t-bred you will do fine with the bellina. It's just a phal with slightly higher temps required. I don't let my bellina's read the requirement sheets and just tell them the low of 60 is just fine for them. I love phals because I can always have multiples in bloom, regardless of the season. Phals bloom for months at a time, can be grown in the home in a sunny window without elaborate set ups and really don't demand much care. Brooke

You asked for advice, so I am going to tell you that your responses to your neighbor have been aggressive and provocative. Your reactions to the neighbor have added to the conflict. Your goal should instead be to give neutral or calming responses. Snookums2 gave you examples of these. Nan-E-Fan gave you away of thinking of the situation that protects you from thinking that by changing your responses to this family you are "wimping out" or acting like you are weak. By keeping calm and responding to exactly what is said, you keep control of the situation. The woman says, "my husband says he saw you letting your dog pee on our lawn." You say, "I don't let my dog pee on the individual lawns, he only goes on the common area." If the neighbor does not know where the common area is, this gives them the opportunity to ask, "where is this common area?" If the neighbor, instead, insists that you do let your dog pee on her lawn, you ask her to take a picture of it. If she says that she has no camera, remind them of their cell phones or tell her to get a cheep disposable. Or offer to pay half for a disposable. This shows that you are concerned for their issue (you don't really have to be concerned, but acting like you are keeps the peace). By remaining calm, you keep the power in the relationship. If they start getting accusatory toward you, or start complaining to the townhouse management, you can calmly say, "I told them that I only use the common area and asked them to photograph the dog using their lawn as a toilet. I even offered to share the cost of a disposable camera. They never did anything to prove it was my dog, they just continue to harass me every time they see me outside." Or if you can remain calm when they harass you, then YOU can go to management and complain about their treatment of you. It takes practice to remain calm and to learn to respond only to the words people are saying to you. What you have been doing is responding to the emotion behind what the neighbor is saying and making assumptions about what she is staying. Your assumption has been, "This family has something against me and my family." By having this assumption in the background, based on your first few interactions with this family, you have been working from an assumption that you are at war because this other family has decided you are. Nothing could go right after this assumption was made. That is why I suggest that you concentrate only on the words that are said. It keeps you focused on your goal of remaining calm and responding to the situation and the concerns that the person is bringing up. It is too late for you to make this relationship start out right, but you can work on calming it down. That will give you practice for future relationships with other people. I had to do this when I found myself getting all upset talking with insurance companies and the like on the phone. After one set of phone calls when I got mad and frustrated and yelled at the person on the other end of the phone, my eyesight went all wonky. It was like looking through a kaleidoscope that was turning. I thought I was going blind! Through the little bits of clearness, I waited through my dial-up internet and slow page loads and figured out that I was having an ocular migraine. I did not need to go to the ER, but I should see an ophthalmologist soon. So I called my eye doc and they got me in the next day. What is one cause of an ocular migraine? Stress. What else does stress do? Cause high blood pressure and other heart disease, contribute toward diabetes and other diseases. Gotta lower stress!

After not having a dishwasher for the first 28years of my life and spending 30+ minutes a day doing dishes (I cook a lot), I have been using my new dishwasher for 2 months and hope to never go without one again!! I am slightly confused about people's comments about the water/ice dispensers in fridges. Most of the standard fridge/freezers we looked at came w/ the dispensers, I feel like saying you don't want them would limit your options and/or cause you to buy a more expensive fridge (like the counter depth ones). Assuming you are getting a new one instead of an older one on craigslist etc. We did a lot of fancy custom things in our kitchen, but since we did a lot DIY we saved a lot of money. Some of the money saving choices we made were vinyl flooring (love this for comfort anyway), partially making our own cabinets, installing everything ourselves, getting a common granite (uba tuba), tiling our backsplash ourselves, and our island pendant lights. Some of our splurges were appliances (mainly- our 48" capital range), cabinet hardware, and lots of drawers, backsplash tile (although the tile we chose was reasonable, it was still more expensive than a painted wall), and stone underneath the island seating. I love seeing the choices different people make while still meeting their budget goals! :-)

My last year trick-or-treating, my friend's and my favorite TV show was Alias Smith and Jones. Swoon. So, living in a horse-friendly community, we dressed as the guys and trick-or-treated on her horses. Fun! Except, they didnt have saddles, and I have a hard time mounting without one. And, every time we went to a door, the horses tried to walk in! So one of us had to stay in the driveway holding both horses firmly, while the other rang the doorbell. Kind of a bother, in the end lol. Then there was the car of boys who tossed a cherry bomb as they drove by, spooking the horses. That was definitely NOT fun. My son's early Halloweens were scary for him. We went to a hayride, and one of the parents on the ride wore a slasher costume, OMG it was gory. We had to get off the ride after not too long, DS was practically clawing his way inside my coat while sneaking frightened looks at the guy. And answering the door one year, the dad accompanying the child had on a "scream" mask. Scared the bejeebers out of DS. We had plenty of talks about real and not-real. So, when he was 3 and going trick-or-treating for the first time, I'd made him a scarecrow costume. He freaked out, "I don't WANT to be a scarecrow! I want to be DS!" So I dressed him in his red puddle-jumper overall and rain boots, threw on a firefighter's helmet (it was, in fact, sprinkling every now and then that day), and went out. At every house, folks would say "what have we here? Oh, a firefighter!" And DS would correct them "No, I'm only DRESSED like a firefighter." After 5 houses he said "Mommy, I have enough candy now." Funnily enough, he grew up to be an actor and portraying characters other than himself is what he does.