Sure thing!

I'd try to meara, but there is just too much.

{{{{{{{{Bitches near and far}}}}}}}}}

Professional conference today. Learned some stuff. The thing that stands out most clearly is the differences in the brain scans of normal vs. Alzheimer's patients. I knew there was deterioration of brain function, but I did not realize that actual brain tissue degenerated and was lost. Fuh-Reaky.

eep!

Is it true that working puzzles helps keep Alzheimers at bay?

I remember reading an article years ago about a study that they did on a group of nuns, and there was one elderly nun who was totally lucid and sharp and witty until the day she died, and when they did an autopsy, they found that her brain had the same sort of deterioration that they usually see in Alzheimer's. Really weird.

Is it true that working puzzles helps keep Alzheimers at bay?

Dunno, it wasn't brought up. But while cognitive skills such as memory, concepts of time, language, planning and judgement are lost, things like enjoyment and response to music, sense of humor, and ability to read non-verbal emotional cues are not lost. Alzheimer's patients can get to the point where the mirror their caregivers' feelings. So if you are in a stressed out rush, you get a stressed out, frustrated Alzheimer's patient. If you can stay calm, easy-going, and ready with the humor, it will come back to you from the patient/client/resident/whatever-term-is-appropriate.

I bought some chocolate hemp milk. It's interesting. The chocolate mostly covers up any hempy taste, but there's a sort of weird undertaste.

I tried that, Hil, and it didn't pass muster as cereal milk. I'm surprised by how much I'm enjoying straight soy milk, but I have to make sure the cereal is as unsweet as possible.

I haven't found any non-dairy milk that I like in cereal. Unsweetened soy milk will do, but it's not great. If the cereal is already sweet, then plain rice milk is OK, but the rice milk tastes too sweet in unsweet cereals.

But, does it make me evil to think "I wonder if Burrel is snapping pics to blackmail her son with later in life"? I know my family would have.

Sorry I couldn't chat today, I was too busy. But I wanted to reply. I do take pics because he's too adorable to pass up, but my intention is not blackmail. My brother used to play dress up in girl clothes too, but somehow he has since renarrativized it as we were forcing him to wear the clothes so we could laugh at him (so not true!). I'm hoping that, as Isaac grows out of this phase, he won't feel obliged to reject all things girlie like my little brother did. But part of that requires that I don't make him feel bad about it, and frankly using the pics as blackmail might do that.

Posting this [link] only because it illustrates that some people have even worse management skills than those referenced in here, sometimes.

A manager fired an employee for giving what amounts to a single "donut hole" to a toddler. Total retail worth? 16 cents.