The funny thing is that as fast as this law has gone into effect, bar owners are prohibiting guns in their establishments. Folks have been carrying guns in a lot of the Beale Street bars for ages, even though it's against the law. Just about the time it became legal to do so, the bar owners got fed up with the shootings going on in and just outside their places of business and said no more guns.

That sounds so simple and yet it's such good advice. People who are prone to depression tend to be "solar powered."

Wow that speaks volumes right there.

Would you like someone digging up your momma?

I notice that on your profile you say that you drink often. Drinking and depression are a vicious circle. Try to cut the drinking back to no more than socially and replace it with activities that require you to get out of the house. I bet you'll start to have a better outlook before you know it. Won't make everything perfect....but it's a start.

Definitely hold on to all of it just in case.

A lot of communities are now providing land for gardens, with other companies donating starter plants, etc. There are also groups holding "how to" seminars on planting veggies, etc.

Folks can google their local city/town/county website to find info, or call the city office to find out if one exists. (I believe some schools and universities are doing this as well).

No doubt. And there's just something patently ridiculous about banning smoking for a soldier's "health and safety" while sending him/her into areas to be potentially shot or blown to bits.

...or in some cases Orgasmic Proportions, which brings us back to "does size matter?"

Oh I was waiting for that, and you did not disappoint!!!!!

We had someone bring something very similar to this to work once, and it was indeed very good.

Yupyupyup.

Accent? Waddaya talkin' 'bout? Mark doesn't have an accent!!!

You need to make sure your momma sees this one, Markus!!!

Pfft! I laugh at everything that comes out of your mouth! Shut up Dan!

I've known you for four years now, and this thread is liberating! So, I'm going to use it to its fullest:

Shut up Dan
Shut the ***!!!!!!**** up Dan
Will you ever shut up Dan?
What does it take to make you shut up Dan?
Can we use a pillow to make you shut up Dan?
One more "old" joke, and I'm gonna hit you with my cane, so shut up Dan!!!
You know you're one of my most favorite folks on the planet, but shut up Dan and don't let it go to your (already oversized) head.

In short:

Shut up Dan!

Read. Come online. Try to find something good to watch on tv (which quickly leads to trying something else). Give in and do laundry. Think of yet another project to get into.

HawHaw! Q didn't say shut up Dan!!!!

Thanks for the link, Danno, and

Shut up Dan, dammit!

(Does "shut up Dan, dammit" count?)

In any event,

Shut up Dan!

This thread really emphasizes the differences in when I was growing up and when my son was growing up. Some things have changed because of the general atmosphere of the world (safety-wise, paranoia-wise), and some things have changed because we are more aware. So....

I had a huge back lot to play in in the back. Our house faced the main street where, in those days, many people walked to town. My sister and I were able to sell anything from lemonade to fishing worms under the big oak tree out front. Mother could check on us through the big window in the living room. Of course, any stranger spotted in town was immediately reported through the "momma line," so it was hardly likely that someone could veer off the highway and get three feet and it not be noted. As to my son, nope, surely did not want him kidnapped.

"Driving to New York" in your parked car was a typical game. And if perchance you managed to put the car in reverse and roll down into the street...well the cars along that street only went 20 miles an hour at best, and the cars were solid enough that even then it would only make a small ping. No, my son was not allowed to do this. We lived in Memphis. I didn't want him hijacked along with the car.

Sure we could climb all over the cars, provided it wasn't August. No kid in their right minds is going to climb onto a car in Mississippi in August. As to my son, again, nope.

The only time I was ever allowed to throw things at cars was one Halloween in Memphis when my Dad worked for Juvenile Court and the JC judge was running for mayor. We had a huge "Turner for Mayor" sign in the yard, which was getting a lot of egg action. Dad came out and told us that any eggs that didn't get splatted, we could toss back at the cars throwing them. When The Kid was a kid, we had to have parents with our kids trick-or-treating for safety's sake...especially after a woman was murdered in the main house in town one Halloween...the house that could be seen all along main street (this was the same neighorhood where in my childhood we could wander about safely).

The "jiggiest" my parents got with music was Doris Day. Don't think "Que Sera Sera" on a turntable was ever heard past our living room windows. Of course we only had the church on one side and a deaf couple on the other. And by 7:00 p.m., the street on the front had been rolled up. My son DID grow up listening to rock, but not at high decibles.

I rode my bike all over without a helmet. Of course, all I was liable to hit was grass or gravel. And the bike could only go as fast as my legs could pump the pedals. My cousin had to wear a helmet to ride his bike as he'd already had a head injury from a baseball incident. We felt so sorry for him (he had to wear a football helmet...no "bike" helmet available). My son griped when he had to wear his helmet...until the day he hit gravel on a wide sidewalk, flipped and hit a bench. Thanks to the helmet, he only has a scar on his nose.

As for the revealing clothes, blah blah...I was raised to have self-esteem. I am now a grandmother, and while I don't dress like a grandmother, I dress in a way so that my son and grandchildren can be proud to be seen with me.

I park in my spot and respect other people's boundries, and I raised my son to do the same.

The only time I went through his stuff was when he was at college and had asked me to send him certain items. I came across his "Sex for Dummies" book. After determining that it was indeed for dummies, I did the sensible motherly thing: I shipped it to him....packed right beside his Bible, laughing all the way.