BooksRule

Touching on a couple of topics being discussed: I still write checks for some bills (haven't gotten totally on-board with online bill-paying yet), but use cash or a card for most purchases at stores and restaurants. And I do a bit of online shopping, but not much. As for microwaves, I mainly use mine for zapping packages of frozen veggies or making popcorn (I have a microwave popper so I can make homemade instead of that stuff in bags). On another topic, even with my bad knee (still favoring it after twisting it a couple of weeks ago) and a clunky old mower (the 'self-propelled' function quit) I managed to get my front yard mowed. It took about 8 shifts to get it done, coming in after every 3 or 4 laps to rest and drink water. I was very careful not to aggravate my knee and would have reluctantly quit if it had started hurting. But I wrapped it up good with a compression bandage and that made all the difference. I just have a side yard to do, but it's really small and won't take me much time. I'll get it done before dark. Two things I'm taking away from my hard work today: I'm buying myself a cordless electric mower before I have to mow again and even though you shouldn't reward yourself with food, I'm treating myself to a pretzel crust pizza from Little Caesar's for dinner tonight!

Thanks for the explanation! (I think that might have been just about the moment when I knocked over a full glass of ice water onto my coffee table and had to concentrate on mopping up the mess -- and didn't think to go back and re-watch what I had missed.)

Maybe I missed part of the conversation (and I've already deleted the episode from my DVR), but how did the guy get stabbed? He met a girl (but can't remember much about her), they talked for 17 minutes and then he fell on an icepick? What did I miss?

I thought I posted about this in January, but I guess I didn't. I've been sitting in the gray area of pre-diabetes for years. My A1c should be lower, but it wasn't quite high enough to push me over the edge into a diabetes diagnosis. Well, when I went back around 3 months ago for my regular checkup, I got word that my blood sugar level had risen to the 'you now have diabetes' range. I was given a choice of either starting to take Metformin for it or trying to change my eating habits and activity levels for the next 3 months to see if I could get it lower that way. Well, I did okay, but still kind of yo-yo'd with my habits (I did lose around 7 pounds, but did binge a couple of times on early-season Easter treats). Well, I had blood work done on Monday and low and behold, my level had dropped back into the low part of the gray area (maybe it was a post-holiday foods spike? Who knows?). Anyway, I still need to keep trying to lose weight in order to get even lower, but I was happy at this news. Then, I had an appointment with my ophthalmologist yesterday (I've had glaucoma for many years, so I go back every 4 months) and found out that my eye pressures are lower than they have been for a long time. Yay, me! Finally, today I got results from my mammogram (the ol' 'squish and scan') which I had delayed getting for far too long and they found no problems. I'm now 3 for 3. (Hmmm, maybe I should schedule my colonoscopy, or would that be pushing my luck? :) )

I slow-baked some country style ribs in the oven (slathered with BBQ sauce) yesterday and had the rest for lunch today. They were good. I didn't have any brussels sprouts on hand, but if I had they would have been a good match (roasted brown in the oven with the ribs).

I really hate getting to an age where I have to think about how I'm sitting down, standing up, bending, reaching, etc. I sat down yesterday morning in a lower seat that I'm used to using and felt something in my knee give a tiny pop. No pain, until I tried to stand up and couldn't put any weight (or very, very little) on that leg. I yelled a little and clutched countertops until I could get to my cane. I've done this type of thing before, and usually I just have to favor it (and use rest, ice, Aleve, etc.) for a few days. But I went to the walk in (heh heh) clinic to find out if I need to be doing anything else. I just got tired of dealing with it. Other than giving me a compression bandage to use (which did help) they didn't tell me anything I didn't already know (and we'll see how much of the visit insurance will take care of). Anyway, it really made me madder than usual because I had the weekend all planned out. I have been futzing around with finishing up a deep cleaning of my house (and purging some things) and this really messed me up. It's nice to just sit and watch TV, but darn it, I have stuff to do! I'm getting a few things done, but only those where I can sit or just lean against cabinets or counters in order to get them done. Before I do anything I stop and think about whether or not I can do it safely (and relatively pain free). Definitely no sitting on the floor (I could get down there, but could probably not get back up) or climbing those two steps onto the stepstool to get to upper shelves. (I also wish I had mowed my yard on Wednesday morning like I should have instead of talking myself out of it)

That's the house I meant. Someone posted about giving him another mortgage when he already had one, so I thought they meant that they thought he had a mortgage on the LA house. He was definitely renting that one.

I thought a couple of episodes ago when he was showing the house to people that he was 'subletting' it. So that would make him a renter without a mortgage. But I might be wrong. I wonder how long it will be before Maddie's throat scar totally vanishes? Chim's 'rebar through the forehead' scar stayed around for a season or two, but gradually I think it faded away.

I was trying to figure out where I knew Bobby's brother from and finally had to look it up on imdb.com -- he was Mia's teacher (later stepfather) from 'The Princess Diaries'. I thought it was good casting. Looking at both of them together, I could see them as brothers (slight family resemblance, in my opinion). I actually wish that Bobby and his mother hadn't reconciled. She is a terrible mother, preys on helpless people, and doesn't deserve forgiveness. But, I guess if it makes Bobby feel better, then okay. I don't watch the 'cruise ship doctor' show that follows '9.1.1.', but I did laugh at the end when Athena stopped dead in her tracks when she saw that the dispatcher had sent her to a docked cruise ship. ('Oh, hell, no!')

I thought that as well. I looked her up (Lena Waithe) and it looks like she's mainly known for writing, producing and as a comedian and has just fairly recently gotten involved with acting. Best part of the episode for me (maybe paraphrased. I've already deleted the episode): Simone: 'How are you still eating?' Adams: (mouth full, voice muffled) 'It's cereal. It's a different stomach.' (I'm guessing that this is the same stomach used when we're full from dinner, but still find room for dessert.)

Flynn: 'All the searches on Eric Riley were run by the same sheriff's deputy-Manuel Diaz. Hey, Sanchez. Do you know this guy?' Sanchez (walks over to look at the screen, and in an exaggerated Hispanic accent): 'Oh, yeah right, because all us L.A. Latinos we know each other. Right, Flynn?' (then in his normal voice) 'Uh, oh I do know him. Manny Diaz. He was married to my sister's best friend from high school.' (Flynn rolls his eyes) (S.2, Ep. 13 'Jailbait')

Eddie said something about Christopher having made new friends and apparently really fitting/settling in in Texas so Eddie doesn't want to uproot him and make him leave his new friends and new school. Eddie's big mistake was to allow Christopher to stay in Texas longer than just a couple of weeks. He should have been brought back (maybe kicking and screaming), but would have gotten over it in time. Eddie feels that he waited too long to act.

I totally didn't think of this, but you're right! That was definitely the cutest dog ever (and I'm not really a dog person). It had some great expressions. On a more serious note: I was wondering how the killer knew that Maddie had a little girl and knew Jee's (?) name. Maddie looked confused for a second, but then seemed to move past it. I'm trying to figure out what's going on. Maybe the guy who shot himself was actually a pedophile and the actual killer (the investigator) was blackmailing him to cooperate so that people would think he was the actual killer? From the preview of next week, it definitely seemed like she was the one who had killed the other girls. Maybe they were working together? Oh, well. Hopefully all will be explained quickly.

I saw this story on the news this morning, and it made me think of this episode. Was there ever a follow-up to Bobby and his miracle blood? If not, I wish they had brought it into an episode now and then. James Harrison, the man with the 'golden arm', has passed away: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y4xqe60gyo

With Tristan and Siegfried wandering around, I fully expected them to wind up back at the car on the road. I was surprised when they actually made it back to the village. I did laugh at Siegfried's description of taking a sobriety test: 'I plassed with fying covers...colors.' Those were the most beautiful strawberries I've ever seen, and even with using half the sugar I would love to have some of that jam.

I'm one of those people who tends to put off things until I absolutely have to do them. Well, that habit has just come back to bite me in the rear. I need some repair work done on my house--mainly some rotted soffit and fascia boards in various places needs to be replaced. I've stapled hardware cloth in some areas where I thought squirrels (or other varmints) might try to get in, but just hadn't gotten around to calling a contractor to get it done (and there's no excuse, either. I know of a company that gets great reviews and seems to do good work. They could definitely handle it). I also have let my backyard get weedy and never raked up leaves and fallen limbs from the fall. I have debris going right up to the house. Well, I got call (and a letter) a couple of days ago from my insurance company that said someone would be coming out sometime next week (or maybe the week after) to look at the exterior of the house. They said it was just a routine random check. So, I know I'm going to get dinged big-time on the repair work. Hopefully, I'll just get a letter saying that I have X numbers of days/weeks to get it done and to show proof when it's repaired. But it makes me mad that I put it off for so long. Yesterday evening and today after lunch (I had something else I had to do this morning), I raked and raked, bagged and bagged, and picked up limb after limb in the backyard nearest the house. I'm exhausted. Tomorrow I need to clean up a couple of other places and get the trash bags and limbs taken to the curb. Of course, the inspector guy might have come on Friday while I was at work. If so, there would be more on whatever report I get. At least I burned off some calories.

One of our staff members put an order sheet in our staff lounge a couple of days ago. I ordered my usual Thin Mints and whatever the shortbread ones are called. I usually get 5 or 6 boxes (gotta support the Girl Sprouts!) and put them in the freezer. I can make them last for a long, long time.

I would love to have a fridge shelf with one of those. I'm tired of having to practically stand on my head to reach the carton of yogurt or little bitty plastic tote of some leftover that rolled all the way to the back wall of the bottom shelf of the fridge. Well, the snow is about gone around here. Just a few patches left on roofs and in shady areas. It was fun while it lasted, but I won't miss the below-freezing days/nights.

I've had fun the last couple of days experiencing the biggest snowfall of my (fairly long) life. I live in the deep (deep) south and I don't think we've ever gotten more than an inch of snow (and that inch would be gone by lunchtime the next day). My small city got about 9 inches of snow on Tuesday (starting that morning) and most of it was still here until this afternoon--there are just big patches left. Everything shut down (we don't know how to drive in snow/ice here and very few of us even own a winter coat!) so I've had a 6 day weekend (Monday was a holiday, of course). I go back to work tomorrow, but not until 11am, since I got an e-mail that said we had some freezing issues in my library and we won't have any running water until then. People have gone nuts building snowmen, having snowball fights, and other winter-related activities that most of us have never experienced before (I did go sledding one time when I was young on a visit to North Carolina, but that's about it). I observed my neighbor kids jumping up and down on their trampoline and having a lot of fun (they didn't stay out long, though. Too cold). It got down to 14 degrees here (not a record, but close) but we were back up to the 40s today. Lots of photos posted on social media, but I guess life will go back to normal tomorrow.

So many. One thing I miss by being on a BP medicine is not being able to take a good strong cold medicine when I'm sick and miserable. People laugh when I say I miss gulping down a dose of Nyquil when I had a cold, but that nasty stuff would really help me to get a few hours of good sleep. That stuff I can take now that won't mess with BP isn't very effective. The cough medicine that's available isn't great, either. I want that stuff that will get me good and drowsy, darn it!

Caught this episode during this morning's marathon on the USA channel and alternated between groaning and -- as a research librarian -- saying 'Oh, Buck!' at the screen during this exchange between Bobby and Buck about the effects of a full moon on people: Bobby: 'And you read this in a peer-reviewed, scientific publication?' Buck: 'Uh, I don't know. Is the internet considered a scientific publication?'

I hope everyone who got snow is doing well. I'm in the deep south, and all we're getting out of this is some rain. We really don't need it right now, so I wish I could send it to Los Angeles. I took the day off so I could spend a three day weekend trying to make a dent in the my overgrown mess of a backyard, but the rain put a stop to those plans. So, I just put a small roast in the slow cooker for a pot roast dinner (with rice and gravy) and plan to just do a few chores around the house and watch some TV (I have several episodes of 'Dragnet' and 'Adam-12' recorded from yesterday and early this morning to watch along with other stuff). It will probably still be too wet to rake leaves or pull weeds tomorrow or Sunday (depending on if the sun comes out),so I might make the rounds of the local thrift stores tomorrow to see if I can find anything interesting. It's been a while since I've done that.

I've been on various eyedrops for glaucoma for several decades now, so I'm used to those. My BP went up a while back so I'm on a med for that one. Other than those, it's always been OTC supplements and such. But I did get a call from the doctor's office this morning to say that my A1C had finally risen enough that I had a choice to either try (again!) to exercise and lose weight to see if it comes down 'naturally' or get put on a diabetes med. I had been dreading this day for a long time (but it's so hard to get the weight off). Anyway, I have 3 months to see what I can do before they take my blood again and see if I can continue without adding another medication. At least my cholesterol seemed to be okay, since they didn't mention it at all. (I think I'm the only one in my family who has never had to be on cholesterol lowering medication.)

I had my annual wellness visit to my NP this morning. Hopefully, everything's okay, but I won't know details until I get results of the blood work back. Anyway, I've reached the age where they start to ask me to remember three words as soon as I get there and then to repeat the words back to them before they leave the room at the end. I guess my memory isn't too bad, because not only did I remember the words (banana, sunrise, chair), I remembered that those were the same three words they asked me last year!

Actress Dayle Haddon dies from carbon monoxide poisoning. And also found at her home was Walter Blucas, father of actor Marc Blucas. He is in the hospital in critical condition. I mainly remember Haddon as Jane in the 1978 Disney film 'The World's Greatest Athlete' (I had a crush on Jan Michael Vincent and saw the movie multiple times at the theater). She did a lot of TV in the 70s. https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/28/entertainment/dayle-haddon-death/index.html