While I think that the "FAQ" as outlined by swanoir was presented tongue in cheek ('the humus'), many of the subsequent comments and/or links to threads that could/should be included in a FAQ were presented in a more serious tone. And maybe they do make sense as a foundation to a real LD forum FAQ. But I've also sensed something else in these comments that may contribute to the apparent lack of communication between new posters seeking advice and those that regularly frequent this forum and offer it. And that is that the long checklist provided by Miss R must be (or should be) answered in detail before posting. Well, of course not! But it is definitely something worth reviewing and giving some thought to. This checklist, or something very similar, is what most designers utilize when first meeting with a prospective client. It gives them a feeling for what the client wants to do with the property, how they intend to use it, what they hope to get out of it and how much effort (time/$$) are they are intending to put into it. Hopefully, reviewing an outline or checklist such as this could help to refine and focus some of those blank slate questions and even educate those new posters totally unfamiliar with the process the degree of complexity, the number of variables and exactly what is involved in the formulation of a landscape design. Even DIY landscape texts intended for the homeowner with no previous design or landscaping experience offer similar checklists to get one started thinking about the process. Obviously, this is overkill for those questions that are more issue-specific, but I think very appropriate for those that are much broader and far less focused.

Amber, we are set up with the title iv d support office to go after bm to get her to pay her support. There is no dealing with them on past due support. It's due period. They won't take it off unless it's paid. I've been dealing with them with my ds11's case for 11 years also and my dh is adopting ds11.... they have told me time and time again there is no taking back support off until it's paid in full. I don't have to be told again that that can't happen. I also would NEVER do that. Like I said, I have receipts for EVERYTHING for the past year as far as extracurricular activities and medical bills that she owes for. It's $393 total. So, if she'd like to pay her attorney to draw this up and go to court I'm all for that. I'll bring all my receipts that prove what she's supposed to pay. I've just recently won a medical bill war with ds11 bd. I had no lawyer, just receipts. I won. So, I guess we can take out everything else I said dh paid for.... we still are owed more then she is and this doesn't even include the back support. I threw all that extra in to show that she's a biotch and is totally selfish. And just so we are clear here..... whenever my dh paid for any of those things it was because she would tell him ss would just go without because she wasn't going to get it. So he would have had shoes that were too small or raggity hair, etc. We could have also taken her back to court asap back then for a lower support order because we had him more then the 10% of the time the original order was drawn up for.... we had him more then half the time. I did consult an attorney about that then. DH just decided he didn't want to fight her. Again, I'm fine if she wants to take this to court. I have my receipts that prove she owes us more then we owe her. So in the end she'll owe us and her attorney. That's totally fine with me. I'll see her there with bells on. I keep meticulous records now with her because I learned with her that she can't be trusted. I dare her. Let's go. Also, dh can't remember if he paid it or not. I didn't think he did... but since technically I won't be allowed to speak.... and he's not lying by saying he didn't know if he paid it or not we can go with that. It wasn't to be paid through the courts anyway, it was to be paid to her directly. So after 11 years I doubt she can show proof that it wasn't paid as well as we can't show proof that it was. I honestly don't believe a judge will side with her on this.... and again if he did.... she'll still owe us money in the end. Psuedo.... it's not technically on credit yet. It's not going to be reported anywhere unless we all stop paying. DS16's bd was set up with them to pay half each month. Yes, it's in our name but they will call us when they don't receive their payment. Then we call them and biotch at them. In the end I paid ds16's braces fee..... and I'll be taking that bd to court soon if he's not paying me back. I give him a break more then anyone else because he does most everything else he's supposed to do.... just not buy Christmas. UGH..... If she doesn't pay, in the end we will pay it but she'll be going to court to get that to us. And no, I'm not worried about paying an attorney, I'll go pro se. I already won this argument in November with ds11 bd. All you have to have is a receipt. I'll also get her to pay by threatening that if we go to court we will go to court to have her support raised as well. When support was established she didn't have a job.... she has a good job now she just doesn't want to part with her drug/alcohol money. I know this sounds horrible and manipulating but it works to get the bio parents to pay sometimes. She's more manipulative then anyone I know so she deserves some in return. This orthodontist will work with me because I should own at least a door to his building. Spending like $20000 and staying on top of the payments gets you some assistance if that pos doesn't help out. They won't just send us away.

Is this thread being "wrapped up"? I agree that it has been very enlightening, but I have only just finished my third CD book, "Nicholas Nickleby", and I am about one third of the way into "The Old Curiosity Shop". What started with the proposal of this thread and the subsequent discussion looks to stretch indefinitely into my reading future. I want to thank everyone for sparking my interest - and I especially what to thank whoever it was who had the idea of general, individual readings of Dickens rather than concentrating on just one Dickens book. To supplement Ackroyd's Dickens bio, I also read Tomalin's. friedag, you are right that different biographers have different perspectives. Like carolyn_ky mentioned, it is obvious that Tomalin's big interest is "the affair" between CD and Ellen Ternan and thus Tomalin's biography is about half the length of Ackroyd's. Maybe that shows some of the differences between male and female biographers, because Ackroyd recounts the affair rather perfunctorily but includes much more detail of other aspects of CD's life. It could be, too, that Tomalin is more attuned to what interests female readers of biographies: relationships, factual and rumored. friedag, Charles Palliser's "The Quincunx" is said to be a Dickens pastiche. New Zealander Lloyd Jones wrote "Mister Pip" - the setting is Papua New Guinea and could be right up your alley! I have not read either of those, but I did read Gaynor Arnold's "Girl in a Blue Dress" and Richard Flanagan's "Wanting", both of which were inspired by CD's unhappy marriage to Catherine. All I can say about them is they are intriguing takes, but I found them quite maddening (angry-making, that is, not crazy-making).

I agree with many of you who installed the free Libre Office suite. It's similar to my favorite MS Office 2003 with drop-down menus and toolbars you can customize. It will allow you to open MS documents, work on them, and save in the same format. It's also a breeze to save documents in the PDF format. There is a slight learning curve in Libre, as the names of some of the functions had to differ somewhat from Microsoft. However, what angered me most about MS is when they stopped offering support for either an operating system or office package in order to force one to purchase a new computer. For me, the ribbon menu was the last straw. In Office 2003, I knew exactly where every command was located. When they changed to the ribbon, a 15 minute job turned into hours trying to locate the command I needed. And I sorely missed the ability to create my own customized toolbars and menus. So I got a Mac, installed Libre and really love both. When Apple updates its operating system it's not a big deal. Just a simple download with no glitches and no nasty messages that support will soon end. I used to dread it whenever I had to download an update or upgrade the Microsoft system, for every time this happened the entire process was a nightmare. I'm really glad I made the move to a Mac, but it's a shame that MS shot themselves in the foot by refusing to back up their products or listen to their customers.