Hi Brenda, Sorry, the directions was in the August newsletter. I e-mailed them to see if I can get old directions. I haven't heard from them. But I did make a copy of the directions. They are easy to make. I just melted some wax (they said to keep the temp. at 155-175) Add vanilla or Ivory color. I used crayons. Then add some scent. Then dip your candles into the wax then roll them in cinnamon do that 4-6 times or till you get the look you like. They are addicting to make. I got candles at the $ store and Big Lots. Big Lots had some that are called a ultilty candle. They are 6 1/2" tall. They are .59 for 5 of them. I just saw a bundle of 3 of these at a craft store yesterday for 7.99. They also talked about dipping ornies, hang tags, stuffed hearts and stars, cinnamon sticks, dried apples and oranges. They also say be careful not to burn yourself. Have fun making these, Cheri

In Jan. I'd gone on a trip to Mobile with a couple friends to a big flea market there. Before coming home we drove to Dauphin Island - we couldn't believe how badly they'd been hit. I talked with a lady at a convenience store there who'd had a paper route on the island and after the hurricane over half her route was gone, not only the houses, but the property itself was underwater in the Gulf. That's why most of these poor people are fighting with the insurance companies, the property/land itself is gone. As for the MS coast - it was truly difficult to grasp how massive the devastation was, and still is, there. When you only see a picture or camera view of one area, you don't really have any point of reference or landmark to orient yourself as to what area you're looking at. Then you get there, and you slowly begin to grasp the magnitude of it because there ARE NO landmarks left. The beaches themselves are slowly recovering, and of course most of the casinos are back, but as you said all the beautiful old homes are gone, all the businesses & restaurants are gone - amazing to me was that a few of the signs remained, but the actual buildings were levelled. A few of the hotels have come back, but most are either gone or still in shambles. Most all the debris has been cleared away, but it's just such an eerie feeling to be able to see inland for blocks from Hwy 90. As I said, we were returning from Mobile and got on 90 there in Biloxi (the Ocean Beach bridge is, or was at that time, still out) - my friend said the devastation was even worse further west toward Long Beach, but I had had all I could take by the time we reached Hwy 49 in Gulfport - I was in tears and trying to drive, so I headed up 49 toward home. As for my life history (a little of it I was telling PF about on the 'paint dipping' post)....I'll attempt to make a VERY long story short. I was born in Oakland, CA (biological father in the Navy), mom divorced then remarried another Navy man (my step-dad) who got transferred to Pensacola when I was 2. My step-dad retired there, so I lived there from age 2 to 14. At 14 my mom passed away from cancer and I went to live with my older sis whose (now ex)husband had been transferred to Jackson for his job. From there I moved back to FL briefly, met my ex-husband, moved with him to New Orleans, then San Diego, San Francisco, WA state (where he was originally from) and I finally decided to come back home (after 5 yrs. of h*ll)-fully intending to go back to FL. I stopped in MS to visit my sis and my brother (who had since also moved there from FL) and ended up staying there for the past 17 years. I finally got divorced from my ex and eventually found the love of my life (corny,I know)- his mom was born and raised in MS. He grew up in FL too from a Navy family and come to find out, had things been just a little different we probably would've at least gone to high school together. His father was just getting transferred out of Pensacola as mine was being transferred in. And, of course, you already know the reason for the GA move. When I first moved to MS, everyone told me, "If you stay 6 months, you'll never leave". I took it as you wouldn't 'want' to leave - little did I realize that the truth was that you can't AFFORD to leave! It's worse now because the cost of everything is going up, but wages there aren't. After 15 years of struggling there, we figured a change couldn't hurt. Besides, my brother and his family are now back in Jacksonville, so I'm closer to them and my oldest son is in the Marine Corps in NC so I'm closer to him now, too. My sis isn't happy about the whole thing since she's still in MS, but if things work out here, I'm gonna get her moved here eventually! LOL OMG... this is turning into a novel...DH took my 2 youngest to the dentist for me today so it's been quiet and I didn't realize how much I'd rambled on...Sorry - I warned PF about this earlier! :) I need to get some work done before they get back.

They bloom just fine in the wax and without watering. I put them on my kitchen window ledge, which gets very cold too. I then leave it completely alone. I don't turn it, I don't trim it, I don't even look at it for a month or so. Then it blooms and it's pretty and that's that. You people do realize they are mass producing these bulbs for this purpose and not stealing them out of people's yards and sentencing them to death right? They would not exist if it wasn't for this "trend". You don't need to fuss with plants all the time. They were here before you and wil be here long after you. Orchids grow in the wild without anyone daintily placing ice cubes on them every few weeks. Delicate plants grow all over the world without being spritzed and sang to. Plants will flourish forever in jars with lids that never get opened or watered. Plants never stopped growing at Chernobyl. Trees root in sidewalk cracks. I'm pretty sure dandelions and cockroaches spawned from the same singular cell. The best way to grow and care for plants is to leave them alone. Water them when they look dry. Humans are the biggest threat to all living things, including other humans. People are not the saviors of plants, we are their imminent doom. They wouldn't continue to sell the plants in wax if they didn't grow the way they said they did. The companies would be bankrupt. What a weirdly self congratulatory and navel gazingingly weird article. The horror! The horror!

I have been through many changes with various forums I have posted on over the years. Any time there's some sort of migration to a new site or platform, some people leave. Some leave for good, others take a break, and then return. And new people come in as well, to reinvigorate the forum. It's sad that some people are choosing to leave-- and beverly, I hope you don't go-- but a million posts here with complaints and announcements of departures do nothing to improve the situation. They neither make this place attractive to current posters, nor do they help attract new people. Changes like this always take some time to shake out, but we have been given a good opportunity to continue to post for free, with better technology. Let's make the best of it. There are many sadder and even more tragic things in life to moan about.