redhenfarm

Thanks for the input. I am more encouraged that I can improve the LDL (and many other things) with healthy diet.

My thought was I wonder if the water would still be warm by the time I did all that scrubbing and wringing by hand! Or if I'd have energy to enjoy that tea.

Jan

Since I now have health insurance again I made an appointment to see my doctor. I've been exercising a lot since July but haven't lost much weight even though I was trying. Good news was the A1C (blood sugar for last 3 months) was 6.2 (good) but bad news was the LDL was 113. Since I am diabetic, my doctor started me on Lescol (prescription to lower cholesterol). I asked what the alternatives were and she told me if I lost weight and my LDL is lowered she will take me off the medicine- so I agreed to that. Since that piece of news I've been eating much more carefully - avoiding fats except olive oil and some canola, eating lots of vegetables, fresh fruits and whole grains. So in that week I lost 1-1/4 lb. - which is great and I also feel better.

Anyone else successfully lower LDL or other cholesterol?

I like this because it's healthy, easy to make and tastes good. Just like pumpkin pie without the fattening crust!

I'm glad to hear your Mom is home and feeling better.

Late happy birthday, Lois .

Mine is sneaking up this weekend and it's one where I think "Good golly! I'll only be two years away from six-oh!"

I'm all fired up and ready to go this morning but, ironically, this is my slower paced day - no rushes, I just do things in my own time. There's always plenty to do. First will be video aerobics, then deep cleaning the main bathroom, dusting vacuuming (and I've got LOTS to dust), put turkey breast in the crockpot. At 5 PM our local herb shop is having a celebration of it's third year in business so my son will accompany me. I'll go early because I need a couple of things before the party starts. It will be interesting to see who her other customers are.

Unike: Now we all know who to go to if we want something found!

I met my best friend when we went to a retreat with a friend we had in common. The friend had a family emergency so had to drive to the retreat by herself which left me riding down with this woman I'd never met before. I was so incredibly shy in those days that was a very uncomfortable situation. I remember we talked about the daffodils in bloom and the weather. We had nothing in common. I had always been a stay at home Mom and was then doing child care in my home. She owned her own business. I owned a pair of jeans, a pair of slacks and 2 blouses and teeshirts and she always dressed nicely and had her hair done. We got down to this retreat and discovered we were scheduled to share a room with our friend and a couple of other women including one very nosey, unpleasant woman. When I heard the news I sort of groaned inside because that woman was always calling me trying to wrangle information so she could be the first to know. I wasn't about to let the lady I rode to the retreat with know my uncharitable feelings but then I heard her groan and it turned out she knew this unpleasant person the same or worse than I did. We got to laughing about it and after that we were just the best of friends. It didn't seem like there were any barriers of difference between us after that - we just had a ball together. I'd be taking care of kids all day and she'd show up after they went home to take me down to go through the car wash with her and we'd laugh about how easy to entertain we were. Stuff like that. We only had a few years because she died of leukemia in 1983. I remember when her husband called at about 5 AM and I thought "Oh, Jan, you gave up on this old earth and went to be with the Lord". She had had a near death experience earlier in her life and told me about it and how wonderful it was to be with Jesus. So I figured He showed up and she just couldn't stay after that. I was glad for her (no pain, no having to deal with her D(not for dear)H marrying a bartender their daughter's age a month after she died. But I still miss her and I'll be glad to see her again some day.

Becca: Cat got to choose a whole bunch of smells so I think you can, too!

It's so late I'm sure many of you are already asleep in other time zones but I have a meeting in the morning and won't be able to get on early tomorrow either.

I had a doctor's appointment this morning and then went for a 3 hour hike with my son. This was a forest setting where people have made paths of sorts and amazing bike trails out of make-shift things like fallen logs. Crazy places where they ride their bikes along a log and then it drops off a few feet and goes on another makeshift ramp. A mother would never want to watch that! We came home with about 4 pounds of chanterelles I have to put this guy in just because he's so cute!

I loved (and still love) the smell of homemade bread.

I also love what I call "blackberry smell" in the woods and I smelled it today. My son and I were trying to figure out which tree or shrub we were smelling. Also at one point there was a honey smell.

I finally remembered and showed up at about 6:30 PST after everyone else went home.

Dee, M. C. Beaton wrote a series of books about Hamish somebodyorother that I think was on Mystery or something like that. I like the Agatha Raisin because she is a somewhat outrageous 50ish woman who has retired from running a public relations firm (I think) to live in the Cotswalds and gets into solving mysteries. It took me a couple of books to decide if I even liked this woman or not but she shows her vulnerability more and more as the series moves on and is just plain interesting. A touch of humor in the stories.

Cat, Thanks for the info about Airborne. I think I'll send some with the kids when they move back to the city.

I'm a bit puzzled about the flu shots because it's always been my understanding that this year's flu will be slightly different from whatever came before.

I read a little blurb in the newspaper that said "cough or sneeze into your elbow" instead of your hand and then touching doorknobs, etc.

I'm getting a lot of exercise, eating healthy foods and take some supplements. I'll wash my hands a lot. Basically since I'm not working I feel more protected. The last two years working at Job Corps with 500 plus kids coming down with sicknesses and coming up to the clinic and hanging their heads in the window of my office to cough and hack without that.

My children are adults and I have no grandchildren and I will sit here and unashamedly enjoy The Little House on the Prairie series or a Nancy Drew or Mrs. Pigglewiggle or Frog and Toad. I saved a lot of my kids books and those great big guys like to poke through their old books and have a good laugh now and then. (maybe someday a grandchild?)

Also I really enjoyed the Agatha Raisin series by M. C. Beaton. There's a new one listed on Amazon but it hasn't been released yet.

Happy birthday (belated) Mare! That means you get to celebrate all week? All month? The rest of the year?

Pumpkin Pudding

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

2 large eggs

one 15 oz. can pumpkin puree

one 12 oz. can evaporated nonfat or 2% evaporated milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix sugar, cinnamon, salt, ginger and cloves in a small bowl. Beat the eggs in a large bowl. Stir in the pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture. Gradually stir in evaporated milk. Pour into a shallow oven-proof baking dish and bake at 350 for 40 minutes. Do not overbake; the center should be slightly wiggly. Cool and enjoy at room temperature or refrigerate for later use.

I love the English cosy's and Agatha Christie is the top of the list there.

Also Rosamund Pilcher. Pearl Buck. Laura Ingalls Wilder. C. S. Lewis - especially Narnia series.

Hillbillee: When life gives you snow - go make a snowman! Or maybe we should all do the "stop snowing" dance? Do we need a snowman graemlin?

Welcome Soozie. Glad you are here.

I only met my birth mother about 6 years ago when she was 70 and my grandparents were long gone. I am fortunate to have been given pictures of my grandparents and both sets of great grandparents. I met a cousin who lived with my grandparents but she didn't tell me things I would love to hear like did they have any favorite sayings? What did they do for fun? What was their home like? I do have medical information which is helpful. Don't know about my father's family at all. He was a bit of a scoundrel and I'm hesitant to go deeper into that but the curiosity sure is there.

Snowy: Where do you look on the internet for this info? Does it cost?

Good morning Dee and Theyd and everyone else,

The cat woke me up at 6 wanting breakfast so I made coffee also. I don't want to wake up DH on his day off by going back for my bathrobe so I found a fleece poncho thing to throw around me. A few minutes ago Bobbi wanted out and dashed out the back door only to look at the rain and hunch up from the cold. She came back in one minute later happy to be in a warm house.

I have nothing remarkable to do today either beyond prepare meals and clean up after them. At some point I'd like to get a good walk in.

Praying for your sister to recover quickly and stabilize that blood sugar.

Sorry! I meant I'll pray for your Mom. Maybe your sister needs prayer, too?

Light rain here but it's 57 degrees. In fact I'm glad things have cooled down. I don't like waking up and finding it's 70 degrees in the house at 2 AM and wondering if the thermostat malfunctioned.

I did water aerobics this morning, grocery shopped, made lunch, then showered again because I have to go for a mammogram

Something about finding yourself in a coffin?