Rave-The sun is shining in Central NJ (it hasn't all week).

Rave-My newly 21 year old daughter is coming home from college this afternoon to celebrate her birthday with family and friends. Wheee!

Rave- Less then 5 weeks until family cruise.

Rave-All are healthy in my home this week.

Rave-Second daughter was invited to national camp for the Olympic Develoment Program (soccer) in Florida this February. Hard work does have its rewards.

Rant: Tom f****** Gordon. Kevin f****** Brown.

Rave: Found an old Pogues tape that I haven't listened to in some time. "Wherever we go we celebrate the land that makes us refugees" was a lyric meant for the Irish, but applies perfectly to any group in the US that still likes to declare its ethnic roots.

Rave: My 2nd fav team after the Braves won! GO CARDINALS!
Rave: We leave tomorrow morning for a week in Montana.
Rave: It has been snowing in Montana all week!

Rant: It has been snowing in Montana all week!
Rant: I feel a cold coming on...and that spongy ear thing.

LOL, Hyacith, you silly ole bucket, don't you remember waay back when you were just a young'un, we stopped taking directions from all of those lovely Englishman?

Enjoy your visit here in the US and read up on your history, girl!

Rave:
It is cooler in Northern Fl.
Going to an AKC dog show this weekend, should be fun.
Rant:
As others have said, my family and I are alive and healthy, nothing else matters :)

Have a good day ((F))

jersey, you coming to the GTG on the 30th?

Ryan, how about you?

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34533656 ((b))

Ryan, I certainly haven't thought of The Pogues in a long time. :)

Rant: Astros lost.

Rave: Sox won.

Rave: Now I can root for the Sox in the Series.

Rant/Rave: Sudden trip to Houston next week to help my mother move from my childhood home into an independant retirement community.

Rave: She will be starting a new, more simplified life and can finally enjoy being retired.

Rant: I will certainly miss that house which holds so many memories for me.

Have a great weekend everyone! :)

Rave: David Copperfield was amazing! After a nice quick dinner at Panda Express, 13 of us went to see him last night. Everyone had a great time and our high school athletic director was chosen to go up on the stage. What a kick!!! DH & I went out for yummy desserts and coffee at my favorite restaurant after getting all the kids ice cream. Very enjoyable evening!

Rave: The Paso Robles wine country! We had a great time exploring this area and visiting some new places. Wonderful dinner at Buona Tavola afterwards. (I'll get to my trip report eventually, LOL!)

Rave: My new carpet looks so pretty. No more stains from dogs and kids! I won't let anyone walk on it! Still waiting on my new cushions and pillows to be finished!

Rave: HS homecoming game was so much fun. Lots of our "starters" were out, tho. They apparently had a HUGE party and got raided by the police. Glad those days are behind me now!! With a couple of them, at least.

Rave: DS is now an official Certified Personal Trainer! I've been to the gym three times this week, too!!! It's a gorgeous new facility. I like the jacuzzi and the redwood sauna the best!

Rave: Maybe a fall drive up to the condo this weekend. Should be an early snowboard season, they had snow last week and the rain here was so refreshing and badly needed!!

Rave: Got a very cute umbrella with roses on it from a store called Let It Rain in Astoria, OR. Also ordered DS's GF some cute frog rain boots she fell in love with last summer!!

Rave: Trader Joe's pizza dough!! We had a BBQ chicken pizza at the Bianchi winery last Sat. and loved it so much the chef taught DH how to make it on our grill. He used the TJ's pizza dough. Yummy with the Paso Robles Tobin James Cash Flow red table wine.

Rave: Can't think of any rants this week! Happy Fall & Happy Weekend! ***kim*** (~~)

AHaugeto, adopt her!!! They are adorable. I have three friends here at work that have Shih Tzus and they all work long hours too. Their dogs all do well during the day - they are good dogs. Also, do you have a fenced in yard? If you do, you could get a doggie door and she could go outside anytime during the day. We have two maltese and we have a doggie door and there are NO ACCIDENTS in the house during the day!

Rave: Again, the Cardinals won!
Rave: We leave for Hawaii on Sunday

Rave: RED SOX!!!

Rave: Dana Reeve. She and her late husband are a real inspiration...I need to think more of them when I complain about the little things...

Rave: Houston LOST :)!!!

Rant: none to speak of...

Rave: My beautiful hubby and I along w/ 15 family members are taking off to Miami and are renewing our vows on a cruise cruise WoooHooo ((%))((L))(({))((}))

Rave: Travelinwifey goes down in history this weekend in an article for the NY Times this Sunday\:D/ I was interviewed for an article regarding Priceline experience and made the cut!

Rave: survived a stressful week back home:D

Have a great week travelers:):):)

Happy Friday!!

Rant: Bucket rules instead of Jor fun. This thread is a fun one...why do there have to be rules imposed?

Rave: Two more coming to the NJ/NY GTG on 10/30. Don't worry Kal, I'm bringing my digital camera!

Rant: Finally fired up new heating system on Wed night. Thursday pipe in concrete slab under foyer floor started leaking. Thursday night...new heating system off and drained. X-( DH has to cancel golf plans with friends to chisle up ceramic tile floor & fix pipe.

Rant: Today is the second warranty service call on our brand new Hot water heater installed 2 weeks ago. X-(

Jersey - where are you in NJ that it's sunny? I'm in Mountainside and it's still all clouds.

OK here's my real rants and raves.

Rant: Our middle aged healthy US Senator Norm Coleman got a flu shot as confirmed by his staff yesterday over the phone.

Rave: Our other middle aged healthy US Senator Mark Dayton has not and will not get a flu shot as confirmed by his staff.

Rave: The Red Sox beat the Yankees!!!!

Scarlett, that was a hoot! Mrs. Bucket probably got her hand painted Periwinkle fine china set and room for a pony from King George himself.

Rave, my cousin is on her way over here for lunch with her extension pole pruner to help me cut neighbor's over hanging branches.
Rant it's raining out heavily now!!!
Rave, a handsome neighbor moved in next door, hmmm.
Rant, he's young enough to me my son :)
yours truly, Mrs Slocum

Rant/Rave - mmarty, I just called the SPCA, and she'd just been adopted by somebody else.

Rant - Got an email 20 mins. ago about a compassionate use experimental drug shipment I helped get to a little boy in the Netherlands suffering from a rare leukemia. He passed away this morning, and his drs. and parents were expressing thanks that we tried. God be with them.

Rave - I'm not really grumpy - I like this thread. Reading it over before I posted again it made me happy to see that most people know what's important - the blessings of kids, family, health, travel, good wine... :) Again, I wish everyone a wonderful weekend. Go hug your loved ones, please.

ah, yes! Kal reminded me.

Rant: Missing a party opp with Kal and Marilyn.

Rave: Well, they won't see how my "fat" clothes don't fit. (I'm appalled at my lack of self control!)

Hyacinth's post doesn't sound like a rule to me, but does sound like a danm good suggestion, to avoid gab-fests.

Rave: the leaves looked so dull, but finally got brilliant & beautiful

Rant: they're all now ON my lawn, not the trees

lots of raking this weekend.

Hyacinth- don't you like dogs? Onslow's dog sure likes you! Mrs. Slocum- how is your pussy? (per the O.P., replys better be in a separate thread lol )

Rant: Bengals are no good again this year. Someone must have put a curse on them, I swear.

Rave: Getting a second oven in time for Thanksgiving.

Rant: Cost of the second oven since it's in an island and needs a downdraft.

Rave: Going to "Haunted Village" with DH &kids this evening. Ooohhhhh!!!!!

Rave: One month from today, we'll be on Air Tahiti Nui for our first visit to French Polynesia and a WindStar cruise. Something that seemed unimaginable to me as a kid -- we're very excited!

Rave: Two adorable, healthy grandsons who live close enough so we can see them often.

Rave: DH had knee surgery then physical therapy that finally convinced him exercise really would be good. And we joined our smashing new YMCA, fabulous facility.

Rave: Fall in CT, and the trees are looking fabulous.

Rant: Said leaves will soon be on the ground, and will need raking before we go to FP.

Rave: The US election will soon be done, and we can all go back to, um, normal life again.

Rant: These election campaigns are way too long and way too nasty.

Rant: And I have way too much work to do to spend time browsing the forum. Yet here I am anyway -- I need that 12-step program...

Rant: my mother has been "booted" out of her "independent living" retirement home and can't afford to go into their "assisted living" facility. So we're trying to get medicaid or medicare waiver.

Rave: I met the first honest lawyer of my life this week. I was looking for one to do a "medicaid waiver income trust", and no one in Naples would do one. Finally one lawyer actually told me why, "sorry, we only set up trusts for people with lots of money. We don't handle them if they have no money." Now that's honesty!

Rave: I MET TOM SELLECK THIS MORNING ! I've already called everyone I know, so now I'll tell everyone I don't know !

Rave: He's soooooo tall.