we lived on a cul de sac and in the winter (when we were lucky) the snow plow would make a pile in the center of the court that we would turn into a fortress.

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turkey and gravy: we really did grow up in suburban wonderland. Across a two-lane road from our backyard was a pond that froze enough for ice skating.

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Now I am home waiting for it all to come out.

It's my experience that it decides it wants out quite suddenly. I was not warned about this during my first round of chugging barium. I hope it provided some useful information.

Car~ma to the zmayhems.

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I gotta say o_a, that does not sound like my kind of fun.

Not mine either. Sarcasm is your friend.

It's my experience that it decides it wants out quite suddenly. I was not warned about this during my first round of chugging barium. I hope it provided some useful information.

Thanks Ginger. While in the hospital last month, I was amazed how suddenly that stuff wants out. Which is why I choose Friday to have the test done so I could have all weekend sitting short distance to the can. Ya, fun! (not)

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Suddenly, I'm really glad that I've blocked out my barium experience.

JZ, I hope Hec and Emmett are ok and that the car doesn't take much fixing. As a point of information, my parents had some major damage to their car due to a mechanic not properly replacing a cap to something. The mechanic settled quickly, because it was clearly their fault. Definitely look into that, ok?

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{{{JZ, Hec, and family}}} I'm so sorry. Car trouble is so incredibly stressful, both because of expense and inconvenience.

{{{omnis}}} I'm sorry, hon. I have had that experience myself. So not fun. I know you don't want to see anyone right now, but let me know if we can do anything for you, okay?

I've assembled my application packets and am waiting on an email from missing rec lady to find out if I'm driving to her house tonight or tomorrow to pick it up. Argh. I'll be glad when this sucker is in the mail and I don't have to think about it anymore.

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car ~ma to JZ, Hec and family...

get better ~ma to omnis...

packet ~ma to Kristin...

Kristin, if it helps any, I feel your pain on the letter of rec saga. In August I asked a good friend for a letter of rec for a scholarship. Several times I checked with my friend to verify if he had done it. In January, right at the deadline, he promised me it was done. In early February I received a letter from the committee that they had my packet but were missing 1 of my letters. Checked with friend, again, and he promised he sent it but would send another copy. Early this week I e-mailed the head of the committee to verify everything was OK as next week I have a final interview with the scholarship committee. She sent me a terse e-mail that they had never received a letter from my friend. She did tell me that I could bring the letter next week, throw myself on the mercy of the committee, explain why I didn't get them the letter on time and ~maybe~ they would still interview me (up until the letter was overdue I was the front runner for the scholarship). My friend got angry e-mail, text and phone calls from me. He send another copy of a letter of rec with an "I'm scum, it wasn't her fault, please don't punish her for my being an idiot" letter with it. If he costs me this $$ (it's $6500!) I may have to hurt him.

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So now I'm all fretful about the miserable commute they had, and how much this will cost us (and whether our credit card can stretch enough to cover it, because no way do we have the cash), and how stressed out they'll both be when they get home, and how this pretty much kills any chance of making it to the F2F.

It wasn't that big a deal except Emmett was 45 minutes late to school. We got over the bridge and stopped at the big CalTrans complex immediately on the other side. We pulled up and I popped the trunk and a big ol' guy named Donnie came over and introduced himself, and flagged down a towtruck supervisor and she called one of the trucks and they came and filled me up with water and coolant and we were off.

No damage except annoyance at the idiots who charged us $300 for a thorough overhaul of the car and then almost caused my engine to burn up because they neglected to tighten a cap.

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Wow, GG, that's much worse than my scenario. This is just a case of someone who got overwhelmed and forgot until the last minute and then got sick, but she's generally a very responsible person. I hope that everything works out for you--that's really awful.

Hec, I'm glad that it wasn't as bad as you all feared!

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Oh, Hec. That's good news.

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