OWJ, since you are shipping the present to your neice, does that mean you are not coming up to New York in a couple of weeks? I am so bad with coming up with girl gifts though. I'm sure you'll find just the right gift :)

No problem, Buckeyemom :)

Patrick, that is scary about your mom - hope she is feeling better soon. Nice of your doctor friend to give you samples. I am always grateful when that happens to my parents. It's scary how much monthly medications can add up to.

STW--We're coming to NY (Halloween w/e) but that's the week after my niece's bday ...I want to get the gift there in time her big day, at 5 I worry she might be disappointed if she has to wait. I'm thinking about getting her an American Girl doll. My SIL thinks they're too $$ but what are aunts for? :)

Patrick--Isn't it great knowing drug reps?? It's just as handy as being friends w/MDs, sometimes more so! I wish your mom well. Will she be coming home soon?

OWJ: Thanks, and by all means, re-gift! :D

Thanks for asking about my mom. She has returned to her "facility". Basically she is there to be kept as comfortable as possible -- her many problems are reaching a peak and there really isn't much they can do about most of them. Two days ago she called me to tell me "this is it. I'm dieing." Yesterday she called me to say -- and I'm not kidding -- "I changed my mind, I'm not dieing after all right now." I do see her every day, but her phone calls are something else!

Meanwhile her "contagious" infection has been cleared, but her neck and half her face have swelled up and are very painful -- possibly lymphoma.

Rant: Fort Clatsop fire ( it was NOT arson, thank goodgness) at the unfortunate timing of the bi-centennial:(

Rave: Our Tigard escrow ( Bull Mt.) closed this week on a home we purchased in March. They're happy, we're happy! :)

Rave: Our water polo team is HOT this year and we may be the first team to ever take the Valley Championship from our local HS. :)

Rave: Planning a trip to DL for November, staying at the Grand Californian!

Rave: Carmel for three nights in December, staying at the Highland's Inn! Hope to discover more yummy places to eat this trip....

Rave: My new carpet and dishwasher were installed this week! :)

Rave: Wedding is very near, we're all excited. Manicures, pedicures and hair appts. all next week for the BIG day! Should be lots of fun, we're excited! :)

Happy weekend, happy travel planning! ***kim*** ((l))

Thank you all for the good wishes and raves that my family is safe. It is so great to know that people I have never even met are happy for me. You all are the greatest.

Speaking of lost jewelry. I don't have an earring story but do have a ring story.

Last June my husband and I took our teenage daughter and a friend and our son (the one who got held up) and his roommate to the Virgin Islands. We were swimming in the ocean when my daughter's friend realized her ring, that had belonged to her grandmother, was missing. We began looking, with goggles, but didn't find it. Talk about a needle in a haystack...Anyway we finally gave up.

A few minutes later my son, who had not yet looked, said he wanted to try. He put on the goggles and dove down. And, as you have guessed by now, he found the ring! Amazing!

But the best part of the story is that when the girl told her grandmother about it and how upset she had been about losing the ring, her grandmother told her to never get upset about anything like that again. She said it was just a ring and a ring is just "stuff" and in the long run "stuff' doesn't mean a thing. What a wise grandmother!

Oops, make that goodness! (I've been on my daughter's laptop for the past couple of weeks....) ***kim*** ((l))

Kimamom, congratulations on your upcoming wedding! Are you having your honeymoon in Carmel? It's a lovely romantic place.

Where have your registered for gifts?

RAVE: White Sox win! We are off to the "show".

And I haven't lost an earring in years and years, so the timing on this one was super atypical. The odds of finding that tiny gold Sox stud after that length of time had to be microscopic.

OWJ, I also lost a very good earring in my youth trying on clothes. The entire department at Carsons tried to find it but didn't. It was a diamond/ruby combo that was very old from Italy. It cured me from ever wearing good earrings out to shop ever again.

"Our Tigard escrow ( Bull Mt.) closed this week on a home we purchased in March"

I'm sorry but this does not make sense. Does this mean you bought a house in March and closed on it?
Does this mean you are moving to Portland or will you continue to live in California and rent out houses here? I would never consider asking these questions ordinarily, but since you brought it up, it piques my curiosity, since it is in Tigard and not Astoria..
Faina, I think the wedding is the much talked about event of the year, kims son is getting married, he will honeymoon in Astoria.
We will watch for the announcements in the paper..I would say Congratulations, but I did that when he proposed.
Can we expect the baby announcements soon?
kim, you will be a grandma in no time!! how wonderful is that?? You can get a side car for the Sole bike LOL
I wish my son would settle down, stop traveling all over the world and make a little grandbaby for me to play with :)
sigh, oh well, sooner or later, it is bound to happy. Good thing I had him young, I won't be in the Happy Home for Forgetful Ladies when he finally gets around to it LOL

Oh sunshinesue, what a beautiful story and what a beautiful grandmother! My late husband always had a saying which was "don't let possessions possess you". The same idea. Smart people IMO. and I am so glad that both scary incidents in your family turned out with good endings...wishes that your you and your family have a peaceful autumn and winter.

"I won't be in the Happy Home for Forgetful Ladies when he finally gets around to it LOL"

Priceless, just priceless :D

Haha, seetheworld, be careful, don't encourage me :D

sunshinesue, great story. very touching ((L))

Wedding, where? Oh, ***Kim's*** son, oh well, I thought for a moment we were going to have a Fodor's wedding. Now about the house escrow. How many houses will that make that you own ***Kim***? Talking about forgetful ladies I think I have forgotten how many houses you own. Fresno, Astoria, Seaside (or is it Cannon Beach), and now Tigard. Anywhere else?

JJ5, I had my gold/diamond braclet fall off once when I was shopping. Fortunatly it was still on the dressing room when I went back. I too, like you, don't wear much in the way of jewerly after that when I know I am going to be trying on clothes. That is sad about your earring. I am sure it was very special to you. Sentimental jewerly is the worse to lose. Take care.

Talk about shallowness!

Geesh!

Take a long, hard look into your mirrors, ladies (I use that term loosely).

Lay it on the line -- what is it that provokes such consistent nasitness and hatred towards the poster known as kimamom?

Hmm?

But please, speak for yourselves, not as one in a group of syncophants.

Spill your guts...inquiring minds want to know. (mainly because your rhetoric has gotten soooooooooo stale, and also because it has become "popular" to group-bash someone as game. Couldn't you all just skip/ignore, as is so often professed, a post that you don't care for? That is indeed what most people do.)

Sorry Nimrod, but in this case, you don't really know what you are talking about. You can always take your own advice though..and...

<i>Couldn't you all just skip/ignore, as is so often professed, a post that you don't care for?</i>

Nimrod--If you want to know why a certain poster is not well liked, then just read back through numerous posts. They speak for themselves.

Hey nimrod, you better not take on those girls from Portland, they will always get the best of you, LOL.

LoveItaly,

I love that saying. &quot;Don't let your pocessions pocess you.&quot; What wisdom. And it really speaks to me right now. Thank-you.

I enjoyed the sterling stories. I chose my mother's pattern of Strasburg when I got married, not only because I liked it but because my mother offered to give me the few pieces she had. When she was young, I gave my daughter several pieces of the same pattern (along with inexpensive gifts) for Christmas and birthdays. But I am afraid if I presented her with silver now, as a teenager, she would be very disappointed. Nonetheless she does have a start on hers. And if she decides she perfers another pattern some day, it isn't that hard to trade.

So my advice is that if you want to give silver to a girl, do it while they are very young.

Another Rant: I got my first pop-up window on Fodors today. The kind where you have to click it off to get rid of it.