How are you today?

[blue]

Hi angie, glad to see you around again! Yes it's Rocco's second birthday on tuesday, can't believe how quickly the time has gone. I took his present over today as he will actually be in Portugal on the day, they fly out tomorrow for a week. His first time on a plane! He's entranced by planes flying overhead so I wonder what he'll make of being on one.

I bought him a baby doll for his birthday because he's become obssessed with babies recently, his little face lit up when he saw it! Not sure what his father will think .....

Ellis will be two next month, right? It seems impossible time can go so fast. I hope he has a lovely day. Is he talking much yet? Rocco is coming out with more discernible words every day now, you have to be very careful what you say around him!

Work is still hectic, the promised part-time hours have yet to materialise, according to the rosters posted up yesterday I am continuing on forty hours a week for the next month. Starting to find it a bit easier though.

[Angie]

Wow, I hope you enjoy those full-time paychecks while you have them! I'm glad the job's getting easier.

Happy Birthday (yesterday) to Rocco! What are they going to do in Portugal? Love that you got him a doll. A coworker gave me one of her daughter's old Cabbage Patch kids, and Ellis only has a passing interest in it, but I still think it's cute when he carries it around. Hope Rocco's father can handle it.

Ellis's birthday falls on Thanksgiving this year, less than a month away! I love this age so, so much. I would love to get R and E together to have a toddler conversation some time. His babble has certainly getting closer to real talk lately, and I think having a big brother helps. Sometimes he repeats back exactly what Henry says, word for word.

Here's a pic of the kids in a pumpkin patch earlier this month.



In the preview it looks huge - sorry!

Hope everyone around the Stina board is doing well! It's getting cold in Wisconsin. I know it's inevitable, but I still get sad every year - especially since fall is so short.

[sound world]

Gorgeous pic, Angie!

My son has his 17th birthday tomorrow...time flies! make the most of their youth!

[blue]

Hope your son had a good day, dave.

Angie I can't see your pic on my phone, I'll have to wait till I can get on a PC. If you don't want to leave it up on the board can you email it to me, please? I have a hotmail account now, I'll PM you the address.

I certainly will enjoy the bit of extra money from my fulltime hours while I have them, it will be so wonderful to not have to worry about heating this winter! Its been a very tough couple of years financially so I'm determined to make the most of any extra money that comes my way.

I've had my redundancy payment from my last job sitting in the bank since last month, intending to use it to get me through the winter as I didn't know how long it would take to get another job. Given that's not a concern now, I decided to use it to replace my old laptop, which I bought secondhand in 2004. Its been on its last legs for a long time, and I'm unlikely to have the money sitting around for a new one ever again, so I took the plunge and bought one on Friday.

[blue]

I have to say, going from Windows XP to the just released Windows 8 is rather an adventure! Its so totally different to what I'm used to, it took me several hours just to find the Windows media player, ha!

[Angie]

Happy Birthday to Robin, Dave! I hope he had a great day!

Congrats on the new laptop, Beth. I'm happy to hear things are looking up this year.

[Elforel]

Dave, I nearly choked when I read your son was turning 17...
Damn, wasn't it yesterday that he was, like, 11 years old?
I thought internet friends never grew old so we could forget time was passing by.
Damn, it's high time I do something with my life...

[blue]

OMG Elfy!!

How are you? We haven't had an update for ages, you are almost as elusive and enigmatic as Tina Noodlestrom!

[Elforel]

Hello dear,
Well yes, I have been quite distant I'm afraid. I guess trying to be both a responsible father, working a duller than dull dayjob while still trying to work on photography on the side has really limited my time on the internet.
The only forum I now got to is the alienating book of faces so I can keep in touch with friends...
I'll try to drop by more often but you know how it is.
I am really super happy to see that many of you are still faithful to the board!

[blue]

Ah yes dear elfy, one of life's annoying habits is that it takes up nearly all our time. : mr green

Glad to hear you are still keeping up the photography amid the stresses of work and parenthood, it does make such a difference if you have a creative outlet. How is the little one getting along?

[RobB]

I have to say, going from Windows XP to the just released Windows 8 is rather an adventure!

ha ha....i've been off-line for nearly a fortnight after my trusty old pc finally packed up. Now i've got a new desktop but i've gone from Windows XP to Windows 7.......and am gradually finding my way around the new layout.

Lovely photo Angie.....and hello to Elfy, nice to see you back posting again.

[sound world]

Ah OK, RobB, I thought you must have been on the SAGA tour to end all others Hope your new PC hacks it-and brilliant news that you have one too, Beth.
And fantastic to see Elfy here again!
As for me I've just been away with some singing friends for the last week in Devon, great fun. We had a Hallowe'en event last night where we celebrated our ancestors by each cooking something we associated with special relatives who have passed on, telling stories about them etc. So we ended up with a 14-course meal! which involved such varied things as Bubble and Squeak, omelettes, potted shrimps on melba toast, zabaglione, Angel Delight, tinned peaches and Carnation milk, macaroni cheese etc etc-along with some amazing stories and reminiscences. A nice twist on All Souls Night-and masses of food!

[RobB]

hmmm,at least some of those 14 courses were relatively healthy,Dave? Not sure about the macaroni cheese though.
Last month i did spend a week in Scarborough but i didn't go with Saga,thank you very much.....even if i am old enough to to go with them now. [b)]

[blue]

Man, I'm tired this morning. Stayed up all night following BBC Radio 4's coverage of the US election, I was getting kind of worried over the last few days that Romney might actually sneak a win. What that might have meant for women's rights in America doesn't bear thinking about. Listening to the BBC reporters talking to voters in different states about the reasons they had voted the way they did was surprisingly reassuring on that front though, it seems the 'war on women' has been taken to heart by many citizens and has indeed influenced them to reject the Republican presidential candidate, and Republicans in the Senate races too.

On top of that, I believe the Senate now has its first ever openly gay woman member thanks to the voters, Maryland and Maine have voted in favour of gay marriage, and Colorado voted for marijuana to be legalised. I am impressed!

Angie, I hear Obama got on the phones at a campaign office in Chicago on Sunday and made some calls to voters in Wisconsin ..... I was so hoping you would be one of them!

[sound world]

Yes, thank God Obama won. I wonder how much effect the aftermath of the hurricane had in swaying voters-hope it was for less sensationalist reasons.
The thought of Mitt Romney in the White House...eek. Where and why do the Republicans find such loathsome goons to stand for President?

I'm really tired this morning too, inexplicably in my case, although I had a fairly hectic day yesterday.

Talking of gay rights, I went to see Julian Clary live the other day. He was hilarious as ever, but ended his show with a serious song about how it's still not 'cool to be queer' when there's rabid homophobia in places like Uganda and USA and amongst religious extremists.