You can trade time for energy when it comes to compost. I let leaves sit in piles for 3-4 years and then dig up the stuff at the bottom to use in the garden, especially on potatoes. I add some leaves to the ordinary compost heap, mostly in early spring when they've had time to compact and get good and wet. Still they take a couple of years to completely break down. I sense that you are fairly open-minded: have you considered the use of the family urine and feces for crop fertilizer?

Hi Penny, I really like the Me and My Big Ideas stickers and yes they are more for childrens layouts. Although, the chistmas ones are nice with the reindeer, sleigh & holly and also the outdoor camping or just the border ones. I definately wouldn't use them for Heritage pages. I don't know which ones you have but there are some I don't care for too. One of our scrapbook stores has several layouts on the walls using these stickers and they are done very well, guess it's a matter of how you are going to use them. I really like the Debbie Mumm stickers because of the muted colors, and of course Francis Meyer.

I think you have a marvelous idea. I am trying to "retro-write" my dear Grandma's stories. I'm doing a scrapbook that includes all the photos she had in her house when she died. They go back to the very early 1900s. I'm including "history stories" I remember her telling about her parents and grandparents. I've asked aunts and cousins to write their "stories" too. I want to make a big "Our Family History" book. I've asked for everything they are comfortable with sharing. The good, the bad, the happy, the sad, and in some cases the down-right ugly. I hope to make it a complete picture of our family.

Vee, I didn't grow up with English boys but I really didn't notice the Englishmen I knew as co-workers, friends, and male relatives of friends as being as allergic to female company as you describe. Maybe the ones I knew had outgrown it. :-) I did notice the shyness of both males and females, though. As for American guys having 'trophy' girlfriends and wives: sure, there are those but I think gals were/are just as likely to collect 'trophy' boyfriends and husbands. The quarterback of the football team was always more popular than a defensive lineman (a necessary but less glamorous position); the guy with a 'hot' car impressed the girls while the poor fellow who had to drive his parents' car on dates was a 'drip'. I was probably a typical snotty female in some respects: I was mortified when I was a senior (12th grader) in high school and a sophomore (10th grader) boy asked me to an important dance. He was too young for me. I think it's funny now that I have a husband six years younger than me. Annpan, it's true that Americans are obsessed with the appearance of teeth. Martin Amis (Kingsley's son) said that before he dared go to the US he had to get himself 'an American smile'. Looking at YouTube video clips of singers such as Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin) and David Bowie before they had their teeth fixed always draws comments from younger Americans nowadays. How could these guys dare sing with such teeth? As if shiny, white plastic chompers are a prerequisite to singing talent...apparently so in their opinion. Americans are just about as obsessed with body hair as with teeth. It wasn't always so, but it is now. Females should have hair in three places only: the head, the eyebrows and the eyelashes. Males are allowed facial hair in addition. If you're wondering about the other region where hair usually grows...that's just ick, ick, ick! Hair removal is big business in the US. Mudlady, I've run across that parental attitude you describe that sons are always more important than daughters. I think it must be a holdover or throwback in American culture and not the norm as it is in certain other cultures. I never felt that I was less important than my brothers, but I was the only girl and youngest child and that probably made a lot of difference. Ah yes, cars had character back then! I can barely tell one make & model from the next nowadays. My first car is only a fond memory but I still have my second car, a metallic-blue 1966 Plymouth Satellite with a 383 engine, 5-speed manual on the floor. Lots of girls never learned to drive a standard transmission, but they missed out on loads of fun! I'm glad I grew up in the heyday of American car culture. As frivolous as it might seem, it signified freedom to me more than anything else could at the time. I didn't think anything of jumping into my car and driving alone from Iowa to Texas. I drove from Paris to Istanbul one time, too. It was marvelous.