Hands Up!

Living in an urban environment can be so exciting. This afternoon I went over to my sister's house and took Mom out for lunch. With all of our illnesses lately, I hadn't seen her in a while and I thought it would be a nice treat for her.

After we finished and I dropped her off at Lynn's, I took the freeway home. While I was driving in the fast lane, I looked back and saw a police cruiser coming up behind me with lights flashing. Then I heard the blaring siren and immediately pulled over to let him by. I lost sight of him as we approached the steep winding grade separating two valleys.

About half way up the grade, traffic suddenly slowed and cars began to merge left. I thought it might be an accident. Wrong! Instead, there was a panel truck, with the driver's door open, on the shoulder of the freeway and two police cruisers behind it. And where were the two police officers? They were standing to the back and side of the truck with their guns drawn and pointed directly at the driver. Yikes! All I could think of as I slowly made my way past the excitement was "Please don't shoot."

When I finally made it through the bottleneck and looked in my rear view mirror, the driver was standing up outside the truck with both hands raised. Whew...another bad guy nabbed! Let's hear it for the good guys!

In by 8, Out by 5

This will be short...I'm exhausted. Today I attended an all-day Library committee meeting at work (that little part-time job, remember) and now all I want to do is crawl into bed, pull the covers up over my eyes, and find myself in DreamLand. I humbly tip my hat to all those individuals who work 8-hour-days, five days a week. I salute you. Mind you, that was me once upon a time ago but I have obviously lost my stamina since retiring. Yawn!

An Untimely Chocolate "Chip"

And here I thought my family's bad health luck was finally over. Hah! Today I went to my little part-time Library staff trainer job to prepare for an all-day meeting tomorrow. After missing two committee meetings in December, I spoke to the committee chairperson this morning and promised I'd be at the meeting tomorrow no matter what. Oops...I should have known I was tempting fate.

On my way home from work early this afternoon, I bit into a soft piece of chocolate (trust me, it was soft) and I suddenly found myself chomping on something that felt like a small piece of gravel. When I took a look, I realized it was part of a tooth and my tongue immediately identified it as a small piece from the back of one of my lower front teeth. Damn!

Thank goodness for cell phones. I called Rick at home and asked him to call our dentist to see if I could drive directly to his office to have him look at it. Sure enough, the dentist could take me so I hustled on over there and waited until he could squeeze me in. The verdict...the chip wasn't too bad and he decided the best course of action would be to put in a small filling which he did without too much effort.

The bottom line...the filling may or may not stay put over a period of time. Apparently this type of filling can fall out due to the constant use of a person's front teeth to bite...just ask Lynn. The good news is all I need it to do is stay in place for two days...that's right, two whole days. It just needs to stay put tomorrow so I can go to my meeting and then on Wednesday since I'm scheduled to go with a friend to Disneyland. Hey...we all have our priorities.

A Fine Dine

I am so full. During church this evening, Rick whispered to me that he wanted to try a new restaurant in our neighborhood. Always one for a new dining experience, I eagerly shook my head up and down. Good thing I did.

The restaurant serves Argentine cuisine and all I can say is "yummy!" We started with bread and two incredible dips. Then we ordered two different chicken dishes (each came with two sides) along with an order of two empanadas...one was spinach, the other was cheese and onion. I forgot to take a photo of them (in our haste to gobble them down) so here's a generic one of what they looked like.


Although the chicken dishes were tasty and healthy, I could have just as easily made a meal of a few more empanadas with a side salad. I've found my Argentinean bliss.

So now we've discovered yet another restaurant to add to our growing list. The best things about this one...it's only a few blocks from our house and it does take-out as well. Oh boy, empanadas whenever I want!

A License to Eat

This morning, Rick is complaining he has a sore throat and the sniffles and is insisting I'm the cause. No way!!! I cover my mouth when I sneeze; I turn away when I feel one coming on; I wash my hands constantly; I eat using utensils set aside just for me; I spend most of my time in a separate room of the house. I am not the cause...honest!

For me, the worst part of being sick is that I have this desire to eat everything in the house. When I got on the scale this morning, I let out a resounding shriek and now I'm depressed. You know that old saying "Feed a cold, starve a fever" (or is it "Starve a cold, feed a fever?") Well, I believe that, when you're sick, you have a license to feed and feed and feed and keep feeding. So I have a question for you.

When you're sick with a cold or fever, do you find yourself eating or does food just not interest you?

I Haf a Cold In Dah Nose

What is going on here? December was stomach flu month for my family and now I'm starting January off with a terrible head cold. I woke up yesterday with an itchy nose and, as the day progressed, it began to drip and I began to sneeze. Then last night I nearly drowned in a sea of mucus. Cough, cough, wheeze, wheeze...hand me a tissue.

So where did I get this? I just got off the phone with a friend who has had all the same symptoms since Monday. Oh...and did I mention we went out to dinner and to the theatre with her and her husband on Sunday? So at least I know where this plague originated and I won't have to blame any family members. Now I'm trying very hard not to breathe on Rick and spread the "joy" around.

My plans for the end of this week and all weekend have obviously changed. I guess I'll try and take it easy during the next few days. This shouldn't be a problem since the weather forecast here is for three successive rain storms beginning tonight and lasting into next Monday. I have a few errands to run today and then I'll come home, cuddle up on the sofa with my new plush throw and read the latest Sue Grafton book. Oh...and, of course, the box of tissues will be right by my side. Achoo!

Is it 2008 Yet?

I wouldn't know. Last night, we went out for an early dinner (garlic chicken and mashed potatoes, yum), came home and watched a DVD movie, and then Rick announced it was time to go to bed (at 10:00PM). So we toodled off to bed (without sipping our phony champagne first), turned off the light and then listened for quite some time to the fierce winds before actually going to sleep. Somehow we managed to miss watching the ball go down in Times Square this year...sigh. This morning I've poured myself a cup of coffee and retrieved the newspaper from our driveway but have yet to read it so I still haven't seen anything that actually declares it to be 2008 but I'm thinking it must be the new year.

I'm up early this morning so I can bake a Butterscotch Pumpkin Cake to take to our friends' New Year's Day brunch later today. They live fairly close to Pasadena and we will need to take a freeway that skirts the area of the Rose Bowl so I'm sure we'll run into lots of traffic. I will try and watch the Rose Parade on TV although each year I seem to be less and less interested. I should point out that many, many, many years ago Lynn, Ina and I actually were amongst the crazy people who sleep out overnight on the sidewalks of Pasadena to get a curbside view of the parade. It was the coldest night of the year and all I can remember is standing in a very long line at a gas station to use the one restroom in the area. I think the floats were beautiful but, to be honest, I really don't remember much...I think I've banished that "adventure" from my brain.

Anyway, I hope you have a fun-filled New Year's Day and that 2008 turns out to be a terrific year for you all.