Where's Ruthie? I hope she and her mom are doing okay.

Okay, my one good thing is not thrilling either, but it's all I have for today. I got a new pair of walking shoes last night. I'm trying to walk off my cholesterol, I hit 15,000 steps yesterday. My pedometer is my new buddy. That's it, nothing exciting.

Progress is always exciting. Congratulations, JRB!

JAB, you know, you are one of the nicest people. Just had to say that. I find myself looking more closely at birds now because of you and Ruthie. I'm enjoying it.

I sure hope Ruthie is okay, haven't seen her post in a few days.

The feeling is mutual, JRB. I always look for your posts.

It has been a long time since we heard from Ruthie, hasn't it? Now you've got me worried.

Sorry, sorry, here I am!!!!!!

My OGT today was going out with DH to a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant very close to home, where we enjoyed delightful tapas and a surprisingly good flamenco guitarist, singer and dancer.

15,000 steps...woo HOO! You go girl!

Today had a great time having lunch with some
of my former work mates. We try to get together at least once every few months. Oh and got some new tennis shoes that feel fantastic .

NEW HERE.
ogt Is I am becoming able to laugh a little bit and only took a 1/2 of one very low dose os Xanax. Ed's eye (2nd retina surgery in 2 months on same eye) is getting better and I am starting to do things for me too. Would love to have the grace to walk 400 steps per day. Small house. I do try to get to warm water aerobics when I can. Pat

The size of the house is no excuse, Pat. We expect to see you up to 405 steps within a month!

Ooooo I have a good OGT today!

I did another experimental pie for my monthly pie group. Pecan pie on the bottom half, pumpkin pie on the top half! It was a bit of an engineering feat, as the two fillings have different cooking times. I started the pecan filling on the stove, and used hot milk in the pumpkin filling, and the result was faaaabulous!

I'm going to have to work extra hard at bootcamp tomorrow morning! I don't think that 400 extra steps will be enough for me...

Yesterday we went to 10 grocery stores looking for pumpkins. Why oh why did we leave it so late! There was not a pumpkin to be had! Not even a mis-shapen, half-rotten one!

So my step-daughter and I decided to make our own papier maché pumpkin. The obvious choice for a form on which to build this giant squash was our seldom-used exercise ball.

We started last night, and had the finished product ready to display by 5:00 today -- an hour before any Trick-or-Treaters arrived. Room to spare!

Hoo boy, not many good things, huh people?

Let's see:
Nov. 2 Had lunch with an 83-year-old friend who I seldom see. She looks fantastic and acts like a 50-year-old. Fun!
Nov. 3 Mom wasn't angry or belligerent on our visit today, and I got a note later from the SW who said mom had just been in her office, and had been smiling broadly and talking about her favorite color (blue) and how pretty the leaves are outside.
Nov. 4 Woke to the sound of purring. My neighbor's kitty had a sleepover on my pillow. This morning, I e-mailed the neighbor to say that he checked in late, enjoyed his stay, and took advantage of our early checkout feature.

ogt, my nanny saw a commercial last night that she thought was very funny, which it was, but a little while later, it came on again and she said "that is the 2nd time today that i have seen that commercial today" It was reallly funny for her to have remembered it. I was just proud of her for remembering..... : )

Here in San Diego, much of our voting is done in neighborhood polling places ... such as the garage of the house next door. (VERY convenient! )

All of us move our cars, off the street and into our driveways, to make room for those who aren't close enough to drive.

A big line of eager voters had already formed in front of my house fifteen minutes before the polls opened. Nary an open parking place to be found.

Our local Starbuck's was giving free coffee to anyone who voted. That was a nice surprise, coffee on the house! The clerk said it was nationwide, very nice, Starbuck's, very nice. I actually should own stock in Starbuck's by this time. In any case, it's a nice gesture.

I just moved into my first house!!!!
WooHoo!

Poor Starbucks. According to the news blurb I just heard, it turns out it's against the law to offer incentives of any sort for voting. So they ended up having to offer free coffee to anyone who asked for it, voter or not...

Danielle, that is pretty darned exciting!!!! I don't suppose you'd like to tell us more about your house?

JAB:

I saw that news blurb, too, about Starbuck's. So they are now going to give out "tall" cups of coffee. I got mine before the word got out and mine was a "grande". It is the small things that make me happy, sometimes those are the only things

Today when I visited my mom, even though she was pretty much out of it, she did wake up for a moment, look at me, and whispered, "You look good."

After that, I couldn't get her to respond to anything I said, but those 3 words mean so much to me.

Jean

I used the "self-clean" feature on my oven for the first time!!
*twirls*

Isn't that self-cleaning feature just the best? Gone are the days of Easy-Off and slimy residue.

My one good thing yesterday was I bought a microplaner. I will be zesting tonight .

OK, y'all will think I'm insane but I'm am thrilled because Mom agreed to actually leave the house with her "companion" today and was gone 4 hours! I now have clean bathrooms, and clean floors and a really clean kitchen, and even read some on a book. I would not normally spend my precious free time cleaning, but it just felt so good to get it done! And the house SMELLS clean.

Oh, I don't think you're crazy at all. I love it when my house is clean. I feel a sense of order in my chaotic life when the house is clean. It doesn't happen too often. But when it does, I feel a sense of peace, I really do.

zesting! lol

My ogt today was kitty cuddles from the neighbor's cat.

Ruthie-Ray, you sure that cat belongs to your neighbor? It spends all its time with you...

I love a clean house, too. So if Memaw would like to come clean mine next time she has a few free hours, that would be great!

I haven't been posting lately. Mamaw has taken a severe downturn. She is now on regular dose of Morphine. Prayers please for a peaceful homegoing for her.

Did get a break Saturday night to go the the Hank Williams, Jr concert. He played an excellent set....I mean EXCELLENT ! He played Guitar, Bass Guitar, Fiddle, Piano and even got behind the drum set. Country is not my favorite kind of music ( I am partial to Punk Rock or old Alternative....ie....The Ramones, Nine Inch Nails etc. ). But WOW ! The very best part of the show was the people watching. Damn, there were some funny, drunk rednecks. One guy, straight out of the swamp, walks past the Orange Beach police SUV...." Hell ya, looky dat dere fancy cop car. Whoee, dis light goes dere, Looky dem dere fancy wheels....whoee . Dey must be de rich cops in Orange Beach!" cop looks over at the toothless Tommy and says " Ya buddy, ya like my ride, wait till ya'll see de view ! " " De view ?" says the redneck " Ya, de view from de backseat when I am taking your drunk ass into our fancy police station over yonder. " says the cop. It was too funny. Everyone was cracking up....us, the cop and the drunken redneck.

Peace,
Dani

Dani, I'm so sorry to hear about your mother. My prayers are w/ yall!!!

im glad you got to have a great time at the hank jr concert. I have to relate to the rednecks though!! haha we live in south ga...

My nanny is always mentioning my mom, and i know its her daughter but im sure most of you know how bad the relationship is between them. It kinda bothers me a little that she wants my mom soo much when she and I have always been closer than she and my mom. (i know, selfish of me). But the other night I was putting Nanny in bed and she said, "I don't know what I would do w/out you Tiffany". I was soo glad to hear her say that.

Oh dani, I'm sending you and your sweet Mamaw my thoughts. I'm sure you've already got the Cajun nuns praying too. *hugs*

Love the redneck story. The accent as you wrote it reminds me of Cletus Delroy Spuckler (the "slack-jawed yokel" from the Simpsons). "Hey maw...looky dat pointy-hairded lil girl!"

Oh and JAB, the neighbor feeds him. Sasha only spends his lounging hours, his chase-me chase-me hours, and occasionally his sleeping hours here. It's a tough life when you're a kitty cat.

My ogt this morning -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuPwwGEeSLo

Not too many "good things" lately, huh gals?
My OGT for today is I get to babysit for my
darling grandson when my daughter goes to the
dentist today. Not like I don't get to see him
everyday, they live with us......but, I'll get
to have him all to myself!

Oh dear! I seem to have missed a week's worth of OGTs.

My OGT for today was cleaning out my fridge. There were several "science experiments" in there. And quite a few yogurt containers with October "best before" dates. I've kind of been on automatic pilot for the last couple of months, and haven't been able to keep things up as well as I usually would.

Yesterday's OGT, in the same vein, was tackling my in-basket. Found many interesting things, including a parking ticket from October.

Took little children with me to feed Mamaw dinner ( yes she now needs to be fed )and they were so well behaved that I told them I would take them out to dinner for a treat. So we went to Ruby Tues. and when we walked in we saw our friends from church, Paul and Diane. Mr Paul is a staunch Republican, retired Potato farmer from Foley, Alabam, very conservative and I am a liberal, hippie from Miami Beach and to look at us on paper you would never believe that we are friends. But as it turns out, we both saw past our differences and realized that we had more in common at our core than we thought. Well, we have become big buddies and truly enjoy and respect each other. Of course they invited us to dine with them and then insisted on buying dinner ! How cool is that ?
And as a bonus children were wonderfully behaved the whole time.
Peace,
Dani
PS I even forgive him for being an Auburn fan and he forgives me for being an Alabama fan !!!!

Awww dani that's wonderful!!!!

Today's OGT was cleaning out my purse. Just like my in-basket, there were all kinds of interesting things in there. I found a bill for mom's ambulance ride back in October. Anyway, it weighs significantly less now and has no crumbs, crinkled tissues, candy wrappers, fluff or loose change. Yay!!

I'm almost feeling like I'll be back on top of things soon. Fridge: check! Inbasket: check! Purse: check!

Desk? Basement? Garage?

Oh I did the desk a few weeks ago! We have no basement or garage!! Well, there's a storage shed...but I never go there.

It haz spidersz!!

Yesterday's good thing was a really delightful gathering of my spanish group. We munched grapes and chocolate, read newspaper items in spanish, and had a very nice time indeed.

Today's ogt is yet to come!! I'm pretty sure it won't involve cleaning anything with spiders in it though...

Well...not unless Paul is there, even if there are spiders

Funny you should mention that...he's here right now!

It's so cute because I recommended him to my neighbour four doors down some time ago, and now she can't live without him. She's the one with the two dogs I occasionally dogsit. Today the dogs are with me, and in comes Paul. They are so glad to see him, and are following him around, helping him dust. I think it must be so confusing for them -- they see Paul at their place and at my place. Maybe they think that every house has a Paul.

Anyway today's good thing is definitely Paul.
Yesterday's was another episode of my pie group -- my dear 88-year-old friend Bob and his friend Rod-Paul came at around 10:30 and we had coffee and home-made blueberry pie. A delightful visit! Bob, by the way, is the one who recommended Paul to me in the first place.

The day before that, the one good thing was a delightful evening with my Spanish group. We read newspaper articles in Spanish and discussed, while munching fat, juicy grapes and squares of dark chocolate. Heavenly!

Come on you guys...you might not be looking hard enough for your OGT!!

Yesterday I had an exceptional evening. I invited a couple from my exercise class, then thought that they would get along great with a neighbour couple we sometimes socialize with. Well it just worked out great. They all arrived at 6:30 and didn't leave until after 11. Non-stop chatting and laughing. And guess what? I didn't talk about my mom the whole time!!

I like this. I went to a park with my dog and actually got out of the car, sat on a bench, and breathed in the air. I felt every cell in my body "feel free and joyful". So many times I have gone to this same park to cry, feeling so overwhelmed, but not today. I chose to find out what "free" would feel like in the midst of the circumstances. It worked!

My geriatric cat has started moping and losing weight. Vet was concerned that she has fatty liver syndrome (this would not be good) or perhaps hyperthyroidism. He was practically bouncing off the walls yesterday when he called with the results of her blood panel. Everything looks normal, kidney function is even better than last time ... she just has a major UTI. (Again.)

Good heavens, even our kitties get UTIs?

Joyce, what a wonderful feeling -- good for you!!

Saturday's OGT was attending an acquaintance's art studio opening.

Sunday's was a wonderful concert -- Al Simmons (childrens entertainer) and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. Absolutely fabulous! The icing on the cake was going out for coffee with Al a little later. He and my DH go way back.

It rained, steadily, all night.

I know most of you wouldn't find that a good thing, but we have a pretty serious drought going on here. Rain is wonderful! And at night, the sound on the roof lulling me to sleep ... marvelous.

The day was mostly sunny, although cool. In the evening, the clouds rolled in again ... more rain, all night.

Just like Camelot!

Sunday, Nov 23: I arrived home to hug my husband and son, after being away almost 7 weeks(helping my parents in FL).
Tuesday, Nov 25: My daughter arrived home from college, another wonderful hugging session.
Wednesday afternoon, Nov 26: Encouraging conversation with my elder care atty, regarding positive outcome of permanent guardianship - see "What's wrong with my dad?" thread.
Wednesday night, Nov. 26: Family conversation in my bedroom with all of my family - hubby, daughter, son, the cat - so grateful for their love, groundedness, sanity and humor.
Thursday, Nov. 27: Coming to this message board to thank all of my friends for being caring, supportive, grounded and helpful, any so many other postive things to me.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING, I am so grateful.
meeska

Went to lunch with a friend of a friend today, and had a really nice time. I kind of didn't expect to...so it was great!

Today's one good thing was to be grateful to my mother for raising me to believe that I am my own person, my own best friend and that I don't ever need a man to "complete" me. Reading some postings here made me realize this today. I often did not give my mother very much credit for raising me. Mostly because she was so nontraditional, so outrageous and all I ever wanted was a "Brady Bunch" family. Well, you get what you get. If she were alive today I would tell her thank you, something I certainly did not do while she was alive.
Peace,
Dani
PS She was the one who taught me to put the credit cards in his name and the properties in my name ! "Why is your credit rating so much higher than mine ?" he asked me once.

dani, how funny. I wish someone had given ME that advice!

My mother did her level best to teach me that my role in life was to be a wife and mother. Never, ever gave up, either. You can imagine how appalled she was that I became a scientist!

But I have had the love of two extraordinary men, and that has been ... beyond words.

I had to dig way down to bring this up. Anyone got one?

Well, as always and unconditionally, it's my two baby cats that give me a smile. Got home last night, sit down, before you know it, they are attaching themselves to me like velcro, looking deep into my eyes. Melts me everytime.

P.S. JAB: I know the looking deep into my eyes bit is about them wanting to be fed and they are making intense eye contact with me, but I can pretend, right???

Only if you have a REALLY good imagination!

OK, if we're struggling to find OTG's, I can contribute a tiny one. Had to take my geriatric cat to the vet for an ultrasound. Since we were driving right past a grocery store we'd never been in, and I needed a couple of things, we stopped after dropping her off. (Talk about guilt trip ... tiny, very old cat, drooping and mewing pitifully as we abandoned her...) Anyway, the store is much larger than our usual one, incredible selection, wide aisles and -- at least at that hour -- no shoving throngs to fight. We practically had it to ourselves. I think I'll switch there, for good.

I have a very active imagination, can't turn it off sometimes. I hope your cat has a good result with her ultrasound, I'll keep my paws crossed.