Hey Ya'll, I don't think I'm going to get to come to the plant swap in the morning :( I think I must have some kind of stomach virus and don't want to share that while we share our plants! You all might not like me if you took home my bug with your flowers! I have stuff in pots that I did earlier and kept hoping that I'd feel better today to get other stuff gathered up--but I wasn't able to get out to the yard. I can let you all know if you want to get together again later. Maybe we could have a garden party at my house and I could share my goodies then. Momof2, thanks for saving peonies for me. If you would continue to hold them, I'd love to pick them up from you later. If there are flowers left to share at the swap, I'd love for you to gather a few in a box for me to pick up when I get the peonies. I was so looking forward to meeting fellow gardeners and making some new friends. Oh well, another time! Ya'll take care and I hope to meet you soon. You sound like a fun bunch. Terry

There are always going to be those more fortunate in many ways~children/grandchildren, profession, intelligence, beauty, and yes, the worst beast of all, the 'almighty dollar.' Whether it's purses, houses, vacations, decorating, clothing, shoes, or beauty treatments, and both spouses or one spouse has been blessed with being successful and comfortable in life, some of that 'success' needs to be given back. One of our forum member's(you know who you are ;) has been very fortunate to have the opportunity to visit a third world country, but in reading her posts, it wasn't as much about the trip as it was about bringing gifts for the children. It's very obvious she is giving back and sharing her blessings. 'Rules of the universe' dictate much of my life also, and it makes my heart sing when I know I can change a life, feed an animal, or possibly. *save* both, with just a small part of my blessings. What a wonderful feeling! With that said, if you aren't 'playing by the rules' you shouldn't be splurging on material possessions, especially when you are aware a contribution to ANY organization can make a difference in our world. If you think an expensive pair of shoes makes you happy, giving reallllllllly makes you happy!

Ancestry just had a special. Go ahead and join when you are up to it but cancel as soon as your 14th day rolls around. In the meantime, after you've made a free account somewhere is the option to sign up for the free newsletter and I think it's a different box to check for specials. Read everything on the subscribe page so you don't miss it. They don't send a lot of mail and the newsletter is very worthwhile. There will probably be a 6 month world special for $99. If you don't need access to anything outside of the U.S. I would just go with a discovery subscription. I caution you about the ancestors who have been traced back to 1400. You will HAVE to do your own detective work to be sure you have the right people. You always start with yourself and work backwards. Finding one family with joe as the husband and mary as the wife and they have a boy jim and a girl sally is not going to be good enough. You have no idea how many people have those names, even in the same place. And the farther back you go, the harder it is because the census didn't require the name of everyone in the household until 1850. Before that it was head of household and hash marks in age and sex columns. It's not as easy as it looks on TV. I do want you to keep your enthusiasm but I don't want you to think this will be solved in a year or two. My cousins have elected me chief researcher because I'm more careful than they are. They run things by me that they've found for me to fact check. I'm trying not to put my arm out of joint patting myself on the back but I want you to go into this knowing it's going to be a lot of fun work! Get yourself some three ring binders at the Salvation Army or Goodwill. Next time Staples has a case of paper on sale, buy it. Get some cheap ink from Amazon.com. Print everything that you think fits most of the parameters of your search. It's a lot easier to print it now than find it again later. Citations. If you haven't heard it yet, you will. I didn't do it when I started because I was "only" going to look up my grandmother on my dad's side. Well, let me give you the best piece of advice I can think of. When you save something, make sure you write on it where you found it and everything else so that if you were to look for it the next month you would be able to pull that sheet out and know exactly where you found that information. After I got serious I had to go back and do it all over again. Not fun! Second thing, and you could do this now, subscribe to some genealogy blogs. There are so many you will find a few you like. You probably won't understand what they're talking about until you do some research yourself but in a short while you will. And they know where the other resources are. Ancestry has a youtube channel full of tutorials. Go there and watch a few. Have your eyes glazed over? It happens to everyone I talk to!!

I knew you'd find something! I'm going to order 4 of those Tommy Bahama chairs right not - NOT! Problem is, I don't think we can/should use natural materials on this porch. We had sea grass chairs at our old house, sold them before we moved and I know that's not a good material here. This is a big covered porch but we get wind driven rain here frequently. I had wood chairs out there for a short time and could see they would never last. That's why the Ballard chairs seem so perfect - man made resin wicker and powder coated metal, not just painted. I'm not even sure natural rattan would last but I've never owned any. May just have to take the table legs down 1 or 2" and open up my options. Or bite the bullet, pay full retail (shudder) and wait for the Ballard back order which means a summer without chairs. Thanks so much for sleuthing on my behalf. Lars, aputernut and oly - wish I could have you over for a beverage on the porch but you'd have to stand ;-)