I am a licensed cosmetologist even though i don't practice anymore but am in contact with several nitpickers which are profession women who get ride of lice for a living.. they come into your home or you go their salon and in 2-4 hours your problem is over. No combing every day for 2 weeks to keep checking for nits etc.. my sisters kids got lice and it was bad..they had all 3 cycles of them growing in their hair..adults, nits, and eggs, and they kept coming back. My sister called my nitpicker friends and they said forget about nix or any of theose treatments because not only are they poison, but they only work for some live bugs..will not kill all of them, and they don't do anything about the nits and eggs. They said to do the cetaphil treatment which is at the following address http://www.ehow.com/how_2123367_treat-head-lice-cetaphil.html.. then sent her over an awesome lice comb and directed her to part the hair section by section starting at the bottom and to go through every hair in each section and that they would be lice free in a few hours and they were. The comb did not miss anything. Then she told her from now on to use the fairytales line of hair products for kids.They also sell the comb used by the nitpickers, and have a product called lice goodbye. The nitpickers have not tried it yet because the cetaphil works so good, but said some schools had started to use it and thought it was excellent. So after my sisters ordeal, i now check my kids once a week because if you can catch it early things will be so much easier. I have a kit in my bathroom which contains cetaphil, the lice comb, and my kids use the fairytales shampoo, conditioner, and leave in sprays daily... it is a little expensive,but gives me peace of mind.. and if you sign up for the newsletter you get a coupon in your email every month for free shipping or 10% off, and then each time you order you accumulate points which takes money off your next order. You can also look for which salons in your area sell it...i swear i have no affiliation in any way with the company..just highly recommend the products Here is a link that might be useful: Fairy Tales

Thanks PKGuy for responding to ivamae's question. You would definitely be more familiar with this area than I am as I don't really go to that area. My husband may have been able to answer this as he usually goes golfing at Lakeside at least once or twice a year. Ivamae, you're right, it is neat to see the hot air balloons on the calm mornings and evenings. We see the mountains every clear morning on our way to work, and sometimes get a little too used to seeing them to appreciate their beauty. mande

Maria, I have the problem that my DS19 refused to be in this years picture with my DH & SD. He went last year (reluctantly) and when they took the picture, the photographer had him put his hand on SD's shoulder. He did, but he gave the one finger salute, which went unnoticed until I had ordered the prints & picked up the pictures to put in our cards. I was so pissed but then calmed down, shrugged and told DH that I am still sending them out. He spent Christmas day (and the week before) explaining to everyone why he was such an ass. It was a lovely picture, except the gesture & not everyone noticed, it was subtle. But, it worked out best to make him explain himself. This year, I let him know I'm disappointed he refused to go (especially since my son came back from the Army & we only had one day to get everyone together) Now he gets to explain why he is absent from this year's picture. I won't worry about it, I give everyone notice so they can be included and if they choose not to, it's not my problem. I don't think it's cruel, my son told me (jokingly I think) to photo shop him in. I don't think so. He doesn't go, he's out & I'm not even going to include a separate picture of him. Nice, huh?

Ann Rule's "Last Dance, Last Chance" (which contains a few true-crime stories) is good. "Devil in the White City" has been in my to-be-read stack for a while. Someday ... I also Tivo a few "48 Hours"-type crime shows on TV. (I once looked at what I had stored up on my Tivo and thought, gee, what would people assume about me when they came in to claim my body and clean out my home?!) If you can find any of Edna Buchanan's 2 early books -- "Never Let Them See You Cry" and "The Corpse Had a Familiar Face" -- those are great. (There's also "Carr," about a rapist/killer.) She won a Pulitzer for breaking-news reporting (crime) for the Miami Herald. Then started writing a string of crime fiction books.