Hi Nilly!

Nilly! It's been forever since I posted "with" you! Our Thanksgiving was nice, too. And we've been lazy all weekend, pretty much.

Happy Birthday Daisy Jane!

I'm just boggled by the thought that there's someone out there who could form a dislike of you, Nilly.

Burrell! Beverly! Matt (who has "B" in his board-name, so he fits nicely with this line of exclamation points)!

More people I hadn't posted with in a while and would love to know how they're doing, please.

Our Thanksgiving was nice, too. And we've been lazy all weekend, pretty much.

Well, I guess these two are connected. At least lazying around is a very respectable option for a good vacation, for me.

Matt, you're so sweet to say that! But, well, the facts are on the side of the please-don't-get-huge-ego, since she clearly couldn't stand me.

I think it was a case of "broadcasting in completely different wavelengths", so to speak. Like I was talking to her in blue and she was hearing red and answering in it, so we just couldn't get any common grounds. We did end up getting along, in the sense of sharing an apartment without fighting, and I think I've managed to learn a lot from the experience, like where my limits are at being pusjed and what is important enough to fight about and how to try to speak my mind in a way that may be heard by the other side and not just be a venting for my frustration. But I was very much relieved when she moved out (for a job in another city). And the girl who got her room was wonderful, so it was sort of worth-the-wait of having the room wait for her, if I'm making any sense.

[Edited because "souldn't" isn't a combination of "couldn't" and "shouldn't", but just a typo.]

Within an hour last night my ATM card perished and I accidentally locked my phone. I felt like the modern world had turned on me.

Belated Happy BIrthday, Daisy Jane!

Like I was talking to her in blue and she was hearing red and answering in it, so we just couldn't get any common grounds.

I know that one. One of my very closest friendships in college began that way, oddly enough.

Nilly, it's always lovely to see you. My weekend has been good, perhaps a bit more stressful than it needed to be. The best moments have been with the kids, and Thanksgiving dinner itself was nice. But there was a lot of chaos going on, and family issues threatening to blow out of porportion, etc. And not enough grading getting done, for which I am paying the price right now.

And while it drives me nuts that my family has made going through the estate a slower process than aging balsamic vinegar, I do enjoy looking at the old letters, etc. My parents saved the goofiest stuff.

I felt like the modern world had turned on me.

Did you make any specific wish to travel back in time around these events?

One of my very closest friendships in college began that way, oddly enough.

How did you manage to get past the first barrier, to get to the purple, so to speak?

The best moments have been with the kids

Oh, stories, please! And could there be pictures? I think I've only seen the one of Isaac, when he was a very wee baby, and I can't even imagine how grown Franny is.

family issues threatening to blow out of porportion

I hope they remained in the "threaten" area, not getting to actually doing it. Though, sometimes it seems like "family" has built-in, as part of its definition, the chaos and the stress and the lack of proportions. At least, most families that I know (including my own) have that.

I do enjoy looking at the old letters, etc. My parents saved the goofiest stuff.

And that reads lovely. Which is another part of the definition, I guess, mostly, again.

I do enjoy looking at the old letters, etc. My parents saved the goofiest stuff.

Oh, that is the most amazing part of sorting through someone's estate. When my grandmother died, my grandfather did all her paperwork and culled all her stuff himself, so now that he has passed we are all slowly working our way through both his and her things - postcards from Tahoe, lettters asking for dinner-and-a-movie dates, a Valentine's Day poem typed in red ink (final line: I'm damn glad you're my Valentine!), things my grandmother had saved from her grandmother's personal papers (yellowed birth notices and obituaries, labels from candy boxes, a Victorian pendant containing a lock of the hair of the "baby aunt" who died at age 18 months in the 1890s, leaving behind only a single picture and the neatly braided lock of hair).

Now, you spill, please. I want to hear about the lovely goofy stuff your parents saved. t /emotional greedhead

Nilly, the Zmayhem holiday weekend has been very good indeed -- long lazy Thanksgiving day, lots of aimless wandering around the neighborhood and snacking on leftovers ever since, and lunch with juliana and deb on Friday. I didn't get to see the inside of any of her possible apartments, but we did drive and walk around a couple of neighborhoods with some possibilities. Do you remember the neighborhood of the pirate store? She lit up just ambling through the side streets near there, looking totally at ease and eager and saying, "I could live here. I could be at home here." It was so neat to see!

I've been to yoga, and then grocery shopped, so the day is already splendidly full of accomplishment.

Also I found an interesting Bookcrossing book at the yoga studio that someone had just left a few minutes before, so I took it, as it was definitely a Sign that I need to read more....