notinKansasanymore

Actually, he's that rare breed of cacti which can be found only in certain rare, inaccessible parts of Mexico: Cactilius Tomicus Strangicus. It has flowers the color of the Yellow Rose of Texas, is smooo-ooo-oooth instead of prickly (but not spineless; you hadn't ought to "mess" with it), and has a penchant for being petted.

Yup.

Happy Wednesday before Easter. It's rainy, quiet, and subdued around here. Indoor recess, everyone!

I loved their Mom, Elizabeth. She was a very nice lady.

Hey, WayGB! Tell Harve I said "hi!" okay? He could really crank it out on Johnny B. Goode. Some of my best memories! Love, niKa

Mwaaaaaaa-haaa-haaa! -->

Those fajitas sounded good . . .. I'll bet Dot's a good cook. Happy Tuesday. What is it about cloudy Tuesdays? Maybe it's just that I've stopped drinking coffee? Anybody know a joke?

It's when they're too little to hit the ball with the bat reliably enough to be happy with the results; the ball is placed on an upright support (called a "T"), and the children hit it off of that. It's basically just to learn teamwork, catching, hitting, and sportsmanship. Speaking of children, my sister sent these stories as one of those forwarded e-mail thingys. A little girl was talking to her teacher about whales. The teacher said it was physically impossible for a whale to swallow a human because even though it was a very large mammal its throat was very small. The little girl stated that Jonah was swallowed by a whale. Irritated, the teacher reiterated that a whale could not swallow a human; it was physically impossible. The little girl said, "When I get to heaven I will ask Jonah." The teacher asked, " What if Jonah went to hell?" The little girl replied, "Then you ask him." A Kindergarten teacher was observing her classroom of children while they were drawing. She would occasionally walk around to see each child's work. As she got to one little girl who was working diligently, she asked what the drawing was. The girl replied, "I'm drawing God." The teacher paused and said, "But no one knows what God looks like." Without missing a beat, or looking up from her drawing, the girl replied, "They will in a minute." A Sunday school teacher was discussing the Ten Commandments with her five and six year olds. After explaining the commandment to "honour" thy Father and thy Mother, she asked, "Is there a commandment that teaches us how to treat our brothers and sisters?" Without missing a beat one little boy (the oldest of a family) answered, "Thou shall not kill." One day a little girl was sitting and watching her mother do the dishes at the kitchen sink. She suddenly noticed that her mother had several strands of white hair sticking out in contrast on her brunette head. She looked at her mother and inquisitively asked, "Why are some of your hairs white, Mom?" Her mother replied, "Well, every time that you do something wrong and make me cry or unhappy, one of my hairs turns white." The little girl thought about this revelation for a while and then said, "Momma, how come ALL of grandma's hairs are white?" The children had all been photographed, and the teacher was trying to persuade them each to buy a copy of the group picture. "Just think how nice it will be to look at it when you are all grown up and say, 'There's Jennifer, she's a lawyer,' or 'That's Michael, He's a doctor.' A small voice at the back of the room rang out, "And there's the teacher, She's dead. " A teacher was giving a lesson on the circulation of the blood. Trying to make the matter clearer, she said, "Now, class, if I stood on my head, the blood, as you know, would run into it, and I would turn red in the face.." "Yes," the class said. "Then why is it that while I am standing upright in the ordinary position the blood doesn't run into my feet?" A little fellow shouted, "Cause your feet ain't empty." The children were lined up in the cafeteria of a Catholic elementary school for lunch. At the head of the table was a large pile of apples. The nun made a note, and posted on the apple tray: "Take only ONE. God is watching." Moving further along the lunch line, at the other end of the table was a large pile of chocolate chip cookies. A child had written a note, "Take all you want. God is watching the apples."

Diazbro - you are too cool. Best chuckle of the day, so far.

Airplanes! Neeeeeeeeeeeet! We had a field trip today. Walked over to a musical version of the children's book Miss Nelson Is Missing. It was a hoot. The audience roared! Hundreds of kindergarteners and first graders can't be wrong. Tonight: the big time: team draws for T-ball! I can hardly stand the excitement!

To each his own . . . I'll be that Dot can make a pretty good fajita! Went to the Medieval Fair today; lots of folks dressed in velvet and leather, with feathers in their hats! Saw a magician balance on top of a tall, one-sided ladder, spin a plate on a stick in his mouth, and spin six rings on his arms (one at upper arm, one at elbow, and one at wrist of each arm) all at the same time! He said that he had to do something for a living, since being disbarred! :D--> Now, that's entertainment!

No, we ate it all! And the appfelfanninkuchen this morning. Tonight: mussel linguini! Who's up for some?

Just an Old Fashioned Love Song

It's Saturday morning. Coffee cake's in the oven; I can smell it from here. Tea, anyone?

Our big, green, boxy van gets lousy gas mileage, but at least I have room for my husband, myself, and all the kids, and the odd stray dog that we find wandering homeless, and groceries, and the weedeater, and the air compressor, and the rototiller, and all of the fishing equipment, and the Radio City Rockettes, and Cox's Army. That's not too much to ask of a family van, is it?

Hey, I want to party with BOTH you dudes! We just watched the twister thing, too. Some of that footage looked like our house did, after the twister that took out the homeplace while I was on my L.E.A.D. solo, so long ago. We are ten minutes from Moore, so we always try to know where the flashlights, radio, and bicycle helmets are. I have students who come in from all over the country to study meteorology here. They're smart, and they have weird thingys on the tops of their cars. They get strange gleams in their eyes whenever it clouds up in the Springtime. Odd-looking vehicles prowl the city streets, with sensors bulging out at all angles. The doppler trucks from the Nova show are usually parked in a lot which is on my way to work. It's kind of fun, in a spine-tingling, I-hope-we-don't-die sort of way. They finally rebuilt our favorite Mexican restaurant in Moore (for the second time). ;)-->

I just private topic'd you.

Last I heard, Doug was living in Fayetteville, and was a single dad with custody of his two beautiful children. That was at least three years ago. Good luck!

Tom is doing the HappyDance. I don't know if he's wearing chaps, but just being in TEXAS has got to count for something! ;)-->

So, after we post, there is a sweet message: "Thank you for contributing to this forum." I didn't even say anything that was very contributory, and I still got thanked! :)--> Heeeee-heee!

(SKKAKKSKKKAAAAWAAWAAAAA) What's that, Tom? (SKKKAAWWWWAAAAAWWWWSKSKSK) I can't hear you, Tom! You're breaking up! (SCKKAAWWWWAAAAKKSSSKKKAWAAAAA)

Awww, shucks. You're gonna make me blush. :o-->

Lingo, you must have meant the "other" Okie. Maybe it's because, in my heart, I'll always be from Texas. Peeps. Did you know that they don't dissolve in very many things? Water? Sulphuric Acid? Hydrochloric Acid? But if you put them in liquid nitrogen, they shatter very satisfyingly, when hit with a large hammer. Geeeeee. Less coffee . . .. -->

This is a great topic. I also find it very difficult to make friends beyond those whom I had twenty years ago. I am friendly with people, and have light friendships, but nothing deep, except for my husband, and my sister. My oldest non-family friend is someone with whom I haven't shared a cup of coffee in five years, but when we get on the phone together, it's like yesterday. But we don't get together, even on the phone, very often any more. Part of the reason that I don't make friends easily is probably that I'm just so busy right now, with work, kids, and trying to get my husband alone every once in awhile. I often think that if I could take the time to join a book club, or be in Junior League, or something else where people actually spend time outside of work or family, that the potential would be there for friendships. Also, leaving twi made me a more introspective, private person than I was before. I think that the greasepotters have made some great comments on this thread. Lots of good ideas to help. But McCarroll, you're certainly not alone. I'd be willing to bet that a lot of us have trust "issues." Just like every other bit of baggage that we carried out of the way, we will keep those issues as long as we want to, and then we will just drop them off to the side, and keep on going, to freedom. love, niKa

Hee, hee! Eating Easter Peeps and looking in on the Greasespot Cafe . . . and dancing . . . ;)-->