Jades do not like overheated cooked roots would be more accurate, Drew. Yes, that is probably the problem i had. For sure. Thanks for pointing it out. Yeah in California they are in full sun. My first jade was about to be killed as a weed from San Diego. My aunt lives there. I took it off her hands. Anyway again because of the pot heating up I have had best results in partial shade, your miliage may vary. Mine tends to grow weak in the winter as I'm unable to give it enough light. I prune it down in the spring. It's about 38 years old. I'm really bored with jades and I would just toss it, but my wife is attached to it. So how many jades have you grown? Any pictures? Here is one I grew from a broken branch off the orginal. About 4 years old. Grew well in partial shade too! You can see though how close the sun is. This post was edited by Drew51 on Tue, Aug 19, 14 at 23:09

I'm not saying it's all my SIL's doing. I'm wondering if that isn't the case because of his upbringing and the things he's said about working his parents. This was said during a private conversation with my SIL, that I can not discuss on an open board. Not at this time anyway. I'm sorry I cannot explain more. I doubt I'll ever know for sure where the better gramma comment came from. It doesn't matter where it originated, it anyway, it still hurt like, pardon my french, H E double hockey sticks! As for Patty's comments that were quoted, she said "could be" meaning she wasn't sure either. We're just discussing the possibilities here, trying to find answers, not accusing anyone. Up until this point, I've had no real concern about our SIL. Even now I can't say that I don't like him. I'm not happy with his reaction to my needing sleep while on vacation, though if I were to write up a pros and cons, I'm sure the pros would outweigh the cons by a long shot. Being married, with in laws, myself, I realize it's not always easy blending the ways of both families into one that works for all involved. My MIL was downright rude about the way I did things when I first married her oldest son. Being brought up on the Thumper Rule, I was shocked! It seemed to me that there wasn't a thing I did right and she pushed the issue with my hubby, which to me it seemed he sided with her. Looking back, I realize he was just being quiet, not wanting to take either side, where I was hoping for comfort. I'm sure he didn't understand why I was being so "sensitive" as his family does not hold anything back! From the outside it might look like they don't love each other. From the inside, where I've been for over 34 years now, I've learned that it's their way of keeping each other accountable. Not a bad thing, but boy did it take a while to understand that. I'm very much a "Thumper Rule" sore of person still and find it very hard to "step on someone's toes" so to speak and tell them I don't like what they are doing unless they ask outright. I like harmony and was blessed to live a very harmonious life throughout my whole childhood. Up until the move to big bad Omaha, during the mid sixties, I thought everyone loved each other. Family or not. My family life was still "perfect". Maybe that's why I don't know how to deal with my current situation. I don't believe a MIL should butt her nose into her children's marriages. It's a new and personal relationship that needs to grow on its own. There will be ups and downs, but it's not my place to push my way in and tell either of them how to live their married life. However, after being treated the way I was, I feel I do have the right to let my feelings be known so they know why we will not be staying at their home again and the reason's why. Personally, I'd like to tell the in laws or anyone else that happens to stay at their home, that our daughter did not learn that way of treating guests from me, but I will not do so unless they bring it up. LOL ellendi you are so right. I want to have a good relationship with both my daughter and her husband. I pray they have as great a marriage as her Dad and I have had and his parents, have in their second marriages. I do believe it's best to talk to our daughter alone the first time. After that, if we Skype while her husband is there and he brings it up, I'll discuss it. Otherwise, I don't feel I know him well enough yet to bring it up over Skype. Which is part of the problem. Neither of us know each other that well yet. The first time we visited he was on duty during the day. When he arrived home, both hubby and I noticed a vibe from him that we felt, he needed family time, so we'd head back to our hotel shortly after he arrived home. The second time when hubby and I stayed with them, our SIL was off duty for the week and we did lots of activities together. We spent Christmas day on the beach. I don't go into any water with fishes (don't ask LOL) so I sat on the beach, playing with the baby while they all boogie boarded. A couple days later, I volunteered to stay home so they could go snorkling without having to worry about the baby on the beach in the sun. The beach they were going to didn't have a good place for those that didn't come to snorkel. No shade. Hubby and I had baby duty, of course, and it became very tiring for us both. One would change her while the other ran down to the kitchen to make her bottle. Neither of us got much sleep that week and were exhausted when we got home agreeing next time we'd try and get a cottage on the beach or stay in a hotel suite. I don't know if this trip would have turned out better had my hubby been with me. His guess is they wouldn't have treated me the way they did. We'll never know. Now I'm just waiting for the time to pass so I know our daughter is away. She and the baby sleeps until around 9:30 Hawaii time, which is five hours behind where I live. It's not even seven am there.

Ha, I have been accused many times as seeing things only in black or white, no middle ground! I know what you mean. When I was taking art classes, I would do my best to make the picture very realistic, but tried to get away from that as I really like abstract art. There were a couple of classes I took where we used black chalk (messy, but I loved the way you can use it). This one male instructor did a set up of rocks and about 2-3" plastic pigs on a white board. It was amazing to capture that setup with the light coming from one direction and the shadows casted by the rocks and pigs -- very abstract! Think my funniest experience was when we had a live male model. It was so funny how each student drew that model using black chalk, e.g., there was this guy who drew the model from the front and I told him his looked like a fetus! It really did, and we were using something like 24x36" paper, and this guy only drew towards one corner about a 4" very dark, full frontal picture! Another student drew the head and chest and spent all her time making individual chest hairs! This female instructor was very blunt and called those that didn't use the entire piece of paper or were too shy and only drew the top half of the male. We also had a couple of female live models. I don't have any paintings to show because eventually I got rid of them all or tried painting over the canvas and screwed them up. I've also done quick background (stage) pictures for our vacation bible school, which range anywhere from 6'x30' and 15'x10' -- if I find pictures, I'll scan and post. Have done pictures on bedroom walls when my grandkids were small, and also would do something according to a theme my DD would do for my grandkids birthday parties, e.g., this one Batman for my grandson's b.d. with a cut out face. Each kid got their picture taken and their name printed on the photo as a souvenir to take home. It's simple, but the kids were impressed and that's what counts!

" It's also a practice space for my daughter who plays the violin, and I'm pretty sure we've got a few other instruments coming down the pike at some point" I totally understand this. the music 'student' needs to be separate from the siblings and friends yakking and giggling and people in and out of doors and rooms. Distraction is not what he/ she needs to concentrate! also, opening into the LR gives a nice 'audience' area for a mini recital! I so understand you wanting the table in your kitchen area - to keep an eye on those little rugrats too! how about one with leaves that can be put in to extend it at holiday/company time? and other times allows more room around it (for racing? lol!) I had 4 but there was 6yrs between 2 and 3 and 4 came about 18 months after 3. I swear they are born with little explosive packets in their brains. And each yr near their birth date the appropriate packet explodes and all the tinytot terror tactics for their coming year are revealed to them.... God really has a sense of humor - it's done to keep parents humble (I think) while aiding the tinytot Ts in developing the defense armor they will need for their pre-teen and teenage yrs when they turn into crazy, hostile and alien creatures. For parents, they depend on the memories of those sweet little cherubs that used to live in their house and pray for the day they return to being normal sane humans. My mom's very small DR did open into her LR and at holiday time we had to put 2 card tables in the LR but close to the end of her DR table to make space for the grandkids as the ones she had grew and the number of them increased from yr to yr... what is the width and length of your mudroom? maybe some think it is bigger than it is from looking at the layout. You have some darling little former T's lurking in that pic. they will grow and take up even more space putting coats on and taking them off. btw, you weren't mean in your post. you put it very nicely. Maybe some missed that you said at least 2x that you didn't want to move your kitchen from its space and didn't want to use the music room for a DR - and that you have a limited budget. We all have boundaries and budgets and wants that we need to work within. There are times on here that some who are remodeling say they don't want 'something' changed or done, until they see it laid out in front of them. Often they do change their minds because prior to 'seeing' it they just couldn't visualize it. But, that's also when the budget and actually living in the space comes into play. Those are both major, major priorities for the one (or 2) paying and living there to decide.