Oh NOOOO!!! I told my Sis-IL that deer would eat her hosta (she was given some recently and I had given her some a couple of years ago) and they hadn't touched any of the ones I gave her (S&S and Blue Angels) but this year, the deer came out of their woods and devoured the 'Plantaginea' and 'Royal Standards' she'd just gotten! So sad--I don't know if I'd even try to keep going with hosta if it were a rampant problem for me. Who knows, in time they may venture into our part of the neighborhood as I understand they can even jump 12 ft. (and higher)fencing!! I'm so sorry, Alexa--if it ain't hail it's deer, huh and then there's those voles, slugs, neems and hvx--life can be tough on a hosta--really!

I don't know too much about hoarding. I've never had any personal experience in dealing with someone who hoards. But I do have experience with mental illness. My son is schizophrenic and mildly autistic, and has been diagnosed since age twelve. Part of a psychotic disorder is the inabilty to organize one's thoughts and follow thorugh with plans. Looking back, I can see how this has affected my son's abilty to function since he was very young. He is not capable of organizing his life on his own and, thankfully, he has his family to provide that structure and help for him. Asking why someone with "whatever kind of illness" can't "deal with it" is tantamount to asking someone with cancer why he/she can't deal with that. It is far more complex and is just as real as any other severe illness. I am not suggesting that mental illness absolves someone from all responsiblities in their life, but I am saying that TRUE major mental illness is a tremendous challenge, sapping most enjoyment and reason from the sufferer's life and often robbing him or her of the ability to function I should mention I didn't see the program in question, but I've been following this thread with interest. I can't say whether the woman on the program had a severe mental illness or not, although it certainly sounds like it. I just felt compelled to ask for a little compassion for those who truly are suffering under a heavy load. Sometimes I think that those who are more functional than my son actually have a harder time in life, as they don't have the range of supports and backup that he has to help him make his way through what is to him a very confusing world.

Penn State is an excellent university and need not be considered a poor third choice! It is a major research university with amazing facilities. Two of my children graduated from there. My husband teaches there. One child followed the traditional fraternity route and had a good time but also got an amazing job at a leading company. The other child is working on Wall St. She had a great social life but not everyone at Penn State thinks that partying or sports is the main priority. She certainly did not. It is sufficiently large and diverse that she will find her own social group. She will belong to an amazing alum network which contributes to the largest state school endowment.Yes, it is considered a party school but it need not threaten her values and aspirations and it works hard to provide alternatives. All will be well and she will receive an excellent education

Rosefolly/Paula, it is not easy thinking of books about Ireland that don't dwell on suffering and doing-down . . . mostly by the English. I think it might be part of the Celtic make-up; they have extremely long folk memories and after a few glasses of the black stuff will sing/sob and tell stories of the wrongs done to them hundreds of years ago. This isn't just poor people. I personally have heard amazing tales of ancestors told by members of the 'Ascendency'. I have a good Irish friend who has tried to explain that as a young woman growing up in the West of the country, she and her siblings were told by their parents never to question anything, not to ask about what had happened in the past and to accept the teachings of the Church absolutely. She, therefore, knew little about the Irish Civil War . . . the 'in-fighting' and murders that followed the creation of the Free State. She is the first to admit that she cannot/chooses not to dwell on the problems that have come to light concerning the 'Murphy Report' about paedophilia in the Dublin diocese or the scandals of the 'Magdalene Laundries'. On the other hand she did point out to me that Ireland was the land of 'Saints and Scholars'. I have tried to read Edna O'Brien's books without much enjoyment (they were banned over there when they first came out). You could give Alice Taylor a go. She writes about her early life in County Cork. I think the first one is called To School Through the Fields. And no, I don't consider myself to be anti-Irish and have many friends from that country and from Ulster. ;-)