TerriDoodle

Somebody call Kat! I can't 'cause I'm in a fishbowl here at my desk. Judy? TracyK?

Thanks for the update, Jane. Poor Kat. :thumbup:

CRAP!!!!:crying::scared2:

TracyinKS - we sure do miss you! Dontcha love us anymore? :smile: TracyK - hope you're doing good in Coushatta! I imagine those slots are pretty tight these days. Do you ever play blackjack? That's DH's game. I like video poker, but only at certain casinos! I think next time we go to Vegas I'll just take my money to the MALL! DH keeps himself very entertained at the blackjack tables and I just lose all the money he makes!!! Kinda stupid. Judy - kicking up the exercise will work. Or maybe get off the dang tuna and soy nuts!! LOL shake up your diet with, oh, I dunno.....anything else!? Janie - I can really 'hear' the difference in your posts since you got your fill! You sound so much more in control! It's a great feeling and I"m so happy for you! Hope the boogey man didn't get you! You OK? Pamela - Wow...I can't believe you're almost DONE!! What I really can't believe is just a few measly months ago you were thinking of trashing the whole project!!? So how does this process work from here?? What's next? And when do we have to start calling you Dr. K and kissing your ring? :scared2: Michelle - Does DH get back today? Is he gonna be all TAN? That would irk me more than anything! LOL Haydeeeeeeee - Hi! Whazzup in your world? Did you and Juan start your relationship counseling thing yet? How's it going? Laura - The nursery is just DARLING!! Ya'll did a fantastic job. I can't remember what you told us....what's your plan for childcare when you go back to work? How much time will you take off? Nothing new really in my world. I have been cooking almost every night for the last month which is WAY out of character for me! It's part of my austerity program :crying: But, I am actually a pretty good cook (I just hate it) and it's nice to have food in the fridge all the time! But all in all my eating has not been good -- lots of sweets and bread. I wish I could live on chocolate. I'm not gaining but my head's not in the game at all. Speaking of which, DH and I are going out for Valentine's brunch this morning...no way in hell we were gonna fight the crowds last night! Even the grocery store was about twice as busy as normal yesterday....at 10:00 in the morning!! There were lots of men in there scrambling around. LOL I suppose I've rambled enough for now.... Ya'll have a good day....and light a candle for Manda, k?

Kat - why are they wanting to move her? What can the other hospitals offer that they can't? Better specialists? I'm just heartbroken for you all. Did they ever confirm the RP dx or is that still up in the air as well? Is she eating alright? I imagine all those powerful drugs must be making her feel pretty yucky. I'm so very sorry, honey. You sound pretty good considering. You are taking SUCH good care of Kinsey, keeping her calm, happy and distracted. I can't stress enough how grateful I am that she has you. You are a WONDERFUL mom and grandmother, and that's a gross understatement. Eat all the damn ice cream you want.

ZR? No comprende. He is a freak of nature!!! :ohmy:

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh. I thought I had read recently that you were at an all-time low at around 170. Then read you had bounced to 185!! ... so I was thinking you had bounced from 170 to 185 in just a couple of weeks! I know TracyinKS and Jenn can have pretty big bounces like that, so it's not unheard of ... just not in my world! My scale is very, very boring. Although I was bouncing between 181-183 for the LONGEST time... since Xmas it's more like 184-186. :w00t:

OMG, that's exactly what I looked like when I was pregnant!! However, I gained 42# with the first one, then got smart and only gained 26# with the second one. Tooooo funny!! OMG, don't even get me started on this crazy bitch!!! Yeah, how is it that she's on food stamps AND paying for fertility treatments??? :thumbup::cursing: Did ya'll hear she's gone into hiding? She's getting hate mail out the wazoo after she opened up a website asking for $$$!!! Amen, sister!!!******** I've been sooooooo blue today and don't know why!? Maybe just sleepy but very unsociable all day. Long week and I want it to be OVER. Also got some marriage issues I'm trying to work thru. Nothing real serious, just trying to come to terms with the fact that a few things will just never change and I have to learn how to be OK with that. HA! Easier said than done. Think it might be a tad worse because Valentine's is coming up and I'm just not in the mood! Kat - were you able to talk Manda into coming home to your house?? What's going on with the MRSA? How is she feeling physiclally, anyway? Hugs and prayers still coming your way. Judy - Where are Jen and Joe going? Just to get away for the weekend or something official? Hey, i feel ya.... I'd die for sure if I had to take care of a little active guy like Ethan all day, every day for a week!! Yikes! You must need a really, really long nap! Welcome suzyt!! I'm pooped myself. My grumpy attitude really took it out of me today. I'm going night-night. Love you all!!

This totally boggles my mind how you guys can swing back and forth in weight like that! I'd FREAK OUT!!! As I've told ya'll my weight is VERY steady...swings a pound or two at most. What gives? :thumbup:

That's HILARIOUS!! :laugh: Tracy just doesn't love is anymore....... it's plain to see.:crying:

I can eat pasta ONLY if it's fresh pasta!? Y'know, like at a high end italian restaurant or those refrigerated pastas at the grocery store. Otherwise I PB like a madwoman for hours -- same as the Bobster.

Kat - thank you for the update and I"m glad to hear that you are all doing a *little* better. That's a hopeful sign. Jane - That is awesome news!!! ...and we needed that!!!

Gratitude for today: That I have money to buy groceries.

Hi Kat - I sure hope you get a chance to post tonight....just let us know how Manda's doing, ok? Any updates are appreciated. I know you're tired. I'm sorry, honey.

The following is a condensation of a series from the Investor's Business Daily explaining 'What Caused the Loan Crisis': 1977: Pres. Jimmy Carter signs the Community Reinvestment Act into Law. The law pressured financial institutions to extend home loans to those who would otherwise not qualify. The Premise: Home ownership would improve poor and crime-ridden communities and neighborhoods in terms of crime, investment, jobs, etc. Results: Statistics bear out that it did not help. How did the government get so deeply involved in the housing market? Answer: Bill Clinton wanted it that way. 1992: Republican representative Jim Leach (IO) warned of the danger that Fannie and Freddie were changing from being agencies of the public at large to money machines for the principals and the stockholding few. 1993: Clinton extensively rewrote Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's rules turning the quasi-private mortgage-funding firms into semi-nationalized monopoies dispensing cash and loans to large Democratic voting blocks and handing favors, jobs and contributions to political allies. This potent mix led inevitably to corruption and now the collapse of Freddie and Fannie. 1994: Despite warnings, Clinton unveiled his National Home-Ownership Strategy which broadened the CRA in ways congress never intended. 1995: Congress, about to change from a Democrat majority to Republican, Clinton orders Robert Rubin's Treasury Dept to rewrite the rules. Robt. Rubin's Treasury reworked rules, forcing banks to satisfy quotas for sub-prime and minority loans to get a satisfactory CRA rating. The rating was key to expansion or mergers for banks. Loans began to be made on the basis of race and little else. 1997 - 1999: Clinton , bypassing Republicans, enlisted Andrew Cuomo, then Secretary of Housing and Urban Developement, allowing Freddie and Fannie to get into the sub-prime market in a BIG way. Led by Rep. Barney Frank and Sen. Chris Dodd, congress doubled down on the risk by easing capital limits and allowing them to hold just 2.5% of capital to back their investments vs. 10% for banks. Since they could borrow at lower rates than banks their enterprises boomed. With incentives in place, banks poured billions in loans into poor communities, often 'no doc', 'no income', requiring no money down and no verification of income. Worse still was the cronyism: Fannie and Freddie became home to out-of work-politicians, mostly Clinton Democrats. 384 politicians got big campaign donations from Fannie and Freddie. Over $200 million had been spent on lobbying and political activities. During the 1990's Fannie and Freddie enjoyed a subsidy of as musch as $182 Billion,most of it going to principals and shareholders, not poor borrowers as claimed. Did it work? Minorities made up 49% of the 12.5 million new homeowners but many of those loans have gone bad and the minority homeownership rates are shrinking fast. 1999: New Treasury Secretary, Lawrence Summers, became alarmed at Fannie and Freddie's excesses. Congress held hearings the ensuing year but nothing was done because Fannie and Freddie had donated millions to key congressmen and radical groups, ensuring no meaningful changes would take place. 'We manage our political risk with the same intensity that we manage our credit and interest rate risks,' Fannie CEO Franklin Raines, a former Clinton official and current Barack Obama advisor, bragged to investors in 1999. 2000: Secretary Summers sent Undersecretary Gary Gensler to Congress seeking an end to the 'special status'. Democrats raised a ruckus as did Fannie and Freddie, headed by politically connected CEO's who knew how to reward and punish. 'We think that the statements evidence a contempt for the nation's housing and mortgage markets' Freddie spokesperson Sharon McHale said. It was the last chance during the Clinton era for reform. 2001: Republicans try repeatedly to bring fiscal sanity to Fannie and Freddie but Democrats blocked any attempt at reform; especially Rep. Barney Frank and Sen.Chris Dodd who now run key banking committees and were huge beneficiaries of campaign contributions from the mortgage giants. 2003: Bush proposes what the NY Times called 'the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago'. Even after discovering a scheme by Fannie and Freddie to overstate earnings by $10.6 billion to boost their bonuses, the Democrats killed reform. 2005: Then Fed chairman Alan Greenspan warns Congress: 'We are placing the total financial system at substantial risk'. Sen. McCain, with two others, sponsored a Fannie/Freddie reform bill and said, 'If congress does not act, American taxpayers will continue to be exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial system and the economy as a whole'. Sen. Harry Reid accused the GOP ;of trying to 'cripple the ability of Fannie and Freddie to carry out their mission of expanding homeownership' The bill went nowhere. 2007: By now Fannie and Freddie own or guarantee over HALF of the $12 trillion US mortgage market. The mortgage giants, whose executive suites were top-heavy with former Democratic officials, had been working with Wall St. to repackage the bad loans and sell them to investors. As the housing market fell in '07, subprime mortgage portfolios suffered major losses. The crisis was on, though it was 15 years in the making. 2008: McCain has repeatedly called for reforming the behemoths, Bush urged reform 17 times. Still the media have repeated Democrats' talking points about this being a 'Republican' disaster. A few Republicans are complicit but Fannie and Freddie were created by Democrats, regulated by Democrats, largely run by Democrats and protected by Democrats. That's why taxpayers are now being asked for $700 billion!! If you doubt any of this, just click the links below and listen to your lawmakers own words. They are condeming! [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68D9XrqyrWo&feature=related]YouTube - Fannie & Freddie: The Real Story Behind The Economic Crisis[/ame]# http://www.youtube...com/watch?v=pIgqfM5C8lY# [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9juJr8CSY4&feature=related]YouTube - How democrats lied to America, while using community reinvestment act and acorn to destroy the American financial system.[/ame]# Postscript: ACORN is one of the principle beneficiaries of Fannie/ Freddie's slush funds. They are currently under indictment or investigation in many states. Barack Obama served as their legal counsel, defending their activities for several years. Please share this with everyone you know. Send it. Print it. Talk about it. America needs to know!!!

This cracks me up. Darlin', you will be at that hospital LONG before you are ready to deliver! I was pretty darn uncomfortable and at the hospital by 7:00a; got the epidural at 1:00p and delivered at 7:00PM!! $20 says you're momma's gonna be happy to help you out! HA! Ain't THAT the truth!!! Ya big chicken!

Ok, I did NOT relish the pain. But I held out long as I could + 1 hour more. For my 2nd childbirth I was telling the anesthesiologist not to leave the room or I would send Guido after his family!! That was a whole different experiene -- easy peasy. So the trick is to have your own personal anesthesiologist sit by your head until you dismiss him.

Have ya'll been following this developing story about the mom who recently gave birth to octuplets? This woman is freaking crazy....and i'm being as nice as possible.

I listened to Obama's press conference last night. I think if I would have heard him say one more time that this was all the fault of the last administration, I would have just self-combusted!!!!!!!!!!!:thumbdown:

oh, it worked for me!? Ingredients: 1 (16 ounce) package frozen mixed vegetables 2 1/2 cups cubed cooked chicken 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken Soup, undiluted 3/4 cup milk 1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese, divided 8 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled (optional) BISCUITS: 1 1/2 cups biscuit/baking mix 2/3 cup milk 1 (2.8 ounce) can French-fried onions Directions: 1.In a large bowl, combine the vegetables, chicken, soup, milk, 1 cup cheese and bacon if desired. Pour into an ungreased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking dish.2.Cover and bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.3.Meanwhile, in another bowl, combine biscuit mix and milk. Drop the batter by tablespoonfuls onto the chicken mixture.4.Bake, uncovered, for 20-22 minutes or until biscuits are golden brown. Top with the onions and remaining cheese. Bake 3-4 minutes longer or until the cheese is melted.

It's a link...... click on it.

Kat - I just can't find the words. All I feel right now is an overwhelming desire to get on a plane and come hold you and let you cry. I feel like I'm in a room with no door and can't get out. You're just on the other side of the wall but you can't hear me. It's so frustrating being so far away when you're in so much pain. Judy - I am really hopeful that Jen's situation will improve. I know it will, but probably not overnight like you all are needing it to be. It sounds like she's got a long tough road ahead of her. ((((Hugs))) to all my Violet sweeties today. Make it count.

I like the revised count better!!!

I am grateful today for so many things in my personal life, but what's most on my mind is that I'm grateful to have generous medical benefits so that I can give my kids the best care available. (((Kat))) Please let us know how you're doing. We won't rest 'til we hear from you. (((Judy))) Give Ethan a kiss from his Aunties.

Oh my goodness, Judy!!! I just feel so bad for them!!! Poor Ethan! I tell ya, these kids sure are lucky to have such wonderful grandparents in their lives! Where would they be without ya'll?