You should post on the laundry forum - you'll get better responses there.

It's up to you to maintain the relationship that you have with your grandchildren. Not theirs, not even their parents. This one is all yours! It's never up to the child to be the one that has the up keep of the relationship! And elementary aged children don't have much experience with phone calling, letter writing or emailing to begin with! Email is still just letter writing, even if you don't need a stamp! Gee Whiz! You didn't mention how often you call the grands? How many letters do you send them a week? A month? Do you write to them? Kids love getting mail! It doesn't have to be much. A few lines, a joke or two, a funny picture thay you saw in a magazine maybe! Always signed with lots of XXXX and 000's! Maybe a good gift for your grandchildren would be a big box of letter writing and picture drawing supplies! Envelopes of all sizes and stamps too! You might also include a throw away camera for each child. Let them know that you will be responsible for developing them if they send them back to you! You could then do double prints, keep a set for yourself and have lots of things to "chat" about in your next few letters or phone calls! Maybe webcams would be a good investment too! Make sure that "you" stay in constant contact! Our family always did the Christmas list thing! I have 3 sisters and between the 4 of us we have 10 children and all of us live with in 8 miles of each other and our parents. It was always so much fun to go to my Mom's during the Christmas season and see 10 lists on her fridge! We always knew exactly what to get the nices and nephews!

Hi deb---09, It is so funny you brought this up! I lost my Momma in August 2008 and have missed her every second of every day she has been gone. I have a distant relative and her mother is in the last stages of cancer. Their relationship has been relatively decent and when on the last two occasions she has been to visit me, she has complained about how hard it is taking care of her mother and the stress it has had her under, etc. They are mean to one another at this time! Having been in her shoes I understand her frustrations but she commented to me the other day that it is driving her crazy and she just wishes she would go. At that very moment, I felt SO cheated! I would give everything I own to have a second of wiping my Momma's brow, stroking her forhead just one more time, getting her something.....anything!!! My advice to her was this......you may not see the joy in it now but try to remind yourself to value every second you may have with her because when she is gone your world will NEVER be the same again. Your days will not be as bright, time will take on a whole new meaning. Time with my Momma is one thing I can never have again.....I cannot buy it back with any amount of money I have or with anyone else's money. Take a good long look at your life and take stock of the people you value most and those are who you invest your time in. She taught me the most important things in life and I only wish I could share with her the latest lessons I learned from her. .....So I try to make her proud in the way I live now. I make sure the people I care about know it and I spend as much time with them as I can. Thanks Momma! Thank you all for allowing me to share with you one of the most amazing people I have ever known! Blessings to all.... Lisa

ccoombs1, as all of the above posters have said, you are not alone! DH and I have been going back and forth for months about wood or tile on the kitchen floor, we've decided wood for the past few months, DH installed the sheets of plywood on the kitchen floor to prep for wood floors...and now, after the cabinets and counters are installed, we've decided to go with tile! The primary paint color for the interior...well, let's just say I bought 13 different colors and tried them in different areas before I decided on a color! Then I went ahead and faux finished right over the color, so it changed the end color anyway...but I love it so I'm happy. :) I've gotten better about decision-making as things have progressed, thankfully. Call me crazy, but now I have this little designer voice that speaks to me and she's a big help in my decision-making! When I spotted my granite slabs, she told me in 2 minutes that these were IT. She helped me pick colors for all the other rooms and bathrooms in the house without having to order quart samples first. Hmmm...maybe as minac says, "she" is my coping mechanism? :p