June 8, 2011 3:20 p.m.

Little by little I have improved each day.  Each day I have more energy and less joint pain.  Today is the best day yet, although I still need to recharge my batteries once or twice a day (usually I can keep going all day long on an “overnight” charge).  Anyway, Fifth Disease really surprised me.  I had scarcely even heard of it before this year, never realizing how insidious, and how commonplace, it is.  Yesterday evening I was able to remove my rings from my left hand (my fingers had swollen up so much that it was impossible).  My knees are still a little stiff, and my fingers and toes are weak and sore to use after awhile, but I am not in any severe pain.  As you see, I can even type!

Anyway, my children have been very helpful, volunteering to serve me in any way they can (even as Chips has been dealing with the rash and swollen feet from this illness, himself).  The other day, Chips just began to straighten out the lower shelves of my pantry.  He did it on his own initiative, without even a suggestion from me, and it made a big difference.  Sweet Girl has cheerfully brewed some iced tea and made some instant pudding.  Chips is really maturing.  This week, when Sweet Girl claimed not to be able to find a library book  anywhere in the house, and after hearing that we would have to pay for the book, Chips went into her room and did a thorough search – enough to recover the book.  He also did not hesitate to telephone his violin teacher after leaving music at her home and request that she mail it to us.  When a friend of mine could not open up a Word file I sent to her, Chips went ahead and converted the file to a different format and sent it back to her.  So you see, Chips is really growing up.

Another word of praise I have is for the Calvert curriculum, once again.  Even when I was fatigued and sore, I was able to continue to homeschool without missing a beat.  I barely even had to think about it.  Chips, as you know, does most of his work independently, but Sweet Girl was able to assist me in teaching her because of the layout of the Calvert Lesson Manual.  All she had to do was look ahead to the next subject, go get the materials, and sit next to me as I did some “recliner homeschooling”.  She could then get the answer keys and wait while I checked over everything.  In this way, we have been able to keep up our normal pace of a lesson a day, with allowances for me to recharge (nap) as needed.  So that has given me real peace of mind.  All it takes is a week like this to make me really appreciate my health, and my kids, all the more.

March 3, 2011 5:07 p.m.

Things are looking up.  Chips picked up his violin today for the first time after days of rest and practiced with his accompanist.  Twice - once at slow tempo, then full tempo.  He did great, and no pain at all!  We are very encouraged.  He'll still take it easy (I hope) for the next few days although he really wants to "pull out all the stops." I told him to wait 'til the competition.  Many of his friends were praying, so we are thankful for that.  His teacher is thankful, too, and we assured her it was because of the prayers! 

Thank you to those who left comments about this.  They are helpful and I will investigate your suggestions. 

Having experienced this, I don’t think teachers (at least ours) emphasize the physical aspect of string playing enough, or advise students on how to protect themselves and how to adopt safe “practice practices” to prevent injury.  I think I am going to get some material together and get with our teacher and help her to produce a handout for all her students.  She might not be confident about writing in English and need my help there.

Anyway, I’m doing the happy dance today.

March 1, 2011 6:06 p.m.

You’ve all heard of sports injuries, but music injuries?

Well, it happened like this.  Chips has been pretty excited about practicing two pieces on the violin for an upcoming competition, one in which he has an opportunity to win some nice green cash.  So, needless to say, as money motivates Chips dearly, he is very motivated to practice for this one.  So for about three days, he stepped up his level, length, and intensity of practice until he discovered on day four (last Thursday) that he had soreness in his left forearm during practice.

After hearing horror stories from our violin teacher about students having to quit violin after years of study, I told him to back off considerably, to play softly and conservatively, to practice only in 15 minute segments.  He did this on Friday, and had some discomfort (he describes it as mild – t0 moderate pain – not sharp, not burning, more like “squeezing”) during the second 15 minute segment.  Ditto on Saturday.  So I told him not to touch his violin until he went to his lesson on Monday afternoon.

We did this, yesterday, and when we reported the situation to Miss S, she seemed rather alarmed.  This did not make me feel better.  I knew Chips had been practicing like Superman the week before, and 20/20 hindsight wasn’t going to do us much good, I was afraid.  A bit later, Miss O arrived at Miss S’ house to practice with Chips (she is his accompanist for the March 6th competition) and she seemed alarmed, too, at first, but was more reassuring to us by telling us of similar situations she as been in (as a professional violinist) and how she has wrapped her neck and shoulder and used Icy-Hot, etc,. etc.  It was a bit disconcerting to see the expressions on both women’s faces as they discussed the matter between themselves in Russian, while I sat and scratched my head and was afraid to ask any more questions.

So we decided to give practice a try with Miss O at piano, and Chips played very conservatively, with no vibrato.  He played both pieces, and Miss S asked him if he felt pain.  He said “No, not really”.  She acted better after this.  So Miss O left and the lesson continued on a bit, with Chips working out various details that needed correcting – but softly and carefully.  Miss S sent us home with a bottle of Chinese Red Flower Oil.  Very sweet and caring of her, n’est-ce pas?  But when we got home, Chips’ admitted to me that the pain had returned by the end of the shorter than normal lesson, although it was slight.

We stopped by our pediatrician’s office on the way home and a nurse took a quick (free) look-see and decided that it is likely a muscle strain and not tendonitis.  Just advised us to rest it, and take ibuprofen round the clock for a few days.

So we are going to carefully resume practice on Thursday, for a couple of days, because the competition is Sunday afternoon.

We are also going to set new guidelines for Chips’ practice sessions from now on.  Shorter segments, rest periods, slower speeds, vary the music more, etc.  Not repetitive jam sessions of playing a piece over and over again at full performance tempo, the way Chips’ likes to do it.

If there is anybody out there with any experience with this sort of thing, please send me a comment.  It is hard to know how much healing time is needed.  This is on my mind a lot this week.  Thank you!

February 13, 2011 11:33 a.m.

I’ve got the flu and the flu’s got me. 

February 10, 2011 4:32 p.m.
Alas, today is a sick day at our house.  No lessons, just library books, videos, and naps.  Both children have the flu and are spiking fevers.  When one is up, the other is down, and vice versa.  As of this writing, Sweet Girl has hit 104 and Chips is at around 100.  Then in a couple of hours, it could be the other way around.  I hate to see them this way; they are so infrequently sick like this.  And they are supposed to play violin for a talent show tomorrow night that they have been anticipating for a long time.  I do hope they recover quickly.

We spent the weekend traveling to “Pepsicola” to visit Self-Reliant Man’s parents.  They seemed to be doing as well as can be expected.  Without going into too much detail about them, his mother is in an assisted-living facility.  His father isn’t.  Anyway, here are some photos of the children with them this weekend.

February 2, 2011 11:01 p.m.

Perimenopause strikes again.  This time I have had a headache since Sunday morning.  Tension headache, floaty feeling.  Very annoying, and we are about to travel, too.  Please pray that it gets better quickly.  Last time I had this headache was about six months ago and it lasted for nine days.  This is only day five.

Other than that, things are great; Chips just completed his first test set in Calvert’s Sixth grade course, Sweet Girl’s first test set is on its way back to us in the mail, and I got a new dishwasher! 

Also, we are about to travel to visit the grandparents.

Just this darn tension headache, or else everything would be perfectamundo.  Like I always say, and I mean it moreso every time --  hormones, you can’t live with ‘em, can’t live without ‘em!

Maybe if I post pictures of the dishwasher going in I’ll feel better.

There.  Isn’t that pretty?  And Chips helped his dad install it.   Have a blessed weekend!

Thursday, July 22, 7:21 a.m.

This month, I finally took the time to go get a physical exam. Twice I got established with a primary care doctor, only for him to leave the practice for various reasons.  So it has been four years since I had a standard physical.  I had been going for my annual gyn exams, but they never included general lab work.  So this month I finally visited an internist near our home who was recommended by a friend.  This friend has never steered me the wrong way when it came to recommending good doctors, and she definitely did a good thing for me this time.

This doctor is very nice, he takes time to talk, he is not too busy, and he is thorough.  In addition, he has three children and his wife homeschools them.  What could be neater than that?

So, this Tuesday I was called back into the office to discuss the lab work that had come in, and this is what I found out: I am severely deficient in Vitamin D.  Not just a little bit.  Vitamin D levels are supposed to be between 50 and 100, and I am at 9.  So he prescribed megadoses of Vitamin D for me for the next two months.  100,000 IU per week for the first month, and 50,000 per week for the next month.  He told me that vitamin D deficiency is associated with bone, joint, and muscle pain, or diffuse aching, and higher risks for various cancers.

I keep all my lab work records, and I looked back at previous results I had.  A doctor has never ordered a vitamin D test for me before.  This is the first time.

Two days later, after I took the first megadose, I really think I feel a positive difference.  For years I have been living with diffuse aching throughout my legs and joints, especially my knees.  I thought it was a normal consequence of getting older, general bone fatigue after a busy day.  Yesterday, I was very active and busy, and I didn't notice this coming on at all.  So far today, things seem good.  I am excited to see whether the vitamin is actually helping alleviate something that I thought was just "getting older"!  If so, then this doctor is a gem.

I recommend asking a doctor for a vitamin D test when getting a check up.  I did some reading online, and this condition is more common than ever before, especially in the northern climates.  The main source of vitamin D is UVB rays from the sun.  The only common food sources are fatty fish, and some dairy foods to which it has been added.  Nonetheless, the food sources are inconsequential, as they contribute such a small dose per meal.  The UVB rays can supposedly provide all you need within 15 to 30 minutes of skin exposure, more if you are dark-skinned.

Now you would think someone like myself, who lives in the "Sunshine State", would not have this problem.  The truth is, I go outside every day, but I have always been careful to avoid sun, or to wear sunscreen.  Also, most of my time outdoors is before sunrise, and after sundown, because the sun is HOT and INTENSE here.  Here's another surprise: sunscreen blocks UVB rays; therefore sunscreen blocks what can be your only reliable, free source of the daily dose of vitamin D you need.  So while I was slathering on sunscreen to protect myself, I was also depriving myself of the only adequate source of this nutrient.  (The doctor told me I would have to eat fatty fish morning, noon, and night to get enough right now, and there is no way I am doing that!).

You have to be careful with vitamin D supplementation, though.  It should be supervised, and preceded by blood work, to be safe.  But the amount you get through sunshine is sufficient and self-limiting, preventing your body from accumulating toxic amounts (your skin doesn't convert what your body doesn't need).  Hey, I think I'm on to something.

Ask your doctor, busy mom!

 June 1, 2010 5:07 p.m.

The title of this post might seem mysterious until I tell you that on Wednesday of last week, I began to wear an orthodontic retainer, after not having visited an orthodontist in 29 years.  Now those of you who remember what it is to experience orthodontics need no further explanation.  But for the rest of you..

It all sounds so simple, you see.  You are handed an innocuous looking clear plastic devices that presumably is custom made to fit.  You are told to simply "wear the retainer 24/7 for two weeks, only removing it to eat.  Then after two weeks, you may wear it only at night.  Any questions?"

"Oh no, of course not," I think to myself; after all, how difficult can that be?  But as I smile a reply, I can't help noticing that this plastic device seems to not quite fit as comfortably as I expected it to (hoped it would).  So, I usher my children out the door and we head home.

Except that a few hours later, I realize that I have become short-tempered and grouchy and my sinful nature is becoming more evident than usual.  And as hour after hour wears on, I realize that this darn contraption is exerting forces on my teeth that I would prefer not to have to deal with.  And when dinner time comes and I remove it, I feel my teeth instantly move back into their normal places and say "ahhhh..."

Only to have to put it back in after dessert.  And wear it at night.  And then, homeschool my kids the next day, reading aloud to them and teaching myself to speak correctly again.  That was not one of my magazine photo picture perfect homeschool days, I remember that much.

Well, now here it's been six days since the torture device retainer has been placed, and I have to say that my teeth now know their new places, my bite has been altered as it needed to be, and the retainer apparently has done the trick.

Oh, and apologies for grumpy mommy/ wife have been delivered all around.  Now I remember why I didn't miss this particular part of my teenage years.

March 25, 2010 8:27 a.m.

The MSM (mainstream media) have done such a poor job of reporting. Of course we know it has been deliberate. It would have been impossible for anybody relying on the MSM to have any idea of what is really in the Health Care legislation, except for hints here and there about the candy to be dispensed to some. They have done all they can to make the bill appear palatable, but like the tasty pill pockets we use for our dog, the inside contains a bitter, expensive pill.

The PIC (Party in Charge) claims that they are looking out for the workers. The reality is that the working people will be footing the bill. It amazes me how few people would seriously ask questions like "but how is this going to be paid for?" Why was the answer so obvious to some of us, but not to the rest? Too late now.

We working stiffs (and retirees, too) will be finding out all too soon. Pardon me but I think I am going to be sick.




p.s. if for some odd reason the hyperlink doesn't work for you, the article is here:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703312504575141642402986422.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_sections_opinion

January 25, 2010 11:15 p.m.

You know, yesterday, I totally forgot to mention something that happened on our camping trip. The first night we were sleeping in the van, I failed to put my eyeglasses in a "safe enough" place. Turns out, I had them in a soft case, and I must have kicked or squashed the case in my sleep because when I woke up, I found to my dismay that the frames were snapped in two across the bridge.

Darn it. These were my progressives, too. Big :-(




However, I am very thankful that I just so happened to bring my bifocals along as a spare. I don't know why I brought them, I usually wouldn't pack unnecessary extras for a camping weekend, but there they were, and I was extremely grateful. I cannot imagine what it would have been like to camp half-blind.

So Self-Reliant Man said: "Why don't you visit the Zenni Optical website and see whether you can order a replacement frame of the same style as the one you bought from them originally? Then when they arrive, I can install your progressive lenses [which are still in perfect condition] into the new frames?"

So I got on the website and ordered the same frame again, but with a different color (for a change) and they will arrive in a couple of days. They will only cost me $18 shipped.

Another thing, when I originally bought my progressives from Zenni, they cost $69, including $5 shipping and handling. Imagine that price for progressives at a brick- and- mortar optical outlet!

To date, our family has ordered five pairs of eyeglasses from Zenni. We have never been displeased with the quality; in fact, some pairs have been the best glasses we've ever had. You need to read through all the informative material on the website, and place your order very carefully, because you will have to eat your losses if you make a mistake. No matter: just be careful and take your time. And get your PD from your previous optician. They owe you this information anyway.

Need to save money on glasses? I cannot recommend this business highly enough.

November 17, 2009 9:34 p.m.

Saw this article in the New York Times. Did you catch it?


The older I get, the less likely I am to believe anything I hear.

Apparently we are no longer to seek out mammograms before the age of 50, and then we are only to get them every two years. In addition, we are not to bother doing those monthly self-exams that we have heard about for our whole adult lives. Apparently it all will do us more harm than good.

I can't help but wonder at the timing of this move. Coming as it does in advance of a whole brave new world of health care in our country. Not to mention the complete "about face" that this recommendation brings. "Doctors should stop teaching women to examine [themselves] regularly"? Hmmm. Sounds very odd.

Do you know how many billions of dollars of healthcare spending this will save? Is this the way they plan to cut back on healthcare costs? Soon, they'll tell us there is no need to get regular checkups after the age of 40. After all, they might actually find something wrong then.

November 16, 2009 11:10 a.m.

I wish I had gotten this up on the blog sooner, but God is not limited by linear time. Prayers help, even after the fact.

Please pray for our friend, Darcy, age 40, who this morning is undergoing a bilateral mastectomy. Her surgery was scheduled to begin at 9 a.m.

Thank you.

November 11, 2:58 p.m.

I have wanted to post for several days, but believe it or not, there have been more important things in my life to do than blog. Hard to believe, I know.

In the past month, I have learned of three people I know who have been diagnosed with cancer. One of these is a friend and homeschool mother of six children who was diagnosed with breast cancer. She is only forty years old. She recently moved out of state, too.

So I have been spending some time this week writing letters to some of these folks or their family members. Please keep them in prayer.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Other than that, we did return from our camping trip this Sunday, and it was an especially memorable trip for one reason that will be covered later in this post. The weather was exceptionally gorgeous throughout the trip, and we were thankful for that.

The name of the state park this time was Silver River State Park, near Ocala, in our great state. I have to say that when they designed and laid out this campground, they really did it right. It is a newer campground, and very popular, which is why we hadn't made it there sooner. The campsites are wooded, spacious, and private! There is plenty of distance between sites, which I love. The facilities are newer and well-kept, with convenient laundry and outdoor sink, that made life much easier for us van folks. This campground has perhaps dislodged Anastasia State Park from first place in our list of state campgrounds.

Every time we head to a new place, I always wonder... are there enough activities there? Will the children enjoy this park? Will anybody be bored? I honestly don't know why I still wonder about this, because they always find something to pretend about when they get there.





Matchbox cars and gravel always make for several periods of uninterrupted campsite play, as the children always make a new network of "roads" wherever we camp.





Other diversions included:




the snapping turtle that the children befriended for two days.







Then there were the chickens that the children discovered at the Cracker village museum.















Although fishing was not allowed at this park, that did not stop Baby Girl and Little Son from making their own "cane poles" out of sticks and pine needles (fishing line). They used these poles to "entertain" the snapping turtle with bits of bread.














Baby Girl was always keeper of the "Feed the Fire Store", selling us from her stash of firewood and tinder. Friday, she announced, was "Free Friday" so we snatched up all the merchandise we could while it lasted.









The children found a clearing in the woods behind our campsite, which they dubbed their "Exploring Office". Baby Girl wanted to make sure that I got a photo of the all important Exploring Office into the blog. So here it is.













And lest you think that camping is all play and no work for our children, never fear. They do have their campsite responsibilities, besides helping to pack and unpack. Baby Girl often has table-setting duties to tend to.














Little Son chipped in with some of the less challenging cooking tasks.















Self-Reliant Man is always the champion burger flipper.














One thing that we can do really well while camping is EAT!














One favorite evening snack continues to be Jiffy Pop...













... but hot cocoa, pound cake, and cookies filled in those spare idle moments around the campfire very well. As did "read alouds" by Yours Truly. Right now, we are reading Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze ~~ a very entertaining campfire read!















And before I forget, we continued to hike whenever we could. The first hike we took was the River Trail, where we obtained a lovely view of the pristine Silver River.














The next day we attempted to hike one of the other many trails: the Swamp Trail, which would provide another fine view of the river, and some baby snapping turtles to observe. We really wanted to complete this trail...








but....




about a hundred yards or so down this trail, we were moving along at a good pace, Baby Girl in the lead, but thankfully within grabbing distance of Breezy Point Mom (that's me). Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye I noticed, lying in a straight line alongside the left edge of the trail, a five foot long Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake! The most dangerous rattlesnake in North America. This was a fat one, too, with approximately three inch diameter around the middle. At once, I yelled, "Oh my God, a Diamondback" and reached out for Baby Girl, who hadn't noticed it. When she saw the creature, she panicked and ran to me (mommy!!!) and I turned to Self-Reliant Man, who said "Run!" and the four of us darted back to the beginning of the trail, hearts beating a mile a minute. Self-Reliant Man got the best look at this snake, and reported that he had noticed the rattler, and that the snake had turned its head to see us off as we ran away.

Sorry, I did NOT take up my camera to get a shot for the blog, important as the blog is and all. Actually, the idea didn't enter my mind at that moment, not that it would have made a difference. So the above snake picture is just one I pulled from elsewhere.

The photo above of the children by the trail sign was taken only about two minutes before the snake sighting. How naive and innocent that moment was. Wait ~~ isn't that something slipping through the leaves in the distance behind the kids?? Yikes!

We reported our sighting to park personnel, and to other visitors we saw approaching that trail, and any families we noted with young children.

We learned anew why it is important not to let your little ones get far ahead of you on the trail. Baby Girl had developed a habit of running out far ahead of us, with us unable to keep up with her at times. I don't think she will be doing this again any time soon.

And yes, we did go back a little later and hike.... the River Trail again. Don't know if we will ever brave the Swamp Trail now.

Nevertheless.............

We love camping!

And we can't wait to do it again.

The pastor at the church we attended for five out of the past six years received shocking news last week. After suffering some unexpected injuries and symptoms before and while serving in the mission field, he got checked out medically and learned that he has a very serious form of cancer known as multiple myeloma, a cancer of the blood plasma cells. He learned that without treatment, he has months to live, while if he seeks out the best treatment available in the U.S. he can extend this out for between a few and a handful of years, depending.

This man is 52 years old, married, with no children. He has a vivacious personality, extremely articulate, full of energy, wit, creativity, and passion for the Lord. He was in the middle of transitioning calling from being pastor of the small church we attended to working full time in the mission field, overseas.

Now his energy, thoughts, and prayers are directed toward the many decisions that must be made ~~~ quickly ~~~ regarding his treatment options.

There are, perhaps, thousands of folks praying for him and his wife right now. Please join that number if you can; I'd appreciate it very much.

Also, amidst all of this, he is choosing to gift us with his thoughts, prayers, and daily reflections of this journey through the valley of darkness. If you would like to read his daily meditations, you can find them here. As I said, he is an incredibly articulate and prolific writer and preacher, and I am sure you will be blessed by his writings. I know there isn't a big "crowd" of readers of this blog, but if you can, please pray for his church as well, as they are in the midst of making some big decisions regarding their future, too.

Thank you!

October 8, 2009 6:28 p.m.

This flu is keeping me guessing. Little Son seems to be all over it, since Tuesday morning, except for an occasional cough.

I really thought that Baby Girl was over it as of Tuesday morning, just like her brother. Except her temperature never really went all the way back to normal: it kept hovering in the 99 degree range. Also, she was complaining about pain in the back of her neck and legs. But she was okay, otherwise.

Now today, she is coughing more, and ba-da-boom, she has a fever again, up to 102 at times. Combined with a headache, it was enough to make her very miserable this afternoon. But now it is over four hours since a dose of acetaminophen and she seems much better. Called the doctor's office, and they told me that many kids' bodies are taking as long as seven days to fully get rid of the virus. We are only on day five, so I will not jump in the car and bring her back to the doctor yet. Other than her frequent cough, she doesn't appear to have any breathing problems.

Self-Reliant Man, although he keeps going to work, has reported to me all the classic symptoms of the flu except fever.

As for me, I have managed to escape this illness so far, and I am extremely thankful for that.


I have to close by saying that even our state has the flu. It is experiencing a fever as well. Here it is, early October, and the temperatures topped out in the mid nineties again. Surely this cannot last much longer...... can it?

I am so ready for autumn to begin.

October 3, 2009 9:41 p.m.

Well, as of this evening, we have two sick children in the house. Little Son just finished up his third day with a fever and cough. Little Son never gets a fever. I can't remember the last time he had one. Baby Girl just began to have a fever this afternoon, and she has been coughing since yesterday, too. I took Little Son to the pediatrician on Thursday and they are following the CDC guidelines, which means not to dispense any antivirals to anybody who is not considered "high risk", or hospitalized. I was advised that he has the flu-like bug that is "going around the community". The trouble is, we haven't been "around the community"; rather we have been traveling through five states in the Southeast where H1N1 is widespread, eating in restaurants (including buffets), visiting restrooms, museums, a theme park, etc. So you can guess what my conclusion is about my kids' illness right now. I don't think any doctor will actually tell you that in all likelihood you have H1N1, because they aren't going to write a script for an antiviral anyway. Therefore, it will merely be referred to as the flu-like bug that is "going around the community". That way, you will still come back and get the vaccine next month (even though you won't need it anymore but you won't have any way of knowing that).

I checked out the CDC website, and a high percentage of flu-like persons who are tested are coming up H1N1. Specifically, if you have been told you have "type A" flu, it turns out that 99% of type A is H1N1. A friend of mine has a neighbor who tested "type A", right after passing it on to her family. The flu went through 5 members of her family about a week or two ago. So I know it is definitely around.

So that's where we are right now. As for me, I plan to hit the supermarket tomorrow morning and stock up on food for a week, before I get sick, too. Self-Reliant Man is doing okay, except he said something about feeling some mild cold symptoms. I hope things turn out better than I expect right now! I am thankful that we are at least not considered in the high-risk category, anyway.

On account of this post of a month ago, some of my faithful readers and friends have inquired about Baby Girl's eyesight. I apologize for not updating this topic earlier.

It turns out I have not taken her to the optometrist. Since she has a history of causing me to take her to the doctor on false alarms, I decided to sit tight in this case and try to make my own surreptitious observations of her reading and eyesight habits without talking about it.

It turns out I have several times caught her in the act of easily reading books and signs from both near and far distances. In fact, I confess, I even set her up a couple of times to determine this (i.e. the time she was reading the book to her daddy, and daddy moved the book away from her so he could "see the pictures better" and she kept on reading just fine).

So, I firmly believe that Baby Girl has good eyesight, and that this matter can wait until our regular eye appointment in July.

Thank you for asking!

Yes, there has been a cease fire in my battle with perimenopause. And it has been all about better nutrition.

First of all, many thanks to Paula over at A Large Room for recommending a good book to me: "What to Eat", by Marion Nestle. This book was a whopper, over 500 pages, but I read all of it, and it was very informative. Just when a previous book I read about Perimenopause and nutrition had me thinking I had to go to a different planet to find safe food, this common sense nutritionist showed me I didn't have to. I highly recommend this book! This lady is smart. She is a good analyzer and thinker. She writes in an engaging, and often humorous way about a subject that can be pretty dry. She has done hours of research into the politics of food marketing, and how it should affect our choices on what to purchase and what to eat, and how to choose well at the supermarket.

Second of all, thanks once again to Leanne Ely for helping me get on the good nutrition wagon again. Thanks to her recipe plan, we are once again eating well at dinnertime. And these dinners often mean plenty of healthy leftovers for lunch later in the week.

The result is that I have been doing better in the hormone department. The symptoms and issues I reported back in this post have largely improved. There have been some days with a couple of symptoms, but not nearly to the extent that I complained about during the summer. I know that our diets left a lot to be desired. My DH and I had emerged from our successful weight loss year (he lost 35 pounds last year and I lost 30 pounds) without a decent eating plan for sustaining the weight loss, so we ended up eating too many packaged "calorie--controlled" meals without enough nutrition in them. Hey, Stouffers can be a good thing in a pinch, but too much of this sort of eating will take its toll. Not to mention the high sodium content. So now we are happily home cooking a wide variety of foods, and this is one area where it has been helping me.

Another things is that the book I mentioned above helped me to identify what may be the emerging signs of lactose intolerance in Baby Girl. So, after recently upgrading to organic milk for her benefit, I now find that I need to purchase organic and lactose free milk for her. I have been doing this for a week now, and her tummy aches have gone away. That is, until this morning when she complained about it again. I thought about what she had eaten and remembered that she ate a large portion of a casserole I made last night that contained cream cheese. Whoops! I guess I forgot about the lactose content there.

Yes, this week I did cross yet another milestone in life. Some would say, it is one of those little thresholds.

I got a prescription for Dual Vision Corrective Lenses. That is my preferred name for ... uh ... er.. bi, bifo, (spit it out! ) ... ah .. ummmmmmmm...

I think the correct word is bifocals. Yes, my friends, I am now going to be a bifocals wearer. I eeked out those single vision glasses just as long as I possibly could, but now, at the tender age of 45 -1/4, it's time.

I've decided that it was going to be sooner or later, and might as well get it over with. Sometimes one just has to be a big girl and face the music, bite the bullet, jump in with both feet. Or eyes.

I am taking that prescription and marching off to the nearest optician to get my newfound Dual Vision. Yessirree, I am going. I'm putting that prescription in my purse right now. I'm going .. going .. well, maybe in a few months.

Right now I've got more immediate fish to fry. I got stung by a wasp yesterday, and although it didn't continue to hurt very long yesterday, as of today my left ring finger is very itchy and swollen. So much so, that I can't really bend the finger anymore. It looks like a balloon animal. It looks like the ring finger of a very fat person. Fortunately I had the foresight to take off my rings before it swelled. Boy oh boy -- I took Zyrt*c, and it didn't help. How do I keep from scratching it?