I cannot think of a single good title that would convey the random contents of this post

It's a blustery fall day, the kind that makes you just want to stay inside and sip hot cocoa or coffee and curl up with a good book. Not that any of that's going to happen here, but it's the perfect day for it.

Earlier in the week a package arrived from my sister that included all kind of goodies. My favorite is always the stack of photos. My nieces are growing SOOOOO fast! But she always tucks in other treats too. Original Ranch dressing mixes (used part of one already to make a big pasta salad this week), Puffs tissues that I horde for those times (thankfully few and far between) when I get a head cold and my poor nose just needs a little extra TLC, scrubby pads for the kitchen because the ones I've found here are super abrasive so my sister sent me a nylon scrubber and several of those green rectangular pads that I use all the time. AND....(drum roll please)....Godiva chocolate bonbons!!! I have slowly savored each wonderful morsel, and NO, I have NOT shared! Those babies went into my night stand and after each meal -- including breakfast -- I'd enjoy a couple minutes of chocolate bliss. SOOOOOOOOOOOO good! I ate the last one yesterday. *sigh* Thank you, thank you, sister-of-mine!

Yesterday was a whirlwind of activity...Spanish in the morning, cooking up a storm in the afternoon, visitation in the evening. When I sat down at 9 p.m. with my bowl of stew, I knew I wouldn't be getting back up until it was time to go to bed. LOL  That's part of why I haven't been posting as much lately. Life is suddenly MUCH busier and it's hard to find time to do everything I want. Or even everything I need to do. Sure could use some of that energy I had in my 30s. I move a LOT slower now than I did then...physically AND mentally.

Part of why I was cooking so much yesterday was to get a meal ready to take to a family whose mom had surgery this week. She came home from the hospital yesterday. But the best laid plans and all that... I had counted on having it ready when most families eat (around 9 p.m.) but it turns out her boys go to the evening session for high school (7 p.m. - 11 p.m.) so we went to visit before they left for school AND before my meal for them was ready. So Ivan picked up a pre-roasted chicken and some bread from the store to give them. It was a little mortifying, let me tell you. And then when we said we'd bring what I was making later, she said no. A cultural thing, I guess? I wonder if I'll ever get the hang of how things are done here.

The other day we went to visit her in the hospital (actually a private clinic) and the experience confirmed I do NOT want to get sick and need any kind of surgery or in-hospital treatment here. If that was a private clinic, I hate to think what the public hospitals are like. Yikes! It was clean, I grant you that, but everything was so old and not in the best condition. There was paint peeling off the metal bed frames (and they had to be at least fifty years old). I know when Ivan had the fluid on his knee drained last year, he said the operating room (at a different private clinic) had exposed wiring and a lot of things in the room had started rusting. And I heard another story about a gurney used to transport patients to surgery that didn't work properly and if the nurses weren't careful, holding on to it firmly at both ends, it tipped, rather like giant scales. Can you imagine? LOL During Spanish yesterday I got the names of three clinics in Cordoba that are supposed to be nicer. Good to have that info "just in case"!

After six months and four visits to two different eye doctors, my third pair of glasses arrived yesterday and I CAN FINALLY SEE AGAIN!!! Well, except for the computer screen. A laptop provides an interesting mid-range vision problem that isn't addressed with bifocals. But my old pair of glasses works great for this purpose so I'll just keep them handy by the computer :-) And before I get a bunch of comments about multifocals, let me just say this third pair?...it was me crying uncle and going back to bifocals after I could not see AT ALL through the first two pair of multifocals. There are apparently some of us who cannot handle the multifocal lenses. 'Nuf said.