matoad: my parents let me shift from the passenger seat all the time...probably why I am such a good driver with a standard! but we didn't have a push button ignition...we had an old VW square back that could be started with the tiniest of pushes from behind. DigitS: My finger print, of course!! Not a worry these days with all that digital technology around. And T.V.! Yeah, we had a tiny box of black and white with "13" channels only not all the channels were there. We only got to watch a very small amount: Star Trek, and any of the programs on PBS, like Nova, In Search Of, that yoga guy, I forget his name, and Sesame Street. I used to get pissy when my mom was watching ... was it Dick Cavet or Merv Griffin? Either way, one of those was on at the same time as Felix the cat...so sad. Funny, I haven't had a T.V. in about ten years but I netflix (on my computer) all the old Star Treks and also that Star Trek Deep Space 9! My brother and I stayed with our grandparents every weekend and they would take us to garage sales. My gram never paid more than a nickel or, sometimes--rarely, a dime for stuff. That is when she would remind me that movies used to cost a nickel. When the prices rose and she could only get away with paying a quarter at rummage sales, she decided they were too pricey! We went to the drug store for ice cream. While gram bought prescriptions, grampa would buy us ice cream for a few cents. Gosh, I think it was 25 cents a cone, for three scoops?? It was cheap. Grampa always got strawberry, I got chocolate and I don't remember what my brother got. My bro and I used to make model cars, rockets and monsters, like Lon Chaney as this or that monster. We would blow up the models with firecrackers and then display them on our shelves. I saw lots of the models we had, un-blown up, on eBay for a zillion dollars. Oops! We had our friends over yesterday (oooh, that is so in the past) and I used the relish tray that I found in grannies attic. It was brand new and pink speckle from...gee, must have been the late fifties. The box it was in was disintegrating, falling apart. In junior high school, I wore clothes from grannies closet, I would fix them up so they would fit as gram was a pretty big gal. All the kids were curious as to why I had such neat clothes. gosh, I loved reading what everyone wrote! J.

Hi there Eloise!! Good to hear you are still around, but even better to hear that you are enjoying what we all should be doing - getting out, being with our friends and staying off this darn computer. Check in every once in a while - just to let us know you are doing. BTW, a hen??? Not much going on here - too rainy. I finally couln't stand being in the house any longer today, so I took my little doggie for a ride. Believe it or now, I went to a few garden shops and walked around in the rain. I wasn't the only crazy one though. There were a lot of people doing the same thing - they even bought stuff. I saw some things - shrubs and green plantings, that were very reasonably priced for this area. I'm still in the dream stage of what I want to do for landscaping. The electric company here - I think I mentioned it before, has been whacking down trees because of horrible power outages. They have been mandated to do this, and were even being investigated for large scale and lengthy outages. I guess the revenge is to cut down everything in sight, and with the least amount of care/concern. I now have a VERY hot and sunny yard - even in places where I had some beautiful perrenials that require shade. Oh well, I like doing this stuff - just not re-spending for areas that I thought were OK. The only other thing - I think I've decide to have my thyroid removed. It is bugging the heck out of me and all of my Drs. have said it should be removed. Not sure I'm OK with that just yet, but the surgery is scheduled for June 10th. We'll see if I keep that appt!!

I'm soooo very glad I'm not the only one who throws a birthday party for dogs!! Fortunately now we have two who are siblings so that cuts the parties down to two a year..(nope the cat doesn't get recognized cause we're not for sure when she was born...just the year)

I have a similar experience as quasi. In my case many many doctors later with no answers and no results. 30 + years of migraines that weren't even touched by any of the medication. Side effects which would have floored an elephant. I've had to wean myself off of drugs many many times. The doctors didn't want to help they just wanted that drugs to do the job. So I had to take my life into my own hands so I could have a life after migraines. I studied and researched everything about my illness. I read every Medical journal and even went to Medical libraries and researches drugs old and new anything related to migraines. I looked for nutritional answers and lifestyle and health related answers. I had to be my own advocate; no choice. Doctors aren't always on your side. Or apparently even know how to help you. Elmer and others are very lucky! My son had the same experiences and we are watching my sister go through the same thing. Our system isn't the same for everyone even though it should be! My best advice to you is to not give up. Keep trying to find a good doctor who will listen to you and help you move through your problems. At the same time make sure you are taking care of yourself nutritionally physically emotionally and mentally as best you absolutely can. Those are in the end or what helped me much more than any doctor did! Even though I feel that way for myself and and now starting to have no hope for my sister and son if you can find a good doctor like Elmer and others have you will have your own self as an advocate and them as an advocate. I think more than one person working on maintaining your health is much better.