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Glad that everything went well with the funeral and that you are back and recuperating.
I finally got through to my cell carrier and they said that.it was something to do with the 3g going away and it messed with some of the towers. I mentioned that the old.iPhone was connecting fine and she said that iPhones connect a bit different. Anyway, I put my SIM card back in my good phone yesterday and everything is fine! I really didn't want to have to mess with a new phone.
Today was the last of the surgeries involved in the tooth implant. I'm on soft foods for the next several days, and having to do food at strange times for meds. Will be over soon, though.0 -
I am so sorry about your Mom, Kim. The loss of a parent is so difficult, but if you're like me, the loss of a Mom is especially difficult. You were always so good with her. My prayers are with you.
I've had a lot going on and apologize for not being around much recently. Dwight had some medical problems and went through weeks of testing, but nothing serious showed up. That's good, and he feels somewhat better now, but still wish something could make him stronger. He's stable for now, so that's a blessing. And about the time we were finishing the test process, I started having problems seeing. I could see in the distance, although not as sharp as normal, but could hardly see to read. It took a while to get an eye appointment, while my close vision kept getting worse. Turns out that a film was closing around the lens implants from when I had my cataract surgery several years ago. I've had four laser surgeries and can now see beautifully. What a praise that is! I haven't been able to read or use the computer since early January and am so eager to read a book that I hardly know where to start. I'll catch up with everyone soon.0 -
How is everyone doing this morning? Today is Dwight's 79th birthday and I just got back from going out to get him an egg muffin breakfast. Such a simple thing, but something he loves. The weather is beautiful here, mostly in the 70s with daffodils, tulip trees, and forsythia blooming everywhere. I have noticed that in a few days, the temperature will drop to 8 degrees, though.
I don't think I'll ever take reading for granted again, now that I can see so well. I've never been able to enjoy audio books, but decided to try again when that was the only way a mystery I wanted to read was available. And I'm actually loving it! I may have to try more audio books, as I can work a computer jigsaw puzzle or color a picture while listening.0 -
Oh, Happy Birthday to Dwight! I'm so glad you are both doing better now! You are in my prayers!
Mom had that same problem, Carole. We had the laser surgery done on her eyes and it helped her a bit, but I think that her problem mostly came from the changes going on in her brain. I use the text to speech on my Kindle all the time so that I can do my puzzles too. I discovered a new one that I am really enjoying, Merge County and another one I think is Merge Kingdom. You merge pieces of things together to make bigger things and then your kingdom grows, and you find new things. Sounds strange, but it's fun. Pixel Tap has been a favorite for a long time now, it's kind of a paint by numbers but you do one square at a time rather than a whole swath of color in a section.
I was able to get a short walk in yesterday but the humidity made it hard for me to catch my breath so I didn't go a far as I had wanted to go. I am going to do my inside walk today, a bit chilly for an outside walk.0 -
Carole - keeping Dwight in prayer and wishing him a happy birthday!
I'm so glad that you got the vision issue resolved. That would be really scary.
As far as audiobooks, I am a HUGE fan! And I am loving all of the authors that are putting books on YouTube for free. When they get to 1000 subscribers and 4000 hours listened they will actually make more than audible...and free to listeners.
My two favorites so far are Say With Jay (Jessie Gussman books) and Feel Good Fiction (Liz Isaacson/Elana Johnson). A lot of authors are setting them up, but don't have a lot of books up at this point.0 -
Dwight appreciated your birthday wishes, Kim and Connie. His brother and 3 sisters have all called today, which he also enjoyed.
It was definitely scary, Connie. For the longest time, I just thought I wasn't getting my glasses clean enough. Then I discovered that I was only seeing out of one eye, and not very good at that. I'm so thankful for today's medical technology.
I've never tried the text-to-speech on Kindle and didn't know about books on YouTube either. So much to explore!0 -
I need to put YouTube on my Kindle so I can listen that way!
Brrr, where did all those 70+ degree days go? I hope this cold snap doesn't last very long. I was getting 3000 to 4000 steps when Mom was sick and while preparing for her funeral, but now that all of that is over I am back to getting around 1500-2000 - ugh. That's even with adding steps walking! I need to be more active around the house, or just get up every hour and take a couple of laps around the house! Ah, I like that idea! I like to work on my Bible memorization while I'm walking, trying to bring back those verses that I've lost!
Carole, I like text to speech because I can add my own emotions to the story. When I listen to someone else reading the story to me it feels slow and I don't always have the same emotions during a part of a story that the reader is portraying. I didn't much like the reader in the Dee Henderson book, too emotive for guys parts, just can't see Wade saying some of the things they said in that way, although he would say them, he wouldn't gush. Weird, I know, I'd rather listen to a computer voice than a human voice! LOL!
Have a great day y'all.0 -
Kim, you just might have a point about the text-to-speech thing. The reader goes slower than I could physically read, although that seems to work well for a cozy mystery. It's when she changes to the male voice that I'm not crazy about. Or maybe I'm just not used to it yet.
I think this cold spell is short lived, at least where I am. Today I almost needed air conditioning, tomorrow is a high of 28 with a "wintery mix," and then it's back in the 60s the next day. Hope it doesn't kill all the flowers.
Have any of you ever visited a homemade soap store? There's one close to me that I couldn't resist trying - Buff City Soap. I don't think I would buy their laundry soap, but I love their body cream. My feet stay rough and this might be the best thing I've tried. Picked up a body scrub today and will see how that works.0 -
Snow predicted to begin around 3 am, lasting for 5-6 hours. Possible 1-3". Hard to believe this can happen after all the mild spring weather we've been having! We'll have to see what tomorrow morning brings.0
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Carole - All audiobook formats that I have used (libby, hoopla, audible, youtube, cloud library, etc) have the capability to change the speed of the book. I use 1.75, because if I use the "normal" it drags. I know a lot of people that use 1.50, but even that is a little slow for me. On text-to-speech I use 2x.
I have listened to a couple of Liwen Y Ho's books on YouTube and they are done with a text-to-voice type application. It is really a good one, though. She was debating reading something herself or doing the simulator and to me this was the right decision.
If you decide to do the YouTube authors, make sure to subscribe to their channels. Those subscriptions are part of the way they get paid. Several have reached their goals, and several haven't. Some have reached out prior to putting books up, and trying to get their subscriptions going.
Here is what I have "saved" on my computer, but I haven't necessarily saved everything that I have subscribed. Some of these are considered "clean" and some are Christian fiction.
Lucy McConnell https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9Y2EoGZl53kCx5JzPz1m_g
Christine Kersey https://www.youtube.com/c/ChristineKersey
Jennifer Youngblood https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChlluAZC5d-x_u38f-2WBSw
Bridget E Baker https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCH_5_6mIAeg1wS_p_gWDk1Q
Jeanette Lewis https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC106ujoPYZk4GJKF8IU92WA
Kimberly Krey https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5BTOF2-z22nbvqFn2b76ew
Lindzee Armstrong https://m.youtube.com/channel/UC1q-ORuUlIe9FmV1KVLC5iA
Liz Isaacson https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCy8JYpRHbRlQOk6YjClxN8g
Bonnie Paulson https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPZECfHaAQVE6oikAjrWB3Q
Cindy Ray Hale - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC43YpakLD3OMwOlOf9jbQdw
Hannah Jo Abbot - https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCtoy5DB1mTUTmYqsbnW4gjQ
Liwen Y Ho - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIIA6ogIdNS0QNETHGZdEKg/videos
Jay Dyess (Jesse Gussman’s books) - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOZcqcnr0DccGpidWab68_A
Also look up Bree Livingston. When I post the link to it, it does weird stuff.
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Thank you for this list, Connie. Isaacson is the only author I recognize, so there's lots to explore. This audio book thing is growing on me. I tried increasing the reading speed on my first book a couple of days ago, but found it hard to keep up with. I started a new mystery last night and the reader is much better, also goes at a faster pace on the 1x speed.
Woke up to a beautiful snow this morning and it's still snowing. Today's high is only 27, so there will probably be some ice in the morning. May have to do church online again.0 -
I see a lot of contemporary romance authors on there and I just don't read that genre very much at all. Right now I'm reading fantasy, historical romances (medieval and regency, sometimes Revolutionary War), and suspense. I'll have to look into that on YouTube.
Very windy but warm here today. The temp is going down now though - 70 when I got up at 8 and it's now 63 at 12:26. Oh my!
I do text to speech at 1.5. I tried faster but my brain can't keep up! LOL! Mom used to listen at 2! Oh dear, she was 20 years older than me with dementia and she could keep up with 2!!! I did speed up an audible book this last time and liked it faster but still couldn't get into the story.0 -
Still loving my audio books! Can't believe it's taken me this long to discover that they will work for me. In fact, I'm like a child with a new toy. I bumped one of my Libby books up to 1.25x and that seems to be fine. Don't think I could go any faster, though. That's funny about you mom going up to 2x, Kim.
It got down to 12 degrees last night and since there was a warning about black ice, I stayed in this morning. Now it's in the upper 40s and most of the snow has melted. Sure was pretty yesterday.0 -
It is a glorious day today in Kansas! Finally most of the snow is gone and it was about 65 degrees. This week is supposed to be really nice. I hope to get Bill out a bit more. We are supposed to have a luncheon on Thursday and we are talking about going back to church on Wednesday nights. With daylight savings time and less chance of bad weather, I think it will work. We will see if he still wants to go when Wednesday gets here.0
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Those weeks between cold and hot weather are really nice for getting out. I hope Wednesday nights work for you and Bill, Connie. The fellowship is just as important as the food.
Our church just started Wednesday meals back after two years off, but I haven't tried going yet and probably won't. During the Covid break, Tim - our pastor - started a Wednesday night Zoom session where we chat, talk about Sunday's Scripture, and pray. I actually started joining in before we moved. The 10 or so of us who stayed committed have grown close, so Tim is going to continue it even though meals have started back. With the meal being at 6:00, I couldn't eat and get back home by 7:00 for the Zoom meeting.
Looking forward to this week's mild days and cool nights!0 -
We don't to Wednesday night meals....but it sounds good. We just have an in depth Bible study and a couple older hymns. It is the one time that we really enjoy all of the older hymns! Our pastor is a wonderful teacher and we love his studies.0
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We do meals following Sunday Morning service. Each family brings their meal and we all eat together, a very special time. It's easy for us, the building we meet in is in our neighbor's (Pastor's) back yard! LOL!
Lovely weather here. I got two walks in yesterday and will do just one today, my legs are bothering me.0 -
Well, Bill opted out of Wednesday night service. We did enjoy the luncheon at Cracker Barrel yesterday, though.0
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Your Wednesday night service sounds nice, even without the meal, Connie. I hope Bill will feel like going next week. And Sunday dinner in the pastor's yard next door ... what could be better than that?!
I will always treasure the hymns and am glad to be at a church that frequently sings them. Last Sunday, I played for the men's chorus as they sang "Precious Lord, Take My Hand" and got so caught up in it that I forgot that I was supposed to give the chord for the Doxology afterwards. I finally remembered after an awkward pause.
Beth received a Cracker Barrel gift certificate at Christmas and took us there this morning. First Cracker Barrel visit in Johnson City! I love the food and atmosphere. Since Dwight grew up in rural north Georgia, he always enjoys the signs and antiques. I got the breakfast combination that included hash brown casserole, a favorite of mine.
Still enjoying my audio books and am experimenting to see what type of book works best for me. A lot of Christian fiction, especially romances, has so much rehashing of thoughts that the book seems so very long. Maybe books with more dialogue or that moved at a faster pace would work best. I'm listening to a Peterson/Woodhouse book that lasts 10 hours, but the 1.5x speed makes it go faster.0 -
We had a good service this morning, but the pastor caught me on an old chorus at closing that I didn't really know. I rather stumbled through it but got the chord progression a little off at the end. I'm going to need to sit down at the piano and work it out! I hate when that happens. I wrote down the name of it and will see if Bill knows it or I can find on YouTube. I should have already done that.....0
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What was the chorus, Connie? And were you playing without music in front of you?
I occasionally help out a small church in Unicoi, about 15 minutes from where I live. I'm always a little reluctant to go because I'd rather be at my own church, but greatly enjoy it when I get there. It's a rural area, but they do a lot of things to reach out to the community and are slowly growing. The pastor is young and enthusiastic, a seminary friend of Beth's who just graduated.0 -
I really enjoy singing the old hymns too. We had three at mom's Celebration, two of her favorites, "Amazing Grace" and "I Surrender All", and "It is Well with My Soul". All favorites of mine as well. We have just a guitar for our service singing. When the group sings Wade will either play his guitar or his bass guitar. We have two young girls in our church (10 and almost 13) who play piano, harp, guitar, mandolin, and are learning to play the drums. They are just so musical, whatever they pick up to play they just get it - of course their middle names are Harmony and Melody! Seriously! The Harmony was because Mom and Dad met through e-Harmony and they thought Melody would go with that beautifully. They were in for a big surprise when their girls were so musically inclined! They sing beautifully too!
We went to Cracker Barrel several times when we were in Hickory. I was really surprised to see that they were serving alcohol now! And several of our favorites were no longer on the menu, but the service was still very good and the food excellent.
A bit chillier today so may rest my knees some more. They don't hurt as much today as they usually do, so no walking yesterday may have been good. If it warms up I may amble about outside just to get the fresh air.0 -
The chorus was from You Can Never Outlove The Lord. I was playing by ear and the Pastor just started singing it after finishing another older chorus (that I knew). He is good about just throwing things in. I had heard it many years ago, but had forgotten it, and just was working through it. I came home and looked it up online. I have hundreds in my files, but this one I had to look up. Needless to say, it is now in my files.0
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Well, I've been awol for awhile. I've been having trouble with my phone. It finally got wet - water got in through several cracks in the screen - and quit on me. I just bought the same unlocked phone online for about $180 instead of a lot more and put my sim card in it. The new phone works well except I put a tempered glass screen protector on it and I have to get used to the fact that my screen is now a little less touch sensitive.
I typed up a note to you Kim, about your mom, about a week ago, but I don't see it anywhere. I probably did something wrong when I went to post. I was sorry to hear of her passing because I know how much you'll miss her, but rejoicing with you that she's with the Lord.0 -
Thanks, Cindy. Still getting used to it being just Wade and I in the house, but going through her things has been "fun", seeing things we had no idea she had!
So good to see you again! I have a screen on my Apple watch and it makes it less touch sensitive, and if I get water on the inside it won't work at all until it dries out. I may have to get rid of the cover that came with the new watch band. My watch band will be pink and the face black or gray again! Hmmm??? My phone doesn't ring any more either, the watch just vibrates on my arm and lets me know something is going on with my phone or I have achieved some goal! LOL!
I bought a new knee brace. It's a pull-on kind but not neoprene so it doesn't get hot and sweaty under it. It has the metal side braces as well as a gel ring around the knee cap. Yesterday I realized that I could stand up without having the sharp pain shoot through the side of my knee! Woohoo. So glad to have found it. It does give me some pain at the top because the very top rolls over and squeezes my thigh. I put a headband under the top today to see if that would help keep it from rolling, but so far it's not working - sigh. Back to the drawing board.
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Cindy - I am not a huge proponent of the fanciest and most expensive technology. I do want plenty of storage, though. I have loved my Motorola phone since I bought it over two years ago - until my carrier did away with 3g and messed up the 4gLTE on their network. I had to go back to my old iphone (that doesn't hold a charge well) two times, but they have it all cleared up again, now. I don't understand how the ancient iPhone would connect and my android wouldn't, but they said they connect differently. It made me start looking at the new 5g phones, but since this is working again, I'm happy.0
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The Samsung 9 I replaced with another Samsung 9 is a 4G phone with 64 GB of memory and a card slot for a 128 GB memory card. All that storage makes me happy.
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Wade and I got the iphone 11 when it came out. We could get two of those cheaper than we could get two older phones separately. They've been working great. Wade does a ton on his phone, I just call, text, and occasionally look something up or do some e-mail on it, but that's about it. Oh, I do use the calculator and found that one of the note apps I have has a scanner and that came in handy doing Mom's stuff. Took us a couple years to pay them off so these are going to have to last for quite awhile. They are 4GLTE, I have no idea how much memory they have but Wade has a lot of pictures on his phone and I have some Kindle books on mine, but not a lot. I only read on it when I stay in the car and Wade goes into a store, or I'm waiting at the doctor's office - that's been awhile!
We got quite chilly again so I am going to try and do some house walking today. I haven't been feeling well, I think I got too much pollen on Saturday when I was outside quite a bit. I was coughing, runny nose, watery eyes and very fatigued. Yesterday was a little bit better and today a smidge better than that, so we'll see. I have several things I need to get done so we'll see if the energy holds out.
Have an awesome day, y'all.0 -
Turns out I hadn't put my allergy med in my pill keeper so I'd been without the help from Sat through Mon night - sigh! Am taking it now and feel better!0
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Glad to hear it. After a warm up last week, it got cold again. I'm trying to keep moving, so I've been bundling up and getting out for decent walks every day this past week. I'm so frustrated that I can't seem to lose anything right now.0
