All those in the US, sign here...

[mamama]

I see all these threads for Aussie people and thought we should have our own thread too. Not sure why, I just felt the need to make us feel special too!

So, who's stateside and where are you?

I'll start:

Mamama - in Chicago

It's so hard moving overseas and trying to build up a group of friends. I've been lucky (in a way) that I've always been affiliated with a large university. People come and go all the time so everyone is used to newcomers & outsiders. It is still hard though. Obviously the downside is that once you make friends they all move away

I'm shocked that no-one responded to a book club - we're just setting one up although I have no idea when I will find the time to read anything! I'm soooo worn out!

Alipiggie - are you still around? I heard there was snow in Colorado this weekend.

Oh yes 12 inches in Breckenridge . Great for the job yahoo. Beautiful weather today, glorious blue sky and sunshine. As for tumbleweed, it blows around all over the place here, what your bicycle tires - it bursts them very easily. Busy busy here. Halloween decorations, gourd, pumpkins, giant Spider on the front porch and cool lights. More to come. We love decorating can't you tell. Also having a pumpkin carving party too. It just rained and rained here about 6 inches of rain, lovely. Hope everyone's doing okay?!?!?!?!?!

Earlybird - was just re-skimming thread and noticed your bit about the mammogram. So glad it turned out OK!

Earlybird, I meant to mention your mammogram too - what a huge relief. It must have been awful waiting. And how odd that it was someone you knew who interpreted it.

Am so pleased for you.

Thanks ladies for your kind thoughts. Goes without saying, it was a massive relief to get the all clear.

I'm off out for some Mexican food - that's something you can't really get in the UK! Will check in later when I'm full of salsa, guacamole and maybe even a margarita!

Enjoy, Earlybird. I just made a Mexican Lasagna. No Margaritas though

HAve you ever had a Mexican martini? yummmm

Ooo, martinis...

Can any of you help with this musical question?

Mexican martini sounds divine - must try one sometime.

Jabber - were you affected by the storms last night? Power went out in our house around midnight and was restored just before noon today. Amazing how dependent we are on electricity - nothing was normal this morning.

I heard the tremendous wind come through around midnight and turned on the weather channel to see if we were under a tornado watch. Thankfully not. No loss of power either. Hate it when that happens...I always oversleep without my alarm

Glad you're OK jabberwocky.

Now....another thing.....what's with all the door to door cold call salespeople? I've had somebody trying to get me to sign up for a special dry cleaning service (he came back 4 or 5 times to see if I'd 'changed my mind'), and tonight a couple of 17 year olds trying to sell magazine subscriptions as part of a 'getting at risk youth to work' program.

Of course (just like marketing calls), these people ring the doorbell right at supper/bath time. Is this likely to continue? It will be awfully tiresome if this 'direct marketing approach' is a new way of contacting potential clients.

That's why living in an apartment is good - no cold callers!

Califrau, you need firefox - it spell checks for you.

OR...msn..

Firefox is the best!!!!!!!

(DH calls me Browser Geek Girl)

We've been doing a bunch of Halloween-y harvest-y type things this week, I guess making up for the turmoil of last year when we did nothing. Good times.

I think the cold-calling thing is very hit or miss. We got tons of them when we lived down South. My friend in this town but not this neighborhood gets about 1 a week, and we've gotten nobody since we've lived here.

I have a question for you all?

How did you find out about local mums?/ kids? groups? I help run a parent network and we?re trying to spread the word. We currently have 250 families but want to make sure as many people know about us as possible. I know of lilaguide.com and mamasource.com. Any other suggestions?

Well, I can see that the cold-caller thing is going to be a real pain if it continues....as I suspect it will since we live in a good 'target customer' area.

Now that I've got caller ID, I can ignore the phone call solicitations (why do they still call me when I'm on the 'do not call' list?), but our front door has some glass in it, so anyone standing ringing the doorbell can see us inside (ie, we can't ignore, or pretend not to be in). I dn't want to be rude, but I don't want to be 'hijacked' by someone who has just appeared on my doorstep. Guess I should simply be glad they're not Jehovah's Witnesses.....

OverRated - I've found the freebie local parenting mag to be the best source of local information. Otherwise - could you post notices/provide a stack of flyers to doctor's offices (pediatricians and gynae would be best), children's clothes shops and maybe your local Toys R Us.

Yes, I use Nashville Parent a lot.

Earlybird, I guess you do live in a good target neighborhood. We hardly ever get any people at the door. thank goodness!

Another one for local parenting magazines. Although in S. Oregon they didn't have anything like that, and I just had to judge how nice another parent looked and start up conversations with them at the grocery store, Dr. office, etc.

Earlybird, if you're on the DNC list, they shouldn't legally be able to call you unless you've done business with them before. Threaten to report them when they call next time, and that should stop them pretty quickly. Don't know what to do about the door-to-door ones, thought. (Having major inward shudders remembering what it was like to be on the other side of the door as a JW years ago)

Cali--Imagining you being a big black and white panda right now. It is pretty funny.

Yes, Chicago Parent is a good idea. We have stuck flyers up everywhere we can think of - churches, bookstores, coffee places, parks, medical centers etc so hopefully we'll have some new members coming in. Thanks for your help.

There are some exceptions to the DNC list - I think not-for-profits are exempt so can call you anyway. Like the police benevolent people who never ever give up I have no idea how you solve the problem of cold-callers at the door. Big scary dog perhaps?

I had visions of Califrau as a panda too