Thanks Kylie, you know your right I need meds more than flowers but the meds don't bring me joy like the flowers do. Besides that they tell me there is no 12 step program for all you flower addicts. I had no ideal that postage went up again. Must have slept right through that one. I have some plants I need to plant too, but I need some other things to plant with them> LOL What I really need is my head examined. All kidding aside, I need to go get a dump truck load of good soil/potting mixture and pot up a bunch of stuff. But even the dirt is so high it's unreal. Thanks for dragging my head out of the clouds and me back down to earth. Slapping my hand and telling myself...no more plants Marian, no more plants.(frown)You know how an addict is they will give up EVERYTHING but what they are addicted to. May have to get George to lock me up in the closet for a couple of days so I can detox (sp) or whatever they call it. I still have yours, Karyns, Brendas, and someone else's boxes of irises I need to round up and mail to ya'll. It's been too muddy to work out there the last couple of days. They should be going out in the next day or two soooo watch your mailboxes ladies! I'm not happy when I'm not trading or getting plants. What's an addict to do? Banging head on desk top!!! I can and will beat this. The day the bury me. LOL

That reporter sure did a nice write up, covering all the important details but also capturing his terrific attitude and desire to help others who may face similar problems. Having been privledged to meet Jason when I visited Karen, I can tell you that you quickly accept his "looks" because his personality shines through and he is so comfortable with himself and others that he makes you feel that way too. He may have had wonderful doctors, but he also had a very loving and supportive family giving him strength and the will to live. You have every reason to be proud of him, Karen. He has endured so much yet kept such a positive outlook and that great sense of humor as well. There's no doubt that he will help many many others through sharing his experience. Hugs, Luvs

Yes, my dear Goldie, you are lucky, but even if no one had turned in your backpack, purse, or blackberry, you'd still be lucky! Our thoughts really dictate how we see our lives, not our circumstances. You are a person who would find the good in whatever situation you found yourself in, & perceive yourself as "lucky." If you lost $300.00, well someone needed it more than you, how nice. If your blackberry went poof, well, maybe you were spending too much time on that thing anyway. If we trust that we live in a benevolent universe, we can trust that all is put in our way for the best. God, the universe, life, will give us what we need. But, Can we trust that reality is really unfolding in our best interest? If we can, we see ourselves as "lucky." We love life, ourselves & others however that shows up. Someone in my life pointed out the other day how a mutual friend just had a baby (lucky!) & how my sister had just been diagnosed with cancer (unlucky!) She put it in those terms pretty directly. Well, that's not how I see it. When my sister was found to have a malignant brain tumor 3 yrs. ago, she quit smoking. I never, ever thought that would happen! Never! She recovered from the cancer, & has never smoked again. Was it lucky that the cancer came afterall? In a sense, I believe it was. As you know, she now has lung cancer & breast cancer. Well, I believe that there are gifts here too, some that I already see, others that we have yet to find. God is present in this too. Already, I have felt the uplifting prayers of those here at GW. What a blessing. No matter how "unlucky" a circumstance may seem, there are gifts of gold to be mined from it. We always have the choice to see how lucky we are if we question the thoughts that tell us we are not. My dh shared this ancient Chinese proverb with me years ago. I love of its wisdom & it speaks beautifully to your query. Here is a link that might be useful: Are you lucky?

I have them, and have used the same ones for nearly thirty years since I got my new ones when I married and changed my name. When I was younger, and my friends were younger, we all used more of them when everyone was wedding-ing and christening and generally having a ball playing with our (new) grown-upness. At a later point in my life we lived in cities where the customs were more formal so I used lots of them again, but now that we are nestled in the country I don't find a lot of places where they fit. I'm sure there are circles in Boston, NY, Washington, Palm Beach, etc. where visiting cards are still quite common. And in the capitals of Europe and South America, they are still in use, as well. Mine read: Mrs Husband's First Name, Husband's Middle Name, Husband's Last Name. And nothing else, although having an abbreviated local address would be acceptable, and I may have that added to the die next time before I get a more engraved as I am now living in a family house and expect to be here forever. My visiting card is just barely off-white and utterly plain other than the engraved name. One purchases the engraving dies, which is expensive the first time, then simply orders more as necessary. (One small cost of getting divorced is having to get a new die made.) And there is generally nothing on them except your formal name, or in the case of the other set I have, which I use much less often, Mr & Mrs Husband's First Name, Middle Initial and Last Name. (I use the Mr & Mrs cards mostly for enclosing with funeral flowers, weddding presents, or for post dinner party B&B flowers.) My personal visiting cards are still useful for enclosing with flowers (I keep a small supply at my city florist for this purpose) and for gift enclosures in certain settings; for making formal calls in the few remaining circumstances in my life that require it and very, very, rarely for handing out on the fly like business cards. I do keep a couple in an old sterling cigarette case in my purse for those times. But one wouldn't want to hand them out like common business cards since they can be pretty pricey. I think the last time I re-ordered (more than a decade ago) they were about 75 cents each, and that was a pretty large quantity since we were then living in a very formal situation. One other thing, too, as a rule ladies don't give out their visting cards (or leave them when paying a social call) to men, only to women. But there's nothing to stop you from inventing, and using, a more personalized version of the conventional business card with name, address, pictures, myspace data, mini dvd's or your baby's sonogram. But these are probably more accurately termed simply personal cards not visiting or calling cards. Molly