Beer is good for you

In moderation of course, but beer must be good for you because today is National Beer Day and also World Health Day.  Coincidence?  I don't think so.  By the way, yesterday was New Beer's Eve but I missed that.  But think about it.  Over the years I've heard of all kinds of contradictory tests.  Butter, eggs, coffee, tea, red wine and diet soda have all been declared good for you at one time and bad for you at another.  Even cigarettes were considered healthy at one time in history.  Some have gone back and forth several times.  But I've never even heard of a study of the positive or negative results of drinking beer.  I'm not talking about drunk driving here.  That can happen with beer and lots of other alcoholic drinks and is never good for you.  But beer itself, in moderation, is obviously good for you.  Im the middle ages beer was a common drink with breakfast.  (Of course back then, the water would kill you.)   So, have a beer, and see how good it makes you feel.  Since you're not likely to be driving anywhere, you might even have two.  

making lemonade

Well, not really lemonade but the concept is the same.  There is an old saying "When life hands you lemons, make lemonade."  I didn't get lemons but I did get sour cream.  When I ordered groceries for pick-up earlier this week, I lost track of what I had ordered and ended up with a pint of sour cream but no baking potatoes.  So, thinking it would be s shame to waste all that sour cream, I decided to bake sour cream sugar cookies.  I found a really good recipe on Google and went to work gathering my ingredients.  It was a bit of a treasure hunt.  I just barely had enough sugar after I used everything in the canister and my sugar bowls.  It didn't look like I would have enough flour.  The recipe called for three cups.  I had one and a half, but I dug deeply into the back of my pantry shelves (kind of scary but I was determined) and found an almost full bag of self rising flour.  I deliberately did not look at the expiration date.  I mean really, can flour go bad?  I cut back a little on the baking powder and baking soda and hoped for the best.  They aren't pretty cookies, kind of puffy and lopsided, but they are delicious.  As an added bonus, my apartment smelled wonderful all afternoon.  And one more good surprise.  As I dug deeply, looking for ingredients, I discovered a long forgotten half bag of dark chocolate chips. I did not add them to these cookies but they are a wonderful snack.  Again, I did not check the expiration date. Chocolate chips, like flour, do not go bad. If this tale of surprises inspires you to search through your pantry, happy hunting.  I mean, what else do you have to do?

Follow up

Last week I reported on an unexpected visit to the ER.  Today I had a follow-up appointment with a cardiologist.  All my numbers were normal and the doctor said that the medicine prescribed by the ER doctor was exactly the right thing and the right dosage.  He even said that within a few weeks I should be feeling more energetic.  Maybe just in time to be released from our current old age quarantine??  According to the doctor, my problem is a sometimes very rapid heart beat, which is exactly what I told them at the ER last week.  As he explained it, there are two kinds of rapid heart beats. In one case, your heart beats very fast and then you have a heart attack and die.  In the other case, your heart just beats really hard and fast sometimes but you don't die.  I have the second kind. Uncomfortable, and not good for me, but not fatal.  Goody! I have one more test on Friday to make sure there is no hidden damage, but assuming all is well, the doctor doesn't want to see me for a year.  We spent the rest of the appointment time talking about travel in Europe and cancelled plans.  I'll let you know when the increased energy kicks in.  I might even do some spring house cleaning. Ha ha ha ha ha.  

The great escape

I feel like I escaped from prison today.  A very pleasant prison; I have not suffered for lack of food, shelter or things to do, but I have missed actually being with my family.  The govenor said it was ok so today I had supper with my son and his family at their house.  It is my youngest granddaughter's 16th birthday and I really wanted to be with her to celebrate.  And celebrate we did, with presents (she loved the Converse shoes I gave her), delicious food and cake and the birthday seranade.  "Happy Birthday" actually sounded much better than it sometimes  does at our family gtherings because the other grandma has a truly lovely singing voice.  Throughout the whole evening we didn't hug or kiss, kept reasonable distances and, at dinner, sat well spaced at a long dining room table.  Throughout it all there was lots of laughter and, at least for me, a hopeful feeling that things just might be getting back to normal sometime this summer.  In the meantime we traded jigsaw puzzles so I now have two more 1000 piecers just in case things don't open up quite as quickly as I hope.

Mother, how could you?

This morning my west coast brother told me that today is "wear two different color shoes day."  I didn't know there was a special day for it but I do have a memory of a very embarrassing two different shoes day.  Long, long ago when my daughter was in junior high I agreed to ride the bus with her and some of her classmates on a trip to the ISMAA competition.  We left early one Saturday morning and I admit that I dressed in an hurry and half in the dark.  For some reason this was a somewhat dressy day so I wore a skirt, hose and heels. (As I said, this was a long time ago ) We made it to the bus just in time, grabbed our seats, I let her have the window seat, and settled down for the ride to Indy. About ten minutes into the ride (with no way to escape) the young girl sitting across the aisle from me, a friend of my daughter's, leaned over and sweetly said "Mrs. Foltz, why are you wearing two different shoes?"  I glanced down quickly and, sure enough, I was wearing one navy shoe and one brown one. Same heel height, similar style, so they hadn't felt different on my feet.  I spent the rest of the day trying to hide my feet under tables, chairs, bleachers, whatever.  My daughter, bless her, didn't laugh but very kindly assured me that she was sure hardly anyone noticed.  Really?  Well, maybe.  

The rest of the story

I took my car in for some service work today because a mysterious trouble light had come on. A check on Google told me that the problem was something to do with my gear box. I left the car, got a ride home with a nice young shuttle driver and waited. By mid-afternoon I was getting anxious so I called to see if they had found the problem. No, I was told, they hadn't been able to get the light I reported to even turn on. I then texted them a picture I had taken of the light and they got busy. A few minutes later the nice lady in the sservice office called to tell me that my car doesn't have any sensor connected to the gear box and that the mysterious light was actually an indicator that the license plate bulb was burned out.  They checked and the bulb wasn't even burned out. So the nice shuttle driver came back and took me to my car, I was told there was no charge and I went on my merry and very relieved way. I didn't actually hear laughter as I drove away but I suspect they all had a pretty good chuckle at the old lady in the mask. I'm glad I had the picture or they really would have thought I was crazy.

Why didn't I think of that?

Today I asked a friend about a mystery warning light that had shown up on my car's display panel.  It wasn't a symbol I could easily identify but then, I had to consult the manual to figure out what the flat tire symbol was. I mean really, wouldn't you think that the symbol for a flat tire would be, say, a flat tire?  But no, the symbol is a cross section of a tire which looks more like a horse shoe.  But I digress.  The symbol I am currently concerned with looks most like a ship's wheel (a circle with eight spokes sticking out) but that didn't make any sense to me.  I mean the car is steering ok.  By the way, I had thoroughly searched the car's manual but this symbol wasn't in it anywhere.  But today, when I asked my friend about it he said he would do a search on line.  Well, duh, I thought, I can do that, and so I did.  Surprise!  I googled Fiat 500 repairs and the very first picture that showed up was the symbol I had been wondering about.  Turns out it's the automatic gear box warning light, hopefully just indicating that the car is low on some fluid.  I have an appointment to bring Blue (don't laugh, I know you name your cars too) in tomorrow morning.  Positive thoughts for minor surgery, please.  By the way, if you're concerned about social distancing, I was informed when I made the appointment that I can't wait there but their shuttle service will bring me home.  That's fine with me.  I'm assuming that I'll need to sit in the back seat (not on the roof) to keep my distance.  If you hear louc cries of anguish tomorrow you'll know that the repairs are going to cost more that the stimulus check which I never received.