Could be our weather was off a bit this year. Mine didn't bloom either. They usually bloom about this time of the year in the ground. Maryl, I have always left mine in the ground and they have been in the ground here in zone 7a in OKC, for about 4 years now. They are like my white butterfly ginger - it blooms right around time for our first frost, which means sometimes the frost gets the bloom. But, they have always been quite fragrant (as is the ginger). I, too, have the double white tuberose. I bought them at HD and have never had any problems with them. They may need to be divided, too, because they have spread quite a bit. Susan

Wow everyone, thank you so much for the kind words! It really means a lot to me. Vista the wedding itself was a small affair at our home the home that my mom lived in. It was obvious to everyone at the wedding how upset I was. The guests included my step mom parents, her 6 siblings and their spouses, my step dads immediate family, a few close family friends, and amazingly a few members of my moms family! They actually planned the wedding pretty quickly like 6 weeks start to finish. At the time I was actually a university student and I lived on campus about 2 hours away. I came home every weekend. I remember the weekend that my dad told me he was getting married. He told me in private because I am pretty sure he knew what my reaction was going to be, which was of course, sobbing. I went back to school that week and continued to come home on the weekend, hoping that maybe they wouldnt actually go through with it. Step mom didnt actually move in the house until after they were married so it was pretty easy for me to just ignore what was happening by immersing myself in school during the week and then hang out with my friends on the weekends back at home. Typical selfish teenage behavior. Since it was such a small affair, there wasnt really a lot of expectations for me to participate other than to show up- probably designed that way by my dad. I guess my dad knew me well enough to know that once the initial shock and emotions wore off, that I would eventually come around and to give me time. I dont really have a clear recollection of the weeks that followed which is a good sign I guess. She moved in our home, which looked exactly the same as the day my mom died and stayed that way until they sold the house a few years ago. There were new mementos, memories, and photos added prominently displayed next to the old ones. Vista, its obvious that you have tried to reach out to your step kids and I am sure its incredibly painful to be pushed away by them. It sounds like you have left the door open to them countless times, they just have never walked through the door. I think its important to ask yourself whether their actions are the result of bad behavior or they just learned terrible coping skills to a traumatic event like divorce. My initial thought when you said the girls burst out in tears about the wedding dresses was there was still a lot of pain from the divorce. I can empathize with that pain. I admire that you are still hopeful that they will come around and the fact that you question where you could have made some changes along the way. Have you ever asked them that? Theres probably a pretty good chance that they may not have an answer for you, but maybe someday they will. Will the door still be open? Seriously, thank you for allowing me to talk about this. Its a blessing for me. Its really made me self reflect over the past day or so and has inspired me to continue to never take for granted the people that I hold so dearly to my heart.

Aimless, I encountered a similar problem with the upper cabinets when I renovated my current kitchen. The old ones were built in place, and were a full 12" on the INSIDE. New standard factory built cabinets are 12" on the OUTSIDE. I have hand made plates that needed to be put above the fridge because they no longer fit in the plate cupboard. Out of sight, out of mind. So we never use them anymore. :( For weeks afterwards, I was measuring cabinets everywhere to see if my cabinet company had cheaped out on me. But no, I've never seen a proper sized cabinet anywhere. Stupid, stupid things that they seem to rely on the consumer not to know about. And I'm guessing you're on slab, and that's why you needed to know about your floor outlets early?

I went to my 50th - had not gone to any previous ones as I no longer lived in that town. It was important to me to go back to the 50th - had my DD take me as neither of my children had ever seen where I grew up from age 8-19 (parents moved at that time - no reason to go back). I just needed to see if things were as I remembered them. They were! My classmates had not changed in anyway except physically - it was still HS all over again! I was one of the few who had moved on in my life. I had little in common with them when I was in HS - even less now. I didn't go back for the 55th. My husband was so looking forward to going to his 50th from boarding school - we had gone to his 20th and 25th. It would have been our son's 30th from the same school and boarding schools make a BIG deal out of reunions (so they can shake the money tree!). Unfortunately, he did not live to attend it but DS did and did go and talk to many of my DH's classmates - very thoughtful of him to do this. At these reunions, all the reunion classes are there at the same time but do some events separately as a class, and some things all together. DH only went back to one Yale reunion - said he'd never go again. He had a small group of friends with whom he kept up and they were really the only ones he wanted to see. "Bright college days" was but a distant memory - Yale is not the same school at all anymore.