Sorry that two of my favorite posters have had hurt feelings. Actually Jorr, I got a kick out of OO's little tune, it made me smile.

Echoing cd. I always read this thread and often post but I felt so sad yesterday when I read it that I could not think of what to write. I realize that I do not "know" jorr or OO, yet I felt that "friends" were in a huge misunderstanding. I'm glad it is resolved (the political squabbling is MUCH easier to deal with).

Rant/Rave: School is back in session.

Rave: My kids seem like a pretty good bunch.

Rant: Getting up so early. (Very small rant, I realize).

Best wishes to all facing some REAL rant-worthy problems.

Bennie-Glad your daughter is enjoying the big middle school. The seventh graders look SOOOO little.

Jorr--That was very classy of you to apologize. I'm sorry life is so incredibly stressful for you and send you a big hug for all that it's worth. BTW, your FFRRs were the thing that hooked me to this board and you are an important part of this community.

OO--I hope this misunderstanding doesn't keep you away for long...Scarlett, tell her we want her back!

P_M--Keep on plugging. Good things happen will come! Glad your dad and SM's party was so much fun.

CAPH--the fact that you can get out of bed and bring sunshine to this board w/all that is going on with your loved ones amazes me. I send you a huge hug for those moments when you want to go and hide!

NCGirl--Good thoughts and many prayers for your loved ones

LI--you know I'm thinking of ya! Have you gotten a contact high from all the plants around you?? It can be medicinal ;)

Patrick--Woo Hoo! The whole colonscopy thing creeps me out and I dread the day the doctor tells me it's time that I need to have one--so understand your reluctance to get one. But, now you have a clean bill of health and booty too...unfortunately, the cash in your wallet went too ;)


Rant: My entire elec. gradebook and everything in it disappeared the other day. I had to redo the whole !#@!#!# thing.

Rave/Rant: It's the beginning of the school year so not as many grades to reenter but it still took over 2hrs.

Rave: It's the weekend and I have little planned.

Rave: My oldest niece started kindergarten on Wed. and didn't cry...It doesen't seem possible that almost 5yrs ago today I was flying home to meet my one week old sweetiepie!

Rant: My friend lost her job the other day...she's had so much in the last year and I feel so bad for her.

Rant: A coworker who got p---ed off that I had a doctor's appointment during a class we teach together. Her attitude was 'how dare I?' as if I had a whole lot of choice...

Rave: My admin who said if I have a doctor's appointment, don't worry they will handle it!

Rave: Bueller, our new kitty, is a trip!! He has two speeds: maniac and asleep. There is no in between.

rosie170, I don't agree with semperfid sometimes and don't actually believe in many absolutes altogether BUT as a librarian (my first and everlasting center/degree) I absolutely detest censorship in any shape or form.

This is BANNED BOOKS month and I just couldn't NOT add my two cents. Actually it is the whole dollar- and a big criteria for freedom regardless of where you may TRAVEL.

Yes, Fodors owns the site. I still think censorship is the worst mortal sin.

And in my library, if it's printed- you can get it- in the ORIGINAL. And we don't care if it makes people feel better or not.

And jorr, please do not take this wrong as I do know that you are probably SO sick of any kind of doctor- but you are in need of someone to confide in that is on your side. You really are angry, you know. And even more so as you have good reason to be- please give yourself a new treat every day. It sounds stupid but it actually works.

Do you like films or books or sports? Now is the time to join something with new people, even if you are tired and just can't "get" out. Give yourself some time in a positive environment somehow, even if it is the town's bowling alley. You need to be around something spunkier and fresh. I know it isn't always easy to do.

Apologies accepted jorr, and thank you. That was very gracious and a difficult thing to do. More important than the apology to me though, is that you no longer believe I set out to mock you. I felt awful! :( I really <i>was</i> interested in the door because, as I said, I'd just seen a cool one, and coming home and looking at ours, wondering if we could do that, I decided that to change it meant knocking the entire framed piece out of the front of the house, not just the door. A major piece of construction.

Anyway, things have been tough since Katrina for all of us and personal problems just compound things. We are ALL touchy, as we've seen in so many threads this week. Exposed, raw nerves. For the most part here though, just about everyone means well, and I find it best to go on that premise, hoping I am right. Thus the thread you obviously saw where someone asked me something about my name--I had no idea if there was intended malice, but it took me aback and I wondered. Decided instead to turn it around with humor. The thread was later frozen...I have no idea why as I never saw anything negative if it had been there, then &quot;cleaned up&quot; before freezing. And as a personal aside, LOL, the one good thing about having an ectomorph body frame is that I'll never really become an 00, but forever and a day, remain an oo in a sea of OOs. :D

Anyway, peace be with us all. We've got to regain some normalcy here. We'll all get through this period...just want to get through it as friends. Your FFR&amp;R have always been a fun way to get to know each other and I'm happy and relieved that I guess I can still participate!!

Thanks, OWJ. You made my day!

You're a very gracious person, OO.

I'm glad to see this has all been resolved. I have had my share of moodiness over the last couple of months and have regretted being &quot;finger happy&quot; in posting my reply.

When we moved into our home years ago, we had this ugly, and I mean ugly, brown door which anyone could easily kick in.

My husband searched for the &quot;just right&quot; oak door, which he lovingly stained several times - he was very proud. But we still had this ugly screen door - that just didn't make any sense to me, lol. Finally when we had our construction done on the house, we included a beautiful glass screen door, which highlighted the oak door. But someone else installed that - it's special when you are able to &quot;do it yourself&quot; - my DH has that gift.

Have a peaceful day, everyone.

Jorr, good thoughts to you and OO, I hope your little grandbaby is doing well.

jorr, I can totally relate to abuse from a loved on who is an addict. In my case it is DH's brother who is battling a cocaine addiction. For about 2 years he constantly hammered us to give him money, all the while he claimed it was for his kids. We refused because it was so obvious it was going to drugs. It nearly destroyed our marriage. Eventually my BIL went into therapy and the truth came out. Unbeknownst to us, he was bringing drugs into our home and using them there!!

Unfortunately there is not a happy ending to this story. My BIL has tried for 8 years now, but he cannot break the hold that cocaine has on him. It's a wonder he's still alive. He has gone in and out of prison more times than I can count. Recently he got out of prison and swears never to use coke again. But we have heard that so many times over the years, we'll believe it when we see it.

Jorr, if I may speak as one who has been there, please know that you are NOT to blame, and there's only so much you can do to help someone who doesn't want your help. Please know that it's the alcohol that is verbally abusing you, and not your brother. And if I may make one final suggestion, check out your local chapter of Alanon. As you may know, Alanon is a support group for family members of users. By attending Alanon, DH and I learned all of what I told you above, and then some. It gave us so much peace.

Good luck, and hugs to you.

OO, wishing the best for the grandbaby.

Jorr and OO, I confess to suffering from door envy. The front door on our rented cottage in the UK is a royal pain. First, it doesn't even have a proper door handle, just a tiny little hook that make it hard to close from the outside.
Second, the locks don't work properly. I came down one morning to find my front door wide open! Apparently it was installed before it was sealed correctly, so it was expanding and shrinking with the weather (and the &quot;settling&quot; of the cottage), so much that the locks would only properly catch one try out of a dozen. We put up a fuss and the landlord paid for someone to repair it, but he did a mediocre job and while the main locks click now, the security lock still doesn't catch properly.
Oh, and it's ugly too. (we won't even go into the day a six foot hole opened up in the ceiling in the dining area, with mud and water cascading down...or the mice infestation...or the day I came down to three inches of water in the kitchen from an overflow pipe blockage or...)

OO:

&quot;I had no idea if there was intended malice, but it took me aback and I wondered.&quot;

Never in a million years. That had always passed through my mind, and since the thread was on a downward spiral, I thought I'd try a little silly humor - a la the Cats thread. You have never seemed the overly sensitive type (and yes, I do remember you from your Olive Oil days - well, I think that was you), and I laughed like heck at your hilarious reply.

Not really sure how that fun has been pulled into this discussion. I can't imagine it being taken as anything but a ridiculous out-of-the-blue comment. Sorry; I thought at the time that you took it at face-value.

I don't usually get pulled into non-travel threads (at least not the serious or political ones), but I just wanted to apologize if you considered for even a minute that there was any &quot;intended malice.&quot;

Hello everyone, I am so happy to see this problem has been straightened out. I felt so bad last night.

I hope everyone has a serene weekend doing whatever gives them joy.

A big cyberhug to all of you.

Well, in the spirit of door stories, like Btilke our door locks are dependent on the weather.

So during the winter the door to the backyard will not lock and during the summer the front door will not lock.

Now that the weather has cooled off here, I hope that any burglars will only try to get in the locked front door because we can't get the back door locked anymore! :)

Dreamer 2....that's a relief! I'm really am glad to hear it. I did figure as much, but as I said, it gave me pause. Stripper? me? I've been blindsided on more than one occasion, but by only one person (that I know of)and once bitten twice shy. Well, my DH's last hotel <i>was</i> across a highway from one of Joe Redner's (Tampa fame) strip clubs and it would have been convenient work for me. Great aerobic exercise, and oddly enough, Joe Redner also owned the terrific health club where I did all my aerobics! That was his one straight venture in a seamy sea of other business. He worked out there too...as did some of his girls as warm up for their evening work? I dunno...the girls stood out like sore...OOs! LOL LOL Funny story...that bar caught fire in the middle of the night one night and one of DH's security people saw it and called the fire department who put it out, saving the building. DH, when he learned of his employees good deed, called him in and jokingly said, &quot;I ought to fire you for that! Next time you see it on fire leave the d*mn thing alone!!&quot; :) It was an eyesore. 4* hotel but every time I left the driveway I had to look at their sign across the street shouting &quot;<b>NUDE GIRLS</b>!!&quot; I'm not over it yet. LOL Not to belabor it further, but my joke reply to you made it here, which is why I mentioned it above. OK enough. I am also happy to report that the Tanga Lounge, Tampa, FL, is no more, taken away by the bulldozers to make room for highway improvements. We all cheered. Glad to know my nemesis didn't also take on the name of dreamer2 and glad I approached it from the angle I did. These really are sensitive times.

PrettyLake, yes we moved in March to San Antonio. We knew we'd have one more transfer but hoped against hope they'd forget about us and leave us in place. We were im Tampa too long...put down deep roots and miss it badly still. I almost posted in my original note that I have considered actually coming back to Tampa and getting all my appts taken care of there with the doctors I know well and trust...especially my dermatologist...department head at USF who is fabulous should you ever need someone in that field. His practice is limited now to skin cancer treatment. You live in a wonderful area. We knew we would miss it when we left and yes we do..so much.

P_M...I really hope your BIL can find his way out of that! Best to you all with that struggle. It is a life or death matter, unfortunately. Alanon is a terrific resource jorr, if you haven't tried it. That support group can surely help you deal with what your brother has heaped on you!

For those asking about our grandson...he had a rough rough night last night as codeine wore off. He had been crying non-stop when I called, but then was able to get a dose of Tylenol and calmed down, nursed, then slept a wondrous 7 hours during the night. Anyone with a 7 week old baby can relate to what a fabulous occurrence that is! He will be fine...it's a common occurrence in little boys...1 in 10 they were told, and as one of my friends said, the nice thing is, he'll have no memories of this time...and as the kids said, at least he wasn't old enough to hold out his arms to them and cry &quot;no&quot; as they wheeled him off to surgery! Could have been much worse.

Have a nice weekend all. We are hoping for rain. Someone needs to do her rain dance...fully clothed please. :D

Oh yes...and the rain dance...no poles please. :)

jorr...please come back so we'll know you are OK!!

OO, we are getting rain! It is lovely, soft English sort of a rainy day, we walked without umbrellas so as to fit in nicely with the Portlanders, then we noticed how many of Them were carrying umbrellas!! We went back to the apt and got ours LOL
hereandthere...perhaps you could ease off on the cheer, you are just a bit too bubbling over with good feelings and kind things to say..perhaps you too should find a life? .

Inquiring minds want to know: what brings you to the US board today of all days, and to this thread hereandthere, when virtually all your previous posts have been on the Africa and Middle East board until right now?? Just curious...oops...that darned blind side again...keep bumping into things. :D

Scarlett...glad you are getting to see rain, FINALLY, in Portland! You've only had sunshine and pretty temperatures ever since you moved. You must have been wondering if it was all a hoax about the weather.

To whomever: the rain dance worked. We had a 5 minute shower, but will take whatever we can get.

OO, I am here and I am OK. Thank you for accepting my apology. I have read everyone's post since yesterday evening. Thank you all for your great advice. I appreciate it.

to hereandthere, I also read your post. You seem to have lots of experience traveling to and posting on the Middle East And Africa board. I too have traveled in Africa and the Middle East. The tough kind. Backpacks, walking, diaria, incredible heat, Third World conditions. I am not a wall flower and neither are any of the other people who have commented on this thread.

Jorr

Hi jorr...we were writing together. I'm glad you're back.

I should have added, hereandthere, you should meet my friend RnRforever. You and he would find you have so much in common. He too has had &quot;many game drives in South African and Botswana&quot;. And funnier still, the two of you registered your names just a day apart. June 25 and June 26. My my my....it just gets curiouser and curiouser.

Now skedaddle back into the underbrush and don't let jorr's door hit you on the way out! :D

Brilliant OO :D