September's Awesome or Awful . . .

Yes, I'm totally without creativity in naming this new thread.

Awesome: I'm about to get a new pilot-tenant. This one will be my fourth, and they are the BEST tenants imaginable.

You could have named this thread ; September's Smiles or Sulks

I keep catching myself biting my nails again. Rrrk. Just when I think I finally have it under control, I realize I don't, really. Blah. (I've been biting for 23 years and have tried every solution out there. Nothing has worked except keeping my nails painted, but it's not exactly easy to paint my nails when I don't have time to let them dry and cure!)

SRedRose - the only time I can NOT bite my nails is when I get them silk wrapped and painted and have them long. Being as I don't have the money to get manicures every other week these days, they're short, unpainted, and bitten. I've tried everything too. The only cure for me is money I can't justify.

A September smile: Freshman-in-college daughter has e-mailed that she and her roommate are going to get a fish. Probably two, so they can each have a fish. When a friend of mine learned about the potential fish she asked me how it would feel having grandfish. Strange thought.

#3 ~~ I'm 60 now. Most of the time I do okay, but about once every 3 months or so, I have an overpowering urge to bite my nails off, and can't stop until they are all a mangled mess, and even then, I still keep biting at them, when they are beyond the quick.

I've tried everything, and nothing stops me. Right now, they are long and lovely (no polish), but it's getting close to that 3 month mark.

#4 noitulove? (evolution backwards)

#6 - Darwin Fish!!!

>2 pollysmith: If only I had asked you!

I don't bite my nails: they just break really easily. Another genetic cross to bear.

Smile: Have learned a new term: hot bunking. This is what comes of associating with ex-military types.

>8 ejj1955:
My nails are paper thin and break in a light breeze. Sally Hansen's Hard As Nails helps, a little.

From early May onwards I have a "gardener's manicure" - nails unevenly trimmed because broken at different times, dirt under what's left and in the cuticles, and lots of hangnails and rough/peeling skin. I do clean them often, and use nail oil to soften and strengthen them. I should look into getting some of that "Hard As Nails" too.

Hard as Nails didn't help me at all, but Hoof brand "Hard as Hoof" nail strengthening cream does. When I remember to use it, that is. Doesn't keep me from biting, but it makes the nails harder and less prone to peeling.

I used to have long, strong nails. Then I got a job at a newspaper, taking papers off the line, and the newsprint ruined them. They've been prone to chipping and splitting ever since. Or perhaps it's a byproduct of aging. And shelving books doesn't help them at all. Once school starts, the nails are really history.

Awesomes: Farmer's market in town today. Peaches, zucchini, onions and a fresh lattice topped peach-blueberry pie.

Parent's night at ds' school. Good teachers, I think, although they really should graduate high school themselves before teaching. Sigh. Nothing makes me feel older than high school parent night.

Just have the blahs tonight.

Awesome - spending half my holiday with sandragon and maggie1944 in BC. Picture very, very large smile on my face. :-)

Playing Words With Friends with my sister, and the tiles I got spelled R's name.

I was not impressed.

Spring has started! Huzzah! I don't get bad allergies, so this is a good thing.

Storm in the gulf, alas. We already have rip tide warnings and coastal flooding warnings (which means our yard will be underwater again). Also forcasting 15 inches of rain mostly on Saturday and Sunday. Poor tourists who pay big bucks to come here for a holiday.

Good news, it will go in near New Orleans before it becomes a hurricane (we hope), so flooding from heavy rains is the biggest worry.

Kinda awful: I'm afraid to read a book!

Reading has always been a snacking trigger for me. Something about sitting in a comfortable spot with a good story makes me unaware that I've just gobbled up a whole box of Chicken in a Biscuit crackers. So, I've been limiting myself to comic books; more page turning and more getting up to put them away and get the next out of the box keeps me too busy to eat junk.

Now there's a vision of hell I don't like - being afraid to read.

DaynaRT - can you go for less junky - what about celery? or other more healthy foods? Cheese sticks?

20> That's what I do on cozy Reading Weekends: set a large plate with celery, carrot and cheese sticks right next to my favorite chair. And a jar of iced water with lemon slices, of course. =)

>20 karenmarie:
Husband felt so sorry for me yesterday that he went out and got me some grapes. I've got an on hold book waiting for me at the library, so we'll see how the fruit works out tonight. I have to go easy on the cheese since my body likes to make kidney stones out of excess calcium.

Try freezing the grapes! Yummy and they can dissolve/thaw slowly in your mouth. They always feel like much more of a treat than unfrozen grapes.

Dayna, also try reading in a different spot - maybe one not already associated with food. I have a comfy chair in my bedroom that's good when I need a change of scene, and because I never eat in there it doesn't have that association.

DaynaRT ~~ I have the same problem, and I'm trying really hard to be good. Lately, I've been buying those big bags of carrots that are already peeled and cut into small "thumbs," and big bags of shelled walnuts. When I start thinking about food, I go to the kitchen for carrots and walnuts, then go back to reading.

I've also found that my hands don't get as messy eating carrots and walnuts as they do when I eat crackers, chips, etc., when I'm reading. I also keep a supply of grapes on hand.

Just so you don't think I'm being all goodie, goodie, last night, because of the holiday weekend, I bought a big bag of lime flavored Tostitos, so that will be my celebration this weekend.

omg frozen grapes *runs to the kitchen*

I'm having big time trouble with the evening munchies since DD left last week, so I'm appreciating the great ideas, too. I'll try going to my room to read and also buy some walnuts. The veggies alone don't quite satisfy; maybe a bit of protein mixed in will do the trick. Thanks tardis and millhold.

Backing up to the nail-biting theme: I have had much less trouble with nail biting/picking once I acknowledged that I just can't stand to have them long. It's not a nervous habit - I just hate having long nails. And for me, "long" means that they would click on piano keys (if I played piano). So the solution for me is to keep them manicured very short.

Just because we're female doesn't mean we need long nails to look or be feminine. It's the total package, not just one part.

Hey you snackers! Mash up an avocado or 3, add some lemon juice and salt and spices to taste and scoop it up with celery. It's actually pretty good and filling too.

Here's a bit of bragging for me: I made a room full (well, about 20) people laugh this morning. At my mother's nursing home a very interesting man holds a coffee and chat on Fridays. This morning he said (because we were all women except for him and my C) that women come out of the womb complaining. That made for a lot of grumbles so I said "That's because we've already had 9 months to figure it all out!" That got only 2 grumbles and a lot of laughs, and again when I had to repeat it for my mother who doesn't hear very well.

So I've done my work for the weekend.

Edited to fix grammar.

"Just because we're female doesn't mean we need long nails to look or be feminine. "

No, but I'd settle for not having gnawed-down nubs, lol.

#30 ~~ I agree. Mine aren't always long. I prefer them to be a sort of medium length, but mostly I don't pay attention to them, so they end up being long before I realize what's happening. If I realize they are getting long, I cut them in half and file them. Long ones don't work well on computer keyboards.

I simply don't like the looks of chewed off fingernails on myself.

My dad had a pacemaker put in today; my sister called to say all was well and he'd go home tomorrow.

Well, apparently That Girl doesn't like that R is talking to me, even though they've broken up and she's living with her ex again (y'see why I wanted to stay ***OUT*** of the drama? It's like a bad soap opera!). She texted me to tell me to stop talking to him. (No "or else." Just "stop.") R swears she got my number from his phone and that he didn't give it to her.

I've blocked her number. And will be on the lookout to ensure that she doesn't drop by my house, because the idiot had her in the car when he came to return the money he borrowed.

Grr argh on him... And her... Rrrrrrrk.

I'm glad to hear theexiledlibrarian's good news. May his good recovery continue.

And wishing continued courage for Rose as she recovers from her sorry-excuse-for-a-ex-boyfriend!

More a Whine than either a Sulk or an Awful: Just got back from the doctor's and she (not the ordinary one, but at the local - "light" - ER) pronounced me to have come down with "acute bronchitis", proscribing Pulmicort (cortisone, for inhalation).
Mixed feelings - I was worried it was yet another bout of pneumonia, and that the damned bacteria would be resistant to antibiotics, once more; and that makes it better than I had thought. On the other hand I had counted on being 100% recovered from the cold by now, and I'm far from it.
*grumble grumble*

Oh dear bronchitis can be so stubborn!

Busifer - Hope you are feeling much better soon. Rough day yesterday for me. My jaw problems escalated dramatically - can't chew. So I was sticking to soft foods. Then I started getting stomach flu type symptoms so I quit eating altogether. Then my cyst pain got worse. Then I started missing my dad.

I couldn't take much pain meds because even a sip of water made my stomach lurch. So I was only using the heating pad and staying in bed. But the longer I stay in bed, the more my muscles knot up then they THEY start to hurt. But I can't even walk, much less exercise. So I was EXTREMELY sorry for myself.

Good news - I got some sleep and feel less miserable today. My stomach is a little more settled and my jaw is getting better. Man, I am falling apart. My husband says someone has a voodoo doll and they really don't like me! I figure they must be wondering why I'm not dead yet!

On the plus side, I woke up with this totally new idea for a book. Don't think I will really write it, not for a long time anyway, but it's keeping my brain very busy.

Cmbohn - loads of hugs and well-wishings!
No one should have to feel that way... but good with the book idea.

Polly & cm - thanks.

Well, I think this is pretty awesome:




She's tentatively called Amy, but the rest of the family haven't met her yet.

Awww, kitty! What a cutie!

Note to Self: Sweetened spearmint tea tastes like toothpaste. Next time, use peppermint.

(Sad, really. I used to LOVE Bigelow’s Plantation Mint, until I started drinking peppermint tea on a regular basis. sigh)

Awesome: all sandy from spending a lovely Father's day with David and the kids at the beach. Perfect, and although there was a slightly chilly breeze, it was still lovely and the kids had a ball frolicking in the waves (well, until they got skittled by a wave or two), building sandcastles and just having fun.

Adorable Tentative Amy!

She seems to be definitely Amy - although older son is still keen on Amelia and Marcel and I have several times said "come along, Pond."

I am smiling: still visiting with Sandragon in Victoria BC, and she and her family are awesomely fun to be with and around. Good food, good laughs, and good bed, too. And I get to find good books and read and read my lLibrarything catch ups, too. Reading a new, to me, Alan Furst - The Polish Officer.

Home later today where a very, very good friend has been remodeling my front yard. Oh, man, life can be so good sometimes. Happy Labor Day all you who celebrate it on the first Monday in Sept.

tardis - My Asimov answered to several different names, I'm sure clever Amy can learn to respond to Amy, Amelia, and Pond :D That's sweet.

So, awful but not unexpected: migraine. Ugh. At least the plans I had today were canceled so I don't have to actually do anything besides sit here and suffer. I am listening to an audiobook of Soulless because I can't concentrate on reading for very long.

Summer cold, on a holiday weekend. Boo.

OMG there was a mountain lion just outside of my front window. Believe it or not, I opened the front door, yelled at it and it took off for the creek. The horses chased it. :-)

It was small, and very thin--I'm thinking it has a problem since I haven't seen one this close to town before.

Much that is awesome: found a local lawn boy who organized a couple of other kids and did an amazing job on my yard, clearing away a lot of brush and little trees and debris. So far I've paid him a grand total of $50 for this miracle.

Further awesome: bought something today I shouldn't be buying, but got carded because the salesgirl didn't think I looked over 40! Saw on my license that I'm actually 55 and said she never would have believed it.

And one more: Guy I like just broke up with his girlfriend. I don't know if he's interested in me in "that way," but it's certainly a move in the right direction!

Love the new kitty! Feeling better today. I can't remember the last time I had such a yucky virus. Still washed out and my head is spinning now and then, but I've been able to eat several very small meals today. I guess I will live after all. I honestly wasn't sure for a while!

Aww Tardis - Amy is adorable! & has pretty impressively long whiskers for such a pretty little head!!!

My Awesome - cat show yesterday was fun, Tilly got best of breed in both rings (beat Taji & annother Mist boy named Blake) so I got 2 pretty purple ribbons - but I'm pretending Taj & Tilly won one each so its fairer, lol :)

Congrats, Seanie! Fun! And, yes, Amy is a very sweet looking kitty. Nice.

Whaddaya mean, iPhones aren't for chewing? What else are you supposed to do with 'em?



Kids had a visit with R yesterday. He was answering a text and she stole his phone to chew on it.

Also, she's 5 months old today. Who said she could do that?

I love pictures of our little Dragonettes.

Awesome: Found the old hard copy of my professional profile, which I am needing right now. It took a while, since it wasn't in my office. I kept saying to myself, "I can't have been that stupid, to not have kept it!!!" And behold, it was in a different file box in the closet of another room.

Further Awesome: The finding process only took about a half hour to do, when it could easily have been an all-day task - being Not In Office meant it could have been anywhere.

Not really awful: I have determined that I need to purchase a digital voice recorder so that I can record my sermons and burn the good ones to CD. I have basically whittled the choices down to two, an Olympus and a Sony. They are roughly the same price, and have about the same number of average review stars on Amazon. IOW, there is no clear stand-out, so I don't know which to get! But there's a restocking fee and cost-of-return-shipping fee for returns, so I don't just want to order both and see which one I like better. Though, since it's for professional use, maybe that would be the thing to do. . .

This makes me a little sad. First time she’s ever held her own bottle all by herself. She’s getting so big, so fast!

Wonderful: Just had a meeting with son's school and they are amazed at his reading skills. They did a test, with all the 2nd grade (~8yo) students and he scored highest on almost every single test.
This despite his speech impediment, which until late this past spring was severe (then: people couldn't understand him; now: he pronounces R as J and has some difficulties with irregular verbs).
I am very proud (and the school no longer treats him as a potential problem while continuing to afford him extra support).

#57 That must do his self-confidence the world of good, too. Which can only speed future improvement. Go Little-Busifer!

Awesoome: Anybody else notice that one of today's featured authors on your LT homepage is our very own Janny Wurts? I'm impressed.

YAY for Busifer Junior!! What a wonderful achievement!

And YAY for Janny, too.

Awesome: Temps went from triple digits to nice double digits, overnight! It was actually cool outside this morning. High today is supposed to be in the mid 80s.

Awful: Because the temps changed so drastically, knees and back are very painful. Also, this morning, while trying to shampoo my hair, got a muscle spasm over my left clavical, and it won't go away. I guess that's what's causing the crick in my neck. Basically, I seem to be falling apart this morning. BAH!

Hooray for Busifer Junior, and hugs for all those who are having issues (health or otherwise).

Thanks everyone - he's VERY proud (and I have been thoroughly informed that he scored the highest not only on most but on all parts of the test, lol).

And a I want to add a YAY for Janny :D

Yay for Busifer Jr! And Yay for Janny!

Pest control guy came to treat the house today. Normally we aren't home so he just does the outside, but the German roaches apparently followed me here from the duplex I shared with R, so we wanted him to treat the inside too.

I thought we'd made sure not to bring any roaches or eggs home, but we either weren't very thorough in checking or we had a stowaway or two. It only takes one pregnant roach - they hatch dozens at a time and they can breed with their own siblings, so one egg capsule can start an infestation.

The pest control guy left ten minutes ago. Scamp is STILL barking. I even let the dog run around the house to show him the guy was gone, and he just won't let it go! (Lexi, on the other hand, has given up and is zonked out on the kitchen floor. Barking at pest control people is apparently exhausting for her.)

September has been awesome. The weather has been wonderful and berry picking has been joyful and successful.

Now, if the redhead would just hear something about the job she applied for, it would be perfect.

Awesome: I'm finished with school next week.

Awful: Thanks to a math class, I have no idea if I'll be graduating or retaking the class (I have many a rant about the instructor). There is an online option, but I skipped my university commencement, so my family is excited to come to the commencement ceremony.

Awesome: http://www.khanacademy.org/

Awesome: After a windstorm that uprooted a bunch of trees, the weather has improved tremendously.

Weather has dropped dramatically and despite the rain, feels wonderful. If we can just stay out of the 90's until next summer, I'll be satisfied.

Good news: Doc said my knee is not in need of immediate replacement, and could last up to 5 more years. So definitely until the kid gets a driver's license and can be my chauffer. Also will not interfere with mom and dad's big anniversary next year.

Aggravation: Asked a simple question on another board and get snarked at my supposed poor choice/habits (it's food-related). So I snarked back that essentially it's none of their business. I expect much snarking in return. Is it too much to ask for everyone to assume that questions are being asked for information and that the poster has actually has a brain and has given the topic much consideration before posting?

snarked back that essentially it's none of their business

GOOD FOR YOU, Rita!

ETA: I have some food issues that some people like to comment on like it's their business, and it drives me up the freaking wall. It always makes me happy to hear about people standing up to that kind of thing.

I'm reading that there're big fires in Austin. I hope everyone's OK! Does WHL live in Austin?

Edit: Apparently he's not far from there. Be safe, WHL!

Every time a natural disaster threatens, WHL offers an open door policy to his home for any refugees. I doubt that he wants to head for Nebraska, but if he does, MY door is open.

#67 Thank you. I've had quite too much the last few years of people telling how they think I should be acting. I'm intelligent, and unlike some I know, if I mess up I live with/fix my own messes.

Stay safe, anyone in danger of fires/floods/other natural disasters.

Proud mom moment: DS aced is first computer science programming test! This is good, as he wants to work in the computer field. I haven't checked the English and humanities grade though--a little afraid.

Hugs to millhold and the rest of use who are falling apart today. (Doc also said my hip pain is bursitis--great.)

Awful: Tax audit for the business! Why don't we meet their benchmarks?....because we don't!

K, the sneak-attack crying fits? They're getting old.

Congrats to Busifer Jr. and his parents. I'm sure you've been coaching him a lot. It's nice to see it pay off! And hooray for cooler weather.

Teenage drama at my house. My daughters have been sniping at each other for what seems like months and it's reached an alarming point. Time for professional intervention, as what I'm doing isn't working.

Congrats for the good stuff and hugs for the awful.

Two awfuls: The first is my increasing realization that my daughter is truly GONE - almost 3 weeks now at college. They spent 20 minutes in the basement of her dorm Sunday night because a tornado touched down nearby. That got me a bit twitchy, but it's all good because they had a plan and executed it flawlessly. She loves it there and seems to be doing well so far.

The second is that my hip hurts, slept wrong somehow and shoulders ache. Right forearm and elbow ache. Blech. I'm definitely feeling my age (58).

Awesome: We do get to see daughter on Saturday - we're going to visit MiL (daughter's Gran) and, joy of joys, she wants to go! We'll pick her up on the way, visit w/Gran, eat out somewhere with daughter, go back to dorm to take her a few things she needs, visit a bit, then exit stage right. I'll be able to catch up on daughter hugs.

Hurrah - am back on my little rock. And kissing the ground for joy. That was a hell of a crossing - it was cancelled yesterday due to 50-60mph winds and was hellish enough today. HOME!

I was in so much pain yesterday, even my boss noticed, and sent me home early. I took a muscle relaxer, and went to bed. It helped to the extent that I was able to come back to work today. It's still not great, but it's massively better than yesteday. Took another muscle relaxer after I got to work this morning, so I may be flying high soon. 8^)

Neice is stressed about living on campus now: there was an armed robbery yesterday, and she doesn't feel safe. Also, her assigned parking space is 1 mile away from her dorm room! That means that as the days get shorter, she will be walking home in the dark.

Hugs to all of us who need them.

Awful: Neighbor woke me up to warn that it's raining a lot and some nearby towns are being evacuated. It doesn't look as though the forecast is for the river to get high enough to evacuate us, but after the horror that was 2006 here, one can't help but worry and start thinking about moving books to higher points in the house.

But I don't think I could bear it if it happened again.

Awesome: Stepped on the scale today and I have lost my first decade of weight. Now only 40(+?) pounds to go!

Awesome: I have promised myself a reward for each decade of weight lost, and also whenever I reach a "round number" (ending in zero). So my reward today is that I ordered the digital voice recorder.

Hugs and painkillers to everyone who is in pain.

Our son reads in the bath tub.
Need I say anything more?!

#78 Congrats!! I'm right there with you. I keep telling myself my knee will thank me.

Rain, rain, go away, come again some other day. I'm loving the temps, but it's been raining since Sunday and is supposed to continue through the weekend.

> 80 My knees and other joints are already thanking me. So is my sleeping, my vision, and my heart. I know that weight loss is not the panacea to every ill. But in fact I am losing weight not because I am dieting, but because I am trying to adopt a healthier lifestyle. Did not really expect weight loss to go with it, but I'm not going to complain!

Awful beyond my ability to express: Rain, the river is rising, evacuation is imminent. I've been moving books to higher shelves and boxes of books off the floor for the past hour. I'm sick. If this is as bad as last time, I'm probably going to lose my house.

Oh, dear, I am sorry to hear that! Take care of yourself.

Holding you in my heart.

Aww, honey. I'm sorry to hear that.

Praying for you.

Yes. I was stymied on what to say, because it is an overwhelmingly sad prospect. But, like cmbohn, I will pray for you and all those in harms' way from floodwaters.

I don't have words ejj. My heart is grieving for you and I am adding my prayers to those of others.

#82 - I lack words, such a horror! Holding my thumbs for you, hard.

My thoughts are with you. I don't have the words otherwise.

EJJ, just remember, keep safe and take care of yourself. as horrible as the prospect is of losing your house, you yourself and your loved ones and pets are more important.

I'm so sorry about your situation Ejj. I hope you can be safe and your house standing.

I'm keeping you in my thoughts and prayers, ejj.

I'm so sorry you're facing that horrible possibility, ejj. My best friend lost her house to a flood and lived in a shelter for six months when she was in her teens. I wouldn't wish any of that on my worst enemy. Will be praying for you. Stay safe.

Another entry for the List Of Things You Never Thought You'd Need To Know:

A 12-quart stock pot can boil 5 new flat cloth diapers at a time without boiling over.

...No, I'm not planning on serving diapers for dinner. You have to wash new cloth diapers before the first use so they'll absorb properly. Boiling them right out of the package means I only have to wash them once instead of 5 times before the first use.

Live and learn, SRedRose!

We used cloth diapers on daughter for the first 9 weeks of her life exclusively, then disposables at daycare but cloth at home for about a year. Husband faithfully washed them and got them immaculately clean. I still have about a dozen and use them to polish furniture.

Today's sulk: I was anxious to watch the Men's Quarterfinal evening tennis match (US Open) with my hero Roger Federer playing Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. But like the last two nights of tennis it's rained out. They might continue later if it clears up, but I'll probably be asleep by then. This is getting ridiculous because the men will have to play without a day off from now to the final. Best 3 out of 5 is pretty grueling. And Roger's up a break and now has lost that momentum.

I've been tearing up tiles in my sister's bedroom. My favorite part of a remodel - the demolition! It's so much FUN!

Great anger relief too. R tried to pull a stunt today that made me want to chisel HIS head. Kidlette and I were visiting with him (at a neutral location) and he was trying to be all mopey about the fact that That Girl is back with her ex. Apparently they're having issues (GEE, I wonder WHY?) and he has the utter audacity to say to me, "If she's so unhappy with him and practically single, why isn't she here with me?"

I told him that discussion about her was absolutely off-limits and that the next time he griped to me about her, I was going to cease conversation because it hurts me to much to be reminded that he misses her.

Anywho. Got some houseworks to do tomorrow, and a few sewing projects to work on. Probably not gonna be on much.

Ejj! I'm sorry for your situation!

Rrrrrrrrk. Hammering-and-chiseling the TILE since I can’t hammer-and-chisel the STUPID BOY and the EVIL HOMEWRECKER and the COMPLICIT “FRIENDS” who knew the affair was still happening and didn't tell me.

*grr-argh-grumble*

I think I officially hate her more than I hate my last ex before R. I didn't even think that was possible. He's practically my dearest friend compared to how I feel about her. Huh. Weeeeeeird.

That’s saying something - Stupid, as I call him, was controlling, manipulative, and abusive, and he physically assaulted our infant son, which caused the boy’s disabilities. This was over five years ago, but still. I haven’t forgiven him, and I still hate him for it. But for some reason, I hate her more. I don’t get it.

SRedRose> Stay strong hon! We're here for you!

I did this in 30 minutes with a baby on my back. Heaven help the next person who makes a mess in my kitchen and doesn’t clean up after herself, for she will incur the Wrath of Sarah.

Ok, so yesterday I sent my daughter off to meet her boyfriend, and she is going to look for work in WA, CA, NV and OR. One way ticket. (cue "daddy tears")

And the Redhead did NOT get the job she REALLY wanted.

So yesterday had enough suckiness for the rest of the month.

OK, you are exempt from now on for all of September.

Toothache.
I only have nine teeth left; why can't they just behave?

#102 Arctic-Stranger - sorry about your daughter heading off to the Lower 48. (Co-worker just put her daughter on an airplane to Buenos Aires with a one way ticket. She's pretty stoic, but I'm sure there are mommy tears there somewhere). Mine's only 66 miles away but even that's hard. Daddy tears are totally acceptable. And it's too bad the Redhead did not get the job she really wanted. No more suckiness allowed.

#99 SRedRose - I can't imagine hating anybody more than hating someone who would harm a child and leave him with permanent disabilities. I just don't see how you can hate her more than that when R is the one who's carrying on with her. This is blunt, but he's choosing this path just as much as she is. Why do you even bother with him except to let him see kidlette? You should have another adult with you when you see him so he won't keep sucking you into his messy emotionally bankrupt life.

#104 DaynaRT - tooth problems are the absolute pits. Nothing seems worse because you've got pain AND it impacts eating.

Smile: Daughter and roommate each got a beta fish, separate tanks. I have a grandfish named Sir Bartholomew the Thirty Second. Being eighteen is grand, isn't it?

Heehee..I have a grand-beta sitting right here with me. It lived in DD's dorm room, but now she is off adventuring and I am trying to keep the grand-fish alive.

I think the three of us need to lift a pint for our daughters-who-have-gone-adventuring. Mine's in Shanghai....which is waaaayyy too far. I'm ready for her to come home...which she probably will... in July.

I should be more clear - right now I hate her more. I'm sure that will fade when it isn't as fresh. The hatred for Stupid has been consistently the same for the past five years. Stupid also hasn't continued causing damage; the damage he did was huge, but it happened once and I deal with it. It sucks, but it's part of "normal" life for us and has been for five years. This mess is current and has yet to die down and it keeps renewing itself. (And you think I haven't tried to hate R? I've been working on that for months. Even when I do manage to hate him it lasts all of a few days and then it fades.)

So far as "bothering with" him - he brings these things up while he's seeing Kidlette. I've walked away from more conversations with him this week than I've ever walked away from in my life. We always meet in public places and the meetings all depend on our schedules - sometimes having other people tag along just isn't possible.

Something I've never understood. One time I was "the other woman" though I didn't know it. He lied to both of us. She stayed with him and hated ME. Why is that? HE is the one that lied and she hated ME!?!

She probably couldn't hate him so decided you had to be the guilty one. At least you weren't doing it on purpose.

I was the other woman unknowingly once too when I was younger and stupider. He told me he was divorced. They were only recently separated - as in, he'd moved out about a month prior to meeting me. Certainly explained her apparent hatred of me even though I had no idea he had been lying. She knew he was dating me, knew he'd lied to me about his relationship status, hated me anyway. Because she couldn't hate him. I think they got back together after he and I split, but I cut contact with the whole family and haven't seen any of them in about 7 years.

I just want to throw into the mix that the real opposite of love is indifference. Whenever you are actively hating something or someone you are giving the relationship a great deal of power. Any person you hate is huge in your mind, and the people about whom you are indifferent, fade away to nothingness. Now there is a proper place for your ex and all his paramours.

I was once" fixed up" with a friend of a friend. We met as a foursome at a local diner. He asked me to ride up the street to the bank which I did when we returned he opened the diner door for me and I walked thru. I turned to say something to him and he was across the room sitting down at another table with two women!!!? My friend and her boyfriend were signaling me madly to come over and sit down which I did. They then told me that the two women were his sister's in law. I said so what? He's divorced you said. my friend looked sheepish "well he's not actually divorced, he's just thinking about it"!!!! Some friend, right? I was so angry I left immeadiately. I of course never saw him again and my friendship was severly strained and eventually I stopped it as well

How Kidlette and I spent most of our morning:


Tearing up tile is tiring:

So many babies in this world appreciate this view from their Mom's hard working backs. Good luck getting this all done, and new put down!

I've been taking turns scraping tile with my sister (it's her bedroom floor). There are 10 tiles left. Then we strip the floor to get rid of the goo (they're stick-on vinyl things) and put down temporary carpeting till we have the time and money to install the new tile.

I love the pictures.

#112 Pics are so cute!

My new line. An argumant a day helps you work, not rest and cry rather a lot. This sucks. I'm too tired for this much confrontation - and the whole arguments are because I'm feeling crappy about myself. I wish he understood that having a massive go at me about it is not helpful :(

I left my phone, accidently, on a counter in a store. Someone thought it would be funny to send text messages to my entire list, which includes my Facebook contacts. I don't have the phone back, but at least I've disabled the texting. I would have never known except people starting calling me (those who know my home number) and telling me. I am mortified! So, if you are a facebook contact and get a really strange message that is inappropriate, please ignore it. :(

Gah. Is there any way to close the account? How awful!

#118 - Awful!

I have a book happy/unhappy. You know, when the end is near and you really don't want to leave that universe and those folks in it? This is very minor, on the worldly scale of everything, I know.
*sigh*

>120 Busifer: Yep, just had that with a book. I did NOT want it to be over and slowed down my reading.

#121 - Yes. I'm trying to do ANYTHING but read, atm, even if that's what I really REALLY want to do...

Business tax audit notification arrived. Need I say more?

#123 - Eww. Condolences.

So, remember that kitchen I had clean less than 24 hours ago? The one I posted a picture of in msg #101? Here's what I woke up to this morning:



I am going... to hurt someone. There are only two other people who could have left this mess, and I'm pretty sure I know which one of the two it was.

Wow, that's a lot of mess to appear that quickly!

The "use and leave" brownies have visited during the night!!!

It had to have happened before 7:30 am (when I was up feeding Kidlet his breakfast), because it was clean, save a few dishes in the sink, when went to bed at 11:30 last night. Grr argh. I think I know which of the two other capable people in the house left which part of the mess, too.

It's too bad you are neat, SRedRose - because otherwise you could let it go until it actually bothered one of the two other people in the house! I'm like that - see messes and have to clean them up even if I didn't make them.

I'm still missing daughter now that she's a freshman in college, but at least the house is neater! Now I only have one messy person to deal with - husband.

Cute pics of you and kidlette.

Smile: We spent most of yesterday with daughter - picked her up at college and took her to visit her grandmother in the 24/7 facility she lives in. We spent about 2 hours with her, then had lunch and took some things into the dorm room that daughter wanted us to bring. Nice day.

#106 streamsong - I stand corrected, since daughter and roommate are parents to both, I've got 2 grandfish. The second one is Lord Horatio the Sixteenth.

Yes, let's hoist a pint to the daughters! Mine will be home for a week for fall break, then another week at Thanksgiving, and a month at Christmas. Another to the grandfish!

Happy: found some mushrooms today, even if I didn't get all the way to THE place for mushrooms ;-)

Have yet to decide if I will freeze or dry them.

Awesome: Da Bears!

Awful: There's an ichneumon on the front porch. Harmless, but so creepy.

karenmarie - Our oldest left for college on the 23rd of August so I am feeling your pain! He is also only about an hour and 20 minutes away which really helps since I know that we would be able to get there relatively quickly if he needed us. He loves it and that helps me, too. Of course, what helps the most is that he runs cross country and all of his meets are close so we can see him, even if only for a short time, quite often. Family Day is this upcoming weekend so we will be spending the whole day with him on Saturday which will be great.

He is the oldest of 4 so there are still 3 at home. I think it makes it a bit easier because we are so busy with the other 3 but I do miss him very, very much. I know that my husband does, too.

>131 DaynaRT: I'm assuming the ichneumon wasp and not the mongoose?

>133 Morphidae:
Aye, it's got a humongous ovipositor but no stinging ability.

still, they give me the screaming willies.

Must confess to being more scared of the paper wasps who really do pack a nasty punch when they sting. I just happened to notice one flying under the letterbox just before I put my hand in there the other day. Glad I did as I would have ended up with a nasty sting as they are very territorial when it comes to their nest!

Drum circle tonight. Went because the kids like the drumming (Kidlet drums along on his own mini djembe). My best friend and her husband and kids met us there. The kids thoroughly enjoyed themselves; I’ll post pictures tomorrow, probably.

We stayed longer than I’d planned and learned why we don’t stay past 8:30. The drunks and druggies come out around then.

I love going to drum circles. Very elemental!

I've never been to one.

Are you still in Florida? They're pretty common along the beaches. Ours is every Sunday night from 6 to... well, actually, I've never stayed past 8:30, so I don't know when they stop.

Happy: Yesterday I browsed the SF Bookshop's site. I haven't, for a while - I sometimes check for new releases but I didn't anticipate anything new; just skipped by to place a pre-order on the next C.J. Cherryh book. Found I had missed the release of Jon Courtenay Grimwood's latest - I always look at the SF section and this had been labelled Fantasy, so that is how that happened.
Skipped by the physical shop today on my way home from work and picked it up - The Fallen Blade. Good feeling!

(This better be VERY good because vampires are NOT my thing and I only do this because I have enjoyed all of his previous books...)

No RR I moved back to Ohio. Probably not too many in this area :) I could research it!

Awful: I just had my first ever yoga class.

Awesome: I'm still walking. But not for long. Maybe sometime next year I'll be able to actually hold my toes without bending my knees. Maybe by then my belly will have moved to some other town.

Awesome: ejj1955 has posted on her FB account that she is well, staying with relatives, and although her home did have some flooding it is not as bad as it could have been. Thank goodness she is OK!

Good! Glad to hear it!

I've been worried about ejj1955. Thanks for the update, maggie1944!

Tried to sew a baby carrier today. Colossal flop - the pattern was off and the resulting carrier had a body that was way too wide and straps that were way too short. Think I’ll just find a used one instead!

The sewing day was not a complete waste. I made myself a pretty blue gauzy skirt. Perfect for twirling.

… TWIRLING!!!

Yes, I know I'm a dork. I have embraced my dorkiness. And I am having fun twirling in my swirly blue skirt, thankyouverymuch!

There are very few things in this world better than twirling in a swirly blue skirt. I envy you!

Thank you for posting that, mags, I was trying hard not to worry, but it is in me. Wasn't gonna go to FB tonight, but I think I will now!

Awesome: I'm passing my algebra class!!! I loved algebra in high school, but I had more time to mull it over, then. I'm in an accelerated program for college, but one cannot rush one's understanding. Still, I'm passing! So I'm happy. :)

My mother’s divorce party is next week. I just helped her choose the song to put on her cake .

She went with the chorus to ”I’ve Got No Strings” by Pinocchio.

I kinda like "Vamos a Bailar" by Paola e Chiara. The English music video is worthless and completed detached from the lyrics, so I'm going with this fan video. It just shows the lyrics. I don't know what the Italian version actually says.

I can't decide if it's a four chord song or not. I'm only an amateur singer, so I don't always hear these things. I do fairly often, but not always.

Awesome - beautiful northern lights out again tonight.

Awful - Spike has been missing for 3 weeks now. I miss him, so do Hamish and Angus.

153: He's beautiful! I hope you find him!

I'm so sorry, NorthernStar.

Happy for the awesomes, sending good thoughts for the awfuls.

Possibly awesome, certainly exciting and nerve-wracking: We put an offer in on a house last night!

holding thumbs for scaifea

Awesome: it's 7:30 in the morning and someone outside is barbecuing. It smells divine.

Katia is here. And then I'm talking hurricanes, not a person. Can't remember the last time a tropical hurricane hit the Swedish east coast, and it's still got some energy in it because it almost threw me off the road, bike and all, just now.
That would be an Awful, by the way.

Katia knocked down one of the big tents on the set of Game of Thrones. Five people injured, last I read.

Yes, we're suffering the tail-end of Katia here in Scotland - whilst I'm complaining bitterly about the vile weather, I'd rather be on this end of it than the front end, as it were ...!

>159 Busifer: Hope you are okay and not too bruised!

Thanks for all the good wishes and concern. It could have been so much worse than it seems to be; thumbs cautiously held. My basement has been pumped (how much do I love firemen?) and I have a cleanup crew coming tomorrow morning. Then the electrician in the afternoon, I hope; once it's been inspected, I can move back home. Will still have the water heater and furnace (and ductwork) to deal with, but I just am so wanting to sleep in my own bed again.

New worries: my sister-in-law had an operation on her neck/back about a week ago; was taken back to the hospital yesterday and now has liver and kidney failure; is awaiting a liver transplant. Scary stuff.

Compared with this, my troubles seem almost minor.

#162 - Thanks, everything is as should - uncommonly strong winds, but that's all. This is the last breath of the storm, before it strangles itself...
Your troubles over it are much worse and I'm holding my thumbs for you (and for your SIL).

Awesome - got my second kitten - Rory. He's kind of like Northernstar's lost Spike, except with not quite such regular markings. Amy is NOT impressed. She keeps trying to beat the poor little guy up.

Beautiful cats with wonderful faces :)

pretty kitty, tardis! I will NOT get another cat, I will NOT get another cat, I will NOT get another cat..... repeat until it sinks in. I have 5 already. The definition of a crazy cat lady? Someone who has one more cat than you have. :)

ejj1955 - glad that even with the flooding there's a light at the end of the tunnel. I'm sorry to hear about your SiL.

Awful: my MiL's friend Ruth's cancer is back, husband's and my friend Dwain has cancer - we just don't know where or how far along it is yet. He's had tests and is waiting for the results. Aunt passed out at the wheel of her car going 55 but fortunately took her foot off the gas and just glided up a slope, doing some damage to her car but nobody got hurt. She can't drive until they figure out what's going on.

Awesome: MiL's stage IV lung cancer is in remission (if that's the right word - the tumors aren't growing and she's in a drug trial and not having to take chemo right now). Sister is doing well after a heart attack (actually stress-induced cardiomyopathy) 3 weeks ago.

Non-sick related awesome: Daughter is thriving at college. Loves her classes, the environment, her freedom, her roommate, etc. Makes me feel good even as I miss her desperately.

>166 karenmarie: Cancer sucks. That's all.

I have a button that says that.

#153 Northernstar - I'm so sorry, but 3 weeks isnt long enough to give up hope, so I'm hoping foer you that he comes back, he's a gorgeous boy!

#164 Tardis - much much much cute!!! Such unusual markings! & it doesnt look like Amy's too unimpressed in that pic, more like she wants in on the action, lol :)

Sorry I'm a bit cat obsessed arent I, just responding to the cat posts - Hugs to all others with awefuls & dancing with those that have happies!

My aweful - found out yesterday that my aunt has bowel cancer :( I'm not close with my extended family, only see them a couple of times a year so it'd feel kinda fake sending condolences or what ever you send when someone's diagnosed with cancer??? But I know they'd be there for me in an instant if I need them so I feel I should do something, just really not sure what's appropriate and what would feel right for me too...

My awesome - I'm looking forward to going for a big kitty visiting mission this sunday, I have 2 breeder friends who live in country Victoria, so I'm going on a 4hour45min round trip drive to visit them both & play with their cats & kittens :) I'm especially looking forward to meeting this bunch:

The adult is their babysitter Kenny who I've met many times, he's Melissa's show neuter (& he usually beats my Taji boy easily at shows, lol) :)

Beautiful kitties, and I know they will be beautiful cats.

I've not had cats for years but when I was working full time I was cat mad! Had a very pretty Oriental Short hair with red points (looks like Siamese but in a strawberry blond kind of way). She was a love, and did not cross over the "rainbow bridge" until she was over 20 years old. What a doll she was, and I miss her still even though she's been gone for several years.

Just want to say (to the Universe, if no one else) that I'm thinking it might be time to bring me a new, healthy relationship.

#166 - As ejj said. Cancer sucks.

Beautiful cats, but I will NOT get another one. 45 years with cats is just enough for me ;-)
Even if I'm tempted...

Fuck cancer.

Yup. Fuck cancer.

Cute kitties, Seanie! I continue to resist the siren's song.....

173/174 - Kinky. I certainly agree with the sentiment.

Edit: Disappointment - the book fair I thought was going to be on this weekend is actually the following weekend. I have to wait a *whole* week longer. *pouts*

Sometimes I hate being right.

I've never been wrong about my instincts. I've ignored them, and gotten myself into trouble or gotten very hurt over ignoring them, but I've never been wrong. You'd think I'd find a way to make that work for me, but sometimes there's nothing can be done to prevent being right about something that hurts that you can't stop or change. You're just right, when you don't want to be, and can't do a damn thing about it.

My kids are trying to convince my husband that I need a kitten as a get well present. So far, no luck, but I keep hoping!

Not sure if this awful or awesome. I just found a spider in my bed - hopefully it was the only one. Awesome to confirm that the owies on my side were spider bites and not something worse. Would have been nicer not to have gotten bitten at all. They hurt!

Certainly not awful, arguably not awesome: I deduce from the news being full of everything else but, that the threat of mayhem for the 10th anniversary of 9/11 failed to materialise. In which case I'm relieved that our Dragoneers and their nearest and dearest have one less threat to worry about.

neither awesome nor awful, just makes me uneasy, they found a baby snake in the hallway of the school this morning. Alive and well, I just wonder if there's a nest somewhere.....

These lyrics seem apropos:

I remember when Mary Lou said
"You wanna walk me home from school"
And I said, "Yes, I do"
She said, "I don't have to go right home
And I'm the kind that likes to be alone
As long as you would"
I said, "Me, too"

And so we took a stroll
Wound up down by the swimmin' hole
And she said, "Do what you want to do"
I got silly and I found a frog
In the water by a hollow log
And I shook it at her
And I said "This frog's for you"

She said, "I don't like spiders and snakes
And that ain't what it takes to love me
You fool, you fool
I don't like spiders and snakes
And that ain't what it takes to love me
Like I want to be loved by you"

Well, I think of that girl from time to time
I call her up when I got a dime
I say, "Hello, baby"
She says, "Ain't you cool"
I say, "Do you remember when
"And would you like to get together again"
She says, "I'll see you after school"

I was shy and so for a while
Most of my love was touch and smile
Til she said, "Come on over here"
I was nervous as you might guess
Still looking for somethin' to slip down her dress
And she said, "Let's make it perfectly clear"

She said, "I don't like spiders and snakes
And that ain't what it takes to love me
You fool, you fool
I don't like spiders and snakes
And that ain't what it takes to love me
Like I want to be loved by you"

I remember having a big, if fleeting, crush on Jim Stafford. The way he sang that song was certainly a part of it!

#180 - I can top that - we had a bear at the college today - it came right up to the back doors - it was standing on the mat outside, while we watched through the glass doors. We chased it off, but I was working late, and when I left it was right across the street - I was glad I'd moved my truck close to the door.

The awful thing was, I had no camera!

A bear? And I thought it was bad enough have territorial plover parents protecting their babies on the school grounds.

Awesome: great day with my little Prep kids.
Awesome: Accountants who can help withour tax audit!

Got on my scale this morning to have it tell me that I had managed to drop 18 lb overnight. I wish. There was something underneath the scale and it was throwing off the measurement. Tried again and found that I haven't lost anything.

I think I preferred the 18-lb loss!

>185 RandomActofMuse: If only it worked like that!

Awesome: I can probably go home today. Electrical repairs are supposedly underway. Next up I have to tackle the water heater replacement, but if I can just sit in my comfy chair, watch my own television, and, most of all, sleep in my own bed . . . words can't describe how desperate I am for those things.

That is awesome news indeed!

#186 That's great news - so glad for you.

#183 Kinda jealous of the bear - we have no bears. Or Badgers. Or foxes. No fun animals at all ;)

Awesome: Cass adored her first ballet lesson yesterday
Awful: How much ballet costs.

Oh and another awful: Teeth. Nuff said.

Glad you can go home, ejj!

Also, cos I love them and am awfully proud of them - these are my latest, and most recent favourite, pics of my kiddiwinks.

Adorable! Thanks for posting the pics, BekkaJo!

great sweet awesome pics

Aw, how adorable!

Your small ones are very sweet. And so photogenic!

I just got off the phone with the physical therapy department at a local(ish) medical arts center. Kidlet starts a 4-8 week serial casting program on October 4 in order to decrease the tension in his legs and improve his range of motion and ability to walk on his own.

It means several weeks of sponge baths (the casts can't get wet) and no pool or beach visits, but I think a month or two of minor inconveniences are worth it if it'll help him walk and move easier. There are other options, but they're invasive and I would rather try something less risky first.

That will be awesome Rose!

>190 BekkaJo: Wow, those are beautiful children!

>195 RandomActofMuse: Excellent news, Rose, hope it works as hoped or better.

Awesome: I'm home!! I have electricity (except, mysteriously, in the bathroom?) but no water. Calling the village about the water tomorrow and then will move on to the water heater and furnace replacements.

Even more Awesome: I get to sleep in my own bed tonight!!

Oh, ejj, I'm so glad for you. Nothing in the world like your own bed.

Yay! ejj, I am so glad you are home=sweet=home! And I hope your repairs are quick and relatively painless.

Awesome: I'm graduating tomorrow.
Awesome: I'll be going on a road trip with one of my best friends in two weeks.
Awesome: I'll be joining my husband in California in about three weeks.
Awesome: The DivaCup is in the TOP 10 of Green America People's Choice Award.

I haven't had so many Awesome's in ages.

Ta guys - Cass in particular is a pretty girl. Mental though...

Glad to hear so many Awesomes after a tough month. Congrats and cheers to all!

>188 BekkaJo:: I wouldn't worry about not having foxes - they are very common where I live and I have to put up with the sound of them screaming all night in the spring :-(

awesome: Denmark finally got a new government.
awesome: the new statsminister (the head of the government) is a woman for the first time
awesome: Dansk Folkeparti, a nationalist an racist party, is finally without influence on how Denmark is run

BekkaJo: Beautiful little things!! Thanks for sharing the pictures!

Awesome: We got a very reasonable counter offer on the house, and we're taking it! YAY!! We're going to try to close by Nov. 1st and be moved in by Thanksgiving!

#203 - Awesome indeed. And congrats :)

Awesome - it's nearly time to go home.
Awful - It's lobbing it down with rain.
At least I have waterproofs with me and a new Hump rucksack cover. It gets to try out it's waterproofness on its very first day in use. .... could be worse.

Awesome - Autumn is around the corner! Cooler days! Huzzah!
Awful - Autumn is around the corner! I had to lug my two banana plants in last night and this living room is so crowded now. :/

Awful: migraine day 3, I'm out of the prescription meds and I have to be at work anyway.

Awesome: it's Friday and in 4.5 hours I can go home and play with kittens.

Confession: I've been wearing these glass bangles almost a week and the color is starting to wear off on some of them. Buuuut I'm afraid to take them off because I broke three of them putting them on.

Also, kids and I are having a sleepover on the big fold-out bed in the living room, because I’m the only grown-up in the house and I feel safer sleeping in the main room where I can access the alarm panel almost immediately if I need it.

Besides, Kidlet has to be PUT to sleep and I have no one to mind the baby while I spend 30 minutes convincing him that he’s tired. I’m letting him wind himself down; I figure he’ll fall asleep eventually. It’s a weekend. No school tomorrow.

Good luck with the sleeping and the kids! Sometimes it's fun to camp on the living room floor (sometimes).

awesome: I'm getting a lot of work done
awful: far less time here on LT!

ejj--glad you're home.

Awesome Aggravation: The kid had a youth lockin last night. I told him before we left to take his inhaler. Off he goes. At 3:00 am I am deeply, deeply asleep, with the BiPap securely attached and running, when I hear the phone--no, wait--it's the door bell!! It's 3 am!!

With adrenaline going, I run to the front hall and yell who is it? "Mom, it's me!!"

Aggravation: He FORGOT his inhaler, so of course he has his first asthma attack in months. Aarrrrgh!!!
Awesome: Two of the counselors drove him to his house so he could get said inhaler and return him to the lockin. Love the youth leaders.
Aggravation: Adrenaline makes it hard to go back to sleep. (Note: He had apparently called the house 3 times. I was so asleep I didn't hear it, so he was worried about me. Sweet kid.)

Awesome: Electrician stopped by. I now have lights in the bathroom, too. And his bill wasn't as bad as I feared.

Awesome: FEMA inspector is here.

Awesome: Both of them are kinda cute!

Good start to the day.

I swear if That Girl follows me to LibraryThing or Ravelry, I'm going to have a conniption fit. I've had to block her on Facebook and she found me on a few other sites I'm on, had to block her there too.

Why won't she just GO AWAY?

maybe because you think about her too much? Is she actually stalking you?

She's made her presence known to me on the other sites. One of them she just joined yesterday and made it a point to let me know she was there. She's befriending my friends too, so even if I have her blocked she can still see whatever they post to me except private messages. Photo comments, journal comments, etc. It's really rather irksome. These other places don't block like Facebook blocks, where she can't see anything they post on my wall or photos. If a mutual friend leaves a comment on something, she can see it.

oh! Must be time to go back to old fashioned communications: use your telephones; or write letters. A good long letter can be very cathartic. Stop posting on the internet all together for a while. That will confound her, she'll be really confused.

Gahhhhh - beer festival... too much ale...

But good night out - first time in a long while.

Awful for Husband: His computer died the other night. Totally. Got a computer geek out. She was here for 3 1/2 hours and they ended up having to wipe his hard drive and re-install Windows. He has most things backed up, but hasn't backed his e-mails up since February, and thinks he has lost the Coin Collection file and our Family Treemaker genealogy. Plus he had the registration keys and log in information for lots of programs in a file on his C drive - gone.

Moral of the story? Back up your files regularly. Keep a list of your registration keys and program log ins/passwords separate from your computer.

Awesome - I had a great time hanging out with a bunch of great people at a friend's birthday party yesterday evening.

Awful - I couldn't find my good walking shoes, so I wore some less-good shoes (the party involved lots of walking) and now I have blisters that make it rather difficult to walk at all. Sigh.

#218 I believe in overkill, having worked in the computer field for 20 years and now working daily on my own computer. I have a cloud backup, two types of HD backups and I create a system image every week.

I've used the system image to reinstall windows several times. Sooo much easier and faster.

External hard drives are now so cheap, comparatively at least, everyone should have one for backups.

I use Carbonite, an online backup service.

Don't tell Han.

I have an external harddrive for backups.. Full backup quarterly, partials weekly. I don't do enough on my computer to need backups more frequently than that anymore - no more Band Boosters Treasurer, just e-mail and surfing the web. I think we paid about $70 for 1 terabyte, free shipping.

#222: *snork!*

#222 - Orf-Orf-Orf!

I once lost everything, was devastated... and then realised that nothing really mattered. Keys and login stuff is easy to retrieve - a hassle, yes, but they're not lost forever. As to the files... yes, if you're an author you need to back up, and things you're due to deliver to someone needs back up, and agreements, especially legal such, needs thought-out storage, but essentially everything else can be recreated, as needed - and not needed nearly as often as we think it does.
Not to say it's not terrible to lose something you've spent a lot of time on creating. But life is ephemeral anyway.

After 20 years as a consultant working with computers I think both security and back up issues are over-emphasised.

I fully respect that others is having issues with this, I sign a separate NDA for every single project I'm on and I honour those agreements... but really - nothing is unique, and the smart players doesn't benchmark, they create something that fits THEIR situation.
And of course you don't want other people manipulating your data, especially not secretly. But in reality very few industries need bother. Basically it's down to personal information, for integrity reasons, and some other stuff (mainly in the sectors making a living out of war).

Reuse is vastly over-rated. In fact, it's the nemesis of progress. From a certain perspective.

I do back up my information. But nothing beyond what I'm actually and presently working on really needs it.

I need to rant:

*climbs up on soap box*

I fell for some stupid, capitalistic, advertising grocery-store idiot's idea of a "good idea". My local store is trying everything it can think of to get people into the store, except offering competitive pricing. They have a new Stamp system (think Green Stamps of olden years) where you get so many stamps depending on how much you spend; put them in a folder, and when you have a certain number (big number) you can get a small kitchen appliance (waffle maker, chopper, coffee maker, etc.)

I went into the store to buy a cup of coffee for myself and a hot chocolate for Jocelyn. I left after having spent $80 on cake, cake frosting, cake pans, a decorating tube, some oatmeal, etc. etc. and picked up my 5 stamps. Had to get help figuring out how to put them in the folder...they were very small, and you have to peel off the back to reveal the stick'em. Blah! The clerk and I commiserated on how stupid it was to make the stamps so goll-dern small, and the peeling off so goll-dern hard.

Left drinking my coffee...when it hit me! The economic zombies had just attacked me!!! I was wounded!!! and now I am limping out to my car!!! swearing at myself. I do not need, nor want, the small appliances. I do not need to spend unnecessary dollars at that store! I must remember to resist those dang zombies. I need to amass my ammo in my basement: (save my money). I need to pull my eyes off the awful (unfortunately effective) promotional materials and get those eyes on my prize: survival of these trouble economic times into my comfortable old age.

*jumps off soap box*

Awww mags can you return some of the stuff? Its easy to get drawn in on these things, its happened to me!

Happy dance: My copy of Readme, Neal Stephenson's latest, have arrived at the SF Bookshop and I'll be able to fetch it tomorrow, without violating either schedule or duties!
Yay!

Awesome: the plumbers came and cleared a big ball o' roots out of our sewer pipe. We can now shower, wash clothes, and do the dishes without all the water backing up onto the basement floor.

Awful: $300

Awesome: having enough savings for emergencies like this.

Found a tiny stray cat in the yard. She (I’m assuming it’s a she because the cat was lacking testicles) looks barely old enough to be an adult and is skinny with a big round belly. At first I thought she might be pregnant, but further internet-snooping says a distended belly on a cat may indicate roundworm or something called FIP.

I kinda want to take her to the animal shelter if she’s still hanging around in the morning (shelters are all closed now), but if she has something, I don’t want to risk passing it on to my mom’s already-sick cat (Paisley is approaching 10 and is diabetic).

We have a cat carrier… think it’d be safe enough to coax her into that and take her if I scrub it out once I have her delivered to the shelter?

Yes, I do think that would be safe, and thank you for caring, SRedRose!

Poor little thing! Glad your gonna try and help her

I put the carrier out last night with some food before I went to bed. This morning, the food is gone and the towel has been snuggled on, but no kitty. I’ll leave it out till I have to get the boy from school, but if she isn’t back by then I’ll assume she wandered elsewhere. The shelter closes at 4:30 and isn’t open on Wednesdays, so if I can’t get her today it’ll have to wait till Thursday.

At least she's eaten and rested safely.

She'll probably be back

BN: Still being jerked around by a man. He wants me, he doesn't want me, he wants me, he doesn't . . . at first I was hurt, now I'm pissed!

GN: Drove me to action: joined Match.com. There must be a guy out there somewhere who would actually appreciate me!

BN: Still don't have hot water.
GN: Should be sometime this week.

Awful. My hip is killing me, I swear. It hurts so I can't think. Perhaps time to visit a doctor but that would be appointment no. 2873653, approximately, regarding this particular ailing and so far no one have been able to diagnose me, despite multiple tries over the past 10 years, including MRI's and blood tests, so I'm kind of reluctant.

Oh well.

Sorry to burden you, just pass by, nothing to see...

Just past 2 pm, no sign of the tiny stray cat. I hope she's ok and has found someplace safe to be.

I'm sorry if this is untactful but any mention of a stray cat activates certain neurons in my brain. Like this - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGg3_T_FcOQ

BTW, I just realised today is my fifth LT anniversary.
Wow, does time fly!

Happy Thingaversary, Busifer!

happy Thingaversary, and sorry about your hip. My left SI joint said hi out of the blue the other day, so I feel your pain.

Thanks :)
I've now dosed myself with naprosyn (what US people call Aleve, I think) and painkillers so will be able pretend the pain isn't there (it is, but not as debilitating), and to pretend it will just go away on it's own.

Bodies, eh?

Happy Thingaversary!

Can't watch the video. "This video contains content from EMI Music Publishing and EMI, one or more of whom have blocked it in your country on copyright grounds."

Tiny Stray Cat has returned! My sister saw her when she was coming home from work. We put out fresh food and water and a clean towel; if we can convince her to stay put for the night without having to bring her in, I can get her to the shelter in the morning.

She's a beautiful little thing, and very vocal and friendly now that she's been fed. I made a Facebook photo album for her:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2399766517645.136291.1355492337&l=d...

ejj--let me know how the online dating works out. I've been contemplating it myself, although probably not until ds goes to college.

(((Busifer and hip))) I'm currently battling bursitis myself--not fun.

Happy: survived first trip outside of an emply parking lot with ds driving. We toured the subdivision for about 20 minutes. He's doing fine--just lacking in confidence.

My mom is coming home from her rehab/hospital stay tomorrow. She's been there since June 7 when she fell and broke her leg. Her cancer is also in remission which is great news! She still has a very long way to go to be steady on her feet again.

I'm very nervous. She's been where she had caretakers around the clock, and now it will be only me. My brother is here, but he's not much on the helping out end of this. I have to work, so she will be home most of the day alone. I hope she doesn't try to do too much!

Awesome - today is my last day at work until next wednesday! Yay for 6 days off! I'd take a whole week but the girl that covers my role when I'm not here doesnt work wednesdays for the next few months, so thurs to tues is the best I can do & I'm sooooooo looking forward to it!

Not aweful bot not great - I'm realising how much of a control freak I am! I'm so nervous about leaving work for a few days & have so little faith that the girl covering for me will do things right, I just gotta keep reminding myself that I'm not really that important & that the business will get along fine without me, lol...

After four days of pouring my heart and soul into training a new clerk at the hotel, she quit. Back to square one. Why, if there is so much unemployment, is it so hard to find someone decent to employ? I know this is a hard low-salary job, but you would think people would want to start somewhere? We even have health benefits if you pass your probation. Frustrating.

Also, I have mismanaged my household somewhat.

We tore apart my son's old room to paint it so it could become a guest room, which means that for now, things which are to be stored in there are in my livingroom. I'm working over fulltime right now and have very little energy to get this done.

My parents and brother are coming Thurs. TO SPEND THE NIGHT and finish cutting up the oak tree which fell in our yard. Remember? House is dismantled. This has to be on my brother and parent's schedule, not mine.

Also, in trying to figure out what the @$%^^&%$$^& AT&T is doing, I ended up signing up for Uverse (whatever that is and please tell me if I've made a huge mistake there), which will be installed Friday, while I have company, the house is dismantled and I'm working. What kind of special idiot would arrange that? Oh, I know, I see her in the mirror every day.

To top it all off, the girl who quit work, left me her cold to remember her by. :(

Now, here's the funny part. I may fall apart next week, or next month, but for now, I really don't feel too upset about any of the above, just wondering when I will slip off the edge, so to speak.

I went out to check for the cat one last time before bed and she was walking up into the yard. She came right up to me all purrs and cuddles and I managed to pick her up without protest from her. Nipples are pink and swollen, so definitely pregnant.

Poor little sweetie is probably pretty peeved at me, because I caged her. We borrowed the bunny's run cage so Tiny Stray Cat would have more space than just that carrier (Melvers will be fine overnight without it, we think) and put a card table over the top of that so she can't jump out, and draped a sheet over the whole thing so she isn't out in the "open," exactly. I made sure she had clean water and food, and I left the carrier with the towel in it, so she has something to snuggle on to sleep or have her babies, if she decides that now's the time. She was giving me lots of pitiful sad mewls, but at least she's safe and I can definitely take her to a vet/shelter/rescue in the morning.

I wish I could take her in, but we have a full house already - Mom's cat Paisley, who is nearly ten years old, diabetic and cantankerous, and Does Not Share Her House, a 4-yr-old Golden Retriever, a 3-yr-old miniature Dachshund, Melvers the rabbit, and five people (including two small kids under 6). It wouldn't be comfortable for her or her kittens to keep her here in this very busy house. The best I can do is keep her safe for the night, take her to our vet in the morning for a checkup, and contact the cat rescues I looked up tonight.

#247 I rather like your statement 'I may have mismanaged my household somewhat'. May have to steal that...

oh SRedRose that's wonderful. I don't think a single person would condemn you for not taking her in yourself. Shelters are there for exactly this kind of thing and you're a special person to go out of your way for this cat. She's already miles ahead for your kindness.

>248 RandomActofMuse:: That is one lucky kitty who wandered into your yard. Thanks to you her story ought to have a happy ending. She is a beauty, I can imagine the temptation to keep her must have been huge.

SRedRose: I absolutely adore the name Melvers and if I ever get another animal, male or female, that will be her/his/its name.

Awesome: Taking tomorrow off from work to attend the Friends of the Library Sale in beautiful Pittsboro NC. It's my twice-a-year pilgrimmage and I usually end up spending $40-60 although I always take a bit more, just in case.

Second Awesome: I'm going BACK to the FOTL Sale on Saturday to cashier and ... ahem..... shop for more books when they're $5/bag.

Third Awesome: I've lost 8 pounds since I started a new diet (lifestyle change, whatever) and I feel great.

Update on the kitty:

My vet said he didn’t want to see Tiny Stray Cat if I couldn’t find a place for her to go because he didn’t want me to spend the money on her care only to have to turn her out to the street again. He suggested I try the humane society. Went there, but they have no room for cats and said the best they could to is spay her, chip her, and set her loose.

Well, that doesn’t work for me. None of the rescues are open till 11, so Tiny Stray Cat is still here. She started crying and panting on the way back to the house, which (I’ve read) may be the start of labor for a cat, so I had to make a judgment call. I don’t want her stuck outside in a crate to have her kittens. There’s just no shade and not enough privacy. So I cleared out a place in the garage and set up the box fan just in case the babies come before I can get her to a rescue. I set up the bunny run cage again, put an extra towel, more food and a really big bowl of water, and turned the box fan on. It’s warm, but at least there is some air circulation and it’s only another hour and a half before I can put a call in to a rescue to see if they can find her a foster or keep her till she can be adopted.

good for you Rose! The rescue?shelter will spay her and her babies when they are old enough and then find them good homes!

Karen thats great! What diet/lifestyle did you adopt?

#253 - You're a hero.

Yay, SRedRose! Best of luck finding a rescue that can take her, and keep us posted.

yay Karen - and hope you get some great books at that sale.

Hugs, MrsLee - this too shall pass (although probably not soon enough :) )

I called every open cat rescue, humane society, and animal shelter in this county and the next. Everybody is full up for cats with a waiting list and no foster homes available. I was going to keep her overnight to call the last no-kill shelter that isn't open on Wednesdays, when I got a call from a friend who says that her best friend can take the cat and the kittens. She'll be here to pick the cat up in about an hour.

Which is good, because I know the friend's friend, sorta (we're not close, but we are acquaintances), so I can check up on the cat and the babies every so often :)

well that's cool. I'm glad she and the about to be fam will have a safe home.

Congrats SRedRose on finding Tiny Stray Cat a good home.

Diet-wise, it's sort of an Atkins-type diet. High protein, moderate/high fat, low non-hypoglycemic carbohydrates.

I heard Gary Taubes on NPR about a month and a half ago and immediately bought his book Why We Get Fat: And What To Do About It. I read it in two days, and it consolidated my food beliefs and took them one step beyond The Zone. It was also easy to get started since I gave up sweets a year and 5 months ago (reducing my overall cholesterol by 12%). Just have to not think about the potatoes, rice, and bread, corn, lima beans, and other high hypoglycemic carbohydrates. I'm being pretty rigorous about it, but last week had Mexican food and instead of totally depriving myself, I allowed myself 5 chips with salsa. Just enough to carry on with the right mood but not enough to jeopardize what I'm trying to do.

L just came to pick the kitty up. She promised to let me know when the babies arrive and how many. She did say that once the kittens are weaned they’ll probably try to re-home them, but they’ll go to good homes. She’s going to get the mama cat to the vet tomorrow for a check-up and a parasite treatment.

Elizabeth, et al, let me know how the Match.com works out for you. I have looked at the dating sites a time or two, but always got cold feet or turned off by the profiles. It's possible I'm too set-in-my-ways, because I just don't want a drinking buddy or spicy bed-partners. I want a companion-in-life. I want to be loved by a good man.

Awesome: Got my newsletter articles done and it's time for lunch.

Awful: Just updated my personal reading journal, and I see that I haven't done very much reading this year! I am way behind on my annual goal . . . not that I have ever reached it yet.

#261 - I have zero personal experience but several people that I know found their partners-for-life through dating sites. And those are mature people. Grown-ups, some of them with failed marriages behind them.

In some ways it seems an easier way to meet someone than to enter every single course in basket-weaving, or the equivalent, there is, or to vacuum the bars ;-)

Awesome: just planted eighty Grape hyacinth and crocus bulbs.

Awful: just planted EIGHTY Grape hyacinth and crocus bulbs!

woo, good job, Dayna! They'll reward you in the spring and for many springs to come.

I've heard both good and bad stories about online dating. I tried it briefly awhile back and it flopped, but I've been toying with the idea of trying again. I meet a lot of interesting people these days but they seem to all be in relationships already.

Blessings on you SRedRose.

I have married a few people who met via online dating. Like other couples, some had a long and fulfilling relationship, others did not.

I am pretty sure it is not HOW you meet, but what you do to maintain the relationship AFTER you meet. The redhead and I work pretty hard on ours, and by that I mean getting stuff off our chest kindly, and early.

I did it wrong for the first marriage. I want to do it right this time.

"I have married a few people who met via online dating. "
I'm sure you meant "met"? ;-)

268 - I think he did mean "married" because he has been/is a pastor! :)

>268 Busifer:
I think A-S meant married as in officiated at (performed) the ceremony.

Awesome: Successfully finished all the tests for the Emergency Vehicle Operations course at the firehall! (as long as the theory test is OK) I had lots of fun driving the firetrucks and running the pumps. Even twice did a great job backing Engine 3 into the firehall. It goes in the smallest bay - with about 1" clearance on either side. Probably won't get to drive the big ladder truck or the brand new heavy rescue any time soon, but I will be quite happy if I can drive the smaller, older trucks for training nights.

Still missing my cat Spike, though. Someone called to say they saw him last week halfway across town (although its a pretty small town), but he wouldn't come right to them. I saw no sign of any cats when I went over to the area, and even if it was him, he could be anywhere by now. I'm keeping posters up around town, and updating on a local Facebook site, and another web-site. If he is around somewhere, eventually I'll find him. I wish Hamish was a tracking dog!

SRedRose - I hope someone would be as kind to Spike as you were to Tiny Stray Cat.

I'm so sorry about your Spike, NS. I've been in that situation and it sucked. I hope he comes home to you in one piece.

Oh, NorthernStar, I do hope you can find him soon!

#169/170 - Probably. But in Swedish it's two separate words so I associate "married" as "being married to". I think I expect "to wed" when it's about the act and the officiating part. Because in my native tongue to exchange the two is definitely NOT done.

>274 Busifer: - It's the same in Spanish. In fact, I would have posted the same thing @Busifer did if she hadn't.

>274 Busifer:/275 Heck. I speak only English and I did a double take! Then I realized what he meant and had a bit of a chuckle.

What Morphy said; it took me a second to realize what he meant, too.

*bashfully raises hand* me too!

Just heard from L. No kittens yet, but the vet said it'll be soon. A few days. Doesn't know how many for sure but guessed between 3 and 5. He gave her flea and worm treatment but otherwise Tiny Stray Cat has a clean bill of health. L said she would call when the babies arrive, so I expect I'll hear from her in the next few days!

She told me I’m welcome to come by and be around for the birth if we’re lucky enough to watch. But cats like to have their babies in private so we might not see them for a few days afterward. I’ll get photos posted as soon as I can get them.

Tiny Stray Cat is being pampered right now - she has her own room and is being loved on by all the people in the house and the other cats who live there. I’m glad she’s being well treated and I’m glad I get to stay involved!

Sorry for not responding. Yes I married them. (I even married my mother!) But for me that meant I officiated their wedding. As a pastor. Not a bigamist, or polygamist.

I even married my mother!

Next you'll be telling us you're your own grandpa!

#261 I agree about the profiles, and that's why I hesitate. Plus I have little time with a teenager at home, so perhaps after I offload him into a college. It can't be worse than real life though. Since dh passed away I have been hit on by 1) a man old enough to be my father, 2) a man at least 10 years older than me, of foreign extraction whose English was nearly incomprehensible, and 3) a drunk bartender at a friend's wedding reception.

#280 Along with some other English-speakers, I understood it on the second read.

Kidlette is playing peekaboo with a burp rag. She keeps putting it over her face, pulling it off and grinning at me, and putting it over her face again. It's Too Cute!

>279 RandomActofMuse:: So glad to hear that TSC is doing well and has such a good home. Thank you for keeping us updated.

>276 Morphidae:: Yeah, me too. *blush*

Both awesome and awful - trying to teach my 3 1/2 year old to read/write. Work in progress... very frustrating for both of us but she does want to try.

Streaming cold also - Yuk, yuk and an extra dollop of yuk.

Try not too hard; brain may not be mature enough yet to associate squiggles on a page with noises coming out of mouths! Start with just learning to see letters...and slowly slowly so as to not pollute the waters for reading later.

Awesome: Two weeks of school holidays..starting today!

Nothing is safe from a teething baby. Today Kidlette got hold of and chewed on a packet of baby wipes and a plastic toy bucket and my chin. If it's within her reach, she's gnawing on it!

She makes me laugh, Rose.

Awesome: All kinds of fun plans for the weekend.

Awful: Neighbors' dog won't stfu. Going to have to start calling the police again. I hate being "that person" but if they won't control their pet...

Awesome: My mom came to visit today for just a bit. Nice to see her. And I think we finally got the kid's school schedules worked out. I've been worried about S. But we got her classes straightened out at last.

Awful: I feel awful. Lots of pain still, and more than 2 weeks until my surgery. And now S. is feeling bad. She has this abdominal pain off and on. She hasn't wanted to see the dr. about it, but I finally got her in last week. They did blood tests, but nothing definitive, and now today, it was bad enough she came home crying from school and I gave her one of my pain pills. Frustrating. I think she needs a CAT scan, and I'm ready to insist when she sees the dr. on Monday.

yesterday's awesome: seeing a monkey (one of the area's resident Vervets) tightrope walking on one of the many telephone wires across the road I take to work.

Not quite as exotic, hfglen, but I like watching the squirrels do the same thing as I travel to work.

Depends on where you are, I guess. The monkeys are part of our local wildlife, but squirrels (which we don't have) would be exotic to us.

Sad morning - today would have been my grandpa’s 72nd birthday. I miss him.

I'm sorry Rose. Bet they have awesome cake in heaven!

I bet they do. Thanks for that, Polly, it made me smile:)

Also, I talked to L today. Tiny Stray Cat has been named Gracie. I like it. They chose Gracie because she's small and dainty and they wanted to give her a name that fit her. Health-wise she's good; the parasite treatments are working. She has a good appetite and she's put on a little weight, which is good. She was so skinny you could see her hip bones when she came to us.

We're still waiting on those babies. L's little sister (she's 12) has never seen newborn kittens and is more anxiously awaiting them than the rest of us, I think!

#294 I would happily send you a few squirrels. Would you care for a few exotic chipmunks too? (Offered by the lady who just found a large chipmunk tunnel under the front stoop.)

Awful: And home repair never ends. I found water under the kitchen sink--now I have to figure out where the leak is. And further evidence of my ability to attract weirdos, I've gotten creep spam messages on FB.

(((cmbohn)))

Awesome: It's Saturday! No work!!!

I think this is Awesome, and also somewhat Amusing. Conversation I just had with my developmentally delayed 5-year-old son, who keeps trying to pet his sister's head:

"Kidlet, baby sisters are not for petting."
"Uh-huh."
"Uh-uh."
"Uh-huh."
"No, they're not."
"Uh-HUH!"

Can't say the boy doesn't understand context. He is adamant in insisting that baby sisters are for petting!

Ahh, RedRose, it could be worse!

It could be worse. Trouble is that he doesn't understand gentle. When he pets the dogs he's rough and pulls their fur. They tolerate it, one being a breed known for allowing small children to be rough with them, and the other being raised around small children and used to it. They get up and walk away when they've had enough.

Kidlette can't exactly leave when her brother's attention gets too rough. I don't want him tugging the baby's hair or hitting her because he doesn't understand that he has to be easy with her.

I feel your pain! Cass will insist on petting and playing with Will - and he does not help himself by loving her best of anyone - and the rougher she is the more he smiles. Agh! It's a good thing he's a big solid lump.

Back to the online dating question - I met my boyfriend through a dating site (okcupid.com) three and a half years ago. We had a long distance relationship before moving in together just over a year ago. There were some odd people on that site, but also some nice ones. One or two of my friends have also had the same experience I had, so I would recommend trying it.

My husband pointed out something to me about online dating - you find someone with whom you have lots of things in common, but the drawback is that, once you've got together, you then have to spend quite a lot of time finding out what you don't have in common! Having said that, I do know two couples who met on Match.com and are absolutely besotted ...

I tried the online dating thing before R. I used three sites - eHarmony, Plenty Of Fish, and Match.com - and met a handful of guys. One was constantly traveling for work (nope). One was pushy for physical contact within the first hour of our first date (nope). One hated kids (nope.) The rest were nice enough, but there was no romantic interest there.

I talked with one guy who lived one state north of me. We really hit it off. We talked online for a few weeks, progressed to talking on the phone, got to know more about each other. I was 21 at the time and he was 22. He was divorced (had been married fresh out of high school, came home from work early one day and caught her cheating, and left her). He had a young daughter.

We made plans to meet at a public place halfway between our homes, somewhere we could take our kids and spend some time together in person. Well, I had to cancel two days before our planned meet-up because my son got really sick, and instead of rescheduling, he got cold and distant. He refused to talk to me for a week and when I finally got a response, it was, "Well, I tend to distance myself from people who hurt me and you hurt me by cancelling our date."

So... my toddler gets sick... and I have to cancel a 5-hour drive because I have to take care of him... and he gets hurt over that? This guy is a parent himself and should have understood that a sick child takes priority over a date. NOPE.

He was my last attempt at online dating.

This dog won't stop panting. From the moment he wakes up until the time(s) he falls asleep, he's panting. He's old, he's chronically neurotic, his people are gone (I'm sitting for them), and this is not new behavior, but it's stinking up the entire living room.

#306 Sounds to me like Doggum needs a visit to a vet. We had one that did that for a few weeks before her heart gave in ... just saying.

Yup. Vet. Panting is normal, but constant panting could be anything from stress (his people are gone) to pain.

I'd wait until his people get home. He must be feeling anxious. Panting can be "fear" for sure. Take him for walks and see if he'll stop because he needs to breathe more normally.

But maggie, what if he has a (preventable) heart attack before or -- worse -- just as his people get home?

Can you maybe call his people and see what they think? If my pet suddenly developed some weird behavior while I was gone, I'd want to 1) know about it and 2) have it taken care of ASAP, and I would reimburse the friend who took them to the vet.

I think my nose is experiencing hallucinations. That, or we have smell-o-vision now. I was watching Rachael Ray chopping garlic and I could almost swear I could smell it. I stopped smelling it when it went to commercial.

No, we don’t have any garlic in the house.

Must've been powerful garlic

I agree a phone call to the owners if possible is a good idea for the panting dog. Also, if they left the name of the Dog's Vet, calling them could work, too.

Well, I thought we could get through September without an awful, but my mother-in-law died yesterday. It was quick and she went during and Elvis sing along if you can believe that. Followed the King right out of the building. She's been ill and in and out of nursing homes and hospitals for the past 3 years, so in some ways it's good that she's not miserable anymore, but any death is hard to take.

I'm so sorry Bookmarque, but she was happy probably! What a way to go!

Thanks. It was almost comical, actually. Now my F-I-L is a widow. After almost 70 years. Surreal.

So sorry Bookmarque

I am sorry for your family's loss, bookmarque.

Thanks.
My hubby is on with his sister now trying to decide on photos for the obit in the paper. Oh the stuff that has to be done.

So sorry Bookmarque.

It's not awful, but it's sad (for me). Sniff! My 6' plus baby spent the evening poring over his class ring catalog. Nooooo! He can't be old enough for a high school ring!!!

I'm so sorry, Bookmarque. There are so many rituals to get by with, aren't there?

RitaFaye - we went through the ring 2 years ago. Graduation almost 4 months ago, and empty nest 5 weeks and 4 days ago. It is sad, but you just hope you've done right by them and let them start leading their own lives. We'll always be there for her as much or as little as she wants and needs. But I sure do miss her around the house! Don't miss her messes, but surely do miss her.

I've been very depressed lately. A couple of big shocky things happened in May and I'm still trying to come to terms with them, not as successfully as I'd like since I'm still at it almost 5 months later. Sigh. Not very many things seem worth it right now. But I just keep plodding along. Thank goodness for trashy thrillers!

Grief and recovery have no time table. It takes as long as it takes to find your balance. Give it time.

Bookmarque, I'm so sorry for your loss.

karenmarie, hope you find peace soon. I've been dealing with Stuff From May too, and it keeps dredging up Stuff From December. No fun.

Bookmarque, so sorry to hear about your MIL; hope you are all staying strong and supporting each other.

September Scary: one of my artificial hips is doing an unusual amount of sending pain messages. And it does not seem to be getting better as an injury might. Dang. I wonder what is causing all this pain?

I'd see your doctor. That doesn't sound good at all.

My Sulk for the morning: I have to take my car to the shop in about 20 minutes. There's a suspension problem, a brake problem, an electrical problem, an air compressor problem, a starter problem, and it needs an oil change. And those are just the problems that I KNOW about. I'm looking at probably $3000 worth of work on a car that's 8 years old, has nearly 108,000 miles (I bought it used 6 years ago and it has to drive probably 11,000 miles a year), and is worth roughly $5000, according to the Kelley Blue Book. I have $300 I can pay right now. Luckily for me my mechanic has reasonable prices and accepts monthly payments. It'll take me a couple years to pay off all that work, though.

Singing makes me feel good. Singing with other people is even better! Feeling relaxed,

Well, I set up an online dating profile. I'm not sure if this is awesome or awful. We'll see, I guess :P

Hugs for Bookmarque. Even when a death is expected, it's harder than expected.

Back to 291 - S.'s results came back - she DOES need a CAT scan. I knew it!! So I have to take her to the hospital today. I just hope we finally find out what's wrong. Her white blood cell count was higher than last time, so when she says it hurts more, she does in fact know what she is talking about. This is NOT just muscle pain. Something is wrong. Happy vibes would be great.

Hugs to everyone who's having a hard time.

I would just like to say - London in a suit today? HOT! Oh and my flat shoes have ripped all the skin off my heels - had to buy some flip flops the second I got into Gatwick! Am so so glad I tucked a skirt and vest into my handbag - would have been hellish otherwise. Lastly I appear to have wrenched my shoulder and can't turn my head properly - that was a fun return plane trip. Whinge over! Sorry.

On the plus, business meeting went okay and we took them for a nice lunch on the roof terrace of Le Coq d'argent, which was very swish.

KIDLETTE ROLLED OVER!!! She was napping on her tummy on the chair in the front room (I was sitting right next to her) and when she woke up she rolled over all by herself with this huge grin like she was so proud of herself!

And this just a day after Kidlet’s physical therapist recommended a PT evaluation to see where she is, since she’s still not even attempting some things that most 6-month-old babies have already mastered.

"I'll roll over when I'm damn well good and ready to roll over!"

(Yes, babies curse in my imagination.)

Awesome! Visited the villages of Allakaket and Minto this week looking at Pre-K programs, and came up with a kickass idea for a bill to fund Pre-K.

>333 DaynaRT: That reminds me of an inside joke in my husband's family.

His nephew was seven months old and made absolutely no sounds but those of crying and burping. No giggles, no babbling, no spit-bubble-popping; nothing.

The baby's mother (my sister-in-law) kept fretting over it... until the Proud Grandma (my M-I-L) said: "Leave the kid alone. If he's anything like you, (baby's mother), his first words will be anytime soon, saying "Mom, you're annoying." "

So everytime one of us is being pestered, we just say: "Mom, you're annoying", and that's the end of it.

AWESOME! Today is National Coffee Day!

Yea! Coffee!!! I love my coffee! Every morning.

We have kittens!!!! Gracie's doing well. Six kittens; five healthy, one stillbirth :( But L says the five surviving babies look healthy. I'm going to try to get over there this week to see them.

Cofffffffffffffffffffeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. Nom nom nom.

OK: two of my "favorite things" - coffee and kittens

Yay! Friends of the Library Sale this week. They stack the books up, measure them with a yardstick and charge $1 per inch. $19, 20 wonderful books, including two for a friend. And now I get to put them on Library Thing! (Can you tell I'm addicted!)

Awesome (although awful for many) DD in Shanghai emailed me yesterday (before I even heard about the subway collision) that she was not on the subway that collided with another. The official toll is 300 hurt and no deaths....but the Chinese government is known to put a good face on everything .....

Signing off with my superhero name --The Blue Flowery Cup of Coffee--I make everything better

It’ll probably be a few days before I can get over there to see/get pictures of the new cat family. I want to give Gracie and her babies some time to rest and recuperate, and I need to arrange a good time with L because they live at her house for the time being.

Goodness. Just born, and I'm pretty sure all five kittens are already all spoken for! My sister is taking one of them, R is taking another, and another friend is taking a third (and I can personally attest that all three of them are good pet owners), so I’ll be able to get semi-regular updates on at least those three!

L is going to keep Gracie, so she’s got a good home for life too :) I’m so glad all this turned out so well for her and her babies.

That's great news SRedRose! Well done. Karma payback is gonna be good!

alls well that ends well!

#340 two of my "favorite things" - coffee and kittens

Do you dunk 'em or just eat 'em on the side?

:)

Dunkin' Kitties! new place to get your morning coffee fix.

Awesome: It's a bright, sunny day! Finally! *whoop*

Awful: I slipped and fell yesterday evening. It wasn't much of a fall, but I've had back problems my whole life and I'm in a lot of pain right now. I can barely walk, can't sit or stand or walk or lay down for long, yet here I am, at my workplace, banging away at the computer. *scowls*

Ouch! Sorry to hear it, girlfromshangrila (your back, not the beautiful weather!) Hope it improves and you can get home soon to give it some care.

Awesome: C preordered a Kindle Fire yesterday. He reads almost as much and as quickly as I do, but refuses to go to the library so it's always been up to me to keep him well stocked. With a Kindle he can do it all by hisself.

Awful: We're expected to get gale force winds in just a few hours. My poor flowers.

>348 jnwelch:: Thanks, pal. Right now I'm on a cokctail of painkillers and muscle relaxers, but when one has been taking those by the handful for 13+ years, all they really do is make one groggy. =(

>349 DaynaRT:: Thanks to you, I now understand the meaning of the name given to a favorite character in a beloved book. Who knew that's what Gale meant? =)

I knew. Way way back in the day, there was a TV star whose name was Gale Storm. My mother explained the pun at that time.

Dorothy's last name is Gale, isn't it?

Yes, it is. And I totally never added that up.

Shoom The sound of ideas blurring past my head without registering!

352/353 - I never got that until now either! Boy do I feel kind of dumb (or a lot dumb I guess).

well with all modesty I put together Dorothy+ Gale+ twister= trip to Oz when I was about ten

I think it came to me while watching the movie and hearing Dorothy introduce herself to Glinda as Dorothy Gale ffrom kansas because I had been reading about the huge storms that would ravage kansas in some of my beloved books

Wasn't Gale Storm married to Rip Torn (no, really, there was a fine actor and his name was Rip Torn) at one point?

Nope. She married Lee Bonnell and Paul Masterson.

Awesome: I was at Walmart rooting through the cheap XBox bin looking for Bioshock 2, along with 2 teenage boys. One of the boys picked up a horse racing game and the other said "You don't want that! That's a girl game!" So the other kid threw it over to my side of the bin, pointedly. I picked it up and threw it back at him and said "I don't play that stuff!" They asked what did I play, and when I said "SHOOTERS!" they were SO impressed. They were looking at Dead Space so I told them you mostly had to go around stomping arms and legs into little bits so they didn't come back to life and it was boring, then one kid said, reverently, "I never met a girl that played shooters before."

I walked out of there with my head high, my shoulders back, and my 58 year old girlie belly ball sucked in.

I hope they'll think twice about girl-gamer stereotyping next time they come across one online.

Had some catching up to do with this thread, so hugs and way-to-go and so forth.

Awesome: lunch today with a friend.
Awful: Took car for inspection, found out there's a transmission problem. Have to take it to a tranny specialist next week. Ouch.
Awesome: Whatever it costs, it'll be less than making payments on a new car. I love my 13-year-old car.

Online dating report: so far, not blown away. Most interesting guy has not answered an email from a week ago. As usual, have no idea why. Am emailing two guys, neither of whom seems like a viable prospect to me, though I'm trying to be open-minded about it. Warning: Match.com has a LOT of fake profiles. You "wink" at them or email and an hour later the profile is "not available." Happens way too often to be a coincidence. I won't pay after this first month. On the other hand, PlentyofFish seems legit--just not finding the MOMD there.

Have met someone in RL with whom I have a freakish amount in common (like the same music and TV and movies; both with English/history majors, etc.). But I don't know if he has a girlfriend nor if he is at all interested in me "that way."

And so it goes . . .

>359 nhlsecord:
Check Kmart's bargain bin. I saw Bioshock 2 in the bin at my local Big K. (I was rooting around in there looking for Katamari Forever and Arkham Asylum.)

362: Thanks! Is Arkham Asylum a good one?

It's really good, and the sequel is comingh out soon too.

I got a job! I got a Job! *runs thru thread and into cyberspace Yelling* I got a job! I got a job!

YAY, POLLY!!!!!

thanks, Its with preschool!

#365 - Yay!!!

congrats pollysmith!

Congratulations Polly! Yay!

Pretty awesome - it's beautiful here - simply gorgeous weather. Went to a friends (along with another friend) this afternoon and we watched our three naked children run around crazily and go mental at getting hosed down.

Un-awesome - still can't wear backed shoes after Wednesday's abuse to my feet. BIG holes in my heels. Ouchies. Ah well they'll heal soon I hope!

Additional and more sad un-awesome - yet another cancer related death in my husband's family. It's about the fourth in the last 2 years. Not that big a family. Very sad and exceedingly sad for his 94 year old grandmother to have to bury another child.

I'm sorry for your loss Bekka-jo :(

Thanks everyone for the congrats!

Aw, Bekka-Jo. *hugs* I'm so sorry for you family's loss.

Thanks guys - it's not so much me, more hubby. We're in Jersey and they're in the mid UK. He just won't really talk about it and I know it's husting him - he's lost 2 aunts, 1 uncle and a cousin and I know it plays on his mind about it being genetic etc. As previously mentioned, cancer seriously SUCKS.

Sympathy to Bekka-Jo and family. Not sure if this helps, but I can't help wondering about the family's environment in mid-UK. I'm reminded of a scare when I was at Kew, that people living in stone houses in Scotland were exposed to indecently high levels of radiation because the stone was granite, and naturally occurring heavy elements in the rock were decaying into radon gas, which was trapped inside the rooms. That reminded me that in the last 10 years or so I've lost 2 friends and an aunt to cancer. All lived in the same suburb of Stellenbosch, which (unusually for the Western Cape, most of which is on sandstone) is on granite ...

Hmmm - scaring the girl who lives on the granite island...

New username soon! Just so’s ya know :) (If ya care, that is.) Dunno when it'll take effect, but I submitted the request today. It'll be RandomActofMuse. I wanted to change it to something I like better, and I use this handle (or one similar) for other websites.

Today I won a $100 gift card from Walmart...our school was a winner...they brought flowers, cake and cookies, and 10 teachers won the gift cards. Now I can't say I never win anything!

Awful and Awesome at once: Helped my friend and neighbor herd his wife into the car so he could take her to the hospital for detox and psych evaluation. Next stop is probably rehab, but I'm hoping someone somewhere will realize how truly sick she is and get her the long-term psychiatric care she needs.

As for me, it's exhausting.

Bless you, ejj. I know that is an upsetting experience to have. You do know you did a good thing, and hopefully you are right: She may get the good professional help she obviously needs.

CONGRATS polly smith!!!

Hugs to you and yours Bekkajo. And for ejj--that's a tough thing to do.

Awesome: I've lost 16.5 lbs so far.

Not awesome: New tenants are moving into an office suite on the floor below our offices. And it's a good thing they're doing a full remodel and fixing everything up. Not good is they decided to have all new carpet laid--today. The glued down kind. Which resulted in a reeking, overpowering, asphyxiating chemical stench being pulled through the HVAC and dumped out of the vent directly over my desk. My boss moved me to another office for the morning, as I had developed clogged sinuses, pounding headache, and aching eyes in addition to not being able to breath. Fortunately it only took the morning and the fumes had died down by the afternoon.