Barb...both happy and sad....Happy he is moving forward with his life. Knowing he will go far as long as he stays focused on his studies, and learns to quit being so wasteful. Sad because he is moving on and we will be seeing very little of him in the next 4 years or so. We havent made any new life adventures yet. House needs some TLC. I suppose first we will get used to having a home with just us and the critters and go from there. Chell I used to be a dog and cat groomer. I loved it too. But my employer was a deedeedee. Never had the money to pay me each week and always "owed" me. And she never gave me my tips either.Then at the end of the year she reported more earnings for me than what I had really made.Fortunitly I kept records and proved my case and won, so make sure you don't let the same happen to you. I have kept my clippers, blades and accessories and still will do a neighbors dog or two once in awhile to keep my skills up.....but don't miss the hair stuck in places I did'nt know existed....lol. Love all the pictures the everyone post. Always enjoy seeing ya'lls babies. Regina

Shirley, what month is that Garden Gate magazine? I see all the Hostas on the front of it, gotta get me that issue:) Laura, WS is fairly simple, but I usually start in Febuary, be careful with Parks though, I have ordered from them and I am still waiting on my Lisianthus from them that I ordered a season ago, they sent the seeds right out, had to push on them before they would send any of the bulbs they was suppose to send, every time I called on the Lisianthus they told me it was still on back order, I finally gave up, I just got their newest catalouge and I see they are still selling that item, hmmm... giverny4me, birds are not hard at all the main thing to remember is you have to have a nesting box for them or they usually won't even lay eggs and if they do they won't sit on em, now mom had some finches and try as she could she could got them to hatch the eggs, she raised cockatiels, lovebirds, doves and parakeets, the cockatiels were her pride and joy though she had all different kinds of them, I had a blonde one from her and I thought that one was just georgeous thats funny on the empty box thing cause while I was wrapping everything I talked with DH about getting into my supply of boxes and wrapping them to make it look like we had a gigantic amount around the tree, plus I thought if someone broke into the house maybe we would get lucky and they would just make off with the empty boxes, lol!!! Kody already feels very bad about what he did, he told me if he was me he would probuably take everything back, he said he would be okay with just clothes, he feels everything very deeply and tries to spare everyones feelings, he sticks up for the younger kids as well, if a little tyke is getting picked on on the bus he usually puts a stop to it very quickly, he just has a way about him, that's why this really threw me for a loop, Coleton on the other hand... I should of thought about it before I put them out there, but with everything going on haven't been getting much sleep and my mind just isn't where it needs to be lol!! DH told me that he was pretty sure I never put the gifts out before Christmas eve since Coleton has been two, thinking he may be right. Going to put all the clothing gifts out and hide the goodies (most of Kodys are Game Cube games and acessories, Coletons are Vtec games and acessories and cars stuff) they can open the clothing stuff Christmas morning and we are going to act like that is everything, then after Christmas dinner I will pull the rest out, and I am going to leave the wrapping paper as is, so they can think about it as they finish unwrapping them. My mom bought my oldest a futon bunkbed for his room, so when he has his friends stay over they won't have to sleep on the floor, it is so neat! One thing about it they don't have a clue what the grandparents are getting them, and as they are the only grandchildren they really get spoiled, I have had to put my foot down, they don't get gifts except for birthdays and christmas (clothes and little stuff sometimes, but they were getting way out of hand) I was lucky to get a birthday gift when I was a kid and Christmas I could count on getting at least two gifts, didn't hurt me none, think I turned out okay (well I might be a little wacked, but it just enhances my personality) I think I will get a basket of goodies though, and I will take the kids with me to my Uncles nursing home and let them hand them out, what a excellent idea, I will have my mom call the nursing home and find out what is acceptable and how many residents they have, love that idea more and more!!! this is getting hard to load, took me 5 minutes this time, I was blaming it on my computer! michelle

We've had a Rhoomba for about 8 years - got him a year, or so, after they first came out. I LOVE him! The little bristles do okay in the corners if you use him frequently. Probably not so much if the floor hasn't been vac'd in a month. Ours has been used 3-4 times/week ever since he's been a member of our household. I'd love to have one that returns to his charger but since he's still working - well, you don't toss out a family member just 'cause they are a bit long in the tooth! :) dcarch, we've had no problems with the motors. We've had no problems of any sort. It takes a couple minutes to clean after each use but we've got it down to less than 3 minutes for maintenance. One thing we did have to do was replace our area rugs with the no fringe type but that was in need of doing anyway. Rhoomba does NOT like fringe. Sometimes he disappears & we have to go on a search/rescue mission but that has gotten better the longer we've had the little guy. Enjoy your new family member, John. :) /tricia

The Brewmatic is great! It connects to a receptacle behind it in the backsplash wall and is fed by a 1/4" line that runs in the wall and pokes out behind the unit as well. I ran the water line in a piece of 3/8" flexible electrical conduit that extends to the basement where I have the water filter. This provides protection to the water line as well as providing the means to replace it if needed in the future. I simply grouted around the water line as it comes through the tile and that seems to be working well. Extra cord and water line are coiled and tied and tucked up behind the unit.