Okay, I take it all back-- I wait fer the day when we can all revel in DDs revered solo in a sensational musical--either that or I will vote fer her on AMERICAS NEXT IDOL--yessssssssss
Shes got the Voice! The tall lean beautiness!!!! YES!!!
Kiwi!!! She is a STAH in the making!!! become a stage mother kiwi!

Shatzi, I swear you are a breath or fresh air! Thanks so much for all the info & sharing. I really do feel much better after reading what you've had to say. You too, Kiwi, and I know that DH appreciates Cowp's sympathy. What a great herd! Good luck on your exam, Shatzi...I bet you'll ace it!

ANYWAY, there are a FEW places you might like for dinner, Kiwi, depending on your food preferences. For seafood and a rather creative (and very good) menu, there's the Sole Proprietor on Highland Street. Also, the One-Eleven Chop House on Shrewsbury Street is very good - good steaks, good most everything. If you're looking for elegance - and pretty awesome dining in general, and don't mind paying for it, there's the Beechwood Hotel Restaurant which is five-stars, lovely atmosphere (we've done anniversary dinners there, and very special occasions). Shorah's Ristorante, on Foster Street is within walking distance (very close by) of Mechanics Hall, and has excellent Italian cuisine, very reasonably priced. If it's a warm evening, it's a nice stroll, not too taxing for your MIL. (I THINK you said your MIL was going; I disremember now. Need to learn how to include quotes. Will do that someday soon). As for the ones you'd need to drive to, I'm sure you can Mapquest them from wherever you're staying, but if you need any help or have any questions, just holler.

The B.I.G. I.N.T.E.R.V.I.E.W. is tomorrow at 8:00, 8:30, and 9:00 respectively, with three different people consecutively. That's got to be a good sign, right? Three people don't usually participate in the first interview, I don't think? My daughter came over and mock-interviewed him for two hours tonight. (Yawn). She grilled him mercilessly. He seems to be feeling pretty good about the interview. I trimmed his beard. Now he looks like a very neat & distinguished Kenny Rogers only a lot taller.

I've been eating a lot of pears; the grocery market has been having some really nice ones, lately. Must be pear season somewhere.

TTFN,

Ella

Hey thanks for the ideas, ellabella!! And good luck to dh on the interview marathon. Sounds to me like he is going to make a very good impression!


Hope your birthday was groovy, Peachie. And , and hot and all your came true and you felt all and . Hope you got some and and felt and and and a little . Hope your day went ingly and you ed up some . And that's all I have to say about that.

nightie night

Kiwi

Don't be afraid of all the smilies. Post!

Posty Postedy Post Post

TeeHee, Kiwi... You're sure being silly, m'dear. <looking around> Well, it doesn't look like anybody else is posting right now, so I may as well jump in...
DH's interview went well. No on-the-spot job offer, but we didn't expect that, anyway. He said he had an excellent rapport with the interviewers, they all spoke the same language, and it was quite jolly. Now, of course, it's twice as hard to go back to the old grind and a boss who seems anxious to pounce on every possible thing he can find - or invent. I'm wondering if this is about DH's age, and the fact that he's pretty highly paid, and they might get someone younger, cheaper. He's had nothing but rave reviews for the past five years, and suddenly his (new-ish) boss treats him like he's incompetent? Sumthin' wrong with THAT picture, I've gotta believe.

Other than that, Missus Lincoln....

It's warming up! Oh, this is sooooo great! We still have snow in the yard, but it recedes a little more each day. We have some beautiful trees in our yard and in front of the house - nothing like where you live, Kiwi - but picture older suburban neighborhood, mature trees. I always love seeing them start to bud and fill with leaves in the spring.

Good grief, Shatzi...do you think someone MURDERED your landlord? Failure to cash a rent check sure seems pretty extreme, doesn't it? (Unless they are independently wealthy and extremely absent-minded!!! )

Is Cowp STILL celebrating her birthday??? Wow!

Hope all is well with Wabby??? Oh, Wabby....have a wonderful visit with your granddaughter!!!!!

Hasta la vista,

Ella

DH, DS11, and I all saw "Be quiet" first, and then Banquet.

BTW, happy birthday Cowpeachia!

I'm so sorry. This woman sounds cruel. Judges are definitely biased. When my parents got divorced, my mother wanted NO visitation or custody, but the judge spent a bunch of time trying to talk her into asking for custody. He wrote visitation into the decree even though she didn't want it.

I had punctal plugs put in today. I didn't know I had punctals! It is supposed to keep my tears from draining so fast and therefore correct some of my dry eye symptoms. (Another thing that comes up from being OLD. (Ellabelle, I was in 9th grade when Kennedy was assassinated. What does THAT tell you?)
I've actually stayed on my food allotments (if not the plan, exactly for another day.) Must walk tomorrow if it doesn't hail. Rain would be OK.

Peaches: Belated Birthday wishes!!

Wabby: I am so sorry the hearing went the way it did. Sounds like you got a dinosaur judge… or that he was buddies with what'sernames attorney. That's what those father's rights groups are for… maybe DS can get things changed when tempers simmer down. Do you think she just wanted a baby and "used" him? Hope not. So sad. Your son sounds like a very good man.

Ella: Glad DH's interview went well. Hope that something good comes out of it. DH's company (HQ in Reading, MA) just got a big contract… but it's more project management than software… anyway my DH can't wait to retire, hates the corporate culture (though his boss is fine). He says if he told me what he does he'd have to shoot me. So I mostly listen to his personnel complaints.

Cherry: Glad you're here! Dostoyevski was right… Every family is different. Some are just plain strange…. I hope the forced visitations with your mother weren't too painful. What a rotten story to have been told. I bet you were adorable and if it were any of the rest of us, we'd have wanted you visiting all the time.
TTFN.

Oh Cherry! How sad for your mother that she didn't understand that children are our most precious gift. Sad for you too, of course, but when I hear about women who seem to be missing that maternal key, I just think their lives must be so empty. Knowing what a wonderful, sweet person you are, she just totally missed out.

Painty, I had punctal plugs too!! How exciting! They wanted to keep working their way out, so my eye doc ended up cauterizing my tear ducts closed. It sure doesn't stop me from crying for hours now, I guess it's the tear ducts that drain off excess tears that they cauterized.

Gpa Jim is recovering in a rehab center, which we all know is code for nursing home. I had the talk with him yesterday about what his plans are when I have to move out of my house (about 10 months to go) and he said he hadn't made any. I told him that I could get him on medicaid and they would pay for an assisted living apartment. He said he wouldn't live in one. He said his oldest son said he would provide him with a mobile home or apartment at his house in northern California. I called the oldest son. No room at his inn. No mobile home. No apartment there. I want to get this settled this spring. I don't want to wait until the middle of winter when I have to move and try to handle figuring out what to do with Gpa. Also when I told Gpa that he had to spend down his money in his checking account to $2000 to qualify for medicaid, he said he was going to draw some cash out to keep. I told him, no, they won't allow it. You'll jeopardize your medicaid benefits. Only pay bills or buy a funeral plan. He's stubborn. He's going to do it anyway. I'm taking him to the doctor today and he said I have to stop at the bank on the way "because it's my money and they can't stop me from having it." I have a feeling that sweet Gpa is going to turn into ornery Gpa when things don't go his way. It may be totally selfish of me, but I'm going to start putting some of this responsibility of Gpa on some of his other kids. We've been responsible for his housing for the last 15 years. Someone else's turn. God, I sound mean.

Wow, that is really scary -- that a judge would be so clueless that he'd think kids were best off with a parent who doesn't want them? Sad enough that she was like that; imagine if she'd gotten custody?

I just heard something on a news update yesterday about a "trend" among young adults to not have children at all and they're giving as reasons that "their paychecks will go further and they'll be able to save for retirement". Let's just hope they don't have children by mistake. Can you imagine deciding between a baby and flush retirement? As if you're trying to decide between pizza and hamburgers? I say anyone who thinks of children as primarily a financial burden should be sterilized.

By which I mean I agree with you Wabby (I know, it sounds like I'm disagreeing). It just seems so natural and normal to want children that it's hard to imagine the contrary.

Not at all. It is definitely someone else's turn -- you have more than enough to deal with and it's time other people realized they are just as responsible for Gpa as you are.

I certainly can go on and on. I bore myself. Got to take the dog to the vet for boarding this afternoon. We're off early in the morning to our little excursion to Mass. Thanks much for the restaurant advice, Ellabella, I looked up the Italian one you mentioned, found out it has moved and changed its name to Viva Bene, and it's perfect, still only a block away from the hall.

Hope everyone has an EXHILARATING, SENSATIONAL, SONICALLY SPECTACULAR, ASTONISHING AND HEROIC weekend like I'm going to...

Kiwi

Painty, thanks for the virtual hugs. I only saw my mother once between the divorce and age 18. I know she wasn't ready to be a mother.

Thank you, Wabby! I was so scared when I had DS11 that I would turn out to be the same way, but I wanted to be a mother more than anything and I can't even imagine life without him.

I think Gpa's other children should take more of a role in his life! You're anything but selfish! But you have a lot to deal with right now, and it will be difficult to deal with your house stuff while also trying to take care of him.

I suspect there is a trend toward not having children, but you're right... better that they not. Of course, when I was a brand new young adult, I went through about a year during which I didn't want kids. It could be a phase or it could be for real. Kids deserve parents who think they're a joy to have around, not an obstacle to a flush retirement!

Well, Kiwi, if you happen to check back in before heading south to beautiful downtown Worcester, tell your DD I said "Break a leg, kid..." and I DO hope the restaurant choice works well for you. It also may help to know that there is a parking lot on Main Street diagonally across from Mechanics Hall, and if you plan on parking a few hours before the performance so that you can walk to the restaurant, there should be plenty of spaces available. (Even a few meters right on Main Street). The closer to the performance, of course, the farther away you'll find yourselves parking.
Painter, I never heard of punctal plugs, but on you, I'll bet their tres chic!!!!
Wabby, it truly sounds like you have done WAY more than your share for Gpa Jim!!!! In my humble opinion, it's way PAST time for some of the others to step in. Good grief! Fifteen years??????? And yeah, they tend to get ornery - my mother was a real harridan, and paranoid as heck. Kept thinking people were stealing her pills, thought the girl who cleaned for her took her teeth (they were under her bed). The last few years or her life, she was down in Florida living a mile or so from my sister, so sis bore the brunt of that, but we had all done our share - just as we SHOULD have. It shouldn't all be on ONE.
Still studying for the exam, Shatzi? Good luck, sweetie!
Cherry, when I first got my undergrad degree - and for seven years after that, I worked as a social worker for the Massachusetts dept. of Social Services. There were many, many young women on my caseload who didn't know how to be, nor did they want to be mothers. Most of them had had pretty awful parenting themselves, weren't loved by their own mothers, and didn't know how to love themselves, let alone a child. I learned to feel sorry for them. AND I learned to truly admire those who actually DID become good mothers despite their own bad starts in life, or lack of maternal caring. That you have been such a good and caring mom to your child speaks volumes about your strength and courage as a human being. It is very admirable. How wonderful that you've been able to give your own child the stability and love he needs.
DH is here with supper. Yay! No cooking for moi tonight!

TTFN,

Ella

I have walked a mile around Duck Hudda Lake this morning.

And the Crowd goes wild
Yay yer back!!! Way to get that exercising in Cowhand! How was yer "Jaunt" and without putting you into some funk -how was the birthday? Do you have any bones left?
I still await.... the pony express woulda been faster !

Cherry: Sounds like you turned out to be a fine mom and person Yer moms loss. but some folks just dont have that maternal dna... I admire folks who know this and don't have the kids... then you have what I call "breeders" they just have baby after baby, just because, and have no parenting skills- and dont even think about it.

Wabbalicious: Tis about time that the other children step up! You and DH did more than enough for Gpa Jim...don't you dare feel like a bad person! Can you call a "family meeting" about it?

Painty: sounds like you are babysteppin yer way to good health! Im proud of you!

Ellabella: How did Kenny Rodgers do on his interview ?

Suggie is probably singing "wonderWonderful CoPENHagen friendly old of theSeeeeeeaaaa." and eating cheese and danish cookies in that blue can.

DH had his interview on Thursday...it looks promising... He is so fed up with how this department is operating and they are taking advantage of him. I gave him my STAND UP FER YERSELF spiel! I hate when he feels so "beaten up" that he kind of gives up. They haven't put him in for his cash award for passing the CCVP (Cisco Certified Voice Professional) ... and all the other team mates are getting bonuses for "documentation" meanwhile DH has been supplying loads of it and the list comes out and hes not on it...!!!! WRONG!!!! And he is interviewing potential ees and answering all the newbiew questions... is this not the job of the "team lead" Ridiculous!!!! Ok off me
oh! LL has returned from places unknown... must get the scoop....

HASTO LOOOWAYGOOOOOOO!

ps> here are my least favorite smileys (cept now that I look at them they are quite a colorful trio)

I like this one's hair.