If you post it, I will try it....I promise. Maybe even today or tomorrow. I'd have to take some meat out of the freezer.

I am so glad you are feeling happy. Along with spring on it's way it could have something to do with having that contract signed. I am sure you will feel much freer once the house closes and all your stuff is separated out of there.

It was such a beautiful weekend here. We went on a bike ride, dinner near the beach, then listened to some jazz at a place downtown on Saturday. We went out on our friend's boat yesterday after church. It got into the 80's yesterday and will be mid-80's today.

Well...I tried to copy and paste, but it didn't work.

Okay, here you go:

FGG's (plagarized) Brunswick Stew:

3 lbs. boneless pork shoulder roast
3 medium size new potatoes, peeled and chopped (I used redskin)
1 large onion, chopped
1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes
1 (18 oz) bottle barbeque sauce
1 (14 oz) can chicken broth
1 (9 oz) package frozen baby lima beans (thawed)
1 (9 oz) package frozen corn (thawed)
6 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt

Trim roast and cut into 2 inch pieces
Stir together all ingredients in a 6 quart slow cooker

Cover and cook on LOW 10 - 12 hours (mine cooked 12 hours)

Remove pork and shred. Return shredded port to slow cooker and stir well.

Ladle into bowls.

Go "yum, yum...that FGG sure knows how to cook!!" (Okay, I added that part).

There you go....

Georgia

OK, the recipe uses pork shoulder. I'll need to go to the grocery store for that as well as the lima beans...so I guess it will be for tomorrow.

It sounds like something my husband will really enjoy.

Thanks you, FGG.

You're welcome. I hope you both enjoy it. I have frozen the leftovers in individual serving packets and I thawed one for dinner Saturday night. It was really, really good.

It does sound like it makes enough for lots of leftovers...unless I ask our sons over for dinner.

Our 28 yr old just got back last night from a week of snowboarding in Steamboat Springs, CO.

I talked to the realtor in a little while ago and invited her over for dinner tonight. She hasn't seen my house since I moved in.

That should make for a pleasant evening...I look forward to that.

I'm going to treat her to my signature grilled chicken (cordon bleu), mashed red skin 'taters, and corn. I'm going to stop on the way home and get some kind of yeast rolls and maybe a cake or pie for dessert.

(Soon everyone in this city will have eaten my chicken cordon bleu and I'll have to come up with a new dish...)

If the weather stays pleasant tonight I might see if she'd like to eat on the deck.

Georgia

I'm so glad for you! You deserve it. <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

So can we call this a DINNER DATE?

<img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Well...er..I don't want to sound "age-ist", but she's a little old for me!

How "OLD" is "OLD"?

<img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

FGG,

A little old for you???? <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> You just never know FGG. <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Have a good time and enjoy having the last piece of the puzzle handled in selling your house. I think the euphoria you feel is the weight of this last piece of the puzzle being lifted from your shoulders.

You have moved on quite well, and developed a new life for yourself. You may be seeing this, but it will become more evident as time goes on. There are no winners in these sorts of things, but there are people that make the best of their lives and clearly you are one of them.

You are to be admired FGG. You have done very well.

God Bless,

JL

Wow...thanks JL for the compliment(s).

I've been on the phone with #2S. #2DIL was in an accident about 2 weeks ago and totalled her car, but she wasn't hurt. Fortunately, they had insurance and they've bought one of those Scion things. He was excited and wanted to tell me all about it.

Okay, Mimi. I'm going to estimate 65. Do you remember Aunt Clara from "Bewitched" (the TV show)? Well...she's a lot like her. However, she's very, very smart and really kind.

Georgia

Georgia

An Aunt Clara type would definitely be too old for you.
I am sure you'll do fine if and when you are ready to start dating.

Georgia:

If you are still there, what would you recommend for me to show my H how much I REALLY, REALLY APPRECIATE something special that he helped me with today...

I HUGGED HIM and THANKED, THANKED, THANKED HIM and it REGISTERED with him but I want to do something else....

He's a gardener like you..

I was thinking a Camelia(?) bush or is it a tree??

Still here...stby. Let me think a minute.

Sure..a camelia would be nice.

You might want to consider some sort of frequently bloooming rose. Then, from time to time you could actually cut him a rose from your "thank you" bush when you want to give him a special thanks.

Okay, I'm off to the grocery store to get a few things.

Have a good evening.

Actually, he loves ROSE bushes. THAT'S A GREAT IDEA!!

Georgia, you are wonderful...

It is nice that you are cooking for the realtor! She deserves the big thank you for going that extra mile. Also Congradulations on the sale of the house. Now you can be free in how many weeks?

Say Hi to Jeb and maybe package some of the nice weather and send it here. It has been very cold and rainy. But yesturday the sun actually made an appearance. I really hope it warms up soon. I am tired of winter.

Good Morning to all –

Actually, it is good evening. I’m writing this Monday night about 10:30 PM while sitting on my deck. I am surrounded on all 4 sides by the sound of running water, there is a cool breeze, and it is about 60 degrees. I am struck tonight by how peaceful and content my life has become.

The realtor (Mary) and I just had a wonderful dinner together. She left about a half hour ago, and I think we could have just kept on talking. She told me all about her family and her history. She’s been divorced for over 30 years, her husband left her for another woman. He subsequently married her, then left her for another woman. (Sounds like a study in MB principles, doesn’t it?). And…about 2 years ago her daughters husband (and father of their 9 y.o. daughter) told her he was gay (they had been married 14 years) and left her for another man. So…we had a lot to talk about regarding marriage and stuff, obviously. But, she also told me all about the businesses she’s owned and the various endeavors she’s been involved with. She is just a really nice lady and we had a great time.

The weather was so wonderful that we ate on the deck. I know this must sound like a date, but I’m sure we both understood that it wasn’t. However, we had a nice table setting with a candle and stuff. I think it did us both a lot of good just to sit here and chat. We had dessert of coffee and cheesecake out here also.

About a half hour before she came, my cell rang with a number I didn’t recognize. It was the gentleman whose parents built this house and he was raised here. It had been so long since I talked to him that I assumed…well, he is being treated in Atlanta for lymphoma and I just thought I’d never hear from him again.

He wants to bring his wife and come visit me within the next 2 weeks. I can hardly believe it. He is the one and only person who knows all the history of this house, and we are going to get to meet and talk. I am thrilled!!

As you may recall, his dad was a writer for the local newspaper, as well as a published sci-fi writer. Well, Charles (that is his name) was telling me tonight that he grew up in this house except for about a year when they moved to a small town in S.C. He was telling me that a good friend of his dad bought a newspaper in the small town and asked his dad to come work for him, which he did. However, the friend died shortly thereafter and his dad returned here to this town (and this house). The friends name? Erskine Caldwell!!! I already know that Ty Cobb was a friend of his dad’s and a frequent visitor to my house.

I just couldn’t believe all the things he was wanting to talk about, but Mary got here and I had to tell him that I needed to go. I am so excited about him coming here that I can hardly wait. I’m going to e-mail him tomorrow with the dates I’ll be out of town and he’s going to try to go ahead and plan a trip here. He asked me again about that little leather change purse I found (his name is written on the side of it). He again asked if he could have it, and I told him of course he could. I told him that I had found other things here and he could have anything that he recognized if he wanted them, but I didn’t tell him what. I’ve found some Italian coins from the 40’s, some NYC bus tokens from the 30’s, and….a woman’s shoe under the house. I’m not so sure what I should do about that, it is in all likelihood his mothers. I don’t know, I’ll have to think about that one.

Okay, here is the real reason I’m sitting her writing this tonight.

I can remember clearly all the h*ll I’ve been through. I’ve never said too much about it here, but I can remember the days of driving into the garage and wondering what it would be like just to close the door and sit there and end it all. I didn’t think I would ever, ever be happy again….I was so hurt and so betrayed by the woman who I had loved so dearly.

But, life is good. I know now that God can bring us through the darkest, deepest despair. I can feel the pain of so many on this site when I read their words, because I can remember those feelings.

There is hope….even if the marriage fails. It can not be boiled down so simply as you win if you save the marriage and you lose if you don’t. I think it is more valid to say you win when you decide you don’t deserve the betrayal that you’re being handed, and you CHOOSE to no longer acquiesce to it.

Our spouses “win” if they elect to go with us…they “lose” if they elect to continue to wonder in their wayward ways.

I am sorry that my xW has lost….but I have won.

Georgia

P.S. – Added this morning:
Mimi…you’re going to make me blush.
MN – We are supposed to close on the house April 28.