Thread Drift

[Nanci]

Knot, maybe in the Christmas spirit she's asking for forgiveness. I am the grudge world champion, but it isn't really a healthy or good-feeling thing to do. I'd send a Christmas card with a simple message like "Thank you for the thoughtful gift, I hope things are going as well in your life as they are in mine right now." It's better to let hurt and resentment go than hang on to it. Let it go- don't give her that power.

Nanci

[Bikingmomof3]

I truly have the most laid back Christmas ever. I treasure this time of year. I buy gifts for choice friends (sometimes the gifts do not get there until February, we are a laid back group). We stopped trying to feign familial happiness and do not buy extended family members gifts. Each year it is the five of us and we have such a stress free, lovely holiday.

I wish all of you peace and happiness.

Nanci- Did I say congrats for Inez completing snake boot camp? I meant to. How is Krusty? Okay, what is White Christmas Coffee? Here there are signs posted everywhere, the techs are not legally allowed to tell the patient anything. Ah 3 Blind Moose was a lovely Chardonnay. DH bought it because he liked the bottle and name. It suited kit, X, and I just fine. I cannot throw the bottle out, I love the lable. I am a moose fan as it is. It sounds like you had a nice talk with your daughter. Too funny- she thought you were eating cat food. The whole family enjoyed the baby gators. Thanks for sharing the clip.

Mimi-I shall give your migraine remedy a try. Thank you for the tip. We avoid Christmas parties and extended family. My family of 5 is just right and my friends who have become my family. I have not had a stress filled holiday in 13 years.

Deb-I will be careful. I love life too much not to be. I hope you get to meet up with AG.

Salsa-enjoy the time with your mom and her new home. There is plenty of time to deal with the contractor.

CC-enjoy your trip!

DirtDiva-I like to think I can handle most medical procedures...except in my brain.

Kit and X-I am so glad you two were discussing my brain. I too would prefer they leave the artery alone.

Knot-I think the gardening gifts sound wonderful! I would like either of them! As for the unexpected gift, I agree with Snap, send it back.

Bikerz-good idea on helping others.

Snap- Have a great time visiting with your friend.

KG-send snow!

[Nanci]

D. H. Lawrence wrote that every year you pass an anniversary unaware: the anniversary of your own death. I've seen it so many times before, as adventurers circle and circle the spot marked X where they meet their own death, taunting it, teasing it, playing with the big cat. Never fool yourself into thinking you can tame it.

Sure, we do it in our ordinary lives, too- you can get killed on your lunch break- but we do that blindly. In our adventures, we engage fate deliberately. We choose a relentless and indefatigable opponent, while others pretend to be safe. We feel that our experiences are much more real, while seeing the masses as deluded in their complacency. When well-trained people are fetched off by fate during a well-planned and thoughtful expedition, there is no more ignominy in it than when an ordinary Joe gets hit by a bus. No one says "He shouldn't have been walking there." But a climber named Karl Iwen, unfamiliar with Three Fingered Jack, a volcanic mountain in Oregon, which he was descending, left his companions, left the trail, left his ice ax strapped to his pack, and ventured out onto the snow, where he treated his companions to a spectacular show as he slid into the couloir and did a 600-foot Peter Pan. Karl did not die doing what he loved. He died of poor impulse control, or what I call "the rapture of the shallow."

The perfect adventure shouldn't be that much more hazardous in a real sense than ordinary life, for that invisible rope that holds us here can always break. We can live a life or bored caution and die of cancer. Better to take the adventure, minimize the risks, get the information, and then go forward in the knowledge that we've done everything we can.

No, some people would rather not see it, but the bull is there for all of us. Some of us choose to pass the cape in front of its horns. To live life is to risk it. And when you feel the rush of air and catch the stink of hot breath in your face, you enter the secret order of those who have seen their own death close up. It makes us live that much more intensely. So intense is it for some that it seals their fate; once they've tasted it, they just can't stop. And in their cases, perhaps we have to accept that the light that burns brightest burns half as long.

But I believe that if you do it right, you can have it all. I adhere to what my daughter Amelia calls the Gutter Theory of Life. It goes like this: You don't want to be lying in the gutter, having been run down by a bus, the last bit of your life ebbing away, and be thinking, "I should have taken that rafting trip..." or, "I should have learned to surf..." or, "I should have flown upside down- with smoke!"

Pete Conrad was the third man to walk on the moon. He died in a motorcycle accident on an ordinary day. It took him a while to die as he went to the hospital. I wonder what he was thinking. I hope it was: I did it all.

Laurence Gonzalez, from Deep Survival

[Xrayted]

Knot - There is nothing to understand with someone like that. Trying to rationalize it will make it worse on you. You are so much better off using that time and energy on someone else who deserves it more. Someone who doesn't play mind games and appreciates you for the incredible woman you are. I say donate it to someone who can use it and send her a thank you note letting her know that her donation was very much appreciated. Good luck...

Salsa - so sorry that it's still going like that with your house. How's about I come out there and kill the contractor and you can take a break?

Nanci - cool, very cool.

BMo3 - Good way to spend the holidays, dear.

Kit - have a safe drive and a happy holiday hon!!

CWR - so, where are those pics????

Off to finish up some stuff. Have a happy holiday everyone!!

cindy

[Nanci]

Santas White Christmas®
The star of Barnies Coffee lineup. Our #1 selling flavored coffee combines Barnies Blend coffee with the flavors of coconut, nuts, sweet caramel and vanilla.

Yum!

[Bikingmomof3]

Santas White Christmas®
The star of Barnies Coffee lineup. Our #1 selling flavored coffee combines Barnies Blend coffee with the flavors of coconut, nuts, sweet caramel and vanilla.

Yum!

Sounds delicious. I do not know if I have a Barnies near me...must go check.

[Nanci]

I drink it year round. It's about the only coffee I buy any more.

Krusty is good. Today he climbed up o top of his box.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

So this year I donated to Heifer International in the names of all my family and friends - I bought water buffalos, goats, llamas, bunnies, chicks - it was great! Eight families will get some livestick to help them and their communites become more self-sufficient...The whole process put me in a great mood, that has stuck with me ever since.

Yeah, that's a good feeling. Twice a year i make a donation of as much as I can to one charity- it's a local woman who has been rescuing homeless, sick, injured, and abused cats in our area for years, spaying/neutering them, finding homes for them, getting them medical attention. I've adopted 2 cats from her, and I've been to her place and seen the wonderful work she does- day in and day out tirelessly. She's amazing.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

knott - send it back!

If you send it back it will just make an unpleasant relationship even more miserable and will provoke more nastiness.
Just send her a polite but brief thank you note and give the gift to somebody else.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Knot, maybe in the Christmas spirit she's asking for forgiveness. I am the grudge world champion, but it isn't really a healthy or good-feeling thing to do. I'd send a Christmas card with a simple message like "Thank you for the thoughtful gift, I hope things are going as well in your life as they are in mine right now." It's better to let hurt and resentment go than hang on to it. Let it go- don't give her that power.

Nanci

That's the perfect way to handle it.

[Kitsune06]

X- How could I not? Xmas with the Outlaws consists of hanging out and quiet with them and Escher, some guests, dinner out, sleeping in late, coffee, chatting, and on Xmas eve, a nice dinner at the chinese buffet I love my pagan parents.

BMo3- Little sisters are supposed to be kind to the brain damaged. Yes, you're invited to the theoretical party you're insisting is happening. would you have it any other way?

CWR- Well crap! You get home, just in time for me to be leaving! No worries, I'll √ email and all that. Take care. Any problems- I mean ANYTHING, and you refer yourself to my advice to Snap. No questions. If you're careful, you can get away with anything once.

[mimitabby]

I'm a grandmother. Schraeder the ball python ...

[KnottedYet]

these are kind of fun. Just registered one that I'm using to wrap a present for my mom.

www.wrapsacks.com

[Nanci]

Congratulations! BPs are pretty cool, and stay a manageable size. My friends have one named Katrina, because they got her during Hurricane Katrina. Katrina lives in a plastic tub, not a decorated viv. Wife thinks Katrina deserves a better home. Husband likes simplicity- and this is how most people with more than a few snakes keep them. One night, wife, _without_ hearing aids, hears a crash. Protector husband does not wake up. Wife rushes out to the living room to investigate. Katrina has pushed the top off her bin and gone exploring, ending up on a bookshelf, where she was knocking things off. At least when a big snake escapes, they are easy to find! Another time she escaped, and they found her between the mattress and box spring of their bed!!

I'd love to see a picture of him...

Nanci

[salsabike]

exDPITA sent a lovey-dovey xmas package, which I only just now had the guts to finally open.

I'm gonna cry or maybe I'll puke. I don't understand this. The last time we had any communication is was vicious and evil beyond belief (but I stayed calm).

What do I do? Do I send a thank you? A christmas card? Ignore it?

OOOOOOOOOh, I *HATE* CHRISTMAS!!!!!

I personally would not respond. Ex-BF did something just like this. I think it's meant to be manipulative and get a reaction. Best to graciously ignore the whole thing, I think, rather than start up contact again. But you give it a few days and your little inner voice will tell you what will work best for you.

Thanks for the sympathy, you guys. It helps! More later.