Marcindy, Peter and Susan Schneider are two of the loveliest people you could hope to meet. You really should subscribe to his American Rose Rambler, an excellent newsletter! I think you'll really enjoy his sense of humor, too. You can find his contact information here on the Combined Rose List web site. The CRL is another invaluable rose reference and was the only method of finding roses prior to Help Me Find. I have used his editions (and the prior ones created by Bev Dobson, another lovely rose person!) to find old, rare and unusual roses for many years. I would love to visit their open house, too. It must be amazing! Good luck. Kim Here is a link that might be useful: Combined Rose List

I am sorry for the sadness and physically difficulties you have faced and continue to face and glad that you are able to garden with joy and anticipation again. I have ws thousands of containers over the years but only 4 containers this year, just a bump in my gardening plans and am hoping to get more done later and I am not actively trading seeds at this time so haven't been reading the Seed Exhange page or paying much attention to the offers in other postings. A few suggestions to get responses to your seed exchange offers: 1. Post on the Seed Exchange Forum and the Round Robin Forum. 2. Post on exchange pages of this and other forums that you frequent. 3. Join group exchanges. There was a group Wintersowing Swap earlier this year. Sometimes there will be a post telling of a new swap and linking to it. 4. If someone has expressed interest in trading in a Discussion posting follow up with an e-mail to that person. It is easy to forget the offer if one doesn't go back to read the post again. I look forward to seeing your photos and reading more about your winter sowing experiences. Bobbie

he said I could take as many plants as I wanted because he'd be throwing them all away anyway (the guy seriously had hundreds if not a thousand plants) but they all looked pretty bad, and the whiteflies at my house woulda torn them apart. my strong plants are struggling with the whiteflies as it is. he did say that if I change my mind I can go back and take the plants though. I'm trying to talk him into giving me a job.

I had a similar problem with my MIL after the birth of our DS. But in retrospect I think a lot of it was my DH fault. MIL would call DH to let him know what her wishes were for our family during her visit and not wanting to rock the boat or maybe not knowing better he would agree. Then he'd tell me and I'd say no because.... Then he'd feel caught in the middle. I blamed her, she blamed me and DH was miserable. DH and I discussed it and he agreed not to agree to anything until we discussed it. It has made all the difference. That said she's still a strong force with her own ideas of how things should be. When she came to visit when he was 2 weeks old she told DH she would sleep on his bedroom floor to take care of him all night. DH thought that was a great idea so we could both get some sleep. NOT!!! Not sure what he was thinking anyway since I was breastfeeding. Huge fight! Also when I would let her hold DS she wouldn't give him back when he cried. So I had to go take him from her. Then the next time she held him and he started to cry she would literally run away from me so I couldn't take him. She'd even go outside of the house (IMO) so I couldn't hear him cry. She also camped outside of his room so when he woke from his nap she would be the one to get him up. At 4 months he'd scream everytime he saw her because like it or not she's not the one he wanted when he woke up from a nap. UGGGG I was very protective of him too (which I think is natural when they're young) and her behavior drove me crazy! Not to mention that she kept accidentally calling herself mom when she talked to him. Now he's two and he can spend as much time as he wants with her because now when he wants me he tells her "No, I want mama." And she tells him "Grandma is as good as mama" but he still runs to find me. :) Just a suggestion but as long as your DH is on your side can't you just be aloof and say "our lives are hectic and it's not a good time to visit the cabin" and leave it at that. I would never have thought you could get away with that but my husband does it all the time! And if they push he just gets a stern tone to his voice and say "It's just not a good time." You don't owe them any more of an explanation. Then let your dear husband take it from there if necessary. They really are his problem to deal with.