Ok.. wow. I just looked them up a bit more and I have to say I have NEVER seen anything like this. They seem to be quite happy where they are so maybe I'll experiment next year too! One thread said that everything is edible. Do you have to cook the stalks or do you just chop them thin?

Suzieque, don't forget the financial arrangements. Most banks are not happy with POAs, unless you use their own forms. Make sure that you are on all her bank accounts. Remember that a POA expires with the death of the person. Does she have her will in order? Are her assets in a trust? Now's the time to make sure. In Mother's last two years, she started obsessing about various things. Drove me crazy. She would balance her bank statement several times a day. She thought that if the SS auto-deposit was made on the first of the month, and also later on the 31st (for the next month), "they" were going to take it away from her. She became less and less able to understand things like that. I finally had the bank change the address to my home, plus her social security address, because she'd also stress about any piece of mail that she would get. I had trouble lying to her, but I learned how. I had a long talk with a neighbor of hers who was a retired nun and school teacher/principal about lying. Talk about taking me back to my childhood! But Sister Noreen was a wonderful help to me. See if you can find someone like that to unload on. Someone discrete who won't blab, but will let you talk. And let it all out. I had to jiggle her savings. She had two CDs that paid a good rate, about 6% (those were the days!), and she had about $30 per month too much income to qualify for a rent reduction. So I took out enough from one CD and opened another at a lower rate, reduced her income and saved her more than $300 in rent for the $30 lowering of her income. There is NO way she'd ever have been able to follow that maneuver, and she'd have fainted to have learned that she was losing income, but it was the right thing to do. But I had to lie to her, naturally. I was completely stressed at that time. I learned to set boundaries with Mother. She might call and say that she needed something from the store (her meals were provided), and I learned to NOT drop everything to go shop for her. I learned to not be available every single day, even if I actually was free. Of course, I was available for an emergency, but I learned to put her off a little. At least it gave me a sense on control in my own life, if you know what I mean. Figure out something to do just for yourself on a regular basis. Take a long walk, an exercise class, a massage, go to a movie, whatever you can do just for yourself. Turn off the cell phone for an hour or two. I'll think of more hints that you might be able to use, but I do recommend finding someone to talk to. And keep posting here, of course.

Good, I'm glad you all seem to concur with my conclusion. I'd hate to give up precious counter space for another smaller sink. Seems like it wouldn't work in my kitchen. I do not like the setup of my frig/oven wall. I will have to work on that when we get to that point!

I, too, understand about the American Girl thing. My daughter has a trunk of beautiful clothes for her AG dolls, all purchased from her grandmother. I will *never* be the one to give any of this away or she will be posting one day about how she can't forgive ME! As for getting rid of husband's stuff...this is sort of along the same lines. My husband loves car races and has a favorite tee shirt he wears only when he attends a race. It's sponsored by Marlboro. Well, one day a telemarketer called and I picked up the phone (before caller I.D.!) and they wanted to do a survey on what kinds of cigarettes my husband smokes. Thoroughly disgusted, I exclaimed, "My husband has NEVER smoked." End of discussion. I was so proud of the fact that I ended THOSE phone calls. Awhile later my husband wondered why Marlboro wasn't sending him free racing tee-shirts and stuff anymore. Somehow we got on the conversation about that phone call and how I couldn't believe they thought he smoked. My husband looked at me with this incredulous look and said, "You didn't tell them I don't smoke, did you?" Yep. He was so upset and STILL is. Now they won't send him anything because they know the truth and he is still mad about it! So he has that one racing shirt that has little holes starting in the neckline but he refuses to part with it. And I definitely will *not* be the one to give away, considering I'm already in the doghouse about the other stuff! Sheryl