I will agree. Happy New Year. So be it.

Ever since watching Supersize Me I have been a vegetarian and am not eating prime rib. I actually love love love grains and veggies and seasonings but always thought I SHOULD eat some meat and I SHOULD feed ds meat but these days I am not. He is on his own. But when I go back to the center, I have to eat lunch with the kids and they are served beef/chicken fingers and other stuff not on my list. It's the worst part of the job. I hate football, also. It makes no sense tome. All the players look just alike and they run up and down the field and who cares. I prefer games with players who have faces.

I will be back to complain about ds later.

Oh goodie! Just kidding. I'm glad you are doing the veggie thing. You have always enjoyed healthy food; who needs meat if you don't even really like it? Personally I love it. My sis had a standing rib roast for her dh's birthday the day before we left NC and it was yummy I must say. However you will definitely live longer without red meat.

I am still having a rotten time with my computer and mouse. I can't arrange it so that it doesn't hurt my elbow and I hate the trackball. For someone who types and mouses fast, it's just like tying my hands behind my back. Grumble grumble.

Now, your turn to complain about something. I think I'll go work on a new avatar with party hats.

Just to let you join in the freakout anxiety of the day: Here in Maine it is snow/rain/icing and my sweet dd got in her bf's little sporty car and they are driving, probably too fast, to Connecticut for the day. Boggles the mind, doesn't it? His twin had to go back to school today and the word was that the school bug-bombed all the dorms, so on their return they have to completely wipe down their rooms if they don't want to live in pesticide residue. BF volunteered to help his brother clean the place and DD offered to go as well. Of course the twins are taking separate cars. In the ice and snow and freezing rain. DH wanted to "forbid" her to go, to which I just laughed. My only compensation is that the bf drives slower when she is in the car.

Warning! The following paragraph may make you Read at your own risk!

We had a lovely, lively New Years Eve celebration over at DDbf's house with his family and a bunch of the kids' friends and some teacher friends of bf's mom. We actually all stayed up and toasted the new year. The kids had been at work all day making food -- DD and BF did the hot dishes, BFtwin did all the sweets -- and the spread was incredible. There was homemade pizza, chili, meatballs, pea soup (I think the grandmother contributed that--and it was delicious), mozzarella balls with tomatoes, and a brie en croute , plus the usual crackers, cheese, veggies and dips. The sweets were to die for: gorgeous coconut macaroons, yummy lemon bars and cream filled tuille I think it was called. That kid is a wonder. Plus their dad made peanut butter fudge (and we got a box to take home). I may never recover.

Kiwi

OH MY!!! THAT SPREAD SOUNDS SO FABULOUS!!!!----WELL--I JUST TOOK TWO PUMPKIN PIES OUT OF THE OVEN AND MY TRIFLE IS ALMOST FULLY ASSEMBLED---we have the freezing rain as well---it should be okay on your highway cause they ususally are out salting ,right!!!! not that i wouldn't be like your dh and 'FORBID' her to go!! can i keep dd from wandering around europe alone this week??? thought not----as peachie can attest----we bend over backwards to keep them safe and sound and once they fly the coop we are whacked out chickens with our heads cut off,but still able to worry!!!!----dd has already lost her 'converter' so she can't use her computer and says the one at the hostel is crappy-----i can't imagine she can buy a new one on new years day--so eff eff eff!!!!-----on a lighter note---we watched " Miss Merry Sunshine" the other night and i laughed quite a few times.xoxoxoxo complaining is my forte.

Well, DD called about 2 hours into the drive, it was slow going the first 75 miles -- all ice on the interstate. An 18-wheeler rolled over, a car waaay off the road (they stopped for that guy to ask if he needed help). But then they got out of the ice, it warmed up a bit and is just raining apparently.

No, not much you can do about the kids off in far-away places but hope for good sense and good luck. So here's to good sense and good luck!

I heard that movie was really good; I want to see it.

Why are you still making holiday desserts? Is this a Canadian thing?

I had a tortilla with Poblano pepper and cheddar, and a glass of orange juice for lunch. Could be worse, don't you think?

Kiwi

I am not confused. I have to go Netflicks to check and I am NOT confused. The film is "Little Miss Sunshine" not Miss Merry Quite Contrary and I also saw it recently and Laughed A Lot at the end. The beginning not so much. Then I watched it with producer narration and learned that they left music off the front end on purpose so we could get to know the charracters and their high aspirations that none of them could meet. The ending was pretty much the idea of the choreographer. Very funny and original and not predictable too much.

I also saw an Indian film called WATER which I lovvvveeed. It was just so thick with believability and not too sad and not too glib. It's about an eight-year-old widow who doesn't even remember being married but who is thrown into a home for widows where life is not so good but it turns out ok and was so much better than American films usually are. And it made me laugh, too.

I had chai tea and polenta for lunch.

Hi Cowies! Peachie, we got that movie for DH for Christmas, but we haven't seen it yet because our DVD player is broken and we don't want to watch it on our computer! Hopefully, he'll get a good job soon and we can get a DVD player.

DS17 got us a TV for Christmas! He's been working for a distributing company, loading and unloading things. Now that he doesn't have to worry about paying for school... he decided to spend it on this. That was really nice of him. This is our first new TV ever. I've never seen a picture so sharp!

Um, fitness? OK. I'm recovering from my cold, but starting as soon as possible, I'm back to my 5-6 workouts a week routine.

BTW, HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Cherry, where do you get used tvs that work?

I feel like screaming. Or crying. Or crying loud. LCP came for dinner and we had fruits and veggies and the house is a mess and I have this pefect little room that I kept suggesting they go into and study and they were studying in front of the tv so I couldn't turn it on. Then I saw ants. And I began attacking the ants and LCP has to join in and the two of them are standing there, slouched, looking at each other and I am feeling so small and pretty soon we don't see any ants AND THEY LEAVEEEEEE. He took her home as though she was freaked out by ants. Really. I do not enjoy this business of being in the room with two people who whisper to each other so I can't hear them and I asked him to get a movie and they brought one from her home which means it was not in English and made no sense to me. I asked several times what was going on and when it ended, I got a synopsis and it evenidently meant more to her than to me. Plus, it started in English dubbing and she had ds change it so only she could understand it and she sighed, "That's better." Was not better. D*mn*d ants.

Peachie, our first TV was my dad's, and I got it when I moved out. It's from 1977 and still works. Our second TV was sold to us by a guy at DH's former work who bought a bigger, fancier TV. It also still works. However, they were both 19" screens and neither could handle all-white screens (very popular with advertisers.)

lcp saying 'that's better'--????? i don't get it.Did DS understand it ???? you mean she watched a movie in her language while you and ds just watched the pictures????i think she is missing some cultural clues regarding how one treats the boyfriend's mother.poor peachie---we need ds to find a woman who watches english movies.i must admit,it is interesting to hear how others are dealing with the 'FRIENDS' of the kids---this is one special case!!!muffie would be proud of you!!!

ds and I had subtitles to read. Me: What just happened? Who got killed? Who is that? Why'd she do that? What happened to Sophie? What happened to the dog? etcccccc.

Muffie would not be proud. Muffie rebuked me for noticing what racial group people were from. LCP is a tiny, brilliant, beautiful Asian girl who eats no meat, plays violin and speaks several languages. Muffie would not like me saying "Asian."

DS is still asleep. He has changed from one bed to another. It's 10:30 here. I want him to do stuff but when he gets up, he still doesn't do stuff. Instead, he tells me why it shouldn't be done. I need tables taken out to the road. He wants to sell them. I refuse to have strangers come here to look at these stupid cheap tables. He says ebay. They are TABLESSSSS. Grr. Snmarl.

one time when i got tired of asking dh to move a chair from the front porch to set on the road { for someone to take,or for the garbage--whichever comes first} i kicked it out the door and it was on the front steps when he came home{all tipped over and horrible looking} however,i knew he would laugh so that is why i did it--THEN he finally moved it to the curb----stick them in ds' way and he may move them---who wants to PACK UP TABLES AND MAIL THEM TO EBAY PEOPLE --YIKES--- also,we have several places that will pick up stuff like that for free {Salvation army}

You are fast becoming the most exotic person I know...
I do think that the relationship between a boy's mother and his gf is much more than awkward and difficult than the relationship between a girl's mother and her bf, so I'm not sure I can offer anything. I do think she is unknowingly very selfish, ie she no doubt doesn't realize it. I mean, most kids that age are very self-absorbed and at best are able to think about one other person (usually their bf/gf). I see it in DD -- she forgets about other people quite a lot. Her BF is unusually unselfish; I think she's learned something from him--she is more thoughtful than she used to be. But still..

I try to treat DD as an adult, but let's face it, there are times when she doesn't act like one, and I don't hesitate to say something. It's rare that I've ever said anything to the BF, but it has happened and it's not a problem. This business about DS and lcp leaving the house because everything is not perfect, I would have a real problem with, so I don't blame you for being frustrated.
Well, if he wants to sell them, I say he can load them into his car and do whatever he wants with them!!
Well, Muffie can kiss my big white **** -- Oh, Hi Muffie! Just kidding!
I sooooo wish I could do that -- unfortunately, DH lost his sense of humor when he lost his job, or maybe it was during his midlife crisis, but in any case, when I do extreme things like that, he either doesn't notice (true!) or he just thinks I'm being bad-tempered. Last night I showed him how to snap the top of the plastic butter dish on, and he just nodded and said okay. Sarcasm -- not being noted at all. If I can't get a reaction using sarcasm, how can I communicate?

Hey, it's dark already. DH is roasting a chicken and it smells sooooo good. I think I should go clean up some more junk in honor of someone else cooking. Yippee!

Kiwi

Salvation Army will not come to Dogpatch. They figure there is nothing here worth the trip. So ... about noon, I carried the smaller of the two table to the road, set it down and turned to go back to the house. There was ds, in pjs, barefoot. He picked up the table AND MOVED IT. I said sweetly, "I don't want it by the driveway!!!" And he moved it in the other direction. He WAS MAD AT MEEEE. So we came in and someone stopped and hauled the table off. DS took the second one and creepy people stopped and got it. I explained that I did not want people LIE THAT coming to the house to look at tables for sale and he nodded.

So here's my chest problem. It's called an accent chest and it's very pretty. IN the store, it was just lovely and more expensive than some other stuff but worth the extra because it would make me happy. So a cousin of this accent chest is put on a truck somewhere and sent to me. It arrives with white gunk on it, bad hinges and .... this MAY NOT be a legitimate complaint ... the three pieces of granite on the top were not as pretty. The guy came, agreed it looked terrible, and made the white go away. Much of the white is back. I called today but now I just want to call them and tell them to refund my buckeroos and take this away. I hate this stuff. I just hate when customers are taken advantage of. And when it's me ... I just feel frustrated and up against this huge organization.

I don't know if I treat DS as an adult or not. He's just naturally secretive so I tend to find out things untimely and then he feels guilty and acts like a child. He's spring breaking with his dad. Summering in Mexico. LCP is planning on moving out state to grad school in two semesters. I wonder if he will follow. No sense asking as it's so soon and EVEN IF HE DID KNOW, I would not be informed.

this stage is hard peach---i locked the door tonight and realized that i had no reason to leave it unlocked or leave the porch light on ----it made me sad---i still have ds but having the two dd's far away and remembering how quickly that happened it makes me sad for when HE goes----AND---the dd20 who has always come home in the summer to work,says she isn't coming home this summer----so,i hear ya,and i guess we have to make do and find something else to do............................... glad you got rid of the tables though--and FOR SURE TELL THOSE SKANKS TO COME AND TAKE THE BUREAU THEY SCREWED UP!!!!

People must post more. I need new stuff to read and worry about not being able to find the right thread as it slips on down the line.

Since working at the center (Oct. 2), I have gained 5 lbs. Over the holidays, eating my own food, I have lost 4 of them. I have to eat with the kids and am told to "pretend" I'm eating but then when will I eat my own lunch? If I get a break, it's 10 minutes. Sometimes there is no break. This is illegal as announced in a meeting yesterday at another office but it still happens. They are understaffed.

I am just not willing to put that weight back on..

The skanks said they talked to the furniture fixer guy who said he couldn't do anything else for the chest as it seems to have something under the finish. They asked if I'd be happy with a $90 discount. The chest cost $319. So ... no. They're thinking what to do now.