Things I lived without until I was 35, but get a little crazy if I'm denied any of these things now:

First & foremost: central air. Made it through childhood without so much as a fan. Got all the way to 25 without even a room air conditioner. Now, if it's 75: put on the air! I blame my husband Tim, he turned me to the Chilled Side. I also blame my wonderful brother-in-law Mike for quickly and efficiently installing the unit at a reasonable price and also for being a reliable service dude. And by blame, I mean LOVE.

Coffee. My mom drank instant. I never cared for the taste of the stuff, though I did like the smell of the beans at the store. Then I discovered latte & cappucino & all sorts of caffeine generated magic. Now I have a coffe grinder & and espresson machine. And I pick my bookstore by its coffee vendor. Shameful.

Cell Phone. What can I say about the precious? Me wants the precious with me at all times. No good deed must go untexted. Cause seriously, if a tree falls in the woods and I don't take a picture on my phone and send it to my friends and post it on Facebook, did it make a sound? I don't think so. This makes me feel like I'm on Star Trek with my Communicator & Tri-Corder in one.

Booze. Cocktails, wine with dinner, apertifs, punch, sangria, winter hot toddy & Long Island Iced Tea.  I wisely gifted Tim with all manner of mixology books & a Boston Shaker. But it is with great pride that I point out that why I have been tipsy a time or 2 (most notably the 5 cups of coffee, 2 glasses of wine incident), I have never been sick drunk or hung over and that's not because of high tolerance. I can get buzzed on fumes.

Vosages Barcelona Bars. Chocolate & salt.  The only known cure for PMS.

Sushi.  I first found you at the Los Angeles Airport & I have never let you go.

HDTV. Mandated by the government & loved by me. I never had a color TV until I was 25. It's like going from sepia-toned to Technicolor at the beginning of the Wizard of Oz.

Precious Pt. 2. My laptop. My portable world at my fingertips. I use you to write & surf & collect recipes and catch up with pals.  You hold my music, videos & pics. I heart you. I paid cash for you.

From my laptop, I put my music on my MP3 player.  My first portable music was an old transistor radio that I held to my ear. Then in college I got a Sony Walkman. It weighed 5 lbs and played cassettes. Now I've got all of my music, plus video & pictures on something that weighs about as much as a cracker.

My Kindle.  All the books you want jammed into one convenient device. You can order them with a touch of a button and 2 miutes later start reading. Again, very Star Trek.

The reason I can afford all this junk has to do with this goofy looking dude. His name is Dave Ramsey and he helped me learn that cash is king & debt is dumb. Cut up the credit cards 5 years ago and could not be happier. Don't owe money on anything but my mortgage. If I'd come across Dave 15 years ago, my dang house would be paid off.

Check out his website. Nothing to buy. He has books, but all the info is on-line or on the TV & radio shows.

Lately this is what I can't live without:

Must share links, photos, videos, opinions & Vampire Wars loot all the time. I also require this:

So I can talk to Tim across the room on our laptops. Watch American Idol with my friend Maria in South Carolina or talk to a friend in the Netherlands. I NEED it.

Well, actually I only NEED one thing.  This guy:

I only had to live without him until I was 22. But that was a darn long time.