You'll have fun. They're kind of crazy over the top and cheesy, but entertaining. My sister played back-up with them one year - they had to have a four inch thick heat shield behind them because of all the pyrotechnics.

vw! Tons of ankle~ma for you there. Toto better be extra careful, lest he sprain his paws too. Yikes. Ankle~ma to the whole household.

Karl, I feel your pain. sort of. I'm not on your ship, but I'm watching that ship from shore. The morning meeting announced there is a $300k shortfall this season. So, the two production folks who are leaving will not be replaced, and all of the production department below Dept Heads level will be furloughed for the summer. There will be a second meeting this afternoon to let us know who in admin will be cut loose. Also, a couple admin positions that were on the HR list will not be filled. The good news, no shows are being canceled. Bad news, folks are getting let go. Belts are tightening. Thankfully, I'm a Dept Head, so the move to Dallas wasn't in vain. Seems we are living the ancient Chinese curse of "May you live in interesting times".

Happy birthday, Sparky!

Yay for Tom!

And now. Bitches, you're all having just too much lately. I don't like it. We deserve better.

Steph - with all that me being and feeling a newbie here and don't-really-know-all-of-these-people, I care. And hell, if little newbie me care and want you to live a better, less-panic-attacks stressful dysfunctional life, and really don't mind reading the things you're sharing if that's what make you feel better - I'm sure the others here don't mind either, to say the least. And what the rest of the wise Buffistas said.

And Karl - hi! I'm sorry to meet you under these circumstances. I hope for a big, bright future for you.

omnis - I'm not sure which time/day you've wrote the "help!" post, but I hope you got the distraction you wanted. I'll try to think of some sites to post here when times will be rough again. Anyways, good luck.

And, ya'll. Guess whose sister's commanding this weekend over a highly flammable piece of earth in Gaza Strip? Yeah baby, my sis. With all the stress and all, there are not enough words on the planet to say how fucking much I'm proud of her.

And now, dishes are calling me. Planning to watch Harry Potter 5 after it as a mind cleaner from half of the rain forest I have to read to university. Yay weekend!

Happy birthday Sparky!!

Many, many happies Sparky. Have that lil love o yours give you a lick for me. You know, as a hug substitute because, otherwise, that would be creepy.

It's all new scenery in puppy land. A window! A crate. And a stepstool that, immediately upon entering puppy central, became a chew toy. Seriously. Wasn't even all the way on the ground before Chewy McChewerson was at it. I think I'm glad that won't be my puppy, cute has s/he is.

Is this too wordy?

Not at all. Very succinct and sensemaking :)

Shir, your sister rocks.

I think I may have hit onto something potentially brilliant with respect to consequences of actions.

Nate came home and told me about his in-school detention and gave me the letter to the parents immediately, no hiding, no nothing. We had The Talk about how when I asked him about it yesterday, it seemed he wasn't completely forthcoming. I asked him, "Did you think you might be getting in trouble at school?" and he replied, "Yeah, I kind of did." To which I replied, "Dude, don't you think that maybe it might have been a good idea to tell me this? Because if I'd had NO idea this was coming, imagine how mad I might have been."

He thought about it and said, "Yeah, that would've been bad."

And we talked again about roughhousing and keeping hands off, etc., etc. and talked about what his consequence at home should be (no games tonight or tomorrow, Sunday is a "Wait and see" scenario, then I said, "Okay, if you get in trouble again at school, this is what we're going to do-- you're going to have to choose five of your video games to sell."

Of course, opportunist that he is, he asked, "Can I keep the money?"

"Nope. We're going to donate the money to charity."

"Oh." Pauses to think a second. "Can I choose the charity then?"

"Sure."

"If I get in trouble at school again and have to sell games, then I want the money to go to animal rescue."

I'm actually a little weepy here.

That's beautiful Barb. What a perfect scenario. Great parenting by you and good humaning by Nate.