Margret Sloan

Is it just me or does some “expert” come out every dang summer and announce that flip flops are bad for your feet? Personally, I’m sick of “experts” making broad generalizations on things in my daily life and then not being held accountable for their proclamations when proven wrong.

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.

OK - I’m willing to admit that we cheated a little on the tomato plants this year. We bought two plants at the Publix grocery store when they had some seasonal plants out front of the store. Each plant was only $12 and they both looked very healthy, so we brought them home and had a nice head start on tomatoes this year.

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.

In our house, when presented at the dinner table with a new or unfamiliar food, the household rule is that you are expected to (at the very least) try one bite. If you don’t like it, you force yourself to swallow it without a lot of drama or facial contortions and politely say, “I’m sorry, but I don’t care for that.” You are to always respect the fact that Mother made a huge effort to shop for, prepare, cook and serve a variety of wholesome and tasty foods, day after day after day just for our benefit and enjoyment. And Mother respected that fact that trying to please the tastebuds of seven people every night was a daunting task, especially when little sister announced out of the blue that from here forward she would be a vegetarian and refused to eat meat, poultry or fish. But I do appreciate the fact that my parents exposed us to a variety of foods at the family dinner table and it not only enriched our lives but taught us to appreciate and respect each other, as well.

Our grandson was here over the weekend. His mom dropped him off Saturday morning and we got to spend the whole day together. He usually goes to bed pretty early at home and I like to keep him on the same sleep schedule although not on the same routine.

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!”

Well, I’ve always said that because my parents always said that and their parents always said that. We’ve never had to worry about bedbugs - it was just a cute rhyme that we said out of love. But what do you do if you really do have to worry about letting the bedbugs bite? Well, there is a web site that can help people with that: bedbugsguide.com and I found it while surfing the internet with my grandson, because he asked what bedbugs look like.

So if you have a problem with bedbugs where you live, check out this site for how to kill bedbugs and soon you will be able to “sleep tight” again.

Decided this was a good time to read up on ED (erectile dysfunction) and check out the options for treatment, as this conversation might be coming up soon.

I checked a couple medical sites and then I found a website that is an online pharmacy that sells the top three most popular treatments for ED, called edrugstore.md and read through their pages on the three prescription drugs:

• Cialis
• Viagra
• Levitra

The page on Cialis talked about how this medication works for up to 36 hours, can be taken with or without food, and begins to work as quickly as 30 minutes after taking it.

The website has good information about their policies and how they work - all medications are brand names - no generics or counterfeits. They only dispense FDA-approved prescription medications and guarantee the lowest prices on the internet.

There is also a section on their home page that links to articles, such as “What Exactly is Cialis and Is It Right For You? ” and other helpful articles. I find reading these in the privacy in my own home is a lot easier to absorb rather than sitting in a doctor’s office and listening to him quickly go over the main points before handing us over to a medical assistant or, worse, their billing department.

The website also has a forum for discussions and a pharmacy blog. I like the way this company is really up to date on technology and writes in plain English so I can understand all the information on what can be a difficult subject for a lot of people to talk about.