The more I read on here, the better I feel. I grew up with no grandparents, they all died when I was little. My kids grew up with only one set of grandparents because my dad and their dad's dad were far away and didn't care too much. My mom and dad lived about 4 hours away. We saw her every Christmas and sometimes in between when I could afford to go visit her. So my kids didn't get to see them too often, but we had good times when we did. Did it bother me that my mom didn't come to visit me? Yes, but I never cut her off for not being the perfect mom or grandma. But I vowed I would do better. I have 4 daughters, and when I got my first granddaughter, I still had a 5 year old and 11 yr old, and 17 yr old. By the time I had my next two grandsons, I still had two daughters at home. It was like having more kids, especially since they all lived with me when in financial crisis, when going through a divorce, etc. I remember my daughter telling me it was my job as a grandmother to babysit the kids and I should want to, and besides, I had nothing else to do anyways. She was dating online at the time and I finally said no more. I would babysit for her, but not every weekend while she was going out with a new guy each time. Now back to the present where she has cut me out of her life......when she was throwing all the stuff about me being selfish and not spending enough time with the boys, I asked her why she never invited me over her house to visit.... bbq or play cards (I had mentioned it to her more than once) and her only excuse was she couldn't afford to bbq because her bf wasn't working enough. When I asked her why she never came over when I invited her and boys to go swimming.....well, she ignored that one. Two weeks before she posted about me on fb, I finally got them to come swimming, but she brought this new friend of hers and her kids with her and spent the whole time talking to her, so I think that was the only reason she finally came. One week before she posted the fb post about me, I had emailed her from work asking if they wanted to go to a baseball game cause my work offered me free tickets. I thought the boys would enjoy it. She refused. Two days before the post, I had emailed her because I knew her birthday was coming up and I offered to babysit the boys (including her bf's son) so they could go do something special and she said no thank you and don't ask why. I thought at the time it was cause she was mad at her bf. And then I get the post about being such a bad grandma-so I truly was it total shock. I had to stay home two day from work I was so upset. I just don't understand.....if it all really mattered to her, why doesn't she want to make it work when it's offered? Instead she says no, I don't care, I don't miss you, the boys are losing much, and I'm embarrassed to call any of you family. That was also even after two of her sisters said sorry for not visiting more (even though they live far away)

Re the question about pit bulls and rottweilers: Watch Animal Cops and Animal Precinct on the Animal Planet channel. The majority of dogs taken in because of owners not being to handle them are pits, with rotties second. The majority of dogs that the SPCAs on those shows have to euthanize are again, pits and rotties. Someone may be able to mention a collie or beagle that turned vicious and attacked, but it would be extremely unusual. Pit bull breeding is out of control - these dogs are sought for their aggressive behavior. I don't know if the same is true for rottweilers, but you couldn't pay me to have this breed around children or the elderly for any reason. Dogs are by nature aggressive and territorial. No amount of training can get rid of this instinct. It may never appear in overt behavior, but it's always there. I would never bring my children to a home with untrustworthy dogs, not even that of my parents. I would also not leave an older child alone with a dog unless that child had proven that he was the alpha creature in that relationship and was used to handling the dog. Here in California pit bulls have made virtually all the attacks reported over the past several years. That is, with the exception of the two presa canarios who killed a thirty-year old woman in San Francisco a few years ago.

My vote is for the entryway. While symmetry is often most pleasing on the eye, it is not always possible (and if overdone can be downright boring). You can make up for a lack of symmetry with a sense of balance. The most important thing is that it flow in the room and is anchored by other elements in the room. Perhaps you can center it relative to the wall closet opposite? Which gives it is sense of purpose so that these two areas become your organization/storage for indoor/outdoor items, mail, etc. One of the side shelves could even be a purse/briefcase (or later diaperbag) repository. I recommend the mirror and lamps similar to mine. The mirror serves not only as decor, but function so you can make a last minute check on appearance before heading out the door. Didn't you have a mantle clock? If so, that'd work well in the center, probably better than my pitcher given the proposed location. If you put decor on the top you will be less inclined to clutter it up--esp. if you designate one of the drawers for "clutter". It works with the spindle table in the room, but in this case I would not put a mirror above the spindle table, instead some artwork would look nice there, or perhaps a chair where someone could sit and put on their shoes. Perhaps even revist the idea of angling the spindle table so that everything is not linear. My take is a bit different than teacats in that I prefer not only woods to match or be very similar within a room, but the style as well. Your style seems similar to mine in that you have a mix of transitional and antique going on. Do you have a family room also? If not, then it would be a good thing to have a few bare spots in the LR to keep the future baby's playthings. I can see it working well as a salon piece also, but would be concerned the finish would get damaged by all the hair care products, scissors, etc. unless you were to get a glass top made for it.

to answer: Son and daughter relationship is the best one she has here. They have a nice thing together, he is very giving of his time, He is patient and kind with his discipline, and doesnt treat her like a baby. When her mom is not around she loves to be with him, they always have a science project in the works. When mom is here, she sort of tattles on any thing she can, to make him look bad. He knows its just jealousy, and doesnt give it much attention most of the time. He patiently tries to get her to see how it isnt a cool thing to do. So yes, it looks like there are issues with son, but I don't think that is the problem at all. I am going to sound crazy, but I think every thing she does is in an effort to control her mom. She needs more attention from her, son has tried to make mom accept it, I have stayed out of that. And to be honest, she is so damn difficult, it is tough to judge the mom too much. When nother does give her time, much of it is spent arguing and whining and throwing fits to get things or go places. If she learns she gets to go to a fair or shopping the next day, she spends every minute trying to get everyone to give her money or something new to wear, and getting to go to every other fun place she can come up with, when the day comes for the fair, theres no way the outing measures up to all she tried to manipulate, and every one has a crappy time. They have come home with her crying over a not getting her way every single time, I swear this. It's just an awful ritual. And, tho I see areas where mom could do things different, as a potential mother in law, I strongly feel it is not my place to point them out. That whole thing is so fragile between women. She is in trouble with school for not completing homework, and at home for lying about doing it much of the school year. I have never seen any sign of friends. When she moved in here, I offered to let her invite someone over, picking them up, what ever it took, and told the mom the same, eventually they both said all her friends were away for the summer. My gut doesn't think so. The times I have seen her with a neighbor I was hoping would become a friend, she is controlling and gets mad enough to scream at her. She took this twice and we have not been able to get her here again. There are issues that explain her behavior, I am not sure of all of them, but the ones I feel are of concern, are things kids have always had to deal with. She needs more time with mom. My son has told the mom this lots of times. She makes at attempt for a while and it slips thru the cracks, a common thing in parenting. As for me talling her this, I strongly feel that the relationship between Mother and wife or gf is so fragile that I am not the one to give her alot of correction on her parenting. And I strongly believe, what ever the excuses are as to why this girl behaves this way, when she is in the real world, no one is going to give a rip as to why she is selfish, or steals, or critical and jealous. And when they refuse to be her friend she may not ever understand why. So, and please correct me here if I am wrong, but I hope that the belief the behavior is unaccceptable, and it doesn't matter why, is a workable theory. She has been given many chances to stop it all before the consiquences became unpleasant, she knows that, she never let up, it was always full steam ahead. I think she absolutely cannot stand to be given a rule even if its about a computer that doesnt belong to her, and she disobeys for the power of seeing if she can make you back down. She wants to control everything. Thats my gut feeling lol And I don't have a clue how to change it in her. Hope this answered things guys, I thank you, It's so nice to hear others ideas. And please know, I gotta being doing something wrong here, so telling me so or pointing out my own bad attitude or what ever you may see, will be taken as an effort to be helpful, I just want to fix this, if I have to see my own faults to do it, hey, no surprise lol thanks laurily Her life is she was raised by a very young single mother, who put herself thru dental assisting school and has managed to give them both a pretty descent life. She had a long term thing a year before my son met her. The girl has never mentioned this man or if she cared about him. My belief is that his absence gave her more time alone with her mom so she was great with it. The mom suffers guilt over working, and it's not warranted, her hours are no worse than any one else's, but going to daycare after school for an hour was a constant complaint, and she would tell every one she could how awful it was that her mom made her go. I belie