I can almost feel the thick soft fur of beautiful Oscar and the horses. And smell the warm, hay and manurefilled air of the bahn. If I ever have another equine ownership experience it will be of a draft sort... driving horses, for certain. Also noted the bit on the side of the door... and wondered if it was a spade bit; a most misunderstood tool in the world of horsmanship! Beautiful shots, and wonderful memories, I'm sure. :)

I was never a fan of blue jello. Blue jello and gummy fish is pure sugar. Blue jello and goldfish just sounds icky. When I was a kid I loved sliced bananas in strawberry jello. Sure, the jello was pure sugar and food coloring and artificial flavor, but there wasn't that much and into each life some jello must wiggle. I have made "dirt" cups with lowfat chocolate pudding mixed with crushed chocolate grahmns--still very sweet but not totally off the charts. Mix in one gummy worm for fun. Kids really liked that. You could make updated "ants on a log" with celery, hummus and quartered black olives. Kids love the ones with peanut butter but you can't mess around now days with peanut allergies. I had a friend who died from just a candy bar with a trace of peanut oil in it, (his lungs collapsed) and I have been paranoid ever since. Finger sandwiches cut with cookie cutters? No bakes? Chinese chews (melted butterscotch chips mixed with crunchy noodles). Some of this is healthier than other things. Depends on whatever else the kids have been eating during the day. I'd prefer to err on the side of healthy, just to be a good example since this snack time is a regular thing. Sweet treats are for special occasions like parties, IMHO. At least if you are trying to set some kind of reasonable example.

Yes..I do come here to vent actually. Mainly because I don't want to be saying and spewing these things at my DH. And that's because deep down no matter how I feel towards his daughter..that's still his daughter. No matter what her lies or deceptions are..she's still his child. At one time a child that cared but I believe she no longer exists. What's replaced that caring person is a very unhappy individual that is jealous and controlling and protects her mother at all costs, fearless of who she hurts with her lies. And I've watched people very afraid of saying anything for fear she starts in on them. With me..you either like me or dislike me. There is no in between. I'm colorful, blunt, and to the point like no one you've met before. I don't hold back words and if you lie to me - you get told you're lying. I don't excuse/condone lying for any reason. I have a 21 year old daughter myself and I've never condoned it from her. Big difference though..my daughter adores my DH. Respects him, loves him, and treats him like he's part of her family. Maybe there's a part of me that was hurt in the beginning because I've never understood what I did to deserve his daughter acting like I was such an intruder when my own child is so accepting of him. She buys him gifts on Fathers Day and you can tell she cares deeply for him. That's just it..she's accepting. My DH's family let me in VERY quick from day 1 his daughter was a total nightmare. RAN to me with it. I let them know that I was not the local pansy and anything she threw at me she better be able to back up her lies. And call her out I have done..many times. Just recently I'll give you an example...2 months ago she came in my house and proceeded to go on and on about the huge college university she is 'attending'. Told my DH that in 2 quarters she will be a full fledged teacher..do you know of a degree like that? I have heard my DH brag of her college BS a few times before this...so I let her talk. I then proceed to tell her that I work with a young man that goes to that same university and works part time in Student Services. He could not find her on the student registry..this quarter or any other quarter for that matter. As usual, her face became flushed because she knew what was coming. I told her I could go to the computer and look up the schedule..of course if she 'attends' class 4 days a week by now she knows by heart her courses and professers. I told her to tell what class she attends on Monday..? Tuesday..? Her silence said it all..she knew she was caught once again. So as usual she left saying she was being judged and will come back once it stops. You know what's sad..? My DH actually THANKED me for it..I honestly think he WANTS to call her out but does not either know how or does not want to be the bad guy. Honey...dump it on me. I have no hesitation or reservation in being the bad guy when it comes to lying. But you know the saddest part of all? This is not the first time she has said this lie..she has recycled the same lie 3 times before. At other universities...thing is she has never even gotten a high school diploma. Seriously...if you want to come to my house..then come. Bring your husband..your kids. Sit down and talk...DO NOT BRING YOUR BS INTO MY HOME. Talk about your day..your kids..your thoughts..the latest TV show you like. But don't come into my home with such crap as what she makes up and expecting my husband to turn to jelly and tell you he's proud of you for something you aren't even doing. Because if you do...I'm here to remind you that BS is not welcome here. Very respectfully of course, mind you..but you will get called on it. Life is too short to have such drama floating around. I adore and fiercely protect my DH and our marriage. And I am not going to have it so up in the air from BS from his daughter. Who wants that? And why is it fair to say it's allowed because she's his daughter? Like I said..it's 2012. Get over the fact that blended families are happening everywhere and she may not like it. Like it or not..she's part of a broken family. And that family has since moved on and she's still in the background trying everything she can to gain attention from mommy and daddy. Grow up already. We went putt putt golfing last summer and she proclaimed she was going to stop because 'no was was watching her'. And I watched as my DH asked all of us to watch a 21 year old women putt her little golf ball..or she was going to quit. My answer? "Well, then make sure you put your club back at the stand at the beginning....I'm sure no employee wants to clean up a club thrown by an adult in anger over not being watched. Who's next?" I feel very secure in what I have...and again I refuse to let his daughter think she can destroy that. Because of the statement justmetoo made - "For pete's sake, somebody take the power away from this woman beast. She has far too much power involving herself into the personal lifes of everyone else. " Bingo. My thoughts exactly.

Good questions -- In a nutshell, now that he has 'won' primary custody (and be assured, 'winning' is exactly how he sees it) the pressure tactics have pretty much stopped. He just loves being able to tell people that his son chose to live with him. Before that, he went almost as far as your SC's BioMom to distort things, discredit my DH, buy DS's love. He really treated it like a 'most popular parent' contest and would gloat whenever he thought he had won a point. I never responded to the gloating, and asked repeatedly to just let DS love ALL of us and not to worry about how much he loved who, but it never worked. You wouldn't believe it if you had heard him brag how much DS loved his stepmother -- especially the "He said he likes her better than he likes you!" part. Just incredible. I just responded that I was glad DS loved her, because that would be best for them both. One of the areas where he did the most damage was to DS's relationship with my DH. While he did his best to discredit me, I was pretty honest with DS from early on that "Daddy is still sad and angry that we couldn't live together, so he sometimes says things he doesn't really mean." When it escalated, and as DS got older, I changed it to "Sometimes your Dad says things out of anger that aren't quite true. Do you really think that was true?" Or "Your Dad sees things his way -- I see them differently. You'll need to decide for yourself what to believe." When it was things about visitation, I'd tell him "Your Dad and I sat down together and decided what we thought was best, and this is what we decided on." Repeated over and over. When it meant he couldn't go to the circus, I'd say "I wonder why your Dad didn't get tickets for a time you could go?" And when DS has a pre-made excuse, I'd say "Then I wonder why your Dad wouldn't agree to trade that night for another night?" I guess my DS was starting to catch on pretty well by age 12 or so also. He certainly gets it now -- Even though I don't have much respect for Ex, I still won't allow myself to be much of an audience for DS's gripes. I did tell him once that I would always want him back here with us, but that it was his decision - I wouldn't pressure him, and he would have to be able to tell his father that it was his choice. Sadly, I don't think that'll ever happen because Ex has raised bull-headed intimidation to an art form.