well dd23 lives at home this term!! so i see her all the time and she works here at the shop!!---i just think it's wierd that all these universities in the same area wouldn't have the same break---they are all friends and like to do things together--but WHAT THE HEY!!! they are young adults and seem to party non-stop,so don't get me wrong--i am not feeling sorry for them!!!!----they are really wracking up the debt though---we couldn't afford to pay for school for them so they have student loans and lines of credit----there was a piece on 60 Minutes last week about Denmark=----the taxes are 50 percent in that country but all healthcare,maternity leave,childcare and university is paid for by the government----including second degrees-----AND the students are given a monthly allowance to live on while at school------now we have managed to get health care covered here and we have welfare but university is VERY EXPENSIVE------ I wish we could figure out how to fix that one!!

Ah, I'd forgotten she was living at home. Yeah, college is very expensive here too. We are in a fortunate position in that DD is getting financial aid due to the lack of income around here, but we have sufficient savings to pay the part we owe. If she decides to continue her education after Tufts, she will probably find herself in debt too. Not that I'd discourage her from it, by any means. Last thing she wants to do is cut short her education, but the choices may get tougher later on. Although if she gets this internship she's up for this summer, she will have a huge leg-up on a future job in government -- a security clearance and experience in a government agency.

Well, we have done the grocery shopping, and DH stocked up on gas for the generator just in case. So let it snow! http://images.jupiterimages.com/comm...7/23197758.jpg

I was ready to rant about the words running off the side of the screen when voila! (how do you like that french??? I'm so swab and debonair) it fixed itself!

My brother in law once actually asked if he looked swab and debonair. It's an inside joke around here. Gpa Jim used to say his kids were a bunch of ballbearians. Edumacated we aren't, but I think we have several family members who could have been president.

I love youz guys. Brrrrr! you northern women are tough.

Free thoughts:
Glad y'all are still around and thawed out.
Did you see Ellen Quindlin's essay in Newsweek about how the time when you REALLY loose your kids is when they graduate college and move off some place? She got it right, I think. You can still have some success making them come home during breaks and holidays until then. DD29 is heading to China in April, DS25 is busy deciding whether to stay in MA or move to DIL's hometown in Indiana. I'd like to go visit them, but have been accumulating chemo side-effects and have no energy, sore hips, and a gloomy outlook.

(Wabby, I can be in the dumps with you, if you like... and I feel I "ought" to be celebrating being alive. Eh... right now, it doesn't feel that much worth celebrating.)

I'm going to attach the framed version of a sheep I sold. I've started painting in oil... the original is only 6x8, but the purchaser wanted it twice that size, so I sent it off and had it "giclee'd."

Trying to decide whether to sleep of my sugary lunch, or go paint the cat. (a cat portrait, not the cat....)

Indeed you are Trez Swab, Wab. Ballbearians, indeed. :lol:

That's a cute sheepie. What is giclee'd? Are you talking about the framing job or did you have the painting resized? Is that even possible? Inquiring minds and all that.
Sorry to hear you are suffering the side effects and feeling carpy. I wish you energy!! :goodvibes
It's depressing to think that time will only stretch the distance between us and our kids, but I know you're right. I find myself thinking back to when I was my dd's age, and feeling bad about how cavalier I was with my family. Truth was, though, that I didn't feel very strong bonds with them. Fortunately they have strengthened over the years, but it must have been really crappy for my mother. I can only hope DD has more fond feelings for her dear old mom and dad than I had.

Well, we got a ton of snow last night, how about you, Bagz? I had to go out and pull DH and his plow out of a snowbank earlier. With my bare hands, don't you know. Yep, we're a tough lot. JK, I used my SUV :dizzy:

ohhhhi love that sheepie---he is a darlin!!!-----well,we got SNOW!!! and then for lards sake---RAIN!!! so now we are back to where we started----i took pics last night of the steps since i didn't take down my christmas trees from the porch---it looked like christmas-----CRAZY!!!!------i think since we live by the water,kiwonk,we tend to get alot more rain after the snow--cause when we went inland on the weekend,they had big snowdrifts all around-----i have not worn boots all winter---i hate boots and would rather have wet feet than have to wear them!!!!------painty--i am so sorry you are feeling like sh#t-----not fair at all---my friend with bc just finished chemo and is starting radiation----is chemo over for you??? I am sure the residual is not pleasant either--------------CRAP!

the snow on tuesday night and the sun on the ocean this morning....

Is that your house in the first pic?? Gorgeousssss. Why are you so talented? May I call you Bagz-o-chicken-bones just to be mean?

Guess what I ate for two days in a row. Dr. Oz's green drink that I found on the Oprah site. It has apple, parsley, spinach, other stuff and is ok. Pretty healthy huh? Celery, lemon and lime juice, cucumber, ginger root. That's all.

Just a brief check in-- Will feel better when I'm at the easel!
Giclee is a fancy word for inkjet copy!! :D So one can either scan the painting (when it is dry, of course) or take a photo and send the scan/photo to some magic place which has the aforementioned HUGE giclee printer (because they'll print them up to 48 inches on a side!) AND, the giclee company can print on canvas and then stretch it so can be framed, or they can stretch and wrap it so it can be hung without a frame (Like Z gallerie if you've been one of their stores). It was surprisingly inexpensive. And since they're working with electronic files at that point, they CAN resize the image.

It is my not-so-humble opinion that it is the parents' responsibility to act in such a way that their kids feel close and want to maintain contact. Now even terrific parents will probably want more contact than the kids WANT to give, but as I get older I am more and more aware of the things MY parents did that made me want to run for the hills. And I try NOT to do those things so that my kids will take my calls, answer e-mails and let me visit once in a while!!

I've lost track of how long it's been since the original Dx, chemo and radiation. 3 years, I think. But the Onc MD wants me to take Chemo-by-tablet (i.e. Tamoxifen) for 5 years. :( And while people don't usually talk about post-chemo meds they ARE equivalent to chemo and they do have side effects. Mine aren't "side" effects... they are butt and belly effects.
And what did that DO for you? It seems it would make you full of vitamins, but also full of gas. I don't watch Oprah or Oz... so please do tell!

Best to all, I'm off to the easel.

I'm not sure what is that drink would give you gas. Cucumber? I don't think any of the other ingredients could possibly and I don't have a problem with cucs. It fulfills a lot of that 5-a-day veggie fruit plan, puts chlorophyll into your poop and , as you said, adds vitamins plus fiber. I can't see anything wrong with it at all except you have to make it.

There's a cashier where I work who is older, experienced, sweet and good at her job. She has told two of the young women baggers that they can never again bag for her. She doesn't like how they do it. What bugs me here is that there are male baggers who do the same kind of job but she didn't say that to them. I still feel that women get treated differently from men in this world. I think that nut preacher who told me I wasn't saved would not have said that to a man or to a couple. I think a lot of the criticism given to Hilary is because she's a woman. We have one woman manager out of six in the store and she's perfect. But I think she has to remain perfect, more perfect than the men, to get ahead. She's beautiful, communicates well, treats everyone with respect and kindness. Compared to her, the men are moody. I feel like a feminist today. Going to burn my bra now.

Just be sure there are no breasts in the bra while it's burning. :-)

yes,don't throw the babies out with the bathwater!!!-----HEY KIWI---ARE YOU GETTING THE EFFIN STORM WE ARE EXPECTING TODAY----If it wasn't March today i think i may have to pack up for Bali today====this is TOOOO much!!---i agree,wabby--we northern women are troopers----BUT THERE IS A LIMIT!!!!! the march break starts today for the schools,so i am taking the week off to hang with ds----poor guy---he keeps hearing about all these people going off on TRIPS!!!!-----disneyworld,sugarloaf,sunday river----maybe we will go to moncton!~hahahahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaa i am at WORK and since there is a storm brewing,we likely will not be busy today---that makes me mad since saturday is usually the best day------my lardyloo i love to complain---speaking of which---i think it was mean of the aussie journalists to out Prince Harry----even the annoying British press had let him be-----oh well,i guess he had fun being normal for ten weeks!

wishful thinking
 

just dreaming of my spring pots

The strange case of the shrinking yard
 

Yep the white carp is coming down a mile a minute. DH is worried about finding somewhere to put the stuff! He has to plow a long driveway and clear out space in the yard to turn around and park the 2 vehicles, and it's filling up with snowbanks. It's ridiculous! He just came in from plowing and is contemplating calling a front-end loader to pick up some of it and take it away! He can't plow much of it out of the driveway without causing an extreme traffic hazard, so we have to find room for it here. You'd think you could move the snow back by pushing the top part of the banks with the plow, but those banks have hardened up and won't budge.

It's March and I think we need a new thread. Your flowers are sooo pretty Bagz. Maybe I'll do some seedlings this year; that would make it seem like spring might come someday.

Kiwi-- Please post on THIS thread when y'all change to a new title... so I can keep my "daily subscription" viable.
It was wonderful here today (sorry)... and I thought I would plant stuff tomorrow, but it's suppose to be windy and back down to freezing for Monday morning... so... I am off the gardening hook.
Unfortunately, the power surge from Friday's power blackout here fried my "MotherBoard." So all my email stuff is taking WAY longer than usual.
Any of you who want to be in my email address book can send me a PM, OK?
Or email me directly at 4dana(at)airmail(dot)net
Sigh.

this is a reminder painty that we are starting a march thread------come on over!!!