HI, thought I would introduce myself. I'm Maureen, 44 (will be 45 on Thursday :-) . I have a 12 yr old son Michael whom I live for, and my dog Lucky - a 3 yr old black lab who is my very best buddy in the world. I also have a crazy cat named Tiger and a russian tortoise named Spikes. I love gardening, roses, daylilys, plumeria, clematis and african violets. I'm going through a rough time in my life right now, my husband just told me 2 wks ago that he is not happy and left. He is getting on with his life so I guess eventually there will be a divorce. It broke my heart but with friends and family prayers and support I'm doing better today than I was 2 wks ago. If any of you pray, if you would pray for me and my son I would be so very grateful. I work f/t for a Union and have been there for 10 years. It is strictly a financial thing---i'm not really a "career lady" - just need to pay the mortgage and have a home for me and my son Michael. I come from a large family, have 4 sisters and 1 brother. Mom and Dad are divorced for 10 years now and live locally. Dad is remarried, Mom's single. I'm close with my Mom, she is a gardener too. We go for walks together, shop together and work out at the gym too. I'll go see if I can find some pics to post so you can see me and my son and pets. Nice to read about everyone here, look forward to getting friendly with you all. Maureen p.s. I started with daylilys last year, and ended the season with about 80 named varieties. I've purchased another 15 from Maryott's this week and am sure when I get some money for my birthday next week I'll have more I want to order. I bought most of my daylilys from Flynn's daylily garden. Ida is a great lady and her daylilys are awesome. And I traded for some of my daylilys. This summer I will get to see most of them bloom -- can't wait.

"So do any of you keep a Book Journal to remember what books you have read? I'm trying to think of some format to write down all the ones I've read and maybe a list of ones that sound good (To Be Read). I get such great ideas from this thread." I don't have a system as elaborate as Maryann's, but since 1999, I've get a list by year in a Word document of every book I've read and the author. It's fun to go back and look at how many or how few books I read each year. Last year was a record high since I started keeping my list - I read 50 books. I'm sure to some that's not many but it was for me. I looooove to read. I have a friend who is a voracious reader - she's in her 50's and has arthritis pretty bad and doesn't work so reading is her favorite thing to do. We had dinner together a few months ago and she said she remembers as a kid taking her wagon to the library and carting books home. She said her parents were always fussing at her to get her nose out the book and go outside and play. Neither one of my kids read for pleasure - I wish they did - you're able to visit so many places that you might not ever get to see in person if you enjoy reading.

Sharon (canarybird), my inlaws met on Majorca. Ironically neither of them is from Spain. LOL She was a Dutch stewardess with KLM and he was an American physician traveling around Europe. So romantic (gagging sounds). LOL I have been here on and off for 8 1/2 years now! I think I was first directed here from a search about philodendrons, hence my user name. Then I slowly meandered to the cooking forum. I check in from time to time - something got me thinking about the group yesterday and I decided to log on. :) I have three wonderful children, ages nearly 6 (in two days!), 3, and 8 months. I am married to a teacher of economics and history and we live on the campus of a boys' boarding school in New York state, not that far from Stacy3. In my spare time LOL I love to sew, read, cook, and blog. I have a private blog for friends and family to keep up with the kids, and it's been a blast to keep it up in various forms since David was a mere tot. I have another blog that talks mostly about motherhood, childbirth and pregnancy called The Deranged Housewife, of which our very own Netla was gracious enough to "follow," putting me on the map that is Google Search. (Thank you, Netla!) (A native of Iceland, she has a wonderful blog with photos too, that I often look at ...just a quick plug there...LOL) I am a freelance writer/editor/sort of graphic designer and work from home when I can get assignments. Most of my work now is volunteering my graphic design "skills" (I use that term lightly sometimes LOL) for my son's school. I enjoy cooking not so much for the meal preparation but I love feeding people. I consider it such a wonderful blessing to have family or guests around my table to cook for. I overheard a woman at the store the other day talking about how she's going on a Mexican vacation over Christmas and is excited to not have to cook. I thought, you can keep your vacation because I'd rather cook for my friends and family! And now I must stop blathering on in order to prevent my infant son from eating the Persian rug...excuse me.

M3D, In past years, I've made an envelope from patterned paper for the checks, but this year I had the idea to make a stocking. The backside of the 'stocking' is white card stock. I used double stick tape around the edge to adhere the patterned paper and the card stock together. The cuff is also attached with double stick tape. The initial was cut on my Cricut cutting machine. I used a small hole punch near the top of the stocking and they're hanging from a small wire brad I nailed into a piece of quarter round.