Up here in the mild PNW we can usually stretch the bloom period quite a bit on both ends...it's not the cold that stops it but the wet springs and late falls that tend to batter the plants into submission. That said, I usually get great results with my sedums...they are the first to re-appear in healthy clumps by the end of Jan, and I usually don't cut the seedheads until Jan when I see the new growth appearing. They look good in an architectural way all winter, and the birds love them. Another great plant for me is the cardoon...I can usually get 11 months of something out of it. The only time it's down and dormant is September, when I cut the huge flowers off and bring them inside so they don't seed all over the place. I cut the 7 foot tall plant down to the ground with a hacksaw, then by October it's sprouting new leaves and by Nov it's about a foot tall again. I've got lot's of herbs interspersed all over the place, and they do very well here, staying evergreen most of the year. Even the more tender ones will keep their leaves longer into the fall/winter as long as they don't get too wet feet. For blooms, my cape fuschias go pretty much for about 10 months of the year. My Bonica rose is the first to bloom in early March, and the last to stop in November, then it sets gorgeous bright red hips for Christmas. And it's completely no-care...I water it once or twice in the dead of summer, never prune it, never fertilize it, except for some compost, and it sits facing dead west getting blasted with full sun. This year I had purple wallflower blooming non-stop from early spring until Thanksgiving. As long as I kept trimming the spent flower shoots, it kept going. I was able to nurse a huge pineapple sage plant for 4 years...it never even showed a leaf until June, then in Oct when everything else quieted down, it took off, becoming a huge 4-5 foot tall/wide shrub. It would bloom in late Nov and all December, and the hummingbirds that stuck around loved it. It became my Christmas plant, with all the tiny red flowers. We then had a really bad wet winter last year, and that pretty much killed it off. I've also had great luck with a type of geranium...can't remember what it was, I think it's from South Africa. Produces huge 3-4 foot wide clumps, loves the hot dry sun, I water it once a month in the summer, and it's still covered with beautiful purple flowers as I write this in December. I filled in a particularly nasty dry spot between us and our neighbors, next to an evergreen hedge that sucks up every drop of water in the ground...not even weeds grow there. But those 3 geranium plants love it. I just cut it back to 6" in Feb when I do the other roses, and it takes off after the haircut. By combining plants, I'm able to have something blooming every month of the year here, even the dead of winter. In Jan, it's the osmanthum, by Feb/Mar the Korean spice dogwood kicks in, in Mar/Apr the Spring bouquet viburnum and the Bonica rose, and by April on the perennials start to bloom. We dug up the lawn, so it's all plants, and the neighbors in our fussy neighborhood love it...I'm weeding only once a week, while they're struggling with their lawns. For me, it's been learning to edit, remove plants, simplify, stick with multiple plants of the same kind rather than a patchwork of sorts. And as I get older, I can see myself replacing the perennials with more evergreen shrubs.

Annie, I actually don't have a problem with Sebastian choosing to socialize rather then eat, well not with Sebastian anyway. I feel that part of why he is going to school is for the social part. I hate the way the schools devalue eating and socialization. The other problem is the cafeteria, actually it is a cafe-gym-atorium and it is loud and awful. All the kids prefer it when they have lunch in their classroom, at least according to my informal poll. lol, I have often had much with them in the cafeteria and once in the classroom. They were much better at eating while socializing in the classroom. The problem is lunch is when the teachers get a break. I would like teachers to eat with them and have their break during recess. My felling about food is make sure to feel good about everything you serve so it does not matter what they make a meal of. I told a friend of mine when we had 1 year olds, serve them good food and don't pay attention to what is on the floor or still on the tray. So long as you served it it counts. I don't even make my kids take a bite. I tried that once and the gaging etc was not worth it. Plus he had built up that he would not like it. I have told them if it is on their plate and they don't want it, don't talk about it. If they say something is disgusting I will require a bite, ignore it and I am fine. I just hate to have my food insulted ;-) Also they will need these manners for other peoples homes. My kids can have problems in the house of some peers as they are used to a certain level of food. They will not eat frozen pizza, super market rotisserie chicken ... We have friends who eat frozen pizza, when we go over to their house for pizza we bring dough, sauce etc. -Robin

Ha. My Ex actually linked up with SM at a daycare where my children were going. He left me for her, and actually it was humorous to see her thinking she knew more about raising children than I did. He, after divorcing me, married her, and she was their stepmom. And actually I did see after I got over my anger that she was a pretty good person. Eleven years later she left my ex by moving in with and finally marrying his ex best friend. My Ex was livid, of course. Ha Ha. I could have used that to the hilt. It was sad to me to watch SM try to have a relationship with our children, and my Ex and now also her Ex also tried to stop that relationship with everything in his being. I was now the one who held all the power. I could have blown her out of the water. And you know what, many people told me here is the biatch who stole your husband pay her back. It was actually one of my daughters' friends who said to me, SM is really trying hard here, give her some slack. That statement made me think. And the friend was right. It did make sense. There was no reason why I should stand in the way of a relationship simply because my Ex moved on, or was forced to move on. I have been married to my second husband for 15 years now, a marriage that I think will go on until we die. My EX is now into his third marriage, and now what I say to my girls is this. Your dad's new wife is in fact your stepmother, but it isn't the same this time for you. They are 20 now. And yes first SM, and her mom and her dad and her sisters and all their children have special times with "my" kids, and none of them wanted to say goodbye. I say you are all more than welcome because that is what my girls want. Is it hard? You bet you it is hard. It is likely the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. But when you have kids it isn't about you anymore is it.

It is amazing to me that such a huge majority of people who has been following this case, and who saw the evidence presented, thinks Casey is guilty. And yet, out of 12 randomly chosen people, not one of them found reasonable doubt. Is it possible that juries are too 'protected' from pertinent information and thereby getting too narrow a view???? Also, about that unfortunate woman during jury selection who blurted out that she thought Casey killed "someone". That caused a potential juror on the stand to be dismissed, and the judge said that if the whole panel had been there they would have had to start all over again. Didn't the (potential) jurors already know that she was accused of killing "someone"? Of course it is totally wrong for a spectator to speak up like that,and the judge handled that firmly,as he should, but would it really taint the jury? Are their minds that fragile? Elisabeth