Glad you made it home safe in this weather. Holy yappachichi its cold out there. I need to go migrate to Bob's house for the rest of winter, lol. My main water line blew up right as I was leaving to go to Austin to pick up the windows for the greenhouse with John. It looked like a geiser in the front yard. Thank god it didn't happen 10 minutes later. The whole yard and street would have been flooded. Thank god again Patties husband works for the water department and saved my behind and fixed it for me so we could leave. I got home and the water was fixed and back on. All I had to do was throw some compost in the hole he dug.It blew all the dirt out when it blew up and made a huge hole, lol. Got another surprise when I was out checking on things. Santa clause or that truck driver I gave the little tree too visited and left me more windows for the greenhouse and a brand new shelving unit for the greenhouse. I need to be nice to people for no good reason more often, lol. I was very thankful for those things. Having to drive to Georgetown tomorrow to look for more was not to my liking. Now I think I have enough to finish it. Welcome home Kylie now don't forget to come see me when you get a chance and get your pots or I can bring them to you one weekend if I can make John drive, lol. I have you a presssenttt too that came today. Whoohooo! I need to go to bed. Pain pills are kicking in,lol. Night.

Re the brushed nickel finish -- I hope that it holds up since I have that on all my handles and the faucet in the kitchen! But, I do have a *very* cheap BN faucet in my bath; $30 I think it was... it has been there 10 years (at least, I don't quite remember when I put it in) and it was perfect until my DD moved back in and started abusing it. I caught her banging her razor on it to clear it, and maybe that combined with some of her face products (like salicylic acid in the pimple cream) has started some spots where the finish has turned blackish.

Anj, It's not really bad. Where we live, there are things but some things you just have to drive further to get to! LOL Like we actually live on a pretty busy road and at the end of it, two miles from our house is a convenience store and gas station. The schools are right beside it and we have a pizza shop. Then you drive another mile and we have Dollar General! I was THRILLED when they put that there! A bit further down the road into town and you have two banks, two convenience stores, two gas stations, the hardware (Ace), a small town store, a bar...no red light! LOL We also live only 3 miles from an exit on I-80, so we have a McDonald's, Subway, two truck stops, a hotel..lol. The next closest town, Bellefonte, is a Victorian town and it's a bit larger. There we have the grocery store, another DG, small local stores, restraunts, doctor's offices, etc. Now if we want Wal-mart and Lowe's and the bigger stores and restraunts, we have to travel 15 miles to State College. Then we virtually have anything we want! LOL I have ALWAYS lived in this area. I love it here and don't really even like to go away on vacation! LOL It doesn't bother me all that much. I think it's better to have to drive to get places so I'm not always at the stores and stuff. I have been a SAHM for the last 8 years and most weeks I haven't ventured out of the house at all until the weekend and it's okay with me! I'm trying to work on outdoor stuff since it's nice now. We got more mulch and mulched a few new beds that we started last year on Saturday. Yesterday I dug grass out of an area that I wanted to use to expand my one flower bed along the shed and I hung up a few things that I had been collecting. I just need to get the plants in the ground (I'm dividing a few things that I already have). I would have finished last night but we decided to load up the four wheeler and head off to camp for some family time. I needed a break anyway!

Lonepiper..I completely agree with you. If I have to ask my parents for money, then in my opinion, anything that is not essential has to be put on the backburner until the situation improves. Update on this situation...We got into another big argument about it last night. We had come to the agreement that we would pay our half now instead of waiting the 30 days the divorce decree allows, just to try to be amicable. Since we came up with that offer, DH has been trying to reach BM and discuss this arrangement with her. She finally called him back yesterday 1 hour before he was to pick his girls up for their 2 week uninterrupted visit with us and started going off on him..telling him he is nickel and diming his daughters..how she can't pay her bills because he isn't paying enough CS,..on and on. So, he caved and told her we would pay the entire bill since she is so strapped. I FLIPPED OUT! What happened to our agreement? He tells me.."I have you on one side saying one thing and her on the other, and I feel stuck in the middle". Newsflash..you put yourself in the middle. She isn't your wife anymore (HER CHOICE) and chose to marry a man who makes 1/3 what you do. If she can't pay her bills..that's her problem. And guess what..we don't have the money either. Why is it ok for her to say she doesn't have the money, but when he does, he is a bad parent. When my DH lost his job last year, he had 500 dollars left to pay her from the divorce decree due 15 days after he lost his job. We asked her for a little time until he found another job...she absolutely refused..told him our finances weren't her problem. So, again we borrowed the money from my parents so he could pay her off. She didn't care about our money problems...I could care less about hers. I know her lack of money right now isn't going to keep the kids from eating because WE HAVE THEM FOR THE NEXT 2 WEEKS, so I am more concerned with keeping my refrigerator stocked for them. Anyway, after this blow out where I totally lost it, he went out to start his car and it's DEAD. Hopefully, he will just need a new battery, but it totally proved my point that we can't just be throwing good money after bad because his car is 12 years old and we have to think it is going to have problems. It is very frustrating, and I told him that contacts were low on the priority list...I am going to pay car insurance, health insurance premium, DS's school tuition (before anybody jumps and says I care about my kids before the sk's-this is my son from a previous marriage and his dad pays more than enough CS to cover his school) and the water and power bill first. To me, all of those things are more important than contacts this week and I am going to fight this battle to my death (hopefully not necessary). Usually, I give in just to regain the peace, but I know I am right on this one, and I refuse to put this family in hardship when we offerred a compromise that BM is unwilling to accept.