PEOPLE...I SAW PEOPLE THIS WEEK

 You have to understand I do not ever go anywhere and no one ever comes to our house.  I barely see Ange anymore as she doesn't need to come upstairs to use the loo.  She is now the user of the downstairs one.  Monte has his office and his bedroom.  Sometimes he is in the dining room but I can't really talk to him as he is always busy doing something and you can't interrupt him.

I am not necessarily unhappy about this situation.  I am extremely competent at being alone and choosing to be content with whatever situation arises that is beyond my control.  Humans take a lot of watering and feeding.  Every friend you make one must consider the amount of effort you must put into that friendship.  It's not fair to cultivate a relationship then not feed it.  I am quite happy with way less people in my life to feed.

But that absolutely does not include family.  Family I welcome at any time with open arms and a meal on the stove!

That being said I have had three encounters in the last week.  I got a knock at the door one morning.  I presumed it was a parcel delivery.  Ange always gets the door when there is a delivery.  She gets there before I can get out of my chair.  But on the rare occasion it isn't a delivery I don't hear her bolt up the stairs and open the front door.  And that is what happened that morning.  A knock.  No Ange.  Another knock.  So I heaved myself out of the chair and went and opened the door and my nephew David was standing there.  I was gobsmacked!!!  He lives in Fort St. John....way up north.  He is a very successful high school band teacher.  I super love this man.

He came in and I proceeded to have the best conversation with a human that I have had in forever!!!  He is just one of those people that I converse with so easily.  I pumped him for info on mutual interests and he willingly and generously obliged my need for info.  I absolutely loved that little interval!!!

A few days later I got a phone call.  It was my brother and he was in town and had a free half hour and wondered if he could drop in.  Wow!!!  Another of my favourites!!!  So Stan arrived at my door, I threw the coffee on and we had a fantastic visit...albeit a shorty but I will take what I can get!!!

Then...I'm not done yet!!!  lol!!...I got a text from my niece, Stan's daughter.  She was in town staying at her best friend's place (Stan's family lived in Port and the kids grew up here) and they invited me to join them the next day at Smitty's for lunch.  Well I was over the moon!  I love Smitty's and I love the girls.  I had a fantastic time with them although I talked too much.  I came home just full of joy and happiness and chef's salad.  Smitty's makes the absolute best!  

So it has been a people few days thanks to my brother and his offspring!  I love seeing them!!

And just now I opened two emails from Aryn.  They are the ferry and bus tickets she arranged for me.  My personal travel agent!!  The ferry is a passenger ferry, new to the island, and a bus to Kamloops.  I opened them to make payments for the tickets.  And Arnie had already paid for them!  So I immediately texted her, gave her doodoo, and told her I was interacting her the funds.  It wasn't a small amount either.  And she sent me back a message immediately that it was their gift to me!!!!  I am blessed.  And humbled.

And to add to this happiness, the sun is blazing outside in a beautiful blue sky.  This is the first time in a long long spell of heavy overcast fog.  What more could this happy person want,

Well I do know what I really want right now.  I want a steaming bowl of Campbell's tomato soup and a huge gooey grilled cheese sandwich.  Sigh.  I just ate a whole plate of raw carrot, broccoli and the odd pea pod.  Yumsy!!!!  Gotta bounce!  Have a wonderful few days til next post.  TFL&TTYL

'Family is not important, it's everything.' Michael J Fox

THE SURPRISE PERKS OF GETTING OLD THAT I NEVER THOUGHT OF

I have been reading essays or articles written by a huge group of people out there, all subjects, no holds barred, guns out...totally their reality.  It has been so interesting.  If you happen to be interested the site is called Medium.  It's well worth the peanuts you pay to join.

I signed up to follow some of the older writers and have picked up lots of info and ideas.  One of those epiphanies is becoming consciously aware of the positive side of getting old..and it's so enlightening!!!

The one I read today was an article written by an older woman.  The whole thing had me in stitches at first then the reality of what she was writing hit me. 

 She had invited six friends for dinner and by three days later she had six requests for:  no onions, no gluten, no nightshades, no carbs, whole unpoisoned food only, plant food only journey etc...

I have run into this very thing myself now and then.  At my table I have had a celiac, nut issues, no seafood of any sort, no onions, nothing with eyes etc.  If it's just my son and his family I love to accommodate.  It's a food challenge I welcome.

  But if we are preparing for a women's retreat with over a dozen girls for three days?  Not so much.  The last one had a lady who would literally die if certain things were in the food.  You would never have known.  She privately brought her own food and fed herself.  Sucks for her but if you want to live and not be a burden to the world that is your only option.  I was very impressed with her.

Now, at my age, if I am cooking for a group, an actual dinner party, I cook exactly what I want and if they don't like it or can't eat it?  Not my problem. Years ago I would have stressed it out and tried super hard.  I have grown out of that.

Another one is when you are hanging around moms with little kids.  This very rarely happens to me now that I am older.  I am willing to get a brief update, but I do not want to sit through coffee hour listening to endless toddler/birth/mean daddy stories.  I instantly lose my filters and start spouting unwanted advice like a know it all. I ignore glazed eyes and hurt looks.

The same goes for horse talk first, and dog or cat talk second.  I don't mind five minutes of interesting back and forth.  But I have discovered that people can actually find endless hours to talk about their freaking fur baby (backhoe list...I hate that name for their animal).  I will catch myself making more than four sentences about my latest pet then clamp my lips together and try to change the subject.  All that silence does is give the Sweetums owner free talk space to carry on endlessly.  And, at my age now, very unlike my victimized youth, I will very bluntly suggest we change the subject.  If they don't I will make a nice catchy impossible to ignore statement about Trump or anti abortion or Ozempic.  It always works.

And now to the positive.  Being near the rainbow bridge is so freeing.  Trump?  I will be dead before he owns Canada.  Third world war?  I will be dead before it happens or soon after it starts.  Lose more and more of my eyesight?  I will be over that bridge before I am totally blind.  And if I do go blind it won't be for long.  I will die falling down the stairs.  A hole developed in my beloved recliner?  I won't need to deal with it for many many years to come.  That hole is def going to out live me.

The bottom line is I can now freely, no guilt or pressure, not give a shit about a whole lot of issues I used to pack around with me.  Nope!  I have shed those burdens!!!

And now I need to stop ignoring glazed eyes and bored readers!  I am doing what I was complaining about up there.  Talking about myself endlessly.  Lol!!!

TFL & TTYL

 

WHAT ONE THING WOULD YOU CHOOSE TO GIVE UP FOREVER

 I decided to make a list and decide which one  deprivation would cause the most grief, havoc, joy or whatever out of my life.  It wasn't going to include catastrophic items or habits, just run of the mill everyday activity or necessity.

And this is what I came up with:  pop, coffee, tea, unnecessary shopping, walking/hiking, gym, travel, napping, bubble baths, gaming, sugary snacks, movies, driving, etc....  These are all things you can survive without but think about it.  Never ever again could you not do it or have it.

And that is what it is like being a diabetic, either type.  Diabetes just rips food right out of your life.  Oh they say you can eat healthy and be okay.  No you can't.  Go one carb over your personal limit and bang! up goes your blood sugar.  One cup of vegetables is five carbs.  If you are eating twenty carbs per day to stay within your blood sugar numbers, two cups of cooked veg is half your daily food limit.

That being said, our household being diabetics. one type 1, one type 2 and one pre, I have had to completely change my cooking.  I still make stuff I can't eat or I do eat it and don't give a crap.  Lol!!!    But it is really hard to think that for the three of us to really stay on board with keeping our numbers down we have to basically give up food as we've known it, forever.  Daunting and depressing.

Okay this is beginning to sound like a poor us whine.  I didn't mean it that way!!!  I was saying this because it is amazing how desperation breeds innovation.  And the latest innovation in this here ol' homestead is keto mug cakes/muffins.  In a land of boring eats, mug cakes become incredibly delectable!

So far I have made blueberry muffins, chocolate muffins, and another  I can't remember.  Now I am about to embark on making a savoury one...a pizza muffin.  They only have 3-5 carbs and are such a relief from relentless above ground vegetables, unadorned meat and salads with skinny dressing.  We are happy campers.  Mug muffins make unappealing food tolerable now.

Another thing we have added are shirataki  konjack noodles.  They have zero taste and are obscenely expensive, but incredibly filling.  I use them             .  mostly in spaghetti and soups.  I am pretty grateful for those slippery rubbery tasteless things!!!  I did make egg bites not long ago and I found them absolutely gross.  Slimy and eggy.  Nope not making those again.

I cancelled my trip to Vancouver.  When I tallied up the cost of the ferry etc...it made that hair appointment I had planned way too expensive.  I will go and get it done here in Port, very wimpy compared to the one in North Van, but will do til I am in Vancouver for other reasons.  Mostly I am getting ready for my Mexico trip.You would think that with the lack of food in my life I would lose a little weight.  But no....not a pound so far.  Probably just as well.  Either I am fat or alternatively losing weight makes you super flabby and wrinkly.  Not sure which is more preferable.  This is why us old fatsters prefer clothing mandatory seasons more than beachy ones.

Well thats enough for today.  Have a happy happy beginning of a new year.  Let's all try to shed a bad habit....NOT!!!!  TFL&TTYL

      

2026 or BUST

 This post is going to be the most boring post I have ever written.  Maybe.  Because the posts are all about me I am somewhat more interested in them than you folks would be.  So it is possible lots of my other posts are even more boring.

First a disclaimer.  For the people that were with me  on New Year's Eve this is not a reflection on you.  What you folks did is exactly what I have done pretty much every New Years eves of past.  So no judgement on my part.  Seriously.

That being said some prep and planning was made and carried out.  Monte had bought some egg rolls, and a few other things.  I was going to make cream corn with salsa mixed in (delicious but unfortunately it kinda looks like mastitis milk) and eaten with scoops.  Plus I hauled liquor bottles of dregs out of the cupboard and some glasses and Ange brought up a friend (no..not a guy, a married lady) who had brought the most delicious spinach dip and sourdough bread.  All this by 7:30.

Four and a half hours til midnight.  Hmmmm...we are all a little older and four and a half hours is a dauntingly longish evening time.  But we nibbled and sipped and talked and laughed until ten and they gave up.  Poor Randi was falling asleep on the couch and Ange and I sort of petered out of convo.  Finally I told them they didn't have to stay if they preferred to go.  They did and they did.  That is what I probably would have done had I not been home in my comfy chair with left over spinach dip.

Monte was in his room, sleeping I presumed.  So I sat here by myself, watched Blue Heelers, got mad at the writing of Blue Heelers and about ten to midnight Monte came upstairs.  He sat at the far end of the dining room table behind me, writing.  When it was twelve according to my trusty timex I yelled happy new year, he yelled happy new year back and we went to bed.  That was it.  Exciting right?

I had promised to make a breakfast casserole...which I had promptly forgotten due to all the excitement the night before and conveniently suddenly remembered the next morning around five.  Shit!!!!  

I whipped out my lappy, found the French Toast Breakfast Casserole recipe I had bookmarked and dashed into the kitchen. Well maybe not dashed.  I haven't dashed in a long time.

I grabbed the bread I planned to use and guess what?  Parts of it were green. (shovel list). Pivot time.  I had a long loaf of Walmart brand sandwich bread left over from the stuffing I had made.  Ironically that loaf of bread was way older than the two loaves I had baked a couple days before. I had planned to use them for the casserole.  Clearly no chemical additives in that bread.

 So I followed the recipe exactly except I added a buttery brown sugar crumble scattered over top and a pound of crunchy bacon pieces.  It was unbelievably delicious.  I made another one this morning with a couple of changes.  Raisin bread, Splenda brown sugar and no bacon.  It was just as delicious.

So that was my exciting New Years adventure.  The best part besides the company was the spinach dip.  So different to the one I make.  It tasted the same though.  Hers was white and mine was green.  But the taste was the same.  And I finally put an accurate name to the ingredient that gives spinach dip that flavour.  It's in the Knorr's soup that gives it that iconic flavour we all love and remember.  Knorr's basic soup flavour is onion soup.  It is the onion soup one tastes that is so delicious.

Now I must prepare for my trip to Vancouver.  I need to make reservations both going and coming on the ferry, make an appointment at my North Van hairdressers, do laundry to do a three day pack.  And leave the house clean.

Thats it folks.  I hope you all have a wonderful 2026.  TFL&TTYL. 

I WILL REPORT ON NEW YEARS IN THE POST AFTER THIS ONE

 I think I mentioned that I get twelve essays a day and my brain is truly expanding by every read.  But today an older female writer posted an essay with questions for us to answer and she answered them too.  It was fun.  I am going to do that here...now.  Lucky you guys.  

1.  Who are you named after?... an old lady we visited the one time we came down from Smithers to Vancouver.  Her name was Helen and her house smelled like old lady.  I met her only that once.

2.  When was the last time you cried?...I listen to music all the time and I cry every single time a good one comes on.  I can't help it and it is embarrassing.

3.  What is your favourite lunch meat?..baloney.

4.  Do you like your handwriting?...absolutely not

5.  Do you have kids?...five...two over fifty, two under forty and a beloved step daughter in her forties. (plus more step kids that I super like too)

6.  Do you use sarcasm?...yes, but not as a weapon.  It's the fat me trying to be the fat funny one in the room.

7.  Do you still have your tonsils?...Geez I didn't think anyone my age still had tonsils.  When I was twelve I faked a sore throat to get out of school.  My mom took me to a Dr. in Telkwa...in a hotel room no less, and she told me I had tonsilitis.  She sent me to a neighbouring (a long way away actually)  a hospital to have them taken out.  If I had known how freaking painful it would be I would NOT have lied.

8.  Would you bungee jump?  ummmm...that would be a hard no.  In fact I think bungee jumpers are chronic attention getters who will do anything to get that ever chased notice.  On the edge of being crazy.

9.  Do you think you are strong?  that would be another hard no!! Ten years ago I could pack and move a whole big house by myself.  I can't even carry an empty box now without falling over.  I kinda relate to those goats that just fall over for no reason.

10. What is your fave ice cream.  Hageen Das caramel cone explosion.  Hands down!!!

11. What is the first thing you notice about a person?  Whether they tolerate me being nosey.  I want to know everything about them..kinda like a snake grabbing that dead rat out of your hand..pounce!!

12. What is the least favourite thing about yourself?  My lack of filters.  Seriously.  It's a lifelong problem.  At 73 I don't know why anyone talks to me anymore.

13. Football or baseball?  neither...hate them both equally.  My least fave reality shows.

14. What colour pants are you wearing?  Skin colour.  Hahaha!!!

15. Last thing you ate?  Breakfast French toast casserole.  Absolutely divine.  First one I have ever made.

16. Favourite crayon colour.  Teal

17. Favourite smell?  coffee in the morning or maybe rain on hot pavement or that ozone smell of the first hint of snow coming and cigarette smoke...blow it my way!  Sadly no one smokes anymore.

18. Favourite food?...raw wieners and homemade thousand islands dressing.

19.  Scary or happy movies?  either as long as they aren't soppy romance ones.  Two sounds I can't handle -  dogs eating dog food and people kissing.

20. What colour shirt are you wearing?  One of my shirts from 2003 that I bought after the house burnt down.  One of the ones, like a hoarder, I can't throw out...and should.  It used to be black but it is so old it has turned a kind of weird dark greenish hue.

21.  Last one...fave holiday.  Hands down, nothing competes with Mother's Day.  I absolutely love Mother's Day.

Now thats more than you ever wanted to know about me.  I just hope you answered your own answers to the questions.  It was fun.  And for those who actually read this whole post....you are the bestest!!!

TFL&TTYL

   

IT'S A CHOICE

OF COURSE THEY ARE ALL OUT OF ORDER.  I SPENT THE ENTIRE DAY GETTING XMAS EVE FOOD READY.  TODAY, XMAS DAY, I AM BAGGED.  SO TURKEY HAS TO WAIT TIL TOMORROW.  THIS WAS MY XMAS MORNING BREAKFAST IN BED.

EVERY TIME MONTE HAS A BRILLIANT IDEA A LIGHT ON HIS HEAD COMES ON.

WE COULDN'T FIT THE DESSERTS OR THE SPINACH DIP ON THE COFFEE TABLE.

THE MAIN SHOW.  THERE WERE ONLY THREE OF US.  THERE IS AN OBSCENE AMOUNT OF FOOD LEFT OVER.  THAT WILL BE TODAY'S SUSTENANCE.  TOM HAS TO WAIT TIL TOMORROW.  TIL THEN HE WILL SIT ON THE DECK IN THE COLD...COLDER THAN THE FRIDGE WHERE HE WOULDN'T FIT ANYWAY.

 The title of this post is basically my motto.  Now you people that are around me a lot, if you actually read this thing, know that I don't always remember to exercise that thought.  I try to but I am getting old you know and forget things.  lol.  

So with that in mind I gave myself a good talking to this morning when I woke up at 1:00 am.  I woke up sad for heaven's sake.  (shovel list) I took time to analyze why was I morose and unhappy. I wasn't really sure. 

 But April had sent a text how she was missing the childhood excitement for xmas, Santa on the roof...she is sure she heard him one night in our old old house, the plethora of gifts and stuffed stockings (or should I say garbage bags as the stockings would never hold it all), delicious food and candy and things we never got otherwise.  There was so much excitement, surprises and fun.  I responded by saying that there wasn't an adult out there that didn't mourn the old times with our little children and also when we were kids ourselves. 

 I have a dislike for parents, that in the silly light of 'not lying' to their kid,  dispel the Santa myth.  Meanest thing on the planet!!!  To deprive them the very few years of true belief and faith in a Santa is really awful and mean. Says something about a parent that would be so misguided.  Kids figure it out eventually and I have never ever heard of a child holding it against the parent for not telling them there is no Santa. I have heard of kids being very resentful of a disbelieving parent! And if the parent handles it well, it can be explained in a most fantastical way.  You know who you are out there!!!!  Shame on you and missing that magical time with your children. In my opinion only!

Back to the analyzing.  I realized that I am missing being with all my family, no tree, nothing special happening, no presents, no overstuffed garbage bags standing in for stockings.  No little oranges that back in the day you could only get at Christmas.  Then you would keep the wooden box they came in to use on the front seat between Mom and Dad for the youngest kid to sit on.  yikes!!  And no driving around looking at xmas lights.  No one seems to be doing them this year.

So I gave myself a shake, wrote on my gratitude list, reminded myself that it is a choice how this xmas is going to go and started to get excited about the plan the three of us came up with.

So xmas eve is where it happens.  Xmas day is all turkey dinner day...making it, eating it and cleaning the kitchen afterwards.

All three of us happened to be in the living room so I asked them what we should do xmas eve.  I said we can't just sit around and stare at each other.  Games are out.  Mr. Autistic doesn't play games.  Talking is out.  He doesn't talk/visit either.  Movies are out.  He doesn't watch tv at all.  Like what the heck are we going to do?  Ange did mention movies and he went along with that!!!  I suggested a xmas movie but he piped up that we should watch a Bollywood musical!!!  I am not sure if Ange was too excited about that, poor thing, but I dove on it and and YES YES YES!!!  The fact that he was even willing to watch something at all, not only was a big thing....it kinda made my xmas.

So I have chosen to hakuna matata (sp?) and enjoy.  I do get to cook.  Tonight we have blueberry balsamic slow cooker meatballs (blueberry only because stupid Walmart delivery doesn't have grape jelly..shovel list), cranberry balsamic baked brie, surimi, prawn and scallop seafood dip using yorkshire puddings for the dip, spinach dip, one with chestnuts and one without, small charcuterie board, creamed corn and salsa dip with scoops, triscuits and ritz crackers, banana peanut butter honey roll ups and sliced like sushi.  I wanted some smoked salmon but this town doesn't have any.  I mean Aryn got some in Dawson, a gerjillian miles from the ocean and here we are on the ocean but noooo..no smoked salmon anywhere.  And if that isn't enough I have fifty wieners in the fridge and pilsbury wiener wraps and then all the pickles and olives and Kathy's pickled beets.  A real Xmas eve.  I also made a three sandwich loaf batch of stuffing. There's a ton of it for the huge turkey.  

Then the baking.  I didn't bake at all.  I don't want to be worn out to the point I can't make dinner tomorrow.  So I ordered brownies, squares, little cinnamon buns, Christmas fruit cake...which reminds me.  If any of you get the dreaded fruit cake and you hate it (which I don't understand) please save it for us.  We not only eat it, we love it.  And it has a shelf life that beats Twinkies so even if I don't see you for a couple of years it will still be good.  We will take it. Thank you in advance.  We would be willing to pay a small storage fee.

Have any of you made spinach dip lately.  They don't sell chopped spinach anymore.  At least not in Port.  They do sell the frozen cubes.  But that spinach!!!!  It's like a cow chewed it, swallowed it and regurgitated it.  It has been mulched into microscopic pieces...no bigger bits to chew on. It actually goes through my fine sieve!  So disappointing.  And it gets everywhere. It gets in my raccoon wounds.  (shovel list)

Well I gotta bounce.  I need to prepare the brie to bake, chop prawns and scallops and bake the risen bread loaves (from frozen) in the oven.  And I have to figure out how long the turkey needs to cook for tomorrow.  I paid 23 dollars for a non deformed or missing parts smaller turkey.  It was in the grocery delivery order.  That sucker is seven kilos.  Seven!!!  Fifteen and a half pounds.  Not sure if the three of us can handle that!!!  Between now and new years we will be eating all the different things you can make with a ton of turkey.  And I don't eat meat.  So that is almost eight pounds of turkey between the two of them.   hahaha!!!!!

Have a wonderful Xmas out there!!!  I will be thinking of you all.  TFL & TTYLG

RAMBLE TAMBLE

 Here is a little piece from an essay I am reading by someone that has schizoid effectiveness disorder.  For those that don't know what that is, it's a more extreme autistic reaction to things plus a few other symptoms not suffered by autistic people. This article I chose to read because Monte has this diagnosis as well as autism.  This particular bit I have copied because even though I do not have sed this writing completely resonated with me.  And it was so well written.  Here goes

 Cooking Grounds Me Like Nothing Else

When an episode strikes, thinking doesn’t help. Breathing exercises don’t help. Even talking doesn’t always help.

But cooking does. Because it forces my body into a rhythm my head can follow. The sound of the knife on the board. The weight of the dutch oven. The smell of onions hitting hot oil. The heat from the stove. The way ingredients respond exactly the same way every time.

Cooking never judges me. Instead, it gives me something stable, repeatable, and predictable to hold on to.

It pulls me out of thought and back into action. It reminds me I can create order in one small corner of my day, even when everything inside feels unraveled.

Cooking is where my mind quietens enough to let me continue living

If the printing doesn't show up just run your cursor over it and it will.  Same with quotes I put down below.

I love to cook.  It does for me what crafts, music, painting, anything you love does for you.  Unfortunately I am truly having to adapt to my back pain fixes.  Either I will have to try pain killers (shovel list), just use my kitchen chair more or give up cooking...(SHOVEL LIST. not an option).  I avoid bending over for as long as possible and recognize what is my enemy. lol. 

Number one is the dishwasher.  Even leaning my elbow on the counter and using my other arm to load or unload isn't really working anymore.  Thank the heaven's above the minute I sit down the pain stops and after a few minutes I can get up and go again.

Tomorrow is laundry day.  I don't have a ton.  It's been weeks since I did the last batch. But I basically wear the same outfit for a week.  Not the undies but everything else.  You don't amass a ton of laundry that way.  And remember according to my last post my laundry has basically been cut in half.  hahahaha!!!!  Just kidding.

Well I have managed to deck out my front room with 22 battery operated candles....making up for not having a tree, even a tiny one, for the first time in my entire life.  I don't enjoy the process anymore.  I have become waaaay to fussy about balance and symmetry.  If there is even the slightest tiny hole with no lights I get obsessed as I rock in my chair and stare at it.  Then I get up and move lights around til I am satisfied.....for five minutes.  I am like my old gramma Graham.  She always had a wood stove for everything.  And she was famous for stoking the fire til it went out.  So funny.  So I decided to not stress myself out this year with a balanced tree.  My Libra nature oozing out. 

One pro fix back move I have made is to spend 120 bucks (eeeek! shovel list) on a full size seat and back chair cushion that both vibrates and heats.  I got it yesterday and I am not overly sure that it made any difference to my back per se, but it absolutely lulled me into a dazed stupor.  A dazed stupor is lovely but I am already addicted to that flipping chair, now I will be welded to it.  We shall see.  I have offered Ange to come up and use it too for her poor back.  Maybe if the two of us use it I won't feel so guilty.  that was a very big whack of money to spend on myself...especially when our whole family isn't giving gifts this year.  Giving gifts is absolutely the most important reason for xmas...at least to me.  I LOVE giving gifts. I'm missing it.

Thats it folks.  I am sitting in my bed whilst I type this but I hear my chair calling out there!!  Gotta bounce!  TFL &TTYG. I have added a g.  I always say later gator.  so now there is a g for gator!

'Children make your life important' Erma Bombeck