60 DAY 1

Technically, I suppose, my actual birthday was yesterday, but since I was sick I am counting today as "one."

So Day One:

I am off to work and stop off at my usual (every day I work) Jack in the Box for my usual (every day I work) Diet Coke.

I decide today I will not buy the usual Extra Large which I do not ever drink but I am in the habit of buying because it is 79 cents at McDonald's...but still order because it is a habit and is over $2.00 at JBox.

I order a medium, which is $1.95.  

Is your order correct on the screen?? says the man.

Yes! I reply driving to the window.

When I get to the window the girl says--that will be $1.40. I think, cool a promotion of some sort.  Then she says did you want catsup, as she hands me my diet coke.  OK, I think maybe she rang up the wrong thing.  I smile, taking the receipt and saying, I gave up Diet Coke and Catsup.

As I look at the receipt, I had a $.50 "Senior Discount."

One day and I am a senior.

The worst part is I look it up on the website and realize that I could have been getting a senior discount at JBox for 5 years since it starts at 55.  This is available at many places KYFry, Arby's, everyone's standbys...you should just ask.  It is rather embarrassing to be offered the discount.

For those of you anxious to find our where the "dish ran away with the spoon", Henry's Eyeglasses, case, and Cell phone case were laughing the whole week from the garage....where Henry put them when packing the car.
 

..and the dish ran away with the spoon...

Hey! diddle, diddle,
The cat and the fiddle,
The cow jumped over the moon;
The little dog laughed
To see such sport,
And the dish ran away with the spoon.

I have a new twist on the nursery rhyme classic

Normally, I am the person who forgets something, can't find something, or I am basically not ready to leave on vacation. In past years I have forgotten my make up (frightening), shoes, pants, underwear, battery chargers, camera. You name it I have had to buy new!

This time all I hear is Henry yelling at the top of his lungs--I am sure the whole neighborhood could hear him. He could not find his sunglasses...any where. He looked for 1 hour and 5 minutes. We then had to retrace his steps the previous day, to no avail.

When we got to Santa Barbara this afternoon, he looked at me and said...I bet they are with my cellphone case...

...and Cathi laughed to see the switch
And the case ran away with the glasses!

Forgive this post if it looks odd...I am using my new iPad to post. For those of you who participated in the gifting thank you so much. I love it! You all need one.

WHAT'S IN A NAME

I introduced myself to someone today at work. 

I looked down at her name tag as I was shaking her hand, and said:  Cynthia, that should be easy to remember, my sister's name is Cynthia, she was very special to me.


She then told me her story.  When she came to this country she was in a refugee camp.  She spoke no English.  She said that one of the people who helped her so much in the camp did not speak her language but they had the ability to communicate with each other and that she felt a very special bond with this woman.  When she became a citizen she was asked what she would like her name to be.  She wanted to honor this woman, so she chose her name.  She said that her only regret was that she had lost touch with her and was never able to tell her what she had done.


We hear all the time, I am named after...I am naming my baby after.  In my case, I named my son after my father.


Can you imagine having such an impact on someone's life that when given a choice they would want your name?  Who would you be??



 

GOING CRUISING

Jorge Cruise is handsome, charming, and inspiring.  He is the author of many of my favorite "Diet Reads"...since I do not actually diet or exercise, I now just refer to them "reads."


He is the author of...Eight Minutes in the Morning....

which I would gladly give him...as well as





...the very popular  "Flat Belly Cure"

 which is something to which I aspire...

and, the latest, the "3-Hour Diet"..

 

a time constraint that I can probably stick with.

I admit to having most (or all) of these books tucked away, packed with my fantasies of actual abdominal muscles rather than fat globules...kind of like the ugly stepsisters keeping Cinderella hidden, just like my stomach muscles are currently.

So Jorge was in the store today with his family and lo and behold he is ordering my favorite lunch of all time...

Chocolate cake

Vanilla Ice Cream

Smothered in Chocolate Syrup 

At least I order it for lunch...he had it as an appetizer!  

So there!! 

We eat the same thing...he looks like that...and me, well, I still do not have a flat belly.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HENRY!!

This has been a big year for Henry.

He has lost 68 pounds this year.

He ran 6.8 miles last week.

He has done so many 5Ks I have lost count.

He is in training for a half-marathon.

He still has odd taste in clothes.

What could this year possibly hold for him??

A trip to his new most favorite store in the world...

Perhaps a new pair of running shoes...

 ...where we met Betsy...

Then on to Nozomi for...

 Dinner with Betsy.

 I got him tickets to "MY RUN" a movie about a 57-year old man who ran 75 marathons in 75 days...true story.

Hoping that this will dissuade him from the inevitable...

if I ran 2 I can run 3

If I ran 3 I can run 5

If I ran 5 I can run 10

If I run 10 I can run 13

If I run 13 I can run.....

But his big gift, wowed him incredibly...

he ended his night dreaming of his upcoming

TATTOO!!!

 

 

THE CHEEZ(IT) STANDS ALONE

When Cliff was home he bought a box of Cheez-it crackers.  They were scrumptious, wonderful, cheezy.

Henry surprised me of Super Large Cheez-it crackers.  Twice the size, twice the taste.  Heaven!!

I got up this morning looked outside and did a double take--

 yup--the Cheez-It stood alone.

Denny Crane Rosengren Friedman was evidently unable to open the box with his paw.  Every person (dog) deserves a healthy nummy snack!!

DAY AFTER NIGHT

I know that I am probably the last person in the world to read Day After Night.  That being said, I am now sharing the shame of that fact and telling you to buy this on your kindle, on Amazon, get it at the library.  

As enthralling as The Red Tent was, Anita Diamant's lastest book will carry you away again to a different period of history.  I was a little reluctant because I really did not like her "Last Days of Dogtown" book at all, but this is remarkable.  Just a few pages into Day After Night and you feel as though you can smell the ocean, and feel the lumps in the pillow. 

Here is a review:

Just as she gave voice to the silent women of the Old Testament in The Red Tent, Anita Diamant creates a cast of breathtakingly vivid characters -- young women who escaped to Israel from Nazi Europe -- in this intensely dramatic novel.

Day After Night is based on the extraordinary true story of the October 1945 rescue of more than two hundred prisoners from the Atlit internment camp, a prison for "illegal" immigrants run by the British military near the Mediterranean coast south of Haifa. The story is told through the eyes of four young women at the camp with profoundly different stories. All of them survived the Holocaust: Shayndel, a Polish Zionist; Leonie, a Parisian beauty; Tedi, a hidden Dutch Jew; and Zorah, a concentration camp survivor. Haunted by unspeakable memories and losses, afraid to begin to hope, Shayndel, Leonie, Tedi, and Zorah find salvation in the bonds of friendship and shared experience even as they confront the challenge of re-creating themselves in a strange new country.

This is an unforgettable story of tragedy and redemption, a novel that reimagines a moment in history with such stunning eloquence that we are haunted and moved by every devastating detail. Day After Night is a triumphant work of fiction. 

Read and enjoy!!