@rat hmmm is she that desperate to get you out of the house?! Hahaha when do you arrive? If you can take the airport rotterdam den hague airport, less crowed and much closer to your problem.... No wait... WHAT take care as in.... Nooooooo bad rat!! Bad bad rat!

Oh my @ e* @PA it would be so cool if actually we were sitting around the pub sharing story's

Hahahaha, well not sure we can compete with the bahamas LOL but you are more than welcome in our lill stinky country :)

@Estar Your stinky lil' country is on her list. Flowers don't cha know? Fields of color.

Ah the Keukenhof? So the Burpie problem isn't taken care of until at least spring time as the flowers are in hiding now ;)

I did see a documentary a couple of weeks ago about the flowers we ship to the states and how weddingplanners have close connections to dutch florist just because of the variaty and quality.

@estar I'm not making excuses. I've conceded to @burpie. But my problems have decimated my flinging time the last six weeks. Left arm kept going numb. And when it wasn't numb, my left shoulder was in horrific pain. I still did good enough in the gaps to satisfy me and give @burpie a few headaches.

Aww that sucks Rat no wonder the beach got cancled!

It doesn't matter, it's close enough to lil' stinkers house that I can go see them after I take care of my lil' problem.

But if you are in for a really weird tradition and dutchies going bonkers, you might want to book your trip around the end of april, when we have KingsDay (which was Queensday until this year) orange loons trying to sell their junk while drinking tins of beer hahahaha I am sure that would be an experience on never forgets LOL

@E-Star -- Why did you call your country stinky? Maybe you meant something else?
I think the only place I've been in the Netherlands was Amsterdam, but I thought it was very nice, and interesting.

Must go now, night night enjoy your evening mvnla!

Good morning/night @estar. Have a nice nap.

Now that @burpie is officially stinky in the BP, I'd like to treat him to Sunday lunch.
OB! An extra big helping of baked beans for this gentleman, please!
@burpie, Do you know the rhyme about beans?

Good afternoon all!

@TomPuss, thank you for the English brekkie. My favourite! And no, I don't know the poem... I know a few sonnets and some nsfw limericks, but none that feature beans. Please share!

@Kathy, today there were just a few small treats for the kids. The actual celebration isn't until December 5th.

@Rat9, thanks for postponing your visit until at least next spring. That should give me time to save up for a bird-proof Kevlar vest.

@TomPuss, Thank you!

Hello, everyone!

I'm so, so sorry I haven't visited sooner and personally thanked everyone who so kindly responded to my last post -- all your well wishes mean so much to me, and I can't tell you how much I appreciate the support, kindness, and friendship of everyone here! I feel overcome with so much joy and gratitude to all of you.

Maybe I can leave a standing order with OB and the Blues to give everyone a hug from me when they next visit the BP? I know it's "off the menu", but still... :-)

I am doing fine, although still not working yet. But we sent out another proposal on Friday, and maybe this project will actually happen next week. Fingers crossed! And I still have the weekly pleasure of getting trounced by @Lisko and @grammyK, who constantly push me to sharpen my flinging skills, and help me feel connected to ABN, even when I can't visit here.

I have indeed been keeping very busy, and here's some happy news to share for a change! A wonderful jeweler friend of mine (check out http://www.marthaseely.com/?p=1393 to see one of the pieces from her newest collection) was a personal organizer in a previous life; she came over to my house last week and we spent a long afternoon tackling junk that had piled up everywhere -- including some boxes of really old stuff that had been just stacked in the bedroom for years! I can't believe how much progress we made! It made such a difference to have someone else there to be an absolute (loving) tyrant, tearing through everything like a whirlwind and continually putting stuff in front of me to decide ruthlessly whether to keep it or get rid of it, and then properly storing the "keep" stuff, and putting things that belonged together in was place. My friend is amazing, and the closest thing I've ever seen to perpetual motion. I was so grateful for her help -- which was a barter in exchange for the marketing help I've been giving her for her jewelry business.

So here's the piece of unsolicited advice that seems to be a requisite for every one of my posts: for those of you who haven't tried this yet, always be on the look-out for opportunities to barter skills with your friends. First, you get the wonderful satisfaction of helping out someone you care about, and then you get the bonus reward of help getting something done that you wouldn't be able to tackle yourself! And as an extra super bonus, you get to spend more time together, enjoying each other's company, and having lots of fun, even when you're working on something difficult. My friend and I have found this exchange to be so successful, and have discovered that we work so well together, that we're going to continue working on these projects on a long-term basis, and find other things we can continue to help each other with. It's been great!

So now, finally, for my long overdue thank you's!

Thank you @mvnla2 for your kind words, and I also owe you a separate reply to your PM -- I really appreciate that you took the time to write me such and thoughtful and helpful personal message, and again, I'm so sorry for not replying sooner. Also, thanks to you and @Angryboy for clarifying the difference between jawas and ewoks (I didn't see any of the SWII movies, so I'm a bit clueless). Since I have no idea what jawas are, and whether they're as annoying as the ewoks, I think I'll just continue to pretend that I'm destroying ewoks, and savor my guilty pleasure! :-)

Also thank you so much @hunnybunny and @SweetP for your incredible kindness in writing to me directly; catching up on all my PMs is next on my to-do list. Please don't think my radio silence doesn't mean that I don't cherish your friendship, and your wonderful expressions of support and encouragement.

Thanks @Kathy for keeping me in your thoughts, and for sharing your own experiences with the issues that inevitably come with caring for aging family members, and I'm so sorry that you had to go through such a difficult experience yourself. I know, of course, that many people having to deal with the same situation, but it's so helpful to get support from friends who understand exactly what one is going through. Thank you, my dear!

Thanks @burpie, for your lovely words of commiseration, support, and encouragement. Your comment was very clever and witty, made me laugh; I think you definitely hit the nail (or the client!) on the head! I truly appreciate your humor and kindness.

More thanks @Kimmiecv and @tompuss for your expressing your understanding and support. It's always a joy to hear from you two, and your comments always brighten my day!

Thank you @E-Star for being so a wonderful friend, as always, and for your lovely words of encouragement and support. I am indeed so very grateful to everyone here in this wonderful community at the BP, where I always feel welcome. My only regret is that I can't visit often, and return the kindness everyone has shown to me, which you all so richly deserve. But I hope that you all know that I think of you often, and that just the pleasure of having met you here makes me very happy! The BP is truly a unique and very special place.

@Rat, I still owe you a reply from an earlier PM -- hope you are doing OK. I very much miss the pleasure of reading your posts here...I always feel like you are a kindred spirit; as you pointed out before, our senses of humor are expressed in different styles, but are closely aligned nonetheless. Thinking of you, and wishing you all the best, as always.

There! My sincere apologies if I left anyone out -- thank you and big hugs to you all! Now that you've had the dubious pleasure of my monthly tome, which would not be complete without my earnest promise to visit more regularly (well, hope springs eternal). Is there a badge for Member Who Regularly Writes the Longest Posts in the BP? Oh, maybe that's a demerit badge...

I see that the new forum has launched -- how exciting! More catching up to do. Meanwhile best wishes and happy flinging to all of you! [Sorry for all the edits; pesky HTML and fat fingers...]

- JM (Laura)

PTPASBDHYB

--------------------------
Spoiler Alert! If you don't care to spend weeks losing sleep over figuring out the translation of this new sign-off that I just made up, and that others might perhaps find suitable, it means Planning To Post Again Soon, But Don't Hold Your Breath. Thank you @Rat, for starting this tradition of amusing and cryptic sign-off acronyms; they always make me laugh.

Just looked at ALL of your friend's jewelry -- fabulous stuff! Sending you some comments by PM.

Is anyone interested in looking for total self destruction in ABO GE-30 (RMF)? If it happens, it is most likely a wait-overnight level like DZ-4. Of course, it hasn't happened so far for me, but it does look promising.
I'm posting my progress tilting against windmills in the new forum on Self-Destruction:
http://www.angrybirdsnest.com/forums/topic/self-destroying-and-unstable-levels/#post-37398

@JLZ666 We've got him on a few meds, anti nausea, appetite enhancer, and something else. He will eat a little out of my hand now. It's a start while we wait for the biopsy results. Fingers crossed. He is a handsome cat but is looking very drawn at the moment. Thanks for the support. I'll let you know if anything changes.

@Rat -- Best wishes for your cat. When I first saw the 4 lb lost, I thought you were talking about a largish dog.

Hey @angryboy :) sorry just on my way out, family stuff hope all is well..

He's was a 13lb 13oz Maine Coon cat @mvnla2. He had no fat on him, all muscle. He's now below 10lbs. No weight loss the last three days. No gain either. ????

@SweetP Sorry about the loss of your family member, Star. And they are family. I know it's not a medical term, but I did see a twinkle in his eyes today.

Good to hear from you @junkenmetel! That certainly was the longest post I've seen here, but it was so enjoyable reading everything. Life does throw us curve balls and we have to take care of them, so I can understand your long absence. Your kindness and sincerity I shall always treasure.

Sure do hope this latest proposal is the kicker to get you working again. That would get a huge burden off your shoulders, I'm sure.

I just love your friend's jewelry designs, very unique! That was very nice of her helping you to clear out some of the "cobwebs" that had been accumulating. Such a nice change that you needed, and reconnecting with a good friend.

Keep your spirits up my friend, and may the L-Factor be with you in your adventures.