Thanks for the good thoughts and kind words, folks.

I was staying out of Buffistas because work was eating my brain, and then work sacked me for (apparently) not letting it eat my brain enough. It's a weird and wacky situation, and it makes me want to cry and throw things.

Not least because I missed each and every one of you. And you know who you are.

ETA: Fay, drop me a line if PMM can't find her copy of your old story; I'm almost sure I have it in my e-mail archive. Profile address works fine.

juliana is made of hawt!

As soon as I figure out how to use a @#$! game controller, I'm all about the fragfests. That will not happen anytime soon, though, judging by my first attempts...maybe I'll hack the XBox to hook up a keyboard/mouse.

Because really? I need to shoot something.

Erika, sorry your mom hurt her tendon. Hope you guys manage not to kill each other while she heals!

libkitty didn't mention bitches, but I hope everything is all right. My thoughts are with you.

I'm not sure where Tamara posts, but that's pretty scary so my thoughts are with you as well.

juliana is such a badass! very nice pic. For some reason Sean isn't quite like I pictured him, even though I saw the sword arthuring photo. How old is Matilda?

Speaking of Buffista babies, Susan, how old is Annabel these days?

~ma for your mother, erika.

hmm. I wonder if I did a faux-pas. To set up: 1) today is the first day of our long awaited vacation 2) we split a farm CSA share with another couple who we are pretty freindly with, and Tom works with the husband. Thursday is farm day, and Tom said that M (the husband) told him that since the big boss was out of the office that he could meet us at the farm whenever. We discussed between the 2 of us and agreed that 3pm would be fine. We're going up to Ipswich today for fried clams and ice cream and walking on the beach, and we could hit the farm easily on the way back.

L, the wife, sent an email yesterday that she has a 2:30 meeting and maybe we could meet for lunch and then go to the farm? I wrote her back explaining we had other plans and suggested the 3pm plan with M. She wrote back and it sounded kind of curt, and said that "M. works until 4 so that will give you more time in Ipswich"

OK, after all the exposition, I guess the question is: should I have invited her for lunch with us? I don't know if she is pissed or not (her email language is sort of formal), and if she is, I am not sure why.

In news that actually matters, ~ma to your mom, Erika. I hope that you guys are able to get through without too much extra trouble.

{{Raq}} ::shoots Sparky a sideways eyebrow to see if she's interested in raiding the family weaponry for a pal::

much ~ma for Karl. Right now they are figuring out what a huge asshat mistake they made. Wishing you a non-brain-eating place to shine soon.

~ma for your mom erika! Good luck jz!

what the @#!#? Orioles - helloooo?

d- we're in town mostly the next couple of weeks. maybe you & I could grab a coffee or tea... there's an awesome cafe in Mt. Airy called Higher Ground that I just discovered. If you dare cross the river...

and last, but certainly not least

MY COUSIN IS MADE OF AWESOME I can haz Lush! Sparky, insent...

juliana has exceeded acceptable hotttness levels.

As the redhead in Notting Hill says after realizing her brother's date is a Very Famous Actress, "Oh holy fuck."

j - you rock the badass. You know this, maaaaaan.

oh dear, large helpings of ~ma all 'round.

And, on a lighter note, Jennifer Crusie on how she's doing in LA (lovely, but she's not fitting in, not in the least):

"Then I went to lunch at the hotel and watched a woman in a bikini filled with fake breasts stretch out to get skin cancer. So I ordered fettucini Alfredo, finished off the bread basket, and then went for the chocolate cake and ice cream."

Jennifer Crusie is in LA??

should I have invited her for lunch with us?

No, you were not obligated in any way to do this. Prior plans are a perfectly acceptable reason to say you are unable to do something and you don't have to change them in order to accept another invitation. If she's being curt because she things you should change your plans to accept hers, she's being a little unreasonable.

shoots Sparky a sideways eyebrow to see if she's interested in raiding the family weaponry for a pal

When you finally make it down to my 'rents house, not the resemblance of one of the walls of an upstairs bedroom to the bunk room in Kingston, speaking of weaponry.

Also, Sox, I checked and Philadelphia has a Lush store, so you can browse in person if you like.

~ma for your mom erika

good luck JZ!