Winter time - This time of year I don't know about making life better, but I do try to appreciate the little things that can make a day better, and say Thank You (maybe not out loud) The silly chickadee bringing a smile with it's antics in a shrub by my carport I would have missed if I hadn't chosen just that moment to take out the garbage- that baby in the back of a grocery cart who makes eye contact and gives a big grin for no reason other than wanting a smile back...all thank yous. Today, a bigger one. I've been arguing (negotiating) with the IRS since last May over what they said was a deficit in our 2003 taxes. Audit by mail, which meant countless phone calls, faxes, copies mailed, letters of explanation, and about every 6 weeks I'd get another bill where they were still unconvinced, penalties and interest accruing to about $4000 total. This morning, finally, a letter - "We are pleased to tell you we did not make any changes to the tax reported on your return." I almost feel like my honor has been restored, I'm not a deadbeat or a cheat. And for all my effort, I may just buy myself some extravagant little thing :)

The laptop's all set up - and dd received it on Tuesday. For now we'll try open office. She does have a desktop pc with word if she needs it. And at school they use Mac's. So no matter what we use at home, it won't be quite the same as in school. abreeze - thanks for the link. It's beyond anything she or I will do now - but one or both of us might get more versed in powerpoint over time. That's a helpful comparison. I created recovery disks - but when I went to create a password reset disk, the laptop kept asking me to insert a disk. There was a disk in there. I even switched disks in case one was bad. But it was birthday day - so I figured I'd get to this later. Well - it came back and bit me in the butt. Birthday night had some trauma. After dinner, my mother fell backwards and hit her head on the sidewalk. I took her to the ER. My daughter was distraught - and the parent controls had logged her off at 9pm. Husband thought this was a reasonable exception - so he logged into the admin account for her. She immediately eliminated the time controls. No big deal, I thought - I'll reset them another time. Somehow she tricked my husband into entering the admin password again - told him she'd restarted the computer by accident. Well - that sneak had gotten him to enter the password in a field that allowed her to change it. She changed the passwords and locked us out of the laptop. So this is where that password reset disk would have been helpful - to override what she did and reset a new admin password. So this is partly a note to people about the important of creating a password reset disk (or set up on flash drive). I'd never even heard of this before. We're at the beach with my daughter and friend - it's instead of a birthday party. So we're not having the confrontation with this weekend. Monday - we tell her she has to hand back the reins for the admin account (or no laptop). The joys of parenting preteens. It took her less than 24 hours to violate most of the terms of the contract she signed. Sure wish I'd had that reset password disk. When I get admin control back, I'll be sure to create one somehow. (I assume at this point my only option is getting her to give me that new password she created.) Thanks. Lynn.

Well, I do think the bride and groom are going up to camp for a few days before the wedding. But when the relatives arrive, they will be staying in the hotel with everyone. Both of our sons will share a room; our younger son is best man. The bride will share a room with her sister, who will be matron of honor. They had a favorite, very popular double campsite in Big Sur that they really wanted, but they needed 2 adjoining ones to accommodate the expected 50 guests, and they could only get one. (The whole family was online registering for those 2 sites the minute they opened them for reservations.) However, they had already put money down to hold their alternate site which is also beautiful. We will use it; it has gorgeous big redwoods and views of the river, I think. I wanted to discourage them from camping that week, picturing a bride full of mosquito bites and a dress crushed into their car and tent with all the equipment they would need, but they have it all figured out and this is what they want. We want them to be happy. (My brother is driving up, so we have enlisted their help in transporting the wedding dress to avoid their cramming it into the car with their camping gear.) The rehearsal dinner is also at a camp site, and the local camp vendor is going to cater it. I assume hamburgers or BBQ chicken. We will all arrive just in time to get to the rehearsal dinner as it is quite a trek to get there, even by plane. No one lives locally, which would have been a big help. The bride and her mother and our son are planning the locales, decorations, menu and everything. We are paying the bill. Hopefully, this will be the wedding of our bride's dreams. The reception is at their favorite restaurant in Big Sur.

my husband and i married when my daughter was 17-his were 14 and 12. the 14 y/o was "too sick" to come to the wedding. talk about hurt feelings! she told me last year that she is so sorry about that and about not spending time with us like we asked her to. she's 18 now. meanwhile the then 12 y/o went through a similar but less obvious form of the same phase. on the other hand, my dh thought my daughter was awful till his girls got to the same age, now he can see similarities. make sure she knows you are the alpha b!tch in the house though. anette