So, you all know that I set up that other forum for the mamas? I'm having a lot of trouble accessing it. I hope it keeps going, and when we get a new ISP hopefully I'll have better luck getting in there. But for now, I wanna talk, so I thought I'd try this, and see if it generates any interest. And have it be not all about mamas so I can invite my brother and other non-mama people. And the other difference is that it is mine, ALL MINE! (insert maniacal laughter) I mean, ahem, there will be only one administrator.

-- linda (sakajeweajo@yahoo.com), July 11, 2000

Answers

Gosh durn it! This damn thing is remembering the alias I used on other forum! Don't tell me I'm going to have to rewrite my real name every time I post a message!

By the way, I was using my alias on Gwen's forum, as an experiment, cause I feel like I've gotten a reputation as 'Linda' and wanted to start over fresh to see if my persona would change accordingly. I don't think it did. I may have been a little more flip than usual. Also, though, I'm just so tired of my name. I really want a more interesting name.

Anyway, so I basically made a nuisance of myself over at Gwen's forum, and I don't think Gwen likes me anymore. And because I hate it when people don't like me, I haven't been back. But the stupid computer is remembering me as 'Pear'. I don't want to be Pearl anymore, damn it!

-- linda (sakajeweajo@yahoo.com), July 13, 2000.

Oh, that's just great. I write out this long explanation for why the computer thinks I'm 'Pearl', and it doesn't post. Dammit.

-- linda (sakajeweajo@yahoo.com), July 13, 2000.

hello??? how come it doesn't like me?

-- linda (sakajeweajo@yahoo.com), July 13, 2000.

testing... testing...

-- linda (sakajeweajo@yahoo.com), July 13, 2000.

grrr....

-- linda (sakajeweajo@yahoo.com), July 13, 2000.

damn!

-- linda (sakajeweajo@yahoo.com), July 13, 2000.

Well, I'm about to cry. Now *this* isn't working. Is it working for you guys? How come I'm not seeing my messages?

-- linda (sakajeweajo@yahoo.com), July 13, 2000.

okay... is this working yet?

-- linda (sakajeweajo@yahoo.com), July 14, 2000.

yippie! thanks for trying over and over again. i am a novice at all these things. i have a hard time with the onelist, it takes a long time to navigate, on email is even longer since i have to open them all within some other file, etc. so this will hopefully be fast and fabulous. thanks again! paula

-- Paula O. Gaylord (poochie_ny@yahoo.com), July 12, 2000.

So I finally get to meet my one true love? You had to wait til I was married and pregnant, didn't you?

-- Vomati (MatiMS@aol.com), July 12, 2000.

i still can't believe mati's pregnant. it took damn long enough, that's all i can say. :)

well, here i am. i'm half dead from the finnish ebola that pirkko brought back from finland. here she and john were both dying, but she had to have her key back, so we met at the bagdad. then i figgered, as long as we were there all together, i may as well look at the weddin' pics, which were quite worth it. then we had to have a celebratory pint or two, of course. i thought i was going to die yesterday. i feel much better today, but maybe it's the heavy drugging. hmmm...

so linda! you're still coming up this weekend, right? what's the occasion?

-- hallie (halliekendall@yahoo.com), July 12, 2000.

Hallie! That's horrible! I'm so sorry. Why didn't you call me to complain?

Well, it looks like this is not going to be so popular. Damn, if only we had something like the original hM, all the oldies would flock to it. :)

-- pearl (klingsborn@yahoo.com), July 13, 2000.

Hey, vomati, I invited you out here plenty of times so's I could fix you up. You had your chance.

-- pearl (klingsborn@yahoo.com), July 13, 2000.

i would have called, but it's cheaper if i email. you know how we get going on the phone. actually, it's cheaper to DRIVE down, which i tell you frequently, though you'll oft accuse me of hyperbole (what??!? ME?!?). it's true. at the moment, i'm so poor i can't pay ATTENTION, and you don't want to hear about that. unless you can lend me a couple of hundred dollars 'til next year.

i DID get all my tomato plants arranged today-- i'm so excited. there are even tiny little tomatoes forming out of the flowers now. they're so cute! ....damn! i keep meaning to show off my cute tomatoes to geordie, but he's finally got his Dream Bike put together, and now i see him once a week. he's always off on that damn thing. he's so happy. it's the cutest thing i've ever seen.

but back to the tomatoes-- nothing makes me happier than free food. of the things i planted, though, geordie is opposed to putting two of them in his mouth under any but the most dire of circumstances e.g. the threat of starvation, or ... the threat of starvation-- jalepenos and cilantro-- and is incredibly picky about the form of the last (tomatoes; only acceptable in the form of ketchup, spaghetti sauce, and so on). this is actually good, because the fruit trees with keep him plenty busy. the plum tree is dripping with fruit (green fruit, for now- the rejects of which leroy has just LOVED stuffing into his mouth one at a time and gumming to death) and the apple tree is loaded as well. no pears this year, because (no doubt) of the brutal trimming job we had to do on it last year. it was a disaster. pear trees are kinda sensitive, i think, because the one at jessica's mom's hasn't had pears for years. ever, says jess, but i think there were when she bought it; in all likelihood, it stopped producing because her asshole stepdad would never stop fiddling with it-- he's the compulsive type.

i look foward to fencing the backyard so that the damn neighbors who neglect their dog chaining him in the alleyway day and night will be less annoying to me. i have been known to go over and let him run loose for a few minutes in the morning, when they won't notice, but i still feel like a jailer putting him back on that chain. i'm working myself up to go over there and scorch some eyebrows with a stern moral lecture. lacking any changes there, i plan to call in the abuse.

also, i've fixed the swing in the back to be more, um... friendly to the adult behind. rick came over and (re-) broke a lawn chair by sitting in it and i've since recycled the seat into a swing chair. it's truly a work of inspired genius. you will have to come try it out while we let the boys run around and splash in the pool.

what else? i'm going to have to work eventually. i hate the idea, but yard sales alone will not sustain me. i'm thinking of taking out a small business loan and fixing up that shop building into a work space. i can use it for babysitting --make it a very easy space to clean, with bunk beds for napping, tiled hose-downable craft area (for clay, play-doh, cornmeal box, and painting) and skylights and a kitchenette area for snacks. on weekends, i could rent it out to mamas who need a break as a personal retreat space (and take the kids) or use it myself for potting plants and doing ceramics. i've got loads of ideas, just no cash to work with. rrrrrgh! it's so frustrating.

so that's about it. i'm not doing much but daydreaming, as you can see. are you still coming up? you should stay here.

and i have to ask, because i'm totally confused; is linda the same as pearl? because all those posts above make it sound like she's complaining about that, but the name won't match the complaints. and then, why is the email different?

-- hallie (halliekendall@yahoo.com), July 13, 2000.

Ms. no imagination in the username department here. Someday I am going to be stalked and have my identity stolen by some cyberhacker I'm certain. He or she will return my identity posthaste upon realizing I have absolutely nothing of interest worth stealing identitywise ;)

I hope this works!

-- StillKym (kseabolt@epohi.com), July 14, 2000.

Anyway, your backyard sounds like the oasis, Hallie. My double-wide birthday hammock is still not up, nor is the winch needed to get me in & out of it, but I grow more determined. If I can just get the hardscape, so to speak, installed by this fall, and the fruit trees & roses that have been on the drawling board for years, then I may be able to keep up the garden even with a squalling unccoperative fink strapped to my back.

Don't worry about the pear tree - they ARE picky, and the point with them is longevity, not season-to-season production. Because of the longevity, hardly pruning is the best bet. If you have a choice, plan any major prunes over 3+ years. Whereas peach trees you can just whack, but not as much as Pod's mom, who kilt the peach Pod had planted in the front yard to remind him of my moi. Like, I don't think it was an accident. Hey, those nasty anonymous newspaper clippings I couldn't prove were from her? My SIL got some too. How stoop can you be?

An anti-cilantro man - tragic. Mine is the same. Other sterling qualities, like waking me up with crepes this morning, prevail; but he still doesn't understand that I can't DO fat, so these crepes were just the luscious essence, and I was SO happy eating them, and then they only lasted a minute.

-- Gestati works for me (MatiMS@aol.com), July 23, 2000.