Another aspect of patience is prematurely judging a rose before it has matured and settled in to its surroundings. We sometimes forget that rose trials give bush types two years in the ground, in the same place, and climbers three years, so they mature and establish themselves. Very often, accurate judgements can't be made about the real value of a plant when it's kept potted as many just don't perform well in pots. The rose Ralph Moore named for me, Kim Rupert, is an excellent example. "I" am not happy "potted", but put the plant in the ground and let it establish itself and it pushes good growth and continually covers itself in the mossed, striped flowers it provides. Until the planted rose has a chance to put feet under it, produce the root system required to support the top growth expected of it, is there any wonder it doesn't please? Add the necessary time the beneficial fungi and bacteria which establish themselves in "happy" situations which can help to reduce, even prevent disease and some insect issues, and it becomes even more apparent how premature we can be in condemning a rose before giving it a fair break by getting it into the ground properly, where it is best suited and leaving it alone to mature and establish itself. A thoughtful friend really wanted me to have a plant of a florist rose she felt I would enjoy. It honestly wasn't something I was drawn to for garden or breeding use, but it was important to her, so I graciously accepted. It wasn't very impressive in a gallon pot. It didn't flower much and the foliage wasn't very attractive. Plus, it was rather prone to black spot in that pot, so I still wasn't favorably impressed. I figured upsizing it into a two gallon to keep it alive would be the only fair thing to do, so I repotted it. I shouldn't have been surprised when new foliage began pushing all over the plant and it began flowering much more impressively. And, the black spot appeared to be reduced. Increasing it to a five gallon has really allowed it to show me how much better a rose it can be than I had originally thought. The foliage is actually pretty nice for an unspoiled greenhouse type. The flowers are significantly better, lasting a very long time on the plant, probably a bit too long as they hang on long past their attractive period, but that's what a cut flower is meant to do. At this size of plant, it actually impressed me as possibly worth playing with in raising seedlings, and it accommodated me by being fertile both through pollen and setting a decent crop of seeds. Whether the seedlings will be of any value will take time to discover, but the improvement in the quality of the plant and my impressions of it are dramatic. As a band, I probably would have rated it as "not worth the effort to shovel prune." As a two gallon plant, I considered it as worth further evaluation. As a more mature, five gallon plant, it's definitely one I am willing to give soil space. It's ONLY taken me two years to get it this far. Kim

I am right there with you! We are also living on our site, in a 37 foot motorhome with FIVE children, dh and myself. I told dh last Saturday that the "camping fun" has worn off, and now I'm ready to be out of this RV!! ;o) We still have hangers on our 3rd floor, finishers on our first floor (they are still in there scraping away), electricians advising me that no one can drive in our driveway tomorrow morning because they'll be digging a trench out to our barn for electricity, the tile crew (a very large one) start tomorrow on the showers, and I'm trying to paint swatches of paint on the walls to hurry up and choose our wall colors. Uggghhh. My tile was delivered a week ago, and I can never get in there to lay a bunch out and see how it looks. The only day they take off is the day we are off at church and then hanging out relaxing, not dealing with our house. :o( So, hopefully as people send you patience from this forum, they'll send some my way too. I am ready to have some privacy back! This afternoon, dh and I were having a discussion about locking in our rates. It's time to do that, and we were debating on points, interest rate choice, etc. WEll, I look over and the entire finishing crew is out having a smoking break on our back deck, and they are staring over at us. We had another window in the rv open. I felt like asking them which option they would choose.... it was obvious they were hearing what we were saying. Oy! This is crazy. I am a fairly private person, and our home is our sanctuary. Lately it feels more like a zoo!! :op

Mom is in denial it is her. Like all addicts with mental problems she believes its the world ganging up on her. It is a terrible situation that is going to cost us alot financialy and emotionaly. I think the reason for me breaking down tonight is Im spread more thin than normal with all of this that is going on. Dad wont let the girls leave with her unattended but it is going to be awhile untill we can get money for the lawyer (5 grand for holding) and untill then we are going to have the battle royale with her every weekend when she tries to pick them up. Good times indeed. There are mental issues (attempted suicide), drugs, and a current domestic incident with her boyfriend. The girls were there and one of them got hit with a strand off a bead curtain when the BF snatched it down....all reasons this decision has been made. We are both so stressed. We feel bad that mom has issues and I hate keeping her from her kids but the situation has become way too volatile. The girls are going to be very upset as well. They dont understand that mommy is "sick". Its just a real hard situation. Thats why dad HAS GOT to go to work and we havent been seeing him. He is physicaly and emotionaly pooped and so am I. Miraculously we havent been short with each other. I guess that says alot for our relationship that even under extreme stress we manage to remain tight. Thats one positive way to look at it I suppose:)

OMG! The bow on the towel, that's what one real estate agent wanted us to do on a house we sold in the 90s! I laughed then and laugh now. Yeah, I'd definitely buy a house because of the rumpled up fabric on the table, LOL! I don't know where these ideas come from. I'd rather see a house empty, so i can really SEE it. The house appears uncluttered and clean, that's good. I also think the thread is worth continuing because of all the crazy things people are doing now to get a buyer.