I started gardening with my parents and grandparents at a very very young age. My grandma Bayler kept an immaculate "Victory garden" of veggies and flowers in her tiny skinny lot in Avon, Pennsylvania. My grandma Cress had her kitchen garden planted out in front of the farm house in addition to all of the acres of crops raised on the farm in China Grove, NC. My parents gardened the back half acre or so of our yard. It was our garden produce that kept us fed; supplemented by ham, bacon, beef, eggs, milk, butter, peanuts, corn, potatoes, melons, and chicken from my grandma's farm. We would go to my grandma's farm on the weekends to help pull corn or pick up pecans or sucker the tomatoes or.....whatever. I never liked the big gardens growing up...too much to keep neat and I apparently have a thing about liking neatness particularly at the edges. My grandma Bayler's little yard was a jewel. My grandma Cress's farm was big production. Funny though, the voice I can still hear years and years later is the heavy German accent in my Grandpa Bayler's voice as we went out to pick cukes and squash together at my parent's garden..."now Janet, careful with your feet, you daresn't step on the wines."

Thank-you both Duane and Sherie for your thoughts and support. You don't know how much your comments mean to me during this extremely tough time. Saying good-bye to my best friend was the hardest thing that I ever had to do. When I said my final good-bye to him I thanked him for being such a great dog, for making me laugh and always cheering me up when I was down. I told him I didn't ever want to say good-bye to him, how much I loved him and how much he meant to me. I then told him that he would always be with me. He was so sick yet he still pull his last bit of energy together to lick the tears that were rolling down my face for the last time, I then had to walk away. I can't help continually listening for his bark, and my body keeps telling me to go check on him. I miss him so much, my home seems so empty without him. I know time will heal my broken heart but it is so hard right now. I miss petting his silky velvet ears, and seeing his happy face when I got close to him. I really don't know what I will do without him, but I know all he ever wanted for me is my happiness and this gives me the strength to get up in the morning. I love you Bruiser my pup.

Pashan, It sounds to me like your daughter needs an attitude adjustment. You say My daughter is a stereotypical 14 year old - attitude, drama, phone stuck in her ear, spends hours on her hair, thinks her friends are the only important people in the world, mostly concerned with what songs are on her iPod and what movie she can go to next! She fights with her 3 younger siblings (ages 9, 6 and 5) and gets mouthy with her parents. She is bossy and a know-it-all. It sounds to me like you are accepting of this behavior because you view it as normal. I think it's really weird...I'm 24...when I was 14 my parents let me know that I was the child in the relationship and they let me know that everything I had was a privilidge, not a right. We (my brothers and I) were taught, from the start to treat our elders with respect (and everyone else around us for that matter), and to this day that still holds true. I think the problem nowdays (a whole whopping 10 years later) is that a lot of people just accept that their teen/pre-teen is going to be an ignorant lippy little brat...and that's OK because everyone else's kid is too...and at least mine isn't as bad as... When I was in grade 11 there was the Columbine school shooting, and everyone who heard about it was floored, dumbfounded, completely shocked that something like this could happen in America...kids, with guns, killing people. In the past few months in Alberta we have had a 14 year old and her 20 year old boyfriend murder her entire family (mother, father, and 9 y/o brother), a group of mostly young teens beat a man to death, and another group of young teens attack and kill a man on an LRT. These kids are CHILDREN...and they are killing people. Why?? Probably because they have been raised to believe that they have 'RIGHTS' (sorry, but the only right any child has is to be clothed, fed, sheltered and loved...to have their *basic* *needs* met...everything else is a priviledge). They have very few (if any) responsibilities, they have NO resepect for anyone but themselves, and they have never been taught that their actions have consequences. Now, I'm not trying to say, in any way, that your daughter is like these kids, but what I am saying is that it doesn't sound like she's picking up on some of the life lessons she will need to function as an adult, and as a result, your husband, in particular, is having a hard time dealing with her. It sounds like she lacks respect...for everyone. I agree with brass tacks, you need to let your hubby deal with the attitude she directs at him, but I think you should sit down with him, alone, and discuss the need for him to deal with her attitude as it happens, and let him know you will back whatever punishment he gives her. (ie: if he grounds her for a week, help him stick to that decision, and make sure she doesn't come to you for a different answer, and if he tries to lift the gounding early, remind him and her that "No, you're grounded for (three more days) because of (your bad attitude), so you can't (go to the movies tonight with your friends.)") Once you've had a chat with Hubby, to decide what's acceptable behavior & what's not, as well as what suitable punishments are for the specific problems, sit down together with daughter and let her know that both you and Hubby agree that there are some (attitudes) that need to change. Clearly define your expectations of her, and let her know that she will be held accountable for her actions. As brass tacks said - make her responsible for her happyness. It's called 'tough love'. It may not be easy for you, and she may not enjoy it, but you are supposed to be her parent not her 'friend' (that comes later after you've done your part to raise her to be a responsible, kind young woman). Kids need guidence, instruction, limitations, accountability and lots of love. (They don't need ipods, phones, movies, etc.) It sounds to be like you have a gem of a hubby. He has taken your daughter, and made her his own, in every way possible. He has loved her like his own (and still does). Just because he said (and likely meant) "I can't stand her", doesn't mean that he doesn't still love her...I don't think I've met a parent with a teen, who hasn't mentally, at one time or another, been like Homer and and thought "Why you little...!" (choke the little ungrateful ...) not that they ever would harm their kid, and they always love them...but sometimes they just "can't stand" them. It sounds to me like your hubby is being pushed so much that he's losing his patience with her. Their relationship may need a bit of mending, but I think you should deal with daughters attitude first. If you get that under control, their relationship will rebuild naturally, and they'll start doing things together again. It's all a matter of respect. Verena (Who vividly remembers pushing my parents to the edge...they set the limits, and I had to deal with the consequences of my actions, but it has made me a better person, and now we get along great...true friends with respect for each other.)

Agnes -- Yes, the Hardy Boys are still around. I think they go through a periodic overhaul to ensure that they don't seem TOO dated. The original Hardy Boys series was written in the '20s and '30s and they were overhauled in the 50s or so. I think they received another makeover in the 80s and, from what I can see, they're in the middle of another one. I think they're actually producing NEW stories. I found the Hardy Boys series to be quite engaging when I was about 12 years old. Nowadays, I find them interesting as they reflect the times in which they were written. You can really see the results of the overhaul from the 50s, what with Chet's jalopy and sock hop dances. Nowadays, if I'm not mistaken, Chet (or was it one of the brothers?) is now a computer hacker of sorts.