If it's not I don't want to socialize with you thing, then it's just general laziness and lack of social graces. I have a similar thing with my family. I have a couple of cousins that I was close with growing up and that now live 2 hours away. I send them Christmas cards every year, graduation announcements, party invites and I never hear boo from them. 6 months ago, I get an invite to a baby shower for the daughter of my cousin. Didn't even know she was pregnant, hoped she hadn't gotten married and I didn't get an invite! Turns out she wasn't married but was having a baby. So, I decided to drive up the two hours that Sunday and attend - mostly just to see everyone and hear what's new. They were all thrilled to see me and we had a great visit. I took a number of pictures of the mother to be and my cousin and other family members at the shower. Plus some of her opening gifts etc. I sent copies of all the photos to my cousin. Never got a thank you for my gift, an acknowledgement of sending the photos. No baby announcement. Nada. I know they like me, they like me coming to their events on the rare occasions they have them, but have no interest in making the drive to attend any of my events or interact with my kids or hubby. So it is what it is. I accept them, as they are, but definitely don't invite them to events anymore other than those that I consider life milestones like graduation parties or weddings my kids will have in the future. They probably won't come, but at least I invited them!

help! i need to throw out tons of stuff like this, but i'm chicken. part of why i have tons of old papers is because i knew they needed to be shredded. but i took forever to buy one. now that i have one, shredding 7 pages of paper at a time is going to take forever. my mom gave me the solution--a roofing company near her "recycles" paper into their products. even the school system takes their sensitive "to be shredded" papers there for safe disposal, so i feel comfortable with that. the thought of getting rid of it all in one fell swoop REALLY appeals to me. now i just need to know what i can toss. i read the recommendations at the link above, but i'm always confused after reading those. or maybe i'm just chicken. i have utility bills from the apartment i lived in during 2001. i bought my house in 2002 and plan to be here for a while. can i get rid of the old bills? can i get rid of utility bills from my house? phone bills? can i toss anything more than a year old? what about credit card statements? i feel like i should keep those. i've never had more than 3 at a time, so it wouldn't be all that much paper. my tax stuff i know to keep. but everything to do with my taxes comes to me at the end of the year and i keep that all together. then there's the health insurance stuff. i've been through five different companies since 2000, what with being a student and then a university employee--the university switched nearly every year for a while. do i have to keep all of that stuff? for instance, i went to a chiropractor at least three times a week for a while. after EACH visit, my insurance company would send me paperwork, "just for reference." how much of that crap should i keep? all of the paper they send me really makes me want to scream! sorry, i just realized my questions turned into a mini-rant. thanks for letting me spout off. :) any advice would be greatly appreciated! thanks! julie

eandhl, I think we are going to put a teak table in there, and drop my sink into it...and use a curtain across the bottom to hide the subzero and plumbing. I am just finalizing my sofa cushion choices so I will use the same stuff. The area is 48x30" which is also a standard table size, tho we may need to adjust height then we are removing all the mirrors and shelves and putting painted white shiplap, like we have in the lower portion of the adjoining greenhouse

Cryovac'd tight, without air/oxygen, I would be fine with it, though into the freezer it would go asap. I over-shopped during the holidays/New Years. I've been watching similar like a hawk. Most dates are good through Feb. Some taso smoked ham is expensive and came without a date, so into the freezer it went after using a bit. One expensive pack of prosciutto was delivered with a compromised corner of the package letting in air. Into the freezer. (after food savering into smaller packages) When smoked/cured seafood/meats go off, when oxygen is allowed in, it is obvious. They grow fuzzy mold more often than slimy bacteria. The curing process buys extra time. Not months, but definitely 4-6 weeks if kept cold. And if packaged without oxygen. Looks great?, smells great?. Fine by me. (smoked/salted, not fresh). Fresh seafood quickly goes into a horrid ammonia smelling nasty zone. Cured smoked is much different than my recent hot smoking. Salt cured is a preservative. I'm smoking fresh, so the usual 2-3 days 'use-by'. After thawing from frozen.