Hi Janis,

Just got back home yesterday so lots of catching up plus Vacation Bible
School to keep me busy.

>> kids were so spoiled.. The older of the two especially was spoiled
>> rotten .. not funny as she grew older, nor for the two of them,
>> believe me.

 JK> > My youngest sister was the spoiled one in the family. Mom had had a
 JK> > difficult pregnancy, sister was a bit premature and as I understand,
 JK> > things were dicy for a few days. She (sister) has always had some
 JK> issues > from that, so has been treated as the baby of the family
 JK> (which she is) > for most all of her life.

 JK> There was nothing wrong with these two :) :) Seriously, they were
 JK> healthy normal-term babies.. though they were mom's last two and I
 JK> think that is why she spoiled them ;)

Could be, how far apart were they in age?


>> Washing dishes every night was done in a way similar to that.. we took

 JK> > Mom always washed if she was home, drying was done on an assigned
 JK> basis. > My older brother, one sister and I dried the breakfast ones
 JK> during the > school year (Mom worked at the school); I did 3 nights a
 JK> week supper,

 JK> Mom worked an early shift as a nurse (7-3pm, etc.) so she always made
 JK> dinner.

I did supper when Mom was going to night classes, all the meals when she
was in summer school at SUC-Geneseo. It was 3 nights a week supper
dishes I should have said, that I dried when she was home.

>> turns pretty much.  There was a constant family joke with one of my
>> sisters who always had to go to the bathroom at just the most
>> inconvenient time (dish washing time Lol).  I can laugh about it now
>> (grin)

 JK> > Sounds like my youngest sister. (G)

 JK> I guess most families have one who runs off when given the chance :)

Something about running water....................

>> talking to the older of the two she told me recently she's almost
>> gained all of that weight back that the surgery took care of.  That is
>> really scary to me.

 JK> > That's bad.

 JK> Yes ... and seriously so for her general health, no doubt. Before the
 JK> surgery she was warned about cardiac problems and had some serious
 JK> symptoms.

Probably has them again, only more so.

 JK> >Our junk food intake was quite rationed. I did add
 JK> > weight--you probably met me at my heaviest--but have dropped about
 JK> 35+/- > pounds since.

 JK> Yes, I noted that earlier, it's wonderful you were able to do so.  For
 JK> me, it's always been a struggle to keep weight on..  just the way my
 JK> body is.. my pulse is normally really high compared to 'normal'
 JK> people.  I burn up food really fast generally speaking. I had an aunt
 JK> who was built just like me on dad's side so it makes sense somewhat :)

Runs in the family I guess. But, you can eat a lot more pasta and burn
it off faster than I can. (G)

 JK> > My brothers put on quite a bit; we suspect that the
 JK> > younger one is now having some health issues related to it. Sisters
 JK> have > put on some, but not as bad as my brothers.

 JK> Hopefully they will be able to keep that under control.  It's not
 JK> always easy.

I don't know about the sisters--one might be able to easier than the
other. One is a civil engineer--designs roads in the winter, goes out
and builds them in the summer--in AZ. That might help her burn off extra
weight.


 JK> > At times, yes. I went to a fireworks show last night; the direction
 JK> of > the wind carried the smoke away from me. There were enough
 JK> campfires
 JK> > there that I was coughing some last night but hopefully it'll clear
 JK> up > today. I'll avoid any more fireworks this week.

 JK> With the kind of asthma you get, I can understand that.

I'm pretty well cleared now, with an occaisonal cough but part of it is
from the catch-up/run around work I'm doing.


>> > So I can eat chocolate and say I'm helping my asthma. (G)

>> A little yes :)  Black tea always helped her the most :)

 JK> > Coffee is supposed to be a help too, but I don't like it. If it were
 JK> an > emergency, I could choke down a cup but I try to keep an inhaler
 JK> handy > instead.

 JK> That inhaler would definitely work faster and better than any tea or
 JK> coffee I expect.  :)

I refer to it as my "American Express"; I don't leave home without it.


>> > The interplay of reactions is interesting--and factoring in food
>> related > components makes it more so.

>> in a cup of tea, for me, I have to watch how much tea/coffee I drink
>> and how many cigarettes I smoke.. In other words, the tea and/or
>> coffee lets the darn smoke go deeper in my lungs. Not good, I know but
>> I've tried to quit several times and mostly failed at that :(

 JK> > Catch 22 there. I never tried smoking so didn't get hooked.

 JK> Yes, that is the best way to avoid that problem.  Neither one of my
 JK> kids did either and I was always so happy about that.

One of ours did, smoked off and on for several years but quit when she
was expecting her first. AFAIK, she never restarted. I don't think her
sister ever went beyond one or two, total.

 JK> > I just have
 JK> > to be careful around smokers-- one of my sisters is a chimney (if
 JK> you > know what I mean)

 JK> Yes, Ron's mom was literally one such smoker.. I remember riding in
 JK> the car with her to a doctor in NYC, it was put one out, light one
 JK> up..  and everytime she lit one she'd ask me if I wanted one :( ..  no
 JK> thanks, I'm fine I'd say.

Sounds like my sister but she knew better than to offer me one.

 JK> >so quite often, after visiting her, I'd come home with
 JK> > bronchitis. I don't visit her that often now. (G)

 JK> I try to keep things open here like when you came to the picnic here
 JK> and I don't smoke in the house generally..all that smoke is no good
 JK> for anybody (people or pets), I know it.

I did well, no problems. We were all in and out so the air circulation
was good. Linda's B&B had air conditioning so that helped clear my lungs
at night.

>> Yes :)  I do live chocolate... this week we made NY Egg Creams with
>> U-bet syrup that Ron ordered online... boy was that good :)

 JK> > Sounds yummy, just thinking about it.

 JK> It's the best for a cold drink, I swear Lol... and it's one of the
 JK> best memories I have about living in NY as well :)

I'll have to try it some time.

 JK> > Steve made a chocolate cheese cake
 JK> > yesterday, didn't have a scale to measure the chocolate. He thinks
 JK> he > got more than needed so it'll be more of a fudgy consistancy. I
 JK> told him > that was fine with me. (G) As the saying goes, "just give
 JK> me the
 JK> > chocolate and nobody..................". (G)

 JK> haha.. I could eat it also no doubt :)

It was quite rich; he cut it into 12 pieces, cut some of those in half
and some people had trouble finishing one. The consensus at the picnic
was that it was good the way it was. He figured he'd used about 4 oz
more chocolate chips than the recipe called for, almost a 50% increase
in chocolate.

>>> mother-in-law at the time was suffering from bronchitis, etc. and it
>>> had hit her bad at that time.  Just before Advair was released though,
>>> she died of pneumonia.. the docs in
>>> Louisville tried everything they could, but they couldn't help her.

>> > Too bad they couldn't have gotten hold of some on a trial basis.

>> Yes, know what you mean.. I wanted to mention what I'd read about it
>> then, I remember thinking that.  They probably would have not wanted


>> CONTINUED IN NEXT MESSAGE <<

---
Catch you later,
Ruth
rchaffly{at}earthlink{dot}net  FIDO 1:396/45.28


... The Lord gives wisdom; out of his mouth comes knowledge. . . Prov 2:6

--- PPoint 3.01