misc & OT Sudoku

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http://puzzles.usatoday.com/sudoku/

Above is the link to the USA Today Sudoku. I sometimes try 3 a day from the newspapers. (LA Times and Long Beach Paper). They all switched to the same format a few weeks ago, where you can hit space bar and all the possibilities show up... Or you can switch to a notation kind of thing and your choices for possibilities can show up. You all probably know that already. The change takes getting used to, I consider it cheating. I'll try that other site for my book ones.

Puzzles, (old days it was jigsaws) are supposed to keep your mind sharp. Nothing could be worse than the group of us in a senior living facility and with achalasia, then we wouldn't remember we couldn't eat certain things.... and put in the ending here.

..... Thanks for hanging out, we absolutely adore you. Brief, always supportive and I know you are cute!

How did we get achalasia..... I popped into Oprah.com yesterday and there was a highlight from a woman who writes often in her magazine, Martha Beck. Have to admit to not paying much attention to her. But yesterday I read something about grief she had written. Early on in the diagnosis I remember trying to figure out how I ended up with this and having similar conversations here about injuries and drugs and environment. Now, when I see the discussions about the cause I skim. Have no interest anymore in the cause. Martha Beck had written something about grief and one of the steps is trying to resolve and rationalize the loss. I can't now remember the stage, but it is an earlier stage. Later steps it doesn't matter, as you grow to accept and adjust your life. Others of you with recent losses, be it job, death, finances or disease may have more input. The what if I had only.... stage, so to speak.

I'm not discounting at all your desires to find a cause... where oh where did the guy somewhere in France or Germany go that was convinced it was all the radio waves and microwaves?

Any chronic disease seems to trigger the grief process. Doesn't mean you should quit trying to figure out the cause, but seems like later you "just live with it."

Without this disease I wouldn't have many of you as close friends. My kids wouldn't have learned perhaps just a drip of compassion and I wouldn't have slowed down my life to enjoy the moments. It isn't all bad. Doesn't mean you don't fight against it and take care of the symptoms, but the black cloud you visualize when you first learn of achalasia, sometimes turns into a rainbow.

Dr. Fuller & Deborah. I found him to answer my questions also, but I pryed into his personal life as to his family and art galleries and growing up as a farm kids raking hay and how we got the old tractors, and as soon as we left home, our parents got new tractors. Possibly you have a slight personality conflict. Happens, to all of us. I think because we achalasians are rewarding to him, compared to other patients, he expects us to overlook the basic surgical aftermath. He sees that all day long, as do other surgeons, and he may forget how difficult it is for day to day living after surgery.

My suggestion for a cure... you need my kids and their issues on a daily basis to get you up and moving, your puppies aren't demanding enough. You need to get in your car and drive to school because they forgot their report, spend a morning teaching 2nd graders how to spell mimicry, grade their papers and do a craft project. Being a recent empty nester could indicate too much time on your hands. You need someone to drop a jar of pickles and you have to get on your hands and knees and break those adhesions because pickle juice smell under the refrigerator will drive you crazy. I'm willing to "Trade Spouses" for a week to help you out. You can even borrow my husband for most things, not all. Oh the refrigerator is empty too, bring food. You mentioned cancelling a few engagements, maybe you should push yourself to go to the next ones. I'm not telling you what to do, just that it is easy to lounge when you don't absolutely have to do things.

So... maybe fluff your hair, shave the important parts and wander down to the beach and pick up an extra job or just figure out if Tom and are really together or not. We want to know. Take pictures and sell to "The Enquirer."

I'm leaving now for your place. Just get here by 4, and pick up kids by 4:30. Door is open. Pet the dog and she'll let you in. Bring your puppies. Oh, I'm taking the old car, could you make my car smell nice, after my daughter spilled a milk shake last week and now it smells like sour milk. Oh, there is a patch to sew on too. I'm picky, make sure you match the thread. My husband might be a little crabby, having some difficulty with his mother's estate, mostly the mother's husband, so you need to listen to him all night too. Oh... the old dog seems to be going blind (already deaf) could you brush out the tangles in her hair. Oh... food, there is no food, my son eats like 4 men. My daughter doesn't like anything he likes and my husband won't eat until about 9:30. I'll be on the beach, freshly shaved. Also could you deal with my difficult clients who want their hands held and seem to need me about 4:30 when I have the kids too.

Love and hugs to all.

Sandy in So Cal... $1 richer because her smart aleck 11 yr old son made a bet he could stop saying "whatever" for a day. Bet lasted, no lie, for 2 minutes. Just took a little sister to tease him about saying shut up to her last night and he said... you guessed it, "Whatever."