posting so it will drop down.

Thank you ladies, I appreciate all your compliments and comments! It is nice you seem to like the Dimity Rose china. I'm not that fond of it, not sure why, just my tastes have changed. It was our "wedding china" 26 years ago but I sure wouldn't pick it nowadays. I can still remember DH's reaction when so many of our wedding gifts were china - he wondered where's the "tools" and "good stuff"! Aunteyp, the "corner" item is a vase filled with white mini-lights, faux ice crystals, an ice-branch wreath and small glass hearts. (You can see it a bit better on my winter/Valentine decor thread where I have it on the round table). We did have a lovely time with the two separate meals at the two separate tables. Wish I had taken some pics of the food, especially the delicious steak & crab meal that DH made but he is always in a hurry to get it on the table hot. And with the roast chicken on Sunday, I always find that kind of meal especially a last minute scramble, especially with company here. DD

toxic. controlling, manipulative, jealous, spiteful, disapproving, obnoxious. They don't like you because they've lost control over your husband since his marriage, & they figure if they can make you miserable enough (trashing you to everybody, etc), you'll cave in to their control...or you'll go away. & remember, hubs grew up in this environment: It's hard for people who grew up with it to confront the people who pull the strings. (He's doing very well indeed to even muster the strength to avoid them rather than give in to their hounding.) My brother's wife is the best thing that ever happened to him: he never has been able to take up for himself (I now realize it's because of the environment in which we grew up-any time he took up for himself, the "punishment" or mistreatment became about 4 times more severe). His wife, while normally very calm & level, has taken up for him & confronted our abusive brother & sister-in-law a couple of times (my other brother, the manipulator/fault-finder/"disapprover", found a wife who's a female clone of his toxic self). & guess what? Although there are now very few occasions when they would have the opportunity to do so anyway, the 2 of them have stopped chewing on my brother! I do think your hubs is right to want nothing to do with them. There's just no way to have a healthy or enjoyable relationship with troublemakers, & toxic people are called that because they will poison your lives. I wish you the best.

If you slice the lamb thinly, you could warm it a bit and then serve it in pita bread pockets with tzatziki yogurt sauce -- like a gyro. Additional sandwich fixings could be thinly sliced onions, chopped tomatoes, and lettuce leaves. Another idea might be chopping the lamb to make true shepherd's pie or even pasties. I was in LA a couple of weeks ago and went to Phillipe, the restaurant that's famous for inventing the French Dip Sandwich. I ordered the lamb sandwich, and it was pretty tasty. You could do something like that, substituting a light beef broth for lamb stock. Here is a link that might be useful: Philippe Restaurant