Quick pop in, just wanted to thank everyone for the happy thanksgiving wishes!

Must do my duties as well!
*shines e-stars flashlight for later today*

I'm beat so I promise tomorrow ill answer PMs! Tonight my brain is mush!! Just going to lay like broccoli!!! :)

ROFLMAO @Kathy sounds like you indeed get the meaning!! :D Sleep well
*shines Kathys flashlight for her use tomorrow and sets out candles to see her safely to dreamland * Nice erm imprints on your face sweets!! LOL ;D

Happy Thanks giving to everyone over in the US :)

@kimmie Sounds delicious. Cranberries would be best, I'm a cranberry sauce addict, able to eat it with anything ;)

Hello @everyone!

A quick fly-by just to say hi. Hi! Hope those of you on the left side of the pond had a lovely Thanksgiving. I know that I was most thankful of all for having so many wonderful, supporting, loving, lovely, fun, and generally brilliant friends -- especially all the great folks here at ABN. I can't tell you how grateful I am to know you all -- you are truly very special, generous, and caring people. And a hoot to hang out with.

I am very happy to report very good news for a change: I've been working a new gig since the middle of last week!!! Yay! I credit all of you well-wishers for my luck in finding my latest client, because it really was, well, luck.

Last Wednesday, in the middle of the afternoon, I was catching up on the backlog of messages in my LinkedIn inbox (do you notice the pattern of me always with the backlog thing?). I noticed a message from the CEO of a dot com from almost a month ago, (apparently based on a referral from a designer I barely knew from working together for about a month at a digital agency in Boston) asking if I was available.

So, I looked up the contact info in his profile, and called and left him a voicemail, as well as replying to his message. He called me back shortly, we had about a 20 minute phone call, during which he brought in the lead developer on the project. Within a half hour, he had emailed me a contract and the other assorted paperwork needed to get on the payroll; I printed and signed and scanned and emailed everything right back, and by dinner time, I was reviewing all the project background documents on a shared DropBox folder.

NEVER, in two decades of freelance work, have I seen a contract put through that quickly. I was impressed, to say the least.

The company is in Austin, and the developer I work with is in California somewhere. I get to work from home. Naturally, they need me because they are on a frantic schedule to get a back-end new system rolled out, so it's been non-stop pandemonium ever since. I worked all day yesterday (which was fine, since hubby was in NJ visiting his mom). This project was originally only supposed to last until the end of this week, but by Monday, the CEO called me and asked if I was available next week for another project, and on Tuesday they diverted me briefly onto that project, which of course just meant that I am now REALLY frantically trying to finish up all the work on the original project today. Which turned out to be much more involved and complex than they originally thought, of course, but fortunately I'm used to that sort of thing.

They have been around for a while, and they appear to have enough work to keep me occupied for the foreseeable future, since they are in the middle of a major expansion to take advantage of a new market opportunity.

I'll send out an invoice by the end of today, and should have my first pay check within four months within a couple of weeks. The holidays will certainly be much merrier around our house, now -- although I won't have much time to celebrate. But that's fine -- I'm so thrilled to be working steadily again, and not to have to face a ridiculous commute, and to be working with people who are smart and fun and nice.

So thank you so much to everyone of you, my dear friends, who listened patiently to my repeated tales of woe, and were so supportive and caring throughout!

OK, I'm supposed to be working right now -- we're burning daylight here -- but I did want to take a couple of minutes to let you all know the good news, since you were so wonderful to me when all the news seemed bad. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Hope you're all doing well, and are enjoying the new updates. I have been sneaking in some flinging time with my morning coffee while I wake up, and I love the new Short Fuse release.

Unfortunately, I doubt that I'll be able to visit much for a while, but always know that I think of you all often, and cherish your friendship, and wish you all the very best!

- Laura (JM)

Hi to @all! Not sure I'll catch everyone.
For those not in the U.S., today is Black Friday, traditionally the start of the Christmas shopping season, and so named because it is the day retailers' account books turn from red to black. Unfortunately, many stores have started their Black Friday sales on Thanksgiving evening, which means their employees have a very short family celebration.
Sat. is now marketed as a day you should "shop locally" in small independently-owned stores. Mon. is Cyber Mon., so called because everyone used to go into work to use their work computers to shop on the internet. "Used" sounds really odd here, since internet shopping hasn't been widespread for that long -- well, relatively speaking. FYI, I am a "charter" customer of Amazon (bought from them the first year they were on internet), so I've been cyber shopping about as long as possible.
@Kathy -- The spooky adds are deliberate -- As soon as you search for something on the internet, you're sure to see an add here. But still spooky.
@Annifrid -- We had turkey with stuffing, mashed potatoes, and green beans -- all very traditional. For desert we had an upside-down pear tart -- delicious, but not at all traditional. Thanksgiving celebrations frequently have a real overload of food -- at least twice as many side dishes. In recent years we've really trimmed down the excess, but it's still a big meal.
@TomPuss -- Got on the scales before I saw your message; not as bad as I feared, and this way there's a good chance there will be improvement tomorrow. Thanksgiving in my experience, is not typically the kind of celebration that involves a lot of drinking, so no hangovers.
Guess I still can't top Junkenmetel's post.

Good Morning everyone !! Woo ho oo just got the new seasons update:):)

Ladies, Gentleman & Birds:
The annual BP Holiday header is now live.

Thanks! You guys did a great job!
I need to add that all of the wines are supposed to pair well with most traditional Holiday foods.

Thanks @Kathy

@Junkenmetel !! Yeah!! That is great news and such an amazing story, thanks for taking the time to fill us in. I am so happy for you! Nothing beat working your bum of and seeing the project coming to a good end. Congratulations!

You mean the header on top or the header of the BP... mweeeh doesn't matter really, just love seeing all the winter items coming online... going to work on mine tonight :D

Hope your phone is fixed and ready to go @kathy! And thanks for the kudos on the ABN header :D

I'm back, stupid place didn't even charge the phone so now is the waiting game:(
A woman in the store having the exact same issue as me with her phone, she got a new black Friday deal the new LG for 20$!!! I would have got it if I had known, but they had already ordered mine:( my luck a day late a dollar short story of my life .:(

Awww Kathy!! So sorry you didn't get the same deal! Most stores over here have a policy of refunding the difference if the purchase was done within 2 weeks prior than the sale... I got 260 euros (350 dollars!) discount on my Mac this way! All I had to do was go back to the store and show the receipt and they gave me the money... I was so flabbergasted but thrilled! Anyway hope the phone at least will last longer this time!

Your so right @angermanagement I had to buy a new screensaver fir 10$

Nice work @team,BP looks great. Just finished baking a choccy fudge cake for nephews birthday tomorrow so think I might give the gingerbread comp a miss right now,I'm sugared out ;( @estar I'm loving all the new winter headers! Looking forward to seeing your pretty face flecked with snowflakes :)
@mvnla Black Friday has made it over here....no surprise there I guess;) It even started with a few casualties in a store this morning when they were selling knock down price TVs....seriously? People fighting for telly's? Yeesh....
Was also wondering if everyone over the pond cook the same for Christmas dinner? I couldn't imagine facing another turkey meal. My Mum who lives in the US avoids the traditional thanksgiving dinner over there so she can enjoy our Christmas one when she comes home.
@tompuss I guess we have the same sort of celebrations? Lots of food and copious amounts of wine!
@junkenmetel well done! That's fantastic! So nice to read a positive message :D
@angermanagement how's things?
@kathy "meh" LMAO! I now say it to family!
Hope everyone has a great night.
Toodle pip ;)

Oh didn't see that @E* you can open the levels by paying!!! ? That's not right, defeats the whole meaning of an advent!!
But meh. What can you do lol!!!! Heee hee
@jlz666 we broke tradition and I cooked a honey ham, same , save the turkey fir Christmas

@estar sweetie I've only just realised we've had an ABO update and now Android has got seasons before us? I'm sooooo behind! You can BUY into a level?!!! WTH?! I love/loath Xmas seasons,they're IMO the hardest,nastiest out there,although I do like the daily advent challenge but c'mon.....are peeps going to be able to get ahead by paying?

Ikr @JLZ666 so not right!! But I dud try the first level it's really fun:) kinda similar to piglantis, your first shot goes underwater;) I like it..usually android is last for the update
Betcha @sparty84 is happy:) hmmm not sure I got that right for sparty # ? Been a long while

Hey @Ripsy :) I'm just going to play as is one day at a time..it would end up costing 25$ seriously Rovio just money greedy!!

I think it only costs 1 dollar to unlock ALL the levels kathy!

No. You pay .99 one time and unlock all levels