Thank you all for the great ideas. Sorry, it takes me awhile to get back to the computer. I'm thinking Garden Chicken's tecnique on the partially cured 'tufa might be the best way to go for a first project. She does want to write more than just the horse's name and dates so trying to do it on wet tufa might be pushing it. Leigh, those foam rubber letters reversed in the bottom of the mold would probably be great if she weren't going to need multiples of some letters. Marley, your mold making instructions came up when I did a search. I told my neighbor about the talented person who carves letters out of POP and makes her own silicone mold and she started thinking maybe a wooden cross might be OK. Of course this was after also explaining why If she wanted to have rebar sticking out the bottom to stand it in the ground instead of making the stone longer she should coat with epoxy. :-) For the recipe I'll probably use 1 cement,1 1/2 sand, 1 sifted peat, and 1/2 vermiculite. Right now the size is 1ft x 2ft x 3in. Were're hoping this won't be TOO heavy. We should probably try a small test batch first to practice carving. Sure wish I had a dremel. Sorry I can't promise pictures :-( That's one reason I don't post about my projects cuz I know how disappointing it is when there aren't any pictures. I did try awhile ago. My son finally brought his digital camera over and I took some pictures...then after several tries he finally brought the right CD over for downloading from the memory card. Afterwards our cpmputer was all messed up and spent 3 weeks at 'puter Dr.'s house....ended up having to order a new mother board... he said it wasn't our sons fault-just a coincedence but I'm not real anxious to let him try again. It sure is frustrating being computer illiterate. packrat2

Hello all, It looks like everyone had a great valentine swap. Great boxes everyone. My surgery went well and I am recovering quickly. Still not allowed to do much. The doc said you can return to your normal routine but don't push, pull, or pick up any thing over 5 pounds so hey, whats left. Normal????? I am trying desperately to be good. I am doing mostly computer work at the nursery trying to get my website and ebay store ready for opening soon. I have a friend that is helping me with heavy labor and I am getting to boss him around so that is nice :O) LOL. I got in a huge order of plants today and had to get them all ready for the cold snap, so I have been busier than I wanted to but all is going well. The hardest part will be not over doing it before time. Thanks for all the inquiry's. One thing I wanted to mention was the fact that a couple days ago I came home and found a box in my front yard. It was from our sweetheart Jo. She said that I had the most votes from those that chose to vote for the best xmas box. I was floored when I opened it. It contained the most beautiful throw. It is made of fleece material and is reversible with red daylilies on one side and a beige/green fleece on the backside. It is sooooo cool as it is not sewn but cut on the edges and tied together every inch or so. Never seen one made like it and it is sooooo warm and cozy, and soooo pretty. My yorkie has been fighting me for it ever since it came! Also in the box was a beautiful hand made (of course from Jo) angel. It is sitting on my mantle right now. She also included a nice corn bag. Just pop in the microwave and place on a sore or tired muscle for instant relief. Very nice. It has been quite handy the last couple days for my abdomen. Thanks sooooo much Jo. My camera stuff is still at work so I haven't taken pics yet but I will and I will show everyone the wonderful suprise gifts that I recieved. Thanks so much Jo for your generosity and thoughtfullness and thank you all for the votes that I never expected. It was a beautiful surprise. I also gave my notice to my job. My last day will be the 28th officially even though I can't really return anyway for atleast 6 weeks. I have left my position to focus full time on getting the nursery open. My open date is still March 18th. Hope I can recover and get everything done in that amount of time. It will be close enough what ever I get done. My career has changed, I am now an unemployed/self employed nursery owner. I finally got my license and all the other paperwork done and I am on a new road. Anyway guess that catches me up. I am guessing that I will be out of the corner in april so I hope to get back in the loop then. Take care Tanarae

Just thought of something else I do for kids....this is great for travleing...I make them up in the summer for our reunions too with different pix of course I am including a link of pix already doen.....all you have to do is size them however big you want(I made mine 4"square) print them out on cardstock paper......then put 2 together back to back(2 different pictures)when I made them last year, I made some with halloween on one side, and thanksgiving on the other side, or with christmas on one side and winter (snowmen, etc)on the other side. I glued them lightly back to back with a glue stick (cheap from dollar stores) just enough to hold together till I could laminate them.....bought laminate at Walmart cheap.....cut them out, stuck them in a bag with different colored flat marble stones from walmart, and the kids loved them....some adults too! I also took a bunch of recipes, halloween for halloween, and xmas for xmas, and using vintage graphics I found online, made everyone a nice cookbook(did this for reunion too using family recipes) I used the vintage graphics for the front & back cover of the book. When I made the halloween cookbook(small booklet), Have some for sale on Ebay right now, I printed out the recipes, then printed out the covers, cut them all out, punched a hole in the corner, tied it together with jute twine.....then I cut out a pumkin shape(2 sided) out of felt, sewed them together, crocheted a jute handle, embellished with silk leaves, and an acorn or pine cone, stuck the recipe book inside..made a nice gift and they can hang it inside the cupboard door for easy finding or even hang on the wall for the season. The xmas ones i am working on now for gifts...I am printing out the recipes, more vintage graphics from online, then will make mittens (make a big snoflake on the outside using glitter glue) or other shape from felt and will stick the recipe booklet inside with a candy cane or something.....if you have any questions, email me..I'll be glad to help... Here is a link that might be useful: tic tac toe boards

I'm new to this board as well. I am looking for ideas to downsize our stuff. It is so hard. I tend to want to save DD's too small dress for a cousin who lives an hour away and won't fit into it for 4 years. I pile, bag, save things only to find that recipients are overwhelmed with things and are not always willing to take on stuff they might need in a few years. It's a NOW world. Anyway, I feel I am always in put away / tidy mode and I can't progress to actual cleaning. I spray a little windex, throw down comet in the bathroom, laundy, cook, and dishes and that's about it. My swifter wet jet is a godsend. 24 hours in a day and 100 hours of chores to do. As for hobbies, I think they are very worthwhile (even though I don't have much time now for my top 10, or even top 3 thanks to full time job and mother to 2 busy gals). I gave up one craft that I very much enjoyed because I found it tiresome to constantly have to hunt down materials to make a new project exactly like the one I made last year. Also, I often spent alot more $ on my craft project than I could have bought a ready made for. Granted, I would have some extra materials, but not enough, so the buying cycle continued. I have noticed that people without hobbies, whether its music, exercise, art, crafts, wood work, genealogy, etc. are bored people and this multiplies as you age. So often, I see people who could easily retire continue to work just so they'll have something to do. I think that's sad.