I'm thrilled if anybody offers to bring something for the feast, but I have to listen with my 'filters' on by their tone of voice. There is that "I would like to bring X and X" and then there is that puny little "do I need to bring anything?". So, I mostly just say, you can if you want to, but it's not necessary like an opened-ended question. If they don't jump on it and reply.....then I assume it's not going to happen. My kids all have demanding and weird work schedules, and I'm just overjoyed if we can find a time when we are all available. I know better than to try new dishes, unless they are in addition to the traditional ones. None of them are above whining about a flop. rofl. Both my kids (and even my g'kids) are good cooks, and I've never eaten anything their spouses cooked I didn't like, so it doesn't matter who brings what if they decide to. I'm laughing about unset jello and ham purchases half an hour before the feast. You are a smart lady. Veggie trays, deli hot rolls, bottle of wine. Cheese balls. Stuff they can pick up already prepared.

Thank you for the kind words. I know this will sound crazy but having 9 kids is such a blessing and not hard to handle at all. I think the reason this has never seemed difficult to me is because I have ran a home daycare out of my home for the last 14 years. I am actually used to taking care of 12 children all day with at least one baby in the group and more often than not two (I only take two when their ages are far enough apart to give them both enough attention) so 9 seems easy to me. God started preparing me that many years ago knowing that someday my family would suddenly grow. Our childrens ages are 17,16,15,14,12,12,12,10, and 8. We would love more than anything to get full custody of all nine. We have all 9 here at least 10 days out of the month and my bio children don't spend the night with their dad except for one of them and it is only 1 night a week. I am fortunate to get so much time. I am 34 and my husband is 36. One of my concerns of having a baby is the big age difference. However, we do have some of our children including a couple of the teenagers that ask when we will have a baby, like they expect it or something. The teens are definately harder than younger children (a warning to anyone reading this that hasn't had teens yet) but I guess parenting is always a learning experience. I had my first three at a young age (my bio are the oldest three and one of the 12 year olds) and despite my young age I have always been very devoted to my children. Being a mom has always come first and it is the most important job I will ever have. I have never regretted them. They didn't mean my life was over but it was a little more challenging. I did graduate from high school and had one year of college at a Tech. school. The only thing I regret is that the oldest three have never known their dad. We were too young and things didn't work out. I then married at 21 and had a child with him and after 6 years of marriage it ended in divorce. After getting pregnant with my fourth child my ex decided he didn't want to be very nice to my other three children and also decided that being a dad period wasn't the best thing that could happen to him. I guess what I am getting at is that now I have a man who not only loves and adores me but also all of our children. I realized what I missed before and I know that we will be together forever and there is only one thing missing from our lives that we may not experience together. We both love being parents. We just don't have any memories of bring a child into the world together. Our kids are all getting older and it won't be long before something so important to us has moved on with their own lives (which is what is supposed to happen and I knew this all along) and it seems that the time for us to raise the kids in a loving stable home was so short. We will never know what it was like to not have to share our children with somebody else or get to make all of the decisions between us about them. I want to know what his face looks like the first time he sees his baby. I will never know what it was like to have someone want the child as much as I do. These are just a few things I feel I am missing. I also know there are the down sides of having another child. It seems it should be simple but there are so many lives involved and we are blessed to have such a wonderful relationship with each other and our kids. We are blessed they all get along so well (most of the time). As for his ex having another baby. I have asked myself if it made things more difficult with my emotions but I have felt this way for the past couple of years and she isn't due for another 4 months. However, I do feel sorry for the baby. Her and her husband are not very good people and I truly am not just saying that because she is my husbands ex. I am one that tries to see the good in everyone and would love to see that in her and get along with her for my stepchildrens sake but as hard as I try she tries harder to make our lives miserable even though it affects her children. I will also feel sorry for my stepchildren because I am afraid that her and her husband are not capable of treating all of the kids equal. One of my SD's have already commented about that. My husband and I are wondering if that is when the kids will be with us more. We can only pray for that. God Bless.

You finally caught up to me, so there dokk! Didn't want to sit in the room all day and the weather is fairly nice today, supposed to be cold tomorrow so I was out walking around. Love you, worrywart. Lol, Ron - I'll hug him for you when I see him!

Kvetchlambin- thank you for your encouragement! I only have 8 Taotronics over citrus and those are about 15 inches next to and away from my T5HO flourescents- so they get some light from the T5's too The taller trees, like the Shiranui are under the T5HOs which are mounted on the ceiling. Everyone's growth is going to need to halted with pruning to about 6' as the lights are mounted at 8'. Have mostly dwarf trees, but some non. Love the Taotronics and thanks for mentioning the new gold ones :-) I'm out of real estate at the moment but if any need replacing I'll try the gold. Denise- that's terrific that you are able to make things work combining soils in same container. I've never bought anything that seems quite like 511 so I've ended up bare rooting maybe half of mine when I feel like risking it. Thanks Silica....doing that almost every time I water is probably out of this little old lady's abilities. I couldn't lift that big of a container into a larger container. I have to dump water from the tray it drains into when I water, but can't lift higher than a few inches. Still think my best option is to just bare root next time as painful as it is to the tree and me to do it. As always appreciate your help :-)