Oh my lord, Betsy. I heard about the hostage thing earlier. That's so bizarre. (But funny, and there's not a lot of that in regard to this war.)

Well, the thing about the renter's insurance is that it covers stuff like, your bed, sofa, (both expensive items to replace)

What if your sofa was inherited and is well over 30 years old? (My grandmother reupholstered it about 10 years ago and didn't use it much in general, so it doesn't LOOK it, but it would be hard to put a dollar value to. I think the only furniture we have that wasn't inherited, is fairly cheap IKEA stuff.) I guess my question is -- would we have to guess what our parents and grandparents spent, or what?

There's such a thing as birth announcements?

NSM anymore, what with the new privacy laws, but hospitals used to release the information to newspapers.

I just received my very first fan mail

Great news, P-C!

Does anyone else find it really weird that I get eerily exact mailings for baby products right before Owen is ready for them?

When I got married we got this little gift pack when we filled out a form. For nearly a year after I got cleaning products to try in the mail. It was no small source of amusement to Mr. H, who watched me say over and over, "What's this for again?"

You can insure for replacement cost, can't you? if you don't know the actual value, I mean.

Heather, I figured if anyone knew Cowboy Mouth, you would. I love them. My sister and I go see them every chance we get.

My first Cowboy Mouth concert (well, bar gig) was awful. I ran into an evil ex and got trashed and wound up having to be escorted out of the ladies, but I love them and their music--no matter how awful boys named Ron can be.

I'm going into a whole fantasy world now where I'm still 17 and Centenary Oyster House is still open.

Heather, I figured if anyone knew Cowboy Mouth, you would.

All I know is "Jenny Says." It's a fun song.

From a while back, Connie asked:

Teppy, just sort of out of the blue, how is your back? Are you back to full mobility? Any pain left over?

My back is fabulous. I am back to full mobility, and pretty much have been since 6-9 months after the surgery (it's been 22 months now). Most days, I have no back pain at all -- not even the normal aches and pains people get from sitting around too much or being overweight. Some days my back is a little sore, but it's not at all the type of pain that led to my surgery -- it's just that soreness that I described above, from sitting around, or my belly + gravity pulling on my back.

I have no trouble lifting weights, though I don't do the back machines, because I'm not crazy. But, for instance, the weight machine that works your quads also distributes the lifting burden on your back to a minor degree, but it doesn't bother me at all. I could probably even jog if I were the type of person who likes jogging, but I never have been.

So, yeah. I am all fixed. I can't really remember how bad the pain was; just the *fact* that it was incapacitating. I am bionic.

I don't believe your question was out of the blue, though -- how's your hubby doing?

ION, I am now SA-less, which is a less than desirable state of existence. We had yummy Mexican, scoured the swanky thrift store (it's in the snooty part of town, so the clothes tend to be pretty nice), SA hung out at the coffeehouse while I went to the doctor (I have a big ol' sinus infection for which I'm taking 1,000 mg of erythromycin, and I'm just so happy that I'm sick with something that can be treated with drugs, rather than suffering through a virus), we hit the comic store, and then she burned a bunch of CDs for me before her friend James came to pick her up.

We squeed over Teen Titans (of course), and talked about pretty much everything else you can think of. Oooh! And she brought me a bottle of water that she collected from a waterfall in Ireland (I had requested soil from Ireland, but she decided that water would be classier, and it is) and Sea Veg soap from Lush. Yum.

Having SA here is, as always, a joy.

I don't believe your question was out of the blue, though -- how's your hubby doing?

You're quite right. Let's just say he envies you and we're praying the neurosurgeon can move the surgery date up as far as possible. He got a nerve blocker shot in December(?), and it held for three pain-free days before everything crept back.

When you're really evil, they show you heaven first.

Buffista~ma is the best!

My great aunt looks better, she's in good spirits and I think she'd be godo with staying at Grandma's until Friday -- Grandma doesn't seem to mind that.

I called about renting the place and -- it's mine! Well, if they don't raise the rent too much! Squeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

jumps up and down

It's a small house. 1 bed room, 1 living room GIANT walk in closet, kitchen and bath. Small yard. and it's a steal. The lady wants to get some one to do an inspection and see if any repairs will be needed, they haven't inspected it in awhile, and that may effect the price.

I'm going to have my own place! Probably before the F2F. I really need my W2 to get here so I can file my taxes and see what kind of refund I'm getting.