Morning, Tiff..I know what you mean. Dh goes to work, comes home. I serve him dinner, he takes the dog for a walk then sits in front of 'his' tv w/head phones until bedtime. Plus my family and I had an argument, so I no longer call them, or accept their calls. And winter is just, plain depressing. Going on a week w/o sunlight. It seems the most exiting thing I do is go to the grocery store and doctors..and the docs isn't very entertaining..I despise going. I ended up taking most of my TC's and potting them in a hanging basket..several stems broke, so doubt they'll produce more flowers this year. See what boredom does??? End up doing stupid things like repotting budded TC's!!! Tiff, can you, your dh and dk's move w/your mom? Please understand I'm not trying to nosy myself in your business, just a suggestion. You do need others to talk to. Adult conversation, or at least people who enjoy plants, kids and any other hobbies you're into. There are many here who like talking to you, so if you ever feel blue, sign into GW.. :) Marjie..I didn't know you had twins..Oh you poor thing.. :) Twin babies? Oh Lord, when do you find time to think? God bless you, girl. How old are they? Ha, your Sadie sounds like our dearly departed, Mastiff, Sam..Forget tennis balls..they lasted two seconds..when dh took Sam to the woods, Sam saw a cute dog playing w/his tennis ball. Sam ran over, stole his ball and chewed it to smithereens. The owner laughed, but his poor dog lost so many tennis balls because of Sam. I bought a bag of tennis balls for the man, or rather his dog to replace those destroyed by Sam..lol. I love Labs..How much does Sadie weigh? Is she high-strung? I worked as an asst vet. When it was time to spay Black Labs, 'not so much neutering males,' the females needed extra sedation. Their breed was so much fun to work with..lol. j/k. Labs are extremely intelligent, loyal AND beautiful.. After surgery, Labs couldn't wait to see mom, dad, brother or sister, ready to take them home. lol. Yep, rubber rings last longest. Even w/love to chewy-teeth dogs, and mid-extra large breeds. Sam had a rubber, U-shaped band called Pull & Tug..One toy he couldn't chew to pieces. lol. Marjie, if you're serious about running away, I'll go along. As long as we can bring our pets, children and plants! We'd have to buy a couple buses though. More like five. lol. Hey JoJo..wow, a chicken named Hawk hanging around you..You should go to YouTube, seach for chicken sounds..Wonder what Hawk would do?? lol. How nice. What a lucky chicken!! AWWW, why are the other chickens pecking on her? Are they plucking her feathers? Funny she hangs with the dogs..maybe she thinks she's a canine...lol Poor kitty..wonder what's going through his mind??!! I can imagine..no wonder he seeks a higher level. lol. JoJo, only the best for our feathered/furred family, right? Bet your zoo pets are as spoiled as ours..lol. Don't blame you for investing in a jeep..Can you imagine trying to haul all that food in a Fiero? lol. I don't know much about quail. How do they behave and what do they eat? Are they in or outdoors? I remember you said you got a new turtle..how's he/she working out? I forgot, is he/she a water or land turtle? 3 dogs..wow! lol. Does your gecko have an English accent like the commercial? lol. The gecko commercial is one of a few I don't mind watching...makes me laugh. JoJo, I know you addressed to Marjie, but I too bred Betas. Wasn't it amusing watching the male spitting a nest for babies? But, poor moms. JoJo,, what type of plants are you looking for? Wow, you wake before the roosters..lol..Toni

Christine -- I am very happy to hear that part of the burden has been lifted for you. I am always impressed with your positive, can-do attitude. Please talk to a qualified tax professional about your 2012 taxes. While cancellation of debt (COD) income is generally taxable, there are exceptions. The following is from the IRS website: "Is Cancellation of Debt income always taxable? Not always. There are some exceptions. The most common situations when cancellation of debt income is not taxable involve: Qualified principal residence indebtedness: This is the exception created by the Mortgage Debt Relief Act of 2007 and applies to most homeowners. Bankruptcy: Debts discharged through bankruptcy are not considered taxable income. Insolvency: If you are insolvent when the debt is cancelled, some or all of the cancelled debt may not be taxable to you. You are insolvent when your total debts are more than the fair market value of your total assets. Certain farm debts: If you incurred the debt directly in operation of a farm, more than half your income from the prior three years was from farming, and the loan was owed to a person or agency regularly engaged in lending, your cancelled debt is generally not considered taxable income. Non-recourse loans: A non-recourse loan is a loan for which the lender�s only remedy in case of default is to repossess the property being financed or used as collateral. That is, the lender cannot pursue you personally in case of default. Forgiveness of a non-recourse loan resulting from a foreclosure does not result in cancellation of debt income. However, it may result in other tax consequences." These links will give you some basic information: http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=179414,00.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cancellation_of_Debt_(COD)_Income http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p4681.pdf Here is a link that might be useful: IRS Pub 4681

walkin you couldn't find it because it was on a thread about my chairs! You could have looked forever! I'l put the original link below. This is Magnaverde's sofa and follow are the instructions he posted at BHG and Picturesworth a million year ago - I still have this saved because someday I'm bound to have a piece to use this technique. Here's the process, as I originally described it on the AOL Decorating Board last year, and where the original post was unearthed from the AOL archives by the lovely and talented HOST HOME DECOR. She's the best. ....................... Forget all that nonsense about teensy bottles of expensive paint medium from the crafts store. You don't need anything more than regular latex semi-gloss paint--and a lot of guts. I found a beautiful Baker Chippendale camelback sofa, with cool curved arms and a fat down cushion, but it was covereed in a hideous glazed chintz in the ugliest colors I ever saw. I found some great yellow wool damask to reupholster with, but it would have cost me $3OOO for the job, so I painted my sofa instead. Everyone freaked out when I told then the plan, but it worked. I was planning on painting my room dark green, so I decided to go with the red leather look. First, I painted the whole thing with bubblegum pink semigloss latex paint, using the widest foam brush I could find, and brushing it on in long strokes front-to-back and up + down. Think of that as the primer coat. I let it dry 2 days, and sanded it super lightly with fine-grade sandpaper to get rid of the burrs--there were a lot. When I couldn't feel any more sharp things, another coat of paint, spread thin. Dried and sanded again. Then spread--with my hands--a thin coat of raspberry red semi-gloss paint I had deadened a little with brown to make it a little less vivid. Because it was a deep color, there wasn't much white filler in the paint, and it was almost like a glaze or stain, instead of paint, which is just what I wanted anyway. I just smoothed it on, like suntan oil, and worked it into the pink paint. I let it build a little thicker at the back, on the inside of the arms and at the back edge of the loose cushion, so that the paler, thinner red took on an air of wear at the high points. I let it dry 2 days, then CAREFULLY sanded the few new sharp things, and touched up those spots with my fingers. I let it dry 2 days, then waxed the whole thing with regular paste wax. After it was dry, I polished with a soft cloth, then dusted with talcum, and vacuumed it all off. It was a little stiff the first few days, but now it not only looks like red leather, it feels like it. This worked great on glazed chintz, and probably would work on any smooth fabric, except that some may have more burrs and therefore require more sanding, but I wouldn't try it on anything with a heavy texture. And no, the paint doesn't come off. And it's not stiff, either. Think about it--it's latex paint, and essentially, that's what's in those little bottles of fabric medium. By the way if anyone finds this topic before he or she finds the picture that shows the finished results, it's over in the PicturesWorth album, probably at the bottom of the pile, in MAGNAVERDE'S SCRAPBOOK. Have fun. Magnaverde." ............. For those who STILL don't think you can do it and who need a little pep talk before you start, go to magnaverde.com and look for the link that says 'consult magnaverde'--and I'll talk you through it. It will cost you a few dollars, but of course, my advice is priceless. And besides, I'm cheaper than a new sofa. You can talk to me and then go out for coffee. Good luck. Here is a link that might be useful: Original Thread

One option could be to call Comcast and just tell them that their price increase is enough that you now want to get rid of them. That should be enough to get them to counter with some sort of promotion -- maybe your old rate continued, or another discount for another time commitment, or ... something. They may offer you more services at the higher price, but if that's not what you want, stick to your objective. You should get what you want.