Excellent, Shimrod! Would you like to give us a bit of the story of the kind of things you did to finish this job? Tip the house and let everything flow out one side, have a big sale, donate to a thrift shop, rent a large trash bin, or some or all of the above?

CS, I also noticed that reaction to sugar - it was something that would hit the same time every day, the need to eat a candy bar, etc. And the tired feeling 20-30 minutes out. I also had to wean myself from that kind of sweets habit.

I cut out a lot of dairy from my diet years ago, when I was drinking milk, eating a lot of things that weren't that healthy. I settled later on the idea that cultured dairy products didn't seem to be has hard on me (sinuses/congestion/headaches). Milk now is for my morning oatmeal or bowl of bran flakes, I sometimes make bread pudding. Having the fat in the milk actually makes it more digestible, from what I've been reading in the last few years. I read labels, if I'm going to use something like cream cheese or sour cream, I get the real thing, but I don't keep it in the house all of the time.

Went to the eye doctor today, he could see the abrasion from the pine needle yesterday and said it looked fine. I have some drops for the next couple of days, just a lubricating formula to make it feel better. Apparently it doesn't take much if you get a poke in the eye by something with fungus or bacteria on it to end up with an infection, so they didn't think I was silly to go in today.

Tonight I cooked up several eggplants, in something I haven't made for a while: eggplant parmesan. This is just the slices breaded and fried in olive oil (I usually use cheaper corn, but I thought I'd try it this way this time). I freeze them and then later will make a plate of pasta and warm a couple of these parmesan slices to go beside it and top it with homemade marinara sauce, all of this made from stuff out of my garden. Not the pasta, but the sauce. This is for quick meals this winter.

Finally, here is a TED talk that all of you might enjoy. And use as motivation to get a good night's sleep.

SRS