Oh, I've been making jam (only 5 jars per batch, I don't use pectin so 1/2 lb of berries per jar) every other day. Winding down now - I just came in from picking (didn't pick yesterday) and haven't weighed them but probably less than a lb. Finished making that batch started yesterday (it needs to sit a while both before and after cooking). Made 3 batches this week so 15 jars, sold 2 at market Wednesday and hope to sell a lot more next week. I don't think DS watches TV at all - unless it's a rare time when I'm not watching The Voice so he may join DH for Antiques Roadshow. And my parents have satellite, will record nature shows, country music awards shows for the kids to watch when they visit but DS is too busy to visit them often. I watch The Voice and Revolution when they're not reruns, but our antenna broke about 2 weeks ago so I had to catch the season finales online. Wouldn't you know it was just that one channel affected (though we never were able to pick up ABC so now we're down to CBS, PBS, FOX and some Spanish channels). We went to my cousin's kids' birthday party (they live next door 1 mile down the road) yesterday, he was really bored the whole 4 hours (didn't take a book) since he and DD were the oldest ones there (she's 9, he's 14). He just went for the food. He didn't ask to go home though.

Icheer, I think this can be a problem for most of us. I have to keep my stash in the guest room closet. I work in my office/sewing room/mosaic room. Right now it is trashed to the hilt. I try to clear it up a little as I go along but I just have to close the door. I am also a big fan of curtains. Just hiding the visual clutter helps. My room is only 10 by 10 plus the closet. I try to keep the guest room tidy and even just spent three days cleaning it up sorting and serious cleaning because we will be having company soon. Already there are pans of glass hauled out and sitting around in there. I do have shelves they can go back on in a hurry. That helps. When we were going to custom order a manufactured home, before this place fell in our laps. I had my craft room with a 4 foot expansion in it making it 16 by 11. I have two china cabinets about the same size. I was going to divide the room off at one end with the china cabinets coming out from the walls like room dividers. Then I had planned a tension rid between them with curtain. There was a window in that end of the room special order. I was going to put shelves which I already had around the walls and backed up to the china cabinets making HUGE storage area. This would have helped to keep the working area neat and tidy. All of this was going to take up about 6 foot of that room all across the 11 foot. I know this would have been perfect. We were three days from signing the papers on that place everything in place and then we ended up here. Well this is a fine house but I was heart broken to loose my special designed for me room.Sigh Chris

In a normal situation I would agree FD, but we are not in a normal situation. The BM is disordered, there is no point for FDH in trying to talk with her. The more you engage the worse it will get. You have to understand that the level of manipulation that goes on makes it impossible to have a frank conversation. There is a disorder standing in the way of things. And BM is not going to sit down and honestly discuss the best interest of the kids, if she was interested in that we wouldn't be where we are today. FDH does NOT talk to kids about BM's bad habits, I don't either. We both know that this is not good for the skids, even though sometimes we feel like saying things (boy do we!!) we know it's just better not to. But, if the skids bring up certain issues out of their own accord then we will try and be as honest as we can, focusing on the feelings and perceptions of the skids rather than the negative behavior from BM, we learned this frmo the therapist. This is not always easy, but it works really well. FDH and SD13 did have a long talk yesterday and SD13 did tell him that she feels bad when she leaves her mum alone, and also she thinks it's easier at BM's because it's closer to school. SO it's a mixture of reasons. There have been plenty conflicts in the past, but don't forget they started with BM's poisoning their little minds. An awful thing to do, and clearly not something a mentally stable person would do to their own kids. Think about it. The biggest conflict was last year when the skids started to believe that FDH did not pay for anything (because child support was not 'real' money) and that I wanted to spend everything on myself. We tried to deal with this by talking about it, then we tried to just let the snide remarks go, after all we shouldn't have to defend ourselves. And then one night it just went down the wrong way and I got really angry and yelled at them that they should know better and how dare they accuse us of all this b*llshit. Because I'd never gotten that angry before they got a bit of a shock of course, I did not handle it well. But it wasn't the end of the world either if you know what I mean. Anyway, the skids reacted by secretly calling BM from their rooms and BM calling the cops to come rescue her babies. And if you remember right back: even the police told the kids there was no need to run off just because I got angry before. We've always been able to talk about things, this time should not be different. BM even brought an audience along for her grand finale. She poisons the skids, gets to us (or in that case ME) and once I lost it she got exactly what she wanted. I've learned a lot from that night, and now I know that I just don't want to give her the satisfaction. So if I hear the poison come out of their mouths, I just walk away or keep a smile on my face and say "oh I see". And if you wonder whether I'm just painting the BM black, because surely BM is not that nasty, then think about what she did after she got the kids that night. She went to a Fast Food Outlet first, and then over to a friends' place to have a couple of drinks. SD13 was sick from the stress of the night (migraine/nausea) and was left in the car in the friends' garage to sleep it off. What a way to look after your babies. Actually it's not even that BM always has nasty intentions, again this is the disorder. BM does not see how she affects the skids, I'm sure she doesn't realsie what she's really doing. So no, FDH will not try and talk to BM, there is no point. It is good that SD13 opened up to him though, from what I can gather she feels supported and happy when she's with us, and if she feels like she needs to be with BM more then so be it. It will change back again, we know it will.

Not an expert but I've read that pianos and exterior walls are a bad mix. Might depend on climate? Still, this info prompts me to ask about window treatments. I know UV does a number on furniture and art; I imagine it might do the same on musical instruments? If the DVD cabinet does not need to be in this area, I would remove it. It simply adds visual clutter, imo. I prefer the cabinet to the left of the piano but I wouldn't angle it in the corner. If you want the piano bench the same colour as the piano, could you gel stain it? (If it's not precious.) Might be easier than to hunt for one that matches? Another idea is to paint it a colour that relates to one in the room, perhaps the wall colour? Speaking of colour, the overhead lighting seems a bit dim. I'd see if if a stronger bulb could be used in the overhead light and consider a floor lamp "between" the two areas.