Okay Everyone, though it's hard to catch up on every detail on this increasingly massive thread
, after a couple of interruptions this evening, I can now sit down and respond to your posts as well, so here goes
...
Pet, I love the photie of Manny with the 111 prompt he landed next to after falling out of a tree, and what a great prompt story too!
As others have said, I, too, have been enjoying all your well-told stories of your life in Germany and all these other exotic (to me) places, as well as all your other great family photies!
PP, thanks for passing along updates on
Laura's adventures, and thanks too for the link to scribd.com; it looks like there's a lot of great stuff on there; I'll have to browse through it at length sometime! I've also been enjoying your and everyone else's Christmas-decorating stories! You and
Sandy have both been doing great decorating this thread with all those fun festive smilies as well!
I sort of stopped my holiday decorating with just the little Christmas tree and our two stockings on the wall above it, and have just been hanging/propping up ATC's all around the tree area for extra decoration as I receive them in the mail from all the swaps I've been doing!
Sandy, thanks a bunch for your positive feedback on my ATCs!
I'm sorry that December is a tough time for you, being far away from family in the States.
But it is good that you are still connected to them mind-to-mind and heart-to-heart, and to all your extensive spiritual family of both mortals and Invisibles as well
-- I loved your quote:
Sandy wrote:It is hard for people who have never experienced the connectedness to understand how we can love and so completely understand to the point of sometimes feeling what they are feeling, people we have never met.
That's beautiful and uplifting, and really captures the beauty of what it's like being a part of this wonderful 11:11 family!
No matter where we are in the world, or how physically isolated it may seem, none of us are ever alone, and I always find that very comforting!
Gloria, what a cool synchronicity that you are about to start creating ATC's/ACEO's as well; you are in for some fun!
I'll warn you, it's kind of addictive!
Keep us updated on your progress with them, if you feel so inclined!
Lilly, I love your latest avvie (and the one before that where you were wearing the hat as well). As others have said, you're beautiful, and I love your hair too!
Glad to hear that you're picking yourself up and getting back on track after those ups and downs that we all face at various times. That's the spirit!
Your grandson sounds very artistic and talented, making board games from scratch! What fun!
Sher, glad to hear your turkey cooking went well, and it sounds like the Soroptomist Christmas luncheon fundraiser was a great success! How wonderful that you're putting together all those food baskets as well -- that will positively impact so many folks' lives!
Star, I've enjoyed watching your transformation in your various avvies as I've been following this thread! I agree with everyone else, you are beautiful
, and I loved your hair when it was blonde, but I also love it now that it's red!
I too love red hair -- My natural hair color is dark brown, and a year and a half or two years ago, something like that, I started experimenting for the first time with henna as a natural, herbal way to dye it red/auburn. Way, way back in this thread I discussed this whole process in detail over several posts!
It worked pretty well, except, since my hair is so naturally dark, in order to get my hair red instead of just a reddish brown, I had to actually bleach my hair first, then henna over it to get the effect I wanted. My scalp always itched too right after dyeing it, but I think it's from the bleaching and not so much the henna, since the henna itself is supposed to condition and strengthen the hair, and be soothing to the scalp. Your blonde hair seems like an ideal starting color for changing it to any other color! Dark brown or black seems to be the least ideal color, since you kind of have to bleach it to get it any lighter in order to change it to any other color!
Right now my hair is two-toned (as you can probably tell from my avvie), with about three or four inches of dark brown on top
, and the rest still red/auburn. I haven't henna-ed it again since we moved, since the place we moved into this summer has all old formica countertops and such, from the 70's, and stains very easily. The tub/shower also seems to be made of a similar material, so I'm afraid of permanently staining it if I try washing out the henna in it!
. I also have always had naturally thick, strong, healthy hair, and didn't really like the weakening effect that the bleaching seemed to have on it, so I'm currently kind of undecided -- I may eventually henna it again but without bleaching it, so that it'll eventually be a uniform dark brown but with a red tint. I'll probably just keep thinking about it for a while, but at any rate, it's always fun experimenting!
I think we can all identify with the bikini dilemma you described!
I haven't worn one either since my gawky teenage years, when I was skinny as a rail, 5' 6.5" (about 169 cm) tall and weighed only 99 pounds (about 45 kg)! Back then, I thought there was no way I would ever gain weight; turns out I was in for a surprise in later years!
I have been enjoying everyone's comments on white pants, glaring white legs (I've got 'em too!
), tanning gel and the like!
I remember my mom having some of that tanning gel when we were kids, but she wouldn't let us near it, for whatever reason -- although she never explained why, I suspect it was because she once had one of those "going all orange" experiences herself, and just would never admit to it!
Sandy, I can identify with your "prudish pod" comments too! I've always been a jeans-and-T-shirts type of person as well, and not very comfortable with wearing the revealing women's clothing that's in vogue these days. Especially here in Santa Cruz, since it's such a beach town, these styles are even more prevalent than in other places I've lived, plus the colors and fabrics of women's fashions here are overall lighter, brighter, more pastel and more feminine than I've been accustomed to. In order to fit in a bit more here fashion-wise, at the very least, I may eventually get myself some jeans and t-shirts with a bit more feminine cut, instead of the kind of shapeless sweatpants and men's t-shirts I've been wearing around the house lately (or the mountain-woman flannel shirts, bulky sweaters, hiking boots, and men's button-fly Levi's type of styles I used to wear in back in Colorado!
). Since I haven't had what folks would call a "real job" in a few years now, I haven't really bothered much with fashion lately!
I haven't worn make-up in years, plus, I've let my hair go two-toned and my haircut's way overgrown to boot!
I'll have quite a few fashion adjustments to make if I eventually begin interfacing with the "real world" a bit more again one of these days!
Well, it's getting pretty late here, so I'd best go get some sleep for now! Greetings also to everyone here who I didn't mention by name!
Lots of love to you all
,
Aqua Deb
Without a doubt he is my all time favorite tenor. Music helps..I forget that sometimes...Next on my list, some of my peppy Christmas favorites. 
I am glad you gort to visit with your 'brother " again Star. I understand completely the way you feel about him. I feel like that about so many people...you included on this board. It is hard for people who have never experienced the connectedness to understand how we can love and so completely understand to the point of sometimes feeling what they are feeling, people we have never met. I guess I am thinking of a short conversation I had with my sister this morning. She worries about me sometimes..that I have no friends and no activities that fulfill the need for human communication in my life. 
XXSandy
Men! Then again, he probably feels the same way about my shoes. I just hope he gets his christmas shopping done too!
, 
grinning and wailing don't really seem to go together. 
Ego thinking...
Your talk of snow, and roads beginning to get slushy, and needing 4x4's brings back memories of when we lived in Colorado -- I was always feeling really lucky if we managed to get past a certain time of year before the first snow, the first arctic cold front, the first blizzard, etc., of the winter season. This past week, I heard on the news that they had sub-zero morning temperatures in the Denver area 