This was my first swap ever. I dragged along my next door neighbor, Donna with me & we had a blast!! Thanks to all the friendly people. The trades were great I came home with brugs, gardenias, chocolate mint, a desert rose, a water umbrella plant (which I was told could also be grown in soil - yea cause I don't have a pond & it is the neatest thing.) I also got a new coleus, some iris bulbs, pots & a huge Peace Lilly plant. I know there is more but I can't remember right now. THE BEST THING THAT I CAME HOME WITH IS NEW GARDEN FRIENDS. Looking forward to the Spring Swap. I'm sorry I couldn't print out the info on my swaps. I can send you a couple pictures of what I traded. Silver Pink Hoya Publicalyx [IMG]http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k298/debbiedo7/My%20Flowers/SilverPinkHoyaPublicalyx1.jpg[/IMG] Burros Tail [IMG]http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k298/debbiedo7/My%20Flowers/BurrosTail.jpg[/IMG] Easter Egg plant tree [IMG]http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k298/debbiedo7/My%20Flowers/EasterEggtree-SolanumOvigerum.jpg[/IMG] Debbie

As for the 0.05% offered by the MB bank ... that's pre-tax income, don't forget. Plus ... one needs to shift part of current interest earnings over to the principal amount, in order to offset the erosion of value of each dollar-denominated invested dollar due to inflation. One of ole joyful's theme songs over the years of being a personal financial advisor, "What's better than putting your money into a bank? Buying a piece of the bank". Recently amended to, " ... buying a piece of a Canadian bank" ... better regulated. None of them have gone under ... or are about to. But the one in which I bought shares 42 years ago for about $4.20 and whose value had risen to $107. or so each in June '07 ... ... was exposed to the U.S. financial fiasco ... ... and after the fallout was finished (well, up till now, anyway) was down to about $40.00, late fall last year ... back to about $60.00 now. But pays about 30 times the rate of (tax-advantaged) dividend that it did when I bought it. And employment earnings, pensions (above a minimal deductible amount) and interest earnings are taxed at top rate, around here. How about buying a chunk of an oil well? Gold mine? When there's huge debt, and major deficit, plus bailouts, overhanging a currency, it's at some serious risk. And when the country fires up the printing presses to print more, that adds to the risk. Maybe move some assets offshore - but risky if to Canada, for when you guys get a sniffle ... we get pneumonia! ole joyful

Don't know if I can be much help but I lost my very special husband in 1985. Kissed me goodbye & went to work, I found myself at a hospital that afternoon, waiting only to finally have someone come in & say, I'm sorry, do you have a mortician(at least that is all I heard)So my trip has been long,24 years. He had a coronary & died instantly. We had 15 yr old DD & 17 yr DS.It was like being put on a stage & handed a script & told you had to play the part. Nothing was real until after everyone left. I had visited a lot of elderly people from church & knew what happened to some of them. They very nearly "crawled in a hole"(under the cover in bed) 1 lady had newspapers all over the yard, shades or curtains drawn, didn't look like anyone home, we had turned to leave when she opened the door. She told me that was the 1st connection to the world she had found since her hubby had died, our visit gave her courage to get out. I remembered that & told myself, what if he were sitting here, would he want to see me crying, would he be torn apart to see me like this, so I just put him in the picture when the going got rough. He was always supportive & loving, we didn't fight in the 22 years we were together because we didn't want to hurt each other. We did have I think 6 times we were silent when each of us thought we were right. Those few times ended with us talking it over & deciding together what to do. I did lot of locking myself out of house(carried extra car & house keys in my purse) ran washer without any clothes in it, couldn't spell 4-5 letter words, couldn't look them up as "when" didn't seem to compute in my brain. I'd write woo, woen,just couldn't write small words. Eventually that stopped but it will start up again for short periods when someone close dies. I carry extra $20 in case I forget gas in my car. I learned to do a lot of compensating. I learned that I could stay in bed 1 day if it was rainy or very cold but then I must get up & fix myself some hot choc., read a book, listen to favorite music, couldn't let it continue into the night. I had to have very good reason for that day off. Rest of time when I wanted to "disappear" I forced myself out to a strip mall to watch people leaving the grocery store, did small errand to get it done & not feel useless, maybe just dropping letters off at post office. If things got bad I called my bro. & he listened & that was a great help. I had people wanting me to pay for headstones when I hadn't ordered 1. I got cheated by ins. company as they didn't leave me amount on their letterhead so I wrote it down & had him sign it but they told me I was wrong,lost about $500 on that. Got so I only cried when something good happened. So have a trusted friend or relative as a witness to anything legal you have to do. Time passed & I kept busy. People think widows have all kinds of time!! Right, I had to do all things I always had & what he did also. Putting gas in car was very upsetting, I had never done it. I had handled the bills & such so didn't have to learn that. My kids left home & after a few years, with some wandering & number of jobs, they are great kids(they felt pretty lost, too)Am I over it after 24 yrs??? No, most days I just think of him several times, lovely memories, but seeing a couple holding hands, leaning on each other, I feel cheated out of that. I'm very grateful we had 24 wonderful years together & hope someday to see him waiting for me.Good Luck folks, the pain & rawness does get better & the memories are sweet & worth holding on to & will get you through.

"Busy lives/too busy" - what an excuse. I am sick of hearing it. Do we really understand the meaning of the word these days? Too many of us do not work as hard as our predecessors. Nowadays, we have more ways to communicate, keep in touch, than ever before. Getting in touch shows others that we care in a polite and invaluable fashion. Granted, some of us always had poor communication skills, or were afraid to communicate. Today's technology seems to give these types more reason to validate their "busy-ness". As for the annoying Christmas "bragging letters" - they are ghastly and thoughtless. Letters loaded with information all about themselves. What does this really mean to the receiver? EVen if they just wrote a simply few lines, e.g., "wishing you well, thinking of you or Happy holidays" would lead one to think someone cares. Why the lengthy summary? Here is someone who has not bothered to keep in touch throughout the year, or answered letters, no doubt. These letter in themselves are an example of poor letter writing and poor communication practice - one sided topics which translate usually into a lot of showing off or "bragging". In short, it is a habit that needs to stop. It is true, not everyone who receives their letter will be blessed with a charmed year/life, have all the kids well-schooled or be without illness or suffered loss of work in the preceding 12 months. So, who wants to hear how wonderful their lives have been, or how the other side of the so-call friends, so-called relatives are doing at this time - very few and especially those who are suffering. Do we even know these extended family members they keep referring to year after year?...most likely not. Hopefully, one day, the writers of these dreadful annual summaries will give it up. Perhaps take a moment (from their "busy" lives) to really consider and think of others, wonder how they are doing. One day, perhaps they might come to the realization that a lot of valuable ink cartridge and paper is being wasted, when we no longer read their notes, simply dropping them in the bin/garbage without even a read. I do hope someone puts this topic in mainstream media and gives these people some food for thought. P.S.: We put one such note straight in the bin this year.....reason being, my daughter was taken into hospital three days before Christmas. Our city suffered an horrific ice storm, freezing trees and power lines and the electrical power failed .....and extended through to New Year's eve! On a positive note - we could have used that extra paper to light another candle, I suppose.