a special thanks

ok, so a heart-felt thanks to Dixon Design for my new avatar, designed especially for my birthday. i think it is lovely.....

the silver- make that gold- lining....

ok, so i went to the dentist this morning to have a loose front filling replaced.....and when the dentist found that he could wiggle a back tooth with a gold crown i was a bit surprised.....this was a tooth that had given me no trouble whatsoever.....and to be loose.....yikes....my first thought was that i could have scurvy and my teeth were starting to fall out.....the xray confirmed that the tooth had to go.....and it was only after it was extracted that it was clear that the root had cracked and the tooth had died.....the anethesia is wearing off and i am fixing to take a little something for the pain.....i have to look on the bright side in this situation......the tooth lasted 30 years with that crown, and the gold in that crown is worth a whole lot more now than it was then......i lost the crown directly below this tooth a few years back....and i suppose i could look for the baggie that holds that bit of dental gold.....eventually i will have enough gold to make something nice, but i would rather have the teeth with intact crowns than the jewelry from the gold.....

the last of the mohicans

ok, so sometime around 3:00 am i woke up and could not get back to sleep because of sinus congestion....and for some unexplainable reason i could not get the film version of the last of the mohicans out of my head......i could not quite recall the story line, and could not recall why the younger sister throws herself off of a cliff.....and so today i looked it up on wikipedia......the next tiem this movie keeps me awake i will have a better shot at recalling the particulars...

hedging my (travel) bets....

ok, so after weeks of serious deliberation i have finally purchased a plane ticket......lex to cincinnati, cincinnati to paris, paris to vienna.......the return is zurich to atlanta, and atlanta to lex.....my theory being that terrorists have no reason to fly into CDG, and certainly no reason to fly to the USA out of Zurich where the bankers keep their terrorist dollars safe and sound....in between there will be an easter dinner with our austrian kin, a train trip, and a side trip to luzern......i btw...i have walked 60 minutes a day since december 12 to make sure i am up for the see-it-all tourist challenge....

from Mudflats....

ok, so i wish I had this refrigerator magnet....

103 degrees.....

ok, so when i got to my office at 9:00 am this morning...after our one-hour snow delay.....our ustairs offices were 103 degrees.....so much for the guy who spent all day friday 'fixing' our heating and cooling system by installing new thermostats......

rice milk

ok, so...today is valentine's day.....whereupon I remembered to buy my valentine a card weeks ago, but forgot to buy milk for his cereal at the grocery yesterday...thankfully there was a container of rice milk in the basement refrigerator bought wad the best intentions for a vegetarian child, but never used.......sometimes these things work out....i take the non-vegetarian son back to the airport this afternoon.....and this week plan to actually buy my ticket to visit him in austria.....the highlight of this adventure will be easter sunday with our austrian/german relatives.....descendants of my grandmother's 1st cousin.....the ticket i plan to buy involves an open-jaw....into vienna and out of zurich....with a train ride and a side trip to lucerne.....it is not venice but is a german-speaking country not yet visited by my german-speaking child....and that is good enough reason for this doting parent.....ah well..must figure out what to eat for breakfast that does not involve rice milk....

back to four at dinner.....

ok, so our eldest child has returned for a brief visit...he is interviewing for a TFA spot....sadly, TFA has no program spots in Ky....at least my boy will be living in this side of the atlantic.......he arrived at the airport in lexington wearing his xmas gift from our astrian family- a full lederhosen costome, complete with hat, knee socks and shoes......sadly, i had arrnaged for one of his Uk friends to pick him up.....his flight was delayed til near midnight.....so i missed the grand entrance.....he did wear it for lunch with grandma yesterday.......he really does look quite european in the get-up.....glad to have him home.....looking forward to visiting, though i cnanot decide on my itinerary and have not yet bought a ticket....

finding fault....

ok, so yesterday someone in my sundayschool class was lamenting the possibility that arts might be shaved from schooldays to make way for more physical activity, and this heinous change would be obama's fault......fault?......the fault is not with obama as much as it is with parents who find it easier to sit their children in front of televisions and computers and video games and let them eat highfat packaged snack foods rather than fix them meals that include vegetables and fruits and whole grains and play with them outside.....we are raising a generation of diabetic hypertensive heart patients.....who are projected to live shorter lives than their parents for the first time in recorded history.....and while this reality is tragic, we cannot blame a president who clearly exercises most days a week and encourages his wife and children to do the same.....and one who makes a point of eating fresh fruits and vegetables so his children will emulate him and do likewise......no, we cannot fault the president for this....