~*~CASUAL COMMUNITY NEWS~*~
 

Issue XIV January 10th 2003
 

Editorial.

Hi Folks,

2003 eh? Where do the years go? I remember what seemed like not so long ago, sitting with my babies and working out what age they would be at the turn of the century and now, we've entered 2003. Makes you feel kind of old, doesn't it? Not to worry, though, they do say your only as old as the man you ..errr... never mind <S>

Christmas was good here, I cooked for Ireland, the sprogs ate for Ireland, the Bank Manager is sending threatening letters...ahhhh...a normal Christmas!

I received some beautiful presents from my friends across the pond, I thanked them at the time and I would like to do so again, it was so thoughtful of each and everyone of them.

Santa brought me a new digital camera <VBG> I have been having some great fun with it. I forwarded the evidence to several people that should win me the naffest Christmas present award again!    Yep! Mother excelled herself again this year. Last year I won with the dalmatian slippers, this year I think that my red tartan winceyette pyjamas should claim first prize again...that is....unless you know different and are prepared to forward the evidence! LOL

Though, I think I am getting more and more like Mother as each year passes. She is famous for buying presents early and stashing them away and completely forgetting where. It's normal for her to have to rush out and buy something small as a token until the real present reveals itself. Well, this year I was watching Senior Sprogs delighted face when he opened his DVD  player and suddenly realising he didn't seem to have the DVDs I had bought to go with it. I searched high and low, wracked my brains and couldn't remember even gift wrapping them. You'll be pleased to hear I eventually found them in my bedside drawer, though why I stashed them there I have no idea.

We had a wonderful surprise this month, when Dar's daughter came to visit. I think the sprogs are in love (calm down Juris!) because they have talked to her more this past week than I think they said in total to me in 2002! For some reason Senior Sprog is thinking about going canoeing! <scratching head> LOL

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday too and I wish you all the very very best for 2003!

Keep reading because we have a bumper-packed issue coming up!
 

Lynda [Editor]

Any comments. articles, tips etc, please mail to LyndaAtCasual@Compuserve.com

Lynda [Editor]

Contents.

Editorial.........................................................................Lynda

Wrenched Thoughts......................................................WrenchofCo

Late Breaking Mooos from Denver.............................Taffy

The Move, The Holidays and Life in General..............Tracey

A New Year on the Farm................................................Lizzie

"Lil bits" from Ma'am..................................................Maureen

WRENCHED THOUGHTS

[Editor's note: -  sorry for the delay in Wrench's article, I didn't manage to get it included in last months]

Hello all, its been a couple of months. I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving and are looking forward to a nice Christmas. I have been spending my time up to not much, work mostly and of course weekends at Rileys bar and grill, mostly bar, not much grill.

Well we got through another nasty election season with the GOP eking out a few victories. Someone ought to tell the Democrats to just tell us what they really think, then they might get ahead. This was an odd election year, actually, what with the war supposedly not going as well as it really is and the economy supposedly tanking, the presidential party isn't supposed to win, but then they were the only ones with a message. Not that I absolutely agreed with them, but where was the alternative this year. I've a hunch that 2004 will be more lively.
The war is going well, we have captured some top people and our intelligence people are catching up with the bad guys. There is the matter of a grainy distorted tape recording of Usama. Seems our experts are saying that it probably is him, but then some experts from Switzerland are saying that the tape is probably not Usama. Sorry, but this time I have to side with the Swiss. I've been saying for a long time that he's dead, and until I see Usama walking naked down Wall Street, he's dead. There is no way a grainy, distorted tape will change my mind.
The Christmas season is upon us now, and everyone is wandering around with visions of sugar plums, mall crowds and over extended credit cards on their minds. I do hope everyone survives this Christmas season without filing for bankruptcy, but what the hey, if you don't at least you'll go to bankruptcy court with a smile on your face.
Has anyone besides me seen the new ad campaign that is supposed to get you out of your SUV and into a small car. It asks," What would Jesus drive?".
Obviously these people don't know much about Jesus. Were talking about a guy that walks on water and can feed a mass of people with two fish and a few breadsticks. Come on now. What would Jesus drive? Any damn thing he wants. I mean gasoline wont be a problem for him. Here's how I figure it. The Lord did say that He would never flood the earth again, so how would He destroy mankind this time?
I think I know, you see The Lords boy is probably getting restless, you know, its been a couple thousand years, and you can only float around playing a harp for so long, so God throws his boy the keys to a brand new Hummer. Jesus comes down and starts running everyone and everything over. Of Course, gasoline is no problem. In short, if you see a hippy wearing a robe and driving a Hummer, the end is here.

I hope everyone has a Very Merry Christmas!!!!

Wrench

 LATE BREAKING MOOS FROM DENVER
 

When Cookie and Cappy first began chatting in Fabulous 40s about their cows and arguing over who's was the prettiest, it seemed like UDDER nonsense to me. But when I found out that Lynda was the one responsible for the "Battle of the Bovines," having sent the cows to those fine ladies, I innocently
requested one for myself. : )

Being the generous Irish Wench that she is, I promptly had one in the mail, all the way from Northern Ireland. Oh, what an exciting thing it was to know that here was my very own beautiful cow that had survived being tossed around for 6000 miles beCUD of the kindness of Lynda's wee Irish heart. And now Ms Lizzie has one, too, and is claiming hers is the most beauteous!

These are not ordinary cows. They are spotted little darlings made from the highest quality plastic and have MOOving parts. Inside the "stomachs" are the nastiest looking cola and butterscotch jelly beans of such suggestive colors that one would never dare to eat one! Via a simple mechanism, a jelly bean or two will pop out from beneath the tail to the amusement of those perverted souls who are in awe of such crass MOOvements. My Welsh son-in-law suggested pouring some chocolate syrup amongst the jelly beans, which gives you an idea of the mentality of certain Welshmen! Or is it men in general? <S>
 

Being the lady of refinement that I am, I'm appalled by such shenanigans. BUTT aside from that (ahem!) aspect of my cow, we've quickly bonded. In appreciation to Lynda, I've named my cow after her favorite sister, Maggs.
And now that these Irish first CUDzins are on this side of the pond, we promise to give them proper love and affection, and would never STEER them wrong!

It seems that we've MILKed the subject for all it's worth, and rather than risk the ire of the other proud bovine owners, it seems that the only way that the dispute can be settled once and for all is to have a Miss AmeriCOW contest.

No doubt my Maggs would win, HOOVES down, and that's no BULL!

Taffy

 

Last I wrote, my apartment was in total disarray, as I was getting ready to move into my new place. Well as of this writing, I’m here, I’m pretty much settled and it was a busy moving week for me!!

I got the keys to my new place on October 30th. Upon finally entering the house (which wasn’t vacant until well after 6:00 p.m.), I walked into a pig pen. I can’t believe that people leave places so filthy!! Fortunately, my friend Brenda had lent me her SUV to use for moving, so I hoped into the truck, drove back to my apartment and picked up all my cleaning supplies. I’m so glad I was only moving 10 minutes away!! My friends Debbie and Karen are my "paint buddies" and we set out to scrub this place down. We worked from 8:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. vacuuming, washing, and scrubbing things down.

Most of you don’t know, but I’m a bit anal when it comes to a clean bathroom. I think it goes back to the days of my first apartment, which I shared with my cousin Kim. Our bathroom was in need of repair from the day we moved in. The paint peeled off the walls, the tiles were old and grungy and no matter what we did, it just didn’t look clean to me. Well, minus the peeling paint, the bathroom in this house is about the same!! I did, however, manage to clean black off the tiles surrounding the bathtub. I don’t know how the woman who lived here bathed her children in that tub!! I poured bleach into the tub, ran steaming hot water and left it over night. It’s cleaner, but personally, I’d prefer a new tub!!

Thursday morning found me arriving here at about 6:30 a.m., coffee and bagel in hand (courtesy of my favourite coffee shop Tim Horton’s). Drank the coffee, ate the bagel and set to work in what would be my new bedroom. I started painting, Debbie and Karen arrived about 9:00 a.m. and they started on the second bedroom. By 1:00 p.m., both bedrooms, the livingroom/diningroom and back hallway were completed. Karen has an extremely steady hand, so she's the person who paints all my trim. I spent the day running back and forth to various stores picking up things we needed, as well as painting. My friend Garry, who owns the house (my new nickname for him is slumlord), arrived to inspect his new purchase. Needless to say, he was in shock when he way what we had completed. Debbie and I left Karen at my house and went to my apartment and got ALL the boxes loaded and over to the new place. While we were gone, Karen took it upon herself to paint my kitchen ceiling (which as of this date, still needs a second coat of paint).

Friday was going to be my day to move in the furniture. My friend Bill was to arrive at 9:00 a.m. and help me with some things, then my friend David was coming over Friday night to help with the rest. Garry was also going to help for about an hour. Bill didn’t show, although he did call later and apologize for working overtime (I’d already found out he was working), so that set me back a bit. Karen worked hard all day long painting the trim and I ran all over town trying to get things organized. Thank goodness for Debbie and Karen. Without them, my house would NEVER have been ready on time.

Saturday my Dad came down to remove my bathroom light fixture (which was mine) and put the old one back in at the apartment. We also loaded his van and the SUV with the remaining things left behind the night before. My Dad put my mirror up for me in the dining room and I had bought new blinds for my living room that I wanted up. Well, that was some chore!! Dad kept insisting the blinds weren’t going to fit and I kept insisting they would!! He cursed, I sighed, he cursed some more and finally figured out the brackets!! All I kept thinking was I paid $300.00 for those blinds and they were going up on my window!! They couldn’t be returned, as they were custom measured to fit!! I’m happy to report that my blinds look lovely and are still secure on the window. Saturday night I started putting my computer together so I could at least get online and let everyone know I’d survived the move!!

A NEW YEAR ON THE FARM

     Another year done slipped by and the holidays are over. Now we are trying to figure out what to do with some of those gifts we received. An electric hair de-tangler was not on my list of most wanted nor was a electric toothbrush. You know when you put that bakin soda on that there brush and start rubbin your teeth, it is a good time to look in the mirror and figur out just what kind of person that is a starin back at you. Wow, is that another new wrinkle and a gray hair to go with it. Is that the face and the ears that loves to hear “ Me Maw, I am always going to come to your house for Christmas, it is a tradition and I will always come here” .  What more does a person need to make your heart feel all warm and glad.

     Now take dish washin, why a body can do a ton of thinkin while your hands are in that warm water. It is a job that requires no special ability and can be done whilst thinkin about something else. I solve a lot of problems when my hands are busy in that water. I sometimes wonder if the leaders of the world did a little dish washin if they might not come up with some better ideas of how to settle things. Some things just sort of lose their importance when you are busy washin a greasy pan. I am thinkin some of our younger folks are missing out on some learnin experiences by using all these new fangled types of machines washin dishes and those microwaves that heat things in  an instant. You see, if you were heatin that stuff up the old fashioned way, you would be astirrin that pan but your mind would be free to wonder and you might could ponder out the answer to a problem you been worryin about. Or better yet, you could put little sister to stirrin and she might could learn a little about cookin in the process. I really worry about some of the younger folks of today, they either stop at the fast food place or open up a box and that is dinner (supper on the farm). Now, if the economy got so bad as it did back in the 30’s a whole lot of folks might would starve to death because they don’t know how to make do, and they don’t know how to do a lot with a little.

     It is kind of the in thing, to go and buy your clothes at a used clothing store, but how will these children cope if everything has to be a certain brand, etc. In hard times it was said “ put it on wear it out, make it do, or do without”. Of course, no one wants to go back to that, but what would todays kids do if they faced that situation. They are being poorly served by their parents. Then they go to school, and everyone has to feel good about themselves. My my, poor little younguns.

     I kind of get carried away, gatherin the eggs, sortin them and listenin to those old hens cackle. Kind of reminds me of some of those news people on the tv. They all start talkin at once tryin to tell you who said what and why they said it. You watch the President make a speech and afterward they tell you what they think he said. Sometimes I wonder if we watched the same speech. After you hear them say 50 times a day that the economy is failing it kind of makes you wonder.  Now they are tellin us the President is going to war with that Saddam fella over nothin at all. Well, I guess we will find out sooner or later if he is right. These are frightenin times, but we have had them before, when i was just agrowin up it was infantile paralysis and the atomic bomb. Some folks even went so far as to build bomb shelters. I always wondered what was they goin to do when they came out if  A bombs had hit, what would be left. Now it is germs and they could do us in in a new york minute if they get the chance.

     I always think we need more women in power, Mothers would think twice or three times before sending their sons off to die over a difference of religion.  In the end don’t we all worship the same God, only under a different name? Couldn’t we get by on less oil and gasoline?  Those boys in Detroit will soon find a way to use less gas in cars when their products stop sellin. We just got to build a better mouse trap. Well, I certainly got a lot of thinkin to do on these subjects. Maybe I will take up ironin again, that sure would be a time consumin job with lots of time to think.

     Your friend and neighbor, Lizzie

copyright

LITTLE BITS FROM MA'AM
 

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL THE CASUAL CHAT MEMBERS AND STAFF!!!
Well, we survived the Holidays another year and glad to see the New Year and Spring around the corner. I think everyone is ready for the nice warm weather to return.

Staff News, I am sorry to say that Bullrider [Host] will be leaving staff the end of January. Seems Real Life is interfering and again I say How rude!! <grin> Thank you Bullrider for your time and thank you to Beth also for helping out when needed.

I am going to post the schedule of events here for all of you to review and if you have not had an opportunity to visit one of our events, please take the time and drop in.

§":*´`³¤ SUNDAY ¤³´`*:"§

*NAUGHTY BUT NICE*
Join Renaette for this fun game to see where your mind is!!! 6:00pm EST - 11:00pm GMT - 12:00pm..CET. "Themes and Games" Room.

HANG THE HOST* Come one come all! Take your revenge out on staff with Marie Ange and Lynda. A good time is guaranteed by all. Join us in the Theme and Games at 7:00pm EDT - 4:00pm PST - 6:00pm CST

*NEW TO CASUAL CHAT?*
Then this is just the place for you! Join Rascal [Host] in The Welcome Lounge for a gentle introduction to the forum. Saturday at 7:00pm PDT - 10:00pm EDT - 03:00am BST.

§":*´`³¤MONDAY ¤³´`*:"§

*Word Battle* Come join Tracey and Cookie in the Themes and Games Room for this new version of Battle of the Sexes!! 5 words are given to someone in private, they have 1 minute to use short phrases to get their team to guess the word. Points are awarded for each word guessed correctly!! You don't have to be a quick typist for this one..just know your words!! Hope to see you there!! 9 pm EST 8 CST 2am GMT

§":*´`³¤ TUESDAY ¤³´`*:"§

*Are We There Yet* This will be a new Theme Chat presented for your pleasure by our very own Becca! Every chat will be a different vacation destination that should be entertaining for the whole family or that intimate romantic getaway for just the two of you. 6pm PST, 7pm MST, 8pm CST, 9pm EST and 2am BST


§":*´`³¤ WEDNESDAY ¤³´`*:"§

*The Owls Roost* Join Woolyback for an hour of good conversation and fun. Have a topic to bring up? This is the time to air it!
Come to the Owls Roost at 9pm BST - 4pm EDT - 1pm PDT.

*Cookie's Word Game* One person will receive a word in private and then give one word clues until the others guess. The fewer clues givin the higher the score. Words will either begin, end or contain a given letter or letters. Come to the Themes and Games Room to join the fun. 8:00pm EDT - 5:00pm PST - 7pm CST - 1:00am BST - 2:00am CET

§":*´`³¤ THURSDAY ¤³´`*:"§

*French Angel Game* Maybe there will be some french questions, but no quotes! Join Marie Ange for a fun quiz. 7:00pm EDT - 4:00pm PST - 6pm CST - 12:00pm BST - 1:00am CET "Themes and Games" room.

§":*´`³¤ FRIDAY ¤³´`*:"§

*RENAETTE'S TRIVIA JUBILEE* [NEW TIME] Join Renaette in the Themes and Games Room. Her topics change at HER whim! 7:00pm EST - 4:00pm PST - 12:00mn GMT - 01:00am CET.

*FRIDAY NIGHT SCATTERS* A great game of Scatters, every Friday night, Join Our Hosts in the Themes and Games room. Be there or be square..9:00pm EDT - 02:00am BST - 3:00am CET.

Join gin@mich [Host] for her Friday Evening Theme Chat. New exciting topics every week!
10:00pm EDT - 03:00am BST - 7:00pm PST. Themes and Games Room.

§":*´`³¤ SATURDAY ¤³´`*:"

Lynda's *General Trivia Quiz*..."Come and enjoy a game of fast furious trivia questions"! 7:00pm EDT - 4:00pm PST - 6pm CST - 12:00pm BST - 1:00am CET "Themes and Games" room.

Bullrider[Host] with *Bull Pit Trivia!* Designed to test your knowledge of everything from Dr Suess to Food every Saturday in the Themes & Game Room at 8:00pm EDT - 4:00pm PST - 1:00am BST ***LAST GAME JANUARY 25,2003

Valentine Day coming up next month, please watch for special events or special messages in our message boards.

Take care and enjoy your time in our forum and thanks for being here..

~Maureen~ aka Ma'am