It has been FOREEEVERRRRRRRR! I guess I have a lot of forgiveness to ask for, as I have been thoroughly involved in my own stuff lately. I hope you can open your hearts to me, even just a little. I am truly ashamed of myself.

Both daughters are in high school now; Emily is getting ready to go to college (is it possible that she is that old? that I am that old?!). I finally left the house. I had been working from home for 17 years, and now I'm in an office!!! Yippee! I'm a licensed insurance specialist for American Family Insurance (I only work part time), and it's a terrific change. I was so lonely at home, and there is not a thing on daytime TV that I care about. With the kids at school, Doug at work, and the dogs not much good in the way of conversation, I was starting to get depressed, and you all know that is not a natural state for this particular geek.

I woke up in the middle of the night last night, thinking about all of you, wondering how you are, if you are all healthy and safe, and what new is going on in your lives. I'm so pleasantly surprised to see that you have kept in touch on this board, which is officially YOUR board now, not mine, as I think you probably have squatters rights to something that I have abandoned. I am going to try to be better. Really!

I wish the best for you all.

Keeping you in my prayers,

Whisper (Gwen)

Hey you!!! {{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{Gwen}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}} What a lovely surprise! I pop in every week or two to see if anyone has been by, and it's so lovely to see you here. I'm so glad for you that you're at last able to go back out into the world! I hope you're enjoying yourself! It's hard to believe your girls are that old now!

Life here is wonderful. My little Pogo and I are living a lovely peaceful life in a lovely house, and I'm enjoying my work very much. I have a friend staying with me at the moment for three months and that's nice too

So looking forward to the Easter break. Hope you (and everyone) has a safe, peaceful and happy Easter!

Love you!
(And you have absolutely NOTHING to ask forgiveness for!)

{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{Vicki}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}!

It sounds like you and Pogo (puppy or kitty?) are getting along very well. Are you still in the house you moved to a couple of years ago? Wasn't it yellow? Who's the friend (male or female)? Isn't it fun having someone to eat dinner with, run errands with?

We still have our little black Scotty, Holly, and now we have a Wheaton Scotty as well, Cotton. They are as sweet as can be, and we adore them. The cats, on the other hand, would be just as happy if the dogs had never invaded their space. Our cats are very stuck-up, but that's part of what we love about them; they're little prima-donas and prima-donalds! lol! :D

I'm very proud of the girls. They are both straight A students, involved in journalism, cheerleading, swim team, student council... Needless to say, they have no time for Mom or Dad anymore.

Doug is so busy lately that I hardly see him. He's either at work or out of town constantly. They are very low on personnel at work, so he's having to fill in a lot. We did go dancing, though, last Friday night, so that was fantastic!

My job is so much fun! I'm learning a lot, and I enjoy the company very much. I had to get licensed to sell insurance in Kansas to work for the company, and that was a chore (although, I do love an excuse to take classes), but I passed everything, and now it's just fun, fun, fun! :D

Graduation is coming up (end of May). I think it will be exciting, sad, busy, sad, hectic, and sad. Emily will be going away to school. She's not sure where, yet. She's interviewed with several schools and been accepted to several, but she's waiting to hear from a few who don't send out notices until April. I don't know how I'll cope. I will miss her terribly. Thank God I still have Annie!!!!

Anyway, I guess I better go.

I love you!

Whisper (Gwen)

{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{Vicki}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}!

{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{Gwen}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}!!!!

It sounds like you and Pogo (puppy or kitty?) are getting along very well. Are you still in the house you moved to a couple of years ago? Wasn't it yellow? Who's the friend (male or female)? Isn't it fun having someone to eat dinner with, run errands with?

Pogo is just the most adorable, beautiful and happy little girl doggie you could meet! Here's her web page on Dogster (shameless plug!): http://www.dogster.com/dogs/572515

Nope, not still in that yellow-fronted house. I'm in a really lovely and so much nicer house. Three bedrooms/one bathroom and with the most lovely garden and lawns you can imagine. Here's some pics for ya:

http://s157.photobucket.com/albums/t73/Kendaa_thefirst/

My friend is a female friend I met when I was court reporting. Her husband is in the US military (she met him here - long story!) He's currently stationed in the US (east coast) and she was unsuccessful with her application for a visa first time around, so she's had to come back here while her next attempt is processing. The heartbreaking thing is that her little boy is in the States with his dad. He's just turned a year old. Because of their situation his dad wasn't here during the pregnancy and for the first 5 months of the little fellow's life, so they made the heartbreaking decision that he should stay in the States with his dad until she can finally go back over. So she's with me for around 3 months or so and is back working at the court reporting job. It is fun having someone to have dinner with and talk with, although we don't live in each other's pockets (if that makes sense?), but we share the cooking and the housecleaning, which is nice because it gives me a little bit more time to spend with Madam La Poggles and play with her (most spoilt dog on the planet!)

We still have our little black Scotty, Holly, and now we have a Wheaton Scotty as well, Cotton. They are as sweet as can be, and we adore them. The cats, on the other hand, would be just as happy if the dogs had never invaded their space. Our cats are very stuck-up, but that's part of what we love about them; they're little prima-donas and prima-donalds! lol! :D

LOL at the prima-donalds!!! That's hysterical! I'm so glad your two doggies have each other to play with. Do the cats and dogs get along ok? Pogo LOVES cats, which I find just...strange, lol!!!

I'm very proud of the girls. They are both straight A students, involved in journalism, cheerleading, swim team, student council... Needless to say, they have no time for Mom or Dad anymore.

Oh Gwen, that's so wonderful! I'm not at all surprised that they're both doing so well with parents like you and Doug! I imagine it must be bittersweet for you both to watch them grow up and into the wonderful young women they're turning into and have to step back a little as they find their wings and start to prepare to vacate the nest?

Doug is so busy lately that I hardly see him. He's either at work or out of town constantly. They are very low on personnel at work, so he's having to fill in a lot. We did go dancing, though, last Friday night, so that was fantastic!

Yay! YGG!!! That's so lovely that you both got to go dancing! Any particular kind? There seems to be a well-established dance scene here. My neighbour at Dianella used to go tango/Latin dancing once a week and I've heard of several other people being involved in dance classes - oh, an ex member of our library here. She was doing jive/jitterbug dancing! AND she was in her late 40s! Will things ease off for Doug in the future? I hope he's not wearing himself out!

My job is so much fun! I'm learning a lot, and I enjoy the company very much. I had to get licensed to sell insurance in Kansas to work for the company, and that was a chore (although, I do love an excuse to take classes), but I passed everything, and now it's just fun, fun, fun! :D

Now that's just great to hear. You don't always hear about people being really happy in their job/work. (I am though - I love my job and love the people I work with - we're all nuts!) Is it a busy job? I'm not surprised that you passed everything - I would have been amazed if you didn't! How long have you been at it now? It must be nice to be out of the house too.

Graduation is coming up (end of May). I think it will be exciting, sad, busy, sad, hectic, and sad. Emily will be going away to school. She's not sure where, yet. She's interviewed with several schools and been accepted to several, but she's waiting to hear from a few who don't send out notices until April. I don't know how I'll cope. I will miss her terribly. Thank God I still have Annie!!!!

You must be so proud of them both, Gwen. Graduation will be such a wonderful, memorable experience for you all. What schools has Emily been offered places at? Hopefully close enough to visit regularly! How long before Annie heads to graduation?

Anyway, I guess I better go.

You sound as if life is full, rich and wonderful! I have to say I can't remember a time in my life when I was ever as happy, at peace and as contented as I am at the moment.

I love you!

Whisper (Gwen)

Love you too!!!
Vicki

Pogo is just the most adorable, beautiful and happy little girl doggie you could meet! Here's her web page on Dogster (shameless plug!): http://www.dogster.com/dogs/572515
She is gorgeous!!! I can see why you love her!!

Nope, not still in that yellow-fronted house. I'm in a really lovely and so much nicer house. Three bedrooms/one bathroom and with the most lovely garden and lawns you can imagine. Here's some pics for ya:
http://s157.photobucket.com/albums/t73/Kendaa_thefirst/
Sooooo cute! I really really like it!

My friend is a female friend I met when I was court reporting. Her husband is in the US military (she met him here - long story!) He's currently stationed in the US (east coast) and she was unsuccessful with her application for a visa first time around, so she's had to come back here while her next attempt is processing. The heartbreaking thing is that her little boy is in the States with his dad. He's just turned a year old. Because of their situation his dad wasn't here during the pregnancy and for the first 5 months of the little fellow's life, so they made the heartbreaking decision that he should stay in the States with his dad until she can finally go back over. So she's with me for around 3 months or so and is back working at the court reporting job. It is fun having someone to have dinner with and talk with, although we don't live in each other's pockets (if that makes sense?), but we share the cooking and the housecleaning, which is nice because it gives me a little bit more time to spend with Madam La Poggles and play with her (most spoilt dog on the planet!)

It is so nice of you to open your home and your heart to someone in that situation. You have such a great heart!

LOL at the prima-donalds!!! That's hysterical! I'm so glad your two doggies have each other to play with. Do the cats and dogs get along ok? Pogo LOVES cats, which I find just...strange, lol!!!

They get along alright. The dogs would love the cats to play with them, but the cats are entirely too proud to get down and dirty with D-O-G-S...

You must be so proud of them both, Gwen. Graduation will be such a wonderful, memorable experience for you all. What schools has Emily been offered places at? Hopefully close enough to visit regularly! How long before Annie heads to graduation?

I am very very proud of them! Today is Annie's birthday, so we're headed out to dinner in a bit. She's had such a great first year in high school! Emily finally decided on Northwestern University. It's a great college, and she was lucky to be accepted into the Medill school of journalism there. I'll miss her, as it's around Chicago (9 hours away), but flights are cheap, so hopefully she'll be back often.

You sound as if life is full, rich and wonderful! I have to say I can't remember a time in my life when I was ever as happy, at peace and as contented as I am at the moment.

That is SUPER! I love that you are so happy! I have decided that positive thought is the way to go, and you sound like you are living in a very positive place right now. Good on you, sweetie!

Whisper (Gwen)

Time sure flies!!!!!!!

I can't believe those little girls are already in high school!!!! Wowie!

Kendaa - I sent you a Christmas card but it came back!!!! Can you send me your new addy? Pretty please? Puppy is still cute as ever!!!! new house is Beautiful!!!

askshana at usa.net

(Whisper ... if you want you can send me yours too if you want a card... no obligation to send one out... I have just gone a bit bananas the last few years doing that!)

What we're up to:

Lessee... we have a dog now. Did I tell y'all that? Her name is Peanut.



She's a year old Pit bull mix - we call her the "Money Pit" since we're always buying her stuff. She wandered up to our house in February and never left. She's a wiggle butt.




Here she's playing with a neighbor's dog-


I took her over to meet my friend's dogs a few times (the ones I dogsit - Chiquita, Toby and Brownie) and she plays with Toby but Chiquita and Brownie want nothing to do with her. Brownie runs away and Chiquita goes after her. So I haven't brought her back over.

Chiquita is 14 now and is limping around. She has arthritis and bone cancer. She is on painkillers, but other than that she is still happy and gets around surprisingly well. 14 is very old for a dog her size.

Brownie is 13 and looks and acts like she's 5. We think she doesn't have enough brain cells to realize she's getting older.

Toby is 9 and is still surviving Valley Fever. He got a hip replaced last year and did real well. He had a cancerous tumor removed from his pancreas and is currently in remission for cancer. That dog has really been thru a lot!

From left: Brownie Chiquita and Toby



We're doing ok. We still have my old blue car... she is 20 and has 389,000+ miles. Gareth bought me the 2007 version of her because we got left on the side of the road one too many times for him. She's Violet Gray and I named her... Violet! LOL. He bought her in Seattle and we flew up and drove her up to Vancouver and Victoria BC and then home to Texas. That was fun.

:D

'shana

It's great to see some activity here.

I'm just sitting at home watching the news about Tropical Storm Edouard which was supposed to come onshore at Galveston but went a bit north and right now we have no impact at all (yet).

I just spent a couple weeks with my mother - took her for a chemical stress test and she had to wear a heart monitor - but she seems to be doing pretty well for 79.

School starts soon and I had a science workshop yesterday, but we got out an hour early to get ready for the storm that missed us.

Annie

Good to see all of you are still around.

And Whisper, congratulations on the graduate! Mine graduated last spring, but has put off college. I've been kicking him lately, he is too darn smart not to be in college.

Kendaa has an address? I'd sure like to have that, it'd be nice to actually send her something. ~no pressure~

It's been quiet in my life lately, which is a nice change. Job hunting, though, which has not been a thrill.

The doggies are cute. I miss having a dog around, but since I prefer cats, I'm happy with Talkie. She is our old cat that we brought in to live with us five years ago and is still going strong. She is 18 this year and just as healthy as she was in her younger years. She had a bit of an adjustment to make, going from an outdoor farm cat to an indoor cat, but she made it and has improved since she stopped coming into heat!
She did give us a scare three years ago. She was fine when we went to bed, but the next morning, she couldn't stand. I realized she was somewhat dizzy, definitely off food, so I took her to the vet. She was diagnosed as having an ear infection, but I've always wondered if she had had a stroke, too. Whatever it was, after a month, she rebounded and went back to her old silly self.

{{{{{{hugs to all}}}}}}

El