I found a new appreciation in life: A working laptop! Mine got hit with an ugly virus that migrated to my memory key and has made the normally simple process of rebuilding my laptop into a weekend-long project. I am finally back online altho I'm crossing my fingers about getting all my files back. I'm also grateful that most of my gardens are irrigated but Im truly grateful for the rain here in the Denver area, my water bill is the absolute lowest since we moved here 6 years ago. Blooming Amaryllis - walking around soaking in the green is awesome. I wish I had learned the beauty of it before my back injury but I suppose its one of those lessons I had to learn the hard way. My mom always said I was hard-headed. :) I admire the fact that you work from home, Im certain I lack the self discipline to do that. J - I miss the chipmunks in my parents yard back home in the Seattle area. They live in the crown of the maple tree that the driveway circles and have babies every year. I was out early in the spring at my house, "admiring" the vole, bunny and pocket gopher damage when I noticed a squirrel sitting on the fence across the greenbelt eyeballing my garden. I couldnt help but smile at him and wish him good luck in locating the bulbs the other rodents have not absconded with yet. Do squirrels make cute noises like chipmunks? Bonnie - Your sheer number of posts and growing gardening prowess is an inspiration. I admit that the todo list hasnt gone away completely... it is now cross-indexed with the "what shovel-wielding buddy can I ask for a favor?" list. Now that a good number of my perennials have been in the ground for several years, its really time to seperate them. Oooof. I've got to start racking up some favors with prospective shovel-wielders. Steve - One of the first things I thought of with my gardening after my back gave out on me, was you. I am blown away by your garden excersions, I feel a sweat coming on just thinking about your daily workout. Have you mentioned back pain before? If you are still out there day after day, you are an inspiration. Have you ever seen a physical therapist? Ive learned how to use the natural "girdle" muscles to protect my back but I really wonder how many longterm problems I may have and how much these exercises they teach will help. I do know that Ive had lower back pain for years now and I encourage anyone with back pain to ice their back whenever they can. I would do anything to keep from injuring my back again, it was worse than childbirth! I am also sorry that I cant write about my successes and failures with asian veggies even though I did buy the seeds. There is always next year! Ive been having some neurological problems and Ive lost most of my sense of taste. I'm choosing to look at it as another way to focus on the things I still have but it took me a while to focus on the positive. My husband is deaf in one ear but I sometimes wonder how much he can or cant hear, lol. Does your wife wonder the same about you? ;) I cant believe that about your eyes, thats awesome. Id like for that to happen before I spend another $200 on glasses in the coming year. Maybe Im due for a miracle?

If anyone sees this old listing, thanks for the suggestions above! I have another weapon to suggest in the "dry heels" arsenal: gel-heel socks. I buy them at BBB (link below) but when I was looking at the Footsmart website at products mentioned earlier, I saw that they have them, too. In spite of professional pedicures, a sandpaper-scraper and a ton of heel creams, I still battled dry heels for years until I started using the socks. Sometimes I sleep in them every night, other times just once in a while. Adding the socks to pedicures, scraping and cream has completely solved the problem for me. Here is a link that might be useful: gel-heel socks

I couldn't even begin to let someone do a pedicure on me when I had my ingrowns. The pain was intense and throbbing. In one case, I actually had a red line that ran from my toe to the middle of my calf. It was that infected and did I mention it hurt? Yikes. The pain was so severe that the doctor gave me 11 (eleven) shots of Novacaine, and Zylocaine and neither of them worked. Eleven! After over two hour trying to numb and fix the toe, the dr. said it was after hours and he had somewhere to be. I could go home and come back the next day or have him remove it without anesthesia. I chose to have him cut it out. I held on the nurse so tight while the procedure was being done that she probably still has fingernail marks on her arm. They had to ask my DH to leave the room because he was feeling faint. LOL Men, whadda they know of pain? :-) Jodi-

Kym - I agree that Craig sounds clinically depressed ... the lack of hygiene, the zoning out with the video games, lack of interest in other activities. It's common in teenagers. The ex's being a lesbian shouldn't be a problem, as long as the two have a good relationship ... the 2.5 year abandonment certainly was a rude thing to do to your kids, and might be part of the cause of the behavior problems. "hubby cleans it all up" Point out to him that he is teaching them, by his example, that it's OK to trash their surroundings and wait for the other person to do the cleanup work ... it's a VERY bad lesson, because it will get them fired from most jobs and make them really unpopular as a room-mate or spouse. "He says he feels bad because hes not with them much." And they are taking advantage of it. Point out that he has to live with you ALL the time and his reluctance to enforce some reasonable rules is really pissing you off. His role is a PARENT, not best chum and housemaid! "DH tells them to be ready when he gets home and he will take them to dinner and a movie." ... when my parents told us to be ready at X:00 o'clock for something, they left at X:01 and if we were ready, we went. If we weren't ready, we didn't go. They did no nagging, reminding or waiting for us to get ready - their feelings were that if we really wanted to go to the movies, we'd be clean, dressed, and sitting on the couch at X:00 If clothing stinks like garbage ... it's garbage. Just toss it in the trash. I tossed a couple of reeking t-shirts that my SO's sons had left to ferment in a corner of a room. They were totally offended because they were supposedly favorite special priceless shirts, but I told them that anything that stank like a dead animal would be treated like one. If it's a priceless treasure, it should be cared for. I haven't had to throw out too many "dead" things lately. ********* I agree with Vivian ... they would be living under convent-like conditions until they learned some better habits. ********** The core problem was their lack of respect for my husband and his condoning their disrespect and their behavior by catering to them Yes ... the dad has to be in charge, and present