I've been wondering today if Child Protection Services were the right people to call. I didn't mention this to my mom yet since I haven't seen her, but I'm going to when she gets home from work in a couple hours. We've both read all of Dave Peltzer's books and similar nonfiction books about abuse. She always wants to help the obviouSly abused children at her work, and hopefully she will feel the same as me that my sister's friend needs help right now by us calling someone for him. Whether she agrees or not, I feel it's right to contact someone.

Unfortunately the other parents from last time completely skipped trying to protect the boy. They said things to his mother that my family was in utter discust of because, if something had been concealed or said better, he would have been saved from most of his punishment. I see the point that it's good to bring others into this to show more support of his poor treatment, though.

As soon as my sister told me her friend has a picture taken every day, I thought of my ex step-father. He used to take photos of us, hair samples, and finger prints every six months. He told my mom it was in case we ever got kidnapped. He told us it was so if we ever ran away from home that he would find us and punish us until we wished we'd never been born. My mom just found out when I told her earlier today because the photo thing had reminded me of it.

Thank you for agreeing. I feel the time is now, too. I hope I will have some good news about it soon.

posted by Kerian at 12:08 am (EST) on Oct 6, 2008

PS Nice work on naming the next great "scent"sation: Bondilights!

posted by compskibook at 8:39 pm (EST) on Sep 28, 2008

Hi JP. Sorry to hear about your impending bruises, but I am glad it is not worse. This winter my aunt tripped over her son's shoes and had to have 16 stitches, some on her lip and some under her eyebrow. Be careful when your son hits those teen years. Shoes of teenage boys are huge! The shoeboxes could be used as cradles. Take care of yourself!

posted by compskibook at 8:38 pm (EST) on Sep 28, 2008

Hi JP - congratulations and thanks for the suggestion of Bondilights, they're Bon-delightful. For your prize you get to select five candles from the list below. Leave your address for me as a PM and I'll make them up for you. I was hoping to send you some re-fill kits as well but unfortunately Australia Post will not allow me to send fragrance oils through the post.

Fragrances
Amber
Baby Powder
Banana
Berry Tangerine
Chanel No5
Crème Brulee
Crème Caramel
Cucumber Melon
Frangipani
French Vanilla
Grapefruit & Lime
Honeysuckle & Jasmin
Lemon Zest
Magnolia
Mandarin & Thyme
Mango
Opium (perfume)
Passionfruit
Peach
Poison (perfume)
Rasberry cream
Ripened Raspberry
Sandalwood
Sandalwood & Vanilla
Strawberry
Strawberry cream
Sugar Cookie
Sugared Shortbread
Vanilla & mango

Donna
Bondilights

posted by MsDonna at 7:16 pm (EST) on Sep 28, 2008

Kik. Thank you, JP! I feel better today. I appreciate your thoughts. *hugs back*

posted by Kerian at 2:32 pm (EST) on Sep 13, 2008

Suge's thought.

We got off the phone before she got to her computer. She hadn't seen the thread yet but was planning to check it out tonight. Her puppy had his surgery today so it might be a bit. I don't think we really need to hide. Btw, fabulous thread! It really lifts spirits and has made me laugh all day. Dream of flamingos! ;)

posted by Kerian at 10:48 pm (EST) on Sep 9, 2008

What do you think of Andie Macdowell?

posted by Kerian at 10:35 pm (EST) on Sep 9, 2008

Hmm. I'm so bad with names of actresses and actors! Suge is great with them and I just had her on the phone. Should we see if she knows a good one to play you? She'll be on LT soon, she'd said.

Is this fun trivia for the site? :)

posted by Kerian at 10:25 pm (EST) on Sep 9, 2008

Hi, jp! I hope you're feeling better!

No worries about me and my sister. I've always known this about her. It's funny that it took her till now to discover this about herself. I was amused to hear it from her. It doesn't bother me, and her compliment about Loofy was very touching. Deep inside, I feel even my mom is a dog person at heart. Luckily we have two border collies at home. This is Fiona.

I'm glad you managed to bring cats into your husband's life. I couldn't imagine your family without cats after listening to your family speaking for them. :)

posted by Kerian at 10:04 pm (EST) on Sep 9, 2008

Hi Twin/megalomanic :) Thanks for the Orson Wells YouTube. Loved it! I would have hated to be the guys in the booth with him!

*goes back to licking paws*

posted by compskibook at 7:17 pm (EST) on Sep 8, 2008

Hi, jp! I hope you're not sick and that everyone gets well soon!

When the Twilight review contest began, I looked at your and cat' profiles and noticed cat doesn't have an LT membership. I want to give her the one year membership that I won. I'm going to write her profile but am not sure if she'll see it since she isn't well right now. Could you pass the message along?

Healing thoughts headed toward your family!

~K

posted by Kerian at 2:49 am (EST) on Aug 30, 2008

KIK! And here is a non-invisible comment for you. Although mine shares no genetic material with gremlins I'm afraid. It's a sub-par comment. ;)

posted by biblioholic29 at 9:04 am (EST) on Aug 28, 2008

KIK! And here is a non-invisible comment for you. Although mine shares no genetic material with gremlins I'm afraid. It's a sub-par comment. ;)

posted by biblioholic29 at 9:04 am (EST) on Aug 28, 2008

*K lurks with an invisibility cloak to post an empty comment*

posted by Kerian at 4:18 am (EST) on Aug 28, 2008

Hi JP, I was wondering if you and Cat might help me. I am trying to think of something small and portable and wonderful to bring LadyN when I visit. I thought you guys might have suggestions having met her. I could make her earrings if she wears pierced earrings but I couldn't tell from the photos. Any recommendations you have would be much appreciated. Thanks, Maren

posted by Marensr at 1:52 pm (EST) on Aug 27, 2008

I tried soy sauce like you recommended, it made the stain WORSE!

posted by MrAndrew at 11:12 pm (EST) on Aug 25, 2008

Congrats on finishing your project! It's a shame sometimes we can't just show people the pictures in our heads. It's a curse that people can't see our envisions of creations. I hope it doesn't bow. ;)

Happy weekend early! I know you have Pirates fans in the family - dare I ask about Saturday's plans?

posted by Kerian at 3:32 pm (EST) on Aug 7, 2008

Happy anniversary! I'm really glad it's right after the plays to cheer you up! I hope they went alright.

posted by Kerian at 7:56 pm (EST) on Jul 26, 2008

Yes, those were my thoughts! Though I had not realized your birthday was my LT anniversary. So I elected to send out the invite, perhaps belatedly. :)

posted by lefty33 at 1:42 am (EST) on Jul 25, 2008

yes! The famous snickerdoodles! Alas, you can't send me any foodstuffs. Australian customs is super-anal about food restrictions, if there is even a hint of food about a package it gets picked up by the customs beagles (no, i'm serious, they really do use beagles) and the package confiscated. I've had a book that was sent to me from the UK intercepted because the sender used an empty grocery bag to wrap it (although i did get the book eventually).

Perhaps a sketch of snickerdoodles... no that would be cruel. Surprise me!

posted by MrAndrew at 11:01 pm (EST) on Jul 1, 2008

ooo, yes please.

posted by rissa at 10:08 pm (EST) on Jun 26, 2008

Hey, here's that cookie recipe

Ginger Cookies

¾ C Butter (melt)
1 C. Sugar
¼ C Molasses (I like to use light molasses best)
1 Egg
2 tsp. Soda
2 C flour
½ tsp. Ginger
½ tsp. Cloves
1 tsp. Cinnamon
½ tsp. Salt

Pour melted butter over the sugar, add molasses and egg. Beat well. Sift dry ingredients together and add. Mix well. Chill dough. Roll dough in balls the size of a walnut, roll in sugar and place on a greased cookie sheet. Bake 8 – 10 minutes at 375.

Rissa

posted by rissa at 6:08 pm (EST) on Jun 26, 2008

Hi, jp! :)

Eeek! I realized that afteward, too. I don't seem to do well with leaving things in car trunks. I forget whatever is there everytime. ;)

Guess what? Suge's mom is here! I need to ask what day she's going home, but it looks like I should be able to visit sometime this week. :)

Alas, that is one of many threads I still need to read, and right now I need to pause from catching up on threads to get some cleaning done. I'll try to check that one first when I return. I'm that weird person who enjoys cleaning and organizing, but hopefully I will get back to LT soon.

I hope your week is off to a good start! Happy early birthday to your husband!

posted by Kerian at 5:24 pm (EST) on Jun 23, 2008

grrr, LT ate my comment.

if Marina has had a negative reaction to a vaccine before, then she is probably sensitive to one of the ingredients (probably the inflammatory agent) and it is advisable to avoid vaccines whenever possible for all your kids (sensitivities to this type of stuff can run in families).

the fact that kids associate pain with going to the doctor is one of the reasons that I'm hoping that the nasal spray method of vaccine delivery, which I think is in the testing stage, will be the prevalent form by the time I'm done with med-school. the other reason being that I hypothesize that this method of delivery, which uses a more natural route to the immune system, will come with fewer side-effects.

rissa

posted by rissa at 12:57 am (EST) on Jun 23, 2008

*does some research on meningitis shot* absolutely not worth it. the meningitis vaccine can cause diabetes, fevers, chills, stiff neck, loss of consciousness etc.. it's also not that effective. it doesn't protect from 1/3 of strains at all, and doesn't offer complete protection from any strains. a more effective approach for prevention is to have a healthy lifestyle and know the early symptoms so treatment can be sought early if it is contracted.

I'm kind of anti-vaccination in a lot of cases, and I think there should be no such thing as a vaccination program without exceptions. (I will be the pediatrician who keeps the exception forms or the information on how to get them handy in the office, and actually practices informed consent when vaccinating a child "the CDC recommends this vaccination, but it is not mandatory, these are the possible side effects of the vaccination"). I am hoping by that time that most vaccinations will have switched over to a nasal spray, which will get rid of the side effects related to injection, but even then there will still be some side effects. they still use mercury in some of the flu shots, which now they recommend for kids, and a lot of vaccines are grown in egg, which many people have an allergic reaction to. depending on the vaccine it could be made of the modified toxin which some people react to, or modified virus which can mutate back into its virulent (illness causing) form. and there's usually an agent to cause inflammation, which some people have a bad reaction to.
my mom thinks that vaccinations could be contributing to the rise in severe food allergies. and in some cases they can be a contributing factor in asthma.

there are some vaccinations which make sense for some people, like rabies vaccinations for vets, hepatitis vaccinations for those who work with blood, and vaccinations for those who are traveling, but the government and the medical world in general have gone vaccination happy under the guidance of profit seeking drug companies.

/anti-vaccine ramble

rissa

posted by rissa at 11:25 pm (EST) on Jun 22, 2008

Hey, I don't know if you have seen this or not, but I thought you would be interested in it. http://www.infowars.net/articles/may2008...

rissa

posted by rissa at 8:36 pm (EST) on Jun 22, 2008

www.gutenberg.org

You can either browse by author or title or you can do a search. A lot are available on audio or in various text formats.

posted by biblioholic29 at 5:32 pm (EST) on Jun 19, 2008

Hi JP! I hope that you are well. Yep, I'm absolutely terrified. But also very excited about meeting k. She gets here on Friday night.

I'm also really terrified/excited about THE DAY. I hope its a nice day. the weather has been crazy lately, right?

posted by suge at 9:47 am (EST) on May 28, 2008

Thanks for the comments on my students' work JP! Don't worry, I will tell them what state you are from. They will love it!

I think I am driving people nuts talking about my trip to New York. I can't wait to meet you and Cat! Less than 3 weeks!

posted by compskibook at 8:49 pm (EST) on May 20, 2008

Zorro!

LOL! That's exactly what i thought when i did the whole sheep/ship thing!

too spooky.

BTW, loving your musical postings lately.

*sings* don't smoke, don't drink, what do ya do?

posted by MrAndrew at 4:13 pm (EST) on May 19, 2008

ungulates... it's not really a reference to a movie or anything... sorry, sometimes my brain just comes up with odd words. Not sure how i got to ungulate, Actually, i think someone (you?) said something similar in chat (undulate?) and my brain just went from there.

Ok, so i assume that this is to do with my sheep farm post, right? I did that because, maren had cat saying i was on a ship, while under hypnosis. So i though it would be funny if i was on a sheep farm instead. Sheep / ship... ha ha ha. More than a little obscure, i realised afterwards. And when i posted, i naturally went with ungulate instead of sheep... of course...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ungulate

posted by MrAndrew at 10:23 am (EST) on May 19, 2008

Hi Cristina,

Thanks for the video of your instructor. It looks like a good and challenging class. I took extra classes from an aditional instructor last summer and she was of the "holding poses until you think your muscles have completely changed shape" school. She was in her 60s I think and always had me exhausted by the end of class.

Oh and Happy Mother's Day to a great Mother!

Maren

posted by Marensr at 3:37 pm (EST) on May 11, 2008

Hiya, JP! I just have to say, you're one of my favorite posters on HE, and your rendition of "Car Wash" for the theme song *killed* me, in a good way :)

Thanks for the laughs!

posted by aglaia531 at 9:58 pm (EST) on May 9, 2008

Thanks, now if I just had time to watch them.

Rissa

posted by rissa at 3:24 pm (EST) on Apr 26, 2008

Thanks, JP! I'm excited about it! Have a lovely weekend, yourself! :-)

posted by foggidawn at 10:39 pm (EST) on Apr 24, 2008

Are you feeling any better? *hugs*

posted by Kerian at 6:11 pm (EST) on Apr 22, 2008

It looks like about 8pm on Thursday works best, but just in case I will also peek in chat tonight about the same time.

That story is too funny! Thanks for sharing it! :)

posted by Kerian at 5:34 pm (EST) on Apr 16, 2008

That's strange Cristina. I was actually thinking of starting a blog but no I don't have one. I have met two other Marens in my life so it isn't that common but it is out there. How funny.

Maren

posted by Marensr at 4:43 pm (EST) on Apr 15, 2008

Ah yes, there is no greater joy than learning about London Traffic. If only the mayor would take a leaf out of your book!

I tried to e-mail you some pics from NYBG last night, but my computer got confused. I'll try again tonight.

Lots of love,
Naomi
xx

posted by LadyN at 6:51 am (EST) on Apr 8, 2008

ok, this one looks like a goldmine:
http://www.adonline.id.au/radio/

"radio national" is the BBC-equivalent national broadcaster:
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/

"702 ABC" is the sydney offshoot, it has some interesting and informative programs
http://www.abc.net.au/sydney/

commercial music:
http://www.nova969.com.au/site/home.aspx

Commercial talkback, (bleaugh!) usually right-wing:
http://www.2gb.com.au/

Sydney community station, mostly new music:
http://www.fbi.org.au/

posted by MrAndrew at 9:29 pm (EST) on Apr 7, 2008

Darn! LadyN got in first! oh well.

I'm guessing that a lot of them broadcast online now, especially the public stations (ABC, equivalent of the British BBC / USA PBS?). The one i know of is JJJ - it's a nationwide youth-oriented network, lots of indie music etc. Here's the link:

http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/

Note that they sometimes play tracks that have adult lyrics (not so much gangsta rap, more indie music that drops the f-bomb). They do a language warning before said tracks, except possibly late at night (your daytime, eeek!)

I'll take a look for a few others and let you know what i find.

posted by MrAndrew at 6:06 pm (EST) on Apr 7, 2008

ooh yes! all the major stations broadcast online. Are you looking for talk radio, music, or everything?

The BBC definitely have all their stations available, and you can access them via their homepage www.bbc.co.uk/radio - and you can listen to many of their shows whenever you like with their "listen again" feature.

London radio is dominited by Capital, available online at www.capitalradio.co.uk

There are also stations called "magic" and "heart", which are also available. the last three are all predominantly music channels, but they do have some talk elements. The difference between the local stations and the bbc is that the local stations are funded by advertising, so there are a lot of adverts, whereas the BBC has none, other than occasionally for their own programmes.

I hope that helps. If there's other stuff you're after, let me know. Always happy to help!

Naomi
xx

posted by LadyN at 3:21 pm (EST) on Apr 7, 2008

I think I need to start a fun blog so that I can be tagged and stuff. I think I'm going to this summer when I have a little more time.

Rissa

posted by rissa at 10:11 am (EST) on Apr 7, 2008

Hi, JP!

Hehehe. Well, zsu was suge, yes. However, LG was convinced that MrA was not MrA - she was very sure it was suge pretending to be MrA. They never seemed to be chatting at the same time. One would walk away from the computer while the other was talking. She kept saying that none of us believed her. Tres funny! They were eventually chatting at the same time, though.

I'm so glad you guys were still in chat when I got home from work! I had thought surely I would miss everyone. :)

I wanted to ask how you ended up getting that sword off your poor daughter's leg. Did you have to break the sword? It made me think of the time I put my hand in an open soda can as a child. Bad memories!

I've been meaning to ask which specific dark chocolate candy bar you want from Ghiradelli. There are a few, it seems. Do you have a favorite, or a few favorites?

By the way, I want to tell you that the peace is here if you get what I mean. I'm so happy about that!

Oh, and no picture of suge! She says no. Oh well. If I get lost, I get lost. I'll just hope I'll be able to find payphones, I guess.

~K

posted by Kerian at 3:43 pm (EST) on Apr 3, 2008

wow that sculpture is fab, jp!

posted by suge at 2:05 pm (EST) on Apr 1, 2008

Sounds good to me jp :)

Looking forward to the next poker match!

posted by biblioholic29 at 9:14 am (EST) on Mar 30, 2008

JP, Thanks for rebefriending!

I have been looking for a ticket to go to NYC during that first weekend of June. I would love to meet you and Cat and hopefully Suge and Kerian. I have a friend from High School out there who I have promised forever to visit, and this may be the perfect time! It sounded like such fun when you all got together with LadyN I started thinking about going. I will have to find a good ticket price, though. Buying a new computer has kind of wiped me out.

I will keep you posted :)

So long, farewell!

(that was scary!)

posted by compskibook at 11:04 pm (EST) on Mar 27, 2008

WHERE'S-MAH-CHOCOLATE-RABBIT!

:-D

posted by MrAndrew at 12:01 am (EST) on Mar 23, 2008

Free time! That is pretty funny. I've currently loaned out my Narnia and the Space Trilogy I loved Out of the Silent Planet, but I've had trouble getting into Perelandra, so I put it aside for a bit.

When I first saw Cat's user name I immediately figured it was an Amelia Peabody reference, but when I looked at her library I didn't see it there. Now of course I know why. I reread the entire series about once a year. I get the same felling from those books that I do from HP, I love the characters so much that I want to be a part of that family and I'm always sad when I finish my reread.

Talk to you soon in the HE!

Heather

posted by biblioholic29 at 2:01 pm (EST) on Mar 22, 2008

Hi Cristina, your response had me laughing out loud go for the henna by all means! Maren

posted by Marensr at 11:56 am (EST) on Mar 21, 2008

So far of all the HEers libraries I've looked at we share the most. I'm always happy to see another Amelia Peabody fan. She's awesome! Just wanted to check in and say hi!

posted by biblioholic29 at 10:05 am (EST) on Mar 21, 2008

Guess what I bought today? A Ghirardelli chocolate bar! I usually like milk chocolate better so I decided to try that kind. You are right it is very good. So rich! I can't eat the whole thing today, but I love it.

There is a very long list of foods I have never tried and now I can cross this off the list. (Er, sort of - as long as I count chocolate as a food since it's candy. ;) Next chocolate thing on the list: chocolate covered strawberries. How I love strawberries but have never tried that is beyond me.

Hope you are having a fantastic day. Cannot wait to visit you guys! :)

posted by Kerian at 2:39 am (EST) on Mar 14, 2008

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

The sketch came in the mail today. I love it! I will be careful not to smudge it until I can find a frame for it. I appreciate it so much!

posted by foggidawn at 11:13 pm (EST) on Mar 13, 2008

I was lurking once and saw that they were discussing trolls. By trolls, of course, they meant internet trolls - never a good thing. Think people who post just to cause trouble, who are always looking for a fight. (A rare thing but sadly we used to find them on LT from time to time.) They joked about posting a picture of a newt whenever they'd see a message written by a troll. Better now? :)

Btw, *hug* for you just because you seem like you need one. No asthma attacks on LT, okay? :)

posted by Kerian at 9:56 pm (EST) on Mar 11, 2008

Aww jp, this is so very very sweet of you! I always love your comics and drawings. I would cherish any sketch you do of Loofy! I know for some reason my flickr link doesn't work. I uploaded some pictures from my camera on flickr and will link some for you. Whichever you want to do or think is easiest. Here he is on a chair, looking at the camera from the ground, sleeping next to his sister, and this one is actually a picture of an older photo of him lying in a basket. Thank you so very much, jp! This is very kind of you! *hug*

posted by Kerian at 4:32 pm (EST) on Mar 10, 2008

Thank you for your words, kind wishes and prayers for my baby. You are such a good friend! I love him more than anything in the world. I know I should be using past tense, but his being gone will not stop me from loving him. Why animals that adopt us enter our hearts to be cruelly riped from us I will never understand. I'm sorry you've also lost such a sweet piece of your heart as well.

posted by Kerian at 12:40 am (EST) on Mar 9, 2008

Hi there!

I just wanted to thank you again for a wonderful day last Friday. I so enjoyed meeting you all, adn had a really fantastic time.

Lots of love to the whole family.

Naomi
xx

posted by LadyN at 6:44 am (EST) on Mar 6, 2008