HUGH JACKMAN IS BEAUTIFUL AND OTHER THOUGHTS

This is a special day for this blogger. I've been looking forward to it for weeks now.

My favorite NASCAR driver, Michael Waltrip turns 46 today and is also guest-starring in a two part episode of My Name is Earl. The first episode airs at 8 eastern tonight on NBC.
I send Mikey a birthday card every year just like he was a member of the family. Well, he almost is since I probably spend more weekends with him than I do with my family. I just don't get to share family dinners with him...oh, that I could!

We are having a birthday bash for the May celebrants in our family Saturday. My younger daughter, Sarah, and grandson, Jack, are being honored this month. Thanks to having grandsons, I have been introduced to Bakugan balls. Fascinating! (We had marbles! They didn't open up or attack or come with game cards. They just looked cool and felt so good in your hands!)

Jack is a Cinco de Mayo baby so we're going to have a few Mexican inspired dishes including the Tres Leches Cake I'm going to bake for the occasion. Finding something good to eat is never a problem at birthday gatherings! Backing away from the food island is! I'm thinking about making a jug of Ina Garten's Virgin Marys to take along. The recipe sounds delicious, lots of healthy stuff and filling, I'll bet!

And, to conclude, here is a Slideshow of photographs from the first 100 days of President Obama taken by the official White House photographer, Pete Souza. He has some great catches including the President and Caroline Kennedy searching for the latch that frees the hidden door under the JFK desk in the Oval Office. It is the desk that John John hid under in the famous picture from the Kennedy Administration. There is also a shot of the President standing in silhouette in front of a window in the Green Room of the White House that is superb.

THINGS THAT MADE ME SMILE TODAY

A FULL TUMMY

FEELING BEAUTIFUL

SMILING FACES

THESE EYES

MARRIAGE

A GORGEOUS DAY

BROTHERS

"THANK YOU" FLOWERS
FROM A DEAR FRIEND!

WHAT MADE YOU SMILE TODAY?

WATCH IT! I WOULDN'T LEAD YOU ASTRAY!

A little object lesson...

"HELP! I NEED SOMEBODY!"

or

"PERSISTENCE PAYS OFF"

or

"YOU CAN'T KEEP A GOOD SQUIRREL DOWN"

YOU DECIDE!

STILL WAITING FOR RECOVERY

I spent the weekend still recovering from this darned upper respiratory infection. I was so tired of being sick that I actually Googled the symptoms for Swine Flu thinking that I could at least get a prescription for some medicine if I had that!

Illness has to be self-limiting for the woman of any household. You can only lie around for so long feeling sorry for yourself before the shear volume of dirty dishes and unwashed laundry becomes so alarming that a certain female adrenaline kicks in and you decide you either have to get up and do something about it or you will be forever swallowed up by the UNDONE! The Husband is a jewel at running and fetching but he just does not SEE the things that need to be done like I do...it's a MAN thing!

Watching him look for something in the refrigerator is amazing! It just does not compute! It is like he has really and truly never opened it before and he is afraid that something horrible will happen if he puts his hand in the wrong place so he just stands there leaning on the door with the most dumbfounded look I have ever seen on his face until I rescue him. He can run a sweeper or do a passable job at mopping a floor but straightening up and putting things away are beyond him.

So every time I get up to grab something else to drink...which is frequent...I try to do a little pick-up or put-away as I go. It is not perfect but I hope it sees me through until I get my strength back.

The Husband asked me yesterday what would happen if we were both sick at the same time! I've given it some thought as we approach our Sunset Years. There will eventually come a time when we both sit down and forget to get back up. I've given the girls permission to set us out on an ice floe but I'm afraid we have failed to make our reservations early enough considering the rate at which they are melting!

Perhaps they can do with us what we do with things we can no longer use. We sit them out in front of the house with a "FREE" sign in front of them and they usually go pretty fast. If not, there is always Friday and heavy trash pick-up!

SMALL WORLD DEPARTMENT

I posted this picture yesterday and went on to say that I had seen it and used it as an inspiration for using a table I had like it as a side table in my guest bedroom. I had seen it as I flew through the various blogs I visit on a regular basis and couldn't even remember the source of the picture.

So, imagine my surprise when I got this comment from JC!

Girl this post is cracking me up. The picture of the sewing machine case turned table takes the cake. It is my niece's house. I recognized every piece. She will be thrilled to know you like it enough to post it. What a hoot.

So I had to find out where I had stolen the pretty picture, and sure enough, her niece has a blog called Dust Bunny Hostage which I have on my reader!

I promised JC that I would post my version of the table, so here it is:

My bedroom walls are a pale yellow and I have a basket of crimson silk flowers, a few books, a couple of snack bars for midnite hunger pangs, a pretty pink candle on an antique dessert plate and a cute little night light so my guests can get to bed without stubbing their toes. Above the table, I have two prints of downtown Indianapolis in frames that match the dark wood of the table and the headboard.

I hope I did your niece's vision justice, JC, and maybe I'll steal more of her ideas in the future!

TV TO CURE THE FLU

I seem to have caught the Hoosier version of whatever flu is going around right now and have spent the past three days doped up on one form of pseudoephedrine or another 24/7. The pharmacist thinks we have a meth lab but I can at least sleep with the help of Nyquil and then wake up to do "effective coughing" with the help of Mucinex D...I've been a real boost to the drugstore industry, at least!

I've never been one to lay in bed when I'm sick. I'm a firm believer that the act of sitting up is healing...although, The Husband had to come looking for me yesterday afternoon after I'd made a trip to the bathroom and didn't return. I had to apologize for worrying him, but I passed the bedroom and the bed looked so good that I just took a right turn and covered up!

Anyway, I have not felt like reading or knitting...certainly not into the housework this week...so I have spent a lot of time in front of the television. When I want mindless TV, I frequently turn to HGTV or the Cooking Channel. You can spend hours watching houses being flipped and redecorated or have the Curb Appeal people come tear out the landscaping and repaint the house. It's so much fun when someone else is doing the heavy lifting and spending their money!

I wonder what they could do for this guy?
I've always been one of those people who cut pictures like this out of magazines and save them away for that day when I need inspiration for decorating the top of a table or chest or a corner of the bathroom. I loved the soft colors and textures in this one.
And I saved this one because I have a table just like this and wanted to do something interesting with it as a side table in the guest bedroom.
I can do small things like that with inspiration from pictures, but if I ever had a major remodel to do and also had unlimited funds, I'd want Candice Olson of Divine Design to plan it out for me. I could watch her show all day. And she has all those fun guys who come and do the work...Chico the electrician is so cute and so is the wallpaper guy!
She does bathrooms like this that just make me want to drool. Look at that tub! Candice! Save some time on your calendar in case I ever hit the lottery!
And Paula Deen just cracks me up! I know she has made good after having a very rough start when her boys were little, but if you watch her very long, you have to begin to wonder if she and Paula Abdul sit in the same doctor's waiting room!

And she is a huge flirt! Even when she had Jimmy Carter on her show. Rosalynn did not look that happy and I would swear that Jimmy was just preparing to get an ear full after the show! Food and soap opera all at the same place!
Of course, Ina Garten of The Barefoot Contessa is my favorite cooking show. I love Ina's life! If I could come back as whoever I wanted, I would be a combo of Ina, Agatha Christie, and Elizabeth Zimmerman...the most revered knitter of all time!

I think I have an affinity for Ina for several reasons. First, I kinda looked like her when we were both young...my oldest daughter looks a lot like her now. Ina kept her brown hair...mine went silver. Secondly, she is a contemporary...she and her husband were married the same year that my husband and I were married. They took off for a camping trip in France and we pretty much went to work and college classes on our honeymoon, but we did share the same history and I've bonded with her because of it. My first forays into food other than farmfare was into French cooking. Everyone of that age was influenced by Julia Child!
I love the fact that Ina is always cooking wonderful meals and having to share them with friends and business associates because Jeffrey is seldom home. But when he is home!!! Honey!!!
My husband and I both had to giggle the other night when Ina had prepared a meal that they had eaten on their honeymoon and Jeffrey had secretly bought a tent to put in the back yard of their Hampton home as a reminder of their camping trip. So they climb into the tent with their dessert and Ina tells the film crew,"If the tent is rocking, don't come knocking!"

INA!!! So funny!

In spite of watching so much cooking being done on television, I'm afraid that this is the best I've come up with for the past few days.
And it tastes pretty good! I wouldn't mind one of Sandra Lee's cocktails before I go to bed, though!

MOTHER EARTH MANDALA

"Mother Earth is surrounded by the eight major planets and eight protective pentagrams, representing the infinite creative and transformative power of nature. The earth goddess will always regenerate and outlive any manmade structure. The trees of life are the cohesive force that enable our existence. This is a mandala of healing, love and gratitude."

My husband loves watching nature shows from Animal Planet to Roland Martin so I can't help see the daily reminders of how our Earth is changing so rapidly. I believe some of the changes are a result of what man has done and natural Earth cycles are responsible for the remainder. But, in any case, I hope that the quote above is true in that the Earth will always regenerate and outlive any manmade structure...or abuse.

Being kind to the Earth is really a result of being kind to ourselves...live more simply, use less, give more.

Look who's 50 today! My favorite photographer/poet/blogger...Lorraine! If she weren't in Canada and I weren't in Indianapolis, I'd definitely arrange a get-together and celebrate her milestone birthday with her. But since we can't do that, I'm inviting all of you to join us on a virtual tea party!

First, we will all meet here at this fabulous tea room! Isn't it cozy and beautiful? Every one find a seat at the table!


We're about to be served a gorgeous cup of herbal tea! Take a deep breath and draw in the aroma. AAAHHHH! What's next? Is anyone hungry? Let's see what they have to offer. Are you ready, Lorraine?


Quiche! We have our choice today. I'm having this one with zucchini, onion, feta cheese, and little grape tomatoes. Look at that flaky crust! Would you rather have the Quiche Lorraine, Lorraine?
Cherry Almond Scones! I am ready to die! Isn't this place fabulous?
Finger sandwiches! Cucumber, pate, and my favorite that I've asked them to prepare especially for us today...buttered bread, thin slices of fresh sweet radishes and a sprinkle of sea salt! Yum! I think we need more tea! How about a pot of apricot tea with a little ginger? And what will we have with that?
Teacup Cupcakes! Aren't they beautiful? I think they're strawberry with mascarpone frosting!
Time for presents! I saw this spring hat and thought it would look gorgeous on that massive curly hair of yours. The butterfly just didn't want to be parted from the hat! And one more thing!
A sterling silver Tussie-Mussie Pin that you can fill with little flowers you find on your walks looking for photographic inspirations! (Hercule Poirot wore one of these on his lapel...it was a gift from a beautiful woman he once helped on a case!)
Has every one had a good time? I have. Gossiping with all my blogger buddies and wishing a dear blogger friend a Happy Birthday has been so much fun! Have a pleasant trip back to Gatineau, Lorraine!

BIRTHDAY BOY!

I was watching Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa one day last week and she was preparing Split Pea Soup. The Husband and I looked at each other and I knew it was time to make a batch of my own for us to have with a slice or two of Walmart's great sour dough baguette.

My own recipe is slimmed down, easy and very satisfying but The Husband wanted me to add some of Ina's touches to it this time. She added some carrot, onion, and potato in a chunkier dice than I prefer, so I did a smaller dice, sauteed it in a little olive oil and then proceeded with my usual recipe, substituting 8 cups of chicken broth for the ham bouillion this time. It is smelling good in here!

I also made a rhubarb pie from our little crop on the south side of the house and will have to suffer through eating a piece, (I hate twisted arms, don't you???), before shipping the rest to our neighbors to the north. They give me some of their butchered beef here and there and I share pies, ham, and cake with them.

I'm also making a strawberry "poke" cake...white cake with holes punched in it, concentrated strawberry Jello poured over, refrigerated, and topped with whipped cream or Cool-Whip...for The Husband to take to work with him tomorrow. He is the big "60" tomorrow and he loves being "Birthday Boy" more than anything!

Our family celebrated his birthday Friday night with the adults going out for a big splurge dinner, drinks, and then to my brother's house for dessert and coffee. We don't do that often and it was a great time!

He is notorious for being hard to buy for and most of us just give him gift certificates to sporting goods stores so he can buy what he wants, but our girls wanted to do something more sentimental than that and collaborated on having a book bound and published with loads of family pictures, captions, and personal letters of tribute to him from each of them and me. It made him cry! And he said it was the best gift he's ever received. Go to blurb.com if you are interested! They are fabulous. My younger daughter did one for her sister's first wedding anniversary with pictures from the wedding.

If you have young children and wonder what they are taking away from those day to day things Dads do with their kids, consider these quotes from the book:

• In the most ordinary moments in my life, you had lessons to teach. Keeping my room clean taught me responsibility. Apologizing for my mistakes taught me ownership and respect for others. Teaching me to fish taught me to respect nature and all that it has to offer.
• When I am asked about my Dad, I always tell people, "He is my best friend."
• You taught me to laugh.
• Thanks for letting me stand at the door to your shop and tell you about problems while the radio played in the background.
• Thanks for never making us "hold it" when we went out in the boat fishing with you.
• Thanks for threatening to break the legs of any boy who broke our hearts.
• Thanks for that awesome bike when I was ten.
• Thanks for showing us that necessity and some duct tape are the mother of invention and that mystery can be found in simple things like unlabeled canned goods!

I think I'm pretty lucky to have all three of them in my life!

I wear a pair of black Crocs probably 90% of the time. The style I have is part of their medical line that are made with special features for people who wear orthotics, are diabetic, or, like me, have heel pain and I love them! But I've had mine for a couple of years and I thought it was time to replace them and to my utter surprise, they cost the same as the last pair I bought!

Now, I just have to wait and see if the quality is the same as last time!

Are you running into that problem?

We happened in to a popular buffet restaurant the other evening after being out in the neighborhood and were shocked at the bill! We ordered what they call the Megabar...no steak or anything fancy...and drank water and the bill was still over $21! The menu is not that fancy, it is completely self-service except for an overworked waitress who brought by our water, and is definitely not on our list of cheap places to eat any longer.

So, we made peace with the price with the knowledge that things are tough all over and most restaurants have had to raise their prices recently.

But then we got to the food!

This particular restaurant has an amazing corn muffin that is made with honey and I always have to make room for the 3 points that I allow for it...it's probably more like 8 but I don't want to know that! I usually get one and a pretty good salad along with a couple of vegetables and a lean meat choice.

So, I grabbed my muffin and salad and went back to enjoy my little morsel of goodness only to find that it was hard and dry and not worth eating. I assumed it had been sitting for awhile and asked if I could have a fresher one. The manager went back and brought out a couple that were still hot from the oven so I was shocked by the first bite! It was not my regular muffin! They have changed their muffins and not for the better.

The salad was still good, but the vegetable choices were more limited, watery looking, and overcooked or battered and fried. The meat was the same.

So, we have both a higher price and less quality...not good. And we've seen the same situation in more and more restaurants. And it is usually the beginning of the end because people will go somewhere else rather than pay more for food that doesn't satisfy.

I've seen the same problem with clothing. My husband has worn knee-high Goldtoe socks for years and I've always ordered them a dozen pairs at a time from the company because they could be hard to find in stores. We paid the same price for all those years and received a dependable quality sock...until last time! The price had gone up a bit...we didn't mind that so much...but the sock was not the same. It was thinner and the knit was such that little balls of cotton kept rolling up on the inside of the socks and I was worried about the pressure those balls could make on his diabetic feet. After all these years, we've had to change brands.

For the most part, I'd rather pay a little more and keep the same quality, but we're having to suffer extra cost and poorer quality both! It's really too bad.

Have you noticed this?

PS...JC asked where the Medical Crocs could be found and I thought I'd add a link here for anyone who is interested. Their site is VERY SLOW so just be patient!

IMHO

These are a few of the weeds the triplets brought back from their nature hike with The Grandpa last Saturday. Look at how those little posers are thriving in that planter that is meant for my Wave Petunias in a few weeks!

We have wondered many times if we had not been taught to hate the flowering weeds that grow so plentifully if we wouldn't love to see fields of yellow dandelions...it is all in the eyes of the beholder, isn't it?

I just hope the kids will believe that their pretties have morphed into petunias when they come to visit next time. I had a lot of explaining to do when they wondered what had happened to the Fairy House that we put in my flower garden last summer! It's sometimes hard to keep your stories straight when you're a grandparent!

A couple of you seized on the fact that I don't like going to a doctor after reading my post yesterday. Lorraine had my favorite comment when she quoted: "A healthy man is one who ignores his symptoms." A nurse...a healthcare professional...who avoids the healthcare system like she would The Plague? Yep...that's me!

I try to keep that attitude to myself because I don't encourage it in others and I don't want to lead someone else astray even slightly.

I guess my attitude has its roots in my childhood when going to the doctor was the choice of last resort. We were a poor farm family and tended to deal with most medical problems on our own. Mom and Dad had a potion or home grown cure for just about everything short of surgery and it worked, as evidenced, by the successful rearing of ten children. I didn't really get into the "routine doctor visit" mode until I went to nursing school and was introduced to all the maladies that could overcome a seemingly healthy person. I remember the time I came home for a weekend to find that Dad had been kicked by a cow and had an open wound as a result. I insisted...yes, insisted that he see the doctor and get a tetanus shot! (He must have REALLY looked forward to my coming home from COLLEGE after that!)

But all my years as a hospital nurse and my own experiences with the failing health of my own elderly parents taught me that medicine was not always the answer and sometimes the patient needed to make the call to walk away from that kind of intervention. After working in the oncology unit for a few years, I grew an even more intense respect for just saying "no" to certain medical treatments.

I've also never been one to take a pill for every ailment. I think that comes as a result of having exagerated reactions to pain pills...even a half dose will make me woozy and nauseous...so I usually prefer pain over the cure.

I also recognize the business end of medicine for what it is. Drug companies create the medicine, they market it to physicians (sometimes with rewards attached for prescribing it to their patients), and the prescriptions fly. Add to that the need for doctors to run every test imaginable for any patient complaint so there is less risk of being sued for malpractice if they miss a diagnosis and the patient has little chance of leaving a physican's office without a handful of lab tests to be run, new prescriptions to take, and a follow-up visit to make. And I resent that!

So while I believe in the necessity for good medical care, I also believe in the wisdom of knowing your own body and listening to it before identifying yourself as a "patient"...a role that is very difficult to shake once you have been labeled.

And, I guess, finally, I am a believer in Fate and the fact that I am not meant to live forever. I see so many people frantically behaving as though they believe there is a chance they will avoid that outcome. Again, I think my being raised on the farm and seeing life and death among the animals gave me an acceptance of our role in Nature...there is a season for everything!

I've been among the elderly who are propped up by feeding tubes and other miracles of medicine and I know for a fact that there are worse things in this world than death...far worse things. But it is all a very personal decision to make. So for those who want to utilize the healthcare system to its fullest...that's fine by me. I'm just a little more reluctant than some!

My husband and I are not so much addicted to "The Google" as we are appreciative of it. In days gone by we would ask a question and then decide if it was worth trying to find the answer.

The Husband is a man with a curious mind and was one of those guys who would call the library and have a poor librarian searching for something for hours! We bought newspapers just to find out when a movie would be showing. I bought cookbooks just for a cookie recipe.

Google has changed all that. I can even enter what ingredients I have on hand and Google will give me a choice of recipes featuring those foods!

Hardly a day goes by that we don't pose some question to the Great Google!

Yesterday, it was leg cramps! What causes them and what can I do about them?

I've started getting an occasional extremely painful cramp in what I have decided is the sartorius muscle which runs the length of the inside thigh from the knee all the way to the groin. It is a pain that, once experienced, you never want to know again! So I have been living in fear of it recurring every time I get out of bed after sleeping for a few hours.

What I found is that there are no easy answers and a lot of conflicting ones! So I'm trying a few solutions at a time and hoping I will come across the one that solves the problem for me! Heat wraps for about 10 minutes after going to bed, gentle stretching exercises, tonic water, bananas...I'm willing to try anything once or twice. I had a friend years ago who drank a glass of wine or two every night before going to bed to prevent cramping. I'm ready to remain a little sloshed 24/7 to avoid them at this point!

Any ideas???

On a happier note, I finally found a sock pattern that matches up to some great yarn I had here! I have made trial runs with numerous stitch combinations trying to capture just the right look and was about ready to give up when the perfect one popped up. So now I'm in knitter Heaven for a while as the sock is just flying along now.

Things that made me smile yesterday?


Adam Lambert's rendition of "Born to be Wild" on American Idol last night! Fun...fun...fun!

The Obama's new dog! I can just feel how fluffy his hair is and want to run my fingers through it. Is there anything cuter than a new puppy?

The arrival...overnight...of the camera I chose for The Husband's 60th birthday! It is waterproof so he can take it in the boat with him and not have to be afraid of it falling in the water. In fact, he can take pictures underwater if he wants to. I hope he loves it half as much as I love my digital! What did we do before digital, anyway!

Hope you have your taxes done!

CROP CIRCLES???

So when is this thing I've heard about called "Spring" really going to arrive? We were given a short taste of it for the Easter weekend and then were flung right back into the rainy 40 degree weather we had last week! BRRRRR!

The Grandpa and I watched our seven-year-old triplet grandkids Saturday afternoon and it was a great reminder of why women were meant to not have children in the later decades of their lives and also how much fun our visits with them become once they are safely home with their parents again!

They always come through the door hungry and ready to eat. I suspect they would behave the same even if they had just had a meal on the way over but I always prepare for hungry monsters! They have very different tastes in food but the one thing they will agree on is their love for Hawaiian bread! If you haven't had it in your area, it is reminiscent of brown and serve rolls in consistency and is sweet because it is made with pineapple juice in the batter. So we begin there and add a few slices of ham or turkey and their second greatest love...bacon! An apple or yogurt and they're ready to move on to more exciting things and only 15 minutes have passed!

In the span of about 3 hours, we had the afore mentioned lunch, made Easter cards from construction paper and glue...we settled on pasted on flowers instead of the cards that opened up to reveal confetti! My vote counted triple on that idea!

We baked Easter cookies and then bagged them up for them to take home with them.

We played Poppit on the computer.

We read books, played with the dog, played ball in the yard, and made huge bubbles to delight Grandpa.

We were getting a little worn out and still had about 3 hours to go when this very smart grandma decided that Grandpa needed to take them on a nature walk. I avoided Grandpa's eyes while I gathered up their coats and bags for them to collect specimens in and got them out the door. Grandpa had his walking stick with him and I hoped he didn't need it to ward off the geese who are trying to nest on the other side of our little lake!

They had a grand time exploring. Xander decided the big round spot in our neighbor's back lawn where they had removed an above ground pool last fall was actually a crop circle! And we have a grand selection of bare sticks and flowering weeds planted in my flower pots on the deck.

I tried to get them to watch a movie when they came back but Xander said the talking pig "creeped him out" even though he watches nature videos where one animal is constantly overtaking and eating another for lunch...but apparently they don't talk in people voices as they do it!

Six o'clock finally rolled around and Dad showed up to escort them home...none too soon cause The Grandpa and I definitely needed a little chair time after a whole afternoon of entertainment!

We had breakfast with our other granddaughter on Sunday and she wondered out loud why Grandpa had never taken her on a nature walk??? Cause Grandma had not been able to pull off that trick before???

There was no NASCAR so we watched the end of the Masters Tournament which was pretty exciting...for golf!

So today I'm pretending that Spring has arrived in the kitchen, anyway, by having some fresh asparagus and strawberries for supper. I love them both served simply and without a lot of ornamentation...there is nothing better than steamed asparagus with a little lemon, salt and pepper. And strawberries should be clean and left to be eaten from the stem as far as I'm concerned.

Are you eating anything spring-like now that it is April?

LIGHT HEADED

I try not to make sudden decisions...I've regretted so many in the past and see it as a sign of maturity when I make myself wait before making one now. But I do still make them!

I've worn my hair long for several years now...never down, but drawn into a knot near my neck in the back. I don't like to fuss with my hair and, for the most part, this style has been easy. But when it gets too long it is a nuisance...it takes forever to wash it, rinse all the shampoo out, and I gave up on it ever getting dry! And it is heavy enough to pull on my scalp and hurt. And that knot is uncomfortable when riding in the car where I want to lean my head back against the head rest, or in the dentist's chair, or on the pillow at night.

My younger daughter came in a couple of weeks ago with this cute little bob haircut and I was so jealous! She encouraged me to go for it, but I hesitated knowing how many bad haircuts I have received in the past when I got a bee in my bonnet. But I just kept thinking about that cut. So, finally, Wednesday night I put my hair in a ponytail secured it with a band, slid the band down to where there was maybe 4 or 5 inches left and handed The Husband a pair of scissors! When he was assured many times over that I would not hold him accountable for this decision he took the bull by the horns...or the pony by the tail...and cut it off.

It was instant relief! The weight of that hair was gone and I was left with such a mess that I forced myself into the beautician's chair on Thursday afternoon. I left with what is called an "inverted bob" that I love, love, love!

Mine is not at quite that extreme an angle at the front and is all grey and white...but you get the idea!

Speaking of "grey", HBO is coming out with a movie version of Grey Gardens soon. It is the story of Jackie Kennedy's aunt and cousin who lived on their dilapidated estate called Grey Gardens back when. I saw the documentary version with the Beale women in their most eccentric glory a couple of years ago and it was just fascinating. The daughter, Edie Beale, had that same whispery affected manner of speaking that Jackie had and it was eerie to hear it coming from this strange source.

I don't subscribe to HBO and probably won't go out of my way to see it...I am satisfied to have seen the real people in the documentary...but if you didn't catch that, it is a fascinating look into their lives.

It is rainy and chilly this morning in Indianapolis and I hope so much that it will be nicer for Easter. I have so many memories of Easter egg hunts, early sunrise services at church, and big family gatherings in the afternoon. Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

I HAVE A CODE!

While working as a nurse in a hospital, I had to become familiar with the various Codes which were used to designate various situations in house. We had the familiar Code Blue which called the resuscitation team when a patient was found in cardiac arrest. We had Code Red for fire and Code Black for Tornado alerts. We all knew what was expected of us during these alerts and practice made our actions fluid and effective.

I think we have all run across the tech support people in the workplace whose sole purpose in life is to make us feel stupid and inferior! They come in and magically turn chaos into order with the rapid stroke of a few keys. They insist that we should feel comfortable with our computers, that we can't hurt them, but they do it in such a way that we are left even more fearful of striking a key lest we "mess" something up and have to call them in again! (I say this with tongue in cheek and much love because I am surrounded by people in my own life who live by the computer in one way or another!)

I was amused to find these codes that are used by tech support people to diagnose what is wrong when they are called into action:

PEBKAC: Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair

PICNIC: Problem in chair - not in computer

ID 10 T Error: ID 10 T is, of course, IDIOT

It got me to thinking that perhaps we need Code words in the weight loss world to let others who are interested know when things are less than friendly in the kitchen! Without giving ourselves away as people interested in healthy eating we could simply call out the following codes:

• Code Fudge...heavy use of sugar! Beware!
• Code Valvoline...fried foods ahead!
• Code Ancestry...food like your Grandma made on Sunday!
• Code Deen...heavy use of butter!
• Code Kleenex...you will cry your eyes out when you step on the scale after eating this!
• Code Lays...you can't eat just one!
• Code Trough...it's a buffet!

Have any you want to add to the list? Be my guest!

GUCAMOLE SANDWICH

TAKE A QUARTER OF AN AVOCADO, DICE IT, AND
TOSS IT IN A BOWL.

ADD A MEDIUM TOMATO THAT HAS BEEN SEEDED AND DICED.

MINCE SOME SWEET ONION AND ADD A TABLESPOON
OF THAT GOOD STUFF

ALONG WITH A QUARTER CUP OF DICED ENGLISH CUCUMBER

AND A LITTLE MINCED GARLIC,

A TABLESPOON OF RED WINE VINEGAR,

AND A TEASPOON OF OLIVE OIL.
TOP EVERYTHING WITH SALT AND PEPPER TO TASTE
AND
TOSS IT ALL AROUND ENOUGH TO COMBINE
ALL THE INGREDIENTS.

STUFF IT ALL INTO PITA BREAD!

I CALL THIS MY GUACAMOLE SANDWICH
AND IT IS NOTHING SHORT OF
WONDERFUL!!!

ANY NEW IDEAS OUT THERE?

Ever since watching the Dr. Oz life extension episode on Oprah, I've been concentrating on getting more nutrition into my day. The breakfast the fellow on the caloric restriction diet ate each day appealed to me. It was a meal very similar to what I refer to as my "Breakfast Bowl".

His consisted of nuts, fruits and berries...I take it a step further by adding either yogurt or cottage cheese and bran cereal. It's not especially pretty but can resemble a yogurt parfait if you want to stage the presentation a little better than I do.

My version is based on this formula:

• High-fiber bran cereal (1 serving according to the box)
• 1 cup fat-free yogurt or cottage cheese
• 1 cup fruit (I love the frozen mixed berries I've been using this week)
• 1 oz walnuts

Depending on the fruit and the cereal I've used, I usually add a little sugar or Equal, but do as you please. I try to stay away from artificial sweeteners since my migraine experiences with Splenda.

This makes a bowl of morning goodness containing 3 cups of food! It takes a while to eat and it carries me through the morning and sometimes most of the afternoon before I even think of food again.

I've also been making sure I get in a citrus fruit and a banana every day to keep my potassium levels where they should be.

I've been trying to keep my food intake meat free until my evening meal so I've had vegetables in the form of a salad or veggies stuffed into a whole wheat pita or soup for lunch along with my second dairy serving of the day...usually a glass of milk.

With all that fiber early in the day, I've been less hungry at dinner time...always a plus! But that is when I eat a moderate portion of meat, some pasta or a potato, and another side of vegetables.

This has been working out really well, so far, and by adapting this general plan, I am free of calorie and point counting on most days.

My alternate breakfasts are a toasted whole wheat English muffin with peanut butter, a banana, and a glass of milk or, mostly on the weekend when we eat out, an egg, a little slice of ham or 2 pieces of bacon, and whole wheat toast. If I have the restaurant meal, I have a fruit and milk snack later in the morning.

If you are interested in the idea of eating meat-free until dinnertime, there is an article here about food writer Mark Bittman's experience in losing weight by going "Vegan until 6"...a new way of approaching better eating and achieving some "effortless" weight loss?

So...what are you eating for breakfast and have you made any interesting changes to your eating plan recently?