I'm winning!

http://www.wordimperfect.blogspot.com

Make up definitions for words. I made up a definition for a word (I have no idea what it really means) and so far I'm winning on the poll to choose the best definition. If you want to vote for me, go to the wordimperfect BLOG and click on my name. Thanks.

Went to doctor today. Bronchitis is cleared up, no congestion at all. No ear infection either. I'm still tired, but she (the doc) told me to expect that for a while. Alan is getting better. At least he's not coughing as much as he was.

I noticed so much snow in the area where we live, but over in Ohio hardly any at all. Did we, just one mile south of the Ohio River, get that much more snow that our neighbors to the north, or do we just take better care of our snow that the Ohians do? Our snow isn't as dirty as the snow in Ohio either, which would indicate that we do, in fact, take better care of our snow.

Don't misunderstand. Our snow is dirty, just not AS dirty.

I went to Macy's today to get some birthday presents for two of my granddaughters. I got six beautiful outfits, including one fancy-dancy dress, for under $25 total. I saved $185. I couldn't believe it. I was mentally tallying up my purchases in my head, and I came out almost $30 cheaper than I had calculated because there was a 55 percent off tag on all the things I bought, and I wasn't aware of that extra 55 percent. If you live near a Macy's and need children's clothes, the sale goes through Sunday, or so I was told today.

My Teflon coated fry pan is getting really grungy. I wanted to get a new one (at Macy's) but they didn't have anything but the grey caliphon Teflon pans, and I wanted stainless steel to go with what I have now. Oh well. One of these days I'll find what I'm looking for.

I walked and walked today and my knees didn't hurt at all. I was very, very tired, though -- a hold over from the bronchitis.

So now I'm going back to reading all the BLOGs that I haven't read for a while. Word Imp (wordimperfect.blogspot.com) was one of them. Maybe I'll come up with a definition for the new word that is posted.

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Books

I have always loved to read. I would rather read than watch TV (unless it's Survivor or Amazing Race). And my husband gave me a Kindle for my birthday. I have to say, it's the best gift he has ever given me (that I can remember). Even better than the years he has bestowed expensive jewelry on me picked up in the Bahamas. And, believe me, I do love things that glitter. Just like I love Christmas trees (because they glitter).

So, I received my Kimble yesterday. And it is so USER FRIENDLY. I picked it up and without even reading any instructions, I was on my way.

I did finally read through the User's Manual (88 pages) on the Kindle and decided to print it out so that I could learn better about all the gidgets and gadgets that the "book" has. And, there are lots of them.

It even has a voice mode, so it can read to me!

I downloaded a lot of freebies and one KJV Bible -- which was 99 cents. I started reading one of the books this morning when I took my meds and while I waiting for them to kick in.

I'm still drained physically from the bronchitis, but better than I was. Alan seems to be improving as well.

We had a few "snow bursts" today. That's what the weather people are calling the 15-minute white-outs. No accumulation though. They say that tonight we will get more snow, but only an inch or so of accumulation. Good. I still love the snow, but I am now ready for Spring to come and warm my porch. Maybe I would feel better if I surrounded myself with Vitamin D.

I'm back to my Kindle in a few minutes. For my birthday which is really next week, I want Amazon gift cards so I can fill up my gadget with lots of new books.

For those who don't know, I usually read a book a day. yes, no kidding. Unless I am swamped with other things, I read that much. Lately I've been downloading printable piano music and found several of the old favorites I had when I was learning to play. Lots of Bach and a special Valse I used to play all the time when I was a teenager. And guess what? I can still play it! I was amazed that I picked it right up. If only my hands weren't so hurting. Maybe with some exercise, they'll feel better? I did discover that three more keys are dead, so I have to get the piano guy to come out and fix those keys.

It seems the old (73 years old) piano is feeling its age -- like its owner.

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User friendly

Kindle is very user friendly once you remember what "Home" stands for and what "menu" includes. I still haven't figured out how to turn it completely off. Right now it's resting.

Otherwise I love it. It's very lightweight -- no more arthritic let hand hold. I downloaded a boatload of free books today. All the Bibles were at least 99 cents and since I have a hard-copy Bible, I didn't bother.

I love the little keyboard and I can write notes. Also, it will read to me if I tell it to. Isn't that the best? I can go to sleep listening to a book, instead of falling asleep and finding my book on the floor in the morning.

So, I guess I've spent as much time as I'm going to spend get used to the Kindle. Now to read some of the new books.

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Kindle is here

My Kindle just arrived. I can't wait to get some books loaded on it and enjoy it. I'll be back in a year or so (just kidding) after I get the toy working.

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Back to life

Well, I feel much better today. Still worn out, but at least I'm not coughing much. If I don't talk, I don't cough. So, Alan will have to do with silence for today. He's coughing so much we had to postpone his MRI. Next week, maybe?

I think we're going to get more snow. Once more? It's been warm and the piles of snow are dwindling. There is still snow on the roof across the street, though. It must have been really deep to not melt in the past couple of warmish days.

After our dinner out on Friday night, I didn't get much done on either Saturday or Sunday. Now that Alan's sick, I'm nursing him (again). He's at the "I don't want to eat" stage, which I went through as well. Next will be the I'm starving stage, and I'll know he's on the mend.

I'm back at the sick in the morning stage of my life. It seems it's a February/March thing, at least it has been for the past three years. I lose my winter weight gain and still stay fat, never losing enough.

I think today I'm going to get as many of my contacts back into my computer as I can. I had printed out a list a couple of years ago, so I don't know how many of those contacts are still valid, but at least it's start at rebuilding what the computer "sweeper" removed.

My Kindle should arrive tomorrow. Then I'm going to download a bunch of free books to see how I like it before I spend more of Alan's money to get me some up-to-date books.

I hope I can find a couple of music books.

So, ttfn, folks. I'll be back with more "news" later this week.

Icicles

Alan and I haven't or hadn't been outdoors for two weeks. Our car was cleared off by our neighbor and then by the snow removal guys. So, we could have gone out if we had reason to.

Last night, after feeling almost dead for over a week I suggested to Alan that we go out to eat. I just didn't feel like cooking, which has been a daily occurrence since I got sick. Oh, I've been preparing something for lunch and dinner (we don't do breakfast) but by the time I finished with the preparation, I was wiped out and didn't want to eat, although my stomach has been gnawing away because I really have felt hungry. There just was no desire at all to eat anything. To help lighten the load so to speak, I even had my personal shopper pick up some TV dinners. Yuck!

Is it me, or have those TV dinner things deteriorated a lot in the past 10 years? I used to take a LeanCuisine in for lunch when I was working and they didn't taste too awful, but the one I had the other night -- well, let me just say, I ate a bite or two and pitched the rest.

So last night I asked Alan if we could go some place to eat. It was Friday night. NOT a good time to decide to eat out, because everyone in Campbell County, KY eats out on Friday night. Well, we went out anyway, and waited for 35 minutes for a table. That turned out okay because some of our neighbors were making the same mistake (eating out on Friday night) and so we had someone other than ourselves to talk to. That was nice because we hadn't seen anyone since the Christmas party at the clubhouse in early December.

Well, I hadn't coughed all day until we got back home then the hacking started in again, and I was certain I wasn't going to get to sleep, especially after being in bed and sleeping away most of the day. Well, I did sleep and had a squirrely dream that kept going and going and going and going, but I can't remember a thing about it. All I remember is the fibromyalgia made it difficult to find a comfortable position in the bed, and between twists and turns to try to find a place on my body that didn't hurt, I would fall off into la-la land again and continue the squirrely dream.

So, now it's Saturday morning and I'm not wide awake, but I'm awake enough and feeling okay enough to be out of bed for a while. I suppose I'll get some laundry done today and finish cleaning in the kitchen, a task I started yesterday and got as far as getting the broom out of the closet, then I felt the need to head back to bed.

This is the weirdest thing: no sore throat, no fever, just this very, very low rattle in my chest that makes me want to cough, but when I cough the rattle doesn't move up and out like it should and it hurts like -- well, it hurts something fierce. And I have no energy at all.

Why did I call this "Icicles". Well, our neighbor who is reading our Louis L'Amour books came over for another stash, and warned us not to use the front door in case the unusually long icicles came falling down upon us. We didn't -- we went out through the garage, which was equally as hazardous, but the ice was on the ground instead. I told Alan we should throw a blanket on the ground and walk on that. He was of a mind to be gallant and help me over the "river of ice" that was in front of the garage, instead of using a blanket. What a guy!

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Finally

Finally, a good snow. And, yes, we ARE snowed in! I'm loving it. An excuse to just sit and watch the flakes drift down and collect on the road, our car -- which we just got cleared off. I would take a picture of the library window, but since the snow has piled up to over half of the lower part of the window (about 1/4 of the way up a 5 foot window) it's kinda dark. And the wind is blowing the other direction. I don't get it.

We've had moderate to heavy snow all day. The little low pressure system is sitting right on top of us spinning and spinning and spewing and spewing, so we're getting a bit more than the weather people expected we would get. It's okay with me.

I needed a grandchild fix so I talked to Rosie for a little bit. She informed me that her family doesn't like the cold. I think her parents don't like the cold and are convincing the children that they don't like the cold either. At least I know it's not a genetic thing because I love the cold and so does my middle daughter, and probably my youngest daughter as well. At least they like to be out in the snow PLAYING. Adults playing? Yep!

I'm still fighting this bronchitis and the cough stuff is just below where it should be so I could break it's hold on me. Coughing does nothing but sound bad, nothing moves. Maybe I should use Alan's method for clearing up a cough -- straight whiskey. Nah! Can't do that. I can't get past the taste.

I made a wonderful dinner tonight of stuffed pork chops and farfalle Alfredo. I ate about 1/4 of what I dished up for myself. Alan cleared his plate. I felt so full after a few bites that I could go no further. I suppose it's because I have not been eating for almost a week now and my stomach has shrunk. Not sure that's why, but it seems reasonable. No weight loss, though.

I hear the sidewalk/driveway cleaners outside clearing off the mess. I don't know why they're working now, except that they expect the snow to stop soon. However, the weather channel just said we were in for another round after midnight of about another 3 inches. I guess I can drive and walk in 3 inches of snow. I DO have boots that I have worn only 4 times since I got them about 10 years ago.

I prefer to wear shoes and get my feet cold because the boots are so heavy it hurts my knees to walk in them, something I discovered after I purchased them.

Lands End sells a wonderful moch that is so light it's like wearing no shoe at all. I have two pairs -- one in red and one in brown. It's lined as well.

Tonight's Olympics is supposed to be ice skating -- pairs. Last night was so disappointing. They'd show one pair, then drift off to something else, then come back to another pair, and drift off again. It was like they just picked some of the couples for us to see. I want to see them all, not just the top four. Does anyone else agree with me on that? Was anyone else disappointed in NBC's coverage of the pairs skating? In fact, is anyone else not liking the coverage of the Olympics so far?

Well, enough for this day. I'm going to go back to the recliner and look out the window and watch the boys clear off the sidewalks which are getting covered just as soon as they clear. Laughable.

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What to do?

I like to watch HGTV (Home & Garden TV) and one of the programs I enjoy, or used to enjoy, is House Hunters. Lately though....

Last night for instance: These two 20-something people were looking for a house and they walked into a kitchen and the male of the duo commented that the kitchen looked like it was something from the 70s. I don't think the kid was even born until the 80s. But what really bugged me is that he was dissing my kitchen, which is definitely a 2002 kitchen. Granted it's getting close to the decade mark and therefore, I suppose is out of date. Perhaps it was out of date when I moved in, I don't know. Yes, I do know. Because when we were getting ready to move, I watched HGTV every spare minute so I'd be sure to get everything that was "fashionable" in bath and kitchen appliances and hardware.

I do know that back in the early 2000s, stainless steel appliances were not the norm. And those who had them didn't like them because of fingerprints showing too easily. I wanted a clean, white, bright kitchen, so I opted for all white appliances. Now it's getting close to when those appliances are going to break down -- I know this because they are GE appliances and the shelf life of any GE appliance is 5-10 years. We're pushing it now. So my question is: Do I want to go stainless steel, hoping that stainless will be in vogue for another 20 years, or do I stick with white, which as far as I'm concerned is always an option. I do not want black. I do not want avocado, I don't want gold, I don't want copper. Oh, I'm sorry, the last three are from the 70s, which apparently my kitchen is in right now.

Oh yeah, did I mentioned that I really, really like my kitchen the way it is. I don't want granite, but I wouldn't mind getting some other kind of surface other than Formica, although Formica isn't what it used to be, and frankly my Formica is still looking brand new. I've taken care of it, and haven't put anything hot on it, nor have I cut anything on it. I have also found that Pledge blue shines Formica very nicely.

Back to House Hunters: the kids walk out of the kitchen and start meandering around and come into this huge master bathroom, JUST LIKE MINE. I bought this condo because I LOVE the bathroom. The bathroom next to the master bedroom is as large as a bedroom, measuring 12x12. And these 20-something kids, once again said, that they would have to rip out this 70s bathroom and put in all new stuff. Excuse me! I think they've been watching too much HGTV. Once again, my bathroom is not from the 70s. I know this because my last house was built in the late 60s and we put a new bathroom in next to our bedroom in the early 90s. My new (2002) bathroom is entirely different from the 1968 bathroom and the 1992 bathroom; and here's the clincher: my garden tub, my double shower, and my faucets, are still available at Lowe's. That, I realize, doesn't make them fashion forward, and I wouldn't mind replacing the faucets, since they keep breaking, but I can't convince Alan that new ones would work any better than replacing the gaskets every 6 months. Don't they build faucets that last longer than 6 months? The one in my kitchen hasn't given me not a bit of trouble. And, by the way, that faucet is still available at Lowe's and is one of their best sellers.

This not having up-to-date stuff has been bothering me for a while because the younger the house hunters get the older my kitchen and bathroom get, and I'm thinking when they carry me out of here, my children are going to have to sell this place with all those 70s appliances and fixtures.

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Still snowing

Sort of. We've had "snow showers" off and on since last night. Our street is covered as is the driveway and the car is even more buried. Officially at the airport we have had 11 inches in this particular storm. I think I can believe that report. And with the wind, at times we do have white-out. I think all the schools in the area were closed today, but as of 1 a.m. they weren't. Since Cincinnati Public was closed, and Ft. Thomas was closed, and because it got so icy overnight, I'm just thinking all the schools were closed. I guess my grandchildren are having a ball today slipping and sliding.

We did get dug out, having our driveway cleared and around the car was cleared, but they didn't clean it off (not their job). Tomorrow, I'll have to get out, no matter how rotten I feel, and get the car cleared off and mail some cards.

I know what I'm about to write will sound like complaining, but it's not. It's just for information.

I had a terrible night. I hurt so bad even the tips of my fingers and toes couldn't stand to be touched by the blanket, which was definitely necessary because of the cold, cold weather. Add to that a deep, mucous-filled cough, which when I wasn't coughing caused me to wheeze so badly the noise was keeping me awake. I never knew that you could wheeze a melody. You can. Don't try it. It's annoying as well.

So, at noon Alan finally made some noise to waken me. He had been very, very quiet up to that point. I did get some sleep between 9 a.m. when I decided to get out of bed, and noon. I didn't get out of bed at 9 a.m. I tried, but I was so tired, I decided to try one more time to get some sleep. And I did.

So, I'm up, writing in my journal of record and my finger tips which are typing this report are feeling not to bad. I guess the fibromyalgia flare-up has flared down for now. I do wish I knew what causes these set backs. Is it something I ate? Did I forget to take a pill? Did I do too much work? Is it because I didn't drink enough water? I don't know. But to all the questions above, except for the eating one, I can say "no". And I didn't eat anything that I haven't eaten in the last week, so I don't think that's it.

Continue to pray for Bob (my best friend's husband). They don't know what is wrong with him, but he's had several tests. He is feeling terrible. I guess we all would if we had our abdominal cavity drained of fluid three times in two weeks.

You know when I don't sleep I think of all kinds of topics for my various BLOGs, but I don't write them down, then I frustrate myself trying to think of what I was thinking about throughout my wakeful time. I had several I thought of last night, but this afternoon they're gone from my mind. Oh well. If they come to me and I'm near a pen and paper (all the phones have paper and pen nearby) I'll make notes.

So, to all your 3 readers out there, I say, TTFN.

It will, yes it will

I was hoping you could see the snowflakes in this picture, but you can't. They were pretty big ones. This is just a picture to let you know that we do have snow.

That lump down there is our car. Next to it is a dogwood tree, obviously not ready to bloom yet.

It will snow. It has snowed. It started around 1:30 a.m. And now as I look out the window and it is barely snowing. When I looked out the window a minute ago it was snowing so hard I could barely see across the street. I like the second scenario much better than the first. A full day of snow will be nice. The plow just went by our home, but didn't get down to street level yet. You can't see the black of the street, but you can tell that it was plowed. I suppose they will have to treat what the plow missed.

Now, I know my DIL isn't happy about it. But my other two daughters are. I also know that the men are probably grumbling because they will have to remove the stuff from walkways and drives. Well, our annual snowstorm is here and I'm glad. I'm praying that it doesn't change over to freezing rain, as predicted. Ice on top of snow, or layered in between snow is not fun for anyone, including me.

Another topic: I woke up with a scratchy throat this morning and my voice is three registers lower than normal. I haven't been eating lemons as regularly as I had been. I guess I need to go suck on a lemon and get me some good old vitamin C (without popping a pill).

It's so quiet. I love the quiet of a snowy morning. I think I'll go brew a pot of German chocolate cake coffee. It's the best ever. It tastes of chocolate and coconut, sort of like a Mounds bar.

So, ttfn.

Will it or won't it

Another snow day tomorrow? Who knows.

The weather channel says we are under a winter storm warning. So far, no snow. But they say it's coming and we should be ready to dig ourselves out. We won't get anything like what they've had on the East coast, but another few inches on top of what is still on the ground from Saturday will insure a white cover for a few more days. And cold. It's supposed to dip down to 4 degrees on Friday night. That's cold!

So, if I'm really snowed in, maybe I'll get some of the things completed that require that I make a phone call. The list is getting longer every day.

I don't like to use the telephone. First, it cricks my neck, or if I don't crick my neck, my shoulders get sore from holding the phone. Also, I'm not good on the phone. If it's answered by a machine I'm tempted to hang up. I never know what to say into those things. So I just leave my name and number, no cutesy messages to go with.

Second -- there is no second. I just don't like to use the phone. That's first, second, and third.

So, tomorrow, if we get snowed in, I shall make those phone calls I've been putting off making.

One is to my doctor. I need to get in for my 6 month check-up and blood draw and get my prescriptions renewed.

Another is to our travel agent to set up a place for Alan and me to visit before we go back East.

Another is to our travel agent to deposit our time share weeks, and perhaps withdraw one from last year that we haven't used yet.

Another is to my cousin in Florida to see how she is doing and try to cheer her up a little. Undoubtedly, I'll be the one cheered because she is funny and she always makes me laugh.

Another is to Alan's doctor to find out why his cancer medicine is still on hold. We ordered it a month ago, and we still haven't gotten the prescription renewed. Why?

I have to call the MRI place to find out how to get there. Alan has his full-body MRI on Feb. 22. Poor thing. At least it's an open MRI this time.

I have to call my DIL about some personal matters.

I need to call my best friend to find out how her vacation went, and how the drive home was. Did she have to go through much bad weather on the trip back? Etc.

I guess that's it for now. I think I'll call my sister if we get snow, just to let her know that we get snow, too.

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Snow

We didn't get as much snow as was predicted. I think we probably got about 3 inches, max. But it did look pretty when I got up this morning around 8 a.m. You can see how the wind has pushed the snow into the screen on the northeast side of the sun porch.

The snow is blowing which makes it look worse than it is. The driveway/walkway shovelers have arrived which means the storm is almost over.

When I got up this morning the streets in our community had not yet been cleared, at all. I noticed some tracks on the street, weaving tracks, indicating that we did, in fact, get some ice. Now that the street out front has been cleared, I can see a layer of ice under the snow.

This is about what it looks like now. It's still snowing pretty hard, but the flakes are small, not big like yesterday. And the wind is really blowing out there, but not at blizzard strength. The trees are so pretty because of the ice under the snow. The ice has grabbed onto the snow and isn't letting go.

This is the view at 8 a.m. before they cleared the streets. It's still snowing and blowing and I'm loving it.

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I didn't mean to include this picture of Rachel in her valentine's dress -- I think the father/daughter dance is next weekend. She has gold shoes to go with the dress and a new hair cut. She'll look beautiful.

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Rain!

Rain, rain go away, snow, snow, come my way.

Why can't they ever get a weather forecast correct. All we're getting is rain. Rain! It was supposed to snow. We were supposed to get a rain/snow mix. The snow is not in the mix, sorry to say, so all we're getting is rain, which will turn to freezing rain and ice and that is not good. Snow is good.

Yes, I'm a bit disappointed. Friday is the best day for it to snow because Saturday is a stay-at-home day for most people anyway, and then streets are clear enough so that church isn't cancelled. But, it's not to be.

Oh, I know, they are still saying we'll get snow overnight, but I'm not believing it. Not at all.

Well, I got up at 4 a.m. to watch the Kathryn Hepburn version of Little Women. I still prefer the June Allison version. I think that is the best. However, I'm getting so I can almost iterate the dialog word-for-word. That would indicate that I've seen that movie too many times, I think.

Alan has become a old, black-and-white movie fan. I don't mean he's old (which he is), but that he likes the old movies. He watches them a lot. The other night we watched Amelia (not an old movie), which I thought was a chick movie. It had no four-letter words in it, and no bare skin. She had an affair while married, but reconciled with her husband and dropped the man with whom she was having the affair a couple of years before she disappeared. This was mentioned but not dwelt upon. I think Richard Gere did a fantastic job as her husband, George Putnam. If I could I'd vote for him for an Oscar.

I love my son. He came over yesterday. I fed him steak for supper (his favorite), and he linked up my computer to the laser printer, the color (picture) printer, and the scanner. I know I could have done it myself, but he is so much faster at doing that sort of thing than I am. We had a good time together while we worked on another project. We're all still praying that he finds a job soon.

He told Alan and me that he now realizes that God had been holding him up (supporting him) when he had a job, and now that he doesn't have a job, God is holding him higher (supporting him in more ways). He put it much better than I'm putting it, but you get the picture.

It's just after noon and it's getting darker. Does that mean it's going to snow? I certainly hope so.

UPDATE: Around 3:30 this afternoon it started to snow. It stopped at 10 p.m. We were supposed to get snow overnight. But radar seems to be showing the storm moving just north of the Ohio River, and we're just south, so I'm guessing our "big snow event" "winter storm warning" is over. Bummer. But, we did get one inch of snow, just enough to cover the grass.

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I'm hoping

We may a little too far south, but it looks like we might have a snowy weekend starting tomorrow night into Friday morning. Right now it's cold enough, but it was pretty warm out there yesterday. Tomorrow may warm up too much so that we just get rain and ice.

I think I need to call in the prayer group -- grandchildren and me -- on this one.

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I've been busy

I know all you BLOG readers have been anxiously awaiting the next episode in the life of Alan and Judi. I've been busy.

Last night I had a great scrap meet at the house. We had such a good time. I was running between the scrapers and my supply closet selling off many of the items I have collected from my time as a Creative Memories representative. I think I mentioned that I was "downsized" in December. It was my fault, I suppose. I didn't meet the deadline for an order (which I wasn't aware was due) and they said they sent me an e-mail to remind me. I still don't have that e-mail in my in-box. But that reminder would have reached me when Alan and I were on our cruise to nowhere, and I didn't take a computer with me on that trip. After all we were only gone 10 days.


When we got back, I had a order ready, but by the time I dumped it into the computer I received a message back when I tried to send the order that I had been terminated and if I wanted to get back in I could do that by placing a $500 order and add $50 to reinstate me. I don't think so. I'm through. Alan's happy. I'm still wanting to get new products, but don't want to pay full price.

Anyway, I'm selling off what I have -- I over ordered on items that I knew were being discontinued. And last night we had fun scraping and the ladies buying at huge discounts.

I've also been working on another project which is private and personal, but as a reminder to me I'm writing it down. Remember? This is supposed to be my daily "journal" for all the world to read if they want. After all, if I were writing it down in a book, when I die someone would read it. So, I let them read it now instead.

I'm still inputting names and addresses into my Contacts file. Why does that take so much time? And why do I hate doing it so much?

I found out that my cousin Micki isn't doing well. She's in a nursing home in St. Augustine. There is no phone in her room. And I'm wondering if I should go down to Florida after all for a week or so just to see her and tell her in person that she is loved. We have a couple of weeks in our time-share bank that I could use if I can get the transfers. Alan is thinking about it. I'm not really sure I want to drive down there, but I really want to see Mick one more time.

Today is my first grandchild's 16th birthday!!!! Sixteen years ago by this time of the day he had been born. His name is Shandon Matthew Stamper. That's him in the picture. It was taken four months ago.

We used to call him little Shandon, because his daddy is big Shandon. Now little Shandon is almost six feet tall, so we call him Shandon 2.0. Cute? He's a handsome lad. I love him dearly. He has a wonderful disposition. He is caring to me and his pop-pop. And he's wonderful with the little brother and sister. He'll make a great daddy. Of course, he has a good example to learn from.

I am often awed by the love poured upon my grandchildren by their fathers. I have always loved to see fathers and sons doing things together. I recall a Congressman from Ohio who, every time I saw him in Cincinnati or at some political function (back in the days when I was in politics, sort of) he was carrying his two-year-old, then three-year-old, then four-year-old son. I loved seeing that. And I love watching fathers play with their children in parks.

I guess I haven't written so much about my busy-ness but I'm ready to be busy again today. Today I get the house cleaned. Of course, I did a bit of cleaning before the ladies came yesterday, so there's not so much regular cleaning to do. I have a couple of special projects, though. And today is shopping day. I don't go, but I send my cleaning lady to Krogers with a list. She's very good at getting me the brands I like and if I forget something she calls to ask if I need that item this shopping cycle. I wish I could do my own shopping but the legs won't stand for it (pun intended).

So, readers, I must say ttfn.