Hi Kim...Don't be all worried...This thread is not meant for that..:-) It is just to keep our friends well informed and to teach others what to look for and be aware of, and up to us to decide what to do with it.. We just deliver the news and the public choses what they want to do.. If I were you, I would be more worried of not knowing what could possibly cause harm to your plants than to find out too late, possible after throwing a plant away after it's demise the way many I know had to do in the past. Now you are armed with information that will help you stay ahead of the game in case it happens, avoid future problems, and if you should have any problems from not taking precautionary steps, how it could of started, and what to watch for when you do visit places that sell plants or when you receive them from any source.. I would just keep a close eye on them, and if you notice any strange happenings with your plants, check your cultural habits.Be informed about how to care for them as best as you can learning from these forums.. Learn as much as you can about those jades and what keeps them healthy and happy..Visit the Cactus and Succulents forum..There are jade threads galore.. I would defiantly have a magnifying glass available, and this thread at your disposal if your plants should ever encounter the problems associated with pest's spoken of here.. Josh...My sister loves the point of peat moss you brought up..She says thanks! I say thanks for your advice too.. Rhizzo..Good point..Thank you for that and your offerings!:-)))) Danny: Fantastic points and thank you for what you added to this thread..Your comments mean a lot ..Thank you much. Hi Pug....You are the best! I can only hope that many of us never have to deal with "citrus minor" and other hurtful bugs your way..Do you have enough good predators to combat these type of insects, or do you have to treat your plants? Thank you Nancy... Linda..We learn something new everyday, don't we? That is what I love about these forums and one should never be afraid to freely express what they feel and think about their plants and how they view, handle them..Better to be informed than to withhold from each other what could other wise hurt/ harm their plants..Good job, Bo: Happy growing to you too..Thank you for your input and your words..I hope your babies are doing good.. Mike:-)

dedtired, that's the "old" Annie. I used to decorate everything, indoors and out. I have Christmas mugs and Christmas platters, Christmas dishtowels and Christmas bowls. Ashley has a huge collection of snowglobes, probably 50 or 60 of them, and Amanda has nearly that many nutcrackers. Amanda doesn't even put them up at her house, LOL, they stayed packed in the basement this year. Ashley didn't get anything out either. ?Several years ago I realized that I just dreaded Christmas, I was learning to despise it with a vengeance, all the commercialism, the glitz, the hoo-rah. I spent so much time fiddling with decorations, baking cookies, mailing cards to people I haven't seen for years that I didn't have any time to enjoy any of the Christmas things I really loved. So I stopped. Now I watch the Muppet Christmas Carol and How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Charlie Brown. I bake cookies with the grandkids and I go to the Christmas Eve Candlelight Service and the family Christmas party. I even gave up the "Christmas Eve party for 40 family members where I did all the cooking". This year I blew $75 and rented the townhall and everyone brought a dish to pass. Now with Elery's family I have "Christmas stuff" to do with them too, so I need to have some time for that. So, now that I have Elery and his family to add to the celebrations and Dad's gone and the grandkids are here and Ashley's mostly gone, things are changing. What will Christmas eventually become? Darned if I know, but every year it changes just a little bit..... Annie

thank you all for your comments. You are all right of course, I haven't helped my son at all by doing everything for him and not expecting anything from him and I so want to change all that. When my b/f was living here as a lodger I was so caught up in the conflict that I couldnt see which way to turn, my son wasnt going to college or working just lazing in bed all day and my b/f works nights so would get up midday and phone me at work and complain that son had his friends in so I would phone son and tell him no friends in the house whilst you're not working as all they do is watch TV, he would react with why is b/f telling on me, it just went round and round in circles with no end in sight. I tried to talk to my b/f and ask him to try a different tactic with my son such as 'shall we paint the hallway for your mum' so when she gets home from work she has something to be pleased about? Or one of them cooking the dinner would have been nice! But no just row after row. Some days I would get my son up in the morning and some days it was easier to leave him in bed he just got himself in a whole cycle of doing nothing which is so hard to break if you dont have anything to get up for. I couldnt work out how to help him. My b/f has now moved into his own place and things are better between my son and I because I am not so on edge and there is no conflict here. My son does seem happier when b/f isnt around and thats probably because my b/f was a lodger, there was never any discussion with my son as to whether he was happy to have him living here and he must have felt like his opinion didnt matter. I do feel like I have been a rubbish mother but then again even tho my son is going thro a lazy stage he still has lots of good qualities just a shame b/f never bothers to mention them. and I have allowed my guilt over his father dying to cloud my judgement. I know now that I need to toughen up, he is now collecting unemployment and has agreed to give me money from that towards housekeeping. He is looking for a job and hopefully he will soon realise he cant live on unemployment benefit and have nice things, that will give him the motivation to take any job as at the moment he seems a but choosy about what job he takes (not that there are lots on offer!). In some strange way I feel as though its my fault and as though I havent been in control of my life and I want to ake back that control. I almost feel like my b/f was justified in his critisism of my son why I dont know, maybe at the moment Im just feeling so down and low that I thought b/f was right, he kept telling me I wasnt doing the right thing, I was being too soft, letting my son get away with everything and that he was lazy etc etc. He kept telling my son he wasnt helping me and he should be doing this should be doing that. I just got fed up with hearing it all the time even tho I knew he was right, it was like he was living in my house just telling me what I was doing wrong with no suggestion of how to right it. I do need to do a lot of soul searching. I probably need to get rid of my b/f as its draining all my energy, he knows how much it would mean to me for him to get divorced but because his wife wont sign the papers he now has to wait a few more months, but actually he could do it now, only he wont because he doesnt have the money at the moment. So I cant be that important to him. I know Im looking for advice and even so far as Im looking for someone to tell me the right thing to do, but I know in my heart I have to make that decision and I have to look into the future and its not going to be much of a future if b/f and son cant get on, and Ive probably been swayed a lot by b/f telling me he loves me so much and sending me lovely text messages to that effect, but really actions speak louder than words.

Deanna and defrost, honestly, it's crazy the roots and rocks we deal with! If I am going to plant something, no matter how small the hole I'll need, I bring out a spade, a trowel, a pickaxe, a pair of pruners and a lopper. I usually HOPE that a trowel will be enough, maybe a trowel and pruners. But even digging a small whole, I usually end up deciding a spade will be easier, because 90% of the time the first thing you hear when you put the trowel in the ground is the unmistakble sound of metal on rock, lol. So the spade comes out. Then inevitably after you cut through the finer roots you find the "mother" root lol, at least an inch in diameter. After wondering where the heck it comes from and what it belongs to, the loppers come out. Pretty soon, by the time you've removed the rock(s) and roots that were in your way you have a three foot hole to plant a plant from a three-inch pot and then have to find soil to backfill the holes left by the rocks. Okay, I'm exaggerating a bit, lol, but not by much! The funny thing is, this happens in established beds, not just virgin ground. I had a friend who once swore that the thing that grew best in her garden were rocks. She called herself a rock gardener and said no matter how many rocks she removed from her garden there were always more that "grew" and just appeared, to replace them. I now think she was right! :) Dee