Enjoying her coffee

My mother loves coffee with milk, and that's what she got to have today. Along with chicken broth. Tomorrow her gastroenterologist is adding even more foods to her list. (Though I believe the list consists of stuff like tea, saltines and jello. But still!)

She's sooooo much better than she was over the weekend. I don't know why my sister painted our mom's condition in such a gloomy light. I'm sure I could have taken off for Williamsburg without incident.

But what's done is done. I'll book the trip again soon (maybe the week of the 15th). And it'll probably be better to go then, because I'll know beyond a doubt that she's better. By then she should even be home. I won't get my charming little house again. but oh, well.

Staying there couldn't possibly be as thrilling as watching my mom drink coffee with milk!

I Want Wednesday

I want to be looking back on this. Last night, when I went to sleep -- or, more accurately, was unable to sleep and watched a documentary on The Last Days of Elvis -- I was worried sick about my mother. I had made peace with canceling my vacation, but was sad because doing so felt like I was giving up on her, like I didn't have faith that she would pull through. I even called my friend from Key West, who graciously and kindly promised he would fly up and hold my hand through her funeral.

After all, my kid sister just told me last night there were "surgeons at the ready," and my mom is an old lady.

Well, this afternoon I called to check on my mother and she sounds so much better! She was very upset that I canceled my trip in preparation for her surgery because, well, there have been "surgeons at the ready" since she was admitted last Friday and every day that goes by makes surgery less likely, not more.

So now I am relieved, tired, and a little weepy. I want my mother home ... and if not home, then at least out of ICU. I want us to look back on how silly it was that I canceled my vacation for nothing. I want all this to just be a memory.

Well, at least now we know

My mother has ischemic colitis and has to stay in the ICU at least through the weekend. She is not in good shape, physically. It is hard for me to get my mind around this, since she is so alert and involved mentally.

There are surgeons monitoring her throughout the day, but hopefully surgery won't be necessary and her body will begin to repair itself. If she survives this, her diet will have to change radically.

She is where she needs to be. I am trying get my mind around this whole thing. It's hard.

Tomorrow I cancel my long-scheduled trip to Williamsburg. I am sad about this. Not only because I really could use the getaway, but because I feel like that, by canceling, I am giving up on my mom by admitting she might take a radical turn for the worse next week.

Call me "Narc"

Yesterday I spoke to my mom's nurse, letting her know that my mother doesn't want visitors to bring her magazines or flowers in the hospital, she wants Tums. And she convinced my kid sister to bring "a baggie full of them."

Sunday I thought my mother's passion for otc antacids was funny. First she asked me if I had any Tums. When I told her "no," she persisted, "In that big purse, you don't have any Tums? Are you sure?"

But then I read a little about Tums and, like aspirin or cold medicine, it's not completely harmless and could be interfering with her prescription meds. Not only that, it can exacerbate some of her symptoms -- including constipation and kidney problems.

I don't want my mother mad at me, so I asked the nurse not to name me as the source of this tip. But I want to help her get well!

Trifecta

This week's challenge: Check out the third definition of cheap (below), and use the word exactly as it appears, in no less than 33 and no more than 333 words.

3   a : of inferior quality or worth : tawdry, sleazy

     b : contemptible because of lack of any fine, lofty, or redeeming qualities 

It looked positively elegant, hanging there in the sun. The coat was a dark orange that reminded her of the leaves on the lawn in fall. It had chocolate brown buttons and was trimmed with golden fur.

Her grandma and big sister, Beth, were, as always, hand-in-hand as they went through the next rack of clothes.  They were looking at little t-shirts, more appropriate for the summer weather. But Tess was irresistibly drawn to the coat.

Grandma looked up and around, clearly annoyed. “Where is that girl?”

“Here I am, Grandma!” She called, standing proudly beside her find. “Look what I found! Isn’t it pretty? Look at the fur!”

“Geez, Tess! Your taste is so cheap. Let’s go!” As Grandma led Beth past the orange coat, Tess couldn’t miss her sister’s smirk.

“That’s not really fur. Not at a sidewalk sale,” Beth said. Her big sister was always more sophisticated. She was, after all, a woman of 9 to Tess’ mere 7½.

----------------------------

That long ago village sidewalk sale popped into Tess’ head decades later as she slipped into her favorite burnt orange car coat. Reminiscing about Grandma was never fun. There weren’t any Hallmark moments.

"Look at your knees! Tess, you could get dirty just standing still."
"Geez, Tess, do you have to drown your potatoes in gravy?" 

“Your voice is always too loud, Tess.”
"That's not music, Tess, it's noise."

“Don’t wear your hair like that, Tess. You have ugly ears.”
"How can you waste your time reading about pop stars, Tess?"
"Geez, Tess, stop jiggling your leg! Why can't you ever just sit still?"

Tess was 13 when her Grandma died. Today, thinking about the formidable older woman, Tess wanted to ask her, “How could a little girl annoy you so much? I was a child, for Christ’s sake. And I wanted to love you.”

Tess certainly remembered her grandmother. She just didn’t miss her.

Glad I went

Spent a couple of sunny Sunday hours with my mom in her hospital room. I brought this bear for her to cuddle while she's laid up. She gave him to me when I was a toddler and he was a fine, empathetic companion whenever I was sick. Seeing Pouting Bear again seemed to mean a lot to her, so I'm glad I did it.

My mom is very feisty because she's sleep-deprived and in a lot of pain. They still don't know what's wrong with her. Kidneys? Bowel obstruction? Bladder infection? Her GI specialist was out of town this weekend, but her GP (whom she loves) says that doctor's absence gave him a fine opportunity to get her hydrated and healthy in preparation for tests on Monday.

After chatting with her and meeting her nurses, I am more confident about leaving for my vacation on April 1. For while my mother is a sick old lady, I am nowhere near as worried about her as I was when she was battling COPD and pneumonia in Spring 2009. She is sharp and involved in her own care, and I'm confident that by the time I leave she will be diagnosed and will have a treatment plan in place.

It was also nice to see my niece again. She's in town this week for her early spring break, and she's like a tonic for my mother. A lot more take-charge than I am. I sat in the chair and interacted with nurses, while my niece fluffed pillows and checked IVs, etc. If she didn't know what she was doing (and I suspect she really doesn't), it didn't show!

Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing: The Last March Meme

1. Which TV character do you think you are most like? As one who moved from administrative assistant to copywriter, and who has exhibited questionable taste in men, I'd have to say Peggy Olson. (Mad Men is back tonight!)

2) What time do you go to bed? Between 11:00 and ?

3) What was the last meal you made from scratch? You mean like catching a fish and gutting it? That would be never.

4) What is your favorite type of music? The Beatles

5) In what position do you sleep? On my left side

6) What is your first memory? Looking at the sun shine on my little fat hand, flat on a red ottoman. According to my mother, we had that chair/ottoman set only for a brief time, but it was in front of the picture window in the house where we lived until a little after my first birthday. Lest you think I have an extraordinarily sharp memory -- all I can recall is that split-second visual.

7) What is your least favorite smell? Coffee mixed with cigarettes! (Shudder!) I became the happiest woman on the planet when smoking inside planes and restaurants was banned.

8) It's your round at the pub and your friends asked you to surprise them. What drink would you buy and why? Lotus martini. Because it's blue.

9) What was the last thing you read/watched that made you cry? I cry easily at the movies. I admit I misted up as Uggie raced his heart out to save Georg in The Artist.

10) They say that you learn something new every day. What was the last thing you have learned? That DaVinci painted the Mona Lisa on wood (poplar), not a canvas, and consequently it is very susceptible to damage from heat and humidity. I got this from a book called Mona Lisa in Camelot.

11) Which Literary love interests would you snog, marry and avoid. Snog and marry? Professor Bhaer, Jo's suitor in Little Women. Or maybe Mr. Rochester from Jane Eyre. Avoid? Heathclif from Wuthering Heights. He was just too damn much drama!

12) What is your oldest memory? Didn't I answer this already?

13) Paperback, Hardback or Kindle? Which of these is your favorite reading format and why? Hardcover, because it feels so permanent.

14) If you could bring back any canceled TV series for another run what would you pick and why? Cybill, because Christine Baranski's Mary Ann was such a gas.

15) Paperback, Hardback or Kindle? It's only been a few seconds since I answered #13. My answer hasn't changed in that time. :)

Such a sad story

I admit it, I'm obsessing. About something I can do less than nothing about. I think I'm doing this to distract myself from worrying about my mother, but I am not the point of the post.

Instead, the redoubtable Katharine Hepburn is.

I discovered her when I was in high school and have worshiped her ever since: Beautiful, talented, independent and completely original. What's not to admire?

Not only do I consider her awesome, so have generations of movie fans. She has four Best Actress Oscars (to Meryl's puny little two, thankyouverymuch). Cate Blanchette won an Oscar for portraying The Great Kate and her affair with Howard Hughes in The Aviator. Her on and offscreen relationship with Spencer Tracy is the stuff of legend.

So why am I now sad when I think of this woman who lived a long (96 years!) and wonderfully productive life? Because it seems it wasn't a happy life.

In the 9 years since her death, all kinds of rumors have begun to surface about her. Mostly they circle her sexuality. Yeah, whatever. She never married*, never had children, so she had to be lesbian. How cliche! Besides, it doesn't explain why she carried on an illicit and mostly secret affair with the married Spencer Tracy for decades.Why not just marry elaborately and publicly, the way Rock Hudson did? Sorry, I ain't buying.

But the tales that somehow do ring true to me involve young Tom Hepburn. Those of us familiar with Kate's saga know how she was devastated by the death of her favorite brother, Tom, when he was 15 and she was 13. He hung himself -- according to legend, he was imitating a magician the family had just seen while visiting friends in Greenwich Village. Our heroine was the one who found him, with a sheet tied to a ceiling beam and knotted around his neck. This so traumatized her that she began giving his birthdate as her own (it wasn't until the end of her life that she admitted she was really born in May, not November) as a way to help keep his memory alive. This is the version of events she even told herself in interviews and in her autobiography.

Now it turns out some of her very closest friends, including director George Cukor, heard a different story about Tom's "accidental" death. The family "golden boy" wasn't golden at all. He stuttered, and was physically awkward and painfully shy when away from the clannish Hepburns. Instead of Kate hero-worshiping Tom, it seems he idolized his athletic, pretty and confident kid sister. He seduced her, and they began a short but completely consensual sexual relationship. When their parents found out, they blamed Tom because he was older and better able to understand the ramifications of their actions. Their son responded by committing suicide.

As the new tale goes, this was the transformative incident in her life. It left her more sensitive and introspective, but self-protective and wracked with guilt. Unable to allow herself the intimacy and joy of a family of her own. Decades later, as a very old woman, she asked a New York cab driver to take her to the Greenwich Village home where Tom took his life. She dissolved in tears at the very sight of the building, was unable to get out of the car or even speak for a time. Cukor believed she never recovered from losing Tom, never stopped missing Tom, and said he hoped that beautiful boy would greet her in Heaven, welcoming her at last to to peace.

If this is true, it's one of the saddest life stories I have ever heard. And while I don't want to believe it, somehow I do.

Oh, my poor Kate! I hope you are now resting in peace.

*Though she was married for three or four years to a man named "Luddy."

Oh, Mommy!

My mom is in the hospital ... again. This time, instead of the pneumonia or COPD that have plagued her in the past, it's some kind of infection. Maybe ileum, maybe kidneys.

She exasperates me, but she's my mom and I love her. So I'm scared.

I realize that she's ultimately in God's hands, and that in this realm she's being treated by a doctor she likes and really trusts, and all that is good. I'm trying to just get on with my Saturday. I talked to her on the phone and learned that while she's lucid, she's sleep deprived and in a lot of pain and the best thing I can do for her now is to let her be. Maybe I'll go visit her tomorrow.

But she's my mommy ...

Saturday 9

Saturday 9: Come Dancing

1. When was the last time that you went out dancing? Ages ago. I don't even remember.

2. Have you ever had an argument with a teacher? Regularly. I had what was known as "a smart mouth."

3. Do you have a tough time remembering people’s names? Names? No. Anything numerical though stymies me. I can't even remember my own cell phone number.

4. Would you rather change your past or know your future? Change the past, I suppose. The allure of the path not taken.

5. What’s one thing you feel you must do in your life before it ends? Nothing springs to mind. I guess I just don't approach life in that way.

6. How many credit cards do you have right now that have a zero balance? Eight. Fortunately I had Quicken open on my desktop or this would have gone unanswered.

7. What is the most expensive thing you purchased this year? My upcoming vacation (next week!) is partially paid for. When the final bill comes, it will give me pause. I prefer to concentrate on the rewards I'm earning from the credit card company. Don't annoy me by telling me that's illogical.

8 . If you're married, this probably doesn't apply to you, but: Are you mindful about getting tested for STDs/HIV at least semi-regularly? Why/why not? Married people: Were you mindful about this type of thing when you were single? Why/why not? I give blood regularly and Lifesource checks it.

9. If you could ask the president of the United States one question, what would it be? ONLY ONE QUESTION? This hurts! I guess I'd say, "You don't really think we'll ever be able to banish the Taliban from Afghanistan forever, do you?"

Trifecta

This weekend's challenge: We are given the first 33 words of a story (in bold). We each need to complete it with exactly 33 of our own words (in ital).

Memories of 1972

“There’s nothing cute about it,” he said. The register of his voice indicated decision more so than discussion.

She disagreed heartily and privately, staring past his head and out the window behind him.  The only thing cuter than David Cassidy nude on the cover of Rolling Stone was David Cassidy nude blanketing the lockers beside the science lab, welcoming our moms and dads to parents’ night.

It was fun

Saw the pre-Broadway try out of Bring It On: The Musical. While it's hardly high art -- imagine All About Eve set not on Broadway but in the hall of fictional Truman High School, and the prize at stake not a Tony Award but a 3-ft. tall monstrosity with a megaphone on top -- it was a lot of fun.

The theater was only about half full, and my friend Barb and I found ourselves surrounded by families and cheerleading squads. I must say it was almost as fun to watch the young girls as it was the play. Taylor Louderman, who played tall and strong blonde heroine Campbell Davis, got an enthusiastic standing ovation from the under 20 crowd. Fluffy as the show was, a girl of an impressionable age could have a worse role model.

A sure sign of spring!

As we sweat through the hottest March in Chicago history, there is something to celebrate.

PUPPET BIKE!



I just happened upon it last night on my way to dinner and a play. While as the announcer explains, Puppet Bike is about as low tech an entertainment as you'll find, it's always such a welcome surprise to turn a corner, see a crowd assembled and find it's these ratty old puppets doing their thing under a little disco ball.

THURSDAY THIRTEEN #164

THIRTEEN

ILLUSTRIOUS 

ILLINOISANS

Blago, Blago, Blago! What a black eye you have given this state! Well, here I am, doing my part, to undo this grievous wrong and add a little luster to Illinois' reputation.

So here they are, 13 native-born Illinoisans who done good! I have alphabetized the list, so as not to play favorites.

1. John Belushi -- comedian, actor, original SNL castmember -- Wheaton, 1949

2. Lou Boudreau -- Hall of Fame player, manager and broadcaster -- Harvey, 1917

3. Dan Castellaneta -- Better known as the voice of Homer Simpson -- Oak Park, 1957

4. Hillary Clinton -- First Lady, NY Senator and Secretary of State -- Chicago, 1947

5. Cindy Crawford -- Supermodel -- DeKalb, 1966

6. John Deere -- He of tractor fame --  Moline, 1804

7. Betty Ford -- First Lady and activist -- Chicago, 1918

8. Ernest Hemingway -- Nobel and Pulitzer prize winning author -- Oak Park, 1899 

9. Jennifer Hudson -- Oscar winner -- Chicago, 1981

10. Ray Kroc -- Philanthropist and businessman of McDonald's fame -- Oak Park, 1902

11. Michelle Obama -- First Lady -- Chicago, 1964

12. Nicholle Thom -- the oldest daughter on The Nanny (just wanted to see if you were still reading) -- Hinsdale, 1978

13. George Will -- Pulitzer prize winning columnist -- Champaign, 1941

(No, I didn't forget Abraham Lincoln. He was born in Kentucky.)

For more information about the Thursday Thirteen,

or to play yourself, click here.

The Queen's Meme

Queen Mimi of Bloggingham is hosting an après St. Patrick's Day green meme.

1. How many green things are within your reach? Each of my earrings has a tiny green stone, and there are greens in the vase with my pink and white carnations.

2. Have you ever been green with envy? Yes.

3. Do you like split pea soup? No.

4. Have you gone green? I'm trying. I'm a good little recycler.

5. Do green Leprechauns scare you? No. In my mind they're forever connected to Lucky Charms. How can you be afraid when you're enjoying magically delicious marshmallows?

6.  What color was the Wicked Witch of The West's face in the Wizard of Oz? My best guess is PMS 377c. What do you think? Too yellow?


7. Tell us about your last experience with a frog...or a toad...or a prince. You pick. I don't recall my most recent experience, but my most memorable  occurred the summer between second and third grade. I was rolling down the shallow hill behind our summer cottage and came face to face with bug-eyed toad. I was frightened but he seemed quite copacetic with making my acquaintance and hopped away at a leisurely pace. It's funny how distinctly I remember his little countenance.

I Want Wednesday

I want him not to go. My best friend and his family for their spring getaway to Laguna Beach this coming Monday. Then on the following Sunday, I go on my spring getaway to Colonial Williamsburg. Which means we will go two weeks without talking. I hate that. BAD PLANNING!

WWW.WEDNESDAY

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading? Fab: An Intimate Life of Paul McCartney by Howard Sounes. I have high hopes for this biography, even though right now I'm still in Paul's childhood. I have noticed that, just as most biographies of Jackie Kennedy Onassis (but not this one) cover her White House years in detail but ignore the decades she lived after, Sir Paul's biographers concentrate on the Beatle years and pay scant attention to the nearly 35 years that followed.

 
• What did you recently finish reading? Another Piece of My Heart by chick-lit author extraordinaire, Jane Green. This is the tale of Andi, a newly-40 Bay Area bride who is happy with the man of her dreams, but not with his teenage daughter. For me, the most interesting character was Janice, the ex-wife, who has more dimensions that characters like hers are usually given in books like this.

• What do you think you’ll read next? The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz. Book #1 in a detective series about Izzy Spellman, who is described as "part Nancy Drew, part Dirty Harry." This series gets a "thumbs up" from Kwizgiver.

Good news!

One of Illinois' senators, Mark Kirk, suffered a major stroke earlier this year and, after initial press briefings that painted his physical impairment as severe but his cognitive skills in tact, we have heard precious little.

Well, today I received my email newsletter from the Senator, the first in ages! He's still in a rehabilitation facility, but he's doing Senate work and is taking visits from colleagues. Sen. Kirk even met with Prime Minister Netanyahu. So he's on the mend, and that's good.

I'm a worrier.

Who's that voter?

I just voted for Mitt Romney in the Illinois Primary.

Mitt Romney is a good and honorable man with whom I disagree on everything.

Rick Santorum, on the other hand, encourages real hate in people and it scares me.

Last night I got one of those robocalls, funded by a Santorum superpac, where I was "warned" about all the rights Romney gave gays in Massachusetts and then it closed with a plea that I be "a good Christian or Jew" and vote for Santorum.

So I set the alarm clock a little early and got up and voted for Romney. After all, I support gay rights! And as far as I'm concerned, whoever is responsible for that call knows nothing about being a "good Christian or Jew."

Besides, this poor state has already endured Blago. If we help Santorum retain the limelight, the humiliation will be so great that all citizens of voting age will be forced to wear glasses and a fake nose with moustache to disguise our shame.

Hot, hot, hot

I saw him in profile from about a half block away, and I was in looooove. Over 6' tall, with a thick thatch of salt-and-pepper hair and a strong nose. He reminds me a little of my friend Kathleen's husband, only much better looking. And must better dressed. No way Martin would ever spend that much on a suit!

I was able to get a closer view as we waited for the light to change. His skin looked really nice but he's not perfect -- his eyes are a little too close set. Such imperfections can be very endearing.

Kathy was wrong about me.

Trifecta

This week's challenge: Check out the third definition of clean (below), and use the word exactly as it appears, in no less than 33 and no more than 333 words.

3 a : free from moral corruption or sinister connections of any kind

   b : free from offensive treatment of sexual subjects and from the use of obscenity

   c : observing the rules : fair

Greetings from Illinois

He’s nothing special to look at: Balding and overweight, with a complexion that bounces between sickly winter pallor and an unnatural red summer hue. His suits never seem to fit right, and no matter what tie he chooses, it looks like it's strangling him. His oratory doesn’t get one’s pulse racing. Even with his very unpopular tax increase, the State is still operating with a deficit of at least $5 billion (some say it’s closer to $10 billion).

Yet I am happy Pat Quinn is my Governor. Because he is clean.

After George “Now Serving 7” Ryan and Rod “Welcome to Englewood Federal Correctional Institution” Blagojevich, that is refreshing.

The saddest thing about this post is that, when I saw the prompt, this is the only response that came to mind. Remember, our license plates proclaim us as, “Land of Lincoln.” If only our governors lived up to that.

Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing: The Her Head Is Part Missing Meme

1. What is your most annoying habit? I believe everyone wants to know how I feel about everything. I am learning this is not necessarily true.

2. What habit would you change of your partners? (come on no-one is perfect!) [Editor's note: Not only does it assume you have A partner, but it is written as though you have multiple ones. If you do not currently have a partner or many partners, simply tell us about your last one. BW] He smoked.

3. Horrors or Chick Flicks? Chick flicks

4. What is the most outrageous thing you have done in the back row of the movies? Dozed off

5. When have you lied to get a job? Never

6. What one thing is on your list to do before you hit 30, 40, 50 or whatever significant birthday is next? After this week, when I purchased a new toilet and had it installed, I don't believe there are any more mountains left to climb.

7. Classic or modern films and why? I'm not going to limit myself and you can't make me.

8. If you were a vampire who would be the first person you would bite? Victoria Winters, the downbeat governess.

9. If you had the power to make one thing better, what would it be? I would do whatever I can to help The Puppy Rescue Mission. This group reunites combat soldiers with the companion animals they adopt while in Afghanistan.

10. What makes a great blog? Not assuming that I have a partner and children. (Yes, I read ahead to question #13.)

11. What was the inspiration that brought your blog to the blogosphere? I wanted to create an accurate snapshot of my life at a given moment.

12. What easily ticks you off (puts you in a bad mood quickly)? Assuming that I have a partner and children.

13. How many children do you have? DAMN YOU AND YOUR ASSUMPTIONS!

14. Is there anything you have ever regretted writing on your blog? Nope.

15. What’s your favorite blog post you have written this year so far? One of my entries in an online writing competition.

16. Do you ever enter other bloggers competitions, and have you ever been lucky? Yes, and no.

17. If you could be anyone else for the day, who would you choose and why? Jennifer Aniston, because then I'd be pretty and funny and I could look back on waking up with John Mayer.

18. If you could time travel to any period of history what era would you visit? The 1860s.

19. If you had to be genetically modified, would you rather have a third arm, a third leg, a second head or some other modification? I think I'd like a tail. I'd wag it when I was happy and whip it back and forth when I'm pissed.

20. Which Disney character can you most relate to? Jane Banks. Because I'd like to jump in and out of chalk drawings and go to tea parties on the ceiling.

Trapped

I have been waiting around almost all day -- I mean that literally -- waiting for the air conditioner repairman. He left here with my through-the-wall unit at about noon and here it is, 7:30, and it's still not back. I called him at 6:00 for an update and he said he'd call me back "in half an hour," but that didn't happen. And now I won't be getting the air conditioner back until Sunday. AARGH!

I'm trying not to be upset. His entire operation is just two guys -- he does this picking up and delivering while his partner is in the shop, cleaning and repairing. This record-breaking spring heatwave has folks all over town turning on our units for the first time in six months and saying, "What the fuck?" He's doing everything he can to get all of the ac's turned around same day. And there aren't a lot of repair outlets that will even bother with through-the-wall units. I don't feel like spending $500 or $600 on a new one if I can get by with spending $110 to repair the existing one.

But this is not the way I wanted to spend my Saturday! It's hot in here! And, except for about an hour running errands, I've been in here. Waiting, waiting, waiting, like Aunt Bea behind bars.

And thinking about how the temporary crown I got last Saturday popped off. Sometimes it feels like nothing goes right.

Saturday 9

Saturday 9: Forget You

1. Have you ever felt that you needed to just forget an ex-lover? I keep trying to forget my most toxic ex, but he keeps popping up in my life, not unlike Glenn Close at the end of Fatal Attraction. I'm kidding, of course, but it's not funny. I don't want him in my life any more. I don't trust him, I don't forgive him, and I wish he would just forget me.




2. Spring picnics and cookouts are here! What would you want to have on your plate as you head back to the table? A burger or a brat, baked beans, potato salad ... the usual.

3. It's St. Patrick's Day, March 17th! Do you celebrate? Drink Green Beer? Go out? I wish I was celebrating. It's freakishly warm here in Chicagoland and I discovered my air conditioner isn't working. So my Saturday will be devoted to dealing with the repairman. I fear he's going to need to take it into the shop and then I'll have to wait around to be here for its return and reinstallation.  Oh well, better now than in the dog days of August.

4. Did you remember to wear green today? I will! Thanks for the reminder.

5. What phrase or saying do you over use? "The thing of it is ..."

6. If you could (or could have) change(d) something about your relationship with your parents, what would it be? I need to be more patient with my mother as she ages. As our time together gets shorter, I must concentrate on what really matters.

7. If the NCAA Men's or Women's Final Four basketball tournament was played in your hometown arena or within easy driving distance from where you live, would you try to attend one of the games? No. My attitude toward sports is, to paraphrase Mike Meyers' Scottish father, "If it's not Cubs baseball, it's crap."

8. No matter what's going on in your life, what always makes you smile? Certain songs.

9. We've asked this before: What else is on your mind? Go ahead and rant. I'd really like to go to the movies, but post-Oscars, it's not a good time for it. I don't care about The Hunger Games or 21 Jump Street, so I'm SOL.