a new prescription

I had my annual physical today.  I do these once every two or three years.  I met my new doctor and I like her very much.  She's young and seems very common sense.  Generally speaking, I'm in good shape, but I told her I was having a weird tingling sensation in my left shoulder. She checked my shoulders, said I am very tense in my shoulders and recommended I get some massages. Well now I have to do it, right?  I mean if the doctor tells me to, it's not a luxury. She also told me that I'm due for a colonoscopy but that doesn't sound like near as much fun.

Ash Wednesday

I attended a very nice Ash Wednesday service at First Pres this evening.  I'm not quite sure when Protestant churches started putting ashes on people's foreheads.  When I was a child that was definitely a Catholic Church practice and not something we did in the Missouri Lutheran Church.  But now many church denominations, Presbyterians included, are dabbing on those ashes.  Interestingly, when I got back to my apartment I rode up in the elevator with five other people (and two dogs) and no one made any comment about the cross shaped mark on my forehead.  Maybe they all knew what it was, although none of them had ashes, or maybe they just assumed that I always walk around with a big smudgy mark on my forehead.  

a taxing situation

I'm having my taxes done on Thursday.  That's local slang for having my tax returns prepared and submitted to the state and federal governments.  Last year I got a little bit back from the federal government but had to pay the state a big two dollars.
Years ago. long before my husband died, while he was working on our tax return one year he said to me "You really ought to learn how to do this.  If something happened to me you would need to know how." to which I replied "No, I will just take all my paperwork to a professional."  And that's what I've done for the last several years.  
I'm waiting for filing instructions to become really simple before I do it myself.  Something like "Record your total earnings here _$____."  "Now send it in."  Just kidding.  

I'm such a meanie.

The 4th grader I tutor on Monday afternoons was in an interesting mood today.  He read really well but then didn't want to continue playing the game I taught him when it looked like I might win.  He spotted his journal that I had laid out on the table and said he wanted to write something.  This was new for him.  He seldom writes more that four or five words, and then only with prodding. 
I gave him the journal and a pencil and he wrote "Miss Luci is mean to me." so I suggested that he make a lsit of all the ways I'm mean to him.  With a few suggestions from me he came up with quite a list.  I won't let him cheat when we play games, I make him read, I wouldn't let him lie on the table and I refused to let him get some coffee.  I don't give him candy and I don't have good handwriting.  I had no idea I was such a meanie.  
Before he knew it, he had filled a full page and we were both laughing.  I love it when silliness turns into a learning experience.

mixed messages

I'm taking two trips later this month.  One is just a long weekend sort of trip to Gulfport, Mississippi (I love to spell that state's name) where I hope it will be warm - at least warmer than here,  We will be staying in a very nice hotel on the beach and attending my grandnephew's wedding. The other is to Finland, specifically to far northern Finland where we will stay in a glass igloo and hope to see the northern lights.  It will be very cold there, or so I am told.  
So on the one hand I need to pack a heavy coat, boots and long underwear, while for the other event I need two fairly dressy and light weight outfits suitable for a rehearsal dinner and wedding.  
I tried shopping on line earlier this evening for a heavy winter coat but all the stores want to sell me are spring jackets and bathing suits.  Ha ha ha ha ha!  Not buying that.  
Have they stepped outside recently?  There is still a need for winter coats out there.
And speaking of coats, friends and family have been trying to help.  My brother gave me a coat that was very warm but a size XXL at least.  Fit his 6' 6" frame very well, but for me it was much too much of a good thing.  A friend has left a coat with me that I can buy from her.  She bought two before a trip to Iceland last year, decided to wear the other one and hasn't even taken the tags out of this one.  It fits ok but it's black, not the style I want, and just not very exciting.  I know, I know, picky, picky, picky.  It will be my backup as I continue my quest for the perfect puffy coat with 'fur' trimmed hood. Wish me luck.
In the meantime, what am I going to wear to the wedding?

The good, the bad and the rediculous....

In the last three days I have seen two movies and two plays, and it has been an amazing variety.
On Thursday afternoon friends and I saw "Cold Pursuit" staring Liam Neeson. If you like shoot-em-up adventure movies, this one's for you.  It was good, with lots of interesting plot twists. I would see it again.
On Thursday evenng we went to the First Presbyterian Theater production of Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night."  This comedy was very well done and lots of fun.  I will see it again because I'll be working front of house next Saturday.
On Friday afternoon we saw the new Madea movie - sorry I don't remember the full title.  This one couldn't quite decide if it's a comedy or not.  Some of the usual Madea style slap-stick comedy but also a lot of moralizing about infidelity.  I wanted it to make up its mind if it was a serious movie or a comedy. 
And tonight, as a kind of grand finale, another friend and I saw the musical comedy "Once Upon a Mattress" presented by the PFW Department of Theater.  This high energy telling of the 'true story' behind the legend of "The Princess and the Pea" was hilarious. The romantic interests were the weedy Prince Dauntless the Drab and the boisterous Princess Winnifred the Woebegone (nickname  Fred). One of my favorite scenes was King Sextimus the Silent (who can't speek because of a curse) trying to explain the birds and the bees to his son Dauntless using pantomime.
All in all, a fun few days.

Truth in advertising?

Perhaps I should be giving this company kudos for their truth in advertising.  A company who sells hot tubs ran an ad on TV this morning.  According to their copy their hot tubs are "available for an incredible price."  Notice that they didn't say "an incredibly LOW price" just an incredible price.  I haven't priced hot tubs lately (or ever) but I suspect that their prices run more toward the incredibly high side.  Ah well, as I said, I appreciate truth in advertising.