My first suggestion would be to find a plant-sitter lol :) However, since that isn't fesable, how are you traveling? If it's by car, you could possibly start some seedlings about 4 weeks or so before you go, and take them with you, that way they would be ready to plant by the time you got back. (for veggies, you would have to make sure that they would have enough time to ripen before your first frost.) You can also sometimes find plants already growing (vegitables and flowers) at nursurys and places like Home Depot and Lowes. In fact, the Lowes near me already has plants lioke broccoli and cauliflower ready to be planted. You could ask around and find out what they plan to have avalable in mid june. They will be more expensive that way of course, but if the alternative is having nothing, I personally would go ahead and pay the extra lol. Barring that, I really don't know. (I'm fairly new at this too!) You might ask in the vegitable forum about fast-growing veggies.

Thanks for the warm welcome Karen and Sal, I'll check out the Robolady site for sure. And yes, I know how to post pics having posted many over on the kitchen side. I'm also a whiz at Photoshop so I love to do funky things with pictures, too. I'll post some WIP pics of my birdhouses and maybe a few others later. Quick question, would doing a mosaic on a concrete bird bath make it easier to clean? I love watching the birds play in the water so I don't want to turn it into a planter or anything, but what a pain to keep that thing from looking like pond scum! I'm wondering if smooth porcelain tiles or glass marbles or something would make it a lot easier to wipe out. Or would the grout be just as problematic as the concrete? Any particular type of grout work best for something like that? TIA Robin

Welcome! I think most of the older posters have either gotten into relationships/married or given up. We sure used to have some fun discussions and I miss it, too. I left because I got married, but, sadly, my DH died 5 years ago, so I'm single again. I check in every day and respond when someone posts, but as you can see, posts are few and far between. Feel free to start a discussion - I know several of the original posters still comment when someone posts a new thread.

You've gotten some great advice so far. However, I don't see why you'd lose 'joint' if you went back to court. I'm not savvy on the law. DH and I haven't had these issues w/ his ex in years as the kids are grown, and I tried not to interfere back then and become overly involved, just supportive. Why wouldn't THEY lose 'joint' if it went back to court? I always thought the courts were more apt to give a BM custody - at least in the past. I assume his children w/ his wife are very young - about a 2 y.o. and an infant, so I doubt she was taking the cell away so the others wouldn't be jealous. I think she is trying to prevent communication and could be damaging him emotionally if he isn't told just how often mommy is calling to speak to him. Look into the above suggestion about dr. appt. and a mother taking him over the sm. Is she unable to be rationalized with? What about your ex? What is the reason you got the short end of the deal in 'joint' back when it happened? The silver lining is that the SM is concerned and seems to love him but it's in an all too possessive way at your expense. What is your take? Is she jealous you and your ex have a past? Did you ever have words w/ her? Is she very young and immature? Do you think she loves your son or is just controlling. Elaborate if you can. I still don't see why he isn't one week w/ you, one w/ them... Dana