Breezy, My daughter and I took the two girls home last week-end. These last two weeks of grandbabies has been wonderful for us and my Dad really enjoyed having them here. They love to go down and watch Animal Plant with him. LOL The first week I had Joel and Meredith...he is 6 and she is 2...Dad and I took them home and stayed a few days...Dad planted a few things and he so enjoyed seeing their new home. Brought back Emma..7 and Lydia..4 for their stay. It was good for my daughter also....she got her time to do a few things needed around the house...hard to get things done with 4.LOL Just went out yesterday and picked a wagon full of tomatoes....called friends to give them some and couldn't find anyone at home...had to go by pharmacy so took 3 people there some...then went to walmart and bought pint jars and fixins to make salsa. Made a batch last night....will try it tonight and if it is good will post and share. Do you eat salsa?? Also had a load of green peppers...cook them with onions and kilbaske sauage for dinner....this taking care of veggies out of the garden keeps me busy. Thought of my dear Mom...when I was a kid she would work all day and come in an can at night...I use to help her. Dad just called up and he is going out to cut the okra...guess we will have fried okra for dinner. He has an apportment with his doctor today so we have a big sack to take him. We try to give away and family loves BLT sandwiches. Take care and I also pray your day is full of blessings. Nora P.S. my daughter home schools.

I know EXACTLY what everyone else feels... My reno headaches so far: 1. When moving our new stove and fridge at the SAME time...in my boyfriend's truck (he thinks the Tundra god can do no wrong) the straps holding the fridge in place slipped and the fridge hit the front of the stove. BIG dent...and I was driving... 2. The wall oven cubby hole...great gw's here AGREED with me that that huge cabinet should be recessed or broken up so it doesn't feel weird when you're cooking at the range (besides we won't have a wall oven anymore). DB (boyfriend) didn't like that Idea because it meant more work. After about a week and threatening to stab him in the eye with a pencil i won and of course now he agrees that it's much better. 3. Get appliances in....dent still in stove. Now oven doesn't work because it's not just a dent...but messed up the digital parts, so now on back order for that part...maybe 3-4 more months without an oven...=( 4. The worst part: During demo, the downstairs heating unit went out...which meant we couldn't do the floor, AND 2 days later the well pump went out so no water. I could have pulled my hair out and just died, so after 1200 on the heat unit, and 600 for a new pump we were back in business...until the new pump caused a voltage spike and blew a breaker and we could not find a new box to fit in the same spot.... Now we're finally back on the right track 2 1/2 weeks later..floors down...countertop is getting templated Tuesday. I was so hoping our reno would be done before my dad left for afghanistan for deployment...but he leaves 7am March 3rd and our countertops will not be in then. *sigh* guess he'll see them in 18 months!

If it were me, I think I'd do the quilt w/o the info. and give it. But I also think it would be fine if you didn't do a quilt. The feeling of 'obligation' does take the joy out of it while a 'gift' makes the heart light. Someone on this forum several years ago shared a piece of advice that has made a lot of sense to me. Giving a gift is about the recipient - if they would appreciate something hand-made, then use your skill, time and resources to make them a gift. If they would only appreciate something store-bought, don't waste your time, effort and resources on making something, purchase something within your budget for them. They are happy and you have not squandered your time. I don't think you're cranky - you just don't want your efforts to be wasted, which is wise. Part of having a skill is having the say on how you use it and for who. My daughter is growing as an artist and has done a few portraits for people of their children. Another person accosted her and demanded a portrait be done. My daughter shared what her charges were (I was so proud of her that she stood up for herself - I think I would have just agreed to do the drawing!) The person was taken back and asked her what business she had charging for a portrait when she was an amateur. My daughter stood her ground and said that actually her price was quite low for a portrait. We should have the wisdom to share our work with those who will appreciate it, and we should decide if we want to give it as a gift, or if we want to charge a respectable price for it.

In addition to vocal fry, there is also High Rising Terminal (HRT), or uptalk, which is equally annoying. Sing-song accents can also be bad, but it depends on the language. Schweitzer-Deutsch typically has a sing-song accent and can identify a speaker as being Swiss. In English, interrogative sentences generally do end with a vocal rise, but declarative sentences do not. In Italian, interrogative sentence do not end with a vocal rise (intonation does not change), but declarative sentences end with a lowered intonation.