Great interview!!  I’ve read most of Anne’s books and she is amazing as a writer and a person.  Now I need to get this latest one, or put it on my Christmas wish list.

Marjorie ~ the Dems have the right to raise funds, just as the GOP does.  They need the money to fight the hate rhetoric coming from so-called "Christian" right-wingers AND Fox News (that title is used lightly) who are part of the vast conspiracy to negate every single thing Obama tries to accomplish.  I’m grinning at your statement about Obama allowing others to run the country ~ kinda like The Shrub allowed Cheney and others to do the "brain" work for him?  It’s just laughable.  If more Dems would speak up for Obama and what he’s attempting to do for this country, I think we’d level the playing field.  As it is, the GOP has millions to throw at all who spout hate and failure for Obama.  How is that "fair and balanced"?     

Taylor, my thoughts exactly!  My mother used to say what Margo said, but since watching Judge Judy for the past ** years, I’ve learned a lot LOL.  My ex-husband had the nerve to ask for my ring set back; said he’d sell it and we’d split the money.  I kept it (even after he tried to rip it off my finger several times) as payment for all he’d done to me.  He had the extreme displeasure of paying it off.  Good trade.  LOL 

In high school, I and my best friend were barred from appearing in our senior class picture because we wore pants that day.  When I worked in the office of a western wear company in the mid-70’s, the Italian owner stated "My women don’t wear pants."  And we didn’t, until right before I quit in 1976.  When I asked for a raise at this same company, my supervisor said "You’re sitting on a million dollars!!"  In 1992, while working at another company, I called in sick with the flu.  My boss said "And if I get it, I won’t have had the benefit of sleeping with you first!"  I was fired when I went back, and I think it was because I’d had a small hissy fit on the phone when he said it, and they were afraid I was going to take it further.  I did file for and receive unemployment benefits, the first time anyone had won a case against this company…sweet revenge, and although I almost immediately found another job, they had to contend with higher unemployment insurance rates.  When I was married the first time for a whole four months, my then-hub told me (in front of his mother) that if I were ever raped, he’d want nothing more to do with me.  His mother and I were shocked.  Later when I was divorcing him, a prospective employer asked me if I were "over" the divorce yet, implying that my work might suffer.  The list goes on and on….I don’t know if women will ever enjoy full equality.  From personal experience with my own family (brothers and father) it seems to be inherent in mens’ DNA that somehow, somewhere, however minute it appears to them, women are not equal, never were and never will be.  How does one fight it?  Having my own private feelings and keeping them to myself doesn’t help, but neither does speaking up ~ then I’m just a harridan looking for a fight.         

I wonder how Mr. Polanski would feel if someone committed the same act against his child?  Exactly.  And, by the way, he’s never paid off on the settlement with the victim.  He pled guilty and fled, he promised money and bailed = no remorse.  He’s special, shouldn’t be punished (in his own eyes) ~ BAH!!

"there is a core of you that just unfolds in truth to your relationship" ~ wow.  This is true for me, and it can be so confusing/conflicting.  Thank you for helping the feelings begin to clear up and pave the understanding road for the future. 

Exactly, and I saw a headline the other day that her resignation has cost the state of Alaska $40,000.  She obviously doesn’t care about that or any other exorbitant costs associated with her diva-ness.  I think she is disgusting and toxic.   

Yes, they do; along with Rush!

caj p and everyone else, you’ve hit the nail on the head!!  Like when ol’ Newt was chewin’ on Clinton and he was having his own affair, for which his wife nailed his butt to the wall…..and there was another prominent GOP at about the same time doing the same thing, but his name escapes me.  I’m sure someone here will remember who I’m talking about LOL…..HOW do these idiots get elected?!?!?

I had a very casual frenemy like this a few years ago, and had no clue.  She sucked up to me, my husband, my son, and my husband’s sister.  After my mother-in-law died, she was at the funeral home hovering over us while we chose the flowers.  I thought it was weird, but there was so much other stuff going on that I just dismissed it; my sister-in-law (another snake) made a big deal of this woman being her "support person" at her mother’s death, also weird.  Later, when I caught my hub lying about something so inconsequential as to whether his sister showed up at one of his gigs (he’s a drummer, now 62), I knew something was up.  When confronted, he admitted he’d been taking this woman to his gigs with him, while I stayed home riding herd on our teenage boys.  Hubby was asked to move out, and of course he went to his sister’s.  We got it worked out, later moved, and I will be damned if this woman didn’t move two doors down from our 4-plex!!  I kept a much closer eye on things, and them…but talk about being blind-sided!  I just can’t imagine doing this to any acquaintance, much less a friend.  Some women are just toxic and it’s sad that this happens between sistahs….we all need to stick together!

A waterfall ~ anywhere, but especially in Japan (my first waterfall experience as a child, near Nikko) or off the highway up to Mentone, Alabama.  I love to sit in them and just be still in mind and body, while the water rushes around me.  It’s the best and most addictive peace I have found.  Also, Mentone, Ala. is wonderful, with cabins to rent, an antique mall, and some very eclectic shops….sort of in the country, on a mountain. 

When, as a young wife and mother, I invited my in-laws for dinner and she wiped the silverwear "clean" and said she didn’t eat pork chops (my entree), I decided that it just wasn’t worth being upset about; that I really didn’t want her there anyway.  I think she came for dinner one Christmas years later, and promptly stated that she wouldn’t eat my gorgeous rib roast unless it were cooked some more.  My husband calmly nuked her portion in the microwave and everyone was happy.  It was enough for me that my FAL loved my fried chicken!  Find the good stuff, if you can…if not, be happy they aren’t there as "vexations to your spirit".         

I miss Ann too, and I’m sure she’s spinning in her grave over the antics of Goodhair and all his cronies.  She was a peach, and knew how to play against dirty Texas politics.  Wish we could clone her ~ this state needs another great Texas woman!!

Me too, CA ~ 36 years ago, and such a feeling of liberty it was!  The downside is that it made me absolutely rabid about domestic violence and power freaks…I just can’t help it.  Upside (besides dumping the jerk) is I found and married a wonderful, gentle man who loves me and shows it daily.  We truly are a product of our experiences, and I’m grateful. 

Palin has shot herself in the foot so many times that she’s assassinated herself.  The media, nor the Dems, had to do it for her, but they certainly can’t be faulted for reporting or turning the tables on the GOP ~ Don’t shoot the messengers (OR the winners)!