citrusnut, My friend (who is also president of our local animal welfare group) had a collie who died from eating pork chops. She only ate a few & you would think it wouldn't matter to a dog that size. I think she said there is an enzyme they can't digest, I will check with her & find out. Karyn, Tell her to get her dog to obedience classes & quick. What would happen if the dog drug her in front of a car? You really need to be able to control your dog to keep both of you safe & a well trained dog is a much better family member. 15 to 20 minutes of training twice a day for 6 to 8 weeks is all it takes. After all the excitement last week, Abbi took a whole head of cabbage off the kitchen table & started to eat it! I have spent her entire life hiding food from her. In the past she has eaten several loaves of bread (plastic & all) & she knows how to get a full pan of food off the top of the stove without spilling much. She clamps her mouth over the edge & lifts it off, I wish I had a video of it, it's amazing. She has also figured out how to open both the oven & fridge doors but she doesn't do it very often. In her younger days, she could clear a 4 foot chain link fence (Newfs are not supposed to be able to do that). She is 9 now & slowing down & she hasn't jumped the fence for a couple years (I have an American Eskimo to do that for me now). Linda

Here is a testimonial to the Sun Oxy bucket stuff. You can also purchase it at Dollar General stores. I went to a yard sale and there was a huge bag of white t shirts that would fit my grandsons, FREE. BAG OF RAGS. I brought them home. In a 5 gallon bucket I put in a scoop of the Sun Oxy powder, and the hottest water my tap would give me. Dissolved it and put in a wad of t shirts. I have a basement, and no one but me goes down there. So I had the bucket down there. Every time I went down I checked on the shirts. Some came clean overnight and I took them out and swished the others in the bucket of now cold water they were in. I actually ended up leaving a few for about a week. (since I forgot about them) Needless to say, I am sold on Sun Oxy for old yellow stains on whites. I gave my grandsons piles of t shirts that looked like new. In the future, I suggest a washing technique I read here years ago. A woman stated her mom always washed whites twice. Once in cold water, once in hot. The cold water gets out any stains that need the cold treatment of washing, and the hot took out any others. I tried it and have never went back. With a traditional washer and now with an HE. My whites have never been whiter and brighter. So soak in the oxy, do a wash cycle in cold, one in hot, and you will need sunglasses to fold them. :) NOTE: for safety sake, if you have small kids or pets, don't leave a bucket of oxy water around for them to drink, fall in, etc!!!!

Thanks for your reply Ashley, it helps to know that there's people out there who understand, even though our situation is not exactly the same. We might see the skids more, but BM's influence is still very very strong so we have a similar outcome. And just this week there's another great example of it. The skids were supposed to come to our place for a week because it's holidays. They might be coming from Fri.night to Sat.night, but this is not even sure. The reason? Because it's holidays they want to spend more time with family. You can imagine how FDH felt when they said that :-( SD14 often writes on her facebook page that family is most important, but I doubt she'd think of us when writing that. It's just so important for BM to prove the point that we don't really count. For example birthdays. When it's the kids birthdays she'll make sure we don't see them on the day. She used to make skids believe that FDH didn't care or make an effort (while turning FDH's request to see them down), but now that they are older she can't do that anymore. So now she keeps them busy and because family is most important, especially on a day like that...you guessed it already. FDH's birthday is not a day we get to see them either, even though this is not an important 'family' day on her end, she'll still keep them busy. She's clever in how she does it because she doesn't deny the kids access to FDH. When they ask if they can come here for dinner on FDH's birthday she'll say "of course you can honey". Then she'll organise something and give the skids the choice, making a point of it that they should feel free to choose and not pressured by FDH. They always choose her option, no need to say. And not just that; by always telling them that FDH shouldn't pressure them, they start to perceive that FDH pressures them, even when he's not. It's programming, that's all that is. Another example when my family visits (from other side of the world, maybe once every 2 years) BM will keep the skids away from us, also normal visits are cancelled. That is when she plans 'family' time and family is more important. And you know what? I agree that my family is not so important to the skids. They have only met them a couple of times, they don't have a bond as such, they hardly know each other. My parents send birthday cards, that is it. And that is ok. FDH and I are not married yet either, they are not family to them. No problem. But, what's the harm in the kids meeting them when they visit? Why can't we have normal visitation? We do not ask for extra time or changes, only to see them as per normal would be nice! I kid you not, when my family last visited they saw the skids for 2 hrs...

I think some of you are being a tad overly sensitive. Relating the story of buying the top and what DH said was in no way "wagging" a finger and/or making fun of anyone. And my opinion of gray and black clothes was just that, my opinion (like ya'lls). BTW, I have black and gray, just very little of it. DH wasn't being hateful or hurtful. I've taken this thread in stride and not been offended in the least (some people would have been). I've thanked everyone for their comments and said I appreciate them. Just thought you'd like to know the outcome and how I came to my decision. Shirt is actually shown with a pair of jeans. I'm planning on wearing it with white capris this spring and summer. Sadly, I can no longer wear the type shoes posted above and haven't been able to in 20 years :( Wish I could! I'm a mostly tennis shoe, clog/mule, sandal person. I'm a stay at home mom, wife and Grammuffy who likes a colorful wardrobe. I'm not in the business sector so I can wear my pretty, colorful, happy wardrobe whenever I want :) Welcome to (part of) my closet. The shirt in question is hanging on the far right. Sorry if it offends anyone ;)