Gertie the newscaster: Not...

So, I come into the living room tonight and Mom's watching the news. She informs me that Betty White died? What?? How'd she die? Mom's reply was 'I don't know but she died.' So, I get on the internet, all types of false deaths for the poor woman abound but none from today. So, I get suspicious....

I sit down and watch the news for a moment. Across the bottom of the screen is a message that Betty White was voted the entertainer of the year. Now, the woman has just been awarded the most prestigious award to an entertainer and Mom misread that as she died.

Poor woman (not sure if I'm talking about Betty White or Mom here....).

This is the FUNNIEST thing I've ever seen on the internet

JB is funny but not like this video

This was on Peggy's facebook - I seriously laughed out loud at this. Not just a 'lol' but, for those who know me, it was a BIG LOL. Too funny. You must watch it more than once to really see the whole thing as you'll be laughing through it the first time:
Click this link: Patty cake with cats

Gertie-ism #2004

So, by being the loyal followers of my blog that I know you are, we all know that Gertie is on oxygen when she's in bed or in her chair in the livingroom (this covers her about, oh, 20 hours a day...). Anyway, I heard her rustling around at 4 am yesterday morning so got up to see what she was up to. She wanted to know if the restaurant was open, having cycled back to getting up early, going back to bed after breakfast #1, getting up 3 hours later and having breakfast #2, going back to bed...etc, etc.

Anyway, I'm not too pleased with the 4am wake up call again although the truth is that I'm up then anyway. Just an early riser. But, I like having time alone or with John before I'm on call for the day.

So, this particular morning, I said she could come down and have coffee but I wasn't happy about it. As mom and I are drinking our morning java, Sharyn wanders downstairs and she wasn't too happy about the early hour coffee call either. We all drank our coffee and mom got up to go back to bed. I told her I'd be up in a minute to put her oxygen on for her. She stopped in her walker, turned around, peered at me and said:

Now, I know that the oxygen goes in my nose and not around my neck...

We laughed pretty good at that one, especially since she doesn't always know it goes in her nose and I never said a word (honest...) about wringing her little neck. My favorite non-nose oxygen related sight was when I came into the livingroom one day and the poor dear had the nosepiece up on her nose like it was eyeglasses. OMG - I dropped and rolled. Then there's the one where she tries to put it in her mouth. Ok, the woman is a bit daffy these days but, damn, she's still funny.

And, let me tell you, oxygen can be fun! I just looked on amazon and you can buy the stuff in a can! The stuff sure cures a hangover!


And, speaking of old people, here's a few ListMy5 articles that are really nice:
Top 5 things to do to help senior citizen neighbors
Top 5 ways to protect a senior citizen during flu season
Top 5 Christmas gifts for a senior citizen
Top 5 ways to entertain a senior citizen
Top 5 gift baskets under $20 for the elderly
Top 5 dating concerns of a senior citizen
Top 5 features of the new health care reform

If you're a caregiver, here's a few good books to bone up on keeping yourself, and your senior friend healthy and happy:

The Caregiver's Book: Caring for Another, Caring for Yourself

Key West Travels (and Travails)

My friend Robin, whom I've known since I was 10 (she'll say 11 but she's older than me and can't remember things as well as I can...) headed down to Key West last Saturday for a getaway. We both needed it - me taking care of Mom and Robin having all types of family problems. Her big brother, Doug, just died recently and she's dealing with that. And, the poor thing has now lost 3 siblings...life is not fair.

Anyway, the idea of the trip was first broached when John decided to take Kenny (his brother) and his mom and dad on a weeklong cruise. So, they booked it with the first port Key West. Woohoo! Right up my alley. I'm always happy to head back home! So, I asked Robin to come along and we booked Key West for the weekend so we'd have a few days, ostensibly meet John's ship for the day and hang around town, he'd go his way, Rob and I would come home. Ah, but, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Now, Robin and my plan went off without a hitch. We got to KW on Saturday, went over to a great place called Louie's Backyard which is off the beaten path but right on the water. Sat at the bar and had a glass of wine and a really good salmon crostini appetizer (that's a must-get-again if ever there). We waddled back into town, bar hopped a bit and end of day 1.

Day 2 found us pretty much doing the same thing as Day 1 except I went earring shopping happy - 5 pairs, can you believe it?! Yep, well, 6 pairs if you count the little silver pair I bought early in the day for a few bucks. Anyway, Robin and I did about every store (and a few bars) imaginable. Nightfall found us down at Sunset Pier for the Sunset Celebration which was a great time. We then headed to a place Robin had heard of called Better Than Sex. Now, this is a dessert place off Petronia (for those Key West saavy folks) and, the place is justly named (for some ). Better Than Sex specializes in after dinner fare, such as chocolate rimmed dessert wines, ports mixed with raspberry and this chocolate thing that we got that was incredibly good. The place is very dark, lit only with red candles. We sat at the bar and oogled the darling bartender who played up to the crowd. There were 5 ladies at the bar which should tell you how darling the bartender was. We played a couple of rounds of 'who'd you rather' with the other ladies and had a lot of laughs. End of day 2.

Now it gets interesting:

Day 3 what when John's cruise was to port in Key West. Robin and I got up, showered and dressed as we wanted to see the boat port. Well, we were at the port at 7:30 (after picking up an excellent Cuban coffee). It was fairly cool out (60s) and VERY WINDY! Here comes the interesting part. In the picture posted, see that boat out there? Doesn't really look like it's coming in to dock, does it? Well, it DIDN'T! Nope, it was too windy for it to dock so Key West closed its port to a total of 3 cruise ships for the day. John called and, when I asked him where he was (thinking maybe I was wrong and he docked somewhere else on the island - a fleeting thought with an island 2x4 miles and a boat nearly as long...). But, forever hopeful, I asked him where he was and the reply? 30 miles south of Key West. Shoot. Darn. Damn. Ah, oh well....

So, Monday found Robin and me waddling around as before but having a great time nonetheless. We ended up at one of the seedy male review shows after a few too many cocktails and then waddled our way home.

Tuesday went as planned and we returned home to DC. The trip though was a success. It was a lot of fun just reconnecting with an old friend. Robin and I hadn't traveled together since we were 18 or so (let's see, um, 10 years ago? Yeah, right...). We laughed a lot, we cried a bit - all in all, another wonderful weekend in the Keys.

Saturday is the new Fry Day!

Ok, so, John and I wanted something different for breakfast a few weekends ago - bacon and eggs just weren't going to cut it. I remembered a delicious breakfast entree that I had when I was in Edinborough, Scotland a few years back - Scotch eggs. Now, dear reader, don't judge unless you've had this. To make 5 scotch eggs, you need:

• 1 lb roll of sausage
• 5 shelled hardboiled eggs
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• Breadcrumbs
• A dusting of flour (I am drooling as I type this)
• A deep fat fryer (who actually has those anymore? Me...)

1. Divide sausage into 5 pieces and flatten well so you have 5 disks.
2. Wrap each egg in sausage (wet hands help). Close seams - you should have 5 large looking round things.
3. Add a dusting of flour to each sausage/egg round. Dip in egg. Roll in breadcrumbs.
4. Fry until dark brown (about 8 minutes) in 350F oil.

Holy moly! Now, one would NOT want to have scotch eggs probably more than once a year or I can pass you the name of a good cardiologist. 

So, after we fried the scotch eggs, we had all this hot oil and with John and I being ridiculous people, we set about frying everything we could possibly think of. We deep fried a pickle, a hot dog, a piece of salami, a homemade cheese stick (which was as delicious as the eggs), and, as we were running out of ideas, a homemade blintze. The hot dog was really the only loser of the group and the blintze was, if sacriligious, surprisingly delicious.

Happy Hanukkah!

Just love this pic of my folks

It dawned on me yesterday morning that that evening would be the first day of Hanukkah. Hmmmm...hadn't even really thought much about the holiday but mentioned it to Mom and she said she'd like to have some potato pancakes. Check. I can do that. I told her I'd mix some up to go with the meatloaf I had planned. She looked a bit disappointed and I knew what was coming. Brisket. She wanted brisket and potato latkes so, well, I'm sure you can see where I'm going with this.

So, we had a little impromptu Hanukkah dinner with Andi, Howie, Bobbi, John, Gert and me. These quick little pick-up dinners are actually a lot of fun. We certainly appreciated celebrating the holiday with these wonderful friends. I used my battery operated candles as the menorrah. Mom recited the prayer with me which was sweet, and surprising. It's interesting to me the things she has stored in her long term memory.

John surprised me a few weeks ago with an early Hanukkah present - the MacBook. LOVE the thing. Although, there has been a learning curve, it's about the most fun computer out there in my book (pun intended). Highly recommend it for anyone looking for a fun computer, maybe not the best in the world though in a business environment.

Anyway, Happy Hanukkah everybody! Hope the holiday season brings you much joy.

And, in the interest of self-promotion, here's a few links to some of my more recent online writing stuff:

Reasons to Use Battery Operated Candles
Tips For Shipping Presents
Tips to Host a Holiday Party
Hanukkah Songs
Questions to Ask Before Opening a Bank Account
Dessert Shooters For Christmas

And, in the interest of helping some of my internet writer friends, here's more fun links:
Games on Facebook
Desserts to Take to a Potluck
Gift Baskets Under 20 Dollars For the Elderly

Diabetic Clothing and Accessory Needs