Hey Mike.. The day is dark..where's the sun? lol..Wonder if it's going to snow..Has it snowed up east yet, or too early? One thing about snow...it brightens up a home..ever notice? Snow reflects off walls (I only use Semi-Gloss White paint) and other bright objects.. Mike, the things we do for our plants! I've placed aluminum foil behind plants so when we do have sun, it reflects off the foil..lol.. One time, I tried collecting snow for plants..lol...Don't bother. One year, I placed containers outside while it was snowing, blizard-like. The containers collected snow, filled, 'which took forever,' then brought inside to melt..I wanted to cry. There was about 2" of water..lol..All that work for nothing.. Here's another thing I do, but am not recommending. When snow is fresh, I grab a handful and place directly on soil. Most of you reading this are shaking your head, thinking, she's NUTS, lol, but fresh snow, although cold, is pure. The problem doing this is it can chill roots..So, when I add snow, it has to be sunny and early in the morning. Never at night. So far, Thank God, snow has never harmed a plant. Again, I'm NOT telling anyone to do this.. BTW, I don't add snow to cactus and succulents. I agree about caring for our plants like children, with one exception..What's the number one plant killer? OVERWATERING. Sometimes, people kill plants because they're too caring, and continue adding more and more water..Leaves droop, so they think, oh oh it needs more water or fertilizer..then the plant dies.. So, yes, I agree, we need to be alert, (especially when a plant shows signs of distress,) inspect, mist, shower, water when needed, fertilize at the proper time, etc, but never in excess.. BTW, if I'm not mistaken, the number 2 killer is over-fertiliizing. 3 is underwatering. Then there's the INSECT problem..sheesh..in some cases, insects are beyond our control. Especially for those starting out..they go shopping, find a pretty plant, unaware it's loaded with mites, bring home, and a wk later the plant is dead. But never neglect plants either. Heck, I talk and sing to them..lol..you should see my birds when they see me talking, especially singing to a plant..lol..it's hilarious. I found the variegated CC on Ebay..Ebay is the BEST..I wouldnt have half the plants I do if it wasn't for Ebay or the internet in general. Most stores and nurseries here sell the same, old, common plants. When they get something they deem rare, prices are hiked up 100%. Terrible. Oh, I agree, 'playing' with plants is more 'funner' than cooking or cleaning..lol. Oh you do have a MOO??? GReat..Flowers don't last long like you say, similar to tropical Hibiscus. Speaking of which, my Hib tree had several buds and one opened flower..it opened 3 days ago and still going, but starting to look crinkly..I snapped a pic last night, but haven't put it on Flickr yet.. What I'd love to find is a variegated MOO..lol..now that be sometehing..I'd also like to find a variegated Stephanotis..ohhh, wonder if any exist..lol.. Have a wonderful day..hugs, Toni

Please ignore this jumbled up message.Have not slept well and have not had my diet coke.Sorry. Shelley

I don't know if you've read the "Read Me" thread, but the "Best Advice" and other, similar, threads are linked in it. They're located in the "Miscellaneous Information"-->"Helpful Threads" topic. Here's your list, reformatted for ease of reading (see "Curious about text in messages (adding bold, italics, etc.)", also in the "Miscellaneous Information"-->"Helpful Threads" topic.) ++++++++++++ lay the kitchen out on the ground outside with all the measurements and walk around it to see if it felt right. I took my measurements and scraps of wood and laid them out in the various plans I had come up with. check out the sound of the fan in the new ovens. I would have been pretty steamed to spend a bunch on a new range and have that sound come blaring out each time I used the oven. putting Blumotion on the cabinet doors. This is my favorite feature in our kitchen and the cost was cheap to add these on after the cab install. "zones" on this forum, and designed my kitchen around them, with a tremendous amount of help from my forum friends. In my old kitchen, the dishwasher opened across from the island (right into the backs of my legs). Now, the cleanup zone is on the peninsula, the prep area is between the fridge and sink, etc. It's really wonderful. No air gap -- most modern dishwashers don't need them, so you don't have to have that extra unattractive "thing" on your countertop. Easy way around that if you need to pass code inspection is to drill the hole for air gap... pop it on for inspection and when they've gone take off the air gap and pop on your soap dispenser. Then put the loop in the hose at the back of your dishwasher... Advantium Miele dishwasher Test tube rack for spice storage Lay it out with tape to double check advice for setting up a temp kitchen Measure from 3 points wall to wall. Had I known this when we remodeled the entire house in 1990, I would now have the room to put in a pro-style range. As it is, I am exactly....1/4" short. Talk about frustrating! Our cabs are in great shape and I love them, but I'm stuck with the 29-7/8" width on the range. I really like this that I stole from Dmlove--- I love not having all those cords on my desk/countertop! So best advice from this forum... details make the difference! for now my phone sits over the hole pull down (rather than pull out or side spray) faucet Bluestar, after asking about the best 30 inch slide-in range batch-feed garbage disposals adding outlets Galaxy Tool Supply for our sink Never MT Plugmold Wide/shallow cabinet for William Sonoma ultra-thin step stool. Airswitch on disposal. Never minded the wall switch, but now that I have a nice backsplash and an island Floodstop on icemaker and washing machine. I put power into the back of 4 drawers, so each family member has a place to charge the cell phone (or camcorder or whatever) out of sight. I also have a false panel behind a niche so that the power / wallwarts / phone wire / wireless...

Thanks again for the grounding - and don't apologize for being harsh as it can be good for me to hear. I do feel that I am a peacekeeper way too much at home, but I constantly go back to my own two children and I guess I'm trying to protect them from heated battles in front of them or worse - a divorce. I'm to a point now where I seriously wonder whether a divorce might be better on everyone given the angst involved. @ annkathryn: I realize the stipulations of the 529K. What I would do would be to drop his $12,000 into my younger kids' 529 funds which I started for each basically when they were 1. The idea then would be to stop funding those two accounts for a while and pay my SS the amount per month that would normally go to those two accounts until he reaches the $12K. To add insult to this injury, both SS and my wife feel that's too long a time to get the money and would insist I take it out of savings and pay the savings back over time. Seriously, I look back over this stuff and I say to myself "How is it that I can even consider that I'm NOT in the right here". As right as I may be, my wife is so narrowly focused and impervious to reason that she literally goes haywire when I push these buttons. But this is a stepfamily forum and not a divorce forum so let me throw another question in there. My wife and I had a real blow-out this morning over the SS again because now her contention is that her SS is the way he is because I have been a failure as a father to him. She'll admit I was great to him up until he started failing college, but from there I've not been his buddy like she would have hoped. She wants me to take him golfing, to take him on a trip with me somewhere, and to basically put my arm around him and say, "Hey buddy, what can I do to help you in your life." Without the full-on story with this, fact is I have been the one that has tried to help him map his life, and he doesn't ever seem interested. I WAS the one taking him to court, dealing with lawyers, etc when he's had his recent troubles. But I see the way he acts with the money issues above, I see him flick his cigarette butts around the yard and not care, I see his trash he leaves by the driveway every other day because he does not want it in his car, and I still have his texts demanding the child support money because it is his. Frankly, I have no desire to hang around with a person like that. I guess I should be the better person and try harder to mentor him, but I just feel such anger with the way he feels the world owes him stuff that I find myself uninspired. Am I wrong? Do I need to suck it up and be better about this? Is my wife correct when she tells me that I am failing him? This has even more emphasis today - the day after Father's Day. Stepson said nothing to me the whole day. I know I'm not is bio-dad, but in the past he has thanked me for basically fulfilling the role. Guess I shouldn't feel too bad - he said nothing to his bio-dad either.