Awesome updates everyone. So fun to see. Like several posters mentioned, my tomato plants (and basil!) survived this winter just fine and are producing quite nicely again. Leaf lettuce is just making an amazing crop so I can have several salads a week (the earliest sowings from October have started bolting/flowering so I'm ripping those out and replacing with new youngsters). What a mild winter this has been! Jon, does your Senecio usually survive the winter or do you re-start it from cuttings? I grew it at my last Scottsdale garden and always took cuttings as insurance, but after selling that place I have no idea if it got torched in a freeze or what. I love your beds, Mary, especially the neat trellis on the last pic--so neat! I've got aloe blooms, and lemon fruit coming out my eyeballs, lol. Here's a quick pic of my covered patio yesterday, just for fun (Wilson the tennis ball discreetly placed to show relative size, hah). Agave parryi and Euphorbia rigida in the front garden this morning: A fun "mutt" "mongrel" or "hybrid" (depending on who you ask and what their mood is, LOL) aloe, which clearly has mostly Aloe striata in its ancestry, blooming away (tennis ball to show size). Happy gardening everyone, enjoy this fabulous weather! Grant Here is a link that might be useful: Pics from my garden, Feb 2014

Happy Birthday DeeMarie! Tikanis - terrific to know what is going on. My BIL has severe sleep apnea as well. The sleep clinic put him on a device at night that delivers more oxygen and now he is sleeping much better, the snoring has calmed down a lot and my SIL is also enjoying a better nights sleep too. Nwroselady - stay the course. Your body is adjusting to it's new size. You may even hit a plateau. Don't despair, just hang in there. One step forward at a time. Keep the faith! I'm cheering for you. Hi Maddie, you sure are busy. Glad to see you post. How much longer is your course? What am I doing this weekend? Probably more things around the house between cleaning, trying to unpack boxes into totes, plant some more seeds, transplant tomato plants into taller containers and of course laundry. Still trying to train that stuff to jump from the washer to dryer - no luck so far. And the dishes won't play either. I fill the sink and they just sit there too. Bad laundry, bad bad bad dishes. I'm eyeing up the cat - thinking of spraying him with endust and getting him to chase balls under the beds - he's giving me the evil eye...don't think I'll get him to participate on that one either. Rats. Still maintaining. Cheers everyone, Peggy

Thank you for the birthday wishes. I had a very nice celebration. I left work several hours early and spent the day with DD#2. We mostly shopped and she made out like it was her birthday LOL - I did manage to get a nice pair of tiger patterned peeka-boo toe shoes (they sound tackier than they are LOL). DD#1 had flowers delivered to my office - so that was a nice surprise. DH gave me some spa treatments so I can indulge in a day of beauty. We had a lovely dinner at a favorite restaurant. Marci - thank you for the decorations - how appropriate. Zig - you make me feel so special. Amy - I am honored that you should happen to pop in at my birthday - it is always good to hear from you. Donna - thank you, I did enjoy the day even with the leftover ice and snow haha. Have a great Sunday - there is no laundry for me today.

Good morning goils-- Yes, I am among the living, and have missed you all like crazy!!! I have finally gotten a computer for me at home (I can't log on at work, and trying to get to the library is close to impossible!)So, I get to check my emails, and play on here to my heart's content-- Life is good, but so swamped. The company that I work for is a division of a larger corp, and the women that started it are wanting to separate from the main company and run it themselves. Since I am the financial guru, I've been putting in 80 hours weeks since January, and there is no end in sight. I am in the interviewing process for software vendors/tech support, and I am in over my head on this, as I am so not good with computers. However, since the accounting/HR software will make or break my working life, I want to be in on the discussions. One of the CPAs is giving me a fit, but apparently she was like this to my predecessor (which was a big factor in her leaving), but I just won't take it and roll over. We spent an hour on the phone yesterday day about something she screwed up with our AP, which resulted in us almost getting a utility cut-off in one of our group homes. My boss told me to put the bills on the company credit card because we didn't have much choice, and I did (I paid the bill through our weekly AP; corp screwed up the payment; we don't know where the check actually went to; and the utility was due to be shut off on this past Monday. I never heard a peep from corp until yesterday morning (Thursday) when she called b!tching that she has spent all of this time (?? wtf?)working on this issue, and then found out that I had put it on a CC. Alrighy, the the games begin....) I'll be glad to get rid of that insufferable cow. I'm still auctioning; we have one tomorrow. It's huge, but I'm tired, and not looking forward to it. Well, kinda--I just know it's going to be a loooong day. Well, I've lost 15 pounds since the beginning of February, and I am down about 25 pounds from my highest known weight. I bought a pair of jeans last fall that fit a bit loose, but now I can pull them down over my hips without unzipping 'em. My BIL is getting married on Memorial Day weekend (well, the last I heard), and I want to be down about 15 more pounds. (I'm trying to be realistic here). Let's see--I am trying to buy a car. Good Grief. What happened to car prices? I haven't bought one since '96 (Rog got the truck in '01), but geeze louise--10 years car loans? Why?! I'm looking at a used Camry because I want to pay cash (I hate car payments wit ha passion), but I just laugh at some of the prices. (No, I don't want to buy the real estate that the lot is on, I just want to buy a car.) I may have found one, but it's white (which is the one color I specifically did not want), and with this work schedule, I can't get up to the dealer to see it. Rog's cousin owns a dealership (yep--more $$$ than above, and a nice guy to boot), but for some inane, really stupid reason, hubster doesn't want to go to him. (It was OK to see cousin when *he* wanted the truck, but ohhhhnooooo, we can't go when *I* want a car. Go figure.) Hope this finds everyone well--happy birthday Patti! (Dee--lovely job; I couldn't have sang better myself! LOL) Love and hugs, Maddie