"the structure of that plant is not good" As was said in The Honeymooners -----> To the moon, Ken! I believe you just told me my shrub is akin to the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree. :( ... it has been pruned for shipping and handling. You got that right! This thing is pruned ALL OVER. I'm going to have to get some close up pics of it. I asked the woman at the nursery why it was so pruned and she said to keep all the branches at the same length because some shoots were growing way too tall too fast and they wanted the bush to have a uniform appearance all around. Be honest, is my bush doomed to be fugly? There are pruned branches throughout this bush. I hate seeing them. Oh, and when I kept expressing concern over the pruning she said hun, you won't even notice the pruning, this bush is going to grow so fast and so big that this pruning will NEVER be noticed. She was adamant about that. I don't want my bush to be structurally unsound. Is it still wind tolerant? When you say it is structurally not good, is that from a structure point of view or an aesthetic point of view? "you inspire me with your drive and ambition to learn.. and that is why i always take the time to try to make you think about the next step .... you remind me of someone.. 20 years back.. though i didnt have the WWWeb to make learning easy" Your mentoring is priceless to me and no doubt to everyone on here. I love that you take the time to help me because you know more than just about anyone I know. Did you have someone who mentored you that taught you a few things on the way or was it all trial and error? Oh and Gardengal, thank you for putting things in perspective for me. You're right, that large root system is to be admired, not criticized. The fact that the bush was growing so well in spite of them growing beyond the pot means they did indeed take good care to water and feed it. I am very grateful for that. Whaas, I love your Forsythia pics. They are beautiful!

Karen, you'll probably laugh when I tell you that I am another person that didn't realize that Arizona could get snow. I booked a family trip to Sedona in January about 15 years ago, so excited to see the Red Rock country. Yup, you guessed it. I woke the next morning and looked out the window to a few inches of freshly fallen snow! I was a little worried about how my husband would feel, seeing that he was missing his usual tropical island vacation away from Minnesota. Well, he got over it especially since it warmed up to about sixty degrees that afternoon. But I'll never forget it. We have since vacationed in Sedona again. Beautiful country.

Hey I was wondering when you were gonna show up. Yes, our street has gotten very popular due to the JCC and such. We bought it to walk to All Saints, where we're very active. I was a member of the gym at the JCC -- you're right it's a great facility! As for the listing on the cul-de-sac, it's side entry and the driveway is there, as is the mailbox, although the street address is "Drive" not "Court". It's not as "secluded" as being the next house down, but it does make a difference to having the kids able to play out on the driveway and such and not feel like they're running into traffic. The backyard is all natural and a gentle slope. I know what you mean about ravine -- I got vertigo just looking out the den window at my SIL's house over in Dunwoody Club Forest. I'd be scared to death to let my kids play in her yard. I'll check with the realtor about including a shot of ours. There's an open house on Sunday; you should go wander through. ;-) Do your inlaws have blue trim on their house? I'm trying to remember which way the street numbers go and which houses haven't turned over lately. The people behind me on the cul-de-sac are the owners of the Blue Fox Salon. The kitchen has tons of storage. I have a 5'x4' walk-in pantry, and the cabinet space doubled with the remodel. (Which was a complete gut and wasn't even finished when we decided to move. The orginal backsplash was spangly red glasstile, known in my house as the "Vegas Whorehouse Backsplash". Had that actually gone on the wall we would still be there, because you think the green isn't neutral, wasn't nobody gonna buy it with that backsplash! LOL!) Unfortunately, within the past couple of weeks 2 other traditionals with finished basements have come on the market in Kingsley; fortunately they're both in the $425K+ range. Based on the comps I think we're priced right ... we'll see.

you're so sweet-and i think you said exactly what needed to be said to the nutty ex. i feel for you! maybe instead you shouldn't buy into 'valentine's day' being on the 14th. maybe you and your sweet hubby could do dinner on a night where you both could stay up a little later-that could be romantic, too. plus the restaurants are going to be much less crowded and the movie theaters too...so you guys could make out like teenagers with fewer people watching. ;o) wink, wink!! just one more thing-the kids at this age (or kids in general) will NEVER understand why their more responsible parent (their dad) and the step-mom choose to protect them from their own mom being a biotch. they're not going to understand...you'll see them cry, you get to be the bad guy then mom shows up to be the hero...you get the MOST THANKLESS JOB EVER!! but the kids will be adults for a lot longer than they'll be kids. and as adults they'll understand (hopefully) why you did what you did. and they'll love and respect you more. i know that eating it SUCKS, big time, but they'll figure it out later and love you more for behaving like the adult. make sure that what you do decide to tell them is truth they can handle and understand. make sure they're old enough. you'll be better off in the long run, and so will they. happy valentines day...saturday, wednesday, sometime in july, whenever yours happens to be!! xxx