One of my good friends that I’ve know since the 1980′s is retired and having a lot of health problems. She had to to go to the hospital recently for total hip replacement surgery. They kept her in the hospital for 3 days and then moved her to a nursing home for the rest of her recovery and rehab – estimated to take about 8 weeks, maybe longer, depending upon her healing and progress.

I can just imagine how upsetting it must be to realize that you have to spend 2 months in a nursing home. I truly hope that the surgery goes well and that she recovers quickly.

Another good friend is dealing with serious financial issues and having problems with her bank. She is trying to work with the bank to get everything resolved, but her fiance is a hothead and every time she makes headway with the bank he gets upset and causes trouble for her. I don’t know what to say when she calls me, crying, because I cannot give her money and even though she is convinced that the lack of money is her problem, I believe that her real problem has nothing to do with money.

Doing laundry today, I was assaulted with a variety of added fragrances. The detergent has a fragrance. The bleach has a fragrance. The fabric softener has a fragrance and the dryer sheets have a fragrance. My poor clothes are just bombarded by perfumes.

The funny thing is, when they come out of the dryer they have a faint fragrance in them, but by the time they are fluffed and folded and put in the closet, they don’t smell like anything at all any longer.

The study also says that most people who are suffering are not receiving treatment – only 30% have attempted to get help. And, sadly, only about half of them are receiving effective treatment. That is a lot of depression and sadness around you if you live in Europe. What a sad report.

But today I discovered that there is mold behind the walls of the bathroom. So I will be remodeling the bathroom – the walls have to come out and be replaced, so I might as well upgrade the fixtures, too. It’s going to be a mess.

Everett was able to walk onto the stage to accept the award, and it brought tears to everyone’s ears during a standing ovation. What an awesome moment and testimony to the mantra, “Don’t Give Up.”

My cancer treatments were completely debilitating. I could barely function at all for four months while I underwent intensive radiation therapy. There was no way I could work at all, or even take care of my family. It was horrible to be so sick, helpless, and dependent on others with no real timeline or even hopeful prognosis for a recovery. Thanks to my parents and my grandmother, and the best doctors in the world, I was able to get through those terrible months, but the bills piled up and that was probably the worst financial situation I’ve ever been in and recovering from a serious illness plus recovering from extreme financial distress took a very long time.

For some people in similar or sadly worse situations, all they can do is run up the bills for as long as they can and then try to file for Bankruptcy. I know there have been recent changes to the bankruptcy laws that make it more difficult to file, but I surely hope that honest people who have to face a serious or life threatening illness still have some hope of help with their finances.

I know that if anyone in my family or circle of close friends has to go through what I did, that I will be there at their side to help them through it as much as I possibly can. That’s what family and real friendship is for.

I don’t even know if I’m supposed to do this, but my mothering instinct takes over when I see the convulsion and I grab a warm fluffy towel from the bathroom and wrap him up in the towel and hold him in my lap until the shaking is over.

This is very upsetting – I thought we had it under control and I don’t understand why he had the seizure today.

Another option for her is to order as much as she can over the internet and let Big Brown bring it all to her doorstep. One of her big personal needs is support hose, which she has to wear every day – even in the heat of summer. So I was delighted to come across an internet source for the ones that she likes.

Just to be nice, I’m going to order her a couple pair from the website and have them delivered as a little surprise. Then she can order her future pairs from the same place.

He’s been acting normal and eating regular food and doing everything like he was before he got sick, so that’s good news. Look at him sitting so pretty for me:

I haven’t left him alone all weekend and have watched him like a hawk. So far, so good, thank goodness.

We have to watch him closely over the weekend and take him back to the vet on Monday for follow up. I hate that we have to watch him over the weekend and be pretty much on our own if something bad happens, because there aren’t any vets open on Sundays if we need help. The next two days are going to be stressful around here.

So today I decided to shop at Aldis and see if they had any bargains worth picking up to stock the pantry. I was pleasantly surprised to see what a nice variety they have. However, most foods are not a recognizable name brand – they are probably house brands that Aldi has arranged to buy in quantity. the best cost savings seemed to be in canned vegetables and boxed bake goods. So we’ll give a few of them a try and if they are good enough to pass my family’s taste test, I will shop there again soon.

We are thrilled at how well these basic vegetables have done and I think next year we’ll go ahead and have a full garden. I have plans to put in a raised bed over in the side yard and I want to grow a bigger variety of vegetables.

Like the “experts” who every year predict that this coming year will have lots of terrible hurricanes. Well, duh. Every year does have the chance that there will be terrible hurricanes, and if a hurricane happens to rip through your own neighborhood then you most likely will be calling that hurricane terrible and a few other choice names. But the fact is that not every year has terrible hurricanes, some years are worse than others.

I like flip flops. I have been wearing them since a little kid and they are my footwear of choice during the hot summer months and certainly better than going barefoot. There is not much difference between a pair of cheap flip flops and expensive designer thongs sandals other than the “design” and the price tag. I really don’t see how flip flops can be bad for my feet when I’ve been wearing them every summer for over 50 years.

My goal has always been to have fresh homegrown tomatoes on the vine ready to pick by the Fourth of July each summer. Well, believe it or not, we’ve been picking ripe tomatoes for two weeks already! They are not really big tomatoes, but they are sweet and meaty and we are very pleased with ourselves!

Maybe this abundance of fresh tomatoes will encourage hubby to eat more fresh garden salads this summer. He eats them in restaurants when salad comes with the meal – no cucumbers, no fancy lettuce – just iceburg – ranch dressing is the only dressing choice – but salads at home are always disdained. If I was a completely confident cook I’d be offended, but it’s not me – it’s him.

At home he usually falls asleep watching TV and his mom moves him to his bed and leaves his clothes on him, then in the morning he gets a bath in a big hurry because he has to leave for school.

At my house (my rules!) he takes a bath after dinner and puts on pajamas, then he is allowed to watch TV or a movie and then he puts himself to bed. I tuck in the covers and say, “Sleep tight – don’t let the bedbugs bite!”