Good for you all and especially you Chris! Sounds like a real Com Garden. I have had plots off and on for 35 years, starting in Student Housing Gardens at UW-Madison. Here in Santa Barbara CA the city and a local non-profit manage 3 C.Gardens and numerous school and assisted living gardens. We have plans to increase the numbers and varieties of garden plot programs. We tried to get the city to mandate plots in larger new housing developments but got nowhere. Seedman

Lynne, Jane, Kathleen, Judith, please stay off the roads. Kathleen, read your blog, that is so scary when your car goes out of control, nothing you can do, but sit there & ride it out. Glad you & hubby made it home safe, now stay there!!! I don't envy any of you, being in the midwest, I've been thru many big snowstorms over the years & know how bad they can be. I didn't get out for after xmas sales either, was too tired Sunday & today had to take grandson for braces & then had a friend call & ask me to frost her hair afterward, so while gson was getting braces, I ran thru Target, but didn't really see anything that called out to me & I usually can do better at garage sales in the summer than even 50% off. I do need xmas wrap & tags, but I think I can find them tomorrow somewhere. Have two g-daughters staying over & we are planning a shopping spree tomorrow.

I am soooo relieved that the Miralax is working for Casey (and I'm sure she is, too)! I feel the same way every time I see one of Billy's nice long tootsies. Constipation can make them feel so miserable and sick. You have vastly improved Casey's quality of life with Miralax. I definitely think you should take your neighbor up on her offer to administer subQs for you at home. I know you're having a hard time believing that Casey will be more cooperative with less restraint, but hopefully your neighbor will be able to demonstrate the validity of that for you. I do understand your misgivings, though. Billy is extremely short-tempered and does NOT like to be messed with, so when he was diagnosed with both CRF and hyperT, I was dreading having to medicate him, much less having to eventually administer subQs to my potentially violent old man. To make matters worse, my housemate moved out right before Billy started needing subQs, so I was faced with having to administer them without any assistance. I had nightmares of lying on the floor bleeding to death with Billy firmly attached to my jugular vein. But what choice did I have? Billy needed subQs, and I was the only one here to administer them. I knew my only chance of surviving the procedure was to keep it all as low key as possible. Billy had chosen a diningroom chair as his favorite sleeping spot, so I rigged a way to hang the fluid bag from the curtain rod next to the chair. While he was napping, I quietly hung the bag, sat down next to him (which instantly woke him and caused him to stand up), and slipped in the needle as quickly as possible. To my utter amazement, Billy didn't object at all. He stood there while I silently stroked his face until the administration was finished. I was stunned at how easily it all went. Things have changed a bit since then. It didn't take Billy long to figure out that the diningroom chair was where he got his fluids, so he abandoned the chair and started napping elsewhere. Now I have to find him and carry him to the chair for fluids, but as long as I do so quietly and carry him carefully, he usually doesn't do more than grumble softly. Sometimes if I don't get the needle exactly where he wants it, he'll start growling in mid-administration. I have to be VERY careful at that point NOT to touch him (other than to hold the needle in place), or he'll attack me. So I just hold my hand an inch or two in front of his chest so that he knows I won't allow him to leave, and he stays put and growls until I'm finished. If I get the needle in a comfortable spot, however, he'll generally sit or stand without objection until we're done. I can absolutely guarantee you, though, that if I did anything other than use my body position to restrict his movement, he'd fight like a demon during subQs. There is absolutely NO WAY that a restraint bag would do anything other than increase Billy's fight instinct, and I suspect the same will be true for Casey. You need to reduce the stress response, not increase it, in order to be successful with subQs. A restraint bag is likely to feel a lot like a carrier to Casey, so she may very well have the same stress response to the bag that she has to her carrier. Casey's also likely to be in a considerably happier (and hopefully more cooperative) mood now that she's not dealing with chronic constipation anymore. Don't worry. All of this will work out, one day and one procedure at a time. Laurie

Right now she says she does want to be with him.... but that changes periodically. She's called me before asking how I left my ds16 father. It's hard not to worry when it's obvious by the look on her face sometimes that she's just scared to upset him. He went off on her once when the baby was at daycare and she fell down the steps.... obviously this wasn't my sister's fault. It was an accident. Then are not currently married. Last night my mom called her and told her I was worried. My sister called me crying and asked what I said. I told her exactly... that I was worried she hadn't thought it all the way through and that she'd get stuck there. Then I heard him in the back ground yelling about our f..... family blah blah. I then simply and calmly told my sister that I would not speak to her with him yelling in the background and I would not fight with him. I then said that she could call me back when she was alone and I hung up. I sent a text that I like him but do not feel this is a good decision. She is giving up her job that she worked so hard to get. 26 weeks in the police academy when you are super tiny is VERY hard work! She hasn't responded at all. I did get a text from him that we need to support her blah blah. He says he is signing over his gi bill to her so she can go to school. She won't be financially protected and she won't be able to be a state officer there. She'll have to be a deputy or apply for city. My brother is the one married to the wacko psycho and I don't ever speak to him. Even the other day when I texted him that my mother-in-law passed away he didn't respond at all. She's the only other sibling I have and she's leaving to be controlled by a man. Yes, I'm a very over protective big sister.... but why do they continue to make these choices? My mother-in-law used to be the one I talked to about this.... it's all hitting me at once. UGH!