To Enter Blog Heaven, read THIS ~~~

Amazing how things come about for us, isn’t it?  If I hadn’t met Diana (Nana Diana Takes a Break), I never would have found out about my “no-reply” status and all the wonders it could open for me if I fixed that problem.  See, Diana kept telling me but I couldn’t understand what she meant.  I saw for myself that there was always a reply button under where I’d just posted a comment to someone on their page, so thought she must not be seeing that.  Ha.  Had nothing to do with “no-reply” at all.  Not even a smidgeon.

Then, last week, I left a bunch of replies on my own page, under the replies that others had left.  Bling…the light went off in my head, and so on Toodie-Nancy’s I also added that I wondered if she’d see it when she looked at her comments.  Ahhhh, by luck, she went back to my page and saw my question to her, and noooo, she had not gotten any notification that a comment on a comment was left.  Now it was coming together in my head what Diana was talking about and I realized that for years and years, I’d gone back to someone’s page to see if they’d replied to a comment I’d left for them.  Wow, talk about work, but it was the only way to tell.  I’ll bet you anything that you, too, have been going back to someone’s page to see if anything additional was said to you on ‘their’ page.

Wait until you see this fix!  EASY and it is the greatest thing since sliced bread!

First, let me say that when my emails were coming in and showing replies to my page, that was good in itself because we didn’t used to have that so many years ago.  But today, after fixing my own setting (you’ll see) from Diana prodding me along and giving such fabulous advice and the most perfect link in the world, I looked at my emails and hovered over your email addresses.  Guess what I saw --- most everyone (not Sally) was a “no-reply” blogger!   That meant you could see the comments left on your page, but you still had to go back to theirs to see if they’d left a comment to you THERE rather than on your own page.  So I fixed what needed to be fixed and tried it out and WHAM! Perfection!

Now, here it comes.  When you fix this setting, you will be able to comment in your emails that arrive and then continue to do that even after they leave something to you on their own page.  It’s just like emailing back and forth and all stemming from the initial comment.  Oh my gosh, it is SO wonderful!  Here is the link.  Read it very, very carefully, because the fix is a different step if you use Google Plus as opposed to regular old blogger like I use.  IF you are on old blogger, do NOT change to Plus because it will mess up all the settings you now have.  Just follow the instructions.  Diana was adamant about that, so believe her.

http://morefromyourblog.com/no-reply-blogger-how-to-fix-this/

Since I’m old style blogger, here’s what I did, and it was per the instructions. In that link, just a little ways down, it said “Here’s how to fix it: Go to your edit profile page…click HERE to get there quickly…”  and that’s where I clicked.  I was now on the correct page to fix.  I ticked “show my email”, then clicked save at the bottom, and it was done.

Now when anyone leaves comments, you’ll see them in email, can comment back to them by replying in email, and so on.  What a breath of fresh air!  Diana and I tried it back and forth a few times and it works like a charm. 

Bet you love that sliced bread now!  I sure do, and I adore Diana!

Xoxoxo

(The only drawback I can see is that after the initial comment, you will not see the subsequent 'replies on replies' from the other (same) blogger on your page. You always see the first reply, just not the running commentary between the 2 of you. Sometimes it's nice to see a running commentary because it makes others think and then they, too, get in the conversation, but boyyyyy, the work of going back and forth between pages, you know?  And besides, it doesn’t stop you from going back to someone’s page and posting openly at all. It’s like 2 gifts in 1.)

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Small update:

nookworm is no-reply
Cindy at bird bath and beyond is no-reply
Carole at Ramblingon is no-reply
Joe at Joe and Co is no-reply
Toodie-Nancy is working on it, lol,

…and Sally at Whispering Hope DOES have reply, so if her emails are dwindling, it’s because her commenters need to fix their settings.

More Tea? ~~~

The March Hare says to Alice, "Take some more tea", and she says, "But I've had nothing yet, so I can't take more".....

                                          

And so it goes with our local weather forecasters. "Get ready! Get ready! Torrential rains to fall today and tonight with major flooding possible!"

Our exceptionally dramatic weatherman on one of our channels throws his hands and arms out, lunges from West to East, and you can almost hear the WOOOSHHHH as he builds to a crescendo of excitement over the upcoming weather. Did he say rain?  Did he say blizzard-like snow?  We the viewers always get that omygosh-better-get-to-the-store-and-hunker-down-for-the-duration feeling in the pit of our stomachs and sometimes actually brave the entire population that has decided to go to the store at the exact same moment. We've all been there. Many, many times.  Too many if you live where I do.  That's not to say I don't enjoy watching the antics of our weathermen all trying to outdo each other, channel to channel, but here's the ruse:  There was no torrential rain, and there was no blizzard, at least not even close to when they said it would happen.  Maybe the month before, maybe the month after, but when it was forecast?  Not even close.
A good example was 2 weeks ago when we were 'supposed' to get the very last snow of the season and holy moley, for 2 days they ran all the dire warnings at the bottom of the TV screen:  BIG storm, get ready! 6-8 inches of snow on top of 2 inches of ice. It's coming and it's starting tonight, all day tomorrow and tomorrow night. Be prepared!  PFFT.  We all got up expecting to hear that the entire state was cut off from humanity and what did we see? Let's put it this way, I went out to my car in my slippers and saw maybe, and that's a stretch of a maybe, a quarter inch of snow and no ice.  Nothing new. Shook my head and went back inside and fixed a pot of coffee.
Now the reason I tell you this is because THIS week, the weathermen, all of them, said, "Heavy rains expected tomorrow with up to 2 inches in a very short period of time"....but then they added, "....just like we had 2 weeks ago".  What? What planet are they coming from? Maybe it's easier to gloss it over and make us 'think' we actually had that giant snow. The power of suggestion? I think the weathermen have all completely lost it. I say listen to your bones and bunions; those are never wrong. Am I right or am I right? Now my knee can jump into the forecasting business and shoot, I should apply for the weatherman's job! I can stand up there and say in all confidence, "Enny, me-knee, MY-knee, Mo'",  what's that? Mo' weather in store? I don't know, we haven't had any yet.

                                     ~~~With Apologies to Alice~~~

                                

                                                     XOXOXO

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In other less important news but just to catch up, today I had my stitches taken out, yayyyyy.  I had questions about this darn ‘clicking’ that is happening and when it does, it feels like a piano wire running through my leg that vibrates. Really sort of worried me but he said it ‘should be’ gone in another month, maybe 2, but that I am doing, and these are his words (I’m puffing up as I type this), EXTRAORDINARILY well.  He said I was actually ahead of the game!  I love that! I do still have to wear this very ugly compression stocking for 3-4 more weeks, though.  So now I look like Igor draggin’ a leg with a stocking on it, and all I’m missing is the hump. 

                                                               

The Real Shades of Gray ~~~

Life is always such a surprise, and maybe that’s the way it’s supposed to be;  after all, it does have the tendency to wake us up and keep us on our toes, doesn’t it.

I was thinking of all the steps and chapters in our lives and those points that always stand out --- you know, like that first kiss, first love, first car, and the list goes on.  But comes the day when the firsts are real eye openers.  I had mine at the age of 62, just a fewwwww years ago (who’s counting), and when I was talking to a blog buddy, the subject came up and so here I am, getting ready to share it with you.  If you are in my age group, we, the now exceptionally learned and bright seniors, you will be nodding your head in agreement all the way. We will call this life chapter,

                                      The Invisibles, part 1, the beginning

 

It all started over a particular Christmas holiday.  As I do every Christmas, I make up gift bags with all sorts of little things and goodies for my neighbors up and down the street.  That year, one of the things going into the bags was a totally yummy homemade candy.  I pulled out the ingredients and realized I was short on the almond bark. Bark is in a block and used in candy recipes, just so you know. This darn candy is on the messy side to make, so once you start, you really need to keep on until it’s done, and that meant I needed to get to the grocery store fast.  I was already dressed, fixed up, and actually looked pretty darn cute, so I went to the store almost hoping I’d run into someone I knew.  You never do, though, unless you’re a mess, true?  On with the story.  I went to the aisle where the bark is always kept and it was gone.  I stood there looking and looking as if by just standing there like a fool it would make the bark magically appear.  Finally an employee, young man of about 20 or so, came up to me and asked if he could help me find anything.  I told him I was looking for the bark and that it was always right here, and he said, he knew exactly what bark was because his mother used it all the time, and yes, it was always right in this spot.  Right then, another young man, also an employee started towards us and he began looking for it, too.  They said, “Could you wait here for a minute or so? We’re going to ask where the bark has been moved”.  Of course I said yes.  Well, I stayed there, barely moved an inch and this was half way up the aisle.  About 5 minutes later, I saw one of them stopping at the edge of my aisle and then the next one calls out to him, “Hey, Bill, who was it that wanted that bark?”  To which good old Bill replied, “That gray haired old lady down there.”   OMG.  Me??  I looked around. There was no one else in the aisle!  Not only did they think I was old, but deaf as well! 

                                                    Part 2, the clincher

This past July 4th, my best friend, Mary, and I decided to go find a place to watch the fireworks.  In the paper was listed a great place to go and it was free and had food wagons and bands, hot diggitty!  We got all gussied up, looked super good if I do say so, and off we went. We zigged and zagged through the crowds until we found a parking spot, then got out and started walking down this very wide walkway packed with people.  We saw the food trucks, we heard the band and boy, it was great, and so decided to stand where we were as it was close to the band.  Feet tapping, almost dancing, beat going down to our toes, it was soooo good!  Then it happened.  Picture this.  Both of us standing there, looking cute as all get out, into the music, and then seeing 2 couples heading straight for us.  Their eyes are definitely looking our way, they are paying attention to where they are, but……they almost mow us down!  And still they didn’t notice!  They just sort of backed up, side stepped, and went on their way without a word or a glance.  Mary and I looked at each other and said, “Holy moly, we’re invisible, they never even saw us before or after!”  Mary said to me, “You mean you’ve never had this happen before?”  No, I hadn’t!  I said, “Hey, let’s just throw off all our clothes and walk around and see if anyone notices, hehehe”.  She nixed that idea.  I’m the much braver of the 2 of us.

And so the next day, I called Mom’s Bob (most of you know who I’m talking about, but he’s down the street and frail and in his 80s and I always keep track of him). I was telling Bob about the night and just before I got to the invisible part, he broke in and he said, “And you both were INVISIBLE, right?””  My mouth fell open. This must happen to everyone!  He said he became invisible in his 60s and always thought it was the most amazing thing.  What we see is that people in our own age group…the Upper Level, if you will (we deserve the caps)….see each other, but the younger never really see us.  Man, what an eye opener!   My blog buddy added to that saying that he isn’t ignored exactly but that if he was speaking, they listened but then went right back to some other subject like it never counted.  Yeah, I get that, too. I think it’s like a science fiction show where time stops for a split second and only one character is still in the Now.  Craziest thing, isn’t it?  

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And so, that is the end of my rambling thoughts for today. I am headed for the grocery store to stock up on a month’s worth of groceries for the impending Wednesday’s surgery.  Tomorrow, Tuesday, is “getting the house ready for myself day”.  I’ve been told that my recoup will be around 2 months or so.  I may not be able to sit at the pc to either write or blog walk for a bit, I just don’t know yet, but if I’m absent, it won’t be like last time.  I’ll be back. Do that with an accent….”I’ll be back!”

XOXOXO

Yes, Honey, I am most definitely Home!

An update after years of silence: Well, boy, it's been a real trip for a long time. The last time I talked to everyone was about 3 years ago and just wasn't in good health, mind or body, at all. Great news since! Finally I found a doctor that believed me instead of saying, "You look fine to me", and sending me home. I am blessing these 10 incisions in my belly, honestly I am. First was GERD so bad that it scarred my esophagus to the point the scarring had to be cut out. Then, a hernia going backwards and pressing against my lungs and heart. That caused my stomach to move up into my chest. Oh, it's been fun. But the surgeon wrapped my esophagus around my stomach to hold it down and into place. Next was the gallbladder. It was literally at 0% functioning and the bile was oozing out and around my other organs. The bile burned around my gallbladder so much that that scar tissue had to be cut out as well. It all ended great --- no more breathing problems and no more pain! Yipppeeeee. It's not the end of the story. During recoup, I got this darn stye in my left eye and hadn't had one of those since I was a kid. I bought some STYE ointment and did compresses with it as it instructs. A week later I woke up with the left side of my face HUGE and lumpy and eyes that couldn't open all the way. Scared me half to death. And the pain? Omg. So, off to my doc and she sent me to a specialist. No telling where the stye came from, but he said because it was all so close to my brain that I needed to start a very strong antibiotic immediately. You might want to remember this name: Levaquin. On the 6th day of a 10 day dosage, my left leg was really in pain, but I figured I'd just slept on it wrong. The pain increased and by the next day, I couldn't walk at all. I read the pamphlet and there it was, in tiny print at the bottom, "...in rare cases, Levaquin can cause tearing of the leg tendons and ruptures of the Achilles". Holy crap. I called the doc...."Noooo, that hasn't happened, pfft". I headed to the emergency room, well Mary took me, and the doc there said "You look fine to me", and prescribed a double dose of Aleve twice a day for 5 days. Gawd. Two days later I was in my regular doc's office and trying like crazy to get her to look up Levaquin. Instead, she did xrays to check for broken bones. Nothing. She sent me to an orthopedic surgeon. I told him about the Levaquin, but like the rest, he didn't think it was the problem. He gave me a cortisone shot in the calf. Helped for about 2 hours. I was back in his office 2 days later and darn if he didn't give me another cortisone shot but this time in the knee. Absolutely no relief whatsoever. He said he thought it might be a good idea to have an MRI and I agreed. Had it, results came back, tendon tears up and down the leg and a torn meniscus. He said, "Ohhhhh, you were on Levaquin". Yes, I am now in the twilight zone. It was the Levaquin that did it, but now all I can do is hope the tendons heal. Sometimes it's permanent and other times it takes up to a year to heal. Pfft. But the meniscus is a different story. He is thinking that Levaquin didn't help but the meniscus has to have surgery. Believe me, the pain was so much, I would have done it myself. So this next Wednesday, Apr 2nd, will be the surgical date, then I'm back out of commission for a bit but recoup won't be any worse than Oct's surgery. Oh I love this age thing. When I wrote the last post those 3 yrs ago, more happened with my friends. My friend, Lee, that was in the hospital at the time, died, then more died. I think at that post I was up to five. By a year later, it was 9 --- that included Mom, but made it a very hard year and I wanted to crawl under a rock. Things do get better though, don't they. We stand up, brush off, and get on with the job at hand: Life. Back to Oct for a sec. That August right before, I decided to buy a new car I'd wanted for 3 yrs. I thought I might just die being so darn sick and no one listening at that time, so I wanted to buy it and drive it before I couldn't anymore. I had to drive to another city to get this sweetheart of a car, but it was worth it and the day at the dealership was like Christmas and birthdays, and every holiday rolled into one. Best dealership I ever saw. They even waved goodbye from the sidewalk when it was all done. Anyway, here's my little 2-seater car, and then, the link to the vid I made 2 days ago at home that they have now posted on YouTube and on their Face Book page.

                

                                              My vid testimonial link:

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oTDPvsfdOo&feature=youtu.be            

I would have embedded it here, but can't remember how to do it. We'll chalk it up to age yet again.  I’ll ask around another day.

And now, let me take this time to thank ALL OF YOU who continued to post little notes and well wishes on my blog. There is no community like you and I never forgot a single one of you. I wondered very often how everyone was and what they were up to, you know, all the good scoop, but I really just sort of died out and hid for a long time. Once I start on recoup and can sit at the computer for bursts of time, I'll post again AND I'll visit. After all, I was part of this great blog family then and want to get back into the groove. Face Book? No, I don't have one and might be the last person on Earth without it. I'll see you again. Go laugh at that vid done completely off the cuff, no script, and only one take, and with a mouth so dry I could swear I was spittin' feathers.

Much, MUCH love to you all~~

JennyD

XOXOXO

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PS/ I redid this on Live Writer that I’d forgotten I had. In the meantime, Beth posted the sweetest note to me and she was comment #1 ! What a sweetheart! Here’s what she wrote (and I’m pasting it):

BethFri Mar 28, 09:15:00 PM

God bless you Jennie. You have been through hell and back!! I have been on Levaquin and I had a severe allergic reaction to it. It is number 1 on my list of meds that I am allergic to.
You have my prayers!!! HUGS!!!