Can't take that day.... Actually I can, because it's beautiful and sunny here. The sun shining through the leaves of all the gold and red trees is stunning. Wish you were here.

Lush, that is scarey news. Are you taking any precautions when opening your mail? Gloves and face mask? 90% of the mail we don't need anyway. I think junk mail should be outlawed, then we'd only have to worry about catching something from our bills. Nobody ever writes me real letters anymore.

Peaches, I'm going to the beach next weekend. It will probably be cold and stormy, but I like a good cozy weekend at the ocean. I'm sure there won't be much beach strolling, just lots of antique shops and clam chowder at the little restaurant in town.

My niece got married yesterday to a very nice young man. He's in the military, which for some reason I find very ironic, being that he is half vietnamese. Thirty years ago we were over blowing up his mother's homeland and now he's protecting the good old US of A. Anyway, she couldn't have found a nicer man to marry. They were supposed to get married next spring, but at the last minute they decided that they couldn't wait, since he is being shipped out somewhere. My niece told her mother on friday afternoon that they would be getting married on Sunday. Eeek! They were married at her mother's home with about 75 guests attending. It was a beautiful wedding, I can't believe someone could put that all together in 2 days, but they did.

See yas later. I have to go check to see how Monique's weekend went.

Hi Wabby! You have such an interesting family. Just imagine if someone asked one of US to organize a wedding in two days!! I am sooo tempted to go take a peek at Monique, but I know if I do, I'll get sucked into the labyrinth of her much-more-interesting-than-mine life and never get out.

Lushy! Isn't there somewhere safe you can go? I'm worried about you. And Kiwi - did they take back the yucky grapefruit?

Peachy - sounds like the perfect mini-holiday. I think you should clone Herbie and send him out to everyone (don't forget the airholes!)

See yous later. I'm off to read my favourite nutbag site TimeBomb 2000. I don't know if I can take these people seriously, but if they're right were in big trouble.

Glad you had such a nice weekend, Peachbuns.

And Wabbit, don't rub it in about your golden autumn, every leaf in Maine has fallen off the trees and is in our yard. Do people still rake leaves? I've been contemplating it, but I'm having a hard time coming up with the energy. Sometimes we mulch them with the lawn mower, but I don't do lawn mowers, and DH is apparently on strike from all household chores, as far as I can tell.

Don't worry about Monique's life being better than yours, Sugar. The appeal of it is that it's such a train wreck.

I forgot to get my driver's license renewed last week when they did it in town, so now I have to go to the "big city" to do it. What movie should I go to?

Kiwi

You must be extremely important if the Dept. of Motor Vehicles comes to you, Kiwi! Here we have to stand in line for half the day to renew a driver's license. What a concept.

We're still in the glory days of autumn here, Kiwi, but by the end of November the trees will be bare. I cut some branches of Japanese maple, some rosehips and hydrangeas and put them in an old rusty bucket by the back door. It looks so Martha Stewarty.

I'm on a real eating binge here, cows. I don't know what's wrong with me. So far today I've eaten: a poptart for breakfast, two, count em, two roast beef sandwiches for lunch, with a big glass of chocolate milk, p-nuts and an ice cream bar for a snack. I'm stuffed. I'm crazed. I don't know why I get this way.

I checked out your Time Bomb website, Sugar. Some of these ppl are scarey.

I'm in charge of organizing a cookie exchange for Dec. 1. I can't even organize my sock drawer. What was I thinking?

I have just updated the cat ppl that my new kitty is deaf.

I have walked the lake for two days in a row and I have gone to the gym 2 or 3 days a week for a month and a half.

I even have a picture of me in a bathing suit taken this weekend that I'm saving for the "before" picture.

I think that Dogpatch, ME is a growing happening place. They come once a month for three hours, right?

Who is this person whose life is distracting our Sweet Pea?

They come once a month for the whole day! (Minus 2 hours for lunch, of course; it is a government department)

Get this: my mom called last night to see what I wanted for my birthday. I told DH this tonight and he said, well, tell me too. Then he said he was thinking maybe my parents could chip in with him to replace the CD in my car. Actually it probably can be fixed, but either way. For my birthday. Fix the Cd player that I frankly have not missed. As a birthday present. Which of course we were going to do anyway. And don't think for a minute that he was going to take that baby 75 miles to get it fixed or replaced either. Course not, he's too busy. So, for my birthday, I can drive 75 miles and sit around in an obnoxious car dealership all day so that I can have a working CD player in my car. Guess who uses the damn thing: DH. Of course. That's why he wants it fixed.

Maybe I'll get him a vibrator for Christmas and a subscription to the Oprah book club.



Oh sorry, do I sound mad? Sorry. I'm not mad. I just feel completely utterly disregarded.

I told him I would prefer we get the kitchen ceiling fixed. It was a very measured response under the circumstances.

We lost our power today. It went off around 2:30 or so and stayed off until 8 PM. DD and I had to get out all the oil lamps and stuff (it was almost dark by 4:30), and we sat in the living room and played a board game. Don't get to do that often with her. It was really nice. Then we went into town and got dinner and went to friend's house to dry some wet clothes in their dryer. By the time we got home, the power was back on.

Adrenalin back to normal. (phew)

You've been such a good girl, Peach. I went for a long walk this morning, so I've been sort of good too. Are you sure about the cat? I have one that ignores me, but it can hear. I used to have an old cat (lived to 18) that went blind. It took me a long time to catch on that he was blind! Strange. Probably much easier to tell with a cat that's new to you.

I've heard of a cookie exchange, Wab. Sounds complicated. I'd rather organize it than bake it though............. (Yeah, I know, you have to bake too, right)

Kiwi

I should have known something was up from the way my hair stood on end when I popped into "Sylvia's Beauty Silo" last week to make an appointment. Turns out my regular stylist was on holiday (the nerve!) and wouldn't be back for a couple weeks! My hair couldn't wait that long so I had to choose between Sylvia, the 300 lb. henna-haired salon owner who pretends to listen to your styling needs and does what she wants anyway all the while blabbing non-stop about her dopey husband, OR little skinny whatsername who gives you the impression that she is cutting your hair when in fact she is merely waving the scissors over your head and making snipping noises and you don't notice until you get home that you look the same as when you went in. I went for it and chose Sylvia. Oh well. It'll grow out.

Wow Kiwi - good rant. Now tell us how you REALLY feel!

Hi Wabby! Are the cookies to be exchanged at YOUR house? How many kinds does each gal have to bake?

Peachy darling! You are just toooo svelte! NO ONe is permitted to take a picture of me in a bathing suit, either before or after. Haven't you been reading Monique? She's fabulous .

Threats of further terrorist attacks here. Wabby's back yard is sounding better and better and would be much more convenient for continuing my elicit internet affair with Stevie (which mostly consists of exchanging grainy pictures of the kids and whining about being unemployed. How fulfilling

Talk to yous later!

who's she?

The kitty:
* does not turn his ear toward sound
* can be startled by someone walking past him
* did not respond to clapping hands 6 inches behind his head

He does hear high pitched things like keys and bells if they're close enough though. He came with infected ears and is still shaking them. Maybe with treatment this will be better.

This is THE DAY OFF. Say something. Shouldn't sissy be begging my forgiveness and bagzie begging hers? Kiwi, of course, saved us all.

and begging for forgiveness---people are still mad at me for the virus thing,so I have been laying low-----HOWever I still love all you tramps,am eating like a FREAKIN{I really meant worse than that}gluttonswine,and need some ideas for my seventeen Christmas displays------HOW ARE YOU ALL----wabby----I had all you ate plus twelve Hallowe'en chocolate bars.

Seems to be the theme of the week. I bought Halloween candy, three bags of it, just for me to eat. We don't have trick or treaters, so we don't even bother to stay home on H'n. And I left it in the grocery bag and just reach in and grab handfuls of it every day. I have no discipline and don't give a crap at the moment.

Sugar, please tell me that Sylvia's place really is called the Beauty Silo. I think that's just perfect. You were very brave to tough it out with her.

Bagzie dear, no one should be mad at you over that virus. You didn't go out cyberslutting and contract it; someone else gave it to you without you ever knowing.

Really those viruses make me mad -- what would make someone want to make those up, just to screw up computers. It's actually a very strange phenomenon because the people who make them don't even know who they're going to infect. How hateful do you have to be to want faceless thousands of people to have screwed up computers? Very weird.

Peaches, my dog has had ear infections off and on most of her life, and gone temporarily deaf frequently. Your kitty might just regain his hearing when the infection is cleared up, but if the ear infections become chronic, you should consider allergies. Molly must have allergies, because she's on this medication now for incontinence that also functions as a decongestant, and she has been able to hear ever since we started her on it.

I have nothing interesting to say. I was supposed to go to the "city" today to renew my license, but I didn't. Maybe tomorrow. Apparently I'm depressed. (no kidding )

Kiwi