You may have heard that aging is not for sissies! It seems as time goes by there are more areas of our lives in which we feel our years. One of the areas that has been a concern for me is my eyesight. It seems that I am not the only person who has difficulty seeing the information in the telephone directory. The directories are getting smaller due to many people no longer having land lines. The smaller print in the directories is to save paper in printing them; they may not even be printed much longer due to the decline in land lines. I can search and find most of the addresses on my computer. Another area of concern is the printing of articles on colored backgrounds in magazines and papers. Crossword puzzles too, are a challenge to see the small numbers in the grids. I have been doing some sewing and I had difficulty to thread the needle on my sewing machine; I remedied that by placing a piece of white paper behind the needle. The use of electronic readers and computers has been a real help for me in recent months.

The recipe for the cake this week was sent to me by an on-line friend; it needs no icing so it would be good to pack in a sack lunch.

1 3/4 Cups boiling water

1 Cup oatmeal

1 Cup brown sugar (packed)

1 Cup white sugar

1/2 Cup butter (room temperature)

2 Eggs

1 Teaspoon vanilla

1 Teaspoon soda

1/2 Teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon cocoa

1 Bag semi-sweet chocolate chips (12 oz)

Pour water over oatmeal and let stand 10 minutes. Combine butter, sugars, eggs and vanilla, mix well and add oatmeal and dry ingredients. Stir in half of the chips with wooden spoon. Pour into greased 9 x 13 glass pan; sprinkle remaining chips evenly over the batter. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes until done or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Do not over-bake.