You can't wring your hands and roll up your sleeves at the same time. ~Pat Schroeder

Boy...the news has just been craptastic over the past few weeks hasn't it?
Sometimes I feel like this poor polar bear...I get the feeling that the world is changing quickly and the only thing you can do is latch on to what good you can find and enjoy the ride!
The economic mess the entire world is in is effecting all of us. Just as my husband and I began to make real plans for the money we have been putting in our retirement investment account, we had seven years of that money wiped out in one day last Friday. People in our age group don't have thirty years to let that money ride out this current wave.

And trying to get a handle on what is happening and what the prospects for the future is by listening to the "experts" only makes us even more certain that there are really no "experts" in this field! Why 700 billion rather than 150? Well...because it sounded impressive enough to reassure the market!
And Congress has been so helpful!
So, I decided that I needed to inject a little fun in my post today...just in case you needed a reason to smile, too!

I found this post today and at first I thought it might have been included in the Senate version of the "Rescue Package" that was passed last night! But, alas, it must have appeared a day too late to have been inserted to appease the constituents of Senators up for reelection this fall!
If you are tired of having to look the other way as naked squirrels traipse around your back yard you can check this out to find out more about what can be done to eliminate this problem! I suspect there are more squirrels per capita in the Washington D.C. area since there are more nuts to be found there than most any other area in America.

Remember how great a new box of Crayolas was to own? I don't think I was ever blessed with a 64 pack when I was a kid...that certainly would not have fit in our budget! But I do remember the great names for all those colors. I think my favorite was periwinkle! It just sounded cool!

Well...as with most things...there have been a lot of changes over the years in the colors that Crayola offers and the names they have come up with to describe those new colors! You can go here and try to decide the name for each of those 64 colors in the current box. I missed 40 times!!! I want a do-over! Of course, those of you with young kids will probably think this is easy!

And in another attempt at levity and a nod toward weight management, I give you this from Old Lady Lincoln, the pasta diet:
ITALIAN PASTA DIET --
IT REALLY WORKS !!

1.. You walk pasta da bakery.

2... You walka pasta da candy store.

3.. You walka pasta da Ice Cream shop.

4.. You walka pasta da table and fridge.

You will lose weight! That was for you, Skinny!

Now, go out there and have a happy Thursday! I'm sure everything will be just fine today and we have nothing to worry about...do we?

FINALLY!!!

I became an RN when I was still 19...just on the verge of turning 20. I worked most of the next 30 years, taking only about a year and a half off with the birth of each of our daughters.

So when I turned 50 and had the opportunity to stay home and just be a housewife after those 30 years of being a working girl, I took it!

It meant a big cut in income, but we adjusted to it.

Well, I turned 59 back in July and decided it was time to start collecting some of that retirement money I had stored away over all those years.

So, today, I will have my first retirement check deposited into my checking account! It will be the first check with my name on it in the last nine years...except for that check I got for doing jury duty last fall!

Retirement always seemed so unreal when I was young and making plans for that "someday" in the future. I think part of me always thought it would never come...I still have dreams about making rounds!

But, let me tell you...this is a terrific day! I am finally being paid to stay home and do what I love!
Ain't life grand???

EAT YOUR HEART OUT

The following is a guest post by Kelly Kilpatrick, a part-time health educator who writes regularly for nursing education sites. She enjoys sharing thoughts on teaching and eating and how to get the most out of life without taking it so seriously.

Thanks for your contribution, Kelly!

Eat Your Heart Out, Guiltlessly

It’s a wonderful feeling when you lose weight and hear all those compliments coming at you from all directions, but the road to a slimmer you is definitely not easy. It involves a diet of eating only health foods, working out till you’re tired enough to drop, and holding a tight rein on that thing we call temptation. But there are ways to lose weight and eat what you want, if you’re a little sensible.

• Exercise, exercise, exercise: If you’re not going to give up your love affair with food, you must toe the line and get down to exercising, every day. It’s important that you burn more calories than you ingest if to have even the slimmest chance (pun intended) of losing weight. Hit the gym early in the morning, or if you’re an outdoors person, put on your jogging shoes and enjoy the fresh air in the park. It also helps if you take up a sport – when exercising by yourself becomes monotonous, hang out with friends and take in a game of basketball or racquetball. You’ll feel so much better about that chocolate cake you ate for dessert.

• Boost your metabolism: A high metabolic rate helps you burn calories faster, even when you’re sedentary. The best way to increase your metabolism is to build your muscle mass. And to do that, you need to work out with weights. Strength training need not be strenuous – with just a few repetitions each day, you can have great looking legs, a firm abdomen and a tight butt if you’re dedicated to your routine.

• Be active: If you want to eat all you want, you must stop being a couch potato. Fill your day with activities that keep you moving and on your feet. Spend time with kids – they have enough energy to keep you running in circles all day, and as a bonus, you get to enjoy their delightful and unsullied company.

• Eat only when hungry: Eat ice cream if you must, but do so only when hunger strikes. Don’t stuff yourself when you’re not hungry just because the refrigerator’s full or because you’re bored.

• Stop eating when full: Au contraire to what mom told you as you were growing up, you don’t have to finish everything that’s on your plate. Stop when your stomach signals that it’s had enough. If you’re concerned about wasting food, take a small first helping, and if still hungry, go for the second.

• Fill up on fluids: Drink lots of water and juices (without sugar) so that you eat more than you should of that bar of chocolate or that plate of pudding.

• Limit your portions: Eat all your favorite foods, but in small portions. This way, you get to indulge your taste buds and keep the guilt at bay.

This post was contributed by Kelly Kilpatrick, who writes on the subject of top nursing schools. She invites your feedback at kellykilpatrick24 at gmail dot com.

"Somebody has to do something, and it's just incredibly pathetic that it has to be us." Jerry Garcia

Before anything else, congrats to TB's Brewer's on their big win!!!

Here's the Mystery Stole as it appears after the 4th clue. There are two more clues...another 158 rows to go before it is completed. It is a silver gray alpaca lace weight yarn and there are gunmetal colored beads at the lower edge of the picture...they don't really show up in this light since they are a low contrast. The edges will be curvy rather than wavy when it is complete and blocked. I just have a pin in the "points" in this picture.I think you can make out some of the beads in the picture below.
I have two of these made...one for each end. The next clue will extend the length of these pieces and the last clue will be added to just one of the ends and make up the middle of the stole. Then the other end will be grafted on to that piece to complete the stole. It is supposed to be about six feet long but I think mine will be a little longer than that.
There are 113 stitches per row and will have 520 rows...58, 760 stitches in all! But who's counting??? And even at this point, all of us who are participating are still trying to guess what the finished product will depict. We've had guesses from the Taj Mahal to a Russian Mosque to a Windcatcher with feathers dangling from it.

All improvements from Week One when the guesses were as wild as aliens, a Halloween theme, roses, and spermatozoa! Knitters can certainly be wild things!

Saw this video yesterday and thought you might enjoy it...especially all of you who are trying to eat food grown close to home.

SUNDAY FUNNIES!

GO AHEAD...TRY NOT TO SMILE! I DARE YOU!

I'LL BET THERE WAS SOME ALCOHOL INVOLVED IN THIS JOB OF PARKING!

WHO DID YOU SAY IS GOING TO BE ELIMINATED FROM DANCING WITH THE STARS THIS WEEK???

I DON'T THINK I HAVE TO GO AFTER ALL!

SPRINGERS???

YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT YOU WILL WIN IN ONE OF THOSE BLOGGER CONTESTS!

CLORIS LEACHMAN PREPARING FOR HER NEXT APPEARANCE ON DANCING WITH THE STARS??? (I know that was terrible!)

MAYBE HE PARKED THE CAR!

YOU JUST KNOW THAT THIS IS NOT GOING TO END WELL!

NOW GO AND ENJOY YOUR SUNDAY BEFORE THE MARKETS OPEN TOMORROW!

SATURDAY IS FOR SOUP

It has been officially fall now for several days and it is time for soup!!!

This is the time of year that I begin most Saturdays in the kitchen making a pot of soup and some kind of muffin (1 Point Bran Muffins and High Fiber Pumpkin Muffins are favorites!) that we can grab for a quick meal between runs to yard sales, the orchard, or yard work.

The soup I made this morning is one of our favorites and has the added benefit of being full of fiber and low-fat.

JUST PLAIN EASY VEGETABLE SOUP
Note: Once the beef is browned, you can put this in a crockpot and leave for the day!

8 ounces lean ground beef (you can substitute ground turkey or even leave the beef out)
1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 medium onion, diced
3 Tbsp beef flavored soup base (or 3 or 4 beef bouillon cubes)
1 can mixed vegetables such as VegAll
1 can kidney beans
1/4 head cabbage, finely shredded
1/4 cup barley
1 tall can tomato juice
2 cups water

Brown the ground beef with the garlic and onion. When the beef is almost done, add the soup base and the cabbage. Stir and allow to cook together for about 5 minutes. Add remaining ingredients, cover and lower heat. Simmer for a couple of hours so flavors will blend.

I adjust this recipe to correspond with what I have available at the time. I have used other meats or left the meat out completely and made it a vegetarian soup. I have used vegetables that are leftover from previous meals or used frozen mixed vegetables and one potato. I have used other varieties of beans or lentils and substituted spinach or kale for the cabbage. If I have canned diced tomatoes, I have subbed them for the tomato juice and added a small can of tomato sauce and increased the amount of water. The barley can be omitted or subbed with whole grain brown rice or whole grain pasta.

I have also turned this soup Mexican by adding a little chili powder and used a cup of corn instead of the mixed vegetables.

If you make one of the muffin recipes that uses pumpkin and have some left over, add it to a pan of oatmeal along with a few shakes of pumpkin pie spice. Fall just begs for the cinnamon and nutmeg to come out of the pantry!!!

Have a marvelous fall weekend and look for the Sunday Funnies tomorrow!

"I want it all, I want it all, I want it all, and I want it now!"...Queen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOdWxf1tRmI

I remember a time when we didn't expect to get everything we wanted. We worked hard, had plenty of dreams, but also realized that some things would still remain out of our reach. That was ok...we understood that not all our wishes would come true.

I grew up knowing that, but somewhere along the way, we began to be told that everything was within our reach if we wanted it badly enough.

So we've borrowed more than we can afford so we can have bigger houses, two or more new cars, fabulous vacations, and big screen televisions. We've discovered in the past couple of weeks that that has not worked out so well.

And, if you're like me, I let that attitude spill over into my eating habits.

I didn't grow up eating what I wanted when I wanted it.

I didn't grow up thinking large servings were normal.

I didn't grow up thinking that meals eaten in restaurants or out of carry-out boxes was something that could be done on a whim any day of the week.

Just as I wasn't raised by people who thought acquiring things was all that important...their motto was "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without!"...I was also raised to eat good, healthy, homemade food in amounts that would nourish my body but not be wasteful or eat more than I needed. Food was a commodity that required hard work to attain and eating more than my share would have been greedy and disrespectful.

But the further I traveled away from the source of the food and the hard work necessary to grow it and put it away until the next growing season, the further away I got from thinking a little was enough.

When I got my "city job" and began shopping in supermarkets, I also began "wanting it all". Meals that centered around home grown vegetables and small amounts of meat on the farm turned into dinners that began with that expensive roast and was rounded out with a few vegetables.

The pie that was made from home grown fruits, picked from the tree, peeled and chopped, and put into a homemade crust and then baked for a Sunday dinner turned into Sara Lee in a box from the supermarket and enjoyed for dinner on almost a daily basis.

Three "squares" a day after a hard day of work left us hungry for most anything on the table, but less formal meal times and snacks throughout the day after a day of less strenuous work left us "bored" with meals and on a constant search for food that was more exciting and entertaining.

So food became one more area where we "wanted it all" and "we wanted it now"! And that hasn't worked out so well either!

Maybe it is time that we all stood back and reconsidered how much of everything we really need and what we can learn to live without. Maybe it is time to realize that we probably can not have it all after all!

HERE'S A WOMAN WHO MAKES SENSE!

What do you think?

HERE'S ONE WAY TO SAVE SOME MONEY...

So, we believed the television ads and spent a few bucks and an afternoon to see this movie:
The popcorn was good.

Brad Pitt was funny...and I'm not one of his devoted fans.
But the rest...EHHHHH!

So, save your money and skip this one. If you've seen the ad on television, you've seen the best parts anyway!

Why do I say this?

Spoiler alert!

Don't scroll down if you still want to see the movie and don't want to know any more.




















We wanted to see a "fun" movie to help relieve the tension of market meltdowns, weather disasters, and just plain doom and gloom! We recognized that, given the fact it was a product of the Coen brothers, it would probably be a little on the "strange" side....they are known for that.

But we weren't prepared for Brad Pitt to be shot in the face at close range well before the end of the movie! It was shocking!

But, probably more important, Brad's character wasn't the only victim of the shooting. The movie died at the same time! Once his character was gone, there was little life left in the plot. It was at that point that people began to squirm in their seats and start looking at their wristwatches. The movie turned from farce to tragedy and the statement that the Coens were trying to make was nearly lost on me since I was still reeling from the unexpected violence of the previous scene.

So there! My Roger Ebert moment is over and you have been warned!

MAINE OR BUST!

For a woman who wouldn't walk down her own driveway, across a two lane street, and up a second driveway to go to her neighbor's yard sale last week because she didn't feel like walking that far, I've always had a fascination with walking the Appalachian Trail.
The trail stretches from Georgia to Maine and thousands of hikers both young and old from around the world have made an attempt to walk the trail from beginning to end.

I've been reading Bill Bryson's "A Walk in the Woods" in which he chronicles his own experience with the trail. He describes his preparation for the trip in which he reads accounts of travelers being torn to shreds by bears, waking up with snakes curled up in their sleeping bags with them, and people slipping from the trail to suffer broken limbs and backs as they land hundreds of feet down ravines. And then there are the sudden changes in weather, falling trees, and murders!

For me, and probably the majority of people who dream of conquering the trail, we have this picture in mind...kind of like those visits in the Smoky Mountain State Parks, but off pavement!
Reality is much different. Even in the above picture, a closer look reveals that this is no easy path, but one with uneven rocks that would prove to be slick and treacherous on even a misty day. And instead of gorgeous vistas all along the route, a great deal of the trail is in dense woods where you can see nothing but trees for hours...and days!

What begins as an idyllic venture there at the trails head ends for many when the first public telephone is available about 4 or 5 days into the trip. People who man the shop there describe people who arrive hysterical from the trail and beg to be taken to the airport! The common theme for their departure is, "It wasn't what I expected!"

I relate. Not only to the romantic notion of stretching one's comfort zone and seeking one's own limits, but to the idea of bailing when it becomes apparent that the exercise is "Not what I expected!"

I'm having those thoughts about my Mystery Stole...the biggest lace project I've ever attempted. I find myself, like the travelers along the Trail, seeking vistas that are beautiful enough to inspire me to keep going!

Knitting lace patterns is tricky. It is a constant process of decreasing stitches just to add them again...it is the juxtaposition of those two steps that create the open spaces in the fabric that turn into lace when done over and over again. I'm doing it as a knit-along with thousands of other knitters and so there is a certain feeling that I have to "keep up" with the pace that is set by the appearance of new instructions every Friday. While I enjoy the challenge, I also feel a little overwhelmed at "having" to create a certain amount of fabric each week.

There are times in most knitting projects where the going may be a little tedious...that's to be expected...and when a mistake is made, it is easy to repair. But knitting lace requires "lifelines" every few rows because ripping back in lace requires the utmost in skill and attention or you find yourself hopelessly lost and having to begin all over again...kinda like slipping and breaking your back on that Trail!

So, right now that lace knitting trail is looking like this:

I have methods in play for dealing with it. I divide the pattern into so many rows that I will knit each day...just as the walkers vow to cover so many miles each day. Breaking long journeys down into smaller tasks that can be accomplished and marked off the to-do list makes even the most difficult of projects do-able!

Get where I'm going, fellow travelers on the weight loss journey?

Breaking down those seemingly impossible weight loss goals into smaller increments makes them seem reachable. We've all been that person who bails out at the first possible juncture, the person who put down that craft project and never finished it when the newness wore off and it became a little tedious. But this time we can be the person who makes it to Maine...or ends up with a finished project...or reaches our goal weight!

One step at a time...one stitch at a time...one ounce at a time!

SUNDAY FUNNIES!

WE HAVE WHAT IS KNOWN AS THE INNER-LOOP ON THE INTERSTATE SYSTEM HERE IN INDIANAPOLIS. NOW, IF WE COULD JUST GET THOSE TRAFFIC CIRCLES INSTALLED AT ALL THE FOUR-WAYS!!!

MY MERRILL LYNCH ACCOUNT IS WORTH HOW MUCH???

GIVEN THAT HE WAS SUCH A TECHY, I DOUBT IF ABE WOULD HAVE HAD PROBLEMS WITH "THE GOOGLE"!!!

I'M ALWAYS HAPPY TO GET A BARGAIN! THIS WAS OUTSIDE A WALL STREET COFFEE SHOP LAST WEEK!

THESE BAGGIES MAKE IT POSSIBLE TO CARRY YOUR LUNCH TO WORK WITH NO FEAR THAT ANYONE WILL STEAL IT FROM THE OFFICE REFRIGERATOR WHILE YOUR BACK IS TURNED! FAKE MOLD WORKS EVERY TIME.

THEY MISS T.B. AT THE HOME! RECREATION TIME HAS NOT BEEN THE SAME SINCE HE LEFT!

HE IS STILL LAUGHING OVER THE GOOD TIME HE HAD ON "TALK LIKE A PIRATE DAY"!
ARRRRRRRF!

IF YOU SWING REALLY HIGH, YOU CAN SEE RUSSIA FROM HERE!

NO...YOU CAN NOT GO OUT WITH THE GUYS!!!

I KNEW HE WAS THE GUY FOR ME WHEN I SAW THE NASCAR STICKER ON HIS SIPPY CUP!!!
Speaking of NASCAR...Congrats to M-Dub on a top 10 finish today!!!

AN INTRODUCTION...

Those of you who visit me regularly know that I try to keep a sense of humor about this weight loss thing...aside from morbid wanderings when I've heard of just one too many friends dying or facing serious illness! I truly believe that challenges are easier to face and more likely to be won if you face them with a smile and a positive attitude.

And I love to surround myself with people who are like-minded...even in the blogger community. I enjoy starting the day with "visits" to blogs of my favorite friends...like getting a letter in the mail! And reading comments to my own blog just delights me...I love me some comments!

And nothing makes me happier than to run across a new blog that I can recommend to my blogger buddies.

I want you to meet Charlie Hills. (Charlie, I don't know how you ran across my blog, but I'm so glad you did cause I was charmed by yours.)

His blog is called "Back to the Fridge". I haven't begun to dig into all the back posts, but I can't wait to go there.

I also ran across more apple recipes at Paula's blog, "The Cookbook Junkie", that you might find interesting. There were recipes for Apple Oat Bran Muffins, Applesauce Oatmeal Muffins, Five Grain Cinnamon Bread, and Whole Wheat Applesauce Waffles! Worth a look-see, huh?

Now...go visit Charlie and Paula while I go check out Clue Three on my Mystery stole!

A seed hidden in the heart of an apple is an orchard invisible. ~Welsh Proverb

We made our second trip of the season to our local apple orchard last weekend. This time our favorite fall apples, the Macintosh and Jonathons were available and we made off with two huge bags of them. I put some of each in a big crock on the kitchen table so we can grab one when the need for a snack arises. Even if they weren't so good to eat, the aroma coming from that bowl would still be worth the price of the fruit.

I won't lie...my favorite use of a Macintosh is apple pie and I will get around to making one before long...but there are many more recipes that are a little more figure friendly that I prepare every time it is apple season.

Of course, just eating a raw apple in season can't be beat, so we indulge in them a lot. My husband seldom heads out to sit on the deck without one or two in hand.

Breakfast finds me with two of my favorite apple meals. Oatmeal cooked with a little cinnamon and a chopped up apple is so good on a cool fall morning. And apples are wonderful in what I call my breakfast bowl which consists of a scoop of cottage cheese or plain yogurt, diced apple, a portion of Fiber One, and a few almond slices. I know it may sound weird, but it is so good and so filling that I often have it for lunch too.

Speaking of lunch, one of my favorite lunches is a salad made with romaine, slices of apple, a little celery, a few walnuts, and red onion slices with vinegar and oil dressing.

Pork and apples are great together and I always get around to fixing a lean pork roast with sage seasoned pork resting on a bed of apple chunks seasoned with cinnamon and a little brown sugar. It comes out of the oven smelling like heaven.

Homemade applesauce is always welcome too. And a few slices of raw apple wrapped up with turkey or chicken slices in a whole grain wrap is so good.

The atmosphere at an apple orchard is hard to resist as well. I love taking the grandkids and giving them a small bag each to fill. They have the greatest time trying to find just the right apples to put in their bags. And they actually get to see where apples come from in the process. The barns are usually filled with other produce...we picked up corn on the cob for the freezer and some white peaches this time...and we seldom leave without a cup of cider or a caramel apple to split! They are never better than when you chomp into one right there in the open air.

If you haven't already, head out to your nearest apple orchard this weekend and take a kid with you!

HAPPY WEDNESDAY!

I don't know what town this statue is in, but I am positive I have relatives who came from there!

I experienced a surprising taste sensation this morning for breakfast. I've been having some trouble breathing in the fall air cause of some allergy I've developed in my old age, so my husband went to the grocery for us Monday evening. He is never satisfied with what is on my list and is known for bringing home surprise items from the bargain rack...speckled brown bananas, overripe peaches, lettuce that needs a heavy-handed trimming of wilted leaves...he can't help himself.

So this trip found us with two boxes of Kashi cereal with the freeze-dried strawberries and raspberries for 88 cents each. I would normally pass on these cause they aren't quite as nourishing as other Kashi cereals, but since we own them, I dedided to put a portion on top of my orange flavored yogurt this morning. Wow! That is a great combination! Tart and fruity! (My husband would make a joke out of that!)

I am up early thanks to Comcast! We have been suffering through outages since Sunday when the screen went blank just as Junior was about to pass Mikey after trying to put him a lap down for about 10 circuits of the track. I'm pleading with M-Dub to put the "pedal to the metal" when the cable went bye-bye until about midnite. It was just as painful for Colts fans who missed the last three minutes of their ballgame where the Colts caught up and won the game, I'm told.

Then yesterday, I woke to find it off again and it didn't come back on until noon. Then back off last night about nine and on again at four this morning. I had forgotten to turn the television off so when the cable returned, a Roseanne rerun began blaring throughout the house...didn't realize we had the sound turned up so much!

We have one of the package deals, so when the television is out, so is the internet and phone! That's when you curse what seems to be such a convenient package!

The outages have been a good reason to listen to a little NPR on the radio and pick up a book that I normally only read in the few minutes before I fall asleep at night, so it's not all bad! And compared to what the poor people of Texas have been through...I just need to shut up!

I ran across this little device yesterday and posting the link for anyone who might find it useful. I haven't seen anything like it before. The link: fitbit.com

Hey! Let me know what you've been eating for breakfast lately!

SWEET SLEEP

One of my favorite bloggers was describing a sleepless night this morning and it reminded me of all the horrible nights I spent back before I retired from nursing when I would go night after night without sleep and have to get up and go to work anyway.

It was painful!

Most women of a certain age fight this battle and there's not a whole lot you can do about it. Just when you've gotten through all those years of half-sleeping so you could hear young children calling for you in the middle of the night or wondering just when that pesky teenager was going to get in so you could ground them for life, your body says, "Hold on there, sweetie! No sleep for you!"

It was painful!

I was cranky. I was bitter. I blamed my husband for rolling over in the bed. I blamed the traffic on the street or a barking dog. I was ready to fight anyone who disturbed my precious sleep when it did come.

And I still had to get up and go to work. There were sick people who were counting on me and could care less whether or not I had slept.

I fretted over it for a very long time. And then it occurred to me one night that it was during those periods of not sleeping that I came up with some of my best ideas. When I finally made peace with the sleeplessness, I could lie there and let my body rest even if my mind didn't. And during those times, I did a lot of problem solving and creative thinking. I began to think of those times as a gift. It was precious time that I didn't have during the day when I could just allow my mind to drift and take the time to listen...really listen...to my own thoughts.

Turning those times into a positive also allowed me to relax and sleep would finally find me.

Dinah Soar found acceptance of her weight during that sleepless night. I found acceptance of my body's need to communicate with me during mine. Sometimes we find grace when we least expect it. Sometimes we just need to end the battle and sit down and listen.

ONE MAN'S TRASH

Who really knows us? Who would you trust to tell others what is most important to you?

I've known my husband for 40 years and I think I know what he values most, what makes him happy, and how he feels about most subjects. But then I try to thin out his closet and get rid of some of his older shirts and I go skidding back to first date territory...maybe I don't know him at all! And the 6 pairs of underwear that he bought at Walmart on a fishing trip years ago when he forgot to pack any for some silly reason? They sit there unworn and I think it is because he probably bought a size that was too small. Nope...I finally found out the other day that he won't wear them because the name of the company that made them is prominently displayed on the waistband and he won't wear them because he might bend over and it would show!

Really??? Forty years had not prepared me for that answer!

I was thinking this morning about the times my mother moved from one home to another between the time Dad retired and when she died. She went from their home of about 30 years to a modular home when they retired. After a few years, Dad began to have problems with memory lapses and couldn't be trusted to drive any longer. Mom never drove so we moved them to the "city" and an apartment near us so we could help them with groceries and doctor's appointments and just general needs. Then Dad died and we moved Mom to half a double a couple of blocks from us so we could be even more present for her needs. Then it became difficult for her to care for the double and we moved her to a senior living apartment where she had a studio apartment and lots of friends and neighbors for company. She loved it there, but then she had a minor stroke and began to think she could cook with tupperware on top of the range and she wound up in a nursing home.

All this to say that each time she moved, she down-sized and it was necessary to go through her things and get rid of a little more and then a little more until, by the time she went to the nursing home, she was left with probably a large box of the things she found most valuable to her.

In the beginning, she made the choices of what to keep, but by the time she had moved a couple of times, she was making fewer and fewer of those decisions and those of us who thought we knew her best were sorting through her valuables and making the decisions for her.

Did we do a good job? I will never know for sure, but I'm sure some of the sorting was done more to please me and my needs than hers.

As I get older, I find myself telling my husband and girls how I feel about decisions that might need to be made in the future. I think it is important that they know. But will they know that given a choice of all the pictures of the grandkids that I would choose those below rather than the expensive studio shots that they have provided for me?


Will they think that I would prefer a brand new pillow for my bed since the one I adore is kinda old?

Will they think that I always bought baby powder because I was cheap and might prefer something "nicer"?

Will they think that I never put lotion on my feet because I didn't take care of myself rather than because I feel like I'm "suffocating" if I do and can't stand it?

Will they think that I will want the tv or radio on all day to break the silence?

When they sort through my things, will they know what I consider valuable or precious? I might surprise them with my choices!

REALLY???

Went here today...just for fun!

What does it mean when you look like Barry Gibb of the BeeGees and Diane Keaton???


Not bad...except for the mustache! I was kinda expecting Aunt Bea!

WHEN THE KNIT HITS THE FAN

When people go silent on their blogs it is usually because they are sick and tired of the scale not reflecting their hard work, they are eating their way through the State Fair and the mother-in-law's 3 week visit, or they are on a fabulous vacation in some exotic place and could care less whether or not fellow bloggers hear from them while they are gone.

In my case, it is none of those things cause I don't believe much in scales, I'm not fond of mid-ways, my poor mother-in-law has passed, and I seldom leave home.

No...when I go silent it is because I'm in the midst of a knitting orgy...this is my current addiction:
This is the creation of a group of knitters on Yahoo and while I don't particularly need a stole, I had to join the knit-along because I got locked out last year! You see, the participants don't know what they are knitting when they begin. The directions for the stole are divided into five "clues" that you receive one at a time on successive Fridays. You are just given a list of supplies and then you have to sit patiently and wait. The suspense really builds and by Friday you are up at dawn so you can be among the first to get to the next clue and begin knitting!

I had not heard of the knit-along until about the third clue last year when membership was already closed...clever of them because when you aren't allowed to join a cool club, suddenly that's the only club you want to belong to! I was on the outside looking in last year as all the cool knitters were discussing their project on every darn knitting blog I ran across! I vowed that I would be one of the "in" knitters this year...and I am!

So, I have been busily knitting beads onto gray alpaca and forming lace which will look like a limp dish rag until it is completed and stretched on wires and become a thing of beauty! I am three rows away from having this week's clue complete and then I will be anxiously awaiting Friday morning when the second clue will be revealed!

It keeps me out of trouble...you can't eat Cheetos and knit alpaca! But you can't think of clever things to write in your blog when you're counting stitches and yarn-overs constantly...row after row after row!

The Hub knows he has to ask permission to talk to me when I'm knitting. He's been hushed too many times by me hissing that "I'm counting!!!".

So, if I'm scarce, it is because I'm knitting...not eating deep-fried Twinkies on a stick with bacon wrapped around the middle and dipped in chocolate!

And just in case you're wondering what all the fuss is about, take a look at the beautiful results of last years efforts on Mystery Stole #3!

SURE GLAD MY DAD WAS MORE ENTHUSED WHEN HIS
YOUNGEST DAUGHTER
MARRIED THAT SMITH BOY
ON SEPTEMBER 7TH, 39 YEARS AGO!

P.S. He says he got over being locked in the basement of the church by my brothers until the ceremony started a long time ago!

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU KEEP TRYING???

YOU HANG ON!!!
Have a great weekend!

I have the best blogger buddies in the world!

When I post a question...a tough one...you don't give me glib one-line answers. You respond with your hearts as well as your minds! I appreciate you so much.

I didn't ask what it was all about and is it worth it just for myself. I asked because I'm aware each of us has asked it of ourselves at one time or another.

After reading all your great responses, I came away with this:

1. There are no guarantees that you will be healthier or live longer no matter what you eat, but you probably increase your chances of both living longer and improving the overall condition of your health if you live a healthier lifestyle and eat better foods most of the time.

2. There is probably room in any healthy lifestyle for being indulgent occasionally...moderation is probably key to being able to sustain a healthy lifestyle.

3. It is best to be true to yourself. Know what truly matters to you and stick with it.

4. Overeating and indulging past moderation will probably not pay off in the short term any more than it does long term. There is no benefit to be had from eating too much because the act of stuffing yourself takes a small treat that is pleasurable and turns it into something you regret once that stuffed and miserable feeling sets in. So while a small portion of something you love may be worth it, indiscriminate wolfing down of everything in sight seldom is.

5. Enjoy every day and be grateful for it. And appreciate your family and friends because they are too soon gone.

And that is why I say...you are the greatest and I truly appreciate all of you who take the time to comment and do it with such thoughtfulness!

TALK TO ME!!!

I'm gonna sound like an old woman today, but I can't get this out of my mind until I get it off my chest: Are we sweating the small stuff when we fret about our weight and agonize about eating birthday cake? Does it really matter or have we been taught that it should matter by pseudo-scientists and the weight-loss industry?

I've been caught up in this "What's it all about, Alfie?" state since Monday when I ran into a fellow nurse that I had worked with for most of the 20 years I spent at my last job. She and I were among about 20 nurses who made up a team who inserted, cared for, and administered chemo through IV lines known as PICC's. We knew each other well since we worked so closely for all those years and I really missed all of them when I decided it was time to put away the white shoes!

During the time we worked together we were all hell-bent on living healthy lives and we all carried in our low-fat lunches, logged the miles we walked through the hospital corridors in order to increase the number of steps we took each day, and compared the results of our lipid panels. We all reached the stage of needing reading glasses at the same time and passed them around like they were joint property.

So, seeing my old friend was a pleasant surprise and we stood in the flower section at Lowe's catching up but our reunion soon turned gloomy as I inquired about one friend after another and got negative reports. She, herself, was off on medical leave since she suffered renal failure after having her gallbladder removed and was still not up to par. I asked about another friend who I had bumped into about a year ago after eating breakfast out. She and her husband were getting on their motorcycle and taking a ride out in the country. Kelly told me that Georgeann had suffered a stroke and died, probably shortly after I had seen her!

And another friend who was the example of healthy living that we all had used as our standard of how we should be living was going through chemotherapy treatments for ovarian cancer.

This followed the death of the husband of one of my husband's co-workers last week. The young man was in his mid-thirties and helping a neighbor remove some shrubbery from his yard when he was stung by bees. He was unconscious by the time an ambulance reached him and was pronounced brain dead a couple of days later. His widow is the same age as my own daughters and their little boy was only two.

Sometimes reality just tosses a bucket of cold water in your face and demands that you stop and consider what is important in life...what is really important.

Christine was telling everyone at her husband's funeral to stop getting upset with their spouses over all the little things that annoy us all. She reminded them that the bigger picture is much more important!

My friend who is dealing with cancer was the one who counseled me one day at work when I was in a mood similar to today's. I was telling her that we're all going to die someday and why should I worry about a few pounds! She reminded me that it wasn't the quantity of life that she was concerned with, but the quality...she wanted to be energetic and feel good so she could travel and do her gardening, keep up with the demands of work and family, and stay limber into her later years. I remembered that speech any time I began wondering why this was all important! She was my example of quality of life! And this was her reward! Not fair...not fair at all!

So...tell me. Remind me again why it matters cause I'm really having a hard time getting past this feeling that it may not matter at all!

ANOTHER MONDAY...ER...TUESDAY???

Long weekends always leave me feeling like this by Tuesday morning! It is that feeling of "Where do I begin?"

Everything is thrown off by a day...laundry, household chores. I have to remind myself of what steps I must take just to get the Hub out the door and off to work. And everything seems to be in slow-motion!

So...I've tried three different times to come up with something.

I thought of reprising my oatmeal recipes from last fall, but I don't have the energy...maybe tomorrow.

I thought of writing about meeting an old friend I worked with and finding out about all the health issues that our mutual friends have had, but I'm just not ready to face that yet.

I could tell you all about my weekend, but it wasn't all that exciting

And I don't think you want to know about my latest knitting project or that Jimmy Johnson won the NASCAR race last weekend!

So, you know what? I'm just going to admit that I'm addlepated today and still suffering from having a delayed beginning to my regular week and am going to wish you a wonderful Tuesday and I'll see you tomorrow...maybe!