Confessions of a Grandma

My eyes have been bothering me for a couple of weeks. They itch like crazy, They feel gritty and puffy. They are red. People are wondering if I am depressed because I look like I have been crying all the time. Since I am in Florida for five month I can't just pop in to see my eye doctor but I did call. I was advised to stop the Alphagan® drops for a week as it is possible to develop an allergic reaction to them over time. If that solves the problem my doctor will perhaps prescribe something else to ease intraocular pressure. If the irritation continues I will have to see an ophthalmologist down here. And then it is becoming more and more obvious that I am ready for cataract surgery. I put it off until summer because I didn't want to stay in VT through January. What a bother!

My nephew and his girlfriend are expecting a baby. I am always happy for the occasion to make a quilt! I am happy for my nephew too. He will make a wonderful father. The top  Cute critters blowing bubbles The easy part is done, now on to the actual quilting.

The activity committee of our homeowners association held a craft fair at the community center recently. It was surprising to see the crafts and some excellent oil paint artists. I set up a display of my craft accumulations. I may not have been the most talented, but I certainly did have the prize for variety. Knitting, sewing, multi-media collage, watercolor painting, origami, cards and other paper crafts. I had such a collection of greeting cards that I offered them to people for free. I gave away quite a lot of them. The rest will go to the little shop that the Friends of the Library run at my local library. Some people were selling their wares but I didn't want to. I don't want to make my hobbies into a job at this stage of my life.  And, frankly, if I accounted for the amount of money I spend in craft stores and party sales, no one would be able to afford a simple card made by me. (Slight exaggeration.) One woman really wanted the parrot collage but I like it hanging...

I was thinking about "the major trauma" of my childhood -- a distinct memory of sitting on the sand between my mother and my aunt in their folding beach chairs and being horrified by their feet, two on either side of me. Okay . . . how charmed a life must one have had to consider feet a major trauma?Yes, I exaggerate. Perhaps I shouldn't, but then how boring would a blog post about feet be? I need some drama! My attention was drawn by their own complaints: the bunions, the corns, the hammer toes. It really was a horrible sight. I wanted to reach out and touch but pure revulsion stopped me. My mother used to occasion to warn me about always following her advice to wear sensible shoes. I decided I would do whatever it took to avoid getting deformed feet.     Feet that were not so different from these. (Google image) Even though I did inherit my mother's feet in that they are wide and long with long toes, I think I have perfectly lovely tootsies. So far the t...

One of the nicest things about being retired for me is that this is no longer a fact of life: I like to spread out the weekly cleaning tasks over the days. I kind of have a schedule in my head but it's more habit than a strict must-do. On Fridays I try to give a quick brush up through the whole place. It doesn't take long, especially in Florida where everything is blissfully on a single floor. Then I fire up my essential oil diffuser and enjoy the tranquil neatness. I love my essential oil diffuser but I do not enjoy scents from cleaning products. I also don't enjoy the idea of chemicals on surfaces (including my skin) and in the air. Does anyone have experience with this product:       forceofnatureclean.com I find the concept quite intriguing. Someday I will give it a try no doubt. When I want my tubs and showers to really shine I find I really cannot beat these magic eraser sponges. Mr. Clean or ones from the dollar store.    ...

I really do try to eat a healthy diet and get exercise. There are times I have been exemplary in that regard and times when one or the other gets put aside. Over the past six months or so, both efforts have kind of fallen by the wayside. Not totally forgotten really, just sliding down on the list of life's priorities. I was beginning to feel it. In December I dedicated myself to yoga and upped the number of classes. But, hey, it was the holiday month and there were too many opportunities to indulge. It's  the perfect time for comfort food and hearty winter meals after all. And then there are the get togethers and Christmas treats. I was buying my vegetables and finding that I had to throw them out because they were not getting eaten before they spoiled. It was dark early. I was hungry. I wanted to get into my pajamas, not chop vegetables. I just wanted to make sandwiches rather than cook. Easier to have a fat old muffin over making a bowl of oatmeal. I was feeling the lack of...

I went out to a Farmers' Market this morning. When I got back to my development, there was a big bloodmobile parked in front of the community house. There was a big sign urging all the residents to donate blood. A free tee shirt was involved. Did I feel a little guilty about driving right on by? Maybe just a teeny, tiny bit. But do i really need another tee shirts? Not at all. I wrote here  almost ten years ago about my feelings regarding donating blood. I haven't really changed my mind. google image

Why do we forget? From forgetting where you left your keys to forgetting to return a phone call, memory failures are an almost daily occurrence. Forgetting is so common that you probably rely on numerous methods to help you remember important information such as jotting down notes in a daily planner or scheduling important events on your phone's calendar.                                                 - The Psychology of Forgetting and Why Memory Fails I had three major brain farts of forgetting recently. It's very distressing. First I lost my checkbook just before Christmas. Panic. I was sure I must have dropped it at some store and I had been to many since I was taking my friend who had broken her hip out to do her Christmas shopping. I knew there were only a few checks left in that batch so I put a stop payment on the numbers. Then, of course, I found the ...

Last year there was a leak in my dining room ceiling that came right out of the ceiling light fixture.  It was December 12th and I had just returned from Florida because I was schedule for a deviated septum correction procedure in Boston. Don had picked me up and was taking a quick shower the next morning when it happened so we thought that the bathtub drain was the culprit. However, when Don cut a hole in the ceiling the pipes were dry. I filled the tub and let it drain and there was no leak. I concluded that my condo was haunted by an evil spirit. Don concluded that the leak must be coming from the condo next door. Six months went by and no more leak so he patched the ceiling and another six months went by with no leak. All that saging drove away the evil spirit? No . . . because on December 26th the neighbors had a clogged toilet. I was at my daughter's but cut that short worried about what I was going to go home to.  Fortunately, Don was able to get there to stop the ...

I took a picture of the Burlington (VT) airport while waiting for boarding. I'd upload it here except I deleted it since it just looked like a mistake (is there such a thing as a butt click?) because it was all shades of gray -- not even fifty to make it interesting, just maybe six or seven shades of gray. It was a drizzly, icy start to the morning. My friend had already called me like three times to let me know there was no way I was getting out of Vermont because of the weather. She hates when I go to Florida. The plane was 20 minutes late with take-off (scheduled for 7:30 a.m.) but then the pilot made that up on the way to Chicago (I was on the zigzag route). The plane was pretty filled with  young children and babies. Visits to grandparents were over and families were headed home. I had what I was thinking would be a two hour layover in O'Hare, but of course it was really three hours because I had forgotten about the time zone change. I would rather have time to get t...