Hi Terrance nice to meet ya and thanks for the reply! Yes I must get outside in scratch that dirt. Where I live now, in Aberdeen, we gravelled the whole backyard due to having multiple horses in the house. LOL..my great danes make a terrible miss on grass so it was the only way. And mud? As in garden? Would be destroyed unless I built a fence around it. We are planning to buy a house soon, so hope to change all that. I can not wait to get into roses outdoors and perenials, grow my own veggies. Lily's too! I hope he builds me a greenhouse, as I am a die hard fan of tropicals. Plumeria and hibiscus are my fave's. Been growing them indoors for a year under lights, and lots of blooms. I also enjoy propagating and starting from seed indoors. Fun stuff! I guess when you grow up as a small town girl, you stick to your roots..hahahaha..too funny! Krista - sorry I left Sharon's name in the original post, so she knew I ressurrected it.

Emerald: Words don't work at a time like this......but prayers do! And in that vein, prayers are flooding your way. You WILL find the right words to talk with your mother. You WILL find the right words to console your husband. You have already found the right words to convey to us. You ARE stronger than you think you are. You ARE a mother! ~ We grieve with you and for you. I think this entire experience which you have been so gracious to share with us has brought out the goodness and grace in both you and us......and for that we can all celebrate. You are closer to us than possibly any other poster. You have touched our hearts and souls and brought out the best in all of us. How we conduct our lives from here on out will speak volumes to this experience. Thank you for allowing us to be enlightened in and through your journey. My heart is heavy in your loss. God will continue to guide and be good to you. We are here for you in more way than you have yet to discover.

Thanks for the tips, everybody. I'm going to try the buttermilk and spices. I hadn't been back to this thread for a while. I went back to read the old posts that I had made --- well, I'm sorry to say that I haven't been cooking like I first started. About a year and a half go, my Dad got sick and I spent about 2 months with him before he died ---- then I came home and the acid reflux that my husband had in one of my posts -----turned out it was really blockage in his arteries and had to have emergency open-heart surgery. He's doing okay now, much better in fact, but has numbness in one of his legs where they took a vein out (I think). Please, if you have someone who has a lot of acid reflux, make them go and get checked for heart blockage. The Dr. said that acid reflux masks a lot of heart problems. But, anyhow, I got away from the once-a-week, or once-a-month cooking. And I went back to work and, so---I've let a lot of things in the kitchen slide. I would really like to get back into it. When I was cooking large portions -- I found that the chicken legs and all of the turkey froze well. Once, I used the containers that you buy the frozen meals in---for my meal container and just put that in a zip-lock bag. Now, if I can collect 30 or so of them---well--- One of my biggest obstacles is gettin DH to try these meals. Funny, he buys the ones at the grocery and eats that rubber-looking chicken! haha And some of those green beans are horrible in those meals. Keep up the good tips. Yes, the economy seems to be taking a downturn. I'm just thankful that I have money to buy food. I know that people with large families must spend a small fortune at the grocery.

I remember reading that...but it's still just as funny.... I am completely surprised that I didn't find a post from me on there...My DH has done a few things during our 42 years that I tell on him every now and then. patti