Glad I came back up here to look for replies! Yay! I got the good dirt! :D I had no idea what I was doing. The guy at the co-op recommended this. I knew we were anti-Hyponex and pro co-op mix, but that's all I knew. :) Uh oh...no styrofoam? Bummer. I just did a few, and so easy to poke holes in the bottom. I tried poking holes in the yogurt cup first and split it. Oops. I think a plastic container sounds like a good idea to house everything, drilling holes in the top. Do I also have to make drainage holes in the bottom? I do have a paint pen. It's one of those Deco-Color from Michael's craft store.

Yes, I think you are correct in that I'm usually very trusting of people. It's not my nature to look for the worst in people and I'd like to think that people will treat me the way that I treat them. However, in the past few years my husband has taught me a valuable lesson in what happens when you are too trusting. When I look back on some of the different situations that have happened I can't believe that it totally slip past me or how deceitful he is as a person. I trusted him to move money out of my checking account to pay monthly expenses until one day when I was trying to make a purchase and the clerk informed me that my debit card was declined. My first thought was my account must have been hacked. On my way home to figure out what had happened I remember how during the past few weeks he kept reminding me that I was spending a lot of money. I only spent what I knew that I could afford to spend and never more than what I was making. His statements should have been a clue. When I went online to view my banking account I saw where he had transfer more than $30,000.00 out of my account over a period of year and half without consulting me. Hence the "you're spending a lot lately". I never really checked my account because I always knew that I had a pretty good cushion for what I wanted to spend. My spending was nothing more than a visit to Walmart every now and then and I knew with the amount of money that I make (retired Federal employee and now a government contractor making six figures) that I really never had to worry about my card being declined. When I confronted him about it the first thing he yelled was "I pay the house note out of my check'! There was about an ounce of truth to his statement with the exception that the money was first transferred from my account to his account and then of course he paid the house note but using my money. What a snake in the dirt! At that point I really just wanted to know what was going on with him so I was willing to sit down and discuss the situation with him but he got angry and slapped me across my face. He told me that I had repeated to him that I didn't really need to know what was going on with the budget just as long as everything was paid and on time. That was his excuse for not telling me that he was taking money out of my account. Well needless to say when he put his hands on me I used his cane and beat the crap out of him. No one, and I mean no one is allowed to touch me in that way and every since that night we have not shared a bed. I knew then that the marriage was pretty much over for me. That happened last March and I'm still trying to figure out how to get out. It can't be that difficult because people do it all the time. I think I need a some sort of life coach to help me to navigate all of the changes that I'll need to make. The other thing that I noticed is that he no longer takes his mom and sister out to dinner and movies anymore and he's not offering to guy rounds when he visits a bar. REALLY?? When I look back at the time that I've spent with him and various situations that are questionable I realize how he's been lying to me all these years. I've had people question me about his comments and how they say he bashes me behind my back. Oh well, I'm sure you're probably bore and have heard enough of me. Thanks for your time. Pam (forgive all errors in this almost book that I've written. I'm writing this while on my break so I don't have much time to proofread.)

I personalize history by imagining how my family members experienced events and how they adapted to them. My own life seems pretty calm by comparison. My maternal grandmother is my most recent immigrant to America. She was 17 in 1895 when she arrived in NYC on a sailing ship from Glasgow with her mother and brother. They had *nothing*. She was 90 when she died in comfort at her daughter's home near Chicago. Her husband was born in Missouri, the great-grandson of a Scottish immigrant. He was in NYC after being discharged from the army at the end of the Spanish American War. My mother was born in 1905 in her great-aunt's boarding house on a NYC block where the UN now stands. My French ancestors and their extended families came to America from small plots in rural villages near the Swiss border. (One youngster delayed the party when he broke his leg falling from a ship's mast.) They traveled the then-new Erie Canal to settle areas from which Indians had recently been 'removed'. (That was a major factor in their decision to come.) They liquidated everything in France to make this gamble. How events changed peoples lives!

Sorry I had 3 boys very active but needed to undestand respect for our whole family home . That said I am not sure what we can do the help much It looks fine to me I do not like rugs under dining tables and for sure not with 3 rowdy kids whom I bet spill at the table too. I would do a lower wider stand for the TV to get it at proper viewing height. No drapes at all maybe would be a good idea. I assume there is no basement in the home so TV and kid play have to happen somewhere . Maybe blinds with no cords could work for windows . I think the house looks well cared for in spite of the kids so not much would I change if you like what you have . As for fake beams or coffers they can work but honestly expensive to do right and I cannot see a benefit . A fun table and chairs would be more my idea of the space change . At least maybe colorful dining chairs and a great new chandelier over the table .Maybe fewer family pics and more art you can all go choose together . I took my kids to galleries from the time they could walk and they have all been able to have a style of art they like and often not my style at all.. On really crappy days I tried to do more crafty stuff and less rough housing in the house maybe try that a few times too