TerriDoodle

It's 8:20 here and our doorbell has only rung 5 times. sigh. Kids today just have no idea what they're missing...here in Houston, anyway. When i was little we lived in Lafayette, LA and every house was a different 'treat'.... hot chocolate, haunted houses, candied apples, home-made bean bags, fresh cookies, etc. We'd run from house to house and come home with 1/2 a pillowcase full of stuff. I guess every neighborhood is different. Hope everyone is having a great night with the kids!

No, it can't.

You can give it to local charities that give Christmas toys away...they use the candy to stuff stockings!!

....like when clearly the post has no relevance or adds no value to the OP's question or concern. Like this: OP Question: I am having trouble finding a good fish recipe I like...can anyone help? Response: I hate fish! Fish makes me gag! Can someone explain the purpose of this? I mean, if you don't like fish, then why dont you just move on to the next thread? Who really cares what makes you gag or not gag???? I know I don't.

Yes, it IS very good in Tomato soup...i'd forgotten that! I eat 4% (full fat) cottage cheese also....the 2g of fat you save eating the other just isn't worth it to me. I eat it with strawberries, blueberries, pears, pineapple or raspberries and 3 packets of Splenda. I eat it just about every day for one meal or another :-)

Just realized I didn't make my exercise goals this month! I was doing really well til a week ago, then all hell broke loose. It was a beautiful wknd (and all week) but I haven't been able to do a darn thing for myself. Oh well. Such is life.

Pamela - I hear you. I'll call you before I do anything. It won't be for awhile...we've got some time, I think! If necessary I can take a leave from work...I've been here 20 years for cryin' out loud. Time for a little payback. My kids are officially done with Halloween, thankfully. We have a rule that once you hit your teens your much too old to go trick-or-treating. Their schools didn't do anything special for it either. Those costumes you describe would totally freak me out!! Doesn't your school have 'standards' of appropriateness for things like that?? The school district we're in would never allow those costumes at a school function....they are sooooooo strict when it comes to dress code and showing skin or clothing (t-shirts) that is offensive, violent, satanic, etc. Of course, that doesn't change the fact that whether the school allows it or not, it IS within their culture and mindset. I don't blame the parents so much as I blame TV and the media. Even the commercials are sickening....erectile dysfunction and KY Jelly commercials. They all make me sick. As a result, i've had to be very honest about the facts of life with my kids from a young age....far younger than what made me comfortable. My recurring message over and over is "safe sex and only when you're ready for a family!" New low on the scale today...but just a tiny drop....to 183.4. I'll take it, especially considering I've been eating crap. Tonight it's fish and asparagus, dammit!! That is, unless i have to go to the hospital to retrieve my mother!

Hi Everyone! Well I feel a bit better after getting back from a visit with Mom in the hospital. She looks soooooo much better today! They pumped her up full of steriods, antibiotics and fluids and it's working! They did rule out pneumonia, which is always a big worry. Kat, she is a very good patient and doesn't squawk about having to go to the hospital. (I think she likes the attention ) I think she will be discharged tomorrow....hopefully will go to my sister's house for a day or two, then maybe back here. I dunno yet. We may just get by with making some modifications to make her house safer and a bedside potty for night-time...and a caregiver 2-3 times a week for laundry, errands, etc. Just not sure what she will be capable of yet. Nevertheless, we do need to come up with a PLAN as the level of her disability increases. A caregiver thru an agency is $17/hour. She doesn't have much money left, and I've got a kid heading for college very soon....I'm starting to freak just a little bit! One bridge at a time, eh? Work is just such a horrible, sad place to be right now. We got a few more details from the report that was in the paper, but still the exact circumstances of the accident are a mystery. What we do know is that he had taken a friend home, it was 5:00a on Sunday morning and he jumped the curb for 200 ft, then hit a tree, then a railroad embankment, then the car burst into flames. The body was badly burned before the VFD could get to him. The report said he was killed on impact. The body is being autopsied. The parents are not doing well at all, as you can imagine. There will be a memorial service on Saturday. It's kind of unfortunate that several of his close friends will not be able to attend as they play football for Univ. of Texas. I was considering asking my son to go with me to the funeral so that he could perhaps learn a valuable life lesson. He is taking the SAT that day, but I will make sure he hears allllll about it. I have been eating nothing but junk for days. The stress has been kickin' my band and I just have this 'who cares' attitude right now. Amazingly, I weighed 184.0 this a.m. Kat - Kinsey is in my prayers...poor baby. Did you say she was a preemie? So that's why she is so tiny, huh? I have a neice like that, too. Smart as a whip, though...and she's 15 now. Jenn - so glad to see the money is coming in! Did the state help you get it or what? Hi everyone else -- I'm tired and have to get to bed. It'll be another very long day tomorrow. XOXO!

Michelle - Did you get all the info you needed? What's next?

Morning Everybody - I'm at work, feeling exhausted and depressed as hell. I know everything will work out in time, but for now it's all just kind of surreal. I'm glad to have you all in my corner.

Hi Girls- Sorry...I'm just so tired I can't even remember what I just read. Judy, Denise & Jenn -- I do remember that you all looked so great in your pics!!! Major congrats to you all! The office was horrible this morning...everyone was so morose and the phones were ringin off the wall. Had to leave at 11:3o to take my mom to the hospital...they'll fix her up there. She's really tired. I can't keep my eyes open to type. I'll check in tomorrow. Ne!

Or you could blame your financial planner if you feel the need to "explain"...and just say that he's got it tied up in funds that would sustain heavy penalties and only have emergency funds in a liquid account. Or just say, "I'm sorry but I make it a policy to never lend money....I'm much too conservative for that."

Hi all. Well, mom is going to check into the hospital tonight, if they can find a room for her...waiting on a phone call now. She's not worse, but not much better either. It basically boiled down to the fact that both my sister and I HAVE to go to work tomorrow, and she probably should have been admitted Friday anyway. I did work hard on getting her rehydrated which is a huge issue for her. She is stubborn like a mule when it comes to getting fluids in and I finally got angry with her and said, "Mom, you're willing to feel like crap, willing to take 12 different drugs, willing to go to the doctor 2x a week...but you're not willing to do the one thing that will make you feel MUCH better and that is to simply drink more fluids???" I think a lightbulb finally clicked on and yesterday she drank. Today, not so much. She's weak and lethargic and is on oxygen 24/7 now. She's had several falls and fortunately none have resulted in broken bones, but it's just a matter of time! She had one Thurs. night (at home alone) in her bathroom and said she was on the floor for 2 hours before she could get up. So, obviously, we have some big decisions to make here in the next few days and weeks. Then....about an hour ago I got a call from my boss saying that our CEO's 22 yr old son was killed in a car accident last night. I work very closely with the CEO, too, and know his son well. This is a horrible tragedy, obviously... the boy's mother is what I would call "fragile" anyway and I can't imagine how in the world she will cope with this. It's just horrible, horrible news. So I HAVE to go to the office tomorrow because there will be all kinds of things that need to be done, and now my boss will be "in charge" until the CEO gets back....whenever in the world that will be. There but for the grace of God go I.... Not a good day in TerriDoodleLand.

Tracy - I just love the idea of taking your daughter to see all those elderly folks....they will love it!! My mother literally lives on news and pictures about her great-granddaughter. She brightens up significantly when she talks about her. She lives in Austin but still gets to see her about 5-6x a year, so that's good. Bless you for doing that...she will make a big difference in their lives for more than just a day. They will be talking about those children for a long time! I always wanted to take my Golden to visit the elderly, but never did because her arthritis wouldn't allow her much activity....but I will definitely do that with my next doggie. Jane - Tracy is right. You are in a major head-game battle right now. If I recall, you said you live alone, right? The first thing I want you to do this morning is to go into that pantry and get rid of EVERY SINGLE item you know shouldn't be in there...donate it to a food pantry. Then do the same with your refrigerator. Why tempt yourself 24/7 with bad food choices? Are they there for when you want to "treat" yourself? Well, guess what....they're not treats!! They're self-sabotage bullets! Every time you eat something you 'shouldn't' you're reinforcing that behavior. Alternatively, every time you eat something healthy, and reward yourself for the choice, you reinforce that behavior! So which behavior is going to win this battle? Which one are you choosing to reinforce? It is NOT out of your control, is it??

It's 10:30 and i am just winding up the Day From Hell. I go into work knowing full well it's going to be a very busy day. I work in the "executive suite" and my partner secretary has her Friday off. So, it's just me taking care of the group...which is usually not a problem because they're all gone on their days off, or hunting or golfing or fishing.... nice work if you can get it. But today is different... we just wrapped up our board meetings yesterday and today is the 3Q teleconference to discuss our earnings release. Everyone is already exhausted from a very hard week. However, 2 of the guys are hitting the road on Monday for an investor road trip and need to get their 40 slides finalized...the ones I've been working on all week. They finally start working on the 4th draft at about 10:30 or 11:00a and they have to be FedEx'd by 5:00p. So we're hacking away at them, one at a time...nothing too drastic...but still a lot of work. At 11:30 my mother calls...she is very ill and needs to go to the doctor...or the ER. My sister is out of town, and I can't reach my husband (find out later he's on the golfcourse). My work partner (Kathy) has worked her ass off all week and is haviing a very well-deserved day off. My mother is calling ever 15 minutes wondering when am I coming to pick her up and the executives are handing me slide drafts at the rate of one every 3 minutes. I finally have to call my partner in from her day off and explain that it can't be helped...I am VERY sorry, but I have to get my mom to the doctor right now...and can she come in to finish up the slides. She's a wonderful human being and says, sure, no problem. I RUSH to get my mom to the doctor (where we wait for 45 minutes) and he tells her she either has to go into the hospital or home for the weekend with me. Choice is obvious. We go back to her place which is a wreck because she hasn't been well. I get dishes washed, bed made, load up the dirty laundry, her clothes, toiletries, cpap machine, oxygen machine, walker, drugs, etc. into the car. Go to the drug store to get 3 Rx's ...and they're screwed up (on a Friday afternoon) and spend another hour trying to get the drugs she needs. All this time I can't find DH...I need his SUV to get the stuff over to my house. Turns out he's golfing!!! ....and I don't find this out until 4:00p. He's in the doghouse in a major way now. Finally get Mom packed up and we're on the road to my house...at 5:15p on a Friday afternoon in the city with the 4th worst traffic in the country. My mom is having anxiety attacks and I haven't eaten anything since 8:00 this morning. We finally get to my house by 6:30p. I get her unloaded while DH watches TV. He then goes to get something to eat while I go to the grocery store and then get laundry for my mom started. I come home, unload groceries (while they watch game shows) and re-heat some leftover eggplant for myself and it's now8:30p. In the meantime, I'm running back and forth all over getting what mom needs to be comfortable, and loading up on some wine I bought at the store. :car: At 9:30 I get her to bed, fold laundry, eat cold eggplant and finally get to sit down with my Violets! So....HI!! You all look wonderful

I've been an Ebayer since 2001 and have probably conducted 800+ transactions. My account was recently 'hijacked' and I can't get control of it again. Ebay keeps sending me form letters on how to fix it, but the fix isn't working because I can't get into the account!! There is no phone number I can call. If I email, I get a robot response. This is pretty damn frustrating...not to mention scary. I used to love ebay...not so much anymore and it's unfortunate....it was a great source for my bead addiction.

Michelle - you make me sooooo proud!! You're doing GREAT!!!

Janiebug - you never answered my PM.... did you notice it was there? Laura - hope you're feeling better soon. What's wrong with DH? Cold/flu type thingy? Is it contagious?? Ugh! My band is tightening these last few days....don't know why!?...and it's driving me nuts. I'm on the verge of a PB now ...having eaten spinach salad!!

OK....looks like the weekend of May 16th will be perfect. Whew!

Hmm. Good thing your mom didn't feel that way!

Uh, I have to get back to you about May dates.... my stepdaughter is graduating from Law School and her husband is graduating from Medical School around that time... might be a problem for me.

What a treat to see pics of my two sistas this morning! You both look just so beautiful it almost makes me teary. But then again, maybe it's my headache from drinking too much wine last night. Who knows. Yeah, went out with my girlfriend last night and got all caught up over a bottle+ of wine. Her 21 yr ol daughter had a close brush with cervical cancer yesterday .... but she's alright. Damn cancer!! Denise - Hang in there!! It's just that pesky 6 month plateau you've hit. Try doing something a little different to shake things up. A different type of exercise or more protein...something like that. I am right there with ya...I'm losing very slowly right now too...but at least we are not gaining. How incredible is THAT?! Haydee!!! I'm so sorry about your poor tongue!! They do make liquid hydrocodone...I took it after surgery. You're staying home today, right? Go take a good book in the back yard and enjoy this beautiful weather! XOXO!!

I just thought it'd be cute to have little orange safety cones around RANTS...LOL Useful, too!

...or crime tape..."Do Not Enter"....

We need little icons that look like orange safety cones.