Hooray for Arkansas! GO HOGS! ok, back to gardening… My kids love our lavender bush - it's a pretty hardy plant and does well in a container. Not only is it purple, but it smells amazing - it's a great sensory activity for the kids. In the fall, my little ones like to collect the dried lavender buds and make little sachets to put under their pillow. Anything to help them sleep… I've discovered this little guide (I'm also a teacher) to gardening with kids - there are lots of fun activities stashed in here :) Happy gardening! Kids gardening activities

Oh!, if everyone only knew how much this was the catalyst for the lack of dad and kid visits or bonding, rather than SMs themselves: “He [dad] tells me he has no affection to them, he doesn’t know them, and they are strangers.” That, and a bio-mom, “Who did stop him [dad] from seeing them often, she would also like to try and blame me with telling them daddy’s not here because of me [SM]!!!” What I see is a society that has come to accept divorce, but still does not accept step-parents. What this means, literally, is that step-parents are indeed expected to make any and all sacrifices for the initial family, whether anyone wants to admit to it or not. This is why when anyone asks, “What is a SM supposed to do with a bad-a$$ BM or SK?” and so on. . . There is pretty much silence, crickets. No one, even professionals, wants to touch the “sanctity” of the initial family. It is actually quite hypocritical for anyone to pretend that divorce is just fine, OK, tough but everyone will work it out. But, that if mom or dad remarries, there is something wrong with that blankety-blank SM or step-dad for messing the family up. In reality, if a society is going to be that hunky-dory with divorce (you can get an online divorce for about $129), but at the same time think that step-parents are nada or interfering blankety-blanks, then it should either not be allowing divorce to begin with or not allowing divorced parents to ever remarry. To put all of that angst and blame and finger-pointing toward what is usually an innocent party, who just came along after the fact, is plain wrong!! This should be obvious to anyone, even children. What can a SM do about it? Disengage. You do not HAVE TO cook and clean and wipe nose snot and wind up with only a kick in the caboose for your efforts. Only your DH does. After all, as everyone keeps reminding you, I'm sure, you are not mom, or a "real" parent. As dad, a real parent, your DH gets to take care of them now, which he should have been doing from the very beginning. Both him and BM should have been taking care of their children vs. putting them into the middle of their personal hateful, take-no-prisoners battle. Time for them to reap what they sowed. You, on the other hand, stay out of it as much as you can. Cooking, cleaning, etc., any kind of care for these children, is now on dad's or mom's backs, which, again, is where it should have been to begin with. We all just need to learn how to say No! and mean No. No! to parents who choose divorce, put their kids thru H-, and then either on purpose, accidentally, or accidentally on purpose place SM into the role of sacrificial scapegoat.

Ask the GC to hire an experienced and qualitied tile pro who will install proper waterproofing (there are several acceptable methods and materials), follow all applicable industry standards and follow manufacture's instructions. That should be written into your contract if it's not there already. Ask them what they are going to use, then look up the instructions online and read them for yourself. If you like reading, download this year's TCNA tile handbook ($34.90) and read the shower chapters. Take in-progress pictures during demo, and during the re-build. Ask the GC to come check the progress of the re-build rather than ingoring the project until something bad happens. Good luck. https://www.tcnatile.com/products-and-services/publications/218-english-publications.html

Hi Georgina - According to your mobile screen shot, I'm guessing you're in the UK. There are lots of terrific people on here willing to give of their free time and expertise. That said, you'll get the best advice and more advice if you: 1. Convert your measurements to feet/inches, and 2. Post photos of your existing space I'd never heard of an orangery before. I had to Google it. How very British! :-)