Apropos of Nothing...

ROFLOL!! What a kid!
Judi, here's the thing: you had a houseful of kids at one time, which I could have NEVER done. I had one at a time, 7 years apart. It was really easy to find time to read to them. Plus, I just plain enjoyed it. It was as much for me as for them.
Here's the wierd part: my daughter only became someone who reads for pleasure this year! She is 24! My reading to her did not make a reader out of her. She has excellent reading skill, but never chose to read for fun. I, on the other hand, never put books down when I was a kid.
Same with my son. He does not read for fun. Maybe someday he will..

some of my fondest memories are of summers long ago: reading a good book under my friend's mom's shrubs.
It was cool hanging out in this giant proper English shrubbery - quite pleasant when the weather hit 100°. too hot for physical activity, perfect for reading.

Yes Ben is quite a funny kid. He's the one who went to Africa to teach and it really impacted him in a good way. He does not take one single drop of water or grain of rice for granted. I think I may have posted this pic of him before but here he is again - with his privileged students from the "rich" school. The other school he taught in had slat walls, no supplies or books, and the kids sat on the floor in the dirt.

The "poor" school. Is life fair? I think that's the most important thing Ben learned. He says the most important thing he learned is if you peel a banana from the bottom it will remove those pesky strings at the same time. Deep.

This message was edited Sep 21, 2009 10:03 PM

Yikes. Yeah, quite a difference there...

Which is the bottom of a banana?

I'm just furious. This weekend I gave up my easy-to-remember phone number in favor of a NEW UNPUBLISHED one that the collections people wouldn't have. I left home around 6 a.m. for 12 hours of driving & dropping off a trailer in Port Angeles, very tough day on 3 hours' of sleep, and I get home to ONE phone message on my new line. From a collections agency looking for Jason or Justin or whoever. At 8:21 a.m.

On a normal day, that would wake me up. I'm at my wit's end. Is EVERYONE in Lincoln County a deadbeat?????

LOL, Summer........
All but you, apparently! ;)

Gawd, how irritating is that! 0.o

It must be a glitch of the computer age -- once Jason Deadbeat had this phone number, the computers dial it till kingdom come. Or maybe the demand for numbers means they don't lie fallow long enough.

You know, moving cross-country by yourself is really tough, and the worst part has been the innumerable phone calls to set up phone, Internet, vet appointments, find a pharmacy, get a bank account, navigate the DMV. I'm just so running out of energy for those kinds of things. I WANT MY PHONE NUMBER TO NOT BE A HOTLINE FOR COLLECTIONS AGENCIES.

I need to take a deep breath, say a small prayer of thanks (Thank you, God, for a day that went swimmingly well given all the things that could have gone wrong, plus the nice scenery), finish the 3 beers in the fridge, and get a good night's sleep. THEN I will call the phone company again. And find a dentist. And find an RV service center for the people buying one of my other trailers who want AC installed. And locate a pet-sitter ....

This is all a propos of nothing, of course ...

Summerkid - that happened to me when I moved to portland and got a new number. After calling the company that was calling for the deadbeat several times with no results, I did some snooping about them and found out they are actually breaking the law. I forget the name of the company, but when they call again be sure to get the name & phone number and then call the local office of the FBI and report them. That's what I did and then I called them back and told them I reported them and if I got one more call I would involve my attorney. I don't even have an attorney - but it worked!

I get calls from 800 numbers and there's no one there when I pick up. I try to call them back and get nothing, either . . .my next step is to do some Internet research and see if I can't find out who the 800 number is assigned to. Then I'll do some threatening myself . . .

If you haven't put your phone numbers on the do not call registry do so. It really helps to get your numbers off these annoying lists. Cell numbers can be done now too! Yeah!

https://www.donotcall.gov/

I thought I had, but I might try it again. Thanks, Bea.

With the economy so slow, the sales techniques are gettting more and more obnoxious. I finally had to say to somebody the other day, "Even if I wanted your services, you've ticked me off so badly that there's no way I would come to you. When someone says, 'No thank you', it's time to shut up!" I actually had a hard time interrupting him to say that.

And I got a call the other day from someone in Oregon at SPOT security saying that I'd won a free security system. I told them that I wouldn't have completed an entry form for one because I already had one. She paused and then said that the entry was for a cash card OR a security system. I didn't buy that and so I told her I'd call her back.

I saw online that this is a sales technique that SPOT uses a lot. I WISH they'd call me back so I could tell that that I don't do business with LIARS.

My MIL just sent me this picture of a tree/bush that was growing in her gutter. She wants to know what it is so she can decide whether to plant it or toss it. Anybody recognize it?

I am tired of getting spam - I don't even have a p - - - - so I don't need to make it bigger!

We had a noise in our house this morning and the dogs were going crazy. I left for several hours to have lunch in Silverdale with my sisters (Olive Garden). When I got back DH mentioned he had heard it and it sounded like it was in the cupboards. So I started listening and found a small mouse in the stove hood. He was sitting on the filter when I pulled it out, so I took him outside and let him go. The neighbors cats will probably get him.

The toilet in my bathroom was plugged up and the garage door opener failed.. DH said it might be time to move into a condo in Poulsbo. I would love that. Then I could go and garden in my daughters yard and help her.

Things happen in 3's. Looks like you had all three today. Hope tomrrow is trouble & mouse free!

Received a shipment via UPS and feisty claimed the box before I even unpacked it.

I love my Koi. They have really grown this year.

My daughter and a college friend went to the white house last week. Miss her and also upset that she had her nose pierced on her 18th birthday. Yikes!

This message was edited Sep 22, 2009 5:01 PM

Miss my other daughter too! She is doing her culinary internship on Jekyll Island GA. (Right Center back of picture..the little chef!) She is not to crazy about all the palmetto bugs in the south. Hired an exterminator for her last week. She is very anxious to come home at the end of November.

They look young, healthy, and happy, with years of fun and promise ahead of them . . .

I like pierced noses. But then I have a pierced lip, so that's not a surprise. hehe.

Bea, you have even more koi than I do! How big is your pond? Have you named each one?

I can well imagine how much you miss your girls. I have been super lucky to have both my kids choose to live nearby.

PNW. I have 21 fish in a 3200 gal pond. I have not name them as my first group of fish were all named and died suddenly when I first put in my pond. It was hard to loose them. I can tell them all apart by their markings, so if I am missing one, I can tell who is hiding.
You are lucky to have your children near by. I hope my youngest will return to Oregon from PA when she finished college. :)

I met a guy +dog (Arturo + Skidz) at the beach today -- they just moved to the coast too. We thought maybe we could explore the area together a bit. He's already called here twice though, which is annoying to me. I guess not everyone hates the phone like I do or understands that I feel stalked even by my b'friend if he calls more than once every coupla days.

That's OK, STALK AWAY because I will have a THIRD phone number as of Thursday. Here's a tip for Willow & anyone else who might move & get a new phone: Make them look for an OLD phone number. Turns out they only let them lie dormant for 3 months before they can be reassigned, so of course I am getting collections calls for other deadbeats. My newest number has been unassigned since 1999!!! I am getting weird because I am swooning over my new, from-the-dark-ages phone number. I want to caress it.

Did the phone company change that for you? That's awesome.

Be careful with the stalker - that's pretty freaky that he's already called you twice and you just met today. Let him know that your male neighbor stops by a lot to check on you . . .

One thing about a new computer, the spam hasn't found me yet and no one but my daughter has my new email address.

Here is a bad picture of my wooly caterpillar. It was ten o'clock at night

Nah, Katie, I'm not afraid of him. This happens to me all the time. It just disappoints me, because I thought he seemed like an interesting find but -- probably not.

If you're diligent about blocking email addresses as the spam comes in -- you can even set up a programmable key for that -- it will, at the very least, just go in your Deleted Items file. Another trick is to have, say, an AOL account that is used for all online registrations & purchases, so it can fill up with spam & no big deal.

BeaHive Nice healthy looking koi and beautiful girls!! (Even with the piercing) I guess when you are 18 you do what you do

Pony, I think that plant way up in the thread may be a Portuguese laurel. Right leaves, right color stems.

*Googles*

You know, I think you're right. Thank you, Melissa! :)

Well, SK, maybe you should be a little afraid. Fear is a tool that keeps us alive . . .

Willow, I have a woolly caterpillar - the orange and black kind as well as a few termites flying around tonight. Maybe the warm temps have extended their stay . . .

Fear also kills us. I refuse to be afraid, even a "little afraid." Of anything. Definitely not some guy I met on the beach who only has my phone number.

I should probably stop with the tongue-in-cheek mini-confessions on this thread. I'm usually just joking. I was actually using the poor guy as a segue into my phone number rant. The reason the guy called twice was because he first got that default answering-machine message in a robot's voice & thought he'd dialed a wrong number. The 2nd time he left a message explaining that & wondering whether I'd be interested in meeting him for coffee on Thursday, which is his day off from administering dialysis to diabetics.

NO BIG DEAL. He's not really a stalker.

I totally met my husband by internet stalking him.

No, really... I'm not kidding.

:)

I'll bet he's still a little afraid.

Daily.

:)

Nightly?

Round the clock. Hickory Dickory Dock.

Ah SK - the life of single women! I met a guy at a dog park and we talked often over a few weeks. He suggested we meet for coffee so I agreed. I met him on a Sunday morning at the local Stumptown. After chatting for a few minutes I asked if he was divorced or what and he said no, but he and his wife were not getting along. I called him an sob and left.

Maybe fear is not the correct word - how about caution.