Firstly, about that episode where your bio father suggested sex: you had no way to know to anticipate it, & you had no way to control or stop it. Although it *is* obnoxious, offensive, & disgusting to you & to me, it sometimes happens when bio family members meet for the first time as adults, so much so that counsellors now warn adult children who are meeting their birth parent(s) for the first time to be prepared. & your bio father's family troubles belong to him & to them, not to you. If anything, it sounds like your father brought you into the family to be used as leverage. Dispicable, but the responsibility & the shame belong to your bio father & not to you. Cut yourself free from that particular chain & don't look back. Today is what matters, & you & your children are living under unbearable stress, in a hostile environment, & you're all paying a terrible price. "He thinks I'm evil" is *not* the description of someone you can afford to turn your back on, let alone trust, let alone spend your life with. (note: He doesn't think you're "evil"; he knows that saying that will shatter you, & that's why he does it.) He's been lying to you & manipulating you since before you were married, his family sounds like a co-dependent, disfunctional mess, & sending copies of the facebook pages to all of them sounds like that you've been caught in the same web, going to everybody else for vindication or action instead of dealing with the one person who's actually accountable. If your husband doesn't have any consequences for continuing to behave as he always has behaved, *nothing will change*. He's entirely comfortable, even happy, with his life, he doesn't care that you're unhappy, & he controls you by striking at your most vulnerable points; why would he change anything? It's like raising a child; if you say, "do that one more time & you're losing computer priveleges for a week", & the child does it again, you *have* to take away computer priveleges for a week, or you're just teaching the child that (s)he doesn't have to pay attention to anything you say/threaten, that you're powerless, that (s)he can do *anything* & the worst that will happen is that you'll yell. If you tell your husband that he has to treat you with the respect to which anyone is entitled or you & the children are leaving, & then he says something obnoxious or betrays you by talking to his family about you or does any single obnoxious thing, you *have* to take those kids & leave. (In fact, at this point, I think you have to take the kids & leave anyway; your life & their lives are being corroded every day that you spend in the environment controlled by your husband & his family.) Although it isn't your fault, although you've been manipulated to think you "can't" do anything because you somehow bear the responsibility for his behavior, so far, you've been like the parent who threatens but does not act. Even if your husband never hits you, he's abusing you: A person who controls another person by manipulation, who calls her "evil", who blames her for his own behavior...is an abuser. Get some professional legal help, get some psychological help (abusers *never* go to counselling; they don't want any interference), investigate what kind of help is available for abused wives, & get your kids & get out of there. I wish you the very best.

A treehopper, Entylia carinata. Sometimes called thorn bugs, there is a reference to this one as a bottle-opener bug; they do not bite or sting. Could have come in on someone's clothing, or just flew in. http://bugguide.net/node/view/333/bgimage?from=0 Note the color and pattern varies between individuals.

Several years ago, my dear friend's schizophrenic brother died in his apt at the end of our street. She found his body - he'd been dead several days in May with no AC going so it was pretty grim. She was so upset by his death and the circumstances finding him, that she could not deal with cleaning out his apt. I learned a lot about schizophrenia while supervising this! We had to call in a company who does clean-ups after fires/floods etc. It was a hazmat situation as well. It was several week before I could go in the apt without VapoRub and a mask. You may not know but schizophrenics are often "hoarders" and he was definitely one. There was 12 inches of trash on the floors - opening doors was a challenge. I've never seen so much "stuff"! When it came time to clean out the chest of drawers in his BR, I got a call from the cleaners - they had opened the top drawer and found $5000 in cash and wanted me to do the rest of the clean-out. His sister had given him that for Christmas and he just stuck it in a drawer. The chest was filled with unopened packages of white shirts and unopened packages of underwear. The local homeless shelter was thrilled to get these! And there was a small jewelry tray. I looked at it and it was mostly just junk - single cuff links that were clearly cheap, tie bars from Princeton (where he did his undergraduate studies) - again, costume jewelry. But there was a ring - in fact TWO rings which had been attached together - an engagement ring and a wedding ring. They had so much corrosion on them (yes, corrosion, not dirt), that I could not tell what the heck they were. I took the ring home and soaked it over night in Dawn and water, and then took a toothbrush to it in the morning. I still didn't know what I had but thought it worth taking to a jeweler - one would not spend money have the rings attached if they were fake, was my thinking. And they were NOT fake! There was a 1.5 ct diamond, not a great stone but pretty nice, and then multiple smaller stones on each side and across the top of the wedding ring. They were set in 14kt white gold. I called my friend and told her what I'd found - she did not want the ring - had far better (she did!), and it would bring back unhappy memories for her, so she gave it to me. I had the diamond re-set in platinum with two nice sized sapphires on either side. The small diamonds were fully faceted and a decent size and they went into a brooch I had that needed a few more diamonds. They are both gorgeous and I'm very grateful for my friend's generosity. She herself died a few months later. We have no idea where this ring came from. It was not her mother's as my friend had that. The jeweler said the corrosion would be indicative of it being exposed to the elements for many years. He used to take the bus downtown and walk and walk and walk. We had no way of knowing where he found it, and there was no engraving inside or jeweler's mark to help identify it. I think of poor Gordie when I wear it - a brilliant man (PhD from Harvard at age 21) who is still one of the recognized scholars on Sanskrit. Truly a "beautiful mind"...

Yes, crocheting is probably easier to learn and you don't have to worry about dropping stitches. But I beg you, please don't waste your money on either of those "kits". The one that has 8 "bon bons" gives you about 66 yards per bon bon. And you'll get even less per bon bon for the kit with 24 bon bons. Less than 22 yards, a mere third of the 8 bon bon kit. They would be lucky to crochet a 3" x 3" swatch with one of those. I crocheted this swatch with 66 yards of worsted weight, which is just a teensy bit finer than the DK provided in the kit and an "H" hook. It's about 5" x 7". I crocheted this piece with 66 yards of worsted weight and a "J" hook, like one provided in the kit. It's about 4" x 8". Neither of those pieces is enough to make anything. And I looked at the ebooks they provide in the kit. The only patterns you will get are for children. You would be much better off picking up a 4 ounce (or even larger) skein of worsted weight or DK yarn (maybe a variegated) and a couple of hooks (I'd suggest G & H) and a book that will actually teach them to crochet. You can purchase an inexpensive book that will give them the basics of crocheting. Don't bother with a book of patterns just yet. There are so many free patterns online. Have them learn to chain, single crochet double crochet, and half-double crochet. Let them start off making a chain as wide as they would like a scarf and just go to town, back and forth with either the single, double, or half-double stitch. One hefty skein will be more than enough to make a scarf. Seriously, look at the size of a bon bon. That's not a tightly wound ball of yarn. It's a puff of yarn. That hand could probably compress it to less than half its size. I'm sorry to be a Debbie Downer, but even at half the price, it's a waste of money. And I DO hope the girls learn to crochet or knit and LOVE whichever you choose.