I'm a little farther west in the Piedmont Triad area of NC. Things are sliding downhill here with many layoffs at the larger companies being announced daily. Friends of my dh have been laid off or had cutbacks in hours/pay/benefits. The company my dh works for had already laid some people off last year, closed satelite plants, stopped 401k contributions, frozen wages, instituted mandatory multiple weeks off without pay, changed other benefits so the employee carries more of the cost, as well as a variety of other cutbacks. Over the Christmas period they had announced another round of layoffs would begin... but they let everyone fret over it for 6 weeks before messing around with the way they let the 100's who'd lost their jobs finally know it was them. Dh was very tense, I can tell you! Thankfully at this point he's safe but as the remaining employees were told at the time. The company is struggling and if orders don't at least hold steady, the company may not survive next quarter. We're remortgaging the balance we owe on our home which will bring the monthly cost down... just in case. My older two dc each have part-time jobs, (ds at Bojangles and dd at a clothing store in the mall), and both are experiencing lack of hours. There just aren't enough customers to guarantee the need for more than a few employees to work at one time so the bosses share the hours amongst the staff and it's slim pickings for everyone. Aside from the layoffs here, on a wider scale, the county is talking of making significant raises in property taxes and the state wants major dollar amounts returned from each county to cover the budget deficit.

Open Arms - Journey Faithfully - Journey These Dreams - Heart (?) Keep on Loving You - REO Speedwagon Err... Bon Jovi? Foreigner? Black Velvet - forget-her-name Take My Breath Away - Berlin (wow, that one brings back memories! ;) )

Dh and I shop fairly early Saturday mornings. Most of the grocery stores around here start getting busy around 10am so we try and get finished before then. My dc are older (18, 16, 14) so they don't come with us.

I went to the Dr. for this afew years ago and he told me I was having panic attacks. I never did feel completely comfortable with that diagnosis, I found it somewhat dismissive as I had no other symptoms and they'd occur at odd times when I wasn't even doing anything in particular (sitting at home reading, for example). However... the palpitations did stop a few days later so I never pursued it further. Looking back I do wonder if it was hormonal/chemical imbalance related as I did start experiencing other peri-menopausal symptoms soon after.

Thanks, ladies. I'll just pop it back in the mailbox tomorrow. I like the idea of using a sticky-note rather than writing on the envelope. I'm grateful this sort of thing is rare for us, in fact I more commonly see the positive side of the local postal team's effort, such as a letter from a friend being delivered on time despite having no number on the address at all. Considering how loooooooooong this road is, (my house number is 4 digits), I am amazed it found it's way to me at all, let alone on time!

I don't know how we managed to get this mail delivered to our mailbox as the only way it's similar to our address is the town and house number. The name, street address and zip code are completely different to ours. (I mention the name because we've had a few instances over the years of living here where we have recieved mail that's been incorrectly addressed and still managed to arrive in our mailbox in a timely manner all because the postal workers know our name at this address.) My question is how do we mark this letter to be redirected? "Not at this address" seems odd because the person probably IS at the address listed on the mail... but obviously she's not at OUR address. :tongue_smilie: Would "Delivered to incorrect address" make sense? Is there an official way of noting mail in situations such as this? I can't find this info on the USPS site.

I have one to add to this. When you buy your dd a laptop for college classes and want to get it all set up so she can play with it as soon as you give it to her... DO NOT mistype the very first set-up password thereby causing you to be unable to access the computer AT ALL without wiping the entire system clean. Thankfully Dh was veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeery patient in typing in every possible mistype of the password and eventually he found it. PHEW! :w00t:

I'm never embarrassed to admit music I like, and I like most types. Recently I've been listening to a few opera compilation cd's but today I wanted something different so it was time for a few oldies. Andy Gibb, Roberta Flack, and Simon & Garfunkel. Ahh.. memories! I hum and sing along to music in stores and even elevators if I like the tune! :)

A few tricks that I was surprised worked with my children were sticking to serving size and/or special day of the week. Ice-cream is so expensive and my dc were being greedy with it. I instituted a "Friday only" rule so they could have a scoop or two Friday evening only, and if they forgot or were away from home for whatever reason they went without. There were no 'makeup' scoops ;) The rule that worked and surprised me most was the 'serving size' rule. Amazing how boys with bottomless pits for stomachs would eat an entire box of something they liked if I said the words "yes, but don't be greedy with it" but when I said "serving size" they obeyed the info on the box and only ate that much. Try a rule of not eating straight from the packet or box. By putting a serving of crackers (or whatever) onto a plate, they're less likely to forget how much they are eating and eat through an entire box.

Book #5 was Fingersmith by Sarah Waters. Loved it. It reminded me of another recent read, The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins. Not sure what my next read will be. I've got two half started fluff reads that I've been ignoring for weeks I'd like to finally finish, and hoping a copy of the latest Hamish Macbeth book (release date Feb.9) will be waiting on hold for me at the library first thing next week. MC Beaton's books are always easy fun reads.

I budget $120 per month per person, (5 in the family. Dh, me, dd18, ds16, ds14... none of us eat lightly ;) ) This includes general household items such as cleaning products, toiletries, small items for the home such as lightbulbs, etc. It does not include pet food for which I budget seperately, nor does it cover eating out which we do infrequently. I feel with this amount we eat very well and my freezer and pantry stay well stocked with a variety of foods we all like.

I agree, and today when I read in the news that a portion of viewers in AZ had a few seconds of pornography interrupt their signal, my first thought was "And some of the commercials weren't bordering on that?" :tongue_smilie: My dh liked the guy ad, "I'm okay!" (monster.com?) and dd just guffawed at the other job site ad, the one that kept repeating the woman screaming in her car. (careerbuilder.com) I'm a softy, I love the clydesdale ads :)

Not here but years ago when I used to chat in yahoo trivia rooms my dh entered a few times and chatted with me anonymously. It was kinda funny when I found out, and his name was even chosen a clue for me to guess who he was.

Last week I read The Haunting by Shirley Jackson and the short story The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott Fitzgerald. This week I am reading Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

I started Fingersmith by Sarah Waters last night and am enjoying it already. I also have two others that I started but haven't read more than a page or two these past few weeks. Dead as a Scone by Ron Benrey (supposed to be a cozy mystery... it's so cozZzzzy it's putting me to sleep Zzz :closedeyes: and The Darling Buds of May by HE Bates which is little more than lots of eating and lots of Pa saying the word "perfick". ) My TBR pile is my 999 Challenge list, which is posted on the sidebar of my blog. http://marginallyme.blogspot.com

Book#3 was Careless in Red by Elizabeth George (Inspectory Lynley series). This week I hope to read either The Haunting by Shirley Jackson, or The Man Who Was Thursday by GK Chesterton.

We've not been through the process yet but our house is under threat of being taken by eminant domain. Problem is, the road widening project that will take the house keeps being pushed back due to lack of funds. We've not gotten as far as personal talks with the city, just a general meeting showing a basic outline of the project and learning there were studies to be understaken showing impact on local wildlife, etc. I'll be watching this thread with interest and hope to learn something that can help us when (IF?) our time comes.

I do like to read through lists such as Booker prize winners, or TWEM novels list, but I use them as a guide for what I *might* enjoy rather than sticking to the list exactly. Last year I followed the 888 challenge and this year the 999 challenge because I like to focus my reading somewhat and try to expand my choices into areas I tend to overlook when just grabbing random books from a shelf at home/bookstore/library. For the 52 book challenge I'm just noting which book I've finished closest to the day we post here but the choices are from my 999 challenge list. Of course that list changes often as I note book suggestions posted here. :)

Which area of NC is your friend's store, Christy?

I'm no longer homeschooling, but I cannot bring myself to sell my 'stuff' though I really need to! Some of it's from a few years ago when my youngest was in earlier grades and I still find it hard to get rid of that even knowing I've no children coming along behind him. I do miss the whole homeschooling package... from making a schedule to gathering materials and the biggest part was getting to study and learn alongside my dc. I'm crazy or maudlin or something, and meanwhile my 'stuff' sits on shelves, unused, growing outdated. :(

Whoa, a week is passing by very quickly! This past week I finished reading A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz. Loved it. Now I'm reading Careless in Red (Inspector Lynley) by Elizabeth George. Not enjoing it nearly as much as my previous two books.

There's a brand new one airing on PBS Masterpiece Theatre starting this coming Sunday. Part 1 is 60 minutes, part two the next Sunday is 90 minutes.

I finished The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro. Thoroughly enjoyed it. This week's read is The Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz.

Same here, no fines at all for overdue books, though there are expensive fines for dvd's kept beyond the one week checkout. ($2 per day.) I don't bother getting dvd's from the library because everytime I've tried the disc has been so scratched it's unwatchable.

This sounds like fun, I'm game! The books I will be reading from this week are: Dead as a Scone - Ron Benrey Fraction of the Whole - Steve Toltz Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro Whichever is finished first will be this week's book. :) Happy reading everyone.