Weight Watchers, geriatric medicine, and the president's health care speech

Yesterday I really blew my Weight Watchers points by having one egg, one piece of toast, and a bit of butter for breakfast, then a half tongue sandwich for lunch (tongue is really high in points, but I do love it). In the evening I had a really low point supper--a bit of smoked salmon (low points), and hearts of palm, grape tomatoes and blueberries (no points). But today I ate much more and came in one point under my daily allowance: went to the TCOM retirees luncheon with Charles and had a small piece of really good, moist, tender chicken, roasted veggies, and salad (of course I dropped a piece of lettuce, dripping with dressing on the front of my white shirt and wore a stain the rest of the luncheon). Tonight I had a Hebrew National hot dog (no bun) with kraut, German potato salad, and pea salad. If you just put pea salad in the Weight Watchers search it comes up with a lot of points, assuming it has cheese and egg yolk in it, so I listed it by ingredients--egg white only, no cheese, peas, a pinch of dry mustard, a tiny bit of sweet pickle relish and a fourth tsp. of mayonnaise. It was delicious and no damage to my diet.
At the retirees luncheon today, a geriatric physician spoke about the new grant the osteopathic college had gotten to infuse geriatric training into all four years of medical school, residency programs in all specialties, and continuing education for practicing physicians. She talked abut the tsunami of elderly that will hit with the baby boomer generation. I thought I was too old to be a boomer, but they say it covers people born from 1936 to, I think, about 1960, so I squeaked in. The main speaker, however, was her husband, an administrator who specializes in geriatric studies. He emphasized two things: life style and financial arrangements. Apparently we elderly live longer according to our lifestyle choices--movement, diet and exercise, involvement in activities, etc., and we live better if we have planned ahead and made good financial arrangements. He urged people to test-drive their choices--don't sell your house and move into assisted living; keep the house and try assisted living for two or three months. Made good sense to me. It was a long program, but most interesting. He was good, too, at audience involvement, asking everything from how long people had been retired to did they regularly use email. Charles said he did, and I told him he was a cheat.
It was interesting tonight, after that luncheon, to listen to the president's address on health care. I admit I'm not savvy on all the issues, but he sure made good sense to me. Once again, I'm reduced to saying I don't understand it all, but I know something has to be done, and his plan is the best option I've yet heard. I was amused to see that Michelle Obama wore a bright pink outfit--you could easily spot her in the visitors' gallery. But both Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi had on bright red pant suits, so they too really stood out. But don't they know red is the Republican color? I'm not sure but tonight I didn't see as many Republicans sitting on their hands as usual when the Democrats stood to cheer--oh, sure, there were some. I'll be interested to see the feedback from what is called the make-or-break speech in the next few days.

A food post

Do you remember how good hot dogs are? I rarely eat them, thinking they're not on my diet, but tonight Jordan and Christian and Jacob came for dinner and I grilled Hebrew National hot dogs and made German potato salad. Christian walked in and said, "My favorite potatoes." The hot dog tasted soooo good, with Dijon, kraut and a whole wheat bun. And it wasn't that many Weight Watchers points. One night, months ago, I was having neighbors in for a hot dog dinner, and I have lots of Hebrew National left in my freezer. I'll start eating them now.
The reason for this dinner visit was to fix Jacob a "big boy" bed in what he considers "his" room--my guest room. It messes up the arrangement of furniture, but I hope it will only take a few months before he can sleep on the trundle bed in the famiily room--we stole the mattress for his big boy bed. He seemed thrilled with it. We'll see tomorrow when he comes to spend the night. Ever since he's slept in a big boy bed at home, he has quit the tantrums and trashing the room. I face tomorrow with a bit of trepidation.
Today was a day when I was a day late and a dollar short all day--a haircut, errands to the TCU library, the vet and the grocery took me all morning. Then I came home to watch a webinair on the Google Book Settlement--and ended, as I always do, more confused than ever. I seemed to have a lot of odd ends and bits on my desk to take care of. So tonight I'm going to read that book I keep trying to get back to.
The furor over President Obama's address to school children amazes me, although Christian said tonight that the same thing happened when George W. Bush made the same address early in his administration--has my memory become partisan? I don't remember that at all. But I am appalled by the outrage. My son Jamie put it well on his post on Facebook, saying he thought it was time for that kind of outreach from the White House. Last Sunday on the George Stephanopoulus show George Will, the arch-conservative, was asked a question (about health care, maybe?) which he side-stepped by saying, "We conservatives believe that things are the way are for a reason." Implicit in that, to me, is a resistance to change, when I believe, with many others, that change is healthy and the only way we can move ahead. Is our health care system in trouble? Absolutely. Is the proposed legislation the right answer--who can know, but you have to start somewhere.

Storms, luncheons, and books

We had wonderful stormy weather here tonight though to the north of us there was the real threat of tornadoes and to the east, power outages. Although I got out candles and flashlights, we were spared all that. We had lots of fairly heavy rain, thunder and lightning but no high winds. After it was over, I called my neighbor about something and he answered with, "Wasn't that a lovely storm?" I agreed--I love a good storm, a love carried over from my childhood summers in a cabin in Indiana at the foot of Lake Michigan. We would watch storms roll down the length of the lake, and as the lake churned and grew angry, it was awe-inspiring. Scooby has none of my appreciation of storms, so I brought him in early, but I know he won't go out again until morning. I just hope he doesn't get impatient before seven o'clock.
My neighbor Sue called to say she was staying in Dallas at her office until the storm passed. "If you were out in this," she told me, "I'd worry." So she didn't want me to worry about her and has promised to call when she gets home. It's so wonderful to be surrounded by people who care about me and who I care about.
Today I went to the retirees lunch of TCOM (Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine, now part of the University of North Texas Health Center System). Charles likes me to go with him, which I appreciate, and since he has quit driving, I picked him up. There are only two or three people I remember from the old days, but I had a good time talking to two ladies next to me who had worked with the Institute for Human Fitness and knew my brother. I regaled them with the story of how the institute was born in meetings in my living room and while the men met and discussed fitness, my friend Anne, who lived with us then, and I cooked the most lavish rich desserts we could imagine. Those fitness experts devoured them. I always remember Anne's husband at a child's birthday party, his plate loaded with cake and ice cream, asking plaintively, "Don't you have any diet Coke?"
The luncheon speakers were a bit long but very interesting and for once I was really tuned into the talks--I often tune them out. The statistics on how TCOM has grown in 40 years are remarkable from 100 students to over 1400 next fall, millions in research grants, etc.--and to think I was there at the very beginning. The main speaker talked about our failing health care system, insisting that money isn't the way to fix it--electronic connections and cooperation are the way to save millions, and so is education, preventive health, etc. Most interesting.
I'm reading another cooking book, this about a young American woman's experience at Cordon Bleu. I'll report soon.