wow!! Laura...Lucky you!! living in TX snow is a miracle in itself... but this year was our winter for sure!! i had my first ever white x-mas this season a whole 3"... then when got another miracle....12.7" inches at our house!! all time record for our area....2/11/2010 Dogs/Cats and even the neighborhood kids were not sure what to do with snow LOL.... these are just a few pics i took... Needless to say i walked around for 6 hours that day with my camera hehehe 4000+ Pictures... Amy

New reports the week of 6/22-29: Reported on 6/24: Late blight has been confirmed in tomatoes on an organic farm in Harrison County, OH. Harrison County is in east/central Ohio, one county west of the Pennsylvania border. Previous reports (most recent first): On 6/19 late blight was reported on tomato in a community garden in north central Suffolk county, NY. The gardeners were taking out all their tomato and potato plants. On 6/17 late blight was confirmed on tomato from a home garden in New Haven county, CT. The plants had been grown from seed by the gardener. Outside our reporting area, a 6/21 find on potato in Michigan. The week of 6/8-15 there were two additional late blight reports in Pennsylvania. Both were on tomato transplants in home gardens. One find was in Somerset Co. (south central PA), on a plant purchased at a local greenhouse. The other was from Beaver Co. (near the Ohio border), unknown source. Late blight was found in a greenhouse in northwestern Pennsylvania in mid-May. It was being monitored and treated to prevent spread.

At least you have snow! The little we had, was melted the moment it hit the ground. LOL I'm not even concerned about landscaping. If I can just get the cement poured and the brick steps and front complete, that will add so much to the house. Heck, I'm not above putting in some fakes temporarily. LOL

Gina - I'm sorry about the loss of your son. That must have been really tough. My dh and I are in somewhat of the same predicament in that we don't have anyone to leave our small, but growing estate. We are in our late thirties/early 40's, no kids. Would love to have them, but have been unable. we are doing fine financially, for people our age. We have a small mortgage, no debt and some retirement savings. I just started working recently due to immigration process. Because of lack of experience in the US, I can only get temp jobs at a lower rate of pay, even though I have significant IT, HR and Finance experience from Canada. The similarity is we will eventually have a nice nest egg, but we have no one to leave it to. I have an older sister and a niece, but my sister is very well off and niece is spoiled. She may grow out of her spoiled phase, I dunno. That said, I have always wanted to donate to charities that help underprivileged animals. Our dogs are our kids and we adopted an unwanted 14 YO blind shitzu nearly two years ago when his family left the gate open and let him wander across a hiway. Did I mention the dog is BLIND? They didn't want him anymore. A wonderful woman found him and took him in, but she died a short time later. I found him posted on Freecycle and we took him in. He has been a wonderful part of our family for nearly two years and even though he's blind and deaf, he gets around just fine. Unfortunately, it's getting to the point we may have to put him down because he is arthritic and can't walk like he used to. We will do it with a heavy heart, but also knowing we gave him two additional years he wouldn't have had and that he had alot of love from us. When Katrina hit, I wanted to adopt every single homeless animal, but of course I couldn't. We also couldn't donate to every organization, but there are many shelters right now that still have homeless animals left over from Katrina. They need lots of funds and donations to keep them afloat so these displaced animals aren't put down. Perhaps that is the type of charity you're looking for? Even if it's not Katrina shelters, there are countless shelters that need funds to feed animals and give them medical attention, especially no kill shelters. We are doing our wills right now and in the event both of us go, a large sum of our estate will go to a reputable organization that saves animals, mostly dogs, from euthanasia - specifically no kill shelters. There are even places that house dogs for life, much like a retirement homes for dogs, where they live in the country and have dedicated personnel to keep them happy in their old age. If one of us goes, the other will survive on the life insurance and rest of the estate. Once the survivor goes, then a significant donation will be cited for an animal rescue charity since we have no one else really to leave our funds. They are small now, but in the future after dh retires and with family inheritences, we should have a sizable estate. I'm also one of those frugal ones. My friends call me the Bargain shopping Queen (BSQ for short). I may not be as frugal as you, but I don't pay full price for mostly everything. If I find a good deal, I will buy it. I did alot of couponing and it's AMAZING how much money you save, especially combining buy 1 get 1 frees. I did a huge grocery shop one day and the bill came to over $300 and with coupons it was less than $20. I was proud of myself for that one! lol