Sudokuaholics Anonymous 11

''The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.''

Samuel Johnson

Tami just emailed me, since she can't post until tonight.

''I heard from Mama's daughter this morning and all is well. ''

Thanks Tami and Heidi for letting us know Mama is OK.

Thanks for letting us know about Mama, Heidi and Tami!

Just sent another text to Mama's daughter asking for an update. I will post as soon as possible. I won't be able to send an email to Heidi tomorrow as I will be at Target.

Today is Dylan's 13th birthday. Actually, yesterday sudoku time. I love his birthdate 11-22-00. We put the month first topside :) I cant believe I have two teenagers in the house.

Happy Birthday, Dylan!

Happy Birthday Dylan!!

So happy to hear Mamacita is doing well. Continuing to send vibes that she will be home soon.

I am doing searches online. A friend today confided in me and this is probably the only place I can talk about it.

She found out a few months ago that her daughters were molested by their older cousin when they were in infants school. She found out because the younger one got drunk and accused the older one of being the reason she had been molested - he had moved on to her from the older one when the older one stood up for herself.

Now she's blaming herself for not knowing, and her kids are blaming themselves for it happening...

She's afraid that if her husband finds out he will tell his sister (mother of the abuser) and she will then attack the girls because her perfect son would never do anything like that. At the same time her husband constantly praises this young man for doing so much better in his life than his girls are doing.

Talk about a rock and a hard place.

On top of that a 'friend' of the younger girl did a tarot reading and told her she was going to die in a car accident. She believed her! Took days to tell her mother and in the meantime wouldn't get out of bed, get in a car, eat, anything... My friend also worries all the time.

I'm searching for one of those things where they debunk psychics etc, but specific to tarot.

First, those 2 girls need professional help. Even before airing any accusations. Then they could use some family therapy, so parents can learn to support the girls. Once the immediate family is a united front, THEN they can go about exposing the molester. But therapy is essential first. My heart goes out to those poor girls.

She can't tell her husband. They don't want to expose the molester. They started therapy and refused to continue. It's tough.

Unfortunately, if they don't expose the molester he will continue his evil ways. But I agree that it's a rock and hard place situation. I feel for your friend, Suzy, and hope that things settle one way or another - if that is possible.

Happy Birthday to Dylan- hope his day was enjoyable.

The reason my friend doesn't want to expose the molester is because she believes his mother will make her kids' lives unbearable and she doesn't think they can handle that right now. She's right too. They are not strong: yet. It will come. The reason the girls don't want to expose him is that they are not yet convinced that it wasn't their fault. Once all 3 of them understand (girls and their mother) that it wasn't their fault, they may choose to go after him. I won't push for that. I will support healing. He abused his younger cousins when he wasn't so old himself. He may not be abusing others... though I did plant that possibility in mum's mind to grow a little...

Oh Zusy, I feel for the family and your for supporting them.
Sounds like the parents need counselling first so they can support the kids.
Mama, hope you are improving all the time.
Been doing my own head in with Maz's kids, they have broken into my house and stole from me both here and in Melbourne, I am finalising Maz's finacials for her but find that I am showing sympathy to both the children. Have decided I will give them support this one last time in the hope they can get their lives back on track, then it is up to them.
Thanks for listening.
Love and Hugs my friends.

Suzy - I can definitely see that the healing process must come first, I do hope they get the strength one day to report him. This can't be easy for you.
Broni - I hope they both appreciate your support!

They DO need to tell the father, but in the presence of a counselor. He needs to know that his daughters were molested, so he can support them. But the first step is to make the girls understand that they were the victims. It was not their fault. In ALL abuse, the abuser wants the victim to believe it was their fault or they deserved it. The girls need to understand that. It's never the fault of the victim. NEVER. I know. I was abused as a child.

The rain is over, and the cold has set in. It'll be wintery conditions here until after Thanksgiving.

Well, cows have been fed 6 rolls of hay. Now to feed the dogs their food and Sere some grain. The other horses just get hay. The grass and hay here are so nutritious that I have problems keeping the weight off them on an all hay/grazing diet. Grain is dangerous to a fat horse. Sere is still putting everything she has into Pandora, and even with 8 lbs of grain a day, and unlimited hay, her ribs are still visible. She's NOT skin and bones, but I don't want to see ribs.

My friend Debbie took a picture of Pandora last Monday, on her cell phone, and shared it with me. I've put it on my page to share with everybody. Yeah it's small, but you can see what a tank she is.

Hi all. I just heard from Mama's daughter. Mama is doing fine and should be home from the hospital in a day or so. She is in good spirits. Her daughter will call or text me with an update in a day or so.

Thanks, Tami. Do they think the surgery was successful?

Heidi, did not even think to ask. Mama should be home in a few days. You can ask her then.

Tami - thanks for the update on Mama!! I think the daughter would have said if there was a problem.
Hurry back, Mama, we miss you!

Christmas tree and decorations up today, thank to some help from Karin, Maddy and Col - it always makes me feel better when they're up and Christmas is just around the corner.
More storms today, so sick of them - every day for 2 weeks, but for 2 days off last week. We continue to stay lucky with the ridge of low mountains behinds us to the west. They usually break up and go either side. Tornadoes, hail, gale force winds - and we have a government who are Climate Change sceptics. I have never seen weather like this in my life - and I am old!

Hi, Everyone! Just a quick Hello and Good NIght! {{{{{HUGS}}}}}, positive thoughts, , healing vibes and prayers for all!

C-c-c-c-cold night and day. We'll be lucky if it gets above freezing today. So, to compensate, I just preheated the oven, and I'm gonna do a little baking. I think blueberry muffins and carrot cake (the only mixes I can find in the kitchen).

How good is it to hear Mama is doing well and will soon be home. Suzie, maybe your friends had the wrong counsellor and should try someone else. Someone who will just boost the girls confidence in themselves at this stage.
A belated Happy Birthday to Dylan, now a teenager!
Cyn, I will wait till I have Laura here (probably not before 6 Dec) to put up our tree. She can have that fun.
Broni,Do what you can for you with arranging things for Maz. I doubt if her family will appreciate anything you do for them. Your piece of mind is what matters most.
Off to another Christmas lunch today. A nice setting near some water.

June, I too like to wait for a grandchild or two to help with the tree, rather than just doing it myself. Maddy wanted to do it and I don't expect to have any of the others until school holidays start on 12th December - so yesterday was the obvious choice.

I got to spend some time outside today, defrosting a bunch of water hydrants. The hoses had been left on overnight, with automatic float valves attached, and the hoses and hydrants were solid ice. I had to pour boiling water on the attachments between the hose and hydrant, remove the hose, then carefully defrost the hydrant and water pipe so the hydrant wouldn't break from the expanding ice inside. Once I got the water running freely, I was able to shut off the hydrants so the water would back out of the pipes. It never even got to the freezing mark today.

Heidi, what a cold job you had, working with water with below freezing temps today. I am glad you got the hydrants thawed and there were no broken pipes. Good Job!


Cyn, happy for you that you had grandies to help put up your tree. It is much more fun having help from the young ones. Was it TOS where talk was of each ornament having it's perfect place? And going back to put them in the correct place once the helpers were gone? I did not like help from Al. His idea of putting lights on a tree was to just wind them around, cords front and center. me? I would push cords into the tree, and place a light at the TIP of a branch, even if I had to wire it in place. Decorating a tree was much easier once we bought a pre-lit tree hehehe.

June, I hope that you and Laura have a great time decorating your tree. I always put up my tree and decorations Friday after Thanksgiving. My sister waited till Dec 17 to put hers up, cause her daughter's birthday was Dec 16. she wanted to give her a birthday she did not have to share with Christmas. AND if you came to the birthday party with a gift, it had best not be wrapped in Christmas paper, no matter how convenient that might be. hehehe. someone did once and sister was most verbally upset about that. Come to find out once daughter was grown, she would have perfered putting out Christmas decorations before her birthday. Felt she was cheated out of days of enjoying the holiday decorations. We never know what our kids will tell us about some of our decisions and actions, once they are grown.

Heidi, how were your blueberry muffins and carrot cake? I hope you enjoyed them both. I made banana nut muffins the other day, Have had those for breakfast last several days now, yummy. I even took some to Myra, my friend who is sick now, and they passed her taste test.

Not a lot going on here, another achey day. I did rally long enough after one medication time to clean out my fridge, but still have to wash the dirty storage dishes that I emptied contents that were past their use by date. I had a morning nap and an afternoon nap. Not nearly as cold as it is at Heidie's, we were in the 40's today, but cold enough I was happy to stay inside.

Hugs to each of you, it is approaching bed time here. Even with the naps I am still tired and sleepy. Later, friends.

Greetings and Salutations! I hope all are well and will try to read and respond to at least some of the posts!

Heidi, what a great TOPP - and so true!

Many thanks to Tami and Heidi for passing on information about Mamacita! The news seems positive. Continuing to send healing vibes for her! Speedy recovery, Mama!

Tami, how is it possible that Dylan is 13? Dylan! I hope your celebration was sweet!

Suzy, what a difficult time for your friend and her daughters! I agree with the consensus that the girls and the parents all would benefit from therapy. Will be sending positive thoughts in their direction!

Suzy, I hope everyone is finished with the flu bug! That is certainly no fun for anyone!

Broni, you have certainly had your hands full! I hope all of the legalities can be satisfied quickly. How awful that you must deal with Maz's children. Hopefully that can be put behind you soon and they either straighten up or stay out of your life. (I'm sorry if that sounds too harsh, but it doesn't seem that they deserve your help.)

Heidi, when will Pandora be weaned from Sere? I assume Pandora also eats feed and/or hay, so probably doesn't 'need' anything more. After I post, I'll go to your page to look at the picture.

Cyn, I understand why your Christmas decorations are up. I like the idea that you like to put them up with the grandies. Our grandies won't be here for Christmas, so we can put them up - or not. (We'll be puppy-sitting for a while and aren't sure how she'll do with a Christmas tree.

June, I'm sure Laura looks forward to doing the Christmas decorations with you each year! I hope you enjoyed your Christmas lunch!

Heidi, we also have the cold temperatures, and now they're predicting that snow is on the way. This won't be our first 'sticking' snow of the year. I'm sorry you had to deal with the frozen hydrant and water pipes. I'm sure that was NO fun in this rather.

MizT, I hope most of your achey days are over! Perhaps the somewhat warmer weather you are having will be of help.

It's time for me to head to bed. Feel free to share any of the positive thoughts, {{{{{HUGS}}}}}, healing vibes, and prayers with anyone in need! Take care!

MizT, my mother always put the tree up on 14 December for the same reason. We put ours up as soon after the 1st of the month as I can get organised.

So today I pretty much emptied our lounge room ready to get the carpets cleaned on Wednesday and it's off to work for me tomorrow.

Cyn and Rolanda's tree pics look great! You won't need to do much rearranging Cyn.

Our tree is on it's 19th year. Well I haven't brought it down yet, this should be it's 19th year...

Cyn, school holidays here don't start until nearly Xmas. It's going to be a rush for me again this year...

Well I'm supposed to be refreshing my knowledge of logarithms so I'm off for now...

Pandora will be weaned at 6 months old, or thereabouts. She turns 6 months old on Dec. 15th, but I may wait until Christmas is past.

I need to get some pictures of her, myself, for her registration. I have to submit photos of her from the front, rear, and each side, as well as have her DNA tested. Only horses verified genetically to be from foundation stock can be registered. That way, people can't breed Vanners to other breeds and claim that they're purebreds.

Sitting here waiting for the feed truck to show up. They're late. I hate it when people tell me they're going to be here at a certain time, and aren't.

The feed truck finally arrived - 2 hours late. We got the creep feeder filled with 3 tons of feed for the calves, then discovered that the tires on the feeder were flat. They looked fine when the feeder was empty, but that much weight turned them into pancakes. So I got my tire inflation kit, plugged it in to the 12 v. outlet on the tractor, and inflated the tires. Then I was able to pull the feeder back out into the pasture with the cattle. IH's job was to supervise and chat with the truck driver. I did get to rub it in his nose, though. He keeps yelling at me because I'm ''always spending money'', but I got to laugh at him because I had purchased that tire inflator, which cost half what it would have cost to get someone out here to inflate those tires for us. I call that saving money, not spending money.

Off to the Lions Club meeting in 20 minutes. Busy day today.
Tomorrow I go to Pain management for a meds pick up (I have 2 pills left) then do the last of my grocery shopping for Thanksgiving.

MizT - I had to laugh about how you placed the lights when they were on strings - I did exactly the same and could not let anyone else do that part - now, like you, I have a tree that lights up itself and I'm happy. I think everybody has their ways of doing things, some are more OCD about it than others. One of my dear friends, who was part of the discussion on FB, is the most OCD I have ever known!! She still can't let her kids, now aged 18, 13 and 10 to help with the tree. Takes away the joy I think!

Heidi - that's interesting about the pedigree for Pandora. How were these things proved before DNA?

Morning everyone.

It's going to be a warm day here in the west ~ 30C.
I look forward to having Grandies and when they can help me put up the Tree!!!
Meanwhile it is me, myself and I that puts up the tree.
And this year it is up way too early, we are having a Christmas Family Gathering with MIL's side of the family at my house this coming Sunday.
Usually the tree goes up a few days before the 25th, and gets put down on the 26th.
and Thanks Suzy, for saying my tree looks great.. personally I think it is not as nice on CynB's

The Melbournian Child is flying home on Friday Eve for the Weekend.
The Fam Gath was organised for Sunday, after he said he was going to be home.

We've been in our new home, 12 months, moving day was 24th Nov 2012.
A bit of Trivia, the Melbournian Child moved to new house on 24th Nov 2013.