I did get payment from the party in MD today - much appreciated payment but not happy with lack of response on her part until this thread came up. The other party promises payment which is yet to be seen. For the sake of not cluttering up this forum with my issues on this situation, let's just let this thread die peacefully. I know now who I can trust and who I can't and who my friends are. Thank you my friends for all your support! My wishes for each and everyone---beautiful fragrant blooms this year and in the fall I will share some great goodies with you.

enigmamachine, I am giving Willis Orchard the benefit of the doubt. I'm giving the trees at least till the end of next summer to decide what I want to do with them.Only then I will know for sure if they've sent me what I ordered. Though, Of the five or six trees I ordered from them last summer ( can't remember, But they're labeled )and even before I registered with both forums. An amateur like myself noticed all but one tree had the same leaves! That's when I had my vibes about them. But like I said, Until the end of next summer I won't know for sure. Till then, I will reserve my comments on Willis Orchard. That should be a fair thing to do. As for giving you anything,I don't have a problem with that but I wish you would have asked a little sooner. Just gave away some cuttings and now I'm at the point to where I can't cut anymore. But I will keep you in mind. These things seem to pop up from time to time. Rafed

Karen, I got a chance to see the video and read the article a couple of days ago and just now saw your family photo album. What a beautiful family you all are! Each picture shows the love in eveyone's eyes. It's obvious you did a great job raising your children. Jason is such an inspiration to anyone who sees his video. He and Suzie show all of us what marriage truly is. The hard times that Alfred and I are going through now have brought us so much closer together. His accident makes me treasure him even more and I thank God for letting me keep him a little longer. We are blessed. Betty

Is she your only child? First, take a deep breath & realize that she is 18... immature and like a lot of young people, feels ENTITLED. I used to think it was the parenting that created thsse entitled children but the more kids I see out there, having an attitude of "deserving" what parents had to work hard for... I am beginning to think it is a societal epidemic. (not to say parenting did not contribute to it, but let's be honest.... how many of us would have gotten spanked or worse if we did some of the things kids today get away with? I would never have talked back to my parents... not so much for fear of being beaten but becasue I knew it was WRONG. Of course, I never tried it so can't say with 100% accuracy if they wouldn't have spanked me. I never wanted to find out. Kids today push the envelope & have been told how to report it to the police or CPS if they are ever put in fear of bodily harm.) Anyway, one solution is to stop buying her groceries. I may be too blunt here, but if you tolerate a half hour of her demeaning you and telling you what an idiot you are, then I would have to say that she may be right about one thing, that you are somewhat to blame for what's gone wrong in her life. Now, before you take that the wrong way, let me explain what I mean. Sometimes, we as parents want more for our children than we had...we want them to suffer less, have more, do better in life. In the process, we "protect" them from failure and disappointment which is something they MUST experience to appreciate achievement, which is what makes them feel good about themselves. Society has stepped in and in some ways, taken that away from children by giving every kid on a team a trophy or not keeping score because the losers might feel bad about losing. I hear people say that young people shouldn't have to work full time AND go to school/college and that education is more important than work experience. Of course, I disagree but that's another subject for another day. My point is, if you are providing food, paying all the bills & tolerating her barage of insults... then THAT might be part of the problem. Stop providing them.. give her nothing. Hand her a bill for her half of the bills that she uses... utilities, cable, phone, etc. Calmly tell her that if she wants to be treated like an adult, the first thing she needs to do is start behaving like an adult and that means to provide for herself. That's a tough stance to take and in most cases with an 18 year old, I wouldn't suggest being so harsh but any 18 year old that feels it's okay to treat her mother (that is still supporting her) like that... well, it tends to make me believe she has treated you poorly for a long time and you accepted it for whatever reason. She wouldn't treat you this way if you don't tolerate it. If you are being abused (and verbal abuse is still abuse) and you live there & work there, you can get her out by filing a restraining order to have her removed. That is a bit extreme but if you leave, she will not pay the bills and the house will be lost. If she leaves (even through a restraining order) and is half owner of the house, you can refinance and buy her out of her half. Before you do something like that, check with the laws in your state or consult an attorney. That's just my opinion based on the info available.