Ours was utterly quiet, although not unpleasant :). Both kids were off doing their own NYE celebration so the house was nice and calm. We ate dinner, chatted, then he went to sleep early and I read for awhile. Boring? Maybe but also a moment to cherish being secure in our lives and with so much for which to be grateful. Actually, our New Year's reminds me of the lyrics to one of my favorite Carly Simon songs, Misfit: There are plenty of late nights If you want to stay up for them You'll just want to find yourself a friend And tie a couple on in a night spot Draw pictures of your soul, win the jackpot Pour tears in your beer It's hip to be miserable when you're young and intellectual In a bit you'll admit you're a misfit Come on home with me We'll turn on the TV About 10 o'clock we'll turn off the light Not every man was born to stay up late at night There are plenty of boats to catch If you notice all the sails in the wind But you better look hard my friend In case you catch a ride on the wrong one In the distance is the one you belong on Oh the water is wide It's hip to be miserable when you're young and intellectual In a bit you'll admit you're a misfit Come on home with me We'll sit under a tree And if you get the itch I'll supply the scratch Not every man was born with a boat to catch It's hip to be miserable when you are young and intellectual In a bit you'll admit you're a misfit A misfit

Hi again Sue, I give much more than that amount annually to various social, medical, educational, international and religious charities. If I took the proceeds of the stock certificate in cash, then paid tax on half of the capital gain, that'd be tax that I'd be paying that I can avoid by giving the stock certificate directly to a charity. So there'd be less after-tax money to contribute directly by cheque than by contributing the stock certificate and avoiding the income tax entirely. Sorry that I didn't make that clear in the first place. There's another benefit that has been instituted in recent years - our first $200.00 of charitable contribution is deducted at our regular tax rate, but above that, we can deduct at the top tax rate, even though, as I'm a low- to middle-income earner, my tax rate on my top dollar earned is much lower. "My" money, as my life, isn't just "mine" - I have to answer to God, to a certain extent, for the way it's used. That loyalty, sort of like my loyalty to my father, is not of the "big stick" kind, but the compulsion that one feels in relating to one who exemplifies integrity, and love, as my father did (but I don't think that he ever told me that he loved me). My Mom was hospitalized when I was six or seven, and died when I was 13 (I took the message), and I asked Dad once whether he felt that he'd sort of put some of his emotional self into cold storage, and he said that he didn't think so - but I'm not so sure. Good wishes for skillful management of your income and assets, Talley Sue- and everyone. ole joyful

Hello.... I got my Plumeria cutting over 4 years ago and whilst the first couple of years the summers had it quite "bushy" with plenty of leaves the last few years have seen the plant grow taller but nowadays it only gets it's leaves at the very top. Is this a common challenge with obvious causes? It is only outside in the summer when properly warm as located in Sweden. The rest of the year it is in a warm North facing window and the same pot. Thanks..

Thanks Mike, I'm actually asking for a friend whose a/c and heating system are being replace due to a repair that needed to be done on the a/c and it is a really old system, they are opting to go ahead and replace it all since the repair would have been a couple thousand dollars. I am asking for her and they didn't even know there was any such thing as a tax credit. So I will tell her that they can probably qualify for one and to look into it to make sure she doesn't lose out on it. It's very expensive to replace the existing system...like heart attack expensive. HAHA!