I have a day off today and I am really appreciating it. I decided to take it easy today. This past weekend I was super busy. I started out saturday morning with my friends Rebecca and Wendell going to Leoma, TN. The Story & Lee Furniture store and a really good sale on Lane recliners. I ended up getting all new living room furniture. I had finally convinced Carl that our old 1990's sectional sofa needed to go. So it left our den kind of bare. To make a long boring story short, I now can put my recliner from the living room in the den and I got two new recliners and tables for the living room. I got up Sunday morning and started again cleaning and rearranging one of the bedrooms. It's funny how 20 years ago I could have done all this in one day. It took me two full days and then I paid for it with aching muscles and bones all day Monday.

I hit the big 6-0 last December but in my mind I still feel like I'm 30! My ole body just doesn't want to cooperate with my brain! I'm sure our friends who have hit or approaching their "golden years" know what I'm talking about. I'm still confused about when the golden years are going to begin. I read in a book one time, that "nostalgia is the arthritis of the baby boomers". It is interesting to think about this. Many times I get emails about life back in the 50's or 60's. Our childhoods were definitely different that the kids now. I hate to sound cliche, but I really do think there was an innocence that the kids today don't seem to have. Or is it, we as adults now know the innocence of our childhoods was kept that way by our parents. I guess along with my recuperating muscles my brain is exercising in nostalgia some today.

I've got a strong possibility of extending my hours at the clinic where I work. I'm really excited about that. Something happened yesterday that made me not only angry but a small part of me felt a sense of satisfaction. For yall that don't know, the clinic is for persons who have limited income and who do have have health insurance. Basically, it is a free clinic. Patients can been seen by the providers for a fee of $10.00 per year. Lab work and meds are free. Most patients qualify for charity care (free) testing at the hospital that supports our clinic. We discovered that one of our frequent patients has had insurance since Feb. 2009. She did not want to go to a private Doctors office because she enjoys coming to our clinic. However, this is keeping someone else who needs our service from getting it. Of course we had to inform her that she could no longer come as a patient. I wish there was a solution to this immense problem of inequity in healthcare. I really don't feel what is being planned so far will help the majority of people. I can see both sides of this issue. All I know for sure, it is broken! Solutions? No, not from me.

So, we are suppose to be getting a lot of rain soon. As I mentioned in my initial blog, Buddy has severe storm anxiety. Also, camera phobia or anything that makes a loud noise or has a light on it. Carl is convinced Buddy was in a tornado as a puppy and it traumatized him. I've explained that many dogs have this problem. He has just never had one before and he is sure Buddy is suffering a doggie form of PTSD. I don't want to make things sound even worse, but he also believes Buddy listens to the TV news everyday at noontime with him. He has really anthropomorphized our animals.....especially Buddy. He has told me on several occasions that Buddy listens to the weather reports and he knows when bad weather is coming. I guess it's one of the qualities about Carl that makes me love him AND worry about him! He is still unhappy with me because I'm trying to train Rusty to go in his crate and not sit on the furniture. It's really hard to train a dog when only one person in the house is putting in the effort.

I really missed my Mom and Dad during the holidays. It's hard to believe she's been gone almost 15 years. I was going through some old photos again recently and found this one. One of the projects that I have continually going on is photograph sorting and transfers to my Mac. It will take me forever. I can't wait to share some of our beautiful granddaughters soon. We are so proud of them, they are lovely in spirit and person.