AW - That is GREAT news. (You are staying out of his shed, aren't you?) Tell him we miss him and are praying for him and his mates. Give them our thanks for standing up to the terrorists.

Hi !!

SS waves - and leaves because he has to get up really early.

Well, the furniture is back to normal this morning and the keys are nothing but keys again. How dull everything is in the daylight! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" /> Neaksis wondered why I told about my sleeping pill. Why not? That silly Neak announced it months ago herself, and ticked me off at the time, too. It's just too hard for me to sleep one night a wk. when I've stayed up the previous 6. I sleep much better in the daytime. Oddly enough. My poor body clock. <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

t&l

Body clock????

I think mine has SPRUNG" a sprocket ...lol

Can you see my smile still???? <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I think my body clock is like one of those digitals after a power outage, once the power returns again. It just flashes the same number over and over again, but doesn't actually tell time!

Tonight I think we're working a bit short, since one of the young nurses is getting married <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/eek.gif" alt="" />, and all the older nurses are working so the other-younger ones can go to the ceremony and party at the reception. Even a decent night can be bad when you're understaffed, but if it's not too bad, then I'll take my break time to tackle another lesson from the Saga, which seems appropriate at this point...what with all the hassle/hatred/hostility Neaksis is getting from people who ought to be grateful to her for what she's done for them. How DO you treat people who have "done you wrong"? How should a Christian react, especially when the immediate reaction is to yearn for the chance to bop them over the head with a large brick? For starters! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

But now it's naptime for Nurse Susan the Fatigued. Be back later...

t&l

Just reading the eggplant stuff...try this:

Peel and cube the eggplant into about 3/4" pieces. As you cut up the eggplant, drop it into salt water to help prevent discoloring. Slice or cube some yellow squash and cucumbers. Finely chop an onion (Valdalia, if you have it). Drain the eggplant and mix all the veggies together. Add some sliced okra.

In a gallon sized bag, put some flour and cornmeal (preferably white cornmeal), salt and pepper, and garlic powder. Ajust ingredients to your preference.

Put handfuls of the veggies into the bag, seal it, and shake until all the veggies are well coated. Remove veggies and shake in a wire mesh basket over a sheet of waxed paper to remove the excess coating.

Drop veggies into a skillet with hot veggie oil, and fry until tender and golden brown. Drain well on paper towels.
Enjoy!

This is about the only way I'll eat eggplant. It smells wonderful while cooking!



This reminds me of a sort of funny story about our DD. She was prescribed Ambien by a fat doctor to counteract the effect of the diet pills he had prescribed for her. <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />

Anyway, one night, she called...so upset and crying so hard that I couldn't understand a thing she was saying. She put DGS, who was about 5 or 6 at the time, on the phone, and he very solemnly told me, "MeMe, my mama has done went blind."

So...at 10:00 p.m., I hauled my butt over to her house, where she was still sobbing, and DGS was trying to see if he could get her a Dr. Pepper, water...anything to make her feel better.

What had happened was this: She was sitting at the computer, chatting away and waiting for the Ambien to take effect. Apparently, DGS picked the moment when the Ambien took effect to get out of bed and come walking through the room on the way to the bathroom. When DD looked at him as he passed through, she saw a whole bunch of him...said it looked like about 8 or 9 of him, and she kept seeing all 8 or 9 of him, no matter where she looked. In addition, she felt like she was floating. She freaked. <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />

Anyway, I stayed with her long enough to make sure she was really OK, got DGS back to bed, and finally got back home around 2 a.m.

She had me flush the Ambien before she finally fell asleep, though. Thank goodness! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> Anyway, it was really scary while it was happening, but funny after it was over with, KWIM?

And, BTW, I moved out. H found me. We had a huge LBing fight, but got almost everything out. I moved back home.

Now, we're having adventures...and making some pretty good money doing it as long as the reason for the adventures holds out. Really hard work, though, but fun, too, in a way. I've traveled 3600 miles this week, while DH traveled 4200. We're doing this together except in different vehicles, although one day we went in different directions, which accounts for the difference in miles. We got home from a 1460 mile jaunt today. Since Thursday at 7 a.m., we've each put almost 2100 miles on our respective vehicles, with only about 7 hours sleep. We took a 2 hour nap after getting home, and I will soon be soaking in the whirlpool tub to relax my poor back and shoulders, and then heading back to bed.

We spend most of our time on the road, talking to each other by cellphones...mostly aguing about whose cruise control is screwed up. <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" /> I say that his cruise control is definitely too slow by about 5 miles, and it's not maintaing a steady speed. <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/pfft.gif" alt="" />

Ok Lady C,
Tell us what's going on.

Why did you move back in, and what are these trips?

Escorts for wide loads?


SS

Hi, SS,

Well, like I said, we had this huge LBing fight...but got a lot of stuff out into the open. H swears that he loves me and always has. I told him that words are cheap, but I needed to see some action. He said that he was trying, but I think he finally "got it" that what he was trying is not what I want or need.

The trips are for hauling FEMA campers from the dealerships to the coastal area. We are also going to the factory and delivering them to the dealerships, since the regular transportaion is so slow. We have two F-250 diesels, so both H and I are hauling the campers. It's good money, even after paying for the fuel, and we definitely need the income.

We will be paying off a tax bill, and then H has agreed to drive enough to help me buy enough inventory to open a new business in our vacant rental unit.

I think he's realizing that our only financial hope is to get all our eggs out of one basket...something I've been trying to tell him for the past 3 years.

I've just never been able to accumulate enough $$$ to buy the inventory for the new business because everytime I get a little money put back, something always comes up where he demands that I pay it out of what I've put back.

And, YES, I made him put it in writing that he will help me with the new business...so he won't later claim that he never said he would help me. <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Tell her it's obviously an attack piano, and too dangerous for her to have around her house.

t&l

Lady Clueless!! I'd been wondering about you, and finally you show up again...with an eggplant recipe, of all things. <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/eek.gif" alt="" /> Sounds like you've been very busy lately, and making marriage progress, too. You might have to rewrite your signature to say "one foot somewhere in the vicinity of the door," now that it doesn't look like it's necessarily going to be wandering out any time soon!

Drive carefully. There are a lot of nuts on the road. And if you ever happen to drive in CA, I could be one of them, so watch out! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

t&l

What kind of business will you have, if you can get things up and running the way you want? For years now, I've wanted my own business, but nursing is what I do and I think I'm stuck with it. Still, I like to see other people succeed at MY dreams, since I'm not succeeding at them myself! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

t&l

cc46--

I've never read anything by John Irving, although the name sounds familiar. I'm hoping you meant that his writing is deep, and not merely pretentious. <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

t&l

Lady C
that eggplant recipe yum yum... I slice them in large pieces, squeeze lemon juice over them, quickly fry them until golden brown & soft inside in olive oil with a few drops of sesame oil & loads of garlic .. mmmmmmm might get DD to start on that right now its 5.30pm here.

t&l

you been busy understaffed? went to a special service today for the regiment ... many thoughts and fears surfaced but got some comfort from it.
No one has had direct contact for 24 hours so we suspect they are in the mountains. Been trying to keep busy with Mikey and everything I could think of not to think of it but of course does that work? NO <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" />

I'm supposedly on break. Let's see if they leave me alone the whole time I'm supposed to get. <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" />

BSs here on the MB board certainly can understand the emotions that are stirred up in the heart when you get royally betrayed. Betrayal in marriage cuts especially close to the bone, but betrayal by a child would rank a good second. Biodad was 24 years old when we met him. He is now 42. He was treated, at least by the kids and me, as a full-fledged member of the family. We loved him, and stuck by him when his friends and his family abandoned him, and he came close to suicide because nobody wanted him. Even after he screwed up, we kept working with him and trying to help him whenever he said he wanted to try again. His family never visited him in jail or prison. We did, and brought his children to see him. If we hadn't, he wouldn't have had any contact with them the whole time he was incarcerated. We tried to protect his children, at his request, and over HP's implacable protests. In the end, HP's complaint to CPS about Neaksis' involvement with the children led to her being forced to leave her own home in order to continue caring for them. Because of his children, Neak's children were molested. It probably cost about $20,000 to get the children safely away from the harm their mother was willing to place them in, in order to keep her sexual partner and drug supplier. All in all, the cost to our family has been enormous. But we loved him as a part of the family, and his children as well, and so we did what circumstances required us to do.

To have him turn around now and allow his mother (or maybe even to lie to her and tell her directly--nobody knows) to fling accusations of an affair between the 2 of us, with me then trying to secure my ex-lover for the husband of my young daughter, by fabricating tales of sexual molestation and physical abuse which never really occurred... Well, let's just say it's a hard pill to swallow. For him to say that he himself now believes Biomom's stories about how we've lied to him and are doing him wrong by taking his children away without cause, and to go behind Tina's back trying to foment rebellion and resentment against her--after everything he has received from us and enjoyed because of us--it just boggles my mind.

How hard would it be to convince you all--here on page 74 of the thread--that I have a strong opinion about this, and that I am perfectly capable of expressing this opinion to both Biodad AND Gargamel Granny in such a way that they would have no doubt about what I think? <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" /> When I was painting the exterior of the house last year, I'd spend a lot of time composing letters in my head to the two of them, and telling them what was what. Neaksis called them "air letters." However, this weekend she's been composing "air speeches" in her head, trying not to worry too much about tomorrow's visit...which will probably be the last one he gets. Personally, I would SO much love to tell that stupid woman off. She's both belligerent and ignorant, always a great combination! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />

When Neaksis first told me about the letter, she prefaced it with the instruction, "Now, Mama, you CAN'T write to her." <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> Which, as it turns out, I've got no desire to do. You can try to clear up a misconception here and there. The mass of lies this woman repeats is so big, and so skewed, and so passionately believed, that there's nothing I can say that will make a bit of difference, and I don't even want to try. But when she finished telling me the complaints and asked for an opinion, I told her, "Well, Sweetie, the one thing that keeps coming to my mind here is the verse that says about Jesus, "...who, when he was reviled, reviled not again...'" I also suggested that she follow the example of Hezekiah when Jerusalem was threated by Sennacherib, and take the letter and lay the pages out before the Lord and pray Hezekiah's prayer for deliverance. She'd already thought of that. What a good girl. <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

There's another text that I've been remembering, one which can apply equally to us in our mess, and to those of you who have been mistreated and betrayed by a spouse, who may or may not yet be sorry. It's found in 1 Peter 2:19, and says: "For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God, endure grief, suffering wrongfully; For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God." Any doofus can take a boot in the pants without complaining if he knows he's done something wrong and it's his own fault he's in trouble. But when you've done everything right that you can, and you still suffer bad consequences with patient endurance, God is pleased. Boil this down to its essence, and the lesson for me is that I have no right to retaliate, even if retaliation is deserved and desireable. God cannot be honored when I take vengeance and retribution into my own hands, and He is not going to defend me as only He can if I'm busy defending myself. Christians are not doormats. It takes far more strength to control oneself than it does to lash out. If you don't believe me, try it!

The other common denominator our situations share, regardless of the details, is that the guilty parties tend to throw a lot of blame at their victim, and precious little towards themselves! Blame started in the Garden of Eden. Adam blamed Eve, and God for making her in the first place. Eve blamed the serpent, and God for making it. The very first action after the Fall was for the sinners to blame somebody else for their sin. We shouldn't be surprised to find sinners doing the same thing today. It is much easier for Biodad, Biomom, and Gargamel Granny to accuse us of lying and fabricating molestation and abuse stories, than it is to say, "We neglected and ignored these children. We didn't pay attention to what was happening to them, and it's all our fault." It's easier for WSs to say, "You didn't pay attention to me. You didn't meet my needs. You got fat. You aren't sexy enough. You don't have any romance any more. Blahblahblah." <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/pfft.gif" alt="" /> Bal. O. Ney.

One of the most essential parts of growing up is to take responsibility for what you have done. That means the bad stuff, too, as well as the consequences that go with it. We make our own choices. Unless somebody was holding a loaded gun to your head at the time, ready to fire, nobody "made" you choose anything. There was such liberation for me in finally accepting responsibility for my own mistakes, instead of just blaming somebody else.

I've got to go back to work. I see they've been busy admitting while I was gone and am surprised somebody didn't lasso me and drag me back already.

t&l

Given my personal tastes, of all the ironies possible, this one is enormous...that the feminine hygiene products thread would evolve into an eggplant recipe exchange! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />


Keeping you and Aussie in my prayers...

t&l

Must be Divine warning T&l... revenge MAY be costly... "if you think eggplant is bad just try me on revenge" ..myself I think God has a sense of humour.
He doesn't always smack you over the head with a bat so to speak..sometimes its an gentle ironic twist or two... just to remind you who's on charge and that YOU make the choices then have to face the consequences.

Of course how many of us listen to the warnings BEFORE we stuff up? <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" /> - doing a lot of rolleyes lately

hey I have to go to work this week ... Mikey is coming in with me so THAT will be challenging! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

No, sometimes He whacks you with eggplant! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

What kind of work do you do that Mikey can go with you? How many people will be entertained by mealtimes? <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/eek.gif" alt="" />

t&l

I work for the Government so I'm pretty lucky, they have set up some workrooms for mums with babies who are breastfeeding.


oh about 1500 adults to entertain at lunch times!! lol

Watch out for the flying eggplant!! hehehe

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

I'm surprised you haven't read his books. I first found out of his existance from a film about an affair between an english teacher and a student <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/eek.gif" alt="" />

At one point the teacher asks the student whether she had read "the world according to garp", and I hadn't! So I got it.I was pleasantly surprised by his writing style. At first the story sounds a bit crazy but when it ends, the way he ties up all the little details is so surprising you end up nodding you head and thinking that it could very well be real life after all.

The world according to Garp is about infidelity, the cider house rules is about abortion, I don't remember what the Hotel New Hampshire is about(there's a bear) and I didn't like the third hand which is his last novel.

I think what I like best is that he takes small seemingly insignificant details about somebody's life and shows you the ripples that they produce decades later! Very true as you have told us in your saga. <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/pfft.gif" alt="" />

But most people don't realize that the ripples will occur! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

I have believed in them since my youth so I have always been careful about minor and major decisions. I think <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />