ROFL !!! Time to start letting him lock his bedroom door, lol.

Tonight I told him (preemptively) that if he puts “something” in his laundry hamper, it doesn’t just disappear. It was funny to watch the wheels turn!

When my older son got married, he thought all housework got done "POOF!" by magic while he slept or worked. He couldn't figure out why a stream of clothes and dishes led from the door and in a trail behind him instead of disappearing - or why he went to the cupboard or dishwasher and found he had run out of dishes or glasses, forks, etc. (or there were no folded clothes in his drawer)

His wife called me early on and told me "He thinks he is the king!"

"OOPS!" - Parenting tip number 101 - teach your children some responsibility for their own messes as they get older ... check.

"What is taking so LOOOONG in there???"

"Mum...it's not what's tAKING so long....Uhhh...uhh...ahhh...it's what's....ahh, ahh. aHHHHHHH....BECOMING sOOOOOO LOOOOONG!!! AAAAARGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!"

There. Foxyism supplied as expected.

Another typical DFoxy post.

This message has been approved for posting by the "Foxy for President" campaign headquarters ...

However, it has not been approved by the Motion Picture Association of America to receive a rating below PG-13.

I don't know, if I'm not mistaken he has a little Foxy-ette that probably never hears a brown sound ... er ... well maybe she hears THAT, but not ... er ...

RL has produced an especially vexing week, and the weekend looks to be equally trying. I’ll be back Monday when the dust has settled!

Good luck, Grits !! Hope all goes well <3

Best wishes for dust settling, Grits! Be well.

You'll get through it fine Grits!

I just came through a particularily stressful week, with no heating or hot water since Monday, my bank balance going from £700 to £300, a 2.5k essay for a subject I had to join a month late, and general social dramas.

However, heating is fixed, essay is in, and I just learnt Still Alive, from Portal, on the Guitar.

It is impossible for me to be sad when I have the ability to listen to this song at any time.

Seems to be the time of year for stressful weeks. However I have finally beaten RL and plan to take until Wednesday or Thursday off. That will be the first time I've taken more than a single day off since mid January.

On the side of more good news I have managed to get myself a paid summer placement (which are slightly rarer than unicorns here) as a researcher for a steel producer. It does mean I'll have to live in some hellhole down south though...

Hey...I resemble that remark! (Birmingham, AL)

I love Birmingham !!! I went down on a business trip and got roped into staying with one of the company families for the weekend - it was AWESOME !!! There was a little creek that ran behind their shack, and they had erected a hand-made wooden bench swing near the water. After dinner we took turns rocking in that swing while the others swam in the creek - it was ... peaceful and beautiful, and the people were warm and wonderful.

Sweet home Alabama,
Where the skies are so blue,
Sweet home Alabama,
I'm coming home to you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHsDa9_HSlA



*

Damn, you Americans have much more awesome versions of English towns than us. I wouldn't suggest swimming in our Birmingham...infact stay away from there in general unless you have a stab vest.

You would not be saying that if you were around there in the mid-60s.

And as a certain grizzled Redguard can testify to, old habits die hard.

@ TK - Birmingham is beautiful now. They had a rope tied to a tree you could swing out over the water and drop in from way out there - I had an Awesome time there !!!

@ Ahrenil - New Orleans had (may still have) some areas like that - probably a lot of the major cities have an area that is "pop and drop" They pop you with a gun or knife and drop off everything you own at the fence or pawn shop. Nothing personal, you were just in the wrong place at the right time for them. It is usually a high drug area. I hate that areas like that exist, but at least if that element pools in one spot - I know where to avoid going.

I'm not in a big town now, but it happened near here too - two young kids murdered for no reason but that some others wanted drug money. They tortured the teens before killing them, the trials are still going on in that case.

@ Ahrenil - Birmingham proper, that is the City of Birmingham, Alabama, is probably not much better than Birmingham, England. Must of it is slums and run down, closed steel mills. The area surrounding Birmingham is more like what mALX is describing. The Cahaba River runs its course just south of the city, and that is likely where she is talking about. TK is right...in the 1960's, this was a horrible place. The Civil Rights movement was in full swing and there were a lot of angry white bigots raising hell. I don't actually live in Birmingham. I am in a little town called Alabaster, about 30 miles south of B'ham.

@ mALX - Ahhhh New Orleans....Leyawiin, Louisiana. I love that city. The French Quarter is one of the most amazing places I have ever visited. The food, the atmosphere, the culture...all to die for! Jules (the future MrsOtherRick) has never been there. Hell, she had never been outside Indiana until she moved down here. I think a road trip is in order for this summer.

@ Chef T - Old habits do die hard, but the whole racial thing in the south is nothing like it was. You never hear of racially motivated crimes, and most of the suburbs here are peacefully intergrated. Downtown Birmingham is different though. I won't go there at night, that's just stupid. Any crime still isn't racial in nature, but it's like mALX said. Downtown at night is the wrong place at the wrong time. I could get robbed, and possibly killed, regardless of my skin color.

I’m bruised but back, thanks for the well wishing!

Congrats on your summer placement, Olen. A unicorn in a hellhole is still a unicorn.

Right now I can hear the birds determinedly trying to woo one another through the sleet that is pounding against my window! Madness!!

Welcome back Grits. I hope the bruises are a euphemism and not actual.

RL is beating the snot out of me as well. On top of everything else, I had to make an emergency call to our landlord for a water leak on Saturday morning. My office is a disaster of uprooted carpet, missing padding, and noisy air blowers trying to dry it out. Thank goodness the water was not near my computer!

And still she stands, in the Arena.

A warm welcome back to you, Grits.


So sorry to hear about the water damage, Rick.

WOO HOO!!! Welcome back Grits, and I hope everything is okay. I agree with Rick, I hope the bruises are a euphemism!!







Welcome to the South, lol. Sorry to hear about the flood - and thank goodness you are renting so someone else will have to cover those water damages !!!

Four flights. Four flights I have endured and so much more.

From Osaka to Incheon(Korea), to Incheon to my beloved Islands. And vice-versa. And do you know how many days my 'vacation' allowed me? Five.

But.

We searched for a place that we Filipinos like to call 'resthouse'(a place to stay when you're having a vacation in the Philips and not in Japs).
When we did, it was like:
God-dayum, boi! Dat's sum fine shat right der! Hehe

The house was actually quite big, (three floor) and said that we could even make it bigger. Is that even possible, I asked. Yes, she said. I knew she was lying though. But whateva. The surrounding village (yes, they prefer to call it village, instead of a division, don't know why) was filled with unkept grassfields and mediocre amounts of other houses. But the best part(for me) is that there's a pool, basketball club AND

the stuff in the house was actually given to us for FREE. That means we got a decent ref and furniture for FREE! (sighs) This house is a dream come true..

If the staggering amount of the monthly downpayment wasn't so goddamn high. And to top it all off the old lady, so full of herself, condescendingly RAISED the price for ... I really don't know what she said, cuz I was out of conscious the moment she said 'Can I pay some added interest?' in that fake imitation of ... whoever it is she imitates. Possibly Lady Gaga, but dayum... Her voice is ANNOYING. (I wouldn't even think about saying in that in her face, though. With female pride and humongous amounts of arrogance, I was guaranteed a verbal execution)

... 'Nuff said. Just stopped by to say 'hallo, I'm back! Why no welcome?? sadface!' but, as you can see, it turned into a rant. So.. Hello, everybody. Washappening?

Welcome back Ureniashtram !!! I hope you found your friends safe and well on your trip - and LOL at the woman raising the rent and your description of her !!!

That's exactly how I felt Sunday night, arms raised in victory just for surviving! The bruising was mental, no Grits were actually harmed over the weekend.

Rick, I hope you’ve dried out by now!

Ureniashtram, just think about the dream come true part.

mALX has just asked me to craft a coffee shop entry on her behalf. It seems she took ill and spent most of the day in the emergency room. She is home and resting comfortably now, but the poor dear was concerned about not being able to read and comment on stories today.

She will return to the hospital tomorrow for some follow up and the results of all the testing done today. She promises to return to us as soon as she is able.

Needless to say, I have assured her that we all simply want her to be well, and will patiently wait until she once again feels up to gracing us with her sparkle and cheer.

I hope she is alright and recovers quickly.

Get well!

EMERGENCY ROOM???

W.T.F!!!???!!!

And I thought it was going to be me...


Get better and get better COMPLETELY mALX!

Oh no! I wish you well, mALX. I’m glad you could come home last night, ‘rest’ and ‘hospital’ don’t really work together. I’ll be sending good thoughts your way today, I hope your recovery is rapid and complete. Like Acadian said, we’ll be here when you’re ready!

What!? A day later after she welcomed my return and she's in the goddamed E.R???!! Somebody up there hates me, I just know it!

mALX! You better get completely healed or else.. or else I'll murder Linderman and drink from his skull! And you really don't want that to happen, now do you?

Get better, Resident Kitty!

And to think I was about to post a gripe about mowing wet grass today...my how perspective can change.

Get well soon mALX! We need the BFE TN wit and whiskers here.

Get well, mALX!

Stay home and rest. Key concept here - rest. No peeking at your computer, no late nights, no hitting the bars just before closing for the last drop (do bars ever close in ETN?).

I hope you'll be well soon again mALX! Make sure you rest a lot. Staying up late is not an option!

Good luck to you mALX, hope you get well soon.

Please let us know the instant you are well enough to walk. Until then, as others have recommended, stay bedridden until that time comes.

mALX- I have only one thing to say to you.... NO.

No, you can't get sick.

No, you can't push yourself.

No, this is not negotiable.

No, we will not stop hoping for a complete and speedy recovery.

Oh mALX get well soon ♥♥ I'll be thinking of you and hoping for a quick recovery ♥

mALX, get well soon and all that, but don't go back to doing things before you are definatly up to them. There's no point in setting yourself back.

@ Everyone - thank you so much for the well wishes!! I probably could have been up and about sooner if I would take some of the pain meds they forced on me at the hospital...just can't stand taking pills, lol. Just hoping to kick it without them.

Won't hear the doctor's interpretation of the CT scan till next week, so wish me luck on that, lol.

Oh mALX, it’s great to hear from you!! You have my continued wishes for the best. Please rest and take care of yourself!!

Thank you so much Grits !!!

Are you resting? You had better be resting! Do you need another pillow? Some juice? The remote control?

(No one hovers like a worried dachshund.)

Welcome back, my friend!

How sweet you are! I actually have been - laying down for nearly a week now, and too sick to go stir crazy from it. Thank you so much Treydog !!



Thank you Acadian, and thank you for posting for me when I first got puny. I appreciated you doing that, because I couldn't. I got up for a couple hours this morning and tried to catch up on some of the reading and correspondence - didn't last long, lol.

Thank you Everyone for your well wishes, they meant a lot to me !!

It's so nice that you are feeling better. Luck on the CT scan

Thank you KC, I appreciate that a lot !!

What they said. Get better, don't do too much, and remember that you're still ill so can get someone else to bring tea/coffee/juice. Hope the CT scan shows the right thing.

My dear mALX - once again I shall put on my veterinary hat.

TAKE THE DAMN PILLS!!!

Scientific studies (and my own clinical experience) have proven that pain DELAYS healing by increasing stress levels. High levels of cortisol in the body are inimical to healing. You are not being brave or courageous by not taking the pain medications, you are just being a damn fool and causing yourself unnecessary suffering.

If you don't like the side effects of this particular prescription, go back to your doctor and get a different one!

BUT TAKE THE DAMN PILLS!

I promise you things will be back to normal much faster if you do.

*removes veterinary hat*

Good to see you back, but DON'T OVERDO IT!!!

Take hautee's advice mALX, and take the pills...

...unless you want Dr. Greg House on your doorstep with complete camera crew ready to show the world you do not have TB.

Seriously, though, just take the pills. There's a reason such medication exists. I don't want you to have to receive your CT scans back in a black bag.