#3 son is a cute kid....I raised him like that. He has a step-son by his first wife, who died a few years ago, 3 of his own kids, and 3 step children by his second wife. The first step-son asked if he could stay with #3 after his mother died as he liked him more than his own dad. He helped a lot raising the 3 little ones. When the second wife and her 3 came along, everyone just seemed to mesh together well. It has really become a good lesson in how kids can get along. But my house is toooooo small for family get-togethers because they usually bring two or three friends too. First step-son is now married, has a step-daughter and is expecting his first child. If anyone wants to help sort out the relationships among this bunch, be my guest. I gave up. They get along and we are proud as punch with all of them.

Never fear the box is Here :))) & oh what a very nice box worth waiting for :))) LOOKIE SEE WHAT I Got > kym sent me this wonderful FROG To Guard my plants he's so cute going to call him MR PEEPER"S :))) He was guardening all these other goodies through their travel , a hanging gardening plaque "Heavy " box of very nice stationary & Plant trade journal book, pair of gardening gloves , 3 pks of nice Herbs pennyroyal ,Marjoram, & fennel best of all I have a NEW BULB PLANTER :)) I broke mine last fall trying to plant the 200 bulbs I had : ) & now i have 50 plant sticks to hold up some of my drooping plants in pots ,HEHEHE You thought I was going to say pot plants didnt you :))) nope not here :) kym i love all the thought you put into the box very nice & If you get to feeling better & feel that you might like to join our group please contact maryann for our guidelines & info sheets . very nice swap carol you can put it to bed ;))) . susie

(that decoupaged desk is dreamy. literally so-was my dream to do something like that one day so is penny's super elegant sofa, cawaps' art(i'm especially in love with black and white), Sue's chair and green tables, palimpsest's mind blowing finds, aktillery's hood(had no idea it's handmade!!), Lynn's rooms,Kitch3me's room, arcy's kitchen, sabbath's drapes, nosoccermom's buffet..I can go on and on I'm just afraid to miss someone..) patty it's pink:) I'll need to think of a flower or something to describe it better. not red, not coral...not blush pink though or baby pink either. not hot pink. maybe I'll find a decent image somewhere. I collect colors(again, Pinterest), maybe will give me a clue of what to compare it to. I'd like it..I love expanding my vocabulary on colors

Crisco (solid shortening) in the can is supposed to perform differently than oil when used in baking. Oil is used in cakes but seldom will you see it in other baked goods. Cookies baked with shortening,butter or margarine will spread differently, sometimes brown differently and have a different "crumb" or tenderness from one another. Same for pie crust. The old cookies that called for shortening instead of butter did so for a reason. It was not just because shortening was less expensive. Grandma's recipes will be OK with butter but they will be different, especially in mouth feel. But with the removal of trans fat from Crisco and the like this has all changed. It is simply not possible to make a good non greasy and heat stable buttercream without trans fats at this time. A lot of bakers are working on a solution. But so far nothing perfors like a good trans fat laden hi ratio shortening. Trans fats both in the shortening and the fudge base kept it from slippage, weepage and that awful greasy mouth feel that gives cheap buttercream such a bad name. You can make good tasting buttercream but forget picnics. No more outdoor cakes in warm weather. I have stopped decorating cakes for this reason. Only cakes that can be kept chilled or in air conditioned rooms do I now do for family. DD feels the same. May as well buy a Costco cake which are actually not bad for what they are. Pastry Pride/Bettercreme (sort of like a fancied up cool whip product that can be flavored) is used by many bakers these days. If you look around you will see not many stores have buttercream cakes and cupcakes left out of the cooler. If you find them they are nasty in texture and flavor. True margarine has been hard to find for years. They have added so much water to it it has to be called spread.