A couple of days ago I found that I could search my father�s mother�s family even further than I could his father�s, and that took me back to South Carolina on the French side of the family. I could go even further back on the father�s side if I wanted to contact my relatives in Switzerland, but I would have to write to them in German, as their English is not so good, for some reason. I might do that at some point; my German is very good, if not modern. Anyway, the other night I had a dream that I was going to a family reunion at some large house in the country, and I hardly knew any of the relatives there. I had a suitcase and traveling gear with me, and I set the suitcase down in the dining room or kitchen. More and more cousins kept arriving, and some of them seemed like sketchy characters, whom I felt I might not be able to trust. The house kept getting bigger also, until it morphed into a warehouse that had lockers in one of the hallways. I put my suitcase in one of the lockers for safe keeping but left my traveling gear in the dining room, unsure of what I should do with it. I thought I should keep some of it with me but was convinced that it was okay in the dining room. I ventured out into other rooms in the warehouse (it had multiple levels), and eventually I discovered that I could no longer find the lockers where I had stored my suitcase. I began to become nervous at this point but told myself that it was just a dream and that I would find everything when I woke up. However, when I tried to find the dining room with the rest of my things, I began to panic and became very lost in the warehouse, having no idea of where I was or where anything was. At that point I decided that I HAD to wake up, but when I did wake up, my pulse was racing, and I felt almost like I was having a panic attack. I can�t tell whether the anxiety was caused by my blood pressure medicine (which seemed to have the opposite effect) or whether it was from the virus I had that was coming back. To calm myself back down, I started reading again. Right now I am reading anthropology books at night to help get to sleep and I am currently in the Upper Pleistocene Epoch, which is one of my favorite periods, but it might be causing me to think too much about my ancestors. I found out yesterday that my health insurance will help pay for psychotherapy, and so I am thinking about looking for a therapist to see if I have issues that I need to resolve. They usually put me on more medication, but that might be okay. I think I have a chemical imbalance that makes me psycho sensitive to certain medications. It might also have something to do with what I eat. I'm not sure how much more I want to find out about my ancestors at this point - I'm sort of afraid they might come back to haunt me. My famaily has been in Texas since it was an independent republic, but that was not so long ago. Lars

LOL..... Women.... you never catch on.... But that's good. Didn't you watch Everybody Loves Raymond when Robert was supposed to make the wedding invitations? Chemocurl, that's true, but they also say "A woman's work is never done... since the invention of the TV!" ;) Now go fetch yer men a beer, bring their pipe and slippers and give him a nice back rub. To quote some great men: Women.... can't live with 'em. Pass the beer nuts. - Norm Peterson Women.... can't live with 'em, can't stuff 'em in a sack! - Larry (of Larry, Darrel & Darrel) Oh, this could get interesting! ANYWAY, I was going to just put up an eye hook (ask your menfolk what they are if you don't know, ladies... hehe) and put a rope through it. Simple and effective pulley system. And BTW, guys NEED $30k pickups to carry home 500 pairs of shoes for whom??? Maybe we should use the same argument: We need a BLACK pickup, and an EBONY pickup and an ONYX pickup... After all, you can't drive the white pickup after September...

LOL, Daisy! What a good idea (the bribing, I mean...)! Thank you all for your thoughtful posts. Honestly, though I get irritated about feeling thwarted sometimes, I really value his opinion. Especially when he saves me from making mistakes. Like yesterday, for example. I "eyeballed" the bunk beds, which so many of you know from experience is ALWAYS a mistake. DH went to see them later, with a tape measure... and the bottom bed would have blocked off half of DS's little room. I hate it when he's right, but at the same time, I would have really hated hauling all that furniture home and setting it up, only to find that it either doesn't really fit or takes the whole room over... Hence the title of this post. Feeling very embarrassed for having taken up bandwidth on this... hope the discussion was interesting, at least. And BTDT moms who posted about being glad that they had cheapo pine bunkbeds the kids could, ahem, "personalize" -- thank you for your insights, very useful. TO the other warnings: thanks, you guys, I know you're right, and I know the disadvantages of bunkbeds, and am not looking forward to making that top bunk at all. But right now the kids adore each other and DS2 would actually sleep better at night knowing his wonderful big brother could protect him from the monsters. Sigh. Back to looking! Have a good Friday, all...

Oh, I thank you all!!!! I'm so cheered up this morning!! Let's shift our good wishes to Cotehele! I can't imagine entertaining with all this happening. And her son's wedding, to boot!! Judy, I wish you much joy on the occasion. In fact, I think the really depressing thing about the delay is not being able to have company this Summer. Upside, Sukkot (early October) is my favorite holiday, and gives me a whole week of cooking opportunities for the new kitchen. :-) Biochem, Does dinner for 20+ two days before demolition count? They sure saw the house in a state! :-D Jetvtr, Great analogy! I think I've hit the late second trimester doldrums with this. LOL!!! NONE of this is the GC's fault. He's a gem. He was trying to please me by letting me use my artisan tile setter, around whose schedule we had to work, including getting the final count for ordering the tile. Most of my lower cabinet boxes are made, but the cabinet maker was waiting on the floor to be laid to measure for all the floor to ceiling units. He finally had to go on with the jobs he had waiting--he can't stay in business and have his crew doing nothing. I totally get that, bummed as I was (am). The finishing after the tile counters are in should go fast, as you say. That delay is mine. I'm not going to spend wedding festivities worrying about what's happening in the construction, and the time off suits the tile man better, giving the counters a chance to set and settle. Jeannie, Pbrisjar, Rubyfig, Loves2cook, Ajsmama and Pluckymama, you all have made it a lot easier for me to anticipate the joy of baking for the New Year instead of worrying about my lost Summer. I promise to post a picture of the pizza sized challah. :-) Viennamommy, I don't keep a normally kosher kitchen. My family's minhags don't coincide with it. But it's really the food that has to be kosher rather than the kitchen. I guess it seems easier to me, because I know how to produce a kosher meal in a kitchen that isn't. It's the same as if you're camping, travelling, or anything else: Two layers, and parchment paper rocks!! And so do disposables. The easiest part of it, if your situation is anything like mine, is that I've found that wet food prep is just too repulsive during the rough remodelling. Prewashed lettuce and prepared salads. Precooked meats. Lots of dairy.