SurvivingInfidelity.com^®

I have not posted anything for a long time so this format is new to me. I look forward to Friday pictures and Off topic is a fount of information

There are things that come up in daily life that I have no guidance on and forget to ask about. Are there things that come up in your daily life that you have no answer to? At the moment mine are ---

1 What do you do with the nickels, dimes, calendars, etc that come from charities, unsolicited in the mail. Do you feel bad and guilty if you don't respond. Do you use them? Do you throw them away?

2 Why do they say drain the liquid from canned red beans? Looks to me as if it might be good soluble fiber, or is it bad for you?.

3 Why can't I find a shoe repair shop within 10 miles of my house. Does no-one get their shoes repaired any more?

4 I had Covid recently, 4 months after I was after I was vaccinated. I am told I should not get the booster until after 3 months now. However, I was asked if I wanted the regular flue vaccine. Has anyone checked to see if this is really a good idea, and how does that affect the booster. They are both a kind of flue.

I'll be interested if anyone has the answers and if other similar issues come up in your lives.

cissie,

For shoes - I live within proximity of a few shoe repair shops. Each of them run by someone who looks like they've been there for the last 50 years. Perhaps it's a dying profession? Also - the costs jumped dramatically in the last few years - to the point where the last time I went in to get shoes worked on I was better off just buying new shoes.

For charities- I better start opening those envelopes. I think I have just been throwing them out unopened!

Good luck with the other questions - I'm curious to hear more!

About the red beans, I can’t imagine they would put unhealthy juice inside the canned with the beans. I wonder if perhaps they imagine that you’re adding it to a recipe of some kind and the juice would screw up the results of whatever you’re cooking. That’s all I’ve got on that one.

The only one I can really weigh in on is the COVID vs flu vaccines. It is absolutely not correct that they are both the flu. Thy may have similar symptoms but the way the viruses work is very different. Coronaviruses come from a different phylum of the kingdom orthoavirae. If you remember King Philip Called On Fanny G Smith as the taxonomy of creatures, you and I are more closely related to blue whales and lizards than corona and influenza viruses are.

My PCP and also the medical director where I work prefer patients to wait a least 2 months after COVID infection to receive a COVID vaccine or booster. That is primarily because the natural immune response might lessen the response to the vaccine. Flu shots and pneumococcal shots can be given at any time as long as the patient is not sick and running a fever. I got my COVID booster and flu shot at the same time.

The water in the can of beans is called aqua fava. You can Google recipes, but most seems to use the water from canned chick peas. I saw one recipe that made a foam similar to whipped cream.

For the unsolicited items in the mail, I have up feeling guilty about using the items a long time ago. I look up the charity online to see what percentage is overhead and how much actually goes to the people in need. If there's a lot that goes to those in need, then I might send something.

Shoe repair seems to be a dying art. We have a shoe repair shop here in town. I've taken some Birkenstocks to get repaired, but other shoes aren't worth it.

The flu and COVID are different, so I would still get the shot. It sounds like the flu season is going to be a bad one.

All good questions~

I drain the juice off of any canned beans. I don't buy them often but if I'm in a hurry to make a taco salad, I do buy them. I don't want the juice in my taco salad.

Shoe repair - never done that. We have a historical society area in my small town where there is a tiny shoe repair shop from the 1920's and during celebrations or open house of the historical society - a little old man comes in to do shoe repairs while people watch him. I think shoe repair is a dying art. I'm not good with getting things repaired or returning items to stores. I'd rather go buy new stuff as my time is valuable. I'm impatient.

As for charities, I have my favorites. I've checked them out. St. Judes, and Juvenile Diabetes Foundation get my donations. I too check out to see how much of the donations go to the actual patients or research and NOT to administrative costs. I also support a couple of civil rights groups. I don't like the nickels or dimes enclosed in the letters. IF they can throw money away like that, they don't need my donation. I toss those coins in my 5 gallon coin jar.

Covid and the flu shot. I don't get the flu shot. After twice getting it and it making me have a horrible FLU for two weeks, down completely, I decided NOT to get it ever again.

Shredded paper
Some areas will not take shredded paper in the recycling bin. This even happens at the office. Does this make sense to anyone?

Regarding shredded paper; we don't put ours loose in the recycling bag - we put it in a brown paper grocery store paper bag (we set it inside of the paper shredder), staple it up when it's full, then put the entire bag into the recycling bin.

I kind of get why they don't want people putting shredded paper in recycling - most people would just dump their bin with shredded paper into the recycling bin for the disposal people to pick up at their street. Our disposal people use trucks that lift the bins into their truck with a robot arm. And that robot arm flings the garbage or recycling bin over pretty violently. If you had all kinds of random shredded paper in that bin, it would go flying all over the street, and it would create a mess. That's why we secure our shredded paper in an enclosed recyclable bag.

[This message edited by number4 at 8:52 PM, Monday, October 24th]

Re Shredded paper . There are 2 issues here. One is that although you can recycle shredded paper, the fibers are weaker from the shredding— the new product is better when the fibers are longer. And shredding cuts up the fibers. And then also it is harder to sort the shredded paper compared to cardboard and intact paper. You can’t stack and bundle shredded paper and when it is soaked in the chemicals they use to break it down, it gets gunky and can mess up the equipment. So they prefer not to deal with it unless they have specialized equipment.

We have similar here with our compost. It’s picked up curbside but you can’t use compostable bags to gather your food or lawn scraps— they also gunk up the gear b/c although they do break down and compost, they are a problem for the equipment before that.

We still have shoe repair folks but they are OLD and a dying breed. I bring my boots and expensive shoes to them and they work wonders. I don’t bother for cheap shoes, but totally worth it for high quality shoes.

Re the little incentive gifts in the mail from charities - this has never influenced my donations. I, too, choose St. Jude’s hands down.

As for what to do with the "gifts" in the mail…if it is something that is actually spendable(coins) you could always contribute to your church, or even a shelter in your area.

1 What do you do with the nickels, dimes, calendars, etc that come from charities, unsolicited in the mail. Do you feel bad and guilty if you don't respond. Do you use them? Do you throw them away?

Grabage. I don't keep paper much of anything anymore, and no I don't feel bad. I also hate getting return address labels. We mail NOTHING anymore.

2 Why do they say drain the liquid from canned red beans? Looks to me as if it might be good soluble fiber, or is it bad for you?.

Because the liquid is loaded with sodium. Drain and rinse, the liquid has no nutrtional value. The fiber is all in the beans.

3 Why can't I find a shoe repair shop within 10 miles of my house. Does no-one get their shoes repaired any more?

It's a tough thing to find where we live. My H buys high quality shoes, and used to go to a bad part of town to a good shoe repair place. Now he ships them back to the company he buys them from when they need resoled.

4 I had Covid recently, 4 months after I was after I was vaccinated. I am told I should not get the booster until after 3 months now. However, I was asked if I wanted the regular flue vaccine. Has anyone checked to see if this is really a good idea, and how does that affect the booster. They are both a kind of flue.

CDC recommends waiting 3 months only if you rec'd Modified Antibodies. If you did not you can repeat the Covid vax when you are feeling well. The Influenza vax is something totally different, as is influenza, and you should get it as soon as it becomes available and you are feeling well. Covid Vax is a different kind of vax, and treats only a specific subset of corona virus. Influenza treats differnt viruses, typically Influenza A&B and any subsets that are predicted to be bad the winter after it comes out. This is a traditional vaccine, and works differently than the MRNA vax's of Covid.

The flu and COVID are different, so I would still get the shot. It sounds like the flu season is going to be a bad one.

RSV in children is flaring really bad right now in some areas to the point that they don't have enough hospital beds. The hypothesis is the distancing & masking of the last few years has left a larger than normal population without any acquired immunity. I'd expect somewhat the same for flu and other airborne illness this fall.

Thank you all for your enlightening answers.

I will definitely get a flue shot this week. I have only had one once before, but will not take any chances this time.

I found a shoemaker in an awkward, but relatively safe area around 10 miles away on my way to nowhere.. However, I only needed one heel heeled, but thought I might as well do both. It cost $30. I like the shoes so it was worth it.

I will also drain my beans from now on.

Charity stuff. I do take the coins out of the envelopes. I found that The ones that send the dime, spent about that amount on the charity . The rest goes to 'Overhead or 'education' i.e advertising with a few tips in it. I also check the records but I do have some charities that I give to on a regular basis that I have some faith in. Like St Judes and the Salvation Army. I still feel guilty though.

Another question
Have the cardboard boxes of frozen vegetables gone totally out of style. I Used to be able to get green beans, spinach, peas etc. in them. Now, they are pretty well all plastic pouches that do not fit as easily and tidily in the freezer (and cost more).

Does anyone else have any odd questions?

Give yourself a gift to not feel guilty. Feelings are not facts.

I remember the box fruit and , and haven't seen them for awhile. The frozen veggies can be flatter in the freezer, but fruit is a little more difficult.

Weird questions? For veggies, I prefer fresh and then frozen. An exception is green beans. Anybody else prefer canned green beans over frozen?

I'll also take great recipes for fresh green beans.

Green bean question -

I would have to say green beans are my favorite veggie. I DO like the flat, Italian green beans that come in a can. The trick is to cook them a LONG time. I season with butter and garlic salt. When cooked for a long time, they taste as if they were just picked from the garden.

RSV in children is flaring really bad right now in some areas to the point that they don't have enough hospital beds.

My four-month old grandson just got over this. Today was his first day back in daycare since October 14th. He was really sick, and had one visit to the ER, but was not admitted, thankfully. One of D's friends, who went over to help out one night (she was an angel because D was beside herself with not getting any sleep two nights in a row) told me her own two-year old had never been that sick, and she just got over COVID.

It's so scary. Honestly, they say the majority of kids under two have had RSV. I don't remember any pediatrician telling me that either of my kids had it, but I guess they must have at some point. I guess I wonder how long the immunity lasts after having it.

I don't remember any pediatrician telling me that either of my kids had it, but I guess they must have at some point. I guess I wonder how long the immunity lasts after having it.

RSV is particularly immune response evasive. Especially for a somewhat stable virus. You can be reinfected in as short as two months.

The fact that the virus completes it life cycle in superficial airway cells may aid its immune evasion, since systemic immunity normally gains little access to the epithelium.

Recent longitudinal studies of RSV infections in children over a number of RSV seasons established that children can be naturally re-infected with the same strain of virus even within the same cold season (82), although the rate of a second RSV infection is reduced for 6 months (83) and the duration of viral shedding is reduced (84), suggesting some generation of partially protective immunity in infants following natural infection.

Fun Fact one of the first attempts at a vaccine (1967) for RSV had a vaccine caused a Vaccine driven antibody enhanced disease. That was my biggest concern for the covid vaccines. Severe RSV was likely just labeled as viral infection or the follow on bronchitis or pneumonia back in the day. It was only after we started to have effective viral treatments that testing for type became common. The estimate is that 80% of baby's have had it by the time they turn two months. Preemies and others with less developed lungs tend to fair worse. Maybe increased preemie survival rate has something to do with it being more common now.

Preemies and others with less developed lungs tend to fair worse.

My twins were premies and received the RSV vaccine as a part of a case study to see if it resulted in fewer hospital stays.

When little M got sick and was in the ER they said the vaccine probably saved her from it being worse. She still needed breathing treatments and ended up diagnosed with allergy induced asthma.

Seems the cold and flue season seems to be starting early this year. I wonder if the lack of playing sports outdoors has affected the Vitamin D levels in the children.

I had another random thought today when cleaning the lint filter in the dryer.
What happens to the lint if you use a clothes line? Do your fabrics last longer? or do you sneeze more?

Oh, your fabrics last much longer by not putting them in the dryer. Of course, there are certain fabrics (can't remember which ones) that probably are broken down more quickly when exposed to direct sunlight. But if you have a basement or other place in your home where you can hang things, it does prolong the item. Sometimes I'll hang my stuff to dry, then once they're 90% dry, throw them in the dryer to soften them up, so they're not so stiff. I also do not use dryer sheets. Yea, I get more static, but I hate the feeling dryer sheets leave on my clothes.