The last word

You know the type, you start to leave after a conversation and the person you were talking to has to say something evocative or even provocative to drag you back into it, and if you fall for it you feel the need to give them that final word. But oh no that just sets them off to continue. And mind you this is just a general discussion not an argument or disagreement.

What I want to know is that considered a character flaw?
Does anyone know for sure?

Going the TV route, Columbo used to say that unforgettable line, oh, and just one more thing… when he would appear to be leaving the crime scene and had completed his interview of the witness/ possible perpetrator, he would act like the idea just came to him. Who didn’t enjoy that last minute after thought question of his? But that wasn’t reality and we all know that he was a sly individual who always got his man or woman who committed whatever crime he was going to solve by the end of the hour or on occasion two hours of programming.

How many times have we seen the news magazine interviewers do the same thing? Hasn’t Barbara Walters done it even with the celebrities she has had on her specials, but with something like that we do know that they are very carefully edited and more than likely not dissimilar to the drama programs; although, it does add to a bit of intrigue with the politicos also on those specials who are not quite as predictable as most movie or TV stars.

Journalism is based in truth and honesty of getting all the information you must by asking the questions with, who, what, why, where and when or the five W’s as you are taught in class. Consequently, anyone who has ever taken a journalism course could be considered nosey, curious or just a plain pain in the ass. It has to be born in your nature to be interested enough to ask, but not all of us know when to stop asking and when we may have gone over the line with our constant unrestrained questioning with the need to delve further and know more. Perhaps that is a flaw of personality, or just perhaps it is in the makeup of ones inner being? I have been accused of nosiness and always having to get that last word in no matter what…I guess I am flawed, but aren’t we all?

And so to all of you last word-ers (another made up one from me!) Take it from this old nosey-body annoying one…don’t stop being interested in everything and everyone around you, and keep inquiring, as that TV show used to say…inquiring minds need to know or was want, whatever, just ask and see what comes of it.

On that note of probable troublemaking I will bid you all a good night and to all count those blessings and I will too!


Oh, just one more thing… Kidding, gotcha!

Movie for the older dysfunctional crowd

Today I watched, all by myself, a movie my husband had no interest in, (he read a book, and it was lethally hot outside today) it was, Last Chance Harvey, a rental. The cast was incredible Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson and to my keen non professional critic eye the flick was done quite well, although I had heard it had not done too good in the theaters. Hoffman plays the long divorced fifth wheel father of the bride; his X is remarried to dreamy James Brolin for many years, Dustin is Harvey Shine, going to see his little girl get married in London. Thompson plays Kate Walker, who he barely meets at the airport when he doesn’t stop to answer her questions from her survey when deboarding his in-coming plane from New York. The story evolves into a surprisingly charming romantic turnabout of not letting those high-quality last chances really pass you by. As you can tell I did like it, and you probably would too if you are at all interested in fine acting and real dialogue for grownups without any car chases or special effects.

Other than that I didn’t do all that much today. I had, had a bad night probably caused by my overly concerned obsessive thinking the worst about my glucose number that I took two hours after dinner last night, it was 167, my highest since I have been home from the hospital. I thought I ate healthy, homemade corn-chowder soup, fat free cucumber salad (fat free sour cream, canola oil, artificial sweetener and apple-cider vinegar) with multigrain homemade (I can’t believe its not butter lite, garlic powder, sprinkle of parmesan and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil) garlic bread. But there it was a bad higher reading and I was wondering why? So I looked over everything literature wise I got from the medical pros, and there was not one thing that told me what to do about it, except either, eat more leafy green vegetables or take insulin, which I am not on since I do not officially have any diabetes, thank goodness! All I had was the leafy greens, and so I ate. This morning, in spite of or because of all my unnecessary worries (actually stress can cause it to go up so I’ve read.) I took it again and it was down to 101 for a full night of fasting, and that aint bad! I am done now, until next week taking it; I was told only twice a week and I did that already, and so I am done! Not even any curiosity will cause me to deter from that medical prescription, so there.

Wow! I almost forgot to wish you all a good night and to all count those blessings and I will too!

Would you believe...Boom! A GREAT WHITE off of my roof!

Yep, that is how my morning started while at this technological marvel called the computer a Great White Heron jumped down from our roof top in front of our sunroom window directly across from me, what a true wake up call, good morning… Instinctively, I thought he was after our treasure of gold…fish, that is, in our pond, and so I went to go out the door next to me to chase him (that’s a joke in itself, I can barely move and chasing him/her was just a wild, in your dreams type of expression), and realized it was locked! (That was a good thing for me, cause then what would I have done?) Apparently, the jiggling of the handle was enough to frighten him/her, and he/she flew away hastily. Then once calmed again I looked slowly towards the pond to reassure myself that he had gone before doing any true harm, and noticed our plastic tacky pink Flamingos still doing their sentry duty, and I felt stupid.
Why had we placed them there if not to suffice for that very job of protection; I was not needed at all or if I were I wasn’t about to find out today, that beautiful creature reacted more scared than I was. He/she more than likely will not be back for quite some time now.

As anyone who has been reading this Blog for any amount of time must realize today is Saturday my laundry and PBS, how-to shows day. I guess it all started when I was still working; doing the laundry not the how–to shows per se on my Saturdays off. The two combined became a unit except for planned activities or excitement and interest about the time I stopped driving about a year and a half ago. Now I am a burden in some ways, not unlike a child I must ask to go here or there, unless scheduled on our calendar of events. It’s just as well I am not driving or going outside that much according to my ACE inhibiter it too causes dizziness, not unlike my Ataxia, and my blood pressure medicine says do not stay out in the sun too long, but doesn’t say why, not to mention that my cholesterol medicine is the one that says NO GRAPEFRUIT or its juice!(And never mentions why either, just don’t!) Oh, I forgot, not a problem that tree is long gone; there’s a birdbath there now, a number one son gift, very pretty!

On that curious note, I will bid you all a good night and to all count those blessings and I will too!

Did you all convert comfortably today...

Today was the big day for all you analoguers (another made up word by me) to convert to digital!
A landmark in technology; bah, humbug.
I am still wondering about the better picture thing, since we have had this new equipment, one of the firsties (another made up by me word) in February!
As for freeing up the airways for emergency agencies, we will see, but so far if the no signal thing that I am getting when we are already on it is an example of how that works…I’m not sure what that glitch is about, but I thought the emergency radios, phones and the like were using what we freed up? But I’m not that smart.

The current United States population, as of last year, early 2008, was 303,500,000, and supposedly now there is only 1 million of you that are getting snow today on that glass fronted box in your living-room, den, or kitchen or wherever it is now not doing too much entertaining. Where have you been, under a rock? They gave out coupons, dropped the price to half, and you still didn’t listen? And you without cable or satellite shame on you.

Sadly, they forgot about the people really in dire straights having to make that horrible decision whether to buy prescription drugs or food, pay the bills or loose the roof over their head and such. There has to be someway to help the fall through the cracks people, I’ve been there, I can relate, sort of, I am there in a small way…with health coverage that is.

This morning we went to my medical appointment, and I brought with me the information I was told to collect: my daily morning fasting glucose numbers, and the average for the ten days taken was 114.1. Apparently, it was enough to warrant a further non invasive test that is new to me but apparently not my neighbor from Canada, she had mentioned that she had to watch hers when she was given her number of 6.7, but she brought that down to below 6, it confused me, and so unlike me I did not ask for an explanation.

You see, I was only familiar with the glucose tolerance tests of days of yore. This one is meteorologically eons away from that in quickness and some form of true accuracy it’s called the A1C Test, a stick in the finger blood test, and believe it or not it measures your average blood glucose levels over the past 2-3 months! Wow! An A1C level below 6.5 or lower is good, but mine was 7.1.

Now, wow, this doesn’t mean that I am a diabetic with type1, you see it also encompassed that little weekend splurge I took back in April at the hospital while under the influence of Solu- Medrol IV 1000MG for three whole days causing a diabetic reaction and me needing low level injections of insulin. Well, now I am back to square one, and I will be taking my glucose levels for the next three months, but only twice a week, once fasting, the first thing in the morning, and once two hours after my biggest meal of the day. But it does mean that I am more than likely pre-type 2 diabetic or even more than a possibility on that road to type 2 if I don’t follow what I was told with low carbs etc., apples are carbs? Who would of thunk it? Whew, I really wasn’t liking those stickings that much, and I hope this proves it won’t have to become a natural occurrence in my jazzy lifestyle; it would sure put a glitch into that!

On that more than you want to know ending to my info I will bid you all a good night and to all count those blessings and I will too!

We should all weigh in on our controversial opinions

I don't know about you but when a fourteen year old male teenager steals a stuffed dog animal head mascot making the punishment fit the crime’s suitability of him wearing that costume in 90 degree+ weather does seem to me like an appropriate action, what do you think?

You know that when teens misbehave these days that the above mentioned incident is mild compared to most teen crime on today’s news.

Gosh, oh gee, oh mighty darn; why can’t life be that simple anymore?

Even when our thirty something sons were growing up the times weren’t as difficult as it appears today, with drive bys; or if they were I don’t remember that being the case.

In my day, a drive-by was to look at a boy we had a crush-on’s place of residence to see if he might be home, and to the boys I think it was similar meaning at the time. Although, I do remember my male cousins cruising, not exactly driving by, but looking for girls while driving in their cars, since if I was with them they would ask me nicely to duck down so the females they were interested in wouldn’t think I was with them, huh? Weirder still I would do what I was told, but to my good I was a mere fifteen or so at that time, and besides they always took me for pizza and bowling after!

Just in: I just got another one of those fake winning lottery e-mails, be careful and wary, and contact your local fraud agencies!

The news does get to all of us sometimes, but with that said for some reason I have not stopped watching it, and it is a good thing too. How else would I know that today we internationally are in a Pandemic! But we are being told not to panic since this Swine Flu Pandemic, or just plain Pandemic Flu, which is what they are now calling it; no more H1N1, well now I am back in the loop I guess, any-who they are saying that it is NOT as deadly as the previous Bird Flu or the Pandemic of 1918, whew…what do they mean? I suppose we should all be checking with the CDC, but they don’t have what we need to be informed I just checked (maybe I looked too soon, keep checking, http://cdc.gov/) but this site does: http://www.pandemicflu.gov/ or here: http://www.who.int/csr/disease/avian_influenza/phase/en/index.htm, more important information that you can use.
But as they (whoever THEY are) say…. Don’t PANIC!

Do most of us not think the news is real these days? I mean, have we become so thick skinned that when we hear what’s going on with wars, in the big cities, do we think it just won’t happen here, where we live? They say that apathy is rampant once again. I think it may just be numbness from an overabundance of true horrors occurring worldwide and being bombarded nightly with too much in your face authenticity and as defense mechanisms we all put up walls or filters to self protect ourselves from these harsh realities.

Some more to think about… I will wish you all a good night and to all count those blessings and I will too!

Scams, feeling icky and painful movements

I am listening to the news about how the elderly are being taken by something for nothing schemes under the auspicious of being sweepstakes winners if they just send in the processing fees. Oh, come on our older and wiser generation, you should all know better most of you have been through hell and back during your lifetimes!
Why now forget that some are not so honest. Many of the ones in the news segment lost thousands of dollars for the so-called processing fees, and one lost as much as 70K. I suppose this horrible situation is a wake up call for all those seniors who forgot that some people are just not nice!
On a personal note we have been receiving this hogwash in e-mails as well, and up until recently I was forwarding them to our states attorney general’s office on fraud, which is what everyone should do, when they receive something that seems too good to be true and they ask you for money to process!

My day has been nasty since my stomach has been misbehaving and causing me grief. How can I put this nicely, whatever goes in has been coming out through different orifices, got that?

The pain situation has been unyielding and hard to deal with to get any relief too. I did try the usual for me extra strength Tylenol and moist heat, since I have so many other meds in my ingestion schedule. But not much compensation was allotted to me, and since the pain is continuing as I write this I will be cutting my Blog short tonight.

Sadly, last night we had a glitch with the computer and that when we had tried to fix it, it set our hits on this site back to zero when it was nearly up to 3500, what a disappointment having to start all over again. I sure wish I knew of a way to fix it?

Horrors at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C. today with a security guard being killed by an eighty-eight year old white supremacist that was shot and is in critical condition; how could someone at that age be so full of hatred? How could anyone hate so much? And why, would be a better question…crazy I suspect! But if he pleads crazy he will go into a hospital instead of a prison… not fair, he should get his due, a death sentence appropriately, nah too easy for him.

On that horrible realization that our civilized world still has far to go...something to think about... and I will wish you all a good night and to all count those blessings and I will too!

PS seventy-two year old great grannies should listen to the law as everyone else should too! That is when they are trying to prevent you from getting hit by traffic!

The beginnings of the crops are already sprouting!

How many days has it actually been? We are now in the reality of crops sticking their tiny little heads from beneath the earth; at least the radishes and mixed lettuces are!
We are now farmers in the truest sense of all that entails, which is a huge responsibility!
Yes, we will be feeding ourselves and perhaps with our overabundances of veggies we may even feed a small portion of the masses, friends, relatives and neighbors; who knows. The possibilities are endless! At least I believe that it would be so nice to have enough to have it all spill over to be able to do that.

Any-who, we are not as generous as we once were. Perhaps over the years we have become jaded, due to people being people and not always doing what you expect them to do.

Years ago, about thirty odd, we offered our home to a homeless person, not a vagrant, a person my husband worked with and he was homeless due to a spousal fight, and he robbed us. I even offered my car to a neighbor that used it relentlessly and therefore I wasn’t able to when I needed it; I found myself negotiating my own use of my own car.

Too trusting we were, but we did stop for awhile but foolishly we forgot about those incidences and again did silly things in the name of generosity and trust in others good nature, but unfortunately again we were taken, and so even though we are not that old and have been volunteers for many organizations in a nearly over forty year period we are cautious who we allow to come into our sanctity and open bigheartedness. As my Dad always said I would rather believe in the goodness of mankind than to think that people are bad, and he would say that 99% were good. And so I too would like very much to think that way.

This veggie thing may turn into not much, but if it does I would like to think that sharing would be a large part of our agenda, better that than to let fresh food go bad. We used to share our fruit from our trees with the seniors that I taught Aquacize to, and my husband brought quite a bit to work, and even one of his co-workers had cattle that took the overripe fruits, but harvesting them became quite difficult as we got physically unable to. Due to the hurricane we don’t have nearly as much as we once had, we lost our orange tree and the grapefruit tree didn’t do too well, the lemon finally came back but our Key-lime is still not there. We replaced our orange with a tangelo, and we also put in a Crape Myrtle and Verbena, but they are not fruit trees, purposely, fruit trees are too much work. I have a new respect for migrant workers from all the harvesting we initially did when we had all those fruited ones.

Now on that enlightening note I will wish you all a good night and to all count those blessings and I will too!