a special day???

 You would think that a month that begins with Ground Hog's Day (a day that garners national interest) would continue with more special days, but not so far.  Today, for example, as shared with me by my west coast brother. is Fettuccine Alfredo Day.  Now don't get me wrong.  I do love pasta with a delicious alfredo sauce, but as exciting days go, ho hum.  Upon doing a little deeper search, I did discover that today is also "wave all you fingers at your neighbors day."  All your fingers, all at the same time, none of these one finger waves, no matter how you feel about your neighbors.  So go out and wave at your neighbors.  Tomorrow, interestingly enough, is "Kite Flyers Day."  Generally, it would seem ridiculous to think about flying kites in February.  Everyone knows you fly kites in March, but tomorrow, the high temperature is supposed to be in the mid-50s, so get out there and fly that kite, or sit back and watch "Mary Poppins."  "Let's Go Fly a Kite,,,,"

bill paying....

 As I sat paying bills this afternoon, on line of course, figuring out when money will go in, when money should come out, and pushing some keys, I found myself laughing at how bill paying has changed since I first started paying my own way.  When I was a freshman in college we were required to take a personal finance course.  This was a very smart requirement.  I'm pretty sure I wasn't the only very green freshman who had never written a check.  They did teach us to balance our check book and how to write a check correctly.  I had a job in the campus library so there was some income, but at times, as with many struggling students, finances got skimpy.  I opted to go through my bachelors degree in three years, since I had a job on campus.  One particularly skimpy summer, I was living on a dollar a day for food (10 cents for milk in the morning, I had brought some cereal from home, 10 cents for peanut butter crackers from the machine at lunch, and 80 cents for meat in the cafeteria at supper).  One event from that summer stands out.  I got a phone call from the bank telling me that my account was 17 cents overdrawn.  I hurried down to the bank and gave the cashier the only money I had, a quarter.  What amuses me looking back is that the cashier didn't even blink.  It's like she got 25 cent deposits every day.  Now in case you are feeling too sorry for poor Luci, you can put away your tiny violins.  The next summer one of my best friend's parents moved to Muncie when he took a job with the college and I was able to rent a room from them for two summers, with food.  Alice's mom loved me because I had a healthy appetite, oh yes!  

let's hear it for leftovers....

 My husband and I are great fans of Wu's Chinese restaurant and one of our wedding gifts was a gift card for Wu's.  I am still not up to sitting in a restaurant for a whole meal, so last night we decided to do carry-out.  We are both very fond of their 'pungent beef' so we got two orders with rice.  Now, we almost always carry home leftovers, so we were not surprised when we had leftovers after supper last night.  We put them in the refrigerator for tonight.  Here's the interesting part.  We did have beef and rice again tonight (equally delicious), but when we finished, we still had enough left over for another meal for two tomorrow night, or whenever.  This seemed very strange to me.  Is this like a never ending meal?  Or maybe just that the fried rice expands?  Whatever.  I'd say we're certainly getting full value out of this meal.  In case you haven't caught on, I do highly recommend the 'pungent beef.'

Patience....

 Have you ever notice that "new and improved" often isn't?  I don't mean to sound like the 'grinch' but I will admit that new and improved doesn't always bring out the best in me. A flashy new package with contents noted as 5oz less than the previous package, really doesn't seem improved to me, even if there is some new ingredient included that I probably don't want in my food anyway, or in my laundry.  But enough about food.  This evening, I logged on to the ACPL site to renew some library books.  Now please don't misunderstand, I am a huge fan of the ACPL and have been a regular borrower since I was a child.  Naomi Tremp was our ever helpful librarian at the Woodburn branch and had been librarian there since my dad was a child.  She told me once that he had read every book in the library. Possibly an exaggeration, but one certain source of my love of reading.  Years later my children and I were regulars at the book mobile that stopped just down the street from our house when they were pre schoolers. One of the joys of my life was when I had a job right across the street from the library.  You get the idea.  So imagine my dismay when I logged on to the ACPL site this evening only to discover that while I was sleeping through much of the last month, the site has become 'new and improved.'  But I was patient.  No way I'm going to give up on the library, so I took a deep breath, looked carefully at all of the 'buttons' and gradually found my old familiar links and was, finally, able to renew my library books.  Hooray, success!!!

Adventuring out....

 Since January 7 when I collapsed and yesterday, one week after I came home from the hospital, I haven't been out of the house except for to and from the hospital, which really doesn't count for much, and the wedding which really does count for everything.  But today my husband and I decided that the time had come to go out for breakfast.  Not sure why, but the time seemed right.  So we go up, dressed, and ventured out.  We went to one of our very favorite breakfast places, Divine Encounter, and I ordered (oh bliss) a half order of biscuits and gravy with one egg over easy on top.  After all the hospital food and cereal and stuff at home, that first bite really was divine, and so was every subsequent bite.  Best breakfast ever.  Tomorrow it's back to cheerios probably but that's all right.  I will bask in the glow of the happy memory.

PS don't get me wrong, my husband makes wonderful scrambled eggs on request.  I am certainly not wasting away here. 

newly wed scene....

 Picture, if you will, a scene from the life of a newly wed couple.  I'm thinking of the typical kitchen table.  Perhaps there are pretty matching placemats (my west coast SIL made me some really cute ones) and a very pretty matching sugar, creamer, salt and pepper set.   So sweet.  Now let's look at the kitchen table of a, maybe, typical nerdy second-marriage couple.  No placemats, unless company is coming, two lap tops (it turns out we like the same brand) two mice (mine is blue) multiple power cords. a cup of pencils, pens, scissors and a letter opener, and yes, somewhere in the array, salt and pepper shakers and a sugar bowl.  I knew we were soul mates.  

from the west coast...

 Some of my faithful followers may be wondering how my west coast brother and frequent contributor is doing.  Happily, he and his wife are doing very well.  They did come here for my recent wedding, allowing me to earn the title of "worst hostess ever."  I had intended for them to stay in my apartment with me until the wedding and have a lovely visit.  Instead I was in bed at our house and they were faced with an empty apartment, not even stocked with food.  Happily, my WCB grew up in FW and they had my car to use, so they weren't totally stranded.  But forward to the present; my west coast brother informs me that today is Spunky Old Broads Day, National Get Up Day and National Dark Chocolate Day.  This day was almost made for me.  Most of my friends would agree that I'm spunky, especially in my recent healthy days, like when I went zip lining two months ago (amazing fun) and I do love dark chocolate.  I must admit though that I am still having trouble with getting up, or at least staying up.  I do like my naps.