Just to give everyone an update, I met with my SIL last weekend and we went over my nephew's transcript and the 504 information she has. The situation is pretty bad. Last year he only received 3 credits when he took 6 (he failed English, Math, Health, History). He is currently failing at least History and Chemistry. I also read the testing information and it was very confusing. The testing done in 10th grade contradict the testing done in 7th grade. In other words, they found LDs in 10th grade, but not the ones found in 8th grade. The school has been updating his 504 every year, but his teachers seem to know nothing about it. She was going to talk to the guidance counselor again and get back to me. I have laryngitus right now, so I haven't called her this week to see what he said. Part of the issue, I think, might be that his IQ testing came out low. I think it was in the high 90s. That makes no sense to me, he seems very bright. I wonder if the IQ testing could have biases based on his issues. I think that because the IQ is low, their expectatiions for him are low. In other words, the school views him as "dumb" rather than learning disabled. I made an impassioned argument for her pulling his computer and TV from his room. She isn't buying it. She is afraid that his "friends" online are his support system right now and she is afraid to take that away. Friends? They could be 50 year old sex offenders for all she knows. She is very computer naive. She admitted that he almost never does things with his group of friends anymore. He won't go to their houses because they aren't allowed to sit in their rooms all day and play computer games. The only time he sees his friends now is at school and when they come to his house (and they lock themselves in his room). I love my SIL, but she have a serious case of denial.

Italian Beef Sandwiches. Very juicy, (read sloppy!) but so easy and delish. It's cheap, too, if you buy chuck roasts on sale. You braise the beef with garlic and onions, bay leaves, salt and pepper for several hours until the meat shreds, serve it hot with all its juices on Italian rolls or other hearty rolls. I'll be more precise with the recipe if you'd like, but that's about it. I guarantee a hit!

Obviously, I am torn between going with the flow and obsessing about this detail. I really appreciate all of the input and am sensitive to the waste in time, resources and paper. ML - I really do take my share of the responsibility for the outcome on this. Probably another reason I want to "fix" it. (And thanks - I really am so proud of her!) One of the things that really bugs me is the pearlized paper/envelopes. Perhaps I should start there and see if she can reprint on other paper. Thanks so much!

Kim, The tomato plants are declining already? I'm not horribly surprised because your location is so much like mine, but probably hotter and drier, neither of which is good. And then I kept reading and saw your next post. When one door (or garden gate) closes, God opens another one. I know you will end up where you're meant to be at this stage in your life's journey, but I still am sorry you're going through this. Megan, You've certainly got a lot going on, but I know you can handle it all. I will keep your friend in my thoughts and prayers. Unexpected deaths can rock a family's world, and I do not think you were being insensitive---your family is affected by this loss as well. It is hard when established routines fall apart and you must instantly regroup and form a new routine. I am LOLing at your crazy voice. I have one as well and use it so seldom that it freaks out my family. That crazy voice is power, woman, pure power. If it is any consolation, Tim had iliotibial band issues when he was running marathons, and after he cut back drastically on his mileage and rested his knee quite a bit the IT band issues went away. Your Indian blanket might be stretching to get more light, but I've noticed the ones in our front pasture (from a seed mix from Wildseed Farms that I used to overseed the pasture a few years back) are stretching and getting tall too and they do not have a shade issue. I suspect it is the heat making them act that way, but that is based only on intuition...and, also, I guess, on observation and comparing those observations in any given year to plant behavior that occurred that year. Hailey, I'm sorry about the tomato plant. Are the ants actually doing anything? Or, are they just around? Usually ants (except for fire ants) are beneficial in a garden, and even serve as pollinators in some cases, so I leave the ants alone. Of course, sometimes they farm aphids, but I've found that knocking the aphids off the plants with a sharp stream of water every day for a few days takes care of the aphid problem and then the ants that were farming them go find something or someone else. Jennifer, Your wish is my command..... Nancy, Keep whatever plants give you the most joy and move the others. This year I'm mostly growing for joy, not high yield. When there is in internal struggle within me over/between planting what I want to plant (mostly flowers) and worrying about where to put the veggies I should grow if I plant all those flowers, I tell myself to "choose joy" and I plant the flowers. I'm not really sorry about that either. For so many years, I've grown for yield so I'd have tons of food to put up. This year is not one of those years. I'm trying to make it be exactly the opposite, in fact. Choose joy. For years I mostly avoided the perennial/annual issue by promising myself I'd plant the perennials when the soil finally got to the right point. Well, the soil is there now, but I am finding it hard to give up the masses of annual flowers that bloom over a prolonged period in exchange for perennials that bloom for a shorter period. I think it is possible to have both of them together but it makes more sense to go heavier with perennials. I just cannot give up my favorite annuals., though I do add a few more perennials each year. Having said that I cannot give up all the annuals, I am always so stunned by how quickly perennials grow and start blooming and start looking gorgeous that I know I ought to plant a lot fewer annuals and a lot more perennials. I guess if I just keep planting a handful of perennials each year, then sooner or later, there's going to be a lot less available space for annuals. Bruce, It already is too hot, but maybe you'll catch a break and have some cooler weather next week. Amy, I'm waving back at your and hope the Sisterhood of the Traveling Plants had a great lunch. I spent about 10 minutes in my garden today, mostly just checking on things and watering plants in flats. Everything looks so pitifully hot and dry, but certainly the cool season plants. We are too hot, too dry and too windy for mid-May. Too many spider mites. Too many grasshoppers. Too much of it all. I think it is going to be a rough summer. We spent the day with the granddaughters. I'll spare you a long recitation of what we did, but here are the key words: Fort Worth Zoo, the African Savannah, flamingos, lions, tigers, literally thousands of people, and eating at lunch The Crocodile Cafe where you can watch the crocs underwater/floating on the surface of the water outside your window while you eat. I confess that as we ate, the crocs also were watching us and I was wondering if they'd think we'd be a good lunch....for them. And, my favorite part of the day, hearing the three year old say "Thank you PaPa". It was worth every minute I did not spend in the garden. Oh, and I did take great joy is looking at the zoo landscaping and playing 'name that plant' with myself. A cougar attacked two bicyclists in Washington state and killed one, while injuring the other. No words. For those of you who don't know, I had two cougar encounters near my garden in a drought summer about a decade ago. I'll never get over it, but I try not to overthink it or to worry endlessly about it happening again. Reading this news story brought it all back to me. If I could block this memory from my brain, I would. Hard garden decisions await tomorrow. That's a topic for another day. Dawn