years ago, i used to take my corgi kids to the local nursing home. this is a farming community. many of the residents had to leave their beloved pets behind and they longed for the feel of fur and sloppy kisses. i always called ahead to let them know i was coming, they would bring many of the residents to the day room and put them in a big circle. my pups would go from one chair to the next, getting treats and pets. like yours, they were in doggy heaven. my female corgi, one day there, disappeared. it was unusual that she wouldn't stay right with us. i went looking for her. one of the nurses pointed to an open door at the end of the hall and told me she was there. when i peeked in, maggie was sitting on a chair next to an elderly man's bed. he was stroking her head and cooing to her. i learned later that he passed away that very evening. i think she knew he was nearing his end and wanted to offer him comfort. she was such a perceptive little girl!

Doodle, that is so beautiful. And you know? I can relate to what you said so much! I had the SAME feelings you did when I was PG with my DD. I had a weird, creepy feeling about BFing, and I was adamant I wasn't going to do it. My mom had nursed me for 13 months and my brother for 15, and she really pushed for me to try it, but I was completely turned off to the idea. When I delivered my DD, I didn't even put her to my breast (and that makes me sad.) The nurses brought me a bottle of formula and I gave that to her immediately. The next morning, the pediatrician came through to do rounds and examine my newborn DD. He calmly suggested I just give it a try. For some reason, the way he brought it up so matter of factly made me decide to at least TRY breastfeeding. So I did! It took some time to get her to latch on properly, and the nurses in the hospital were awesome! My milk came in a day or two later, and I wound up BFing my DD for 10 months! :) I am SO glad I gave it a chance! I think that picture is beautiful, Doodle.

Its got leaves and green on the branches i'd say its certainly savable. I am sorry about your bout of bad luck, that's always tough. I am battling scale now on a few of my new trees and I know its gross and time consuming to get rid of. I am having pretty good luck with a mixture of Neem, Horticultural oil and Protekt sprayed on the trees once a week. I also take the time to physically remove any visible scale and then spray under them since they apparently lay their eggs underneath themselves. I also wash/rub away the sooty mold that develops. I only found a couple scale on the trees this week after spraying for the 3rd time/week in a row. I think I will be out of the woods after another spray or two. I don't prune unless the branch is visibly dead/dried up brittle, if there is still green under the bark its alive and I would leave it. I would change out your potting mix, inspect the roots and trim back any dead/mushy ones, then after a few weeks start fertilizing it. I have a New Zealand Lemonade tree that completely defoliated and has come back with a great flush of new growth. I repotted from a soil mix to the 5-1-1 (you can search for it here if you don't already know whats in it) and started feeding it a very light dose of Foliage Pro and after a month and half I have lots of new leaves and two buds. I am up to the full dose of fertilizer now and it looks amazing. My Meyer lemon looks pretty sparse from overwintering and it hasn't flushed new leaf growth yet but I am hoping after I get it repotted this week that the new medium and the nicer weather will inspire more growth. My meyer is the most finicky of my trees and seems to like to drop its leaves over anything and everything. Hopefully more people will chime in and offer some good tips to kickstart growth. Good Luck!

Yes, crocheting is probably easier to learn and you don't have to worry about dropping stitches. But I beg you, please don't waste your money on either of those "kits". The one that has 8 "bon bons" gives you about 66 yards per bon bon. And you'll get even less per bon bon for the kit with 24 bon bons. Less than 22 yards, a mere third of the 8 bon bon kit. They would be lucky to crochet a 3" x 3" swatch with one of those. I crocheted this swatch with 66 yards of worsted weight, which is just a teensy bit finer than the DK provided in the kit and an "H" hook. It's about 5" x 7". I crocheted this piece with 66 yards of worsted weight and a "J" hook, like one provided in the kit. It's about 4" x 8". Neither of those pieces is enough to make anything. And I looked at the ebooks they provide in the kit. The only patterns you will get are for children. You would be much better off picking up a 4 ounce (or even larger) skein of worsted weight or DK yarn (maybe a variegated) and a couple of hooks (I'd suggest G & H) and a book that will actually teach them to crochet. You can purchase an inexpensive book that will give them the basics of crocheting. Don't bother with a book of patterns just yet. There are so many free patterns online. Have them learn to chain, single crochet double crochet, and half-double crochet. Let them start off making a chain as wide as they would like a scarf and just go to town, back and forth with either the single, double, or half-double stitch. One hefty skein will be more than enough to make a scarf. Seriously, look at the size of a bon bon. That's not a tightly wound ball of yarn. It's a puff of yarn. That hand could probably compress it to less than half its size. I'm sorry to be a Debbie Downer, but even at half the price, it's a waste of money. And I DO hope the girls learn to crochet or knit and LOVE whichever you choose.