In thirty days, the nights start getting shorter again. Hold that thought. I've been counting down for almost two weeks now.

The roses seem to be hanging on this year. I have a tangerine rose right outside one kitchen window, and if it weren't loaded with sprays of buds now, I'd have picked it already to grace my kitchen counter. Nobody seems to give roses the credit they deserve to be one of the last plants blooming in fall.

I checked the weather forecast, and come Thanksgiving day, the "S" word is mentioned for the first time. It had to happen sooner or later. I have another "S" word I muttered when I saw that.

Have you ever felt like you live under a rock? I get that feeling often. I am a scratch cook but for cakes. Mine are nasty. So, on the rare occasion I want a good cake, I buy a box of cake mix. I usually find it's as easy to not dig around for the electrical kitchen gadgets and do my thing manually. So I am looking for directions on the box to how many strokes this cake should be beaten. OMGosh. Nobody does that anymore? We are all supposed to have electric mixers now. Well, I beat it by hand anyway, going from memory, burnt a hundred calories doing so, and it turned out light and fluffy. When did the hand stir directions disappear from cake boxes? When my g'mother cooked, it was always Poppy's job to do the mixing and beating. Funny what one remembers.

I found out that the traditional Corning ware isn't made anymore, there is a new formulation. Do you suppose it's because of the weight or the fact that it's just easier to buy those little disposable food storage bins, only they're so substantial that you wouldn't throw them away. I still use my old Corningware, but I have been using the same little plastic disposable bins for two and a half years now. LOL.

That a shortage of pumpkin for pies is expected because of the soggy harvesting conditions? What is as American as Pumpkin pie, and the major brand is Libby's, who's owned by Nestle, who's a Swiss company?

Did you also know that the tonsils have to be removed from beef tongue when it's processed? It's not allowed to be sold attached, because it's higher risk for BSE.

My roses are going strong too and they are always the last of my flowers to stop blooming. There are so many varieties out there that get no diseases and just bloom their little heads off from spring to November. They have such a reputation for being fussy but there are scads of them tougher than any other perennial I've grown. Well..except yukky yucca.

DH will be watching all the college football games today,non stop so I need to escape somehow..not sure how yet.

Had a mammogram last week and got a letter of good status. Not sure if I believe it. My now deceased former neighbor/friend's daughter told me her mom's cancer went undetected for six years and when she saw the mammograms, it was fairly obvious when all six were compared. sad.

Not working my vacation this time around. Worked as a driver helper 3 days this week and my whole body hurts. Hope to recover so I can make it through December.

DS's IEP was this week and all the teacher's had good things to say. I think they have lowered their expectations too much though and I (with DS's agreement) requested he do the regular spelling/vocabulary work along with his small group work. He was doing harder words in second grade. ?

I think I have copies of our better posts, but it was always easier to find them here.

LF and I were headed off to work/school one day last week, when he said "What are these?!" And I said "What?" He said, "Bumps on my arms." "Um? Those are goose bumps." You're 10 and never had goose bumps? was my thought. Boy, I thought I lay off if being overprotective, but sheesh, it's obvious I haven't! It was about 50 degrees and inbetweenish weather. It's hard to figure out of one should wear layers and remove them or just change clothes. We've done both. Saturday morning he started out in jeans and a long sleeved sweater, but by midday he was in shorts and short sleeves, begging to sit outside on a deck for lunch. And comfortable both times. Shrug?

The other day I decided I would replace one bad habit with one good habit. Instead of treating myself to dinner (money I don't have, eating calories I don't need), I would instead, work out, an aerobics, a disc I have used many times. I was winded 5 or so minutes into the warmup. Ugh. I told myself keep going, move what you can move. About 30 minutes into it, I realized my arms and legs weren't moving, just my hands and my knees. I was laughing so hard because I was realy really sure my arms and legs were moving and that I was doing well keeping up. My hands looked like a T-rex's, only inches from short bent stubs. I laughed so hard, I couldn't move any more. I just folded over and rolled around on the couch laughing at the way I must've looked. Laughing is good for exercising many things.