Stoney, you have the best of both worlds! mcmann, I can't remember where you live...in the south? Susan, you impress me as the kind of person who would enjoy research. Brain-y! Smart! YaYa, it's supposed to be even colder tonight. *gasp* (Good luck at the hospital in the morning!) Nita, I hope you had fun today! I've always loved the name Millie. THANKS to all who posted today. I am hoping one more really hard day will whip out this project I've been on...just in time to hump up on another. Ah, life is good. (Hard some days but good at the end of the month!) :-)

Yesterday after visiting sister Annie at the Home, I stopped at the grocery store to pick up some milk. I ran into the gal they hired to take my place when I retired. She looked exhausted.....this is one the busier times on that job. I told her she just gave me my 'gratitude of the day'.....I no longer have to spend my Januarys working myself to a frazzle. Plus I'm not out in the cold at 6:30 in the morning, unfreezing/scraping/etc just to be able to get my car on the road. I came home with a big old smile on my face!! Shirley

Finally off to mail my block. Couldn't stop quilting and didn't want to change the foot, so today I set up my other machine for a while. Read something lately that said due to so much machine quilting it wasn't necessary anymore to press seams to one side. Since I never know quite how to press without a pattern I decided to try it. Hope that doesn't present a problem to any hand quilters. Please let me know. Purple is lighter than it appears. Overcast today. LindaB/CA

Hi Suzanne, Your dinner sounds yummy. I have not planned anything, so I guess I'll go freezer diving today! As far as advice regarding the DS#1 drinking, if I was you, I would talk too DS#1 FIRST, before talking to your DH. Get some info..: How often is he drinking? How much is he drinking? Is he still attending his follow-up support meetings and how often is he attending the meetings (once a week for a year is considered very important, but the more often , the better). Then ask DS#1 if he thinks he should maybe share this part of his life with his dad. Ask him how he feels about you sharing it with his dad. DS#1 is a grown-up person, and is holding a job, paying his rent, etc. I feel like we can't intrude on our kids or family's lives forever---sooner or later, they will do what they will do, and there is not much we can do about it. So, the short of it is, I'd ask DS#1 how much he feels comfortable with you sharing with your DH and DS#1 needs to share whatever he feels comfortable sharing---soon. I feel rather close to this, as I have an extremely successful, professional, highly productive sister who, unfortunately, is what the medical community calls a "functioning alchohlic". She has several glasses of red wine nearly every night and continues (for years) to own her own business, hold high offices in the community and in volunteer organizations, and apparently copes with the stress through wine therapy. No one can stop her as she puts up the argument of her maintenance of success for years on end, believes she is handling and compartmentalizing her drinking, and she says she is hurting no one, as she never leaves the house and drives or interferes in anyone's business when having wine. What can I say? I love spending time with her and admire her work. And I no longer try to talk to her about the way she's running her life---I gave up about 2 years ago. Just food for thought. Eventually, the heartache heals and fate takes over. We can't help everyone! ouch! Having shared that very personal moment, I will sign off, and wish you all a happy holiday! Peace on earth.