haha! Growing up, we spent a lot of weekends at the lake fishing. Meal times were a big deal. Anywhere from half a dozen up to 20-30 people would come out for a fish fry, breakfast, etc... There was a standing rule: You complain, you cook! Let me tell you, every meal was the best we'd ever had! LOL Bet that friend only makes that mistake once! :-)

Thank you all for the congrats.. Jannie, yes everything is so expensive.. We have to pay almost 800.00 for lawyer taxes etc, plus our downpayment.. Gas is costing 50.00 to transfere over cause there is no meter there, Everything cost money, we might be eating peanut butter sandwiches but at least it will be in our new home lol. This is my third marriage and while i would like a wedding wedding, I don't have any family here and we want to go on a honeymoon neither one of us has been on a honeymoon and we want to put money into our house, so we will just go the quicky justice of the peace type wedding then have a wonderful Cruise.. Money is better spent in the house and better investment I think.. I am happy regardless, I love him so much and he is taking good care of me while I heal..... Oh I messed up my ankle over a month ago been through xrays and mri and its just so badly sprained its taking along time to heal. I am out of work till I am 100% better cause its not safe for me if I cant walk down stairs yet (emt)......

Oh, my goodness. I've purchased a cotton striped fabric, and I have a coordinating solid color silk. A friend of my husband does wood working and the stage is set. This is Florida and the result should be softly bright, tailored and contemporary. I've looked for fabric for 4 years, and finally ....... I just finished and hung an 8 ft scarf in the dining room. Now, the great room has an 8 ft tall, 9 ft long slider onto the lanai. The plan is to use a similar valance to those shown here, but way, way more tailored. Two weeks ago, in Sanibel, we had breakfast at a place that had similar valances with huge, rosy cabbage roses but they had folded pleats at the bottom. My home won't take cabbage roses, but those pleats will work in just fine. The cotton fabric needs a boost. I have coordinating dark metallic thread (never used it before, of course) that will outline the lighter teal color, and the darker teal nubbed silk with make the straps. The friend will make big wooded "buttons" that I will spray gold to anchor the straps. Sounds like a plan, right? I should start Monday. My husband is onboard for the shelf I'll use for hanging the two matching valances. Oh, excitment!!! This confirms that the colors in the dining room, greatroom and kitchen will be gold and teal with a touch of red. The sofa is a dark teal leather. This should all work. The tile in the kitchen has a trace of soft gold in it, and the cabinets are white. I've printed out the instructions and wish me luck! With this effort I'll have to set up a photobucket account so I can share. Those instructions were the thing I really needed to get started! When I'm done, we will get the painters in to paint the greatroom and the kitchen a soft gold (the dining room already has a darker gold wall).

That's great news, Myfampg. And I'm sure mama is beautiful as well. :) That's great you are trying to instill a sense of confidence in your daughter. I'm mixed black and white, and my daughters' father is black. Both of my girls have tan skin and curly black hair, but sometimes my D6 tells me what she wishes she was white and wishes she had "white hair". I think because she goes to a school where a lot of the kids are white so that's what she sees. I have to tell her how beautiful her tan skin is and how beautiful her long, curly, black hair is. Lately she hasn't said anything about it, but your post reminds me I need to remind my girls how beautiful they are. Glad to hear she doing better with handling SM. It's great that DS feels so close to DD. Like you say, enjoy it while it lasts, after a while she'll probably be locking him out her room, LOL! And I like idea of each of the kids having one on one time with DH, kills two birds with one stone. :)