I planted my herbs, including a bay that is more than 10 years old, in gritty mix about four weeks ago. The mix I used included the remains of my first batch of gritty -- made with NAPA Floor Dry, Reptibark and grower size Gran-i-grit -- and an equal amount of my new mix -- made with orchid fir bark a little smaller than the reptibark, Turface MVP and grower size gran-i-grit. I did only a quick screening of the Turface to get out the dust, but didn't screen the bark. My herbs include small starts of parsley, marjoram, tarragon, spearmint, rosemary and thyme from the garden center. After I planted them, they spent about two weeks in a sheltered location out of the sun near the north side of my house. After that, I moved them into an area that can get about four hours of sun a day. I say can because we had very little sun in April. Instead, we had record breaking rain of about nine inches and unseasonably cold temperatures ranging from freezing to about 65 degrees F. I think these conditions -- so different from what you experienced in Texas -- may explain why all of my herbs are thriving. Here's the bay: And, finally, here is one of a couple dozen morels that popped up in my lawn last week as a testament to how wet it's been. In 27 years of living in this house, I have never seen morels before. I'd know because I adore them. Yum. A couple notes from a relative newcomer to this mix: I don't think it is essential to closely screen ingredients for the gritty mix if you're planting in large pots for outdoors. But I do believe you should try to get the ingredients to be fairly uniform in size between 1/8 and 3/8 inch. If you have a lot of dust and a lot of large bark pieces, they can knit together to make for poor drainage. I bare-rooted all these herbs including the bay, which had been in the same pot of standard soilless mix for three years, and spread the roots out as much as I could before covering them with the gritty mix. The pots are all about one gallon and the plant roots only occupy the top couple inches. I'm hoping I can keep at least some of them alive through the winter indoor under lights. That's why I used the gritty mix instead of 5-1-1. I did plant dill seeds in 5-1-1 because I expect to harvest that this summer. It is growing well in all this rain too.

Thank you for the Psychology Today suggestion. I was able to find a sex therapist in my area that is also on my health plan, who is certified and she has 20 years of experience. I am going to call her in the morning before work. It doesn't say that she is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist but does say she treats couples with relationship issues, so I might be able to see her for both issues. On the V issue, I am currently looking for a new doctor. It took me over 10 doctors and 7 years to get a diagnosis. But, my current doctor, who did make the diagnosis, has tried all that she can think of and wants to do surgery. My research shows there are other things still to try, such as estrogen cream, even though I am young. She won't prescribe it due to my age, even though very little is absorbed into the system. I may have to go out of state (it would be worth the travel costs). You had asked how I handle critism. Well, that is my achilles heal for sure. I can handle it pretty well when it comes from a supervisor, but when it comes from my husband or close family member it feels as if I have been stabbed. Of course, it matters how its delivered. If its a "Hey, I was doing xyz until I tried this and it was sooo much easier" I take it different than "why are you doing it that way" "Does it make sense to you to do it like that". or if they suck at it and are giving me advice (like my sister offering to help me clean and organize my house, or telling me something is wrong with my house (like a crack in the drywall) or DH offering bill paying advice when he overdraws his account every other month) And sometimes I think to myself, does it really matter? So what, I am doing something different than you would do. Whatever it is...as long as it isn't endangering someone or something does it really matter? Such as loading the dishwasher or something trivial. I do feel like he puts me down for my family. I know they are crazy and dysfunctional. But, I feel like he thinks he is better than everyone and everything sometimes. For example, even though he would deny it, he projects that he is superior because he doesn't believe in a god. Well most of the world does, and it annoys me that he projects that in front of family (mine and his) and will make comments to me that its all silly. Of course he doesn't come right out and say to them " I'm an athiest". But, he gets that smirk on his face whenever they talk about anything religous or having to do with god. It comes accross to me, that he thinks because his family has clean houses and they do not yell and scream that they have no issues. Really, they have issues, they just pretend they do not exist. For example, his older sister will not go to his aunts for XMAS dinner, and yet no one even mentions it when she is not there. (Its because she is a lesbian and brings her partner and they don't like her - according to my husband). Yet, if I miss a holiday or event with them, DH acts as if its the end of the world. I'm rambling a bit, I know. Or the fact that his mom lost it once and insisted he take a drug test. It was freaky. There are other things too...but that isn't really the point. And he thinks that if I see my mom he should go. ANd if he is eating lunch with his mom I should go. Sometimes I just want to do my own thing with my mom or sister. That we should never really visit family without the other spouse. I really don't get that. His family is tolerable and some are even very nice, but they are not my family, and my family drives him crazy, so why do we need to always feel as if the other person needs to attend family functions? Just because we are married? Is that what most people do? Most of the relatives are within an hour and live in the same town. Usually, we both go to each others relatives, but I have tried to do the , Ill go to yours for an hour or so and then over to mine for the rest of the day. But that makes him so mad. I invited him to go to my sisters to see my nephews who adore him. They love him and ask about him atleast weekly. Its far enough away that we have to fly. He had a work trip so he arrived there the day after me and left the day before me. He was there for less than 48 hours. To be honest, I was pretty annoyed that he was annoyed that I left him alone for 3 or so hours on Sat, with the boys and BIL. Me sitting next to him would not have made my sister's house clean or the kids better behaved or BIL less annoying. In fact, it would have probably ensured we got on each others nerves. I think he thinks when he is there we purposely do nothing and just sit around. Well, that is my sisters life. Work, make dinner, bathe the kids, go to bed, do it all over again. They are pretty young kids so taking them out is a chore at this point. So, I told him yesterday he does not ever have to go again, but that we would need to give some explanation. Me saying he has to work, isn't going to cut it forever. The 5 yo thinks my husband is coming to his b-day party in March. He will be so sad to know he is not coming. Of course, I plan to lie and say he is working. What do I say to my sister? "My DH doesn't like your DH, your messy house or how you are never happy with your food, and he hates you don't have a spare room and can't deal for 48 hours." I don't think that will make anything better.

I'm so happy you like the color! Thank you. Unfortunately, i don't have an answer for you. I got my can of touch-up by taking a little piece of the wall (a piece was cut out to put in an outlet) to Miller Paint. They did the little wiz-bang-boom color match thing, and that's what came up. They filled a can with the match. Admittedly, when this home was built, i was completely ignorant about the different character and quality to paint (if only i were a GardenWeb member then!). I'm guessing the builder cut corners and used an inexpensive paint, since they did cut many corners in other ways. I know that's no help at all. But thank you for the compliment. It's so nice to hear.

Beth, I have been so delighted and educated with all these posts. I love the evolution of your wonderfully charming home! You are an amazing woman! I share several of the decorating dilemmas you've mentioned. My "living room" is about 2' more narrow and 2' shorter than your area. I'm learning a lot from your post. The repurposed gun cabinet idea is absolute genius. Please share a photo when you've installed the shelves and contents. Regarding the non-glare glass for your larger artwork. The price of non-glare glass has become simply ridiculous. I have an entire hallway lined with (Gasp!) a family gallery wall. It includes photos from more than 100 years ago to this year's school pics of the great-nephew. Color, colorized, sepia toned, black and white, all mixed together and mostly in their original mismatched frames. That just about breaks all the rules, but I love my wall. Several of the older photos - Mom's 1954 graduation photo; MIL's 1952 wedding photo, etc. - had plain glass. I can't tolerate the glare either. I made a note in my iPod of all the frame sizes that needed replacement non-glare glass. Every time I'm at a thrift shop or yard sale I check out the "frames" area. You can often find large pictures that may be in horrid frames, but they will have non-glare glass! I buy the frame, take out the glass, and toss the rest. I found one very large print of ballet slippers framed with non-glare that was big enough to cut down into several pieces. It made one 8x10 and three 5x7 pieces of non-glare glass for my wall, all for $1. With their permission, I took the glass out at the shop, tossed the faded print, and re-donated the empty frame back to them.