The Land of the Free & the Home of the Brave (expats)... All Those in the US!

[UnderRated]

I just finished the old thread by accident

Jabber, I forgot, I have an anonymous email address, so I can post it here: busy mamama @ gmail.com

Did any of you see the PBS Palin poll?

Oh, yeah. I'm fine with it plunging even more in the next few weeks. DH is getting ready to put a big amount into our retirement, as he's thinking everything will be hitting very low lows around now. I'm not sure I agree that this will be the lowest of the lows, though.

Good point dooney, it's the time to snap up bargains if you have the cash.

SuperBunny - Done! I've sent 3 files for you to trawl through

Thanks Jabber. I had a quick look but will read properly when DS goes to bed tonight then google for supplies. Exciting!

Hey Dooney,
Hope Colin is doing ok.
Thought this would cheer everyone up!
www.joann.com/joann/catalog.jsp?CATID=cat3011&PRODID=xprd72694
I was looking for a crossstitch set for MIL and I found it. If someone does this in their bathroom, you can just imagine the rest of the house! Only the Americans would decorate something they can't even bring themselves to say the name of. When my ds started preschool last year, the teacher asked him if he needed to "go potty" to which he replied in total dead-pan, " I think I'm a bit tall for that, don't you? I'm going to the toilet." I'm secretly delighted every time they decide not to adopt an Americanism even though I know I should be encouraging them to fit in.

Oops, did the link wrong!
Here it is: www.joann.com/joann/catalog.jsp?CATID=cat3011&PRODID=xprd72694

Hilarious, my DD refuses to use the word 'potty' too as 'it is for babies'. She now refers to bathroom after being corrected for using the word 'toilet'.
Not too many Palin boards round our way...

LOL @ DOdgy's DS. Fab!

I am off to make seasonal bathroom decorations

OMG

I have been planning on meeting up with a fellow expat next week. I know his wife. He died last night. Shit

Oh SB! Are you ok? Im assuming it was unexpected. I think dying far away from home is one of the horrible things that lurks in the back of our minds when we live here. I know it doesnt help but I'm thinking of his friends and family tonight.
hug

Thanks Dodgy. I am really shaken by it. It was unexpected - the email said it was a heart attack but I suspect it may have been suicide. I hope I'm wrong. The cause doesn't really matter - his wife has lost her husband and 2 children have lost their daddy

How do you go from being a SAHM for 5 yrs to having to support your entire family without your partner? I wish I could do something.

Colin's back up to 100 tonight. Am very worried.

Sorry about your friend, SB. His poor wife and children.

Oh no Dooney. Is there anything you can do or do you 'just' have to wait it out?

Probably gaining some perspective would help. He was 4 degrees away from the temperature it usually starts at, and there's a 60% chance it won't happen again, I keep trying to tell myself.

I gave him some ibuprofen and changed him into short sleeved pj's. He's already down to 99.0.

I was thinking of kicking him out of our room, and into his, but definitely not tonight.

Sounds like things are getting better then. Hope it continues that way. Hugs to Colin

No-one said when the clocks are changing - when is it?

Should be November 2nd for clocks SB. Its the 1st Sunday in November.

Should be November 2nd for clocks SB. Its the 1st Sunday in November.

SuperBunny

dooney, how's Colin?

He's higher than I'd like him to be, but nowhere awful. I woke up with a sore throat and ears, and they're both sniffling and a little bit coughing.

DH is on to me. I opened my purse, and he found out I travel with a thermometer, a small bottle of Children's Tylenol and a dose of ibuprofen in there. He very graciously gave me an odd look and didn't say anything.

What a lot of drama! I hope Colin feels better soon.

We went to a comedy show last night, featuring 3 US comedians. I was very disappointed and ended up leaving before the end as I was becoming upset. All of them talked about hardly anything but the differences between black people and white people, and the differences between men and women. What hope is there for racial harmony when people are so obsessed with focussing on racial differences all the time? Is this what attitudes are like in general in the US?

Dooney, I'd laugh at your secret stash of medical equipment if it weren't so worrying for you all. I hope you feel better soon.

Anorak, when I first moved here, I was shocked at how segregated communities are. I lived in a building with only white people. The janitors were black. And the Mexicans were brought in on a bus to shovel the snow.

I live in a very diverse neighborhood (as mentioned frequently in the papers when talking about Obama) yet 2 blocks from me is entirely different - an african american neighborhood with little money, no businesses, gang crime and racism. My (white) friend was at the park with her 18 month old and a group of 5 yr old girls were talking to her. Then once announced,"we're not meant to talk to you. Our moms don't like you because you are white. You should play somewhere else"

I should say that I didn't chose to live in a building with only white people. I just didn't realise.

I am lucky to now reside in a very mixed area and DS knows and plays with many people who are different to us in many ways.

Which reminds me, I don't wnat to start a thread about it but what does a responsible parent say to a loud-mouthed 3 yr old who:

points at the midget (I do hope that is the right term) and says, "Look at the very small person, Mummy. She's very small isn't she. Why is she?"

and

points to the African American and says, "Is that a black man?" (I quietly said 'Yes')

thanks for the clock changing info, DK