well what kind of advice did you want? you don't have to call it a blog, btw. It's just a website really. A website that you're journaling on. So you can call it your website or your journal or whatever. No big deal. I've had a website probably since the 1990's or something, haha... It's definitely evolved over time! I'm reasonably happy with using a customized version of wordpress, but there are many other options. A few bits of advice which you may or may not already know... -- Don't put stuff on the internet that you don't want everyone to know. Some people get a little too personal on their public blogs and that can end up being embarrassing or even dangerous later. -- make sure your images are properly sized for a website. Personally, I would suggest approximately 600 pixel width max on landscape images. no matter what 72 dpi max, that's the most the screen can see. -- if you care about people using your images without your permission, make sure you watermark your images. This can be as small as your URL relatively small, but legible on the image at some point. You can even set up a macro in your image editing program to batch process your images. There's also a wordpress plugin that does it for you :) -- be careful with how many images you put on your page and where. People in webdesign typically encourage your 'content' to start before the scroll cut off of the screen. Ie, you shouldn't really have to scroll your computer to start seeing the meat of your page. So don't make your top title splash image so large that it takes up too much space. Make sure you optimize your images when you save them so they are the smallest amount of kilobytes possible while still looking nice. IN particular, the images that are part of your webdesign and are loaded over and over. -- Make sure any text you use in your buttons or title images are easy to read. The font should be easy to read, and the color should be easy to read on whatever background it's on. If you have a flowery busy photo with your blog title text on top of it like 'Aimee's Garden' or something, make sure the text thickness is bold and the color contrasts with the background. If it still doesn't stand out enough try a drop shadow or drop glow of sorts. -- tagging things effectively can be very useful for you and your readers and help people find your blog. I find it really useful to be able to look back at certain tags to find particular posts to help me evaluate my garden or send a friend to a particular post. -- like others have said, if you're writing for yourself, do what you want (without sharing so much that you jeopardize your privacy...). But if you're writing for others, it's best to keep things relatively short. Use paragraphs. Use bullets when appropriate. Use highlighted larger bold text for separate subject titles. Break things up with images when appropriate. It helps keep people interested. Here is a link that might be useful: Aimee's website

Our entertainment center is quite a bit larger but...We did storage for various video/ audio components and DVD's/CDs in our built in. We put regular cabinets on the bottom and hid everything behind closed doors. We used an infrared receiver in order to be able to use the remote while the doors are closed. The top was more like a bookcase with a space sized for the flat screen which we mounted to an articulating arm. For CD/DVD storage we had 2 narrow glass front 12" deep cabinets. I've also seen CD/DVD storage concealed in narrow pullouts or in drawers as well.

There are those who would say that step-parents DON'T have any rights when it comes to the stepkids....not even a right to an OPINION about what should happen with them. They feel that EVERYTHING that concerns the stepkids should be handled by the bio-parents. Another forum I used to belong to was much this way...so I left! But really, there is a pretty big contingent of folks out there who would agree that steps have ZERO rights when it comes to their stepkids. They call step-parents "legal strangers" or something like that...which really never made any sense to me. However, my opinion is that you DO have some rights. You have the right to be respected, for your home/belongings to be treated appropriately, for cooperation (or at least attempted understanding) from your spouse. Now, you have the CHOICE to enforce these things with an iron fist, or you can try to get SS to come to these realizations on his own, or with your help a little more gently. That can make all the difference. Get him excited about a hike. Get some maps, plan the trail. Get a book that shows the local wildlife you might see. Let him pick out the ingredients for some homemade granola, and let him help you make it. Get him a cheap compass for the trip (cheap at Eddie Bauer!). It'll start to become his idea. That's the trick. Not only for stepkids, but for all kids. I find myself trying to come up with creative ways to get things that I want done ALL the time, with both bio and stepkids. Also, help him get excited about the baby. My stepkids were a little "removed" from the pregnancy, also because of the long distance. But when they were here, they went to ultrasounds with us, and helped pick out stuff for the room. They poured over baby name books with me. They were 10 and 13 at the time. They now both have VERY close relationships with their baby sister (who is now 5). None of our kids (his, mine & ours) call each-other "1/2" or "step"...they are just brothers & sisters. So it is do-able, but it takes some work. If you handle this sticky situation the right way, you will be the "cool bonus Mom", instead of the "evil step monster". I have a fantastic relationship with my stepkids. We've had a few little bumps in the road, but nothing we couldn't work through.

Hi Michaela! How frustrating for you. I'm sorry. I am a total newbie who is raising Monarch, Gulf Fritillary, and Eastern Giant Swallowtail butterflies (I had a Black Swallowtail, but it didn't make it). This is my first year being successful at raising Monarchs. Several years ago, a family gave me lots of Monarch caterpillars. I didn't know anything about OE and all of them eclosed very deformed. Now I know it had to be OE. This year I went out and bought a 3-gallon Tropical Milkweed and have subsequently bought a few more as the caterpillar population has exploded! I have had a couple "cats" that started looking not so good, but they were just getting ready to transform into the next instar stage and once they shed their skin they looked great. All made their chrysalis, but one never emerged and so I "euthanized" it. Here is my set-up before cleaning this morning. There are 6 chrysalides and 9 fat cats. My house (north of Houston, where it's in the high 90s outside) is 78 inside and 60% humidity. It sounds like there is either a disease or parasite...I move caterpillars into this set-up when they are just a day or two from making their chrysalis. When the are really small, I keep them in a big glass vase. I load the environments with milkweed. I have been spotted out front in my PJs with scissors in hand cutting fresh milkweed to feed the gang (I'm sure people think I am nuts). I clean the frass off the blue lid when I swap out the plants, about every other day. You might consider enclosing them in an organza bag outside....contained and protected. This batch will bring my total, so far this year, to 30+ raised.