"Bits and Pieces"

Just a few little bits of this and some pieces of that....

*****

I should not write late at night when I am on pain medication!  I said I only had one molar left.   That's not true.  I still have the molars on the upper right and one on the upper left, I just don't have any molars on the lower right or left.  I've been eating nothing but pudding and noodles for the last three days! I don't even like pudding all that much.  I'm hungry for real food! Did you realize that practically everything that is protein needs to be chewed???   And my mouth still hurts!  This hasn't been fun!   I'd better get lots of kudos and praise from my dentist when I go back to see her!  It's the least she can do after I did what she told me to do!!  :)

*****

I don't know what happened, but the day after I wrote about the cat family that had taken over my deck, they disappeared.  We haven't seen either the cat or the kittens since!  Do you think it was something I said?

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The weather has been really wonky this Spring.  It gets into the upper 80s then it plummets back into the 40s and 50s.  That is not my idea of Spring at all.  It is May....in Texas....it is supposed to be warm, maybe even HOT!!!  SNOW was predicted for Amarillo last night!  Our HVAC is flip-flopping between AC and Heat.  It's impossible to know how to dress.   I'm glad they changed the terminology to "Climate Change" because this sure doesn't feel one bit like "Global WARMING!"

*****

The Big Guy has been very diligent about doing everything to reduce the effects of the Bell's Palsy.  He is doing Acupuncture, taking vitamins and other natural things like zinc and fish oil,  drinking a specially blended herbal concoction that sort of looks like tea but sure doesn't smell like tea!  And it has ..."things"....floating in it! Nevertheless,  I am thrilled to report that something is working.  The left side of his face pretty much looks back to normal.  This is really good news!  The second go-round has been much less dramatic than the first time!

*****

I am going stir crazy.  I haven't been out of the house since Monday.  Four days straight!!  The pain meds are still making me groggy which has meant I couldn't drive, but I can't stand it one more minute!  I am going somewhere today....anywhere!  (And no, I'm not taking the pain meds today...at least not until I've been outside!)

*****

Sorry to be so grumpy, but this just hasn't been a great week!

"What's the Use of Wonderin'?"

You would think that anyone who has lived 66 years would have pretty much encountered most of life's weirdness by now!  It doesn't, however, appear so.  There are still a whole bunch of things I don't understand...new trends, styles, inventions, attitudes, behaviours  that I just don't get.  And new ones cropping up every day.  For instance:

1.  The trends in shoe design!  The designers appear to be constantly pushing the envelope toward the strangest, most uncomfortable, completely unwearable contraptions they call "shoes"....just to have a "new" fashion in footwear to sell.  Some of the most recent have included the current crop of silly-looking platform shoe with 6" stiletto heels, or the "gladiator" style that does not look good on anyone!

There is one style that I just don't get at all,  not one bit.  Have you  seen the open-toed boots???  Isn't that about the dumbest idea ever?  It's pretty close to an oxymoron.  The purpose of a "boot" is protection!  Protection from the elements, the temperature, the terrain, and so on.  The boot is worn to keep our little piggies warm and dry and comfy!   A boot with open toes cannot do any of that!  Besides which, it looks ridiculous!  I just don't get it!


2.  I guess you could call them "food parks" or "lots of eats".  I don't know what they are really called (if anything) but they are popping up all over Austin.  Wha??  Vacant lots or unused parking lots are being used by wagons, trailers, or Airstream Caravans that have been turned into food sellers.  Each one sells some specific type of food.  It started with trailers selling cupcakes, or sno cones, or coffee.  But now they sell tacos, or pie, or sandwiches, or ice cream or whatever.  You walk up to the window and order what you want and either go sit at a picnic table or take it with you.  It's like what you see at fairs or carnivals.  There is no ambiance, or comfort.  You eat outdoors (in the sun and heat) and the "facilities" consist only of por-ta-potties.  They must be a shangri la for both crawling and flying insects!  It must be because Austin has such a large teenage to young adult population (this is a college town, after all.)  But for me??  No, thank you!  I just don't get it!


3.  Everybody has times when their emotions appear to be on a roller coaster ride of enormous proportions....up....down.....up....and down again.  It's part of human nature (and hormones.)   But how many times have you run into someone who suddenly just seems down all the time?  Those people who are chronically and clinically Depressed.

I'm not talking about the generally crabby people who just never see any glass more than half-empty.  In "Steel Magnolias", Ouiser has a great line, she says, "I'm not crazy.  I've just been in a very bad mood for the last 40 years!"  That's personality not Depression.

Depression is usually brought on by a series of significantly challenging events,  those emotionally stressful situations that we all encounter occasionally.  Everything from deaths to financial loss to post partum "blues". We all have them sometimes.  Usually the regular cycle of up and down will resume as the person adjusts to the changes.  But for some people the stress of their lives is overwhelming and they can't resume the regular cycle of ups and downs.  Generally when this happens, there is an additional element that kicks in.  In ways that I don't understand (but know to be true nonetheless) a chemical balance crops up and and makes it impossible to just bounce back!

So what is it that I don't understand??  I don't understand why so many of these folks are absolutely unwilling to accept that it is not "normal" to remain in this state for months and months and months without even trying to find their way out!  The believe thay will "snap out of it" soon.  They think they'll feel better soon.  They refuse to consider therapy, they refuse to consider medication, they refuse to consider even talking with a doctor, they refuse to admit that something might actually help lift the cloud they are under!!  This is what I mean.  Some combination of those potential treatments will usually beat back the bleakness and return them to the light.  But they will not even try!   If they fell off a boat in the middle of the ocean, would they refuse a life preserver  too??   I just don't get it!


4.  Prices that just keep going up and up and up!  And frequently it makes NO sense at all! For example, I hurt my shoulder and it's hard to lift my arm over my head.  That makes it painful to to use a hair dryer after I have washed my hair.  Because I was getting tired of it, I went to one of those chains of hair salons called something like Kwik Klips or Wash and Wear or something and asked what they would charge for a shampoo and styling blow dry.  This was not a private high-end salon.  No appointment was necessary, and a lot of guys use them for a quick haircut.  Anyway, the clerk told me it would be $30.  Thirty freaking dollars!!  That is outrageous!  So I went to Walmart and a very nice woman just a bit younger than I washed, dried, and styled my hair for $14.95!  Now the last time I checked 30 was TWICE as much as 15!  TWICE!! She did a great job and it only took her about 15 minutes!   And the other place wanted $30 for the same thing?   I just don't get it!




5.  Could someone please explain "Instagram" (or whatever it's called).  It has something to do with photographs, but I've never seen it referred to as a "camera" or a phone, so I don't know what it is, how  it works, and why suddenly so many people are using it to post photos on FB and their blogs, while I have no CLUE!  Is there some sort of  underground grapevine that only goes to selected people who "get" technology.  Three months ago, I had never heard of it.  Now it seems like everyone is using it except me!  I just don't get it!




As always, I probably won't ever understand any of this so, really, "What's the Use of Wonderin'?"   I just don't get it and I never will!

"A Taste of Honey"

For many years when I was growing up, my dad managed a Howard Johnson's Restaurant.  Anybody remember them??   Well, if you do remember, you might recall, they had 28 Flavors of Ice Cream.  This was before the days of Baskin-Robbins, so 28 flavors was downright amazing.   I don't remember many of the flavors because the only kinds I ever had were vanilla or infrequently, butter pecan.  It used to drive my dad crazy! 

We only had one car (ever), so if my mom needed to do anything other than sit in the house all day, she would have to drive Daddy to work and then go and pick him up at the end of the day.  Dad was usually ready to come home somewhere around 9:00 pm, so I would usually stay at home with Lil' Sis, while Mom went off to get him.  Occasionally, however, we would all go off to the restaurant to pick him up.  On some of those times, we would go in and have a dish of ice cream while we waited for him to finish up.  Mom would get chocolate or butter pecan or sherbet or  black cherry or maybe even peppermint.  Lil' Sis (being only 3 or so at the time) would share whatever mom was having.  And I would have, you guessed it, vanilla.

"We have 28 different flavors!  How can you always get vanilla?  Don't you want to try the featured flavor??  Dad always made some remark to try to get me to branch out, but it never worked.  I would stick to plain vanilla almost all the time.  What I don't recall him asking me is "Why?" 

I'm rather glad he never asked me why I wouldn't try other flavors because it would have been hard for me to answer it honestly.  The truth of the matter is that I really didn't like ice cream all that much, even the vanilla!  I didn't want to hurt his feelings, after all this was supposed to be a treat!  Most of the kids I knew would have turned somersaults for having a dad who gave them ice cream!  But not me! 


You see, not only did I not  like ice cream, I didn't like any sweets!   Oh, I'd occasionally have a plain Hershey Bar or a skinny slice of peach pie, or a piece of birthday cake, but have something sweet every day?  No, no, no!  Dessert was never my thing.  I didn't even like anything candied (yams, carrots, onions, etc.)  No apricot glazes or raspberry dressings for me.   No thank you!   Many things were just too sweet for my tastes, so I would eat as little of it as I could get away with.  Now, Mom, being of the "you have to at least try some of everything being served" school of parenting, would be satisfied as long as I ate some of everything.  So I would, but I didn't like anything sweet!


I don't think either Mom or Dad realized how little I cared for sweet things until I was much older and not so hesitant to say I didn't like it!  There were only two things I could safely refuse to eat:  liver or fish.  Mom didn't like fish and Dad wasn't big on liver, so we rarely had either one at home and if we did have one or the other and I refused to eat it, they could understand.  But not eating sweets?  That was just outside the realm of their belief system!  lol!


When I had my tonsils out at age 6, I totally shocked the nurses when I refused ice cream and asked for cold milk instead!  It just wasn't what kids did!!


Once I was married, I was in charge of meals (sort of) so I could avoid whatever was too sweet for me.  The trouble was Mikey was exactly the opposite.  A day without dessert wasn't worth living in his world!  He accepted the fact that sweets were very low on my list of priorities.   That doesn't mean he understood it, but he did accept it.   But deep down he just didn't get it.  Still doesn't!


For example, I remember one time (not all that long ago either), Mikey made something (I think it was chili or spaghetti sauce) for dinner.  When I took the first bite, I made a face and said,  "Ick, it's sweet!!  It's not supposed to be sweet, it's chili (or spaghetti sauce)!  What did you do?"  He swore up and down he hadn't added anything sweet and it took us a little while to figure out it was the onions!   They were Vidalia onions which as you probably know,  are sweet.  They completely wrecked the flavor for me.  Mikey couldn't even taste the sweetness!  Like I said, I really don't like sweets, especially in things that aren't supposed to be sweet!

Now before you start thinking that I am completely and totally weird, let me assure you that I did get sweet in my diet very regularly. Growing up I would drink milk with my meals, but once I was married,  I discovered I loved sweet drinks....Pepsi became my beverage of choice for decades!  I liked sweet iced tea, I would put sugar in orange juice, lemonade had to have a ton of sugar in it before I would drink it.  It's a conundrum that I do not understand to this day!

I stayed fairly thin through most of my life and that I am sure is largely due to the lack of a lot of sweet stuff (except for the drink part).  I have a somewhat addictive personality (may I remind you that I am not allowed to go to a casino by myself!!).  So I am grateful that sweets were not my vice of choice!  I would have weighed a ton....maybe two!

So, all that being said, by all that's holy, would someone please explain to me why, after all these years, have I recently begun craving sweet things???    Pie, cookies, candy, cobblers, fudge, and absolutely worst of all, Hot Fudge sundaes???  I'm afraid to get on a scale!  My teeth are going to rot and fall right out of my head.  So far, it doesn't take much to satisfy that craving --  a piece or two of candy, 3  cookies, a spoonful of cobbler, a small sundae from Sonic without whipped cream...but still.  This is just flat out wrong.  Perhaps I have been invaded by an alien with a sweet tooth!

All I know is that it's got to STOP!  It used to be that I was happy with "A Taste of Honey."  Now I want the whole damn jar...all over everything!!   Arrggh!

"Sugartime"

I don't think I've ever mentioned it, but I'm not much of a desserts/sweets kind of person.  This is an oddity in my family.  Everybody from my grandmother down to my granddaughter loves sweets.  "Sugartime" in our house is a must.

I remember my Gram's favorite way to diet.  She would give up her toast in the morning so that she could have pie at night!  (In case you're wondering, it didn't work!)  It was a running joke at Thanksgiving whether my mom was having pumpkin pie with a little whipped cream or whipped cream with a little pumpkin pie!  I don't remember my dad ever turning down dessert. 

Little Sis and both of her kids have a bit of a sweet tooth, I think.  Its been a while since I've seen the kids, so I'm not 100% sure.  But I definitely don't remember them NOT liking sweets.

The Big Guy is a sweets-a-holic!  He frequently sits in the evening and has a pint of ice cream!  His piece of pie rivals my mother's regarding whipped cream!  He even has certain rituals that must be followed when he has layer cake.  It must lie on the plate in the "right direction" (meaning the icing must be on  the right) so that it is easy to get icing with every bite.  Its kind of hard to explain without a piece of cake to illustrate and it took me years to figure out and remember.

His entire family also liked sweets....his mom, his dad, and all six brothers and sisters.  It was usually a two dessert (at least) meal when they all got together.  And everybody would have some of each dessert.

Even my darling daughter, who is soooo like me in most things, likes  pie, or ice cream, or cheesecake, but she doesn't like layer cake (I think she was traumatized as a child by the whole "right side/wrong side" debacle with her father!!)  Even her wedding cake was cheesecake!!

T.A.  is big on dessert too and will frequently order dessert "just to share" with Maddie-the-Great.  HA!  This fools no one!

And M-t-G originally didn't much care for sweet things until she was maybe 2 years old.  But she has gotten over that little quirk entirely.  Now she is worrying about dessert before she even begins her meal!  She likes all things sweet except whipped cream  (definitely not related to my mom!)  Ice cream with sprinkles is still her favorite though.  The truth of the matter is that it's probably more the idea of dessert rather than the specific thing.  She can be just as excited over one piece of hard candy as she is over a big gooey ice cream creation with all her favorite "stuff" on it.

I, on the other hand. just have never gotten excited about sweets....ever.  Most times I won't have anything at all.  Or sometimes I'll take a spoonful or two of the Big Guy's creme brulee or something else special, but just to taste it. Now I want to assure you that I am not an alien or diabetic or just weird.  I just find most desserts too rich, too sweet, too many flavors, just too much!  I will occasionally get a craving for chocolate or jelly bellies but that is generally satisfied in one or two days and then I'm good for another several months.  When I was pregnant I wanted Fudgecicles, had to have one every day.  The Big Guy even had to go out late at night to get some.  But once Ratchlet was born, that was the end of the Fudgecicles.  I didn't have another one for at least 10 or 15 years!  Seriously. 

Candy jars on someone's desk??  cookies?? popsicles?? pudding??  No thank you!  I can generally resist them all.  They don't tempt me in the least.  I do like sweet drinks like iced tea or Pepsi, but somehow that's not quite the same at all. 

My addiction is to the salty/crunchy things like peanuts, chips, Chex Mix, Cheetos.  I don't eat them everyday or anything.  But I really like to have something in the house to nibble when I feel the urge.

Now, in the interest of full disclosure and complete honesty, I must confess that there are a couple of things that I find a bit harder to resist .  Dolce de Leche ice cream..... brownies.... those are fairly easy and quickly satisfied.  But there is one thing, one tiny little addiction, that keeps cropping up from time to time.  This is something that is not widely known about me, even among my nearest and dearest. About once a year or even less often, I simply have to have (I'm embarrassed to tell you) a....Hot Fudge Sundae.  I don't know why, I can't explain it.  All I know is that I feel restless and unhappy until I have one. 

Yesterday was the day.  I went to the frozen custard place and had their small Hot Fudge Sundae.  It was delicious and I ate every drop.  Ahhhh, heaven. 

So now I'm good for the next year or so; my personal "Sugartime" addiction is satisfied once again.  I don't want another one, thanks.  But damn, it was good!