rodent

4 blondes was ok too. i read them all one summer, even though i didn't really like them. i had a boring job where i could read. trading up had one of the same charecters from 4blondes & it was much better. i hope she gets some help with the writting too. S&TC the book was unreadable. it was like a series of columns & didn't really make sense.

Quote: Originally Posted by *Heather* The big picture one might have something to do with inflation though right? But yeah, over-all, if you're in things for the long run, no need to panic. Morgan your post made me feel a bit better if you adjusted for inflation the slope wouldn't be as high. but historically, the stock market beats inflation. i think it's just nice to see the big tragic years as blimps in the long term. also, you can see how bad times can be opportunity for growth. the other thing I noticed was how the media reported every big loss, but not the small gains that brought us back to where we were. then we'd lose the same 200 points in a day & it would be reported. then we slowly climb back up... yes, the market is very turbulent, but we mostly hear the worst. so i try to remove myself from the daily activity and keep doing what i've planned. emotions can really get in the way of a good financial plan.

Quote: Originally Posted by mummergirl i've always felt like an a**hole for never getting in on the company's 401K before, but these days all i hear is about how much money everyone's losing. that said, you are still doing the right thing. diversifying your investments is key. besides, these things are cyclical, and eventually things will make a turn for the better (right?). in the meantime, it's important that young people start saving for retirement, especially since social security will probably be non-existant by the time we're ready to collect! well, if you put money in 4-5 years ago, you'd just be back to where you started. the bad thing for me is that most of the money I put in was while the market was high. but, if you look at the big crashes, they were followed by large growth. so the best time to put money in is while things are bad. ofcourse you can't predict when we've hit bottom. still, i'm in for the long haul, so i try to just ignore the day-to-day stuff. if you just track a number like the dow every few months its a lot less scary than following the news. also, the market went up high very fast, so a lot of the dropping wasn't really that big. I'm not saying things are bad, but i still feel confident our economy will recover. here are the last 5 years. so you can see how we are back to where we were mid-way through 2006. not so tragic when you see it that way. there were some huge drops to report after july 2007, but you can see how fast we had climbed. Looking at the big picture makes me feel even more secure. here is the nasdaq if you bought a bunch of tech stocks in 1999 or financial stocks in 2007, you could really lose. but if you are very diversified & willing to leave them money in long-term until the markets recover, things should be fine.

have you read her books? they are not very good. trading up was OK. sex & the city was terrible!! I loved the show but the book was too bad to finish.

Quote: Originally Posted by Amyk I completely sympathize! It's hard to participate fully when you'd don't have any points. I think it's really educational toread all the ideas. Good luck!!! you don't need points to participate. you only need them to download stuff.

i'm starting to feel a little sick. i started investing about 3-4 years ago. most of what I've put in has been in the last 1-2 years. so that was when the Dow was near 14,000. it's below 11,000 now so I have lost a lot. I try not to watch the ups & downs because the money i have in is retirement money & a long term investment. and it's well diversified. so i don't feel like i should pull out. i just want to ignore the trouble & keep putting money in monthly. hopefully our economy recovers eventually.

the cat isn't fat. it's just fluffy

I'm trying to learn how to get really nice pictures of rings. I have been looking for a good tutorial, but haven't found anything. so i just started trying stuff. here were my best two. BTW, i'm just trying to learn how to photograph the ring. I didn't put any thought into the background & I left the Q-tip poking out of the bottom. I used my canon 30D with a canon 50mm f/1.8 lens settings: 1/20 f/1.8, spot metering, hand-held 1/60 f/1.8, spot metering, on tripod on this one i needed to tilt the ring more towards the camera I tried a variety of auto & manual focus, but I don't know what I used for these two. Any tips?

i meant just like you bookmark any website

Quote: Originally Posted by AnnR This CAN'T be real ... can it? Yikes. no, that one isn't real.

more fat animals. janet, use any of these you like.

Quote: Originally Posted by Janet okay...inspired by Ms. Morgan (actually Mrs. Morgan) here are some fat animal badges for all you biggest losers out there. I'm happy to make more, or maybe Morgan will add some more to the mix too [img*]http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h304/loveisblonde2/biggestloser4x1.jpg[/img] [img*]http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h304/loveisblonde2/biggestloser4x2.jpg[/img] [img*]http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h304/loveisblonde2/biggestloser4x3.jpg[/img] [img*]http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h304/loveisblonde2/biggestloser4x4.jpg[/img] Yay! these make me so happy they are all so cute I might have to start with one & then switch later.

Quote: Originally Posted by Bianca I found this... MySpaceTV Videos: Ferret on treadmill by sissy oh my! I'll do a screen capture of that ferret tomorrow.

I'm sad I couldn't find a ferret on a treadmill.

OK here are some pics

Quote: Originally Posted by Janet Hey Morgan, you can definitely make the badges if you want, or I'm happy to do it again, truly whatever you ladies want. I think I might be in for Season 5 once this crazy election is over and I get my life back.... i just want to help collect some fun pics. I'll post what I find. I just took some before pictures. it was a big reality check for me. i gained so much weight this last year. I reached an all time high last week. I'm so glad this starts in a week.

Quote: Originally Posted by DLyteful Hey Morgan, Did you already order your book? If so, who did you end up using and do you like the quality (if you dont mind me asking). i ordered this through shutterfly. i had a free code & needed a book quick for my AHR. i am happy with shutterfly's quality. i'm ordering 3 more through snapfish once I can finish draft #2. then I'll probably order mine through mpix to get the metallic paper. i still have a lot of work to do to finish these books. i'll be happy when I'm done i'll post reviews for all three books. I want them done by christmas, but hopefully sooner.

I'll post my before & after pics for sure. I'm already thinking about which shorts I can squeeze my muffin top into to really show it off. are we going to have Biggest loser badges? I'd like to help make some if we do new ones each time. I'm off to google "fat ferret"

the flight is going to play a larger factor on cost. are most of your guests coming from california? then cabo or PV might be cheaper. for NC & TX (where my guests flew from) cancun/ RM was a much cheaper flight. I've heard cancun/ RM is less expensive than cabo once you are there.

i won the first time i played. i didn't know what it was. i just bought a ticket

I think I'm going to do it this time around. were the before & after pics posted for BLS3? I started digging through the 50+ pages. October has always been the month where i gain the most weight, so this will be good encouragement. hopefully this october will not be as stressful as the last 3. I don't think I could come close to losing 11% of my weight in 8 weeks. that would put me back at my college weight But, it's worth $15 to play.

i love your natural hair. how do you have your hair more often? if the short brown was a drastic change for you, i'd keep your natural look. that way you look like you on your wedding day. then do something drastic after the wedding for the thrill.

Quote: Originally Posted by Maura mods can do this too. also caroline, if you have an issue with a photo, you can black out your info in your photo, then save it to photobucket as the same file name. it should update on the thread where you originally posted it. if you have trouble, let a mod know and we can try to help you fix it. if you upload a pic called "dress.jpg" and then reupload an edited pic with the same name photobucket will rename it "dress-1.jpg" maybe if you delete the old pic? haven't tried it. i didn't realize people were deleting their threads. i knew people cleared their stuff off photobucket, but even without being able to edit on BDW you can still easly delete your pics on the forum by deleting them on photobucket or moving them to a new folder.

Quote: Originally Posted by azhuskergirl OMG, I need to catch up on my Bridezilla episodes! last night's was tragic. they are really picking some sad brides where the drama is less about the wedding & more about the bride just being an all around crazy person. still, i never miss an episode.

Quote: Originally Posted by tvt What's your worst bridezilla moment? I had a pretty bad one today. I was pissed at my parents for buying my dad a tie that would clash with my flowers. And then mad at my mom for wearing wedges to our wedding on the beach. Oops! Was I seriously mad that my dad's tie would clash with my flowers or that my mom would end up having to carry her shoes? Geesh! my mom wore wedges. i'm confused. are you worried they will sink into the sand? I thought wedges were fine on sand. she didn't have any trouble. they were super cute too.