A crowbar? Bazookas? Dynamite? You'd think as long as I've been irritating that man's oyster, we'd have had a pearl by now, but no-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o. Just a really irritated shellfish! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" />




Because it's more comfortable in there with his pain, than it is outside without it!



He knows that there was once someone else. If he knows what goes on in my head now, it's certainly not because I told him, that's for sure! I don't think it necessarily affected his mindset towards life, though. I don't think I should get either credit OR blame because the man who got me is generally grumpy and the man who lost (or escaped!) me is generally upbeat and happy. They are who they were going to be anyway, I think. Hope so, at any rate. How depressing it would be to think that my presence or absence in these men's lives was what made the difference for them between grimness of the "winner" and joy of the "loser". <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />


Well, give credit where credit is due. I learned it from a master!! At least my shell opens and closes.



Thank you. Maybe that's just because it's easier to seem wonderful from a distance, but it's nice of you to say so anyway. I was going to put this in the lessons from the Saga, but it fits here, so why not? It is my hope, my belief, my no-longer-secret fantasy ( <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />) that if he really knew me--and I mean face-to-face, on a regular, daily basis--that MS would like me, that he would find me to be an admirable person for never giving up but for always being in there "pitching", that there would be in the formerly-pampered girl of yesterday an independent and self-reliant woman today who was attractive to him from the inside out. I have no doubt that the reason for this hope is because HP doesn't find these attributes attractive at all, in spite of the fact that he disapproved of the pampered young girl, too! They are the things about me that I most rejoice in developing, things I admire in others in others as well. And there's no denying that it pinches my tender parts to have what I consider to be my very best, rejected as the very worst. No wallowing, however, is allowed! It is not only counterproductive, but very, very messy.

I hope you'll all forgive me for saying this, because boastful people are a pain in the patootie, but I think I was a very pretty girl when I was young. On my brazen days, sometimes I'm brave enough to think I once was beautiful. But, see, that was only the cover. The story itself was ugly, and dark, and hatefully angry. Now the cover is frayed and even sparse in spots. Its color is fading, and there's a lot of damage from rough handling. What would be the coverly equivalent of wrinkles? Can't extrapolate, but whatever they are, I've got 'em! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> But the story within has changed, and the tale contained between the covers of my book is no longer what it started out to be. That's a good thing, IMHO, and on days when I'm having a spectacularly-difficult time resigning myself to getting old without ever really getting to enjoy being young, I remind myself of it, too!

t&l

What, by the little sign saying, "OtherSusan the Stupid" that I have tattooed on my forehead? Don't believe her. I'm like Zaccheus in the crowd--unless there's a sycamore tree handy, nobody will ever see me!

t&l

Actually, you folks are the ones who amaze me!! I must be the most clueless person on the face of the planet, I swear, because if I hadn't been the one being ignored I'm not sure I would ever have noticed somebody else's invisibility in these circumstances. Really, this thread is a source of never-ending surprise to me. Not in a bad way. Just a fascinating revelation...


Don't I know it? I think that's one reason that I go out of my way to involve in stuff those people who ordinarily hang back, and just watch. Been there. Done that. Didn't like it, either! It just doesn't seem to work on the Great Clam.


Actually, I am curious about what you (and others) have to say, as long as your brick bats are made of foam rubber instead of genuine bricks! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" /> But since I am congenitally incapable of ignoring a post, you're wise to hold off till I'm done, since I believe it may possibly <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> have been noted and commented upon that it's taking quite awhile to get to the end of the Saga.

t&l

At last, here is the long-awaited proof of Baby Yodalina !

At first, Grandma tried the Bonnet Concealment Method.

Finally, her flowing tresses grew long enough for the Hair Concealment Method.

Now, as you can see in this picture of T&L with Tina the Cow, she has largely grown into her ears. That is, very well for a short person.

Quick, before anybody can ask me a question....a Saga snippet!

On my way to Chattanooga, I found what was for me the perfect restaurant. It was somewhere in TN, and it had a Taco Bell and a Baskin-Robbins under the same roof!!!!!!!!!! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> Entree, and dessert, side by side. Mmm-hmm. Although I have to confess that hearing my order for Mexican food taken in a deep Southern accent was amusingly odd! And oddly amusing.

I spent maybe a week there. Not sure exactly. Blame that old unreliable memory, which, let me warn you, is going to prevent me from giving detailed recitals of conversations, as well! I very much wanted to look at MS, as I said, although I just as much didn't want to have him looking at me. Female surgery doesn't exactly improve one's looks meaningfully for enhancing the average social setting, after all! So I concocted a plan with my cousin wherein I would hang out in a nearby book store, and Unrecognizable She would go to the post office, see if he was there, and where, and then I could waft invisibly by, take a quick peek, and we'd keep on going. Great in the planning. Lousy in execution.

I didn't pay any attention to what she was wearing, and as far as I know she didn't wear it on purpose, but she had on a shirt with a picture of her and her sisters when they were children...and imprinted above it in large, bold letters, the words, "The *** Sisters." Which maiden name we shared, our fathers being brothers, after all. As if that was insufficiently provocative, when she didn't immediately see him at the desk, she decided to get in line to buy some stamps, and see if he came back up front. Meanwhile, I'm over at the book store, browsing, and wondering how on earth a simple scouting expedition could possibly be taking so long. And I didn't dare go hunt her down, either. Browsebrowsebrowse <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />browsebrowsebrowse.

Finally, I see her coming through the door of the book store, a big cheesy <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> on her face, and I go to myself, "<img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/eek.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/eek.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/eek.gif" alt="" />!" (You know, you just can't get good help these days!) <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" /> She was very pleased with herself, and said, "He said to come over to the P.O. and say, 'Hi.'" Turns out that what she'd done was manage to get to the counter just in time to buy the stamps from him directly, where he, of course, saw the name on her shirt. Do you know I just realized where he'd have had to be looking, in order to see what was on her shirt?! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> We don't actually look alike. She's petite, not just short, for one thing. But we've got the same dark hair and eyes, and there WAS that name emblazoned across her chest. How bright does a guy have to be to notice? <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" />

So he commented about it. "*** girls, huh?" I can't remember if he asked if she knew me, or if she offered up my identity and relation to her to him like a sacrificial lamb. I'll have to ask her sometime. She has a good memory and won't have forgotten. Whoever mentioned me first is irrelevant. The little fink not only told him that yes, indeedy, she was my very own cousin, but she volunteered the information that my personal body, far from being in California as he thought, was this very instant located in the store across the parking lot! She was inordinately pleased with herself. I felt like somebody had just jerked the rug out from under me.

But once he knew I was there, my pride refused to let me hide out in blushing confusion, so I followed her over to the Post Office. For quite awhile, we visited with him across the counter while he serviced customers. OK, that sounds a bit risque. While he sold them stamps and weighed their packages. Sigh. That's not that great, either, is it? Let's try this. We talked while he worked, OK? It was an eye-opening revelation to me to see him in this setting. The clammish, shy young man I had known was a gregarious, charming, humorous adult who chatted easily with everybody who came to the counter for help. He laughed. They laughed. We laughed. Happyhappyhappy all over the place. And no, we did NOT discuss the nature of my surgery, only that I was off on post-operative leave and taking a trip. <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

Eventually, he took a break and we moved the conversation outside. The fact that I can't remember exactly what we talked about makes it ever so much easier not to allow my imagination to return to these scenes for repeated, prolonged wallowing! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Thank you, Lord, for short-term memory loss!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was maybe an hour before closing, so I asked him if he wanted to go out with us when he got off work and grab a bite of supper. He said, no, he couldn't; that he had other things to do that night that he couldn't get out of. I just figured he was brushing us off, which, while it didn't feel good nor cover me with warm fuzzies, didn't feel bad, either. I'd just popped in on him, after all, and had already done FAR more than I ever intended when I hit town in the first place.

Oops! Campfire went out. Storytime's over. I've got to quit and get over to Neak's house, plus wash dishes at my own before sundown, and several other things which elude me at the moment...and it's 4:45 PM already. To my friends--may I call you friends, even though if we accidentally bumped into each other somewhere we could tread on each others' toes without ever realizing just who we were trampling?--thank you for making this journey with me. I would never have reviewed my life this way if SS hadn't asked the question that started the Saga rolling in the first place. But it's been good for me to do this, in ways I didn't anticipate, and I find that I'm glad for the journey.

I guess saying thank you like that, sounds like I'm at the end. Sorry, didn't mean for it to--there's not a lot left, but there's a bit more to come. I'm just feeling sentimental today. Must be the fatigue! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" />

t&l

Ear ye, ear ye..........Well, Neak, we've been busy with our scanner today, haven't we? Tina the cow is actually Neaksis the cow (so much for HER anonymity!!!!!!! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />). This picture was taken maybe a week or so after I was in Chattanooga, when I got to the farm to visit the cousins from my mom's side of the family. Neaksis the cow was named after my daughter when she was just a calf, and I had my picture taken with her so we could show Neaksis how her namesake had grown. That was poorly stated. Actually, my daughter was never a calf, just to clear up any confusion the previous sentence might have caused. Although sometimes she gets in a bad mo-o-o-o-o-o-o-d. Don't we all? <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Now that I don't have to harangue you (about scanning and posting my pictures) when I get to your house, Neak, do you have any alternate plans for entertainment? Any food?

t&l

Are you kidding? Neak was moaning on I'ville this am that she was PG and didn't have much for b-fast. That, to me, indicated she was hunting and gathering this afternoon.

I hope she has p-nut m&m's, myself.

(sigh)

- Kimmy

Actually, I went to the Wal-Mart superstore this morning to hunt, gather, and drag home almost $400 of groceries for the 3 households, but primarily hers. So I KNOW she's got food this afternoon!! And I don't cook... <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

t&l

Would you come shop for me? Specially at walmart...they have a sparkly AC/DC t shirt I want.

(giggle)

You, Neak & Neaksis make me miss my familia.

Donde esta su familia? Yo like Wal-Mart. Es mi favorito. Yo no like shopping! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> That's why I like to go someplace where I can do it all at once. I like to shop from catalogs, and off the computer...in my pj's, slouching around the house. I know I said once on this thread you should never say never, BUT..........here's something you'll NEVER hear me say: "Let's go cruise the mall and just look around!" <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/eek.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/pfft.gif" alt="" />

Yo no hablo mucho Espanol. Tiene usted mucho dolor? A que hora la bolsa de las aguas se rompe? Quiere la medicina para dolor? Donde esta su dolor? Empuje con mas fuerte. Mas. Mas. Mas.Largo. Mas. Muy bien, senora. El bebe es aqui! OK, all you ladies can stop pushing now. And I have no good drugs at the moment, even if your water bag is broken, and you hurt like crazy.

t&l

They just closed down one wal mart and opened a super one. Trouble is, they should have kept the other one open, too. On the weeknights and weekends the new one is so packed you CAN'T find a parking space. I find myself driving another 10 min. to a different super walmart to shop.

I'm not a shopper, too. I love bargins, but I hate the actual act of hunting and gathering. First husband also conditioned me to be chronically tight fisted...specially when it comes to buying something for me. Hence the me adoring the AC/DC t shirt from afar, rather than spending the $9.94 on it.

Habla espanol. Taco, burrito, enchiladas verdes, carne guisada, frijolis, lengua, tortilla, ensalada, tortas...and a whole bunch of words I learn as Wookie drove through traffic, but cannot be written out loud (giggle).

- Kimmy

Is that what I think it is? <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> Are you by any chance going over to Idiotville tonight to have potluck with Believer? All you need is somebody to bring some tripe, and you'd pretty much have the whole cow! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" />

I'm off to bed so I can get up early. That rotten Neaksis is the daughter who's going to be fired, now that I'm keeping Neak after she posted my pictures. All week she was supposed to tell me what she wanted for children's church tomorrow, so I could plan a talk that appeals to ages 2-70 <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" />. I've been busy <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" /> and wasn't thinking about it myself, until around 7PM tonight, when the subject came up. "So, Mom, what are you talking about tomorrow?" <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> I don't know. Can you really make a sermon out of strangling your daughter? I WAS looking for a good, attention-getting illustration. It would certainly be visual, but I'm not sure what ennobling spiritual application I could present from it! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" /> However, I have a plan for a talk. It involves the old saying, "Seeing is believing," or is it?

So if I go to sleep right now (not a problem, let me tell you) I'll get up early and organize my random thoughts into some (hopefully) coherent order, and wing it. However, I have to say that even for me this is a bit more extemporaneous than I'm used to!! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> Thank you, Neaksis, my former favorite youngest daughter.

t&l

Thanks for the little meaty snack of saga.

... and the flufh is hilarious!

-AD

<img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> No twins. At least not that we could see, and believe me, I tried! On the plus side, the one that we could see looked like it's gonna give the Dervish a run for his money!! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> Do you know I've never seen an ultrasound that early in a pregnancy? I had no idea how active a baby is at that stage...bouncing, twisting, waving tiny arms and legs. When Neak can finally feel what's going on, she's going to think she's Vesuvius just before the eruption. <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/eek.gif" alt="" /> After I freeze-framed several shots and printed up pictures for her to take home, we showed them to the other nurses, and the one friend who has helped me with all 3 of Neak's previous deliveries said, "It looks just like the others." I tried to tell her she was silly because who could tell at that stage--but she made me look closer and by George, it does. Just let it be a Pwintheth, pleath, God. Well, why shouldn't I ask? It worked for Neaksis after all! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I'll try to log on later and plow another furrow in the Saga, even though it appears that everyone is out having a real life this weekend instead of sunbathing with me around the Pool of Introspection. <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/teary.gif" alt="" />

t&l

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

We got married because I had a scholarship and was going abroad for a year. 2 months after the wedding I was pregnant. At 8 weeks I went to have an ultrasound "just to make sure it wasn't 2 babies" so I could go on the scholarship. Well the moment the doctor placed the thing on me he said:" there are two. let me check if there are any more!"

Thank God there weren't, I went anyway, and the twins were born abroad!

and the only reason I'm awake at this hour is that the twins left a few minutes ago and woke me up with their comings and goings and dd3 isn't backyet and I haven't heard from her since the afternoon. she doesn't answer her phone. So now I can't sleep.

If it weren't for these unfortunate circumstances I would have read your post TOMORROW

Hopefully if you were reading The Little Engine That Could," they'd all be reading with you, and you wouldn't have as many interruptions! It's only when you're trying to do something grownup for yourself that you become irresistibly attractive to small children!

t&l