When my grandfather was in his 70′s he retired from work and started to teach himself how to oil paint. He painted hundreds of landscapes, based on photographs and picture postcards that people sent him. They were really good paintings, and I loved to see them when I went to his house. When he passed away, I asked my aunt if I could have some of his paintings as remembrances and she said no. I was very disappointed. A few months ago she surprised me by shipping me about six of his paintings to me! I love them and have them hanging in my living room in the place of honor above my sofa!

I have finally decided to splurge and put in an electric garage door opener. I have always wanted one, but have put off buying one; feeling like it was an extravagance. Well, I have come home late after dark to a dark house once too often! I’m tired of coming home unexpectedly late and having no outside lights on to help me find my way in the house, and using a flashlight to find my way to the door and unlocking it. I’m going to really enjoy having the ability to pull into the driveway and push a button and have the garage door open by itself and lights come on to help me find my way into the house without having to use a flashlight!

The strangest thing happened last night – I got up in the middle of the night to get a drink of water and my right foot felt weird – it felt like I was walking with a pebble in my shoe. But I was barefoot! I don’t know what in the world is causing that feeling. I felt around my foot and I can feel something inside my foot around the base of one of my toes. So, I’m going to have to give the doctor a call and order up some X-rays or MRIs and see what is there that shouldn’t be there, and find out what to do about it! That’s a scary thing, having something inside me that doesn’t belong there! I hope it’s just a benign thing like a bone spur!

I have a very old floor lamp that I was given by a dear aunt. She tells me that she bought over thirty years ago. I love it dearly, but it has finally given up the ghost. The socket died, and I decided it was appropriate to rewire the entire thing because the plug was the old fashioned kind that just was not as safe as the newer ones. So I went to the hardware store and bought what I needed to rewire the lamp. It took a couple of hours to take it all apart and rewire it, but I did it myself and it turned out fine. I had called an electrician and asked him how much he would charge to re-wire it and he had told me it would cost over $100! The rewiring supplies cost me less than $20, so I’m thrilled that I saved $80 by re-wiring it myself! And I’m thrilled that I kept the lamp from going to the junkyard, so I did my part to save the environment today!

Several years ago the “big hype” was about how people who are concerned about their health should eat bagels for breakfast. Somehow bagels were considered to be “good for you.” The only way I could ever enjoy eating a bagel was if it was loaded up with cream cheese. I have to admit that the fat free cream cheese on the market is very tasty, so that health issue of too much fat in cream cheese is a moot point in this post. Fat free cream cheese on a bagel tastes pretty good. But I have noticed that it is very hard to get a nice soft bagel – most of them are about as hard as a rock! And to be honest, I really don’t enjoy eating rocks! And I’ve noticed that every time I eat a bagel, when I go look at myself in a mirror and smile there is a ton of bagel and cream cheese smiling back at me, stuck between my teeth! Not a pretty sight!

I much prefer eating muffins – they are softer and easier to eat and require no cream cheese. And muffins do not get stuck between my teeth! So if the choice is between a bagel and a muffin, give me a muffin! Unless, of course it is a crummy bran muffin that tastes terrible. I like lemon poppy seed muffins, or cranberry orange muffins the best!