Caren, that's a surprise about the glasses and Medicare, and I am delighted to find that out.  Yay!!!  Also about the dental, altho I had suspected it might cover that.  Do you know if that would include dentures?  What kind of cooking shows are on today?  Is the food network getting ready for St. Patrick's Day?

Which reminds me, Lap:  For your menu for the Crone's Party, why not go with what your ancestors would've eaten, or at least as much as possible?  I don't imagine you'd want to go out and hunt a wild boar or anything that drastic, right?  But at least try to go as ethnic as possible.  Is that a good idea?  The Crone's Party is about YOU, and your ancestry is a huge part of who and what you are, as you know, from having written a book about it.   And that reminds me again:  Have you completely finished the book?  I don't remember...senior moments, please understand.

And btw, the word I was looking for when I was trying to describe the trabajet was catapult...not sure if I've spelled it right.  But I'm glad to know my guess was right, thanks for letting me know.

Joycie, thank you, I'm fine, and from what i can see from my front door, this area is ok, too.  The Lady Across the Street came over to pick up some old magazines earlier, and said she hadn't been out and about here in Mableton, but there was nothing bad about us on the news.  From what she said, I gathered that the worst of it went north of us.  It got pretty rough here a couple times, so it had to have been hideous where it was the worst.  I'm grateful.

To answer your other question, as much as I hated to do it, I threw the lamb stew away, and darned near cried while I was doing it.  But no matter how expensive it was to do it, and no matter how good it was, and yes, it was VERY good, I wasn't willing to take the chance of subjecting myself to that much gastrointestinal distress again.  Not only was it quite greasy, but I found out yesterday while researching iron-rich foods, lamb is high in iron, and my system has never tolerated much iron.  The iron-rich prenatal vitamins used to nearly destroy me, and much to my disgust, my doctors never cared:  "They're for the baby, not for you.  Take them in spite of how they affect you!!!"  Dang!  So, I won't be making lamb stew again.  Dang!

So.  Believe it or not, y'all, I got up at about 11:30AM today, and actually felt pretty good when I woke up.  No, I didn't bound out of bed all excited about the new day, but at least I didn't have that horrible feeling of "Why bother? It's not worth getting out of bed for, etc., etc., etc."  I'm willing to bet that most of you reading this feel like that sometimes, too, right?  Anyway, the toilet got swished, the bed got made, the two baskets of clean laundry sitting in the kitchen have been emptied and stuff put away(...I know, right?!?!?!)...I've washed a load of towels, and now the white load is washing.  With my poor little dryer acting as badly as it does now, I'm only drying half the towels, and with all the rest of the laundry, the poor little thing is going to be running just about six to eight hours, I'm afraid.   When my income tax comes back this year, I'm buying a new dryer...so maybe I should take the time to sit down and fill it out and send it off, eh?

The last three plants have gone.  When she came for the magazines, Lady Across the Street took them with her. YAY!!!  Some of my many stacks are already on the baker's rack, and no, it's not pretty, but it will, hopefully, be the only "stacked" place in the front rooms now.  And my little loveseat looks wayyyy better now!!  Not much, to be sure, but some slight progress going on.  Presumably I'll do more later on, and if not, then probably more tomorrow.   And much to my delight, for the first time since I moved in here, I now have a place to bring my "rusty stuff" into the house and  put on display.  My Rusty Stuff includes a small plow, no more than about 18 inches high and two feet long, at the most; a small cow bell, and then two more Rusty Things that Old Man brought me from one of his trips to Florida that I have NO clue as to what they are, altho I think one of them came out of a motor, probably.  No matter, I love my Rusty Stuff, lol.   Some of my collection of glassware and bottles can be mixed in with the Rusty Stuff, I think, which frees up space for the new vegetarian cookbooks that are now stacked on the kitchen floor.  Sigh.  I will miss seeing the plants, but not the care of them, and I'm just so pleased to have the storage space, so I think it's a fair swap for me.

The book I finished yesterday and had forgotten the name of is "Love in a Nutshell," by Janet Evanovich.  Today's book is a book of stories by Jane Austen, one of which is actually an unfinished novel by the name of "Sanditon."    My vocabulary has been increased by three now words:  coruscation, eleemosnary, and approbation.  Approbation means exactly the opposite of what I thought it did...it means elaborate praise or laudation, and I had thought it meant dislike or possibly fear and doubt.  Duh.  The other two?  I had no clue, and no, I'm not going to tell you what they mean.  You're going to have to look them up, just like i had to...that way you'll remember then better, so say the educators of this world, lol.

My other chore for the day, if I should so choose to do it, is to get the dishes done and the kitchen floor cleaned.  I'm telling y'all, I don't know how, all by myself, I can make such a mess.  If anyone walked in here, I think that they would be willing to bet that I had kids!!!  It gets that bad.  How do I do it, eh?

Ok, I'm thru.  Here's hoping that every one of us has a good day, and a good Sunday tomorrow.  And since Sundays are free days during Lent, at 12:01midnight tonight i will be eating some dark chocolate...ALSO high in iron!    God bless.

Hi everyone--

Among other things, I am finishing up another round of cellulitis. This time I told the doctor that the side effects were doing too much damage for me to be willing to take the Clindamyacin again. Besides, not only did I always have to burn through at least one refill, the stuff came back too quickly. So I'm finishing up one round of Keflex and for a change the stuff has been more healed than 2 or 3 refills. Side effects are minimal; no nausea, no extreme days when every swallow of liquid or bite of food was counterproductive to my hydration levels.

I got my Kindle, finally. So far I've been happily wallowing in free books. Finished The Secret Garden--haven't read that since I was around 13. It has driven me buggy because of the tendency to skip pages, but yesterday I figured out how to at least have it skip the pages I wanted to skip. I'm about finished with Jane Eyre--I was 9 the first time I read that. It reminded me of the driver for the bookmobile that came around the neighborhood and how thrilled I was when Mr.Barry let me take out adult books before I was 12. He told me he knew that I could handle them and that sort of recognition was really important. My sister had been reading for probably a year before my parents realized it. She was 3 when she asked "Mommy, what's a chateau?" When Mother asked where she'd heard that word, she pointed to what Mother was reading and told her "It's right there in your book!" So being a fluent reader was being an also-ran.

I would have thrown out the lamb stew as well--I learned that my husband cannot tolerate grease, and just the smell of old grease is enough to upset his stomach. He can't handle fresh garlic, fresh ginger root, or the acidity in tomato sauce. So I use powdered ginger, powdered garlic, and add just a dash of sugar in spaghetti sauce and chili so he can devour it without it returning the favor.

I spent some days in bed regardless of the Kindle. I did get 2 baskets of clean clothes put away and I baked a ham and 2 meat loaves this week. the first was the ham, which I made steamed carrots and sweet potatoes with. The meatloaf had nuked potatoes the first night and yesterday it included cinnamon apples that used up the tasteless and hard apples we had on hand. I made brownies for the first time this year...the 2 boxes sitting on the counter in the kitchen seemed like a hint. Hey, it only took me a month--part of it was realizing I'd gotten rid of my 13 x 9 pans without replacing them. Had a package he'd gotten me  well over a year ago that had 2 round cake pans, a 1 loaf pan,  6 serving muffin pan, and a cookie sheet. So there's still a cake pan of brownies down there.

So you made 2 grown men run? Good for you! It was probably a primeal fear of what would happen to them if a female that angry caught them! I remember when I had returned a faulty power plug on a super Nintendo we were getting for one of my son's friends. The spiked, pierced and tattooed guy at the counter brought up a unit that cost $10 more than the one we'd bought. He didn't quite get the words out of his mouth--I looked at the amount, at him...and we traded even. My son was very impressed--he said "I didn't know you could look like that! Please don't look like that at me.." 

I'm going to try moving more. I know that both of my Grandmas were born the same year--one took care of herself, and one didn't. The one who was just waiting to die was still in her 80's when she died, the one who took care of herself lived to be over 100. I have grandchildren in my future in the next few years or so and I'm not going to be waiting to die  now. One of the other problems with that other anitbiotic is how much it increased my depression. When it takes hydraulic pressure to get you out of bed and you don't care if you eat or not it isn't a good place to be. My husband has been saying he couldn't understand how I could just take all the pain without taking it out on people...I showed him a page from my journal, one that had large letters worth of cursing about it on it. Of course, I also come here to bitch, moan, and whine....

I'm sorry about your account getting hacked--that's so scary. I'm really releived that your money will be returned. I hope they catch the horrible people who did it. It's hard enough to hang on to what we have without someone else stealing it. I'm glad you had your sister there to hold on to.

I hope we all have a better,healthier, and safer month ahead. You are all in my prayers, whether I post or not.

Carrie - I'm glad you are home from the hospital.  What a terrifying experience!  Sending healing thoughts and lots of calming thoughts your way.

Caren - Okay, I've finally taken the hint from the health/weight gods. *laughing*  I've modified my Book of Crone to read, "crones eat what makes them happy,"  and am getting serious about eating healthy/portion appropriate foods.  In the long run, I am much happier when I way about 20 lbs less then I do now.  It is just easier to move around, I don't snore at night and my ankles don't swell. 

 I went to the Jullian Michaels site for info, mainly because she is my daughters' favorite health guru. Took the test thing, and it turns out that I have a high metabolism/burn rate.  Full of energy, normally.  Who would have guessed. *duh*  Anyways, the recommendation is that I eat protien with every meal and snack.  One of my favorite snacks (when I don't go for the ice cream or brownies) is steamed edame, which I can get from SAMS, or....I'm going to try growing some of my own.  Now is the time to start sowing, so I'll be heading to the organic food store for some soybeans today. 

Karbie -  Good to know that you finally got your kindle.  It does make doing research a lot less frustrating, I've found out.  So many of the books folks refer to are now part of the gutenburg project, free on-line.  Any book published before 1920, it is free.  Changes the whole concept of research libraries.  Your baking stuff sounds wonderful.  I've started making the ground meat dishes healthier by mixing in 1/2 meat with 1/2 ground/cooked soybeans.  Double up on the spices and it really is good stuff.  My husband hates the fake meat stuff the health food stores offer, but real soybeans, he is cool with that.

JB - Thanks for the reminder that I needed to do some wash, along with all the other stuff that is calling to be done.  I have to work tomorrow's election, and was planning on wearing jeans, but then I scraped up my knees washing the floors yesterday (long story, but it involved a house full of folks and a baby, and dogs running through garden, mulch piles, ponds, and a baby).  I hadn't washed the floors or the rug for at least a month (just doing the dyson thing and an occasional damp mop) and I couldn't stand to have a baby loose there.

Turns out the baby slept the whole time. Aren't the gods a hoot?

However, my knees will not take jeans, so I'm going to be wearing a pair of fashionable sweat pants, which is a major crone fantasy - sweat pants? fashionable?  But there you go.  I'm really getting into this crone thing.

I do have the family genealogy project still going.  It takes up half a shelf in my closet/studio.  I've been working on the portraits of the ancestors part, when I have the time to be inspired.  The cooking - not so much.  I hate to say it, but, beyond all the sweet breads and pastries, Northern European cooking isn't really that tasty.  I know, smashed turnips with sugar and cinnamon, but it just didn't hit the spot.  And I do like pickled herring, but a little can go a long way.  Salted cod?  Be still my doctor screaming about high blood pressure!  So, I think I stick to exotic coffees for the part of the dinner honoring my past crone ancestors.  That is one thing that is a major thing for the Finns.  A pot of coffee and offer of a cup of same to anyone dropping by for a visit. Change to iced coffee in summer for Oklahoma, and it works.

As for the rest, I'm sort of leaning towards Crones like take out.....Now, I know that won't work for you, because you really LIKE to cook, but it is such a bother for me, and I usually end up forgetting that something is simmering on the stove or baking in the oven, while I start on a painting or reading and it all burns, ruining pans, wasting food and just generally pissing me off....

And, if y'all haven't figured it out by now, I (with help from my daughters and anyone else who understands cronehood) am putting together a book titled "The Book of Crone."  Crones don't wash windows is in there. 

Meanwhile, this soon to be official crone has a really busy day staring me in th face.  Excuse me while I take another hit of coffee - and yes I did take my meds.  Tomorrow is that primary, so I need to call up my fellow workers, pick up the stuff (I don't vote, because I'm registered as an Independent and Oklahoma has closed primaries), set up the voting room, start seed trays for the eggplant and peppers, finish preparing garden beds for same, as well as plant some soybeans, which I still need to buy, finish my laundry, so I have pants to wear tomorrow, bike 20 miles, do a stadium crawl, work on my tarot book, cook up a batch of sausage/soybean meatballs, change the sheets on the bed, wash same, get a package ready and mailed at the post office....Yikes!  It's almost 10 A of M!!!!!!!!!!!

good monday morning

I have lost 10 pounds now

I am having vegeterian meals now.

today I am having pinto beans and Quinoa an ancient grain. very healthy.

well my computer was down on the weekend.

81 degrees today and sunny

May God bless you richly today

hugs,Caren

carrie so sorry you were sick.

The new meds are working so far. Yesterday I even did some cleaning before going to work.

Karbie I do not understand why you get cellulites so often. It should not be. Do you get wounds with it or just the redness, swelling an pain? If you have any drainage they shouild culture it.