Survival After Seventy-Five

     It is a quite, Saturday morning here and I slept in for a little while.  I'm up now, bathed, dressed to shoes and ready for my day.  Sticking to the Mayo Clinic Diet Plan, I ate 1/3 cup of homemade granola with 1/2 cup fat-free milk and 4 ounces of orange juice.  And that is equivalent to one carbohydrate, one protein and one fruit serving.  I also drank coffee with sugar free, powdered creamer, French Vanilla flavored Coffee Mate which has only 15 calories so I'm not counting it. My diet plan is basically whatever I want to eat within limited amounts of food, up to 1200 calories.  Vegetables are unlimited, at least four servings a day and at least three servings of fruit.  However, potatoes and corn are categorized as carbohydrates.  To meet my limit of 1200 calories a day, I'm allowed only four carb servings, three protein servings of 2 ounces each, only three fats and occasionally sweets, but sugar is off my food list for the time being.  It's complicated accept

     This morning, I was out back for nearly two hours in my garden pulling weeds, trimming bushes and tying back plants.  A blooming Daisy plant was hanging over a walkway and needed to be tied to a pole.  A heavy rainfall caused it to droop over.  My labor, yet not in vain, is only for a season. Gardening is part of my health, and weight loss program; although, I need take it easy and not over work.  I have many ideas, much to do with limited time and little money to spare for my garden.  Every year, during hard freezes, some of my plants withers​ away.   I'm learning to plant quick growing flowers from seeds for less money since most won't last past fall.  There are hardy Texas shrubs which might last through hot summer days and winter freezes.   There is a beautiful garden with plants native to Texas at Stevenson Park where I go to walk.  I should take note of the names of those plants before I shop for any more. I checked today's weather and it is supposed to get up to

First thing this morning, I stripped my bed and threw my sheets into a repaired washing machine.  I work to stay on top of things which needs to get done around my home.  I keep an inbox on my dresser where all important mail gets stacked until I can get around to it.  Since Jim moved back home again, I had to vacate my home office which was in is his bedroom.   I have been sorting through a stack of paperwork to think about what needs to be done with each piece of paper.  For example, I received an official ballot from the Clear Creek Independent School District for Trustee Election.  That is something I need to take action on soon.  That's where my children went to school, and we have been paying taxes to Clear Creek Independent School District for many years.  There are three candidates and I do not know anything about them.  Therefore, this afternoon or by Sunday at the latest, I will Google their names to see if I could find  their profiles.  It is important not to randomly gu

     Today, my son Jim and I spent close to five hours driving all the way up to Spring to buy a sensor for my washing machine.  Jim drove through Houston and then some to get there.  At first, we tried to find Sears Appliances Parts Store on Highway 517; however, when we got there, we saw the store was vacated.   We turned to plan B and went far out of our way to another appliance parts store.  Jim called Reliable Parts (The House Of A Million Parts) before we went and they had six of the kind of sensors we needed.  We probably should have called Sears first before driving to an empty location.   When I told the sales clerk in Spring how far we drove to find the part, he looked up two or three locations, on the internet, closer to home.  That was kind of him. I paid $54 with a credit card and then, we drove I45 through Houston all the way back home.  If you have ever driven through Houston on I45, you would understand why I insisted we go to the Sears Store first.   What's up with

 Good Morning! This morning while I was folding towels, my nose started bleeding.  I mean it was really dripping blood, and I had to sit down, with my head back, stick a tissue up my nose and wait for bleeding to stop.  The same thing happened to me last Thursday while I was getting ready to go grocery shopping.   I think my nose bleed has something to do with a sinus infection.  This past winter, I was sick with a virus which developed into a sinus infection.  My little grand-daughter, Evelyn was sick with a runny nose off and on most of the time.  I think we were passing a virus back and forth between us.  She goes to daycare where she probably became sick. I took my blood pressure and it was normal; also, my nose is not as stuffed up as it has been.  Think I will wait to see if it starts bleeding again.  Hope it's nothing serious such as Ebola.   My break time is over so I had better get back to my vacuuming.  After lunch, I'm going over to my son, Paul's house before Ol

 Good morning!      I had a pleasant Easter afternoon and a delicious dinner yesterday with my son and his family.  I'm so blessed to have a loving family to spend time with, especially on holidays. This morning, I got up, made up my bed, washed my face, and dressed to shoes.  Actually, I dressed in an old pair of blue jeans and a faded cotton blouse. Today, I cleaned my bathroom and it took me about an hour to do a good job.  I follow the Flylady method of house cleaning and this week, I'm working in Zone 4: Master Bedroom, Bath, and Closet.  It's hard work, but somebody has to do it.  I have always been the one to have to do it since I was a teenager.  My mother told me learning to do house work would prepare me for marriage--oh yeah. That's not what I really want to talk about today, but I had to get that job out of the way quickly.   The thing that is on my mind is my diet which went haywire last week because of Easter Holiday weekend.  I started The Mayo Clinic Die