Favorite Pictures

My favorite recent pictures (that I actually took myself!) - #1 - blow up of 1/2 of Kiley's face


#2 - Say Cheese!


#3 - She just loves to pose!


#4 - I realize no one's looking at the camera, but this is one of my top favorites - Kiley and Grandma Shirley


#5 - See what I mean?


#6 - This one is occasionally on my desktop at work.


#7 - Playing dollies with Uncle Josh


#8 - This is WAY blurry, but I can't get over the sweet look on her face.


#9 - Lauren is even more beautiful in black/white pictures than color!


#10 - Christmas Eve sunlight


#11 - Christmas Eve sunlight #2 - I swear I'm going to take off the date tag!


#12 - I love that these next few are so in focus! I'm really proud of these.


#13 - Lucy on a lazy day


#14


#15 - What'd I do, Mommy?


#16 - Curious kitty


#17 - My all-time favorite Kiley picture!


#18 - Thanksgiving Shenanigans


#19 - Messin' up the bed!


#20 - OLD picture of Lauren in my Mom' & Dad's pool - this wasn't even my digital camera - this was either my 35mm (which has now gone where cameras go to die) or one of those disposable Kodaks.


#21 - One of our first 100 pictures of Lucy - She was such a little squirt!


#22 - For an amateur, I think the lighting turned out nice on this one - Macy looks so innocent!

The Luckiest Hostage

As most of you know already, Jill Carroll has apparently been released as a hostage. I teared up quite a lot at work when I read this and I don't even know her. I am sure she realizes JUST how lucky she is, since so many hostages were killed over the last 3 years.

This is my "amazing story" of the week.


note: the link to this article is here and in my post title: http://www.wyff4.com/news/8355723/detail.html

Freed Hostage Jill Carroll Says Captors Treated Her Well
POSTED: 6:27 am EST March 30, 2006
UPDATED: 8:56 am EST March 30, 2006

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Freelance reporter Jill Carroll has been freed from captivity in Iraq and is said to be in good condition after three months as a hostage.

That word came Thursday from the Christian Science Monitor and from the leader of the Islamic Party in Iraq.

Carroll, 28, was reporting for the Boston-based newspaper when she was kidnapped in Baghdad on Jan. 7 by gunmen who killed her translator.

A police official in Baghdad said Carroll was handed over to the Islamic Party office in Amiriya by an unknown group. The official says she was later turned over to the Americans and is believed to be in the heavily fortified Green Zone.

In an interview on Baghdad television, the Christian Science Monitor reporter said she was treated well but still doesn't know why she was kidnapped. The group holding her threatened twice on videotape to kill her, but Carroll stressed repeatedly that she had been treated very well and her captors never hit her or even threatened to.

She said she’s happy to be free and just wants to be with her family. She said she didn’t know where she had been held, saying she was in a confined space. She said she was only allowed to move between her room and a bathroom to shower and use the facilities. She said she even once got to see a newspaper and another time got to watch a bit of TV.

Carroll's father, Jim, said in a statement Thursday morning that the family is "thrilled and relieved" over his daughter's safe return. He said the family wants to thank all of the people who prayed for her release.

The release came one day after the journalist's twin sister pleaded for her release on Arab television. Katie Carroll said her sister is a "wonderful person" who is an "innocent woman."
At the time of her abduction, she and her translator were heading to an interview with Sunni Arab politician Adnan al-Dulaimi. Her captors, calling themselves the Revenge Brigades, had demanded the release of all women detainees in Iraq by Feb. 26 and said Carroll would be killed if that didn't happen. The date came and went with no word about her welfare.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, speaking from Germany, said Carroll's release is a "great delight and great relief" for the United States.

New Pid Pics

Macy's new collar - we finally found him a bowtie to go with his tuxedo!

Lucy got a new collar too - pink with bling-bling on it. Note the new playtoy in Josh's hands! They STILL won't leave that thing alone!

Do we? Do we not?

Do we want kids yet? Wow - what a question to ask myself.

I absolutely want children. One of each - not entirely uncommon, I realize. Girl first, boy second. I am unique in the family, poised to potentially carry twins OR triplets. Apparently, that trait skips generations here and both fell right on me. My only maternal female cousin could have twins as well.

With my dear hubby's help, I already have a full girl's name picked out. That name will be revealed when I find out in the distant future that I am pregnant with a girl. As I am not pregnant, and subsequently not having a girl, I won't post the name. I think it's too precious to just give out for anyone to use. I've never heard the combination of names before. Even the middle name Josh contributed has a special meaning to me, though he didn't know it when he suggested it.

I also want to use my maiden name (Meredith) as a middle or first name if we have another girl. Since my bro is having all girls, I want our proud surname to go somewhere. I have always loved my maiden name, and it was hard for me to switch to my married name, though that is no fault of Josh's. I'm glad to be married, and glad to have his name, but having been named Meredith for 28 years, you can appreciate a slight trauma in being suddenly named something different.

So yeah - back to do we or don't we. MY 90% solid answer is not yet. We're just not financially ready. I'll be glad to see the back of the next person who tells me "you'll never be ready financially to have kids." Yeah, well, I want my kids to be in diapers, so a minimum of financial happiness/contentment is necessary.

Funny though - my mom says "are you pregnant yet?" every other time we talk on the phone. She's already such a great Mom-Mom (grandma) to Lauren and Kiley, so I know she will shine as a Mom-Mom to our children. That's where the 10% comes into play. None of us have found the fountain of youth yet, so I don't want to wait too long. I'd hate to be 60 and sending my 15 year old off to camp. It might be good for some people, but that's not what I want. I want to be covered in grandchildren on the front porch at that age, not my children! :)

Oh - my brother and sister-in-law are going to have another girl! I'll post the ultrasound pics when I send them home from work... probably on the family website too. So those of you who read that, you can check out our latest Meredith/Brown/Burgess/Patterson (you're lucky we only have four surnames!) endeavors.

I just finished Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince last night (ticked me off, too, by the way - those of you who have read it can sympathize with me - whaaa!!). I'll have a rant on that at a later date. Now I'm reading a book lent to me by a co-worker (thanks!) called "Redeeming Love" by Francine Rivers. I've only just started it today (I needed something to take my mind off HP!), so I'm only on page 60 or so. It's an easy read so far, obviously.

Short and sweet tonight, but I'm lucky I could even write at all. I've been so busy, as I am once again by myself at work and have no time for anything extra there. So, anything for the next few posts will be nights at home between my heavy reading habit. Later on!

Learning Dang HTML

Well, I've learned just a couple of small things about html, and they have made me SO happy. First, I've learned about the paragraph command that makes the "Cam" part of my Volcano Cam link show up on the sidebar before the pictures below it get the chance to chop the link up. Woo-hoo!

Next, I've learned bold and italics. Simple to some, but for those of us who spent their lives playing a musical instrument and not a keyboard/mouse, it's not hard-wired into our heads. =)

My next goal is centering and color manipulation, which doesn't seem to be too hard. Yay!

Catching up, Vol II

Good afternoon, all! LOL – whoever reads this besides me =)
No biggie to me, like I said, I’ll be here whether you are or not! =)

Well, a little bit has happened since I wrote last…

We had to cancel our pre-Valentine’s date due to a car wreck (not ours, no one was hurt either). This guy (with his wife and two children in the car, no less) ran a stop sign, locked up trying to stop, made a HUGE turn into our lane (it w as 3 point intersection, so no lane ahead of him… he HAD to turn or hit forest) and spun us halfway around. Us meaning my brother, his pregnant wife, their two girls (10 and 2), plus Josh and me. The girls and I were asleep, so we didn’t see anything, but we woke up to screaming and another car coming straight at us when we were spun. However, it was a police car (he’d been behind us for 10-20 miles), so he was agile enough to miss us and pull over the stunned other car. So instead of spending our date night at dinner/movie, or whatever we were going to do, we spent it waiting on highway patrol on a gas station parking lot.

My root canal was on Valentine’s Day itself, so that day was out too. Instead our “date” was about a week after when we went to dinner and rented a video LOL.

And OUCH to the root canal, by the way! The actual procedure didn’t hurt at all, but afterward, my gums were throbbing beyond belief! My dentist had to manipulate my gums a lot in order to get to the entire root, so as soon as the anesthesia wore off, I was in pain. The dentist put me on Darvocet previously, so I took advantage of the prescription for this pain.

However, I am mostly all better now… pain free at least. Between the infection and the dang antibiotic, I am worn out every day and have headaches EVERY TIME I take the medicine. I have to finish the prescription, though, so I must endure. :P

We’re doing our taxes this week, but we’re not getting back as much as I thought, b/c Josh's company didn't take out enough federal from his paycheck... grr. At least we don't have to pay like some people do.

Funny stuff

Uh-oh - posting twice in a day - NOT the start of a trend LOL
This was from an email that got passed to me today. Some real nuggets here.

>GREAT TRUTHS THAT LITTLE CHILDREN HAVE LEARNED:
>
> 1) No matter how hard you try, you can't baptize cats.
> 2) When your Mom is mad at your Dad, don't let her brush your
> hair.
> 3) If your sister hits you, don't hit her back. They always catch
> the second person.
> 4) Never ask your 3-year old brother to hold a tomato.
> 5) You can't trust dogs to watch your food.
> 6) Don't sneeze when someone is cutting your hair.
> 7) Never hold a Dust-Buster and a cat at the same time.
> 8) You can't hide a piece of broccoli in a glass of milk.
> 9) Don't wear polka-dot underwear under white shorts.
> 10) The best place to be when you're sad is Grandpa's lap.
>
>
> GREAT TRUTHS THAT ADULTS HAVE LEARNED:
>
> 1) Raising teenagers is like nailing jelly to a tree.
> 2) Wrinkles don't hurt.
> 3) Families are like fudge...mostly sweet, with a few nuts.
> 4) Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground.
> 5) Laughing is good exercise. It's like jogging on the inside.
> 6) Middle age is when you choose your cereal for the fiber, not
> the toy.
>
> GREAT TRUTHS ABOUT GROWING OLD
>
> 1) Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.
> 2) Forget the health food. I need all the preservatives I can get.
> 3) When you fall down, you wonder what else you can do while
> you're down there.
> 4) You're getting old when you get the same sensation from a
> rocking chair that you once got from a roller coaster.
> 5) It's frustrating when you know all the answers but nobody
> bothers to ask you the questions.
> 6) Time may be a great healer, but it's a lousy beautician.
> 7) Wisdom comes with age, but sometimes age comes alone.
>
>
> THE FOUR STAGES OF LIFE:
>
> 1) You believe in Santa Claus.
> 2) You don't believe in Santa Claus.
> 3) You are Santa Claus.
> 4) You look like Santa Claus.
>
>
> SUCCESS:
>
> At age 4 success is . . . not peeing in your pants.
> At age 12 success is having friends.
> At age 17 success is . . . having a drivers license.
> At age 35 success is . . . having money.
> At age 50 success is . . . having money.
> At age 70 success is . . having a drivers license.
> At age 75 success is . . . having friends.
> At age 80 success is . . . not peeing in your pants.

Sickos?

Well, I got sick over the weekend. I woke up Sunday morning with a sore throat. By Sunday night, I was covered up with about 4 or 5 blankets shivering out a fever. By 3am, my fever finally broke, so I got off the couch and went to bed. Josh came home soon after that (3rd shirt still), and if he woke me up like normal, I never knew. I was out of it most of the time. Lucy walked across me a couple of times and I felt like she weighed 100lbs. I'm better today as far as whole body is concerned, but my head is still floating 10 feet above my body.

It's probably too late to have been a result of my recent flu shot, so I'm scratching off the list of possibles. More than likely it's something here at work, b/c everyone in my cube was healthy on Friday, and today, two of us are out, and the two who made it here (myself included) are really sick, too. There are a lot more people out today, too. Some sicko must have come in here with a fever or something for this many people to be out at once.

I dragged my butt in here, but that's only b/c I have to save my remaining vacation days for next week's root canal. Fun...

And if I'm still stuffed up by next Tuesday (which is highly possible considering my cold recovery history), I'll probably reschedule the root canal. They're putting a dental dam in my mouth, which, from the looks of it, makes me only able to breathe through my nose.

Well, I'm outta here.

I'll bet he's a smoker, too.

I got this here: http://www.engadget.com/2006/02/02/apple-sued-over-ipod-hearing-risks/

Apple sued over iPod hearing risks

Posted Feb 2nd 2006 9:19AM by Marc Perton
Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Just when you thought disgruntled iPod customers couldn't find anything else to complain about, a Louisiana man has filed a lawsuit against Apple, complaining that the iPod can cause hearing loss. According to the suit, the iPod can be pumped up to over 115 decibels, a level that can damage hearing, and the audio players are "inherently defective in design and are not sufficiently adorned with adequate warnings." A lawyer for the plaintiff said he didn't know if his client had suffered hearing loss, but said that's irrelevant. "He's bought a product which is not safe to use as currently sold on the market," the lawyer said. Given that iPods already include warnings that state that "permanent hearing loss may occur if earphones or headphones are used at high volume," we don't expect this one to go very far. In the meantime, we're sure someone out there is planning a lawsuit over the iPod with video, claiming that it's an unsafe device because you could be hurt if you watch videos while walking or driving.

My thought - Well, DUH!!! Don't play it at max level anyway!! The freakin' guide tells you not play it above like 60 or 70% volume in the first place.
Are you going to sue Trojan because your condom fell off, too?
Idiot...

4s

I snipped this from Kathryn - hee hee :) (I added some stuff too)
http://bloggiemcgee.blogspot.com/

4 Jobs You Have Had in Your Life
1. Making Ice Cream at Dairy Queen
2. Easter Bunny
3. Assistant Band Director
4. working in a finance department

4 Movies You Would Watch Over and Over
1. Deep Impact
2. Lord of the Rings Trilogy
3. Uptown Girls
4. The Patriot (Mel Gibson & Heath Ledger version)

4 Places You Have Lived
1. Greenville, SC - sorry folks, that's it!
2.
3.
4.

4 TV Shows You Love to Watch
1. Law & Order
2. Dateline NBC
3. House
4. The Office (just got into that, but it's hilarious!)

4 Places You Have Been on Vacation
1. Virginia Beach, Virginia
2. Gatlinburg, Tennessee
3. Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
4. Gulf of Mexico (not exactly sure where, I was young)

4 Websites You Visit Daily
1. www.neopets.com
2. www.myspace.com/2piddies (just for the pids' sakes - it's their site!)
3.
4.

4 Favorite Foods
1. Wendy's Cheeseburgers
2. Chicken Cordon Bleu
3. My mom's chicken casserole
4. Ice cream!

4 Places You Would Rather Be Right Now
1. Home sleeping!!
2. Barnes & Noble
3. Having a root canal
4. Music practice

4 Songs you could listen to over and over (added by me!):
1. We Don't Need Another Hero (Tina Turner)
2. If We Could Remember (Yolanda Adams)
3. The Remedy (Jason Mraz)
4. Hello (Evanescence)

4 kids you've babysat (added by me!):
1. Ryan
2. Anthony
3. David
4. Lauren

4 names of pets you've had (added by me!):
1. Ernie the Turtle
2. Doc Holliday the Turtle
3. Macy the Cat
4. Lucy the Cat

4 People You Tag to complete this
1. nah - if you read it, you'll probably do it in your head anyway
2.
3.
4.

Copyright © 1999- 2006 Google (well, most of it)

Running out of vacation days

As it turns out, I must now have a root canal on the tooth the quack screwed up (officially known as #19). Wouldn't you know? B/c of leaving some decay in the bottom for over a year without my knowledge (of course I would have taken care of it if I had known that was a possibility), it caused it to get worse. It's actually starting to abcess, which I found out today. If it had been done correctly the first time, I wouldn't be losing half of my tooth. I've prided myself on my dental hygiene and this really gets under my skin.

If I ever wished to communicate with him again, I'd love to demand payment for my upcoming procedure. It ticks me off. My out-of-pocket cost (I doubt this includes the crown, thank you very much) is $250-$300. Nice...

Oh yeah - this is cool too - I had what I thought was going to my last procedure on Monday to finish off the other hurt tooth. I was numbed ALOT b/c my anesthesia tolerance is high (actually, almost my whole family is like that). Believe it or not, I am still numb on my right side. It's borderline annoying by now.

I hate to keep harping on my teeth, but they've been my main topic for about 2 months now, considering I've had 6 trips to the dentist since then (3 of them were specifically for #19 - fyi)

Other news:
Danielle is hosting a girly sleepover tomorrow night. Josh is probably going to have a movie night with his best friend, so I'm covered! We're all going to have dinner, watch some movies, and have some well-deserved beverages. The pids will have to live with only having their Daddy for one night LOL.

Alright - that's it for me - goodnight!

Lucy likes Reese Witherspoon.

You know you love my enticing stare. Get in mah belleh!

Ice Pics

Well, I finally posted ice storm pics!

This was a SOLID sheet of ice on my car. It took me a whole minute to crack through it (just a quarter size area).

Then it took me about an hour to get the windows clear. My wipers were frozen to my windshield.

This actually doesn't look that bad, but think about this: you're looking at the weight of about 4-5 ice cubes on a 2 ounce piece f limb (imagine how much heavier that makes a small branch).

I hate that this one wasn't in focus...

This one didn't show the ice, but you can see how the limbs are hanging low.

These were originally laying all the way on my trunk, but I was playing with them and chipped some ice off.

Somebody's Jeep from my apartment complex. If you maximize the pic you can see the icicles better.

Those ground-cover plants are usually brown, not white LOL.

That huge broken branch on the left actually severely brushed the hood and top of my car when I went under it. The bottom of the broken branch is about three feet from the ground.

Heavy tree above my car ::shudder::

The railing for my walkway

Railing #2

Railing 3

Last one - this really shows the amount of ice on everything if you maximize the pic.

Yo

I'm doing well with my promised once-a-week post! Here I am! :)

Our landlords are doing a mandatory appliance inspection to make sure nothing's breaking down on all of us today. The pids are locked up with Josh in the bedroom. LOL - Poor Josh... I can just imagine them running all over the place! I have to go let them out at lunch (well, IF they're done with the inspections, that is). For obvious reasons, we put the litterbox in there but not the food. :) They'll be hungry... poor babies!

Josh lost his dang cell phone LATE Friday night. He was at Wally World and it popped off his belt clip. I left a note with Wally World and kept calling and txting the phone, but to no avail. Oh yeah, and I KNOW someone got it, even though they weren't answering the phone, because they were receiving the text messages (you can tell on ours if someone doesn't press view vs. actually viewing the message). Turds. I even sent notes saying that the phone was needed for medical reasons and we needed it immediately, and to please call as soon as they could. Jerks.

Truthfully, it's probably a toy in some toddler's baby purse now, you figure? Either that, or it's an electronic spot on the Wally World blacktop.

Luckily, we have insurance, but I forgot we had it until I was trying to find the # to have the phone turned off and found the insurance policy. Woo-hoo! It only cost him $50 (yeah, him and not me - I wasn't paying it!) instead of $300. To tell the truth, I never thought we had it, but the guy who wrote out our policy must have added it and forgotten we said no. It's on there, so, excellent! I finished the claim on Sunday night at 6:30 and we had the phone on Tuesday morning. Talk about quick service!

LOL - I feel better - rants are fun.

Someone say hi!! I might actually write more today, believe it or not. :)

Quote for the day

"Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."

Martin Luther King Jr.,

Strength to Love, 1963

A New Year

iPod update: 608 songs - I really have nothing better to do - LOL.

Belated Happy New Year, by the way! We had a really nice time on the 31st. First, we went out to Monterrey's (mexican) restaurant with Josh's parents. After that, we were heading to Dani's house to see them, but they weren't home yet, so we skipped ahead and went to Adam & Wanda's get-together. It was us, Wanda, Adam, Kiley, Mom, Dad, Alisha (Wanda's sister), her boyfriend, his two girls: Bailey & Hannah, and Wanda's mom & stepdad. Quite a crowd, but their house can handle it. Our 1-bedroom apt, however, might burst open!

I would post my Christmas and new pid pictures, but a battery burst in my wireless mouse last night (scared the crap out of me, FYI), so the only place I can post is at work until I clean it out and make sure it's not damaged. Talk about crapola.

Oh yeah, we've "stopped cursing" courtesy of Josh... sort of. He doesn't let them fly quite as much, and I mostly don't do it anymore. Occasionally, if I've tripped over something the pids have dragged around or burned myself w/ plastic like I did last night, I'll let something go. Dani gave us a potpourri burner for Christmas and instead of doing a massive search for the scissors, I used a candle lighter to burn the swing tag that was wrapped around part of it. I pulled it out of the diffuser hole and 3 beads of melted plastic landed on my fingers. That stung, just in case you want to know.

Well, I've been begging for something to do at work for the past couple of days, and when I get on here, I finally get work LOL.

I have another dentist appt today to deal with the two cavityful teeth on the right side. Status on left side is still pending. I have the temp stuff in and it'll be done at a later date. FYI: still REALLY tired of chewing on my right side only. Therefore, I get to eat lunch today and nothing else until the sensitivity goes away on the right side after I have the fillings done there. Besides, I'm not biting the crap out of my tongue like I did last time.

Later...

Ahh… long weekend over. I had yesterday off, so I’m back at work today. I’ll have Friday off too. I was here while a lot of other people weren't during the power outage, so those of us who showed up got to take an extra day off in the future. I figured I'd take it soon since Josh is off this week... dirty rat.

We get to dress down all this week. Nice… that means I can delay washing clothes even longer LOL.

Josh really spoiled me this Christmas:
iPod Mini
Nintendo DS
Mystic River DVD
Troy DVD

He was going to get me a 5000 song iPod, but he thought he could get me two things for the price of one by getting a mall one and the DS also. He’s so sweet.

I got him a black and orange leather jacket he’s been dying to buy (I’ll post a pic as soon as I can), Jak & Daxter III game, Shadow of the Colossus game, a hand-crank radio (can you tell we’re trying to be prepared for the next power outage?), and a really nice leather belt clip for his keys. I loved seeing his face when he opened up the box for the jacket. He really was surprised!!

My sis-in-law made my grandparents a family tree quilt. It has all of our pictures on one side and about 10 or so pictures of them on the other side. It is so beautiful. I actually took pictures of that too, so whoever reads this will get to see it.

I’ve been listening to my iPod all weekend. We opened up gifts on Christmas Eve (weird for me, that was a first, since we’ve always had gifts on Christmas Day), and ever since then, I’ve been playing with it, adding songs, etc. I already have 341 songs out of 1000 on it, so that shows how easy it is to add them.

I have this affinity for songs by Massive Attack lately, so I have about 20-30 of them on the iPod now. Fun!!

More later, maybe.

Merry Christmas!!!!!

Day 5

Wow- some people here have been without power now for 5 days, some reaching 6, depending on when they lost it last week. Our main power company is the brunt of most people's anger, claiming they are acting too slowly. I am middle-of-the-road myself, as always (I like to argue both sides):

On one hand, I can understand that being without power blows hard. We were out from sometime Thursday morning to 3:30pm Saturday, so don't think I haven't gained perspective on it. After all, I am still suffering from winter cold #2 due to the apartment temperature during the outage. Though, I have to applaud taking vitamins... I would be much worse if not for my multi-vitamin and vitamin C! When I feel myself getting sick, I'll chow down extra vitamin C, and every time I do, my colds are about half as bad as normal.

On the other hand, there were over 350,000 buildings without power, which adds up to about 650,000-700,000 people. I doubt that it was mathematically possible to get everyone back up immediately when you're looking at it from that angle. It's not like power was just OFF. Poles had fallen over, traffic lights were laying in the middle of intersections, cars drove over power lines that had fallen, transformers blew (some to pieces, I've heard), etc etc. I even saw a picture of one pole that had been ripped in half and the top of it was hanging from the line over a road near Mom and Dad's house.

We've had out-of-state power companies coming in to help, but there's only so much they can do at a time. We can look at it either like this: "the lines should be buried already and we wouldn't have had so much trouble" or this: "deal with the problem at hand, not with what we should have done".

If people ever thought ice was a minor weather issue, take a look and think again.

All of my grandparents finally got power on Monday night. It blows that they were the last in the family to get power, but were the ones who needed it the most.

Oh yeah, and my co-worker's house as of 10:39AM today STILL has a tree and a power line laying on it. He can't go home, and this is day 5.
___________________________________

Good note: One of the sales divisions brought me and co-worker cookies! Usually, it's an entire department thing, but this time, it's just us!

Other good note: My jaw is finally feeling better. The tooth never hurt, it's just that the dentist gave me so many shots that I couldn't open my mouth all the way (much to some people's delight LOL). I can't chew on my left side, though, b/c I am not allowed to floss. I opened my big mouth and told them the tooth had been hurting, so they put on a medicated filling first, then will fill it permanently later on in January. I am ALREADY tired of chewing on my left side, and it has only been a week LOL.

Other other good note: I found an all-in-one hand-crank radio/cellphone charger/flashlight/emergency weatherband for $50.00 at Bed, Bath & Beyond. They were highly scarce last week and expensive, so finding one now was a blessing. That's exactly what we needed last week: cellphone battery power, a flashlight, and a freakin' outlet to the outside world. At least we'll be prepared next time, right? You just watch - I won't be able to find it when I need it LOL... normal Carri.

Maybe more later - I still owe you some pictures. :)