Wow! This really takes the cake. It sounds as if the parents ran the entire show and the bride had little or no say in anything. I agree that the woman was startled and searching for something to say, as she was totally surprised that someone not invited would actually bring a gift. It is absolutely wrong and totally tacky to invite anyone to a shower without inviting them to the wedding. We had a similar experience with our recently married daughter's mother-in-law, who invited 170 people to the rehearsal dinner, nearly half of whom weren't invited to the wedding (we had "limited" her wedding invitations to 150!!!) Many of them were her husband's employees, most of whom had the good sense to decline to attend the rehearsal dinner, displaying better sense than she did. (She also had the nerve to have a gift table at the dinner!) I never ceased to be amazed at the bad taste exhibited by some people when it comes to weddings.

Researchers say that it is very unlikely that you will catch an STD from a public toilet seat. Many of the organisms that cause STDs can't survive outside the human body for long and need a particular environment in which to thrive. These environments cannot be found on a toilet seat. Crabs and scabies pose the biggest risks to those who sit on an infected toilet seat and, even then, the risk is infinitesimal. Herpes is, perhaps, people's biggest concern over contracting STDs via toilet seats, but again, the risk is extremely small because the virus can't survive long outside the body.

Bo, For most things that you planted, the 1-1.5" depth may be a problem. To tackle them one by one: Radishes--probably will come up but it may take a while. Lettuce--unlikely to come up from that depth, might want to reseed more. Lettuce is unusual in that it does not strictly need light to germinate, but does seem to germinate much more quickly if the seeds get some light exposure. Just sprinkle seeds on the surface of the soil, lightly press them into the soil but do not cover. Mist lightly. Keep soil moist, not wet, and they should germinate quickly in the weather we're having now. Peas--probably will come up just fine, but may take a few days longer than usual. Swiss Chard---it would have been better if the seeds had been sown about 1/2" below the soil surface, but they still may sprout even if 1.5" below soil surface. Swiss Chard seeds are actually small fruits with multiple seeds inside, so when you get sprouts, you'll likely get multiple sprouts in little clusters where each seed was sown. If you don't get sprouts in the next couple of weeks, just sow more seed in the soil right above where the previous seeds were sown. In the future, if you soak Swiss Chard seeds in water for a few hours before planting, they'll sprout more quickly. Broccoli should sprout just fine as long as you keep the soil moist, not soggy. Usually we start broccoli seed indoors 3-5 weeks before planting time, harden off the seedlings gradually over a week's time to help them adjust to outdoor sunlight and wind, and then put the plants in the ground when they are 3-5 weeks old and have 3 to 5 true leaves. We do this because the cool season is shockingly short in OK some years and starting from transplants helps ensure you'll get a crop before the weather gets too hot. Keep that in mind for future reference. With the soil being warm and air temperatures being really nice right now, I think your broccoli will come up pretty quickly and has a good shot at producing this year, but in a year with colder, wetter soil and cooler air temperatures, you'd want to start with transplants. Carrots are divas and can take their time sprouting. Kim gave you good advice on them. Keeping something (I use either cardboard weighed day with bricks or a sheet of plywood) on top of the area where carrot seed was sown helps ensure a good crop. You sow the seed, cover with just a little soil, pat down the soil gently to ensure good seed-to-soil contact, mist lightly and cover with something that will help hold in the moisture. What happens is the soil gets dry and crusts over and the tiny carrot seeds have trouble breaking through the soil crust. So, using a board, cardboard, fabric, etc. to hold in the moisture helps keep the soil from crusting over. Just lift the covering once or twice daily to check for sprouts and remove once you start seeing little green sprouts. Another way to help the carrot seeds germinate if you don't want to cover them with anything is to sow radishes right along with them. Sow a radish seed every few inches right there in the row of carrot seeds.. It will germinate more quickly than the carrots, breaking the soil crust for them and helping making it easier for them to germinate. Potatoes will sprout fine 2" below the soil. I planted mine 8-9" below the soil surface and some of them already are up above the soil surface. That's a lot of growth in a fairly compact time frame. Keep in mind that potatoes want to grow and have a need to grow, so they are going to sprout whether planted deeply or more shallowly. Research has shown that for maximum production, seed potatoes need to have at least 8" of soil above them. This is because the stolons that sprout from the eyes of the potatoes are where the potatoes form, and they all form above the seed potato. So, if you have 2-4" of soil above the seed potatoes, the only potatoes you get will be whatever forms in that 2-4" of soil. If you have 8-10" of soil above the seed potatoes, you'll get more potatoes because they will form along at least 8" of the stolon between the top of the seed potato and the soil line. Planting much deeper than 8" (or heaping much more than 8" of soil and mulch on top of the planted seed potatoes) doesn't really give you more potatoes no matter what some internet sources say, and there is research that backs up that info. Maybe somewhere in a much milder climate than ours where the soil and air temperatures stay mild, potatoes planted really deeply might produce more, but it doesn't happen here because we quickly reach the soil and air temperatures in late spring/early summer that cause the initiation of new potato tubers to stop. So, keeping heaping soil (hopefully loose, friable soil, not clay) on top of your potatoes as you grow, and pile mulch on top of the soil once you think it is heaped up high enough above your potato plants. Don't fret if seeds don't sprout. Just plant more after a couple of weeks if you aren't seeing any sprouts. There's a reason that so many seeds come in a packet---and it isn't because the average person wants to grow 1,000 carrots or 200 radishes all at one time or 100 lettuce plants. It is to allow for the fact that some seeds won't germinate, some may get washed away or whatever and a gardener may need to replant. Gardening basically is a learn-by-doing process. We've all been in your shoes at one point in our gardening lives. Every single person here has made mistakes and had seed failures. We've had seeds that never came up because they were planted too deeply, we've had seeds blown away in wind storms, eaten by soil-dwelling creatures, washed away in heavy downpours, etc. etc. etc. Life goes on. We just replant and hope for better results with the next go-round. Things will be fine. If the first batch of seeds y'all sowed don't come up, it is likely the next round will. That's part of the magic of growing. Even when you're alone in the garden with your child, the two of you are not alone. All of us are with you, hoping for good results for y'all, cheering you on from afar and ready to answer any questions that arise. We'll celebrate with you when your seeds sprout and grow and we'll celebrate with you when you when your get your harvest. In the meantime, we'll always be here to answer questions, offer advice and explain, to the best of our knowledge, why things happen the way they do. You know the old saying that it takes a village to raise a child? It is true, and our plants are children too, and it takes an entire village to share the knowledge and experience and help your and your child raise that garden. Please do not ever hesitate to talk with us about what is going on. There's nothing you'll encounter that someone here hasn't had happen to them too. It is the sharing of the knowledge gained that helps us all grow into more effective and more efficient gardeners. Dawn

regarding your 2 nd question-our vanity in the master bath (part of an addition so it was being built) was custom -part of our agreement with the contractor. It helped a lot when they messed up the framing-and vanity had to become non-standard, narrower and all. If there were no mistakes-I'd still like the vanity, we had a great cabinet maker. But it was "a gift" from the contractor so to say, and since I chose wood that was quite expensive and cabinetmaker loved it too, -it was more expensive gift than the contractor was hoping to give)) Then it was additional headache in terms of sourcing slab, sinks, etc. We did save greatly on them btw-but in money, not in time. Our vanity is really long too. I wonder if we saved on a pre-made one. Other vanities (hall bath, powder room) are small(one is smallish, one is tiny) and we bought them second hand. Hall bath was the only space we didn't gut (sore thumb..but they recently remodeled so seemed wasteful) and to me didn't warrant anything particularly great. So it's a premade thing with some cultured material on top, I'm not sure what material . and we bought it for cheap on Craigslist. It is standard 36 inch as far as I remember. The powder room was carved out of some space and had to have a really tiny something inside, and I managed to find on Craigslist something that was custom made by somebody and the family decided to sell it afterwards. Had to be attached to the wall though so the contractor worked with some ironsmith to work out the solution. Didn't cost us anything-but was an additional work etc. So I guess it depends on a space, The more challenging the room/reno-custom might work better. If sizes are/get to be pretty standard-then obviously you risk much less ordering/buying premade. PS we didn't want electric oitlets in the custom made vanity, I don't even own a hair dryer. So it seemed like something we didn't really need.