LOL! Tomato Freak, my whole gardening adventure started with tomatoes. I bought a little seed starter tray from Burpees, back in January, and some tomato seeds - three kinds: cherry, roma and Bloody Butchers. I started 72 plants! Can you believe it? 72 tomato plants! I didn't have anywhere to put them, when they grew too big for the seed starter tray, so my husband built me some boxes to use until we had the money to rent a tiller and get them in the ground. The money took too long in coming, but it came. We went to Home Depot, bought some landscaping bricks - the kind you build a wall with. We got enough for one row, 20 feet long and two feet deep. We also bought some "composted mulch" and rented the tiller. As we tilled our little garden, we mixed in the composted mulch. (Obviously, I didn't know the difference between compost and composted mulch.) My tomatoes were very tall and skinny and very root bound in their boxes. I had way too many for the little garden spot, so I gave a bunch to my son. He planted them and his dogs promptly killed them. I picked out the best of the bunch I had left and planted those. I think I had 15 plants by then. I watered them every day and gave them plenty of Miracle Gro, until I learned Miracle Gro doesn't help the soil. Remember, my soil was half mulch. Stopping the fertilizer was probably quite a shock to the plants. After several weeks, my tomato plants were out of control, but I only had a few tomatoes and if they didn't get blossom end rot, it was a miracle. I found out about bone meal. That ended the rot problem, but still my tomatoes were few and very tiny. The Bloody Butchers were as big as cherry tomatoes. The cherries were smaller than grapes and the romas... actually, now I think of it, I never could get them to quit rotting. Still, everyday, throughout the summer, I went out with my hose and sprayed. I ate what little tomatoes I could find during the process. It was very exciting. Somewhere, I learned about dirt and I realized composted mulch wasn't compost. Someone told me I might have better luck, if I put in tomato transplants. I found this site and read about Early Girl tomatoes being so good for the area. When the fall plants showed up in the nursery in August, I bought four Early Girls, a soaker hose, some top soil and some real compost. I dug up my entire tomato patch and started over. (I did keep four of the old plants, just to see what would happen. I'm down to two old plants and they don't look good.) I have three Early Girls left. Remember, I assassinated one last week, thinking it might be contagious? I also have four Anaheim chile plants, one jalapeno, a watermelon patch, a pumpkin patch, I had a canteloupe hill. I've got four roses, a vinca, a star flower, a Mexican pansy (from the garden party), three drumstick trees growing on my window sill. I just planted five royal poinsiana seeds, a clivia seed and five hyacinth bean seeds. (Those are from the garden party, too.) I have spearmint, sage, oregano, basil (out the ying-yang), and cilantro. I just started some lettuce, spinach and brocolli. I've built a wall for a raised bed out of rocks. I fertilized the grass and started feeding and watering my orange tree. (Which, of course, caused most of the oranges to split, as it's not used to being taken care of.) I know the names of everything growing in my yard. Oh, and this doesn't count the jasmine I fried and the begonia I choked. ALL of this, because I wanted some tomatoes! I will say, the tomatoes that are on the vine look BEAUTIFUL! But, this morning, when I had my breakdown over the top leaves, I thought to myself, if I could just get ONE, BIG RIPE TOMATO! That's all I want... and some chiles... and some lettuce... and brocolli... and...

boxerpups - such a sad situation for that young girl - and surely her sister too. it does sound like she is acting out and I do agree that you should contact the teacher. maybe someone can intervene with her. life is tuff enough for young people today and that girl has more than any one young person should have working against her. i don't think i'd go the court route (don't think you will either). in the end it could cause more trouble for your dd and your family than it's worth. i'm not saying the young girl isn't worth it or that we don't have the right to be upset when someone damages our property. but in the end, a fridge is a fridge and hopefully will be fixed w/o much expense. OTOH, I do think the young girl needs confronted about it. for her good! and i think it is something you could handle. holding someone to account is not mean, it is the more loving thing to do for them. short term upset for long term gain. it might not show in her in the near future, but it will be going around in her head that someone was more concerned about her future than a material thing. it sounds like she has been raised to think that things are more important than she is. until you decide how to fix the fridge door, i think i'd use it as a prayer reminder for that young girl. and a thank you for the blessings you and your family have in each other. and as for getting a new puppy after the loss of another very loved furbaby, my belief is that the best way to honor my precious gone to heaven furbaby is to find another furbaby in need of a loving home and lots of spoiling! i think that makes them very happy!

My thanks to all of you who posted comments, both good and bad. I can't begin to tell you how feedback about my florals opened my eyes, so I was able to change things for my next set of photos. I'd never think that removable "props" would turn someone off. I also have to say that you're taking it well and seem to appreciate the feedback. Those of us selling can now see our house through strangers eyes and what a potential buyer might think when seeing our house online. How the photos look will dictate whether they take the time to actually walk our houses. The last time our house was for sale we did not get any feedback, so I'm very thankful for this forum and hope that the feedback you got helps you. I noticed that the wallpaper in my home got some of the most frequent and critical remarks and it's left me wondering about something. Is wallpaper no longer in vogue in new or remodeled homes or is it that my particular wallpaper is not to the liking of most of you? I've walked a lot of new communities with model homes and can say that here they are still using wallpaper but not in all of the rooms. You might pick the nicest rooms to keep the wallpaper. I love the foyer wallpaper but not with the door color and not with the flooring. You might think to leave some of it up and paint other walls, using it as an accent. Back entrance wallpaper - I would take it down. Half bath - I like the wallpaper but not with the light fixture. Study - I've seen similar paper used in homes I've walked. Utility - dislike the walls - would sheet rock & paint 1st floor master - would paint 1st floor master bath - I like the paper but not for a room like this. I would paint and think about putting up beadboard 2nd floor master - while I like the top paper, I think it would look better painted. The wood on the door is much too dark. I'd also think about putting up a scarf on the windows, then opening the blinds for the photo. While I like pink, others do not :( Second floor vanity/dressing area - this paper you could get away with leaving. Bath 2, second floor - I would try to lighten this room up or leave the picture out. Living Room - I would paint this I also realize that the paneled family room is dated but my thoughts on that is to either paint the paneling a neutral color or rip off the paneling, put up sheetrock and then paint. I also want to install engineered wood flooring in that room and perhaps extend it in to the foyer where, I admit, the tile color is also dated. Another area of critical comments was due to my home having so much carpeting. Has carpeting also gone out of style or do I just have too many rooms with carpet? We just did this in the master bedroom. I would sheet rock. The carpet wouldn't bother me here. I'm one of the weird ones that actually likes carpet, especially for my bad back. Walking on wood floors kills me. BTW, the Saint Bernard that appeared in at least one photo and brought about a comment or two that some people wouldn't even consider buying a home where a dog had been passed away on June 10 much to my hurt. I'm in the process of cleaning up all traces of his presence here. That is, everywhere but in my heart! Very sorry for your loss. After 22 years, I still miss our German Shepherd.

Wow! This really takes the cake. It sounds as if the parents ran the entire show and the bride had little or no say in anything. I agree that the woman was startled and searching for something to say, as she was totally surprised that someone not invited would actually bring a gift. It is absolutely wrong and totally tacky to invite anyone to a shower without inviting them to the wedding. We had a similar experience with our recently married daughter's mother-in-law, who invited 170 people to the rehearsal dinner, nearly half of whom weren't invited to the wedding (we had "limited" her wedding invitations to 150!!!) Many of them were her husband's employees, most of whom had the good sense to decline to attend the rehearsal dinner, displaying better sense than she did. (She also had the nerve to have a gift table at the dinner!) I never ceased to be amazed at the bad taste exhibited by some people when it comes to weddings.