I am in a GREAT mood tonight. It's good to be back in the lounge...

[Shine]

:hi: everybody!!

How's life on YOUR end??

[ZombieNixon]

1. Where have you been?

:hi:

I'm packing and doing my final projects, so it's been busy.

[Shine]

3. Hey, darlin'!

I'm back in action and out on my bike again, after nine long months. I've been spending more time outside and away from the computer, enjoying this fantastic spring weather we've been getting here on the west coast. :woohoo:

Congrats to you on finishing up another year. What are your big plans for the summer? Job? Hang out? A little of both? :shrug:

Wishing you well....:hi: :pals:

[ZombieNixon]

6. Well, I need money.

So yes, job. Hopefully there'll be time for a little hanging out, but one of my best friends is going off the boot camp a week after I get back. :(

[Shine]

11. Jeez, boot camp. Yikes.

You'll have to send him off with some outrageous adventures before he leaves. My best wishes to him for Safety and Protection...

Good luck with the job thing. Don't get one where you have to say: "...and would you like FRIES with that?" ;)

[ghostsofgiants]

2. I need to go to ed, but I don't feel too tired.

Work has been consuming the past few weeks (which is why i need to go to sleep soon, haha), but otherwise, things have been swell. :hi:

[Shine]

4. Hey, buddy! Good to see you!

I'm happy to hear things are so swell with you. Yes, Spring is my favorite season of all. Hard to believe it's almost Summer already, huh?

:hi:

[ghostsofgiants]

9. I actually went for a walk without a hoodie today. I was amazed, haha.

Hopefully the nice weather sticks around. I dread summer though. The heat and I do not get along well.

[Shine]

13. Oh yeah, you're up in the NORTH country, heheh.

Hope the nice weather continues for you. Out here on the central CA coast it's been absolutely amazing lately. I've even been working on my base tan for an upcoming family vacation to Maui. We leave in 17 days...:woohoo:

Aloha! :hi:

[u4ic]

8. ed is Newfie talk for...?

:shrug:






:P

[ghostsofgiants]

10. Edward. He's a friend of mine.

:P

(I am far too lazy to give a shit about typos at the moment, ahha.)

[Shine]

15. Hi, u4ic!!1

:hug: :loveya: :hug:

How's it goin', girl?! Did you move yet? How'd it go? Hope you're getting settled and are doing well.

:pals: :hi:

[RevCheesehead]

5. Hi, Shine!

It's great to see you! :hug:

[Shine]

7. Hi, sweet friend!!

Great to see you, too! :hug: How have you been? I hope you are keeping well.

[RevCheesehead]

14. Doing fine, Ms. Shine!

I have a funeral tomorrow. We've lost 5 members since Thanksgiving - that's tough on a small church. What they don't realize is that we're on the verge of losing a bunch of others, too. I wouldn't mind so much, but there are NO younger people moving into town, and very few young or middle-aged people.

[Shine]

17. Why are members leaving?

:shrug:
Good luck with the funeral. :hug:

[RevCheesehead]

18. Leaving = dying.

This church is mostly old, old people. Like the active ones are about 70, and lots of folks in their 80s & 90s.

[Shine]

23. LOL!! Ooops. Here I was assuming some big ole church drama or something.

Yup, well....Time marches on, as they say.

Maybe you guys should run an advertising campaign to lure some younger parishoners. :D Hmmm...

[Ptah]

12. I'm having good luck with my garden:

I saw a rainbow recently:



You sound well.

:hi:

[Shine]

19. Wow, cool shots, ptah! Thanks for sharing.

You've got the eye, my friend. I loved them all. Yes, gardening in the springtime is a favorite hobby of mine, too, but I've never had much luck with roses. I'm more a peruvian lilies kinda gal. Plant 'em, water 'em, they take over...:D

:hi:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

16. My dear Shine!

You know how I'm doing....

But that's not the ruling thing for me.....

I am otherwise very well, and happy....my new car is fabulous, and I am contemplating a GIANT road trip, if all works out health-wise!

Good to see you back in the Lounge, baby!

:loveya: :hug:

[Shine]

21. Well, you simply MUST come visit, if you're in my neck o' the woods.

:hug: I'm glad to hear you're enjoying your nifty new wheels. How fun! Does it still have that new car smell? Somebody once told me you can actually buy fresheners that smell like "New Car", but I remain skeptical about that. Personally, I prefer either Lemon or Vanilla. So there you have it. heheheh.

:D

[WCGreen]

20. A campaign... Tax season....

And, Spring.....

I have been relatively scarce myself....

[Shine]

24. Hey, friend! Good to see you tonight!

I just loooove Spring. It's my favorite.

We, of course, had to file an extention, as per usual. With any luck we'll get it all handled by August...or October. :eyes: It's all my hubby's fault. Don't get me started....:)

How'd your candidate do?

I'm wishing you well and sending you xoxoxoxo!! :hug:

[WCGreen]

26. Lost by less that 20k statewide....

It was close....

But we will be back in '08....

I only owe 129 bucks and I can;t get myself to print my own tax return and send it in before August....

It's good to see you.....

(BTW, Hubba Hubba at the weeding...)

[Shine]

30. I can tell you're typing in the dark. heheheh.

only $129 bucks, eh? that's pretty damn good. If we're lucky, we'll get a refund. We just looove our tax man. :loveya:

Nice to see you, sweetie. :pals: :hug:

[WCGreen]

31. I turned the light on so I an see my way back to bed.....

Night.....

[Shine]

35. Sweet dreams!!

:hug:

[Haole Girl]

22. Hi!

:hi:

[Shine]

25. Well, hello there, KC2!!

shall we do a happy dance together? :woohoo: :woohoo:

I'm feeling silly tonite...

[Haole Girl]

28. Here's a

little one!

[Shine]

32. Too cute!! I don't think I've ever seen those particular smilies before.

Cool! Now, are they dancing or exercising?? :D maybe BOTH....

[Wetzelbill]

27. nice to see you're in a good mood

yeah, things are ok. Yesterday I was pretty stressed out over bills etc, but today I am much better. Got some extra cash etc. :)

[Shine]

33. Have you ever heard the expression that goes:

"I'm so poor I can't even pay attention?" LOL. Yup, I can relate to that one sometimes.

Or, how 'bout this one: "I CAN'T be overdrawn on my checking account. I still have checks left!"

When I was a college student, that was the story of my life. Seriously. heheheh.

Good on ya for scoring some extra cash. Are you selling sexual favors....AGAIN?! I thought we talked about that.

:evilgrin:

[Wetzelbill]

36. haha no but that is an idea

nope, my ma sent me some cash so I could catch back up on a few things. My younger brother stays with me, so they like to compensate me for that every now and then. :)

[Shine]

40. Good ole Mom, comes through again.

LOL! I can so relate. That's MY role for my two kids, ages 9 and 12. My wallet is a sieve....

Cool that your brother stays with you. That must be fun.

[hfojvt]

29. at this moment

my teeth are hurting and I have a mild headache too.
Sadly, the weekend is almost over, and there is some secret drama going on at work, besides training a new guy.

I went 20 miles on my bike last week and it was brutal. I am way out of shape. Plus, Kansas is not as flat as people think. It was quite hilly, but I should have expected that since I have three huge hills between my house and Wal-mart which is a mere 2.5 miles away. Weather has been very nice here, except for the sudden one inch of rain we got in 15 minutes. Thankfully, I was inside for that.

[Shine]

38. Wow, 20 miles. Good for you. I can't wait to start doing mileage like that

I'm just recently back in the saddle after 9 mos. off. I am blissfully happy to be riding again. I've only been doing little 10 mile rides here and there, but I'm working my way up to longer ones. I'm even considering doing a full century in Sept. It's an annual organized ride and for a good cause, too, which is always a plus. I'm in the Santa Cruz mountains, so everywhere around here has hills. Yesterday I took a little 7 mile ride, but it was all UPHILL and that's why it took me almost 45min. heheheh.

Greetings to a fellow cyclist! :hi: I hope you're teeth and head are feeling better soon. I'm wishing you well and sending good thoughts your way...:hug:

[hfojvt]

53. 20 is nothing, or should have been

I bike to work and back every day, but that's only about 2 miles total, and then five mile trips to the store and back. I should have said 30 though because I figured it was at least 12 one way.

I cannot stand hills though. SD did not have them and in Wisconsin they could be avoided on many roads if you either rode on top of a ridge or in a valley. I used to do at least ten miles a day for fun, but this is not a good town for biking - between the hills and the traffic and the blazing heat, I'd rather stay at home and surf. Although today did not seem as bad after the humidity dropped by about 20%. I used to enjoy Utah's dry heat. The traffic was far worse, but they had roads with shoulders unlike here.

Thanks for the well wishes, and good to see you again :hug:

[SeattleGirl]

34. Hey, you're back!!!!!

I missed you, my friend! So nice to see you! :hug:

[Shine]

39. Great to see you too, SG!

How are you doing, sweetie pie? How's your mama? :shrug:

[SeattleGirl]

42. I'm doing pretty well.

And so is mom, thank goodness.

[Shine]

44. Oh that's so good to hear.

It's great that you are so close with your mom. What a blessing. :hug:

:hi:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

37. Welcome back. Shine!

I was wondering where you'd gotten to... :hug:

[Shine]

43. Hey, girlfriend!

Oh, I've been out and about, enjoying the spring weather, cycling, gardening...It's hard to stay away for too long, but at the same time, it's good to get a break once in a while, too. This place can get really addictive....and it doesn't help that I'm a pretty fast typist. heheheh.

How are things with you? Sending you all my best wishes and good thoughts...:hug: :pals: :loveya:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

46. Fine, except for computer trouble again...

:grr:
My little guy finished his 2nd grade work last Friday; so we've been busy having fun!

[Shine]

48. I hate computer problems. Technology: it's a LOVE/HATE relationship

Congrats to your son for wrapping up 2nd grade! :thumbsup: My kids are down to their last few days of third and sixth grade. Their last official day is a week from today. Can't wait for the summer to start!

:bounce:

Good luck with that pesky computer. :hug: Hang in there.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

51. Thanks, hon...

Looks like I'll have to deal with another tech support person tomorrow. Great patience practice, eh? :D

[Shine]

55. Yup, that AND having kids!

heheheh. :D

[autorank]

41. Great, couldn't be better...well it could but I'm not greedy;)

:hi::evilgrin::hi:

[Shine]

45. Hi autorank!!

I think it's good to be greedy, once in a while...especially for things that REALLY matter. :evilgrin: and I think you know what I'm talkin' about...

:hi:

[autorank]

52. Eat the main course and go back for seconds...

couple of deserts and back to the party...excess is a concept created to justify Twiggy;)

[Shine]

54. Exactly right, my friend.

I like the way you think. :D

[bridgit]

47. so...where've you been, more to the point...

:hi: :hug: :loveya:

[Shine]

49. Hey, babe!

:hug: :loveya: I've been out and about, enjoying the weather, riding my bike, gardening...it's also nice to get a break from the addiction of DU once in a while....

The kids are wrapping up their last week of third and sixth grade. It's weird how fast the school year has gone by. We're counting the days til our family vacation to Maui. They've never been, so they're seriously stoked. 17 more days...:woohoo:

How's it goin' for YOU? Any big summer vacation plans?

[bridgit]

57. i hear you, Shine, the rest is all good to hear too, now being our cali...

weather and all, even though the valley is getting to be it's traditional, seasonal "damn, it's hot!!!" time of year...me? just been working, tap dancing as fast as i can, taking little cat naps in between.

countdown to maui, huh? if we pull off the next few months as planned...we'll be jamming off somewhere nice too. but it will be longer than 17 days :cry:

friend of ours just got back from a month in hanalei bay, said he had a blast just tripping around having a blast, and by the peaceful-easy look on his face i believe him. made us plan on something along those lines ASAP...cause life's too short :thumbsup:

great to be cyber-here with you, Sweets :hi:

[Shine]

58. Well, if it's any consolation, we haven't had a two week vacation in YEARS

so this one should be pretty special. and you're absolutely right: Life is too short to not take advantage. I hope you guys are able to figure out some fun and fabulous adventure this summer that makes you happy and brings you joy. I'll hold out good thoughts for that happening for you, OK?

Great to see you, sweetie! xoxoxo to you!
:loveya: :hug: :hi:

Off to bed I go...

[bridgit]

59. thanks Shine, you're the best...you will post pics...

:bounce:

[Shine]

61. Pix will definitely be forth-coming.

:hug: I'm sooooo excited!! :bounce:

[swag]

50. Hi, good to see you.

Pretty good so far. Will probably get worse.

Your deal is okay?

[Shine]

56. My deal is OK.

that cheerleader pix was classic. YOu're so amusing. Good to see ya, bud. :hi:

[Starbucks Anarchist]

60. Hey, Shine!

:hi: :hug:

Great to have you back!

[Shine]

62. Hey there, Starbucks! How's it goin', friend??

:hi: :hug: :pals:
Life's great on my end. I'm very happy these days, feelin' good...
Hope all's well with you, darlin'.

[mdmc]

63. Hi Shine!

:hi:
Livin life here...

[In_The_Wind]

64. Well hello Shine!

Welcome back!

I just returned from a vacation in Florida: www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=5244505&mesg_id=5244505

I'm getting everything ready for my trip west later this month.

:hi:

[Road Scholar]

65. Yeah, where th' heck ya been?? I missed you!

:shrug: :pals: