Bfth's Boring Blog

Now what? Are you tired of this?  I know I am tired of this... Since March of 2020 (which was at least a century ago), I've been doing my best to avoid Covid.  (Haven't we all?  I sure the heck hope so.)  I've worn the mask.  I've gotten vaccinated.  I've gotten boosted.  And guess what...I got sick. Let me say that although I TRIED to be good and follow the rules, I was far from perfect.  There was a time (brief) when I felt comfortable not wearing a mask in the grocery store.   (https://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2021/06/unmasked.html)  That didn't last long.  Things changed; the virus evolved and the masks went on.  (BTW, the guy in the teal jacket still works in the frozen section at ShopRite and he's STILL not wearing the mask properly.  For reference:   https://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2021/03/the-virus-diary-responsibility.html ) However, I have made some mistakes. I went to a concert at the end of November.  As I entered with friends I notice t

  Christmas 2020 was a strange one.  We were in the midst of Covid, with a vaccine seemingly a long way down the road.  Yet my immediate family had a nice one.   (https://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2020/12/the-virus-diary-post-holiday-thoughts.html) A year later with vaccines under our belts (Moderna for hubby, Pfizer for my son and J&J for me), you would think that we would be in a better place.  But we are not.  The new variant, Omicron, is running through the streets and sadly has come to visit us.  Yes, it is a Covid Christmas. How could this have happened with my husband and I being vaccinated AND boosted and my son vaccinated?  (He was supposed to have been boosted yesterday?)  Omicron happened and as careful as we were, we weren't careful enough.  My son went to a party on Saturday night and by Tuesday morning he heard from several of his friends (who attended said party) that someone there had tested positive.  My son had not been near this person, but...His girlf

 Do you know the adage above? (Supposedly credited to that late, great Mark Twain.) Well, my family has finally crossed it and made a serious lifestyle change.  If you've been following along with my more recent posts, you know that neither of my parents is in good health.  It has rapidly become apparent that they need more help.  As hard as it is to admit, they need someone who can live in and be there.  That person is NOT me.  I don't have a medical background, I'm too emotionally involved AND I do have a job, my husband and my son and other obligations. There are really only two options:  moving to assisted living (which my parents were adamantly against; and let's face it, if it was going to happen it should have happened long ago) or finding someone to live in.  Again, I know that we fortunate enough to be able to have these options.  My parents are fortunate enough to be able to afford (at least for the time being) having someone live in and care for them. More

  The other day I heard from a friend through social media.  This was an actual friend; someone I've known for a long time, not just a "social media friend."  We were once very close, but our paths diverged and we're not in touch that much and we haven't physically seen each other in a very long time.  (That's even before Covid) We don't send each other Christmas cards (even electronically). Nonetheless, we do "see" each other on social media frequently.  (How can you not?) We don't message each other much; the last time we "talked" that way was in 2020.  So I was a little surprised to hear from her.  Her message started about by inquiring about a "rumor" that she heard from mutual friend (someone I know personally, but she only knows through social media) that I had access to some video that she was interested in.  Then as a follow up she (casually) asked:  "How you and what are are you doing for Christmas?" How

  I'm wearing my  Life is Good  gratitude shirt because I packed it in my suitcase a week or so ago.  (I never unpacked my bag from the last time I visited my parents...I just kind of swapped a few things out, leaving in clean items.)  Yesterday a friend gave me a gratitude journal as a Christmas gift.  (It's aimed for kids, but it's still pretty cute.)  It got me thinking, maybe I need to focus on gratitude a little more. It's not easy to do; especially considering where I am.  (I don't mean physically; I mean mentally and emotionally.)  I am back at my parents' house at the shore trying to take care of things.  I've been doing that a lot recently.  It's been a difficult time.  Both of my parents have health issues.  (If you've been following along a quick update:  dad's surgery is not happening...at least for now.  Has nothing to do with the incompetence which we FINALLY were able to overcome, but the fact that the anesthesiologist feels that

  I just got off the phone with the (incredibly kind) woman at the spine center who SHOULD be scheduling my father's procedure.  In case you haven't been following along, let me fill you in (if you read my blog post on Saturday, you can skim this): My father has spinal stenosis, along with a variety of other issues.  This means he is in pain when he moves, but when he sits he is okay.  For a LONG time (years) there has been no clear path to resolving this.  This year a spine doctor was recommended who thinks he can help alleviate some of the pain (which will also help him walk since this is all affecting the use of his right leg) by putting in what is called a Minuteman spacer so that bone is no longer pressing on bone and nerve.  (At least that's how I think it works).  Procedure was scheduled and tests were done.  Then at the last minute, the cardiologist pulled the plug and would not give clearance without a nuclear stress test (why this came up at the last minute when

 Numbers and dates have gotten a bad rap through the years.  "Beware the Ides of March."  (Especially if your name if Julius Caesar.)  Be careful on Friday the 13th,  (Although it's always been a good date for me... was even married on Friday the 13th and despite some disastrous weather during the day it turned out to be a great party and heck I'm still married...pretty happily too.)  There are days that history will mark as dark forever:  December 7th, September 11th.  But for me December 10th is going to go down as one of the really bad ones.  But I don't know if I should fear December 10th or fear all Friday the 10ths.  After yesterday I'll probably end up doing both. They say bad things happens in threes.  Based on my experience on December 10th, it really is 4s. (Because why stop at three?)  I'm not saying that yesterday was the worst day of my life or even the worst time of my life, but it will go down in my personal history as one of the worst.

  I'm not a Rolling Stones fan (just never got into them...and Mick Jagger...I'll NEVER understand his appeal, but...), but they were right when they said "You can't always get what you want..." File this under first world "problems":  Barefoot wines just released a limited-edition wine:  BAREFOOT X OREO THINS RED BLEND.  Chocolate and wine?  Be still my heart!  You can't possibly go wrong with this combination.  (Well maybe you can, but I can't see it.  Of course I'm also the woman who pairs Barefoot Riesling with popcorn so there's that.)  This tantalizing package, which I've heard about on the news and been following much too closely (I need something to take my mind off all the stresses of the day), was released today.  For $25 measly bucks (I'm not including shipping cost here) you get 2 bottles of wine and a package of Oreo thins.  The description is  mouthwatering :  "Barefoot x OREO THINS Red Blend will send your ta

 Yesterday was all about my dad's nuclear stress test:   https://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2021/12/stress-test.html .  Today is about waiting for the results. I held off till about noon before I called the doctor's office.  Yesterday, David who did the test, said the results would ready today.  Called and got through with surprising ease.  I said I was calling for John's results.  The person seemed to think that they had been done but did not give me the results.  (No surprise I should have lied and said I was from Dr. X's office.)  The person I spoke to said the office would reach out to him within a day or two if there were any problems. I don't trust that so... I asked to be transferred to Pam who I spoke with yesterday.  I got put on hold.  I held for about five minutes with LOUD annoying music (can't say if it was the doctor's on hold music that was loud or if it had something to do with my parent's phone).  Then Pam came on and I told her

  If you have been reading any of my blog posts recently, you'll know that my family has been under a LOT of stress.  As I write this my father SHOULD have been undergoing a procedure that would have helped relieve some of his pain.  He is not  because the cardiologist denied it.  SUPPOSEDLY it was because he said he would not take a stress test.  This isn't necessarily true.  My parents said they were never told/asked this, but I wasn't there so I can't definitively say.  Did the doctor NOT say this?  Did they mishear something?  We will never know.  What I DO know is that I can make sure that this never happens again. To that end, today my father is having a nuclear stress test to show that his heart IS strong enough to take the moderate risk procedure.  After all that my parents have been through, I was NOT going to let them go through this alone again.  I had planned to take the day off anyway to assist them before, during and after the procedure. So instead of si

  We call it healthcare.  It's not.  It may be about a person's health, but there is certainly no care involved. I am hoping someone out there will argue with me on this one.  I hope someone can provide me an example of excellent care within "the system."  There HAS to be someone out there and I so want to hear about this anomaly. Because it has become blatantly obvious that there is no care.  Care:  "the provision of what is necessary for the health, welfare, maintenance, and protection of someone or something."  Care:  "serious attention or consideration applied to doing something correctly or to avoid damage or risk."  Care:  "serious attention or consideration applied to doing something correctly or to avoid damage or risk...”  In all my recent experiences none of these definitions apply. Back in early November my mother was hospitalized.  Tests were run.  She was released after 3 days with no real diagnosis or explanation.  We knew that h

 I am SO TIRED of people stressing out/making life difficult for my parents...which in turn stresses me out!    People and companies that CLAIM to be helpful, but in reality... So this post is about MY experience and the experiences my parents have recently had, but the thing is I don't think it ONLY applies to them.  I am sure for every story and rant that I am about to put down, there are hundreds (thousands?  Millions?) of other similar ones out there.  It's time they were heard. My father has been in chronic pain for several years.  Among other ailments like neuropathy, he has spinal stenosis which gets worse every day.  A year or so ago, his pain was so bad that he was no longer able to sleep in bed at night.  He started sleeping in a chair.  In mid-2020 he ordered a sleep chair (Google it).  Supposedly individually made in the U.S.A.  It had a 12 week delivery time.  Well, we are in the middle of a pandemic, so that 12 weeks became 16 and so on.  The chair finally arrived

  If I can recall correctly (and I'll admit my brain gets pretty muddled at times), I attended my last professional concert in the summer of 2019...July 30th to be precise.  It was a great night and if you'd like you can read about it here:   https://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2019/08/a-chris-isaak-adventure-gentleman-and.html .  Last night was my first concert since then, and it was a different experience.  The music was magical and the show itself fantastic (although obviously modified by Covid-19).  It should come as no surprise that the performer was the same man and band that I saw back then:   Chris Isaak  . A concert while we are still suffering from a pandemic (and with the ominious unknown of the Omicron varient), is a different experience.  As a result my experience at the Count Basie Theater in Red Bank was not as thrilling as my previous concert and that has nothing to do with the band or the venue, but with the situation. I don't go to many concerts.  It'