Very nice! Good to see what broccoli growing actually looks like. Can't wait until I get some to grow in all those leaves. hehe Well done! Here is a link that might be useful: Sinfonian's garden adventure!

Silver Quite interesting reading. I have thought about EX and how he must feel about DD, or any woman that has been in his life. I do understand the conceptual thinking behind the term "limerance". I had a man that I felt that way about once. I never told him, figuring that if he felt anything for me he would approach me. There were a few mixed signals, I thought but he never made an attempt that was something that I knew for sure showed he was interested in me. He had enough chances to do that and he didn't. He thought of me as a friend or sister I guess. Or he would have gone for a little "roll in the hay" if I would have. He even introduced me to a girlfriend that he began dating and ended up getting her pregnant and they later married. Ouch! With EX's past ( if what he has said is true ) he undoubtedly has great fear of rejection. Again, if what he says is true, he wanted my DD to stay with him, build a future with him and he wanted a family with us. There are too many things though that are negatives to the success of their relationship that he is completely out of touch with which makes me think that he has a break with normal thought processes. This is evident with other actions...his extensive lying and his criminal behavior. My DD did not want to marry or have children ( my goodness, she is only 20 ) and he did. Very much in fact. I don't know that she will ever change her mind but he had said that he would rather have had her and no kids than to not have her at all. I don't know that it would have been something he could have easily lived with though. The age difference is something that was too vast....11 years...when dealing with her age group. Had they met when she was in her 30's or 40's or older then it would not have been as big a deal. I am sorry for him when it comes to honest, heartfelt feelings that he might have had for my DD. The fact that he could install such fear ( and continues to do so ) and the fact that he has told so many lies negates all of that though. It sucks to be rejected. Our family histories have a lot to do with whether or not we can process the rejection in a healthy way. Most of us have been and some of us have stepped over a line while dealing with it that we cringe at after having healed a bit. It is important to teach our kids that when they deal with peers or a romantic interest people have a right to reject them. In the long run it is for the best. I don't know how much EX has control over when it comes to his emotions about the breakup. I am sorry that I can't talk to him. It just can't happen. I want him to get help and to go onto have a happy life. More importantly though I want him to leave my DD alone and let her move on. Thanks for the thread and the link Silversword.

There are four girls in this room. Poor set up, no privacy. The only doors are the front door and the ones to the toilet. There isn't even a door to the showers, only a curtain. They all sleep in the same room, which is open to the "living room". She requested a cheaper room which had four sharing a quad but two girls shared a bedroom which had doors. They were filled already. So, she's still poking me on Facebook, although not every day now. Yes, all three girls have problems with the one. One of them had a screaming match with her the first week or two of moving in. At first Lauren and C. (the one she gets along with the most), thought it was the other girl with the problem. M. (the nudist) moved into her brother's apartment for a couple weeks and all was quiet. She apparently got into a fight with her brother over something I'm not going to post here and moved back to the dorm. She has since been acting like a slob and being inconsiderate of her roommates. The 3 girls have morning classes, M. doesn't so she can stay out late at night and come back in the early morning waking them all with her loud banging around. Like I said, I'm going to let her handle it and if she doesn't go to someone about it then she will just have to put up with it. I'm not going to march up there and demand they fix it. She and the other two girls need to speak up. It's a 2 hour drive. I didn't want to pay $110 for nothing. She has no vehicle and who knows how far the nearest UPS was from her dorm. I did it so I wouldn't get stuck paying for the rental. (I should say she has a vehicle, but the transmission is out and it's sitting at her father's waiting for him to fix it.)

My DH and I were both raised in suburban homes. Neither of us ever lived where we could not walk right outdoors (except in college). After DH retired, we moved from one suburb to another twice as far from Chicago to escape increasing noise and pollution. That was 15 years ago, and at the time I hoped we could have at least 20 years in our new, one-floor home. Hmm...out in five? Eventually...and then what? We could stay in our home longer with taxi's to grocery, dentist, local hospital, and the RR station (four minutes). Our doctors are currently 20 minutes away. Our DS and family are 30 minutes away. We could move to assisted living in a townhome in this town -- or in an apartment closer to the city. We could become permanent passengers in a cabin on a cruise ship and keep circling the globe! LOL I think we will stay in our home and add help until we need assisted living -- or until the expenses of maintaining the home and yard outweigh our enjoyment of it. (Assisted living isn't *cheap* either!) One other thought: We've spoken of dangerous driving by impaired seniors. Yes, it is terrible news when one plows into something or someone, but I am more concerned about drivers of all ages who are overtired, distracted, or drug- or alcohol-impaired. News about these drivers infrequently makes it beyond the police blotter. My DH was broadsided by a 17-year-old girl who failed to yield to traffic coming over the RR tracks in the middle of our town. Didn't even make the blotter.