A Conversation with Elizabeth
1999
Friday's Message

From:          Elizabeth 
To:            LMixson@PEC.com
Sent:          Friday, January 29, 1999 12:32 PM
Subject:       Friday's Message
 
I'm sorry to hear about your grandmother.  At the therapeutic recreation center I was around several people with Parkinson's and it was very sad to see the inevitable decline in ability to function. When I watch the Pope, who is supposed to have Parkinson's I feel sadness for him, because intellectually he is in fine shape. You didn't say how old your grandmother was.  Were you close to her or was she a special person in your life growing up? 
 
Your new possible work project sounds very interesting to me, the one working for the court system.  You will probably learn a lot about the legal system. I look forward to hearing about it. Is going downtown a real pain or a long trip though?  I put in my daily 30 minutes morning and evening--although I cut the morning to 15 by leaving early and spending 10-15 minutes either listening to the news in my car in the parking lot, or studying in the cafeteria (I feel good getting this locked in as a pattern--before I was always frentic, in a mad rush of traffic, then hoping for a parking spot).
 
I can't remember what we were writing about a few days ago--it has been crazy here too--I did check my e-mail and saw you hadn't written, but just logged out and went back to work myself. I think we had started a discussion about "cogs."
 
I feel as if I barely make it to Friday, i.e. getting through the Thursday night class and making it to one more day of work.  I need Friday to be a day off, because a two day weekend isn't working, i.e. I can just barely get ready for my Monday and Wednesday classes, and Thursday's goes a little lagging and it is definitely the most demanding. 
 
I'm still "dieting."  I have my six month follow-up Feb. 3.  I'm supposed to have worked on getting my slightly elevated blood pressure under control, which was mainly by walking, which I have done to some extent, though irregularly regular.  At my annual physical in Nov. I was okay--it was fine, so I'm hoping it will be okay next week as well.
 
I went by Big Lots last week to look for more dried soup and they had just gotten in cases of dried food meals in a cup, imported from Canada.  I didn't have much money, but I got as many as I could, and will go back today and try to get some more (about 59 cents a cup.)  They had lentils and rice, couscous and parmesan cheese, bulgur wheat and veges, rice pilaf, and four or five kinds of soup.  The lentils and rice was excellent. I had that for lunch yesterday.  They are a great solution to something good for lunch, and really not to high in calories (under 300). To see if the different varieties were any good, in case I want to get a large quantity of one, I used the couscous and bulgur wheat to make quick suppers at home, with some chicken.  They were quite good.  They are much much lower in sodium than the American varieties.  I started to get some dried soup in the grocery and a cup had a whopping 1900 mg. of sodium per cut, so I didn't get it.
 
Well, nothing much new.  I haven't been able to start reading any new books.  I started a Jonathan Kellerman book, then realized about 25 pages into it I had already read it.  I don't recall much of it, but I'm not going to read it again.  Still working on Dickens.  Oh, I think I did read a few pages of an Elizabeth George mystery before bed.  I like her, but her books are not a quick read for mysteries.  I think I read Hot Zone about ebola type things a while back.
 
Have a safe trip.  My thoughts are with you.  Elizabeth 

Nothing Much