Rita, No I have 2 fans with a bloom on each fan,which is one of the blooms in this post today.The 3rd fan has a bud on it,and it had already bloomed a few days ago,and wasnt a pretty bloom so didnt take a picture of it.Both blooms todAY looks exactly alike.well, maybe these fans need some fertilizer. I didnt get my usual picture of Wonder Of It All.It just had one bloom today and it never did open all the way.Its been so beautiful,I guess it has earned a bad day.It still has buds yet to open. I was just fixing to try and go out and start watering them, when my daughter called me to see if the man got my ac fixed and working now,and I told her yes, and its really putting out cold air now, but,I need to go get started on watering,and she came unglued and told me to not even think about going out right now,Its much to hot out there, 104,she told me to wait till the sun gos down,and even then will be a bake oven out there.I forgot if Oktoberfest reblooms or not.Have to check and see,and if it reblooms, maybe if I put fertilizer around it, the next blooms will be the orange color. hope so. Jean

Hi Ilene, I'm kind of amazed y'all didn't have a frost because it looked pretty cold up there on the weather map. The green tomatoes I left on the vines are just sitting there and sitting there and sitting there. I don't think they are going to change colors and ripen until the sun shines. Supposedly we will have sunshine here on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. I'll believe it when I actually see it since that also was our forecast last weekend and we had no sunshine and lots of cold instead. I think in the last two weeks, we've had a couple of times where the sun came out for 3 or 4 minutes, and last Thursday we had a hour or so of sun early in the day. It got our hopes up for a sunny day, but then that tiny bit of sun vanished. I saw an article on the website of either the Fort Worth or Dallas newspaper that said as of yesterday they were on their 11th straight day of clouds/no sunlight, so even that far south they are having about the same weather as most of us. The good news is that most of Texas has had a lot of rain and their drought conditions are receding. When the new Drought Monitor map is released tomorrow, we'll see a lot of changes.....I know that, not because I'm psychic, but because I have already looked at their KBDI map this week on another website and it shows great changes. Don't those Crocs have holes in them? I can't wear anything like that, including any sandals or open-toed or open-heeled shoes, that let the scorpions or fire ants have access to my skin or they'll take advantage of it. I learned that the hard way and have tried pretty hard not to slip up......if there is one fire ant in the yard and I go outside the house in sandals (I do wear them indoors), that one fire ant will find me the instance I step off the porch and onto the ground. We do have fire ant mounds popping up in a few places, and I still have some organic fire ant killer, so if we get a couple of dry days, I'll treat those mounds. Our puddles even have puddles, Ilene. The dog yard is a muddy mess but we've spread a couple of bales of straw there and that is helping. I think we need to get a couple more bales of straw and put out even more. When I walk in the garden, it squishes. I suspect this long, cloudy spell is a taste of the kind of fall/winter weather we're going to have this year. Usually October is one of my favorite months with its bright blue, clear, sunny skies and moderate temperatures. This year is a whole different story though. Dawn

"I think under the circumstances she should live with mom. I don't know if mom pursued it though." Nope. Her mom has not pursued it. The court has basically tied her hands by requiring her to have an evaluation done (because she lied to the mediator & coached SD to lie to the mediator, so the mediator declined to make a recommendation) first... at her expense ($6,000) She has already told DH she does not have any money... of course she has since had another baby too. The only way she can go live with her mom at this point is if DH hands over custody. He is not willing to do that.. for a few reasons. (and money is not one of them) 1. When BM left SD, she also left her older DD with grandma. Coincidentally, BM claims older DD came to live with her at the beginning of this school year... the exact same time grandma moved to the town where BM lives. DH & I believe older DD is still living with grandma, but maybe using BM's address for school there so BM can 'prove' her older DD lives with her. If she wanted her kids with her, wouldn't she try to make that happen? If DH were to send SD to live with her mom, there's a very good chance that SD would end up living with others... grandma or BF's mother & not with BM. 2. DH is watching closely what is happening with older DD. She is wearing heavy make up & provacative/tight/trashy clothes at age 14. She looks 19. BM and/or Grandma allow her to use the computer/internet unsupervised... unless one of them is watching her at 1am-2am when she is posting things on FB. and BM's BF has two sons, right around the same ages as BM's daughters... and the older one left what DH considers inappropriate comments on older DD's FB page... and BM commented too, showing she knows about it but instead of having them remove the comments, she added to it... because she is more of a 'friend' to her than a parent. 3. BM has shown absolutely no concern for the things that DH feels are important for SD. SD is being assessed for ADHD, BM is choosing to not be involved at all. SD is failing in most of her classes, BM has chosen not to come to school conferences or meetings. If BM has no concern for what is happening in SD's life right now, why would that change if SD were living over there? As for spending my day with people I resent... DH gets SD up and out of the house while I am getting ready for work. I may say good morning if I see her. She now goes to after care until after I get done at work.. I pick her up at 6pm, her dad gets home around 6:30 or 7. I make dinner, she sits in her room. I play with the baby, she sits in her room. I watch TV, she sits in her room. DH comes home & she calls him into her room... he checks her binder, they talk & he goes to get cleaned up for dinner... she sits in her room. Dinner is served, she sits at the table... usually with her hand on the side of her face so I can't see her and she can't see me. She finishes her dinner & says thank you, and goes back to her bedroom until it's time for her to take her shower & get ready for bed. Nobody 'makes' her stay in her room. She is welcome to come into the living room and join the family... we have told her that many times. She usually declines. But, she has also told her mother that we make her stay in her room, eat her dinner alone, we won't let her play outside or we make her play outside in an electrical storm... whatever she needs to get a reaction from BM. It's a sad existence and life for a little girl... and a far cry from before her mom moved away or when she first lived here full time. She would ask me to take her to her friends house to play, or the park.. or we would go shopping & have lunch. I used to take her to girl scouts, karate, dance & swim lessons... and quite often, BM would get her panties in a twist that I am doing "mom" things and taking karate is only going to confuse her... because BM had taken her to tae kwon do & "it's a completely different form of martial arts that leaves SD confused" and BM insisted SD didn't want to do it, even though SD told us she did.... that is the kind of BS we have had to deal with when we try to do anything with SD. We looked into religious education, hoping she could get something out of it. DH is Catholic, BM is Presbyterian. We want her to learn about the ten commandments & the golden rule... we are not practicing Catholics, but the church has a youth group & we thought it was a good idea. BM found out, called DH yelling at him that SD is not going to be Catholic because she is Presbyterian & religion follows the mother... all the while DH could hear SD in the background listening to her mother yelling at her father. (and I'm not interested in any debate on religion or on who has the right or doesn't have the right to choose the religion...) the point is that BM is not practicing any religion either & SD hasn't been exposed to either religion... in my opinion, it shouldn't matter if they both want to take their child to both churches... let her learn both and make up her own mind what she wants to believe. But, that is the kind of stuff BM says and does to keep us from doing anything with SD. We have had talks with her about the lying... breaking down, crying, heart to heart talks and she knows that it is unacceptable for her to tell lies about us (she has also lied about DH) and yet, she continues to do it. We understand WHY she does it. DH cannot stop her from talking to her mom... and he has tried to tell BM what SD is doing, but she takes a defensive position. (BTW, SD also lies about her mom spending time with her... she lies to make us look bad, and she lies to make her mom look good.) You wouldn't tolerate your DD running around, spreading lies... and your DD would probably not do it because she cares what you think. SD seems to only care what BM thinks, and BM is the one that has taught SD to lie.. she has even lied for SD. I don't necessarily dislike SD, I don't trust her and I dislike the way she treats me with the things she does. I agree it is a horrible way to live.. not pleasant for her, nor for me. I wish it could be different and maybe someday, she will want it to be different. As for her mother, she has used the excuse that she has no money for gas to come see her school play, watch her perform in band, cheer her at her track meets, or even come pick her up on Fridays... but then she went & had another baby that I am sure SD will begin to notice that when the baby needs things, BM finds the money for it. and of course BM has time for the baby... even though she hasn't really had time for SD for 3 years. I guess the saddest part is that BM does not want to have a close relationship or be involved in SD's day to day life, but she also does not want me to either. So, SD is the one that suffers with a miserable life. This is probably an extreme case, but this is what I mean when mom's are so hell bent on being angry at dad's or jealous/insecure of anyone else loving or being involved in their child's life, or just plain territorial... it hurts the kids in one way or another. The stepparent may or may not have a relationship with the child... I am not saying that without the mom's interference, the child would love or have a relationship with the stepparent... but it certainly closes the door to that possibility when the mom causes problems. There's nothing wrong with a mom feeling jealous/insecure or not wanting another woman having a relationship with their child... maybe those are natural, instinctual feelings. But, to act on them to prevent such a relationship from forming because it's YOUR child... is just wrong, in my opinion. and I apologize for the hijack & very long post.

I had a busy morning for a Saturday. Georgysmom made me feel guilty posting everything she accomplished yesterday ;0 I scrubbed and baked those 3 huge baking potatoes I got at the store for .83 and when they cool, I'll make twice baked potatoes and freeze all but one, which we'll have tonight. Did two loads of laundry and changed our sheets. Then I took everything out of my spice/baking cabinet and washed all the shelves and--now get this--arranged all my spices in alphabetical order. Isn't that OCD? I bought a thing called a Spice Stack. It is a metal box with 3 shelves that pull out and down so you can see the spices. Each shelf holds 9 jars, or double the amount of those little jars. It's really cool. So no more rummaging around and taking 15 jars out just to find the one I'm looking for. I was surprised I only had doubles of 3 spices. That was pretty nice so I cleaned the pantry, too. Oh, Phyllis, I wish you hadn't mentioned the "G" word (garage). Ours is a disaster. Marie-ndcal, did you flood again? Didn't you have bad flooding this spring, too? Bless your heart, you have every right to feel bad, but wish you felt better.