Hi goils! Gosh--how great to see all of the posts!!! :):) Tikanas-- great questions! It's been a looong time since we've done this, so here goes: 1) My interests/hobbies are: reading, HERE, junk rooting, auctions (whodathunk??), crossstitch, and I love my hairy 24 pound cat! :) 2) Well, I am an accountant by degree, but I have recently had the good forture to become a fulltime auctioneer, which I just love! 3) No kids, unless you count the hairball and hubby! LOL! 4) I am 41, and feel like 17 most days! :):):) I've been posting here since late '98, and these are the greatest ladies! I've had the pleasure to meet BJ, KYSusieQ and Zig, and they are all just as lovelt in person as they are here. :) And I just bought an old battered copy of the 5 Little Peppers several weeks ago--and sat down and read it--talk about memories! :) Lynn--((((hugs))) and treats to Simon--my 24 pounder wasn't quite that big at a year, so your purrball is going toi be huge-- :):) Things have gotten interesting here--I've told you all about my first auction that is coming up on 9/12--well the %@#$%!! that has the real estate option is acting like a $%@#%!! and is threating to sue my @ss. I'm not sure just exactly why, since I am just selling the personal property of the lady's. I suspect he knows he has a shadey deal, and now, he is threating the old lady as well. I'd like to...well.... I don't know what to do--Raeanne--any ideas? Gotta go--tomorrow's a long day--we're working a flea market over the weekend and Monday, so it will be a busy one for me! And where is Amy and Patti??? John??? Hugs, Maddie

Raeanne - You are so right about having to sit down and have a good cry if that sauce fell!! Now I think I will be even MORE cautious carrying it downstairs! LOL Don't beat yourself up about the cheesecake. We have to allow ourselves treats. The trick is to take small amounts and stop when you are satisfied. I am finding that the longer I stay away from sweets, the easier it is to take only a small bite or two. The fear that I will become addicted again is too great! And the fear that my new pants won't fit is even greater! LOL Speaking of sweets, I am testing my willpower today and making pumpkin bread for a bake sale. I just put 6 mini loaves in the oven (and didn't lick the beaters or my fingers) and plan on giving 5 away and keeping one for DH and I. I will have my share for breakfast and when it is gone, there won't be anything else to tempt me. This is what I have been doing since July and it has been working so far. Then I am making a banana cake for my sewing club and I plan on having a small piece Tuesday night and giving away what ever is left. The ladies can each take a piece home, I will take some into work for the secretary and my cohorts, and DH could take some to work if there is any left after that. I still don't trust myself to have the leftovers sitting around for a week while I wait for DH to eat them. Laundry calls! I washed a Kleenex this morning in with a dark load and you know what that means. 1000s of little white flecks all over the place. I put the load in the dryer, but it didn't get rid of all the flecks, so I am running the load through the rinse cycle. Sheesh! Like I don't have enough to do. And I can't even blame the Kleenex on DD since she doesn't live here anymore! LOL Later, Marci

blsdgal, that's the kind of speech problem my kids had, too. My DD would simply drop the "th" in some words, so, for example, "there" became "air." Consequently, people (especially the other kids in nursery school) would misunderstand her; I felt that this had the potential to be socially damaging, and that was the impetus for getting therapy instead of waiting for it to get better on its own--by age 5, that had not happened. She also couldn't pronounce certain combinations of consonants ("magnet" became "mag-a-net," "middle" became "mit-tel"), although that wasn't as hard to understand. Those problems were easily corrected; for the "th" sound, she just had to learn to put her tongue behind her teeth a certain way and make the vibration in her tongue (not sure I'm describing this correctly; it has been a long time). Anyway, it just took some practice (games) and reinforcement (small rewards), and the problem was GONE. My DS's problems were similar. I suspect it has something to do with the shape of the mouth and teeth (they both needed orthodontics as teenagers), rather than the clarity of the speech modeled by their parents. I wouldn't worry much about the "labeling" for a speech problem. Once it has been resolved, there's no more problem; it's ancient history. It doesn't reflect on the child's intelligence or personality or upbringing, so there's no stigma. On the other hand, NOT getting it corrected can lead to frustration at being misunderstood and perhaps ridiculed by his peers. I don't think you "screwed up" at all, but I'd have the child's speech evaluated as soon as possible and then listen to the professional's recommendations on whether he'll grow out of it or need correction. BTW, I was allowed to be present in the room when my son was tested (we HAD a rotary phone and a phonograph, so recognition of those items wasn't a problem)! :-) Sue

My boyfriend and I were with the 250,000 in NYC. We came from his house in Brooklyn, and the subway was jam-packed. Got off at Grand Central Station onto a very crowded 42nd Street and got swept into the crowd up 5th Avenue. 10 blocks away from Trump Tower it was impossible to move even on 6th and Madison Avenues & crowds spilled over onto Park as well – the entire mid-town of Manhattan was taken over. There were men and women of all ages, colors, languages and persuasions and everyone was polite, helpful and respectful. I didn’t see any anti-protests. When we had dinner on 2nd Avenue I was shocked to see on TV the lying press conference by Sean Spicer. It was so much like the dictatorships in 3rd-world countries when he said this was the biggest inaugural celebration in history, period, and that's how it must be reported. Wow. We must keep up the fight.