You're quite right, Wabbit, that thread was too long anyway. I didn't watch Last Castle yet, how was it? DH got this sudden urge to rent Blade Runner at the same time and he watched that last night.

Yeah, I would be happy to hire a contractor; I know perfectly well that we are not going to be doing the bulk of the work. Problem is contractors are few and far between around here and we have major work to be done and we can't agree on anything anyway. DH tried to make the choice of siding material into a make or break issue, which really made me so we had to stop talking about it. I mean that is totally inconsequential when you have a floor, ceiling and roof to replace. And I am not changing my mind anyway. Some things are not open to compromise. Especially after living in a dump for our entire marriage.

Uhoh, ranting again.

DD and her friend are practicing their song for the variety show audition. I hope they are picked -- last year she and 2 friends did a Destiny's Child song and were passed over. I can't believe she is teaching herself to play the guitar. And doing a good job of it.

How's Sugar doing today?? Hope not still sick

Kiwi

I am not engaged. yes, I am still unengaged. Whatever.

We saw The Full Monty which I did not know what it was about until too late. It was shocking AND it was the funniest thing ever. I recommend it everyone.

Also, visited Ellis Island which was quite an eye opener.

Now, I'm here. I gained two pounds.

Peaches! was Ellis island really interesting? My DH's ancestors came from Italy thru there and what with all the prejudice of the time, they took the name from the island. Otherwise my name would be Disdero. Isn't that fascinating?

Our neighborhood is battling over a porta potty. One neighbor is having a shop built so he had a porta potty delivered for his workmen to use. The other neighbor is having a fit because they think it's an eyesore. These are the neighbors that have trash thrown all over their place and raise pigs and goats. I think they need to get a life. We are trying to stay out of the controversy. If ppl want to battle over a porta potty, what hope do we have in the middle east?

A porta potty is much less of an eyesore than sweaty men taking a leak in the driveway. The neighbor should offer to remove the porta potty if the complaining neighbor is offering the use of their own bathroom for the workers.

I loved The Full Monty (the movie) -- you must see that too, Peachie. I'll bet the play was great. Did you buy me anything in NY?

Disdero, that's an interesting name. But being named after an island is sort of interesting too. I'll bet there a lot of people named after Ellis Island.

Kiwi
named after a fruit

if you go, Wabby and Kiwiy (not Canadians) to the Ellis Island website, you can EASILY type in a name and it'll show you pictures of the records with the answers to the questions your ancestors were asked. It was pretty touching. After giving up their lives and traveling "steerage" for weeks, people were judged by "six second experts" and their clothing marked with chalk if they were found unfit. They could limp, talk to themselves or wheeze after climbing steps and be put right back on the ship to go back without their family to the land they left in exile. Many committed suicide on the island (600).

I bought you some Korean bean cakes, Kiwi. When will you come get them? They are delicious. Yummmmm.

In less than 2 weeks, my baby and my sweetie go to Greece. A co-worker told him she saw the movie and there was a lot of dancing. She was talking about Grease. Pretty funny. He didn't get it of course.

I think porta potties are nicer than peeing in public.

Short and sweet - that's how I like my illnesses.

Last b'day party is over. It's customary here to have the party right on the the real birthday rather than waiting for a convenient day like Saturday, so yesterday was it. Ds insisted on only inviting two boys and one girl (he's antisocial like me) and of course one boy couldn't come at the last minute so we only had two guests which was fiiiiiiine with me! Instead of burping for the first half and hour like ds9s friends did, they only *talked* about people they knew who could burp on command AND they showed absolutely no interest in being wrapped in toilet paper. 6 yr olds are so civilized.

Ellis Island - wow, I didn't know all that. My dad came over on a boat with his brother. My mother came via Italy and Arizona but she's not Italian.

Peaches, we *must* do something about you being still unengaged (or is it disengaged??). Did you drop any hints?

Today I will exercise - I swear. And I will also start decluttering this dump. I can't stand it any more. I've been ignoring FlyLady and it shows. She should print more of those testy-monials. I love those.

I'm readingThe Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan. I just love her books.

Yep, I like Amy Tan too, Sugar. I loved The Bonesetter's Daughter.

I am soooo annoyed. I was up to a 5 lb. loss, and now this morning my scales say I've only lost 3 lbs. That's after 1 1/2 weeks! No fair! It's got to be lack of exercise because I've been a true blue dieter, the only thing I didn't count was the sample bites at Costco. If my walking buddy doesn't get well and start walking with me again, I might have to actually go by myself.

Our birthday season is just starting at my house. DS will be turning 19 on friday, then next month is DD (22) and yours truly (39 again!).

It's time for lunch. How does a salad & small chili from Wendy's sound?

I finally made my Fat Burning Cabbage Soup last night. Cut myself while slicing up vegetables. Dumped it all in the crock-pot (well, not the blood) and had some for lunch today. It's not bad, and certainly chock full of veggies. But I have a migraine, so I don't really care.

Glad you're feeling better, Sugar.

DD had her audition for variety show today. She was bouncing off the walls after she finished. Her friend says she really was literally bouncing off the walls. Slightly hyper. I guess they will most likely be in the show, so a little hyperness is forgiven.

DH has been letting DD use one of his guitars (don't ask me why he has 3 guitars that he never plays, probably the same reason I have a classical guitar I never play) and today she needed a case to take it to school with her, so we dug out this very old beat-up case with duct tape on it and a rope handle. When I picked up DD, she announced she had named the guitar Marvin and the case Duck. Weird.

Get out there and walk, Wabbity. I challenge you to walk tomorrow. If you do it, I'll do it (and I really don't want to). I don't even know where I'd go. The roadsides are clear, but my usually route is down the road, turn in at the road to the dam and along the lake and back up to my house. The part from the dam back to my house is still all snow banks. I guess I could take my snowshoes with me. The dog sure would be excited if I took her for a walk. Okay, everybody send words of encouragement.
Specially Wabbit!!!!

Kiwi

Kiwi, I promise to walk my doggie after work tonight. He will be sooooo thrilled that you made me go walking. Poor little Dotty dog will pout because she's not well enough to be taken walking yet.

I think I should try to ignore the scales and just concentrate on staying with my diet. The scales read up and down and I know it's nothing to do with real weight loss. On tuesday I had lost only 3 lbs. On weds. it said I had lost 6 lbs., now today it says I've only lost 5 lbs. The bad thing is that I let it affect my mood and motivation level.

There are 2 thirteen yr old girls missing in our little suburban town. Both live in the same apartment complex, both go to the same school and both are on the school dance team. They disappeared on the way to the bus stop, 2 months apart. This is so bizarre. Nothing ever happens like this here. Needless to say, there are no kids allowed to walk home from school, no kids hanging out on the streets.

How horrifying about those girls. Hope they catch the guy sooooon.

Wabby, your scales need a battery, I think. You're perfect and cute and deserve working scales.

I was just reading about those poor girls on the internet--the mother of Miranda was on the Today Show this morning---that is shocking!Is this the exact town you live in,or close by???I hope it's not like the creep from Ontario Canada who abducted two girls months apart---hopefully they will find Miranda quickly,as the creep from Ontario actually kept the girls alive for days---Sorry to be so macabre,but I 'm still upset about 7 year old Danielle from San Diego who was asleep in her OWN ROOM---sometimes this world really sucks---and then there's Andrea Yates!

Makes you sick to think about it.

Somebody was just telling me about 2 old ladies who were tied up, duct-taped, and robbed of their life savings in a town in Maine. Then the idiots who did it went on a spending spree in the same area and were caught (duh). Wish all criminals were dumber than posts, maybe it would be easier to solve cases like those girls.

Well, I still have a migraine, so the farthest I got was up the driveway to collect the mail. But don't let that stop you, Wab, the weather is improving around here and maybe I'll actually get out one of these days. I've never seen such an early spring in Maine; it's got to be a false alarm.

Kiwi

The apartment complex is about 2 miles from my house. The school that the girls went to is the same middle school that my kids went to. This is just a quiet little suburban town and I think the police here are way over their heads when it comes to handling something like this. I mean, the biggest crime around here usually is some kid stealing a 6 pack from a mini-mart. The FBI has been working on this, though, so maybe they can figure out what happened. I really think the police under-reacted when the first girl came up missing. They seemed to be treating the case like a runaway teen or something. Then when the second girl was abducted, they finally started taking it seriously. These apartments are low income housing (so lots of questionable types), they are built down in a wooded area, with a long wooded drive up to the main road where the school bus picks up the kids. Now the school bus finally drives down to the apartments to pick up the kids. It's a scary world out there, cows.

OK, Kiwi, you get off due to migraine pain. Can I get off the hook due to laziness???

That's just awful about those poor little girls, Wabby! There are some sick, evil people in the world. You'd think that in small towns someone somewhere would have seen something, but usually that's not the way it is. They still haven't caught the guy who was inviting little boys into his car in our town, and only 3,000 people live here. Our elementary school is a 7 minute walk from here, but I still freak out when ds9 comes home 10 or 15 mins late.

On a lighter note - I lost a pound! (besides the water ones that came off during the flu - those are back on) Whoopdeedoo. Wabby - even 3 lbs in a week is great, and I'm sure it's more like 5 - trust your jeans, not your scale! Do you have to report in to the dietician every week, or what?

Hey! The purple "smug" smiley is missing off my smiley list but it still works. How wierd.

Where's Peaches?

You changed your middle number!! Atta girl!

I visit the dietician every wednesday. I need a pep talk at least that often.

Today is DS's 19th birthday. We will be eating dinner out. Pray for control for me. DD & DS's gf are calling a truce in honor of the birthday. DD has refused to speak to the gf since DS got back together with her. This should be a fun night out.