I just finished my second book by author Marty Wingate. This one is RED BOOK OF PRIMROSE COTTAGE. It is laid in England current time, and the heroine is a girl landscape designer from Texas who had an English mother. She spent a year in England (see first volume) trying to get a job as head gardener to take care of an historical British garden. There was a murder, first and second story, the writing is sprightly, she is a new author so one day she may be a real Agatha Christie! I liked both books because there was a lot of description of plants and historic garden design, and of the people she met. The story had depth, and if you like gardening such as cottage style or British style, you'll enjoy he horticultural descriptions. I liked the first one so much I preordered the second one. I guess they are available in print, but I got them both as ebooks on my Kindle. I like to read the Kindle Fire in bed, because I can turn off the light and change the Kindle background to black with white letters, and it disturbs no one, and I simply lay it down when I'm ready to buzz off. Oh yeah. Sometimes between books I play Mahjong, just my favorite style games, and the ritual of it seems to lull my mind into a state of tranquility, and sleep is always nearby.

Ima,my mother in law made the complaint to myspace today. It was infact her fault that BM was able to obtain the pictures, and now all family members profiles and pictures are private. Yes, I know that once they are "out there" there is nothing I can do, I'm sure she has them saved to her computer and will always have them. As for her having to believe the things she says, it's more of a way for her to prove to her family out of state that she is who "they" think she is. We (my husband and myself) did in fact get it easy where gaining custody was concerned. Dhr/Cps was involved because of some health issues reguarding one of my step sons, with many DHR visits to the home she left them living in and her home, I was granted temporary custody per her request (dad had been trying for 2 yrs before hand) because of his job.A year later my husband and myself were granted full custody with no support and only supervised visitation from her on the first and third sunday of each month (she has never once followed through with a visit). It has since been ammended to no visitation and we have a protective order on her and her husband. My step kids were beaten, threatened with weapons and not fed for over a week the last time they were with their mother over 4 years ago. Not only do we have the protective order but our local ymca, ballpark and their school also have them. She has shown up numerous times and still continues to do so, to all of the above screaming they were kidnapped and are being held hostage. She has even tried to "kidnap" my youngest step son and my own son from walmart and they were in the buggy I was pushing. So in that aspect no we arent lucky as you tell me to consider myself. I know of the emotional damage a BM can do to a child, I see it daily times 3. As I said, I have a 9 yr old who thinks he should be a girl and a 7 yr old who vomits at will to not have to eat. AND FOR THE RECORD... I never in my post accused her of being a bad parent for giving up custody, I simply chose to post a FEW of the bad choices she has made over the years, but I will say now; I think she is a bad parent (not for giving up custody) for how she has emotionally and physically abused her children and allowed others to do the same. I think she is a bad parent because she still allows her husband to abuse her and their child together, instead of seaking help(and before you say I dont understand what an abusive relationship is like, I was in one for 7 years before I met my husband all of my teenage years and into my early 20's, eventually everyone knows enough is enough). Now, you asked why I wanted to contact a lawyer. No, not necessarily to sue her, she has nothing to sue for and she wouldnt show up in court anyways. To have it documented, yes. She shows up and causes enough trouble without aid of pictures at their school, ymca and sports activities ect. It does scare me to think she has updated pictures that she can wave around and them possibly have the chance of seeing. They know she wasnt there and Im unsure of what that could do to their stability, their mental capacities(they have alot to work through as it is) and their all around behavorial issues, even if it's only for that day or week. Do I think she will use them in that manner, yes. So again, no I dont want to sue her. I dont want to waste money we dont have to waste, energy I am completly drained of already or time that I never seem to have either. As for her myspace page, today was the first I knew of her having one and no I dont care to go back to it. All of my focus does now and has for almost 7 years gone into MY KIDS, I do love them and they know it and with their father's job I am 99.999% the only PARENT they have. I do also try and ignore her, I have only one other time fed into her pity party and that was her email, she isnt worth it. But yes, this makes me angry and I feel I have the right to be, as you stated you were doing the job of "your" BM, so am I. I have a myspace page, I dont post pictures (for this reason) of any of my kids, yet here she is posting them, ones she didnt take, from a holiday she was absent from and claiming MY son as her own child also, when she didnt want to be a parent to her own kids. No matter her reason behind it, I cant seem to want to let it lie. And your right, its not going to change or fix thing nor will it make them better, but I cant help how I feel. Maybe this is all too fresh having all happened today, and Im sorry if this post seems rude, but I didnt expect to be reprimanded or attacked for my earlier post and thats kind of how it felt.

Hi Buehl, I'm probably calling the post by the wrong name. I'm referring to the following post by Sweeby: " Posted by sweeby (My Page) on Sat, Jan 9, 10 at 12:21 Great wisdom so far. Let me add a bit more. One: Go through what you have now and give away or throw out the stuff you never use. How many coffee mugs do you have that you never use? How many cheapo spatulas that you'd only use if pigs flew? How many freebie koozies in the back of the drawer? How many mismatched plastic cups and plates you'd never use? How much lidless Tupperware? How many grody pots & pans leftover from your college days or Hubby's bachelor pad? Get that junk out of your soon-to-be-beautiful space! Use the 'Would I buy it at a garage sale?" test if you're not sure. Two: Once you've thrown out the junk, inventory the stuff you have, and classify it by function and frequency of use. For example: - One 36" drawer of daily use pots & pans, - One 36" drawer of weekly/monthly use cookware, - Two 24" shelves of every day china dishes, - One 24" shelf of every day glassware, - Two 36" shelves of fancy (Holiday) china and glassware. Having this inventory is invaluable for planning your new space. Without it, you just won't know how much of what type of space you need, and you could end up with too little storage, or else sacrificing something you'd really like for storage space you didn't need. The security of knowing that 40% of your storage could actually go into a back room pantry (turkey roaster, lobster pot, espresso maker...) with hardly any loss of functionality gives you a huge amount of design flexibility. Three: Prioritize lifestyle choices and preferences. Things like: - One seat near the prep area so I can help Sonny with his homework while I cook dinner, - Buffet zone for casual entertaining, - Cozy seating area for two for morning coffee with Hubby, - Open sight lines to the TV-watching area or PC so I can supervise the kids, - Closed sight lines to the dining area so I don't have to see the mess while I eat! This may sound crazy, but make a list of how your ideal kitchen will function, then rate the items on that list for how important they are to you. Which are deal-killers and which are 'nice to haves'? Also include what activities are daily and what are annual. There's an old adage in real estate: "Don't build the church for Easter Sunday." Apply that to your kitchen plan; plan for your maximum regular use, not for your maximum ever use. You may not be able to get everything on your list (who can?), but at least you'll be able to choose wisely. By having my inventory and lifestyle choices, I was able to confidently choose the design that met 95% of my lifestyle wants and all of my storage needs over a design that offered much more storage and counter-top space but only 80% of my lifestyle list. Knowing that I didn't need more storage space got me a much better kitchen!" Here is a link that might be...

Nope Enduring. The sink pic is upside down no matter which way I turn the iPad. However, it is just fine on my Mac. I thought it was just a fluck yesterday and figured things would straighten out today. It's been a crazy day with our senior dog at the vets. I got on GW for some sanity tonight but "New To Kitchens.." just continues the craziness. I think I should cut my losses and go read a book. ;) Big BUMP to get this baby off of pg 3.