Thanks for all your kind words. It was fun to share my wonderful surprise with you. Typical of young men, my son failed to let me know that, while his plane was leaving early Monday morning, his girlfriend's flight home was not until 5:00 that evening! So, I had to make runs down to the airport in Albuquerque twice in one day . . . and entertain the girlfriend until she left. Yes, he'd invited his new gf to come stay as well. She was very nice, thankfully; an archaeologist that he'd met while still in grad school. Sooooo, I took her out to lunch and then to the beautiful Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, a museum in Albuquerque showcasing the art, artifacts, etc. from all the many pueblos in New Mexico. She loved it. But, I've been catching up on work around here ever since! As for cookbook computer programs, thanks for your thoughts and ideas on that, too. Yes, on one hand, I do think that I could make up a very basic one myself but, as OA mentioned, a search engine to find specific recipes based on ingredients at hand, sounds so practical. Like you, OA, I'm really not that interested in a lot of new recipes; I have probably over a thousand of my own favs that I'd like to put in and then access. Good point about the ability to add pics, too! My last cookbook program was MasterCook, which was great until it developed it's problems and caused so many computer problems. It had a feature to not only search but, as you start to add an ingredient or cooking term, a short selection pops up to choose from. I quickly got used to this feature and it made adding my recipes so much easier. It also had a spell check with all the gazillion cooking terms and ingredients in it. That was very handy, as well. I think I'm going to read more on the Living Cookbook program and make a decision today. Gotta run and take out the trash and the dogs now, though. Lynn

What a wonderful and thoughtful thing you are doing. I love the decorated photo mats. (Wish my nieces and nephews would think of something similar...for me!)

SheilaJoyce - we share the same special present. My son was born on Tuesday, May 13, 1980. He is my miracle baby as my DH and I had infertility problems and he was conceived one month after I had major surgery so that I could conceive. Never got pregnant again after that! Told him today that his birthday trumps Mother's Day cause I wouldn't be a mom without him!

rjr220--I was just going to start a Happy Mothers Day thread. I also was going to mention that only the TKO Mothers out there probably appreciate if we are given an appliance to mark this day! And what mother is excited to be loading the dishwasher on Mothers Day? ME!! Every load in the new drawers is an experiment and a joyful experience! My dh gave me a gift card to Overstock! I'm getting an ottoman to go with the new couch that is going to totally complete this renovation! Happy Mothers Day to all!