I know I posted to this but don't see it !! java : I sure hope you can get down there. Thank you ! I love the image of Mom Buttons !! SG,,,,yes following ones own path is so hard to do at times and yet can be so rewarding. We have told all of our children to do this and at present they are all following very individualized paths that are so rewarding. We are indeed proud . Thank you for such an insightful note. tina: he and DIL were there for exactly one year before going to The Red Hen. He loves the intimacy of the Red Hen so he is glad he moved on. I sure hope you can visit some day. Thank you !! nancy NO !! He only made mac and cheese from a box until he left for the USMC. That is where he became interested. Although I do believe all the latent talent came from his Mom and Dad and all the meals he had with us. That is all he talks about now is what we used to fix at home and he asks me all the time for my recipes and old family recipes from his grandparents. We are so happy for them. Thank you !! lynn: thank you !! I sure wish you were closer too. It is such fun to see our kids do well. I hope it continues and he can bring the experience of fine dining to more and more folks. c marlene...thank you !! He is such a sweet sweet baby. He has the best chuckle. We love him to pieces. !! tea...thank you !! Wish you were closer...you would get all the loaves you could stand. !! c

Paula is married also. Her husband appears on some of her shows. To me the entire thing centers around the change in policy with the Food Channel, DIY, Home & Garden, etc. In the beginning of these channels they had people that actually cooked, folks that actually fixed stuff and people that actually gardened. Shows had more content, fewer commercials and commercials geared more toward the content of the programs. All of that is pretty much out the window. Many of the shows are contrived with, IMO, Iron Chef taking the cake. There are several shows I do like on PBS when they aren't having their endless pledge drives. I am a guy that actually cooks, fixes things, collects antiques, does woodworking and teaches high school science.

Hi myfampg! Actually today is the first time in a very long time I've come here. This summer has been far too busy to breath, let alone get on here. I'll try a quick catch up...... it's NOT been all good, just been too busy. DS17 dad moved to Michigan. He's 3 hours north. He's been great though, if he wants him he's been coming all the way and getting him and he's even brought him all the way home. He also took him to the race up there for Father's day. I have to say, I'm imppressed. No problems with him. DS12.... his sperm donor was sentenced to 17 months, is doing half then he is done. No probation, nothing. When he doesn't pay I will have to start all over from square one. He is scheduled to be released September 10. They actually moved him to a real prison. So he's no longer in a county jail. This suprised the heck outta me and I'm actually scared to death of retaliation. I guess I'll deal with that when September comes. SS..... well of course there's been drama there. BM originally told dh that she wouldn't mess with ss's baseball or all stars at all this summer. She said he could stay until it was all over, she didn't care. Well, all star tournament is this weekend, she's getting him tomorrow. Go figure, right?!?! Oh and yes, you know the date.... it's July 10. She has to have him back to us by August 5 because he has a middle school rally that he has to go to since he'll just be entering the school. So not even close to 8 weeks this summer. We tried getting her to take him July 4. We went to TN for ds12 World series baseball (BTW... they were the runners up!!! Wooohooooo!). We thought we could drop him to her on the way, well she had promised him a trip to Virginia beach that she cancelled so she wanted us to take him to TN with us. I honestly didn't want to cause I was trying to save money on the trip. DS17 didn't go cause he had to work. So anyway, we took him with us, she was supposed to call on Sunday to meet us. She never called.... we didn't end up coming home till Monday anyway since the team did so well and we kept playing and playing till late Sunday. We made ss call her last night cause we had a feeling she was going to try to cancel again. She did try.... ss wouldn't let it happen. LOL! We knew he wouldn't so that's why he called and not dh. She is now moving to the southern part of our state, right next to Kentucky. (Which btw is where ds12 donor lives.... OMG!! Kill me now if they ever meet each other or get together!) She told ss that she'll now be 2 1/2 hours away. There is NOT one part of KY (her dh will be working in Louisville) that is 2 1/2 hours from us. She's so full of crap! It's gonna be 3 hours and 15 minutes away compared to 4 hours. Oh my... like 45 minute difference will make her come to his games. Which she still has never made it to. She also told dh that she will no longer be working. Oh freaking wonderful! Now she'll quit paying her support again! I'm so over this crap with her. I told dh that she doesn't pay, they go back to court. She gets treated exactly the same as ds12 donor. No if's and's or but's. Also, if she's not going to be working, she does NOT get the tax exemption every other year. Period. (She's never going to be current on support to be allowed to have it anyway) I'm so nervous that she's going to pull what she pulled in February (trying to keep him). This time she'll be in our state ..... which I think she is moving to our state and not KY for this reason. She's going to think she can keep him. I'm just so stressed that we are going to have to go through this again next month.... and stressed that she's NOT going to pay her support. Oh and last time she saw him was Memorial Day weekend. Her ss (the evil little brat) broke ss's ipod, he poured water on it. No discipline given, no ipod replaced. UGH!!! So wrong! So glad to see you again though myfampg. Don't take exdh crap!

Wow....what an amazing list of people.... too many of them no longer with us or active here. It is nice to remember some of their names and their struggles that we shared. Thanks for the memories.