"Six more weeks of sweater weather and no extra ice in your iced tea?" "jan, sweetie, you need to put your glasses on." "You're seeing an armadillo pokin' his head out, bless your heart." Suzy and Wanda, are y'all making fun of our own General Beauregard Lee? He is not an Armadillo, he resides in his antebellum mansion in Lilburn, Georgia and he did not see his shadow today. He is quite good at predictions, however he did miss it in 1993 when we had the blizzard and 2 feet of snow. Sweater weather and extra ice in my tea, indeed. Just last Friday the schools and businesses closed early due to snow and icy roads and I had to go to the store for milk and bread. :0)

Good morning! Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers. I slept at a nearby hotel last night and got back here to the room a bit ago. DS looks better this morning. We have a white board to write on to make communication a little easier. Plus he has a roommate and he and his mom are still asleep. DS said that last night was tough, he had a nosebleed that scared him, and his pain got a little away from him but he feels much better now. I felt terrible leaving last night, but I'd been up since 2:30 AM and wasn't going to be much use to anyone without some sleep. They may send him home today. I'm nervous about the ride home, especially if there is traffic. Big Road Race on the Cape this weekend, and it IS August. Also, he is 6'3" and 200 lbs.. I want him to be moving well on his own before we take off. Of course hanging around a hospital for an extra day has its own risk of infection, etc. he smoothed into the bed, they are trying to find an extension, but so far no luck. The nurse just told me that the surgeons said his surgery was remarkably smooth. I hope the recovery goes as well. Pesky, I'm not sure what DS's official diagnoses were. I do know the classification of his jaw was a 4. Not sure what that means...and he had a cross bite as well. This has been a ridiculously expensive process, even with good insurance. The initial work up and digital modeling were $3,000 and insurance didn't cover it. The braces were $6,500. (previously he'd had braces as well, then the jaw just grew really fast). With the computer models they determined that he would need work on his chin to match the new jaw. That was considered cosmetic and was another $6,000. With the copays and stuff it has added up fast. I'm sure part of the high cost is having surgery at this particular hospital, but so far I wouldn't change a thing.

Darn...I was looking forward to some pictures of the new windows and I'm sure you were looking forward to taking them! As for the Freedom, if you can believe this...it's a FREE cruise. My husband doesn't agree (LOL) because he earned it for being numero uno salesperson at work. We were able to book a wrap around balcony on deck 7. Don't know the name of the deck. I've always wanted to try a wrap around and I'm so excited about it! It's an 8 day cruise so I'll be able to spend lots of time on that balcony and trust me...I will! Still can't wait to see pics of your new windows. I'm sure they will be so awesome, Glenda! Eileen

I got all of mine kinda sorta potted- not the neatest job in the world but enough to hold them over until the weekend. I had forgotten all the bulbs I had ordered- lilies and liatris out the yahoo. It was quite funny, though- I had gone out with intentions of sticking them into quart pots or even large Solo cups with drainage holes drilled that I use to start seedlings. Being this was my first Hallson's order I was not prepared for the hugeness of the plants! Most times when I open a box of plants I find myself wishing they were larger but in yesterday's case each new bag opened was "OMG it's so huge" and "Oh crap, those roots are enormous!" The astilbe roots are simply massive, the daylilies could each be split into many plants, the ferns simply enormous, and some of the groundcover I swear would be sold as ten plants by other vendors. It was funny, but nothing fit into anything any smaller than a trade gallon pot, and many of those are kind of crammed. I used up all my mixed potting media and was trying to avoid mixing up another batch, so I culled some baby palms I have been nursing along and robbed some more media there. Hustling around like a fool trying to get everything in a decent shape for holding. It was so cold and rainy and while I was working under cover it was quite uncomfortable, but I got it done. What a pleasant surprise on the plant sizes, though- I already have another order started... And I love the wheelbarrow idea, but both of ours are full to the brim of compost I had husband dig out for me to use this spring for planting and topdressing. I have him well trained to keep them full for me- don't want to spoil that habit at all.