Mike, VCR's very fragrant and smells just like a rose. Even with just this single bloom I can still detect faint whiff of it from a distance. I know a vendor in Oahu who sells VCR cutting for $16. If you want it, let me know and I'll be happy to pick one up for you when I'm there. Wow!! that Scentational is still there? I kinda wanted to get it last month but it wasn't on sale. $40 seems reasonable enough! :) Did you see that giant plumeria plant I found in the Asian market around here? Could it be a promising sign plumerias will soon be available in our state? LOL Kenny

This just happened on Saturday... DH and I were invited to a bar-b-que at a friends house in Saugerties, which is about 45 miles north-west of us. They gave my DH directions, which he wrote down and stuffed in his wallet. The instructions specifically stated that "once you cross the 9W and Route 32 intersection, go approximately 500 feet and make a right turn on to St. John's Road...". So off we go to Saugerties and we're driving up Route 9W towards Kingston. (Hint: Saugerties is above Kingston, about another 15 minutes north). We drive and drive and drive and come to a split in the road right before Kingston. Route 32 forks to the right, so DH veered to the right. We go a bit further and get to the point where 9W and Route 32 intersects. We go through the intersection and drive 500 feet. No St. Joseph's Road to the right. We go a bit further up the road but still no St. Joseph's Road. At this point I suggest to DH that he turn around and go back to the intersection, and then take a right because when we veered right at the split, maybe Route 32 also had a section further up the road. At this point DH gets a tad pi$$y because he's admittedly directionally challenged. He starts getting a bit hoppy and hot under the collar, telling me that he's "been there before and he knows where he's going. This street looks familiar so it has to around here somewhere". After driving around for another 10 minutes I start chuckling because I just can't help it. My DH asks me, "what's so funny?", and now I'm really laughing to the point that I can't stop. He's getting angrier by the minute and proceeds to pull over to the side of the road. When I finally couldn't contain myself any longer I ask him, "Are you sure you know where you are, because we're in Kingston and they live in Saugerties". Needless to say we were both laughing so hard the tears were streaming down our cheeks. We swore that we wouldn't tell anyone what dummies we were.

--" my nephew is kind of over the anger, he is doing great in school, he is managing his mental health with medication but with behavior modification he is doing excellent. I'm so proud of him."-- Good for him! It sounds like that no matter the chaos and mess around him, he at least is doing 'ok' and working hard at overcoming his own issues. It is strange though that your sister assures he get help and therapy yet does nothing to deal with her own issues. Ever watch that tv series on hoarding? OMG is right. I won't even begin to think I understand hoarding behavior, cause I don't, but I wonder if the moving/partner to partner lifestyle of your sister has somehow helped create the hoarding tendency? Perhaps she views the total mess and junk in her house as the one consistancy that belongs to her and the one thing she can control with thinking 'my possessions'. IDK. Such inconsistancies. Poor son has no shoes yet the lady has a housefull of them. No clothing, yet the house is littered with clothing. No food yet hands her money to others for food. Makes one wonder why she did not hand her friend the address for the foodbank instead of the cash. Is the 'stuff' all over her home the reason she is always broke? Meaning she spends her money on all this junk and therefore has none for the things she really needs? I'm not sure there is anything you personally could do to 'help', it seems like professionals with training to deal with people with these issues would be the only hope of breaking what is going on. Has your nephew talked to his therapist about his living conditions? Is there a school counselor that might be able to assist him? A sink full of dishes would not give CPS much room to work with, but a housefull as in unsafe, unsantitary ect might. If you 'rat' her out, be prepared that your sister will be angry with you and perhaps try and shut you out from interfering with what obviously she sees as 'no problem'. I have not a bit of advice, but wanted to say from your 'vent' I think you have real reason to feel concern. I'm just not sure what it is you could do to 'help' all on your own...this sounds like it may be a bigger issue than you yourself could take on without some outside assistance. In the meantime, perhaps you could include your nephew in a bit of your weekend activities (minus Mom) just so he knows Aunt Myfam is there for him and give him a wee bit of a chance to have some normalcy in his life, a decent meal ect. And continue to help out a bit with the little things you have been doing (like the facewash).

Oh, @Kathsgrdn my sister spends more time in holding that on set. It took her YEARS to get the 3 credits she needed to become full union and get that nice pay raise (and be food services ;) ) but she said she wouldn't trade it in for the world. She gets paid a lot of money now but it took years. It was the creator of X-Files who hand picked her for a speaking role on X-Files. While the speaking part was cut, she is clearly in the scene. It was that episode that gave her "actress" status. It's fun to watch the credits and see friends and family names run in it. :)