The first sansiviera that I saw bloom was in an old restaurant in downtown Mobile years ago. The window faced west, the pots were overcrowded with plants, and I know they were root bound. And they were blooming away. If you wish to optimize the planting soil and keep feeding most of your plants, for a controlled experiment, leave ONE pot unfed and mostly ignored, and let it get rootbound. It may turn out like my first huge (and ignored) aloe vera plant, and when overcrowded and in intense heat, with only occasional watering, it shot up 4 foot tall spikes of lip-colored blooms that were truly awesome. It made me wonder if the plant was trying to procreate because it anticipated death!!! I'd be interested in what results you have with your MILtongue/snake plants. I think my big pot of them may have died with the record cold spell this winter.

My sympathy! There's quite a good chance they'll come back, but be sure they don't get too wet between now and when they start coming back--and I'm not sure how wet is 'too wet'! Take off the mushy stuff I think--that could bring on rot. I have things I didn't get in or covered that may or may not come back too, and I find it's a gamble, but one that I often win. I just have too many plants and not enough space to store them! I'm not as hopeful about the Mother-in-law tongue's chances as about the aloe I'm afraid--I have three different kinds of aloe outside and unprotected, and they're okay, tho' they're on the 'warm' side of the house. Can't remember what's happened when I left sansevierias out, but that may be why I don't have as many different kinds as I used to! Good luck!

I agree with collen, moving would be my first option. If that's not possible, unfortunately there isn't a lot you can do. Even if your DH were to say something now, it's gone on so long there would be mutiny. They are not going to change how they've done things for so long, just because you want it... believe me, I've beaten my head against that wall. I would say to focus on your child and leave DH to deal with his kids and mother. This is THEIR problem, not yours. What you DO have control over... YOU choose what you want to do for his kids... and his mother. If DH is gone & MIL has something to do, be busy. Do not be her backup babysitter. You have the right to say no, you're busy. If they call to see what's for dinner, don't tell them. Say, "I haven't decided yet. Are you going to eat here or not?" and do not play the game. It's a blessing if grandma feeds them... saves on your food bill & less work for you, cooking & clean up. You aren't going to change them but you can learn to assert yourself to take some control over YOUR life. They are treating you like a doormat & the biggest problem I see here is that your husband is allowing it. The least he can do is back you up when you decide to back off and leave it to grandma. If he can't cut the apron strings... well, he needs to decide if he is your husband or their mama's boy? He can't be both. It's one thing to have a relationship with the parents, but when you are married & have a family of your own, that comes first. And do not allow her to come into your house to "check" anything. Lock your doors if you have to. And I'm sorry that they ignore your son but to be honest, why would you want your son to have much to do with them? They seem a little overbearing & nuts... as for gifts, it's hard but not much different than when the other bio parent buys something for them. A good life lesson of life is not fair and not everything needs to be equal. Your son is probably at an advantage because he doesn't have such crazy people as part of his family.

I came from polished AB pre-remodel and have now put in another black granite - not AB. I love black granite. The one i have now (blues in the night) is a black granite with cobalt blue flecks in it (like the gold flecks of Black Galaxy) and a few clear quartz veiny bits here and there. Yes, in my experience, black granite shows dust and crumbs. The AB showed it very clearly - it is slightly less clear in this new black granite because the flecks can disguise some of the crumbs. Personally, while I love my blue-flecked black granite, the polished AB was easier to maintain. Why? Because it showed the gunk perfectly and so it was easy to clean up. It's a kitchen counter! It ought to be clean! I don't like the idea of cooking on a grimy countertop. In my house, surfaces do get dusty (we probably need to vaccuum more often but we're not home enough to do so) and it is easier if the dust and grime shows up clearly so that it can be attended to. I clean my counters a lot more now because it is a touch less easy to tell if the counter is actually clean. NOt only that, but I wipe the counters down, obsess over a spot that turns out to be a granite inclusion, conclude as much, step back to see what I might have missed, revisit a few spots - oops this one's an inclusion, nope this guy was an actual crumb, bend down to change the viewing angle to find another perspective from which to find unattended areas - wipe down the areas I missed ... . Do you see what I mean? If you want your counters actually clean rather than just looking so, Absolute Black tells you exactly where to focus. It was easily the easiest counter I've had. I love Blues-in-the-night and would get it again and again and again because I adore those cobalt confetti-like inclusions. But even it - for all its black graniteness - is more work to maintain than the AB, in my own experience. A more detailed, dirt-hiding granite would make my head explode, I dare say.