Happy Birthday, Karen! Dirt is a great present. My DH brought home several free pallets and we built a two bin compost area together as my anniversary present. I love it and love him! He doesn't much care for gardening but understands that I like it alot. It's great that he will help me with the two person tasks.

Happy Birthday Judy, Here I am late again and I see that I missed others birthdays too. I am glad to read that you had a great birthday and hope that EVERY day is a great day for you. (((Judy))), Arlene

Thanks everyone, I chuckled through all the posts! Vegas was a good diversion considering I was traveling with a picky 13YO and a Depression era survivor (think 'cheap'), LOL. That means we didn't eat out extravagantly. Come to think of it, we ate out twice - once at a local restaurant (Middle Eastern, Paymon's) and we grabbed two pizzas at Metro Pizza. Two for one so of course that lasted us...oy. Ya know, sometimes you do things for other reasons...this trip was so my dad could spend time with my kids. I really really wanted to do a Vegas buffet, the Wynn, but the lines were too long. Next time, eh? We did see two shows, Spamalot and Penn and Teller. Other things on the agenda were, as I said before, the Hoover Dam, EthelM factory (eh), the Atomic Museum, Fremont Street Experience, the water fountains at the Bellagio (I sent DH a picture of the Dale Chihuly glass ceiling, he was jealous), and we drove through Red Rock Canyon. We did make it to the top of the Stratosphere. The Pinball museum was great, the kids spent $20 over an hour of time, cheaper than gambling! Oh and I did get a little slot machine time (no tables, oh well) at the airport. I put a buck into a 5 cent slot machine and played until I won $2.50, then cashed out! The only thing I missed for ME was the International Food Market...discussion link below. Maybe Sharon will make it there in March and report back! We stayed at a great place for families, off strip: the Westgate Flamingo resort. We had a small two bedroom condo with a kitchen and washer/dryer. Location was GREAT - a Food4less market half a block away for supplies. $111/night from Expedia. Recommended!!! Here is a link that might be useful: International food market on chowhound

Thirty was happy for me. We were able to adopt our DS after six years of marriage and surgery that left me unable to conceive. This year has been an uneasy one because my mother died at this age -- in October. It was an awful year for her, slowing dying of leukemia, and for me as her only child. DH had mixed feelings when he reached the age at which his father had died of a heart attack. Because DH had never been told he was adopted, and because all of his father's brothers also died of strokes, he'd been allowed to assume he would have the same fate. (Another example of his adoptive mother's nature.) Now DH has lived 25 years longer than his father did. And ding-dong-the-witch-is-dead.