will have their own bedroom. Only half or less of the stuff she has in her apartment will be moved into the new home as it's all handmedown and old. He said she deserves better. He's told her to quit one of her two jobs as she's at her limit; she's already given her notice. She'll soon be giving notice at her main job, too. They move in on the first of February.

I'm truly happy for her. She's waited a long time to find a good man, one who loves her enough to care about her well being, to look after her, to be a life partner rather than the men she's been with in the past. They couldn't get off their butts to do anything to contribute, just took advantage of her and her hard work attitude.

The Bad News: They'll be moving to Nanaimo, on Vancouver Island. It's a 5 hour drive, then a 2 hour ferry ride to see them. My market partner will be leaving with them (my 14 y.o. granddaughter).

I'm happy for her but I'm sad for me. I will miss them sorely.


----------



## Lin19687

@Misschief  I AM SO HAPPY FOR HER !!!  As a single Mum I understand what it is like to find someone like that.  After my 2nd divorce I no longer look, but I am not young like your DD is.
I know the distance is far, but it could really be what she needs.  New outlook, new Future !  Maybe there is somewhere in between you all could meet and hang out for a day.
I can't tell you how happy I am for her !!!
sorry it will be far but Thank the Heavens for HIM to fall to her


----------



## Misschief

Lin19687 said:


> @Misschief  I AM SO HAPPY FOR HER !!!  As a single Mum I understand what it is like to find someone like that.  After my 2nd divorce I no longer look, but I am not young like your DD is.
> I know the distance is far, but it could really be what she needs.  New outlook, new Future !  Maybe there is somewhere in between you all could meet and hang out for a day.
> I can't tell you how happy I am for her !!!
> sorry it will be far but Thank the Heavens for HIM to fall to her


I know, right? I'm thrilled for her and the kids. My grandson's new school backs on to their yard; my granddaughter's new school is a 10 minute walk from their new house. My daughter will have a yard and a small garden, something she's wanted for a long time. The house is in a good neighbourhood, just a 15-20 minute walk from the ocean (technically the Juan de Fuca Strait). He's giving her the opportunity to realize her dream of opening a small coffee shop, something she's wanted to do for years. 

When she first met him, she knew he was the one. It just took him a year and a half to realize it. 

Believe me, we're really happy for her but we will both miss her and the kids (especially the kids) dreadfully.


----------



## amd

Good news: I now have 4-wheel drive in my vehicle and a husband who learned his lesson about "humoring his wife 'cuz sometimes she really does know what she's talking about. 

Bad news: I had to get stuck and towed out of the ditch in order to do it. Back story: In May 2017 I was in a car accident that totaled my beloved car that had I bought in 2010 with cash, it was a great car. We were in the process of moving into a new house the end of the month, the sale of my house had just fallen through, I was planning a wedding for July, and leaving for a two-week trip to China in a few short weeks (4 days after moving into the new house, to be exact). Needless to say, a new vehicle was not in the budget or time constraints. My husband had just bought a '97 Blazer for his oldest son (age 14 at the time) as he would be driving at the end of summer. Well... due to the accident, the Blazer became my vehicle. I still have not gotten a new vehicle because we still have my [dang] house. Last winter the vehicle drove terrible, and I told my husband that I didn't think the 4-wheel drive was working. He kind of gave me a look like "yeah, I'm soooo sure that's the problem" and never did anything. The recent storm left us with 2" of ice on the roads and a foot of snow in the ditches. I got stuck twice in the driveway before even leaving for work yesterday morning (I should not have gotten stuck). on the way to work, I slid off the road and into a ditch - again I should have been able to get out of the ditch with 4-wheel drive. My husband had to leave work and come pull me out. He then drove the vehicle (for the first time since he bought it in April 2017) and said "well no wonder you got stuck, the 4-wheel drive doesn't work!" in a tone that made it sound like this idea had never occurred to me. I looked him dead in the eye and said "I know. I told you that last winter." Bless his heart, he said "Uh... why don't you take my jeep to work and I'll get the parts for the yours and fix it tonight." and that's exactly what he did. 

So gentlemen, when your wife tells you something doesn't work, please humor her and check it out. 

But still... 3 hours of my day wasted being stuck when I shouldn't have been if he had listened to me a year ago.


----------



## Lin19687

Good News :   New Job has a EV charger (for my car) Free at the building next door .  It is all one huge parking lot with the buildings like an L shape.  I am only 6 miles from home so I would only NEED to fully charge there 1 time a week.

Bad New:  My 1st day I had to charge.............. when the temp was 6 F out (windchill to make it feel like  -12F )


----------



## Lin19687

Good News :  SO NICE OUTSIDE !!!

Bad news : I am stuck inside at work


----------



## amd

Good News: I get off work today at 2:45.
Bad News: It's to go to the dentist for a cavity filling.


----------



## Lin19687

BAD NEWS :    There was a MOUSE on my Kitchen Counter !   gross gross gross, mice poop and it ATE MY SOAP !!   It happened over night because I used that soap yesterday and it was fine !
Oh....... and somewhere I missplaced my glasses that belong in the Puter room. (I have 3 par, Puter, Den, Car)

GOOD News :  I just Purged   anything that was on that counter got tossed.  Including the dish dryer thing, I have a love hate with those- can't clean them, can't live with out them.
Other things went in the dishwasher that could be salvaged .


gross gross gross


----------



## Marilyn Norgart

having mice sucks enough but it ad to eat your soap too grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr


----------



## Lin19687

Marilyn Norgart said:


> having mice sucks enough but it ad to eat your soap too grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr



Lol, I almost put some soap in the Electric Mouse trap haha


----------



## Trisher

Good news: Little grandson pooped
Bad news: Toilet is plugged


----------



## Lin19687

Trisher said:


> Good news: Little grandson pooped
> Bad news: Toilet is plugged



  so sorry !  I know that is not a good thing to laugh at


----------



## MGM

Lin19687 said:


> BAD NEWS :    There was a MOUSE on my Kitchen Counter !   gross gross gross, mice poop and it ATE MY SOAP !!
> 
> gross gross gross



One day at work I opened a cupboard I don't often use and found one of my lip balms with the label completely chewed off by tiny teeth! It was mint, which is supposed to repel mice, but it was also made with cocoa butter, which you could smell from a mile away, so who could blame the little guy? He's got good taste!


----------



## Lin19687

Good news :  I got the lawn in back seeded and all set up and front lawn mowed and small garden area cleared out (mainly, well about as much as I will do.   Also got rid of leaves and compost stuff to the dump.


Bad news.  I have a bit of a headache and I have to go clothes shopping with DD.  Well maybe, She already pissed me off and I pissed her off so I am NOT going is she is in a bad mood.


----------



## earlene

I'm not sure what is the good news & what is the bad news here.

I want to go to SoapCon in Sept.  I missed it last year, first because I didn't register, and then because it was cancelled due to poor registration (so I felt like I was a part of the reason it was cancelled.)  Anyway I missed it a lot and don't want to miss it again.  So I let my husband know I want to go and found out he wants to go to Europe again this year and wants to do it for our 20th wedding anniversary, which of course is in September.  He's got the month scheduled as vacation time off already. 

Me, I am reluctant to go to Europe again so soon because I came back in such a depression and it lasted for months afterward.  I felt at one point that I would never again go to Europe with him at all because of the way he treated me during much of the trip.  In fact, I got to the point that I even talked to one of my brothers about it, which I never do about personal unhappy matters unless someone dies.  So I am not thrilled about the prospect of a European trip again so soon.

But I want to go to all the places we talked about and more.  I want to go to to Italy.  I want to visit the Vatican big time.  I want to go to Greece.  I want to visit Switzerland.  I want to visit Spain.  And on and on. 

But I don't want to come back depressed again.  And I don't want him to treat me badly when we travel.  It's been a rough thing just taking short trips with him since last October because I keep anticipating the same thing will occur again.  It has come close, but my firm response that I won't put up with it seems to have kept it at bay.  But the fear that I'll be faced with it again remains.  Anywhere in the US, I know where to go off to that is safe; I can get back home from anywhere; I don't get lost finding my way home.  I can walk away from him and find my way to anyplace anywhere in the US.  Even if we aren't in our own car, I can manage that.  But in Europe, not so easy.

We are taking granddaughter to Hawaii in July and I was looking forward to seeing how an extended travel trip works out in regards to healing this past travel discord situation.  But I was hoping it was going to be the only big travel away from the mainland this year.   He reminded me we went to both Hawaii and Europe last year.  No discord in Hawaii last year, so maybe two big trips in one year was part of the issue;  I don't know.  But I don't feel comfortable with the idea of two big trips again this year.  In all the years we've been together, until last October, we've always done travel together very well and frequently.  It was super depressing when it went so badly.  And he'd never been abusive before, but the verbal abuse was incredibly disturbing and totally unacceptable.  I felt more trapped than I ever expected to feel and I am know it was because I was in unfamiliar circumstances.

I think I may have him thinking that it might be better to move the next European trip to next year instead, and I hope that sticks.  After all, if he gets a new position at work at around that same time, which is a real possibility, it might be better to postpone Europe for another year.  Then we can do shorter hops to places here in the States on either side of the SoapCon dates and we can get settled in a groove of happy travels again.

So still not sure what's the good news and what's the bad news.  Well except one is clearly bad news and I just didn't have the courage to share it with anyone except one brother until now.


----------



## Marilyn Norgart

I have always read that when behavior happens like that there is some underlying thing--such as health issues.  I am sorry to hear you feel the need to be able to escape if needed. doesn't seem like a long trip is advisable--sorry


----------



## Zany_in_CO

earlene said:


> he'd never been abusive before, but the verbal abuse was incredibly disturbing and totally unacceptable.  I felt more trapped than I ever expected to feel and I am know it was because I was in unfamiliar circumstances.


Good for you, Earlene... thinking things through among friends in this thread. I think you now know what you want/need to do. Go for it.

What stuck out to me is that you "felt trapped" in "unfamiliar circumstances". I'm with Marilyn on this. Is it possible he was feeling "trapped" too? Hence the unusual behavior? Ask him. 

Also, were you about 2 weeks in when this happened? If so, plan a "rest stop" at the 2-week mark. Instead of running around seeing and doing everything you can possibly manage in a day is good way to frazzle the nerves for anyone. 

Best to plan a "do-nothing" day... maybe have McDonald's in your hotel  room. hahaha I'm embarrassed to admit, we did that on our European trip. In Paris, of all places. It tasted SO good! Just a little bit of "home" to tide us over.


----------



## earlene

*Zany*, I had not thought of that from his perspective.  Not sure when it started, actually. But, yeah doing too much everyday was one of the things that created additional stress.


----------



## Lin19687

Could it be that you came back during the cloudy or cold season ?

I seem to not be able to get out of  a funk come Winter where it is cloudy and dreary


----------



## amd

earlene said:


> I had not thought of that from his perspective.


That was a thought that had crossed my mind too. Our honeymoon was our first trip together that took longer than two hours to get there, and we fought almost the whole time we were traveling - and we almost never fight. The morning we had to leave he was starting to pick fights again, and I just stopped and asked him where his anxiety level was on a scale of 1-10. Turns out that during the whole trip he was at a 10, because he was out of place. He had never traveled by plane, he had never stayed at a resort, he had never had to plan excursions... I was exhausted from fighting all week and pretty sure I was going to file for divorce when I got home, just because I didn't once stop and ask him how he was doing or if he needed a break, or even an explanation of what was going on. Our flight home was much better because all he had to do was listen and do what I told him to, haha. There were a few times I felt like he was a 5 year old kid and I was the mom - "we're coming up to the agent in customs, this is what you're going to do, this is what you need to have in your hand. Chris, are you listening? Repeat back to me what I just said... good, now where's the passport that's supposed to be in your hand?" But at least we were talking to each other!


----------



## jcandleattic

amd said:


> starting to pick fights again, and I just stopped and asked him where his anxiety level was on a scale of 1-10.


Once I realized this about myself, my hub and I are able to go and do things without a lot of fighting/bickering. 
You describing your hub was me in a nutshell and I never understood why until, surprisingly enough, I was watching Amazing Race and my sister said she wanted to try to get on the show with me, and I was like, no I'd be a wreck! That got me to thinking about all the times I had travelled or done something out of the norm with my hub and how I was a complete and utter b-word to him. I did a lot of retrospection, and realized the reason was I was anxious and in unfamiliar surroundings which caused my stress level to skyrocket. Ever since I understood that about myself things have gotten sooo sooo much better in the last 10 -15 years or so. Sometimes I forget, and my old habits come back, but it's easier for me to recognize it in myself now.


----------



## amd

Exactly @jcandleattic - knowing is half the battle. I'm sure once my husband was able to tell me that his anxiety was high, it made a huge difference to him as well. And that maybe the battle that @earlene is facing as well, her husband doesn't realize the anxiety or doesn't realize the need to express it in a good way. Especially if he's a "guys don't have feelings" type of guy, it may be harder for him to admit it. I wonder, Earlene, if he finds it hard to talk about if you could sit down and reminisce with vacation photos and see if he'll open up just by talking through the memories. Maybe if you specifically have a situation in your memory, just see what he remembers about that place (not the situation), maybe he'll give some clues to some inner monologue that he had going on, or if he was confused or overwhelmed. Agree with him, "yeah it was overwhelming. Maybe next time we should call a coffee break to catch our breath." And for goodness sake, the next time you are traveling and he says he needs a coffee, you go get a coffee!


----------



## Marilyn Norgart

not married but when I go places with my friends we talk before we go.  we talk about needing our own space and the fact that if I don't want to do something someone else does that we go our separate ways to enjoy what we want. and we have all said that it helps to avoid the feelings that someone is "stuck" doing things they really don't enjoy.  I can imagine maybe needing some alone time even for married couples. I agree that it needs to be talked about before you go


----------



## Zany_in_CO

amd said:


> Our flight home was much better because all he had to do was listen and do what I told him to, haha.


Hahaha. That made me laugh out loud. I think a lot of us gals can relate to that. It's a little tricky road to negotiate though, I must say. And sometimes you can be married for 44 years and still have to take the lead. I used to say, _"We have 7 children. My 8th, and my eldest, still lives at home with me. He's 86!_" hee hee


----------



## Lin19687

Good news - I got a bunch of Lip balm tubes for the Biz

Bad news: I can't find my super simple Balm recipe that has just CB, Beeswax and CO


----------



## Zany_in_CO

Mmmm. Sounds nice. Just pour a cuppa, sit down, relax, breathe, and let your sub-conscious find that recipe for ya... who knows, it might work! LOL


----------



## Lin19687

@Zany_in_CO  it was so simple too.  Thanks, I will do that tonight while DD is at PROM and then over night Grad party at the High School


----------



## MGM

Lin19687 said:


> @Zany_in_CO  it was so simple too.  Thanks, I will do that tonight while DD is at PROM and then over night Grad party at the High School


I've made at least 25 different lip balm recipes and have 24 of them written down, I swear. You guessed it...my favourite one is unlabelled, traceable only by the approximate date i gave it to the person (who I made give it back to me, because they weren't using it), will never be replicated, and is almost down to its last little bit! And whereas I don't make large batches, I do make between 8 and 20 tubes at a time...even if this was an itty bitty batch...where are its other 4 or 5 sister tubes??
And yet it is a miracle....it sat in my car all summer and never melted, but also never froze in winter...I would put it on in sub zero temperatures and it wasn't waxy it was smooth. It was VERY minty, almost as if it had menthol (only a few of mine do and this one was definitely made before I ever purchased the menthol).
Maybe it's not even real? Maybe it's all a lip balm dream.....


----------



## amd

Good News: I have my first show of the year this weekend.
Bad News: Anxiety has kicked in full force. I already have the "I have to people" shakes.


----------



## jcandleattic

amd said:


> Good News: I have my first show of the year this weekend.
> Bad News: Anxiety has kicked in full force. I already have the "I have to people" shakes.


That is the worst!! I get that before my shows also. 

My good news/bad news, is I'm on vacation!! YAY me, 

Bad news - I went to make some masterbatched oils, an am out of 2 of my oils!! 1 is OO and local so no problem, but the other I will have to order in, so can only make half the sized batch I want too. 

Oh well, I need to place a bit supply order from a few different suppliers in the next day or so anyway, so I'll just add this to the list.


----------



## earlene

Bad news:  I couldn't log into my Social Security account and the remedy I chose was for them to mail me something (within 4-10 days).  It never came.  

So yesterday I called SSA to ask for assistance since the mail never arrived.  She offered to get the process started over the phone for me, plus email me a temporary password so I could access my account.  She asked me all kinds of questions to verify my identity.  All was going well, it seemed.  Then...

More Bad news:  She asked me if she could contact a 3rd party for address verification (they mail me stuff, so I didn't quite understand why they needed to verify my address, but sure, I said yes.)  They could not verify my address.  So she could not email me a temporary password and could not do anything else except make me an appointment to go in person the my local SS Office.  The process she started was suspended until I could prove who I said I was in person in the SS Office.  No appointment was available for over a month!  While I'm in Hawaii, so two months until I could get an appointment!

I asked why they couldn't verify my address when they mail me stuff and also email me stuff.  But, she wouldn't say (probably policy, or she was just uncaring).  So I looked on one of the many SSA web pages I had open and found that they verify addresses via Equifax.  So I felt compelled to find out if Equifax had an error on my credit report that would explain the failure to verify my address.  Lo and behold, one mere tiny little error in my address (probably a transcription error as it was correct in another section of the report.)  So then I attempted to file a dispute, which cannot be done online for that type of error.  I had to call and talk to a human being.  Okay, I often prefer to talk to a human being when these types of complexities exist and maybe she could answer a question as to how the SSA accesses my credit report or verifies my address.

Bad news again:  The human being I spoke with was very hard to understand.  Even my closed captioning telephone translator could not decipher some of her words.  I had to ask her to repeat herself more slowly and succinctly because not only could I not hear her clearly, I couldn't read the words she was saying either!  And she asked me even more questions to verify my identity (it seemed like thousands of questions - thank god I don't have dementia!)  THEN she argued that I was wrong, my address in the credit report is not in error that it is correct.  I am LOOKING at it right this very second.  I just downloaded it from the Equafax website; it is here on THIS page in THIS section and this is what it says.  It IS wrong.  Back and forth, she kept insisting it was not wrong, that nothing was missing from what I could see with my own eyes (my eyesight isn't perfect, but with reading glasses and large enough print, I can read just fine) was missing from my address.  So I ask can I send you a screen shot of what I see, because this is WRONG.

So then she starts telling me what she sees and reads it to me.  Well, I had to ask her to repeat herself slowly so I could see it on my phone's read-out.  She read me the address with the error.  Clearly she was reading what I was seeing and she was missing the fact that this was WRONG.  So I stopped her and pointed out what was wrong there and FINALLY.

Good news:  She finally agreed that it was Wrong and that she would fix it.  While on the phone with her she corrected the error and it took effect immediately.  Thankfully, but what a frustrating transaction!

More Good News:  Now the SSA can verify my address again!  Within an hour I was back online and connected to my SSA account and was able to complete the application all on my own in the comfort of my own home and don't have to go into the SSA Office in August.  And I didn't have to make any more phone calls about it either.  IT IS DONE!  

And all this was because of one missing character in my address in my credit report!!!

Can you believe it?


----------



## BattleGnome

I can believe it. 

A few years ago my sister got a new address. The lot next door was building up and they had to rearrange everyone’s official address. My sister was lucky enough to get a brand new, never before used, not on the books address. All her mail gets sent to the neighbors across the street, not to the old or new addresses. My sister would go places and try to get it fixed but it would revert back to the neighbor’s address... turns out there’s some company that controls your address that you don’t know about. The city clerk was slower to change the address in the city computers than this company and the system assigned the closest existing address. It took 6 months for my sister to find out about this company and fix her stuff.


----------



## Zany_in_CO

earlene said:


> Can you believe it?


Sadly, yes. I can believe it, Earlene. I'm sorry you had to go through this. Unfortunately, it's far too common. I also think you should give yourself a pat a the back for how you handled the situation to a satisfactory resolution. Well done.


----------



## Lin19687

FYI, if you get divorced and want to change your name for (i think) experian they want your FULL DIVORCE papers.  Ummm NO !  so 1 of the 3 has my married name.


----------



## msunnerstood

Good News. - My Son is ok, shaken up, upset but ok
Bad News - The Deer AND the Car are not


----------



## BattleGnome

Bad news: I thought I hand 15 pounds of melt and pour but it turned out to only be 10

Good news: I made 5lbs off melt and pour, had fours hours of crafting time without the cats bothering me, and I was able to pack off nearly 10lbs of soap for my parents.

Bad news: while soaping I dropped several unused pipettes in some spider webs

Good news: when one of the cats was starting to act like he was going to make a fuss he found the pipettes made great toys. (Then an hour later he went centipede hunting for me)


----------



## Kari Howie

BattleGnome said:


> Bad news: I thought I hand 15 pounds of melt and pour but it turned out to only be 10
> 
> Good news: I made 5lbs off melt and pour, had fours hours of crafting time without the cats bothering me, and I was able to pack off nearly 10lbs of soap for my parents.
> 
> Bad news: while soaping I dropped several unused pipettes in some spider webs
> 
> Good news: when one of the cats was starting to act like he was going to make a fuss he found the pipettes made great toys. (Then an hour later he went centipede hunting for me)


What a good kitty!


----------



## AliOop

Good news: I have been working from home for almost a decade, so my daily routine hasn't been upended much, if at all.

Bad news: my daughter, who is self-employed in an "essential business," came down with a cold and has to stay home from work, meaning no income for awhile. Fortunately for her, Bank of Mom is still open.


----------



## Lin19687

Bad news:  Son (& his GF) and I both work at Restaurants so we are no longer working.

Good news: we both have money saved in the bank.
Better news: he learned about saving money- or rather forgetting to deposit checks lol


----------



## BattleGnome

Kari Howie said:


> What a good kitty!



Ben is an ******* but I love him. He sleeps in my armpit. I think he goes out of his way to try to get stepped on cuz maybe I’ll drop food.

my other cats are Abby and Jack. Jack is too old to care about anything that doesn’t involve attention. Abby understands not getting my my way (tiny cat who has been accidentally stepped on) but will scream at me if she wants to know what I’m doing.


----------



## redhead1226

I’ve been working at home for many years now. So this really was not much of a change for me.


----------



## Lin19687

redhead1226 said:


> I’ve been working at home for many years now. So this really was not much of a change for me.View attachment 44610


Bwahahahaha  Love it


----------



## MaryAlice

Bad news: I'm officially classified as a "senior". Good news: local grocery has designated special time daily for seniors only to shop.  Obviously a few perks to "getting old".


----------



## Lin19687

MaryAlice said:


> Bad news: I'm officially classified as a "senior". Good news: local grocery has designated special time daily for seniors only to shop.  Obviously a few perks to "getting old".



When my Mum turned 63 and moved to AZ she turned from sad to 'getting old' to Thrilled.  Turns out that AZ had a ton of perks to being over 63 that she found out 
Age is just a number, ask my sister how annoying it is to Always tell me "when are you going to grow out of your Peter Pan phase hahahahha  Never !


----------



## MGM

Bad news: had a FO accelerate on me bigtime yesterday: it instantly filled the bell of my SB and hardened in there! (Stay tuned for rebatching experience and photos....)
Good news: today I got my first online grocery delivery: $420 worth! That was a whole of of merchandise to wash, so I cleaned up my soap kitchen and used the soap in the bell of the SB to fill my sink with sudz.


----------



## ShirleyHailstock

I had a major acceleration too. I thought I'd written this, but I didn't see it. Maybe I wasn't signed in. Anyway, the recipe was one I got from Anne-Marie. It involved palm oil which I'd never used before. The solution started to trace the moment, I blended the oils and lye-water. I hadn't even added the fragrance. I quickly added the fragrance and color, but it kept solidifying. I put it in the mold and set it in the oven. The result was a disaster. It took forever to get the soap out of my SB. I wanted to try again last night, but I'd used the last of my lye and going out with this virus in the air is only something I do if necessary. I put the needed components in my shopping cart and I'll order them today. Still, they are not scheduled to arrive until April 8th.


----------



## Lin19687

Good News: I can still ride a bicycle after 30 years 

Bad News: I thought i could just whip up the road 1/2 mile to see the Air Force Base no issue---- WRONG !  my legs are killing me lol

Bad news x2: 1/2 way there the Winds kicked up to 20mph coming INTO me, and then it started to hail Lentil size bits.  Did I say the wind was coming at my face?  

hahahahhaa


----------



## AliOop

Good news: a friend came over Monday (my office was closed for a long Easter weekend) to learn how to make soap. She has a chemistry degree and is a pharmacist, so it was really fun to say a few words about what we were doing, and sometimes not even have to finish my sentence. I mean, how often do you start to explain the issues with lye, and the person responds, "Oh yeah, makes sense because lye is hygroscopic."  Plus, she has experience blending EOs and came up with a wonderful blend that I wouldn't have considered. My cure room smells fantastic!

Bad news: she wanted a lavender soap, so we used a fairly high ratio of my alkanet-infused OO in her batch. After 3 days, the soap is still 100% tan, with no signs whatsoever of any pink, lavender, purple, etc. 

Good news: Oh well, it smells really lovely, and the scraps are already lathering well. Plus, she can't wait to come over on Saturday to soap with me again while I work on a yellow hot process soap challenge for another group.


----------



## PieBorg

Good news:  I found a ball of soap I made 20 years ago that I had repurposed for a different craft.  Now I remember that after seeing something about a lady spinning yarn and making beautiful sweaters from her dogs' fur, I thought I'd try spinning my cats' fur, so I used the soap ball as a weight on the spindle.  The spinning was a no-go, but surprisingly, the soap still lathers great after two decades.  However, it looks about like you would imagine -- not exactly the prettiest little thing, lol!

Bad news:  I've given up trying to salvage a disastrous batch of soap.  This was a recipe I've made about eleventyzillion times, but after switching for a while to CP, I've apparently lost any knack I ever had for making HP.  (Reminds me of when I switched from Texas Hold 'Em to Omaha and then back to Texas Hold 'Em.  Couldn't play poker worth a crap for a while.)  Anyway, this soap is being relegated to confetti status now.  I'm tired of messing with it.


----------



## ShirleyHailstock

ShirleyHailstock said:


> I had a major acceleration too. I thought I'd written this, but I didn't see it. Maybe I wasn't signed in. Anyway, the recipe was one I got from Anne-Marie. It involved palm oil which I'd never used before. The solution started to trace the moment, I blended the oils and lye-water. I hadn't even added the fragrance. I quickly added the fragrance and color, but it kept solidifying. I put it in the mold and set it in the oven. The result was a disaster. It took forever to get the soap out of my SB. I wanted to try again last night, but I'd used the last of my lye and going out with this virus in the air is only something I do if necessary. I put the needed components in my shopping cart and I'll order them today. Still, they are not scheduled to arrive until April 8th.



The tried the failed soap I made back in March. It lathers better than any of the other soaps I've made. I don't know what happened to make it accelerate so fast. It has white speckles in it. I'm not sure if that is unused lye. Anyway, I plan to rebatch it.


----------



## shunt2011

ShirleyHailstock said:


> The tried the failed soap I made back in March. It lathers better than any of the other soaps I've made. I don't know what happened to make it accelerate so fast. It has white speckles in it. I'm not sure if that is unused lye. Anyway, I plan to rebatch it. View attachment 46043
> View attachment 46044


if you think it's lye have you zap tested it?  If it's go loose lye you won't want to rebatch it either.  the lye won't dissolve.


----------



## ShirleyHailstock

shunt2011 said:


> If you think it's lye have you zap tested it?  If it's go loose lye you won't want to rebatch it either.  The lye won't dissolve.


I didn't do a zap test, but I will. I thought that was for HP soap. I do CP.  It didn't burn my skin when I used it.


----------



## earlene

ShirleyHailstock said:


> The tried the failed soap I made back in March. It lathers better than any of the other soaps I've made. I don't know what happened to make it accelerate so fast. It has white speckles in it. I'm not sure if that is unused lye. Anyway, I plan to rebatch it. View attachment 46043
> View attachment 46044


Have you zap tested the soap?  If it passes the zap test, it should be fine.

The flecks are more likely stearic spots.  Not knowing the actual recipe, and your temperatures, I can only venture a guess as to why it accelerated so fast.  But here are some likely possibilities:

Temperature of oils and lye solution affect trace ( see this link )
If you used a stick blender too vigorously ( see this link )

And excellent video:


About white spots in soap:








						What Are The White Spots In My Soap?
					

One of the topics that I see posted about in our Facebook Group Saponification Nation is people asking about white spots in their soap. This can be caused by a few different reasons. Let's explore!   Stearic Spots So I recently made a



					www.lovinsoap.com
				




Incidentally I cannot see the white spots in your picture, (my eyes or the smallness of the photo are probably the reason), but I also do not see anything that looks like lye pockets.

PS:  Zap test if for any lye soap.  I caution you to be careful with the zap test.  Follow these instructions: How To Properly/Safely Conduct The Zap/Tongue Test


----------



## ShirleyHailstock

earlene said:


> Have you zap tested the soap?  If it passes the zap test, it should be fine.
> 
> The flecks are more likely stearic spots.  Not knowing the actual recipe, and your temperatures, I can only venture a guess as to why it accelerated so fast.  But here are some likely possibilities:
> 
> Temperature of oils and lye solution affect trace ( see this link )
> If you used a stick blender too vigorously ( see this link )
> 
> And excellent video:
> 
> 
> About white spots in soap:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What Are The White Spots In My Soap?
> 
> 
> One of the topics that I see posted about in our Facebook Group Saponification Nation is people asking about white spots in their soap. This can be caused by a few different reasons. Let's explore!   Stearic Spots So I recently made a
> 
> 
> 
> www.lovinsoap.com
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Incidentally I cannot see the white spots in your picture, (my eyes or the smallness of the photo are probably the reason), but I also do not see anything that looks like lye pockets.
> 
> PS:  Zap test if for any lye soap.  I caution you to be careful with the zap test.  Follow these instructions: How To Properly/Safely Conduct The Zap/Tongue Test




Thank you for the comments. I read them before I started the soap project. I didn't SB too long because the moment I added the lye-water, it started to trace.


This was the recipe. I got it from Anne Marie and I added the lye-water to the oils at 110 degrees.


----------



## Lin19687

Please make a New Thread so others can help you with this in the Recipe Feedback or beginners forum


----------



## Misschief

Bad news - now that my husband has a new Mac, he hates using my computer because it's SO slow. I'm not sure if that's bad news or good news. It IS slow but not really that bad.

Good news - because my laptop is 8 years old and so slow (according to him), he suggested I go look at computers. I found one. It's a refurbished laptop from a very reputable local computer shop and it's where I got the last one. DH told me to get it so I now have a new laptop.

Bad news - new laptop = reinstalling everything I want to install on the new one and delete it from the old one = Time suck!

Good news - new laptop!

Bad news - my head aches!


----------



## earlene

Background Bad News:  My son's house here in town has drained their finances for a very long time because they kept getting tenants who couldn't/wouldn't pay the rent on time, incurring late fees on their mortgage.  This culminated in a 6 month run of no rent payments by the most recent tenant due to a moratorium on evictions (CoVid), non-payment of back rent + no rental paymens prior to moving out AT LAST in June. - 

Sure them moving out was Good News.  

The Bad News of them moving out was:  The house was a disaster & I volunteered to clean & get it ready to sell. 

The Good News was my granddaughter came back with me when we left Texas so she could help get her parents' rental house ready to sell.  

More Bad News was filth, absolute & disgusting filth, leaky pipes, damaged soffits and fascia outside, gutters in need of repair, damaged & broken appliances, grime & gum in the carpeting throughout the house, missing doorknobs, endless debris all over the yard, and expensive repairs in order to get it ready to sell.

Good News:  Hubby helped with repairs: soffits & fascia, gutters, & some interior work I wasn't up for; Granddaughter helped with cleaning, spackling, painting, yardwork.  Hubby replaced doorknobs as needed, changed locks, maintained the mowing each week (huge huge huge yard) and whatever I asked when it fit into his time-off work schedule.  We deep cleaned the interior, hired a good carpet cleaner, a painter to finish the trim &  woodwork for us, got the plumbers out to fix the major leak.

Good News:  They got an offer on the house within a few days of being put on the market, contingent on the usual inspections.  Yay! We're almost done!

Bad News: Not yet done.  Inspections lead to more issues  with corresponding expenses.  Since I am in town and son is in Texas, I coordinated & oversaw the work.  Problems found: Garage Door Opener wall switch malfunction; Water Heater vent not up to code; Radon System didn't pass; Drainage in basement from Utility Sink not up to code (non-existant washing machine used to drain into utility sink, which in turn drained into sump pump, which is a code violation); Door from Garage to House was not a fire door (actually it was per our contractor, but we chose to not argue)

Good News: Radon System is working, did not need repair - inspector accepted professional's report; Garage Door system repaired by professionals; Plumber replaced Water Heater (only option to correct the venting issue & it was old anyway) & eliminated the drainage issue by removing utility sink, bringing that up to code; Contractor replaced fire door with a brand new one that has the fire rating sticker on it to show it meets code.

Bad News: We get a call that the Termite inspector can't complete his inspection because the basement is flooded. We had 7 days of rain, & it happens with heavy rains, especially in that part of town, that basements get water.  We do sometimes, too, but not this time.  I go over there, yes, there is standing water about up to the bottom of my ankles in my Wellies at the deep part of the basement (the floor drain area).  I call my son, let him hear the sound of the sump pump motor as it attempts to pump out the water.  Decision to call the plumber yet again.

Good News: Plumber replaces the sump pump and the water is gone in no time flat!  (We later learn it was probably destroyed by the washing machine being drained into the sump pump and lint and whatever debris comes out of the washing machine is what caused the problem).  I mop the floor & use a fan to finish drying out the far corners of the basement before the Buyers walk-through that week-end.

Bad News: Buyers want more done after the walk-through last Saturday.  Son & DIL are getting irritated (have to admit, I am too.)  DIL says, 'we listed it as is.'  Son says, 'We did all we were required to do to get it up to code as found by inspectors.  We've already spent $3,000 on this and we can't afford any more.'  He's about at the end of his rope.  

(I suggest offering a $1,000 reduction in sale price in lieu of the other work the buyers want.)

More Bad News:  The city's plumbing inspector didn't pass the work the plumbers did when installing the water heater.  Well, I'm really irritated by this because the plumbing company already wet almost $400 over the estimate on that work as it was, and now they have to come back and do more and won't guarantee they won't charge more for what needs to be done!?!  I don't go ballistic, but I'm getting close to loosing it over this.  Still, I live here and can't afford to alienate the plumbing company.  My son lives in Texas, it won't affect him in the long term, if he gets upset.  But I'm the one who calls because he is at work all day and can't keep making personal phone calls.

Good News:  The Realtor contacted the Owner of the Plumbing company (apparently they have some sort of relationship, friends, professionally, or whatever) and they meet over at the house to discuss the issues regarding both the water heater installation not passing inspection AND the additional work the buyers want and how much that would cost.  The Owner of the plumbing company is concerned about having an unsatisfied customer (really?  I didn't get that from the person on the phone that very same morning when I called) and has said they will not charge anything for the work to get the installation to pass inspection.  Additionally, the owner of the plumbing company also guarantees the other work the buyers want can be done for $350, so my son doesn't have to reduce the selling price by $1,000 after all.  

So maybe it is done now.  It certainly should be, since it's now under 6 days to closing.  And then my son & DIL will only have to pay one mortgage.  It's been pretty tough on them paying 2 mortgages, coVid reducing their income and balancing their own expenses & sending money home to help with DIL's sick dad, who recently had surgery.


Of course, I didn't hear what the result of the termite inspection was, but I doubt that will be an issue.  God, I hope not!


----------



## BattleGnome

What an adventure. I’m glad you were able to be there for your son and the family could work together but geeze, those tenants should have had to pay for something


----------



## dibbles

@earlene all I can say is  I hope for the sake of your sanity this is all finally resolved.


----------



## Pepsi Girl

Bad news: It’s raining which I despise

Good News: The rain is clearing the smoke and helping the firefighters win the battle


----------



## Kiti Williams

earlene said:


> Background Bad News:  My son's house here in town has drained their finances for a very long time because they kept getting tenants who couldn't/wouldn't pay the rent on time, incurring late fees on their mortgage.  This culminated in a 6 month run of no rent payments by the most recent tenant due to a moratorium on evictions (CoVid), non-payment of back rent + no rental paymens prior to moving out AT LAST in June. -
> 
> Sure them moving out was Good News.
> 
> The Bad News of them moving out was:  The house was a disaster & I volunteered to clean & get it ready to sell.
> 
> The Good News was my granddaughter came back with me when we left Texas so she could help get her parents' rental house ready to sell.
> 
> More Bad News was filth, absolute & disgusting filth, leaky pipes, damaged soffits and fascia outside, gutters in need of repair, damaged & broken appliances, grime & gum in the carpeting throughout the house, missing doorknobs, endless debris all over the yard, and expensive repairs in order to get it ready to sell.
> 
> Good News:  Hubby helped with repairs: soffits & fascia, gutters, & some interior work I wasn't up for; Granddaughter helped with cleaning, spackling, painting, yardwork.  Hubby replaced doorknobs as needed, changed locks, maintained the mowing each week (huge huge huge yard) and whatever I asked when it fit into his time-off work schedule.  We deep cleaned the interior, hired a good carpet cleaner, a painter to finish the trim &  woodwork for us, got the plumbers out to fix the major leak.
> 
> Good News:  They got an offer on the house within a few days of being put on the market, contingent on the usual inspections.  Yay! We're almost done!
> 
> Bad News: Not yet done.  Inspections lead to more issues  with corresponding expenses.  Since I am in town and son is in Texas, I coordinated & oversaw the work.  Problems found: Garage Door Opener wall switch malfunction; Water Heater vent not up to code; Radon System didn't pass; Drainage in basement from Utility Sink not up to code (non-existant washing machine used to drain into utility sink, which in turn drained into sump pump, which is a code violation); Door from Garage to House was not a fire door (actually it was per our contractor, but we chose to not argue)
> 
> Good News: Radon System is working, did not need repair - inspector accepted professional's report; Garage Door system repaired by professionals; Plumber replaced Water Heater (only option to correct the venting issue & it was old anyway) & eliminated the drainage issue by removing utility sink, bringing that up to code; Contractor replaced fire door with a brand new one that has the fire rating sticker on it to show it meets code.
> 
> Bad News: We get a call that the Termite inspector can't complete his inspection because the basement is flooded. We had 7 days of rain, & it happens with heavy rains, especially in that part of town, that basements get water.  We do sometimes, too, but not this time.  I go over there, yes, there is standing water about up to the bottom of my ankles in my Wellies at the deep part of the basement (the floor drain area).  I call my son, let him hear the sound of the sump pump motor as it attempts to pump out the water.  Decision to call the plumber yet again.
> 
> Good News: Plumber replaces the sump pump and the water is gone in no time flat!  (We later learn it was probably destroyed by the washing machine being drained into the sump pump and lint and whatever debris comes out of the washing machine is what caused the problem).  I mop the floor & use a fan to finish drying out the far corners of the basement before the Buyers walk-through that week-end.
> 
> Bad News: Buyers want more done after the walk-through last Saturday.  Son & DIL are getting irritated (have to admit, I am too.)  DIL says, 'we listed it as is.'  Son says, 'We did all we were required to do to get it up to code as found by inspectors.  We've already spent $3,000 on this and we can't afford any more.'  He's about at the end of his rope.
> 
> (I suggest offering a $1,000 reduction in sale price in lieu of the other work the buyers want.)
> 
> More Bad News:  The city's plumbing inspector didn't pass the work the plumbers did when installing the water heater.  Well, I'm really irritated by this because the plumbing company already wet almost $400 over the estimate on that work as it was, and now they have to come back and do more and won't guarantee they won't charge more for what needs to be done!?!  I don't go ballistic, but I'm getting close to loosing it over this.  Still, I live here and can't afford to alienate the plumbing company.  My son lives in Texas, it won't affect him in the long term, if he gets upset.  But I'm the one who calls because he is at work all day and can't keep making personal phone calls.
> 
> Good News:  The Realtor contacted the Owner of the Plumbing company (apparently they have some sort of relationship, friends, professionally, or whatever) and they meet over at the house to discuss the issues regarding both the water heater installation not passing inspection AND the additional work the buyers want and how much that would cost.  The Owner of the plumbing company is concerned about having an unsatisfied customer (really?  I didn't get that from the person on the phone that very same morning when I called) and has said they will not charge anything for the work to get the installation to pass inspection.  Additionally, the owner of the plumbing company also guarantees the other work the buyers want can be done for $350, so my son doesn't have to reduce the selling price by $1,000 after all.
> 
> So maybe it is done now.  It certainly should be, since it's now under 6 days to closing.  And then my son & DIL will only have to pay one mortgage.  It's been pretty tough on them paying 2 mortgages, coVid reducing their income and balancing their own expenses & sending money home to help with DIL's sick dad, who recently had surgery.
> 
> 
> Of course, I didn't hear what the result of the termite inspection was, but I doubt that will be an issue.  God, I hope not!



Wow!  This is why my uncle (a many times over landlord) said my Mum and I were a Landlord's dream!  We took the time to go through what was our responsibility and what was his.  Yes, we rented from a relative, no we did not get a break on the rent!  He trained me in the art of hanging sheetrock, how to float the joint paper/mud, and how to run the duct work for the furnace.  I made apprentice level to journeyman level working on the house.  Skills I still have and have helped me with my own home!


----------



## TheGecko

Pepsi Girl said:


> Bad news: It’s raining which I despise
> 
> Good News: The rain is clearing the smoke and helping the firefighters win the battle



Did you notice how quickly the seasons changed?  I was Summer when the smoke in and we couldn’t see anything for well over a week.  Then the rains swept through and boom...it was Fall.

Considering how many towns we lost in our country, I’m thankful for the rain.


----------



## lenarenee

TheGecko said:


> Did you notice how quickly the seasons changed?  I was Summer when the smoke in and we couldn’t see anything for well over a week.  Then the rains swept through and boom...it was Fall.
> 
> Considering how many towns we lost in our country, I’m thankful for the rain.



Oregon has truly suffered; and I fear for landslides and flooding. Although I understand there's still a lot of fires spot burning underground...?

Our bad/good:  Summer doesn't start here until August, so we're at the hottest and getting drier every week. We still have morons firing off fireworks too.  Good news: Getting into the Autumn and Holiday spirit anyway; making Christmas soap tomorrow, painting crafts, dragging out Halloween.


----------



## BattleGnome

Good news: my husband replaced his death trap of a vehicle (and found out his credit score is AMAZING)

Bad news: my husband spent many thousands of dollars and locked us into a payment plan thats more than my mortgage (though to be fair, my mortgage is very low)


----------



## AliOop

Bad news: our truck wouldn't start yesterday.

Good news: Triple A came out and replaced (not just charged) the two batteries. Didn't know that they have a battery replacement program, and their price was lower than the local battery shop.

Bad news: Truck still wouldn't start.

Good news: Triple A driver towed it straight to our mechanic, who was available to work on it right before leaving on vacation. Normally he's booked out a week ahead.

Bad news: To get the truck to start, mechanic had to disconnect the new CarPlay radio with backup camera that was installed a few months ago.

Good news: The radio installation company looked up the parts that were used, and determined that they used the wrong wiring harness. They will fix this for free.

Bad news: They don't have a service opening for three weeks.

Good news: Bottom line, the truck is working just fine now. Since we sold our car very cheaply to a friend in need, the truck is our only transportation. I keep thinking maybe we should get a second vehicle, but each time we get through a "one-car crisis" like this one, it reinforces the fact that we are just fine with just one vehicle. I'm cheap and don't feel like spending the money to purchase, maintain, or insure another one.


----------



## linne1gi

Bad news - we had a pipe break inside our living room wall.  We got a plumber in to repair the leak and a company in to dry it out - now we are having a really hard time finding someone to replace the drywall.


----------



## KimW

Bad news:  6 inches of drifting snow fall (so 1ft in places), and snowblower broke tonight, and we have a 300 ft driveway.
Good news: We have two shovels!

Bad news:  As my rump is thawing and regaining feeling, it's itching like crazy.
Good news:  Nobody cares if I'm walking around scratching my rump.


----------



## Lin19687

linne1gi said:


> Bad news - we had a pipe break inside our living room wall.  We got a plumber in to repair the leak and a company in to dry it out - now we are having a really hard time finding someone to replace the drywall.


 You forgot the Good News part.

Bad news:  I have a Sinus infection.
Good news: I am Neg for Covid


----------



## KimW

Lin19687 said:


> You forgot the Good News part.
> 
> Bad news:  I have a Sinus infection.
> Good news: I am Neg for Covid


I give you a  for not having COVID, but a  for having a sinus infection.  I get those frequently and it really stinks.


----------



## earlene

Good News:  Washing Machine Delivery today (for house where my eldest son is now living) - I won't have to do his laundry much longer.  (He currently has no car, and snow is everywhere here, so he can't get to a laundromat on his own at this point.)

Bad News: It's going to cost $850.00 for the plumbers to create a legally (per building inspector) approved vented drainage system for the Washer. I had been told they could do it for $400.00 a while back, but apparently the B.I. nixed the proposed plan and now I am stuck with this expense and not happy about yet another financial drain. 

Irritation on top of irritation on top of irritation has put me into such a foul mood, and I have decided against going to Washington DC next week.  I don't want to risk the danger.  I told Hubby to go without me if he still wants to go.  They probably won't deploy him now anyway, but we still don't know for sure.  He and his co-workers are trained for security, but they don't wear riot gear or carry weapons, so they probably won't be needed.  So if he goes, he will be putting himself at risk IMO, but I have chosen against putting myself at risk.  I am feeling very badly about having to make this decision, however because I really wanted to be there.


----------



## lunasol

Bad news: my husband got a letter from the IRS saying there was a miscalculation and he owes 2k! 

Good news: my new cutter arrives today!!!!!!!!!


----------



## Zany_in_CO

lunasol said:


> Bad news: my husband got a letter from the IRS saying there was a miscalculation and he owes 2k!


Ouch!


lunasol said:


> Good news: my new cutter arrives today!!!!!!!!!


YAY!!!


----------



## msunnerstood

Good news: I finally bit the bullet, made the plunge, and bought a laserjet printer
Bad news: 3 hours of swearing, dang near crying and couldn't get it to print
Victory news: A huge silly missed setting on my part and I WON!! at least it feels that way looking at my nice shiny sheet of non-smearing labels!


----------



## linne1gi

linne1gi said:


> Bad news - we had a pipe break inside our living room wall.  We got a plumber in to repair the leak and a company in to dry it out - now we are having a really hard time finding someone to replace the drywall.


Good news, we finally got our dry wall replaced and painted and it looks like nothing ever happened.  More good news, we bought a new house! So new, it hasn’t been built yet.  Bad news, it will be about 8 months before we can move in.


----------



## amd

Bad news: woke up yesterday to no heat
Good news: do not need to replace the boiler, just need an electrician to come and fix the wiring from the fuse box to the boiler.


----------



## Corsara

Good news: my 6 month old learned to crawl
Bad news: we live in a barn with lots of non baby friendly areas, and he is way too fast for me


----------



## AliOop

Bad news: feeling crummy
Good news: it's not COVID, just spring allergies that arrive with the warm weather every year.
Bad news: it's going into a sinus infection
Good news: our chiropractor daughter is sending some herbal concoction that works for her. We have a lot of the same quirky health issues, so if something works for her, it usually works for me.
Bad news: that concoction won't arrive till Monday and my head might explode before then.


----------



## Tara_H

Hope you feel better soon, @AliOop!

Good news: my flowers in soap dough idea worked!
Bad news: I've just spent about €60 on PME cutters to expand my repertoire 

Good news: the gear ties I ordered arrived!
Bad news: the longest one is only about an inch longer than my loaf mould.
Good news: I figured out how to use extra ones to make handles!
Bad news: now I have no remaining excuse for not learning how to do all those fancy swirls...


----------



## Peachy Clean Soap

@AliOop hope you feel better soon.  

Good news I'm making lots of soap. Bad news I'm running out of room, I need a good sale asap!.


----------



## KimW

AliOop said:


> Bad news: feeling crummy
> Good news: it's not COVID, just spring allergies that arrive with the warm weather every year.
> Bad news: it's going into a sinus infection
> Good news: our chiropractor daughter is sending some herbal concoction that works for her. We have a lot of the same quirky health issues, so if something works for her, it usually works for me.
> Bad news: that concoction won't arrive till Monday and my head might explode before then.


Ugh - me too.  Just ordered the first of the season's allergy script.  I found out about neti pots about 15 years ago.  Game changer.  I now have one that is a bottle and easy to clean and sanitize.  'tis the season!
oops - bad news:  Allergies have already started
Good news:  Pharmacy had my prescription in stock, which has never before  happened.


----------



## AliOop

KimW said:


> I found out about neti pots about 15 years ago.  Game changer.  I now have one that is a bottle and easy to clean and sanitize.


I envy you being able to use the NetiPot! I always get an ear infection from those, but I hear so many get a lot of relief. XLear nose spray does help me a bit. Trying to find a hack to make it myself, since it is basically distilled water, Xylitol, and GSE.


----------



## KimW

AliOop said:


> I envy you being able to use the NetiPot! I always get an ear infection from those, but I hear so many get a lot of relief. XLear nose spray does help me a bit. Trying to find a hack to make it myself, since it is basically distilled water, Xylitol, and GSE.


Oh bummer.  My only frustration with using my netipot is that I can't really go anywhere that day because I never know when water will come streaming out of my nose.  Now I do this weird thing where I walk around the house with a tissue in hand and bend over as though I'm getting something off the bottom shelf at the grocery store.  Ask me how I know to do this...


----------



## AliOop

Bad news: the hair salon had their windows open today, so my allergies went nuts after being there.

Good news: got home to find that my anti-allergy supplements had arrived early (they weren't supposed to be here till Monday). Took the first couple doses already and can feel it making a difference. WHEW.


----------



## earlene

Tons of snow this year...

Good news: No basement flooding at either house when all the snow finally melted.

? news (good/bad): Elevated water table in the aquifers under town - good for the town wells; problematic when we get rainstorms.

Bad news:  We had daily rain for 6 or 7 days in a row, ending with a full day of non-stop rain, which rose the water tables so high that it had nowhere to go, but into people's basements.  Yesterday we had 5-6 inches of standing water in our basement.

Bad news:  Hubby was at work when I discovered the furnace was making quite a racket & went to look and saw water just below the top of the bottom step into the basement & things floating.  Of course, I turned off the furnace (from upstairs) & made sure to wait for the fan to stop (no way to turn it off from upstairs) while set to auto.   It took a few minutes, but once the furnace stopped trying to produce heat, the fan did stop.

Bad news: My dominant hand is useless to do anything to help with the basement dry out, so Hubby had to do it all himself when he got home from work.  He had to go buy a pump & some hoses & clamps & pumped water out through a basement window out to the driveway & far down toward the street. We have a long drive, so it was a long hose, since we don't want the water just soaking back into the ground near the foundation.

Good news:  A few hours into this  process, more than 80% of the water was gone from the basement.

Bad news:  It started seeping back in because the water table is still high and the storm drains are overloaded, so there's nowhere for the water to go until the  water table levels decrease and storm drains drain more water away from our neighborhood. Hubby's back was killing him from sweeping water toward the area where the pump sat (the lowest point in that basement room.)  I know how that goes: I've swept my fair share of water toward drains or open doors in my lifetime (in this and other houses after flooding incidents.

Good news:  Overnight the water didn't rise above what it was when I went to sleep (about 3 inches deep.)   So the Hubs started up again pumping water out of the basement.  When the plumbing company opened up, I called for a service call to assess the water heater (pilot light & burner unit flooded) & the furnace (same, plus the motor & fan & anything else possibly damaged.)

Good news:  Plumber with great sense of humor, and of course, the necessary skills, came out within an hour.  Water heater burner unit needed cleaning up & drying out & he got that done pretty quickly, lit the pilot light & we now  have hot water again.  Furnace was a bigger, more time consuming fix, but it's done now too.  The motor needed drying out; same with the fan; needed a new non-soggy filter; needed a new circuit board.  The fan had thrown water all over inside and burned out the circuit board.  Fairly straightforward fix and now we heat again.

Bad news:  Water keeps on coming.  Also there are three distinct rooms, one with a long narrow closet, so basically 4 rooms in our basement, all with their own high & low points; the water level in each room can remain independent of the other two room because of the high points between the doorways.  So basically, lakes in each room independent of the others when the water remains below those high points, which happens because....

Bad news: There are floor drains in only two of these rooms.

Good/bad news: The water heater is in one room with a floor drain.  The furnace is in the other room with a floor drain.  Why is this good or bad?  During flooding, water rises from below ground up through the drains.  When is it good?  When the humidifier in the AC needs to drain water, there is a drain where the hose drains toward; same for water heater in other room. Of course this is only good when the drains are draining water away, not when they are spewing water into the basement.

Bad news:  These floor drains appear (at this point in Hubby's estimation) not to be connected to each other in any way.  The floor is solid concrete, of course, so we can't really check on this. How does he come to this conclusion? When he runs the pump in one room, it has no effect on the other room that has a drain.  Water is seeping up through the drains (which drain to a layer of rocks/pebbles below the house.)  So periodically, he moves the pump between the two rooms to pump out water to keep it below the level of the water heater bottom.  Then back again to do the same in the room with the furnace.

Bad news: Hubby doesn't think he can go to work tomorrow unless the water stays below an inch or so; low enough as to not put out the water heater pilot light & flood the burner unit.  He believes he will have to babysit the pump all night long because it has to be unplugged when the water gets too low & plugged back in when the water level starts rising again; like about every 15 minutes.  I told him I could do that  & had to prove it by bringing out my spare (for travel) surge protector with an on/off switch & plugging the power cord in with that, because I can't unplug or plug the two cords (the pump's power cord &  long extension cord) together any other way (my hand is in a cast & I can't grip them well enough without use of my thumb or pinky finger).  But I can flip an on/off switch.  Of course he is still worried I won't do it well enough while he sleeps or while he is at work.  So, unless he is willing to trade shifts with me, he plans to be up all night & not go to work again tomorrow so he can babysit the pump, until the water table decreases.

Good news:  He is planning to go buy a wet/dry vac so he can suck up water in the other rooms, carry it and dump that water near the pump, so he (or I) won't have to keep moving the pump between rooms.

Bad news:  I do not know if I can manage emptying a wet/dry vac. with my dominant hand (and thumb & pinky finger) out of commission.   I will only know after he buys it and we test that out.  I had one years ago, but got rid of it years before we moved out here.

Bad news:  He doesn't seem interested in learning the speed of water seepage gauged to depth.  IMO, that would give us a reasonable estimation of exactly how often the pump has to be turned back on, which would mean neither of us would have to sit on the basement steps babysitting the pump continually.  

Good news:  Once he gets so exhausted, he has to sleep, I can do that & maybe come up with a schedule and use my kitchen timer or phone alarms to set up a timely schedule to use going forward.

Good news:  Forecast says no rain for the next 10 days.


----------



## Claudette Carignan

Good news: I get my first Pfizer  covid vaccine this Friday 

Bad news: I get My second Pfizer vaccine August 6th

Good News: At least I’ll have some protection


----------



## KimW

Claudette Carignan said:


> Good news: I get my first Pfizer  covid vaccine this Friday
> 
> Bad news: I get My second Pfizer vaccine August 6th
> 
> Good News: At least I’ll have some protection


Oh that just stinks.  Glad your first one is soon, but sorry the second is so far out.


----------



## Claudette Carignan

KimW said:


> Oh that just stinks.  Glad your first one is soon, but sorry the second is so far out.


Thanks! Our government has gone against the pharmaceutical guidelines for the recommended 21 - 28 days for administrating the second dose. They want as many people to be able to get the first shot. They screwed up big time buying the vaccine from day one. But one shot is better then none. Hopefully we will get more soon and they will go with the recommendation as there is no studies done to see how effective the second shot will be after the 4 month period.


----------



## Jersey Girl

Good News...I am fully vaccinated.
Bad News...It’s the dreaded J&J vaccine and I have a blood clotting disorder..


----------



## kasilofchrisn

The bad news is half the new chicks I ordered arrived at the feed store dead.
They lost 95 of a hundred easter eggers and can't get any more of this breed.
Good news is our other local feed store is getting some in this Friday and had some unspoken for that I signed up for 
Hopefully these and my barred rocks arrive ok!


----------



## earlene

Good news:  The water has stopped rising in our basement as of sometime yesterday.  Hubby & I alternated shifts running the pump & the wet/dry vac & emptying the portable de-humidifier in each of the prospective rooms. He stayed home on my birthday to deal with it mostly on his own, but went to work yesterday & today. We actually have some dry spots on some parts of the floors; puddles on others as the water seeps away from the high spots. 

Bad news: The huge portable industrial sized fan we use for drying out giant water messes like this (and other purposes) isn't working.  (It was working fine when we used it at the other house a few months ago to dry out the floor after that basement flooded.) The motor or the wiring must have got wet & hasn't dried yet, or worse.  Water was spraying everywhere a few times in this process (heater fan; pump/hose connection).  Hope Hubby can fix it.  I draped the bottom of the rug that covers the stair steps into the basement over a bucket so the remaining water will drip off of it & plugged the fan in to hurry the process.

Good news:  We do have a back up fan.  I'll bring the box fan in from the garage; maybe it'll help dry out the motor on the industrial fan as well as the rug & floors.  We'll probably be running fans for at least a week down there.

Good news: I will get out of the house today; hooray!  Son will pick me up & we're going to get his Driver's License, Auto registration, Voter registration & all that sort of thing.  It'll be good to get out for a few hours!  And I can do a couple of errands I haven't been able to do since I haven't been able to drive for a week now.  (I wanted to take a short test drive on the weekend, then the basement flooded. - maybe this weekend.)


----------



## ravenscents

Bad news my MIL is under hospice care and her time with us are days. 
Good news she is home with us and her  time left is full of love and dignity.


----------



## earlene

I am sorry to learn of you MIL's illness, but glad to know her final days will be with her loved ones.


ravenscents said:


> Bad news my MIL is under hospice care and her time with us are days.
> Good news she is home with us and her  time left is full of love and dignity.


----------



## earlene

Good News:  The industrial sized fan wasn't not working.  I just couldn't find (forgot where it was located) the on/off switch because the basement is so dark in that room.  It's working and doing a great job of drying out the hard-to-reach still-wet areas in that basement room.  

Bad News:  When I switched the smaller Box Fan to run on high overnight, I actually switched it to the off position, so that room went almost 24 hours without fan assist drying.  Again, it's the lighting down there, I need ti start carrying a flashlight with me.  

Good News: Immediately after starting back up on the 5-HTP Plus supplement, I started sleeping through the night, not even waking up to use the toilet until at least 6+ hours of sleep (as opposed to ~4 hours as per usual).  Two nights in a row - fabulous!

Bad News:   I fell asleep on the couch, took a 3 hour nap & woke up before midnight, now I am staying awake on computer rather than going to bed and getting that full night's sleep.  I am tired, though.  Maybe I'll eat some oatmeal & cheddar for the tryptophan and go to bed.


----------



## Johnez

Bad news: my hours at work are dwindling down to below 40
Good news: I'm not being forced in 6 days a week for 65 hour weeks
Better news: a promotion may be in the horizon


----------



## Johnez

Jersey Girl said:


> Good News...I am fully vaccinated.
> Bad News...It’s the dreaded J&J vaccine and I have a blood clotting disorder..



Oh dang. From what I'm reading the risk is near miniscule and if I have read this correctly the blood clot issue with the J&J vac is actually lower than when compared to the general population. Also have to consider this-COVID is far far more likely to cause blood clots. If you were to pick getting the vax or getting COVID from a blood clot risk point of view, you're better off with the vax. That said, if you're on birth control that might be a compounding issue. Be aware, but I wouldn't be too worried ATM. And of course speak with your medical professional if you've got any concerns as they're more likely to be able to fully assess the risks-a lot of what's in the media is pure blind garbage without context right now.


----------



## Claudette Carignan

I’m on my way to get my first vaccine for covid. I’m getting the Pfizer!!


----------



## Tara_H

Good news: I bit the bullet and ordered a bunch of fragrances and other things I really wanted from soap kitchen last payday.
Bad news: it's still not here a week later (still shows as pending on their website) and I'm running out of FO! So I basically can make soap as long as I'm ok with it smelling like rhubarb...
Good news: their support guy was very helpful and was able to track down my package and let me know it was shipped a few days ago.
Bad news: it was returned back to their office by the courier shortly before I called and he doesn't know why...
Good(ish) news: he said he'll ship it back out to me immediately, fingers crossed it gets here soon or I'm going to crack and pay double the price for EO from the chemist again.


----------



## BattleGnome

Bad news: I missed signing up for a free tree from Lowe’s (through their spring event)

Good news: the apple trees I ordered in November will be here soon so I still get to start planning my garden (after 6 years). Tracking says they’re in town but I don’t know if they deliver Saturdays. Monday evening the latest


----------



## Tara_H

Tara_H said:


> Good news: I bit the bullet and ordered a bunch of fragrances and other things I really wanted from soap kitchen last payday.
> Bad news: it's still not here a week later (still shows as pending on their website) and I'm running out of FO! So I basically can make soap as long as I'm ok with it smelling like rhubarb...
> Good news: their support guy was very helpful and was able to track down my package and let me know it was shipped a few days ago.
> Bad news: it was returned back to their office by the courier shortly before I called and he doesn't know why...
> Good(ish) news: he said he'll ship it back out to me immediately, fingers crossed it gets here soon or I'm going to crack and pay double the price for EO from the chemist again.


Good news: I now know why they were sent back be the courier last time.
Bad news: it's because there was an extra €50 of customs to be paid 
Good news: I believe it's now finally on its way to me so soon I will have all the smells!
Bad news: I already cracked and bought some EO just to avoid going cold turkey...


----------



## MGM

Good news: I finally found a cardamom essential oil that I felt I could afford ($25 CAD for 30ml), from a Canadian company, even.
Bad news: The bottle smashed sometime in transit.
Good news: Amazon refunded it immediately, as well as the cost of the other items in the package (pinto beans, and, ironically, a pound of ground cardamom).
Even better news: The porch smells lovely, since that's where I've left the smashed bottle for now...


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## earlene

Good News:  Yesterday my cast was removed and my dominant hand was FREE for the first time since April 7th surgery.
Stitches were removed from finger & thumb.

I have a pin in my thumb with a head that makes it look like a giant dressmaker's pin sticking out of my skin.  It had to be pulled back about a quarter of an inch.

Good News: That didn't hurt hardly at all; I barely felt it.

Bad News:  I have to wear a cast for 2 more weeks!  No therapy until sometime after that.

Good News:  My pinky finger is free this time, but with Kitty Baby tenderly nibbling on my fingers to get me to wake up & feed her, I will have to wear a bandage to cover the incision site a bit longer.


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## earlene

Bad News:  A glitch of some sort prevented me from completing an order for some Fragrance Oils (the glitch was with website itself is my guess).  The link between their site and Paypal was not properly communicating, so I tried twice & was worried that either it didn't go through & I missed out on the sale, OR it did go through and I sent a double order. But since it didn't show up on either site as having been completed, I emailed to find out. It simply did not go through.

Good News:  I saved $114.94.  So even though the sale is over & I decided not to send the order now, I haven't really lost out.  I don't need 4 more pounds of Fragrance Oils right now anyway.


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## Tara_H

Good news, my mum is coming to visit today and we'll have almost a week together to hang out and do soapy/crafty stuff and generally be on holiday. Even the weather is meant to improve!
Bad news, my mum is coming to visit today and the house is only half cleaned, the bathroom is still partly being used as a storage area, and all my soapy supplies need reorganising, tidying, and cataloguing so I don't spend the week running around trying to find things


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## Vicki C

Tara_H said:


> Good news, my mum is coming to visit today and we'll have almost a week together to hang out and do soapy/crafty stuff and generally be on holiday. Even the weather is meant to improve!
> Bad news, my mum is coming to visit today and the house is only half cleaned, the bathroom is still partly being used as a storage area, and all my soapy supplies need reorganising, tidying, and cataloguing so I don't spend the week running around trying to find things


Enjoy your time with your mum! i love that she will make soap with you.


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## KimW

Tara_H said:


> Good news, my mum is coming to visit today and we'll have almost a week together to hang out and do soapy/crafty stuff and generally be on holiday. Even the weather is meant to improve!
> Bad news, my mum is coming to visit today and the house is only half cleaned, the bathroom is still partly being used as a storage area, and all my soapy supplies need reorganising, tidying, and cataloguing so I don't spend the week running around trying to find things


How FUN!!!  
In the end we know Mum won't care and might likely get a chuckle on the insidewatching you running around trying to finds things - even if she didn't show it on the outside.      But, yeah, I'd be tidying like a little banshee too.


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## earlene

I am wearing a brace/splint again.  First broken bone in my life: 5th metacarpal, right hand.  It happened when I fell upstairs the morning my new refrigerator was delivered.  And, yes, it is my surgical hand and the surgical hand finger.

Below is the xray of my hand and a stock photo of the brace/splint I am now wearing:






I see a bad mood in my foreseeable future.  This darn thing is so hot & uncomfortable.  And quite restrictive, although it really does protect the finger, which when bumped (which seems to happen way more often than one would think) at least I don't feel excruciating pain.  I can remove for washing up, but it is really really really difficult to get on and off, so I just may not be washing up as much as usual for a few days.  And sleeping in this thing is really uncomfortable.  It woke me up during the night last night.  I don't even remember waking up because of the cast I wore in April.

I go back in 2 weeks for follow up.  I may or may not need to have more surgery on this hand.  I won't be telling the Humira people about it, though if I do.  They'd be keeping me on the phone for an hour asking me all kinds of stupid questions and then call be back for another 45 minutes to ask the same ones all over again because someone didn't take good enough notes!  That happened because I reported that I had to skip a dose for my surgery (per Dr orders) and they asked the most ridiculous questions like, did I beleive the Humira caused the ganglion cyst that had to be surgically removed or the skiier's thumb injury and blah blah blah, the gangrene I NEVER TOLD THEM they think I told them I had, GAWDAWFUL note taking on someone's part!  I ended up telling them I do NOT want them to telephone me again, that they can send me an email & I will fill out forms online.  I can read better than I can hear (when they don't speak clearly & succinctly) and I certainly hope they can read better than they can takes notes when I speak, because clearly the first guy did did not so well the first time.


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## earlene

It's been a long time since this thread was used, but today I had a very upsetting hour as a result of some 'system error' at Amazon.

I received an email dated yesterday that they have charged me again for something I sent back to them in December 2021, which was not what I had bought & paid for on Dec. 3, 2021.  What I ordered was not what was delivered, so I contacted them immediately (took photos of course) and was sent a replacement immediately.  I returned the incorrect item (a smaller sized tablet of lesser value and less features, etc.) which had been delivered on Dec 5.  The replacement item was delivered to me on Dec. 7, so very prompt service.  I was very happy with the prompt service, at that time.  

The UPS guy was a pain, showed up but was angry I had not left the package (unattended) on my porch, but had to chase him into the street to give it to him.  Told him 'No way I'm leaving such an expensive item unattended on the doorstep'.  I was told by the Amazon representative I had spoken with on the phone to schedule the return that UPS would let me know upon arrival because I was not comfortable leaving something so expensive unattended on my doorstep.  He didn't; I was just paying attention and saw him leaving my property.

Because of that interaction, I tracked the package to be sure it was returned and therefore I kept a digital copy of the Proof of Delivery on my computer.  The return was delivered to them on Dec. 9, 2021.  Thankfully I have that.

Well, first I called and spoke with a woman who didn't share all the information Amazon has on this purchase, return and replacement and double charge issue.  She asked if I had a receipt from the UPS guy and then also told me the order is too old to find information so she was submitting it for investigation.  But when she asked me for the order number I gave her the replacement order number, not the original order number, which I only realized after we were off the phone.  So I called back and spoke to someone else.  The second lady told me more information.  She told me they did have that information, including the tracking number of the return, which the first lady said they did not have.  But she did not tell me they had a copy of the Proof of Delivery.  So after we got off the phone and found that I do have a digital copy of the Proof of Delivery, I called back yet again and spoke to a 3rd CSR.  Well, when I asked if I should email them a copy of the Proof of Delivery of the return that I have from UPS, he told me they already had that, too!  So I asked, then why was a charged again for the purchase I already paid for over 6 months ago and he said it was probably a system error.

OMG, it was like pulling teeth!  Anyway, I am much more confident that my additional charge will be refunded to me, now that I know they have all that information.  No one on the phone ever actually challenged that I had sent the return, but that email saying they were charging me again claiming I had not returned the item was really upsetting because, hey it's a lot of money and UPS provided me with proof of delivery!

And would they have refunded my money if I had not contacted them?  Of course not.  So how could the system make this error when all the information is already in the system in the first place?  So frustrating, and yet another example of why it is so important to keep a close eye on all things financial, including reading emails in a timely way in order to catch these kinds of things, frustrating though they may be.


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## linne1gi

Just goes to show you to


earlene said:


> It's been a long time since this thread was used, but today I had a very upsetting hour as a result of some 'system error' at Amazon.
> 
> I received an email dated yesterday that they have charged me again for something I sent back to them in December 2021, which was not what I had bought & paid for on Dec. 3, 2021.  What I ordered was not what was delivered, so I contacted them immediately (took photos of course) and was sent a replacement immediately.  I returned the incorrect item (a smaller sized tablet of lesser value and less features, etc.) which had been delivered on Dec 5.  The replacement item was delivered to me on Dec. 7, so very prompt service.  I was very happy with the prompt service, at that time.
> 
> The UPS guy was a pain, showed up but was angry I had not left the package (unattended) on my porch, but had to chase him into the street to give it to him.  Told him 'No way I'm leaving such an expensive item unattended on the doorstep'.  I was told by the Amazon representative I had spoken with on the phone to schedule the return that UPS would let me know upon arrival because I was not comfortable leaving something so expensive unattended on my doorstep.  He didn't; I was just paying attention and saw him leaving my property.
> 
> Because of that interaction, I tracked the package to be sure it was returned and therefore I kept a digital copy of the Proof of Delivery on my computer.  The return was delivered to them on Dec. 9, 2021.  Thankfully I have that.
> 
> Well, first I called and spoke with a woman who didn't share all the information Amazon has on this purchase, return and replacement and double charge issue.  She asked if I had a receipt from the UPS guy and then also told me the order is too old to find information so she was submitting it for investigation.  But when she asked me for the order number I gave her the replacement order number, not the original order number, which I only realized after we were off the phone.  So I called back and spoke to someone else.  The second lady told me more information.  She told me they did have that information, including the tracking number of the return, which the first lady said they did not have.  But she did not tell me they had a copy of the Proof of Delivery.  So after we got off the phone and found that I do have a digital copy of the Proof of Delivery, I called back yet again and spoke to a 3rd CSR.  Well, when I asked if I should email them a copy of the Proof of Delivery of the return that I have from UPS, he told me they already had that, too!  So I asked, then why was a charged again for the purchase I already paid for over 6 months ago and he said it was probably a system error.
> 
> OMG, it was like pulling teeth!  Anyway, I am much more confident that my additional charge will be refunded to me, now that I know they have all that information.  No one on the phone ever actually challenged that I had sent the return, but that email saying they were charging me again claiming I had not returned the item was really upsetting because, hey it's a lot of money and UPS provided me with proof of delivery!
> 
> And would they have refunded my money if I had not contacted them?  Of course not.  So how could the system make this error when all the information is already in the system in the first place?  So frustrating, and yet another example of why it is so important to keep a close eye on all things financial, including reading emails in a timely way in order to catch these kinds of things, frustrating though they may be.


 keep all these receipts.  So glad you did.  And sorry this happened to you.


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## earlene

linne1gi said:


> Just goes to show you to
> 
> keep all these receipts.  So glad you did.  And sorry this happened to you.


As it happens, I got an email before the end of the day yesterday that the money has been refunded.  I just checked the CC to which it was charged, and it doesn't show yet, but I'll be keeping an eye on that card.  Hopefully it will be posted in a day or two.  I was actually thinking of filing a dispute over that charge, but if it gets credited back in a day or two, I won't have to bother.

So that is Good News.

Other good news/bad news.  Plumbing at my son's house (we own it) has had sluggish drain in kitchen sink.  I've put weak lye solution down the drain a couple of times, which helps temporarily, and Hubby has cleaned out the P-trap a couple of times.  But it keeps getting sluggish again.  Something must be lower in the drain, says Hubby, so the plumber is over there this morning.  He had to cut into the wall on the other side, luckily a room not used for much, but the wall will need to be repaired & re-painted after this.  Hubby just went over there to talk to the plumber & ask that he install an access panel on that wall.  If we're lucky he can repair sufficiently to prevent this recurring problem.  We are hoping it is not going to require cutting into the wall in the basement to gain access to the crawl space (partial basement has a wall covering access to the crawl space where the pipes to the kitchen are not visible to use because of that wall.)

Hubby actually wants to knock out that wall, enlarge the kitchen and make a bathroom in that room to be bigger than the one just across the hall (it is very tiny and cramped.)  I hope he doesn't start talking to the plumber about that because when he does stuff like that, the workers don't finish everything and I'm left with living with unfinished parts of the house because the worker thinks he's going to act on these "wants" very soon.  There is a section of floor from the back hallway into my laundry room that did not tiled because Hubby had all these "future plans" for renovating the laundry room.  That's never going to happen, but I still have to cover this section of floor with throw rugs so I don't have to look at it.


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## linne1gi

Yikes!


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## TheGecko

Most of my Amazon returns have been done through Kohl's...drop it off, get a receipt, my [amazon] account is credited the next day.  But one time I needed to return a purchase via UPS.  It turned out that none of our UPS places in town were 'authorized' so my quick drop off on the way to work turned into a half day adventure.  So it gets dropped and...I wait and I wait and I wait.  It took almost two weeks for the item to be actually returned and then another week for the credit to show on my [amazon] account.

And I keep saying 'amazon account' because that is where the refund goes to.


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## linne1gi

My UPS store takes my Amazon returns readily.  No packaging even needed.


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## AliOop

Most of my Amazon returns go to Whole Foods, but I had one yesterday that went to the UPS store. I was in and out in less than 30 seconds. But it does seem to take them longer to credit returns, whereas the returns to Whole Foods show immediately in my account (of course, because they are owned by Amazon).


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## earlene

Since that experience with the UPS driver, I also drop off locally.  As long as we have a UPS drop-off site in our tiny little town (we apparently have 2 or 3, but I've only been to one of them once for UPS drop-off) I will continue to do it that way (unless I am traveling and that's another whole problem when returns are necessary by a certain date.)

I ordered a couple of things to use while traveling in Italy that I would have returned if I could have, but I was unable to access my Amazon account at all while out of the country.  I suppose that makes for a secure site, in that no one overseas could access my account and run up a huge bill, but it was annoying when I had thought, well I am at this address for a full week, I can order a replacement whatever and possibly return the items that did not meet my standards.

Gecko, when you say your refunds go back to your Amazon account, do you mean onto a gift card as credit, or to do you also have an Amazon credit card and they go back to it as credit? 

I have had refunds get credited to a gift card, which I don't like because usually those gift cards were given to someone else & I worry that they will use the card (if they still even have it.)  Apparently there is an option to choose how the refund will come, but I don't recall seeing an option each time I have requested a refund (link). And since this took place over the telephone, I really have no idea if they assumed where to credit the refund, as I don't think I was asked. It has not showed up on any gift card associated with my account, so I am assuming it will go back to my credit card.


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## linne1gi

AliOop said:


> Most of my Amazon returns go to Whole Foods, but I had one yesterday that went to the UPS store. I was in and out in less than 30 seconds. But it does seem to take them longer to credit returns, whereas the returns to Whole Foods show immediately in my account (of course, because they are owned by Amazon).


You're lucky, my closest Whole Foods is about 1 1/2 hours away.  Even my UPS store is about 20 minutes away.  Since we moved, everything seems to be far.


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## TheGecko

earlene said:


> Gecko, when you say your refunds go back to your Amazon account, do you mean onto a gift card as credit, or to do you also have an Amazon credit card and they go back to it as credit?



I have two bank accounts (debit VISA) and an Amazon VISA and regardless of which account I use, the refund goes to my Amazon account as a ‘gift card’ than back to the bank account or credit card.

It’s kind of annoying, but not a huge deal in the long one since I have monthly orders for cat food and coffee


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## RevolutionSoap

Good News:  I had weight loss surgery back in April and have been losing tons of weight that I needed desperatly to lose.

Bad News:  During surgery they burst the artery to my spleen.  So... now I have no spleen.  #spleenless


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## Zany_in_CO

RevolutionSoap said:


> Good News: I had weight loss surgery back in April and have been losing tons of weight that I needed desperatly to lose.





RevolutionSoap said:


> Bad News: During surgery they burst the artery to my spleen. So... now I have no spleen. #spleenless


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## Steve85569

Good news - I got a new cardiologist the beginning of May.

The bad news - He gives me more and different meds every twos weeks. And LOTS of tests.

On the other hand I'm feeling enough better that I'm online again...


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