Isn't this a cool graphic? I love Tim Horton coffee, and have it almost everyday. The price of coffee is shameful, but isn't everything these days? I consider it money well spent. Good for the soul and all that.

For my far-flung family members and friends, you probably don't know about the part time jobs that Marco and I have. Briefly, a friend of his that has a whole empire of businesses, bought a porta john company and needed someone to get it rolling and coordinate it. Someone who could light a fire under $10 an hour employees, and all that. Well, Marco took on the job, and lured me in to help in the office. I do site management, routing and billing. A bit much for part time, but hey, it's fairly seasonal, too. I was working 4 days a week till this week. There have been days that I've had to take off for my mom's doctors appointments. But now I'm just working on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. "Just". Sigh......

Since I'm a little focused on blood pressure, due to mine freaking out on me a few months back, I'll mention 2 alternative therapies that I've tried. First, I tried acupuncture. I only had 2 sessions of that. I just happen to believe that if you spend $60 for a session, you should see results after a couple of them. I didn't. Also, it was more uncomfortable that I thought. The second time, a needle really hurt my wrist, and the acupuncturist had disappeared. He came back about 20 minutes later with a cup of Starbucks coffee in his hand. Jerk. Rather than mess around with more sessions, I tried cranial-sacral therapy. Rather than explain it, if you're really interested in it at all you can Google it. Better explanation there than I can give anyhow. And this was the interesting thing: Even thought the therapist only touches you lightly, it's the intent of the therapist that is what is healing. And it worked. After the session, I went home and took my blood pressure, and it had dropped a whole lot. It was during a stressful week, and not only did the b/p get lower, it stayed lower for days. And for me, that's good. My b/p still jumps around. It was real high during a bad day about 2 weeks ago, and I took an extra 1/2 pill after dinner, and took a reading before bed, and it was 92/48. So I have to watch out. I kinda feel like I'll deflate or something.

But I'm surviving, and doing okay. My family, parrots, and dogs keep me busy. My African Grey parrot - MaggyMay - has survived heart problems for 15 months now, and seems to be doing okay also. Our older weenie dog - Buddy - is on thyroid medication and "light" dog food. Poor guy. He's only 8 now, but seems older.

Anyone who has waded thru this boring blog - my hat is off to you. Right now it's just catharsis. Hopefully, I'll get more interesting.

Love all you guys!

Barb