I do without the internet when I go to our home in Hilton Head, and I don’t miss it. I love having a week or more to read, take walks, and do needlepoint. I try not to let the laptop/internet “take over” my life. Not always easy.

Ridiculous. I wear flats and flats only. I buy most of my shoes at Payless Shoe Source and cannot tell you how many compliments I have gotten on my shoes! I’ve been carrying the same handbag that also can be worn as a backpack for three years. Its a basic black leather bag that I got at an outlet for 17.00. The Fashion Police haven’t issued any citations yet!

Oh, like Frannie Em - I too live in a mantribe! They MUST think my breasts are tracking devices…when they ask where something is and I say I don’t know, they look at me like…”How is THAT possible??” I’d still like to know which one of them left their socks in the refrigerator, but no one is talking…

“Are you okay?” from people who really don’t want to know. “Whatever!” Makes me want to slap people who say it, and if I use it myself its because I’m dangling at the end of my rope and trying not to strangle someone…!! “I don’t care.” When, clearly, they do. Oh I could go on and on. Like another poster said, one of my major peeves is people who finish my sentences for me. I have one friend who does this through any conversation! You’re talking to her and its like she is on some game show and is going to get a prize for filling in the next word you’re going to say. Aiyeeee!!!!

Oh hell no! I don’t believe in going backwards.

Absolutely. My Father comes to me in dreams when I have a big decision to make, always. We have just finished moving from the city back to the small southern town where my husband was raised, and where I have owned a home for years. When we married, I rented my home out. I knew then that it had a ghost, but didn’t want to frighten the new tenants. Within a couple of months, they reported doors that wouldn’t close, windows that worked one day and stuck the next, on and on. I asked if the house was “put together”…in other words, were their pictures hung, were they taking care of it. They told me no, they had been too busy to do the little things. I told them once the house was all put together, things would be fine. I was right. I knew this because after I bought this house, I was at a church supper, and two of the older women in the congregation approached me and asked if it was true that I had bought this house. I said yes, and they told me their Aunt and Uncle had built it in the fifties and lived here until 2000. I bought it from the second owners who had totally remodeled the kitchen and bath etc. The ladies went on to tell me that their Aunt was crazy about the house and very particular about it being “just right”. They told me she used to sit by the big picture window in the living room all the time. This solved a mystery for me…as I had a chair in my living room that would be in its place when I went to bed, but when I would wake up, it would be in front of the window. I blamed the dogs…but no. I also had trouble with bedroom doors that wouldn’t stay closed, lights that wouldn’t work. I asked a friend, who is a medium, to come to the house. She spoke to the ghost of the Aunt and learned that I was upsetting her because I hadn’t hung pictures and settled in properly. I wasn’t making it a home. Once the pictures were hung, and I had my first dinner party, everything was fine. When we moved back here last week, I spoke to the ghost first thing, telling her we would put things in place as soon as we could and to please not do anything to frighten our two young sons. We haven’t had any issues, and of course, the first thing I did was put a big comfy chair in front of the window!! I’ve never had an out of body experience, but many, many ghostly encounters, none un-pleasant.

I used to watch the show, until the day I saw the “Behind The Scenes” show and realized how much of the show is scripted and rehearsed. It spoiled it for me…though I did enjoy Whoopi when she came on board, I’ll get my “Whoopi Fix” by reading her contributions to this forum.

It is about time he learns he’s not above the law after all.

I have been following this case from the beginning…all I know is, if this was MY daughter, and MY grandchild was missing…she WOULD talk…if it meant locking her in the garage and slamming her hand in a car door until she spilled the beans..so be it. I believe the self absorbed Ms. Anthony was jealous of the bond between her Mother and her daughter, resentful of the “drag” being a Mother put on her partying…so she did the un-thinkable. She is an animal, and at this point, her parents and brother are enablers. I watch this on Nancy Grace each night, and am stunned that the prosecutors haven’t nailed Ms. Anthony yet.

Its a mystery to me why people drink and drive. The cost of a cab is SO much less than the cost of a DUI. I won’t even have ONE drink and get behind the wheel of a car. I have friends who routinely stop on the way home from work, have a few drinks at happy hour, then go pick up their kids!! As for the celebrity thing…I’m with the other posters…”You’ve got the money…hire a freakin driver already!”

It all goes to trust. I am currently helping a friend through a divorce…she thought things were shared, that her husband was up front about finances until the bill collectors started calling. It turned out that the only things current were the bills she was responsible for paying. He had just been lying and telling her he was taking care of his end of things. She trusted him, believed him. After six months of “digging” she found that he was in a financial quagmire…she wanted to help him through it, but soon realized she would never be able to trust him again. She said she wished he had “simply had an affair”… it would have been easier to work through. I cannot imagine not having my “own” money…or having to explain purchases. I am not frivolous, wasn’t raised that way. My husband and I pay the bills together and discuss “major” purchases before they are made. “Major” is anything over five hundred dollars.

I can’t stay awake to read through this whole thread…what ticked me was McCain talking about being at the “re-enlistment” ceremony…I was screaming at my tv…”AND HOW MANY OF THEM CAME HOME???” As for the bracelet McCain wears and the Mother who asked him to wear it…we all deal with grief in a different way…but I cannot, for one moment, imagine asking someone to wear a bracelet with my son’s name on it so that the war would continue and more Mothers would lose their sons…my son and his team are now in a place they are not supposed to be…as they have been many times before…and I support them, I love them, I pray for them…I know each and every Mother on this team…and NOT ONE of them wants this war to continue. We just want our boys home safe and sound. We have all stood, holding hands, watching other Mother’s sons being lowered into the ground at Arlington. I think it would have been great if Bush and Cheney were required to attend each and every funeral of each and every young man and woman who has given their life during this ridiculous war…until you’ve seen a Mother’s face when they present that flag…it is very hard to grasp the sacrifices our government requires in the name of OIL.

Ah, where to begin? Arthritis in my back, knees and wrist…weight gain…though the hot flashes are starting to wane…Thank God! Emphysema…so my energy level plunges around eight p.m each evening. On the up side, I still have a waist I can identify, and my boobs still rock…always look for the silver lining!

I do not “get” the IPod - I love music, but am perfectly happy with the 6 disc changer in my car, the surround sound stereo in my house…I do not need 10,000 songs at my disposal. I can walk my dog, clean the house, work out, without the little ear pieces and gadget. Just like my cell, I’m fine with the ring tones it came with, I don’t need to down load ring tones!! Its a phone…it only needs one ring! My oldest son, who is deployed, has his “own” ring tone on my cell, but it came with the phone…I didn’t have to down load it. Really, aren’t there more important things to spend our money on?? I think one of the key problems of the “new” generation is that they have never learned the difference between “want” and “need”.

I’ve had the same cell phone for three years…it does the job. I don’t need to play music on it, surf the net on it…because its a PHONE and thats what I use it for! I have a laptop for other stuff. It took me a full year to learn how to work the tv and surround sound system my husband had when we got married. This week my mother in law got a new top of the line professional quality range…I stood in front of it like a monkey looking at a rocket ship…finally we got the book out…both of us struggling to figure out how to work the warming drawer! Why would you buy something like that??? I have a high tech range myself, but its easy to operate…I think we let technology “over take” us at times.