I seem to NEVER respond to you guys individually, but here goes: Niecy-I grew up a very shy, timid person...thank God He has used many extremely tough trials over the past 25 years to help me become an overcomer and more confident. I know that we all have our own personal issues, so I really feel I'd rather extend mercy, as I've always got to have it myself for my own failures! Thanks so much for your kind words Niecy! :0) Sammy-I know what you mean about differences in locales. We've been in our house for 11 years, and our street has been very "quiet." Nobody really interacts with one another. So Gary and I have been trying to invite different couples over (from our street) for a BBQ in the garden, so they can get to know eachother a little and people won't feel so isolated. This summer we will do the same thing and invite even more, just to get this neighborhood more friendly. Wendy-I'm sorry you lost your Golden Retriever. I know that it will be hard to lose my "baby"-Abbi (very lovable tuxedo cat we've had since we moved here). I didn't really realize that our neighbor Cindy had such deep feelings for her dog Greta, because she yelled at her all the time. We always felt sorry for the poor dog. Of course, we don't know-Greta could have gotten a lot of affection behind the scenes. :0) Kathy-Wow, that was a kind of huge thing to have to go through! Glad your story had a nice ending! That was sweet. Amberroses-thanks! Yes, me too...I hope Cindy warms up to us some. I did tell her husband Jerry that I didn't expect for her to become my best friend or anything....but just wanted neighborliness. :0) Cindi-that's too bad about your neighbors. We have a very nice retired neighbor who grows mostly the J & P boxed roses that his wife sells at a small local nursery. He calls them "tea" roses, and he uses a lot of chemicals and is always offering to spray our roses to kill JBs. He had cancer a few years ago. He thinks of the Ortho products as very innocuous and safe. He means well. :0) Redsox & Hoovb-LOL Nobody has ever called me THAT (Emotionally Mature) before! Thanks!! My husband does tell me that I'm the most honest person he has ever known, "without guile". Yeah, right. LOL That is the utmost compliment, though I know I have plenty of failings!! Nancy-We must be very similar-better at written communication than 1:1? I don't know about you, but I tend to freeze up & get tongue-tied when facing confrontation, etc. It's a good skill though...being able to just talk things out. Kate-We must have had the same mom! :0) That was such a nice thing you did for your neighbor. I would love to give Cindy some roses someday...but I don't want to push her out of her comfort zone. M-(Michaelalreadytaken)-No more apologies necessary, Michael. Cindy had really intimidated Gary to the point where he didn't want me to give her the letter...but I got bold with him and told him that I NEEDED to...that communication was too important. Thank you so much for your kind words though. Terry-what a nice thing to say! I wish I had you as a neighbor too! :0) Berndoodle-thanks...I don't know what to say really, except for thank you. :0) Florence-Thanks! I'm hoping things warm up around here too! Solskjaer-Me too. I know we all learn so much from eachother on this forum! It's great to have all of you. Kittymoonbeam-so sorry you tried so hard to no avail. Don't give up doing what you know is right. :0) Ingrid-We have some wonderful German friends in Texas. My mom also came from the German heritage. She was the most wonderful person in the world, as was her mom. Thanks for the encouraging words. :0) Carla-Thank you! Yes, I'm sure most German people are very friendly. Germany must have been gorgeous! I'd love to visit someday! Thanks, everyone!! :0) Phyl

It's obviously not been triple-cleaned, and to me that's a MUST when someone sells you food-grade wheat. It looks like it came straight out of the combine hopper, or nearly so. All you are lacking in the picture are the green wings of beetles, an occasional June Bug, and a few cricket legs in your wheat. We winnowed wheat once when a friend gave us some of his prize hard winter white wheat straight from the combine. Hubby laughed as he picked out bug parts, saying how this really wasn't vegan-friendly....but that's another story. Soft wheat is low-protein (low-gluten). It should have worked fine for biscuits, in fact it's preferred. Your dough was wet because of the lower amount of protein in the grain/flour than the flour you usually use. If you are accustomed to using high-protein wheat (Prairie Gold) in your recipe, or even all-purpose flour, then you will need to either decrease the liquid or increase the amount of flour, adding enough flour until it's the right "feel" for biscuit dough. Obviously, this flour won't work for yeast breads because of the low-gluten (soft wheat is always low-protein). Use it for pastry, cakes and quick breads, and even then you may need to adjust the amount of flour because I suspect it has even less protein than all-purpose flour and most recipes call for all-purpose. If you want to do a protein check, place 2-3/4 c. of the flour (slightly packed - drag the measuring cup up the side of the container when leveling) in the bowl of a food processor with the steel knife attachment, and add 1 c. of water. Process for about 30 seconds. If the mixture forms a sticky dough ball in the food processor, then the flour is around 8% protein, or the equivalent to cake flour. If it forms a ball using 2-1/2 c. of flour slightly packed - drag the measuring cup up the side of the container when leveling) then it's about 10% protein, or the equivalent to all-purpose flour. For high-protein bread flour (around 14% protein) it takes 2-cups (slightly packed - drag the measuring cup up the side of the container when leveling) + 1 T. -Grainlady

Reading all of your posts have made me realize I am not alone in how I feel about losing my Mom.. I lost my Mom Sept 10th 2010 she died of complcations of a debilitating stroke that she had a year prior.. It was my worse nightmare her dying as when she had the stroke in 2009 she didn't really know me most of the time and she had no idea where she was or what happened to her and could do nothing for herself so really i lost her twice.. I had went to visit her the night before she had her stroke and I stayed late and she walked me to the door i can remember her waving goodbye to me how did I know that would be the last time she would do that or be the same person.. I feel guilty for leaving her that night but I didn't know this was going to happen.. I always called her every morning to make sure she was up and had ate and taken her pills but she didn't answer the phone ..I wasn't concerned as she sometimes slept late so I waited a little while and called again she still didn't answer so I called her neighbor and asked if she had seen MOm and if she would go to her apt and check on her I just was not thinking anything was wrong..Her friend did and she said Mom didn't answer the door but she said it sounded like she could hear Mom's voice.. So I got myself together and went to her apt we had a hard time getting in as she had locked the screen door. When we got in I found Mom on the floor in a sort of a twisted uncomfortable position ,I said Mom what happened do you know who I am and she said yes that I was her Mom I knew something was wrong , we called the emergency squad and they came and tried to get Mom up and to stand and her legs were like rubber and she was not speaking things that made sense the apt was a mess as she had been stumbling and falling trying to stand or get some where she had bloody bruises on her arms . We got her to the hospital and they xrayed her and ran tests she had had a very bad blood clot stroke that should have killed her they said but didn't it left her paralyzed on her whole right side and plus affected her sight as she saw double it was bad.. They told me there was nothing they could do she stayed in the hospital for 4 days and then told me I had to decide something ..I knew I couldn't take care of her by myself as I had severe back problems and she was going to need 24 hr care I had no other siblings or no other family close and my Mom nor I had the money to hire someone to help me.So against all I beleived and didn't want to do i had to put her in a nursing home something I swore i would never do .. The year I had her in there was a nightmare in itself,I had to fight with them not literally but you know what I mean to get them to take care of her right I was always upset everytime I visited her as I knew things were not right I would talk to them and ask why ,they would always blame it on some one else she had MRSA twice while she was there and an infection of the colon called C-Diff both staff infections were very contagious.. I talked to people outside of the nursing home to try to get help and called the state and couldn't get anything accomplished they don't care about elderly people and maybe because Mom was on Medicaid maybe that was not good either..It just was a living nightmare I was so upset all of the time after I would leave seeing her it affected my health and I hated seeing Mom like she was as she would not want to have lived if she knew she was having to depend on someone else to do everything for her and she was totally bedfast.. I was the only one to go and visit her as all other family was far away and the nursing home knew that and i think they took advantage of it I tried to go at different times but it didn't help it was just so hard and my husband was not a supportive person for me so i was dealing by myself which was very difficult.. She very seldon knew who I was she could talk at times and sometimes she was silent I continued to talk to her..The times she knew me and was able to tell me she loved me i will cherish in my heart..I was with her the day and through the night till the next moring when she passed holding her hand and singing to her as I always did the whole time she was in there..I would try to get her to sing with me the songs she knew to try to keep her mind alert and talking.. I just have guilt of having to put her in the nursing home and how she had was taken care I understand nursing home are short staff but I think they could do better then they do ,there were a few that really cared and did a good job but most of them could have cared less and the ones that would take the time and do a good job they would let them go so sad.. I miss my Momma so much I miss her voice being able to ask her things and hugs she was my best friend and was there when no one else was always..I feel when she died a part of me went with her there is an emptiness inside of me .. We don't know how it feels to lose a parent or anyone until we experience it ourselves.. Some people can just deal and get on with it ..Lot of people don't want to hear how you feel or what you are experienceing and we need to be able to talk about our loved one it does help.. Some days are so overwheming that I don't I am ever going to be able to deal and then a few days will go by and I am ok but My Mom is always in my thoughts each day.. I know she is by my side at times or comes in my thoughts ,I really don't think it is going to get easier the pain at times is so great..It is just so lonely at times.. It is hard to keep it all in some days I will just cry alot till its all out then i will be ok ..The strangest things will set the crying in and comes on me when I least expect.. My heart goes out to each one of you that has lost a loved one and know I understand and feel your pain.. I do know that if it was not for my faith in God I would be in worse shape then i am I know that he helps and that crying and talking about your loved one is part of the grief process.

parma & amysrq, Thanks for the quick responses. I did a Google search for the table and found a source located about 30 miles from me! Planning to take a ride over the weekend. That also gives me 3 days to continue my search for the best price. This will be a splurge for us as well. However, I've lived with my current DR table for well over 25 yrs. We purchased the furniture before we were married when furnishing our "new" home. At that time, we were focused on a large table to host holidays and dinner parties. We have definitely gotten our money's worth out of the table, hosting all of the holidays, birthdays and weekend dinner parties over the years. It has defintely served us well, but it is time for a change. Now I want something a bit more fitting with our current lifestyle. Our decor has changed quite a bit since we purchased our dining room furniture. I am looking to open up that particular space and the Val de Loire table is just perfect. Now on to the chairs... Also, I have there is a pic of the "painted" table online. I have to say that I like the ash as well as the cherry/mahogany finishes much better for our space.