You've been busy! Thanks for the great post. I love hearing about who is doing what, and when. This past weekend I changed out three of my four huge window boxes to winter interest plants (the boxes are large and came (neglected) with the house so I've nailed them along the top of the boring wooden fence surrounded the front yard so neighbors and passersby can see/enjoy them (I painted them to match the house)). The new plants look great and should provide some nice spots of color through the upcoming months. I've also been doing some pruning and a lot of grubbing out of poorly placed plants that I inherited with this house. The yard is tiny and I don't appreciate a huge overgrown red-twig dogwood, mock oragne, and purple smokebush right in the center, heh heh, so they're all being moved more towards the garden edges. Like you, I've been taking cuttings of favorite tender perennnials like coleus and fancy-leaf zonal geraniums (I've got an 'Alabama Sunset' coleus (my very favorite) that I've been carrying along cutting to cutting for many years now; same for some of the fancy-leaf zonal geraniums). Other than that, the rest has been basic garden maintenance and moving things like potted agaves under the eaves for winter. This weekend I'll spend time cleaning up frost-damaged (okay, dead, heh heh) plants, and starting a new compost pile. Keep the plant activity updates coming. Happy gardening, Grant Here is a link that might be useful:

Taking a test like this online is kind of silly. It's supposed to test how your eyes see color, but every monitor displays colors differently. The light in the room and time of day also affects this (sunlight, warm or cool light bulbs, etc.). The viewing angle also changes how the colors appear. Tests like this have to be done from pre-printed samples under special "neutral" lights. Like the paint sample cards at the paint store can't tell you what the color will look like on your particular walls. None of you are crazy. I scored a zero, but might not if I took the test at a different time of day.

I really appreciate everybody's input. It has been really valuable to me to read and help me work through this. I talked with her BFFs parents last night whose daughter is not at the school. Her BFFs mom picked up for me as I got stuck in traffic behind a wreck. She read her folder notes and was a bit shocked about the complaints such as wasted time during center time, not standing still in line, etc. Then her husband mentioned that it is not worth for your child to be feeling like she isn't good or picked on at this point in her life when you can do something about it since even though the teachers doesn't say it all the kids know who is the one they call bad and no point in harming her self esteem at this age. He also said he has never ever seen her act like anything but a normal 5 year old and they are around us a lot. They also have a strong willed daughter. He told me to listen to my instincts. I felt better to have talked to them and validate that I think it is a bit extreme. He also said he was sure the administrator wasn't used to talking to somebody who is well educated and researches everything and then contradicts her. They both know the person in question. It is funny because that is almost exactly word for word what I thought after talking to her yesterday morning about what the law actually says. Yesterday went good and later in the afternoon when I checked in to see how things were going they said if she wasn't asleep by a certain time then she'd get to read books and do puzzles. Seems like they decided to listen to me about what the state said after all. This morning was more like a normal drop off with one exception. My daughter said as soon as I parked and came to her side to help her out that "Mommy I have a tummy ache" and I asked if she needed to go and potty, the answer was no and I could feel it seemed more psychological than physical as she was dragging to go into school. Since late last week this has been going on about not wanting to go in vs. she used to run ahead of me and be all excited. I really feel for her as it can't be easy to process. I left her with that I think she is an awesome kid and I know she is the best and she reluctantly let me go. Then this morning I got a call from principal at the school we were hoping she would get into for Kindergarten - didn't make it into pre-K, saying they have an opening in the Spring in the pre-K class. I'm going in on Tuesday to meet with the principal. DH and I are going to discuss some more, but we are fairly certain we will switch. I don't want to deal with anymore threats of you can leave if you don't like it when discussing things as I feel it is unproductive and I feel bullied when it is said. The upside too is that if she already is a student then she can continue into the Kindergarten program and we don't have to worry about being on the waiting list. I also looked at their published schedule and they have story/naptime and at a much later time that seem to fit much better with an older childs need for a nap than the 1.5 hr earlier that they enforce at her current school which works for younger children. Their time is more in line with the time she actually falls asleep on the weekend than the time we tell her to go and take the nap (we try to stick to the same schedule as school). This just seems like a wonderful gift to me as I was worried about moving her through too many places and doesn't seem like it could have come at a better time. One of the boys on our street is also in this class and she plays with him and his older sister who is in 1st grade at the school. This post was edited by lyfia on Fri, Dec 13, 13 at 15:07

Thank you all for the support and sharing your wisdom. Like i said I was just mom for so long that I've not had any dating issues in quite some time. suzieque- you're right in your interpretation. He assures me that nothing is going on and I don't necessarily believe that there is. However, I get the impression that this is his way of keeping his foot in the door with her. Of course, he denies it. As you mentioned, I have also told him that they are sending the kids mixed messages about marriage and relationships. They do come to his place on weekends but because of the distance between them I could see how week night visits would be disruptive. Pardon me for saying so, but I don't see why he needs to see them every single day. I don't mind at all when they're around and my daughter and I visit. It's a madhouse, but what do you expect with 4 kids, right? asolo- Although you're a bit harsh, I get what you're saying. No, I'm not living in a romance comic book. but I am a romantic at heart. I'm very grounded in reality. I've been on my own for a long time and I've been around the block a time or two so believe me when I tell you that I will come out of this ok. Right now my heart and my head are not in agreement, but I'm a very practical woman. marge- Yes, I'm sure he,s there. We talk on the phone and at times I even speak with the children. The 2 in the morning thing doesn't happen very often. It's usually until 8 or 9, but that's just as frustrating. As a working person it's pretty much lights out for me after the news. You mentioned that divorced people don't get along that well but what is she losing? I wish I could have cut a deal like that with my ex. She gets to do her thing, have Mr. Mom, and not put up with the relationship crap. They divorced due to infidelity on both parts ( you know I'll never get the entire story on that) and he claims that they should have remained friends and never married.You also mentioned that you couldnt imagine my other boyfriends if I think he's such a great guy and that I could benefit from counseling? If you read my original post I mentioned that after my short lived marriage I dated a few duds and gave it up because I was raising a child solo and it was too much to deal with, so I DID NOT make several bad life choices, but from your bitter and judgmental tone it sounds like you have...We could all benefit from a few therapy sessions. Popi- As you suggested, I think I will just date him. After all I don't hate the man. We have a great time together and to be totally honest Im a bit of a homebody and simply terrified at the thou.ght of being out there at my age. Its not that im unattractive. Guys do still hit on me but my girlfriends tell me such awful stories about the men they meet. Unless I'm missing something dating over 40 doesn't seem like much fun.