My SD's mom has been saying she's gonna take DH to court for two years. The best way to nip it in the bud... say "go ahead!" and then say NOTHING. IF he had custody, then it is VERY difficult to change custody without proving the custodial parent is not acting in the child's best interest. You don't need a lawyer until you have been served with court papers. Then, you can ask for attorney's fees from her if she has no basis for making you seek legal counsel. If her mom forked over money for a "good lawyer" in the past and she still does not have custody, then unless you are doing something WRONG, chances are she won't have a leg to stand on... right now, all she is doing is making threats and the best thing to do is ignore her. We have gotten threats to go to court. BM actually responded to child support papers by alleging abuse of her child and asking for custody. Her abuse accusations were: 1. We make SD take at least 15 minute showers. 2. If she doesn't take a 15 minute shower, we MAKE her eat Oatmeal or chicken noodle soup while we eat the 'regular' family meal and we make her go to bed early. 3. SD doesn't have as much FUN at our house as she and her mother thinks she should. THE TRUTH: She needs to take a good enough shower and 2-3 minutes of just getting her hair wet & getting out does not cut it... we make her go back and use soap. She has been given chicken noodle soup and goes to bed when she is getting sick, even if we are having her favorite enchiladas. If we took BM's accusations seriously and got defensive or tried to justify why we do what we do, then it would only encourage BM to keep making these RIDICULOUS claims. DH asked her, 'do you really think the court is going to change custody because the custodial parent is making sure the child has good hygiene, eats healthy, gets lots of rest?' So, SD started failing in school on purpose because her mom told her if she fails in school, the court will let her live with her mom so her mom can help her in school. She was finally told that she will repeat the grade again if she doesn't start doing her work... that if he mom isn't involved in school here, the court will not 'assume' she will do better over there and that we can prove we are trying to get her help she needs to do well in school but her mom hasn't come to one conference... just sits there telling us how we are doing everything wrong while she does NOTHING. Besides, she does not know everything that happens in our house and she relies on a 10 year old's slanted information because SD is upset she has to have a bedtime, do her homework, take a decent shower, do her own laundry, and keep her room clean. It only makes BM look foolish to guess at the truth and put it in writing in court papers. The last time she threatened to take him to court was a few weeks ago and he said go ahead... we will also talk about the back child support and just how involved she is in SD's schooling. BM has not yet filed anything and the truth is, she probably won't because she does not want to discuss EVERYTHING.. just the BS that she wants to b*tch about. When you open the door, you can't pick and choose what may get brought up. The point is, you can let yourself get all worked up over what BM is doing and let your life and mind get cluttered with it when she is probably blowing smoke and laughing at the reaction she gets. From your past threads, it appears that you really don't like her and apparently have told her so. If she is as manipulative and dramatic as you say, then the best way to deal with her is to take the wind out of her sail... by NOT reacting and not giving her any attention for her antics. Let your DH deal with her. Remove yourself from it altogether as much as you can. If he gives her information regarding the children, do it in writing. When she starts a scene, calmly stay seated & ignore her.... watch the show, smile and act as if she isn't there. An 'argument' takes two. If she makes a scene, she will be the one looking foolish. Any reaction from your side of it only hurts the kids when they are there to have a nice holiday performance and end up worrying that mom and dad are going to fight... what a way to ruin the holidays for the kids. NICE!!! (and I thought it was sad yesterday when I went to my Stepdaughter's play... there was a little boy asking his teacher if he can call his stepdad really fast to see if he can come. He had nobody there from his family and all kids want is for someone to care and be there) It may not be the situation with the kid yesterday, but it is so disgusting when a parent gets angry that a stepparent has the nerve to be involved in their child's life.... and it happens all the time.

@Larsi... It's not weird. I was completely as shocked as you, when I found a single box STILL in stock, in a back corner of Amazon ;) I must have went through 12 pages, before I found it. So Amazing, and Cool to be able to find stuff like that. I mean... It's Amazon. Things don't last long on there ;) It's just pure luck I guess. So happy :-) I'm glad you love the All Pods. I know it seems strange, but... their really powerful little pacs, and they smell amazing, like REAL detergent, lol. I just wish P&G would take a note from a competitor... instead of all these new scents and liquids.

Love the pictures and envy the beautiful snow, an opportunity to luxuriate in one's home that we're missing here in central Florida. Temps are up and down here also. As low as in the 20s just long enough to damage winter bloom and delicate foliages but mostly swinging from the high 30s-40s-50s up to 70s-80s. At 4 this morning it was in the high 60s thanks to cloud cover and I was sitting on the patio listening to the night life out in the marsh. Yesterday 40s and we were surrounded by heavy mist lit by what moonlight made it through. "Blizzard" cooking? The best chicken salad I've made so far pre-dresses baked white chicken with very flavorful pan juices, so I'm going to try that again. Grapes, greens, wine, patio. Nice, but cooking up a storm in a blizzard sounds wonderful. Enjoy!

OH GRRRRR on the studs not being in the right place. I am facing that myself with the kitty house. Fortunately I mostly need the studs to keep it from tipping over since it is tall. Not really for support . I have run into this in my own house for studs not being where I need them. It is why I let Joe hang my laundry rack. And with wet things hanging on it it needs to hold some weight. I never even considered the hinges you used. They do look nice. Is there enough slant to let longer things hang down so they are not laying on the below piece? I really love this flat design of this drying rack. And honestly with out having a dryer I NEED my drying rack. I wish he had hung it a little bit lower though. LOL He hung everything his height and I was a little more than half a foot shorter than his 6 foot.