I am so jealous of all you early departers!

Statia - thanks for your kind thoughts.

Bonniebroad - please keep posting on your progress. Your success helped me finally join the gym.

Rant: temp was -20 this morning.
Rave: the sun is shining and the windy isn't bad.
Rave: I have a bushy headband made from fox fur.

Rave: leaving for Tucson in 22 days (I swear this is the first time I've counted.)

Rant: sick kitty Wednesday night.
Rave: kitty doing great -- back to demanding petting/scratching and snuggling under the covers at night.
Rave: hairball cream

Rave: football

Rave: all the great raves I've read in previous posts today!!

Rave: Storms are quiet for awhile and there's lots of fresh powder for snowboarding. DD was up with dad yesterday and they had a great time! :)

Rave: Back to the gym three times a week, again. It feels great! I think the weight training is very effective and I enjoy it! ((l))

Rave: DD's 16th BD this weekend, it's a surprise party and I don't think she knows yet! ((r))

Rave: Great dinner out tonight with five of the kids at a new Italian Cafe that looks gorgeous from the outside! Have a nice weekend! ***kim*** ((c))

Rant:
We have to work on Monday despite all our clients and the courts being off!
Rave: Less than 2 months to Vegas and 4 months to Fla. but whose counting!

Rant on behalf of my sis-in-law: Fiancee on the USS Abraham Lincoln who got his tour extended AGAIN and won't be home for the wedding a second time!

Rave on behalf of sis-in-law: Fiancee is safe and sound delivering relief aid to tsunami victims...

Rave: Landed a new job working for Harley Davidson!! Plus it's 10 min from my house and for $6,500 more per year.

Rant: I don't start until Jan. 31st and my current company is in such bad shape they'll be lucky they can pay my last 2 paychecks.

Rave: My bosses are taking it better than I thought they would.

Rant: This crazy #%@#$&! weather we're having!!

Rave: Going to my cousin's 1st birthday party tomorrow.

Rant: I didn't get him a gift yet.

Rave: It's payday.

Rant: Most of it is going to rent and I have to work on Monday.

Ha should I take Monday off? I mean what are they going to do? Fire me?? LOL

Everyone have a great weekend!!! Let's go JETS!

Rave: missjanna--looks like your rant from last week (or was it 2 weeks ago) is solved! You have any vacation time left? Maybe you should take it!

Rave: Cheers for Bonniebroad!

Rant-Celebrated my birthday this week. Wish I could just stay on hold.

Rave-At least I am still above ground!

Rave-To all those New Year's resolutions to get in shape. Keep up the good work everybody. And yes, Kim, weight training is the way to go. I looked positively svelte at my class reunion, even got hit on a couple of times. ;-)

Rave-Sunshine, no more rain and a holiday on Monday! Can't beat that!

GoTravel-Condescending??? Surely, you jest! I think someone needs to be spanked for saying that.

Rant: This week's weather throughout the country! In my area, it's been strange...driving through snow and then pea soup fog. Driving through the fog was actually more frightening than driving through the snow! Compared to the weather of the last couple of years, we have been pretty fortunate in New York

Rant: The kids go back to college on Sunday!

Rave: The kids go back to college on Sunday! They are starting to irritate one another :D

Rant: The inlaws were on their way up to visit their grandkids when they got scared off by the snow. Even though it didn't "stick", I can't blame them - visibility was poor.

Rave: My DS came home VERY happy from his Hoboken jaunt yesterday - he liked what he saw and now is making a list of low-cost Ikea furniture for the low-cost first apartment he hopes to find!

Rant: Planning a Paris trip is causing severe frustration. My schedule is causing the problem - I only have a 1 week window to get a family trip in and finding the appropriate, vacant apartment is difficult.

Rave: Bonnie ~ what can I say? I'm very impressed :)

Congrats missjanna! Happy BD Buckeyemom...my sentiments exactly!
Ohhh, Jasper, BLEACH! That's nasty!

Fodors is imposing a "break" starting tomorrow - I am actually glad.

Happy weekend, everyone!

Rave: The sky is blue and the sun is warm.

Rave: I am leaving work early and tonight I am going to enjoy a romantic evening with my sweetie. It has been a long, hard-working week and we deserve it!

Rant: The damn guy down the street who insists on parking his F150 pick-up in front of our house and not in front of his. He has 5 cars parked on the street and moves them once a week for street cleaning. I guess every block has one jerk.......I know, it is a public street but it is still inconsiderate, particularly as he parks righ in the middle so no one can park behind or in from of him! Ooooh....I am getting myself worked up!

Rave: In the grand scheme of things, my only rant for this Friday seems inconsequential....

Happy Friday to all and best wishes and prayers to all who are in need.

Ooohhh Alisa, We sympathize with the car parking politics! Our street has many of the same issues! We have 5 cars (yes, 2 adults - 5 cars), but keep 3 off the street and prefer to park the other two in front of our own house so as to not disturb anybody else!

We get annoyed when others park in "our" spots or in between our spots. I am tempted to get a paint can and a brush and make some lines!

Alissa, I didn't know you lived at my house, lol! Same neighbors...ugh!!! My dh got so ticked once that he went and parked them in. Mean, but it has helped quite a bit actually.

Ha ha ha tpatricco, are those lines going on the street or the invading cars??

Just thought I'd make sure.
:-)

Oh, How could I have forgotten to rave about our Illini basketball?! Shame on Me. Cha he cha ha, cha ha ha ha, Go Illini go!!!! Bonnie, see you in the Final Four!

miss janna...that's great! you can stop commuting! here's hoping i have the same luck soon! ((Y))

my mom is gutting the kitchen and the floors this spring so it wasn't too much of a big deal. the fumes were really bad, and my 2 fave shirts got spots on them! that and the car, such a klutzy week!

:-B

Rave: It was in the 70's yesterday. THE 70'S!!!! (We're talking Buffalo here, people). This morning brought black ice and an inch of snow, however.

Rant: My mother is in the hospital......again!!!! My father is having some dimentia related problems, and I'm having a hard time dealing with aging parents in poor health. My brother lives out of state, so it's all on me!

Rave: We MIGHT go to Vegas for a few days. I would prefer a few days on the beach. Either would be OK, considering that we really didn't think we could afford any trips this year!

Rant: Mother Nature and what she's doing to people!

Rave: 3 day weekend!!!!

Have a nice weekend everyone :-)

emd1, My snowblower is a self contained unit. It doesn't hook up to a John Deere.

Speaking of blowers. I'm glad that our postion (not Bush's) that there were no WMD was correct. Too bad we all got sucked into it then blown off with excuses. "Hope we won't get fooled again".

seetheworld- Check out www.vrbo.com/41014 for a studio and a 1 bdrm in the rue Mouffetard in the Latin Quarter. Depending on how much room you need you can rent them both or individually. I stayed in the studio for a week last summer and LOVED the area.

The rue Mouffetard is cobblestone, barely wide enough for one car and was always filled with people rather than cars anyway. Very inexpensive food from the little walk up sandwich shops, markets, and creperies, and a very safe bustling area. When my 14 yr old tired of sight seeing he would catch the metro and head back to our home away from home and I felt comfortable letting him do that. I decided to read Hemingway's A Moveable Feast while in Paris and discovered he lived just down the hill at 74 Cardinal Lemoine which I passed daily to catch the metro. Much luck with your planning.

rave- headed to LA Wednesday for a yoga conference and to catch up with old friends from h.s. and college (I grew up in Ohio, how did they all end up in LA!?)
rant- I'll have one next Friday if the Colts get beat by the Pats (again)

Rave: Martin Luther King, whose birthday is tomorrow. And Zora Neale Hurston, who died on the same day.

Rant: People who post "facts" on the internet with no sources. Doh!

Rave: My son got the 2nd highest score on his PSAT in his class, and ranked in the 99th percentile for juniors -- but he's only a sophomore!

Rave: Everyone who found something positive to post today -- even me!

Rant#1: Yesterday my partner had a brain scan and begins sessions next week with a neurological psychiatrist to determine the depth of his "serious cognitive impairment" diagnosed by his doctor. His father had Alzheimer's so we fear the worst, but hope for the best.

Rant#2: Yesterday my mother was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. At 84, blind, plagued with pain from an inoperable spinal fracture, and unable to feel anything with her hands, she has chosen to do nothing about it. I support her in her decision.

Rant#3: Although they wanted to release my Mom from the hospital to a rehab facility today, there are no beds avaialble in the many, many such facilities in Naples. Why? Because in January they fill up with people who transfer here for "the season". The worst story I heard today was of a woman who every year goes into the hospital the first of January for a three day stay and "observation". Then medicare will pick up 100% of her first 20 days in a rehab facility, and 80% of the next 80 days. During that time -- get ready -- she rents out her beachfront condo for the three months and makes a small fortune!

Rave: I'm surrounded with great friends who are supporting me through all this.