I have a friend that has a treasure chest of honkers. They are beautiful, she has rings, bracelets, a Rolex watch, a diamond watch, you name it she can probably find it in her jewelry box. There are some of us who can wear diamonds with great style like we were born to it and others like myself that if I had a large diamond on, i'd probably get arrested. I have one friend who has a ROCK, it is around 7 1/2 carat solitare. Knowing her husband, it was an investment of sorts. She was afraid to wear it until her daughter said "mom go ahead and wear it, the way you dress no one would ever think it was real anyway." I do have a solitare, it's one carat, Neil bought it for me for my 30th anniversary. He said he wanted me to have a larger diamond but he was afraid i'd shoot him for wasting money. When we got married he couldn't afford an engagement ring and had always felt bad because he said he had wanted everyone to know that I was spoken for. It didn't bother me but it did him so now I have a ring. My wedding ring and his are alike, the only thing I asked was that it be a wide band, it is. I will always treasure my wedding ring. When I look at it I am reminded that at least once in my life I got something right.

Ack! dlm, I forgot to post back. First, my gray is a Dove Gray (light). In darker areas it's a mid-level, maybe a battleship gray? Charlie's soap powder form, diluted in water, scrubbed, let it sit, scrubbed again, wiped. Probably got it up to 60%. Then I did a different section with diluted Charlie's soap and Oxyclean scrubbed in on top of that. Let sit maybe 20 min, scrubbed, 'rinsed'. Much better. Not 100% like the light Dove gray at outer perimeters of floor, but easily 80 to 85%. Close enough you have to really be staring at it to see the difference. (Can't get a pic to show it well, shadows from vanity are throwing off grout.) So I'll clean it good that way & immediately seal, and I'll be happy. :) If you want to check it out, I don't know how close this is to you, but if I'm downtown & need some CS I get it Be By Baby (Wrigleyville area). Easy metered parking on side street (I always find a spot - a miracle!). Or you can go to CS website, maybe there's a dealer near you. (Not me, it's either downtown or mail.) I also get through Amazon. Free super saver shipping + $11.50 or so is a good price. (Think it's about $14 at Be By Baby). I wasn't impressed with their bottled spot treatment. For the price I just put a scoop (abt 1TB) of powder in a spray bottle, make my own, works just as well.

Medusa I am going to put my story out here for you. Honest, open, ugliness and all. I have little family. My parents both died 10 and 11 years ago. My relationship with them was difficult. My father had no back bone, my mother could be a real bi*ch. We were estranged more that once but had a pretty good relationship when they died. My childhood was filled with my parents fighting all of the time. If they were together they fought. My mother was verbally and physically abusive to me. Never physically abusive to my two brothers. I had a mouth on me and when I smarted off I was hit. I was a single mom for 12 years. My parents were there for me before they passed away. After they passed away I had no one. My brothers would help me if I called about something but they never called me and they never developed a relationship with my kids. My ex stopped taking the kids overnight 6 mos. after we split. It wasn't long until he just saw them 12 hours a month. I worked 6 hours a day in a factory until I became disabled in 1999. Even being disabled none of my family called to see if I needed help. Early on in my single parent hood I accepted Christ. I knew I couldn't do it alone. After I tried alcohol, affairs with various questionable men and so on. I was involved with one of the biggest drug runners in my city. When he would come to see me he had to leave his gun in the car. It was wrong and I knew it so I gave it all up. I got into a good church and got the kids into church and youth groups. The people of my church were our family. I got the kids into a Christian school also. My son did not have a male role model in my family so we found them in our church and at school. I truly believe that saved his life. He is dyslexic and has had nothing but struggles in school. I felt that if I put him in public school I would loose him to a gang or to the wrong crowd. He has turned out to be a wonderful young man. Not without his quirks but we all have those. My daughter caught the rage of all of those years that I kept bottled up inside of me. I let her have it one night over something that pushed me over the edge and she took a bunch of pills. She made herself throw them up...thank God. I didn't find out about it until a couple of months later. She told her youth pastor, he told me....She and I got into counseling. It lasted much longer for me. One thing that I remember most about the counseling was that the counselor said that I needed to replace the tape recorded message that played through my head. It was put there by my mother and ex husband. I was also told that I needed to think in realistic terms. My thoughts were not realistic. I would tell myself that I wasn't worth anything, that I was a failure, that no one loved me, I was stupid, that it didn't matter what I wanted, everyone came before me. I still have to work at that from time to time. YOU need to change that tape that runs through your mind. You are worth it. You are doing the best that you can. If you aren't then be honest with yourself and start now. You are worth loving. You have not deserved a lot of what you have had given to you in your life. You did what you should have and the only thing you could have for your son. You have made mistakes in your life......forgive yourself and try to do better. We all screw up. I would suggest that you sit down and make a list of what you want your life to be like. What changes need to be made and what it is going to take to make them. Can you live some place else? What would it take for you to do that? Stop reading the paper and watching the news unless you have to for your own safety. Stop seeing the people in your life that continue to put you down and abuse you. They do not have that right and only you can stop it. If you saw yourself as worth while you would not allow them to treat you that way. You need to be in control of you life. Not them. Not even your mom. Don't let anyone speak badly to you. Walk away, do not let them in your space. Realize that you have had a part in how somethings have turned out in your life. I had to. Forgive yourself and get over it and on with it. Forgive others but do not continue to allow them to poison your life. God helped me. In more ways than I can state here and now. Think about whether or not that is something that you would like to know more about if you don't know about Him already. Will receiving Christ as your Savior make your life perfect.....NO...it won't. But the pros out way the cons....by far. Get into counseling. Talk to yourself as though you were the very best friend that you could hope for. Be loving in the things that you tell yourself and be honest with yourself....in a loving and gentle way. Get on antidepressants if you need to......I did. Stop seeing yourself as something that can be kicked around. Stop being a victim of other peoples actions and the crap that life hands you. That old saying "When you're handed lemons make lemonade." really ticks me off. What if you don't like lemonade? I say if life hands you lemons throw the damn things out and go after what you want. God does not make mistakes. You are not a mistake. You are precious and you are loved. Start loving yourself, today. I do not live where you do so I do not mean to simplify things in that respect. I do not mean to down play the seriousness of your situation. Please know that. I just know that life is hard. It can really beat you up. Get tough and pick yourself up and get started changing what you can. The first thing you should do is change your screen name. Medusa is not the name of a beautiful and strong woman. It is not the name of some one that God knew before she was even created. It is not the name of someone that thinks she is worthy of love. It is not the name of a loving friend and mother. Call yourself a name that you would want to be called. You are loved on this site by people that you don't even know. As said so many times before....we are here for you. We care. We want to help. We want you to make it. Not only to make it but to thrive in this life.

It was delicious. Nodakgal...duck sauce is that sweet orangey apricot sauce you get with things like egg roll in a chinese restaurant. It's also found in the supermarket with the Chinese food things like soy sauce. For those who think the recipe sounded disgusting...you should look at the ingredients on some of the dressings and marinades that you buy. You just might not be familiar with making them from scratch. Mixing sweet with hot, and a combination of spices is far from exotic...or disgusting. Watermelon (and cantaloupe) is being used in many salads and cold soups this summer. We had a fantastic watermelon soup at a restaurant just a week ago. This morning's newspaper had the food section devoted to melons in salads and entrees.