Whoa, nellie!! I didn't see any kind of "attack" in what PG said. She's just saying give Eleanor a chance to get back to you. But, in my experience, I couldn't get her to respond to e-mail, so I called her. She seems to always answer the phone or return a call if you leave a message. She's a nice lady to talk to and very helpful. However, on the down side, my sister finds her a bit difficult to "nail down" on shipping costs. It seems it changes every time she talks to her. For example, today, she might tell you shiping is $25, and tommorrow, she might say it's $40. It drives my sis batty! But the product is so good, she deals with it... If it seems too high today, she'll call her back another day to order... I'll see what else I can find out about shipping to Australia... Denise in Omaha

Hi again, One thing I've noticed about down times is that for me they don't last forever. Some years ago, when I got into a painful space, I started looking at the clock with the intent of timing how long it lasted. Somehow just knowing that such times have a beginning and an end was helpful to me in gaining perspective. One reason I don't spend as much time here as I used to is that I started another forum. It's different from this one,but it was created to be a safe place for some people, too, who were having trouble on other forums with people fighting and not being family-friendly. It takes a fair amount of time to keep up. I'm not sure how many visitors we get from here, but no one posting, and I think for the same reason I post here less - we run out of hours in the day. And then there are the health problems and physical pain and all. Maybe I can start sharing some of the things here. People might even get interested, lol, and it would be a way to keep up my contact here more than I have been. Among other things,we have threads for beautiful imagery. I enjoy that, being an artist. Or maybe it's that I'm an artist because I enjoy that. Below is the link to some images that I posted this morning on the reflection thread. When you get there, click on the box that says "click here to view a picture." For anyone with dial-up, you might want to skip numbers 3, 4, and 5, as they take a long time to load. Just try the first two and the last three. We have a story thread, too, where people add their sentences to create a story, and a person who does sand sculpture. We have a cute pictures thread, which I'm sure some of you would enjoy. I'll add to that later today and share it here, too. I got the pics I'm sharing today fro a stock exchange site. I have a lot of struggles, and joys, too, but I've got to the place where I'm too tired and ill to try to share it all. I need to work on other things, like the paintings and art site and such. That's why I dropped out of the Christmas and birthday exchanges, too. I can't keep it all up. At least I'm still here :) Here is a link that might be useful: Reflections

Good morning. Y'all hold onto your hats - my sister who has cancer has an unexpected visitor this weekend. Her ex-husband! To refresh everyone's memory, he is the cad who left her when their three sons were 9, 10 and 11 years old - for the young babysitter. He's been through several more since then, and all have left him. When their middle son was paralyzed in a diving accident in high school, he showed up enough to get sympathy, then left town again. I despise him for what he did and didn't do for her and their boys and should really let it go, but just the mention of his name makes me crazy. So this should be very interesting. He is in for a terrible shock when he sees her, but he deserves at least a shock or two. I'm sorry, I should not be bitter, but he's the kind of man (and I use that term loosely) that loved to put my sister down in front of others, even her own sisters. Like why don't you wear clothes like so and so, and you could stand to wear a little makeup, etc. But, the good thing he is going to see her, maybe he'll offer to help out with the situation. Maybe he's turning over a new leaf. The sad thing is his own sons don't respect him, because he's never been a father figure, so this will be quite the visit for them, too. Stay tuned. On a much lighter subject, I love House, Dancing with the Stars, Ugly Betty. The last episode with Cuddy about to adopt the baby preparing to adopt the baby broke my heart. Was not prepared for the ending! Wow. Such good characters in that show - I've always loved Wilson! Re: Ugly Betty - I know it would change the whole show's meaning, but I wish they would allow her to be pretty at least one episode. BJ, thanks for sharing the history of Baby V. I can almost picture him by your description, what a beautiful baby. When are the new parents coming? Peggy, I'm so excited for you - it's like you are re-born. What a beautiful Christmas you are going to have - lights and all! It's going to rain here today. I like a cloudy, rainy day every once in a while - kind of peaceful. At least, it will keep me out of the dirt! QOD: No company, no travel, just hanging out and watching football games - college and NFL with my husband. I've got a couple of Blockbuster movies that I'm ashamed to say I've had since August (it's like Netflix, so no late fees, thank goodness) - The Kite Runner, The Bucket List, and I don't even remember the other - I think it's Smart People with Dennis Quaid. Might be a good movie marathon weekend. I definitely want to do Christmas cards. Just tell me what to do. I've always enjoyed sending them out, but it seems like each year, less people send them. So, this will be fun to share with my new friends! Hope everyone's weekend is a great one! Jan

Looking at all those gorgeous projects is almost overwhelming. No....nada.......am not sewing for Christmas this year. Perhaps some squeaky dog toys for my Tubby, who can demolish them so rapidly that I buy replacement squeakers by the bag full. I was going great guns on the hand quilting on the frame. It is at least two thirds done in a couple weeks, but you know how you get bored with the same old, same old? I needed a break so I can be enthused when I go back to it. I promised myself I wasn't going to start any more quilting projects until this one was done. Yeah......sure. You all did it ..........again. The thread about the 3-D pinwheels. Somebody posted a picture of a project done in denim and, well, you know how that goes. I have been cleaning out drawers and closets and decided to clean my fabric stash by cutting up the denim into blocks. Then one thing led to another and in two days I have about a third of the blocks done for a denim 3-D pinwheel quilts. Enablers.........all of you.