Hi. I have a Crassula falcata I purchased 3 years ago..it has been growing in a 4" terra cotta pot. It has been doing well, but the two pups I potted up last season just aren't doing well at all. Is there anything I can do to help them? Sincerely, SAM

She doesn't have to love you, but I would ABSO-FRICKING-LUTELY insist that she be civil to you. Tell him that his allowing her to do this crap is not showing you any respect ... abuse and insult by proxy. He's also not helping his daughter any by not having standards for her. He's letting her develop some self-destructive habits that will bite her in the butt in a year or two. One of my uncles married an older woman with 2 daughters. He was all of 22, and they were about 12 or 13 ... one of them sassed her mom and he corrected her. She said "you aren't our dad, you can't tell me what to do" so he picked her up, raised her to his 6'6" eye level, looked her straight in the eye and said "I am not your father, but your mother is now my WIFE, and I will not allow anyone to treat my WIFE with disrespect". Then he lowered her to the floor and walked out of the room.

As far as open houses go, everyone in a family is allowed to go. Grandparents, aunts, cousins, whatever. It's a chance for the kids to show off things that they've done at school. When my DS has open house, we roll in with a posse! There's probably 10 of us that go. Even X's GF and FDH. Isn't that why it's called OPEN house? As far as the jealousy thing, we have experienced that as well. But I would caution your husband on saying anything. These things can go to the extreme. He may want the son to give him more attention, but that could turn into alienating the SF, whom he lives with, and cause an uncomfortable situation in the home where his son is most of the time. Those feelings of jealousy will pass. I wonder if his jealousy isn't really more of an insecurity at the fact that he doesn't live with his kids anymore. I was jealous of X's GF. But what really makes me jealous is not necessarily what SHE does, but more of my own feelings of insecurity. She gets to have him for all the fun times and I have him when things have to be serious and organized. That's my own insecurity because I'd rather be spending time with him instead of the 12 hours I'm away from him at work. But I know that he's well cared for while he's there and he's happy. She's young and fun and has no kids so she plays with him as if she's his age. And I think that's very special......now lol! Not to mention, he is only 6. Still VERY young. He loves everyone that loves him. There's nothing wrong with that. And what's wrong with SF loving the children? Isn't it that the more people that love the children then better? I can't imagine that anyone would want a person living in a home with their child to not love their kid. What a miserable home that would be!

We get this question a couple times a year on average. Mulch is what you're looking for. Bermuda is the best high traffic turf, but it will not grow in the shade. St Augustine is the best for shade but it can only take light traffic. Even the mailman walking across the grass once a day will carve a path in it. The local product called shredded cedar mulch will work if you make it deep enough. Start with several inches. This is made from the "cedar" (actually an unsually prolific juniper) that grows in the Texas Hill Country. Making mulch out of it is win-win for Texas. Fortunately it makes a great mulch. Where do you live? Central Texas is not very specific and means different things to different people. Do you have shade in the area where the bermuda is not taking? What kind of bermuda do you have? Sodded or seeded? If sodded, what variety (TIF or Celebration)?