Oh, the nineties. Pleated plaid miniskirts. I had several of those.

Somewhere, perhaps in a distant land, Dick Clark is carefully removing the absurdly minimal old age makeup and planning his new life.

"There can be only one."

sj, we found an Ikea Billy bookcase on Craigslist. The sellers had added glass doors to it. It fit in a shallow alcove, and holds a ton of teacups, saucers, and teapots. Pictures start here. There's been a lot of stuff added since the pictures were taken. Cups and saucers are double and triple stacked now, but everything still looks tidy, and it's all safe and clean behind glass. Clean-er, at least, and visible.

I resorted to this because H claimed the lighted, mirrored, glass-doored display section of the breakfront for his collections of dragons, antique glass stemware, and the pysanky eggs he makes. It worked out well, though. May your display area work out as well for you!

I didn't learn to touch type utnil 3 months ago/ before then i just did very sophisticated (and fast0 hunt and peck method. thanks to mavis beacon, i can still type 70 wpm, but now i don't have to look at the keyboard. except for brackets. my pinkie can never remember where the bloody brackets are. shift key still trips me up, but for work everything is auto all caps so there's no need for professional use, and that's why i spent the time (and $$$) to teach muself touch typing this late in life. totatly worth while investment.

tho now that I look at what i'm typing, certainly not %100.

I love my top sheet. i dated guys who didn't bother with them and it always creeped me out. Especially when the upper layer was a blanket or quilt...one does wonder how often they get laundered. I keep a spare duvet cover hanging on the wall behind the bed (cuz i think it looks nice there, and it's at the ready in case of cat-related ick) but still only wash it maybe once or twice a year (barring cat-related ick). Top sheets sooooo much easier to toss in the wash. The duvet covers even the most hastily tossed top sheet.

edited to correct my faulty italics. and point out that all the keys on my current keyboard at blacked out. does improve the touch-typing considerably when there's nothing at all to look down at.

mavis beacon

She taught me to type. In HS there was the college bound path and the trade bound path and the college people didn't learn to type. Yes, that was a brilliant plan wasn't it? I learned to type after I opened my computer store and used Mavis.

A duvet seems like a good plan. I have only had them in hotels and thought them comfy.

I am a bit nervous this morning. My mom is having an epidural on her neck. I can't be with her because I had a gruesome stomach virus last week and my doctor friends agreed that even with vast amounts of hand washing I should not be near my 90 yo mom. The ~ma that this relieves her pain is appreciated.

~ma for your mom, Laura. I'll be thinking of Mary today.

Much comfort and recovery ~ma to your Ma, Laura.

Neck-ma for Laura's Mom. Chronic neck pain is so debilitating.

EM's basically taking morphine now for her neck.

Thanks guys. She has been very fortunate with her health. Very few chronic issues and her mind is in great shape. The bones are another matter altogether. And those of you in pain know the toll it takes on your soul. She should have had the surgery 10 years ago when they might have been willing, but she just tolerated the pain. It is now much worse. I know she has to wear a neck brace forever, but she has gotten used to that. I just pray this epidural works for the pain.

Pain is one of those things that our Puritan ancestors have a lot to answer for on. "Pain makes you stronger." "Tough it out." "Other people have it worse." So people keep thinking, "I'm stronger than this, I don't want to look like a whiner." And when you finally yield and look for help, you're looked at like you're a weakling or someone who just wants the drugs.

The people who manage my health insurance should be coated in honey and stuck out over a red ant nest, but the care itself has been wonderful. Bless Hubby's pain docs.