School Loans: The New Debt for our Children

When I taught college English, I had a friend who ran the financial aid department. I went to him for advice when I decided I would cosign my niece's school loans for the expensive ($30.000.00 per anum) college I had urged her to go to since she was in the eighth grade. He said that for the next generation, their greatest payment that they spent time trying to pay off would not be their house payments, but their school loans. I think he may be right.
When said niece went to start paying her school loans, to her shock, the monthly payment was going to be $1400.00. She had gotten a good job, the very one she wanted, in her field, and the pay for a beginner wasn't bad either. But with rent in Washington, D.C., even with a roommate, she quickly learned that she wasn't going to be able to make that payment. She was going to have to consolidate her school loans.
Now my niece did get some financial aid, and she also got several scholarships, but there was no way in the world that she was going to be able to pay those school loans without consolidation, and even when she did consolidate the loans, they were still going to be a heavy burden. But what to do? Her education was very worthwhile, and I know for a fact that she not only wouldn't have gotten the knowledge and experience at a state school that she got at this private college, she also benefited from some great connections that resulted in her getting her rather desirable job.
So what are students to do? As a teacher, I know that the cost of an education is not out of line with what it takes to run a college - in fact, without contributions from alumni, the colleges would go broke! What is the answer? If you have one that is better than school loan consolidation, please let me know.

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Grrrrrrrrr.....

Argh! (As Snoopy would say). I'm busy, busy, and tomorrow, I must go to the bank and wire my nephew at University his allowance for this month (yes, it's late, and yes, it's my fault! :-( ) I just hope he hasn't starved to death (or run out of beer).


I think that having my studio in my husband's office is going to be okay once everything gets worked out okay. My wireless internet is finally set up (hurrah). He disconnected the Sirius or whatever music that is piped in to all the rooms (I can't stand to listen to other people's music all day without relief; I need some silence), and I am going to call and get the cable for the tv run to my office so that I can have Law and Order on in the background. If they would run Law and Order all day, I could work until I dropped. I don't know why, but it is comforting (and probably blocks out other people's noise).
Any show will not do. Some of the A&E programs will work - but not the really stupid ones that they have now...like "Dog: The Bounty Hunter" - who watches that shit anyway? At one time, A&E was truly the Arts and Entertainment (the entertainment being mainly musical performances) and now it's just more crapola. "Growing Up Gotti" or better entitled: "Eavesdropping on Self-Important Morally Bankrupt Conspicuous Consumers Who Think That Their Lives Are Worth Something" (okay, everyone's life is worth something, life is precious, but you know what I mean). Who watches this? Who has that much time to waste?
Grrrrrrrr..... C'mon now, say it with me...you know you want to! life real life everyday life Growing Up Gotti Gotti television TV Law and Order bounty hunter Dog bounty hunter people work life's Enigmas personal blog

Another Reason Not to Live Here

A week ago last Sunday DH decided that he couldn't wait for the gardener to cut the althea that was on the roof, so he got a step ladder and started to do it himself. (We are getting a new roof). He fell and hit the back of his head on the brick windowsill, sprained his wrist dreadfully (had to wear a splint for a week) and got a hairline crack in his skull as well as 9 stiches. He wasn't going to go to the hospital; he just wanted to stop the bleeding.
I got him to the ER at 8:00; we didn't get home until after midnight; it took that long to see a doctor. And that brings me to the reason for the post - medical care. It stinks here. As we get older, if we have any kind of traumatic accident or heart attack, etc. we are probably not going to survive. Three years ago my father had an aneurysm in his abdomen. He was rushed to the hospital (in Hot Springs - not here) and in a very tricky operation was saved! We don't even have a doctor in this town that could do that particular procedure/operation. If my father had lived here, he would have died that morning without ever getting on an operating table.
Yeah, life in a small town. It just seems long.
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The Loneliness of Small Town Life

It's been quite a while! Son and daughter-in-law are home after 3 years in Europe, and just flew back to D.C. this week. They spent tonight at the hospital waiting to see what was wrong with my niece. Son has never lived in the same town with relatives (except my second husband's) and the first time he gets to, he spends most of his 2nd day there at the hospital emergency room. The 22 year old niece has ruptured ovarian cysts which will be taken care of next week.
No other real news here in Notown, except the satisfaction of having Son here and having him say, "How do you live here, Mom?" There's nothing here. No art museum, no concerts, no plays, one restaurant (other than fast food), no Starbucks (you can't get a real cup of espresso in this town unless you come use my machine). And then there are about 18,000 people, at least 60% of whom live below the poverty level (and in Arkansas, that's really saying something!).
There's nothing quaint here, no cute shops, and the landscape is flat with cotton fields and soybean crops. Yes, on top of everything else, it's ugly here!
Does anyone else live in a similar place, and if you do, how do you cope? (The nearest city is an hour and twenty minutes away through bleak landscape).

No wonder I'm in love with my computer!

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hostpitals loneliness

Back from Graduation - Off to New Orleans

The Rhodes graduation was great! Great kids (makes me feel a lot better about the future), my great niece (and nephew), and wonderful food and people. My sister and I have left our past behind, and the greatest proof is our children. They belong to a privileged class of those who have earned their places through their merit and hard work and our sacrifices (and theirs). They have character, strong morals, and a sense of right and wrong that is unwavering, and most importantly, a value for human life that transcends race, creed, colour. They are truly citizens of the world - and if we can do this, then other parents can do this too.
It is love that helped us do this. Love that was so strong that it taught us that although it is harder to give children values instead of things, values are the true gift from a parent who really loves a child. Love gave us a vision that allowed us to see beyond the confines of small towns and use the world as our standard of measurement so that we prepared our children to live in the world, gave them manners for the world, knowledge for the world, not just for what would work in a small town. Love also helped us to remember that we had to nuture what was there within them, to help them grow to be who they would be - not who or what we wanted them to be. We had to cherish them for their strengths, their talents, their personalities - even when they were not what we would have chosen.
A successful parent rears a child who no longer needs her/him - that is the goal.
A successful parent rears a child who knows that parent loves him more than anything else in the world and would gladly give her life for him. With love like that behind him, how could he ever doubt his worth?
Our children are our greatest reward and our greatest hope.
Next stop is New Orleans, and I'm dreading it a bit. I'll be in the French Quarter and it's supposed to be okay, but I'll still know about the devastation all around. The art museum is supposed to be okay too, which is good.
I'd just as soon stay here and work on getting the pool clear. It's a green colour, and I'm anticipating another go-round with it this year with no help from DH.
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Photo courtesy of Guppyman

Back from Chicago, and angry because I spent one day of my time there in bed...Hurting! But I found a great pair of Cole-Haan loafers that were half what I paid for the same pair in a different colour last August.
I put the flower there because I have to have a picture on my blog.
Pondering my hermit status (high-tech hermit). The weather is getting warmer, so my mood is getting better and I like going out in the car. The problem is that this is a dreary little town of 18,000 people (when I moved here, there were 24,000) and there is really no where to go. So if you are reading this, and thinking about cute little small towns: the town is not cute, there are no small quaint shops, and the only restaurants are fast-food chains. There is one restaurant at the Holiday Inn and a Mexican restaurant at the Best Western, and that's it. No Starbucks. No donut shop. NOT ONE BAKERY. There is only one dress shop to buy clothes and they are not that nice and overpriced for what they are. I have to drive to Memphis if I want to buy a blouse (other than online) or just about anything else but groceries. But I go to a Middle Eastern grocery store in Memphis so I even get groceries there. I am the only vegetarian I know in this town.
Waaa, waaaa, waaaa. Enough whining.
I think I'm getting a little weird though about the way that I can do one thing almost all day long. I wonder if I could have some Asperger's?
I've gotten so that I hate to put makeup on, but I don't want anyone to see me without it. I put my hair in electric rollers today; I had forgotten how good it can look, especially now that it's very long (almost middle of my back). Black linen slack and a black tee, and I was off to the post office and the local Sonic to mail packages and then get the best Diet Coke in the world. Is there anything that tastes better than that first Diet Coke from Sonic? I suppose I used to think that about coffee when I drank it all day long, even during the summer. Isn't there something pitiful about looking forward to a Sonic Diet Coke?
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Dar Does Yoga

Doesn't Darwin look like he's doing yoga?
I'm getting ready to go to Chicago, and unhappily just found out that it's going to be cool (cold at night) and a bit drizzly. Yuk!
However, it's worth walking through the rain to get to the Art Institute, and I'm looking forward to seeing some favorites once again. I'm also looking forward to some decent vegetarian food, so if anyone out there know a good veg restaurant downtown or a good Indian restaurant, leave me a note, please.
We're driving this time, not flying, and I'm looking forward to having the alone time with DH to talk with him some about money and spending. He is so afraid to spend money that it's getting ridiculous! Things get old (like carpet after 22 years) and need to be replaced. I still think he's angry at me deep down for quitting the college (even though he says that he isn't), but it was killing me to stay there, and I've been so happy since I've been running my online business from home. I've learned so much and enjoy my days completely. The only thing is that for the first time in my life, I have insomnia, not because I'm anxious, or afraid, (as was the case all my life), but because I'm so excited, and because I just want to stay up and continue working. I can always improve my site, add pages, compress photos. I love this! And I'm learning so much which is really great since at the college, I couldn't find anyone to have an intelligent conversation with (yes, faculty included), anyone who had read anything lately that wasn't a bestseller, or anyone who even talked about anything entertaining (no, I don't really find local gossip entertaining).
The strained rotator cuff is getting better, but it still hurts, and especially hurts at night - or is more noticeable at night. Of course it doesn't help that Darwin thinks that my left arm is his special pillow to rest his head on when he's ready to sleep, and according to him -I'd better not move it.
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Why the Products of the Derriere?

Ugh, the weather here has turned cold again - I hate it. Above is the Springometer: open the powder room window and if a cat stays in it for more than 5 minutes, warm weather is here to stay! I guess it didn't work this way.
I've been surfing the blogosphere, and I have a question: What is it about the nether regions of the body that many bloggers find fascinating?
Now I understand expletives - have been known to use the "f" word (um, okay, lots on occasion) as well as a few others, but I just don't understand crudity for its own sake. For example,

• Why do people dwell on farting and think that it's so funny? It just doesn't strike me as humorous, but I can't tell you how many blogs have flatulence the subject of multiple posts, not to mention part of their names (i.e. "Blogfart" by the cutest girl).
• The writer of one entry said that he knew he could marry a girl when he farted loudly and she laughed uncontrollably (not my idea of intimacy).
• I read a blog by a mom and enjoyed it. I looked over at the sidebar and in the comment she said that the only thing she had done for herself lately is "wipe my own butt."
• Shit seems to be a very attractive blog subject, too. One blogger went to great lengths to tell us that she was writing the post on a laptop while she was "taking a poop." In fact this was the main point of her entry.

Now let me tell you that I'm a child of the '60's, had my share of fun in the '70's and still like to dance on the coffee table to the latest music after I've had a few.
But I just don't get this obssession with flatulence and bowel movements and I do find it crude and unnecessary. (Ugh, I hate how that sounds, but it's true).
If you came over to my house and farted audibly and talked about your bowel movements incessantly, I probably would never invite you back, and c'mon all of you out there - how many of you would invite the person back?
Is the idea that anything from the nether end of the gastrointestinal tract going to attract people to your blog - that you'll gain readers?
Do you need readers that badly?
Do you need those readers?
By the way, I would have written this post when I was 25, too. Life's Enigmas life blog Weblog
fart flatulence butt excrement

That'll Be the Day..uh..Night!

Found this post in Stef's blog about fibromyalgia (which I do have), but I have had insomnia since the age of 6 - or at least that is the earliest I can really remember wanting to be asleep when I was awake long after everyone else was snoozing.
ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS
Some insomniacs who get rid of electromagnetic fields in their bedrooms are able to sleep like babies! You might try shutting off the circuit breaker to your bedroom and see if that helps your sleep improve, or try a magnetic mattress pad from a reputable company.
Yeah, like that's going to happen! But I thought about it for awhile...as I listened to the white noise of the air purifier, and then I happened to look around (I'm on the laptop sitting crosslegged on my bed)....

So either cats are not affected by electromagnetic fields - or they are affected inversely to humans.
Maybe if I start eating their brand of cat food...
But then cats aren't vegetarians, and I am. Oh well. By the way, DH left his khakis on the bed, so of course, despite the many pillows, including the ones with little cat depressions in them, the khakis are THE absolute best place to curl up for a nap - even on the zipper side.
By the way, Stef's blog is called Look What the Cat Dragged In
I love it when people use the correct form of verbs!

Life's Enigmas cats insomnia sleep electromagnetic fields fibromyalgia life

The Insomniac

Still plagued by insomnia, at least until about 6:00 a.m., then I can go to sleep usually. I don't know how to get off this schedule, and Lunesta really doesn't help me any. I could try to go to bed earlier, but then I feel as though I haven't even had time to do anything at all during the day. And there is so much to do.
I miss my son so much, but I hardly ever write and tell him so. Isn't funny that I can think about him constantly, yet not feel the need to write him? It's strange to love someone so much but not need to be in constant communication. I would have never let so much time pass when he was little. I even used to send him postcards when he went to visit his father for a few weeks in the summer.
It's funny how much I'm changing, how anti-social (generally) I'm becoming. It's as though the small town outside the confines of my own property doesn't really exist for me. I'm in my house or yard or I'm out of town. Basically I guess I'm a high-tech hermit!


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Ho-Hum

I am so totally sleep-deprived I could scream! Plus, I've got a strained rotator cuff, and boy does it hurt. The Dr. gave me what should be good drugs: a muscle relaxer and a pain pill, but they don't seem to be doing that much for me.
The house is still stuffed with furniture and one thing that I cannot do, even with the sliders (to go under the feet of the furniture) is move furniture or much of anything else. Which brings me to the cat litter. It needs changing so badly, but will DH change it? NO, NO, NO! I tried to change one, and did JUST but hurt my shoulder badly doing so. AAAaaargh. Why can't cats flush?
We need to get one of those automatic kitty litter boxes, but no way my DH is going to shell out the 300.00 for it no matter how convenient and/or clean it would be.
Despite everything, I've been in a good mood. My website needs to be totally re-done, groan. I wish I'd known last year what I know this year about html and SEO.
I am going to customize my closet too - although just with those built ins that you can get at Lowe's. If we don't enjoy the money that we have now and the pleasures, I don't know when we think that we're going to. There are things that you do get too old for. They simply don't mean as much to you as they would have 20 years ago. So glad I went ahead and got the pool.
I'm ready for Spring and for the warm summer sun, and for my son to come home from Europe.
However, after sweating all last week it turned cold again. The cats are feeling it!
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Ho-Hum

I am so totally sleep-deprived I could scream! Plus, I've got a strained rotator cuff, and boy does it hurt. The Dr. gave me what should be good drugs: a muscle relaxer and a pain pill, but they don't seem to be doing that much for me.
The house is still stuffed with furniture and one thing that I cannot do, even with the sliders (to go under the feet of the furniture) is move furniture or much of anything else. Which brings me to the cat litter. It needs changing so badly, but will DH change it? NO, NO, NO! I tried to change one, and did JUST but hurt my shoulder badly doing so. AAAaaargh. Why can't cats flush?
We need to get one of those automatic kitty litter boxes, but no way my DH is going to shell out the 300.00 for it no matter how convenient and/or clean it would be.
Despite everything, I've been in a good mood. My website needs to be totally re-done, groan. I wish I'd known last year what I know this year about html and SEO.
I am going to customize my closet too - although just with those built ins that you can get at Lowe's. If we don't enjoy the money that we have now and the pleasures, I don't know when we think that we're going to. There are things that you do get too old for. They simply don't mean as much to you as they would have 20 years ago. So glad I went ahead and got the pool.
I'm ready for Spring and for the warm summer sun, and for my son to come home from Europe.
However, after sweating all last week it turned cold again. The cats are feeling it!

Regarding Happiness: An Open Letter To My Nephew

Well sometimes you are so much like me that I worry, but it turned out all right for me and it will for you too. I have been an insomniac since the age of 6 (!!) and I don't recommend it although it served me well in college and grad school because I could study late at night when others couldn't.
There is a kind of selfishness that is okay - it is the kind of selfishness that causes you to want the best outcome and this selfishness, while it sometimes seems as though it is not good, can be, because it causes you to strive and wanting the best outcome crosses over into your moral sense - you want the best outcome for everyone as well as yourself - and the "best outcome" starts to mean something in a universal sense, not just a tiny little individual thing for you. And by the way, real happiness always spreads out into the world when you feel it; it is not a tight little ball that stays inside you and does not affect anyone else.
Aristotle said that happiness was always a byproduct: you are hungry + you eat good food = happiness; you feel bad + you get better = happiness; you work hard + you get money for what you need or want = happiness.
I also think personally that happiness comes in increments, a little at a time and adds up so that someday we realize that we have so many increments that we are happy much of the time. I also believe in karma, of course. And as for insignificance, I understand that too and always felt exactly the same way - I felt that I needed a sort of inferiority feeling to make me keep trying to acheive. But I was wrong about that (of course, I didn't know because I learned about happiness so much later in life); I've found that being happy and being "content" or satisfied with many things in my life did not keep me from striving but actually meant that I had the confidence that made it easier for me to succeed in my endeavors. However, that came later, maybe I did need the drive of insignificance to make me strive when I was young.
One thing is different; I had no one who cared about me or what happened to me. At your age, I was on my own and my parents didn't even know where I lived (I was in another town)or care enough to find out. You have many who are rooting for your success. Your parents provide for you; next year I will start giving you a monthly allowance. You are loved so much. Bask in the warmth of our love while you are having insomnia, doubts, struggles, while you are making choices, trying to find the path you want to take in life. That is what college is for; that is why we want you to be there. You will find yourself, but in your own time, on your own terms, and I guarantee that while you and I can nearly drown in the depths of depression, we are capable of great, and I mean great, happiness. This happiness is a happiness that will transcend yourself and make you even happier because it will allow you to see the world for what it is , accept it, and wallow in the beauty and joy of it, and accept the misery that is in the world with equaniminity.
I didn't mean to make this so long, but I identify so strongly with you that it is impossible for me not write; you probably think that I surely can't, but I can assure you that I do to the extent that one is able to know another person's feelings.
By the way, when people suffer it can cause them to become embittered or compassionate. Guess who ends up happy in the long run? I will say this: those who become compassionate do not continue to suffer; those who become embittered do.
Love you lots and lots and lots and lots....

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EEEEEEEEEEkkkkk! From a Lawyer's Wife

Okay, my husband makes a good living, and that does make me happy since I don't have the job that I did - and don't want to have it.
So don't think that I'm ungrateful. And this is not totally at lawyers per se. (I guess).

Join me in a collective scream the next time a commercial comes on about how to find mesothelioma lawyers. Please just scream as loud as you can so that you don't hear their names, and you don't have to hear about mesothelioma and how it's caused by asbestos or whatever the hell. Now don't think that I don't have sympathy for those who have this disease, but please!!!
Why don't the mesothelioma lawyers just come on and say, "Hey, if you have a relative who has died of mesothelioma, we'll sue the bastards and give you almost two-thirds of what we win for you. This will be a win situation for everyone!" (Except, of course , for the poor guy who is dead of mesothelioma.)
Next {I'm so sick of this it could be terminal ] has got to be the commercials advertising auto insurance. At first, some of them were cute. No more.
Ask me if I want to hear about auto insurance quotes 25 times a day, every day. Ask me if I care about auto insurance quotes! (Hey, one thing about having an attorney for a husband is that he does take care of the insurance!)

I won't even go into the home equity loans, you know, the thing about mortgages where you refinance your house?
And knowing about life insurance is something that when I want to know about it I will call a life insurance salesman. (Which I have done, by the way; why would you buy this from a number on television?) And burial insurance is just plain morbid. I wish I didn't know that when you die Social Security only pays a 250.00 death benefit. Hmmm, there are 2 interesting words: death benefit.
The funny thing though is that I have a wonderful memory, but I cannot really remember the names of any of these advertisers except one, and that is only because of the little talking animal. So what are these people actually accomplishing besides boring me silly, wasting their money, and making some ad execs rich?
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At Last!

I'm finally back from Hot Springs, and so glad to be home although the house is still full of cut glass, paintings and pictures, china, and silver that should be put away - not to mention that in every room there are extra tables and lamps sitting around at odd places.
My brother-in-law is at home and better; my mother is also at home although I don't really know how she is. No one but the one sister has really been in touch with me at all to bother to tell me about her.
I had a good talk with my best friend, took care of the animals, and worked although not on the computer much at all. My brain is half dead from the long drive and I still haven't unloaded my car (groan...still must do that). But boy, I am glad to be home, no matter how messy, it is home.

More of Life's Enigmas

Hmmm.... my brother-in-law has been in the hospital for 11 days in heart failure; my mother is losing half her face and an eye because she wouldn't go to the doctor for 30 years....Everything happens at once! We finished cleaning out the in-law's house that was sold, and now we can barely walk in ours. I have put away 2 sets of china, cut glass, hung some paintings, repacked silver and china, tried to put down rugs, and now it looks as though I've done nothing unless you were to have see it a few days ago. Sigh...
I'm scared for my brother-in-law whom I'm crazy about, but as my sister points out my mother, who is mentally ill, has done that to herself. How she could look in the mirrour with the tumour that she had on her face is beyond me. I was numb about her years ago since she was so abusive when we were growing up.
The good news is that my niece has gotten a job that she really wants.
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What Now, My Love?

Yes, I'm talking to myself. Tomorrow my daughter-in-law flies to Michigan then after a long weekend goes back to Europe. She's relieved that she's getting out of town before the SuperBowl madness begins.
Just turned the channel and saw that Sirens is on; it's one of those movies that I can turn on and watch in the middle. It doesn't really get old. Others like that are To Die For, The Shipping News, and Heavenly Creatures, Kate Winslet's first movie. Interestingly enough, Heavenly Creatures is a true story and the character that Kate Winslet plays grew up to be Anne Perry (a pen name) who writes Victorian murder mysteries. Go figger. And, the other girl, Paul/Yvonne, became the headmistress of a girls' school in New Zealand. Oh, yeah, molding young minds, great job for someone who cold-bloodedly murdered her own mother!
Oh, and if you've never seen it, you've got to watch Psycho II: All American Girl, which has nothing to do with that idiot movie starring Christian Bale and written by Bret Easton Ellis (gag). This show is great, but you have to watch it more than once. I think that I am a cult of one where it is concerned; I can quote dialogue like I used to for Rocky Horror Picture Show (hmmm, maybe I shouldn't go there, but the '70s were so much fun, you guys!!)
My husband and I both have been too busy to talk about Asperger's. Oh, there's a conversation to come!
I hope my daughter-in-law thinks I'm taking care of her cats okay. I love them, but I know that no one could take care of them as well as she could (she brushes their teeth).
Oh, well, it's well past my bedtime or at least what should be my bedtime.



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What To Do?

We're going to have to go through an extremely large house and my husband and his sister are going to have to split up the furniture and everything in it. The house is huge and the furniture, much of it, is quite heavy and big. I don't think this is exactly the time to bring up Asperger's to my husband; I usually jump the gun on so many things. But the more I read, the more that I 'm sure that this is the correct diagnosis. We've gone through at least 2 psychiatrists and 3 psychologists and I don't know why none of them have recognized it or brought it up. I think one psychologist came close, but is an hour a week really enough for someone to tell?
The Asperger's thing is depressing me; I'm wondering if my husband really loves me or if I was a convenience (I've wondered this for many years because of his lack of affection). How am I going to know this?
Asperger's Syndrome Asperger Syndrome weblog husband love

Worst Movies I've Ever Seen - The David Kim Show

Worst Movies I've Ever Seen - The David Kim Show
I can agree with you except for "Rocky Horror"; hey, you had to be there (and believe me, I was there!) Cluny Grey

Asperger's Syndrome

Hi, All! I need help and information about living with someone with Asperger's Syndrome. I know that my husband has it although he has not yet been formally diagnosed, and I don't know what to do, how or whether to tell him. He is not going to like my telling him this, but I am so sure of it, and it explains a whole lot. I cannot find any groups for spouses, so if you come across my blog and know anything about Asperger's please leave a note with any sources for information you can give me. And if your spouse has Asperger's please share with me what you are doing and how you both are learning to live with this diagnosis. Asperger's Syndrome Asperger Syndrome

Colds, Lost Luggage, and General Malaise

I went to Europe for Christmas and spent almost a whole week in bed with the nastiest cold I've ever had. When I finally did get well enough to go out, I alternated between fever and chills so badly that I would soak my clothes with sweat and then literally have them frozen to me when I went outside. I did get to enjoy myself however, good restaurants, good bread, lots of beauty of the type I NEVER see around here in this dismal part of Arkansas. When I finally got ready to leave the airport to go home, one of my huge checked bags was missing. Lovely, huh. Luckily it wasn't the one with my Christmas presents in it, but it still had quite a few valuables. I had to pick it up at the airport in Newark to go through Customs, so I knew it had made it to the U.S. at least. Why you have to pick up your checked bags for about 5 minutes to go through customs is beyond me. Nobody even asked us if we had anything to declare, and since we weren't coming from Brazil or another country with agricultural "cooties" that could have been brought in, it seems to me that we could have skipped the entire ordeal. We caught our connecting flight with barely enough time to spare (although the time before last, I missed it, making the gate just after they had shut the gate door. Talk about awful! Spend the night at the Howard Johnson's Airport hotel in Newark, New Jersey.
So I'm back home and the house if filthy; the cats (or one of them) has thrown up a couple of places. I swear that they do it deliberately (well, if she thinks she can go to Europe and just leave me here, I'll show her!). Anyway, at least they were very glad to see us although our catsitter takes very good care of them and stays around to watch movies on the satellite so the cats can climb on him and he can pet them (I think he does like the movies, too).
We have to get new carpet for most of the downstairs; this stuff is shameful. No matter how much I vacuum or anyone else does, the carpet still looks dirty. But my husband hates to spend money (hey, the carpet is 24 years old!) and he hates the hassle of doing it (although I'm the one who's going to have to do most of the moving and cleaning; he will do none of it). Life's Enigmas Donnachloe