Click to embiggen and read this most heartwarming story of a compelling friendship across time and space.

Reincarnationist's would say this is evidence of a relationship forged in a past life.

It's a Red-Letter Day!!

How do you feel when you haven't been able to hear very much for years and then you get hearing aids? You feel fabulous/wonderful/grateful/happy!!

My new aids were "installed" around noon today and so far, I haven't had any problems adjusting to them at all! I was told that I might experience itching, things sounding too loud, my own voice being too loud, etc., and none of that has happened!

I mentioned before that I had gone to C*stco to be tested. I also had testing at a Mir*cle Ear franchise. The cost difference was over double at Mir*cle Ear, compared to what it was at C*stco. According to the guy at C*stco, the aids at both places are made by the same company. He used to work for Mir*cle Ear (in a franchise), so he should know. The only difference (I was told) between those and the ones I bought is that the Mir*cle Ear aids (op*n-fit, 950-C) have 16 channels of amplification and the others have 14 channels. They deleted the lowest and highest channels, which make no difference most of the time anyway, or so they say. There is a 3 year warranty on them, and a 60 day trial period. If at any time during that 60 days I am not satisfied, I will receive a full refund. I have no qualms at all about recommending C*stco; however, you should remember that the way the aids are programmed for you (after testing) is of the utmost importance. My guy seems to have hit the nail on the head for me, and I suppose it is possible that you could find someone who isn't as knowledgeable as this man. That's the only disclaimer I feel I need to make.

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Back in 2005, I wrote about having bees in the house. Guess what? They're baaaaaaaccck. Rats!

Why can't they go find a nice tree to build a hive in? I've called a bee removal expert, so stay tuned!

Come sit awhile!

Mr. kenju's massage appointment on Thursday afforded me the opportunity to get relaxed as well. The new (to us) massage therapist, who utilizes hot stones and trigger-point therapy to loosen tight muscles, has a massage chair in her waiting room.

After sitting there and trying all the permutations (I really put it through its paces) for 45 minutes, I was jelly-legged and 99 and 44/100ths % asleep when mr. kenju and the therapist emerged from the treatment room. It is one of those chairs that massages your lower legs as well as your back and neck.

"I want one!!"

In fact, I want two; one in the den and one in my office! What do you think my chances are to get them, if I ask Santa reaaaaaal nice next December? Maybe if I ask for two I could get one, but then Mr. kenju and I would fight over it all the time!

Another good thing in her office was a CD of water falling and birds singing. It is very relaxing, but after 45 minutes of it, I did wish I could turn it off. The chair and the CD made up for the fact that the waiting room/office is disorganized, to say the least. Even the shelves in the glass front towel cabinet were messy! Ordinarily that would make me run from the room. I am a bit compulsive in my need to straighten things, but I restrained myself. The chair and the soothing sounds served to make the messiness bearable. I can't wait to go back!

A Scientific American

I just recently started a subscription to Scientific American (Hey - it was free). I have always been interested in science (well, after college, anyway) and I enjoy reading about new discoveries and research (even if I can only understand every third word).

The new April issue came today and I sat down to see what might be interesting, and found this:

"The Science of Lasting Happiness"

by Marina Krakovsky

The article is based on the research by Sonja Lyubomirsky, from the University of California, at Riverside. She is an experimental psychologist investigating the possibility of lasting happiness, and she "understands far better than most of us the folly of pinning our hopes on...........any good fortune that comes our way. We tend to adapt, quickly returning to our usual level of happiness. The classic example of such 'hedonic adaptation' comes from a 1970's study of lottery winners, who a year after their windfall ended up no happier than nonwinners. Hedonic adaptation helps to explain why even changes in major life circumstances - such as income, marriage, physical health and where we live - do so little to boost our overall happiness. Not only that, but studies of twins and adoptees have shown that about 50 % of each person's happiness is determined from birth. This 'genetic set point' alone makes the happiness glass look half empty, because any upward swing in happiness seems doomed to fall back to near your baseline."

Hmmmmm.....perhaps this is the reason for the saying "Money doesn't buy happiness." The fact that the saying pre-dated lotteries by many years is interesting.....LOL.

Krakovsky goes on to say " Finding out that individuals with strong social ties are more satisfied with their lives than loners, for example, begs the question of whether friends makes us happier or whether happy people are simply liklier to seek and attract friends." I happen to belive it is the latter.

"Her (Lyubomirsky's) aim is not merely to confirm the strategies' effectiveness but to gain insights into how happiness works. For example, conventional wisdom suggests keeping a daily gratitude journal. But one study revealed that those who had been assigned to do that ended up less happy than those who had been assigned to count their blessings only once a week. Lyubomirsky therefore confirmed her hunch that timing is important. So is variety, it turned out: a kindness intervention found that participants told to vary their good deeds ended up happier than those forced into a kindness rut......Why, for example, does acting kind make you happier?"

What do you think? Does it?