Kitt

You have got to find a way to keep your characters on a leash wolf!

I know that feeling Joann! I am still looking for a set of router bits i bought for my brother almost 30 years ago that disappeared into the holiday preparations!

This is a tad late for Thanksgiving, but perhaps someone would like to try these for Christmas. I have no clue where I got the original recipe I started with, but like most of the contents of my cookbook, I have tinkered with it till I was happy with the results. Spiced Cranberries 1 qt cranberries, washed and stems removed 1/2 cup water 2 Cinnemon sticks 12 whole cloves 12 whole allspice 1/8 tsp ground mace 1 cup dark brown sugar Place berries and water in a 2 qt or larger sauce pan. ( Non stick is nice, makes cleanup easier) Tie whole spices into a cheesecloth sachet ( I cheat and use a huge tea ball) and place into pot with the berries. Simmer until the berries pop and are soft. Remove the spice package and allow to cool enough to handle. Process the warm fruit in a food processor or food mill. This is to your personal preference level, I leave the berries very chunky, a friend prefers them processed to a smooth, applesauce like consistency. Return fruit to the pot and heat thru, stirring in up to a cup of the brown sugar, or to personal tastes. Good served warm or chilled, and can be made several days in advance if desired.

Military grade stink solutions??? I don't think I WANT to ask where you find these things - or why you were looking!

Are they auditioning for the newest K-Mart commercial?

LOL! 29 worked in my "normal school", but only if you had not fallen behind because of late rehearsals. 30 and 32 thru 35 seem like they are generational. My crowd would probably reference Cats. Neither Rent or Wicked had even been written yet! And I have to agree with Ron. Visuals, Jeremy, visuals!

While the "article" was amusing, showing the excesses that could have happened, I can't see how anyone would have believed it. Honestly - after having CPR he went back to drinking? Spray painting someone loves cock? Don't ask don't tell may be gone but lets be reasonable. An the entire crew of a naval vessel? Who was minding the ship?

One more thing to think about ( like you don't have enough already ). No relationship, whether friendship or something more, will work based on lies. Honesty is needed.

A dang site more than a twenty i am sure! Excellent start! Can't wait to see how Daniel handles this.

Wooo hoooo - congratulations. Now take a small portion of that extra money and go do something for yourself!

He isn't really gone if you hold him in your heart Jeremy - cherish his memory.

Homobro doesn't work - some of us are gals!

I honestly don't understand why people are so against the idea of horse meat. I am a horse lover and see no problem with consuming horse meat any more than I do venison, buffalo, ostrich, or any of the things that aren't the "big three". I do think one should be aware of what it is they are being served before consuming it, but that is more from a potential health risk due to allergies issue than anything else. Anyway - back to the topic of Wendy's pretzel buns going poof and the replacement brioche - I'll miss the pretzel, skip the brioche since it didn't impress me much, and swear the "portobella" mushrooms were regular old whites. You guys want to try a good burger - hit a "Cheeseburger,Cheeseburger" It isn't fast food - each burger is cooked to order, and yes the entire experience was based on the old SNL routine. In spite of not being "fast food" it is pretty quick service and a fun atmosphere to boot.

Aren't we all Dave?

Last year @ this time I was just finishing chemotherapy and looking at radiation therapy still to come, so I only set two goals for the new year. To beat the cancer and to learn to not sweat the small stuff cause life is just too damn short. I am happy to say it was the first time I had not failed at any of my resolutions. I still have four years to go to call myself cured, but I am well on my way. I think I am just going to renew last years goals!

I did that with LOTR pewter figurines. Turned out awsome but you have to know the story to actually use it to play. Hubby cant seem to be ably to tell Gandalf from Saruman or Aragorn from Sauron!

While I am not a legal expert, and I am sure if I am mistaken here someone will correct me, I don't think it matters one iota if GATHAN realized it was not in anyone's best interest. The important point is BRAD realized it. Unless I am mistaken, the decision on the successor trustee is his alone and Gathan at best can voice an opinion. Gathan would actually have no more right to determine the successor trustee than I do. Even if Brad were to pass without naming a successor at all, the responsibility would go to his heirs, so looks very much like Will would end up with the responsibility either way.

Quite the growth chapter. Will gave Brad the chance to say what he needed to say, while still slapping Gathan down and informing him in no uncertain terms to keep his nose out of Wills life. Brad managed to get through the conversation without turning it into a power struggle with his son like he did so many times in the past. Zach figured out Wally and Clara love him and do want the best for him, even if they were hanging on a tad too tight, and Tony ... well, he seems to be making progress, but I think i need to wait a bit and see if it is real progress without relapses into asshole-ism. Just seems like too much progress too fast and that usually results in backsliding. Why is it every time things start going along so smoothly I get the feeling I need to find a nice solid table to hide under while watching the next plot twist unfold? Thank you for yet another wonderful chapter. You have moved beyond addictive writing, you have managed to make these characters feel like family to a lot of readers. Granted we all react differently to them, but then, what family doesn't do just that?

Well then sit yourself in a comfy chair and enjoy the edit silly! Everyone has their favorite parts.

That's only half true Wayne! I wrote one that fits BOTH last weeks prompts, but also fits the fall antho theme. When I asked you said put it up as an antho! So you just have to be a little more patient to see it.

Have a happy day with your family and friends around you! And Happy Hanukkah to those of you who observe that as well!

Dang it! I was up to my elboes in cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie baking and the like and didn't see this till this am! On the off chance that Mann may come back and answer more questions ... Have you ever had a reader berate your work and how did you handle that?

Jimminy Cricket guys! I take a couple days off to start the holiday cooking and it takes me an hour of reading to catch up! First off - I hope those of you who celebrate Thanksgiving have a wonderful meal with family and friends around you. Also to those who celebrate it a Happy Hanukkah. I hope your first night celebrations last night were all you wanted them to be. Now - You all are missing a fairly important point regarding 16 yr old Zach being given a car. While he might have a drivers permit at this point - he cannot get a licence until he turns 17 in the state of NJ. The only way to have a licence at 16 ( being allowed to drive without a licensed driver with him) is to get a farm licence, and even that is restricted to farm registered vehicles between dawn and dusk and only on farm business. So at this point having a car is a moot point. Without a licensed driver with him he can't drive it. And yes I know he can drive in Ohio, but you cannot transfer the licence to NJ. Wally and Clara may not be the swiftest train on the rails, but I can completely understand why they would want him to get a licence first. What ever their reasons however, we should all keep in mind that parents are human too, and as such make mistakes. My own father disagreed so vehemently with a decision I made at the age of 20 as to go to great lengths to try and reverse it, including attempting legal action. Many years later he apologized to me and admitted I had been right, that he had not been "acting in my best interest" as he claimed at the time, but had reacted to the fact I had made this major decision without his help. People keep referring to Zach as a sociopath. Did I miss a plot twist? The word is defined by Websters New Collegiate Dictionary as "having a psychopathic personality" and psychopathic is defined as "a mentally ill or unstable person". When was he diagnosed as having a mental illness? I admit it has been a long time and they were only freshman psych classes, but being a self centered brat wasn't a mental illness back then. I get that Gathan and Zach have an unpleasant history. Somehow I can't help but think that even considering placing him as trustee is a mistake, no matter how responsible he is capable of being. I cannot picture being put in that position with my brother and not have it cause problems. We think much too differently, and we have none of the bad blood Gathan and Zach have yet to get past. I think Zach has good reason to believe he will not see a penny for quite some time. Which raises my other question about the trust. If he has a $20k allowance, how is he supposed to access that money? Are there restrictions on what he may buy and how? Do Wally and Clara have to approve every pair of jeans he wants? $20k isn't a whole lot of money, even back in '01, and while controls are usually a good thing ( witness Gathan's excesses when he first had his trust) there is a limit as to what is reasonable. As for a 16 yr old "needing" a car? Aside from the fact he cant drive it until spring, even if NJ Transit buses were 100% on time and reliable (Ha!) it gets damn cold in NJ in Jan and Feb. If i had a million dollar trust fund and was told to take the bus i would be pissed too! But still - even with the relatively low annual income from the trust, if he is judicious and puts money into an account he opens in a local bank no one could stop him from buying the car himself once he turns 17 - like so many of us not-rich kids did. And it isn't impossible to get good grades, play sports AND work a part time job. I never had a problem with my bosses working around my school schedule.

I don't think family heirloom jewelry counts as re-gifting does it? If it does then I have been re-gifted many times over the years and have passed on pieces to my daughter as well. Other than that the only one who has ever re-gifted in giving to me was my mother in law. Someone had given her this upright food mill thingy that she couldn't even figure out how to assemble, let alone have the inclination to use. I however have used the hell out of it! LOL So much for her "white elephant", it turned out to be one of the better things she has given me over the years.

All my dogs are welcome at the foot of the bed - problem is they were on a par with Woobie and the dang bed just isn't big enough for three!