Hi Ladies,

Things are going pretty well here, Lauren is feeling much better. Amazingly there is not too much pain, but her entire face and neck are very bruised and swollen. Preparing meals for her is an exercise in creativity. She must drink "Boost" and unfortunately hates the taste, so I created a smoothie that consists of: one can of chocolate boost, a banana, a cup of ice cream and a 1/2 cup of whole milk. All tossed into the blender and liquefied. Don't try this one ladies, I think there's about 600 calories in each cup!! She has an appointment with her surgeon on Tuesday for a check up. I think she will be home recouperating for another 2 weeks and then hopefully she should be able to return to school.

Melissa so sorry to hear about your Dad. I totally understand your frustration with his smoking. My Dad is a heavy smoker also and it makes me crazy. I will keep him in my prayers and I hope his surgery goes well on Monday. On a happier note, congratulations to your son for being in the starting line up. He must have been thrilled to see his picture on the front page of the newspaper.

Lala Happy Birthday my friend and welcome to the 40+ demographic group. Remember it's only a number. Hope you enjoyed the day with a fine glass of wine and good company.

Lisa you have been so busy lately. I'm glad that most of your home repairs are complete..that must be a relief. Hope you had a nice visit with your parents this weekend.

Susan I think you might be back by now. I hope you had a wonderful vacation..can't wait to hear about it.

Well tonight the Oscars are on. Don't know if I'll watch or not. I can't believe I haven't seen even one of the movies nominated for Best Picture. I think once things settle down here, I would like to see the Aviator and Sideways.
Thank you ladies so much for all your thoughts and prayers for Lauren. It was greatly appreciated. Hope you have a nice Sunday and I'll try to check in again tomorrow.

Pam, I am so glad that things are working out for Lauren. What a good nurse you are! Soon she'll be feeling a lot better. I'm with you; I hadn't seen any of the movies, but I would like to see Sideways, The Aviator, and Million Dollar Baby.

lala, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you! I hope it was a good one. Don't worry about being 40! Actually, 40 wasn't bad at all. Wait till you hit 50 Oy!

Hi, Melissa and Susan.

I had a great weekend visiting with family. My parents bought a new bread baker, so guess who had to try all of their freshly baked breads?? Oh well, back to watching myself this week (the bread was good, though). My parents' church choir director asked me to visit for Easter to sing with them. I wasn't sure, but I decided to go ahead. She said she really needed some voices and my church is not doing anything exciting.

DH did great in New Orleans--3:50. He was so happy to be under 4 hours. He arrives home today. I asked him about New Orleans; he said it's an interesting city, but very dirty. He was somewhat dismayed about that.

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the birthday wishes, the day turned out pretty good even if I spent the majority of it madly writing away on my paper.

Pam, I'm glad you are giving us Lauren updates. I would say that at her age and metabolism, the yummy concoction (well, sans boost), is probably okay. Keep us updated. Your weather looks awful, stay warm.

Lisa - Fresh bread. Yum.... I am still having a hard time with the 40 thing. I think its the what have you done in the last 10 years recap that is the hardest. Oh well, I guess I should take the Dotti approach -- NGAMO. No guilt and move on.

Congrats on DH. He's a fast runner. I didn't like NO when I went there last year for a meeting. It was really skanky and we were staying out of the skank. The garden district is really pretty.

Melissa- I hope dad is doing well after his surgery. Sending you some good vibes to make it through and to your dad to heal fast.

Hi Susan! Come back and tell us about your faboo vacation.

Re: Oscars. I only saw Sideways. I am going to see million dollar baby, though I just heard how it ends, so I don't know if I really want to see it.

Okay, gotta get scrambling here.

lala

Hi everyone!

I am soooo tired that if I had some toothpicks I'd be using them to prop my eyelids open! Instead I made some coffee

I was up at the crack of dawn this morning to get moving so I could head down to the hospital. My dad's surgery went okay--my mom is waiting to talk more with the doctor but the first reports were that he was able to get the stents in. When he talked to us first thing this morning he said he wasn't sure because of the narrowness of the vein that he was working on. In any case, now it's just a waiting game. My mom did say that when they brought my dad up he had oxygen (I don't remember him having that before) so we'll see what that's all about. I stayed until he was in recovery and being moved to his room. No sense in both of us sitting there.

Pam: Thanks for the updates on Lauren and for keeping our family in your prayers. It's more frustrating than anything with my dad's smoking. I know he snuck a couple over the weekend and that only adds to the frustration. DS #2 has his final regular season game tonight--they're battling for first place since both teams are 12-1. Should be a fun game.

Lala: Sounds like you were productive with writing your paper. DS #1 was busy working on a paper this weekend too. He wants to get ahead so that he can focus on his A&P (anatomy/physiology) test next Wednesday. He's so organized in that area!

Lisa: Sounds like you enjoyed the time with your family. I love fresh bread, especially when it's still warm! After that though it's not a temptation. Congrats to DH on a great race! I have heard that New Orleans is nice but not all that clean--they say there is always something going on.

Well we're bracing for a snow storm and possible lake effect Tuesday-Thursday. I'm hoping the wind shifts and that it stays south of us and doesn't hit the lakeshore I see a few flurries outside the window but nothing major at this point but a lot can change in an hour when it's time for me to head home!

A tornado hit not far from me. I really wonder if there is a big X over our area. 25 homes were damaged; 14 are uninhabitable. It's so sad.

Melissa, I'm glad your dad did well in surgery. Putting in those stents is so common any more. I wouldn't worry about the oxygen; it's probably just a precaution. Sorry about the snow on your way. When will it end?

I sure hope Susan got back safely; can't wait to hear about her trip.

Lisa -- Yikes. Bad weather abounds on the eastern seaboard. I'm hoping this storm calms down soon. You guys need a break.

lala

Hi Ladies,

Well we're bracing for what looks like another N'oreaster. Hopefully it will stay on schedule and be over by morning. Tomorrow I'm bringing Lauren to see her doctor whose office is in Hartford, CT (about an hour and a half from our house) so I'm really hoping the roads are clear by then. Had a pretty productive day and got a lot of cleaning/laundry done. I think tomorrow I may tackle an upstairs closet which has taken on a life of its own.

Melissa it sounds like things went well for your Dad today. I hope he has a speedy recovery. Do you know yet when he will be coming home? The oxygen is a little scary, I remember going in to see Lauren in the recovery room and being a little surprised to see her on oxygen. She actually stayed on it on and off throughout her stay in the hospital. I know how exhausted you must be today, but I hope you enjoy your sons b-ball game tonight. I hope they win!

Lisa for my 40th birthday my sister and 3 of my friends took me to New Orleans for a girls vacation. It was an interesting place to visit once, but I don't think I will go again. I also thought it was a dirty city and some areas kind of dangerous. We were in the French Quarter our last night there and I felt very uncomfortable. Glad you didn't suffer any damage from this most recent tornado.

Lala I'll try and stay warm but it is absolutely freezing here. I sure hope this is the last storm of the winter.

Well ladies it's getting late so I should get going. Hope you all are having a good night and I'll talk to you tomorrow.

Good morning! It's chilly here this morning. I guess the Noreaster is pushing here a little. DH arrived home safely. He had a good time, but kept saying he wished I had been there with him. Aaaah! I made him a steak dinner last night to celebrate his homecoming. Had play rehearsal last night; it's going well.

My boss called this morning and asked if I'd like to attend a convention in Phoenix at the end of April. I told her I may go (my play ends the day before).

More photos are coming out of the tornado damage. There are some ripped up homes. And to top it off, some other bad folks went into the damaged homes and stole stuff. Low-life!

So, how is everyone else?

Good morning! Well the snow stayed pretty much South of I-90 (which is the snowbelt area here) so we only got a couple of inches right along the lake shore. There is still more snow in the forecast for today/tomorrow but I don't think it's supposed to be anything significant. The big factor will be if the wind changes direction.

Pam: I hope you're able to get Lauren to the doctor today and that storm didn't hit too hard I'll be glad when we're out of snow season!

Lisa: I heard on the news last night about the tornadoes--your area has been hit hard this past year--I hope it's the end of it! Glad your DH made it home safe.

I was really tired last night but managed to get a second wind for the game. It was a packed house and to top it off our gym is probably one of the smallest in the terms of holding spectators. Our team came out and played great defensively and never looked back They beat St. James by 15 points. The team that they beat weren't the best in terms of being sportmanslike--at the end of the game some of them didn't even shake hands with our team members. As my son said, you have to be a good loser as well as a good winner. We could play them again depending on how the playoffs go. We have a game Thursday at a "neutral" site. Needless to say I didn't get to bed early because I wanted to catch the news because one of the local channels was at the game taping. Tonight I'll be in bed early!

Susan: Hope you had a great trip and that your back safe & sound!

Happy March everyone.

We arrived home late on Saturday night after a brutal 30 hours of travel - and that was with very good connections. Have spent the time since then in some sort of time warp. Hoping the jet lag will ease today now that I'm back at work. Got a good nite's sleep last nite; if I can stay awake til 10 tonight I should have it beat.

Thailand was beautiful. So many thoughts and impressions to convey. The highlights were the Thai people - warm and friendly; the marine life - incredible; the food - ditto; and our host was absolutely wonderful, dedicating the full 3 weeks to doing anything we wanted to do. I won't try to describe it all, but just want to share one little experience that scared the life out of us.

We had been sailing for about a week when we landed on an island just north of Phuket where friends of our host were doing some clean-up work. We were going to spend the day helping out. Turns out they had already left, but we accepted an offer by the locals to share some cold water with them. We were sitting at a picnic table, talking about the tsunami and the clean-up efforts, when one a young Thai man ran up to us wearing a life preserver, saying something about another earthquake. Then a Swiss national appeared, breathless from running, saying he'd had a call from Switzerland about a 7.5 magniture earthquate in the Nicobar islands, about 240 nautical miles west of our location.

Everyone started running - we for the beach and the locals for higher ground. They tried hard to get us away from the water, but we knew where we would be safe. We flung ourselves into the dinghy, and worked like madmen when we reached the boat to secure everything. We took off under motor and prayed a lot.

Nothing happened. The sea remained calm, the waves very gentle, but we were one scared group of people.

It's good to be home. I note that Melissa's Dad and Pam's daughter Lauren have had surgery. I'm relieved to hear they are doing well. Lisa - you've had more bad weather damage to contend with. I'm glad it missed you. lala has joined the 40 something group. Don't fret child, you're plenty young yet.

More later when I can better express myself.

Susan

Susan, Welcome home! Your trip sounded interesting. That was a scary experience. I am sure the folks there will be gun-shy for quite a while. We are like that here. If it gets a little windy, I just start thinking about the hurricanes. Good luck with the jet lag.

Melissa, I'm glad the snow missed you somewhat. Congrats to your son's team for winning. He's right, those boys need to learn to be good losers.

Morning glories!

Looks like everyone is safe and back at home. Welcome back Susan. Sounds like your trip was wonderful if not a bit adventurous. Getting back to a "normal" schedule is hard, but if you try to stay up until 10, you'll get there faster.

Melissa -- How is dad doing? I hope the oxygen is a temporary thing. It probably is until he gets everything flowing. Have you been able to talk to your mom? She must also be exhausted.

WTG on DS's victory. He is a very wise young man.

Pam -- the snow sucks. One of my friends from DC is cancelling her trip to my bd party because she is delayed in Montreal and can't get back to her office in time to clear things out to get out here this weekend. I'm sort of bummed. I hope Lauren was able to get to her docs and everything went well.

Lisa -- I'm in Tucson in the middle of April. Darn it. I have only been to Phoenix once for a wedding. I didn't see anything really, but the golf is pretty darn good. Glad to hear DH made it home okay.

Er, nothing going on here out of the ordinary. Work, paper, facial, clean up, work on paper, sleep and hope cat does not wake me again with her yacking. It was quite a wake up this morning. A vomiting cat.

lala

lala, speaking of cats, there was one on our back porch this morning meowing at our sliding glass door. Of course, we have no screen enclosure, so the wild life just comes in. Anyway, our birds were none too happy and they were flapping and squawking. DH shooed the cat away several times, but it came back. All of a sudden, one of my Quakers started meowing. I just had to laugh.

Mornin all. Still feeling the effects of the time change. On top of that, my hot flashes seem to have re-appeared out of nowhere. Must be the effects of the travel.

Just wanted to report that I gained .5 lb according to the scale this morning. I'll be back on the straight and narrow as soon as I regain full use of my faculties

Susan,

Every 7500 miles you fly, you gain at least 1 lb and you will lose it. Well, that is my theory. Salty foods, not enough water, time changes ....it'll all get better.

gotta run and try to wake up jacques.

bbl.

lala