gc

I remember them, went to their fellowship on the coast a couple of times! I'm glad they are doing well. :)--> Thanks for sharing the story gc

Hear! Hear! To this hurricane season being less destructive! gc

Given your love for coffee, I wondered if those initials stood for gourmet coffee. :D--> I'm not that imaginative time, but I like it! :D--> gc

A lot of good suggestions here! Thanks! Here's a question I've always wondered about. I've always been bothered by the statement "quit bitching". I don't usually complain about things, but there comes a time when even my patience runs low. I don't quite understand when reminding, suggesting or questioning turns into bitching. Is saying that someone is bitching just used when they are saying something you don't want to deal with? Or is there another way that a woman should say things so it doesn't sound like bitching to a man? For an example: when my ex-husband was remodeling our home after a major flood and he would go a week or longer without showing any progress (mind you, this was his work at the time because he was unemployed, it wasn't that he would come home from work and then deal with the house) and I wouldn't see any progress, there might have been some, but I just didn't see it yet. If I asked how it was coming along or would suggest something he would get angry and tell me to quit bitching. Another thing that was talked about earlier, I think young women need to be taught how to communicate with men way before they get married. So many wives can't just come right out with what the problem is. A man shouldn't have to guess and shouldn't have to put up with a woman pouting who won't share what she has issues with. I agree with the men here. I very rarely have that problem now. But, there was a time when I was much younger that I would sometimes say "nothing" or "never mind, its no big deal" and walk off. Do we really expect men to be able to read our minds? Maybe not, but I think we expect men to put 2 and 2 together the same way we do and they don't. I can trust my fiance and he trusts me, that's so important for good communications. He is a very good communicator and he shares his feelings. This is the direct opposite from my ex, who couldn't/wouldn't trust me enough to share his feelings and we rarely communicated well together. So its not that all men can't or won't. gc

How's everyone doing that is in the path of Dennis? gc

Moony, :D--> The only thing I won't miss when I move out of Louisiana is hurricane season! gc

I can never think of anything witty or imaginative, so I tend to stick with things that are fairly obvious or to the point. g and c are my initials, hence gc. My initials will be changing within the year to g.n. :D--> but I think I'll stick with the gc since I've had them for so long. When I began on the internet and frequented irc my nick was Esther, after Queen Esther, and CajunPrincess. The CajunPrincess was for the way I wanted to be treated if I ever started dating again (after my divorce). I haven't chosen an avatar yet. I have a picture that I use normally, but not sure if it is possible to use it here. gc

How about this site Belle? Welcome to Caribbean Net News gc

This is horrible news! :(--> gc

A bit more on the subject which is interesting from Nature. Published online: 29 June 2005; | doi:10.1038/news050627-7 War of the fire ants Jessica Ebert Males pit their genes against females by chucking DNA out of eggs. In a bizarre war of the sexes, little fire ants have evolved a novel way to fight for their gender's genes, according to new research. The sperm of the male ant appears to be able to destroy the female DNA within a fertilized egg, giving birth to a male that is a clone of its father. Meanwhile the female queens make clones of themselves to carry on the royal female line. The result is that both the males and females have their own, independent gene pools, leading some to speculate whether each gender ought to be technically classified as its own species. "We could think of the males as a separate, parasitic species that uses host eggs for its own reproduction," says Denis Fournier of the Université Libre in Brussels, Belgium, who led the work. Many insects, including most bees, wasps and ants, sexually reproduce in order to create both queens and sterile female workers. Males are created when a female egg goes unfertilized. Unlike humans, whose males require genetic input from a father, these male insects simply have less genetic material than the females. But when Fournier and his team were studying little fire ants (Wasmannia auropunctata) in French Guiana, they found something quite different. Lucky dip "It is by chance that we discovered this extraordinary genetic system," says Fournier. The team had set out to investigate how colonies in human-disturbed areas, such as plantations or quarries, differ from those in undisturbed rain forests. But after collecting 34 nests and analyzing the genomes of the queens and workers, and the sperm of the males, an unusual pattern emerged. Although the sterile workers carried one maternal and one paternal set of chromosomes as expected, the queens carried only maternal genes and the males carried only paternal genes. "There's no other genetic system that's quite like this," says Benjamin Normark, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. Little fire ant queens produce two types of eggs: one that carries the full complement of maternal genes and develops without fertilization into future clones of the queen, and a second group that carries only one set of chromosomes and is fertilized with sperm from a male. Of this latter group of eggs, most develop into sterile workers. In some of the fertilized eggs, however, the maternal genes are somehow destroyed, leaving the eggs to develop into male ant clones. The rest of the story... http://www.nature.com/news/2005/050627/full/050627-7.htm gc

Very good news they found the little girl alive. Now to find her brother! I found this blog with the same name as the website mentioned in the new article. Could it this man's blog site? http://fifthnail.blogspot.com/

Cindy, that's a great shop! It fits women from smaller sizes to larger sizes and they even have nice accessories too. Dress Barn is the shop I was thinking about when I posted. The prices are decent and there is always a sale going on. gc

Bramble, It also helps to find a shop that caters to Women. :)--> gc

I've been on a diet for a few weeks now. I know everyone says that loosing weight too quickly is not the way to go, but I'm not sure what too much weight is, honestly. I work at a restaurant, so before my diet (bad term for it) started I used to snack on tex/mex food and sopapillas, lots of fried foods. My clothes were all getting way too tight. So... I cut out all bread and sweets ('cept for sugar in my coffee and honey in my tea and cereal bars as a snack) I ate lots of fresh fruit Cereals I ate fresh veggies Meat without sauces No starches In three weeks I lost 14 pounds. I'm active i.e. I cut my own grass, etc. and I'm a waitress. I also started back into an exercise program. Mind you, 14 pounds on me is NOT a big deal, since I'm almost 5'10". About 20 pounds is a dress size for me. Hope this helps! As a side note, there were three of us on a diet. We all chose how we wanted to loose weight. One was on the cabbage diet, but she couldn't stick to it, she gained weight. The other woman and me both went on a similar diet plan, one doing more exercise than the other. I did less exercise and lost more weight since muscle (and the one gal gained muscle) weighs more than fat. So, if you get on a exercise program and gain muscle, you might not loose as much, so don't get disappointed because you'll look much better. And choose a program you can stick with, which is also healthy. my two cent worth :)--> gc

Geo, there are lots of men who are wonderful! The few complaints I've read on this thread aren't about the ones who try and the ones who care. I've voiced my opinion here and I'm divorced, but I didn't make that decision lightly, nor without a lot of thought beforehand and I gave it a long time to be right, but nothing I did worked. I'm sorry if anything I said angered you, I would never want to do that especially to someone going through the beginnings of a divorce. I find most women, I'm generalizing here, are willing to wait out the problems, just like men. They are appreciative of what their husband's do and sometimes they too don't utter the words that should be said, taking for granted that their husbands know. gc

You are very right on here. I wanted my divorce, I initiated it, but still I went through a grieving process for about a year and I can't fully explain it easily. A friend of mine told me that divorce is similar to a death, 'cept there's no honor. gc

dek, That's pretty sad. I don't think one should be compared to anyone else, and reality should always prevail. gc

Yes, congrats on both accounts! gc

Sometimes the grass is greener and has flowers too! :D--> The one thing I didn't think about when I became single, but it wouldn't have stopped me, was that I would be loosing part of my family, my inlaws. :(--> I think that sometimes people seek another relationship because they like what marriage can be or should be, others seek because they can't be alone, which isn't so great. gc

Garth :D--> Which side the Mississippi are you on, just in case ;)--> gc

I think I've been drinking caffine in my coffee for too long, I can finish off a pot at night, then go off to sleep for 8 hours without waking up once. :D--> Having my second cup of the day and its 7:30 am ;)--> gc

Vickles, That I don't understand. Coming from the angle of wanting a good marriage, is hard to watch someone kill a good one. gc

Vickles, I wasn't in my 50's, but my 40's when I divorced. When I realized that my marriage was terrible I promised myself that I would give my marriage until my son was finished school. He was two years into college (and I was 42) when I was seperated. It was not a mid-life crisis, but an "enough was enough" situation. Women today are not totally dependent on their spouses for support so they don't have to put up with a bad marriage. I also think more and more women aren't buying the church's angle on marriage and divorce so they are more free to live a better life, what ever that means to them. Jim, Maybe your wife is enjoying doing things just for herself, things she has always wanted to do? :)--> I had to wait until I was single again to do things for me that I wanted to do. gc

satori Thanks for explaining, it always ruins the joke when you have to explain it, huh? I can appreciate black humor, the problem is, for me, I usually don't recognize it as quickly as most. :)--> Thanks Raf :)--> gc

I do hope you are joking, even though it would be in bad taste at the expense of a murdered individual. But in case you aren't, she isn't delivered, she is dead. As far as the priest taking a stand, I hope their magistrates also take a stand and deal in justice. gc