Ok in case anyone else is wondering what a Cougar is... in a nutshell, it's a single lady (usually 35 or older) who tries to be young again (or still). Identification clues may or may not include short skirts/low-cut tops/cowboy boots, big teased hair, leopard print, really shiny pale pink lipstick, lots of makeup in general, a real dark leathery tan, hanging out in bars, beer drinking, hitting shamelessly on young men, and the presence of fellow cougars. Please note, no one trait here makes a gal a cougar. Sharon, you are not a cougar. Although you do have a nice tan. LOL.

Wow, Barb, my heart goes out to you, your grandkids, and your daughter. Like Jac said, it sounds like maybe there's something going on, and maybe she needs some emotional help. Getting her take accept help is another story, though, I'm sure. If she needs help with budgeting, there's lots of help out there. Look at Half Price Books for the books by Amy Dacyczyn, called "Tightwad Gazette." This lady has/had countless tips on how to live extremely frugally. Her books are humorous, too. I have also been blessed with a daughter that feels comfortable talking with me. My son is another story, but at least my daughter is comfortable talking things over with me. Luckily, she and my oldest son, not the one I just mentioned, thrived in being "different." They didn't care one whit about fitting in with the crowd. That's a big bonus, because lots of the trouble kids get into is with trying to fit in and be like the "cool kids." I also encouraged them to make decisions. Once when my daughter was only around 4 or 5 - maybe a bit older we were shopping at a Ross, or somewhere, and we were trying to find clothes that she liked. The dressing room attendant was scandalized that I would even consider letting my daughter make the decision about what to get. She felt that it should be my decision, and that the child had no business making decisions at that age. I was dumbfounded. I don't remember if I told her my opinion of her opinion, but basically, if a child is not taught to make and live with decisions from day one, what are they going to do when faced with difficult decisions when they are older, like whether to go to bed with a boy, or do drugs, or whatever? Geeze, it's just plain common sense. Let a child make decisions about simple things when they are young, and they just might learn to make difficult decisions when they are older. Well, I think I'm rambling, so I'll quit now. Sally

Good observation, Serendipity. It does seem to be instructions for wrapping a cat doesn't it? LOL. I locked myself in the laundry room to wrap some gifts today, and had to listen to the "Orange Tornado" yowl and rattle the door cause I was doing something without his help. He didn't think that was acceptable. Jazz is a good cat tho, saves me lots of money on cat toys. I don't have to buy any, his two favorites are a straw and an ice cube. Both of which he loves to bat around the kitchen floor. He's easily amused. But then, so am I. hugs, Karen

I never got sick either, but a bunch of family members got sick from eating my Aunt Midge's pickled mushrooms at a family party once. It kind of takes the fun out of an evening, watching Aunt Esther barf in the bushes..... It does happen, although it doesn't happen often, in my experience. Some cases of botulism do come from home canned foods and some people do die, although not many. The risk is relatively miniscule. Many cases come from the same area, like a whole bunch of people in Alaska that ate badly canned salmon. Others come from commerical items like that Bolthouse Farms carrot juice and the baked potatoes at the restaurant that were wrapped in foil and left sitting on the counter for hours. The "rules" in Canada are different than the "rules" in the United States because we are loathe to take any risk at all, IMO. The extension services do not want the liability of someone coming back and saying "you said it was all right and now I'm sick". I don't think it's necessarily the government's job to protect us from our own cooking, but many people do. The guidelines are extremely conservative, IMO, but very safe. I do not know Canada's testing specificiations, or any other country's, for that matter, so do they know something we don't know or are they more independent or bigger risk takers? Beats me. At any rate, there's a risk, albeit extremely small. Maybe even smaller than that, LOL. I choose to take it, and it's my choice. I'd eat LindaC's jelly too. Oh, that's right, I already have! It's the "don't" part that got my back hairs raised, I'd rather see a "did you know that it's not tested, I just thought I'd let you know" approach. And agmss, I agree, the Search function here is abysmal, next to useless. Ugh. I don't even try to use it anymore, I just Google "gardenweb" and whatever I'm looking for. Annie