I don't know what glitch exactly you are talking about, but when I was reading Annie1992's post asking for thoughts, all of a sudden I was back at the Kitchen Table forum! The GW forums are so easy to navagate and read, but can be a real pain sometimes. Tami

What a day! Just after I posted my first post I saw my friend Dale across the street come home from taking the dog for a walk. If anyone knows anything about basement flooding it is Dale because his has flooded many times. He has 3 sump pumps taking water out of the house all the time. I waited until I saw him because he is a policeman and I knew he worked late last night so I didn't want to bother him earlier in case he was sleeping. As soon as I told him about the basement he said "let me get my pump" He got a lot of the water out of the one room and even though there was still water on that side he moved into the laundry room because that is where the water was coming in. I had a foot of water. The pump worked good for a while. Dale left me with the pumt and said he was taking his family to the show but thought maybe he should wait. I told him to go. He said once the water gets lower to use a broom to push it to the pump which I did for hours but it wasn't doing a whole lot. Neighbour Cheryl came over and asked if she could help and I told her I was okay. She came over after an 1 1/2 of me sweeping and said she would help because she had rubber boots. I was wearing my winter boots but standing on a piece of rug and a hose that was keeping me feet dry. I gave in and gave Cheryl the broom and I used a sponge mop to move the water towards the pump. Three hours later Dale came home and just about scared us to death when he said something through the basement window. LOL He came downstairs and said we moved a lot of water but he said maybe the pump wasn't low enough so he took off the storm drain grate and put the pump in there. In no time the laundry room was almost free of water. Dale went on the other side of the basement and using my plastic snow shovel pushed the rest of the water into the laundry room. I was pleased at how much water we rmoved. Dale left the pump because he said with the amount of water in the ground some of it was going to come back into the house and right away it started too. I told him to go home. By this time my boots were water logged. Yuck. Cheryl helped me clean out some plastic dishes from one of the metal cupboards that I am getting rid of and I still have lots of china and crystal pieces to pack up. I tossed all the plastic because it has been in the baesment for a long time and I am sure it has absorbed the smell of the basement. Earlier I had asked Dale if he knew anyone that wanted metal for scrap and he said his brother would come and take it so he called him and told him what I had. I have the 2 metal cupboards, a fridge door, an old steel lawn mower, lots of chains and metal things under my dads workbench that are in metal pails. I even have an 8 foot length of copper pipe. All kinds of other things too. Dale said since I am giving his brother all the metal I was to ask him to clean out my eavestroughs which need cleaning out badly. After Dale and Cheryl left I was planning on taking a shower but forgot I couldn't. Darn it! LOL I put some water in the tub with the plug in and took a quick sponge bath to get the dirty water off my body. I felt much better. I called my brother David and asked if he got my message from when I called earlier and he said his daughter didn't give it to him. I told him about the flooding and I said I would need some help cleaning up the basement once the city guys came. He said he had a power washer but couldn't help me until after the holiday which I said was fine because I Dales brother had to remove the metal junk. I told him lots of stuff would have to be thrown out - stuff that belonged to the family that has been down there forever. I said it should have been cleaned out long ago. He promised to help me but knowing my brother as I do and his memory - he will forget. Nothing unusual about that. LOL My friend Donna called around 10 pm just after I got finished cleaning up and invited me over for something to eat. Against my better judgement I left the air conditioner running on low and while I was at Donna's it poured out again and then a cold front moved in. I came into the house and turned off the air and opened the windows. I went down the basement and wow - it was flooded again! I changed into my shorts and put my boots on, plugged in the pump and went downstairs. I turned on the pump - I was afraid I was going to be electrocuted. LOL I put the pump into the sewer and the hose popped off and the water went into my face and my eyes. I put the hose back on, turned it on and it popped off again. I gave up! Cheryl and I had closed the basement window to keep the bugs out around the hose and must have closed it a little to tight so when the water went out of the hose it couldn't get past the window so the hose popped off. I was soaked to the skin and the dirty, germy sewer water got into my eyes. I took another hot sponge bath and really rinsed my eyes out well. I hope I don't get an infection. So now I am getting ready for bed. Sunday morning is almost here and I don't know if the City guys are going to show up or not. I'll have to get the pump working again in a few hours but I dread putting on my boots because they are soaked through. I am soooo tired and sore from all the hours of sweeping the water. One good thing about all of this is that the water was pretty clean (no sewage that I could see) and that I am getting someone to remove all that metal junk from my basement and my eavestroughs cleaned out. Plus I do have some wonderful neighbours. Sorry this update was long. Typing what happened helps me alleviate my stress. Anne

Okay, so the cheese is gross, but the beef is worse--it's ground up beef, fat, and who knows what, that's been reformed--it's definitely not real roast beef. And the last time I was in an Arby's, the two girls at the register were DOING EACH OTHER'S HAIR in between waiting on customers. Wasn't like there wasn't plenty of other things they could have been doing during their lulls--the place was filthy--trash and crumbs on every table and chair. That was a couple of years ago, haven't been back since. If I want a roast beef sandwich, I stick to two places--a local bar that makes their own from scratch, the way your mom would have made roast beef; or I run up to the turnpike to Roy's. As a matter of fact, we were just there last night for dinner, and the manager of the rest stop was apologising because we had to wait while they made the sandwiches up fresh. I told him that was why we went to the trouble to go there (we sneak in through the employee parking lot--he knows we do), they ALWAYS make your roast beef sandwich fresh. When they start making them ahead, and letting them sit, is the day I stop making my RR's runs.

My best friend (since first grade), Tony, drowned in a boating accident when we were 23 y/o. That, and working in the medical field forever has sadly kept me aware of my own mortality. My middle and high school best friend, Kathy, died a year ago of metastatic bowel cancer. Another longtime, very close friend has an incurable cancer. I lost both my parents last year within six months of each other. And so, my own mortality seems to stay on my mind even more so lately. I don't have a so-called bucket list, but I have become very focused on living out whatever life I have left (hopefully another 30+ years) on "my terms". How so? - I've stopped focusing on acquiring pretty much anything material. Instead, I'm determined to notice and appreciate the small, beautiful things already in my daily life, whether it's a flower, a sunrise, a smile or a kindness to me or another. And, I am . . . every day. It's been a gradual change of focus, but I've noticed how much happier and less stressed I am because of it. - I go out of my way every day to do small kindnesses for others. Both of these may seem inconsequential, but it's become very important for me to try and make the world a little better in my own small ways. - Although I'm always open to making new friends, my focus now is more on spending good quality time with my close friends and family. - My parents knew how much I love to travel and see and explore new places. My inheritance from them now allows me to do more of that. In the past year DH and I've vacationed in several states and in Mexico. We'll continue with more in Europe, Asia and Africa as time allows. If anything, traveling would be on my bucket list, if I had one. - With age, and facing my own mortality, I've become more tolerant in many ways. I've also become much more outspoken, especially when I encounter any type of religious, racial, or gender prejudice. I just feel that it would be wrong not to call someone out on it. That my own integrity would be greatly diminished if I didn't, if that makes any sense. - And, finally, volunteering. I did much of it up until my last child headed off to college five years ago. About 20 non-stop years altogether. I guess I got a bit burned out, but am now focusing on new, different volunteer work. So, not so much a bucket list of things I need to do and mark off, but more of a mental reassessment as to who I am, what good I've accomplished so far, and what I want to do with whatever time I have left here in this lifetime.