I need a break, how 'bout you? Let's have some hazelnut decaf, that chocolate chip cheeseball Leah at South Breeze Farm told me about, with graham crackers as dippers, and we can just gab awhile. Share a few photos, complain a little, laugh, cry, and go away feeling refreshed from some girl talk.

Okay, I'll go first.

Well, Can You Even Believe It?! My sister, Barb, over at A Chelsea Morning, gave me her almost B.R.A.N.D. new Cuisinart Food Processor for my birthday when I was there in June. We had to ship it to PA, since the airlines are sort of touchy about bringing onboard metal instruments with sharp edges. It arrived Wednesday. Just look!


I cannot wait to open the veggie drawer and find something to chop or slice! I'm tickled To Death over it. So you can not only continue to be jealous of her excellence in caring for every corner of her home, now you can be jealous I'm related and she gives me awesome appliances. Just because I'm the little sister. (It may be to make up for moving me into the closet when I was about 8 years old, or cutting my bangs the day before school pictures.) And yes, the receipt, with a copy of the filled out registration, was in the back of the instruction manual. Would you expect anything less from her, honestly?

And I'm right there with you. I struggle with the whole 'how to post' / 'how to read' / 'how to leave comments' thing. So I redid my bloglines with these categories - Big Shots, Nothing to Do, Old Friends, New Friends, Tender, Pure Joy, Writer's Heart, and Family. They equal 72 feeds, and I think I can keep up with that many. (Course, I also think I can get by on less than 6 hours of sleep, and eat chocolate cake for breakfast and call it part of my diet regimen too.) I generally read through one category at a time, and I choose which one depending on what mood I'm in. Often, when I visit a blog, there are several posts to read. So far this is working. For right now, I'm enabling comments, but there could be a post where I didn't see the point, because I'm not sure you need or want to leave a comment raving over my tuna casserole recipe. For me (and everyone is different) blogging is relational and I get a lot out of the comments that you girls leave me, and everyone needs girlfriends because somedays they're all that keeps us going. Bloggers bless me :-) And no, I'm not saying what blogs are in each category. That's for me and God to know. Some things even girlfriends just don't tell, and we all have somebody in our family we have to be nice to. Of course, they're on our husband's side.

And, and we're just SO excited! We found out we've been B.L.E.S.S.E.D. by having our personal information, including checking account #, DOB, etc sold by an evil employee of a check verification company. I get to open a new account this Friday, new debit cards, new automatic deposit for paychecks, reset up bills online, try to remember what all is paid automatically, etc. Who doesn't want to go to all that trouble, to pick out new checks? I decided it would be so much fun, I might as well go ahead and change our email address too, to deal with the evil/porno spam I've been getting for months. Then maybe I can figure out why all my emails are sent twice through our Outlook account, because that just makes it a De-light for our entire family to hear from me - sort of like talking to a family member who is a bit hard of hearing so you repeat everything you say. Technology can make you foam at the mouth sometimes. As can evil people. I'm convinced there's a corner in Hell, just a bit hotter, for those who steal identities, pshishing schemes, etc. Well, enough about that.

Moving on to something much more pleasant, and who doesn't need pleasant these days?, middle daughter Leslie and I set aside Thursdays as Project Day. One week at her place, the next at mine, whoever hosts provides food. Should be more fun this way and we'll get lots accomplished. We're starting at her place with painting a big cabinet black, then next week tackling our rec room redo. She doesn't know I have us scheduled, one time, to go through her 22 keepsake boxes that have been residing in our basement for the past ten years or so. Don't you tell her either, or she'll figure out a way to weasel out of it, and it's high time we did something with her jr. high letter jacket, cheerleading uniform and Cabbage Patch dolls.

We also set aside one Monday night a month for scrapbooking. I'm only about 31 years behind. That should rate right up there with telling you my measurements, or how often I change our sheets, as far as making you girls feel just a wee bit better about yourselves.

I have a new boyfriend, he's shorter than the men I'm usually attracted to, grey/green eyes, hair is wispy and blonde, beautiful lips, creamy complexion, four little teeth, and a bit on the plump side. When he smiles and scrunches up his nose I melt completely. I never knew having grandbabies living this close by was a slice of heaven.

Labels: Girl Talk