I got a funny Birthday card from Dan and in it were seeds of Cosmo"Diablo","Toto" Rudbeckia,alyssum'Carpet Of Snow',mixed balsam,MG"Kniolas Black","Blue Star" Columbine & Double Feverfew! Thank you, dan! The card is great and I love all the seeds! I feel so special! :) Theresa

Hi all, I just wanted to update on SD's birthday party. It was today and it was GREAT. After telling SD that BM told us she was going to do something with her on a different weekend, SD hadn't asked again about her mom or sister coming to her party. Her mom, of course, didn't call her at all this week and called her on Saturday (her real birthday) and talked for about five minutes. She actually cut off SD when she was telling her something and said she had to go. (her boyfriend's kids had a baseball game so that might be why. Then, her sister called her in the evening while we were out to dinner. Then, today was her party and just about an hour before it ended, BM's mother drove up with SD's sister. We were cutting the cake and my MIL asked her to come sit down. She told her, 'no, we just came to drop of a present. We weren't invited so we can't stay.' We gave SD's sister a piece of cake but grandma declined taking a piece. Then they left. A while later, SD told me she gave her sister a ring pop and I asked her why she didn't stay. SD said, 'I thought she wasn't allowed' and I told her 'who said? It's your party and they could have stayed.' SD looked puzzled and said 'oh' and wasn't fazed. She had a great time and said that her friends told her it was the best party they'd ever been to. SD had a wonderful time and she's so happy. (I also have to add, that BM's mother drove an hour each way to drop off her present. She brought her a bouquet of tulips and a Toy's R Us gift card) and I just wanted to add a picture of her cake. I spent two and a half days baking & decorating it myself...

So, are you going to let BM's anger stop or derail your plans with the kids? As long as it works for her to get angry and stop you from your plans, she will get angry ANY time you want to do something. DH & I got season passes to Six Flags. We took SD to discovery Kingdom last weekend. SD was SOOOO excited because she had never been there before. She told BM and her sister. Her sister actually tried to convince her that she had been there before. We were in the car and SD wanted to call her sister and said, "no I haven't."... "oh, I did?" and when she got off the phone, she said started telling us all the stuff she did the last time she was there. It's some sort of demented mentality where someone is SO insecure that they have to be the FIRST to do something. I don't mean to offend anyone, but when my kids were little.. all their 'firsts' were a big deal to me. I worked and was always worried I would miss a 'first' and really, it was a silly thing to worry about. Of course, my answer was to tell my babysitter that I didn't want to be told about any of my kids' firsts. I wanted to experience it for the first time when I was home... and I didn't want to know it was the fifth time he said mama, to me it was his first time. So, I can understand wanting to experience those firsts.... but when you are in a two household situation, there is no way to avoid missing something when your kids are with the other parent, especially when the kid is running between homes playing it. I'd be tempted to tell the kids... sorry, we can't plan anything because you run to tell your mom and she gets angry.. and if they are over 6-7, they know it makes her angry. But, then I'd also be tempted to tell BM... sorry, we have plans and we aren't canceling them. If you have been planning to do this with them, go ahead. They are entitled to have fun at both homes.

Hi everyone ... if there may have been rumours of my demise, let me assure you that they were wildly exaggerated! I've made some major posts over on Saving and Finance. Covering and picking tomatoes and finishing with the garden. Cleaning and putting away the coverings that I used for the tomatoes. Pitching a number of tomatoes that won't ripen. Does anyone want some sprouted radishes? I think that I have hundreds of little seedlings that have come up after a number of the plants that grew in the spring went to seed: hundreds of pods. I plan to ask a fellow gardener who asked for some radish seeds tomorrow whether he'd like some sprouts to see whether he can bring the radishes to maturity in his house this fall, I plan to bring some in here, and think that I'll cover some of the ones in the garden with bales of straw, to see whether we can keep them surviving in the ground over winter. We had a federal election (with only about 6 weeks of electioneering - can you believe that?) ... not much change from before. So, about 30 million for ... minimal result. I had a substantial dispute with a local Member of Parliament in his campaign office a few days before the election ... about some generous tax benefits to rich guys ... but nuthin fer the rest of us. I said that an announcement that his boss The Prime Minister had made had rubbed salt into what had been an open wound of mine for years. He figures that I should pay taxes on my wages, pension, etc. ... but when his asset grows (doubles, maybe) he shouldn't have to pay tax on the extra income. As an owner of a Wendys, he seems to feel that the little gals who work there for minimum wage (plus a few cents an hour, maybe, if they're lucky), should pay tax on that income. But when the owner of the shop who paid, possibly a million for it ... ... later sells it for 2.5 million ... ... that there should be no tax on the increase (that's his opinion: the law doesn't say that [yet]). I don't suppose he'd be too interested in sharing some of the gain with the hard-working staff who'd helped him build the business. No room here for a full discussion of the systems that caused my open wounds ... but the salt that his boss offered was his plan to pay $750.00 to folks buying their first home, to help them pay closing costs. I said that if someone can't cover closing costs, and have some money for a down payment, as well ... ... that they have no business buying a home ... that they may well end up losing it. I said that it was such an approach to buying houses that triggered the avalanche of financial troubles that has bedevilled the U.S. financial system in the past year and a half - do they want to set such similar troubles in motion here?? But there are many more restrictions here to deter such possible troubles developing. My problems dealt with the exemption from income tax that owners of owner-occupied homes enjoy when selling ... but there's no parallel benefit for people who don't own their homes. A limited number of people (farmers and owners of small businesses) have recently enjoyed a major increase in what was a pretty generous exemption from capital gains tax when they sold their business ... but there was no similar exemption from capital gains tax from others of us who may have built them up. I'll be happy to provide more details to any Canadians who'd like to learn them - just contact me. U.S. folks are welcome, as well, but it'd be of minimal interest to most of you, I think. Some lunches and various activities at church, including "Commitment Sunday". Helping a friend get her computer email working better. I hope that you're all learning some interesting things and enjoying your week. ole joyful