I am so glad for you; first that you found it, and second, that someone was honest/kind enough to turn it in. Isn't it wonderful and strange what thoughts of Spring can do to one? Within the last two weeks, we cancelled our credit card, b/c I've put it away so carefully--I haven't been able to find it! I'm sure that sooner or later, it will turn up, but we didn't want to take the chance that I may really have lost it! Again, it's great that you found your purse.

It's been below thirty in my yard for the past 10 days. I didn't have much that had sprouted earlier, which I was worrying about, but I did have 12 little bok choy sprouts. They are still out there, and today I have spinach sprouts. Every morning I expect to go out and see them dead. Today I decided to stop worrying about it and just fix it so I didn't have to do anything more for them. So I had some old windows and I put my containers up against the west facing foundation of the house and propped windows over them. The ends are open, but I thought it might just give them the little extra that might help through this cold spell. I actually had to water all the containers today because it was sunny and cold here yesterday. Looks like another week of this weather on the forecast and I've planted my peas early for the first time in years, of course. [g]

The salesman intially said the demonstration would take an hour. 3 hours later they were still at my house, convincing me to purchase this vaccuum. Dont get me wrong this was an amazing Vacuum!!! However the salesman had no concerns that i most likely couldnt afford this vaccuum. He had all these different priced plans, advising the price would normally be 3000.00, however he would bring it down to 2500.00 with fewer payments. He could see that i was still struggling to figure out how i was going to finance this vaccuum, He appeared to be making phone calls to head office to bring the price down and at the last minute bought it down to 2000.00 After calcluating the interest, it ended up costing 3000.00 anyway. My main problem with this is that it felt rushed. I couldnt find 3 forms of ID and desperately wanted him to leave after 3 hours and done a stupid thing like sign the forms just so they could leave. He didnt care that i didnt have ANY form of ID, he didnt care that i didnt know my bank account number, he advised as long as i purchased and signed on the dotted line, then everything else would fall into place. He advised he couldnt come back again as this needed to be done asap. They also took my old vaccuum with them. Everything seemed dodgy, and i had my kids running around hungry so i felt extremely pressured. After they left i sat down looking at this machine thinking what the hell have i purchased??!!! I looked around on websites like trademe (nz) and found other types of machines at the price of 500.00. By this time i was pissed! I immediately called headoffice and cancelled the order and they advised someone would call me to inform me of cancellation procedures. The next day after work these two guys came over again. (no call or notification to say they were coming) They were standing asking me why i wanted to cancel the machine STILL trying to convince me that there is no other like this. They even had the nerve to sit inside and say they called head office and they would lower the price another 200.00. I ended up telling them to take their vacuum and leave my house. I asked them where my original vaccuum was and they asked me what colour it was? I told them to leave and advised them to bring back my original vaccum or else i would make a complaint and slammed the door. 5 days later i still havent recieved my old vaccuum. This whole ordeal was a horrible experience for me and these salesmen were dodgy as!!! Never again

I'm sorry for the loss of your friend, Auntjen. The way she died sounds so sad. The ray of light in all this sadness is how you have celebrated her life by sharing some of her charm, sweetness and good nature with us. We can feel her presence even in her absence, because of you. We can in a small way, all celebrate her life by reflecting on your story of her. Your post honors and thanks her for touching you so deeply through her communications and loving spirit. Shortly after a friend of mine died many years ago, I felt a compelling urge to get back into doing volunteer work. My friend had been an amazing social worker, and I was overcome with a desire to emulate her in some way, to extend some of the goodness she had offered to others. I know I haven't come close to giving what she gave to others, but the impulse to give back, indeed a compulsion to, was born from her death. Maybe sometimes fighting for a cause or embodying the values and concerns of a person who has died can help us to cope with their loss.