Fenius...Can I see a picture of your Samoen Gardenia in the picture you posted next to your cat? I mean, just teh whole plant by itself so I can get an idea of what mine should look like:-) From this angle, it's beautiful. Greengirl.Wow, what a beautiful flower. Do they really have a nice strong fragrance at night? I bought one fron Puerto Rico a few weeks ago and didn't smell a thing. I think it's because the cold got to it in the mail and cause it to die off rather quickly. I was so bummed out! What do you have yours planted in? It seems to love that mix. Robert, can I enable you to get a Cammelia? You should see mine. I will take a picture of it tomorrow. It smells like a funeral home to my Mom, but I beg to differ.lol Oh Rosey! That orchid is spectacular! I love the colors. Now, all you have to do is add another to give your orchid a partner:-) Kemistry... Thank you so much for your help. I really hope mine does well. It's in a sunny window and for 6 bucks, I have to say it's very tiny. It looks like a cutting actually in a little 4 inch pot, sheesh! Lemon eucalyptus? Here we go again. A must have, and where did you get the seeds? lol

Seeing all these freeze damage pictures sends my mind back to our Hurricane Wilma aftermath. My trees, most of which were 8-15 years old at that time......80% blown over, some uprooted entirely. I have video of my yard and I can't even bear to look at it. I had to hat rack all the canopies and pull the tree into the best up-right postions that I could with the car, propping them up with the heavy branches that we cut as braces. Worked non-stop for the better part of three weeks (while we had no power) cutting and hauling what seemed like mountians of debris and cut branches to the roadway for pickup. I shudder to think about ever having to do it again. The good thing about tropical fruit trees, however, is that they are resilient. I think I had Post Traunmatic Stress disorder after that storm 5 years ago. Anyway, the good news is no one froze to death and trees can be replaced if necessary in the worst case. But it is still very saddening.

Two days before Newtown, we had a shooter at one of our local malls. Everyone I talk to is nervous to go out to the malls right now. I work for the State, and I worry about nuts coming into our building and firing off shots. There is a young man who claims to have a CCW and he allegedly drew a bead on the mall shooter, claims to have made eye contact but he didn't shoot because there were other people near by. Then the story goes on to say that after that the shooter killed himself. I say this is 'allegedly' because law enforcement has given some conflicting reports. Regardless, if he did or didn't, the mall is posted as a Gun Free Zone...so that didn't stop a CCW carrier. I don't think these assassins chose gun free zones for that reason, they go where they KNOW they're going to be able to cause mass casualties. Another thing I try to point out is that very, very few people posess the absolute control that a tactically trained person has. All these shooters wear body armor, therefore it'd require a sniper kill shot to the head to take them out. Good luck getting some weekend paper target shooter to make a shot like that, much less someone who rarely, if ever draws a weapon. We all like to think we will be in command if an emergency crisis occurs, but it's just not in our nature! Having to kill someone is not something the majority of citizens has ever had to comprehend in real time. And to have the ability to identify a danger and act? Yeah right. My very first instinct would be to take cover and run, get to a safe place and then, and only then, take offensive measures. I think everyone who thinks they should walk around with a gun on their person try this experiment. Go into a public place with a friend, one that is well populated. Instead of your gun, have a rubber band shooter or some other non-lethal 'gun'. Have your friend shout out KITTY CAT! and turn to point to a 3rd person who is wearing a clown wig and has a similar 'gun'. That person is a shooter. Now, whip out your 'gun' and 'shoot' the shooter. Of course, it's going to be at a random point in time, you're in on this...but you don't know when or where it'll happen. Now, lets time your reaction and see if you actually hit the target and/or were YOU or someone else hit. A non-lethal exercise to gauge just what a Dirty Harry you are. I hate that people need to have a gun in the home for protection, but in some cases it is needed, if you live in a rural area where law enforcement is far away. In that case, I'd certainly hope you have a couple of big, loud dogs as an early warning system. But if you have a gun in the home, why does it have to be a weapon capable of shooting more than 6 bullets at a time? Really, if you're in a situation where an intruder has a semi-auto-chances are you're already going to kiss your hind end goodbye.

Motivation: You have to REALLY want to improve the house, not just "half-want" to improve it because you feel guilty that you "SHOULD" be living differently. Anything worth having is worth working for. How to start: Flylady says to start by shining your kitchen sink and keeping the dishes done. That's a no-brainer for me, so I'll suggest this: Flylady's "You can do anything for 15 minutes" really works. Set your timer for 15 minutes. Walk through a room with a trash bag. Pick up obvious garbage. You have Flylady's permission to throw stuff away, so forget whatever your mother told you about saving junk (you can designate separate bags for recyling and charity donations if that won't overwhelm you). Clear the walkways in every room, then the table tops and horizontal surfaces, then the closets and drawers. Do this EVERY DAY for 15 minutes until you're ready to move on. Yes, this could take a while. Be patient. Another thing Flylady says is you can't organize clutter. Not only that, I find it hard to clean around clutter. Once all the clutter is gone, you'll be able to do "real" cleaning with less effort. For example, it's hard to mop the kitchen floor if it's covered in boxes of stuff. Once the boxes (or whatever) are gone, it's a simple thing to mop the floor real quick. Your daughter is old enough to participate in the Timer Game, too. Also, to look at routines another way, you DO have routines! Your routine is to sit and watch TV and ignore the mess. You need to CHANGE your routine. Make it your NEW routine to get the dishes done and shine the sink (it's a "pride" thing, just trust us on this). Then set the timer for 15 minutes and get rid of stuff that doesn't belong, THEN watch TV. Here's a challenge: Do you remember Flylady's 5-minute Room Rescues? Set the timer for 5 minutes every day and work in the WORST room in your house. For only 5 minutes. Eventually you WILL see a difference. That's how I cleared out our basement. It would work in your bedroom, too. Getting rid of "stuff" is the more freeing than you'll ever imagine. Julie P.S. The first winter Flylady gave me "permission" not to save stuff, I was filling a 30-gallon Hefty bag PER DAY. FOR WEEKS. The Salvation Army loved me, and the trashmen probably thought we were moving. LOL