GOLDEN YEARS?????

It was Friday, January 17th and Leland, Andrea and Nicholas and I were waiting for Laura and Joe to arrive. I decided to serve Tombstone pizza for dinner. A very major mistake! Not only are they terrible but when I bit into it I noticed that I indeed had something missing - a tooth - in the front! Now let me tell one and all that it is not at all attractive to be missing a front tooth. Everyone, including myself started laughing hysterically and I said I looked like Ma Gump. Leland responded that I was now a true southerner (please do not be offended my lovely born and raised southerners). I called our local pharmacist at CVS and said "I hope you can understand me with this horrible LISP but my front tooth fell out! I was laughing, he was laughing but did manage to come up with a solution. Andrea and Leland traveled there and got glue! Laura called to give us an ETA and I told her. She in turn told Joe and they couldn't stop laughing. Bless their hearts. I had already set up an appointment for Monday with the dentist as I had been suspicious that all was not well. Now I had to have a soft diet so I found that eating a half gallon of ice cream and a large amount of Laura's birthday cake was a safe bet. Now to fix this mess our out of pocket expense will be $1250.00. Isn't that special!  In the meantime I continue to eat ice cream and isn't it lovely how chocolate melts in one's mouth?!.

Now as my wonderful Mother-in-Law used to say, "who ever called it the golden years must have died quite young".  As we get older our little aches and pains get more intense and for us women, hair starts sprouting on our chins and our legs are almost hairless.  My magnifying mirror is 10X. I certainly don't want to walk around with a budding goatee! I am thankful to have hair on my head for the most part and it is silver. I am saving a fortune on getting my hair dyed. Let's look on the bright side! I am thankful to be able to laugh at this aging process.

We have a new car I can't drive but I love being a passenger in it. (Nissan Pathfinder). It was a good choice as it has a back-up camera and a lot of upgrades that we will probably never figure out. We sit up high and I don't bump my fragile head getting in and out. I could have used that back up system when I backed into a truck and two weeks later into a BMW. It was that nasty tumor that effected my left side.

So life goes on! We find fun things to do, bridge for me, poker for Leland, friends we go out to dinner with, and we go to the movies. As a matter of fact we just saw "Lone Survivor" which was based on a true story and absolutely fabulous. We do  chores that are still necessary but not fun. But it's easier because we do them together.  My wonderful Husband and I are deeply in love and enjoy being with one another. Maybe thats the golden part of growing old.

I am reading Charles Todds' new book "Hunting Shadows" an English mystery.

NORWEGIAN COOKIES
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts
red and/or green sugar
In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add egg and extracts; beat until light and fluffy. Add flour and nuts; beat until just moistened. Cover and chill for one hour or until firm enough to handle. Shape into one inch balls, place 2 inches apart on greased baking sheets. Flatten to 1/4  inch thickness with a glass dipped in colored sugar. Sprinkle with additional sugar if desired. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until cookies are set. Yield: 3 dozen

Don't you find that having Grandchildren is lovely? They are such fun and we can spoil them silly but then - we can give them back to their rightful owners - their Parents'!