Desertrose

Whatdayaknow, I broke my number one spell. I love both pictures, but #2 is the Clay I fell in love with. To me that is the real Clay, the other one, beautiful as it is looks posed. I take real Clay any day. I do enjoy that he can look so different so many times, and I do love all his "looks." I really like the Snowflake photo. Really Merrieeee!

This round is too cruel. I think we should have the option to call it a tie just one time. I love both photos. They show totally different emotion on his face. Hard, Hard, Hard. I finally went for #1. I just realize that I have voted for #1 every time. I guess the moment I see the first picture, I am a goner. What am I to do?

This round was not as hard for me to decide as the first two rounds. No.1 photo is the one for me. WOW

Yep, it is the smile. That smile makes me happy when I feel sad. It is infectious. Hard choice because #2 is sexy, but I voted for the smile.

No. 1 because he is adorably dorky and because I love the hands. Good hand picture. I did vote in the right place, just wanted to put in my two cents about why I picked #1. Of course it was not easy, to vote against Clay in a suit. Verrra verra hard!

Hi Merrieeee, I have water but no working toilet. Yes, no working toilet! I am remodeling my two bathrooms, and I told them that I needed them to work one at a time because I did not want to be without shower or toilet. Well, the first bathroom they worked in did not come out right and they have to redo some stuff. Instead of finishing that bathroom, they tore out the tile that was not right, but did not replace the tile. They went on to work on the other bathroom, and took out that toilet. They did put the first toilet back, but it did not work right. It started to overflow, and it gurgled all night. The next day after they left my house at 6PM, they called me and told me that they had forgotten to tell me that they had turned the water off the one installed toilet because they had broken the float and they feared that it would flood the house. I told the man, "What am I supposed to do, go outside and use the bushes?" He said you can use the toilet, after you are done, turn the water on half way, wait till the tank fills and then you can flush. After you flush, then you have to turn the water back off. It takes forever for the tank to fill if the valve is only turned on halfway, so I turned it all the way and then I heard noises in the pipe that scared me so now I have resorted to using a bucket of water that I fill in the bathtub so I can flush. At least I have a bathtub so I can take a bath. All I can do is laugh at the situation, even though it is not funny. I try to improve my old bathrooms, and now I have no bathroom. To make matters worse my workmen had a minor traffic accident and could not come today. They are supposed to come tomorrow, Thursday and finish by Friday. Maybe I should start digging the hole for my outhouse. It is hot enough in Houston to shower with the hose outside. I am beginning to think indoor plumbing is highly overrated. BTW, they started Monday of last week. This is the second week. I have this horrible mess in my house because it is very dusty work. Sorry for my novel, I just had to vent!

Couchie, You made me laugh out loud with the knife story. I know it should not be funny, and it surely was not funny for your mom, but sometimes levity is the only thing that can help us through the tough times. Once when hubby and I were at the Baylor College of Medicine in a room with several ALS patients who were waiting to see if they were going to get on the experimental drug trial, one of the other patients wives was coaxing him to tell us a joke. He would not because he said it was racy. Then my husband said OK, I will tell a joke. Then all of these men who were terminally ill started telling dirty jokes, and we were laughing so hard that an orderly came out and said that we were too noisy and this was a school, and that we were disturbing the classroom. That made the men laugh even harder because they were dying, and they could still manage to get thrown out of places. Being a caregiver is exactly the way you say. Most of us are just human and not angels, and the feelings and emotions that you experience are what most of us have experienced when we were where you are. I hope that you find an angel to help you soon. We found one in the case of my mother. My father would probably not be alive if we had not found our angel.

Sorry, I did not mean to be flip. I do have elderly parents, father 93, mother 90. Father is healthy, but mother is in a foster home with Alzheimer disease. We tried to take care of her at home, but it was stressing my father too much. She was very difficult and kept kicking my father out of the house. She also was afraid of water, so she would not let us bathe her. We found out that home health nurses do not force patients to do anything they do not want to do. She also has osteoporosis and her bones break easily, so we had to treat her with kid gloves and could only do what she allowed us to do. We could only give her sponge baths for three years. Where she is now, they know how to handle her and she gets a bath every day. The home she is in is really good, and the caregivers are angels. I totally understand what you are saying since I cared for my husband at home until the day he died. He was not elderly, but had ALS Lou Gehrig's disease. He was easier to care for because even though he was completely paralyzed and could not talk, his mind worked perfectly and he allowed us to do anything that we could to help him. Again, sorry if I offended you. I should have not been so thoughtless because I have gone through this more than once. I can tell you that what you say that one day we could easily be the weak and helpless is so true. My husband was the strongest person I knew before he got ALS.. At least he had me. I am so glad that your church was able to help you when you needed help. I had a bad experience when I had extensive foot surgery and could not get out of bed. I did not have real food, but lived on Ensure that I kept in a cooler by my bed for four days, because I had no one to help me. The only time I made it out of bed was to go to bathroom, which was not a lot since I was not eating. The worst part is that the Ensure was chocolate and I spilled a can all over me and all over my bed. I managed to change my night gown, but could not change the bed sheets so I felt like I was lying in poop. I can tell you that I had a real pity party. That was my rude awakening that I was really all by myself now.

Scarlett, if you can not adopt her, you can have me. I am in Houston, so that should make it easy for you. Have suitcase, will travel.

I am going through the same thing. I am having two bathrooms completely remodeled. One is half done, and I dread when they start on the other one. I had the material, tile and all the stuff in my garage for a month and kept putting it off. I finally let them start, and I am not too happy with some of the tile work. The remodeling had to be done because I had a water leak, in one and in the other one, the tile was in dire straits. I have no DH so I have to deal with contractors who roll their eyes and think that I do not know what I am talking about, and I also have to pay for everything myself. I came to the conclusion a long time ago that home ownership is highly overrated! Like Cindy Lauper sings, "I just want to have fun." Before I became a widow, home ownership was so much simpler for me. DH took care of all this junk.

A big welcome to you Claysmelody.

I wish it was fascinating and sexy (although we could probably MAKE it fascinating and sexy) When you change any video, rendering incorporates the changes into the original clip. So if you change the lighting on a video, or add an effect, the computer has to mesh it all together. I've rendered Clay many times, and it's always very satisfying! Thanks for the explanation. Maybe I need to learn how to render Clay also! Welcome to the board, its good to see you here Sue. I enjoy all the "rendering" you do. Thanks for sharing your skills with us.

Sue and Scarlet What is rendering? Sounds fascinating and sexy to me. Am I missing something?

Maybe it is not normal for most of us, but MJ seemed to me to be living in his Peter Pan fantasy, maybe as an escape from real life like I have read, trying to stay a boy forever. The one thing that I have never understood is why he did not change his ways since that made him vulnerable to these kinds of accusations. Lisa Marie said once on an interview, maybe it was on Oprah, that she never believed that Michael was guilty, and was asked if she would leave her children alone with Michael. She said yes, she had left her children alone with him.

It was on the first cassette tape I ever bought and I always thought Ben was a mouse, not a rat. Thanks for the background info -- nice to know about the Donny Osmond connection (who was on my 2nd cassette tape). I only heard Man in the Mirror today, and yes it is great. Thanks for the link, aikim! I'd like to remember him from the best of times. He brought a lot of joy. What else matters? ETA: Oh right, KAndre. It was "Happy" and you swore it wasn't an MJ song. We had to go to google to settle things. Here's the YouTube link! Not KAndre, but thanks for the link. I had never heard MJ sing that song before. After an evening of watching TV coverage of his passing, listening to this song for the first time was the real tribute for me. Beautiful and pure.

Hey strummer..I love that description of FCA ...especially random. hee Wow I can't believe MJ is dead. I've been bummed out by the weirdness the last few years. I don't understand where his family was and why there was no intervention. (ETA ..they may have tried but when you're that rich and famous I guess you pretty much can write your own ticket). It's such a shame. BUT -- like many have said -- he was fantastic - not just during the Thriller era - but his complete body of work. My favorite MJ album was Off the Wall but loved Thriller and tohers. I can't even begin to pick my favorite songs from him - there are a ton of them for me. SueRue - I'm with you but I have a feeling this will turn into a media and freak show. Thinking back to Anna Nicole Smith - who is not even in the same universe as Michael Jackson -- I just don't hold out much hope. Michael Jackson was an icon. His talent and contribution to pop music is indisputable. I hope that he is treated with the respect he deserves. I shed a tear when I heard the news. Couchie, What do you mean about an intervention from his family? I would rather him be treated with honesty. Michael Jackson was a musical genius but he was also a deeply flawed man. Intervention: There is talk of drug use. Fingers are already being pointed by his inner circle. No one wants to admit they catered to Michael's weaknesses instead of intervening. A lot of careers and fortunes were riding on the Michael Jackson Come-Back tour. I agree about the "honesty." But I do not know if what he was accused of doing was true or not. He is the only one who knows what the truth is. I do see him as a complicated man who became reclusive and eccentric possibly because he never really had a "normal" childhood. He always seemed like a gentle soul to me, and I have always hoped that he was truly innocent of all he was accused of. That is just me.

Hey strummer..I love that description of FCA ...especially random. hee Wow I can't believe MJ is dead. I've been bummed out by the weirdness the last few years. I don't understand where his family was and why there was no intervention. (ETA ..they may have tried but when you're that rich and famous I guess you pretty much can write your own ticket). It's such a shame. BUT -- like many have said -- he was fantastic - not just during the Thriller era - but his complete body of work. My favorite MJ album was Off the Wall but loved Thriller and tohers. I can't even begin to pick my favorite songs from him - there are a ton of them for me. SueRue - I'm with you but I have a feeling this will turn into a media and freak show. Thinking back to Anna Nicole Smith - who is not even in the same universe as Michael Jackson -- I just don't hold out much hope. Michael Jackson was an icon. His talent and contribution to pop music is indisputable. I hope that he is treated with the respect he deserves. I shed a tear when I heard the news. Couchie, What do you mean about an intervention from his family?

I think you make some very valid points. The time line is a bit odd and the reasoning(?) a bit too detailed, colorful. Why pick an outspoken free speech board with no rigid rules as a place to look for like-minded people if by like-minded you really mean close-minded? Sounds too structured to me. I get that this and other boards might not suit everyone. Heaven knows I would not be a good fit for a bible thumping religiously conservative board that cannot accept Clay as he is, a decent, giving, honorable and talented man. I would hope that when I discovered the incompatibility that I would bow out quietly without insulting the established members. But, then if I wanted to stir shit before leaving, maybe I would do otherwise. I think these posts say it all. Why join a board and stick around if you do not fit? Close minded people definitely do not belong here. I do not see how judgmental people can consider themselves to be good Christians. If she was a board member for such a short time and joined knowing that Clay was gay, why does she feel that she needs to explain (lecture) to us why she is leaving? Goodbye and good luck to her

Amen

Congratulations on both your son's accomplishments.

In Clear Lake! It rained buckets all of a sudden this afternoon. Totally destroyed my crape myrtle tree which was completely covered with white blooms. The weight of the water on the huge flower clusters broke the limbs. "Bummer, now it looks weird. The rain was good though since it had not rained for over 30 days. It rained hard for almost two hours.

Lotus, One thing that I forgot to add is that a lot of people in Europe are heavy smokers, and the trains stink of smoke, even the really nice ones. Sometimes we would get out of train and our clothes and hair would stink of smoke. If I remember correctly smoking was allowed everywhere. We went from Waterloo, Belgium to Brussels, from Brussels to London and from Brussels to Paris on the trains. Daughter was living in Waterloo at the time and we used the train system so much that the ticket seller would recognize us when we walked into the Waterloo station. Kind of embarrassing that we never stayed home. We also used Ryan Airline. We went to Venice on Ryan Air for $25 each way. That was an experience. We met a family from London there who had flown Ryan Air for 10 pounds apiece which at that time was equivalent to $20. This airline is comparable to our SW, but actually cheaper, and they make SW look like a luxury airline. Ryan Air does not even serve water. They hawk merchandise during the flight also. Like I said before this was an experience.

Like Scarlett says, travel light. Train station in London was very busy and crowded when I went, and it was a pain to haul heavy luggage. People in Europe really use their rail system. Next time I will travel light. Clothes are not inexpensive there though, so be sure to take what you are sure you will need. I found that in Europe most people wear a lot of black so that makes it easier to plan a traveling wardrobe. Also take good walking shoes. People in the UK do not rely on cars as much as we do. They walk.

Now that you've exonerated Clique -- let me take this opportunity to condemn them again. June is my renewal at the fanclub and I did so with no problem, at least that's what I thought until I saw that they ran the charge through twice at my bank. So I was out $78.08 instead of $39.04. I sent emails twice, both with URGENT in the subject line, and didn't get a response. Nada. So I called Bank of America and got their phone number and someone actually answered the phone. They checked, agreed that indeed they had charged me twice in error, and said they'd fix it -- in a couple of weeks. It took them one day to get it OUT of my bank, and who knows when I'll actually be reimbursed! It's not such a big deal that this happened if it gets fixed, but nobody EVER responded to my emails. That I find unacceptable. Do they employ only one or two people? Clique get no kisses from me 'til they ... FIX IT! KF, If Clique ran the charge twice at your bank, Bank of American can correct it, and you do not have to wait. They just credit your account for the second charge and then they deal with whoever made the mistake and get their money back from them. That is what I have done in the past. The bank has always taken care of a problem like a double charge for the same item.

I agree that Clay is so cool because of everything you say. Yet how can a man be so cool and yet be so hot at the same time? When Clay sings, sensual sexuality oozes out of his whole body. He makes love to that microphone. Maybe it is that full body and soul connection that you mention. Whatever it is, it works for me.