Blood pressure rising

Except during a couple of pregnancies, I have never had a problem with high blood pressure. But at my last annual checkup with my new doctor, I was asked to come in for a second checkup to make sure my blood pressure was down--so I was determined to take a calm bath and go slowly to my appointment this morning.

But I also wanted to make some cupcakes to take by a friend's new home, where lots of kids live and where painting and cleaning was going on.

About a month ago I had taken three inexpensive watches by Wal-Mart to get new batteries. The clerk told me one watch (the prettiest one) could not be helped by a battery and I threw it away. About time since I had carried it in my purse since vacation last August to try and get it to the store for the battery. The other two are almost identical. Sadly for some reason, one of the two keeps losing time. I will reset it and then once again it slows and is incorrect. This morning I unintentionally put on the slow one. I was starting to ice the cooled cupcakes--pans and cakes spread all over the kitchen table--when I noticed the stove clock and my watch had totally different times.

To be on time, I had ten minutes to turn off oven and get last pan out, take a bath, dress, and drive 20 minutes to town. I was only ten minutes late, and I probably would have had to wait that long if I had been on time since I still waited a bit. As I waited, I tried to imagine calm visions of flowers growing peacefully in order to calm myself and reduce my blood pressure. That made me nervous, so I started to read a magazine, which must have worked. At least my blood pressure was slightly lower and I got by without having to accept a prescription--yet.