ChasUFarley

First week of kindergarten is over, and here's my two biggest suprises about it: 1. They only have recess once or twice a week, and for 15 mins. (What?! That doesn't seem like much airing out time - yikes!) 2. They're starting on Spanish this year! I thought it was going to be more like exposure. Nope - whole language. He came home with three new words he'd learned today. I think it's cool - just suprised it's so soon. (And Spanish... in New Hampshire...?) (I grew up listening to that Franco-American talk - "I thankyou me!") :blink: Things have changed...

I'm gonna pass... Nothing personal... no offence.... all that.... I'm toast - it's been a long, long day...

lowest grade is at $2.79 today - highest at $2.99 (and that's the cheepest anywhere!) I filled up the Dodge Intrepid today for a whopping $45! HOLY COW! OUCH! OUCH! OUCH! (That was with $2.89 mid-grade - ouch!)

Well, I don't know about a two year old, but my five year old stumped me good the other day, "Where's God's mommy and daddy?" Uuuuhhhhh...... I responded with "Good question. I don't know that he has a mommy and daddy." I was afraid things would get rather abstract from there - God is an abstract concept - how do you explain it to a kid who asks questions like that? :blink:

Can you hear the crickets chirping in the background here, or what? Okay, here it is... It's My Life - by Talk Talk (remade recently by No Doubt) ...NEXT!.... :blink:

You can read the rest of the story here: http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060829/D8JQ7DSO0.html I know some of our posters, like TheEvan, were affected by this horrific storm and are in the process of rebuilding. I can't fathom what it must be like...

There is now the bass cello - this is cool - it can be tuned in forths or fifths (bass or cello, respectively) and can be played in either upright position, or in the guitar position! Very cool! (But they're not cheap - $3,500+K a pop!)

Circle of Fifths - useful! Thank you!

Well, Kristopher just finished his second day of school today - sorry I didn't make it back here yesterday. Yesterday was the longest morning of my life - Kristopher was ready to roll by 9AM, but didn't have to be there until 11:40 - yikes. He was super into going - just couldn't wait. I was happy for him, of course and since he was so busy buzzing around, I didn't shed a tear. He met his class and teacher at the playground, and they lined up to go into the school. He didn't so much as turn around to wavy good-bye - he just marched into school, in the line of little ducks. Some of the moms there were snapping pictures like crazy. I took a couple, but did a short video interview with him, before he left of what he thought it would be like and what he would do at school. Some of the moms really lost it when the kids went into the school - I kept it together. It hit me more when I got in the car, but I knew he was in good hand and he was happy. That afternoon he came home tired and hungry. After a quick snack and a potty break, he said, "Mommy, can we snuggle? Can you come sit next to me?" So, I layed on the floor next to him, filling out the 200 forms that he'd brought home from school, while he used my back and shoulders for a pillow, and sucked his thumb. (He only sucks his thumb when he's super tired.) It was sweet. But he would NOT talk about his day, "I'm too tired to talk!" Okay... Today, he was as into it as yesterday. He was taunting Andreas just before he left, "I'm-a-goin'-to-schoo-ool! I'm-a-goin'-to-schoo-ool!" in a sing-song voice. Andreas just strong-armed him out of his face, as if to say, "Get-outta-here!" He came home pooped again - and hungry as a bear (and about as friendly as one - yikes!)

It takes practice, but I've learned how to stop Kristopher in his tracks without saying a word. It works great on husbands, as well. But it doesn't work on cats or toddlers.

Two hints: #1 - The song title, which is share by another band, has already been mentioned in this thread recently. #2 - The song was re-made by another band within this decade and did very well on the charts.

I have a client that has asked me to design a database for them for tracking customers. They want it to be hosted on a server that we can both access from any computer. The users will be logging on from all over the country, but there won't be more than three or four people in the database at a time or on any given day. Additionally, my customer is a non-profit (no, it's not TWI!), so cost-savings is really important. The other issue is that it has to be secure. I will be backing up the database from time-to-time, just to be safe, so that's not a service I would need from the host. So.... Any suggestions? Do you do anything like this? How do you like it? Who do you recommend for hosting? Many thanks!

Kristopher was all business when he was told, "It's a school night. You need to be in bed by 7:30PM." Those were m-a-g-i-c words tonight! He had his pajamas on, teeth brushed, faced washed, and all that jazz done in record time. There were no arguements tonight about anything at all, which was very refreshing. I think he'll probably carry the same attitude into the morning. We found out that his bus schedule would mean that he would be on the bus over an hour both to and from school, which is rediculous, as we almost live within the school zone. We our driveway is less than 12 feet from the marker for the school zone - no kidding. We were told he can take the bus, but WHY? Plus the poor guy will be so car sick by the time he gets home - he'd be miserable. So, it will be the Mommy Taxi service taking him back and forth. One thing I've realized, is that with Kristopher in school, I will have more 1-on-1 time with Andreas. I've always felt like he was short-changed sometimes because Kristopher is a real mommy's boy and is always looking for my attention. Hubby and Andreas are about as close as a toddler and his dad could possibly be, but I've never had much alone time with the little guy - so it will be good for him, too. Well, it's a school night...

The only time I ever had an issue with this was when I was working for a large corp who liked to do a lot of "team building". They brought in a speaker one time who had us sit in a circle with a little book he'd given to us, and asked us to share a recent incident. He insisted we began the incident with, "There I was...." (Sound familiar?) :blink: I wanted to blow beets. Creeped me out! Other than that, I could sit and listen to engineers and marketing people talk about steam turbines and other energy products, and how to sell them, all day long and it was FAR more interesting than anything I'd head out of HQ in eons!

Tomorrow morning, at about 11AM, I will be taking Kristopher in for his first day of Kindergarten, and letting go of my first baby a little bit more that day! I can't believe it's time for him to start school already and although he's somewhat excited, I'm ready to bawl! It seems like we brought him home from the hospital just yesterday - a tiny preemie, just 6lbs.... those years sure do fly by! So, how did you deal with your kid(s)' first day? Any funny stories or incidents? Anyone's kids dig in and not want to go? I can't imagine how tomorrow will be...

The clue: Funny how I blind myself I never knew

CW -- First off, welcome back from your stay at the hospital. I'm glad to hear you a feeling well enough to be home. I'm sure you still have a long road ahead of you, but it's wise of you to have gone for treatment. It certainly takes guts to share your experience with these things - there is a stigma with any sort of hospital stay or treatment that is related to mental illness, but I think it's not as bad as it was 10 or 20 years ago just because of public awareness that has been done about it. I can't deny that it still happens. Over 26% of Americans over the age of 18 suffer from a diagnosable mental illness. That's over one in four adults. And that's just the ones who can be diagnosed. That means over 57 million Americans. 6% of the population suffers from a serious mental illness. Comparing America's statistics with other countries, shows similar stats - no significant changes. In short, you are not alone. I don't think I've shared this with too many people before, but about 3 months after having my first baby, I was hospitalized for nine days because I had a breakdown. I was exhausted, sick of life, and thought I deserved to die because I wasn't was good mother (my sick opinion, of course.) I did no harm, but like you, just wanted to die. I was diagnosed with severe post-partum depression, PTSD, and thought to be manic 2 (less severe than manic 1). I had a chemical dependency issue at the time, as well. I was placed on several medications (horrible side-effects - I do not remember Kristopher as a baby anymore - I can only look at pictures of him and try to recall him.) When was released and returned home, I was treated very differently by my family and especially by my husband. It's taken years now to get him to realize what his reaction to my hospitalization did to me, on top of everything I was dealing with. My employer - an insurance company - caught wind of my hospitalization and when I returned to work, I was given the most boring, useless job in the office. I ended up quitting because I was treated with a "You-poor-dear..." attitude - I felt useless and unwanted. Prior to that, I had loved my job and looked forward to returning. I ended up starting over as fresh as I could at a new job and was glad I did it. It took me longer to change hubby's opinion about me - he says I was never the same. I agree, but was that because of motherhood, or because of my illness? Who knows. We'll never know. As for treatment, I stopped taking the meds - I was too sensitive to the side-effects to take them. I found that, for me, just getting through each day was my goal. Then, things started getting better, and brighter. I hit a small slump when Andreas was born - similar feelings - but this time I knew what it was and that it would go away in time. It was recommended that I take meds again, but I refused. I wouldn't go there again. Also, Andreas wasn't a preemie, as Kristopher was a preemie and very needy, of course. The things I found most helpful were - getting education about my condition; connecting with other with similar conditions (this was hard - I won't lie); and looking out for me - doing what I needed to do - even if it was sleeping or doing nothing at all - to feel better. (Please don't interpret this as my saying you shouldn't take meds - my condition was much different.) My advice to you is to share what you know about your condition with your family and friends - the ones who need to know. Keep it under wraps as much as you can, but certainly let your doctors know about it, especially if you happen to see any specialists for your other conditions. Perhaps someday, hopefully soon, you'll realize you're feeling better before you know it. One more thing - You mention you are also diabetic. It's very common for diabetics (Adult type 2) to experience depression. Have you addressed this with your physician(s) at all? Just curious. Hugs to you.

Tom - that effect is called a Talk Box - it's been used frequently by Bon Jovi (guitarist - Richie Sambora) but I think Frampton really put it on the map. Kid Rock, Cher, Pink Floyd, and Faith Hill have all used it - it's a neat effect.

She had a tremendous sence of duty, and I think that's why she kept quiet and in her 'place'. I've seen that sort of profile with many women of her generation - they fill a roll in life - devoted wife, loving mother, sweet grandmother, caretaker of all, whatever - because that's what they've been raised to do. That's their job. Period. I often wondered if she was into the money that was available during the fat years of TWI - no one has ever posted about if she had extreme tastes in clothing or jewelry. She seemed to like to keep her life simple, so I assume none of that turned her head - but I've wondered about that...

Sweet Froggie -- Yes, I've heard the heavier stuff and do like it - that's when I realized the Hendrix/SRV influence. There's a video on VH-1 now that I think is an instrumental - but it ROCKS like nothing I've heard in a while. Just changing the subject a little (still music related...) Has anyone noticed how the decade of 2000 is not defined by any music style at all? We had grunge in the 90's, disco in the 70's, new wave in the 80's - but what about this decade? Also, have you noticed how someone is top of the charts one week and *poof* gone the next? And you never hear from them again. It's not like it used to be with songing staying at the top of the charts for week, like the Theme from Arthur did in the late-70's/early-80's - that was stuck there forever!

That only works if you have to dial 9 to get an outside line. As Paul Harvey would say, "Now here's the REST of the STORY".... Well, your fearless bus driver spent most of Tuesday on the phone with folks from both Force 3 (the company that originally reported this story) and AT&T (the long distance telephone company whose logo looks an awful lot like Darth Vader's Death Star). As shocking as this may sound, the "nine-zero-pound" story is true ... sort of. What the warning letter floating around the Net doesn't say is that this scam only works on telephones where you have to dial 9 to get an outside line. Unless you have to dial 9 to get an outside line at home, this scam does not affect residential telephone users. Dialing "nine-zero-pound" on a residential phone will only give you a busy signal. That's it. On some business phones, however, dialing "nine-zero-pound" may transfer a call to an outside operator and give the caller the opportunity to call anywhere in the world and charge it to your business' phone bill ... maybe. It all depends on how your business' telephone system is set up. If your company doesn't require you to dial 9 to get an outside line (for example, if you have a direct outside telephone line on your desk or if your company's phone system requires you to dial a number other than 9 to get an outside line) the "nine-zero-pound" scam does not affect you. Also, if your company's phone system is set up so that you cannot make a long distance call once you have accessed an outside line (a lot of companies now limit all outside lines to local calls only), the "nine-zero-pound" scam does not affect you either. The "nine-zero-pound" story only affects those businesses that require you to dial 9 to get an outside line and then place no restrictions on who or where you can call once you get that outside line. And, just to be anal-retentive, let me say one more time that, unless you have to dial 9 to get an outside line at home, this scam does not affect residential telephone users. [it also probably doesn't affect non-US telephone users. This is especially true for British telephone users whose telephone system is so complex that NO ONE in the UK knows how to use BT's phones (although I am sure that BT users are currently dealing with some sort of "dial q-seven-pi-cromwell-eleventeen-tomato" scam)]. (Copy from here: http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/weekly/aa021898.htm)

I've seen John Mayer play and man, he's got some chops, but I belive he was trained at Berkley, wasn't he? I just can't stand his voice. First time I heard him, I remember thinking, "Man, did Dave Matthews get castrated, or what?" He's sorta taken over the College Rock/Eyecandy scene, hasn't he? You can hear the Hendrix and SRV influence in his harder stuff, but his more cream puff stuff doesn't do a thing for me.

There's been similar threads in the past - where kudos are given to people and yes, some people are left out. I've never seen my name on such threads, but oh, well. I've never been one of 'the beautiful people' in life anyhow. I don't view it as a contest or feel I need to be mentioned - I just know it won't happen. When I started a 3X5 thread, it was for someone who also probably wouldn't have been mentioned - but it was based on what they've done for me and the fact I've known them for a quite while. You certainly have some good points Linda, but on the otherhand, I think sometimes people need to be shown some love - even if they one's showing the love may never get anything back out it.

Mrs. Medic -- Be prepared. There is a lot of information about the Wierwille's on this forum, and other forums similar to it, where you will find disturbing, shocking posts. Some of the posters here at the Cafe have first-hand experiences to share about the leadership or former leadership of TWI that is very graphic - and I certainly believe them, as I personally know several of them - they would have no reason to lie about such things - they are baring their soul. In short, it can be painful to read some of the posts. Period. Nonetheless, there are several posters here, myself included, who are glad they took PFAL. It helped me be more comfortable in my relationship with God, cleared up some misconceptions about Christianity, and taught me how to read and understand the Bible better. Even if you end up not liking the class or liking Wierwille, you will learn something about the Bible and God that you didn't know prior to taking the class. Something else - you will learn, if Sir Medic, your knight in shining armor, hasn't told you, is that Wierwille didn't exactly credit some of his sources in his research. The other word for that practice is plaigerism. There's many threads on this forum about what was borrowed and the sources. Wierwille was human. He had his follies and faults like the rest of us, only he managed to live larger than most or any of us ever thought of living. You can't place him on some unrealistic plateau - I see him as someone who just introduced me to some interesting theological ideas, and theologians. If you take what is taught and study it - even if it's to try to disprove his teachings - then you've learned something. In a way, I think it's good that you know the 'dirt' up front. Many of us took the class thinking Wierwille was a saint or savior or something because we'd been told so much about him - things that made him seem like a legend. Finding out that he was a bad skirt chaser, drinker, and other horrible things, was like learning that Rock Hudson was gay - it just couldn't be so! But it was... I certainly wish you the best in your taking the class. I know your Hubby and he's a good man, with a great mind. You've married a keeper. I think you'll be glad you took the class after you've had it, because you've at least experienced what he's into and what turns him on, and that can bring a couple closer together. Hugs to you. -Krista

Welcome Mrs. Medic! I didn't realize OFM has a SO... I remember John from back when I was in AL, in the early 90's... but .... Dang, John... you did this marriage thing right!