Gald to meet you. Where do you live and tomorrow people will want to know a little bit about you as you know since you have been in this safe zone.

I think you are right You are up late too. I do a lot of writing for my job and am best at night in the quiet.

I just wrote Phoggie who lost her husband recently. Maybe you have something to add.

Welcome, I am a senior citizen from the Boston area and enjoy this forum like you.
Most of the time it's a fun place to drop by and say "Hi"

June

You're up late and I'm up early. Just got home from driving my son to pick up a commuter van.

Yes, do tell us about yourself. I'm writing this from northeast PA, where we had freezing rain overnight and ice covers most surfaces. At 5:30 a.m., I was surprised to find the roads had been treated already.

Welcome and good morning. We are having a little thunderstorm here in central Indiana. It is moving out though. I am sure you will enjoy it here glad you joined us at the table.

Sue

Welcome!

Welcome from north central MN,where it is six degrees below zero this morning, but that is completely normal for us.

Phyllis

Hi Kat! Welcome to the Kitchen Table, from Northern Michigan :-)

Welcome from Northern NY where we are experiencing rain expected to freeze soon.

Welcome from OK where it was in the 70's yesterday and the 30's today with a mean north wind.....Stacy

Welcome from deep in the heart of Texas. My DH and I spent about 6 years in the Boston area and then retired to TX. We lived in Chelmsford but he worked in Boston...1 Beacon ST as a matter of fact. I loved the area but we decided we were too old to deal with the snow .....

Welcome from WV !! Also Sr. Citizen here. One DH , one son at home, and two senior dogs.

Hey, Kat, tell us something about yourself! Do you like chocolate? Walmart? online shopping? books? got kids? a husband?

anything!

:)

Moni, divorce since May last year, mother of two daughters, Omi (grandmother) to Allison and Nathan.

PS

I LOVE chocolate?
Don't do Walmart much
I do online shopping, but love real stores too, with goodwill my fave. :)
I love books! have boxes and boxes in storage... waiting to come out in my soon to be found new to me house
I have two daughters, like stated above
no husband anymore and feel great about that!

and I LOVE riding my bikes!

A big welcome from Missouri!

Welcome to the KT! I'm a divorced mother of two. One in college and one in high school. We have two dogs...one we are fostering and not sure about keeping him. He's adorable but chewing things up and making messes. We also just adopted our first ever cat right before Christmas. Right now he's my favorite, which totally shocks me as I've never been a cat person. Oh, and we have a fish.

Hi and welcome to the KT. I agree, it's a very comfortable place to be.

I don't know if you've been to JoAnn's KT gathering place, but she has made a wonderful website with some of our recipes, our birthdays and anniversaries, pictures of a lot of us and other helpful and fun information. I'll post the link below.

In the meantime, pull up a chair and get comfy and tell us about yourself.

Here is a link that might be useful: KT Gathering Place

Hi kat55black,

I add my welcome - from southern Ontario, north of Lake Erie - within jumping distance of four of the Great Lakes, actually.

Old fart here, two offspring who are 50 or nearing it, one nearby and one in AZ (dual citizenship - her Mom was from Iowa). No grandkids, so doubt there'll be any, apart from fostering. But - not to worry: having just passed about 7 billion, more than doubled in just about a generation, the world's too full, anyway. If we develop more bodies on this world, do you figure that it might become so heavy that it might fall out of orbit?

Live on rented house on a farm, about 15 mi. from town, not so hot hitchhiking in winter (my car, aged 24, is slightly over 1/4 my age: standard tranny, so can coast to yellow signal lights and downhill), so figure that I can live here as long as I hold a driver's licence. Actually, $500./mo. rent, good landlord and it's over $800. in town, so it's preferable ... and I have use of barn, shed, garage and a substantial garden (his land, he tills, gets part of the produce).

Was sent by church mission board to Korea to do refugee resettlement; clergyperson, school bus driver, bartender and a personal financial advisor for about 20 years, so it's been a varied and interesting life ... lung clot about 1-1/2 years ago, but going on rat poision fixed that and I'm quite active (when I choose to be - but suffer from a touch of laziness, I fear).

I've been claiming for a time that it makes a lot of sense, for about five major reasons, for several singles, mainly seniors, to share a (large) home ... but people disagree: "They'll fight!", they say.

(Fighting ...

... costs ...

... major ...

... bucks! (Just ask any divorcee - and I'm one).

Enough for now.

You'll find some good advice here, if you ask, friendship, help in trouble and some fun, on occasion, I hope.

Come and hang out whnever you feel like it.

I hope that you have a happy, healthy and reasonably prosperous New Year ... and that it brings the fulfillment of some of your dreams ... and the building of some worhtwhile new ones.

ole joyful

Hi kat55black, you have come to the right place. Lots of good people here.

Hi Kat..i'm in the Philadelphia suburbs, in Pa. Retired and spend a fair amount of time here at the KT.

Welcome from Southern Oregon. Looking forward for any info you are willing to share. Nice place here, I hope you will find it "home". Nanny

Wow! I had a lot to do today (very unusual for me), and look what happened since I posted! Thank you all so much for your kind welcomes.

Have been living in either So. Calif. (mostly) or in San Antonio, TX for nigh onto 40 years. Was my dream to move
back to Okla. or northern TX for a long time, but, after living right outside of San Antonio, I found that the humidity and fire ants were too much to handle. Ergo, "So Cal" (as the weathermen say) is going to be it....

I have 5 children, grandchildren, and a husband -- well, maybe I should just say roommate (even though we're still married). There's a long story there, but I won't bore anyone tonight with that tale. Can't promise that it won't come out, though. Are there any shrinks in the house?? Ha

I'm a definite night owl. Glad to see a few others are too.

I'm not familiar with Phoggie's story. I often check varied items if the titles strike a chord. Guess it depends upon my mood. I'd recently gotten a kick out of Jasdip's funnies. I don't know her story either, but was saddened to read that she was leaving.

I don't come here every night, but have found myself visiting more and more often. I have agoraphobia, thought that problem was conquered, but now anxiety has risen its ugly head to the point that I haven't driven in a year. I've got to be able to have some semblance of independence again. Somehow.

It's so nice that you all come from so many places. I like hearing from a cross section of people and places. My father worked for the Air Force, I was in the AF, and my husband retired from it. One place we were stationed was a few miles outside of Pittsburgh, PA. The people were nice, but driving in snow, sleet, hail, rain, and on icy roads 'bout did me in. And everything was either over, around, or through a mountain. The 2 months of summer were gorgeous, though. My husband is from NE PA, so he took it all in stride.

Chocolate? Chocolate?? Is there anyone who doesn't have a passion for it??? For Christmas, I used one of the recipes from here -- Glenda's? - the Fudge Pie. I'm in love...with that pie. Was wondering if I could make it without the crust and have the same results. It was delicious. And was it here I found the scrumptious potato and ham soup? So-o good.

Wal-Mart? Used to go all the time when it was the All American store (in Texas). Rarely go there now. Heck, China has the same products closer to home. I do shop online. Am expecting items this week from Amazon, and Staples, Office Depot, Office Max get my business. Since I'm mostly home-bound these day, I often shop online. Now, If I could get some restaurants to deliver, that would be great. :)

Books? Love, love, love to read. I get on kicks for various authors/types: Vince Flynn, David Baldacci, Steve Martini, Tami Hoag, Janet Evanovich (raunchy, with laugh-out-loud scenerios), Lynn Kurland (actual G-rated interesting romances). There are many others, but those are just a few books that I finished reading. I have so many books that my place is being overrun by bookshelves. I buy most of my fiction books at the Salvation Army or Goodwill stores, then donate them back.

Don't have pets anymore, but when my children were younger there were always cats and dogs in the mix. When I lost my first 'real love', my Scot Terrier, I lost a big piece of my heart. All of my children have pets and it's enjoyable and entertaining being around them all. Oh, thanks to whomever here posted the link to the YouTube of the 'talking' dog being teased. That one got sent via email to my family members.

Think I did visit the KT gathering place and look at pictures of some members. And I've definitely looked at the recipes. I collect recipes and cookbooks, even though I don't do a lot of cooking anymore.

Well, Old F..., er, JoyfulGuy, I did my best to keep the world's population down, but nothing worked...! Since there are so many people here and, according to the news, most of us are heavier that our ancestors, we just might find ourselves suddenly tossed into outer space. Gosh, I hope not. Never been interested in flying. It's good that 'rat poison' fixed your lung clot -- and that you're still around to talk about it.

When my kiddos were bringing around there friends (teen years and early twenties), I often felt it would be beneficial to establish some kind of commune or such. Might have helped us all. Or maybe not. People always fight -- some loudly, some reasonably, some in that infuriating passive-aggressive way. Oops, am slipping onto the couch - you know which one. I'll get up and try to finish this before I get 'timed out.' AOL used to do that.

Now that I've written a mini-novel, I'll sign off to preview this for mistakes.

Again, thank you to all who responded. You have truly made me feel welcome. Kat

I do seedbead art and jewelry, polymer clay figures and objects, Paint Shop Pro graphics, sewing, crocheting. Have taken numerous online classes about different things - graphics, poetry, painting, html training - to give you an idea. I took Creative Writing classes locally for many years. Just so you all understand - I've dabbled in a vast number of things, but only excel at a few. LOL

Hit the submit button before making the corrections, sorry. Then tried to add a P.S. to thank you all again for making me feel so welcome. Am going to try this once more. Kat

Thanks for filling us in Kat... it's nice to know about the new folks too.

Sounds like you are a busy lady, even without leaving the house. Hope somehow you can overcome that... and get back out. I love getting out, but then you know that... specially on the bike.

Am itching to do a tour, but truly don't know yet where to head the bike.

Moni

Hi Kat55! What an interesting post; you're a welcome addition to the table. :)

I was born and raised in Long Beach,Ca. until almost 13 when my parents decided to come back home to Texas. For most of my life, I call Amarillo home.

Moni, If I'm making something for someone else, or taking an online course, it's easy to keep busy with crafts, etc. Otherwise, have to push myself to find something to do. Was physically active all my life -- then this ol' bod decided to do an internal Dorial Gray. Ha (And one of those important life questions comes to mind: Why is gray sometimes spelled grey??) Was swimming 3 times a week when my first 'attack' of vertigo occurred. Couldn't lift my head to even reach the phone a few inches away. Scary. Unfortunately with Agoraphobia, once you get frightened, you tend to avoid that thing that you figure was the offending trigger. So, mixing a deteriorating body with straight-from-h___ mental processing really puts a crimp in 'living the good life.' Being able to once again drive will help considerably.

It's good that you have a passion and that you're able to bike. And I'd dearly love seeing your 'jungle' in person, but the pics will have to suffice. Thanks for sharing. Kat

Granlan, Amarillo! Shades of Air Force Tech School and cold winds hitting my legs like needles and a handsome boyfriend from NY and a beloved aunt and uncle from Trent, TX! Thank you for the nice memories.

Are you old enough to remember the Pike Amusement Park in Long Beach? Fun memories from there, too. Kat

Kat and Granlan, I do remember the Pike in Long Beach. That was a fun place to go and I loved the roller coaster, but the centrifugal force on The Rotor didn't agree with me at all.

Kat, I'm Janene in the Los Angeles area and I love the KT. Married for many years, no human kids but at least we have pets -- two dogs, three cats and some zebra finches. I'm a preschool teacher, but will retire from that soon. My hobby is roses, which originally brought me to the GardenWeb forums.

Hi Kat,I'm Lily from PA. Married, two kids, two grandkids, two dogs , four cats, two koi ponds and a beehive..and a betta. I am a night owl and always have been. I only sleep about six hours a night because I'm up so late. Really never have liked the AM. I like the quiet of the night. I don't have agoraphobia, but I don't like to drive anymore. It's crazy around here with accidents all the time. I live in a 174 year old house and love the pre-civil war era houses and furnishings.

Janene, It was THE place to go as a teenager. Never much of a fast or spinning rider, but the Wild Mouse was okay. The Santa Monica Pier was another good place.

Got to hand it to you -- a preschool teacher. Takes a special and very patient person to deal year after year with the little ones.

I, too, love roses, but haven't done any gardening in awhile. We had a beautiful Peruvian Pepper Tree in the front yard, but it became hollow inside, so now there is half of a tree left! (It originally looked like a Siamese-twin configuration -- two trees in one.) I've dearly missed that part that was cut off. I love trees, except maybe some palms that get messy and require constant pruning.... LOL

Lily, Glad to hear from another night owl. I, too, have gotten to where I can only sleep about 6 hours straight -- then, later, have to have a nap to make up those lost 2 hours.
I hope you don't have difficulty in getting where you need to go. I hire the son of a long-time friend to drive me to the store once a week or so.
Would love to see your house. Don't know if I believe in ghosts, but think that those who've lived in a place might leave some kind of 'spiritual imprint.' When we visited an old, old ship in San Diego, for example, it was mesmerizing to realize that real people had lived and worked on that ship -- over a hundred years ago. (Think that was the Star of India. There was another ship there, too - name forgotten.)

We were stationed near Pittsburgh and my husband is from the far northeastern part of the state. It was amusing to drive from his parents' place to his brothers' houses. The latter were in Levittown and we'd drive through New Jersey to get back into PA. LOL Kat

Even though it's now Friday, thought I'd respond again.

Kat, I grew up just 8 blocks from the Pike and went there many times. Petaloid, The Rotor was a new ride when my "uncle" friend took me for a ride. I was lucky not to get sick. lol I was never brave enough to ride the big wooden roller coaster, but rode the little one many times.

Kat, after high school, I married a guy from Texas who spent all 4 yrs. at the Amarillo Air Force Base; therefore, he was ready to leave TX when he was discharged. That's when I lived in northern CA for a short time...living in Fremont and Hayward...DD was born in Oakland.

This message may get lost in the shuffle -- there are so many posts in such a short time. Ha
Granlan, My girlfriend's father worked at a used car place, so she occasionally had the use of whatever he brought home. Such fun when you're a teenager. Wasn't able to get to the Pike that often, but met the cutest sailor there.... :)
I was in training as an Amin Specialist in Amarillo. Can't blame your husband for wanting to leave the area. That's one of those places (like Pittsburgh!) where you're definitely more at ease if you've been born and raised there.