Hi girls! Sorry I haven't been around all week. Life has been insanely busy. I thought I'd do a real quick post. Technically its still Sunday but I thought more people might see me if I just start it as Monday-plus the weekend is mostly over so a weekend thread would be silly.

We are leaving tomorrow afternoon to go home for the holidays. Home is 2.5-3 hours away. We are going to be in for a very very hectic time. Most of our familylives within an hours raduis so we spend the whole time driving from place to place trying to visit everyone a little bit. When we get home we are going glow bowling & both sides of our family have been invited. We're hoping this little gathering will help us to visit lots of family in a short time. Christmas is too complicated & we spend so much of the day driving that it feels like we don't get much visiting in. We both have to be back to work for the 28th but are planning on coming home in the early part of the day on the 27th b/c we need some time at home to recoup from our hectic travels. Needless to say I have a ton of things to do today to get ready to go. I really shouldn't even be on here but I just had to pop in.

Jayne, so sorry to hear about your loss. I'm thinking of you. I hope you get through the holidays ok.

Belle, wtg on a new century! My Dad & I have the same thing going on too. In fact if I didn't have two half-siblings living with him I doubt I'd have much to do with him. He doesn't even know me. Last year he appologized to me for being such a crappy father which I never thought i'd hear. He was vry broken up about it. I have never seen my Dad feel guilty about anythiung in his entire life b/c he's always out for himself so that was very shocking & a little gratifying. Of course I still think he doesn't get what it was really like for us. I know being a weel adjusted mid-20s gal I should be over this but it really does impact your life. Unfortunately I see my brother behavcng the same way with his fiancee & it makes me so mad. Whay are ya going to do?

KT DH & I think that Zach should get 900K & Flo should only get 100K. THat would be more fair. On Survivor I was glad Clay didn't win but Bryan didn't impress me. Helen & Jan are so silly naive etc. They should have talked! Argh! Anyway I'm glad its over too but I really wish it was AR that's starting in Feb again & not Survivor. Oh well. THe amazon should be interesting.

Kim glad you're back. If you get new jobs would you & dh be at the same paper? Seems to me last I heard you weren't at the same paper but that was awhile ago. Did that change?

Lori, Did your friend's sister show up? I hope that things are better with them. Did you talk to DF about saving money for kids yet? Even if he isn't thinking about kids he could be thinking about a house. If you don't start saving yuou'll never get there so why not start? That's how my mind works anyway. I know too
well guys are bizarre.

Tonya hope your move went smoothly and that you will feel a
little less stressed now.

Kirsty have a grand time at home. Hope your flight etc went smoothly.

Jen, enjoy your holiday where you can eat lots! heehee! Do you get to take some time off?

LoriD Hope everything is ok with your thyroid. Is your nausea getting any better? Hope you are able to enjoy Christmas dinner anyway. Have fun in New York.

Ali, thanks for the boy update. let us know if anythign else develops.

All you other girls that I missed -sorry- & have a super holiday! May your Christmas be blessed! Take care all! I'll be back Saturday.

Hey,

I'll post too... Yeah it's been a busy week, I work tomorrow and tthen I am free for almost two weeks. I got my grades back and did very well so I am a happy camper...

Rina: well hmmm, I think the boy is comfortable the way things are, but hmm, well I am not liking it. There's zero commitment to each other right now since we're just friends, but I really do like him adn well we certainly do more than what friends so. I do plan to talk to him about it though.... Basically if he doesn't ever see what we have as having any potential, I am bailing (not on the friendship)... All I know is 2003 is my year to shine So if he wants to join me for the ride sure... if not I'll get over it.

Just remember ladies, make 2003 your year to shine Be true to yourselves, respect yourself and what not:P

Hi to everyone else

Ali

Remember those old commercials "Its 7 pm...do you know where your kids are?" I alwaysused to think they should play that at 9 or 10. I mean really...7pm???

OK so a couple of things.

My friends' sister came home. Lots of stuff happened, long story, and she is going into a drug rehab center after school and counselling as well. She is having problems with other family members (ie a mother who doesn't want her, a dad she never sees, and a brother who is in a gang and does drugs) and admitted to her sister that she has taken it out on her and that she is sorry. So she is going along with the drug rehab/counselling. I am very happy that things worked out this way. She is a smart girl too, very bright, and has a very good future as long as she takes care of herself.

About DF, no I haven't talked to him yet. I am waiting until after Christmas. It is too hectic right now to talk about anything like that! But I have decided since we have a couple days off of work afterwards that I will sit down and have a talk with him then. Hoping it will go well!

Ok, last thing. I had THE WEIRDEST dream last night. I dreamt that there was this large black void sort of engulfing the whole world. When people walked into it or when it swallowed up people, they disappeared. If they were screaming and jumped in, the scream would stop mid-scream. So for some reason I was on the west coast of the US in a shopping mall with DF. And I kept saying "let's take a boat out on the water and avoid it as long as possible" and he kept refusing. He said that it would take us sooner or later and that I have to accept it. I told him there were so many things I hadn't gotten to do in my life that I wanted to do and I wasn't just going to let that thing take me without knowing what it was going to do to me. The next thing I remember was thinking that this thing had already engulfed the whole east coast which meant that my parents and all my friends were gone. Next thing, the void shows up and Jay is going to run into it and just let it take him and I shouted at him to stop. He did and told me to stand with him and let it take us. I had to accept that it was going to happen. Next thing I know I wake up.

So my conclusion is that this "void" symbolizes death. I am not religious, was not raised with one, and do not believe that anythign happens to us after we die. I really think my dream symbolizes my fear of that "unknown". Any comments here? I woke up at 5:30 AM and ended up just getting up and coming into work. I have never had a dream that has scared me so badly like this one did.

So now that I have weirded you all out, how is your Mnday morning??

Hi everyone. One more day at work and then I'm gone until January 2nd. That will be nice. I'm done shopping and wrapping and only have a little bit of baking left to do. It will be nice to get through the holidays and get back to normal. I went for a run on Friday at lunch and I will go again today - just starting so that it's easier to motivate myself in the new year.

Rina - Sounds like a hectic holiday. I'm glad my family is so close (less than 20mins) I also don't have to do the multiple family thing this year so that will make things easier. Wierdest thing, watching TV at about midnight Friday night, one of the regular channels was playing Brian's soft core porn! He was much younger and not that good of an actor, but man it was strange. I'm going to stay away from the next survivor I think. (I say that every time so we'll see)

Ali - congrats on the grads! It's nice to actually see your hard work pay off isn't it?

Lori - It sounds like your friend's sister is on the right track. OK so dreaming about the great unknown, that can mean so many different things on so many different levels, it could symbolize the future because that's unknown. There's DF waiting and letting the future come and you're the one who wants to keep things the same. Just because we don't know about something, doesn't mean that something is bad. All in all though, wierd dream.

OK - I'm going to surf the net for a bit. I'll be back and forth all day if anyone feels like coming out to play.
KT

Just wanted to pop in and wish everyone a wonderful Holiday season!!