Stop giving empty threats and go through with one (sm)

• I need persausive ways to get my - Whaat
  • Stop giving empty threats and go through with one (sm) - IMHO
    • Lord NO, 28-Yo has own apartment - Whaat
      • Take a cruise or go on a vacation by yourself (sm) - IMHO

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I only WISH I were an empty nester!!  Those kids just won't LAUNCH!! Well, not completely true.  Four have launched, one is still not terribly old, and the older one still with me is at least getting on through college. I actually have three in college right now.  (I've been single for 20 years.)

Used to take my youngest places, sometimes take my grandson. But if I want to do something, I just go.  Have driven thousands of miles alone on trips. It makes me feel young and free to get in my car and just drive while I listen to a book on CD or MP3. 

If you are actually a senior or retired, bet you could do some of those touring things and within a trip or two come up with a really great traveling companion. 

I have a close friend who will be traveling with me once I can finally launch the kids and retire.

I went through the "empty nest" 3 times.  I have 2 boys and 1 girl.  My daughter is very close to her brothers, as she is the 'baby."  We both cried when my first son got married and left the state.  We played his favorite songs and cried together, but we got over it.  Boys seem to be able to leave easier than girls.  I hear from my sons every month or so.  They live in Oklahoma, and my daughter and I live in Ohio.  My daughter is 25.  I moved to Ohio when she was 19.  When she got married, I went (and paid for) to the wedding.  That was the first time I met her "husband."  I missed her so much that my heart ached.  We were so close.  I was living here in Ohio with no family or friends and just typed all day long and that was it.  Well, one day my daughter called me and said they were coming to Ohio to live, as the job market was not good in OK.  Her husband had been a jockey and broke his ankle, and could not even ride any longer.  They came here and lived with me for 6 months until the upstairs apartment came available. She had a little girl, Autumn, 2 months before she came to Ohio.  They still live upstairs.  I see them everyday.  She had another baby, Summer, who then died of SIDS at 3 months of age.  We helped each other through the toughest thing in our lives.  She then had twins last December, Wynter and Breanna Spring.  The were born at 33 weeks, 3 pounds and 3.4 pounds.  I now watch them every morning and afternoon while she takes and picks up Autumn from school.  I am watching them right now while she is shopping. 

I am telling you this to let you know you never know what life has in store for you.  I would never had thought my daughter would be here with me, and I would be a part of her every day life.  I love it.  My grandchildren love it.  My daughter loves it, and even my son-in-law loves it.  Life can really bring you lemonaide sometimes.

And my husband is trying to tell me that means I already have everything.

Hmmm......

Keypunch machines. That's why my hearing is a bit off now. LOL

First personal computer and printer: An Epson and continuous paper printer with DOS operating system. Cost: $3500.

I still have my mood rings and my torquoise jewelry but lost my class ring in the grocery store.It was expensive, $50, black onxy stone and gold band.

Snowstorms that shut the towns down for days on end. Couldn't get out to go to work unless you worked close to home and could walk. Schools never shut down. Five of us walked a mile a day to school with snow up to our hips. Our lessons for the day? Study hall.

My first car was a ི Chevy coupe. Gas was $.27 a gallon and I chauffered 5 friends to and from school for $.25 a week. On Friday and Sat. nights there was a dance with a group that became 'almost famous.' They got as far as the Steel Pier in Atlantic City dance club. It was a big deal to be on TV in those days. On those nights, I would go to the next town and pick up anybody hitch hiking to the dance. (I wasn't allowed to go to the dances). I wired the car with an older portable record player that only played 45s and kept my records under the seat.Worked great except when I would hit a bump. LOL

Bandstand every day from 3:30 to 5:00 EST.

Sleigh riding in the winter on our Flexible Flyer. We did it on steep coal banks. Much better thrill. Then we found out cardboard worked even better. No getting stuck halfway down the bank because the sleigh rails would hit a larger piece of coal sticking up.

Hide-and-seek when it got dark. I missed the pole and hit face first. What a bloody mess, but you didn't run to the ER for it.

Throwing corn at the nasty neighbor's house at Halloween. He called the cops. We ran and hid. I was caught. Where was I hiding? In the neighbor's garbage pile. Today garbage piles are called compost piles.

Two years working as a missionary overseas has taught me that material things are really not important.  Do not hold onto things with such a tight fist.  I guess after see children begging in the street for food daily kind of changes your perspective.  Oh and then the women who washed her clothes on a rock made me vow to never complain about washing clothes in a machine. 

Forgive your husband.  His giving nature is more important that a rolling pin.  A fire, like those in Califronia, or other natural disaster can cause you to lose all of these things.  Things really do not matter anyway do they?

Have a nice Thanksgiving, and be thankful you can afford food to use a rolling a pin on.  So many people in the world cannot. 

A 70-year-old woman from India claims she has become the world's oldest new mother.

Rajo Devi and her husband Bala Ram had wanted a child in all their 50 years together.

She claims to have given birth to a baby girl at the end of November after having IVF treatment. Her husband is 72.

I was thinking some sort of gift card...I'm sure she is overloaded with trinkets and Christmas ornaments, etc.  Any creative suggestions?

MERRY CHRISTMAS...

and will be getting another one. Prius and the like okay for in town driving but I live rurally, shop once a week, load up the SUV and it's done. My gas mileage is 20 -24 mpg and I can afford the gas.

I just took Spot and Nerys to the vet for routine senior kitty blood checks. I also got Nerys a refill on her prednisalone. It cost $325.

Those furballs had better appreciate it tonight when I shove pills down their throats.

I prefer to make the decisions as to what, if any, possessions of mine should be loaned, and to whom.  If I'm kept in the dark about it, it feels a lot like theft when I don't know where my stuff is.  If I then discover its been spirited out of the house by a loved one, it feels like a betrayal.

The government already takes whatever it deems necessary out of my paycheck so I can be anonomously generous to whoever they deem needy.

It is very, very easy to be generous with other people's money and stuff.  Example - next time someone wants to borrow something from me, we'll just come get it from your house.  Obviously you won't mind, and I can feel sooo good about myself by helping someone else by handing them YOUR stuff.  I'll try really hard to remember to tell you I decided to do that, so you can feel as great about it as I do.

So how many years should one spend $100-$250 on someone's birthday or Christmas while receiving nada in return all year long, not even thanks?  It sure doesn't make a person feel loved or appreciated - and its hard to have the "joy of giving" when you're giving into an endless void and know there will be no presents for YOU.  I want to be seen as a person with needs and feelings too - not just a perpetual gift machine, or permanent Santa.  I'd rather give to charity than my kids when I have to force them to acknowledge they even GOT a gift, much less twist their arm until they choke out a thanks - and they act like I must be an alien with 2 heads to think THEY should give anything to anyone.

Actual conversation between me and 30-something kid

me - Hi, how you been, etc.  (five minutes into conversation with no mention of present)  Say, did you get a package in the mail from company X?

kid - yeah, that was a surprise.

me - well, did you LIKE it?

kid - oh, yeah.  It was really nice, made my day!  Showed my friends and they were like, wow!

me - well, I wasn't sure if you even GOT it, or if the company had even sent it to you.  So I thought I'd check and see.

kid -  Uh, yeah I got it.  Um, thanks.

me - my holiday was pretty lonely, nobody called, and I didn't get any presents.

kid - mine too.  You're the only one who ever gets me anything, everyone else just ignores me.

me - well, if you were lonely you could've called me.

kid - yeah, I know, but I was too depressed because everyone was ignoring me.

I BANG MY HEAD ON THE WALL!!!!

I have an older cat, but she likes the ground stuff (wet).  Now, what I'll do is put a tablespoon of that with a little bit of water.  I bought covers for the cans.  So, I'll keep it about 3 days in the refrigerator.  Once I have it in the refrigerator, I give her a little bit of warm water with the food.  I stir it up to make it sort of like a gravy.  My cat has lost some of her teeth, so she doesn't like to chew but she does like dry food as well.  The dry food I keep in another area of the house (laundry room), and she'll munch on that at her leisure.  I did notice though I have to dump out at night what remains (bits and pieces) of the dry as I guess it gets stale.  She gets the "wet" in the morning in a dish.  Once she eats that, I take it up and rinse the bowl.  She can munch on the dry all day long.  I've found that she likes a variety of different dry foods, but I try to get the "green" kind because she doesn't go outside.  My cat loves "Friskies" Dental Diet (we call 'em green ballz).  I have also noticed however that she likes kitten chow.  I wonder if you started more of a habitual pattern with your kitty cat as opposed to different options all day long just to kind of get him on a routine.  Hope this helps!  Probably not, but I luv talking about my cat! 

P/S:  She sneaks into the bathrooms and drinks out of the toilet!  YIKES!  But I do give her a treat in the later evening either 2 tablespoons of milk or half-and-half.  I also buy the soft treats to give once a while, but that's not an everyday thing!  She really won't drink a bowl of water per se!