I am stuffed FULL of Mexican food! Went out and did another round of "round up" to kill off the hundreds of little trees growing up into all our planting beds! Hubby got a raise..and also another job offer..Good day for him and us~~~!!
@Mousemaker..I am positive u didn't start trouble!! LOL
-I am not sure if I like Indian food..haven't had much, but sure looks tasty.
-Having fun on a thread with a portico design...with a lady who is a nurse also.
What r the rest of the OOLD's up to tonight?
Where's Sir Ironwood? I need a fix!

Oh! Forgot. I took glockenspiel lessons, once, a long time ago. It just sounds so pretty!

Table tennis for hours on end and screeching Chinese Opera? Are they chasing the dragon over there too? What the Heck?

Someone needs to get Fat Bastard and his bagpipes over there to Roo...(Austin Power's movie)!

Chasing the dragon! That's a good one!

Don't know about the dragon, but their stupid dog keeps escaping. Wonder why.

Just did some quick staging

never had any desire to be trapped on a boat with strangers and fattening food and have no control over anything.
my idea of hell.

roo, sorry you're dealing with such noisy neighbors. no fun.

ASV, we have a group of volunteers hanging out at the atlanta(hartsfield) airport with 'therapy dogs'. the dogs are there to act as greeters and be petted by weary travelers.

so any ideas for this one? my niece is getting married july 20th in cartegena, columbia. i found out tonight she'll be leaving july 4th. i had asked another family member weeks ago about a shower for her and i thought it was being taken care of. turns out nothing has been done. my house is torn apart and i can't imagine it being ready to host a group. the ceiling is out of my bedroom.it's being raised. new floors and paint next week. the kitchen is a wreck.
i suggested holding it at the botanical gardens or a museum if we could get a date at this late notice but she wasn't interested.
2nd problem is she can't take any gifts at all and gift cards are useless because shipping costs are prohibitive. so how does one have a cash only shower? i'm usually creative but i've been making so many decisions on this house, my brain is tapped out.

Roo, I love your kitty cat! Very 1920's!

Mo, how about a money tree? You can make one from a large branch set in a pail of concrete, or sometimes you can rent them. Start it off with a bill of your choice attached with a mini-clothespin.

roo, maybe you could find a pack of rubber or dense foam quiet table tennis balls and take them over as a gift !

@DIAspoton...can she register at stores where she is going to live, and people do cyber shopping? Or is that not available there?
-I would do a shower at a restaurant or establishment that has a room u can rent/use so u don't have to stress about holding a shower at your place.

Well, that's it for me you guys. R bought a new phone and needs to do some computer interfacing with it. Everyone have a great day/night!

Night Bobbi.

DIA-where will she be living

Ooooh, ooooh, DIA - have the solution for you, because of the tendency of couples to live together for years before getting married, this problem comes up a lot because they usually have everything they need. So they have a Wishing Well set up on a table and guests can place money in that. Of course would need some watchful eyes on it. Do you have a local restaurant you might be able to organise to do an afternoon tea. I'm sure they would welcome some business at what could normally be a quiet time of the day.

Thanks Bobbi, DD bought him for me a couple of Christmases ago. Never thought of it being 1920s - I just love cats. Try to get a good sleep tonight.

bobbi, a money tree is a good idea. maybe i can play off that and do a garden theme. it probably will be a restaurant. i mentioned going to one of these places where each person paints a canvas to take home but she didn't like that. i refuse to do silly games. refuse.

jayme, the shipping from amazon or anywhere in the states is too high to south america. apparently there are no macys or any decent stores anywhere near where they'll be living.

jayme and KD, i heard a report today that atlanta hospitals and ambulance svcs are experiencing serious medicine shortages of popular drugs. any in your areas?

angela, they'll be in bogota.

roo, the wishing well and tea sound good too. thanks

I have a friend from Columbia, want me to ask anything. Did you say if she will be able to bring it with her.

DIA the only thing that sort of makes me hesitate with a tree is that maybe some people won't want others to know how much they are donating or they may feel uncomfortable if some get super generous. Just thinking of all scenarios.

If you do the tree, can you do envelopes? That way people won't know exactly how much anyone puts in?

I'm wondering if people would include a card which would be in an envelope with the money in it. I think it appropriate the bride knows who contributed what for thank yous.

Well goodnight guys...

Night Angela - sleep tight. I'm just having some lunch.

OMG, I had the best dinner tonight at the golf course. Pan seared sea scallops on mushroom and bacon risotto... Seriously. To. Die. For.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm...... heavenly. Just my kind of meal.

angela, thanks, i can't think of anything. her fiance and his family are from there.
no, she can't bring anything but her dogs and luggage so cash is really the only gift that will work. they're a young couple, she just graduated last week.

DIAspoton..in re: shortages..lately I have only heard of doxycycline (antibiotic). But I do recall others in the past..compazine, zofran, fentanyl.

Roo, I think you should go over there and ask to join them. it might be the only solution :)

thanks Jayme :) sometimes you just don't know :)

Mouse - I play a pretty mean game, I might put them to shame and encourage them more. Don't speak the language anyway.

I was thinking it might be a way to tell them it's too loud at certain times of the day? at least to be friends instead of suffering from the noise. they may not realize it.

Well, I have told them twice that their hedge of trees along the fence line is way too high and blocking all my sun, killing my garden and rendering my clothesline pretty much useless in winter - the first time was when I got the fruit flan, the second time I got a large bag of almonds. They must think we need feeding up!! There is no telling them anything unfortunately. BH really let them have it about the music and that has never stopped.

roo, yes the cash or checks would have to be in cards in envelopes and certainly we'd forego the tradition of watching the bride open the gifts. the whole idea of cash seems distasteful but i think my niece would feel slighted if she didn't have a bridal shower as we've given bridal and baby showers for her cousins.

of course gift registeries seem to have evloved into demand lists rather than polite suggestions or guidance.
i was specifically told by the mother of one gal about to download, that she did not want baby clothes and her nursery was themed so anything not on the baby registry would be exchanged. well okay then...

I hate giving money at any time but right now my grands here just love cash for their Birthdays and at Christmas as they are always saving for something. I always feel lazy and uncaring, but the looks of delight on their faces does make up for it.

When my youngest got married we were very selective with her bridal registry to ensure we had a good range of gifts and kept to reasonable prices. We figured people could double up with things if they wanted to be more generous. Her MIL to be was horrified as they are Italian and the Italians love to give good china and glasswear so we had to go back and top the list up. We actually went quite overboard but strangely she got ALL the most expensive things.

These Registers have really taken over, so far here I haven't seen baby ones possibly because we don't have specialised shops with big ranges. I did see one time a joke where an elderly couple about to get married asked their local Pharmacist to do them a Bridal Register and put all their medications, toiletries and aides on it. Viagra isn't cheap.

Or just a basket for the cards like at weddings....those r opened later...

Roo, is there any recourse with ordinances? seems like you need some city authority to help with those issues.

I really do try to imagine/realize how our actions affect the neighbors. By attempting to put myself if their places it helps me to identify what is possibly intrusive or annoying. We don't play loud music, have loud gatherings or park in front of neighbor's homes. We watch our son and don't leave him all day to be at a neighbor's home (as some do with us). We have a fenced in yard and when we hear our dogs barking we shut them up and if they don't stop, put them inside....
-I don't get why people are so insensitive!! Could this be a cultural thing? Is it normal to be acting the way these neighbors do...in their culture?

I think it's just people, not cultural. I have had experience with neighbors from all over the world and it's really just people :) some are taught to be considerate and some are not.

while I was gone this morning the city came and planted a new tree on my terrace!!!! whooo hoooo!!!!!

Find out when they sleep and get a really noisy hobby...get out the electric guitar and amp and start pounding out some heavy metal! My husband did that once to an obnoxious neighbor...it took them 5 minutes to call the cops on him...but their drunken, till 2 or 3AM backyard parties (I was working 12 hr shifts...exhausted)...were of no concern to them..they were drunk all of the time and when sober, they were acutely concerned about anyone possibly disturbing them. I would actually have to turn on a window air conditioner unit to drown them out.

Jayme, I'm the same way as you. As much as I love my neighbours (attached to me), their saying "We're loud, noisy people!" doesn't change the fact that they are now connected to another person's home (they were on a farm before), and that they need to change (a little) because of their new living situation....

My dog is NOT allowed to bark, run free, do her thing on other people's property. I pay attention to noise I might be making that might disturb someone else -- I guess because *I* value quiet and would be mortified to learn I was disturbing someone else.

I really think that some people automatically see themselves in the context of the greater world, and subconsciously consider how their actions might affect others. And then there are other people who "think the world revolves around them"; that unless someone in authority tells them they can't do something, they'll just do whatever they want, even if it would be no extra effort of expense to take others into consideration!

The other day when I walked on the boardwalk, there were a few young people doing stretches on the beach right next to the boardwalk. One had a surfboard, which instead of leaving in the sand next to them, they'd put up on the boardwalk. Was is along the edge & out of the way; of course not, it was perpendicular & going 2' across the path of walkers/runners! Seriously?!

i try to give people the benefit of the doubt. just politely ask them to move or lower the noise level or pick up after their dog or whatever. alot of times it really seems they're unaware and simply need a nudge. sadly, some people are just self centered, arrogant jerks.

mouse - we do have pretty good noise pollution laws here, but unfortunately noise is rated by decibels. Machinery like pool filters and air conditioners cannot be run after 10.30 at night or before 7am weekdays and 8am weekends and public holidays. I'm not sure what the decibels are but they do take constant noise like a pump into account when the incessant nature of it becomes extremely irritating. Part of the noise laws are policed by the Police - like loud music, wild parties, hoons doing donuts in cars, but the other part like machinery is policed by the local Council.

The noise isn't really unrealistic, it is just the constant and repetitive nature of it that becomes extremely irritating and the worst thing is that once you have a constant noise it actually reduces your level of tolerance to the point any noise can have you totally on edge.

The neighbours have full air con so have the house totally locked up at night so probably wouldn't hear any noise anyway, but then I would put myself at risk.

The trees at the back I have to check out, the type of tree has been banned because of the ridiculous height they grow but I'm not sure when that came into force in our area and whether it is retrospective or whether they can take action because of the severe nature of the overshadowing. We also have another Tribunal now that deals specifically with problem trees, generally by mediation but it is too far away from us for me to travel comfortably and the court costs aren't cheap.

i'm really sorry. I wish I could think of something to help.

@Astraea.....mouse has fainted because she thought the world DID revolve around her..cannot beeeeleeeeeve she was wrong!!!...

mouse - I guess there are always earplugs where noise is concerned.

I've tried those myself :) but they just don't fit me or I can't stand them because then I hear the ringing in my ears, you know?

I just don't like have my senses taken from me. A friend of mine sleeps with them every night because of noise but I have to be aware of every little thing that goes bump in the night. I can't sleep in a pitch black room either, I have to be able to see if I wake up.

I agree. I can't do it either.