I'm Back. Again.

[Mel]

I'm sorry I haven't dropped by here as often as I'd like. Things keep coming up. Many things.

In June, I decided to put my home up for sale in August. There's been one setback after another trying to get it ready to sell (it's just me, over 70, and my brother, his wife and their daughter (all of whom are mentally handicapped; they're no help in getting the home ready).

It's a big place, three stories, about 4800 square feet, a large living room with fireplace, a huge kitchen, a formal dining room, a laundry room (with a big deep sink; how I've missed those; I hope we have one when we move), five bedrooms, five and a half bathrooms, and the basement is a mother-in-law apartment with 1.5 bathrooms and a fireplace. H-u-g-e. It's about 25 feet from a gorgeous river and two blocks from a large shady park. I have loved living in this place, in this small town.

I've had a few new health issues lately which affect my ability to work on the home. With all these interruptions, I've had to adopt the opinion that -- when I'm finally ready to put the place on the market -- the right buyer will come along. Meanwhile, I will keep making small inroads so that, at some point, all will be ready, the papers will be signed, and the for sale sign will go up!

We're moving to a more temperate area of Washington state. We have family in California, but don't want to go back there. We have other family in Denver, but it's expensive. Some of the Denver people are moving to Texas, but we don't want to go there either. The last of our family is in Nebraska, which had a long brutal winter year after year, and very hot summers. We really don't want to go there. Loving the state we're in, we're moving -- here!

Btw, one of my health issues is that my right foot feels wet from time to time. I go barefoot in the house most of the time. We have a 17 year old dog who sometimes pees the carpet, and dog water that can get spilled, and a 25 year old (alas) toddler who's pullups can leak. Getting a wet foot isn't that unlikely. But when I check it, my foot is bone dry! To me, my body is playing a joke on me, and I laugh every time! It's so funny to be certain that my foot is wet, just to find that it's bone dry!

It's called Peripheral Neuropathy. A friend of mine has had this for years, and it's extremely painful. She feels like a bird of prey is clutching her leg tightly, or her skin can feel like it's on fire. I'm lucky, so far, that mine is a prankster.

[TrekBeatTK]

Good luck with the move!

The description of your house makes me extremely envious. If I had the funds and any desire to live on the other side of the country, I would make an offer. Sadly I must remain cursed to Northeast apartment dwelling as life passes me by.

[CRAMBAM]

I'm planning on spending a little time in Florida this winter to see what it's like in that part of the country. Granted, I am picking the best time to not be in the Northeast, so there's that. Costing of living definitely sucks in NY, but it sounds like you're in a good situation.

The board isn't active enough to get us back into the habit of checking daily, but at least it's not dead like it was for quite a few years. Come by and post thoughts whenever you'd like. No reason to go anywhere.

[Mel]

Sept 2, 2021 19:52:12 GMT -5 TrekBeatTK said:

Good luck with the move!

The description of your house makes me extremely envious. If I had the funds and any desire to live on the other side of the country, I would make an offer. Sadly I must remain cursed to Northeast apartment dwelling as life passes me by.

It's a great place all right. At the time, it was the only home big enough for us (we were eight people then) and it was empty, ready for us to move into immediately. Back in Southern California, I often had dreams of moving to a mountainous area near a river. And here I am.

When I lived in California, I toyed with the idea of moving to NYC or Boston. I have friends there and have visited both cities quite a few times. Living in an apartment appeals to me too, but being a dog lover, I've always bought homes (or condos) with yards.

[Mel]

Sept 4, 2021 19:34:14 GMT -5 CRAMBAM said:

I'm planning on spending a little time in Florida this winter to see what it's like in that part of the country. Granted, I am picking the best time to not be in the Northeast, so there's that. Costing of living definitely sucks in NY, but it sounds like you're in a good situation.

The board isn't active enough to get us back into the habit of checking daily, but at least it's not dead like it was for quite a few years. Come by and post thoughts whenever you'd like. No reason to go anywhere.

Are you thinking of retiring to Florida?

I am in a good situation. As a paralegal, I made very good money. But even before that, my dad (old enough to be my grandfather) made me an interesting offer. He'd heard I'd been accepted to USC. He said he'd buy a home and give me 50% title if I didn't go to that "black school." (He used a colorful epitaph that starts with N which this board won't let me write.) About the only way to get to USC was (and is) to go through gang territories.

My dad was born and bred in Alabama and my mom in Mississippi; they had extreme prejudice all their lives. Anyway, I took him up on his offer. I chose a place (a condo with a yard). He paid for it outright with cash, and put it our names equally, with rights of survivorship under joint tenancy. He died about six years later, and I then owned the entire property outright. That was quite the windfall. It helped me buy every home I've had. Thanks, dad.

I'll keep checking back, and I'll keep in touch.

[CRAMBAM]

I'm a little young to retire, but NYC gets a bit boring in the winter, and since I can work remotely now, I figured might as well be bored in the warmer weather. Plus, most of the things I like to do require warmer weather, and I may be able to continue.

Amazing how hate led you to a windfall. And since I'm guessing you are not a racist, that hate is not passed along from one generation to the next. Win win.

[Mel]

Sept 27, 2021 10:42:15 GMT -5 CRAMBAM said:

I'm a little young to retire, but NYC gets a bit boring in the winter, and since I can work remotely now, I figured might as well be bored in the warmer weather. Plus, most of the things I like to do require warmer weather, and I may be able to continue.

Oops. My bad. I forgot you guys are way younger than me. Your situation sounds great, being able to telecommute and live in a state that offers things you like to do all year. Good luck with that.

Amazing how hate led you to a windfall. And since I'm guessing you are not a racist, that hate is not passed along from one generation to the next. Win win.

Most of it was hate, but I think he was also afraid for me, driving in gang territory. But yes. A win win for me and those around me.

My kin in the South and Midwest despise blacks. I wish their kids had questioned what their family taught them. If that side of my family makes it to heaven, they expect to see white people only. <sigh>

As for me, I'd like to land in doggy heaven, with visitation rights to cat heaven.

[CRAMBAM]

Eventually, people will question. It may take time, but it happens. That's why it gets better every generation.

[Mel]

Nov 22, 2021 17:56:34 GMT -5 CRAMBAM said:

Eventually, people will question. It may take time, but it happens. That's why it gets better every generation.

It's an interesting premise. I believed it was true until Trump got in office and then left. He's brought out the bigotry in millions.

I have a dear friend with three grown sons. She's the wife of a highly educated pastor. They aren't bigots. They don't teach racial hatred.

Their sons are highly educated; two computer execs and a prosperous engineer. The engineer and his wife became Trumpers. He told his mom that he had put his WA home up for sale (the sale finalized on December 8th) so he and his family can move to Texas. He did that because a "civil war is coming." The Reps are going to get rid of all the evil, lying, child-abusing, Satan-worshipping Dems, to make this country what it should be: A place where godly white men are recognized as the best humanity has to offer, and everyone else knows their place, below them.

Just the other day I heard a Rep spouting off about how there should be one national religion. It's like living in a Twilight Zone episode.

Btw, it's a good thing I didn't put my home up for sale in summer. We were going to move where these friends live, a beautiful (cold) beach area of Washington. Since their two sons moved away (one in summer to be closer to his wife's mom), they're selling their home to move to Ohio, where their third son lives. My family and I will be moving to Nebraska, if I ever get this house up for sale!

[CRAMBAM]

I haven't heard anything about a national religion, as that does not sound like a conservative, but nothing above really sounds like racism. All of the racism came from the liberal media, trying to make Trump into something he is not. Meanwhile, they ignore actual racism when it comes from the democrats. There is actual open antisemitism in the democrat party, like from Ilhan Omar, who is vehemently antisemitic. No one in modern times was more divisive than Obama. Racism is something democrats use to get votes. There is far more hate on the left.

I have literally had people unfriend me because I am conservative. That says more about them than me, since I never even consider that.

The media created a character, called him Trump, and painted him as a racist. Meanwhile, Joe Biden was an actual segregationist. He is quoted as saying that he didn't want his children going to school in a racial jungle. His mentor was Robert Byrd. Donald Trump is not the problem. Not even close.

[Mel]

I'm too tired to work on this further. This is my final post. It's not a draft anymore.

Dec 18, 2021 18:08:04 GMT -5 CRAMBAM said:

I haven't heard anything about a national religion, as that does not sound like a conservative ...

The national religion thing was fairly recent, something Michael Flynn has promoted a few times now.

All of the racism came from the liberal media, trying to make Trump into something he is not.

I had assumed Trump wasn't much of a racist because he's a New York businessman and in the entertainment industry. But others have said he didn't want "black persons" to win on his TV show. Even so, maybe that's just how he talks. I dunno. (I wrote a single word in quotes; it was changed).

Trump certainly isn't making any effort to get his crowd to consider that equality is a good thing for everyone, including people of color, and now, females. Trump promised if he got elected, he would appoint conservatives (he likely would have done that anyway) who would undermine Roe v. Wade (and the judges might have done that anyway).

I didn't expect it to actually happen. I thought even if conservatives were appointed, particularly females, they would agree that a woman should have final say over her own body. I thought this was a done deal, that no one would ever again put a state's rights above her own. Boy was I wrong.

Back when I was raped repeatedly over a three day period (it took me that long to get away), I didn't think I could get pregnant because I was on the pill. I thought I'd missed two periods because of emotional trauma.

I went to see the doctor because my stomach was killing me. My pain was 24/7 with occasional nausea. I didn't know then that "morning sickness" was just a name for something that could be 24/7 and include pain. I was also passing out now and then. Pregnancy didn't enter my mind.

When the doctor told me I was pregnant, I must have gone white as a sheet. All I could think of was a back alley abortion, and my friends who had been maimed or died that way.

He touched my hand and said, "Did you know that therapeutic abortion has been legal in this state for two months?" Talk about lucky (okay, real luck is not getting raped ). I was two months pregnant, and abortion for women in my circumstances had been legal for two months.

Meanwhile, they ignore actual racism when it comes from the democrats. There is actual open antisemitism in the democrat party, like from Ilhan Omar, who is vehemently antisemitic.

I know. Our party members aren't perfect. But most of them have ideals that I agree with, about basic equality. Some don't agree.

No one in modern times was more divisive than Obama.

We shall have to agree to disagree.

Racism is something democrats use to get votes. There is far more hate on the left.

Oh brother. Like we're the ones redrawing maps based on black population, reducing polling places to one per county in predominately black counties, and preventing people in line to vote from getting free bottles of water and/or leaving the line to go to the restroom.

I have literally had people unfriend me because I am conservative. That says more about them than me, since I never even consider that.

I had never done that until this year. A few of the conservatives I'd known online for years went off kilter about the election (we shall have to agree to disagree about it being stolen; I don't believe that for a second.)

There was real stress for me in reading their opinions, and the venom that came with it. The same people who had never over-reacted or *attacked* were now doing so repeatedly. I didn't need the additional stress. I told them if it didn't stop, I would have to block them. When it didn't stop, I did just that.

I have real stress in my life to deal with. About four years ago, I was diagnosed with Chronic Kidney Disease Stage 3 (my love of chocolate, cola and salty things, among others). In February of this year, I was told I was now at the bottom of Stage 4. Stage 5 is dialysis or transplant.

Finally, I was willing to take my health seriously. At that very moment, I vowed to do everything I could to try to stop it from getting worse, and if it was possible, to get better. The diet for Stage 4 is hugely restrictive; no cola, chocolate, coffee, no red meat, a lot of fish aren't allowed, salty things, things made with flour, most veggies and fruit, and only one egg occasionally. All these things have too much potassium and phosphorus and/or salt.

The next day, I created a menu based on restrictions, and I didn't eat a bite until I had it well below the maximums. (I created a new menu every day until I had quite a few to use.) When I saw the doctor in June, there was a hint of improvement. When I saw him in October, there it was. Real proof that this was working. Instead of being at the bottom rung of Stage 4, I had entered the bottom rung of Stage 3. I hope to keep improving.

When I thought we were moving to the beach in Washington, I wondered if that meant I had a good five or ten years left in me (my parents died fairly young, and I'm long past that). When my friends said they were moving away, I wondered if that was my answer. That I am to relocate to Nebraska so that my brother's family is where they need to be when I die. I don't know. I just wonder about it.

So, suffice it to say, I have real things in my life to worry about, without arguing politics with people.

I once mentioned on this Proboard that, during the first election, I tried to be fair about watching the news. If I saw 20 minutes of one, I watched 20 of the others. If I watched six hours of one, I watched 6 hours of another (later, I came to prefer Fox for conservative news, at least I did back then).

Frankly, Fox accuses Dems of a lot of things that we just don't do. Watching both sets of news might show that.

... Joe Biden was an actual segregationist. He is quoted as saying that he didn't want his children going to school in a racial jungle. His mentor was Robert Byrd. Donald Trump is not the problem. Not even close.

By the 1970's, Byrd had changed his mind. As for Biden, I think his statement was misunderstood. Biden wasn't sure that busing was the way to achieve equality. He was afraid that different communities and states would differ on how to do it, and that the end result would be inequality, and that inequality would result in a racial jungle. Here's the quote:

..I am anxious to hear from Mr. Flemming of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Unless we do something about this, my children are going to grow up in a jungle, the jungle; being a racial jungle; with tensions having built so high that it is going to explode at some point. We have got to make some move on this.

[CRAMBAM]

Since quotes are a bit of a pain in the neck, I'll try do this without quoting.

Black people won more than one Apprentice, and of course Omarosa is one of the most famous contestants--he even brought her into the administration for awhile.

Trump did keep his campaign promises. I don't want to get into an abortion discussion, but can't you see that if you believe that it is murder, you'd want to undermine Roe? Also, Roe v. Wade is not a good Supreme Court decision. The Court usurped the legislature, which they are not supposed to do. They pulled a Constitutional right out of nowhere and took away a power that belongs to the states. And if Roe ever does get overturned, that's all that will happen. Individual states will get to decide, and lots of states will make no change.

Of course, no right or law should be absolute, and there are certainly public policy reasons to allow abortion, and your situation would certainly qualify as one of them.

Gerrymandering has been done by both parties. But it's the left that treats black people as a voting block. Joe Biden actually said that black people that don't vote for him "ain't black." That wasn't years ago. That was in 2020.

Regarding fake news, I've seen it so badly on the left. You even see it in movies and on TV. Conservatives are demonized or conservative characters somehow are convinced about the greatness and moral righteousness of the left. Never in reverse.

I'm sorry about your health issues. Hopefully you have years left.

[Mel]

Yes, there is gerrymandering on both sides. But things are getting extreme now.

I remember that Biden quote, and yes, he said it. He's not an inspired nor inspirational speaker, alas.

I don't like fake news in movies either, but they're movies, so I don't really care.

I enjoyed the Lost in Space reboot, but I got sick of females being the heroes and the real thinkers behind the plans that worked. When they brought Commander Grant Kelly into the show, I thought he'd bring interesting aspects to the season and solutions to problems. Instead, his character was fairly ignored; seemed like a waste to me. That said, it was cool how Robot saved the day.

Thanks for your health well-wishes.