Hi Guys! Well, after the light dusting of snow that we had yesterday. It snowed last night and it's sticking now. The little ones bundled up in snow pants and the rest and headed out. They got their fill of snow, had hot choc and brownies and are vegging out now. On Friday, we hosted the neighborhood teens for a couple of movies, pizza, dino-nuggets and chat about whatever teens like to talk about. Then we built a fire and roasted a few marshmallows. After driving everyone home, we enjoyed the fire until it burned out. Tikanas: How's the vegan meal planning coming along with DS? I have to check out the cooking forum, I guess. Saturday, I spent fixing up a leg-o-lamb for company. I served it with roasted peppers and onions, with a big greek salad on the side. Appetizers were yellow and orange peppers wrapped in prosciutto and Soppressata salami and Asiago cheese bundles. It was all yummers and then we had a few pistachios and tiny, tiny brownies for dessert, along with some homemade hot buttered rums-----HEY!- it IS winter time here! I have been good with my diet and exercise all week and am down a pound. I decided to have fun one day a week and not beat myself up about it. From the beginning of the year, I just made myself a deal that, during 6 days of the week, I'll pose the question, "Is this GOOD for my body?" before I eat anything. The 7th day, I don't have to ask the question or go traveling on a guilt trip. I am tired of spending the last 8 years on a diet and am seeing how this works for me. The winter snow brightness has brought DH's mood back out of the depressions he faces in the winter overcast here, so things around the house are cheerier for now. Besh -as Jimmy Buffet would say, "I WANNA GO WHERE IT'S WARM!" lol. Just some constant sunlight would be great! Raeanne~ I have to thank you for the card, you sweet thing. You always brighten my day. You are such a thoughtful gal. ((((((((((Love ya)))))))))) Thanks so much. I am here today; I have at least 12 loads of laundry to do. Our family company left and there are sheets, towels, bedding, etc, etc, etc. I wish I had a BIG table to fold on! Why are laundry rooms so durned small? Marci~ I am supposed to read some specific books for the Expressions in Writing class I'm taking. I'll pass them on to you if they're good. One I read this summer was Knight in Rusty Armor. It'd be good for lots of guys I know to read! It's very easy to read and cute and reflective. In other news, my ex has decided to marry the girl he left his most recent wife for. They keep getting younger. (((SIGH))) Anyway, almost exactly 1 year after he divorced the last one, he's marrying again. I fear he'll never settle down, but he is super committed to our 2 girls, and they to him, so that's the best I can hope for. Neither DD is big on marriage, though, and I can see why! NHSuzanne~ Sister Gift with Words - You paint a calm picture. Thank you for the vision. My thought on the birthday exchange is that it should be easy. We're all busy chicks and we want to stay connected with ease. But I'd love to have a b-day pal and then ANOTHER pal that I could send cards and trinkets to on and off over the year. Fun mail is FUN mail! I'll go with the flow as long as I don't have to organize it! ------- ((((THANKS MARCI and MADDIE for all you do!)))))) Joanne and Gretchen! LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU! Thanks for checking in! Well, I better get something done around here! PS: John, we miss you -- still.

I will be going to Thailand for a month in the July/Aug time frame, and am still undecided how to leave my two cats Prescilla and Max. Max is 3.5 yrs old male persian cat with dog paws that still eats out of my hand every day. He is the main concern, as he has taught me over and over that he will starve himself to dehydration otherwise. But the last 3 months have been better for him in the sense that I recognized the need (as someone mentioned above) to have a daily routine when at home. Like having a set time when leaving for work and coming home. Like not studying or spending too much time on the computer while at home. Don't know why other than it's complicated. So it is Max who joined "the family" of Prescilla and I at just 6 weeks of age, and ever since has been intimidated from eating by Prescilla who hisses at him. So the last 3 months, since moving into a B&B with a view, and about 1500 sq ft of play space, and 5 litter boxes, that my cats can be seen playing and sleeping together often. And lots of windows too. But Max soon figured out that he didn't have to let me off the hook so soon, and was starving himself every day while I was at work so that I would have to hand feed him when I got home. So I realized that what he needed and wanted, was for me to show Prescilla that he was important. So I decided that I would hand feed Max with Prescilla present. And wha la! Max feels important in "the family" structure, and now wants to cooperate. Another thing I found helpful is leaving for work at the crack of dawn (here in Vermont it's 6am), and not spending too much time in the morning getting out the door (prepare the night before). Also not spending too much time at home. Also putting the feeding bowl back in its central location in the kitchen after feeding him in my bed (which is just placing the bowl next to me, instead of having him eat directly out of my cupped hand). As far as spending time studying or on the computer, I think it's a problem because (a) I'm their sole provider and am single, and (b) they take it as being selfish (they expect attention). On the other side, they do fine when I am away during the daylight hours. Don't know why. Leave for work at crack of dawn, and return just before dusk. If I need to study, I leave and either go back to work or find a book store. I return and go to bed immediately. It is an intermediate step until Max and Prescilla get to "re-know" each other. Prescilla has never seen a healthy Max, and neither have I. Except one time when I went away for 2 weeks when Max was one yrs old and I placed him and Prescilla in a vet/boarding place. Max came back all healthy looking and confident around Prescilla. His coat was healthy and not dehydrated-looking. I eventually concluded, after a lot of thought, that Max was eating in front of Prescilla, either in the same cage, or in a cage nearby, and with the constant protection of nearby humans, was freewilled to eat as he pleased. On another note, this whole thing of mess Max found himself in, could most likely be due partly to having been taken from a breeder's house, run by a couple (ie TWO providers), and taken from his remaining sibling sister cat. He was from a litter of 4 and had probably seen his other siblings taken just days before. All just to go into a home where the sole provider was not home much, and the other "kitten" was a large mature spoiled street-smart female (I got found her in the streets of San Diego). Well, you get the idea. I started the hand-feeding the next day, as soon as I saw the dueling between them. And promised to myself I'd do it for a year max(imum). Oh well. Anyways, I can't bet that I will have 3 years of neglect fixed in 6 months. I put an ad up on craigslist for free room and board for free petsitting services, and have gotten a dozen or so responses. Just not sure if Max will go into hiding from seeing strangers in the house, thus increasing his chances for not eating. Boarding for a month seems long. The landlord lives next door, and has pet-sit before, so it might be doable to have her pet-sit again. Taking the cats with me to Thailand is scary, especially with the hot weather there and the plane-sitting-on-the-tarmac thing. And the H5N1 thing. Vermont is much cooler weather. And yes, I paid $$$ for Max from a breeder, and yes his coat is off white with hints of grays browns and golden browns. Why are the cats you pay money for so difficult? Prescilla was free, but she's the plain nothing-fancy black and gray tabby. Standard stray cat formula there. Any thoughts/ideas would be most appreciated. I'm pretty sure that a paid petsitter for an hour a day would do just fine, but was hoping for something cheaper. Even then, I don't think a petsitter would be able to hand feed twice a day, or if Max would let a stranger do it. Probably not an issue, since (a) Max now knows he's important, (b) Prescilla knows to respect him or else, and (c) Max knows the handfeeding thing is a control gig, that won't work if I'm not around (I know he eats out of the bowl when I'm not around for like more than 14 hours or so). I know, it's complicated! Stephanie

Our house was built in the 20's. A few years later they closed in the "sleeping porch" and we now have a beautiful round parlor with five 5X7 windows, walnut french doors into the living room and a big closet that holds a "real" Murphy bed, with a tag that says 1915. The bed turns out of the closet so easily, then it folds down. We bought a full size mattress from Sears. I spent 7 weeks on it with a broken ankle. Our old house really only has 2 bedrooms, but this was advertised as a bedroom, too. I prefer to call it the parlor/guest room.

I could almost have avoided buying radish seed this spring, for there were quite a few radishes about an inch high in the fall, volunteering from the radishes that had gone to seed earlier. There are a good deal many more this spring ... and some from the area where the radishes were, the year before. Anyone want some radish seeds? I have a few lettuce plants starting on their own, as well. Last year had quite a few zucchini from the ones that had spoiled that I threw directly on to the garden rather than into compost ... plus some volunteer tomato plants in a part of the garden where they were not planted, as well. I had about 60 some asparagus plants, last year ... but the landlord nicked some when he ran the tiller down the rows, last summer. And this spring when he did the initial tilling, to chew up the residues from last year and let the chewed up pieces start to rot ... he nicked a fair chunk of one row. Plus some died, I think ... so I think that I have only about half as many plants, now. Quite a few more seeds, so will fill in the blank spaces (but will need to mark them, as they'll need to be transplanted later than the originals). I save some of the first run of cold water out of the hot water tap in the bathroom/kitchen to water the cats, as well as flush the toilet. You guys in the sunny south-west should do a lot of that, cause you sure are short of water. They had a note on the radio the other day that they're worried that the rivers in rather dry Alberta are polluted now, and the flow is largely allocated ... ... so if some of you come wanting us to ship some down the trench between the mountains to California, Arizona, etc. ... we may be tellling you to get lost! The glaciers that feed them have been shrinking ... and if (when?) they die, Calgary may be crying big time for water, themselves. Have yourselves a lovely spring, everyone ... it's getting so that one can drop most of the winter clothing sometimes, in the last few days ... sort of a relief, that. ole joyful