The Cowpower is turned back on
 

Somebody must have forgotten to pay the light bill around here......... Oh, if you read above, there was a server crash and we need to reconstruct the last 2 weeks............

Oh noes! All our scintillatin' posts are GONE! Oh well, we'll just have to start over.

Hi Wabs, how are ya? I'm fine.

Wow, I lost 3 weeks of my life, what will I do? Seriously, sometimes I think I should be archiving my posts because I can't remember anything from one week to the next. I have been known to search my own posts to try to figure out when I did something. My brain is enslaved to the computer. I am Borg. (obscure Star Trek reference)

My datter is busy packing with the help of her BF. She doesn't need my help, but his is indispensible. This is a good thing, right? It's just hard for me not to meddle.

My step-dad is in the hospital, with a serious abcess that may require surgery. Meanwhile my mom is recovering from hip replacement surgery and was released into the health care center at her retirement complex, for several days of rehab. My sis still has a few days of teaching left and is trying to juggle the kids and the parents. I'm thinking of flying down and giving a hand. I want to and I don't want to. I can't even think of leaving until after DD does, that would break my barely still together brain. So maybe Monday. Oy.

Peachie, did you tell me what program DS is doing? I remember the one he was going to do, but this is different, what?

I'm thinking of taking an online course called "The Keys to Effective Editing" -- I figure that editing is something I'm good at so if I take a course in it, maybe I can actually do something with it. I know, I'm a lame-o. But I've got to do something productive. And sorting my seasonal clothes just isn't cutting it.

Here's what I did during the 3fc crash, should I need to remind myself at a future date: I returned from Los Angeles, and regaled you all with tales of my travels. Oh yeah, and a lovely peecture. See? I'm remembering stuff. Then I went to the state democratic convention, which I also posted about. So basically I finally did something interesting, posted about it and crashed the site. Tada!

How about you?

Kiwi

wowo!!! that was weird!!! i thought you had all gone off and left me in the hudda fields!!! i cannot believe the last three weeks---three graduations and a wedding !!! i am sooooooooo tired---and tired of being tired----i simply cannot stay up late anymore!!! last night i went to a wedding an hour away from home up the moose highway---dd 22 and i went and stayed over night at my friend's place---aunt of the bride----she was in charge of closing up the residence ===it was held at the university---SO we got home around two thirty---and dd had to be to work at the golf course at eight am!!!| so we had a fifty minute drive ----i slept on a pull out couch from about three til SIX and then drove her to work----all day long i have been a zombie---she worked twelve hours and has now gone out with her sisters for dinner and hanging out and partying----GOOD LORD---HOW DO THEY DO THAT!!!---truth be known---i was once able----anyway,enough about ME!!_---glad that wabs started up the cowpower---and i feel your pain kiwi---with dd heading off in all directions----i didn't like it at all---it's hard---you are so happy for them but sad for you----well,i guess if i survived an EIGHT MONTH trip to denmark---we can manage somehow i guess---it's hard to believe that i didn't lay eyes on jo for that long-----the internet really makes you feel closer and you don't realize how great it is until someone is really far away------ahhhhhhhhhhhh igottagotobeeeedddddddddddd===see yassssssss

I think I remember that Bagz would not fly at one time. Now, she's all over the globe. Denmark, watch out. I think she'll make it one of these days.

DS is in a math internship at the University of West Florida. He got there today. There are 8 students .. 5 boys and 2 girls and 1 girl on the way. He seems happy about it. They went to dinner at a Thai restaurant. For two weeks, they'll be in rigorous sounding classes then spend six weeks doing research with an assigned professor. The study is in a biology area and I think it's breast cancer.

I am so stressed out. I snapped snapped snapped at an annoying woman today. Not a customer, a fellow employee. Two days ago, I was called on my way home from work and told that I had a check missing. Also, I was $100 short. Then they said, "No, you're only $5 off but the check is missing." Did I know where the check is? Well, no, the only place I put checks is into a drawer with a lock and I carry the key. "Did I hand it back to the customer?" Well, that's possible but how could I say "Oh, yes, I did!" Who would do that and remember it? So they "tore the office apart .... put me down $354 short which is the check plus $100." Next day, I looked under the D*****D drawer and there was the check. I did not sleep all that night.

Our new boss wants people trained for more stuff and I just feel like I'm not being trained by most people but partially trained by others and I'm SO confused.

My immediate questions about Kiwiette's summer:
1. Where is she housed?
2. Roommates?
3. They pay transportation?
4. What will she be doing?
5. Did she consider how freaked out we'd all be by this choice of major?

helllllppppp
 

Reasons why my tiny life sucks right now:

• I washed a bunch of whites and a red got in there.
• the top shelf and the clothing rod in my closet fell right on my head today - completely ripped out of the wall and everythings's all over the floor.
• I think I have an umbilical hernia, you know, like babies get. No joke. I was ripping out bushes on Saturday and now I have a weeeeeeird pain in my belly button and it feels like there's something in there. Eeeew. Making dh go to the doctor with me this afternoon. Not looking forward to diagnosis. If you don't hear from me it means I have gone under the kniferoonie. Ugh.
• Am still fatter'n all get out.

Well, forget all that. The doc says it's only a teeny tiny hernia and will probably go away by itself, no need to operate at the moment. But he said if I start having constant stabbing pain I should get myself to emergency pronto. How helpful. At least now I have an excuse not to carry around those heavy laundry baskets.

When will it go away? Did he say?

How did Kiwiette get to DC? She's gone, right? Did Kiwi go, too? I feel subhuman because of stressful holdings. Really, I feel that I'm pulled apart. My neighbors has a weinerdog/hound mix that thinks my yard is hers. They don't fence her and we live on a county highway. Anyway, they leave her outside and when she sees me, she barks and growls and approaches running. If I call to her, she yelps and runs home, only to return immediately.

DS just called. There are 4 male/4 female in the program. Very good, I think. Politically correct.

Politically correct is good. Also good so they can pair up if they go out on the town. Nothing like being the third wheel.

Sounds like you need to introduce that wiener dog to some tasty snacks so he'll love U 4 ever.

Doc didn't say it would go away, only that he hoped it wouldn't get bigger. Hmm. We shall see. I'm trying not to cough or sneeze or make any sudden movements. Weird feeling. Like somene constantly poking you in the belly button. Much like FaceBook.

Here's some jokes I found while googling "umbilical hernia". You may laugh for me because I'm afraid to.

*************************************************

A mushroom walked into a bar and ordered a drink. The bartender harshly replied, "We don't serve you kind here!"

"Why not?" asked the mushroom. "I'm a fungi." :carrot:

********************************************

Snow White took her camera to Wal-Mart's photo develop center and went shopping for a while. When she came back, the clerk told her, "Sorry Miss White, but we lost your photos." As she began to cry, the clerk panicked and hastily reassured her,

"Please don't cry! Someday your prints will come.":broc:

SOCK!

Great jokes, I think. Just the thing to heal a hernia, too.

I hear thunder. It's not raining. I'm telling myself, half-heartedly, that I'm going to FWB to the ashram for a class with the swami. But ... I'm so so so blah.

Where is Bagz? I need her counsel. Or PAINTY .. a real counselor. Where or where can they be?

OK: I want to put jokes here, too.:

How do crazy people go through the forest?
They take the psycho path.

How does a spoiled rich girl change a lightbulb?
She says, "Daddy, I want a new apartment."

What has four legs, is big, green, fuzzy, and if it fell out of a tree would kill you?
A pool table.

LOVE the pool table one. Even chuckled a bit. Hope I don't explode.

Yes, where IS Bagzie? She knows everything.

Um, hello. Where is my post? I sat in bed last night typing up a long post; I commiserated with Sugar, I blabbed on for several paragraphs. I did. I know I did. It is not here. Please do not tell me I forgot to hit Submit. Perhaps we should request that Suzanne put big red pulsing buttons at the bottom of the post for those of us who are too braindead to hit the send button.

I am in ****'s Underarm. Oh I'm sorry, N. C. I mistook all this beastly heat and humidity for someplace else. I spent the morning looking after my sister's youngest who was too sick to go to school today, then I spent all afternoon moving my parents out of their respective hospital like settings back into their home. At one point I got in a car that had been sitting out in the sun for a few hours and the temperature read 111. It is not fit for human activity, that's for sure.

Hope Sugar is on the mend? Or is that too optimistic?

My sister is singing. With hand gestures. While she does the dishes.

DD is safely in her internship program. She was sworn in as a member of the Executive Branch of the Government yesterday. She loves the program, it seems.

I'm not sure I get the whole concept of the Peachboy's math internship where they do medical research, but I clearly don't have a clue about higher math -- I asked DD's bf what he is taking next fall for classes and I couldn't understand half of what he was saying :lol:

Talk atcha later
kiwi

be careful down there kiwonk---i heard there are tornadoes all over the us-----you too peach and wabs----we even had some tornado warnings in upper nb this past weekend----

Kiwidd is part of our government?? Is her life sort of like West Wing now?

I still want to know her living arrangements and who else is in the program.

Why is no one posting? Is there a good excuse?

For some reason I keep forgetting to put the word "be" in my posts.
 

Yes, I think DD's summer is going to be exactly like The West Wing. She even has her own cubicle at the FBI. She is staying at and taking classes at George Washington Univ. She has a dining card to cover her whole summer that she can use all over the place. It comes to $20/day. Also she has a metro card for public transportation. It's a sweet deal. What I didn't know until she started the program is that this is the first year that it has run. Although it has been 3 years in the making. So there are a few kinks to work out, like getting all the clearances needed for their work. She actually has Top Secret Clearance :eek: Weird.

It's a little less horribly hot today. My sis and I went to a neighbor's house for her Ladies Bible Class Circle meeting tonight. There was wine, snacks and swimming in a lovely salt-water pool. The only requirement was to bring a favorite bible verse. :chin: I brought Proverbs 27:14. It seemed appropriate.

My parents are doing well. Mom is getting around no problem in spite of the walker. She'll probably be back driving and off the walker in less than a month. My stepdad is somewhat problematic. He seems to be on the mend with what sent him to the hospital, but is still having wide swings in his blood pressure. He says that absolutely everything is very very hard to do. He who did gardening the same afternoon I brought him home from the hospital. :shrug: Not exactly a complainer.

Oh I forgot to answer your other question. Who is in the program. Mostly college students, a few high school students who are completely fluent in Arabic and at least one recent college graduate with previous experience interning for the FBI. 20 in all.

:wave:

Another thing I forgot to tell you, Peaches, Dooce is vacationing in your neck of the woods. Perhaps you have never been a fan of dooce, but I am. If she was vacationing in my neck of the woods I would go see her. Because I think she's very cool. And her daughter is very photogenic. She is visiting the beach town of D____ and today she went parasailing. The internet is a very strange thing.

Peaches, the only excuse I have for not posting is a total snorefest of a life.

What I've been doing lately........ Painting a couple canvasses w/ Vincent and the almost-done-baking-baby's name (Brody)..... kind of like these http://www.shopsmallwords.com/index2.php?v=v1 ..... and shopping for my friend's new baby girl, Ella.... and of course I had to buy something for each of my babies too, and I baked a birthday cake for my nephew and celebrated by eating too much pizza.... and hosting a birthday bbq for my son in law last weekend, and I'm going to my niece's hi skool graduation next Saturday...... oh, and trying to figure out what my plan is for the rest of my life..... and sewing the new baby's crib bed skirt and window valance, plus a bunch more bibs and burp cloths. My son's gf is due any time now. She's a teeny little thing w/ a round little beach ball tummy. DS and she have asked me if I'd babysit one day a week.... I'm considering..... ha - you know I'll say yes.

My niece who is now living w/ me is doing really well. So far, so good, anyway. I went w/ her last week to watch her daughter (my great niece) perform in dance & drill team.... my word, the girls never moved like that when I went to school in the dark ages. :o

Kiwi, DD will make a lovely Mata Hari. So, you're saying she won't tell even her mother all the Top Secrets??? That would be weird.

Bagzie, we don't generally get tornadoes here. We have volcanoes instead. The last eruption was the year DD was born, so I don't spend too many sleepless nights over it.

Those canvasses are really cool, Wab. I want to see what Vincent's and the new baby's look like!!! I wish I could do something like that. I can letter pretty well, but I just don't have an artistic bent to be able to put together something good looking like those.

ta

Wow. Exciting summer for Kiwiette. DS's program only pays a little more than $100 per week for food. Maybe food is cheaper here? He seems to have no idea where the four girls live or what they do but the guys went to a jazz festival and parade so far with canoeing in the near future. With a kid like DS, it's always been a goal to get him around people "like him" and this seems to be happening now. By "like him" I mean with similar reasoning abilities and who value things like correct spelling.

Wabbo also is having a good productive summer. I wish I had a sweet niece to come live with me. The canvases look fun.

Never heard of Dooce before but will look for her in the store. She has to shop in our store so I've probably already sold her a lottery ticket. When will she leave?

DS and his roommates went out yesterday and returned to find their apartment flooded.

Me: What part was flooded?

DS: the bathroom and kitchen. A toilet was stopped up.

Me: What did you do?

DS: Well, we had a mop but no wringer so there wasn't much we could do.

Me: I would suggest throwing down all the towels you all have, wringing them out and throwing them down again til the water is off the floor.Then wash the towels.

DS: The towels are soaking up the water. (Apparently this takes hours or days or something.)

Me: Just throw them down, get them wet and wring the water out in the sink. Then put them back down. Do this over and over.

End of conversation.

Peaches! your boy's story gave me a giggle. What would they do without their mothers?

I've finished Brody's canvas except for spraying it w/ a coat of matte sealer. It turned out soooo cute! It didn't take any talent, Kiwi. In fact the lettering was even a cheat. I enlarged the font on my word program to 350 (you go to the highest size, highlight it, then type in 350 manually and it will make it huge if you want) then I used carbon paper to transfer it to the canvas. The colors I used were hijacked from his bedding (I made the crib quilt too) so whoever designed the print in the fabric did that job for me. Now I'm working on Vincent's, but the colors in his bedding are more muted, so I hope it turns out as well.

The good news here is that the sun is finally shining. The bad news is that I don't fit into my summer clothes. It depresses me, so I think I'll go have a little snack to make me feel better.

Wabby, I don't have any delusion that the towels are not still on the floor sopping wet. He had no interest in my stupid ideas.

You made the crib quilt??? Have we seen it??? I don't think so!!

I don't fit into anything but elastic waists. What to do?

All my shorts have elastic waists. Well, all the shorts that fit. There's a big surprise. DS's sopping towels made me laugh too. I remember that most boys that age were completely clueless too. And yet somehow appealing.

Speaking of appealing, my nephews and niece are adorable, have I ever mentioned that? The oldest boy had gotten very dark-haired and is quite a strikingly handsome boy; the middle one has this rock hard athlete-type body and is cuter than the day is long with his 2 giant front teeth. Then the little girl who just turned five, with her very cute blonde curls and big brown eyes -- it's a good thing she's cute because she has the most demanding, loudest voice EVER. We all went to the lake today to go swimming and hang out on the beach. It was hot hot hot. Swimming was nice, but the sun was hot hot hot. I'm tahrrrrd.

You make that project sound downright plausible, Wabbit. Did you have to stretch the canvas or did you buy it all mounted?

I have to help my stepfather buy a new TV tomorrow. I think it's going to be a day for patience and teeth grinding.

Kiwi

here is the blog i was talking about dooce I can't really type my puter is on my belly and jiggles a lot. nnight nght

Yes, I found dooce all by myself just by typing in her name.

Update on DS: the water is off the floor. Maintenance people came and fixed the toilet, made all the burners on the stove work and gave them another shower head so they didn't have to unscrew the one and move it back and forth from bathroom to bathroom. He came home yesterday for a few hours to pick up stuff. He seems to be in nerd heaven.

But at least he can spell!! Good to know that all is nearly perfect in nerd heaven now. I bet he's going to have the time of his life.

Hey, wait a minute - did they change our category on us? I had trouble getting here from my usual link and found us on page 2. Weird.

Just spent two days packing ds15's stuff for Outward Bound in Austria. I would have let him do it himself, but he is 15, you know? They have a 7 hour train trip in front of him and we're giving him lots of snacks so he doesn't starve.

Page 2? What is that? I couldn't find the thread, either, without linking to it.

Where is Bagzzzz??? Should I call her? Maybe she can't find us either.

How about that? I had this thread on my User CP, but it looks like we have been moved to Support Groups. I don't know; I don't feel like a support group, do you?

I only have one more day here in Hotland. I think I got sunburned yesterday; I felt like carp all day today. I've done a lot of little things for my parents, plus hung out with the niece and nephews here at my sister's. They are sooo much work -- I'm not even sure whether I'm talking about my parents or my sister's kids. Sitting around at my parents' house makes me just want to go to sleep, whereas the kids are exhausting in an entirely different way.

DD is having a great time apparently. She left an update on her facebook that says "having a great time working for the Man". She is apparently as much in her element as Peach's DS is.

Outward Bound sounds very exciting. Will he be wearing leather shorts?

I forgot to bring my camera here. Today we had Father's Day dinner at my parents' place -- my sis and I brought everything with us to cook. We made a gorgeous scalloped potato casserole. She put sprigs of fresh rosemary on top before it baked: it really was a piece of art. We "borrowed" my dad's camera and took a picture of it. I'm sure he will be somewhat puzzled when he downloads his photos to his computer and finds potatoes.

Talk atcha soon
Kiwi

Okay, I guess I get it. I can't remember where Misc. groups was before, hadn't it been right under Support Groups for a while? But anyway they seem to have done away with the Misc. heading and put us all on the Support Group page, but on the bottom half under the large groups. But there are so many miscellaneous threads that we are drifting to the 2nd page until someone posts. Now we are on the first page again. The best way to find it is to subscribe to the thread (under thread tools) and go to your User CP page.

ok, i found it by searching for my name.

How can I tell if the power was off for hours today? The house was at 82 when I got home. I turned the a/c off and on and technical stuff like that and now it's down to 80 so I guess it's cooling off. But when I got home, the air coming out didn't feel cool. Felt like air when the window is down in the car.

I am so depressed. My new 26-yo boss never smiles or says hello or anything at all. He had told me that everyone in the "office" had to learn the whole office or be removed from the office. I thought that was ok as I'd like to learn . Today. I asked him if I'd be trained and he said "I don't know. Honestly, I don't know how long you'll be up here." I asked why and he cocked his head and repeated "Why?" So .. once again I have a boss who hates me (although this one hates many) and I have no clue why. De Pr Es Se D.

Oh man, another sucky boss? That....sux. Have DS go in and beat him up for you.

We've been watching old Dharma and Greg episodes here at Chez Sis. Funny.

I'm leaving at 6:45 tomorrow am so I'd better get to bed. Tata See you at the home front, where the dialup is slow, but the house is mucccccccccchhhhh quieter. :(

Oh, and I'll have to restart that healthy diet again :o Eek. We went out to dinner tonight to a place where kids eat free and they had an appetizer special if you bought 2 entrees (we bought 3) -- this is something I've never seen before and probably should never see again -- it was a giant pile of homemade potato chips topped with nacho cheese and salsa. Scary.

Of course it was good. Why do you ask? :lol:

Kiwi

I love Dharma and Greg! That appetizer sounds wild. I actually saw a Martha Stewart recipe for something called potato nachos where you substitute oven-baked potato wedges for the tortilla chips.

My post from yesterday got eate. There was even a YouTube link to lederhosen-wearing men. Maybe 3fc's deleted it?

Peachy - when our power goes off the digital clocks go all blinky. You got any of those? The new boss sounds AWFUL. Why would he say something like that? You need to find his weak spot or his soft spot or something and poke him good and hard.

I think Bagz is probably busy with her 17 kids and 168 loads of laundry.

They painted our building "ginger glow" which looks a lot like "nacho cheese."

No. The clock in the bedroom was right. The kitchen one was blinky but usually is. The house cooled down but it's weird. I don't need something else to worry about.

I know. I really hate him. He never smiles. Never greets his employees. I don't know at what point he decided he didn't like me, but I do recall him asking someone else (asst manager) what I was doing when I was standing right there and he could have asked me. Even the people who really really did not like our former boss, wish he were back. He has taken a young man who was a bagger, made him a cashier and two weeks later is making him office staff. To replace me, maybe. It's not like he didn't deserve it because he's worked there a long time and earned it and does a good job but it's just the quickness of the boss' decisions. I am stresssssssssssssed.

I went to the ashram yesterday. I totally like the swami but find myself not liking myself there as I keep thinking some of the other people are pretty dumb and full of themselves. Like the doctor in the expensive shirt with "om" on it. And the woman who couldn't give up long showers.

Ok. Must go to work. Boss is not scheduled to be there. One lovely person has quit largely because of him but I don't know if she said that. She's really young (college age) and has rheumatoid arthritis and the stress is making ti worse.

Bumping this to the top for easier location!

Cool. I want to go to an ashram. Can you just walk in and join something? I wouldn't worry about your opinion of the other people -- it's part of the process, right? Learning to detach. Does the lady who likes long showers have to stop liking them? I think I'd be a real mess at an ashram, since I find most new agey things to be complete b.s., even though I can appreciate the real basis for spiritual journeying.

My sis has an in-law who is a religious fundamentalist, complete with controlling husband, home-schooled children and a farm with everything "natural". As in, they have a passel of barn cats and kittens who they can't even let the kids play with because they have worms, but they won't take any of them to the vet OR have any of them neutered to stop the ugly cycle. Most of these cats die very young of disease or are eaten by something bigger. Their explanation of this cruelty is that it's "natural". As in "the lord will provide". This makes me very angry, because religious or not religious, they are responsible for these domesticated animals who live in their barn and their neglect is reprehensible.

Oh well. Lotta good it does for me to rant.

I've been trying all afternoon to update my antivirus, now after hours, it "failed". I hate dialup.

Sugar, 3fc might possibly not have wanted youtube links? Although I've seen them in other posts. Anyway, I went to your blog and saw the dancing liederhosen men while I was at my sis's house. Very funny. Also loved the yodeling -- those photos were so lovely and dated, made we want to visit. In the 60s. :lol:

I don't like the change they made to this forum. I'm going to request a voluntary Miscellaneous group or something.

Kiwi

Sick animals are natural? In ****, maybe.

I would appreciate a miscellaneous group. What was wrong with it?

And ... you can't call Hindusim new age can you? Isn't it really really old? I think it may be the oldest of the group.

So .. just to bore you (don't read) I am the lowest of a group of people at work and therefore have been made to look stupid many times by having to follow their orders. Today. Person X started making a refund on my terminal then walked to the meat department to get something to exchange for the customer. This left me with no terminal to use. Cashier Y needed change and gave me five $20s. I put them in the lottery drawer and gave her $90 in $5s and $10 PLUS took a roll of quarters out of my locked drawer and gave her that. This made my till $10 short and the lottery $10 over. I called after work, was told I was $10 short and explained all this. Will they fix it for me or will the axe fall? I feel a guillotine is hanging over me.

Peach, is there any other stores in town who may want a brilliant person such as yourself to work for them? Have I asked this before and you told me that Dogpatch only has one store? Sometimes it makes sense to beat them to the guillotine.

My old dog is not better. I'm worried that I might have to put him down. This is not a decision that I want to make on my own.

Here's my rant ..... a 16 yr old boy was allowed to die from a urinary infection because his parents belong to this screwy Followers of Christ Church here in town and they don't believe in medical intervention. They prayed over him, with other members of their church until he died. Last month, a couple from this same church were found not guilty of manslaughter when they allowed their 18 month old daughter to die from an antibiotic treatable illness. These ppl are crazy and they just keep getting away with allowing their children to die. It's one thing if you're of legal age and you make your own decision to refuse medical intervention, but these kids have no choice. P*sses me off more than unspayed kitties. Can you believe this is going on?????

I was supposed to pick up Kaydy at 4 pm today, and no one came with her. Apparently something came up and they forgot to call me and let me know. Grrrrr. It's made me cranky. I needed a Kaydy fix.

Absolutely, but aren't some of the people who go there into every single new age thing that comes along?

That's just so sick, it makes me so angry. I can't understand why they are allowed to get away with obstructing medical treatment for someone else, even it is their own child. If they were beating the child, the courts would step in, why is this not a crime? Sickening.

I have just bought an online course. In Editing. Something productive to do for the summer. It starts today.

kiwi

So you're taking a class in something you can already do. Very clever. DS always resented the native Spanish speakers in his Spanish classes. Same thing. I protest your grade.

I can't believe anyone outside that religious group could've known about the boy's illness and the law not have gone in and got him. Poor child. Kiwi, do your sis's in-laws think it was natural for all the Indians to die from smallpox? Sometimes people mess with stuff, like keeping unhealthy kitties and not taking care of them, and call it God's will.

I dunwanna go to work.