Watcha' Doing - 2020 Showing 1,701-1,750 of 2,651

[Peggy]

I googled, and those might be the culprits! I had never heard of them, but we have them here too and they can be found in the exact kind of area I was in Tuesday (which we don't have where I live) and become active in the same kind of weather we had that day. The bites match mine too. I'm glad I figured it out!

[Esther]

Peggy wrote: "We went for a walk on Tuesday and just above where my socks are (or perhaps in my socks?) I've been bitten by insects. Or maybe I touched a plant that stings. I don't know. But on one leg I have fo..."

Could be chiggers. They love top of socks, belt, bra straps... whatever really touch the skin

[Saar The Book owl]

In my fridge I always have a tube of Purigel. It's made from chamomille. It helps with insectbites and burns. I hope it goes away soon. I can imagine it's really annoying.

[Sarah]

Just looked up the no see ums to find that those are the little blighters that have been biting me. I don't recall seeing them before. I guess that's how they got theeir name. Haha. The chiggers look like ticks Esther. Are they the same?

[Esther]

Sarah wrote: "Just looked up the no see ums to find that those are the little blighters that have been biting me. I don't recall seeing them before. I guess that's how they got theeir name. Haha. The chiggers lo..."

Not ticks but close to them.
(no see ums are the most annoying things,,,,).

[Cherie]

Peggy - good trick about the toothpaste. I have not heard that one.
I always use my medicated lip balm when I get a bite and do not have anything else. I try to buy Mentholatum Medicated Lip balm, when I can find it. I love the cherry flavor. It has menthol and camphor in it. We have no-see-ums here too. They are pretty bad this year.

[Shirley]

Are no-see-ums like sand-flies or midges? They are almost too tiny to see, and the bites itch like crazy.

[Sarah]

Midges!

[Sarah]

I like the toothpaste trick. I use tiger balm mainly. That has camphor and menthol in too.

[Margo]

Some great tips there! I would never have thought of toothpaste.

I'm all over the place today. Trying to get my bag packed for hospital is not easy when I'm not sure how long I'll be staying. It will be a minimum on 3 nights but my surgeon thinks it likely that I'll in longer. The no visitor rule means no clean clothes. In a pinch I could ask Pete to drop off some but I'd sooner not put him to a 3 hour round trip when I won't even get to see him!

I'm not even sure if I will be able to buy anything there so I'm packing 6 apples, some mints, gum and lots of herbal tea. There's bound to be something I want that I haven't thought of.

At least I have no worries about about running out of books as my library is completely digital 😁

[Peggy]

I missed why you have to go to the hospital Margo. Better pack enough if you're not sure how long you'll be there!

[Esther]

Margo wrote: "Some great tips there! I would never have thought of toothpaste.

I'm all over the place today. Trying to get my bag packed for hospital is not easy when I'm not sure how long I'll be staying. It w..."

So you are packing a trunk then? ;)
I hope everything goes well and that your time in the hospital will not be too long.

[Kristie, Moderator]

Don't forget your chargers, Margo! Hope everything goes well and you are out again and well quickly.

[Rusalka, Moderator]

Your own spit works too on bites. Other peoples do not, just in case people feel like trying that.

[Margo]

Peggy wrote: "I missed why you have to go to the hospital Margo. Better pack enough if you're not sure how long you'll be there!"

I'm having a discectomy Peggy. I have a few damaged discs in my back and one of them, in my lower back is giving a lot of trouble so it is for the chop!

@Kristie, that's my nightmare! I woke up this morning and one of the rubber inserts for my eye buds had got lost in the bed. I hadn't even considered that could happen! I hunted through all my drawers and found tons of spares so that eventuality is covered LOL

I think I'll take a second charger, just in case.......

Thanks for all the good wishes 😊

[uncomfytomato]

Margo wrote: "Some great tips there! I would never have thought of toothpaste.

I'm all over the place today. Trying to get my bag packed for hospital is not easy when I'm not sure how long I'll be staying. It w..."

I recommend packing at least some crackers or biscuits something with salt, I hope it all goes well!

[Peggy]

Good luck Margo! I hope all goes well and you'll be back home soon.

[Peggy]

Rusalka wrote: "Your own spit works too on bites. Other peoples do not, just in case people feel like trying that."

Lol, why would you try that when you always have your own?

Does pee work too? It works for some jellyfish bites, doesn't it? Never tried it myself.

[Sarah]

Good luck with the op Margo. I hope it eases the pain in your back. My mum had a similar op a very long time ago (before i was born) and it was w much more invasive op and was out of action for ages but things have come on massively since then. A client of mine had one a few years back and it was amazing to hear how quickly they recovered from it.

[Sarah]

We've had a worrying couple of days. Our friend fell ill and suspected covid. We've been in her home as Rob has been fitting her kitchen. So had to wait for the test results to come back to see if we'd have to self isolate. I was getting a little worked up. But it came back negative. Phew!

[Sandra, Moderator]

Good luck, Margo. I hope this surgery solves the pain. A big hug.

[Janice, Moderator]

I hope the surgery goes well, Margo and that you get the pain relief you're hoping for.

Sarah, great that it wasn't covid, and I hope your friend feels better soon.

[Jenn]

Wow, what a relief Sarah!

My warmest thoughts go with you Margo for an uneventful procedure and a swift recovery ❤️

[Margo]

Thanks guys. This surgery has an 80% sucess rate for removing some or all of the pain so I'm very hopeful 😁

Sarah, you were very lucky. It must have been very worrying for you considering your asthma!

[Margo]

@Bash, good point! I'll pack some oatcakes :-)

[Sandra, Moderator]

Sarah, what a relief...

[Sandra, Moderator]

My kids start school next Tuesday, and we are slowly getting ready. It's been so long since the last time they attended classes in perdón, back in March, that it feels like another life.

[Peggy]

I hear you Sandra! I start work again on Monday and will actually go to work for the first time since mid-March. Classes start in 2 weeks and I'll also be physically teaching one day a week from then on. I can't believe it's been almost 6 months!

Are your kids excited to go back?

[Sandra, Moderator]

They are super excited. We've been doing a lot of training on hand washing, masking/unmasking, etc. I guess we are ready. I'm also volunteering during recess as a "covid monitor". The idea is to be there to help the kids keep the protocols while still getting fun, at least for a while u til they get used to the new ways. There are going to be monitors also in halls at arrival and dismissal time, and lunch.

[Sarah]

Covid monitors sound like a good idea!

I hope all is good for your kids Sandra and you Peggy when school/uni resumes. It will feel very strange i'm sure.

[Sarah]

We had an inidian takeaway last night, first one since March.

[Shirley]

Margo wrote: "Some great tips there! I would never have thought of toothpaste.

I'm all over the place today. Trying to get my bag packed for hospital is not easy when I'm not sure how long I'll be staying. It w..."
All the best Margo. I hope the operation goes smoothly and doesn’t interfere with important things like reading🙂

[Lilisa]

All the best on your surgery Margo- you’ve got your priorities right - lots of e-books and snacks! 🙂

[Renee]

I am so jealous Sarah. Good Indian food is nowhere to be found in the Chicago Suburbs.

[Sarah]

Renee wrote: "I am so jealous Sarah. Good Indian food is nowhere to be found in the Chicago Suburbs."

That's a shame. I think Indian is my favourite takeaway. The one we had last night was really good.

[Saar The Book owl]

My son starts school next Tuesday. I just hope it'll be a normal school year.

[Peggy]

I love Indian food! We don't have anything near us either though :(

I hope so too Saar!

I just had my first week.. I've been working at universities for 9 years and I don't think I ever had such a stressful and busy first week. I'm used to easing in, almost an extended holiday. Well not this time. Let's hope this is not any indication of the rest of the year..

[Saar The Book owl]

I hope the commotion will ease off, Peggy and you find a bit of rest at your work.

[Sarah]

I was feeling ill yesterday and spent the afternoon in bed. I'm still not feeling great. I went for a covid test this morning. I'm almost certain it isn't that but best to get it checked out. Also not knowing would put Rob in a difficult situation for work. I should get my results in 24-48hrs.

I hope things quieten down for you Peggy.

[Sandra, Moderator]

Sarah wrote: "I was feeling ill yesterday and spent the afternoon in bed. I'm still not feeling great. I went for a covid test this morning. I'm almost certain it isn't that but best to get it checked out. Also ..."

I hope it is not covid, Sarah. Keep as posted. Do you feel better today?

[Sandra, Moderator]

Peggy wrote: "I just had my first week.. I've been working at universities for 9 years and I don't think I ever had such a stressful and busy first week."

What did make it so stressful, Peggy? I hope it gets better next week.

My kids started school and so far so good. As I said I have been volunteering as a "covid monitor" all week. It was really a good idea the school had. It helped a lot to have extra hands for the extra measures and protocols. I am also impressed at how well the kids are doing. I've been at recess and lunch time. They are respecting rules, helping, and adjusting super fast. At lunch I saw all of them, from K to 8th grade, and I can say that they are trying hard. I have heard so many times this week the grown ups saying "I think we can make this work", and I felt so proud of the kids.

Now the university students are a whole different thing. The university my husband teaches in also started last week, and although you see all the students using masks at campus, keeping distance, etc., there have been also parties. One of them was specifically summoned as a "maskless" party. The were around 40 and they have been suspended. On the weekend another party with 70 students was reported. And a few more. I understand that this is a minority, but in this case a minority can really compromised everyone. I kind of get that at that age they feel immortal and do not care about the virus, but do they want the university to close and be sent home to online classes???? They can't even think...

[Janice, Moderator]

I can imagine how stressful it is for teachers, students and parents with school starting back up. I hope it's a safe reentry for everyone.

I hope you feel better soon Sarah!

[Peggy]

I'm glad it went well with your kids and the monitoring Sandra.

I don't understand those older students either. Rob heard some young guys talking in the supermarket about organizing a huge party with 50 people, but that everyone should park their bikes somewhere in the streets surrounding the house, as it would be very suspicious if there were 50 bikes in one driveway..


It's stressful because I do the coordination of the 4th year students who are about to start on their research and thesis. Things have been arranged by the support team behind the screeens during the holidays, but they made some mistakes. Then there's also plenty of students emailing with questions or having other issues, and we had some work from before the summer that we didn't manage to finish up then (like the new manuals for students) so we have to do that this week too. Then there's been a restructuring of teams so we have to have meetings and think about our new teams as well, some theses to grade from students who were delayed or didn't pass the first time, and so on.

I do expect it will quiet down a bit once classes actually start.

[Sandra, Moderator]

That is a lot of work and in not the best of the situations. I hope things settle down soon, Peggy.

[Kristie, Moderator]

It seems the summer flew by this year. Maybe it just seems that way because the spring seemed to go on so long? My grandson has gone home to start the new school year even though his school is still remote. It's going to be a strange school year.

Did anyone see that Chadwick Boseman passed away? I find this really sad. He was only 43 and he died from colon cancer. He had been fighting it for 4 years, so he was filming superhero movies while fighting cancer. That's just crazy to me. For those of you that aren't familiar with his work, he was the actor who played Black Panther in the the Marvel movies. He was also the MC in Marshall and 21 Bridges among other movies. Really talented man and so young.

[Janice, Moderator]

I only knew of Chadwick Boseman from the Black Panther movie. It's terribly sad that cancer snuffed his life out at such an early age.

[Rusalka, Moderator]

I heard about this this morning. Incredibly sad, he was so young and very talented. Not to mention the roles he played were incredibly important to so many people.

Cancer sucks. Check your bitses and pieces or get someone else to for fun.

[Sandra, Moderator]

I saw it too. So sad...

[Sarah]

I was so shocked and sad to hear about Chadwick Boseman. So young!

I got my test resultss back and they were negative for covid. Yay!! I am feeling much better than i did on thursday. Still got a headache, sore throat andd a bit of a cough. Got a good night's sleep last night, first one for a while which helped massively.

[Sandra, Moderator]

Great, Sarah!