I have two fairly new 26cc Homelite Mighty Weed Trimmers. Both have less then two (2) hours of running time on them. On one the pull string wont return, it wont start the engine. I tried rewinding the spring and the string at least 8 times and I still canÂt get this thing to work right. I am an automotive machinist of over 40 years I work with the smallest to the largest engines all day. I had several other Top Machinists in the shop take a look at it as well. The string wont return back to its original position after a load is applied to the engine. After the second pull it jams again. The only other option I can think of is to replace the starter pulley. But the trimmer is new right????? I paid $120.00 for the thing new, and spent about $400.00 in time trying to fix it. The other trimmer the muffler fell off after the third (3) usage

Corgis are so cute w/ their stumpy little legs! I've met several and they all seemed to be happy, laid back little dudes. Schnauzers are cute, but bossy little beasts! The clinic where I volunteered had one and her nickname was the 'general' b/c she would march herself all over the clinic all day long and bark at anything she thought was out of order! That was funny and cute. My SIL has one too, and her's bit me out of nowhere. Not funny or cute. Since then has bitten several other people, but they just don't have the heart to put it down. Completely irresponsible IMO, but they live out of state so I stay out of it. PJ is right, no matter what breed you get, sign up for classes and get the dog and YOURSELF and your kids trained w/ the dog. I think a lot of people adopt dogs who are already trained, but the new owners don't understand the signals or how to communicate commands to the dog, so it all falls apart rather quickly. One of my co-workers once told me how her big lab kept jumping up on her 9 yo daughter and that was making her little girl scared of dogs. So she wanted to get rid of the lab and get a smaller breed dog. I asked her if the lab had ever been to a training class. NO (of course not). I told her the smaller breed dog would still jump if it were not trained either, and she wouldn't be solving her problem as much as just trading one for another. I suggested signing up the lab and the daughter for training, so the girl could learn to control the dog. That would give her confidence and teach the dog to respect her. I hope they did that. I never heard back from her. Good luck w/ your search. It's hard looking w/ a rescue group when you're on the outskirts of everything. Have you checked to see if your immediate county has a shelter? A lot of smaller towns and counties have a tiny little shelter...ususally completely unheard of and anything that ends up there doesn't have much hope of finding a home.

I didn't want to type a lot, and not have the picture work, so this is my PS: Jeanne, I wish I had asked for help sooner. It was so easy. (I used your link) And I love your tree. Not to be a downer, but three years ago today we lost our beautiful 17 year old niece. She was "my" little girl, and spent a lot of the summer here. Anyway, Christmas hasn't been the same, but I still have my "children," (17 and 20 years) and I can't ignore this time of year. So we changed it up. I thought my boys would hate it ... but they don't. They actually like it. My dh? Not so much. Oh well. The link is to the catalog, with the unadorned tree. Here is a link that might be useful: The anadorned catalog version

snookums, I've been following your thread with some interest. My dh is a senior exec, was in the telecomm area, has been laid off numerous times due to the nature of the business, and we live in an expensive area. I'm sorry your situation is causing you such great anxiety. I do understand your almost "desparate" feelings. You do, however, have a lot of choices - even though you might not see them. I might suggest that you and your husband see someone, a neutral third party, to help you sort out your situation and the decisions your need to make. A good fee for service financial planner/advisor? A career counselor? A couples psychologist? I'm not sure, really. I do know this -- it's hard to get a senior level job, these are not 9-5 jobs, they take months to find and often months to make a decision. Good thing is, you husband has a job now. Granted, he may need a different job, but it will do no good hoping for a substantial raise in his current situation, it's just not there. Meantime, what do you do to alleviate some financial stress? Got to get to work, girl!!!! Take some deep breaths and stop wringing your hands!!! That will get you nowhere. I agree with some of the above posters, no shame in working...I know you want to be a SAHM, but that dream may need to be put aside for now if you want your family to remain at your current level of need in terms of cash flow (not to mention savings). I am a mom, I stayed at home for 5 years, my dh has a vp level position and if we lived in a low cost area, I could do what I wanted -- I know where you are at!! I've been able to find an excellent part time job that accomadates my family. Fact of the matter is, your pet sitting business could bring in lots of income for you if you went about promoting your business and working daily...one of my neighbors does this (in my area of million dollar homes) and is so successful, her dh wants to quit his job to help her run her business...so could tutoring, aren't you a teacher? You could charge $60-75 an hour to teach reading, or whatever it is that you do. Start thinking positively, about what you do have -- including about $650K worth of equity in your house...you have talents and skills as well. Take advantage of what you do have!! No amount of wishing will get your husband a job that pays the tens of thousands a year more that it appears you need to stay in your current situation. Eventually, he will probably land that dream job, but it's not there now. You will get an ulcer and become depressed worrying about it. Now, I don't know you, and I feel funny telling you to pull yourself up by your bootstraps, but honestly, I've wanted to write this for a while now and am just doing it today. I certainly don't mean to be rude, it's just that I've been in your situation in a way. You and your dh need to make decisions and choices to elevate your family out of where you are. Good luck! Stay upbeat and determined. Anything is possible...jump in feet first and work like mad to make it all work! The thing about it is, if you don't like what you are doing, you have the power to change it. You really do.