Hi everyone!

[Guest guest]

I've been off-line for a few days because my machine was contaminated

with a virus. My step-daughter and her husband took it and fixed it

and installed some kind of virus protection program for me.

Hope everyone had a great Christmas. I'm breathing a sigh of

relief today beause I've finished my music book project and put it in

the mail to the composer yesterday. I can finally get to all the

piddly little domestic things I've put off for the past few months.

I haven't seen the surface of my work table in two months or more!

Hope everyone is feeling fairly well. I'm in a mild flare, but

it's okay because I have time to rest now.

Annette

[Guest guest]

Hi Lynn! I did take a few (very poor quality Polaroid) pictures of the

recent mural. My step-daughter and her family are leaving for Texas today,

so I'll ask her to scan them when she gets back so I can post them. I don't

have a web page for display of my work. I only do the work to stay

productive and to keep my old van running.

My flare is mild, but it's keeping me off my feet for a while. I've been

ignoring it for weeks (too busy to give in to it) but yesterday the pain and

weakness forced me to " cool it " for the day. I'm going to rest today, too.

I had a really great Christmas! Went to my sister's for dinner. She

gave me a bread machine! I'm having a ball with it! Already baked two

loaves. I'm sure the novelty will wear off soon, but in the meantime, I

love using it.

Happy New Year, Lynn! Annette

Re: Hi everyone!

Hi Annette! Good to see you! Glad you got the

computer fixed. My son takes care of that stuff for

me, too!

How was your Christmas??? Gee, another project

completed! Good for you...that's pretty impressive.

Ever get the pictures taken of the mural? In fact,

I've been meaning to ask if you have a webpage where

you display your work? I'd love to see it.

What's going on with your flare?? You take good care

and get as much rest as possible! Keep us posted on

how you feel.

Hugs,

Lynn

--- avflam wrote:

> I've been off-line for a few days because my machine

> was contaminated

> with a virus. My step-daughter and her husband took

> it and fixed it

> and installed some kind of virus protection program

> for me.

> Hope everyone had a great Christmas. I'm

> breathing a sigh of

> relief today beause I've finished my music book

> project and put it in

> the mail to the composer yesterday. I can finally

> get to all the

> piddly little domestic things I've put off for the

> past few months.

> I haven't seen the surface of my work table in two

> months or more!

> Hope everyone is feeling fairly well. I'm in a

> mild flare, but

> it's okay because I have time to rest now.

> Annette

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

I am still kicking. I don't think I had posted since before Christmas and I believe I was still scrooging at that time. I couldn't get over that. I think I was terribly depressed for about 3 weeks. Still some but getting better.

My Grandpa died on December 2nd. He had had pf for 10 years so was lucky at his age to have had 10 more years. Grandma is very lonely.

I finally got my tree up and the lights and ornaments on it one week before-maybe more like 4 days!. The cards went out. I made 4 kinds of fudge. Butterscotch, peppermint, white choc. w/ cranberries, and rocky road. I did my Mom in laws bday party 2 days before Christmas and got EVERYONES gifts wrapped and sent. Of course, my husband went out once for anything related to Christmas!! But very happy to say that he finally listened to me and got me exactly what I wanted!!! Of course, he had to take Kylie with him. LOL : ).

Christmas Day we sat around and watched all our new DVD's on our new dvd player. Played with the kids toys and ate pizza for lunch!! We had our big meal on Christmas Eve with in laws. So we stayed in our pjs all day and played. It was so nice. Called all of my family out of state. New Year's Eve we again watched movies and at midnight we all-including the 3 year old-went on the porch and set off poppers and blew horns and wished all our neighbors a Blessed New Year!!!

I think the 2nd of January was the best though because my husband and daughter went back to work and school after being home for 2 weeks. I think it is harder having my hubby home than my daughter!!! He is higher maintenance!!! Brody and I took a very long nap on the 2nd! That Saturday we took the ornaments off and the lights off and the tree down. Then I went on target.com and ordered an artificial tree with the lights already on it for next year!!! I got a really good after Christmas deal.

My sister who I had a blowout with in July and has refused to talk to me since decided that it would be OK for me to email her again. How gracious of her, since she caused the blowout!!! So we have exchanged a few emails but still need to work on things. I am not entirely happy over the way things worked out but I have read the Bible and studied forgiveness and went to my Dad for guidance. I know what the right thing to do is but sometimes it is also the hardest!!!

I finished my zpack the mid of Dec. and got sick again. I am starting another zpack tomorrow.

Kylie had a swim meet yesterday and today. She bettered 2 of her 6 events and hasn't swam a meet in 2 months. I was proud. Although, I always am just that she is doing it.

Brody is being potty trained. Enough said on that. YUK!!

Update on the trial of the kid that is being charged with my nephew's death-He is being charged with vehicular manslaughter and underage drunk driving. And reckless driving (he was going 100 mph and hit 2 other cars too-my nephew was the only fatality). He would not turn over the person who sold them them the alcohol so they asked for the maximum. He decided to plea bargain and is pleading guilty for a reduced sentence. As it stands he will get 1 year in jail, 10 years suspended license, and 5 years probation which means no drinking or buying alcohol and all the other usual probation stuff. At the last court date, he actually asked the judge if his probation could be reduced to 2 years so he could buy and drink alcohol legally at 21. The judge asked him how he could even have the nerve to ask that. He is pleading guilty on Friday the 18th of January.

My baby-sitter, who only baby-sits occasionally when we go out is on Kylie's swim team too. She is 15 and Kylie is 11. She is a beautiful girl. They get along great and she is wonderful with the kids. Brody also loves her. I love having her around and try to have her over a lot because her home is very dysfunctional. Her Mom runs around the meets complaining about everything and yelling at her kids. She actually tells them they suck if they don't do well or 'you just weren't trying' or 'you stink, try harder next time'. She told me today that her daughter is rotten and does drugs and can't be trusted. It isn't true. Her daughter is a bright and beautiful person who isn't even allowed to have friends over or go to friends homes. She has never done anything to not be trusted and her parents think just because she is a teen that she is rotten. Her dad let her go to a high school dance last night and sat in the parking lot for 3 1/2 hours because he says he can't trust her. ABSURD!!

The Mom and I got into it today. She said that her daughter can't hang out with other teens because 'she wouldn't be the way she was if wasn't for other kids influence'. She won't even let her best friend come over because she assumes the girls Mom was a drug addict at one time because she is mentally slower than the average person. She is not going on facts, just assumptions. I told her in a raised voice that her there is nothing wrong with her daughter and she has no reason to not trust her. I also told her that this other Mom should not be put down because she 'might' have done some drugs 20 years ago. She said that she is a sinner. (She doesn't go to church or even own a bible) I said oh, if you only knew some of the things I used to do, you may not be talking to me then either. She said 'don't tell me'. I said that you shouldn't hold past mistakes against people from that long ago. She said again 'just don't tell me what you did'. I said 'well I couldn't care less if you like me or not and just when did you start being perfect'. She got up and walked away. I think I just lost my baby-sitter. I sincerely doubt that she will let her come to my house again. I feel bad for the daughter. She needs a positive influence in her life. I may call her school counselor and see if someone can help. I don't feel bad about telling her Mom off. This is a woman who calls her daughter a b**ch and tells her she is stupid and fat (she is 5'9" and weighs about 110#). She has also served time in jail for abusing her kids. I only feel bad because her daughter really liked coming to our house and now she may not be able to. Also, I hope her Mom didn't take this out on her. Oh, this is the clincher-she told her daughter that my nephew probably didn't go to heaven because he was drinking alcohol and that is a sin you know.

So, this is a 'little' window into my life as of late. What'ya think? Enough stress or WHAT????? I feel like crawling in bed and pulling the covers up and staying there for a week!!

Hope everyone is well. Sorry this is so long. I owed you some!

Take care,

Zanna