Don't knock 'em till you've tried 'em.... what I really want is one of each: a manly guy for all the woodchopping and stuff, and the sensitive type to have a conversation with. Real life men are so, I don't know, individual, y'know? What I need are total stereotypes.
You hit the nail on the head! She didn't gain an ounce that I can see -- all that dancing and walking up and down hills I guess. She's right now in the process of settling herself back in the house, unpacking, lodging her belongings back into our little hovel, hopefully dumping some detritus. She went out and bought me a new shower curtain yesterday, a mother's day present, because I was talking about shopping for one. It looks almost exactly like the falling-apart one (very tropical, all fish and dolphins). Except not falling apart

I agree with Schatzi; I think everyone should post an update on where and how their dear ones are, who has come home to roost, etc.

I'm making most of the mother's day dinner tomorrow -- another in-law get-together at SIL's. I'm roasting a boneless leg of lamb ala Rachael Ray.

Good going, Schatzi, on having all your vitals checked out. Might as well get it all over with at once, more or less. So you like the bifocal contact lenses? My eye doctor told me I would probably not like the way they worked. I use hard lenses (rgp) so maybe that is different anyway. That whole reading glasses issue is very annoying, and has made me wear my contacts much less than I used to. This is not a good thing: my glasses are so ugly I'm embarrassed to be seen in them, but I don't want to spend the money on new ones, because I've been spending money on reading glasses. Oh brother. And my eyesight keeps gradually changing too.

Later gators
Kiwi

Ds didn't gain either. I have been very busy with him and now he's on the plane headed for Mexico and I have a minute to b*tch.

• He bought travelers checks but didn't tell me. At the airport, he said, he left them in the car and to mail them to him. I suggested he get them replaced. Anyhow, I can't find them in his car and he didn't write the numbers anywhere.
• I told him to pack, put the suitcase in the car and be ready to walk out the door in the morning. He put the suitcase in the car partially packed.
• He thinks he put the information from the travel company in a suitcase he left with lcp.
• Oh, there's other stuff but these are the highlights.

Honestly, I expected him to return more grown up. More responsible and level headed and thinking things through. Silly me.

Oy! I can see I have a lot to look forward to. What can I say except maybe Happy Mother's Day! Geez, the nonsense we put up with, eh? But we still love 'em to bits.

I didn't gain at university either. In fact I lost weight from all the running around and having fun. I had a very diet-conscious roomate so we rarely had snacks in our room and had to rely on the blurgy cafeteria food. Remind me to tell you about The Brown Meal some time. Or the Cream of Wiener Soup.

I have made up for all that skinniness now, though. me --->

And Happy Mother's Day! to the rest of the herd too, doggie moms included, of course. What would our little darlings do without us? One of mine already asked if he could eat the chocolates he gave me this morning. That's my boy.

YES YES YES Happy Mother's day to EvEryOnE

I am wondering if Cream of Wiener soup prepared Sugar for German cuisine.

A VERY HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL!!!! And that most certainly includes you, too, Schatz, because your "furkids" are so well looked after & loved. Now that my kiddos are all grown and off creating their own lives, OUR little furkids (khatz, not canines) have become very important to DH's and my mental health - even though the little buggers STLL won't let themselves be held & petted! We wanted to feel noble - and so got them both from shelters, which was personally affirmational (izzat a word???) but I gotta tellya, it sure is taking a long time for them to get past their abandonment issues and trust us enough to be held (there's something so calming and peace-inducing about having a khat purring in your lap). They seem happy and secure, and interact with us well enough - so long as we don't attempt to hold them. Grrrrrrrrr.

ANYHOO, my dear & darling Son called me yesterday, wanting to make sure he didn't miss me today because I might be out somewhere or something. What a thoughtful boyo, eh? He is fersure coming the last week in June (he'll be delighted that the spare bathroom has been so beautifully redecorated. Hmmmmm. Doubtful, actually, that he'll even notice, but he WILL be the first "visitor" to test it out. Omigawd, Can you imagine thinking of your very own child as a "visitor?" ).

Thanks so much, Schatzi, for inquiring after my DD. She is, in fact, scheduled for a partial hysterectomy on May 23. The rash - and nodules on her lungs were, they're thinking, a bacterial infection of some kind; not malignant, at any rate, which was our worry. The firbroid tumors in her uterus are huge - making her uterus the size of a 21 month pregnancy, they say - and must come out for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that they are draining her body of iron; she has had to take those monstrous iron pills too, Sug, and while in hospital, had intravenous iron. She feels tremendously self-conscious about the "pregnant tummy" although to be honest with you, as slim as she is (I think I may have mentioned in an earlier post that she was training for the Boston Marathon when she was diagnosed with the MS) it isn't even noticeable. BUT, she's been home from hospital for several weeks now, has gone back to work, and keeps on keeping on. She's always been very active, outgoing, busy, etc., and refuses to slow down because of the MS or anything else, for that matter.

My other two DDs are happy and well, and I will be spending today with all three of them and their families (and DH of course) once I've had my bike ride, had my bath & made myself presentable, which I need to get moving on.

Good luck to your DD, Kiwi, in finding a job for the summer. How great that she's going to stay at home with you!

Cowp, don't expect too much maturity from YOUR DS just yet. Boys seem to mature a bit more slowly than girls do - MY DS certainly has. He's turning 26 next month, and it's just been over the past year or so that he's become what I'd consider responsible and adult in his approach to life. He was a "kid" all through college and beyond, while my girls seemed to take themselves - and their lives a lot more seriously a lot sooner. In fact, my DS STILL loves it when I call him my "baby boy". I can actually HEAR the big smile in his voice over the phone when I do. He ran into some problems with traveling awhile back because he'd lost his driver's license somewhere & couldn't find it in time for his flight. I think he may have gotten about four duplicate licenses that year - it was horribly annoying! (Couldn't find his passport, either, so he was in baaaad shape, travel-wise.)

Alrighty - getting moving, here. Have a grand and wonderful day, all!!!

Ella

Yeah, really, you silly thing! Like that's going to happen! You still haven't told us how long he's going to Mex. for -- all summer? overnight? Yeah, I know you probably tole us a'fore, but I'm menopausal and have no brain.I have a shelter cat. She was a year old when I got her and had no idea what a cat was supposed to do with its life. She is still weird, 12 years later. Although she craves attention and will sit near you enough to get petted and scratched. I've found that there's something about letting them come in the bathroom with you that makes them even more affectionate than usual, and also that if you stroke a cat right down to the end of the tail and off, they will always come back for more: they can't seem to help themselves!
I suspect anyone who is actually hiring will snap her up; I hope she doesn't take the first job offered unless she really wants it. The hardest part around here is hearing about the jobs -- most of them go to relatives. It's nepotism central. We are reaping the benefits of the bf being home this summer -- DD didn't even consider anything else besides coming home. I suspect next summer will be a bit different.


My roast lamb came out beautifully. It was nice to provide a major part of the dinner (our house is too disfunctional small to host the family, so we rarely do the largest part of the dinner. The spring salad was delish too -- parboiled asparagus, radishes and cukes. mmm

Omigawd! Did I say 21 MONTH pregnancy??? Week! Week! I meant a 21 WEEK pregnancy! What the devil would a 21 MONTH pregnancy look like, anyway? Good grief!

I only did ONE bike ride this morning before we had to head out to DD's Mother's Day cook-out. I rec'd some gorgeous hanging plants for my front porch, An absolutely boffo necklace of the most amazing shade of teal-ish jade with a rusty-colored carved jade medallion. Quite unique and lovely - very ME.

Gotta call me sis & wish her a happy day. Hope all of yours were T-riffic!!!

Ella

DS is in Mexico for six weeks. I can get email from him. The host's son got married yesterday and moved out so DS got his room. Still looking for the traveler's checks.

Well, yeah, I was knocked speechless by the idea of a 21 month pregnancy. I feel much better now.
Too bad he didn't lose his cellphone instead, like DD. All you have to do is call that to find it (left it on the desk at home under a piece of paper... ).

Well, DD has an interview on Wednesday with a paper mill; they have a student summer job program. 40 minute drive away. We figured if she works 8 hour shifts, she can deduct $1/hour for the commute.

ta. I keep trying to write about other things, but then my delete key says no, that's boring. What can I do?

Kiwi

hey gang! we had a nice time in halifax---dd is staying there all summer,other dd is travelling europe all summer----one step dd is working in colorado,other stepdd is working in halifax---SOOOOOOOOOOOOO,this will be the first quiet summer in 13 years!!!!! we do have stepdd 16 here for six weeks and she is a doll so ds will be happy to be getting some company---the twenty somethings were coming and going all night long so it will be the first summer of being able to sleep so that is a good thing!!!lone dd got a job selling icecream on the touristy boardwalk all summer--she seems happy with that.sounds delicious!

that is a pic of a swan we saw in the public gardens this weekend.he is very grouchy and my dd saw him chasing the park attendant and trying to bite him the day before.

Sugar has the title for our next thread and it's time for her to use it.

Swans are pretty but big so I'd be scared. Girlless summer though ... means ... we're ALLL INVITED!!! YAY

Okay, what is it -- I'll post it.

I like your kitty drawing, Peachie. where'd it come from?

I stopped my meds (NSAIDs) on Friday, the doc said I should. I'm supposed to just ice everything and stretch. ha. No way am I keeping ahead of this by icing it. The hip was almost 100% painfree, but it's creeping back. The tennis elbow never went away, but now... Time to research alternatives.

DD and BF made fried rice for us last night. I marinated the beef, but then I tried to stay out of the way (not that easy for me to relinquish my kitchen). It was mmmGood! This could be a good summer....

Pretty swan, Bagz. Are you posting more photos somewhere?
DH just learned the other day in his geneology travels that his grandfather was conscripted by the Canadian army (he was a Canadian citizen, but had moved to Maine) during WWI and was in Halifax when the big harbor explosion took place. His oldest son, DH's late uncle Louis, apparently was 3 years old and remembered it very clearly because he was outdoors when it happened and a policeman came and told him to go inside.

In case anyone wants to see doggie photos I posted on Facebook, here's the link. I put up photos of Jet and also my previous Belgian, Molly. Amazing how different they are. Jet is prettier. But they were both adorable puppies.

Kiwi

Kiwi, those puppy pictures were so darned cute, for a moment there, I almost wished I had a dog.

Then I remembered that I'm a khat person.

In fact, at the Mother's Day cook-out at my daughters, her MIL's great big old Airedale (they live next door, and Rory-the-Airedale is a venerable and highly-esteemed member of the family) was present throughout the day and served as a reminder to me of why I'm a khat-person! I like Rory well enough, you understand, and I think his breed is really quite handsome. BUT Rory has no concept of etiquette whatsoever, and MIL simply expects everybody to accomodate him - and ENJOY accomodating him. He spent a good part of the day under the table where I was sitting, attempting to eat. He rubbed back and forth on my knees, and would periodically leave from under the table, go get a drink or beg some food from somebody, and then come back with his chin hairs all wet and dripping - and in many instances, smeared with ucky food particles - and commence to rubbing back and forth across my knees and slobbering on my legs again.

Actually, I should probably be grateful to Rory.

Because of him, I did NOT eat anything off my diet! (I gobbled down a few grilled chicken wings and then very considerately turned my seat - and Rory - over to another unsuspecting guest.)

Now I KNOW that many - and maybe even most - dogs are better behaved (and their owners a bit more considerate of others) than Rory. In fact, I'm sure of it.

But it's the Rorys of the world that give dogs a bad name, and that's the truth.

No offense to your lovely doggies or your darling furkids, Schatzi.

TTFN,

Ella

i thought sugsie was starting a new thread----------THIS LENTIL THREAD IS TOO LONG-----