@swenson19 Foster kids is so hard. I'm impressed your husband is willing to take them on. I absolutely understand your concerns. How much has he talked to the agency. One concern I would have is if it doesn't work out then the kids have ANOTHER home they bounce through. I feel if you feel that strongly you can't take them on, and there is absolutely no shame in that, it's a huge responsibility, then it's actually best for the kids not to take them.

Caveat: I'm not an expert at all.

My day didn't turn out as planned, but it was okay. I went into town and stopped at the daycare where I "work" (haven't since Sept) because I knew they would fax the POA to the health system for me so I can take care of my cousin's bill. I wound up talking to the director and the office manager for 1.5 hours. Then, I went to pick up the death certificates and some other things at the funeral home. The receptionist there and I started talking. Her father had passed away from a brain tumor, like my husband, so we discussed how hard that is and how hard it was for me to lose dad to CoVID. We talked about 30 minutes. I was shopping and a friend I hadn't seen in a while saw me and, again, talked for 30 minutes. I finally got the shopping done and had to pay my vehicle, house, and life insurance premiums, so talked to my insurance agent about 30 minutes too. So, what I thought would take about 3 hours took 6. I really had no time for anything else today...not even a walk. I also hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast. So, at about 5:30 I ate a rotisserie chicken sandwich with cheese and then some cheddar cheese popcorn. I did good and put out 2 servings onto a plate. Well, that only lasted until 7:30 when I got the bag and mindlessly ate while watching Jeopardy. I did leave a little bit in the bag, so I call that a win for me. I really shouldn't buy those big bags, but...

I don't know if I told you or not, but the guy who is going to check out my microwave on Monday said that, even if he could fix it, he wouldn't get the part for potentially months. So, I bought a small microwave to use in the meantime. I felt I really needed one for heating up food post surgery.

Amazon
I found a loophole. I just show Dh and he buys what I want to says "get it". Today my quest was to mount the TV and get a floating shelf to go under it. Then Dh ran with my "need" for an electric violin so I can continue to practice without disrupting him, or feeling self-conscious.

Kids
DHS wanted us to take them tomorrow but we are still sick and I think they still have to do the background checks and fingerprinting. So maybe after the 4th when Dh gets his COVID test repeated. I may go tomorrow for my repeat test. The weather is freezing and if the roads are bad I won't.

Food
I am so fat. LOL! Just like Beary. Scale said 127.9 and needs to be 124 or less. I've lost so much muscle so it's not just a 3 pound gain. My legs get tired quickly and ache all day. I hope it's just deconditioning. Violin today was a pain. My back and left sciatic were not having it again. Neuro the 7th, but I don't anticipate I'll reveal any unidentified explanation. Old, gimpy, sedentary.

@quilteryoyo Your day sounds exhausting, but nice to catch up with some folks. Your sandwich sounds good. It's the kind Beary likes.

@shanaber I hope the xrays prove useful. The pain in the hamstring does sound similar to sciatic pain.

@rheddmobile I didn't even think about my being social as something I shouldn't do. We all had on our masks and were socially distanced. Everyone except my friend in the store. She said she had one on, but it broke. In that case, I thought she should have been hurrying to get her stuff done instead of standing there talking to me. We were socially distanced, but I tried to keep hinting to her that I needed to go. She wasn't too good at taking the hint. I was surprised, and relieved, that I don't have to get another CoVID test before my surgery. Like you said, I guess once you have it they "think" you are immune for a while. I did ask and they are going to do another chest x-ray though. Something that they normally don't do if I've had one in the past 3 months. But, since I had CoVID, they need to make sure everything still looks good. I was actually asking about that, because I wanted to make sure there had been no "hidden" lung stuff happen.
I am working on getting someone to come stay for the first week. If that doesn't work out, mom, with help from the neighbor's, can come and stay most of the day. I guess, I could stay at her house to make things easier, but I think that would be hard for me for a lot of reasons. I guess I could handle it for a week or so, but wouldn't be able to access the internet to up
date people and keep track of you all. We'll see.

@swenson19d Are you required to get a second CoVID test? We don't here. As long as we don't have symptoms (except for cough and loss of taste or smell) or a fever for 48 hours without Tylenol, we are free to get out and about after 10 days. No retest required.
I'm so sorry you are having so much physical difficulty. I hope you can find some relief. I also hope you don't have to take in the girls while you are still feeling poorly. You need to be in a good frame of mind for that.

Interesting on the testing @swenson19d . When I was talking to the daycare director yesterday, she said she is not allowed to require a negative test for someone to come back to work - or daycare, I imagine. The reason is that people can still test positive for up to 90 days, even if they aren't showing symptoms or contagious.

@rheddmobile - your comment about your daughter reminded me that for years we had a group home next door to us with older girls (12-16 maybe). Mostly they were just lost mistreated souls, there by no action of their own and acting out mostly to get any kind of attention. Unfortunately if they acted out too much they would get sent to a more institutionalized environment. Several of the girls were there for years until they aged out of the system. They would often come over just to talk to me and in one instance we became good friends with one of the girls. Her mom had died from cancer and her brother and sister while living on their own were deemed too young to care for her. I think she was there for 4 years. We saw her a few years later and she was working, married and had a baby. I was so happy to see her thriving. So many of the girls though had been abused or neglected. We would help them with things like repairing a bike or making costumes or a project for school.
@swenson19d - I think they ask you to have a 2nd test here too but I am not sure if it is a requirement. I think it depends on your work situation.
Love the new collars for the cats!
I think the MRI is a good idea just so you can know what is going on. Is there any issue with it and your leg with the rod in it?
@quilteryoyo - just reading about your day sounds exhausting to me! It is funny that after being away from people for the most part of this year, those types of interactions just feel like they would wear me out.
I hope you can get someone to come and stay with you. Recovering in your own place with your own bed is always optimal in my opinion.
@bearly63 - glad your back is better! Sucks to be so busy when your son is home. I hope you get a chance to spend some time with him!
I thought about piriformis too but I have no idea how to tell what is what...

Got the X-ray results back last night. Everything is normal... I am expecting that my PCP will call sometime today or maybe on Monday to discuss where we go from here. I don't think they can tell exactly what the issue is w/o seeing me or having an MRI. I am not sure if knowing specifically would really change the plan going forward for rehab either. For sure the Aleve is not helping much or maybe it would be much worse if I didn't take any. I typically only take one every 12 hours instead of 2 so maybe I need to take 2. Last night it kept waking me up and I couldn't get comfortable.

I am going to go out for a short neighborhood walk today. I signed up for a Oiselle New Year's Eve Virtual run so I will make it a NYE virtual walk instead.
Tonight we are going to a virtual NYE party with friends who normally get together for NYE. We have never gone because they have a bunch of cats and dh is very allergic, so I am pretty excited to get to 'go' this year!
Oh and best news ever yesterday - dd got her 1st vaccination! Yay! I am so, so relieved!

@swenson19d You're cats are adorable. Hugs in regards to Goober. It's hard no knowing.

@shanaber What a great thing you did for the girls in the group home. I feel so badly for children who are in those circumstances.
I hope you can get some answers to physical ails. Have fun at your virtual NYE party and Yeah for your DD getting the 1st vaccine.

@bearly63 Glad your back is feeling better. Also am sorry that you have to work with your son in town. Hope you get to have quality time with him.

@Avidkeo Nice first run of the year. Enjoy your hikes. Looking forward to seeing the pictures.

Back from the hike. I'm exhausted!

@Avidkeo Looks like a fun outing! It's beautiful, I'd be there daily!

@quilteryoyo Bob is in the master bedroom. I wanted to be able to keep an eye on him and the living room really has no Bob residential space.

All of my space is disrupted.
So I guess today is figuring that out. I also need to run that outlet. Am I the only one that likes the same setup space daily? It's a little unnerving but sure Ill figure it out.

Any traditions for this week?
We don't do anything. I think DH is on about the black-eyed peas. I'll have my Black-eyed peas on Spotify please.

@quilteryoyo - sorry you are down. I hope the 1 year old helped. I still am shocked about your dad. Maybe you are right about the article, but I think I feel too guilty when I don't exercise. That's what I need to work out I think.

@swenson19d - Your house looks so nice. And love the cat on the shelf. Yes, it is alright to cry and to be down. I love the boobs to get Alex out of a funky mood. I hope you and DH can work out what is best for you and the girls. You are both working through grief, so it would be a lot to try to raise little ones. What would Alex think of you taking in the little girls? I picture him liking little kids and being funny playing with them. I guess just based upon what you've shared about him and his sense of humor.

Forgot who else I was going to comment on! But Happy New year to all!
Last run of the Holiday Streak today - almost 3 miles. I did some upper body lifting afterwards. I may cycle tomorrow on the bike in the gym and then complete rest day Sunday. Or maybe reverse that. Back home on Sunday night and then starting back on Peloton! I probably will take a week off of running.

@swenson19d What is it about young men and boobs?! Ok, this is probably TMI, but my husband used to say that anything more than a mouthful is wasted. LOL

My day did NOT turn out as planned originally, but it was okay. I did go down to mom's and we got our neighborhood lunch. They brought way too much food, so will have leftovers for a couple of days. It was all good - even the black eyed peas....well, not the potato salad. I really don't like anyone's potato salad but my own.
Then, my niece texted and they were going to come up today too. So, we spent about 1.5 hours with my nephew's family at mom's and then we all went out to my brother's house and spent about 2.5 hours with my niece's family and my brother and SIL. So, it was a nice day...no time to wallow in sorrow or do any soul searching for goals for next year. I may try to do that tomorrow, since now we don't have to go anywhere Sat and Sun (original plan was to see my niece tomorrow and my nephew on Sunday). I will try to post some pictures tomorrow. I don't feel like taking the time to do that now, because.....
about an hour after I got home, just a few minutes ago, the lady from the Assisted Living facility called. I knew it couldn't be good. She informed me that my cousin, Gary, has tested positive for CoVID. He is having symptoms, vomiting and diarrhea. He also had signed the form that said that he wanted all possible measures taken to keep him alive - when he first went there. We talked about the fact that, with CoVID, I don't think intubation would be a good idea. I just had a conversation with him about changing that, and he agreed. I tried to tell him I wanted to get that done, just in case he had to go to the hospital, since I was having my surgery. He actually sounded good and said he was feeling better, so I hope that those are his only symptoms. He has really bad COPD, so if it goes to his lungs it won't be good. I want to ask the rhetorical question, "Can it get any worse?" but I'm afraid the universe will take that as a challenge. (So, in case you are listening/reading this universe, I am NOT asking that questiion.)

Hey all. Hugs @quilteryoyo about your cousin. And @swenson19 always all the hugs. Remember you are allowed to feel what you feel.

I went for a long run today, 9.5k! Woo hoo. Was tempted to stretch it out to 10k, but my goal this year is stick to the plan. So I stuck to the plan.

It was WET! Very very wet. It was wonderful! Not cold. Just fantastic. I did have to take a couple of small walk breaks on a couple of hills, so I've lost a lot of hill endurance. But it's getting better.

The scales were also nice, and I had a woosh over night. So lost 1kg, or 2lb, this week. Woo hoo. Managed to stick to goal, or at least in deficit yesterday despite wanting to have a binge. I managed to pull back from the desire. And I feel much better for it.

Bought a hiking backpack today. I'm hoping to get out with the girls more this summer and getting them out on the local trails. We have so many good ones!

@swenson19d Are you required to get a negative test before going out? I didn't have to and it is my understanding that you can test positive for weeks, but you aren't contagious if you aren't showing any symptoms.