"Sittin' 'round The Pot Belly Stove"

[Stephanie]

Hey maybe you can get a discount on your banking!

Good morning everyone. Chilly here. I'm cold in my room. I hate using my heater because it makes sooooo much noise. Hope it gets fixed soon.

I am off work for a couple of months right now, effective yesterday. This is due to extreme stress levels that I am under. I am going to get some help and hopefully be better by Christmas. But I do not want to return to work until after the one year anniversary of my dad's passing (January 6th) has come and gone.

You know that we'll be here for you Joshua! I'm sure that talking to someone will be very helpful for you.

It is a beautiful day here. I still feel like it's alittle to early for me to decorate for Christmas, but you're right Karan, it is perfect weather. I always have a knack of selecting the day when it's most raw outside!

Tomorrow I'll be heading to Rehobeth through Monday. Talk about credit cards on fire!!! Actually, I signed up through work for a flexible spending plan. What this does is allow you to put money aside out of your paycheck tax free so that you can use that money to reimburse you for any medical costs that you have to pay out of pocket that's not covered by insurance. I've already spent my deductions for the year (so I'll have to up the weekly amount for next year), so this money will be used for Christmas shopping. I'll be off on Tuesday as well. I'm looking forward to a nice looong weekend!

The party last night was great. My neighbor, Angel (short for Angela), actually got pretty bombed and had to be carried upstairs to bed. Her daughter was really surprised. The serenaders were two Italian gentlemen, one played the accordian and the other played the guitar. They also setup inside the house and played alot of good Italian songs.

Well, I'd better get rolling. Have a great day!

[coriolis]

Greetings!

We've almost got this stomach bug worked through our systems. One person still sick, though.

Karan, thanks for asking, but we didn't make it to bowling on Friday night.

Stephanie, you're right, Italians can party.... I married into an italian family. Nothing done halfway!

Dennis, congrats on the big job, I think. Are you hiring?

[ColdFront77]

I am part of a large Italian-American family and luckily the majority of us don't "party" at family functions.

[coriolis]

Hey CF, I hope I didn't stereotype or offend.

[ColdFront77]

No, you didn't really stereotype or offend me. I am making a point that it (hopefully) isn't true because of one's nationality.

[coriolis]

Point taken. Sorry. Once again I shoot my mouth off and have to do damage control.

[weatherlover427]

Good evening everyone. Been having a good weekend here. My mom is off work this week and so am I; so I'll try to meet up with her sometime this week. Should be fun. (She doesn't know yet )

Had some light rain yesterday that amounted to about 0.12" in the gauge when it ended. Today was a nice day with a high of 68°.

[furluvcats]

Hi everyone, thanks for the well wishes for my mom and Jim . How in the world are we going to fit a wedding in between now and Christmas, I'll never know...Dec. 20th is her big day.

Still working like craZY on the house...it's turning out really beautiful, I wish I had a digital cam so I could send pics now! Hint hint Santa...lol

Speaking of parties...I was at two parties for the Krewe of Centuar this weekend (Mardi Gras), and let me tell you, these people can DRINK! Fun crowd, for sure...the Queen gave me a pretty silver charm bracelet at the "Queen and Kings" party. I'm liking Louisiana more and more every day!

I'm getting out of the cat breeding business...if any of you locals want a pretty persian cat for free, let me know...I'm giving all but Jeanie away!

Stay warm, or cool, whatever your wx may be .

[azsnowman]

Good Morning!

Well...the snow didn't pan out this weekend, just as well....I don't want a LOT of snow just yet, we're going out on the Friday after Turkey day for out Christmas tree. 2 years ago, we went out and hiked in 3 FEET of snow in the high country, talk about TIRED!

Ed.......there's NUTHIN' worse than a stomach bug! Glad to hear everyone's about over it!

Stephanie, sound like one heckuva party! Have fun shopping!

The house sounds WONDERFUL furry!

Hey Karan, when your done cleaning your house, you can come clean my woodshop "LOL!" Santa has been VERY busy and hasn't had time to clean the 3" of sawdust everywhere! I've been spending on the average of 6 hours per day in the shop, I try to do most of the sanding, routing, cutting outside but it's been COLDER than a well diggers butt the past few days!

How COLD??? Yesterdays high at the house was 39° with a STIFF breeze blowing ALL DAY! The wind chill HAD to be in the TEENS I swear!

The Well Fargo job went very well, it took us longer than we anticapted but like I said, there was WAY more $$$$ involved so HEY.....I'm not complaining ONE BIT! Actually, that extra cash went into our Jacuzzi fund...we're FINALLY, after a year in the new house, getting around to building the extras we want....next spring, I'm pouring a concrete pad, building a redwood fence around the pad and installing a Jacuzzi......it will be just off the new back deck I built this past week, can't WAIT!

Well...that's it for now, make it a GREAT day even if it's Monday *sigh* "LOL!"

Dennis

[pojo]

I have midterms this week, so thats why I had a chance to relax over the weekend, but to no avail....study, study, study, over the next couple of days.

One of my friends counted down the days left of MWF lectures....and there were 10! Only 7 days of TR lectures! That's it!!! Yikes! :o I couldn't believe it. But when you figure that we don't have classes over thanksgiving and finals start dec 15th, than the 10days/7days would figure out right. It seems that this semester has flown by so quickly! It feels like yesterday that the semester just started.

To make matters worse, January 20th is approaching to fast! That is the day that I really turn my life over to uncle sam.

Dennis....you can have the snow.

Rain in SoCal that's good news (sounds like Monsoon season is kicking in)....too bad it wasn't back in October when the firefighters were battling the fires. That would have helped dramatically!

[weatherlover427]

Yeah we could have used the rain back in late October ... oh well, better late than never ya know?

Good morning everyone. Looks like an active wx day in the South and Midwest. Hope everyone there stays safe.

[Stephanie]

I'm BAAACK!!

I did ALOT of shopping - mostly Christmas. I REALLY need to tone it down now, even though we're in one of the most expensive times of the year!

Looks like I didn't miss too much here, though I was really only gone a day and a half.

The weather today was beautiful - I walked around without a coat. It was perfrect weather and I think that we're going start going down there Sunda & Monday instead of Friday & Saturday. It's alot less hectic and crowded.

I hope everyone is doing well. I'm pretty tired and thankfully, I have tomorrow off as well so I can sleep in and catchup around the house.

Have a great evening everyone!

[azsnowman]

Good Mornin'

Brrrr! Kinda chilly this early a.m.! Sittin' at 29° with a STIFF, BLUE north wind blowin'.....got the true pot belly CRANKIN'!!!

Shannon....I can't believe it's almost that time already, FINALS! Yup..the older ya get, the quicker time flys (my parents use to tell me that ALL time, I thought, "yeah right, whatever!")

Stephanie, I know the feeling, I *swore* up and down that I was gonna REALLY watch the holiday spending "Phhhft!" Doesn't take long these days I'm tellin' ya.....a 100$ bill doesn't go very far these days!

Well.....Santa FINALLY finished his Christmas presents yesterday! I'm taking photos to post AFTER the holidays, can't spoil the surprize ya know "LOL!" NOW.......since Home Depot opened, they carry the BEST 1x material (1"x12"x8' pine, 1"x10"x8' oak and cedar) I've ever SEEN, straight, virtually no knots and relatively inexpensive, SO I'm starting to build more furniture for the house, corner shelves, book shelves AND a new entertainment center (this could be fun "LOL!)

That's nuff outta me this morning, make it a GREAT day would ya?

Dennis

[Garnetcat5]

I am so tired of being afraid to say a nationality because it might "offend" someone.or be skewd into a generalization it was never meant to be...Can't people take anything with a grain of salt anymore...especially if was just a someone talking about thier own family...everything doesn't have to be generalized...I don't think in this day and age we need anyone to "point out" anything to do with discrimination.... it's old and life isn't fair all the time...hold the comments about me...cuz I'm a Mexican-American woman

[Stephanie]

Good morning friends!

Dennis - I'm looking forward to seeing the gifts that you made. Those kind are the most precious of them all I think.

Just a cloudy day here in New Jersey. Tomorrow when I go back to work it's supposed to be pretty stormy - that storm that brought the tornadoes to Houston and all of that rain is headed my way.

I REALLY need to straighten up the house inside and out - it's just geting started you know... Marty is good at trying to keep the house relatively tidy. My pets have other plans!

Better scoot now. I hope everyone has a wonderful day!

[pojo]

Rain, Rain go away, come back another day... (hey at least it is not that s-word!) Its also above 50* currently in menasha it is 52*

soils midterm tomorrow and hydrology on thursday....studying as much as I can.

Have a wonderful tuesday everyone.

[azskyman]

Hello all...tis Tuesday evening already. High of 71 today was perfect, the exact reason why I moved here.

Pojo, did I detect a little concern about the decision here?

To make matters worse, January 20th is approaching to fast! That is the day that I really turn my life over to uncle sam.

Or is it just that you know that a life-changing experience is headed your way and your time as a "civie" is rapidly diminishing?

Shoppin' and Cleanin', huh Stephanie? Which one is more fun? Bet I can answer that one. We've done some Christmas shopping too...although a little ways to go yet. Better get to the list pretty soon though with Thanksgiving as late as it is.

And Garnet, there is so much emphasis on being politically correct that it seems our "new" references are actually becoming too clumsy or awkward to remember.

...and while we're at it, now that some of us have been told that "To whom it may concern" is no longer politically correct to address a business letter to a person in charge whose gender is not known, is it now more proper to use "Dear Ms or Sir?"

...and the nutritionists have screwed things up so much on what is good for us and what isn't that KFC decided to play the numbers in THEIR favor.

Eat more KFC. It's great for you!

Who can blame them for playing it their own way. Nobody else can decide exactly what is right either.

Tomorrow's another day. Michael Jackson's dark side is being called to task again.

"We'll hear him say that loving a child is a good thing."

Like eating fried chicken, I suppose.

Everything is gray these days. Not much black and white left.

Have a good night....and don't lay awake solving all this. Get some rest so you can keep up with it all!

azskyman

[ColdFront77]

I am so tired of being afraid to say a nationality because it might "offend" someone.or be skewd into a generalization it was never meant to be...Can't people take anything with a grain of salt anymore...especially if was just a someone talking about thier own family...everything doesn't have to be generalized...I don't think in this day and age we need anyone to "point out" anything to do with discrimination.... it's old and life isn't fair all the time...hold the comments about me...cuz I'm a Mexican-American woman

I agree, Garnet. I am very glad you are safe after the severe weather yesterday.

Just a cloudy day here in New Jersey. Tomorrow when I go back to work it's supposed to be pretty stormy - that storm that brought the tornadoes to Houston and all of that rain is headed my way.

This activity is heading toward Florida as well. At the moment a Tornado Watch issued in the panhandle, northward into southern Alabama.

[pojo]

poppysky, no I don't.....I didn't expect that date to come so quickly. that is why I made that comment. I'm not backing out on the decision I made.

[StormCrazyIowan]

Good afternoon y'all!!

I just can't figure myself out sometimes! As I'm sure you guys know, I am now a graveyard shifter, and I sleep during the day! Well, last night was my night off, and not wanting to break my sleep cycle, I stayed up until around 5:30 am....and slept til 10:30am!! This is the second time I have done the same thing- my last day off before last night was last Tuesday night and I slept the same exact amount of time!! So why is it when I work and get off at 7, and stay awake till 8 or 9 am I can sleep right through the day just fine, but when I have the night off I can't sleep!! Guess I'm just curious today!

So anyways, I got my first birthday card in the mail today, it was from my grandma , and she said "Have one for me! Love Grandma" She's so funny, and y'all wonder where I get it from! My birthday is on Friday, probably the last time I will care to celebrate for a while, being it is my "golden" birthday, and I still have NO idea what the heck I'll be doing! Oh well, guess I'll just let the day decide!!

Well, I have oodles and oodles of things to catch up on while I have the time, ta ta for now!