My relaxing looks a lot like other people's fighting. Which makes me sad for my personal self, but might be just the preparation for the next phase.

He isn’t putting any weight on it.

Dr visit today went well. They took off the half cast and put a full cast on. He was in much better mood after the appointment.

I’m glad that went well, msbelle.

It looks like I’ll have Thanksgiving with genetic family this year, instead of the found family with whom I’ve been celebrating since 2010. I won’t be cooking this time. On one hand, restful. On the other hand, being the cook means it gets made exactly how I like it (after taking dietary restrictions into account). But I’m not going to look a free feast in the mouth.

The place I’m moving to is step free. My sister is getting knee surgery next spring, and I’m going to try and get her to stay with me for the first week or so. There is not a bathroom in her house that doesn’t require navigating stairs.

I am so tired of looking at boxes. 11 more days.

My actual-chef brother (who is no longer a chef for a living but is still an amazing cook) will be in town for Thanksgiving, so our feast will be tasty indeed.

I am both hosting and cooking this year, which is stressful because there is a lot to do, but less stressful than just showing up as a guest and having no excuse to stop socializing because the kitchen needs me.

Hi Laura! Good to see your pixels too!

This is a repost of a Bluesky thread discussing what we can expect from the incoming administration, from someone who works in DC. The TL:DR is that it's gonna suck a lot, but there are reasons to believe complete disaster may be avoided.

I’m having some awful whiplash here. Got the happy news at the end of the day yesterday that my team member J had her water break and was headed to the hospital to give birth to her baby boy.

(Spoiler fonting for very different pregnancy news from another team member)

And then an hour later heard from another team member, C, that her 18 week fetus is not going to make it, and to preserve her life and her fertility her doctors are advising her not to wait for a natural miscarriage.

I’m shocked and saddened and underneath it all grateful that both of them but especially C are in blue states where they can at least for now expect care that recognizes them as human beings of value. And hating both that this was one of my first thoughts, and that a year from now it could look so different.

Oh Brenda that is so sad.

Our store had the Grand Re Opening after the remodel and they gave out several grant checks to various charities.

One of them is the Akanimo Cancer Foundation [link] . The founder was here, Ikara But she lost her son to cancer and she started this foundation and named it after her son to not only support children and their families but also families who, like hers, lost their child to cancer.

It started locally and is all over the US now. It's also founded and run by a Black Woman if you want to support that . Or if you know families who need support or help

Thinking of Sumi on her birthday. In hopes that she lurks I'm sending out my wishes for a delightful day.

Oh, Brenda, that is hard stuff.

I still don't know what to do about T'day. After decades of being the host, which I loved, I gave it up a couple of years ago, for reasons. My brother can't eat, so not sure what the plans are there, but I'll find out this weekend. My BIL's BIL is an awesome chef who is hosting an hour or so north of me, and a cousin is hosting an hour south of me. Or I could go with my original plan of going off by myself somewhere. Blah.

Good news on my brother! Preface it to say that bro's list of ailments is long and daunting and if he left the mortal coil tomorrow no one would be surprised, but some hope on the immediate crisis. His biopsy showed a quite treatable form of lung cancer as opposed to an aggressive variety. Whether he will be able to withstand the treatment is another question, but at least there are options available. He also managed to go two days without losing weight so the feeding tube is doing its thing. He came over to see me at my sister's yesterday. He knows that his 3 sisters won't go to his house until he has the big political banner removed. My nephew is supposed to be taking it down.

He still went outside to smoke at my sister's house. Lung cancer didn't stop our dad either as long as he could walk. Brendon's dad died in the hospital stairwell after disconnecting himself from his oxygen and IVs to go have a cigarette. I'm truly grateful that I was able to quit about 40 years ago without any serious difficulty. Addiction sucks.