Scarlett

Gibby, Thanks for the pictures. I knew I could count on you!!! :F_05BL17blowkiss:

Hi all! Just checking in... I ended up having to work today (boo!) but I'm done and ready to go home, just waiting on an escort to the parking garage and will catch up with you all from home. Yes cotton, where is it? where? where? This may be our barest/cleanest page 69. Luckiest and merrieeee, glad you're home! Aikim - All will be well! Wonder how the little one's 2nd day went... & hoping he was even louder today, hee! eta: i'm actually just creating a placeholder on this page so that I can follow cotton's lead from home...

Hee, Ansa. Can't figure out what holiday that was.... Apparently it's a cultural thing but really, people who have a good relationship with their specialists do ask for these things and I just want to point out there really is nothing wrong in saying that you're "hoping for 8:08" am on August 8. It might not happen -- an emergency can occur 2 hours before or even the night before, so it is a gift any way you look at it. It's not a guarantee. However if it's going to be close, why not? It's perfectly ok. A healthy baby is always a blessing and a miracle.

In China, hospitals have had to add extra beds -- CNN.

This happens all the time. Brittney Spears picked when she wanted her kids born. She was afraid to go through labor, so she had a planned c-section before her due date (or so I heard). Many women and doctors plan deliveries based on their schedules. They give you a time frame in which it is safe to deliver the baby and you pick the date and schedule the OR. Oh a lot of doctors are used to requests like those. Check out the birth rate in Hong Kong today compared to yesterday. If it's going to be a scheduled CS anyway, there's nothing wrong with picking a good date -- it's a gift of choice. My mom was an ob-gyn in a Catholic Asian country and in August, she was always busy on the 8th and the 15th (The Feast of the Assumption of Mother Mary).

The part I love about no hyphens is that hyphens have implied being disjoint or an incomplete attempt to put something together. Having a first name, a middle name and a last name says to me that you are part of a complete, loving family. And his name is so strong -- Parker Foster Aiken. I love the sound of it. If I were in high school and I had a classmate named Parker Foster Aiken I'd be scribbling his name all day. No, they didn't -- we need to go there to see them (again for you)! ETA: There's an actor named Philip Quast who tours with Broadway-type shows and brings his entire family all the time.

So many great posts to quote! Good to see you out of lurkdom, LonelyNoMore!

I want to keep following & quoting wandacleo around!

What a day not to answer my phones -- just looked right now and had a whole series of them... KAndre, PerusingOne, MUAH!!! And what a date & time! My best friend did exactly the same thing 8 years ago (because 2000 was a dragon year). Wheeeeee!!! (definitely not caught up but wanted to post already!!!) ETA: meant to quote this earlier but was too much in a rush...

{{{Kareneh}}} Goodluck both with the exam and with getting your stuff out of customs! Thanks for all the good advice, s.b., annabear, FromClaygary and Cotton! Now that I've got my heart set on a Janome, I saw this on eBay and wondered if I should try to bid about for it and what would be a good price to bid? Doesn't it look like a good buy? If I don't get it, I'll be happy with an entry level Janome from a local store. :F_05BL17blowkiss: Char, I wish I were "working" on YouTube too! Will get that clip to you soon. Eeep about misreading your posts, duckyvee, playbiller and Fear -- hope you liked the Long Island clips, though! Have a great day, everyone! (Big sloppy MUAH to aikim for the daily countdown that brings me a smile each morning!) :nature-smiley-014: ETA: Ooops, sorry about that laljeterfan!!!

I guess everyone's out watching TV tonight? *will sit here knitting until everyone gets back* To the quilters out there (FromClaygary and sb any others?), I'm ready to get my feet wet and buy a sewing machine, especially since I volunteered to do a simple all-squares quilt top for a service project due in September... any recommendations on a decent beginner sewing machine that I won't have to replace very soon? My only experience with a sewing machine was on a manual/treadle type that my aunt taught me to use when I was about 6 yo, but since I did ok then I figure I'll be able to adapt to the electric ones easily. If it doesn't involve too big a price jump, I'd also love to be able to embroider a bit and sew simple clothes and household items like curtains. Is there a good machine that balances all these features? What machine do you use? BTW, I'm a Tuesday child just like my baby angel. Two older children were born on Monday. Fear, happy that you got some respite from the heat but that he must have had at least 3 layers again... So, how many of us were at Long Island? I'm counting Solo, KAndre, PerusingOne, merrieeee, couchie, Muski, MuskiD1, duckyvee, clayzedover, Permaswooned, saltwaterdog, Kareneh, Fear, playbiller and myself. Did I miss anyone?

That was some night! When they started the 2nd set with only Clay, Angela and Quiana, people around me were wondering 'where's Jacob?' but my mind immediately jumped to Emmanuel and wondered if Clay was going to sing it and started going, please, please let him sing it! It was another one of those "must-be-there-to-fully-appreciate" moments where an emergency came up and he just stepped up to the plate and hit a homerun. I'm still sorry that the Clack couldn't capture the magic we all felt but at that time Clack was so far from my mind, all I wanted was listen and then cheer jubilantly for what he'd done -- in my recap I said, "and for once, just let the frigging Clack skip around." Oh yes, ldj, that was just a killer, so heartbreakingly sweet... (LI DSIAFCD). It practically ties my all-time favorite DSIAFCD which was in San Jose JNT04 when he sang it all just spectacularly! It was a somewhat similar situation to Merrillville AIW though not as many people noticed...and this was not just a homerun, it was way, way out of the park!!!

FromClaygary, I just remembered something folks might like -- stitch markers, maybe in TBAF colors. Fear, Cotton, aww won't you take one for the team? It's for an excellent cause! HBD, YSRN!!! :7254:

Hey Char! How's Web 2.0 going? Yes, that's it! Thanks for uploading it to YouTube!!! BTW, I now convert original HDs directly to iPhone (mp4) format -- when I can make one for this, can I send you the file so that we can see if YouTube displays mp4's better than XviD conversions? I was wondering... since we've already noticed that many of us here were born in July, what day of the week most of us were born on.

:F_05BL17blowkiss: Glad you swung by Perma and safe travels for your coaster-loving DH!!! BTW, the growly Emmanuel was December 3 Beacon.

Speaking of rain... Cotton and Fear, how about if we pray for a scorching hot morning until midday, and then an unexpected mid-afternoon rainstorm? Will that work for you temperature-wise? That way the cute guy may still put on a tank top to go out and with some luck he might get caught in the sudden downpour. ETA: (nonClay) For Ansa & anyone else who speaks Filipino... cute love song about a guy and a girl who take shelter under the same awning during a sudden downpour

I love both AIW and Emmanuel but the Atlanta Emmanuel wasn't the one I'd pick for a battle. From 2006, I'd pick one of the Beacon ones (not sure if it was the Friday or the Saturday one, definitely not Sunday) because it was the growliest Emmanuel ever. All Is Well -- I love it every time but I think the Long Island one was special because of Clay while the Merrillville one was special because of the fans, so Long Island it is. I know this doesn't refer to me because I'm not on ldyj's list! I'm not even rating anything from 2007... ... or are you waiting on half of Waukegan, Williamsport, Erie, Cleveland, Merrillville19, half of Merrillville20 & bits of Omaha? ... *sighs!* Hi-ho! Hi-ho! It's off to dodge sporks work we go!...

Speaking of Quiana and Christmas songs... The second set of Merrillville is done, except for the IBHFC medley which I'll have to upload later. (I can play the huge HD but kept getting errors in rendering -- someday, maybe we can share stuff in Blu Ray?) These'll be up at the CH/CU vault soon but meanwhile my work files (mp3, small mp4 & XviDs) are here. ETA: Umm.... That was Merrillville 2007. Merrillville 2006 isn't done yet. *sighs!* ETAA: The only reason I could think of for Clay and Quiana to need to be rehearsing MDYK or TFN this long before Christmas is if they're planning a Chinese Opera version of JNT. EYATA: Tank top? --- is it wrong to pray for an extended heat wave in NC?

Have fun camping, luckiest1 and bring back some pictures. Where are your favorite places to camp? (eHP was discussing camping too... well, just discussing) Awwwwwww, man, I love that interview. He looks so great! And I love listening to him talk. Yes, he looks great on that one! Still thudding on WY! ETA: Actually I like all the Yahoo clips.

It was nice to get slain by that WY video again. It's been a while so I wasn't quite prepared for it. ETA: Hi there, sb! KAndre and I think those Chinese emperors had a nice situation going... complete with concubines and such... might be the ideal framework for Clay Nation. ETAA: I also think concubines have too much fun!

liney, thanks! There weren't many cars out but many roads were starting to flood. *hopes that everyone gets home safely, Regents too! Including those who need to watch a Chick Flick or two... the poor but honest hero always, always has the best and biggest, uh voice... and role... and other stuff... why, even SF Action Adventure screenwriters know that! {{{ldyj and anyone else with storms today}}}

We'll let Clay decide on which role he'd like to take -- bored, rich Emperor or poor but honest hero. Josh Groban can be your emperor... *betcha the hero has better songs too! Pbbbtttt!!!* ETA: *BTW, cute concubine just got told to go home to avoid getting her toes wet in any muddy floodwaters... see you later... continuing story from home!*

I have Internet access, a vending machine and a backup generator... what more do I need?... ... well, apart from a way home through non-flooded streets tonight but we'll worry about that when we come to it... have kayak will travel! Long live the New Republic of Texas! ETA: Couchie, I think we only rode the Big Dipper. The line for the Cyclone was too long so Solo went to get the rest of you and we rode bumper cars instead. ETAA: Oooh, KAndre, watch for the concubine who's going to stage an uprising! (well, several... er, quite a lot!)

Hi! Just checking in to say that the storm was mostly a non-event, well mostly for the people who already had hurricane supplies. I had to go out and get some last night (hurricane supplies), like batteries (for my flashlight) and bottled water and things. *Muski and annabear should be the ones doing this. The world is upside down* *Waves wildly back at aikim!!!* Hi, sb! I found it and yes, I think we used to be a separate country. We can be again you know -- come on over! White Christmas? Sure! (would still prefer a JNT but at this point anything would be nice)

Wheeee! Thanks bunches, TimetravelerPax!!! FromClaygary, Yes, it sounds like I would have had the grandest time! Between your festivals, the lake, health care and data privacy laws -- I'm this close to moving there! Or how about if we arrange for a way to spend spring & summer there and fall and winter here? Now THAT would be awesome! :F_05BL17blowkiss: I'm sure those little old green card laws don't mean MEEEEEEEEE.... It was a warm one today! Evan the ducks were doing a little bobbing to keep cool.... Oh I looove ducks!!! Green card laws? We'll fix that by declaring the Independent Republic of Texas -- we'll even issue our own passports! Speaking of passports.... yikes, where's mine? ... I'm supposed to leave for Hong Kong soon...