notinKansasanymore

When life hands you avocados, make guacamole! Trust Tommy to be slightly exotic; I always liked that aspect of your personality, man.

I'll take Fastbuck for 100, Alex.

Bummer.

Paw, Worry about nothing. You told me that once. It's because of your hard work that we had private topics to begin with! love, niKa

Either that, KD, or when we run out of coffee . . .. Nice to see you in "the thread," by the way! Helped Mr. niKa do a Chemistry / Magic demo and lesson for a couple of groups of second graders yesterday - waaaaay cool. Eyes that open, and minds that ask . . . learning being an exciting adventure, and all. :)-->

What an inspiration this thread has been to read! God bless you, Plot, and God rest Josie.

No, no, that's not it - - some kind of counterfeit goin' on here. Not ignoring you, just too busy to check in. Speak on, Sports Fans! As for me, I have to get some sleep!

Tonto, how do you mean? Fellow Corps, but not a fellow, also not Fellowshipper (but he also posts here), fellowlaborer in figuring out what we're all doing here, I suppose.

And Dick DiNe-No-Nose.

* * * I have placed a call to the fastbuck mothership. We may be hearing from heaven in another way. No, not Hermsmeier, although he was quite a nice Bill, too. The smoking lamp is lit. I love you to the ends of the earth, Excie, it's just that I needed to be able to catch up on the 9th Corps crazies without my little girl asking me what that little boy was doing . . .. She and I will discuss that when she's thirty-five, or so. ;)-->

* it's a long way *

* * quite difficult * * * * are we there yet? *

* * * * * *

I have my eyes closed. * * * * * * * Trying to get to the bottom of the page without looking difficult * love, niKa

Congratulations, Paddy! It's good to see nice people succeed. love, niKa

I have had an epiphany. God told me to tell you that the only way we're going to get the true skinny on the ice cream bowl is for somebody to reach out and touch Bill, and convince him to come to Greasespot and tell us about it himself. If you know how to reach Bill, please let him know that his name is being called over the loudspeaker. William, we are dealing you in. Ante is your two cents. love, niKa

By the way, why the heck doesn't FastBuck come to have a cuppa joe with us here at the Spot?

The Ice Cream Bowl deserves to be told by someone who was in on the plotting and planning. You know who you are. Don and Bill had a list. It was nearing graduation, and they were making a list of girls whom they'd like to "get to know better." I remember walking past them one afternoon, the two of them in serious cahoots, heads together, plotting who knows what. Don made one of his usual good-humored remarks about whatever was the cover story, and I, for once in my life, came up with a snappy comeback. He gave me such a compliment, then! He twinkled his eyes, winked at me, and said, "Ohhhhh. You're on the List! I thought very highly of Don. I called him a few years ago, when something momentus in my life had happened, to tell him about it. We had a wonderful conversation, and it was the last time we spoke. He was, as he used to say, "built for comfort, not for speed." He may have been talking about his build, but to me, the comfort part was all about his great big heart.

Or maybe the most fun thing is colors on Greasespot. Thanks for the colors, Pawtucket!

Oh, yes. The computer just told me that our Basketball boys lost by 8 points. The children and I watched our girls get beaten by about 11 points earlier this afternoon. The rubber chicken looks a little stressed out; it's stretched a bit nearer to the limit. Most fun thing about the computer is Greasespot! :)-->

We donated the T.V. when we moved from the big old niKapad to the little new one. I had spent a couple of years with no television before marrying Mr. niKa; it was kind of a challenge thing for my students; sometimes one would take me up on it,and spend a week without watching; they actually realized some amazement that they were still livingand breathing at the end of the week. My children have calmed down an amazing amount without television; mr. niKa and I talk to one another quite a bit more than we used to; the children and I play more board games together; we all talk to one another more, and we're all interacting with one another much more than we used to. I hadn't expected to like the peacefulness this much. I had also expected that it would be much more difficult to "be with" the kids, without the T.V. to keep them busy. Nice surprises, and the school library is using the television.

I believe that it was Mr. Gail and Mrs. Francis Winegarner. My memories are fading, speaking of sunset, but weren't they the parents of Fritz Winegarner, the M.D. in Marion Ohio? I really thought that he was one of the very nicest people in the whole ministry. He'd lost his first wife to cancer, and married his second right in the middle of her W.O.W. year (take THAT, trustees!) and they made a happy family together. They had all of the Ohio W.O.W.s over for a swimming party during our celebrated interim year, and he threw a frog at me. Their kids were sweet, and the two of them always seemed to be happy. I liked them a lot. There were three Winegarner brothers: Bob, Fritz, and ________ . Do I have the names mixed up on which one was the M.D.?

I am up with the Chinese Checkers today. That was the deal: my little boy got one game of Chinese Checkers, and then he took a 2-hour nap. He's got just enough fever to have to stay home from school, but not enough to make him happy about the nap thing. He hasn't gotten to sleep yet; I think we've got some kind of counterfeit going on here. I am going on a Chinese Checkers Strike. -->

What's this we've got here? A counterfeit? Somebody's got to be a liar! I wonder if'n you'll be hearin' from Heaven in another way . . .. ;)-->

Coooool! C'mon, take a picture. :(-->