That's great news. In my town we were able to stop a Domino's pizza from relocating to a more residential part of town, it would have been right next door to a home, and the woman that lived in that house started the petition and went door to door. Instead a chef bought the building and put a charming little french bistro there and it is Zagat rated and wildly successful and a wonderful asset to our neighborhood. Unfortunately, we have been unsuccessful in fighting developers from putting 3 separate multi-unit buildings in parts of town that are flood prone and where schools are already past capacity. It is going to be such a drain on our school system, and in turn I'm sure our taxes which are the highest in the country will go up.

We learned in law school to always get the ring on Christmas or on your birthday. If it is given on those dates, it is considered a gift and you get to keep it. If it is given any other time, it is a conditional gift and you only get to keep it if you fulfill the condition (wedding goes through). In divorce, woman keeps the ring b/c she fulfilled the condition.

Congratulations to them both! I have a suggestion for them, also. While they are on their cruise, suggest that they do a daily journal of what they have seen and done. Even with pictures, they will quickly forget some details. If they keep a dialy journal, they can come home and do it in a word processing document and insert pictures to go with each day. (Or scrapbook it!) I am not a scrapbooker, but a friend showed us their daily journal. They do it every day, even if it's just one sentance about going to the dr. or a visit from a friend. They are full time RV'ers, and it makes wonderfull memories. He then prints the journal at the end of the year, and takes it to Staples or someplace similar and has it bound. He makes two copies, keeps one and gives the other to his mother. I don't do it daily, but do try to do each day of our trips. Boy, has it come in handy! We forget place names very easily, along with people's names. If they take a laptop with them, they can do the journal on the computer and download the pictures daily. I don't put all the pictures taken in the journal, just a few key photos, the rest stay in a file folder labeled for the trip. Tami

This is such a sweet story, Sheila. How lucky your son is to have loving, supportive parents. And he's smart to do his homework too! My first thought is that it really is fun to pick out the engagement ring together, so maybe he should ask her and then they can get the ring. If he chooses to use the family diamond, they should take it to a jeweler who can design a ring, maybe adding some small diamonds around it to give it more "look." Or if he's determined to surprise her, have him take the diamond to a jeweler to see what can be done, and also look around at other rings to price compare and see what he likes. This is so exciting, and you must be very happy that things are moving, even tho' slowly!