• How do you make a Raspberry Swirl?

Hi! Where is everrbuddy? All the leaves fell off our big maple and birch trees while we were gone over the weekend. They are bare now! The yard, however, is well clothed. You should see Jet try to pick up her tennis ball, she keeps getting a mouthful of leaves with it.

Kiwi

How come when I click on TENNIS BALL, I get an ad?

I had a job interview today. Decided I was sick of these people not hiring me and was not going to go out of my way for them. Was not a teaching job but was working with kids in school to keep them away from drugs and such.

Hungry now. Had a bbq sandwich and it made me HUGNRIER>

I just got email from a friend in Los Angeles. She said the fires are nowhere near her but it's so smoky that it's hard to breathe, even indoors. Outside, the winds are so strong, she can't stand.

Have you pet owners tried the furminator? I used one on my long haired kitty yesterday and got a bag of fur. He likes it but he's jumpy and runs away all the time. The other cat just rolls around and purrs while you furminate him.

Nice job with that ad tie-in, Peaches. Tennis ball isn't highlighted when I look at the posts. They are trying a new method for advertising on the forum, which is supposed to put an end to popup ads. So far, your furminator is the only one I've actually seen. Let's experiment. My nephew sent me a contact invite to Reunion.com. Isn't he sweet? That must be an advertiser, eh?

What a nightmare out there in CA, I can't even imagine. Years ago when we went on a rafting trip in Idaho, toward the end of the week, there were forest fires in the area which ended up diverting our trip in fact. We had to travel a lot longer before we could get out of the river because of the fires, and the whole last day we could smell them and see tons of smoke in the distance. That's the closest I've ever come to big fires, which is fine with me.

Goodness that site is taking a long time loading; I want to see what a furminator is.

Dang. I feel nauseous again (yes, I know, it's nauseated, I don't care). Maybe it's because I was just looking at my photos from the RV trip. What ever possessed me to wear a brown tee shirt with army green shorts? I look like a dumpy tree.

Below is a sign that was posted in front of one of the RVs in a campground in Virginia. Apparently belonging to crazy people.

Oops, I'll have to come back to put that in, apparently I've exceeded my photo allotment

kiwi

• What does the Dentist of the Year get?

I am here. Spent the day on the couch having a headache. Better now. Renovations continue tomorrow.

Bagzie - I love opals too. Keep on selling them! My very first boyfriend gave me a ring with an eensy weensy opal in it and I still have it.

Tennis was highlighted for me. The other day I wrote a post and a word was highlighted and the highlighting disappeared when I edited it. Very mysterious.

So, so terrible about the fires in California.

I feel nauseated and head achey. I can not say nauseous since I saw that play about Bloomingdale's mistress sneaking into his hospital room and explaining the difference to him.

Speaking of young bimbos, there is this young woman at work who just turned 22. She got pregnant at 16 and now is the mom of 2. The dad is in prison. She's beautiful, sparkly personality, has so much against her and I have felt motherly toward her. Until today. Someone found $1,900 in the store and turned it in to an employee. The employee turned it in to the office. She said they were both idiots, she would've kept the money and didn't care what that said about her. I can not imagine considering keeping someone's cash in that amount. So ... I don't feel like her mom anymore. I'm keeping ds whom, I believe, would turn it in.

Rafting is highlighted. I am not clicking.

Rafting? Tennis? I'm just testing the ad thingie. I think the word I saw highlighted the other day was aromatherapy. Maybe it depends on what mood you're in.

Saying nauseated makes me feel headachey. I do hope you stop feeling either soon.
Sometimes the exasperating young person you know is better than the exasperating young person you don't know. Maybe always.

We spent the entire afternoon, plus a little bit of the morning and not a tiny chunk of the evening with DH's parents, driving to Anothertown for lunch and to their relatives for a visit, which was, um, well, it was nice to spend time with the DH'rents, they are lovely. And the relatives were pretty interesting. Sort of. Their daughter was visiting and kind of dominated the conversation talking about her job and how wonderful the benefits and perqs were and on and on and on. Well, it was not the worst way to spend a day, I can say that. And I got to ride around sitting in the back seat of my new Explorer. It was actually very comfortable, I have no complaints. Fortunately I had brushed out all the dog hair from our recent 2-day+dog excursion, or I would have felt very uncomfortable indeed having my in-laws in there with gobs of hair floating around! Pat me on the back..

I'm hungry and I just thought of Hamburger Soup. So very quick and easy, and wouldn't it just hit the spot?

Kiwi

I never seem to get any of these ad links. Except for that furminator one. By the say, I think I should get one. Should I start with a cat one, or try one that will do for both cats and the dog?

If I write Frozen Dinner, will it turn into an ad?

Yay, I can post photos again, Yay!

How scary is this?

EVER SINCE I STARTED LOSING MY FAITH {which was imposed upon me}i have been realizing how insane some of the Believers can be. I have no problem with anyone believing whatever they like but as i just read today--it's too bad people with closed minds don't come with closed mouths.

I don't understand Mr. Filer (surely it was a man who posted that sign). If one steals but wears clothes, then clothes covers the sin of stealing? I am dumbfounded.

I asked DS if he would turn in the money. He said he has found wallets and turned them in intact. Finding loose cash, though, he would probably keep as he wouldn't trust the store to do the right thing with it. If it's not claimed in 90 days, it goes to the employee who received it from the customer who found it. DS considers that NOT the right thing.

My cat vet sells small dog furminators. I bought mine online at Amazon because it was cheaper especially with no postage to pay. And I bought a cat one. The cat furminator probably wouldn't do much for the wolf you keep on your quilt. Which animals sheds most? Start with that.

The ad links are in green and underlined twice. Normal links are blue. I can only see the tennis one now. Hmmm.

Whooooah. Do they work in retail, maybe? Makes you wonder what else goes in their tiny little brains, doesn't it? Having such a limited world view can't be what's it all about, can it? But as they say - ignorance is bliss.

I started Eat, Pray, Love because it's apparently what all the cool chicks (like Oprah - oooog) are reading. Plus it was only EUR 8.95 at Amazon. Not sure if I like it yet but it did make me cry already so that's a good sign, isn't it?

Did I mention that we bought humongously expensive plane tickets to Vancouver for next summer? Or that we're renovating Ds14's room and it's turning out to be more expensive than we bargained for? Maybe I should also mention that our 12 yr old washing machine chose yesterday to break down and that it wasn't worth having repaired. JUST when I decided to get a handle on the mountains o' dirty laundry, the thing conked out. It filled itself with water and got the clothes all wet and soapy but wouldn't wash or spin. One of those front loader things, you know. Luckily it still pumped the water so I was left with a big lump of soggy, slimey laundry. Thank goodness that dh has holidays (and a job!!) so we could go out this morning and buy a new machine. It's nice and white and shiny and was 20% off. I think this will give me some impetus to clean up my rubbish tip (remember Rachel? I think she's famous now or something) of a laundry room because it just so eeeeeeeew.

The night before last I dreamt that I had a basket of tiny baby guinea pigs of all colours that were meant to go into a little pond so they could swim (can guinea pigs swim?). I put them all in and they were having a grand old time splashing about. Then a weensy white one got out and said to me in a loud squeaky voice (sheesh - not only could they swim, they could also speak English!), "I want cheese!!" and I said "I'm sorry, honey, I don't have any cheese." and he said "But my mom always gives me cheese when I ask for it! Wahhhh!" Please discusss.

Peach - I think the fact that the girl said she would keep the money shows that she has poor decision making skills and can't see how her actions might affect her future. See also: getting pregnant at 16 etc etc etc. Can you imagine lying in bed at night and thinking "Wow, I now have $1900 that belongs to someone else in MY wallet!" I can't.

Must go wallpaper something despite being crampy and headachy. We are going to our friends' house for dinner tonight so at least I don't have to cook.

What an adorable dream?!! It reminds me of the world's greatest TV show (I think that's how it's billed) Kid Nation. Innocent children allowed to show their worst sides to the world. Did the guinea pigs (I remember guinea pigs in Germany ... they were adorable .. housed outside in the zoo) remind you of the kids you tutor?

I have a rant. I wanted to slug this guy yesterday. He's a bagger at the store, has lived in many countries, speaks many languages, is Jewish, and (in his mind) knows everything. He is SO annoying. Among his annoyances is his fascination with other people being Jewish. He thinks anyone with a Biblical name is Jewish. He asks customers if they're Jewish. He likes me because I married a Jew. So .. yesterday a customer comes through with two of those huge (50 lbs?) bags of carrots and meat and tons of veggies and fruit and some wine. No chips. Healthy eater. The wine was Manischewitz and he whispers to me "This is JEWISH wine!" The customer gets his cart unloaded and comes forward and the guy say to him: This is special wine!

Customer: Yes.

Guy: This wine is Jewish.

Customer: Yes.

Guy: Are you Jewish?

Customer hesitates: I'm a Messianic Jew.

Guy: Ohhhh.

So there's a little more conversation, everyone is polite and the customer leaves. Guy says to me "He bought those carrots because he is Jewish. I buy those carrots, too."

Well, so have I as they make great juice but I said, "People buy those carrots to feed their horses." This is true.

Guy: Noooo! Only Jews buy those carrots!

I could feel my hand curling into a ball. This same guy (if he's truthful) was at the Las Vegas show where Britney Spears made a fool of herself (was wonderful, he said), flies to Italy 4 times a year to buy clothes for his wifes shop, eats no meat and only fish he catches at his private beach. Yet, one of the cashiers said he bought things with food stamps.

End of rant.

The real reason we don't lose weight: to protect the integrity of our (in my case, imaginary) significant others:

Aha! I did not know that -- apparently I don't get any of those! Peaches, you must have linked the furminator, eh?
I hope it does all the laundry all by itself and stops bothering you with all that pesky folding and putting away!
Sounds like laundry to me. The cheese part comes from the stinky socks.
Oh yeah, had to be a man. I don't get it either. The guys (DH and the guy we were travelling with) spotted it first and said they thought the people were nudists. Leave it to a guy, eh?
Excellent snappy comeback!!! Wow, what an ***hole that guy is. Obviously a total liar too. He needs a muzzle -- anyone knows it's not right to pry into a stranger's religious affiliation. Well, they used to, anyway. I suppose in the days of George Bush that kind of rudeness and insensitivity is patriotic.
EEK! I guess we should be thankful for who was wearing the thong...

I am home alone today. Who knows what trouble I can get into? I should be working on my sewing project -- I am supposed to be fixing up some costumes for the high school play this weekend. I'd better get cracking.

You all are very amusing today though.

Kiwi