Talk about your troubles

[AJane]

If she's into the "earth mother" concept, a good gift for her (actually, for any new mom) is a sling or kangaroo carrier. My second child was fussier than my first and she liked to be next to me (ha, she's 8 now and STILL likes to be as close to me as possible). I could cook, do housework, read, go online, whatever, with her in the carrier. Some moms even nurse with a baby in a sling, but I didn't master that particular skill.

My brother and his wife are Birkenstock-wearing, mountain bike-riding, folk-festival attending, environmentally-conscious "granola" types. It's all good, even if they annoy the crap out of me at times. They were determined to use cloth diapers when their daughter was born. I ventured to suggest that the cloth diapers probably wouldn't be too convenient when travelling (they love to travel and do so regularly) or even when just visiting or going shopping. They pooh-pooh'd me, the SUV-driving, boxed mac 'n' cheese-cooking soccer mom that I am. Yeah, well, I got the last laugh on that one. My SIL also has a huge issue with gender stereotypes and disdains any kind of "girl" clothes or colours for my beautiful niece. On his last trip out, my husband brought my niece a box of my girls' old Barbies and some dress-up clothes - as frou-frou, pink and sparkly as one could imagine. My mom gleefully reports that my niece went absolutely bonkers with joy over this new bounty, and is now taken with the idea of being a ballerina. So she can wear a tutu. I am gonna be in deep s(&! with them when I go home in a couple weeks to visit. But I have to say, this has brought me & my own mom closer together...it's one of the very rare occasions where we're in agreement and on the same side.

[Mimzy]

This is a sad time for me. One of my former students has apparently drowned in a river nearby. He was a library kid, so I spent many years in his elementary days with him at recess. He was a cool kid. So sad. Sorry, I am at a loss for words.

I understand your pain. Last week we also had a young, 28yr old, family friend drown in a river in central Ca.
It is hard to except a loss that so easily could have be prevented with a little wisdom.

[PWS]

No life or death issues for me, but definitely a "quality of life" one! My cable company forced us to get a box as they moved from analog to entirely digital. We get it free this year but have to pay every month for it starting next year, and of course they are a monopoly in the area.
But that's not my real problem. When I called and asked they told me that there would be no problem with my VCR (yes, I'm old school, but I know how it works and I am hundreds of hours behind in viewing now, and add new hours every week....a form of hoarding I guess, but let's save that for another time!). Well, the installer came and casually tells me, sure, the vcr will still work,you can play stuff you've recorded...BUT you can't record new stuff!!!!!!!!! When I freaked out he said well, try, sometimes people can (?????) (maybe he just said that so he could get safely out of the house! ), but I've tried on one TV (there are two TV/VCR set ups) and it doesn't work.
So my first goal would be to find a way to use the vcrs to record... anyone? If not I guess I have to learn to use some other method to record... I don't even know the lingo... dvr, tivo, what do those all mean? How many hours can I backlog? Help...
And oh yes, if I want to use the dvr we need another more expensive box... and I already spent all day waiting for the guy once...
On the plus side this is happening in summer when I record a lot less...but I will be away a few weeks and was planning to set it to record episodes of some of the summer series, and series they are burning off over the summer.

[norealityhere]

My best friend's sister just passed today.
She had just retired to Vegas 2 years ago. Had brain cancer surgery in the past year.
Started rapidly declining.

Hold your loved ones close.
Life is far too short.

[buglover]

I'm sorry for your loss norealityhere.

Namaste

[norealityhere]

THanks, Bug.

Namaste

[Cootie]

So sad,norealityhere

[Columbia, MD]

Sorry to read your sad news, norealityhere. May she rest in peace. Namaste.

[Gutmutter]

Were you close with the sister, norealityhere? So sad for your friend. My belief is that the sister has moved on to a better place, but that doesn't always comfort those of us who are left behind.

[norealityhere]

Were you close with the sister, norealityhere? So sad for your friend. My belief is that the sister has moved on to a better place, but that doesn't always comfort those of us who are left behind.

We had been close when she lived in CA

I agree that she is in a better place. She was not doing at all well the past few months.
My friend said that she had stopped eating, too. She seems to have known the end was near and embraced it.

Thanks, Gut