I also love bald men. My DH has a head full of naturally brown hair (at 65) but my side of the family produces bald men. I was raised by men who went bald early and I'm grateful for their presence in my life. Such great news. I am so happy for you. I wish you happiness.

Glad you asked Annie! Antipasto - calimari; arancini, tomato, red onion and basil crostini; roasted garlic and shaved piave crostini. Insalata della casa Secondi - ravioli ai quattro formaggi; margherita pizza; chicken piccata Dessert - vesuvio chocolate cake; Italian cheesecake Don't know about the cheeses at the "afterparty". Two were soft - one a very creamy brie and one more of a goat cheese with a vein of blue cheese. One of the hard cheeses tasted like a mild swiss with a nutty kind of thing going on, and the other I completely can't remember. I think the birthday boy was pleased. He was very complimentary after everyone left. While he claims he's not one to savor the spotlight, I think he secretly enjoys it very much. And he did send out an email thanking everyone for celebrating with us with lots of kind words for me. Always nice to be appreciated. AM

First of all, I agree that what I did over facebook wasn't the best of ideas and could have been done a lot better, but one cannot always make the best of decisions when stressed. I did what I did and it can't be changed. However, the issue of His daughter dating the older man, One she was underage, two she was living with us at the time and it wasn't acceptable or appropriate for her to be with a 37 year old when she was 16, three, her father had the right to know what she was doing and it was my responsibility to tell him. I ask you this question, how would my relationship with my husband been hurt if he found out later that I knew and didn't tell him? Also who would have been held responsible if it actually came to attention to the authorities? The man? Well yes, but also the party who is in the role of guardian (me) who had the responsibility to let her father know what was going on under his nose. If I had never found out and she had managed not to get caught in the act by me, I never would have felt the responsibility to let her father know. It isn't as simple as "Tattling" when she is breaking the rules of the household and breaking the law, and I do understand why she reacted the way she did. I however don't have to like it or take it... I really don't care what she does with her life. Now that she is not underage and not living in the house, it doesn't matter. As for my mother, I am not excusing or condoning her behavior, she can be pretty mean, I will not defend her actions, I was just stating what happened. Why I sent the email, I felt obligated to try to resolve it personally before anything else. I guess I can't easily let go of an insult. It's a failing of mine. Why I finally blew it up on Facebook was a combination of resentment and frustration for how they were acting and my husband's lack of ability to stand up to them. It seemed at the time the only way to resolve it and it obviously didn't work. Believe me, I will not be contacting any of them, I never wanted to even before the Facebook drama started but I felt that trying to ignore the insults and stealing wasn't doing a thing to help or hinder it and to change it in any way I had to act. I am really not that good at confrontations so I messed that up pretty badly. My husband is actually doing a LOT better on the spineless wonder front, He told me that he was blinded by guilt about not being around much when they were growing up because he was in the Navy. He said that's why he let them get their way in a lot of ways when he was there and why they are used to him being the doormat. It's a shock to them that he is actually standing up for himself and I and they don't like it. He said that he still loves his girls but he will not tolerate the lies anymore. The next time they establish contact, maybe then we can work things out like adults. However they will be treated like adults in all aspects and they may not like that.

Terriks, I'm also hosting book club next week, also 9 ladies and me. Book club is fun but I do relate to not having a lot of space inside! I used to be self conscious because the other members all have houses that can handle bigger crowds but as I've gotten older I don't worry so much. I try to keep in mind that for a dinner party, as long as there is good food, good wine and good conversation everyone's happy right?! My dining room table will seat 10 with the leaf although that then takes up my entire dining nook ;), but I don't have 10 DR chairs, so I'm using my folding IKEA chairs 4 to a side with 'real' DR chairs at each end. Book club informal rule is that the hostess prepares the main dish and the members bring the rest: wine, salad, appetizers, dessert, vegetable sides etc. I'm probably going to serve chicken marsala and the Pioneer Woman make ahead mashed potatoes since I can do both in advance. I don't like fussing around in the kitchen, it's lots more fun to be able to sit down, have some wine and talk about the book. For the December meeting we also do a gift exchange. I'm doing a combination gift of the tea package suggested in another thread along with this mug. Seems to be a fitting theme for book club, at least I hope it is. I also bought a package of bookmarks so I'm giving each of the members a few of those tied with a pretty ribbon as a little holiday extra. (Those might make good stocking stuffers too for some of the readers in my family).