Mary Long restaurant waits work even last night, a Monday night at Cracker Barrel. My beloved nephew (almost my age) and his family came down from CT and we all had a great time just catching up and talking. His daughter is a female contractor who is well qualified, experienced, and really smart. I've always enjoyed her so much. Mike and I grew up as more brother and sister since he was my sister's oldest and we lived near each other for a time. He is a musician and artist so he and Pat had lots to talk about. His wife loves Massages as I do, and the others look at us like we are crazy.

Mother's Day became better and better. After the morning with our 2 middle children, our oldest daughter from Cincy called and we talked and talked and now she and her husband are coming to the river to fish here Friday!!! Then texts from our youngest as her client was in crisis and she will celebrate with us later. Then: Our "almost" son and his wife were just back from Singapore, in California with her new granddaughter and near his parents and younger sister. He called and we talked and talked and I really feel I caught up.

Today was spent with DH and we really enjoyed ourselves on errands. He can make simple things fun.

Pat is giving a talk on Thursday to help other Artists with the good information she learned while in Washington, DC at the Portrait of America workshop. We'll go for info (altho we won't use it) just to get to see her talk. She is really good and impressive so I hope shee gets some turn out.

Since DH retired almost 3 yeears go, we are far more social and I believe it is good for me.

Good morning GG's,

It is a nice sunny day (well, off and on). I walked today ~ to that little park ~ I didn't stay very long ~ the mosquitoes (probably because of all that rain we had) found me right away. It was warm outside, wouldn't have seemed so hot if it wasn't humid too. There was a slight breeze at times ~ that helped a little. Glad to be back home with the fans blowing on me.

I had my appointment for check up with the diabetes doctor yesterday ~ A1C was up a little, but still a good number. And weight was up a little too, but I knew it would be. I think these increases are partly due to some stressful family things going on and falling back into old habits of eating to deal with these situations. Cholesterol numbers had improved and were good. I'm back to behaving now. Nobody is gonna do this for me, I have to take care of my health myself. Hope I can make some real progress.

Sandy ~ it sounds like you had a really nice Mother's Day time ~ connecting with lots of family. Glad you did not get hurt when you fell. So sorry about the loss of your sister-in-law ~ glad she is not suffering any more though. Thoughts and prayers for your family. I have a cousin (not close with her, as her family moved away when we were kids) who is an artist of some kind. And a young woman who was one of my daughter's friends growing up ~ she and her husband are artists ~ the young woman is a photographer ~ her husband paints I believe. They are all in the Maryland/DC suburb area. Wouldn't it be something if they were all at this workshop where your daughter is speaking?

Mary ~ you are really going to town with your decluttering. I need to do that, but have some other projects I need to get to first. Your family did such nice things for you for mother's day, the roses, the corsage and the Lula Roe top. Glad you had a nice mother's day.

Carol Sue ~ glad you had a nice day as well with your family. The pizza sounds delicious. My niece ordered some pizza when I was up home visiting. She got two kinds, I had one slice of each kind. It was like heaven ~ I had not had a piece of real pizza for a long time. Thank you for sharing the picture of Rusty ~ he is so cute.

Karrine ~ glad that Nan's radiation treatments are done with. Glad she is in good spirits, but sorry for the episodes of anxiety and depression. Hope the next segment (chemo) goes well. Sorry that you are feeling tired. Glad that your ankle is doing better. Prayers continue for both you and Nan.

Guess I'd better get off here ~ need to get dressed and my hair fixed before Maddie gets off the bus. Hope you all are having a good day.

Sandy, I know you have a lot of perennials. I have a Hosta that has come up around the base of the bird house pole for 20 years. This year it is completely behind the pole, and a bit of it ha spread out to the left, like a whole new plant. I have no idea how that happened! I'm going to dig up the portion that is growing toward the left and plant it in front of the pole. Nature can sure be strange sometimes!

Went to the gym this morning, then came home and did a little decluttering in my office. Found my dad's old violin. I gave it to my son when my dad died but it got broken. I insisted he bring it back thinking maybe dh could fix it, but it's in pretty bad shape. I'll keep it though just for the memory of him playing it. I'm sure it was not an expensive violin but my folks didn't have much so it probably was a lot to him. Made me sad for a few minutes, but I finally got back to decluttering and got rid of a few things. Found lots of hangars I'd stored here when our son moved in, so I put them back into the spare bedroom closet. That's all I've gotten done other than some daily cleaning in our bathroom, picking up and making our bed.

I had my best morning bs this morning! Still a little bit high but I don't think I've ever had a morning bs as low even when prediabetic! It was 129. Then I just took it again ...would be before lunch but I haven't eaten yet and it's almost an hour later and it was 125. So I'm doing well today. I didn't eat healthy yesterday but I didn't eat a lot plus the new med is kicking in I guess
.

Carol - I like hostas...we have three in front of our house. They grow so easily.

Glynne - glad your checkup went well. Yes it is up to us to take care of ourselves.

Sandy - Glad you had such a nice Mother's Day too!

I've already posted today but wanted to add a few things. Humana (they manage our medicare) now has managers to handle any issues/questions you may have and she called me today. She will call every few months to see how I'm doing. Never had that before and don't really feel I need it but whatever. She asked me if I'd consider having someone call me to support me in losing weight...I'd already turned down food ideas etc as I know all that stuff, just need to apply it...and I doubt this person can help stubborn me, but I am willing to listen so I said yes. So she will be calling me on Friday.

Today I got rid of quite a few books and also a few miscl items I remembered were in a drawer I hadn't gone through. Only books left that I can't decide about are the encyclopedias. I always thought I read them for more knowledge. I know I can look up everything on the web but this is stuff I wouldn't have a reason to search. I know I'll let them go in time, but I'm not decided yet. I now have filled 8 boxes/bags to give away. I think I'm going to have to take them to ARC or Goodwill unless ARC calls soon or we won't have room to walk down the front hall. I also am going through a couple old cookbooks I have really liked and typing recipes I marked as good on my computer recipe software. I think I will keep these cookbooks to try more recipes before getting rid of them.

Tomorrow I will be busy with grandchildren and going to a Girls Night Out event with my dil. My dd will be working a stand there too. I think I mentioned it before.

Mary, our medicare manager, Highmark, is constantly calling us and requesting that we use some of the programs they offer for managing our meds and health care. We always turn them down, and I have even asked them to take us off the list of people to call. Now we rarely hear from them. Like you, I feel that we know what we need to know about our meds. This service would be good for someone who doesn't have that knowledge, but after working in the pharmacy for 10 years I feel that I know what I'm doing. The same with weight loss. I know all about nutrition and I know what I should be doing, so unless they are going to lock me in a room and only give me the food I should eat, they wouldn't really help much. It has to come from me, to do the right thing. My diet was managed quite well when I was in the hospital and brought my three meals each day. Nothing to snack on in between. LOL I'm looking forward to hearing what this person has to say to you and how it helps you. I guess I'm just cynical about it.

CarolSueYour comment on NOT needing Highmark to call you brought a smile. You are fortunate for the life's knowledge you've accumulated. Hosta: Bringing part of it back to front of poll makes lots of sense. Today I had a bare spot near back Gate that shows up as you come in the gate. I simply brought one of the baby blue Geraniums over and planted it, watered, mulched and feel that area is finished!!!

Our son called as I was working and sweaty, "Let's go to lunch." DH said yet and I had a real rush to get cleaned up and dressed. I stood under the ceiling fan for a while before I could dry off enough to put on my shirt. We had a great time hearing about our gs and ggs and DIL's trip to Florida. They were checking out where Anthony can go to school when they move there in next year. Loved the area and the school system and are so excited about it all. With her sister living near by and several nieces, too, they will do well. On the other hand, we'll miss them terribly. We simply do NOT travel and won't be going down. Hope they come back at least yearly and believe they will.

Gayle Check up help you feel better? Thank you for the sympathy for our beloved Jennie. Her funeral was today 5 states away. We are so lucky how healthy we still are at our age, and Thank God daily for each good day.

Mary At our lunch with family they were talking about trying to eliminate clutter so they can get each of their homes ready to sell. Our Grandson has only been in his house about a year so his job is far easier. Our Son has been in his 16 years so they really, really have a project that will take months. Glad we are NOT moving.

I'd hate to try to locate doctors, dentist, etc that I trust. What a lot of work to find people for different functions and then finding who can recommend someone. Thank goodness we don't have small children, either. We moved almost every year the first 6 years of our married life till we came here and realized we couldn't afford our "dream Home" and this became it. Truly we've adapted this place to suit all 3 of us and are doing fine.

My dil and I had fun at the Girls Night Out event. We got there early enough to get a swag bag filled with all kinds of little things, there were lots of yummy appetizers, some cookies, wine and beer and vendors to browse. There was a young guy playing and singing for us and a fashion show just before the raffles. We had six tickets and I won a very nice crate of all kinds of things...from 2 wine bottles, to bath products to candy and much more. I shared some with my dil since she didn't win. My dd said she did well (Lularoe) but most sales were at the end of the evening after we left. I had a hypoglycemic episode as soon as we got there but luckily we were able to eat right away. Came home leftover chicken dinner, but I was so tired and achy I went to bed asap. I had to get the grandchildren in bed first but they were good as usual.

Then the next day I played a card game with them and watched my grandson's videos. He is 9 and makes his own little movies. Very impressive what they can do these days. When they played outside I tried to clean house a bit and washed two loads of laundry but didn't really get much else done. Last night I tried a new recipe using the precooked 3 cheese chicken Italian sausage links. I chopped them (Joe prefers his meat in small pieces), browned them and then cooked with red pepper and onion. At the end I added an apricot and broth sauce. We both thought it was ok. I served it with roasted asparagus with a balsamic vinegar and honey glaze and cheese grits. I liked the grits and the asparagus was good but prefer without the sweet glaze. We ate almost all of it though so it wasn't bad.

Today I plan on dropping off the items I'm giving away and doing some laundry. I haven't done much housework in a couple days now, but doubt I'll have much time to do much today again. I making Tater Tachos for dinner (uses tater tots). Again something different.

The lady called (nurse, nutritionist?) yesterday. She sounded very nice and very young. She had me tell her my meal plans for the day (I'd only had breakast at that time), and she said my eating sounds pretty good. I told her my biggest problem was snacking esp in the evenings and about my fondess for my PB mochas. She asked me to try to limit them to only two a day (I told her some days I drink 3) and she said after each mocha I drink to also drink 16 oz of water. Yesterday I only had one mocha and I did drink the water although I didn't get to it til much later. This morning I am drinking it now, just finished breakfast (mocha) a little over an hour ago. Oh and all the candy that came in my prize I have given most of it to dh as I didn't like it. I am giving one that I didn't open to my dil. So glad I didn't like it!

Sandy - I think Spring makes people want to dig out from under all their clutter. Only decluttering I did yesterday was a good size stack of reciple magazines I'd been keeping for years as I wanted to try the recipes. Now I can find them online so tossing the magazines. I gave my dd three books yesterday. I am not sure whether to give away my childhood books, so far my grandchildren are not interested in them but I keep hoping. And then there are still those encyclopedias. Next in my ongoing decluttering is papers. I'm hoping to set up a simpler storage system and keeping far less if I can. Not today though..

Carol - I suspect my relationship with this nurse/nutritionist (not sure which she is) will be short lived, but figured it's worth a try. Anything to motivate me. If I tell someone I will do something I feel commited to it so it may help. I hadn't thought of drinking 16 oz of water after my mochas for instance even though it is recommended to drink water after each cup of caffinated beverage, but my mochas have so little coffee in them, they are more like milk shakes except not so sweet.

One of the reasons I'm decluttering too is so when dh and I leave this earth we won't leave quite so much for the kids to have to go through. There will still be plenty but if I can keep the cluttering down it will make it easier for them. I know much of it will probably fall to my dd and she is busy enough with her own life.

Ok, gotta get ready to take the bags out to Goodwill, so bye for now.

Good afternoon GG's,

Thursday ~ 5-12-16 ~ A nice sunny day here today ~ kind of warm out. I woke up with a bit of a headache this morning ~ not a terrible bad one, but just enough to make me not want to get out and do my walk. Oh well, tomorrow is another day. Messed up my 2 day streak ~ LOL.

I did do some puttery stuff that needed to be done, so even though I didn't do my walk, the time was well spent.

Mary ~ when I met with the dietitian the other day at the diabetes doctor ~ we talked about my eating. I shared kind of how I eat ~ which is sort of like you said you eat ~ small frequent meals ~ something around every 3 hours or so ~ I mostly eat when I am hungry. She encouraged me to have regular meals (breakfast, lunch and supper) and a snack ~ said that it would help my body know when to make insulin if I could kind of get myself on a schedule. It sounds sensible and I have been trying the last couple days to sort of do that, but I think that I end up actually eating more and feel too full doing it that way. When I feel too full, I don't feel good. I felt like I was doing good by not eating because it was a certain time and not eating and feeling too full. I may go back to doing it my way. I guess I can see the need to help my body regulate the insulin, but don't like how I end up feeling too full. When I get ready to eat, I sort of have in mind what I want to eat, but I don't always eat all of what I was thinking to eat. If I eat part of it and feel full, I don't eat the rest of what I thought I'd have. Sometimes I never get around to eating that thing. The way I see it ~ I actually end up eating less like that. It is kind of surprising to me, that to look at me (my size) you'd think I could really chow down, but I seem to be able to only eat part of what I think I can a lot of times.

Sunday ~ 5-15-16 ~ Started a reply the other day, but things got busy and I never finished. It is sometimes hard to write and share. Lots of family stuff going on. Some hard times and some drama ~ worrisome stuff. Not sure you all would want to hear that stuff. But that is my life, and takes up most of the time lately, so sometimes there is nothing else to write about. Guess maybe if I try to think of the happy things and share about that.

We had Maddie on Friday ~ she wanted a watch ~ she is real proud that she can tell time with a real (not digital display) clock/watch, so we took her to Walmart and she picked out one she liked. Just 2 ½ weeks of school left for her. Then she will be here all day, every day until school starts up again in the fall. We will have to think up some stuff to keep her busy ~ we try not to let there be too much TV or too much iPad time ~ that is a challenge.

Yesterday was Senior Prom for Corbin and his girlfriend Claire. Where has the time gone? Graduation is on the 31st. He will start college in the fall.

Got to spend time with our son the last couple days ~ trying to help him figure out a program he might study ~ to get retrained for some other kind of work. Then because that took so much time, he was short of time to prepare his food for the week, so I offered to help him do that while he did his grocery shopping. So, we have had some nice visiting times.

Got to see DD Sara a few minutes on Saturday. DD Jen might be coming to visit when Corbin graduates, but we haven't heard for sure yet if that is happening or not. It would be fun to get to see her and the kids.

On Monday, my parents home (my childhood home) goes up for sale ~ Sheriffs sale. Kind of sad ~ the end of a chapter of our lives.

I guess I will get this posted and do the personals another time.

Hope you all are having a good weekend.

Gayle, that is sad that your parents home is going up for sale. I never lived in the same house for very long. 4 years in Philadelphia, then to the Pittsburgh area. 9 years in one house during grade school, then 10 years in another house from high school until I moved out on my own. One time the people who lived in my childhood home passed away, but I thought a family member would stay there. I was disappointed when I heard they sold it because if I had know it was up for sale I would have liked to go to see it. Just for the memory. I often pass the over-100-yr-old house where my mother grew up but I'm not exactly sure which house it is. 5 houses on that street, and it's one of two. There's no one left alive to remember which house it was. I wave toward the house each time we pass by. LOL We have been in this house for 35 years. That's the longest for both of us.

I'm curious. How did you end up in Texas?

I think it's hard to eat the way someone else tells you to, because each person is different. Some people say you should eat ever few hours, and other say you should go 4-5 hours and have a full meal, rather than small meals. I think each person had to do what works for them. I have found since I developed diabetes that if I eat a full meal, I get really tired/sleepy. I think that means the big meal raised my blood sugar too high. I think for me it has to be a happy medium. Meals spread out enough to allow my blood sugar to come back down, but not so far apart that I get too hungry and eat too much. I hate that stuffed feeling.

Sandy, I don't mean to sound like a know-it-all about my meds and medical conditions. It's just that I see my doctors often enough, plus I had those visiting nurses every day for 6 months after my surgery, and that was enough for me. LOL I just got blood work done and sent a list of my 2 weeks of blood pressure reading to the cardiologist, and I have an appointment with him next week to go over it all. I'm hoping I will get to see him, but I'm thinking they will hand me off to the PA, whom I have no faith in as far as knowing enough about cardiology. They are in the only cardiology group in our areas, so there's no chance to change doctors. Just have to hope for the best. I'm going to make a list of questions I want to ask so I don't forget anything.

Mary, I hope it helps you, talking with this nutritionist. I am not as good as you at committing to things. I am just weak willed. LOL I never heard to drink water after drinking coffee.

Your Girls-night-out sounded like so much fun and camaradarie.


Well, DH wants to go to Harbor Freight. He needs me to navigate since he has never been there before.

Carol Sue ~ I ended up in Texas because our daughter Sara was here. Steve and I met in college when we lived in Ohio. I had lived in Ohio all my life ~ in that house I mentioned, until I went to college. Steve's dad was a baptist minister, so he had grown up moving around. My moving around didn't start until I married Steve. He had (since he was a kid and went to visit his grandma and cousins on summer vacations) always wanted to live in Maine. So, he found a job up there and up we went ~ had no desire to live other places, but the company he worked for closed down and he lost his job. We lived there almost 20 years. His new job took us to Kansas City, Missouri. We lived there only about 4 years, when that company transferred him to Greensboro, NC. We lived there about 8 years. He was nearing retirement age and was fed up with his work/company. Sara was living in Houston. Her husband's parents had lived in Kansas City at the same time we were there, but were originally from Texas. They moved back to Texas and got their son (Sara's husband) a job where his dad worked, so Sara, and Corbin and her husband moved down for his job. One weekend, Steve and Sara were talking ~ he was sharing with her his frustrations with his job and she was wishing more of her family were by her. She kept saying, move down here by me. She had talked her brother (Jason) into moving down and that he could live with her (rent from her), so he was already there. So, with two of our kids and grandbaby there, we didn't have anything really to keep us in NC, except our daughter Jen, but she was in college and very independent and had her friends and a busy social life. We didn't see her very often because she was always so busy. So we moved down by Sara and Jason. We've been here going on 10 years now.

My only regret at moving is that at a time when my parents were getting older and were maybe gonna need help, I moved further away from them. In Greensboro, I was only a day's drive from them ~ first time since I got married that I lived that close a distance to them. They understood how much I wanted to be near my kids and grandson and ever since I got married, I had lived pretty far away from them, so they weren't upset with me for moving. They had my brother a couple miles from them and my sister just 6 hours from them, so I didn't feel quite so bad about moving farther from them.

More on the meal/eating discussion. I hate that stuffed feeling too ~ I don't feel good when I feel stuffed. I think that is why I eat the way I do. It is like I eat one thing at a time ~ and all those one things eventually add up to a complete meal. For instance, I just ate a medium sized bowl of chile. That was enough right then. Maybe later I will eat a salad or something. Then later, some fruit. Because ~ a whole meal feels like too much ~ leaving me feeling stuffed. So, it is frustrating to go to all that effort ~ trying to make small amounts of different stuff for variety.

Your mention of Harbor Freight made me smile. My dad loved that store. It was like taking a kid to a toy store ~ all those tools and gadgets ~ he could hardly stand it ~ LOL.

Wonderful service this morning! Then we went to a Mexican restaurant for lunch, came home with about 1/2 my dish. I got a potato, beans, rice dish this time and it was good. I'm usually not a big meat eater, I like meat and usually eat a little every day but sometimes I don't miss it.

Glynne, the way you describe your eating is the way I would naturally eat and tend to do when I don't cook for someone. However I do often eat when I'm not really hungry, unfortunately. I cook dinner for dh and I and sometimes when I sit down to eat I'm not really hungry, but it's dinner time and I've cooked it so I eat it but usually in proper portions as I too fill up fast on meal food. My snacking is another thing though... I do need to work on my snacking. Healthy small snacks are one thing, but too large snacks and junky snacks are different. I find even if I don't eat the junky kind, I'll make up the calories with other stuff...like PB sandwiches etc. I also eat the better stuff like veggie snacks but also eat too much of the other too. Like my mocha drink...it is not a terribly unhealthy drink but is fairly high in calories for a snack. I think my snacks should be no higher than 200 calories and I should only have one in the evening. My goal is to eat smaller and mostly healthy snacks. And I'm trying now to drink a lot of water after anything that is what I shouldn't be eating or shouldn't be eating so much of. I'm glad the nurse/nutritionist mentioned doing that after my mochas. I didn't have time to drink it after my breakfast mocha but still plan to drink it.

I was thinking about your bowl of chili...if it were me, I'd have to have crackers with it and if I don't watch it I'll eat a lot of saltine crackers which are a waste of calories in hardly any nutrition. That's the way I am...I always want these combinations of foods. I'm trying to do better and am much better than I used to be, but that's my natural tendency. I don't like that stuffed feeling either, but because of eating so much in the past I guess, I can still eat a lot. It depends, I can't eat a lot of rich, fat, salty food...like is so often served in restaurants...I fill up REALLY fast with that kind of food. Fill up is perhaps not the word...I just get tired of the taste. I may crave something else...maybe something sweet like candy or ice cream (like my mocha!) but not the same taste.

Carol - Well I haven't always drank the water as I said I would but I am trying. If I tell someone verbally I really try hard to do it cause I feel like I've given my word. But doing a challenge or reportin my intake like some do on these forum does not help me at all...I can never keep to it. But I am just so tired of my big tummy...I think the new clothes as motivated me...and I really just want it GONE!

Interesting reading about all your moves...you and Glynne. I was born and raised in KS, small town. Moved to a larger town to attend business school (1961) and met my dh there. Moved a few years later (1965) to So CA when he was transferred by the AF. Then he got out of the service and got a job with Boeing, so we moved up here to Seattle (1968). After about three years he was laid off (along with lots of others) and he got an HVAC job in Portland, so we moved there. They didn't end up having enough work so he was looking for work for nine months, just doing temporary work here and there. God got us through in amazing ways and eventually he got on with a propane gas company but a few years later they transferred him to Port Angles, WA. By this time we had two children. We were there less than a year and he was transferred back to OR. We had another child there. When I was pregnant with our last child, we wanted a larger home and WA was cheaper so we moved here and have been here 39 years. There were lots of house moves along the way, but that's the short version.

I'm tired after typing all this, so going to rest.

Good evening GG's,

I'm back again. I woke up with a headache this morning. Not a bad one, but in my eyes ~ probably sinus related. It has been rainy the last couple days. My sister talks about the barometric pressure level and it causing trouble with headaches. Anyway, it wasn't a bad one, but just enough to make me not feel like doing much. So, I haven't done much but play around on the computer today. I guess that sort of takes my mind of the headache. It is finally almost gone, but is now too late in the day to start on any project. I guess that is one of the perks of retirement ~ a day like this when you don't feel like doing much ~ just doing something that is enjoyable even if you don't accomplish anything important and not feeling guilty about it.

I had a couple sewing projects I would have liked to work on, but just didn't feel like I could concentrate on them. Oh well.

I was channel surfing and saw the movie Three Men and a Baby and tuned in to that. I like the movie, but with this head ache, that crying baby ~ it got on my nerves and so I turned it off.

Mary ~ More about the eating. I too eat when I'm not hungry. I think that when that happens is when I am stressed. I am not hungry but just keep stuffing my face to feel better. Even though I do the cooking, we only eat together ~ like the afternoon snack. His daily routine/schedule is different than mine. We go to sleep at different times and wake at different times, so the meal times for each of us are different too. I guess that is from years of living and working different shifts. Often times, I don't even eat the same stuff he does. I have days when I do pretty good and other days like today when I don't. When I have these headaches ~ I don't have the patience it seems to eat the right stuff ~ I tend to just grab something quick. The right stuff it seems requires some degree of preperation and I don't feel like messing with that.

I don't mind the chili without crackers, but if there were fritoes in the house ~ well, they'd be in there. That is a thing they served in the dorm caffeteria in college ~ chili and fritoes. Yum.

About the moving ~ growing up ~ I never dreamed I'd end up living all the places I did. Don't know if we will do any more moves. I would be content to stay here. Just need to do like you are doing Mary and declutter and get rid of some stuff. Either throw stuff out, give stuff away ~ to the kids if there is anything they want or Goodwill ~ stuff that is still usable, but no longer wanted/needed. Then organize the rest. Steve has talked some about moving to a place ~ like a condo, where the maintainence and yard care are done by someone else. That will cost I'm sure ~ so I guess we need to figure out what is the better deal ~ staying here and hiring someone to do that when we are no longer able, or move to where it is paid for. I think I would rather just stay here ~ I kind of dread downsizing and having to figure all that out. There are no stairs here to deal with ~ so it would work for us as we get older.

Thank you all for letting me share and ramble today. Kept me busy and kept my mind off other things.

When I was in my early 20s I went to Ocean City NJ with a friend for a long weekend. She liked it so much that after we came back, she quit her job and moved there. I went to visit her the next summer. She was working in a restaurant near the beach and living with a few other girls in an apartment upstairs from the restaurant. To me, it was very daring to leave home like that. DH and I have vacationed at the beach a couple times, but I really wish I could have lived there. That girl still lives in the OC area all these years later, married, with kids and probably grandchildren by now. I often think how different my life would have been if I had gone with her, but I was afraid to leave home like that. I love the ocean and would really love to live near the beach.

Gayle, A year or so ago there was a house for sale up the street. It was all one floor, on a slab. It had a small yard that would be much less maintenance, and it had a wheel chair accessible bathroom, in case we every needed that somewhere down the line. I wanted to buy it, but DH said no. He said our house is more private, and it is, but since I don't go outside much I don't care about privacy. I really would have liked to move. I know that eventually we are going to have to pay someone to do the maintenance. And what if one of us can't do stairs, eventually. There's no way out of our house without stairs.

Mary, I seemed to remember you saying you were a nurse at one time. Was that you? I know Gayle was.

I don't eat much junk food snacks, but it seems that I am picking at things all day. I'll have a few olives, or a few nuts. Both healthy foods, but still I'm not eating them out of hunger. Or I'll eat a slice of cheese. A lot of times I'm not hungry at dinner time but I'll eat because I'm cooking for DH. That's a bad habit that I didn't have when I lived alone.

This is funny. my step daughter is 47. She texted me today to ask me how long to boil and egg. 47, and doesn't know how to make a boiled egg. I guess it's just something she doesn't make very often, so I'll give her the benefit of the doubt. LOL

Yes I was a nurse in my "other life." LOL I sometimes feel that I am a totally different person now. I loved the learning, and I loved the patients but I don't miss the work at all.

About your step-daughter, my first thought was, doesn't she know how to Google? I have been cooking for many years, but I still google things now and then esp if I haven't done something in a long time.

Speaking of me being a nurse and doing funny things...I just squirted my scalp medication into one of my eyes instead of my eye lubricating drops! Really stung! I have washed my eye out several times plus used my eye drops several times too and now it doesn't hurt, but I was a bit worried about it because it is a cortosteriod and was concerned about eye damage, maybe cataracts. I already have small cataracts due to having to take some steriods for the iritis I used to have. Hope I got it all out in time just in case it could cause more issues.

BTW, when it happened, I was washing out my eye and yelling for my dh. He hates yelling and he comes but he just asked me "what do you want ME to do about it, just wash it out." Well a little sympathy maybe...