Good afternoon. Abby took Mom shopping today. She needs some new slacks. I don't mind shopping for groceries or appliances but I would rather not shop for cosmetics or clothes. I'm just not that much help. I, on the other hand, could use some help with clothes and tips on dressing. I usually have to borrow someones girlfriend or wife.

I used the Forman grill Mom and I got for Christmas. It works well. I was able to grill some zuchinni, yellow squash, eggplant and shitake mushrooms. I advise against cooking shitake like this. They turn rubbery like octopus. I chopped up one part Italian parsley, 1/2 part oregano, <1/2 part thyme and maybe more than one part basil (make sense?), all fresh. Add chopped garlic (maybe shallots too) and enough olive oil to make it swim. This can be brushed on the vegetables after they are seasoned with kosher salt and black pepper. Portabella mushrooms are first scraped of their gills, seasoned with s&p and then marinated in balsamic vinegarette. (I don't like my balsamic vinegarette to be too sweet for this). I should have gotten the portabellas. Maybe asparagas will be next. They are simply sprayed with olive oil, seasoned with s&p and then usually baked or broiled for a few minutes. They can also be cooked on a flat-top grill. Roll them around so they are evenly cooked. When they start to have wrinkles, take them out/off. Be careful in trying them because they heat up fast. There should be a little crunch in the bite. Al dente - "to the teeth". Thanks for the grill Dodie!

Bob and Cindy clued me in on how to use my mother's phone for touch tone menus even though it is set up for pulse with the phone company. It is embarrassingly as simple as moving the switch from pulse to tone after the phone company makes the connection. I don't know why I hadn't thought that problem out. It was a revelation which made a problem vanish.