Well, other winners here were pickled beets, it seems that no one cans them any more. We also got a ribbon for heirloom tomatoes, I canned the Great Whites all by themselves, so they were a lovely creamy color and attracted some attention. The rest were for baked goods, my 9 year old Princess is an avid baker and her 7 year old brother is an avid taster, LOL. Oh, and KatieC's Chipotle Catsup took a second and I love the stuff, I can't believe it didn't do better. So, if you can get the Judge's attention and make them remember your particular product, that helps. My nephew won a couple of years back with Root Beer Jelly. Yup. Oh, and LindaLou's Zucchini Candy won that year too. Hey, maybe RobinKate's Tomato Marmalade with white or yellow tomatoes and oranges and lemons. Or one of those recipes with pineapple and white/yellow tomatoes.... Annie This post was edited by annie1992 on Thu, Sep 5, 13 at 19:32

Thanks for the responses. We have a Win8 sitting on a shelf collecting dust for 2 years. Never use it anymore. We also have 4 XP's and a Win 7. I've used Win 7 (hubbys machine), but prefer XP. I don't know if I'm resistant to change, I like to think I'm not. But I think Win 8 is dumb and would take me a lot of time to navigate it. I've used it. Did not try classic shell. Hate all the icons and not finding the frequently used places hidden. I don't like the disappearing tool bars. I just think its dumb and regret ever buying it. I don't see any reason for MS to change things around which takes precious time to figure out. Things like Add/Remove, various other settings...it all takes time out of your life to play around when you have work to do. You can buy a new car, it might have added extras and new things which take time to learn. But, no matter what car it is, when you open the door, put the key in the ignition, move the transmission to D, it goes. You can drive around and worry about learning the 'extras' later. You can press on the gas pedal and it goes. To have to learn another operating system and where MS decided to hide things, call them by other names is ridiculous. Same with their Office Programs. They are expensive and complicated to use. Yet they change them around ever few weeks. Why? I do a lot of work on my computers. I don't like having to learn all over again when I have things to do. I didn't like Visa at all, but had to deal with it. I kept my XP because I had Office 07 and I could put together a bunch of letters and newsletter quickly. I gave Vista away and went back to XP exclusively. I wonder if Apple changes their Macs every 3 years? Have no idea but am getting tempted to take a look at their computers. That's my rant, sorry if I seem to be the only one who is very upset with Microsoft for all this nonsense. Jane

Hey 'ya Peg! Glad to hear Mom is up today. This is the first morning I awoke to a clean kitchen with no dishes from the night before in a long time. So, that will help my mood today. I was out of Dog Food this morning, so the dogs got a special treat of left over sausage from the night before last. I teased them with a spoon of Sauerkraut, the Boys turned up their noses. Would you believe that little stinker Pawlee actually liked it? I'm still seasonally Blue today, but I'm going to jump in the shower and go get my first professional Pedicure since October. I can't wait to get into that vibrating chair. LOL! I just might think about getting a fresh haircut. That might help a little bit. I've got lots of Dust Bunnies here, if you don't find enough at your house, I got some for ya. Have a Great Day! Gayle

Hi everyone. I am so touched by all of yours thoughtful comments and suggestions. You're like my invisible friends whom I can turned to during this difficult time in my life. I can't really share with anyone in my circle of friends/family at this stage since I want to protect my wife's just in case we are going to work things out. ( For those who want to correct my English and have bias, please take your comments elsewhere. It's not welcome here. The last thing I want to do now is to correct my English. I just type away hoping that it makes sense). So far I haven't taken any action. I just want to think it through carefully and consider all of my options. I am actually very upset but I want to give myself sometimes to cool down and to collect myself so that I can sit down and talk to her in a respectful manner so that I don't hurt her pride. It's amazing that there are so many thoughtful and observant contributors on this forum. Marco keenly identified that I am actually Asian. And yes that is how things work in our culture. Case and point: Her parents ask to meet me first and talk to me before they give the OK to take their daughter out for a coffee on our first date. Not like in our culture here where one doesn't meet the parents until both are serious about getting married. For those who replied and took the moral high ground of respecting privacy, trusting and all that. Give me a break. I am glad you happen to have good marriage and you never have to think about snooping around. Like 'Jenny alabama' & 'labmoma' said one will be curious to find out what's going on especially when your spouse is behaving cold/distant from you and constantly deny and often refuse to talk about the subject of the heart. I can't recall when was the last time she look me in the eyes lovingly. And as I said am a very passionate person. This is where I got an uneasy feeling but didn't confront her on the wedding day. I wanted to make it the happiest day of my life. This is where it hurt me second to the recent event. During the ceremony she didn't even look me in the eyes as she repeat after the pastor and exchange the ring with me. During the entire day she seem to be pre-occupied with thoughts and didn't seem to pay attention to me. Am I too sensitive of a man? I asked her about it later she told me that she was nervous planning for the rest of the day. My thinking was, what else could be more important than spending those precious moments with your spouse in front of God as a witness. And now I am thinking maybe she didn't want to look me in the eyes because she ashamed of facing God for making a decision not from the heart. Yes this is what I get for trusting too much and thinking that how can I go wrong with an educated catholic girl. Of course I respect others' privacy and I think I have placed enough faith in her for the past two years. We agreed that because of the long distance in order for our relationship to work it has to base entirely on trust. I even mentioned to her about the anonymous emails and have never question her. I didn't call around to check her out then knowing that I could very capable of doing that, since it's a small town and I do have relatives who live in the city. She came up the explanation that made sense to me at the time that it was co-worker jealousy. Right before she came over some of my relatives did give me some vague warnings that they just recently heard over the grapevines but they don't want to tell me everything because they don't want me to be unhappy or talk bad about my wife. It's hard to hear that your wife has been around the block. I do find comfort in reading 'bnicebkind's' reply. Yes she does miss home naturally from being apart from her parents and friends and adapting to a new way of life. I do my best to understand and comfort her. She talks to her sister who live in a different state on the daily and call her parent on weekly basis. I find that this might be what she is going through: "Bushduh, sometimes after marriage (and especially after a baby) a woman may start thinking about a past boyfriend, and become obsessed with the fantasy of "what if". It does not always mean that if she actually had the opportunity to be with him again, that she would really want him, but sometimes women fantasize about that person, building him up in her mind to more than he ever really was in real life. Perhaps he was more romantic or made her feel beautiful, or wanted/loved in a way that marriage and the reality of real life cannot measure up to. The "reality" of marriage, responsibility, laundry, and dirty dishes, make some women yearn for the carefree life of a single woman just wanting to be loved, and the romance and excitement of it all. Real life with all of its responsibilities of being a grown up intrude on the fantasy. " Thank you 'bnicebkind'. I wouldn't have the experience and the insight to think of this. As you can see this forum helps me alot. Back home her mom cooks and if needed she simply swing to the corner cafe and get something to eat. Now she has to go to school and go home and cook. She certainly not ready to do that day in and day out. I offer to help cooking and I do the dishes. The problem is most people from a third world country form their perceptions though movies and think that the US is a piece of heaven. I have never promised her of heaven but did tell her as much as I can about how impersonal and busy life here is. Yes money is tight because I am looking for a job. But we live in a nice home. Some how she had a vision in her head that when she come I'd take her traveling before settling down to work/ or go to school and I'd take her on a shopping spree. So she was kind of disappointed when that didn't happen and I only took her to sight seeing locally and shop just enough. I am sure if I were to be well off go out eating often, travel, and shop without thinking then she's not as sad as she is today. But if she can find happiness in little of what we have and build a life together with me then we're in for the long term. I sure hope that it's a phase that she is going through. But for now I have a lot of doubt that is the case. For the life of me I can't understand writing to someone else about missing, hugs and kissing them while being married. But there is more...there is a little details I almost forgot to mention. She actually writing to two guys, one from her home country and the other I don't know(could be here in the US) with similar tone of voice. I am not sure what this fact tells me. Either she is as manipulative as others have warned me or this is how she deals with missing her home. Until we have the 'talk' then I can better judge the whole situation. I hope I am not naive then and accept one excuse to the next. I hope I have a clear vision to see though it and decide once and for all. Like Marco said: "Life is too short to be with someone who doesn't love you back." Thank you for reading my lengthy writing...please check back with this posting regularly and give me some insights.... Bushduh