TabbyCat

I had a moment of panic when I was close to delivering my first-born. I thought, "What if we have an ugly baby?" I mean...I didn't expect to, but I didn't want to be all shocked and disappointed if the baby was ugly. Luckily, she was the most beautiful baby ever. She was delivered by c-section and had a perfectly shaped head covered with THICK, long, almost black (!) hair. I don't have a newborn picture of her on this computer, but this one was when she was around 6 months old: Pretty baby! And this is me and her more recently:

Bottom line for me? Your religious beliefs or family history or ANYTHING of that ilk should not have ANY POWER to affect what *I* buy ANY day of the week. It ain't your place to say what I can or can't spend my money on when that same thing is legally purchased the other 6 days of any week in any month. It's not your choice and NEVER should have been. EVER.

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Oh, what an outrage, right? Everyone knows it's much more acceptable and legal if "private citizens" contribute to campaigns, right? Just ask George Soros. He's a bit of an expert on this topic.

We LOVE the Wearhouse!! I buy ALL of my husband's work jeans there. You can't match the prices anywhere. And I've picked up some great deals for myself there, too!

I'm sorry if I sounded dismissive up there above...but really...this story? Is just weird. And so, the only photo they have of her is OBVIOUSLY a really BAD mug shot...and they found her car...and she's missing...and they posted her mug shot...and she called what? From the trunk? Methinks someone wanted to go missing. Right? This story has so many holes in it it might double as fishnet stockings. Smart people make up better stories.

Oh, OK. I know which story you're asking about now. I didn't see any local news today, but I did hear about this story on the radio several times throughout the day, and NONE of it made any sense, right? I'm sure there's more to the story, and we'll hear the rest of it before too many days pass. Seriously, she was kidnapped? And thrown in a trunk? And yet, she called the cops? YeaOKalRIGHTyThen.

If you cook it with plenty of liquid and you cook it slowly, it WON'T be tough. Unless you start with an old shoe, cooking it slowly with enough liquid will give you a roast that you can slice with a fork. As far as draining the juice...if you end up with a LOT of juice, you may want to drain about half of it off, but not all of it, when you add your cream soup. The soup needs some juice to mix with. If you do drain off some of the juice, drain it into a small saucepan. Heat it to nearly boiling on your stovetop. In a small bowl (I usually use a coffee cup), mix about 1/4 cup of water

Well. From MY experience. IF you are going to cook it slowly--8-10 hours--DON'T put a "cream of" anything on it to start out. Use a beef broth and a package of powdered onion soup mix. Add enough water to *just* cover your meat. Set the crock pot to cook for hours and hours, and WALK AWAY. At the end of those hours and hours, and probably 30-45 minutes before you want to serve the roast, add in your "cream of" soup. Cover the pot again, and walk away. Give it that last whatever amount of time for the creamy soup to get all warm and bubbly, then take the meat out, place it on a plat

Link or something? I know nothing about this...

You're absolutely right it shouldn't! Do you have some sort of rental contract with the homeowner? Are the neighborhood amenities mentioned in that contract? My husband (our HOA prez) is who said I should suggest that you pay the delinquent amount and take it off your rent, and especially if amenities are mentioned in your rental contract. His dues are his responsibility, but he also has a responsibility to you and your family. FTR, we most likely would find it difficult to work something out directly with a renter whose landlord was behind in HOA fees, but mostly that would be bec

How exciting GB!!! My husband is working (and living) in NC--Charlotte area. I'm packing up the puppies and going over there for the long weekend. We have tickets to the Nationwide and Sprint Cup races. I haven't been there since he went to work over there, so I'm also hoping to do some flea marketing and antiquing just relaxing and having fun. I <3 long weekends!!

Did anyone else just see Hinze dance? Man, that dude brought it tonight!! He's in it to WIN IT!! That rocked!

AhhhhMAZING!! She's 60? Seriously? She looks GREAT!! **fingers crossed for her** I think Hinze is doing great too...who do you think will bring it home? Kirstie just WOWS me!! But I've had a girl crush on her since back in the "Cheers" days.

Am I the only one who's having an incredibly difficult time watching this tonight? I keep cringing and looking away... It's BRUTAL!

Sadly, many people make that choice these days. My husband and I were talking about this just yesterday. Some homeowners in our SD just bought a home out in Paulding. We have a gut feeling they'll be walking away from the home over here. Our next home will NOT be in an HOA community. Or a subdivision, for that matter. But for now I am thankful we have one. OP--you might think about telling the owner you'll pay the HOA dues and subtract the payment amount from your rent owed.

Oh. My bad. They should give you a medal or something.

Our HOA does much for our small community here. The dumbasses folks who rent out their homes in our neighborhood and who fail to meet their OBLIGATIONS as homeowners may see our "requests" that they take responsibilities as homeowners in OUR neighborhood as "harASSment" clearly don't give a ratz azz about our own investment OR our concern that THEY take responsibility for the homes they STILL OWN AND ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR. Personal responsibility, HHS--don't you advocate that?

Perhaps. Our neighborhood is still more owner than renter, but as the market tanks, people like us who are losing their equity will continue to bail and I suspect it just goes from bad to worse from this point on. When people argue about who the "middle class" is, I want to scream. WE are the middle class. We've done very well, and continue to do so, but this economy is going to hurt us badly, and really in the 20-25 years before we go into retirement (or should have--we may never retire now), the loss may be even greater. It's no fun. We're better off than many, but still we've lost

Oh trust me--I know everything you know is the truth. Everything. But...I am in a slightly different place than you with this whole HOA thing, right? I'm 12 years into a 30 year loan for which two years ago I had a HUGE equity and for which now I struggle NOT to be upsidedown on. I am not a renter--I am a RESPONSIBLE homeowner who was nearly halfway through a 30 year loan who now finds all of her equity gone and just trying to keep her value above her loan amount is a struggle as renters move in who don't give a crap about the neighborhood OR the property because this isn't a place th

They do, Subby. And I hate them. But at the same time, if you live in an HOA neighborhood, they do try to protect your property value. We are one HOA vote away from having gang graffiti covering all of our fences here in Powder Springs. They may suck (and they do), but they also matter when you need to protect your investment until you can get the he!! out!

I'm sorry, PV. I guess it's just a sensitive issue with me. PM me if we might help you with your landlord and your pool rights. We've been 100% with getting our folks who rent to pay their dues so their renters can have pool rights. Again, I meant no ill will toward you. We do have renters here who think they should have full neighborhood rights even if those they rent from don't meet their responsibilities. We HATE to exclude good folks from enjoying the amenities, but to keep the amenities up and running takes $$$, and the folks who own homes here need to pay to help the communit

My hubby has been the prez of our HOA for the last...4 years I think? We open the pool every year. There are expenses associated with opening and maintaining the pool...LARGE expenses... We have a few renters in our neighborhood. Yes, if the person they rent from is not current on their HOA fees, their tenant may not enjoy the amenities... I HATE living in an HOA community. So does my husband. But instead of just bi+ching about it, we became involved. I'm not sure that was the best idea, because for the last four years or so, my husband has been the prez with no one willing

I woke up this morning and went into the kitchen to start up a big old pot of red beans I'd soaked all night. I chopped up some onion and bell pepper and some fresh garlic and some AMAZING sausage from Patak. I added a couple of bay leaves and some Tony Chacheries. Cooked it all day on the stove. Made up a big old pot of long grain white rice, all nice and fluffy, and some sweet corn muffins in cast iron in the oven. Red beans and rice. That's how dinner is DONE!!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE deep sea fishing!! Here's one of the two little shark I caught last summer: I have a picture around here somewhere of the HUGE grouper I caught in January, but I can't find it at the moment... I hope you enjoy your trip! I go sea fishing every chance I get!