jasdip - Very sorry that your brother is still in pain. But, no doubt that the pain of being downsized is even worse. At a certain age it makes things very difficult. I hope he is able to find a new job soon. jannie - sometimes wait times all depend on where you live and what you are going to have done. But they can be very lengthy in Ontario - Toronto is not good. old joyful - my husband turned 65 in Dec. but will continue to work until age 67. He has 2 eye drop prescriptions - that is it. He will have to pay the $100 deductible to the ODB this month and first go through it for reimbursement of his eye drops - but there is at least a $25.00 differential between what the ODB will pay and the cost of each of the eye drops. He then is to submit the excess cost to his office plan insurer (they pay up to 90% of generic drugs) - BUT he can't claim the $100 deductible. He does have to pay a considerable amount for his office family plan and I am 2 years younger than he is. My B-I-L worked for the government - he can claim the ODB $100 against his government continued benefits. My husband works for a private company. I currently have 2 prescriptions and am being weaned off of them. The ODB would not cover them anyway - and except for the odd sinus meds that is it for me. But at 65 I will still have the deductible (and my birthday is in Aug. - how convenient!). I know for a fact that the ODB is going to stop covering some drugs that many seniors take. In the hospital, yes drugs are covered, and you were VERY lucky to have had an MRI so quickly. I know I would be waiting a long time. Re the ODB I actually called them up to ask if they seriously expected people still working to go through them first. Obviously I do not want to find myself having to take multiple drugs or having procedures at age 65 - especially since I am allergic to so many things. But it does get frustrating. I have a terrible cold - and of course am allergic to antihistamine and decongestant!

Jasdip, I made 12 muffins from your recipe. Usually I make the jumbo size muffins and use a full recipe for only six gigantic, bakery size muffins. This time, I decided to go back to the smaller, regular muffins size. The muffins didn't crown the top of the muffin tin much, so maybe I should have made 8-10 rather than 12. No matter -- they taste really good. I had another one this morning, thawing it in the microwave. I used half butter & half applesauce. I'm not one to eliminate butter altogether. Also, I eliminated salt because of my husband's dietary restrictions. If I hadn't been making these muffins for the first time, I might have used a no-sodium baking soda product too. But I didn't want to risk ruining the muffins. I use a no-sodium baking powder for all my quick breads, and it works just fine. But I've had some trouble in the past with the sodium-free baking soda. I also used the lowest sodium of all the commercial buttermilks available at my local grocery stores. Donna, I may try your recipe next. As I've said before, I'm a sucker for bran muffins. I'm still hoping to replicate the wonderful flavor of the Van de Kamp's bran muffins of my childhood in Los Angeles. I loved them, but unfortunately, Van de Kamp's discontinued most of their bakery items years ago.

Jumping in because I made them on Friday, not knowing either so, I used half quick oats because that was all I had of that one kind ...steel cut looked too big, so I used a 12 grain cereal that had lots of oats in it to make up the rest. It came from the Bulk Barn and you use it the same way to make oatmeal/ porridge. They had to be the best oatmeal cookies I have ever had. I like the shortbread texture instead of chewy for a change. Making them again today with either raisins or cranberries added.

The posting window appears strange. I am having trouble in that all words keep on going right past the advertisements to the left of the page, so this post may well resemble one typed on a typewriter with the return carriage. We are being hit hard. Husband left for office at 6:30 and it was clear. He was hopeful - I was not - no way am I that lucky! Can't even see the car. Our Eskie of course loved eating the snow and scarfing down as much as possible before I dragged him back in. I am not even going to try and shovel until the snow stops otherwise it would be pointless. I did brush off the gas meter though because it was already seriously covered and there are so many wires. I chopped as much ice as possible on Mon. and Tues. but some of it was just too thick. I too took shovels full of water from the sidewalk in front of our house where it slopes right next to the electrical gizmo that I avoid due to the dog and possible electrocution. It gets very icy - hence my concern about someone falling. Then there is the catch basin - not in front of our house - that I am going to have to deal with. It is just being able to dig down deep enough to find it. If I don't OUR sidewalk gets totally flooded. The City knows about it - they have seen me in action but no action has been taken - not a surprise! Yes, the potholes are a nightmare. I found a new one the other day that was almost a sink hole - and it hadn't been there 2 days earlier. Fortunately I missed it because I actually watch the road - otherwise I would have had major tire/rims/undercarriage damage to the car. The sidewalk plows have not come by - usually they do just after I have shovelled and manage to make our situation worse by dumping a lot of the snow from "those that do not shovel" on to our sidewalk. I was so annoyed the other day that I rolled down the car window and yelled at a woman who was moving all of her snow right into the centre of the road. The edge of the road - go for it - despite the fear of fines that are handed out to just some people - but not to the centre of the road making things even more treacherous than they already are. But then we don't break the law - look where that gets us! Seriously, if my ticket to NY was a points seat I would cancel it and pay the $100 reinstatement fee - but sadly it was a seat sale purchase. The fellow who comes from a service to check the house and car (necessary) doesn't shovel and kids sure don't. The fellow across the street has a 14 year old son who stays with him on the weekends. He had hoped that his son would help him shovel - forget it - the kid stayed inside texting. I am afraid that I would not be able to deal with the entitements of kids today. Now if only the dog could shovel - other than shovelling the snow down his throat! He could clear an area fast but of course suffocate in the process. I do appreciate your offer to shovel - now if only you lived in Toronto. Keep safe. I hope that Cherryfizz doesn't get hit too hard and that you don't get more than you bargained for. Guess who wants to go out again. No wonder - drink a ton of water, eat snow, come in, drink again - rinse and repeat.