It's been below thirty in my yard for the past 10 days. I didn't have much that had sprouted earlier, which I was worrying about, but I did have 12 little bok choy sprouts. They are still out there, and today I have spinach sprouts. Every morning I expect to go out and see them dead. Today I decided to stop worrying about it and just fix it so I didn't have to do anything more for them. So I had some old windows and I put my containers up against the west facing foundation of the house and propped windows over them. The ends are open, but I thought it might just give them the little extra that might help through this cold spell. I actually had to water all the containers today because it was sunny and cold here yesterday. Looks like another week of this weather on the forecast and I've planted my peas early for the first time in years, of course. [g]

Andyandy, Here's something to do with your ghosts and habs: Xnipec Sauce ⢠5 green onions, chopped (scallions) ⢠1 garlic clove, skins removed and chopped ⢠1/2 cup Goya bitter orange juice (substitute lime if necessary) ⢠1 Habanero chile ⢠1 bunch of cilantro (optional) ⢠Salt to taste Preparation: Finely dice the green onions (scallions) and garlic and pour the bitter orange juice over them. Roast the Habanero chile over fire (or in a broiler or on a hot comal) until the skin becomes charred. You may want to put on a pair of gloves to protect your skin from the Habanero at this point. Slice the charred Habanero in half, cut off the stem and scrape out the seeds. Finely slice the remaining Habanero and add into the green onion mixture. Remove as many cilantro leaves as possible and chop them up. Toss them together with the green onion mixture and add a few sprinkles of salt while doing so. Let the mixture marinate at room temperature for about an hour before serving. If using Numex Suave habaneros, roast two. Use two teaspoons of Ghost pepper puree for heat. You can also put the garlic, habanero(s) and bitter orange juice in a blender and puree, and then add the scallions and cilantro and pulse until chopped.

The salesman intially said the demonstration would take an hour. 3 hours later they were still at my house, convincing me to purchase this vaccuum. Dont get me wrong this was an amazing Vacuum!!! However the salesman had no concerns that i most likely couldnt afford this vaccuum. He had all these different priced plans, advising the price would normally be 3000.00, however he would bring it down to 2500.00 with fewer payments. He could see that i was still struggling to figure out how i was going to finance this vaccuum, He appeared to be making phone calls to head office to bring the price down and at the last minute bought it down to 2000.00 After calcluating the interest, it ended up costing 3000.00 anyway. My main problem with this is that it felt rushed. I couldnt find 3 forms of ID and desperately wanted him to leave after 3 hours and done a stupid thing like sign the forms just so they could leave. He didnt care that i didnt have ANY form of ID, he didnt care that i didnt know my bank account number, he advised as long as i purchased and signed on the dotted line, then everything else would fall into place. He advised he couldnt come back again as this needed to be done asap. They also took my old vaccuum with them. Everything seemed dodgy, and i had my kids running around hungry so i felt extremely pressured. After they left i sat down looking at this machine thinking what the hell have i purchased??!!! I looked around on websites like trademe (nz) and found other types of machines at the price of 500.00. By this time i was pissed! I immediately called headoffice and cancelled the order and they advised someone would call me to inform me of cancellation procedures. The next day after work these two guys came over again. (no call or notification to say they were coming) They were standing asking me why i wanted to cancel the machine STILL trying to convince me that there is no other like this. They even had the nerve to sit inside and say they called head office and they would lower the price another 200.00. I ended up telling them to take their vacuum and leave my house. I asked them where my original vaccuum was and they asked me what colour it was? I told them to leave and advised them to bring back my original vaccum or else i would make a complaint and slammed the door. 5 days later i still havent recieved my old vaccuum. This whole ordeal was a horrible experience for me and these salesmen were dodgy as!!! Never again

Hi Karen, I agree completely and I can relate to your story too. I gained 30 or so pounds since meeting my DH, 15 of which are already back off... but I was never so grateful that he never NEVER mentioned it. He's happy I'm losing it and gives encouragement, but he always said it was me he wanted to be with, not my body. It was me who had the issue of being overweight. I think Straycat speaks for all women when she says... "...Whether she is fat, skinny, built like a brick house or a bowling ball-she hopes and she prays her husband shes the woman inside the skin and loves every inch of her inside and out. But, when he doesn't she slowly becomes more and more empty and that is when the numbness sets in. It's hard, very hard for that to ever be replaced with love, the trust just isn't there. When that happens it's hard for her to give herself-to the same man." "...You are still in the physical stage of a relationship after all these years. Too bad, and to think...you've been married to the SAME woman all these years and you have never SEEN HER. " "...If you'd seen her through the eyes of love how would she have looked?" WOW~WOW~WOW How many of us have felt invisible/are feeling invisible right now? That Straycat can speak so completely for me, with all of our differences in opinion, says a lot. I think this is one of the core truths. THIS is how a woman (or man) becomes empty. This is the hole through which the love pours to the ground. This is the echo never answered.