a weaponized silver fleur de lis stopper for wine! It's pretty, functional and can hurt people

Now ... if you could only set it on fire ....

It'd be the best birthday gift ever!

I am dismayed I forgot a San Diego trip until it was too late to get my flu shot first. I'll get it when I get home though. I get sore and tired for a couple of days so waiting means better family relations.

Andi,

I don't know who puts together the hospital meals, but it is frightening. Your knowledge of anatomy is far better than mine (white blood cells...protein...WTF), but it makes sense. I think they typically don't provide protein because protein can make ill people feel worse.

The truth is, there was no secret code in his gifts and, if I could have seen past my own insecurities, I could have been the person I fancy myself to be and been more appreciative...or at least less judgy.

Man, I could have written this myself. Sometimes when your partner doesn't make coffee on a Sunday morning, it's NOT because he wants to punish you for forgetting to set the coffee up the night before; it's just because he got up before you, sat down to check e-mail, and got sucked into the interwebs.

Someday I will learn that.

I know we struggled with hospital meals for my mom. They never understood that while she had kidney failure, she was not hypertensive. There were other issues, such as getting certain medications with her meals and others a certain interval after a meal. I know the hospital personal are typically overworked and aren't trying to slight the patients, but it sure helps to have a non-drugged out advocate by your side.

We seem to have acquired our first item of refrigerator art. It's a bold, abstract work in the finger-painting medium. Vivid use of colour (blue). It is attached to the fridge via four echidna-shaped magnets.

The food at Huntington when I was in the hospital last year wasn't bad. I didn't get to eat too much of it since I was either on a feeding tube or limited to clear liquids for most of the month in the hospital. I did finally get upgraded to all liquids near the end of my stay. I couldn't eat yogurt for months and I still sometimes have a hard time facing jello or pudding.

UCLA Westwood isn't too bad. Just avoid the open faced turkey sandwich. Otherwise, be judicious.

Our hospital meal people generally provide chicken.

When I was in the hospital, pregnant with Jake, and THERE TO ADJUST TO THE DIABETIC REGIME, including diet and insulin, I had to keep telling the nurses that dining was sending me juice, and cookies, and all kinds of stuff I wasn't supposed to be eating.

Baffled me.

Keep getting better, Daniel!

Hubby says the biggest problem with male/female communications is that women think men are smarter than they are. There are no secret meanings, they're very linear thinkers on the whole.