Rob's Halfway House #11

[Jazz Girl]

Good morning, siblings!! It's another one of those weirdly warm December days in Indiana. It started out 28 degrees this am, but will be near 50 by the afternoon. It's supposed to be up to the mid 50's this weekend before snowing on Tuesday. :eyeroll: I am not a fan of wishy washy.

Anyways, I must say, I was on an OriginalWard kick for the last little bit.

He's just so intense!


Lynne~ I’ll see you on the Explorations thread! Ugh, yes, very frustrating about the brakes! I’m always thankful to have a very good friend who works on our cars. He’s always attentive and honest in the realities of what’s going on with them.

Susie~ You know how to find me. I do have to say, I noticed her hair in that scene as well. There seems to be one like that in both movies, I guess. Remember the opening of BD1, when she’s trying on her shoes… similar kind of thing.

Lulu~ I saw your story over at the Annex and I’m so happy for you. That is so awesome.

Sean~ Oh, don’t get me wrong. I love my work and the people I work with. It’s just times like these, when I could literally sit in a theater and watch three or four showings in a row, or when I feel like I lose time here where I value my time so much that I just get a little… verklempt, you know? I have no idea what the record is. It’s possible I could be close. Especially if you add in DVD viewings. I’m glad to hear you are stressing less. You’ve done so well taking the bull by the horns, as it were, with work and moving forward with your SS. You’ve earned a few stress-free days.

Sarah~ I don’t think it’s weird to get emotionally attached. Hell, I name my cars. Cars, especially when you spend a lot of time in them, can become almost like a member of the family. Oooh, what kind of ornament are you going to get? I’m not awfully impressed with the Hallmark ones. I don’t think they’ve ever looked like them. But, I linked on FB to a picture of some handpainted ornaments with the images from the novel covers on them. Those, I’d be all over.

Marielle~ I always find it funny when someone says something is horrible that I would find to be the absolute most wonderful thing. It’s been near 60 here every day for the last few days and I’m sick of it. It’s honkin’ December for gods’ sake! Mmmm, yes, TentWard. No matter how badly DS screwed up Eclipse, the tent scene is… yeah, I love it. I will say that I am inclined to agree with Susie in her contention that the proposal became a happy memory for Bella. It’s rather like what she says about being married after the wedding. It took experiencing it to realize how much she wanted it. As for them showing his leaving her… I think it has to do with allowing him… helping him to understand her devastation when he left. Yes, showing him her love and her joy with him is important. But, to truly understand the depth of her feelings for him, he also has to understand what her life felt like in his absence.

Alright, off to check a few more things and then put the finishing touches on some documents for a meeting this afternoon.

[Songbird]

I am helping out for the next couple of days at the school with taking down Sinterklaas decs and putting up Christmas ones. They asked me if I wanted to join the ouderraad (I guess it's probably kind of the equivalent of the PTA?). They take care of decorating the school for holidays and each season, organizing parties like for Sinterklaas, kids book week, etc. I'm thinking about it...it would be a good way for me to meet other parents. Since my kids are new to the school, I don't really know any of them right now, plus it is a way to be more involved in my kids' education...what they are doing at school, etc. I'll always know what's going on because I'll be in on organizing it. And I don't think there are very many foreigners involved, so it's really nice that they asked me. I don't think they usually do that. At least, I don't know of any other foreigners in the ouderraad and there are a LOT of foreigners in this neighborhood. I want to talk to hubs about it first, but I'm thinking it might be a good opportunity.

Susie, yes, Sinterklaas is way bigger than Christmas here...think...the difference between Christmas and Easter in the States. Sure, you get a couple of days off of school, and maybe a few treats, but Christmas is all the decorations, all the hype, all the presents, etc. Here, Sinterklaas is like Christmas is there and Christmas is like Easter there.

Lulu, I will certainly let you all know how hubs likes it.

Sean, sometimes an uneventful day is just what the doctor ordered!!

Sarah, have you ever made a graham cracker house? We made them in jr. high home ec class and I was TERRIBLE at it. It's really hard to get them to stay together and they kept breaking...I wonder if I'd have better luck now. But good luck with it!
I am sorry about your car...it's hard to say goodbye, isn't it? I miss my beast of a car from when I lived in the US. It was my first car, I bought it myself when I was 17. It was a yellow 1977 chevy malibu classic...we called it the banana boat. It had scrapes down the sides from where the little 97 year old lady who was the original owner kept driving it into the garage because she couldn't maneuver it. That car had personality!! Do you have pics of your car from before?

Marielle, 20 cm?? Is that just for your area? I know it's supposed to snow tomorrow, but it's only showing something like 2 cm for us on weeronline.nl . But I love snow! I just need the bike paths to be clear on Monday so I can get to work.
My kids were pretty unbearable yesterday, but we made it through. We do more with Christmas because Mr. Man's birthday is so close to Sinterklaas. So they only got a couple of things..they each got a DVD and a book, and then Mr. Man got some little hotwheels type cars and Bug got some rainbow glitter nail polish. That was it. Zwarte Piet went and threw pepernoten into the bathroom while they were in the bath and left a whole trail downstairs to their shoes. Must have been Rommel Piet. So once they were out of the bath they got to open their presents. What about you? Do you do Sinterklaas with your family at all?

Lynne, that's unbelievable! Definitely time for a new mechanic!! He obviously never checked them before and was just charging you for it! My car was leaking oil once when I was in college...it was Thanksgiving or Easter weekend...I can't remember which. Just that I was due home and it was a 4 hour drive. I called every mechanic in town and they were all booked up and closing early...I found one garage that had an opening so I took it in immediately and they told me it was going to cost more than 600 dollars to fix because they couldn't get to the leak and had to take the whole engine out which was several hours of labor. I told them not to because I didn't have the money...I got a ride home with a friend and waited until I got back to worry about the car. Called a good friend who was well-known in the community and knew EVERYONE..she put me in contact with a garage...took it in...it was loose caps or something...they tightened them up and it was good as new. Cost me 23 dollars. Needless to say I had found my new mechanic. He was AMAZING and never overcharged me. Do you know anyone like that? Someone that has connections to people in just about every industry that you can kind of "name drop" so they treat you right? This lady got me a great doctor, a great mechanic, and job interviews...she is an angel! It's amazing what you can find with the right connections. Good luck in your search!!!

Caryn, why don't you just come visit your Dutch sisters? Snow, Breaking Dawn 2 in the theaters, Birthday parties...how about it?

[TwilightFan87]

My cars name was Bella because the girl who introduced me to the Saga had a Volvo named Edward. Before that she was Mia the Kia but I thought my sister might get mad at the fact that my car was the same name as her baby!

Song- that sounds like fun, helping decorate and getting to know new people! As far as the graham cracker house goes, it's all about using things to help support the drying process and using tons of icing. I have some pictures of a house I did a few years ago on FB. I thought I had some pictures of my car on there but I couldn't find em. I think they're on my computer though.

Marielle- correct me if I'm wrong but isn't 20cm like..2 inches or did I do the conversion wrong? Snow can be nice if you don't have to drive in it. It's very pretty!

Lynne- that is outrageous!!! I am so sorry to hear, how terrible and frustrating! That could've caused an accident!!

Caryn-I plan on getting the BD1 wedding one from Hallmark. I agree, they look a bit off, but I get a discount and idk, now it's just something I want on my tree lol. I bought some clear DIY ornaments that I want to stick some TW photos and glitter in your weather sounds nice as long as its not raining. I'm so over the rain today, yuck!

Time to get off my rear and do some housework

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[Songbird]

I have to share this story because it just cracks me up. My best friend's daughter hasn't really said what she wants for Christmas...she said she was happy with what she had...sweet, right? So my friend has hidden everything in their attic because the little one isn't big enough to open the door (she's 5) and the older one is afraid it's haunted (she's almost 16). So my best friend is moving stuff around in there, and moves this box and the little one asks her what it is. She says it's a gift. The girl asks her what color it is and she says it's pink, at which the girl starts jumping up and down screaming and clapping and excitedly asks "Is it a gorilla?????" because apparently if it's pink and in a box it HAS to be a gorilla, right? ROFL That girl is just as much of a spaz as her mother. So now she has to find a pink gorilla because her daughter will be expecting one.

Sarah, 30cm in a foot. 20 cm is about 8 inches. In a country that considers a centimeter "a lot" of snow, and which only gets a couple of dustings per year usually, 8 inches will make everything stop. People don't know how to drive in snow here...even a centimeter of snow that sticks is enough to cause many accidents and slow things down a LOT. I come from Wyoming, where we are used to getting that in a few hours. But when I first moved over here, I remember we got a storm where there was about a centimeter and a half of snow...people FREAKED. No one wanted to go anywhere, buses were running half an hour late...we lived within walking distance of the shopping center and hubs and I were going to walk there and my in-laws begged us not to go out because it was so dangerous, etc. I can't ever remember getting 8 inches of snow here and I've been here for 10 years now. It will shut the country down basically.
Ah...so you have to ice the pieces together to reinforce them and let them dry before trying to assemble them? We only had a 50 minute class period in which to make our houses, so perhaps that was the problem. Do you eat them when you are done?

[Tornado]

Our mechanic has been really good up until now. He's usually great at finding problems and letting you know that they will need to be fixed up within a certain amount of time (he doesn't do them and charge you for them on the spot). I don't know what happened this time. Hubby is going to pick up the car today, because I think I will get too angry if I go, and I hope that he can talk sensibly to him about what happened and find out if it was some kind of error (which happens) or if we need to take our business elsewhere. Prior to this, I would have recommended this guy to anyone.

Caryn - boy, Rob does look young in that shot, doesn't he? Yes, I'll be over at Explorations to see what you've written as soon as I've finished with this post.

Songbird - Good on you for helping out at the school. I want to do that, but I find I just don't have time! A pink gorilla? Good luck to your friend in finding one!

Sarah - yes, that's what scares me the most, the knowledge that, but for a little drive he gave it yesterday afternoon, we would have kept driving around in it completely unaware that the brakes were about to go.

[Edwards Wheels]

Susie, I meant to answer your spoiler question yesterday but I forgot…I read the spoiler thread on here to find out what happened. I'd heard there was a twist that was controversial so I wanted to check it out before I watched it as I was almost too worried to want to go and see it. I'm so happy I did read them, I could've made a complete fool of myself in the cinema if I hadn't known lol.
With regards to making a traditional Christmas cake, I did last year. My mum loves rich fruit cakes especially with lots of marzipan and royal icing. But I'm not doing it this year as for Christmas this year it's just buddy, her and myself and I don't like it, and buddy isn't sure on it. I don't drink alcohol and to be honest I don't like the hard spirits taste in food. We always get an alcohol free Christmas pudding and in a Christmas cake/rich fruit cake, the fruit should be soaked in brandy etc. it's virtually a cake to get you sozzled haha. For buddy's fair I've made jam tarts…nice and easy, tasty and easy to get into school without any mishaps haha.

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[Chernaudi]

Hi everyone.

I can tell you guys that I'm never, at least though my own volition, eating, eating a certain food item again--more on that later.

I had a nice day at work, and I did get my debit card thing started, and I did visit with my mom for a while today. But on the downside, I was sick most of today, and that's why I brought up the food item--Walmart's breakfast sausage patties. I've been pretty much sick all day since eating them. Time to find a different ready made sausage patty maker LOL.

Caryn: I do feel the same way about my work--I generally enjoy it and I like who I work with, but there are times where I do feel that it takes away from my day a bit, especially when I'm ill or my mind is thinking about something else. But then again, it's a 2-4 of hours a day a few days a week of potential boredom that I don't have to face, either, and I can get bored at home pretty easily at times. I just have to budget my time a bit to get done a few things that I've been waiting to get done for a while.

As far as the film viewing, I don't make it a huge habit of watching the films, especially since I do have them sort of memorized with the exception of the BD films, which I've seen parts of BD1 recently and still haven't seen BD2 yet. It's sort of like I memorize the films and then I have to take a break from them. I also don't eat while watching the films really, either--I pay too much attention to K&R/B&E, too much attention to the saga being brought to life.

But as far as stressing out, I'm still trying to control it a bit, especially with the events of the last couple of weeks and it's the holiday season, but when you compare me to how I was a few months ago, and even at times last year at this time, I'm a lot better off. It's not perfect, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, something I couldn't say too much in the past.

Songbird: Well, I got sick today and slept from soon after I got home until about an hour in a half ago. Again, I'm eating that sausage again. But at least after tomorrow, I can have an uneventful weekend.

Everyone: It's been kinda quiet today here. Well, I do have a present, Fallen One's newest band photo. Of course, Lia is the girl in the photo:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid= ... =1&theater

Lia, I do have to say, has looks that can kill The only thing that as far as that goes as far as allure is her voice. She is an absolute siren, you know, those mythical creatures that in myth and legend caused shipwrecks because ship captains would follow their voices. She looks like a young, punk rock version of Cher, and she's got this angelic voice, and I think that she's really cool, too.

I'll be logging off temporarily in a little while, since I now feel well enough to eat--maybe I'll have one of my stir-fry things and maybe tomorrow, a big sirloin steak with potatoes

But other than all of that, I don't have much more to say. I have work from 12-4 tomorrow, and I have to stop by the library, and maybe later tomorrow night or by Monday, I'll stop by Dollar General and get my chicken breast and some other stuff there, too.

I'll be back later

[marielle]

Good morning everybody!!!!

Seriously yesterday I said that if it was going to snow I wasn’t going to work… now there is about an inch of snow outside and I’m the only one in the office!!!

It isn’t surprising that that we only got an inch (though it’s still snowing) it’s just too warm around here for it to really stay put…
However through out the country there will be more…

Now posts,

Sean, right now I drive a Renault… before it was a toyota, but that one did look like the old opel…
I really don’t like French cars, they always have something…
Seriously eating sausage for breakfast??? I would feel sick the whole day as well!!! I only eat a small bowl of cereal with no fat milk… I survive on that till 10 when I eat some crackers.. If I eat too fatty things in the morning I’ll be sick for the rest of the day…

Lynne, that’s the problem with getting you car checked out… you just have to trust the mechanic that he is doing a good job. In Holland we have a certification system for that but even than it’s not guaranteed that you have a good one.

Caryn, the problem with snow is that for the first 23 years of my life I didn’t see much snow. I think we had 2 white Christmases back than… and then global warming kicked in and now we have snow each year… but no experience of how to deal with it… to me it’s slippery, cold and wet stuff that makes normal traveling impossible. In the beginning it was fun to have snow regularly but these days I rather have ice and sun than the mushy wet stuff.
I agree with your thoughts on Bella showing Edward leaving her, I had the same thoughts. As for the proposal… I don’t know why they didn’t show it.. you both could be right but I just think for Bella it wasn’t a major moment in her life.

Susan, my mom did a lot of work for the school my brother and I went too. She was the lunch lady and organized Sinterklaas… and helped out with Christmas and sports day… she really enjoyed it and got to know a lot of people. Just one warning don’t get involved in the soap that’s going on between teachers…… my mom could write a book about that!!!
We had about an inch of snow this morning… I think you can expect a bit more… is it snowing there already? My mom called about an hour ago telling it’s not snowing there yet..
We didn’t do much about Sinterklaas… my bf and I just got some candy and inhaled it… besides that right now the focus in on the new house…

Sarah, well I really don’t like the cold and wet… so snow is a horrible thing… However the only day it’s allowed to snow is on Christmas eve so we have a white Christmas. Susan answered your question correctly… though she wasn’t very nice about Holland she speaks the truth!! We suck at dealing with snow…
As I explained to Caryn, it’s only since the last 10 years that we have snow regularly. Before that it was really rare to have snow… so we just aren’t used to it…an inch of snow can about shut down everything…

Mel, I was happy that I didn’t read the spoilers before watching BD2… there weren’t that much spoilers yet when I went but I can understand that it saved you from embarrassment.

Alright, I want to get things finished today…
See you all later!!!

[Amanda Beth]

I have a million things to do tomorrow and I'm so not used to waking up early (bonus of working afternoons and nights). Of course my biological clock is like hell no when I try to sleep.

Instead of bolding people's names I'm going to bold the subject since so many people are involved in them each lol.
Thoughts on snow I grew up in NYC, moved to Florida for 10 years, then back to NYC and now in LA. I love snow to an extent, but three years ago, just before I moved back to NYC, I got stuck in NJ(where my mom lives) for four extra days because of it. I've decided snow is only good when one has a snowboard (or skis) on their feet. It's one of the main reasons I don't know if I could move back to NYC no matter how much I love it.

Bella showing her memories to Edward I think they added the scene of Edward leaving Bella for the fans, and not because its a scene Bella would want to show him. Bill gave us a short montage the last four years -- four years we've been through, which includes the good and the bad.

Cars I know nothing about them except when I need to get my oil changed. Right now though I need four new tires and new struts (two tires and the struts are the originals -- and theres 73,000 miles on my car), which adds up to a lot of money I don't have.

Okay, that's all for now

[Tornado]

We've got the car back and it seems fine now, although it cost over $1000 to get everything fixed (the timing belt needed replacing, too). It's been a while since we've had a bill that big. Fortunately, we do have the funds to handle it at the moment. Unfortunately, the mechanic was out when Hubby arrived to pick it up, so he didn't get to talk to him about it. However, since he does our work cars, too, and we need to put one in soon for some other work, we'll discuss the brake issues then.