Kitt

LOL the gals in the chat room were right - this is an adorable story. I was wondering how long it would take Adam to catch on to what Michael did! Even I know enough to delete browsing history regularly, and i am about as un-computer savvy as they come! Completely enjoyable!

And what makes you think i could get a computer to do that sort of thing? Now - testing out the recipes....that i can do! Grammar and spelling - converting and double entry pounds/grams i can do too so there is no translation issues. But formatting and stuff??? AJ help me get out of this one!

What's the point of a chip being so fast if the drivers they use are getting slower and slower? Windows 8 seems to take forever to open an app compared to 7 and 7 was slower than xp

LOL a good portion of the story is actually true - my brother had a similar deal to live on a graveyard property and take care of the place and it was pretty overgrown when he moved in. The tree and shoe headstones were real, although they were ballerina slippers not blue suede shoes!

Me too- damn little voice gets wound up faster every week! Prompt 252 Bobby sat on his mom’s rope and board swing slowly rocking back and forth. He hated living here. His friends refused to come over to visit. The creeps at school all made fun of him over living in THIS house. “God I hope dad is right about that party at the end of the month.” “What could be a better place for a Halloween party than an old graveyard that no one ever visits anymore?” he had said. *** Moving in here was the end result of a string of bad luck. First mom had gotten sick. The hospital bills were horrendous and the insurance that dad’s work provided was more of a freak show than it was a funding source for medical bills. They had ended up selling their house with the huge yard and small barn out back that Bobby had turned into a teen’s paradise. The insulation they had installed along with the full floor kept the place reasonably warm all winter long. The “kitchen”, a long counter with stove at one end, fridge at the other and a huge sink in the center, in the one huge room made for the perfect party setting. Moving the old living room set out there when mom had upgraded the house furniture was great too. He even had plans to eventually turn the loft into a bedroom and install a propane fireplace. It had gotten them a good price when they were forced to sell. The apartment they moved into wasn’t all that bad. It was small, but that made it easy for Bobby to take care of while dad worked and mom slowly recovered. The landlord was a nightmare though. If Bobby even turned on the stereo low when the old goat was home he was calling dad at work and bitching about it. Then when he saw Bobby and his boyfriend the first time he had started a campaign to evict them on some sort of morals basis. Like being gay was a ground for denying people a safe place to live. To quote an old bumper sticker “The moral majority is neither”. Then dad had been “downsized” at work. A polite way to say tossed on his butt as a cost cutting measure. With the savings and most of the money from the sale of the house having gone to pay the medical bills it wasn’t long before the rent fell behind and the old goat had the excuse he needed to “evict that fag and his family”. Moving here – well Bobby wasn’t sure yet if this was good luck to have found the place or bad yet. Dad had come home from the employment center one afternoon and announced that they would be moving. Bobby had argued against it. Said it would be too tough on mom to move a second time in six months. But being only 17 he didn’t get too much of a say in the situation, and he couldn’t argue the fact that it did sound like a sweet deal. Live in the house on the property and clean the overgrowth away, maintain the property and take care of the little bit of business that occurs every year. No rent. It was an even up trade landscaping the two acres for living there. The house did need some work but the landlord would pay for materials if Bobby and his dad did the labor. Pretty sweet huh? What his dad hadn’t told him was what the “little bit of business” was. Bobby found that out the first weekend after they had moved in. They spent the rest of the week making small repairs around the house and getting settled, and come Saturday morning the guys had come over and they set about starting to beat back the brush line from the house. Two acres and when they had moved in there was only enough open space for the house and two of the three cars. Mom’s car was in a u-store lot for now since she wasn’t up to driving yet anyway. Bobby had fired up a gas powered weed eater he found in the shed while his two friends took pruning shears to the over grown boxwood hedges along the street. As he worked his way back slowly making about a 4 foot wide path into the woods he heard the plastic blades hit something hard. Shutting the noisy machine off, he started pulling the vines by hand and froze when he saw a headstone. And worse – he was standing right in the center of what had to be the grave it went with! Backing off of the grave quickly he shouted for his dad to come down off the roof. Dad and the boys both came running at the panicked sound of Bobby’s voice. When they got there Bobby was shaking and pointing mutely. “Holy crap! Is that a grave??” Steve had blurted. “Umm. Yeah. Guess I should have told you that little detail before we moved in huh?” his dad said sheepishly. “This property is a graveyard that dates back to the civil war. Last person who was buried here was an Elvis impersonator back in the 70’s. The old man who used to take care of the place stopped keeping it clean a long time ago. When he finally passed away about 5 years ago the cemetery commission had to evict his grandson when the kid refused to live up to his grandpa’s agreement to take care of the place. The kid took it to court to fight it claiming his grandpa had some sort of paper giving him title to the place. It took a long time to figure it all out. By that time you couldn’t even tell this was a graveyard.” “Gross. Bobby I am sooooo not going to come visit you in a graveyard!” Paul announced handing him the pruning shears in his hands. “I’m outta here. You wanna see me come to my place dude! Are you coming Steve?” “Nah – I said I would help and I will. But don’t be expecting me to hang out sitting on headstones or anything Bobby!” *** It took three weeks of steady work all day long to get most of the graves uncovered and the headstones cleaned up. Most of the graves seemed to date from the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. The stones were sort of weird too. I mean weirder than the usual statues of angels and devils and the like. There was one looked like 5 foot tall tree stump with a photograph in what looked like it was supposed to be a hollow opening in the tree. The Elvis impersonators grave had a pair of shoes carved into it and at some point someone had painted them blue. Yeah – blues shoes. There was one for a little boy that died at 12 in the 40’s whose stone was made to look like a lunchbox. But the weirdest one was the huge stone tuba. The guy must have been in a marching band or something. *** “Maybe dad is right. This could be a decent place for one whopper Halloween party. Oh well – least the neighbors are quiet.”

And they say us old Italian women cook with too much garlic! I love the flamboyance of the pair of vamps. LMAO a pair of vamps that think they are vamps. Only you could do that one Mann! Ingenious.

Ok- I have no clue how RPG's work, and don't even really want to get involved in playing since I have seen supposed adults get hooked to the point of getting into trouble with their employers etc, but I would like to help out somehow. Sounds interesting to watch, so if i can help let me know.

I for one would like for Marcus to somehow find out about his true parentage - or announce he already knows somehow. And no ending the thing off in a way that would prevent another visit to the villa of Marcus Quintillius Braxus!

Was the second story of Sasha's I read, also found off sight. I was impressed with the way he researched sign language and had Cole struggling to learn. I know first hand how hard it is for a hearing/speaking person to learn sign. As a part of any character interview I would love to ask Jared what went thru his mind every time Cole made the inevitable mistakes that would totally change what his fingers were trying to say.

Ut oh - something tells me this Aris is in for a rather bad time of it in the not too distant future! You keep this up my dear and you will be added to the list of "addictive authors". The one that encompasses everyone, not just my addiction list!

Being born and raised here ( on the Jersey shore) i despise the Brooklyn wannabees that think they exemplify anything let alone what life on the shore. I'm not real fond of the image the Soprano's have instilled of the Italian heritage either.

Here's a silly thought out loud for you LJ. We should redefine the terms kinky and perverted. Kinky should be something you are not into yourself but will do for love of your partner, perverted should be something you would not do under any circumstances. The rest should fall into normal relationships and let the priests/ministers/rabbi's/ mayors/town councilmen/ and who ever else thinks they should be allowed to tell you how to live your life go find a rock to crawl under.

Yep, your title says it all. Now stop worrying about posting on schedule and take care of your family and YOURSELF. We also went thru a year of hell starting with my father in law breaking a hip while doing chemo for oral cancer, mother in law ( his ex wife) chosing the same time frame and rehab center to have her hip replaced, and my own diagnosis of breast cancer, followed by surgery chemo and radiation. Thru it all one thing kept me going - my friends. If you need an extra pm me!

I agree with Myk. You are sharing something that no doubt is personal to you. A reader has no right to demand faster posting or longer chapters and an author should not feel he/she needs to apologize for not adhering to some arbitrary schedule. The words come when they come and sometimes other things have to come first.

How about a smart remark about "typical Italian-American Northern Delaware/Jersey type"? I managed to keep my mouth shut earlier, but since you keep repeating it ..... All of us Italians from Jersey are NOT exemplary of "Jersey Shore" over inflated ego's. In fact - the characters from that horrid "reality tv" show are not even from NJ. You don't like it when people paint all gay individuals with the same brush, how about the same consideration for those of us who happen to be of Italian decent and from NJ?

Did they actually find a network that would air that advert?

Wow. I am not much on demon stories but this one caught me right off! Fantastic break from the gate!

Well its about time! I have been waiting for several books now for Isidore to want a divorce so Frank could "make an honest woman of her". Isn't that how they used to say it in our parents generation? No surprise that JP saw exactly why Will is upset with Stef. Anyone who felt like every confidence would be repeated to exactly the last person that should know would of course clam up and no longer talk. I was a tad surprised that Stef reacted so differently to the same information as JP did. Honestly - what did he expect? Stef has designed play rooms before... The idea that Will might want one should not have been such a shock. For a man that started out as a rent boy when he was Wills age he has developed some decidedly conservatives streak in regards to his favorite grandson. I am beginning to think perhaps finding a shrink to have on staff as a family councilor might be advantageous to the Crampton/Shulter families. If one shrink fits all wasn't so unethical it would make paying all the bills so much easier. I am shocked that Brad would set Janine on Will that way. While it might have been the fastest way to piss Will off when he didn't get his way on the subject, did he even consider what it could do to Janine? Or that it might stop all progress towards a civil relationship between her and Will? It was not all that long ago the woman was in a psychiatric facility, something that was keyed in part by exactly this sort of manipulative behavior. Guess we now know where JJ learned it from. Unless you are being totally cruel and devious and have something new up your sleeve this was only a little cliffhanger. I can't help but here the suggestion of wedding bells in the future Enjoyable chapter, and still you can feel the tension building. I am getting the feeling Will is about to try his hand at his first long distance relationship. His first real relationship? Well second if you count Tony. Can't wait for the next twists.

Belgian style wheat ale around the patio at the farm after a long day at a show is the best. LOL we call it having evening tea cause the lady that started the tradition drank Jack Daniels Twisted Tea's.

Kudo's to the young lady for not caving into pressure and hate! What people have been saying to and about her is nothing more than a mild form of terrorism. The man who shouted in her face about how "ugly" she was and how no man would ever want her was trying to scare her, terrorize her if you will, into changing her position or at least leaving the fight, making it easier for the narrow minded idiots to impose their will on the women of Texas. I have a ton more to say on the topic but I think it better belongs in a blog entry. Way to go young lady. It's people like you who will lead our country in a few short years! Lets hope they have your intelligence as well as your heart!

Trying to drive in Boston drove me bonkers. They built this huge tunnel under the downtown area to "ease the congestion". Seemed easier to me- till i completely missed my exit expecting it to me at the END of the tunnel, not dead in the middle of the darned thing! And that road in Colorado that Mark posted a picture of? Wouldn't just get the fear of heights people. That wall arms reach out the passenger window would get us claustrophobes too!

I find it interesting that someone drew the conclusion that the third vessel was laden with hides and tallow. The problem with that conclusion without identifying the vessel and having some sort of record of its cargo is that neither hides or tallow would have survived the 200 yr submersion they believe have passed since the sinking. Would have been some pretty well fed fish for a while. So how did they come to this conclusion?

Your brother works in a well run location, good for him! That does not mean there cannot me major issues in other locations that are supposed to run the same way, but don't. Did this employee go off the deep end with the rant? Sure he did, it was an emotional release brought on by what the employee obviously saw as extensive frustration. But for you to label the writer a juvenile malcontent based on your brothers experience is a tad unfair as well. I suppose you were born aged and mature and never let off steam and irritation in a less than appropriate manor? I live by a rule when it comes to e-mails, personal or business. If I am irritated in any way I write it and save it in drafts. Then later or the next day, when frustration has subsided I review it before hitting send. Almost always the emotion filled original is rewritten to more appropriately express my opinions. I think had this employee done that it probably would not be attracting the attention it is now. It strikes me that the whole piece was an exercise in releasing frustration and should never have been sent. That having been said, even being an emotional rant by a "juvenile malcontent" there has to be some seed of truth to some of the issues, and that should be looked into.

It isn't just the retail store industry that has these sorts of issues. Almost any corporate structure will have individuals who are disrespectful of their "subordinates" due to one issue or another. Sometimes it is simply because they are "subordinates". The better informed corporations have policies in place to correct the unacceptable behaviors of the managerial staff, but unfortunately they are sometimes flawed in that the complaints need to make it across the perpetrators desk first before someone in a position to correct the situation is reached. Looks to me like this particular employee may not have been what one would refer to as a model employee either! Poor work ethic combined with poor managerial skills = poor overall performance of the entire establishment.

That's one of the great things about this sight, the fact that you can participate as much or as little as you choose. It is filled with good people and great fiction, and you are always welcome to participate, even if that participation is simply sitting back, reading and enjoying!