THE BIG DAY

Tomorrow is the long awaited big day for my hip replacement surgery. I'm hurting pretty bad by now since I haven't been able to take my pain meds this week due to danger of bleeding during surgery. I have been packing my stuff today for the hospital stay as well as a bag of stuff I will need if I have to go to a rehab facility afterwards. All my friends in the know say that it is best to go to a rehab center because you get more therapy than if you go home which speeds and increases recovery. At first I was dead set on coming home immediately but now I am thinking that maybe rehab would be a good thing. I'll just have to tell the doctor that I don't have anyone to take care of me at home which is basically how it is, unless you want to count the cats. They are therapy all right but not the physical kind unless you count having to get up to feed them, cleaning the cat box, etc.

Actually, I don't have much idea what really is in store for me and I think that I may have underestimated how difficult this will be since my surgeon was so matter of fact about the procedure. My cousin who has had both hips done said that it is a lot of pain but once you are on the mend and moving you forget how bad it was. I reckoned that it was not unlike having a baby in that respect--you forget the pain once the little bugger is out and looking cute.

Until I am better and back at the computer this will have to do. Blessings and peace to all. Prayers are appreciated.

SOMETHING I HAVE NEVER DONE BEFORE

I am thinking about doing something that I have never done before. I often dream dreams like finding that last great love of my life, becoming a grandmother, traveling abroad for extended periods of time to quaint out-of-the-way places, seeing a Broadway show on Broadway (or anyplace else for that matter), winning the lottery big (I'd have to buy a ticket, of course) and then giving most of it away to worthy people and causes, and dreams probably not unlike what most people dream. I'm thinking of doing something much more ordinary and not dreamy at all. I'm thinking about making a small contribution to the campaign of my choice just for the sake of exercising my freedom to do so and knowing that a lot of little contributions add up to a lot of money--like saving all of those pennies that no one else will pick up off the ground. I can probably recoup my little contribution with pennies in the next year which will certainly be a lot less than what I am going to spend for higher gasoline prices. I am not complaining about the cost of gasoline either because we Americans have had it easy for a long time and we have been flagrantly wasteful with our resources. It is time for us to step up to the plate and do our part for the greening of this earth and get as many more as we can to become responsible. I have family members who do not recycle and who drive their cars with reckless abandon. You know who you are. Now I have gone from giving to preaching and that was not the intent of this message. Anyway, I hope that we all do our part for keeping our great country great in whatever responsible ways that we can.

A REALLY GOOD MECHANIC

I am blessed to have a really good mechanic. Today he came and got my car and took it to replace the power steering pump. It gave up the ghost a couple of weeks ago after devoloping a groan that grew worse over a period of about a year and finally ended with no power steering. When did you last drive a muscle car? It is no fun for sure.

Now I know that my mechanic is really good because he brought the car back to me without having to install the $135 part. He told me that when he started dismantling the old pump he found that the filter in it had become completely clogged with dirt and crusted fluid. He decided to clean the thing up and see what would happen. Voila! The old thing works like a charm and I get to return the part to the auto parts store. A dealer would have pulled the part, trashed it, put in the new one and charged me $400. I felt like I had received a gift--actually, I did receive a gift. So the old Corolla at age 15 is still leading a charmed life. I think she deserves a good vacuuming out tomorrow. I should call Click and Clack and tell them my story.

ENDORSING HILLARY

Wow! I don't know if I can stand the suspense of the Ohio and Texas primaries tonight. My girl, Hillary, has to win tonight to keep this campaign going. There, I said it. I endorse Hillary. I may have waited too late to say it. I have been so pumped up by this campaign but I think I will totally lose interest if she loses tonight. Obama doesn't have it so far as I am concerned. He needs more experience and to refine his plans for this country, which right now is in the toilet so far as I see it. I'm also sorry to see Huckabee go down. I liked the man and I think that he could have done good for our country.

DON'T LIKE TO BRAG

I don't think I am a bragger. Others may hold a different view of me. Oh, well, yeah, I brag about my kids but I think that is part of motherhood. Mostly I don't like to hear people brag about their accomplishments or what they do for others. I figure that truly great people don't have to brag about stuff like that. You may say that truly great kids don't need to be bragged about and you might be right. So I do not intend to sound like I am bragging when I relate what I gave up for lent this year. No, I didn't give up bragging about my kids, you may be sorry to hear, but I did give up computer games.

If you are hooked on computer games then you may have some understanding of how difficult a thing this can be and how insidious game playing can be. I had tried limiting the number of times I played a game, playing only when I needed to take a break from physical activities, playing only while I watched TV, and other silly self imposed controls. None of them worked and I always felt guilty for wasting the time and brain power. So I decided to give them up cold turkey about one week before lent began. I hope I never go back unless I set some really big limits for myself like one hour once a week or something like that. I work one crossword puzzle daily--supposed to be good for the brain--and now I am reading a lot more. I love reading and it was my reading time that the dumb games were eating into.

So how did I let the games take over my life. Well, living alone didn't help. I started having more time on my hands with no one ever looking over my shoulder to see what I was doing. Having someone present who sees your stupid behavior does make a difference if you have any pride at all. I think the games also served as an eraser for thoughts that I didn't particularly care to be having. I could enter a mindless zone for long periods of time. The games can also have some kind of positive effects because I would try to beat my own records and I suppose there was some skill involved at times. But nothing gained was worth the time that I lost playing games.

So I have replaced a bad behavior with some good ones and I don't have the guilt of misspent time. I think that the quality of my life is better and I'm certainly happier about that. Love those books, movies and music. Love it, love it, love it.