Kristi... I got the biggest kick out of your Guitar Hero photo! My adult son and his wife have that game, and they've actually got 2 wireless guitars for it! Come to think of it, my other adult son, the one in college, has that game, too! They've got every version available, and they play quite often! They're all very good at it, but you're right... it doesn't mimic real playing very well, at all. At least it isn't violent... no monsters and no killing! Great photos of your youngsters! They look sort of like mine... confined to a shelf with lights, but growing anyway! Nice set-up! I just adore Minerva! I can't wait for mine to bloom so I can show off her beauty! I've been talking about her since I joined the forum, but she hasn't bloomed in all that time... I'm really hoping she decides to flower this spring. It's one of my all-time favorites! Those cacti all look nice, too! I'm not that great with succulents, but I'm learning... I think I baby them too much. Great photos!

Gabi I've been wondering where you went. What an ordeal! Glad you're OK. Tricia I'm sure you'll be a wonderful jade mother. Wish I'd known you were interested in jades sooner. I took about a dozen beautiful plants to work and palmed them off on people last fall. I limbed up a large jade last summer. I stuck each cutting in a styrofoam cup full of potting soil and just left them sitting in the yard. I hit them with the garden hose maybe three times all summer but mostly they only got watered when it rained. By fall they were beautiful.

Well unfortunately the residential Jade Oven as good looking as it is and how well built as it is..(a Viking looks like a TOY compared to this thing)..has it's problems. We have had the 36" Natural Gas oven for 3 1/2 years and I sit here tonight at 11:07 hungry while my wife is Stove Top cooking a dish that needs to be cooked in the Oven.This will be the third Jade failure in 3 1/2 years but.. mainly the problem has to do with the igniters, which are made by Norton..and made very cheaply indeed. They are the same igniters which are in most Ovens today. So its not really Jades fault. Those Norton things need to be improved. It is just too ridiculous that in a residential environment that they should fail every 2-3 years.In the old days an oven went on with no issues for 3 0 years. The 1 year warranty is just not long enough but Jade does stand behind the oven often anyway. These ovens ARE beautiful and you know what..I'd buy the same one again..but they should make they're warranty 3 years and find a more durable igniter. They have the beauty & the build but have to have a more durable.. or snap in customer interchangeable Igniter. I like the Oven enough, Id buy a another one all over again but those Norton Igniters which are in most brands of Oven are RUBBISH...and it makes life hard where it need not be, for what..? This post was edited by nick59 on Tue, Aug 26, 14 at 15:04

I am soooo relieved that the Miralax is working for Casey (and I'm sure she is, too)! I feel the same way every time I see one of Billy's nice long tootsies. Constipation can make them feel so miserable and sick. You have vastly improved Casey's quality of life with Miralax. I definitely think you should take your neighbor up on her offer to administer subQs for you at home. I know you're having a hard time believing that Casey will be more cooperative with less restraint, but hopefully your neighbor will be able to demonstrate the validity of that for you. I do understand your misgivings, though. Billy is extremely short-tempered and does NOT like to be messed with, so when he was diagnosed with both CRF and hyperT, I was dreading having to medicate him, much less having to eventually administer subQs to my potentially violent old man. To make matters worse, my housemate moved out right before Billy started needing subQs, so I was faced with having to administer them without any assistance. I had nightmares of lying on the floor bleeding to death with Billy firmly attached to my jugular vein. But what choice did I have? Billy needed subQs, and I was the only one here to administer them. I knew my only chance of surviving the procedure was to keep it all as low key as possible. Billy had chosen a diningroom chair as his favorite sleeping spot, so I rigged a way to hang the fluid bag from the curtain rod next to the chair. While he was napping, I quietly hung the bag, sat down next to him (which instantly woke him and caused him to stand up), and slipped in the needle as quickly as possible. To my utter amazement, Billy didn't object at all. He stood there while I silently stroked his face until the administration was finished. I was stunned at how easily it all went. Things have changed a bit since then. It didn't take Billy long to figure out that the diningroom chair was where he got his fluids, so he abandoned the chair and started napping elsewhere. Now I have to find him and carry him to the chair for fluids, but as long as I do so quietly and carry him carefully, he usually doesn't do more than grumble softly. Sometimes if I don't get the needle exactly where he wants it, he'll start growling in mid-administration. I have to be VERY careful at that point NOT to touch him (other than to hold the needle in place), or he'll attack me. So I just hold my hand an inch or two in front of his chest so that he knows I won't allow him to leave, and he stays put and growls until I'm finished. If I get the needle in a comfortable spot, however, he'll generally sit or stand without objection until we're done. I can absolutely guarantee you, though, that if I did anything other than use my body position to restrict his movement, he'd fight like a demon during subQs. There is absolutely NO WAY that a restraint bag would do anything other than increase Billy's fight instinct, and I suspect the same will be true for Casey. You need to reduce the stress response, not increase it, in order to be successful with subQs. A restraint bag is likely to feel a lot like a carrier to Casey, so she may very well have the same stress response to the bag that she has to her carrier. Casey's also likely to be in a considerably happier (and hopefully more cooperative) mood now that she's not dealing with chronic constipation anymore. Don't worry. All of this will work out, one day and one procedure at a time. Laurie