beachlily, my stepdad had shingles and it was awful, there were days when even the collar on his shirt hurt him. I'm sorry that your hubs has this to deal with too. Hang in there, I'm sending prayers and hugs, as you know. Ruthanna, like you, I don't have air conditioning at all, and I cook outside on the deck sometimes. I should have an awning out there, but I don't. I do have an outside plug, so I put a crockpot out there, or my Nesco roaster or my small countertop "convection oven". I also have a camp stove, so I can make breakfast out there if it suits me and I have canned out there occasionally. I keep threatening to get one of those "screen houses" because the mosquitos here are awful, the people who keep track of such things say it's the worst year for mosquitos in a long time, that we're having the "perfect storm" of heat and wet for them. The bats and barn swallows are loving it, though. It got to be 92 here on Friday and 88 on Saturday, with humidity hovering in the high 80s. I decided to just ignore it and so on Saturday I mowed the lawn, finally cleaned and folded the pool cover, gave the outside trim on the house a coat of Kilz because we're painting the house, and then went inside and canned a batch of Habenero Gold. I figure if it's hot, it just is and a bit more doesn't make a difference. Yesterday I compensated by spending 7 hours in the garden, rototilling, raking and hoeing. There was a decent breeze and it only went up to 84F so it wasn't so bad, but it didn't cool down at night and Elery ended up sleeping on the couch in front of the open sliding door and with the fan blowing With both dogs. His house has air conditioning and so he's not used to it. Annie

Like your desk... it's not one bit "ugly" to me. Sure it looks functional, but that's what it's meant to be (I just happen to like that look anyway LOL). you and Martha Stewart. Once, several years ago, I sw in her office that she had a huge "paper pusher's desk" from the 1950s. Steel office furniture. And she still have a big metal "1950s office furniture"-looking table in her office for meetings. However I'd like to see a workable round table in my FR. But I like the idea of being able to put it away, however putting it away could be a problem...no place to put away. What about an office-type table? Where all the legs fold in, and you can roll the table behind the big wall unit (pull it out from the wall a bit to make room? There are some lightweight ones in the world, and you and DD can make getting it out and putting it away part of the classroom routine. If public-school teachers can have a "salute the flag, sharpen the pencils, take attendance, carry stuff to the office" type routine at the beginning of their day, why can't you have a similar business-like routine? In fact, you would teach her something really valuable by teaching her to set up her stuff for whatever she's doing, and break it back down. Round is nice bcs you can roll it--lifting isn't needed. But since she's 7, you might want one w/ more adjustable legs. I've seen that mostly in rectangular. But the blow-molded plastic tops make them REALLY lightweight. I have a small one in the church nursery, and it only needs two 2-y-o's to carry it ANYWHERE. True, it wouldn't look like fine furniture. But it would look sturdy and functional. and if ever you wanted it to look nicer--well, there are tableclothes (nobody looks at the legs) The FR is strictly for dd to play and watch tv (kinda like she can break her own tv). Sounds like that's a sensible place for home schooling, then. Here is a link that might be useful: Molded plastic table w/ folding legs

It can be overwhelming to pick paint colors. I think all of your colors sound like they would work together but if you have fabric on furniture or area rugs to consider I would start there. If there is a little color from each room that carries over to the next or say a set of 3 colors that look nice together but then you change up which one is dominate it will work. If you don't have to worry about rugs or furniture pick your color group based on what you like together. If one color doesn't work with the others at all you may want to change that one. If all the colors work as a group I think they will flow just fine. Just my 2 cents.

Ima is right. I've been down this same road. Your email could have been written by me (except my crazy BM believes that she is a psychic healer, not a student). However, consider this: a trial will bankrupt you - and the stress is even worse than the expense. Most courts rush to order 50/50 these days because it's the easy solution. Even if, by some miracle, your bf wins custody, you'll end up with two angry, hostile and very messed up kids living with you fulltime. This won't be good for anyone. My stepkids are a little older than your stepkids and we're just starting to learn now the extent of the psychological damage that they've suffered. Much of it likely occurred long before the divorce. There is only so much that you can do for your stepkids - and rescuing them from BM is an unlikely solution. Ima has some good suggestions (like protecting their clothing and taking them to activities at your house). Here are a few more suggestions that worked for us: -investigate private lessons (for swimming, skiing etc) that can be scheduled when the kids are with you. Private lessons are more expensive, but we found that the kids needed fewer private lessons than group lessons (especially when they were missing half of them). -buy some items at the thrift store that you don't mind losing if they take them to the BM's house. -get your stepdaughter some magazines about health and fitness. She's at an age where body image is important. My stepdaughter is now worried about her weight and she demands better food from BM. -get the kids into counselling. You probably have no idea how bad it is at her house, or what the kids have suffered. They likely need a lot of help. And - most importantly: TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF!!! I cannot overstate the importance of this advice. You will not be of any help to anyone if you are exhausted, impoverished and burnt out.