Your work is appreciated!

All's well that ends well. Thank you all for your patience while this blip was being fixed.  

To paraphrase a movie line, "Hiccups hardly ever happen."  Great work, all of you.  It was a relatively short outage and mostly overnight.      Carolyn Marie

Thank you for all you do to keep this haven for us. Whenever we hit a down period I worry that someone is targeting us to take the site down. And then I realize how wonderful you all are to give us this place to be together.

Seems that the certificate didn’t auto renew and I was unable to figure out how to get it back up. Thank goodness for the support team of Piper and Cat at our hosting company.

I've done this recipe about 10x now.  I'm not liking what the turmeric is doing to my wok, so I'm stopping that.  Chinese don't seem to use it.  I did the Chinese wok thing in the 90's basically every day for the later half of the 90's.  I used a store bought sauce and had it with tortillas and it was wonderful.  I started cooking curries in 2005 and I've been eating curries almost exclusively for the past 8 years or so.  So now I'm trying to combine these two.  I've got the high heat wok burner and that is a keeper.  I'm experimenting with getting a more robust wok thing going and well, this turmeric thing seems to be a lesson.  Not sure about the dill, but the dill sure is tasty!   Just a word of caution about traditional woks and turmeric.

https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/2024/06/11/florida-transgender-trans-children-medical-ban-judge-unconstitutional/     Excellent, well written opinion.  Let's hope it stands up to appeals.  That the state argued there was no "animus" against trans people was laughable.  The animus was the point!   Carolyn Marie

It really is. And I agree. This has been years and years and years in the making. I truly understand the quote    “ Taking care of yourself is the most powerful way to begin to take care of others. “  I don’t want to hurt anyone, ever. But I’m so tired of hurting myself by denying who I am.  now that I’m 100% resolute I’ve already made my appointment. June 27th.  I haven’t been here very long. But my loneliness is a little less now. Thank you. 

I've been thinking about this one a lot lately because I have been going through so many changes in the last few years.  I've come to the conclusion that although change is fairly unavoidable and can be a great thing, too much change too fast (it's funny how things are meaningless without a measure of time), can be completely disruptive of healthy routines.  Cycles, loops and repetition are the building blocks of the universe.  I recently had my life so disrupted that I burned up several pans and was cutting myself in the kitchen.  Very, very unlike me and extremely frustrating and wasteful.     I've found this to be a beautiful place to be in.  I'm not the kind of person who would live my whole life like that.  It takes a lot of time for me to get to a point like that in my life and when I do, it's a very big deal.  It seems that if you don't stand up for a principle like that once in a while, life loses meaning.  If you never cared whether your family cut you off the whole time, then you miss out on the love of it all.

How is this young lady doing, @Heather Shay? 

The surgeon called today to tell us the biopsy of both the spleen and liver nodule showed hemangiosarcoma, an aggressive, incurable cancer of the blood vessels. Tomorrow our girl has her post-op appt with the surgeon and we'll meet with the oncologist too to learn more about what best to do. So far, I'm kind of in shock, have lost my appetite, and just trying to stay present and enjoy being with the girl. She's feeling good, energetic and bright. Pets don't define themselves by what's "wrong" with them like humans do. 

thank you   wise advice dear. thank you

You have no need to be sorry at all. And it is just normal to feel as you do...and healthy to get the emotions out.   I know that I can't tell you how to feel so I'll just offer some thought on how to think. They reacted immediately and without time to think through their feelings. Take some time before you act. You are hurt and deservedly so. But don't let that hurt lead you down a path that you might regret later.    

@KathyLauren to talk about possible tartans, my grandparents make me eligible to wear McDonald and Stewart.  However, Stewart alone is about 40 different tartans.  My grandfather wore the traditional red Stewart plaid.  But since Queen Elizabeth declared that the Stewart red plaid was no longer a patented plaid I chose a different version.  Clan Stewart has way more tartans than tap y other Clain.    

thank you darling   I'm sorry when others say they need borders from me n I need to respect their privacy, the same person I used to take to dinner weekly,..I get..pissy n resentful n you want borders you got them.  done don't call, write or stop over time for new estate plan meanness towards me doesn't always evoke the other cheek ..sometimes I get angry, hurt n defensive too. sorry   thanks friends really, I know you're trying..I am too..I'm just still..reeling n spinning..sorry so sorry

As we live our lives we change.  I don't know if never changing would even be possible.  In my case, we both have changed, and not in the same direction.  Sometimes it's very painful.   I think the only people that never change are dead.

I am so sorry that you are going through this. I think it's something that many (most?) of us dread happening from a spouse or family. But, I agree with Carolyn Marie that you shouldn't give up hope. Just know that you have our thoughts, strength and love.

I totally relate to this ... i should add "hide from all of my family (parents, kids, siblings)...   Amen, amen ... these are ways I have hurt my wife as well ... I was very clear when I first opened up to her about this that I had no plans to transition in any way, that this was just about clothing ... well, now I am here in the early months of HRT (and still honestly not sure about end game). I'm sure it feels to her like dishonesty and betrayal on my part. But I really am discovering myself as I take each step, many times surprising myself by where I am ending up...   I pray for each of us on here, and our loved ones. That we could all find peace - with ourselves, with one another. And that love would win the day... Blessings to all who have shared their often-painful stories on here... 

thank you all   sorry I'm such a grump

carolyn Marie, thank you. i..I'm just..spinning..she doesn't want to speak to you, see you or be seen with you, and truthfully, either do I   screw them   sorry..I get spiteful when I feel attacked   sorry   thank you