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....

snow on table

ok, so.....a lovely overnight snowstorm.....a timely 48 hours of off-time.....an hour walk already taken.....life is good....

loading up the car....

ok, so......the long-awaited return to school begins shortly....after we stuff a semester's worth of stuff into a small car......

poetry panties....

ok, so at some point in my scattered dream sequence i was getting a massage, and a pair of sales clerks were showing me a line of panties that had lines of poetry covering the surface, handwrtitten with a quill, or so it seemed...the underwear were wrapped in cellophane, so i did not get a clear look at exactly what sort of poems were available.....i make otu that several sizes and colors were available......an amusing notion to lighten my monday morning doldrums.....

a carrot in front of my cart....

ok, so.....i am going to vienna over spring break......by myself.....to spend time with my eldest child and to meet our extended austrian family.....and now that this decision to travel has been made.....i am amusing myself with numerous scenarios...such as flying into vienna then taking a night train to venice midweek and flying home from there......i have also priced similar variations with prague and berlin.....i would feel much more comfortable with the german=speaking options if my child were to travel with me.......i suppose i could navigate venice on my own with my trusty rick steves guidebook......i am also toying with the possibility of traveling with my youngest to london over fall break.....with a chunnel trip to paris before heading home.......she and i have been to paris, but one can never spend too much time in paris.....to pay for this second trip in a single year i am further toying with the notion of teaching a 6-week summer version of my eku health class......sadly, this would mean teaching 3 nights a week for 6 weeks.....yikes.......i am thinking of 5:30-7:30 mtw......it would still be light out when i got home so i could conceivably keep up with my gardening chores.......then again, by late june i would have already finished the mulching and would have planted all of the annuals....so i could just sit amongst my flowers when i got home and relax.......but i digress from my spring break plans.....figuring out travel schemes is one of life's greater pleasures....

the day-off shopping circuit

ok, so......we dropped off 3 boxes of cast-offs at a nearby goodwill, then sifted through the cast-offs of others at a few area locations before arriving at orchid thai cafe in lexington for a lovely lunch of crispy spring roll and shrimp fried rice......ahhhh.....and then on to j-beth and wild foods.......where i spent far too much money on delights like yellow beets and pine nuts, and punjab simmering sauces amongst my selections......and though i had intended to stop at a few more goodwills and marshalls before heading back to town, i was suddenly exhausted and wishing i could take a nap......but after i got home i could not manage to fall asleep in the sunshine of my upstairs loveseat reading a magazine in a prone position....and i ambled back downstairs to make spinach and onion-stuffed wontons to go with the baked tofu and vegetable sushi rolls and vegetable dumplings.....also from whole oats....wish we had a trader joes instead of this wildoats/whole foods combo.....maybe one fine day...

the new steak house.....

ok, so....the running community (30 folks) decided to have its annual gathering at the new steak house.....which proved disasterous on so many levels......beginning with the band.....the band was decent enough, but it is hard to chat and catch up with folks over the sound of a harmonizing trio.....and then there was the service...or lack therte-of.....we arrived at 6:30....and by 8:50 pm the folks in my section had been served only drinks and salads......2 couples actually got up and left rather than continue to wait on food.......the waitress appeared unseasoned and only a few steps up from 'deer in the headlights'......the manager tried to comp our food....which is fine and dandy for everybody else, but it would have been unethical for my meal to be comped in a county where i regulate certain aspects of the business.....so i pulled out a twenty to cover my beer and my meal.....and tip.....the poor waitress needed something to show for her time....

the painted bathroom....

ok, so.....after 25 years of wallpaper in the upstairs bathroom we have finally finished and primed the wallboard and painted in a lovely honeydew melon shade......every time we took off old wallpaper we surveyed the walls and decided it was easier to paper over the imperfections than to fix them.....ah well.....so now that i have washed the 25 year old curtains i find that they have disintegrated in spots along the rod end.....and now it is time to make new curtains......thankfully there is fabric onhand that matches the walls enough to use without having to go out and buy more.....and at least one un-hung piece of art complements the new scheme......the only question now is whether to make the curtains using the old as a pattern, or do something new.....ah, to have so many choices.....

time trap versus blessed diversion

ok, so.....i spend far too much time trying to beat the bejeweled blitz scores of those with far quicker reflexes than me.....to the point that i hear the sound effects in my non-facebook moments......and while the time spent playing games could be far better spent elsewhere....it does serve to keep my mind off of the impending doom......

aging in place.....

ok, so on the way to work yesterday i heard a piece on npr about the 50th anniversary of sun city in arizona....a planned senior retirement community......and one of the issues covered in this piece was the need for such communities to expand from the original premise of these locations....such as a loosening of the minimum age restrictions.....seems more folks desire to 'age-in-place' in their current homes rather than to move to such communities because of these restrictions......i especially liek the notion of aging-in-place.....given that i intend to stay put in my own home until the bitter end....i really like where i live, and i like most of my home's features.....yeah, if i won the lottery i would install an AGA stove, and a greenhouse and a lap-pool......but other than these embellishments i think my house suits me just fine.....

happy new year...a day late

ok,so.....pictured is the group that ventured out from our house on nyday morning to walk/run...not pictured is our youngest child, who opted to be contrary by RIDING her BIKE in sub-20 degree weather.......i walked a single mile partly because i was juggling brunch items in the oven, but mostly because the windchill was far below my idea of a good time......but i digress from brunch....i got up at 6:30 am to make pineapple kuchen, a yeast-dough breakfast patry that my grandmother taught me to make......and so i slept in this morning til 8 to make up for not sleeping in yesterday......still glowing over OUS's Rose Bowl win......amen to small mercies.....

coffee crisis

ok, so.....i shop in the same stores, and reach for the same products unless there is a compelling reason to choose otherwise.....minimal decision anxiety....on to the next task....until this morning, when i reached for my usual ground coffee (8'o'clock hazelnut)...a bargain with or without the shoppers card discount.....but my usual brand was not there.....its shelf tag was also gone.....seems it made way for additional varieties of starbucks or store brand.....i have been using this coffee for as long as i can remember.....at least 10 years and likely more.....and so i was forced to select a different brand of hazelnut coffee.....and i studied and i contemplated and while i was deep in thought a fellow holding a huge slab of raw ribs (shrink-wrapped, of course) asked me if i knew where he could find sauerkraut....... that i did know....and i suggested the bush's bavarian with caraway seeds......but back to the coffee.....i ended up going random with the non-starbucks flavors......just in case they were to blame for the disruption to my routine.....