my screeen is tooooooo wide too!!!---i DO want a bumper sticker!! i really do!!! and asian pins are good too!!! Okay you bags----you have shamed me into sending the chicken bones---really it's true!!BUT------tell me again why you need postcards---i thought that was all done??? explainez vous!!!

I won the postcard contest. People are now to send ME postcards so they can win. The person with the most points wins. Everytime someone sends me one, I have to send one back. Some send a lot and I needs variety to send back.

I learned something sweet about my store. There's a woman in her 90s who works handing out samples of stuff. She has no regular hours. She comes in whenever she feels like it. Isn't that nice?

There is this man on the radio who barely can read and he's reading from the Bible. She stretcheth. Out her hand. To the. Needy. Her husband. Also. Calls her blessed.

Some of his words are all mumbly and I don't know what he means.

Who can find? A virchus woman. Who can find? A virchus woman.

Aman. Yes. Aman. Aman the Lord. Aman. I see the influence my muh muh muther had on my life. Aman the Lord. I heard the gospel. That changed my life. Aman the Lord my heart.

Peaches is goin ta H-E-double hockey sticks You virchus woman you.

I have found something for Bagz. She will be very excited. She will send me chicken bones.

My 3fc window scrolls over a long way to the right, but I can see all the posts without moving over. If I grab the right edge of the browser window and pull it right and left, the text just wraps to the window and I can read all of it. You can't? Post a question on the help forum; Suzanne will probably know what's wrong with it.

My DD actually stayed put this weekend at school, while the bf was home on vacation. DD went to the movies with her roommate and some other girls, went sliding (sledding) last night -- at least she was planning to, and went shopping for smoked salmon to bring to a potluck dinner with the assoc. she belongs to. I wonder if all this fun will make the bf nervous.

Things keep flying by my window; it's freaking me out -- I can only see it with the corner of my eye. Must be chunks of snow falling off the roof.

The prison bars of icicles have all melted and gone. Although we still have 4-5 foot snow/ice/snowdrifts. But it's really sunny today and maybe some of it will shrink.

Here's a surprisingly good thing to eat: I bought one of those chinese cabbages (napa?), and the other night DH had already eaten dinner, so I made this for myself. I sliced the whole head in half lengthwise and used half. I mixed olive oil and a little balsamic vinegar with salt and pepper on a plate and, using tongs, swished the cabbage half around in it. Meanwhile I sliced a clove of garlic and started it cooking in a griddle pan with olive oil, then put the cabbage in the pan and grilled it on both sides. Scraped all the oil and vinegar into the pan (only a spoonful or so). Added more salt and pepper and ate it with a knife and fork. Absolutely yummy. Not very cabbagy at all, except where it wasn't browned.

Later gators

Are you sending me one too? Virchus is virtuous to those of us who can read and speak understandable English. I like cabbages.

I forgot why I came here to post. I bought a bottle of wine, screwed in the corkscrew, and am not strong enough to pull it out apparently. What do I do?

I can't read the messages - everything is so wide. Like me. I was on a total roll - exericisinging 30 mins a day and I lost 6 whole lbs and then got struck down by some kind of sleeping sickness virus that makes me sleep all day and all night.

We have to pay 20 cents for plastic shopping bags but they are very sensible and sturdy and can be reused hundreds of times. We use those or cloth bags. There are no baggers here - you just chuck all yer stuff back in the cart and then bag it wherever you like - in the store, in the parking lot, throw it all in the trunk, whatever. Germany is known as a "customer service desert" . Not dessert, which would be good, but desert, which is dry and dusty and bad.

Heehee you're making me laugh, Peachie. Okay, here's what you do when you can't budge the corkscrew: Put the wine bottle on the floor and wedge your feet on either side of it. Then pull up slow and steady on the corkscrew. That should do it. If the cork breaks and part of it falls inside, I have a party trick for removing it....

Sugar, I'm so sorry you are sick. Hope you sleep it off! That must be one of the perks, or perhaps I should say compensations, of not having kids at home anymore: I hardly ever get sick these days.

Speaking of sick, I went on a "sick" snowshoe hike with Jet this afternoon. We still have so much snow, but it is covered with a thick layer of ice, then more snow. Makes it really hard to get anywhere, but I decided I couldn't wait any longer to get poor Jet out for a long walk, so I plodded along. It was tough going, I must say. Kind of worried that the dog would hurt herself, because she bounds ahead and runs over the top of the snow, but frequently breaks through the ice layer. A couple of times it stopped her short. Most places the snow under the ice is soft for about a foot deep. I took an old ski pole with me in case I needed it, and I plunked it down in one place and it went down 3 feet! Well, Jet is tired anyway. That was the goal.

Hey, I'm noticing some wide lines too: when I'm in the reply page, if I scroll down to look at the previous messages, they run off the screen. I'm going to ask Suzanne.

I'm going to bid on an ebay item tonight. Wish me luck.

Peachie, what's DS going to do for summer now? Is he planning any study abroad next year, or has he done enough of that?

I think it's rubber. It's really stuck. I pulled and pulled and it's no taller. Should I go to the nearest Baptist and ask for help?

I don't know what he's doing. What are you buying?

Now I know why Germans act like they do in the store.

Peachy, do you need postcards with a message written on it, or blank, pristine, no writing on it postcards?

My excellent adventure to the garden show is over. On the way home the train engine broke and they had to bring a replacement from Portland to rescue us. We were supposed to get in at 8:30 pm and our arrival time was actually 10:45. It was a looonnnnngggg trip. I ate enough food to last me a month and had several yummy cocktails. I went shopping and bought 3 pair of shoes and 2 pair of boots. I love shoes. The size is always the same, and you don't have to look at your *ss when you try them on.

Sorry you're feeling sickly, Sugar. Hope you perk up soon.

I'm not walking today. I walked up hills and down hills in Seattle yesterday. I deserve a day off.

Peachie, what kind of corkscrew are you using? Just a straight one with a fixed handle? Have you tried anchoring it between your feet and twisting the corkscrew (to the right)? If it really won't budge, it must be really really dry. Cork or plastic should work the same way, although plastic won't crumble when it's dry. I suppose it could get glued to bottle by sugars in the wine though. How about holding it under hot water, drying it off well and trying again?

Or you could use it to christen a boat.

What is it about trains? I remember Sugar got stuck while travelling by train not too long ago. How was the garden show? Did you see my friend Julie?

You are so right about shoes, I never thought of it that way. You gotta love a mirror that only shows you from the ankles down.

I don't have a boat but I may christen the sidewalk out of frustration. The corkscrew has a little hat that sits on the bottle and guides the screw into the center of the cork. I got the screw all the way in. I pull and pull and nothing budges. I am not really strong so that may be it. I never want another corky bottle ever.

When I picture those shoe-mirrors, I think I need to shave my legs.

I always feel teary eyed when I hear of people being kind. that 90+ woman who gets to choose her own hours did it. Watching nighttime Price is Right and seeing Drew Carey stop a game when a woman becomes confused rather than let her run out of time and lose. He told her to take a breath and explained exactly where she was in the game. So sweet. And you've probably heard of that book "How Starbucks Saved My Life" by this guy who had an exceptionally successful life then ended up with nothing. He was having a cup of coffee in Starbucks when the manager offered him a job and now Tom Hanks is interested in the book he wrote about it. I heard him interviewed the other day. He told about his job in the shop is cleaning the bathroom and once when it was newly clean, a homeless man asked to use it. He told the man it was out of order and the manager, who hired him, took him aside and told him never to do that again as the last thing that man needed was to be disrespected. Everyone who comes through the door gets respect, he learned from her. I just love that stuff.

I love that stuff too, Peaches, but you never said if you need unwritten on or written on postcards.

Kiwi, thank you for asking, the garden show was wonderful and not crowded. We walked until I had to take my shoes off and put them in my bag. No one seemed to care if I walked around in my socks. For someone who loves shoes so much, they sure do torture me.

I bought a cute little desk from Craig's list for $30. I'm going to give it a new coat of paint. It's adorable. I'm going to redo my office area, even if I am going to be moving. I have a decorating itch that needs to be scratched.

Peachie, I just had to post to tell you about another nice thing someone did: I had recorded the Academy Awards and only watched part of it last night. I watched the rest of it tonight. A young man and young woman who I'd never heard of before received the Oscar for best song; they seemed to be pretty shocked that they won. The man did his little speech and when the woman got up to the mike, the music started playing and they were escorted off the stage. Then there was a commercial and after it, Jon Stewart (who hosted it) brought the woman back onstage to do her little speech. I thought that was pretty sweet -- he must have realized that this was probably the biggest moment in this woman's life and she would kind of be leaving feeling cheated of it.

What the **** is this I hear about Ralph Nader?

He's running for president again. As usual.

Speaking of politics, I think Hillary should stop being so damn cranky.

I need to go teach the urchins at the library. Ten 9-yr-old girls. Ooog.