When I was a little girl, my dad used to procure fresh pork chitterlings from the local butcher and my mum would fry them up for Saturday tea (that's dinner, to you Americans).  I remember really enjoying them. Since I've been over here I haven't had chitlings, and my dad really enjoys teasing me about that.  Last weekend he and I were talking about food and I mentioned that I'd seen some frozen chitterlings at the store.  he said that they were just as good frozen as...

Link In October 2004 NG wrote a 'doomsday' article about what a cat. 5 hurricane could/would do to Louisiana.  Reading that article today, 2 weeks after Katrina wiped out New Orleans, I got the chills at how accurate they were - right down to the thousands of people left stranded. It's so true to life it's scary.

You feel that you paid for his training, You think that you're paying for our food and clothing and shelter. You see his paycheck coming out of your tax dollar, and you want to make sure it's not wasted.  You want to get your money's worth. I'm here to tell you that you got your money's worth already, and he's still got 6 years to go. Every time he deploys to a comabt zone, you get your money's worth. Every time he arms up and goes to work, you're getting your money's wor...

It's my eldest son's bithday today. 11 years ago today his dad and I were hauling ass down the back roads of England in our little white mini, trying to get to Lakenheath and NOT have the baby in the car. Davey was born at 6:03pm, weighing in at just over 9lbs.  He had light brown hair and big shoulders (boy did that kid ever have big shoulders). Today he's the spitting image of his dad.  He's in a Talented and Gifted class for all of his subjects at school, and he's a consist...

This month's 'Utne Reader' focuses on death and our reactions to it. It poses some questions...I've answered them, but I'd like to see what other people's answers are: What is your worst-case scenario for how you will die? For me, the worst case is to die after a long, painful, debilitating illness....in a hospice or nursing home, separated from the people I love either by distance or dementia or pain.  I don't want to die in agony, laying in my own filth, unable to communica...

Link The FEMA director who basically screwed the whole rescue effort up and left thousands of people without food and water has been relieved of his duties. Can't imagine why...

  " I wear no uniforms, no blues or army greens. But I am in the military in the ranks rarely seen. I have no rank upon my shoulders. Salutes I do not give. But the military world is the place where I live. I'm not in the chain of command, orders I do not get. But my husband is the one who does, this I cannot forget. I'm not the ones who fires the weapon, who puts my life on the line. But my job is just as tough. I'm the one that's left behind. My husband is a patriot, a brav...

This is the third night in a row that I've been unable to sleep. This is ridiculous.  I can't function on 3 and a half hours of sleep every night. I have a cold, I feel like crap, and I need to get some rest...but that's proving impossible.  I'll just haunt the forums here at JU and see who else is around at this time of night....

My husband (JU ID 'lonesome traveler') complains that I talk too much sometimes. It's true, I do get a bit chatty at times. He's going to be a very happy man when he gets home from work this evening. I'm losing my voice.  I have a cold, and it was a bit raspy when I got up this morning.  I liked the way it sounded, so I started singing along with my guitar playing. That was a mistake.....because I've gone from having a sexy rasp to having nothing but an unattractiv...

I've played guitar a lot since the kids went back to school.  I've played at least an hour every day...and it shows.  I've finally 'got it', I think.  I was having a hell of a time putting together the singing and the playing at the same time...there were some strum patterns that really threw me off and left me feeling very frustrated and discouraged.  I had been trying to play 'Danny's Song' (James Taylor version) and was almost in tears because I just couldn't get ...

It never fails. This time every year, the week or 10 days after the kids go back to school...one of them will bring home a cold and the entire household will get it - well, almost the entire household, Dave never seems to get sick. It's happened again this year.  First Jake was sniffly all weekend, then Monday Shea got it, yesterday afternoon I started feeling like crap and now Davey has a headache and a sore throat.  Jake's almost over it and Shea felt well enough to go to ...

I found this site earlier today, and I'm enamoured. www.postsecret.com The idea is that you can make yourself a postcard with a secret of yours written on it, and you mail it to the person who owns the site.  S/he then scans it and posts it on his site (Sundays are update days).  It's totally anonymous; no-one need ever know that it came from you.  The postcards on there today range from hilarious ("I use my room-mate's hair clips as nipple clamps") to sad (a picture o...

Link   Your birth on the 16th day of the month gives a sense of loneliness and generally the desire to work alone. You are relatively inflexible, and insist on your being independent. You need a good deal of time to rest and to meditate. You are introspective and a little stubborn. Because of this, it may not be easy for you to maintain permanent relationships, but you probably will as you are very much into home and family. This birth day inclines to interests in the...

Truday sent me some pictures of her and her new knee this morning, and asked that I post them for her....so, here they are! This is Trudy in the nursing home after the surgery: And this is her knee the day after she went bionic!   Isn't she a cutie?!