#60 Halloween dangers

Today is Halloween. Last night was Beggar's Night, but because there are no children in our "NORC," no one came by for treats or tricks. Although parents are warned to watch for dangerous things in the bags, the American Society for Surgery of the Hand estimates hand doctors see about 5-10 patients with severe hand injuries from pumpkin carving each Halloween.

A NORC, by the way, is a "naturally occuring retirement community."

#59 I’m married to Mr. Neat

It takes a lot to get me to change brands. I like Tropicana, Grovestand, high pulp, with calcium orange juice. However, at Meijer’s this week I saw a new brand, Simply Orange, and none of kind I wanted. It also had a very attractive carafe. Nice, easy to hold neck, wide mouth, easy twist cap. So I put it in the grocery cart. I was hoping it had a decent taste, but I was really after that carafe.

This morning I opened the frig and reached for the orange juice only to discover my husband had finished it up. Usually he leaves an empty can or carton in the sink. But no, this time he took my carafe to the trash can! I retrieved it. And by the way, it is good orange juice.

#58 Ginko stinko

Just got back from the Ag Library. Three ginkgo trees along the walk to the door. They are beautiful this time of year. Brilliant yellow. But boy do they stink. Sort of like vomit mixed with decaying body parts. Only the female ginkgo does this. So plant males if you want pretty trees without the odor.

#57 Chicago Wilderness Magazine

I suppose by this time I should never be surprised by a journal, but I am. I picked up this issue at a library sale. Says there are about 200,000 acres of protected natural lands, 143 public and private organizations managing the ecosystems of the Chicago region.

Nice review about prayer and wilderness.


The Summer 2002 issue had an article about a woman who sells seeds on e-bay and spotted someone trying to sell an exotic weed that is devastating wetlands across the midwest. After the seller became less than pleasant when e-mailed about her illegal activity, the seed lady blew the whistle to the USDA and e-bay changed its policy on the sale of plants and weeds.

#56 Why do cats love to watch people in the bathroom?

Why do cats love to watch people in the bathroom? Not just the obvious stuff, but want to hang around even when the hair dryer is running and that's got to hurt little feline ears. Want to be with you, want to touch your arm when you're applying mascara. Why, when you close the door, do they slip their little paws under it? Do dogs do that? Or do they just whine and bark and chew up the rug until you come out?

So I asked google, and found one essay about cats and bathrooms that wasn’t euphemistically referring to litter boxes. It appears to be part of a very clever, well written blog, although the writer may not call it that, called The Grub Report. The main page looks like a diner menu and is divided into a la carte, blue plate special, etc. and the prices on the right hand side reflect the date, like $9.25.03. She has a great entry called “Yeah, I’m and English major--wanna make something’ of it?" Anyone who wants to have a reason to major in English should read it.

And her recipes aren’t bad either.

#55 About that dress

The formal mentioned in blog #54 has turned up in an essay, a poem and a blog. It truly has stood the test of time. Made of heavy white textured satin. Huge red bow. Simple lines. I decided to have it dry cleaned about 45 years too late, and wrote a poem about my thoughts while getting it ready (had to remove the bow). I wrote this about a year after Mom died and was missing her. It is supposed to format in the shape of a Christmas tree, but I'm not sure how it will work in an Arial font.

Preparing
an Old Christmas
Formal for Dry Cleaning

I wish I had hot coffee.
I wish I were more nimble.
I wish I had done this sooner.
I wish the light was brighter here.
I wish I hadn’t broken my fingernail.
I wish the needle eye weren’t so small.
I wish the stitches weren’t so tiny and tight.
I wish I asked why Mom knew the Charleston.
I wish the scissors were sharper and more pointy.
I wish I’d been more grateful for her time and effort.
I wish I’d done this ten years ago before my tri-focals.
I wish I remembered what we talked about during fittings.
I wish dry cleaners did formal dresses with big scarlet bows.
I wish I knew if she thought the dress would last for fifty years.
I wish I’d paid more attention when she tried to tell me about life.
I wish I knew what she thought of while she sewed the dress together.
I wish I were willing to create formals knowing I would not be dancing.

January 16
2001

54

How to find a roommate who doesn’t speak Spanish

My first visit to the University of Illinois was to attend an ROTC dance with my high school boyfriend, who was an engineering student there. I doubt that he noticed, but I wore the same formal I had worn to the Christmas dance when we were junior and senior in high school. Neither of us knew how to dance, as I recall.

I stayed at the sorority house of a high school friend for the week-end. I think she and her housemates were the first to tell me about the dorm where I would live when I transferred to Illinois. They had lived there before pledging. My relationship with the boyfriend ended before I got to school in the fall of 1958, but I thoroughly enjoyed my years at McKinley Hall.

McKinley Hall was a conveniently located, independent (not Greek, not owned by the university) women’s dorm on Wright Street, one of the main streets through that campus on the Champaign side. It was owned by the YWCA and was named for Hannah McKinley, mother of an Illinois politician and businessman, William Brown McKinley. It was built in 1913 and counting the walk-out basement, had four floors. Our dining room was in the basement, the main floor was the offices for the Y, a lounge with comfortable furniture and a fireplace, a sun porch, and a large activity room where we had our house activities like parties and dances. The girls’ rooms were on the second and third floors.

McKinley Hall was a block from Green Street where the bookstores, restaurants, and pharmacies bustled. It was across from Altgeld Hall, which many years before had been the law school and former library and from which the chimes were rung every quarter hour. Also on the same side of the street were the offices of the Daily Illini.

Mrs. Stone, the housemother, arranged for me to have a roommate from South America when I told her on my interview I had studied Spanish. Dora was born in China and raised in Brazil, so she spoke Shanghainese, as I recall, and Portuguese. However, it was a great match and our years together provide precious memories. Today she is a successful artist in Boston and a new grandmother. I have a whole scrapbook of her Christmas cards collected over the last 40 years. I haven’t seen her since 1989, but when I do, it will be like she just walked down the hall for a few minutes.

#53 Citing your sources without misleading your readers

I've been doing some research on hyperinsulinemia, the over production of insulin in obese, non-diabetic people. Obesity is a topic that seems to appear in every magazine and newspaper. I think the media attention is building up to a demand from various anti-consumerism and pro-health fad groups to have government step in.

I came across this interesting item in a "Festschrift" printed in Obesity Research this year:

"Several reports suggest that the increase in obesity has actually been occurring for 100 years or more and may not be accelerating at all. Helmchen (4) studied data from U.S. veterans 50 to 59 years of age who were examined in 1905 and 1909 and found that the veterans were more than three times as likely to be obese than their counterparts examined 25 years earlier, an annual average increase of 4.5% in obesity rate. Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys conducted from the 1970s to the 1990s showed an annual increase in obesity rates of roughly 4%. Helmchen concluded that obesity was increasing at least as rapidly at the beginning as it was at the end of the 20th century. Similar conclusions were reached by other investigators [e.g., Okasha et al. (5) ]. Environmental factors, such as industrialization, central heating, vaccinations, reductions in infectious diseases, increased availability of food, and changing attitudes, all of which may have both near-term and trans-generational (perhaps epigenetic) effects, should be considered as causes for the increase in obesity." in Douglas C. Heimburger, et al. A Festschrift for Roland L. Weinsier: Nutrition Scientist, Educator, and Clinician Obes Res 2003 11: 1246-1262.

(4)Helmchen, LA. (2001) Can Structural Change Explain the Rise in Obesity? A look at the Past 100 Years. Social Science Research Computing, University of Chicago, Chicago. http://proxy.lib.ohio-state.edu:3293/prc/pdfs/helmch01.pdf. Accessed September 12, 2003.

(5)Okasha, M, McCarron, P, Smith, GD, Gunnell, D. (2003) Trends in body mass index from 1948 to 1968: results from the Glasgow Alumni Cohort. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 27,638-640 [Medline]

The interesting thing about footnote 4 is that you can't find it. Notice, the URL is a proxy, or login from Ohio State. [None of the authors are from Ohio State.] If I'm already signed in, I can access this article, but no one else can. If you google "Helmchen structural change" you' find a pdf document, with no source except the author's name. The footnote says it was last checked on Sept. 13, 2003 for an article in the October 2003 issue of a research journal. Interesting that accessibility was checked but not scholarship.

After a lot of web surfing, I found all dead links to "Social Science Research Computing" at the University of Chicago. It has either been disbanded, or moved to another university. Lorens Helmchen is or was a graduate student in 2001 when this paper was written.

This is a very interesting paper to read (after I found it).** So are the other projects Helmchen has worked on (like Civil War pension records and some other health related research). There is no indication on the paper's title page that it was published by any department within the University of Chicago.

Helmchen is not at fault here--Heimburger, the lead author of the Obesity Research article is, as is the editor of that journal, Barbara E. Corkey. When citing a source from the internet, I think it is still important to note that it is unpublished just as we did in the pre-net days so that the reader isn't misled into thinking it has been through peer review.

**I contacted Mr. Helmchen about the problem of his paper being in an unidentifiable series, and he immediately got that corrected--but when I first linked to the paper this information wasn't available. Citation counts are very important in promotion and tenure!

#52 A no swear zone?

I was getting my final refill of decaf at Panera’s before leaving for home. I had already finished the USAToday and the Wall Street Journal, and would have read the Columbus Dispatch, if nothing else were available. He was getting his first morning cup of coffee. So we were sort of jockeying for the right carafe and cream canister. [You receive your cup after paying, but pour your own]. He was wearing a stunning dark navy suit accessorized with a handsome expensive tie.

“Do you have a performance today?” I asked.

“Yes, a kiddie concert,” he sighed with a clear heave of disgust.

“Where is that?” I asked.

At the Palace. And it is a pain in the rear,” he grumbled.

“Why is that?”

“Parking. Just a hassle,” and he walked to his table to join the guys, a dentist, a handyman and a salesman.

Now where in this conversation, accurately recorded here, was the clue not to swear or cuss in my presence? Was it my elegant use of English with a slight Midwestern twang? My handsome $3.00 Wal-Mart slacks? My gray hair (roots)? Or maybe he recognized a fellow trombone player. Or was it just his own good manners and training?

51 Sounds vaguely familiar

I noticed this abstract (free) in the PNAS 100 (19):11163-1170 Sept. 5, 2003 (there is a charge for the on-line article). Sounds like the difference between the thinking of men and women, doesn’t it? Although as more women subscribe to male values of the work place, our differences in thinking, social relationships and preferences for the built environment are diminishing. Even so, I’m thinking if the house is burning down, we (the women) will still grab the photo albums while our husbands are moving the car to a safe distance.

(Abstract)
Culture and point of view
Richard E. Nisbett * and Takahiko Masuda

*Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109; and Department of Behavioral Science, Graduate School of Letters, Hokkaido University,
N 10 W 7 Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-0810, Japan
Contributed by Richard E. Nisbett, July 21, 2003

East Asians and Westerners perceive the world and think about it in very different ways. Westerners are inclined to attend to some focal object, analyzing its attributes and categorizing it in an effort to find out what rules govern its behavior. Rules used include formal logic. Causal attributions tend to focus exclusively on the object and are therefore often mistaken.

East Asians are more likely to attend to a broad perceptual and conceptual field, noticing relationships and changes and grouping objects based on family resemblance rather than category membership. Causal attributions emphasize the context. Social factors are likely to be important in directing attention. East Asians live in complex social networks with prescribed role relations. Attention to context is important to effective functioning. More independent

Westerners live in less constraining social worlds and have the luxury of attending to the object and their goals with respect to it. The physical "affordances" of the environment may also influence perception. The built environments of the East are more complex and contain more objects than do those of the West. In addition, artistic products of the East emphasize the field and deemphasize individual objects, including people. Western art renders less of the field and emphasizes individual objects and people.

#50 Today is the 13th “Make a Difference Day”

“Make A Difference Day is the most encompassing national day of helping others -- a celebration of neighbors helping neighbors. Everyone can participate. Created by USA WEEKEND Magazine, Make A Difference Day is an annual event that takes place on the fourth Saturday of every October.” This year it is Saturday, October 25, 2003. There is a lot of hoop-la and special grants. You can nominate special volunteers, if you wish.

I won’t send in their names because it would probably embarrass them, but I can tell you that my friends Mary Jo and Sue are two people who make a difference all year long. They couldn’t be more different from each other. They are on opposite ends of the introvert/extrovert scale and one was raised a Baptist, the other a Catholic. Both are now Lutherans.

I have spent hundreds of hours with Sue because for five or six years we were in a group together that met weekly. But I hardly know her because she is a very private person. I know she has lived many places including Iran, has a southern accent, an adult daughter and two grandchildren and at one time had a career. I know “about” her, but not her. God has given her the gift of service. And she is mighty in his service. If she were so inclined, she could offer seminars on how to move to a new community and immediately make yourself useful and find friends while doing it.

Mary Jo I’ve known much longer--maybe since the 70s, but have spent less time with her. As she describes herself, “I don’t know what I think until I say it.” So I know much more about her inner life, her joys and sorrows, her family, her widowhood, and the children she loves to teach in her daily life. God has given her the gift of prayer. And she is mighty pleading at the throne of God. She actually does lead a seminar--well, she wouldn’t call it that--but we gather on Saturdays to learn and pray together and to watch and marvel at how this woman teaches and reaches, and yes, preaches the Word of God.

Making a difference, one day at a time.

#49 That Depends
Peace of mind, control guard, extra barriers, tape, wrap ups, briefs, tabs, panels, color coded, containment zones, reduces leaks, and finally, superior protection strategically placed. Does Attorney General John Ashcroft know about this?

In Ohio, I think the Bureau of Motor Vehicles is allowed to sell mailing addresses along with personal information, such as birth date. How else did a “home care product” company get our address? If it wasn’t purchased from BMV, then it was from some other firm that knows we have a Golden Buckeye Card (probably a computer harvests the names and addresses and resells them when used at a store).

This brochure offered a whole thesaurus of products including Depend, Prevail, Attend, Wings, Poise, Presence, Serenity, Surety, Tranquility, ATN (all through the night), Per-Fit, Nu-Fit, and in case something slipped through the containment zone, it discreetly suggests Dignity, an odor eliminator spray.

This company specializes in discreet home delivery of incontinent supplies, “right to your door.” I had no idea that there was such a huge variety of products, in a wide assortment of sizes and styles. In fact, I’d never heard of these products until June Allyson, who danced through the movies of our teen-age years and huskily played the wives of those famous men, was hawking them on TV. If she really did have an incontinent mother, I’m sure Mom was thrilled to have it announced on national television. Maybe she was a stage mother and it was pay back time.

#48 Growing up healthy in the 1950s
In Spanish class last night we were talking about the way they used to line us up at school for vaccinations. Then this morning I read that about 1/4 of American children do not receive their proper immunizations at the right time, and a web site is being developed to remind them. This got me thinking about growing up healthy.

When I was a child I was vaccinated for small pox, polio (when it became available) and diphtheria. I had chicken pox, measles, mumps, whooping cough, pneumonia, scarlet fever, and multiple incidents of tonsillitis until my tonsils were removed.

I played outdoors with my friends whenever weather permitted. I had no allergies. I never had a broken bone, or even a sprain. I didn’t inhale second hand smoke (after 1949 when Dad quit) or suffer any animal bites. I was never in an automobile accident, not even a fender bender. I never had an accidental poisoning, food poisoning, a bee or wasp sting, or poison ivy.

I never had an ear ache or cold sore. I didn’t have an eating disorder (we’d never heard of them until the 1960s). Some of my fillings are older than my dentist who is 50 years old, but I still have all my permanent teeth, even my wisdom teeth. I didn’t wear glasses or a hearing aid.

My parents didn’t own a television until I was in college. No one brought guns or knives to school in our little town, although we did have bullies in the 1940s and 1950s. As a teen-ager, I didn’t drink and didn’t smoke and neither did my friends. Drugs were something we thought were used only by poor people who had no future. I was never assaulted by a boy. I never knew a person who committed suicide until I was in my 30s.

Serious mishaps were missed by an inch. I almost drowned in 1948 because I didn’t know how to swim and slipped off a raft when no adults were around. I was shot in the face with a BB gun by my brother when I was 7. My horse fell on me when I was 12.

I didn’t know I had a learning disability until after I had a master’s degree. I never took the SAT, ACT or the GRE, which is good because I‘m a terrible test taker. I didn’t find out until I was 57 that my heart’s electrical system had been misfiring my entire life and that I could have had a stroke or died without warning.

If there is an angel of good health, we’ve been walking arm in arm and I hope he sticks around.

#47 Flyboys, the book

I read a review of this book in USAToday this morning. (Another review here) Was puzzled by one quote from the author. "Few realize the U.S. killed more Japanese civilians than soldiers and sailors." He should have added: "It has always been thus in war." Chapter 20 of "A War to be Won" by Williamson Murray and Allan R. Millett, states: "World War II was the most undiscriminating destroyer of peoples and resources in modern history. . . this much is known: WWII killed at least twice as many innocents as soldiers, of whom at least 21 million died. The Axis states lost more than 3 million civilians, and the Allies at least 35 million, more than 28 million of whom were Russians and Chinese."

The only bigger loss of life than civilians in war time comes from death by government design and decree (democide), as in Nazi Germany, Communist China, Soviet Union, and countries like Uganda, Rwanda, Iraq and North Korea. Megadeath site

"The general theme of James Bradley's FLYBOYS centers on nine American Navy pilots and crewmen who were shot down in action over Chichi Jima while trying to destroy the Japanese communication station that fed information to its forces throughout Asia. Eight of these men were captured [and killed]. One was rescued by a nearby submarine and eventually became President of the United States."

#46 Index

I have indexed my blogs to date, and if it is convenient, I’ll keep updating this as a blog entry. Food themes seem to be taking over. The only reason “family” outnumbers “food” is that I double count, and I’m usually eating with family.

Index to themes, topics, passing thoughts, and ideas

Academe, libraries #38, #29, #26, #10, #54
Art and artists #54
blogging #1, #32, #46, #56
books and journals #2, #29, #31, #47, #53, #51, #57
condo living #40, 42
culture #41, #31
economy, finances #43, #33, #13, #7, #61
faith and values #37, #31, #30, #14, #32, #46, #50, #63, #62
family #39, #36, #34, #28, #24, #21, #6, #4, #2, #55,#59
fashion #21, #55
food, recipes, eating out #42, #36, #35, #25, #11, #10, #3, #8, #56, #59
friends #21, #10, #9, #50, #54
genealogy #20, #44, #19, #24
health #39, #36, #25, #23, #48, #53, #61, #60
Illinois #44, #54, #63
Internet, Usenet, computers #37, #33, #32, #26, #62
nature #42, #31, #58, #57
observations, misc. #15, #12, #5, #49, #52, #49
Ohio #40, #20
pets #39, #27, #56
poetry #44, #22, #14, #55, #63
politics #43, #9
science #29, #16, #2
women #44, #20, #23, #63
writing #62, #19

#45 Pay it forward, you may need it

We’re in a Gospel of John class on Monday evening taught by Dave and Pam Mann. They are a terrific teaching team, and it is impossible to get bored or even stray off track. They are of the see it, say it, hear it, do it school of educators. This is particularly good for older learners (i.e. anyone over 25) because we become like children with learning disabilities as we age.

Each member of the class got a notebook with reproduced pages of John (NIV), a list of assignments, yellow flash cards for memory verses, and blue cards for “snapshot” visual cues for all the chapters, a set of color markers for high-lighting major themes like “believe,” “glory,” “Father,” “world,” etc., a list of who, what, when, where questions to be answered for each significant section of each chapter and a CD with a dramatization of John. I have found the markers helpful; my husband hates them and won’t use them. I can’t memorize; he can. So there is something for every one. I’m not an aural learner at all, but after 4 or 5 times, I start to hear things I missed.

When Dave lectures, Pam writes the important points on white poster paper and attaches it to the wall. These points are kept on the wall from week to week. When Pam lectures, Dave just watches, because I think he isn’t sure what she might say or what joke she will tell.

This week she commented on something I’d never thought about. We’ve all heard and used the expression “doubting Thomas,” because Thomas was the disciple who had to be convinced of the resurrection by touching Jesus’ hand and side (John 20:25). Pam pointed out that in 11:16 Thomas was the disciple willing to die for Jesus when there was a plot to stone him (the raising of Lazarus story).

#44 Susanna looked East [poem]

My newly married great-grandparents, David and Susanna of Pennsylvania, settled in Lee County, Illinois in 1855 where he had purchased acreage a few years earlier. He had abandoned a trip to the California gold fields in 1849 to choose the dark riches of the Illinois soil.

Over 115 years later, his granddaughter, my mother, restored her family farm home as a religious retreat center for the Brethren. My own family would go there in the summers of 1970-1983 for our vacations. I can almost feel the hot sun and wind while keeping an eye on my children. The view in this poem is to the west, but Susanna, whose home was a few miles from this place, turns around to look east.

+ + + +

When Susanna looked East.

Remembering the mountains back East
the Illinois pioneers rejoiced in the Lord.
Now soybean velvet rows green and black,
converge in the distance at the Daysville Road Farm.

The black earth is rich, flat and fertile
and the azure sky seems to go on forever.
We love this view with the angry clouds
roaring white on blue like waves on a distant sea.

I swat at flies that buzz around us
while toddlers cling to my knees and tug at my skirt,
and think about how brave they were then
to leave family and all that they knew to go West.

The wind whistles through the tall pine trees,
and we pause to dig our toes in the dusty lane.
Did she, holding a baby, turn East
with longing eyes, teary for loved ones left behind?

#43 Vivica A. Fox

Vivica Fox was on the Fox TV morning investment show the other day. She wanted advice--didn’t like her investment adviser. Said she was conservative.

Although my supplemental account through TIAA-CREF is performing much better than it was in 2000, the overall amount still hasn’t recovered. The gain/loss in 3d quarter 2000 was a negative $1,339.25 and the gain/loss in 3d quarter 2002 was $2,858.17. Remember, Bush wasn't in office in 2000. He inherited a faltering economy.

However, our private retirement account which is managed by an investment counselor and isn‘t invested in any mutual funds, had returned to its 2000 high after 1st quarter of this year, and in the 2nd quarter had terrific growth, exceeding its former high.

So why do the Democratic candidates keep beating the “economic recovery” drum? Since mid-2002, the Standard & Poor has risen continuously, and it had declined all of 2000! Before Bush was in office.

1.186 million new jobs were created last year. Manufacturing jobs that have been lost will probably never come back, just like agriculture years ago. But high tech investment is at record levels--above the bubble years.

I got a $15 a month tax refund from the government, and a $42 a month cost of living increase from STRS. You can rant all you want about Bush, call him crazy for that tax cut and other economic fiddling to restore the economy, but I can keep coloring my hair.

#42 Indian Summer

Can we still say “Indian Summer?” That glorious warm, blue sky breather between the first frost and the last leaf slowly dropping before the snow flies. Nothing ethnic is safe these days, but I’m not sure a new term has been invented for these lovely days.

Last night we had dinner on the deck. It’s a lovely place to eat because we are in the trees. High up. Our front door is at ground level, but the back door to the deck is one story up, sheltered by some graceful trees. It overlooks a wonderful vista of yard, ravine and creek, and this time of year we can again see our neighbors on the other side of the creek ravine who are hidden from us during the summer with thick layers of leaves.

We had chicken cordon bleu (boneless chicken breast filled with thin ham slices and Swiss cheese) and a heaping salad of field greens with tomatoes, mushrooms, olives and celery. This recipe looks similar .

My secret is to order this as a sandwich at our favorite restaurant, Old Bag of Nails. At the same time, I order a “doggie bag” which is really a box. When it arrives, it is about 7” tall and deep fried. Then I begin to carefully dismantle it. I scoop off the bun, then the tomato, onion and lettuce. I cut it in half--difficult because of its huge size--this step must be done with care--and place half in the box. Then I cut the other half into halves. Usually I can only eat 1/4 of the sandwich, so I want to be prepared to move more into the box if necessary.

The next day we enjoy our night out again, but at home, with two more normal size servings. Americans are being “biggie sized” to death (or at least poor health) by their restaurant portions, but there are sensible ways to eat out. And cheap ways to eat in.

#41 A week with TV is a week. . .?

Because I’ve been laid low with a cold, I’ve been catching up with daytime TV to pass the time. Dr. Phil is doing his own Monday reality show on weight loss. He had about 12 people living together in a mansion and agreeing to lose weight in front of America.

Today he did step 3--no fail environment, or removing temptation. One lady poured about a gallon (not exaggerating) of caramel syrup in the toilet. People were throwing out huge bags of snack foods--Doritos, pork rinds, King Dongs. One lady even had her son clean out his large “snack drawer,” stuffed with his favorite snack items. Even food scented candles had to go.

A nutritionist accompanied the participants to the supermarket to show them how to shop. Her information was so basic, it was difficult to imagine that these people hadn’t heard or read all this before. At least several appeared to be in upper income families--at least the out sized clothes they were dumping (Dr. Phil’s advice) were extremely nice and the kitchens they were purging were to die for.

His other reality show which runs on Thursday is about a family coping with the pregnancy of their 15 year old. Mother, father, daughter and younger sister are on camera. This week, the mother-to-be is going to start interviewing couples interested in adopting. Up to this point, she has been planning to keep the baby without looking into other options.

The most fun is the HGTV, home and garden channel and Discovery “makeover” shows. I learned how to spend only $2,200 redecorating my dining room to make it look almost like $72,000 model. I can spray paint old bread pans, fill with rice, poke in some candles and have a lovely Christmas center piece. Shiny metal window wells can be installed as interior valances over windows. And for only $50,000, I can make my kitchen much more efficient and workable.

Actually, the soaps look much the same. I caught Erica on “All My Children” and realized she looks about the same as when I watched her back in 1968. And was that Bo Buchanan getting married again, or just walking someone down the aisle?

I opened one eye, reached for a Kleenex and clicked forward to the International Channel. The story seemed familiar. It was awhile before I realized the soap was in Korean.