Will you tell me something great that happened today, Part XI?

I didn’t sleep well last night, so I had a nap this afternoon. My cat got in under the blanket with me and snuggled up against my bum.

I got a really wonderful telephone call this afternoon with some absolutely wonderful news that I wish I could share with the rest of you! I’ll update you all as soon as I can though. ;)

I started the new thread!

It was a day of poking and prodding: A visit to the dentist, and the teeth feel clean and polished. I received four shots and seem to be surving without a reaction…all for preparation for an upcoming trip to Morocco. While the experiences weren’t pleasant, I’m happy-pappy!

I learned that Frank Drake was still alive and that he still has the same enthusiasm for SETI that he always had. don’t know why I assumed he was already dead, my bad

I managed to make a yummy pseudo asian capellini salad with stuff I had in house rather than going to Trader Joe’s for their version. A small thing, but it delighted me no end!

My toddler grandson got to help me put up the Christmas lights on our fence. I got one of the older ones to help me put up the indoor lights by giving him rent credit. I’m going to finish the yard lights in a few minutes.

After three years of study and two months of frantically applying to every job I could find, I was finally offered a job. Although it means moving over a thousand kilometres away from my family and girlfriend, this is great news for me because it gives me a full time income, and makes sure my qualifications remain valid (if I did not find a job within two years they would be void).

I stayed up till about 3AM to study for finals, and then I couldn’t fall asleep when I went to bed. I woke up with red, dry eyes that hurt—at 7AM.

I went to school, wrote my final, wearily.. (Should’ve slept earlier)
After the final, I went home and drank some coffee… Then just lounged around the house. I guess that this is just me rambling about my day..? haha..

And right now, I’m all dressed up in my N1 uniform, all ready to go for the Christmas Dinner at my unit. (Military) =D

Friends offered us their homes and their spare bedrooms, and friends and family delivered space heaters, electric blankets, hot cocoa. I feel very fortunate and loved today. Although, still a little bit cold, I have to admit.

I received a piece of good news that might result in more good news for our family – can’t talk about it yet, but keep your fingers crossed.

I turned in my final project and took my last final! ...that and Part XI!! Be still my heart! To think it all started with my first jelly t!

I’ve had a cold since last Thursday and today was the first day I started feeling better.

Enjoying my 3rd school day in a row and dreaming of summer.

You are all invited to Nikki’s place this summer, kids. Here I am (with a cold). Enticing, huh?

I paid off my student loans in full, I got my lazy/fat ass to the gym (walked BOTH ways, that NEVER happens AND in the rain!), and I got a manicure, and a date for tomorrow (although I’m not too excited about this one, but it’s always good to get out!). I guess I’m having a pretty awesome day. And I get to have latkas with great friends tonight…

I asked my favorite person in the whole wide world’s 20k question today and then I had 9 pizza bagel bites for lunch and a cupcake! Tada!

So I was walking down the street when two finals came up to me. One was English and the other was Pre-calc. They were looking for trouble and it was trouble they got! I was like “POW”, “BLAM”, and “LAW OF SINES” as I beat them up with knowledge gained from last minute studying and a scientific calculator. “You’ll pay for this!”, said the Pre-calc final as he was wheezing and coughing up blood, “for tomorrow will be the Media 180 final!”. I was like “Dude, shut up. You’re already dead”. That’s when his head exploded and I was fined for making a mess on the street.

Yay!
A new thread!
Thanks @janbb

P-o-u-r-i-n-g right now, wild rain and wind, woo hoo!
Worked 10–3, had lunch with my friend and am now in-joying a stormy cocktail hour.
Life is good! Go storm GO!

My day was normal and to me, that was perfection. No mad dashes to a store for anything, no…“Moooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooommmmmmmmm”—followed by a reason why a child’s life is the most horrible ever. None of that. Husband even helped make dinner.

Dare I tempt fate? I even feel like I’m relaxed this evening and might sleep without issues!

@cak : You go, girl! Just take that fate and tempt the hell out of it!

I know something y’all don’t know and I couldn’t be more jazzed about it!! Shaaaaa!! ;))

@Cruiser : Don’t make me come at you with a fruitcake, fella!

@cak Enjoy it!

@JilltheTooth I’d tell ya but I would have to make you eat that fruit cake first!! ;)

I don’t know if I can fit all this greatness into one quip…I’ll try…

Got a haircut at a salon I’d never been to. It was fantastic, and my hair looks fabulous. Might be the best haircut of my life. I also had my eyebrows waxed for the first time ever. I know, what kind of female am I?!?! Who would have thought waxed eyebrows could make such a difference? It’s not like I had the unibrow! So, I feel purty. :)

Also, found out my husband will be getting paid for a big job sooner than we expected, which is really, really great. We set up our Christmas tree with no swearing at all and it isn’t the least bit crooked! We’re tree challenged. Dug up the boxes of decorations, put them up with the kids while listening to Christmas music, and now the living room looks festive and cozy and beautiful!

Now for the freak out part….omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg!!!!! So…I have to take a deep breath… There’s this TV show that maybe some of you have heard of called Ramsey’s Kitchen Nightmares. I won’t get into the plot for those of you who haven’t seen it, but part of the show involves the featured restaurant getting a makeover. They are currently filming the show at a restaurant not too far from us and we got a table for four on “opening night,” which is when the redone menu and decor are tested out on actual diners while the camera crew films it all. I’ve heard it’s like dinner theater! And I might be just crushing a little bit on Gordon Ramsey and just to be sitting there and see him walk by or hear him screaming insults at people in the kitchen is just ahahahahahahahahah omg omg omg omg Thank God I finally got my eyebrows waxed, right?!?! Then eventually we’ll get to watch the show on TV and maybe we’ll see ourselves! I don’t really care, I just want to hear Ramsey call someone a stupid cow or drop some f bombs or say bloody hell. :D

I made enough puppy chow /monkey munch.. same thing to fill 12 1-gallon containers.. plus some left over for me. AND IT’S FANTASTIC.
Weeeeeeeeeeeeee

I also got the rest of my Christmas shopping done, and things sent out.

ANDDDDDDDDD less than two weeks until Canada! eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeekkkkkkkk

@Michael_Huntington You’re so lame that I laughed.

@MissAusten OHMYGOD THAT IS THE BEST NEWS EVER. You better give us every detail after it happens.

Dude. I totally got the Hadouken fireball in Megaman X. Fuck I’m badass.

*third snow day, I meant to say.

I finally printed and mailed invitations for a small family dinner the day after Xmas (weather permitting).

I have finished all my work for my two hardest classes this semester. :) I’ll be completely done by Monday. Only a few more days to go…!

I realized today, I think right now my sister and I are the closest we’ve been since we were little kids. :D

I had a really funny conversation with Alan Rickman.

Well, during my math final, a girl was accused of cheating and totally flipped out. I mean, she called other students “F*cking, stupid c*nts”, told another student how she hopes she gets hit by the lightrail, she was sobbing and flailing about, security was called, the dean was called, her boyfriend was called (to verify how often she pees). Total breakdown. And I just couldn’t help but grin, because even if I get 0% on that final, I’m still not the girl who had to be removed from the classroom, repeatedly.

This thread made me smile, a great thing unto itself! I really enjoy reading about everyone’s great things. :)
@breedmitch Dude. Alan Rickman? That is so freaking awesome!

As some of you may know, I’ve been having a pretty rotten time of it lately. I finally got a couple of pieces of good news to temper all of the bad. My father’s skin cancer procedure seems to have gotten it all, so his prognosis is good! Also, my husband’s unemployment benefits will be more than we initially thought they’d be. We might actually manage to have heat and food throughout the winter! So many people have reached out to me during this awful time to offer condolences, comfort, friendship and love… makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. <3

Doggy learned to shake today. :):)

@breedmitch Did you tell Alan Rickman that Fluther has a Rhubarb and Rickman Fan Club? I’m sure he’d be delighted to know.

COFFEE MUGS! There are now Fluther COFFEE MUGS! I want to drink my morning joe from one RIGHT NOW! I’m a little bit ‘cited ‘bout that.

@Cruiser : Fine by me, I love my fruitcakes! And the good news is, I’ll be so drunk after eating one that I won’t remember your secret!

@JilltheTooth I gotta say, the Fluther Store is certainly something great that happened to me today! After losing my last two jelly stickers – along with the cars they were attached to – I had sworn off them for good. Now to find out I can get a new key chain and a coffee mug. My day life has been made!

@SuperMouse : You lose cars too? Oh, sweetie, you need to LoJack everything, don’t you?

Some of my work colleagues were worried about me today because they thought I wasn’t my “usual chirpy self”. There is nothing wrong (I think I just had my head in some work and so wasn’t very chatty) but it is nice to know that they cared. I really didn’t think they even liked me very much! I’m not too happy about being described as “usually chirpy” though. Chirpy? Really?

I will be seeing a friend today to do some catching up.:))
I also got my doctor appointment and plane tickets all straight to fly to CA to get a procedure done to help with my MS.I can’t wait for this and should be running again in no time :D

@JilltheTooth yes I do! Everything except the ex-husband who seems to like to take these things!

Snow day number 4. This is the worst storm that this area has seen in 25 years. I am off again. And, we only have two more days after this, then it is winter break for the kidlets and the teachers.

Cool thing, my cousin lives out in the country. Her name is Sherrie and her and her husband helped a pregnant woman who was locked out of her car during the storm. The woman was stranded and there were a few farm houses around, but, no one was answering their door. My cousin’s story made the front of the Globe and Mail (Toronto newspaper) this morning.

Sherrie’s story

@Jude : Hooray for snowmobilers! I’m so glad she’s OK…

@JilltheTooth Me, too!

@jilltheTooth I will send you 2 fruit cakes to help absorb the alcohol and still ain’t tellin ya ;)

tough room

@Cruiser You ever gonna tell us?

@chyna I would if I could but safe to say in 5 hours I will be a happy boy! ;)

Damn this could be a thread in itself. What is going to make @cruiser a happy boy?
Are you getting a puppy? Having a baby?

@Cruiser : Yeah, that narrows it right down. I’m happy when I eat a cookie, but it’s not really fruitcake-war worthy! I like @chyna ‘s speculations…baby + puppy = happy :-)

@janbb Strangely enough, fluther never came up.

@chyna I’m all done breeding and will be getting a puppy this summer. A cookie now would be nice right now! ;)

@lucillelucillelucille WOO! I’m so happy and excited for you!! :] :] :]

@Vunessuh -Thanks V! You’re the best! See you when I get there!

@breedmitch I adore Alan Rickman! How fun for you.

Yeah. We spotted him in the downstairs lounge before the show and Kevin (not so discreetly) grabbed my arm, to which I (even less discretely) said “hey. It’s Alan Rickman!”
And he walked right up to us and struck up a conversation.

How cool that he walked up to you!

My fiancée’s son is visiting from England (we barely saw each other when I first met his mother, then he moved away with his dad) and he told her last night, “Y’know, I really like Ru2bz46.”

Holiday office luncheon and extra holiday bonus $, yay!

@breedmitch: very cool!

Um…. I just got my exam results. Bearing in mind I thought I had done really badly in my exam… genuinely thought I’d messed it up… I got another DISTINCTION!! Maybe I should go into teaching philosophy after all… lol xx So chuffed with my little self x

My daughter recommended a vocal group called Libera and I listened to some of their pieces on YouTube. Truly awesome and uplifting.

http://www.libera.org.uk

Ummm…..best. Night. Ever. It’s either the chocolate martini(s) or the nondisclosure agreement I signed, but I can’t say too much about it except that having dinner with cameras in your face while a famous British chef walks around and stops by your table a couple times to chat with you is just soooooo much fun! I highly recommend that is hard to spell when you’re mildly intoxicated it to anyone. Like, who cares about the food? All we cared about was a) talking to aforementioned British chef and b) checking out the lovely work my talented husband did in the restaurant.

Now I’m off to take some Advil, drink lots of water, and make out with my awesome husband who literally worked all night under very stressful conditions to help this TV show happen and then took me to dinner knowing I’d sit there and crush on another man. :)

That’s so awesome, @MissAusten! Let us know when your episode will be aired :)

I took a donation of three bags of baby food and the huge donation room was so packed with donations the volunteers could hardly find a place to put them. They finally had to set up another table in the ‘infant’ section.

I just registered for Warrior Dash
/flex

Yeah man. Today I experienced a natural phenomena. It was the solar pillar. I didn’t know that until I looked it up later…it was great.
I was walking home from the bus stop in the evening, and noticed all these light-gray coloured pillars of light in the sky far in the horizon, where the sun was setting. I was like what the FUCK are those…got a bit creepy, but it was so amazing at the same time. It kinda felt like I was a little kid again, discovering something new and going on an adventure haha.
The whole way home I had my head up high and turning this way and that looking at those, anyone who saw me musta been like wtf’s wrong with her, if they weren’t looking at the pillars themselves. I mean it was so fucked up. Then I told my roomy when I got home, and got her out to see them, and she was all amazed too. Then we went to look em up online later.

So it was really cool, and I kinda feel proud of myself for being intrigued by the unknown, at least to me at that time, rather than to be afraid of it. Plus after reading about them, I learned something new, and that’s always awesome. Lunar pillars also exist, I wish I could see those too.

@rangerr I wish I were the type of person (physically and mentally) who could do the Warrior Dash. It looks like so much fun! Knock-down, dirty-assed, drunken fun. :)

@augustlan I wish I could legally drink there. :l

@augustlan ; Let’s go cheer @rangerr on!

Last night was my last night sleeping alone (for a long time hopefully). :) I will be getting my Christmas present early this year! I can’t wait. I could barely sleep last night.

Oh – @Seaofclouds – I am so happy for you! That news made my day great!

@Seaofclouds That’s wonderful news :)

I’m going to see Burlesque tonight. I’m so excited!!

Thanks ladies. I’ve finished all my cleaning and now I’m getting ready to head out to get my hair done. :) Only a few more hours!!!

@Leanne1986 I hope you have a great time seeing Burlesque tonight!

I wrapped gifts for my family and felt really good I could get them each some things I know they will like and more importantly, they’re paid for.

The deployment is officially over! My husband is home, safe and sound. Thank you everyone for listening to me go on and on about missing him and wanting him home these last few weeks! :-)

@Seaofclouds – I’m really happy for you both! Now go enjoy it! ;)

@Seaofclouds: aww yayyyy!! that’s fantastic!

@Seaofclouds * * * Y * A * Y * * * H * A * P * P * Y * * D * A * Y * * * Y * A * Y * * *

@Seaofclouds I’m so excited for you! Enjoy every minute. :D

I got some good news today, for a change. It’s not something I can talk about, but it really really helped salvage my December.

@Seaofclouds and @augustlan : Your guys’ posts are the good thing that happened to me today, so far, I start out with great joy for both of you!

Thanks everyone!
@augustlan Yay for good news! I’m glad your December has been salvaged!

It’s my birthday.

Well, Happy Birthday! Go eat cake.

@ru2bz46:
Here’s some chanpagne, a juicy veal chop, sauteed Jerusalem artichokes, cheesecake and Turkish coffe.
Happy Birthday :D

Happy birthday @ru2bz46!

Great news all and Happy Birthday @ru2bz46 !

I have a new greatniece born yesterday!

So, I thought that my dad gave me this jacket of his that he wears, and that I love, and that I wear (and “forget” to return) whenever I forget a jacket. But then I thought I lost it, and have been looking for it for, like, two years. Then I saw him today wearing that jacket! O.O

Guess I really have to get a better grip on what happens in real life and what happens in my dreams…

Aw, congrats @janbb!

Today, using my extreme internet creeper stalking skills, I managed to locate an old internet friend on Facebook. We used to be regulars on AiROW.com before it got shut down, and we had no contact information for each other outside of that site, so we lost touch when the site disappeared. She is now a jelly! Welcome to the collective, @lilalila! :D

It is a dark and stormy night, windy wild rain…a great night for a scary movie!
Then again with all the spooky sounds going on…, shit, I think I hear something….hahaha

@Mariah Holy cow! I totally miss Lila! Glad you found her.

I’m enjoying the hush, as my children and husband sleep throughout the house and a kitty cat sleeps on my desk, inches from this keyboard. Ahhhh.

DADT was repealed yesterday!!!

^^YAY! Unfortunately, one of the senators from my state was too busy to vote or attend that session.

Happy birthday, little one! How are you celebrating her birthday?

Aww, too bad you ladies aren’t feeling well. I hope you have a great day with your princess anyway. I really wish those inflatable jumpy places had been around when I was a kid!

I inherited my little sister’s goldfish, Bubble and Squid, when she and my mom went back to Italy. Once every 3–4 months, the tank needs serious cleaning. Thankfully, it’s just a little one gallon tank, haha. Anyway, I know it’s not any big deal, but I gave the tank a very thorough soaking and scrubbing and it looks so pretty! I’ve been getting so much pleasure from looking at the tank and seeing how nice and clean everything is! I like to imagine the fish are extra happy, as well. :)

We had friends over for brunch and the food and the talking were great. In the afternoon, I went out walking with another couple of friends. I felt content with life and happy with the day – even though I am putting on weight with all the holiday eating.

I received news an out of state friend might be coming my way before the New Year.

Crazy stormy day, stayed in my PJ’s til noon. lol

Then my daughter called and wanted me to come over for a hangout.
She has her very 1st Christmas tree with her boyfriend and it looks great!
Awww, baby’s 1st big girl Christmas in her own little home. :-)

We watched American Ninja finals….damn…I coulda done that course, well, okay, my glory days of athleticism are over, but I COULD have done it 10 years ago! haha

Oh to have yesterdays body and todays wisdom….sigh lol

During a Skyping session with my @lucillelucillelucille we listened to Steven Wright and Jim Gaffigan and laughed our asses off. :D

The best thing that happened to me today is the negatives; our fence hasn’t fallen over yet, although it is only being held by some branches, our power is still on, even though thousands in our area aren’t that lucky, and our pool didn’t flood too bad by the time we got the pump started.

Trees are falling all over town, but my son and adult grandsons didn’t get stuck, even though they were out driving around all day in the rain and hail. The weather completely cleared up when Hubby and I went shopping with the toddlers.

Something that was worrying me the point of tears all weekend turned out to be no problem at all.

Also, we were sent home from work early today because of the bad weather in the south of England.

Also, last one I promise I gained the trust of a little dog who is very anxious around people. I’m looking after her over Christmas and when she came to my house she was obviously very scared wouldn’t let me touch her but now she won’t let me out of her sight and even rolled onto her back to have her tummy tickled. I actually really want to keep her now and secretly hoping that her owner has to stay away for longer than planned!!

Yay, yay, YAY!

My new drivers license came in the mail, renewed for another 5 years, no tests, no hassle.

Of course this means by the next expiration date I will have not taken a driving test in like 15 years…oh oh…hope when it finally happens again it is not an epic fail! lol

Thanks for the b-day wishes, all. :-)

My fiancee took me to Southern California for my birthday. We took yoga classes from a couple of the big-name teachers and enjoyed some kirtan with a couple big-name performers. One played live during a class. Great weekend, even though it was pouring rain and we never made it to the beach.

Heh…feelin’ proud over here, the rodent wrangler executes another perfect rescue!

Cats going nuts and I spy a huge Vole scurrying through the Chrismas presents! Aaaah! haha

Put cats out, get flashlight and paper bag AND….light bulb moment!!!!

Remember my old Calvary riding gloves, and go put one on.

Meticulously move all the gifts around and there it is!

Tries to run but I deftly grab it with my glove and POOF! into the paper bag it goes to be transported back into the weeds much to the cats chagrin. lol

I’m good, very good! hahaha

This photo from Southwest Airlines.

“Look who’s working on the ramp today!”

My favourite person came to visit.

Fluther still exists, I still have a job, and lots of people have offered to help me maintain the site. :)

@augustlan That is good to hear. I haven’t read the blog yet but from what people have been saying, I thought our world had ended!

@augustlan I’m not so good at tech support but you have my moral and emotional support any time you want.

I confided in a friend that I was concerned I would be unable to get any sleep tonight. He wrote back that if I’m up late then I should call him and he’ll tell me a bedtime story. That’s the sweetest thing anyone has promised me in a while.

Thank you to those who have sent me little notes of support regarding my father. He is staying at hospital overnight to get his insulin levels up. Tomorrow he’ll have his abscess drained and (with any luck) he’ll be discharged by the evening. I don’t want anything for the holiday but his health.

10:34 p.m. over this way…finally relaxing after a whirl wind afternoon and evening.

Ran amok, to friends and back to bake with my daughter.

Did tons of baking, had a major kitchen accident and exploded a heavy crystal bowl that came in contact with a hot pan and sent seasoned oil all over my counters and floor.

MAJOR cleanup…MAJOR! haha

Just got in from taking my daughter home and now…a bit of Baileys and a bite of a happy brownie, then hot tub and memory foam, here I come! :-)

GUYS GUYS GUYS GUYS GUYS GUYS.

I realized this morning that all but two of my bras are too small.
:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

@rangerr Congrats!

Today I pretty much finished my Christmas shopping and found a gigantic, huge, FREE aquarium by the side of the road. It leaks, but I don’t care because I’m going to use it to raise caterpillars. No more plastic cups all over my kitchen counter each summer! The caterpillars can live outside! :)

Now I just have to clean everything, bake bread and make caramel corn for gift baskets, wrap things, and do a mountain of laundry. This holiday crap is really interfering with my nap schedule.

@MissAusten ; I think it’s cute that you raise caterpillars. Really, really odd, and a bit disturbing, but cute.

Caterpillars are really odd, a bit disturbing, but also cute.. if you think about it.

@MissAusten
@MissAnthrope

Insect trivia…just heard this the other day.

A Honey Bee has 5,000 nostrils and can small an Apple tree 2 miles away!

Heh..and we consider insects disposable and insignificant life forms, I’d say the Honey bee is a much better example of evolution than the human. lol

Caterpillars
Are
Great!

And educational.

Those are a few of the specimens we raised!

I saw a Millipede last night..it looked cold. Couldn’t quite bring it in by the fire but I put it under the dryer vent. Be kind to bugs! lol

Holiday grocery shopping- Done
Household laundry- Done
Gift Shopping- Done
Best possible scenarios for visitors- Done

Last day of work today until January 19th! And I got some good stuff done there.

I got paid today. Finally I can start my Christmas shopping!

I also socialised the anxious (around people) dog I am caring for at the moment with some of my family members, they all knew not to force themselves on her and she was so good then when we came back home, she wanted to play. Little things like this show that she is relaxing (she wouldn’t want to play with a squeaky toy the way she did if she was too anxious). I really wish I could keep her.

@Leanne1986‘s falling in love..

I just got back from a lovely dinner with two of my buddies, we exchanged preasents, had a great dinner, I’m wearing a festive red sweater, and, a first for me, am Fluthering tipsily. Woot! I think we jellies should all go out for a tipsy evening.

I got 5 Christmas cards today. One from a lady I went through chemo with, she’s crazy and I think she rocks. The other 4 were from former Girl Scouts. Most of them are turning 18 this year, I first met them in first or second grade. One of them enclosed a note thanking me for spending time with her. She said that she hardly ever wanted to allow women into her life, since both her mother and step mother had passed away. Somehow, I managed to make my way into her heart, she thanked me for caring. Little does she know, it came to me so easily. She was such a sweet child. Lonely at times, but just a sweet girl. I think I learned more from her, than she ever learned from me.

This past month or so has been incredibly full of new experiences for me. I learnt a lot about myself, as well as about the people I surround myself with. It’s brought me to highs I could barely believe, and lows I couldn’t even imagine. And during the lowest weekend, my best friend ever promised to send me a care package to cheer me up.
I’ve gotten off the roller coaster and I’m back to a level of high that (before this past month) was really abnormal for me, and I hope I stay that way.

My care package from @rangerr (Basically the best friend ever) came today.
Some of the contents include puppy chow Catkind chow, a sexy pinup girl (Which will really solidify my manliness in this apartment), and a CD with this song, 19 times.
Everything in this box is something significant to us, and it makes me so happy. I hope she never gets depressed, because I have no idea how to make a sentimental gift like this in return. Also because getting depressed sucks. But mostly the former.

@Sarcasm Your pin up girl poster image is broken. Also: ♥

So what is the best thing that happened to me today? I can not say the best thing that happened to me in the last three hours because it is only 3:16 in the morning. On Tuesday however was delightful, Wednesday was lazy time taking care of my handicapped father and sometimes being at home all day can be boring. Christmas is on Saturday soon however so that is something or something upcoming that will be extremely pleasant to encounter.

The last three hours I have mostly been focusing on writing emails, answering questions, spending time on fluther and self-reflecting and journaling. As the day happens I might come back and boast about something great that happened to me today. I suppose the most important thing is the fact that I am alive.

5:32 a.m. PST, went to bed at 8 o’ clock last night, was completely flatlined. lol

Woke at 4:45 and feel G-R-E-A-T!

Fortified for another day of baking, errands, and pie deliveries!

Sssh…don’t wake the geese, they will set off the rooster and the donkeys… the farm kids don’t get let out of the barn til sunrise. ;-)

Too late.

5:44 and the rooster crows…wake up, wake up….heh…beat ya to it this morning little dude! lol

First day of Winter Break. Having a nice slow start to the day, then a hair appointment and a friend from work coming for lunch. Feels good not to have to rush.

@chyna I’ve fallen hook, line and sinker!

There’s only 7 more hours until I am on holiday for 12 days!

I have 10 mins left at work then 17 days off!!!
Oh and I’m on Fluther for that last 10 mins.

Well I was making some noodles for dinner tonight and my friend asked me how do you know when there done? Well I told her its suppose to be al dente when done. Well I had no better explanation except to show her. I told her if you throw a noodle and it sticks to the wall it’s finished. So she starts throwing noodles all over the kitchen watching them stick. Then my dad walks in and looks up at the ceiling and five noodles fell on his face. I thought he was going to be mad but his face turned beet red, the he took some noodles out of the bowl then starts throwing them at us. It was fun and all if us were laughing. Though I don’t think we are going to have spaghetti for dinner.

The great news is that a financial adviser is going to meet with my parents and discuss having my father’s hospital visit covered (with the minor exception of out-patient procedures.) This is fantastic because there is no way in hell we can cover a full week of hospital care on own. They are also going to see whether they can work out a situation where my father has a permanent doctor and get him on proper medication to keep his diabetes under control. Fingers crossed!

Which leads to the bad news: surgery postponed until Monday. Not only is my dad’s blood sugar (hiked up from 108 to 300 overnight) and blood pressure still unstable, but the “wonderful” surgeon has decided that we should hold off until Monday. You know, so she can have her holiday weekend. F@#$.

At any rate, I’m trying to find positives wherever I can.

@muppetish : Keeping good thoughts for your Dad and sending green light.

I just went to see True Grit. I didn’t really care to, it was someone else’s choice and I was stunned. It’s really good! Sorry, Duke, but Jeff Bridges is so far ahead of you in this role you can’t even see his back…

@JilltheTooth

I’ve been wanting to see that…looking forward, I love Jeff Bridges! ;-)

The shoeshine man just made a pair of beat up boots look like new again, I feel spiffy!

I found a peice of chocolate cake in the fridge and thoroughly enjoyed it.

What time is it, where am I, where did all the time go?
Almost 2pm…one last pie to deliver and then…I’m in the clear til tomorrow!

Holy mother of pie baking….gimme shelter! lol

MERRYFUL CHRISTMAS, EVERYBODY!!!!!

Going to see the Jakester soon for Christmas!

Have a great day in whatever way you spend it, my dears!

Happy Chrismukkwanzaayule!

I GOT A BARBRA STREISAND DOLL she looks right at home next to my Cher doll!

I wanna go to @Leanne1986 ‘s house and play dolls with her. We could have a “sing-off”!

My husband made a terrific ham and homemade mac & cheese for our Christmas dinner. Mmm, yummy!

@JilltheTooth You are so welcome!

A beautiful and brisk, 37 degrees morning, and..about to launch into the day with another pie baking moment, for my daughters room mate who adores my pies, lol and prep. for our Xmas celebration with her boyfriend this afternoon at 3.

Making a ham sandwich buffet and plan on forcing them into polishing off every last bit of cookies, candy and pie. haha

Looking forward to giving them all their gifts, and..it’s my birthday too! ;-)

51 = 5+1= 6!

Yep, I“m silly 6 year old at heart!

Also looking forward to playing a new game called ’ Fact or Crap’, haha
Should be fun with the triple brainiac gene pool amongst us!

Champagne and brownies for all!

Happy birthday, Coloma!

Getting ready to go pick up my daughters… they’ll be with me all week. :D

In 12 hours, I’ll be preparing to board a plane.
Then a few hours later, I’ll be in Canada. For two weeks.
I’ll be away from Fluther until I get back.

AND I’M SO EXCITED.

@augustlan

Thank-You! :-)

@rangerr

have fun!
I always think of the tropics at this time of year..sigh…can’t leave the country this year, did that last year. lol

Wonderful Christmas day at my son and daughter-in-law’s with my younger son, husband and BIL. It was particularly poignant this year for several reasons.

Best present was from Jake: a t-shirt that says, “What happens at Bubbie’s stays at Bubbie’s!”

Came home this afternoon to a fucking blizzard! We’ve got about 7 inches so far and are supposed to get about another 7 by tomorrow. Plenty of candy and cookies in the house to eat!

Yeah, us, too. I saw Jeruba’s avatar and put some champagne on ice. Well, out the back door, to be precise Fizzie for the Blizzie!

@JilltheTooth Too bad we don’t live closer – we could get together for cookies and bubbly!

@janbb I’ll raise a glass to you! Damn, I’m hooking Zuppy up to the sled and coming over…I aleady ate all my cookies!

And I just talked to @katawagrey who made it home safely from work. Thanking the universe right now!

I’ll turn the light on and invite @katawagray too!

We had a lovely Christmas with the family, lots of good food and drink. And I finally got some damn slippers! :)

Seeing @janbb say “fucking” always makes my day. :D

@augustlan fucking, fucking, fucking, fucking. There – you’ve got four good ones coming up!

@janbb You are fucking awesome.

@augustlan and @janbb : You’re both fucking awesome!!!

@JilltheTooth As are you! We should form a fucking awesome club.

The FACs? Can we have wine and cookies at our meetings? Can we have meetings?

Yes, please.

I want to join the fucking party.. (in every meaning of the word)

Bring your droids, sweetie, we can program them to wait on us…

Fucking A!

I can hardly wait for this fucking party to start after the fucking blizzard ends.

My two adult grandsons took several of their friends and went up to “visit” the snow. They left in the middle of the afternoon, and drove north for about two hours. They played and had a lot of fun, until it was time to go home. The driver, my oldest grandson, found out he had lost the key somewhere in the snow. He called his Uncle, my son, to come and bring him an extra key, which Sonny had to pick up at my house, sometime around 1 am.

Sonny drove as far north as he could without chains, but still was an hour short. He tried 911, but they couldn’t help. He finally found out Cal Trans could help him. They took the key, and passed it on up the line relay style, until it finally got to the stranded kids. They arrived home about 5 am.

Snowbound. The morning after the blizzard. Cars buried hip-deep in marshmallow fluff; drifts up to the window ledges. Silence. It’s great to be at home and not needing to go anywhere.

@YARNLADY

Wow! That’s great..Cal-trans to the rescue!

I was up above Ice House a few weeks ago in the snow and was impressed with how quickly they plowed the roads after the last big snow dump.

Fortunetley we didn’t lose the car keys because we were really in the middle of nowhere. lol

Ugh…waking up hard this morning after the last of the party scene yesterday.
Had a blast with the ‘kids’....I can’t beleive I am old enough to say that now,haha

Had a rousing couple of hours of ‘Fact or Crap’ game playing and polished off the last of the decadence, save for the never ending supply of chocolates. Gah!

Today is a major recovery day and….(cringe), a peek at my online bank acct.
Round and round the debit card goes, where it stops, nobody knows. Heh!

Looking at the empty Baileys bottle….oh yeah, a bit fuzzy, but a GREAT weekend!

I just got a copy of @mattbrowne‘s book!

I got a job interview! :D

I found out today that the bad cold two of my kids were suffering from is really strep throat. I’m actually relieved because instead of waiting it out they’ll feel better as soon as the antibiotics kick in!

@MissAusten

Sorry to hear that, ugh, not fun at all.
..psst…don’t breathe at me! hahaha

Yeah, it sucks when they are so miserable. We got almost a foot of snow today and they didn’t want to go play in it, poor kiddos!

I AM SO EXCITED.

Ever since I first played Rock Band, I guess almost 2 years ago now, I have wanted it for my very own. Wanted with a fiery, burning passion. Problem: no console and no money. I’m in one of the worst financial periods of my whole life, so these things seemed insurmountable.

I knew my first step was to somehow get a Wii. I had no idea how to go about that, but I was very patient. The universe eventually rewarded my patience when my British step-brother offered to give me his Wii that he never used – yesssssss…! He gave that to me last Christmas and I was pretty stoked. I thought, Hey, I’ll just buy PAL games, it’ll be cool. But no, it turns out that PAL systems don’t work on American TVs. Foiled. Set back in my plans, almost to square one.

I ended up ‘trading’ with my mom. I have her the PAL Wii for their rental apartments, she bought me a used American Wii, which I received before Christmas this year. Just tested it out, it works, HAPPYJOY! Step 1 complete.

So, today? Today is when I get my first game, thanks to Christmas money! I got a text this morning saying my package is on a truck and should be delivered today. I keep leaping up every time I hear a truck outside. :P

No Rock Band yet, but soon.. very soon, I hope…

A torrential night of rain and wind has swelled the creek below my deck into a raging little river.

It was already flowing loudly but now, it is white water conditions. lol

I think a walk with the geese is in order this afternoon….boy are they going to have a GREAT time playing in their own private river! :-)

It’s my birthday!! We’re in Florida visiting my father and step-mother… and we’re all going out for a Japanese Hibachi dinner. :) I’m so excited!!

Plus, I got a beautiful Pandora bracelet with charms thoughtfully picked out by my hubby, son, Mother and sister.

Happy Birthday @Cupcake !

@Cupcake – Happy birthday! Your dinner plans sound delish. :)

I enjoyed a leisurely brunch with a friend I’ve not seen but a few times this year and it was soooo nice.

@Cupcake

Happy Birthday!
from another Capricorn. ;-)

Happy birthday, @Cupcake!

We (husband, daughters and myself) had lunch yesterday with my dad, his wife, and my ex-sister-in-law (our families have always been connected in weird ways). Had a great time!

It snowed in Phoenix AZ. The dogs, SO & I got to taste falling snowflakes in the freakin desert!

Today I’m having a hard time working up to great. However, I have started on a new sewing project that I am happy about. I am making placemats for my folding wooden tables, because it is very difficult to get people to use the coasters I made. I will attach the placemats at each corner so they will have no choice.

I’m going home from Canada!
It’s a week early, but I’m incredibly stressed and homesick. And going home to be with Grandma for her surgery Monday. I’ve realized how important my family is to me and it makes me feel all fuzzy inside.

I spent the day with my favourite fella and dragged him to see Burlesque at the cinema he seemed to enjoy himself even though he claimed it wasn’t a “blokes film”!. He also bought me some nice new underwear, who appreciated it more, him or I, remains uncertain!

I am in a cooking bliss right now! Baked some foccacia bread and made herb infused olive oil to go with it. Now have red peppers roasting in the oven to go on an antipasto plate. Next, I’m making a hot crab dip. Friends are coming over with mussels, spinach salad, and baked brie. The kids will be in bed so the grown ups can play! There’s a bottle of wine in the fridge with my name on it…

Happy New Year’s everyone!!

@MissAusten – Oh, man, that sounds good!!

Dancing around the kitchen to Motown music making tuna for lunch in my bright, happy Florida place. Had a great talk with @marinelife this morning. 2011 will be a better year!

Trying really hard to snow right now. Brrr….BRING IT ON!

A great cozy morning, sipping coffee and looking forward to this year, come what may! ;-)

My SO proposed to me in front of his parents and my mother, all of them were in on it and I had NO CLUE. I said yes :)

I was forced to sit in the back of a car for 2.5 hours with an 8 week old Retriever puppy. My life is so hard I don’t know how I cope sometimes!!!!

@Neizvestnaya Congratulations!

@Leanne1986

Much easier than a 2.5 hour drive with a goose in a wicker laundry basket strapped into the front seat. lol

Did that 2 years ago bringing home the new wife for Marwyn.

@Coloma Haha… I can only imagine what an experience that was!!

This. Awesome!

@augustlan Yup! Yup!

I’m finally home after spending a few days with my mom in the hospital. She had brain surgery on Thursday and is fine. My sister is there now, so I could come home and get some rest. Miracle of modern medicine. As is chocolate, which got me through to the new year. Happy New Year, Everybody!!!

Glad to hear your mom is okay! HNY. :)

@JilltheTooth Glad to hear things went well. Get some rest.

@Neizvestnaya Congratulations! We’ll find him just the right stone for his ring…

I got these note tab clipy thingies. They’re kinda like paper clips, only they have tabs attached to them that you can write on. I have what borders on a fetish for office and first aid supplies.

Last night was fun. Just sayin’ that.

@papayalily Is that a stapler in my pocket or am I just happy to see you?

@bob_ : Geez, I hope you’re just happy to see her. Stapler? OwOwOwOw

@JilltheTooth I mean, it could be in its box and all.

A GREAT morning…as I send off $2500 in bills!

Heh! ;-)

I got on the scale today, wondering what effect the holidays had had on my girth…NONE! I guess the combination of being sick and weirdly stressed out counteracted the indulgences. I’m relieved to start off the year this way….

@JilltheTooth I am so not looking forward to getting on the scale tonight at the gym. I was bad… very bad…

@bob_ : Take the stapler out of your pants. That should help.

I’m going to Grandma’s!

Actually, I’m going to drive up to meet my cousins who are all going to surprise her by showing up during our Cracker Barrel date.
:D

@bob_ You’re definitely happy to see me.

I thought there was a “hero” sandwich in his pocket.

Or a “grinder”?

Maybe it’s just a sub?

full of seamen? oooh. This is getting bad if I’m drawing on old jokes…

I think we’d better quit while we’re a head.

You win!

I got a kick-ass vacuum cleaner from the inlaws for Christmas that’s made for homes with pets. I tried it out today for the first time, and lemme tell ya – it’s awesome! I haven’t had this much fun vacuuming since I was little and had one of these.

I ran into an old friend at lunch today. Last time I saw her, three years ago, I was 55 lbs heavier. She was really impressed. :-) Of course, the burger on my plate carried ⅔ lb of meat and ½ lb of cheese…

Beautiful sunny day after days of freezing rain and snow and mist. Sat in the sun with a friend after we made Kanish. mmm, and had a couple of Coronas.

Gotta keep the California dreamin’ scene alive. haha

Rescued a sweet, sweet, older, gray muzzled pit bull mix on the highway and took him to our local shelter.

He had been running in the forest and had ticks all over him.

He hopped right in my car and ate some crackers. lol

No I.D.

Hopefully he will be reunited with his family. :-(

No WAY can I bring home a dog, this is cat and goose territory over here.

Going to finish some episodes of ‘Dexter’ tonight, my daughter got me totally hooked. :-)

We haven’t been able to dry clothes properly for almost a year. The dryer worked, but it took hours. My cousin swapped out the dryer for another one and we still had a problem. About a week ago, it dawned on me what the problem was and honestly, it was so embarrassingly simple and obvious. But we had had a bunch of guys in here, some of them who build/maintain homes, moving the dryers in and out and all of that and none of them figured it out. So, I don’t feel so bad about taking this long to figure it out.

Basically, the vent duct was all jacked and bent from years of misuse and lint had built up in there to the point where the hot, humid air in the dryer couldn’t get sucked out.

Anyway, it took a couple of trips to the hardware store and $20 and I fixed it myself. First of all, working on the dryer and fixing it makes me feel like a stud, totally tweaks my boy side. I love it when I out-manly actual men. :P

Plus, do you have any idea how much of a hero I am around here right now? My cousin came home as I had the dryer going for a test run and the first thing out of his mouth was, “You are a genius!”

I bought a really nice Italian suit, 75% off. Yay!

I missed a court date last month while sleeping off some prescribed muscle relaxers for a hip injury. The case would be dismissed if I didn’t appear this morning with a good excuse for the “hardass” judge. My attorney showed up unexpectedly, as did the opposition’s attorney. The opposition made some mistakes that upset the “hardass” judge, and he no longer cared whether I had an excuse or not and fined the opposition for wasting the court’s time and money. :-))

Feelin’ groovy over here, another beeeee-u-tiful day of sunshine and 55 degrees!

People out walking, jogging with their dogs, riding their horses and all the animals napping in the sun.

Woo Hoo…it’s almost Corona time after a kick ass morning of high productivity at one of my myriad jobs. lol

I bought 13 megamillions lottery tickets, I never buy lotto tickets, maaybe once a year, but hey,,,the jackpot is at 330 million….I can’t even imagine.

I’d keep 10 million, retire and give the rest away to friends and family and charity, for someone who has never been prone to fantasy, this is one I can run with, oh yes! ;-)

I finally got around to starting my own blog!! It’s not very pretty yet, but my husband is going to help me with the design and layout. I’m so bad at that computerish crap. Only one post so far, but I have big plans for what’s to come!

@MissAusten – that’s awesome! I love it so far.

@MissAusten : I like the first one!

I’m sitting here without a voice being grateful for the internet so I can still communicate. Granted, it’s not a great thing to be sick, but it is a great thing to not be cut off from the outside world.

My mother got a raise at work!
@ru2bz46: Thanks, we’re hoping you’ll help hunt for my ring stones too :D

Found the most bizarre, HUGE Fungus mushroom things in my field by the creek this afternoon. I have never seen anything like them. Where’s Miss Austin?

One was the size of a dinner plate and they were about 3 inches thick, funky, spongy, slightly slimey light brown.

Don’t think I’ll toss ‘em in the stir fry! lol

@Coloma If they were bugs, I might be able to help you out! Take a picture!

@seelix and @jillthetooth Thanks! It’s been fun to play around with, and I’ve certainly been entertaining myself!

After being excited about this for more than 2 months, I’m finally doing it. Tomorrow, I drive up to San Francisco (with a pitstop in Santa Barbara) with 3 other guys, for 5 days of adventure.
I’ll miss my jellies.

You’re going to San Francisco for a 5-day adventure with 3 dudes? Not that there’s anything wrong with it…

Of course. If there’s just three of us, then there’s room for strangers to hit on one of us. This way, it’s like we’re all paired off. Survival tactics, buddy.

I co-taught the second of six sessions of a beginner yoga series with my beautiful fiancée last night to a sold out crowd. It’s such a great experience to be a part of a potentially life-changing experience for so many people.

Just had the BEST Lemon Poppyseed muffin and a ‘Cherry Cobbler’ Yoplait. Mmmm

A day of great food coming up, my friend is taking me for a belated B-day lunch to a little cafe that makes the most awesome Salmon burgers. OMG…maybe I’ll diet again in Spring. haha

I finally admitted defeat and have hired a guy to plow and shovel for me when we get the big snows. After the second dose of 18–24” in less than 3 weeks, this squatty little middle-aged woman wised up and did something sensible. Yay, me! (And Kenny, the wonderful plow and snow-blower guy!)

@JilltheTooth

Gotta have a stable of strong young men to ‘serve’ you lol
My all around handyman/gardener buddy, Scott, is my right hand man

We have a running joke…I call him and say..‘Scott, I need a blowjob! haha

Also, my aforementioned beautiful fiancée was on our news-reporter-friend’s morning show getting feather hair extensions. Later, we held a special free yoga class for that friend since it was her birthday.

Back home after a six-day scholarly getaway in Hawaii with great company. I’m too exhausted to unpack and have to be on campus in a couple hours, but it’s good to be home after such a long (though wonderful) week. There was a wicked storm brewing at our departure so I suppose we left at just the right time.

I am definitely going to apply to the convention again next year. That was too much fun :) My friends and I stuck out like sore thumbs as youngsters. I’m not sure how many other undergraduates were there. It made me feel kind of special.

My fiancee got a promotion and his boss invited us both to have dinner with his family.

I had an interview today at this new northern German cafe-type concept opening soon. Things went very well and I think I have a good shot, so fingers crossed. The owner had me do this roleplay at the end, doing a pretend customer interaction. I hate this kind of thing because I feel really on the spot and it makes me feel super shy, but I managed to swallow that mostly and I rocked it as best I could.

When we sat back down, she said sincerely, “Well. That was a pleasure.” She said she has a few more interviews, so we’ll see. Fingers crossed! The place looks really cool.

I felt really sick for most of the morning and also had a banging headache. As everyone around me has been ill recently with a flu like virus I was thinking “Oh shit! Now it’s my turn”. Turns out, I just needed to force some food down my throat and now I feel fine!!! Also….. it’s friday!

@Leanne1986

Whew, good news, no flu, but…could you be pregnant? lol

@Coloma I had to buy tampons today so probably not!!!

@Leanne1986

Aaah, yes, I used to feel nauseus with my periods and so does my daughter,
Poor baby, feel well. :-)

I just got a bad case of TMI.

LucilleX3 is back among us!

@ru2bz46

Sorry. haha

My friend just adopted a pair of 7 month old Boxers. ‘Rocky & Annie.’ So cute, and I am going out to buy them some toys. I get to be the ‘auntie’ without the work of dogs.

Sort of how I feel about little kids and men these days.
Admire them from afar. lol

Yay Lucille! Welcome back, and I’m so glad to hear (from the other threads) that everything seems to be going well for you.

Today I discovered a website where people can create a free online shop to sell handmade jewelry. This is awesome, because lately I’m addicted to making necklaces, I like the creation process more than I like actually having the necklaces afterwards, and it’s not exactly the cheapest habit in the world to support. I don’t know that anyone would buy anything I list, but heck, it’s free, so there’s no harm in trying!

I had a really positive annual review at work, my annual bonus was the maximum I could have received and my pay rise was double what I expected, all round a jolly good day for Denver :)

We finally had a normal school day after all our snow. I got a lot down around the house, fit in my volunteer time at the library, ate the last piece of chocolate cake, and played in the snow with the kids when they got home. I took this picture of them with the most ginormous icicle we’ve ever had on our house!

Now I have a weekend of sledding and more winter fun to look forward to, at least until the next storm hits and I start to go out of my mind from feeling like it will never be summer again. :)

@MissAusten that is a crazy icicle, you could take out a few maraudering orks with that

We spent a few days with my son and his family helping out after a medical emergency. All is well now but they needed some help and we were glad to be able to go. It is a growing delight to spend time with him and his wonderful wife and son and see the closeness and trust that we are developing with them.

Also, I turn 60 tomorrow which is kind of a mindfuck! I wouldn’t mind a few do-overs but I’ve got good health and most of my mind left so I can’t complain. I guess that’s something great!

@janbb 60? No shit, I’ve got you at like, 40 in my mind. YOU GO, GIRL.

I’ve got me at like 40 in my mind too @rangerr!

I got to see my best friend who I haven’t seen in almost 8 months. She took me to breakfast then I got to play with her Pitbull in the snow!! And seeing more old friends tonight and this weekend. Feels good to be home :)

@janbb

LOL

Happy almost B-Day!

The weather is beautiful again today. I opened my doors and windows for several hours.

I sent some CD’s to musicmagpie.com who are paying me £60 for them. I also cleaned my flat so I feel that my morning has been productive.

My boss brought me a hot sausage sandwich his wife made with roasted peppers and potatoes- wow! Best sandwich of 2011.

I went for a short walk today in the woods.

@marinelife Good – keep it up!

I have been having a lovely, quiet birthday with a great walk and talk with a friend, flowers and cards from my husband and lots of internet well-wishes! Tonight we are going out to our favorite Italian restaurant with friends and tomorrow night hosting other friends for dinner. In addition, I have done some course prep work and read over my two favorite poems. My family were supposed to come here this weekend but weren’t able to, so I have managed to make other satisfying plans.

Special happies to you, little Penguin! Eat some cake.

Happy birthday, @janbb! Glad to hear that you’ve been able to have a great day although your original plans fell through. Enjoy your day!

@janbb – Happy birthday! I will have the kitchen send out their finest garlic knots.

Ooh – garlic nuts! Sounds yummy. :-)

@janbb Happy birthday!

Today I sang a solo in my church’s MLK day service. After the service I got lots of compliments and talked to plenty of people who knew me as a child. I haven’t performed in a while, so it was nice to have another outlet for my music. Although it did mean I had to get up much earlier than I’m used to!

I spent a lot of time on Fluther :-) It makes me happy

Extremely foggy day and cats and I sunk into the beanbag loveseat for a little movie watching and periodic ‘cat’ naps. Bliss out to the 10th power.
Man, a lot of body heat goin’ on with the menage a trois. Good piece of furniture for the extended ‘family’. ;-)

I had my fantasy date of a picnic at a floating table on the reservoir.. didn’t even plan it, it just fell into place. We walked around the reservoir and then stopped to eat lunch and talk. Lovely foggy morning turned into a warmer afternoon with a bit of sun. She was a pleasure to hang out with and I think she felt the same, but I guess we’ll see. Anyway, it was a really nice afternoon. :)

My Grandmother had an operation to have a pacemaker fitted and she is now sat up in bed with a cup of tea (according to my dad who is at the hospital with her). She still needs to have another operation to get the pacemaker working properly buleast stage 1 is complete she is ok.

@Leanne1986 – Glad to hear she’s doing okay. :)

I had the best weekend. I got a lot done, enjoyed myself, was happy, everyone got along, the house is clean, there is food in the fridge… and we had my family over last night for dinner and game night (which was a blast!)!!

Usually the weekend comes to an end and I lament the coming week… but last night I felt so happy and satisfied that I was content with the ending of the weekend. :)

I slept for fourteen hours. Whoo hoo!

Wow, @augustlan , usually it takes me 3 nights to do that!

@JilltheTooth Sadly, it usually takes me almost 4! I really needed it. :)

My kids were off school today for MLK Day, so we went to an art museum that had free admission and reduced parking fees plus a lot of special activities for the day. An outing with three children can be insanely expensive. :( The MLK activities were OK, but the most interesting ones were scheduled for later in the day. We did some of the projects but also walked around and looked at all of the artwork. I can’t remember the last time I was in an art museum, and it was rather wonderful to see paintings by Picasso and Wyeth and others I actually recognized.

Plus, there’s nothing funnier than small boys in an art museum. I’m pretty sure whoever came up with the idea of putting fig leaves over genitals on statues was a mom who had to walk through a museum with small boys and put up with their hilarity.

If you went to the one I think you went to, it’s a terrific museum! And you’re very brave and completely insane to take three kids! What am I saying? This is the woman that brought us Party Favor Fish!

@JilltheTooth It was the Wadsworth in downtown Hartford, and it was terrific! Some of the galleries were closed for renovation, but when that’s finished I really want to go back with my husband. He’d love it, and it would be nice to take my time looking at things. The kids like to rush from one painting to the next. They only linger if there’s nudity or violence in the artwork.

And, as much as I like to complain about taking my kids places, they really are great in public the vast majority of the time. It helps that they are getting older, of course, but the worst part of today was the traffic on 91. :)

I’ve been living in the woods for too long, went to the bank today, closed for MLK day.

Well…I’ll be damned.

Sorry Martin, yep, I’m oblivious. lol

@MissAusten : I love that place! That’s the one I thought you meant…

I spoke to my Grandmother today who is home after pacemaker op. We’re caling her “the bionic nan” my dad came up with that, he thinks it’s hilarious.

@Leanne1986 – I think that’s pretty hilarious too. Glad she’s doing well :)

Sailing with my sweetie.

I just noticed there is a great blog about the mods today. Thanks.

Today is a great day because tomorrow is going to be a great day for Merry Maids!
I’m so lazy this week, the foggy weather has zapped my motivation, bring in the team, I’m outta here.Woo Hoo lol

My kiddo and I were in the emergency department last night until after midnight. Sounds yucky, but he had such a great attitude and enjoyed the attention and was excited to come home on crutches (which didn’t last long after he almost slipped and fell on the ice in the hospital parking lot).

It was so enjoyable to spend the time alone with him. I love being a mom in emergencies… or with sick or hurt kids.

He’s been asking me for help today… which I’ve apparently missed a lot (he’s 14… need I say more?).

Friends helped lift me out of a slump.

My mother who is a huge clothes snob actually liked a shirt and sweater I bought for her, enough to where she wore it to work today.
It could also be signalling the onset of dementia.

I got my grades back for first semester, and have an A average. My university doesn’t give numerical grades, though, so I don’t know what my actual average is. That’s okay, though – A is good enough :)

I just this morning got a free entry to an early afternoon screening of The King’s Speech! Yay! Even though I’m not working right now (my temp job at a TV company ended last week), I’m grateful I have this opportunity. There’s going to be a Q&A with Colin Firth and Helena Bonham Carter via satellite from London after the screening. Later, I’m going to hang out with one of my good pals and hoist a couple to celebrate her birthday.

See y’all tomorrow!

I got a job, I got a job, I got a job, I got a job, I got a job, I got a job, I got a job!

@MissAnthrope That’s excellent news. Can you throw some of your luck my way?

@shego – I absolutely will! It took me months to get this one, so I feel your pain. Good vibes!

@MissAnthrope * * * Y A Y * * * That is wonderful news.

Congrats @MissAnthrope! Hope it all works out well for you :)

@MissAnthrope – Yay, income!

My dad was given 10 months to live (statistically) two months ago. He was just accepted into an experimental study for a new cancer drug! It’s his last hope to cure or suspend his cancer, so this is very good news and a fantastic birthday present for him! (He turns 76 tomorrow.)

@ru2bz46 – What a great birthday gift for your dad! I hope all goes well for him.

All the green light to your dad, @ru2bz46 ! This is great news!

Only 4 inches of snow last night, less than a half hour to dig out…what a nice change!

Thanks, guys! <happy dance #14>

@ru2bz46 – That’s great news and I really hope it works out!

It’s a trivial thing but exciting for me: A sweater I bought my fiancee has gone through several price reductions between the time of my order and today so the company refunded me the difference which makes the sweater about 1/5 of what it was.

@ru2bz46: All the best for your papa!

A friend who had blown up at me and dropped me a few months ago, came back to me to make amends!

Also, we went into the city to see the Laura Linney play Time Stands Still and Vanessa Redgrave was in the audience.

Stay warm and dry, chickies!

@janbb : I sort of remember that, glad things are worked out, or at least starting to be.
I’m dry, does that count?

@JilltheTooth I am cautiously optimistic about the friendship and dry and freezing is better than wet and freezing.

My brother is selling me his car which has a far better track record than mine (despite it being a slightly older vehicle) for a very cheap price (he only wants enough money to cover the MOT and service it has just had which I think is more than fair of him). My car has never been reliable and broken down (at very inconveniant times/places) far too many times. There is nothing obvious wrong with it and so I haven’t been able to get whatever the problem is, fixed properly. Luke’s car has always been reliable for him so hopefully it will be for me too. I’m very relieved.

@janbb good to hear that your relationships has improved, I remember that it was a pretty tough time for you, love and hugs xx

Thanks @nebule. I’m trying not to be too invested in it and keep working on other fronts..

I was notified that I passed the Level I of the CFA examination! :D

Yay, @bob_ !

Woo, congrats, @bob_!

@bob_ Good work! Congratulations!! :))

Go BOB!! xxx

Well, I got contacted by a dealership today, and I was asked to come in for an interview. I applied at the dealership sometime last year, but they never got a hold of me for the position I originally applied for. But the good thing is, I am interviewing for a junior service advisor position. I honestly didn’t think they would even consider me because I never got called back.
Wow!! I hope I get it. I would have my little desk and a name plate.
@MissAnthrope of all the days I need luck is gonna be today!! I hope your good luck fairy comes and gives me good luck.

@shego All the best with for the interview! that’s great news x

My new stove made it before the storm! I can roast and bake stuff again! Mac and Cheese for everybody at my house!

Thanks y’all :D

Not only was the abstract for an article I am working on about The Muppet Movie accepted for presentation and publication, but I have been provisionally accepted to the graduate program at my university. Even if I get rejection letters from the other three schools I applied to, I will be working on my masters degree in fall :)

@muppetish : Good for you! Now you can exhale….

@muppetish Congratulations!

@muppetish Mazel Tov!

My fiancee’s teen children are excited to be part of our wedding.

This actually happened yesterday, but:

@chels and @richardhenry got married! They met here. :)

@chels and @richardhenry
* * * Y * A * Y * * * CONGRATULATIONS * * * Y * A * Y * * *

I just returned from a wonderful birthday weekend at the Best Western Monterey Beach Resort

Congrats to the Love-Jellies!!!!

I have missed both of them on Fluther. I guess when Richard Henry went to Twitter, chels stopped fluthering too. Congratulations to them both!

@marinelife I think they’ve just been really busy, between the wedding and immigration.

change of subject Woo hoo, I received a free toddler bed for my grandson from Freecycle.

I have been returned to the pod, or, er, fluther after spending a couple of weeks on suspension for being overly verbose.
It’s great to catch up, but, I sure have gotten a lot done during my suspension. lol

My son had a very positive job interview. I hope I will have even better news soon.

@Coloma Welcome back.

This morning I printed several coupons from a coupon website, something I’ve always wanted to try but never got around to. Well, there were a lot of coupons for things I usually buy anyway and it looked like I’d save about 6 bucks. When I finished my shopping, I used a self-checkout register and it rang up the coupons all wrong. When I scanned the coupons, the register deducted MORE than each one was worth. It also doubled all of them, even though they were all the “do not double” variety. Those coupons ended up saving me $14! :) And I guess I’m a bad person for not saying anything to a store employee…....I hope I can live with the guilt…...

As if that weren’t exciting enough, we officially booked our family vacation to SC during the kids’ spring break!! Last year we had such an amazing time down there, and we are all very, very excited to go back! I just wish we were going sooner because the snow, ice, and school closings are slowly driving me insane! In fact, I’m pretty sure it’s the insanity that prevented me from pointing out the problem with the coupons to the store manager!

@marinelife Thanks!

Another great, bee-u-ti-ful sunny day over here. Going out soon to pick up my daughter and have a run around girls day out.
Going shopping and to our local Dimple records to recycle a bunch of DVD’s and lunch somewhere.

I’m enjoying being back here at fluther but, am on a strict low babble diet after my suspension. See how long it lasts, heh!

My younger son is coming up to visit this weekend! I haven’t seen him since Christmas so I am delighted.

@janbb * * * Y A Y * * *

I finally got to enjoy a long-postponed dinner with my best friend. We absolutely gorged ourselves on yummy seafood, and since I had a great gift card, it didn’t cost us a penny! I really enjoyed myself. Seeing your friends is good for the soul. :)

@Coloma I thought the whole point of this site was to babble?

@Leanne1986

You have a point there, fer sure. lol

I GOT A JOB!!!
It’s temporary thru June, but it’s a job. Yay!

@chyna Congratulations!!! :D

@chyna : Yay! Congratulations! And welcome back, we missed you!

I heard a friend got a job!

Party for @chyna on the “something great” thread!

@chyna – I’m so happy and relieved for you! Happy dance!

@chyna Congrats!

My blog has 20 followers now and some of them are people I don’t even know! Woo hoo! I get about four new followers for each post, so I guess I only need to write 20 more stories to get to the 100 mark. Crap, that will take forever!!

And, my grandma (who is 93) called to say she thinks my blog is beautiful. I think she read the wrong blog, but it was still nice to hear. :)

@Coloma You’re going to recycle DVD’s and lunch? Ewwww…

My bridesmaids are excited about my examples for dresses and we’ve found an alternate honeymoon site since Egypt is out of the question right now.

We’re baaaaaaack.

@chels You are a beautiful bride!!! Congratulations to you and Richard. You two are a great looking couple.

@chels – HUZZAH!

Thanks guys <3!!!!!!!!!!

Congratulations! How great is this??? YaHooooooo!

Mazel Tov!

What a lovely picture. You look beautiful and both very happy.

—@chels—

Congratulations, very nice! :-)

The greatest day yesterday and today promises more of the same.
A mock spring has descended over this way and the weather is superb!
A high of 71 yesterday and I had wine & dinner in my hot tub beneath the most glorious sunset with a fire burning in my kiva fireplace.

Encore tonight!

An ex called me on the phone to check in (we’re amicable) and he told me I’m “a good woman, a real woman, the best”. He then congratulated me on my engagement and asked to be able to send me something nice. Wow.

I had a great lunch and pedicure with my mom this afternoon.

@chels You two look so happy in that photo – congrats!!

The night before I was to leave for college, I got together with four close friends and we decided on whim to try and execute an idea we’d had. We found a blank composition notebook and decided to write in it and send it back and forth between the five of us while we were at college. I got it first since I was leaving first. It just came back to me in the mail today, after having made the rounds! It’s been so fun reading what all my friends wrote and getting to write in it again myself – it helps me feel close to them even though we’re all far apart right now.

@chels you are awesome both of you!!! lots of kisses and love and all sorts of really soppy beautiful stuff xxxx

on a minor note… I finished a mammoth report today and am now free to Fluther again

Yay @nebule.

Today is a momentous day that will henceforth live anon in the annals of memory. It’s taken years.. years of dreaming and fantasizing and hoping.. but today, my number #1 dream has been realized.

I arrived home today to find a giant box waiting, it came so fast! I am now the proud owner of my very own Guitar Hero band set. I’ve got a guitar, drums, and a mic. And two days off coming up shortly, so I can jam out—woohoo!

Hahaha.. Kali is thoroughly enjoying aforementioned giant box and included crinkly paper.

@MissAnthrope I remember reading a while back about how much you wanted that, ahaha! Have fun. ;)

I have been spending my time off from school on fairly worthy activities… if I didn’t always have the energy to do intellectual things, I at least stayed creative. Up until circa one week before my surgery, at which point I became completely unmotivated to do anything. People tell me that I have every right to be lazy right now, but it honestly doesn’t make me feel the least bit good about myself and I want it to stop. I sat down today and tried, tried, tried to just draw something, but felt no inspiration whatsoever. It’s odd because my healing times are usually my most creative.
Well my dad, being awesome, bought me a Lego Mindstorms robotics kit when I got my surgery because he thought it’d be a good diversion for a geek like me. My college offers a robotics engineering major which has always sounded intriguing to me, but I never felt like I’d be good at it. I’m so much better with the theoretical side of things than the practical. This may sound silly because it’s just Legos, but playing with this kit is giving me some confidence. It’s like robotics engineering for babies, what with its drag-and-drop style programming, but I find that I’m good with the problem-solving and the concepts. But I still feel this lack of confidence because I go to tech school and I think most of the other kids there started speaking C++ before they started speaking English.
So I thought, WTF am I doing with my time these days? I could be learning a programming language. I emailed the head of the robotics engineering department and asked him what language he would recommend I start studying. I’m gonna get a book and I’m going to start doing something with my life again.
Oh, motivation, I missed you so.

Woo Hoo, a friend is repaying me a 10k loan today with $500 interest for 8 weeks.
Not too shabby, if only I could become a loan shark. lol

I’d look good in a gangster hat. hahaha

Had a lovely little chat with an old friend yesterday.

May I gush over how wonderful my life has been lately?

Shortly after my article on The Muppet Movie was accepted, I received an invitation to present my short story at an international convention in Pittsburgh. I get to spend a weekend in Vegas with my significant other, brave finals week, and then spend spring break with my brother and best friends in Pennsylvania. I now have an excuse to buy a new coat, sweaters, vests, boots…

My decrease in Fluther activity has been a direct result of splitting all my time between academic work and spending time with my S.O. (though the act of balancing the two is one I have not mastered yet.) We have been disgustingly inseparable. I have not been this happy in a long time.

@muppetish : ^ ^ ^ that is something great that happened to me today. Grinning for you….

Going up to see my Jake tonight.

My friend came over with a check for me and a box of chocolate truffles as a thank-you.
OMG, I better open a savings account with the repayment for my triple bypass after I eat these truffles. haha

One of my best friends from college, who I haven’t seen for three months, called me today. There were people shouting “hi” to me in the background!

@Mariah @nebule Thanks ladies! Lots of love and cuteness for you both xxxx

My son went into nursery today happy and enthusiastic with no tears or sadness, which made my heart feel light after struggling with this for the past two weeks.

I just found out that one of my friends (who is usually gay but had a brief encounter with a dude) is pregnant! It wasn’t planned but she is over the moon and, despite not being in a relationship with the father, he is equally as happy. This is going to be one interesting little family :)

A great morning with a return to stormy weather.
I am taking my car in for an oil change and check up and am bringing my mechanic a Valentines gift.
HE IS THE MAN! He always jokes that if he wasn’t married he’d be all over me. Cute, but, I’m happy with him being all over my car. lol

Feels like a cloud is lifting from me. I have been energetic and productive for the last several days. Spring poetry course is nearly all prepped and I feel like my mind is functioning well again.

(New thread will be started soon.)

I drove my new (it’s second hand but new for me) car to work today and the sound system in there is amazing. I had Cher on really loud!!! With that and the peace of mind that I have now that I no longer have to drive my last car, my day got off to a positive start!

My fiancee took the day off work to treat me to a trip to a local wild animal preserve where we got to mingle with lions, tigers, giraffe, zebra, etc. It was fabulous! We finished up the day by visiting the hotel and restaurants we’ll be using for our wedding, collecting menus, confirming reservations. Fun stuff that had us smiling for hours.

I can’t express what a relief it is that I paid some bills today. I was down to my last couple hundred dollars and I had car insurance, registration renewal, and a phone bill to pay. I was panicking. I was also panicking about whether I’d get paid in time to cover everything.

I got paid quite a bit earlier than I had anticipated and it’s sooooo nice to have some money in the bank. Not loads, but enough to cover everything that I was worried about, plus enough to live on!

So, my ‘something great’ is like a sigh of relief, knowing that I’m out of immediate financial danger and being able to pay bills without stress is very nice!

I got this in the mail!!!! It is from the Fluther CD exchange. Wooot!

From the lovely @Noelle. :)

We got our replacement car Wednesday night, and it is much nicer than the old one. We had to pay more than the insurance settlement, but it was well worth it.

@Jude: You have some epic cleavage in that shot.

It snowed. It’s still snowing.

It’s not snowing. It’s sunny and warm.

I got my hair done.

Woke to a few inches of snow this morning and the cats are so intrigued!

Kittens 1st snow. ;-)

Mia went into the garage and just looked around with big eyes and ran back in the house. haha
Marley is still out playing. He is enjoying tromping around on top of the hot tub cover and has intermittent bursts of psycho kitty friskiness.

A fun snowy morning on my little mountain. :-)

My mother was absolutely thrilled with some blouses I’ve been buying for her Spring/Summer wardrobe. She’s plus size and very down on herself to the point of wanting to buy nothing new or else she buys the ugliest too big stuff she can find. Now she’s beginning to see with a few brands I buy her that she can look nice even if she’s fat.

We celebrated my oldest grandson’s 24th birthday today by going out to his favorite Chinese restaurant. He found a free birthday meal coupon online, and saved us two meals, since it covered Hubby’s upcoming birthday as well.

I have been spending the day cleaning my house because it may or may not be infested with scabies mites. I spent last night in the ER after finding a rash similar to the one my scabies-infected friend had. That’s not the good thing.

When cleaning, I found a bunch of my old Game Boy games. I decided to lend them to a friend who is very picky about games (she’ll only play classics like Galaga or the old Mario games, anything else is too nerdy). She was skeptical at first, but later she texted me saying ‘Wow, these ARE good games!” I felt proud. And that is my little joy of the day.

One of my best friends set a wedding date for her and her fiancee. My longest time best friend is getting married this summer and we are tying the knot in the winter, lots of love being shared around makes me ecstatic.

An amazing, GREAT postcard day!

Blue skies, fluffy clouds and everything neon green.

Just spent the last hour doing happy brownie yard stuff while the geese wandered around.

Everybody is randy as spring breeding season is in full swing now.

Sonora the female is obsessed with one of my neighbors 4 sheep. She HAS to be as near her as possible at all times. Following her around the fence line that separates the pasture from my driveway and their pen.

She took off this afternoon, sneakily traveling up the driveway and out the gate and was on the edge of the fence about 30 yards away, following her sheep crush. lol

Marwyn is just obsessed with shadowing me and doing his posturing to let me know he is ready any time I am. Heh! We’ve been going through this for 12 years now but he is convinced one day I will hatch his eggs. lol

Quite the sexual triangle over here.

I’m actually relieved that it is Monday and I am back to my routine. I found the weekend to be very stressful and I couldn’t wait for it to be over.

I HAVE A SNOW DAY!! (day off!!!)

I love this thread.

@Dog Will you love the new one which is coming soon as much?

Yup!

It is funny I never saw this before that I recall. Maybe it is because this is a happy and completely flag-free place. :)