I was carded yesterday. That hasn’t happened in more than twenty years.
I was at Office M@x yesterday to buy cans of compressed gas. I use them to clean out my keyboards. Number-Three-Son was coming to work on the computers, so I needed to clean out the cat fur.
At check out, the clerk asked me for my identification. I handed it over. He muttered something about a birth date, and I finally realized that he was carding me for age. It seems the company had just instituted a requirement that purchasers of compressed gas dusters needed to be a certain age. I don’t know just what age. I muttered (loudly) that I was OLD ENOUGH! He finally got the computer running the cash register to agree.
I picked up one of the cans just now to be sure I had the product name right, and on the label it says “Contains a bitterant to help discourage inhalant abuse.” Good God. What the heck are kids doing with this stuff? It’s not like it’s going to make you talk like Donald Duck!
And, what the heck is a “bitterant”? Does that sound like a made up word to you? (As far as www.dictionary.com is concerned, it isn’t a word. Some PR person probably came up with that to save room on the label.)

Yesterday, I made the trek to Elmhurst to my dermatologist. This doctor is so special that Elegante Mother and I followed her when she moved her practice. It’s a pleasure to see her, and in return, she takes care of my skin woes.
We visited for my annual body check in February just before I left for Florida. She said there was a precancerous spot on my nose that needed to be treated (one I hadn’t even realized was there), but she’d do it when we got back. So, I dutifully made and kept the appointment. When she was done yesterday, I had FOUR treated spots: two on my face and one at each wrist. Unfortunately, they may not be totally healed by the time I give my quilt presentation, but I’m sure the ladies will cope with it.
Dear Husband was referred to a dermatologist for the same kind of treatment on his nose last week. He’d had a spot for about a year, that was so understated that I didn’t even think about it. Our poor little noses are not quite twins.
Dermatology is big business with all the missing ozone. I think that more people will be adding a dermatologist to the list of their health providers, just to keep track of all the types of skin cancers that are developing. I wear long sleeves and long pants when I garden, and floppy hats. I try to remember to wear sun-screen, and I try to work early in the day when the sun’s rays are not directly overhead. What gets past me, Doc will zap. OUCH!!

(croaking…) I need MORE SLEEP!
I sent out a call to Number-Three-Son on Monday. We have a new all-in-one machine in the office and Dear Husband was having some difficulties getting it hooked up correctly. The missing connection was the one to the computer, so I wasn’t able to print anything from the living room computer, and, the fax portion of the machine wasn’t cooperating.
NTS said that he could come on Tuesday but he couldn’t make it until 6:30 or so. Both he and his wife came. I fixed dinner, and then he had a go at our problems. He reorganized the connections, installed a wireless mouse for me in the office, and then upgraded and did some troubleshooting. I think he was pleasantly surprised to find that there was virtually nothing to do on the personal computer. I’d run the Spybot program, AdAware and Norton, and defragged, recently.
All this took about three and a half hours. By 11:00 I was overtaken by jaw-popping yawns, and an intense longing for my bed. We’d sent Dear Husband off to bed around 10:00 because he has such an early morning call during the week. I didn’t complain, because NTS’s help with the computers is so necessary. We’re lucky to have a kid willing to keep us up and running.
Number-Two-Son came home and chatted with the others for a bit. I had to work hard not to edge them toward the door, thinking longingly of my bed….but I managed to hold back. Really! I was GLAD to have them there! I swear!
I have been short on sleep for the past few months, and I am one of those people who needs at least eight hours a night, if not a little bit more. I get up early and get my day started, but if I haven’t had enough sleep, especially if I’ve been short on sleep for several days in a row, I get to the middle of the day and crash.
I came into the office and worked for a few minutes around 11:30 this morning, and thought I’d tilt back and rest my eyes….just for a moment! Every now and then, I could hear myself snore. (Pretty picture, hmmmmmmm??? At least I wasn’t drooling.) It was enough to disturb the sleep I was getting, but not quite enough to wake me for the afternoon. When I finally bolted upright in my chair, my hands were frozen. I must have been sitting just right to cut down on the circulation to my arms.
I’m improving on getting up earlier in the morning. 5:15 doesn’t seem quite so wretched to me now, but I need to work on getting to bed earlier. I want my eight hours a day of snooze time back! I want to snuggle under the quilts, and gather my strength to meet the day, so that I’m ready to meet the needs of gardening season. Now I know why my parents felt it was inappropriate for phone calls to come in after nine at night, unless there was an emergency. THEY NEEDED THEIR SLEEP! And so do I.