Well what a great report from you, pitimpinai!! The last I heard you were still very low in energy and still on a ton of medication and little appetite, and listen to you, helping the neighbor till up a lawn! LOL What a nice neighbor you were to plant tomatoes and Dahlias. :-) I am happy to hear that you've also benefited from a shorter work day. Great that you had all that time off saved up. I bet you really needed it to get your energy back. We have gotten pretty much back to what is normal for us here. The weather has been stupendous in the past month! I have never seen the cover crop in the veggie beds so high. We've also gotten all the leaves mowed and collected in bins, ours and three neighbors. [g] We have gotten somewhat cleaned up for the year in the garden, but I keep adding to my list of what I want to get done before the weather turns. Still have a small amount of bulbs to plant and three shrubs to get in the ground, some pots to clean and put away and that will just about do it. I am actually looking forward to a break from the garden. Not that we don't get outside and enjoy it, but it's nice this time of year, to focus on other things. During the gardening season, the garden seems to push out other priorities. [g] I enjoy the winter garden and by the time spring comes, I am just itching to get back to a new growing season. Glad you are able to enjoy gardening again and hope you stay well this winter! :-)

I finally saw it, late last night. I felt a knot in my gut get tighter and tighter as the scenes passed and the drama of desperation accumulated. But other than that, the movie did not cause any intense or unusual emotional disturbance in me. I thought it was exceptionally, commendably well done. DW even went with me, and for once, we both came through about identically, emotionally. DW was offended because it seemed to her like the military characters were singled out for put-downs. It looked to her like there was an imbalance of portrayal of the military folks, compared to the other responders, as the least intelligent, most disorganized and otherwise most inept. I didn't take it that way, although I understand why she would. But really, the attacks were not something anyone was well-rehearsed in responding to. (Who's all set to execute plans to respond to an earthquake in Chicago? Or a bee swarm in a shopping mall, for that matter?) There probably would have been unnecessary shootdowns if the President's orders had been passed. That's the kind of thing that happens simply because of the "fog of war," absent any blood lust, overreaction, or insubordination. I thought the commanders' declining to pass the shootdown orders was as brave and admirable an action as the passengers' revolt. I guess I brought that up because I'm familiar with air-to-air scenarios. For irony in personal experience, just this past week I watched The Godfather Part III on DVD. Weird movie, but I suppose it was a way to bring some kind of closure to the first two parts. Anyway, one very good line in it was: "Don't hate your enemies; it clouds your judgment." I think United 93's most clever quality was its portrayal in a way that did not strive to focus viewers' empathy toward either hijackers, or passengers, or other responders, or other less involved characters. Portrayal with any hint of "partisanship" would have disserved the public and cheapened the movie. The media are already far too full of historical portrayals that stoke already existing hatreds (and create new ones), such that too many people are fighting the war we are in with clouded judgment. It's one thing for combatants to adopt, or reject, one another's strategies, tactics, methods, ideas or styles. But it's self-defeating to the warrior who lets propaganda affect how he "feels about" his enemy. I ached after the movie, not because of it, but because there aren't more like it, especially covering the current war.

Update--- ID and I spoke at length about this very issue last night. We did a budget assessment and are even farther out there than I realized. So, this is his view, that if the table was a cherished heirloom or a valuable antique of any provenance, or "even if it was just really nice looking" he would love it upholstered in the tartan. At $120 per yard shipped cost to me, with extra for rails because of the repeat (and we are pretty sure the pool table guy has never heard or dealt with a repeat), the fabric alone would cost around $800. He said he would rather have that money back in the pot for accessories, especially if someday in the not too distant future that table will end up for sale for $150 at the Christian Women's Center thrift shop. He's right, This is a CL Bailey oak table and I guess the tartan would be the teensiest bit over the top :-( But still....hmph!

I can't really recall if I have walked out because I thought the movie was bad, but I have left and asked for compensation (in the form of a future movie ticket) when the sound or picture got screwy (once, they turned on the bright lights when they were trying to fix things -- can you imagine how startling to our eyes that was!). But I have to say this: In the cases of movies just not being as good as I thought they were going to be, I've never walked out and asked for my money back. Everybody's opinion is different -- and there are plenty of movie reviews out there to help you decide if you want to take the gamble, esp considering the high cost of theater tickets. In a restaurant, if your dinner comes out undercooked, overcooked, overly salted, you'd send it back, of course, to have them make it correctly, but if you just didn't care for it in general, because it didn't match your expectations, would you ask for your money back? What about a book you've purchased from a bookstore, a book that in the end you thought lacked creativity or suspense? Would you return the book and tell the store that the writer was terrible? But asking for money back if you thought the movie was just stupid? That's how I see the 'walk out of the movie and ask for your money back' position. (Not referring to the examples like Dotmom's or when the ratings trick you into thinking that any language is OK for young kids.)