Gee, thanks, Lumpy! ;-) I'll be sure to keep all my cold weather gear handy! Honestly, I wouldn't have minded a decent snow cover this winter, which would have helped insulate the gardens, and we have tons of roses, but I would not be happy about a blizzard this late in the season! Although... it would sure beat the heck out of tornadoes, and we live awfully close to tornado alley, as we call it, where everything is flat... and occasionally, you can hear that freight train rumble off in the distance during a bad storm, indicating that one is touching down or swirling nearby. We've been really lucky so far, knock on wood. Mike, you have no idea how often I dream of living in the Caribbean, where the weather is warmer and more humid, and I can hear the surf hitting the beach... I know it would be a lot better for my body, considering, but the husband would never go for it... he hates hot weather and loves winter, and would never want to move that far away from the kids. So, the most I can ever hope for is a vacation someday! I wouldn't really want to move far from the kids, either, though... the grandkids are just way too great, and as grandparents, it's now payback time! ;-) But seriously... Mike, those are some awesome plants! I'm so glad you shared them! They really brightened my morning! I was thinking of taking my few orchids out to the greenhouse this spring, once weather allows, and see if I can get them into better shape. They're doing ok, but it's just so dry up here, and I haven't had time yet to isolate them into a little plastic cover to help with humidity. I've been busy putting a business plan together, and getting inventory done, and a lot of other stuff, so my plants get a bit neglected. The one thing I am religious about is taking my vitamins and doing the protein thing every morning. I'm starting to feel a little better already! Gosh, how great would that be to have so many thriving orchids of different kinds growing around you that you actually thought of them as weeds! Oh, would I be in heaven! :-) Your skills show up every time you post a picture, Mike... you're doing fine... better than fine! You're doing great! Your plants always look so healthy, and so happy! Don't over guess yourself... you'll drive yourself nuts. You've got the fundamentals down, you know the science, the physics, and it just comes down to learning what each type of plant you have requires, culturally speaking. If you're unsure a plant needs watering, wait a day. I don't have the luxury of chasing the sun... I have 3 windows indoors... east, south, and north. The east window is loaded with plants. I keep some in the south window, but it's in a stairwell and partially blocked by large sycamore trees. I also keep a few plants in the north window, and believe it or not, they do ok. They're mostly Amaryllids, and one Ponytail Palm. I have to bring in anything that can't tolerate freezing, because we cannot afford to heat the greenhouse. It's too exposed in location. It would cost a small fortune. So... anything that does come in for winter gets jammed in with everything else, or propped up on shelves as close to the windows as I can get. I do have supplemental lighting, just a couple of shop type fixtures with one cool and one warm bulb in each, but they don't really do that much. Even so, any help is better than none. I must say, though... yes, I was highly surprised! I'm just drooling over those white flowers, Dens, I'm guessing... and the "coconut" orchid is definitely one I'm trying this spring. I'm saving up to make a stop at Oak Hill Gardens next time we go north to visit the kids... I need some bark, and of course I'll have to walk around the greenhouses... and in the process, I'm certain that a few small starter plants will beg me to take them home, and how can you say "no" to such cute little things, I ask ya? :-) I was told at one point that a Bl or Bc (can't remember which) "Yellowbird" would do rather well in my home conditions, so I've got that one in mind, too. When I see something I think matches to the environment I have, I write it down. The list is growing! Again, Mike, thank you for sharing those pictures... I bow to your growing skills... you're really doing an excellent job. Honestly, everything is just beautiful! Well... I need some rest... it's been a very long day for me. Lumpy, nice to make your acquaintance, and please... try to keep that blizzard on lock down for now! ;-) As for everyone else, have a lovely evening, and Happy Growing! And, as always, my best to you and Mom, Mike! :-)

As one who grew up with many cousins, and just having my kids together with their cousins, my first thought after reading your post was "You didn't really see what happened." Not that I am defending one child or the other, I am just observing that you weren't there. I don't think it is fair to say one was right and the other was wrong when all you have is he said/she said. So I think they should have been dealt with separately for their separate actions with no refereeing to see who was in the right, that's an impossible call. If they were siblings and both mine, I would have disciplined them both in a mild way, making them come sit quietly with the adults for a while and have a chat about treating each other with respect. He was wrong to annoy/harrass her. He should know better than to annoy a smaller child. (Bet her learned a lesson though, natural consequences.) But she should learn to 1) control herself and 2)ask for an adult's help when your words don't help. In general, the other child's behavior cannot excuse your own. I tell my kids I don't care what the other did, you still make your own choices. Neither one of them made a good choice, but they should be treated as separate choices, not one as the result of the other. But, if the other child isn't mine, and his mother is there, I can't discipline him. I would probably have just separated them, had a chat with DD about what I expect her to do next time, give something quiet to do close to me and hope SIL followed suit. Maybe he started it, maybe she was defending herself. But she should learn rule #1, tell an adult. She should not in any way be made to think she did the right thing. In the grand scheme of things, I don't think the incident was that big of a deal that someone should really be severely punished. It will be one of many family stories that you laugh about over the years.

patty - it sounds like you have done similar renos to what we have done. We haven't listed our house yet, but will be soon due to a job transfer. We live in AZ, so needs are different here. Where I come from, carpet is very common in the FR/LR/DR and bedrooms. But in AZ, tile is the way to go, so we tiled our entire house, but carpeted the bedrooms. We had the entire inside painted, including the ceilings. Walls Dunn Edwards Inside Passage, Ceilings Swiss coffee. New custom window coverings and just had new light fixtures and faucets installed. I got the light fixtures on clearance at a tent sale for a big light store here. Beautiful, for not much money. They were normally $250, I got them for $30. THe difference is amazing. So in all, we changed the flooring, painted the walls, ceiling and kitchen cupboards, new window coverings, light fixtures (for very cheap, but they are far from cheap looking) and plumbing fixtures. We've had compliments galore on the transformation and our realtor expects us to not necessarily get all our money back, but because of the neutral colours and the freshness of the home, coupled with up to date features like light fixtures, our home will most likely sell faster at a better price. It's move in ready and that's what you want. We didn't want to over-renovate for our area either and we're finished. We're not doing anything else. Instead of replacing all the appliances, offer a home warranty which will give buyer's peace of mind if an appliance konks out. Don't go to the expense of appliances. And don't do granite counters either if your area and price range does not support it. I wanted to do countertops and our realtor said it would be a waste of money for our area.

Our issue was a bit different but still a bit similar. We sold a prior home a couple of years ago. We had the ability to move out prior to listing (didn't want to have to deal with showing, especially in light of our high maintenance pets). What we did was pretty the place up before we moved - we then took a ton of pictures while it was still furnished. We then moved out and listed the house using the pictures. But the house was empty when people came to see it. I am sure that there are reasons NOT to do this, but honestly, it worked great for us. Perhaps you could use the old pictures to help show people how it looked all prettied up?