Join Us for the "ME" CAL!

[JulieKay]

Morning ladies

Judy-so sorry to hear about another of your friends battling the same disease . They have made so many positive steps in fighting it, every day I keep hoping they will announce a cure . You and your friend and her family will be in my thoughts .

It sounds like she is approaching it with a real good attitude, which helps a lot .

 

Welcome to Debbie-- I have a nosey question--- tell us a little more about your hubster. Sounds like we have an interesting new specimen to examine .

 

Mel-don't feel bad about ranting or rambling. We all do it from time to time. This is supposed to be a comfortable place where you can come do that if you get frustrated .

 

Hope you all have a good day and get some crochet time in .

 

My parents are up from Florida just for a couple days--- they need to get their affairs in order . they moved down there about a year and a half ago and still have a bank account here, insurance, etc, so I think they may be switching all that off up here and on down there. Not sure ---

anyhow, they will probably be here for about 2 or 3 days at most- they are very impatient and always in a hurry, so it won't be a long visit-- they'll have to "get on the road" again soon .

[judianne]

Thanks, Julie.

Miss you here!!

I hope your time with parents goes smoothly and things get accomplished...

Hugs....

[Aussie]

Judy Im so sorry to hear about your friend. You hear of more and more people that have this disease but when it hits close to home its harder to deal with. Im sure she will love the blanket your making for her and it will bring her lots of comfort. She sounds like a fighter and she has lots of suppport from friends and family.:manyheart

[JulieKay]

Thanks Judy

Yea, I know, I need to start checking in here more often.

 

Kinda been slacking in the boards area, but have been trying to do a little more on the crochet end, so at least it might be balancing out in some way .

 

What colors are you doing for your friend's afghan, or have you already said ?

[Aussie]

Thought I'd post an update on my wave ghan. I am on the 10th variegated stripe. I'm making slow but steady progress on it. I'll try to take pictures tomorrow.

 

Time to finish my 'adult beverage' then head off to bed. I have to be up at 4:00 AM. But I have a feeling I will have a hard time sleeping tonight. I was offered a new position at work, and I have no idea if I am going to accept it. My mind has been spinning since I received the offer. I need to ask a few more questions about it, then I'll make my final decision. I will get a raise, no more early mornings, and I will be out of a department that is wearing me down physically. I just don't know if I am up to all of the training and hoops I'll have to jump through. Decisions, decisions. Now you see why the adult beverage was in order this evening

Hopefully tomorrow I will have the answers to my questions that I didn't think of today. Sorry I rambled on and on. Sleep well everyone

 

Mel congratulations on the new position. Let us know if you decide to take it. Well done on your wave ghan too by the way.

[judianne]

TY, Wendy...

 

And the ghan is a take off on the cancer survivors ghan: Coffee brown 12 inch squares, with only 4 "ribbon" squares (in each corner) and her name across one row...in RHSS Rose Pink. Phil helped with the color choices and design of course - he always tells me to stop making thngs so complicated:blush. So I need more of those colors...it's a very warm and cozy look. I never would have thought to use them together.

And her name (Judy) and the ribbons will be graphed insted of filet.

[luvtocrochet757]

Morning all,

 

Mel, I hope your decision is easier this morning.

 

Julie, have a great visit with your parents.

 

Judy, make sure you take pictures of the ghan.

 

Have a good day!

[busy-bee-lmt]

Judy, it's so hard when cancer hits our loved ones. My prayers are with both of you. The afghan you are making sounds marvelous.

Julie, have a good time with your folks while they are there.

Mel, good luck on your decision. I've found that listing all the pros and cons on both sides of a problem can sometimes be a good way to help with choices. I'm sure you'll make a good choice, whatever you decide to do.

Someone on one of the CALs posted a link to friendshipshawls.org. Thank you to whoever it was. I am making the Celtic Knot Shawl from that site as a prayer shawl. It's a wonderful pattern. I'm using RHSS in blueberry pie. (Just one more thing to throw in the mix of stuff I'm doing. :lol )

[judianne]

Thanks, Linda...and I will take a pic of the ghan. I just got back from AC Moore and picked up all the yarn I'll need, so I'm set.

[losingmymind2]

It's gotten to the point I pray for all those with cancer instead of each person on my list by name sometimes. Just too many to remember, sadly. I wonder if it's something in the environment, or a consequence of living longer and longer. Don't forget centuries ago, 40 was ELDERLY.

[Krystal16]

Kathy,

 

I think it's a combination. As Americans we eat too many refined foods, too many chemicals and lead too sedentary of lives. We also are living longer than some of our bodies are designed for, so more quirky things are bound to go wrong at the cellular level. At least, that's my opinion..

[Misa]

Kathy,

 

I think it's a combination. As Americans we eat too many refined foods, too many chemicals and lead too sedentary of lives. We also are living longer than some of our bodies are designed for, so more quirky things are bound to go wrong at the cellular level. At least, that's my opinion..

 

 

Must say I agree. I'm glad for folks that live to 100 and are well but the human body just wasn't cut out for it

 

Julie - Have fun with Mom and Dad

[judianne]

Kathy, I agree with you about the longevity thing, and your "general" prayer sounds like a good idea...that prayer list of ours is growing:(

 

Krystal, I also believe environmental and diet issues play a big part...as well as the fact that some people are unlucky enough to have the "C" gene, while others don't. Look at the elderly people who continue to smoke!!

[judianne]

Hi, Cara!

 

Hope you have a good day today...

[Krystal16]

If y'all won't jump down my throat on this one, I can share a bit of my hypothesis with you. Now, keep in MIND that this is just a scientific hypothesis, not an ethical or emotional one.

 

Throughout the ages, life has always been "survival of the fittest", and living things have evolved to improve their species. Now, if you look at the human species, we have actually messed with this evolution with science and medical advances. We have discovered that cancer is genetically-related as well as environmentally related. Those two things, without the intervention of medicine to help us to live, would have (throughout many years, mind you) been weeded out of our species. Those that have not perished as a result of cancer would have been the ones left to live and reproduce, and the gene would eventually be gone from the species.

 

Now, this isn't taking into account how much we love our friends and family and how we are doing everything to help them medically. My mind has a very weird tendency to try to see things overly-logically and wonder "if".... so forgive me if you think I'm being cruel with this line of thought. That's not the case at all, I just wonder if sometimes humanity isn't shooting itself in the foot with all our efforts at "modernization".

 

Think of what all of our modernization has brought to us?

electric: insomnia, over-exhaustion, pollution, sedentary lives

preservatives: cancers, allergies

cars: break-down of community and family, obesity, pollution

medicine: break-down of body's ability to take care of itself, lack of preventive care, allergies, side-effects, overdoses

refining: horrible diets, cancers, heart disease

 

It makes you wonder if our "progression" really is progress...

[judianne]

Krystal, my mind can often take the turn yours does - and I have to watch what/how I say things around Phil.

I can see exactly what you're driving at - and it is clinical, but has a great deal of truth in it. You can look at the animal kingdom and see what happens when man interferes...

[Aussie]

Kathy, I agree with you about the longevity thing, and your "general" prayer sounds like a good idea...that prayer list of ours is growing:(

 

Krystal, I also believe environmental and diet issues play a big part...as well as the fact that some people are unlucky enough to have the "C" gene, while others don't. Look at the elderly people who continue to smoke!!

 

 

Judy my Mum smokes and she has just gone into remission from Ovarian Cancer. She wont give it up. Then there is my DH father who has smoked all his life and is still going strong at 92 but then DH mother passed away 4 years ago from having to put up with all that smoking. She died from emphysema.

[busy-bee-lmt]

It's funny. I was having a similar conversation with my neighbor, Rosie, earlier today. It went along the lines of "medicine has made so many advances, so rapidly, that in many ways we have outstripped the ethics that go with its use. Just because we can do something, doesn't necessarily mean that we should do it." It's conflicts such as these that played a part in my leaving nursing 20 years ago. And the conflicts have increased, not decreased, since then.

[Krystal16]

The funny thing is that instead of hating the field of medical research, it is exactly what I'm going to school next year to study... it intrigues me so much to learn about how our body works the way it does...and then the possibility of being able to PROVE or disprove how things affect it really fascinates me.

 

Don't know exactly WHICH branch I'm going to get into, but... something. It's a few years off.

[Misa]

Yep, yep. Must agree with all this We call it "prolonging life". Some days though I wonder if we're not really just "postponing death" which isn't necessarily a good thing. I look at this from a stand point of being a member of a family that really should've probably gone extinct some time ago. We don't live long. Wracked with disease. As most of you know, I'm ill. Not that I'm at a point where I can say I'd've rather not lived but quality of life is a definite issue

[JulieKay]

Krystal-not to kick the legs out from under all of you, but I also think the computer may be one of the worst inventions known to man. ( Not that they aren't fun and you get to meet so many people on them, join fun groups, etc, but I think they make our lives too EASY ..).. look at all the BRAIN power we no longer have to use.

 

Need an answer to a math problem ?

Look it up .

 

Need info for a school project, type it in .

 

Need to learn about anything at all-- punch a keyboard .

 

I am really old-fashioned and believe that computers are actually making our brains more "sluggish".

 

Look how popular reading used to be, back in the Charles Dickens days, people would stand in line waiting for the next part of his story to be sold in their newspapers .

People would read to each other for entertainment, now we watch tv ,and most shows don't really tax your brain any, you can pretty much think about 100 other things while watching the show .

 

What about good old paper and pencil math problems ? where'd that go ? Punch it in to a calculator, and Wa-La, there's your answer .

 

Whatever happened to spelling lists at school ? Just use Spell-check .

 

What about kid's imagination ?

I hate to tell you,folks, but that is a thing of the past .Hand them a GameBoy .

 

Do you know what is really heartbreaking to me ?

I grew up not 3 blocks from here, one block from Grandview park. ALL the neighbor kids hung out there YEAR round.

We brought picnic lunches there in the summer, raked up huge leaf piles in the fall, did so much sled-riding that our butts were sore, and came back the next day for more.

 

Now, I drive by the park ANY TIME of the year.

 

Know what I see ?

 

An EMPTY park. No one .

 

That to me is a dirty rotten shame.

 

We used to be sent outside in the mornings to play---- heaven forbid ,a lot of days without a TOY .

 

Did we sit on the steps all day complaining that we were bored ?

Nope, we used our brains and made up a game .

 

I honestly believe that's why Alzheimers is becoming an ever-growing issue.

Don't use your brain ?

You lose it .

 

Don't make it THINK ?

It's gonna slow WAY down and not function at the capacity it should.

 

 

READ A BOOK ,FOLKS . If not a whole book, then read the thousands of posts in here .Make that blood pump in your brain .

 

I can even come up with some more mentally-taxing issues to discuss.

 

Sure, we have discussed fishnet hose and duct tape. Let's notch it up .

 

Name a use for duct tape BESIDES holding up sagging parts.

[JulieKay]

How about a new concept ?

 

WDILT ?????

 

What Did I Learn Today ?

 

We need to start this each day, the WDILT section.

 

Post ANYTHING . It doesnt have to be rocket science. It can be a new recipe, a new word meaning, a new piece of info on the news ,a new fact about someone running for office, a new idea about life that you may have not thought about before,a new opinion you may have heard that opened your eyes up ......

 

A never-ending list.

 

I know we could each put a new one on every day.

 

I have always said if you let a whole day go by and don't learn ANYTHING, that day was wasted .

 

So,starting tomorrow, WDYLT ??????

 

Be alert, pay attention,come prepared .

[Misa]

Bravo Jules! I don't think that kicked the legs from under K's hypothesis at all....I think it adds to it and delves to part of the root of the problem. Not that we should all run out and get rid of our computers. Computers put a roof over my head so I have a soft spot for them. But you're absolutely correct. We rely entirely too much on the easy path. Perhaps another thing we could do for ourselves in addition to WDILT is somethng along the lines of...have a math problem to work out? Grab a pencil and paper! Need to know the meaning of a word? Physically look it up in the dictionary. Stuff along that line.

 

This is the ME cal after all.....so maybe we could work on us

[JulieKay]

Amen, Cara-

I know what you mean about computers. That is Sam's line of work, so no computers, there go the Spaghettios, but I agree, we should ALL go back to paper and pencil , THINKING with the thing up there that was put in there for a reason .

 

Nothing worng with a few friendly little challenges dropped in here from time to time to keep our brains on alert .

 

Homeland Security ?

 

How about MENTAL SECURITY ?

BRAIN POWER .

[judianne]

Judy my Mum smokes and she has just gone into remission from Ovarian Cancer. She wont give it up. Then there is my DH father who has smoked all his life and is still going strong at 92 but then DH mother passed away 4 years ago from having to put up with all that smoking. She died from emphysema.

It's hard watching them do that to themselves. My mom died when she was 63 (in 1980) and my dad died in 1971 at 57...many things contributed, but emphysema was what caused his heart to give out.Both of them smoked.