Where is Freaky Friday?
 

Am I not looking hard enough?

Can't find it either, so why not start?

Rant: HURRICANE THAT WON'T DIE!

Rave: Profile in today's travel section of the NYT on my favorite weekend getaway, Wilmington NC. The article's a little heavy on the grits and pork -- not entirely fair to Wilmington (=Hollywod East) -- but at least acknowledges some of the draw of this hidden gem of a destination.

Rave: The cool breezes coming through my home office window, and having fun planning spring break!! I stumbled upon Wilmington, NC this summer! I loved it. I found a lady who has a terrific jewelry store. She designs everythng herself - great price ppoint too.

Rant; cleaning my house today for guests. And those damn hurricanes.

Rave: Chicgal who posted that Lion King would be coming to Chicago next summer. I was able to order tickets for my church group early. THANKS CHICGAL!
Rave: Sunny and 70s here in Wisconsin
Rants: Deaths in Iraq, Hurricanes

Rave: Will be in the British Virgin Islands next week!
Rave/Rant: It will just be the husband and me! Will desperately miss our 2.5-year-old son who'll probably won't even think about us because he'll have a great time with his 2 cousins.
Rant: Where are the Nelson Mandelas of the world?
Rant: I have to work on Sunday...again.
Have a great weekend everyone.

Rant: On Monday, the doctor called to tell us that bloodtests show that our unborn baby has a 1:9 chance of having Trisomy 18, a genetic disorder 'incompatible with life'

Rave: There's lots of information on the web

Rant: Lots of it is scary

Rave: The doctor worked us in and performed a CVS procedure to determine whether the first test was correct.

Rant: We had to pay lots of money to rush the results as insurance won't pick up the costs

Rave: There is a support website w/really helpful, amazingly supportive people that provided lots of useful advice and information

And the biggest RAVE of all: Yesterday the nurse, not the doctor called and the baby is ok!

Today is a GREAT day!!

And to celebrate, my husband will take me somewhere next weekend :-)

OneWanderingJew: I am so happy for you. We went through the same thing. Too many tests I say. We refused to do the recommended amnio which didn't make my doctor happy. Whatever. Our son is perfectly healthy by the way.

OneWanderingJew - I haven't been pregnant in 9 years but as I recall those tests are notoriously inaccurate causing lots of parents unnecessary worry. I'm so sorry that such a happy time in your life was disrupted but I'm glad you received good news in the end. Good luck with the rest of the pregnancy and congratulations.

Raves - Life is good in my small neck of the woods.

Rants - Wish it were the same for everyone.

Raves - Saw a wonderful exhibition at the Dixon museum in Memphis last week. Works by lesser known American and French Impressionists as well as lesser known works by the really famous guys - Cassat, Monet, Sargent, etc... For $5 we got to stroll through their beautiful gardens, view the exhibit, enjoy some cheese and crackers and could have seen a Hitchcock classic film if we had wanted to. Wine was available also for a small price. What a bargain. If you are ever in Memphis, check this small museum out.

Rave--DS was named player of the week for his football team.

Rave--All spa appointments are made for our girlfriends get away coming up soon.

Rave--Made arrangements for kids so DH and I can attend our college homecoming game and the festivities at our fraternity and sorority.

Rave--Kids are out of school today so we will go play:)

Rave--Can't think of any rants!

Rave: OneWanderingJew, that's terrific! I was tearing up reading your post, and then REALLY teared up when I read the good news. Good for you and your husband!

Rave: Going boating at the lake tomorrow, one of the last warm weekends we will have here before the deep freeze sets in.

Rant: One of the last warm weekends we will have here before the deep freeze sets in!

Rant: Iraq, Haiti, Sudan, too much misery in this world.

Rave: Volunteers who try to help others through their misery.

RAVE: OneWanderingJew's good news!!! So happy for you!

RANT: Hurricanes....... and their hitting Florida, possibly, again (and Jeanne is looking at N.C. YUK!!!)

RAVE: Knee and back injuries that heal faster than you'd hoped, and water aerobics that help the process along!!!

RANT: Weight plateaus........... (I know, I know...... it'll drop!)

RAVE: Drop-dead gorgeous weather (for now!) in Raleigh!!!

RANT: Panthers losing to the Packers

RAVE: Panthers beating the Chiefs

Have a great weekend, everybody! (Those of us in Jeanne's track, all together: GO AWAY!!! X( )

I'd better pipe in, then...but where is Jor??

RAVE: OneWandering's baby!!! And my sweetpea...just gets better every day!

RANT: We may not be going to England this spring like we'd so hoped.

RAve: OneWanderingJew's fantastic news.
Rant: Back in the office after a glorious 2 week vacation, 12 days of which was spent in France.
Rave: My vacation was wonderful.

Happy weekend to all and my thoughts are with you floridians! I have many friends in the path.

rave: yet another lovely sunny warm day

rant: that the subway stopped for no reason and sat in the middle of the tracks for 10 minutes, and I was already late for work.

rave: I just bought tickets to go to New York City at the end of october

rant: I have no idea where I'll be staying when I get there as the hotel I wanted is booked.

Rave: It's still beautiful weather here on Long Island!!

Rant: I can feel the chill slowly creeping in.

Rave: Finally got all my cd's transferred onto my Ipod.

Rant/Rave: I STILL have another 16 Gigs worth of space on it!!

Rave: Walked around Soho and the San Gennaro Feast last weekend with my BF's mom. Forgot how much I miss being in Manhattan!

Rave: It's Friday and Payday. (but then again EVERY Friday is payday!)

Everyone have a great weekend!!

Rant: Root canal this morning... and I have another appt in 1 week!
Rave: Vicoden (sp?)

whoo-hoo friday!! :-"

and i thought i was late for freaky friday! thanks for posting ani.

rave: beautiful day in ny ((#))

rave: busy at work, feels good.

rave: rochester earlier this week. salt lake city on monday morning, and next friday...oakland, ca for a wedding. things have a funny way of working themselves out. ((Y))


rant: my allergies have not let up. :((

rant: my new (used) car already had problems! just electrical, and was fixed.

rave: nice dinners planned in for the w'end. ((D))

:D

One more Rave: The awesome, caring people on this message board.

Rant: I have to pretend I'm working so don't have time to thank each of you personally :)

wandering jew, that is great news for the week-end. We all wish you happiness.
For my fellow posters in the hurricane's way. Please know we care and worry.

Rant: Have giant tree, hole in roof, and destroyed deck in back yard from last Thursday. (Adjusters are still in Florida and Alabama)
Rant: Have damaged cabin in Franklin, NC and haven't had a chance to go inspect yet.
Rant: Mother Nature can be brutal.

All the damage can wait and be fixed/replaced; people lost their lives, they can't be replaced. (We lost 5 in Franklin, my heart goes out to the families there and everywhere else.)

Rant: Pepole who want to know when "peak" color occurs...
Rave: #1 daughter just got the job she wanted after graduating from Syracuse!!!!!

Rave: OneWanderingJew's news! =D>
Rave: Phenomenal good weather

Rant: where's jor??
RAnt: no more hurricanes!!

OneWanderingJew--So happy for you!!!

another rave--made reservations for a special celebration dinner next week at a new restaurant. Went by it today to check it out and can't wait!

Happy Friday!!

Rave: It's a beautiful day in NJ

Rave: Spent the day in Philly for work and got out early, finished some chores I would've had to do tomorrow. :)

Rave: WanderingJew's great news! All those tests to make you worry. So glad your news is good!

Rave: Celebrating Grandma's 83rd birthday on Sunday! She feels great and still mows the lawn! (Maybe Jor should call her!)

Have a great weekend everybody!

Rant: Curious doggies that ended up getting in trouble!

Rave: We still have our beloved Vizslas!

Rant: Not enough time at the Fresno Cooks, www.fresnocooks. convention last weekend. It was great, but we were on a short leash in between WP games.

Rave: ANOTHER tournament this weekend, DD gets to strut her stuff in front of family and friends that are coming to watch her play!

Rant: Dentist appt. to put on a new crown! I had a root canal a few weeks, ago not fun at all!! Glad that's over with!

Rave: Had my teeth ZOOMED, they are really bright now!!!

Rant: Missed gym workout this week, due to re-decorating my living room! Spent lots of time picking out new carpet and pillow and pit cushion fabrics! It's going to look wonderful! White sage and salmon are my main colors I'm going with!

Rave: We're trying a new place for dinner tonight, Citron and Echo (a local restaurant here) was just featured in the LA Times!

Rant: I want to go on a trip!

Rave: Maybe Sunday we will have some time to go to our condo by the lake and kayak. I just like to sit by the lake and read/relax and then take a nice bottle of wine to our favorite restaurant there.

Rave: Purchased three new novels to read this fall. I'm starting "A Good Year" by Peter Mayle, it's a book about growing your own wine! It's fall and the weekend!! ***kim*** :)

Tomorrow is the annual Sanmiguelada (running of the bulls) here in Central Mexico. I suspect I'll get an opportunity to save a (crazy) life or two.
Feliz el fin de semana!
M

Rave: We are on the coast of Maine- having a wonderful 2 week vacation.

Rant: Hurricane Jeanne is headed to Florida (we live on the West Coast...could this be another Frances nightmare? Power outage, etc.)

So glad you got good news OneWanderingJew...that was a holding your breath way too long moment! I am an L&D nurse and enow too well what trisomy 18 is.

I'm pretty sure jor is out mowing his lawn one last time before the first big frost moves in. He's been mowing since like 7 a.m. this morning and he's not finished yet, so give him some time to finish sweeping and edging.

Rave: Celebrated my daddy's 80th birthday last night!

Rave: Got tickets to see the Rockettes (in Buffalo). Good seats, too!

Rave: Beautiful, warm weather

Rant: The Buffalo Bills :-(

Finally! :-)

RAVE: The 18th pound came off (thought it would never happen! BIG SMILE! :-d )

RANT: Hurricane Jeanne... all you Floridians (and those in Georgia and South Carolina) are in our prayers, and it looks as though it's coming through Raleigh with severe rain and storms, possible tornadoes, over the next two days. Ugh! Will we be glad when this storm season is over! :-(

Sunday Freaky Friday Raves:
Portland Oregon!!!!!
The friendly people
The weather (sunny & 70s every day!)
The food..Scarlett the plump is my new name.
The ease of getting around and the art and the beauty of this great city.
The Taiko Drummers!!
Did I mention the nice people and the good food :)

I'll just sneak in here under the wire...

Rant: I got a ticket for making an illegal left turn ($170 + 8 hours of my life for traffic school)

Rant: Phil Flash got a notice for an IRS audit. Minor, but still lots of work to prepare.

Rant: Our beloved but very, very bad cat jumped straight up 4 feet to a high shelf in the bathroom, knocked over a heavy vase, and cracked and chipped our bathroom sink. Ouch!

Rave: Scarlett and The Yankee love Portland and are having a great time!

Oooooooh Marilyn that seems steep just for a left turn. And Traffic school too. Ouch.

Anne

Yeah, traffic tickets here are outrageously expensive. The worst part is that the cop was "stalking" me. He sat there and watched me do it, when he could easily have warned me not to. It would be a little less ($148) if I didn't do traffic school, but then it's on my record which is otherwise quite clean.

Several raves: I'm delighted for OneWanderingJew - we went through a few similar scares with some of the grandkids, and they're all healthy and happy and gorgeous.
We just got back from a spectacular weekend in northern Ontario - well, not all that northern, really, but a few hours north of our home in Toronto. Algonquin Park was showing about 50% leaf change yesterday morning when we drove through - the colours were unbelievable. I've never seen anything like it. We stayed at a very pleasant little lodge near Haliburton, and last night I got to hear my sweetie sing a sold-out concert with his choir. I love sitting there listening to the audience whispering "Wow!" and then cheering wildly at the end. Altogether a super weekend. Hope you all had the same.

Hi Meesthare, that sounds wonderful!

Hi, Marilyn - it WAS wonderful! Sounds as if your weekend wasn't quite as wonderful, though. :'(
The owners of the lodge we stayed at had a little 10-week-old puppy; they described her as half shih-tzu and the rest some sort of poodle mix. She looked like a dusty snowball, all brownish fluff. I could have spent the weekend playing with her. My sweetie advised the owners to do a luggage check before letting me leave.
I think we might go back for a weekend in the winter. It was just delightful up there.

Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!

MONDAY MORNING RAVE: Twenty pounds off! Go figure....... the scale refused to budge for 17 days, then this weekend THREE MORE POUNDS off, even with the back and knee injuries slowing me way down....... A big thank-you to the Gods! :-)

RANT: The state of FLorida - my heart goes out to all there. The storm is now coming into the Carolinas, but I won't complain, however much rain and wind we get, after watching Florida all weekend! :-(

I don't usually respond to rants and raves but I was so moved by OneWanderingJew's tale I had to comment. I'm so glad the test came back with good news. I'm sorry you had to go through that stress. I'm sure your emotions were all over the place during the waiting (Tom Petty was right, the waiting is the hardest part).

Yea to Bonnie for her weight loss.

Bad things: Hurricanes, remnants, cones of uncertainty, and scammers to take advantage of those in need.

Good things: people coming together in times of need to help strangers in need.

better late than never.
Congratualtions OWJ~those AFP tests are often false highs sending many folks through the emotional meat grinder. However, working in the field of neonatal medicine I've got to say, it's important to test.I've shared too many sorrows over the years with people who were completely unprepared for the devastation (one can never really be prepared). This is a combined rant and rave.

Rant:the world and terrorism in all its forms.

Rave: France in 6 days!