Hil, I SO sympathize. I gave all my dolls to a friend who has both an ebay store and a booth at a local "antiques" mall. I haven't heard if any of them sold, and I don't care. The simple fact is, they're Out of My House.

I do want to keep most of them. Just not all of them. And deciding which ones are to be kept and which ones aren't will probably take longer than just putting them all in a box and then taking them all out of the box when the painting's done.

Another thing in the "when did I buy that?" pile: a set of Gone with the Wind magnetic poetry.

Going through all our old toys and games, I realize I'm one of the least hoarder people in this house. Which is kind of scary, because I know I do have packrat tendencies, but there keep being things that I put into the "donate" bag, and then someone else says, "But that was so special to you! Don't you want to keep it?"

From old toys, I've narrowed it down to two dolls and two stuffed animals that I want to keep. (Toy dolls I'm counting separately from collectible dolls.) Which means about two full bags of stuffed animals and one full bag of dolls to donate. And I'm fine with this. Several other members of my family are not. These were my toys, not theirs. (The only things I seem to be able to get rid of without a fuss are Domino Rally and Magic Nursery Babies.)

Hil--tell them "There are kids out there who will treasure these toys and that will make me happier than keeping them."

I was able to convince my sister to get rid of our Ouija board with "A whole new generation of kids can get exposed to the occult!"

Oh billytea! I'll be holding Brody and his parents in my thoughts today. I'm glad that Brody's surgery went well, I hope he comes through it all okay.

Speaking of, I think I told a few of you about an awful accident that happened to my SiL's baby girl. Bad injuries to her eye especially but it looks like she'll be okay. The injuries weren't disfiguring, and she even has some eye movement. Eyesight isn't as certain yet, but they think she'll have at least some.

Damn. I'm sorry, Burrell. Health and recovery~ma to the baby girl.

I'm sorry to hear about that, Burrell. Recovery~ma for your niece.

Oh thanks Shir and sj. I mostly wanted to update those who I had told before since at the time we were very very worried, but then I hadn't heard any more until this weekend. Like I said, she's doing remarkably well now.

first the weather kept the shuttle from landing in FL. Now I'm in a tornado watch. Add to that my tummy is feeling less than ideal. Thankfully I'm in good company.

I didn't know this existed and now I want it so bad. Why is it currently unavailable? Why, lord, WHY? Arrrgh!