notes

• Dorothy did most of the cooking during the holidays, but now that she's back to work, I'm back in the kitchen. You can't have two cooks at the same time. If I'm free in the kitchen all day I can have a pretty decent meal on the table when Dorothy comes home. If she's there while I cook it just won't work. She'll ask questions like, "Why are you using that pot?" "Well, I opened the cabinet door and there it was." It's best that she doesn't witness my cooking process. She doesn't need to know that it was necessary to wipe tomato sauce off the walls as long as the kitchen is clean upon her arrival.



• I need to pay more attention. Is it age that causes us to disengage and coast through our days without noticing things? Let me give you an example. Sunday, Dorothy and I had lunch with two other couples. After the meal the waiter gave us our check in one of those plastic wallets. I simply put my check card in it and let him take it away and when it returned I glanced at the receipt and put it in my pocket. On the way home I remarked to Dorothy that the cost of the meal was certainly reasonable. They must have given us a senior discount. "Let me see that bill," she said. I fished it out of my shirt pocket and handed it over. "This isn't our bill. We didn't order this." We got another couple's bill which was substantially less than ours should have been. How embarrassing! We called them and they insisted that it was no problem, and that the bills were almost the same, but I know they weren't. We plan to take them out to dinner to make up for it...........When I was younger I would have examined the check and caught the mistake, but now I seem to be on automatic pilot, letting things go. Who knows what I may be missing?



• I'm babysitting Jenna and Hunter today. I think I've worked out a successful feeding system for Jenna. First, I moved the high chair away from anything within her reach. Then when she inevitably turned around and stood up in the chair, I simply turned the chair around until she was facing me and fed her standing up. I'm a genius! It worked out great and as you can see she was happy. Lizzie was happy to wait at the ready for any delectable morsels that fell to the floor. And Grandpa was happy to work out such a clean and efficient method for feeding a baby. I may have to write a book of tips for other men who struggle with baby sitting. I'll make a million dollars!