What lovely gifts! I know first hand about Stacy's great choices, since I've been enjoying things from her for months now. Catherine, I can just imagine how wonderful food will look in those beautiful serving pieces. I love the ginko pieces too and I'll bet there are lots of great recipes in the small plates book. Please be sure to share what you try from it. Lee

Wow...I really dropped a jaw when I read your post! I never mentioned what line of work my husband does in my note, but when I saw "EA" you really had my attention. My husband does not work for EA, however he IS in the gaming industry, and I know that recently (and maybe still) his company has been trying to strike a deal with EA to do some business. I read the links you provided and really got an education. My husband has talked of updating his resume....getting his name back out there, etc. But we have moved so many times, and are afraid that doing so would mean moving yet again to take a "better" job. My husband is sent to Canada and Europe quite often with his job, and it didn't take long to learn that the Europeans do not adopt the same corporate culture as we Americans. It's very sad that corporate America has gotten to this point and the future looks very bleak. My husband's company is even European owned--and yet for the US offices they are expected to adhere to this "American" standard of working long hours with less people to do MORE work. The employees of this same company who work in Canada/Europe do not even come close to working the same hours that the American employees do! We hear about their vacations....time off with their families..etc. And they ask my husband...Where are you going for your next holiday? (They use the term "holiday" to refer to time off, not actually a specific holiday.) His response is always "Can't take time off right now." It's very disheartening when they tell us they are REQUIRED to take at least 6 weeks each year for vacation! (Not to mention paid time off for maternity leave and other benefits.) I don't think this problem is exclusive to the gaming industry per se, but I think somehow we all got off track when we started giving employers so much power. My husband just entered his 40s and we know that everytime we land in a less than desireable job, we can't just up and leave. Sometimes I just get upset with him because I want him to stand up for himself in these situations....stop taking the crap, so to speak....but I"m sure he feels trapped to a certain extent. I hated reading about the conditions at EA....especially knowing that this is a company that my husband's company is now trying to do business with. For instance: This week the company is hosting a U.S. Client Conference...here in our home city. The employees (my husband and co-workers) are being required to stay in the same hotel downtown for 2 over nights to "entertain" the clients in attendace instead of being allowed to come home and sleep in their own beds! He might as well be on another out of town trip! Oh, and did I mention our son had surgery this week? Do you think the "company" cared?

I can really relate to your situation. I've had many jobs that I just plain hated. I've been fortunate to have a few jobs I really enjoyed, but they didn't last too long! The last years I've been working 3-4 jobs and was able to put away a reasonable nest egg and recover from a big financial problem following a business fiasco and an injury that kept me from working. Back many years though I worked as a manager in convenience stores. This was a roller coaster of a job, since there would be such highs and lows. Then the lows got worse and worse. I too dreaded going in. Stayed in bed playing snooze-alarm tag until the last minute then rushing and flying down the highway, and yes occasionally getting pulled over, which didn't help. I had 24 different supervisors in 5 years with the company and I'd just get one trained and have to break in another. A few decided they wanted me out. At first I was afraid to lose my job. Then I realized I had enough of a nest egg that I could last in case of disaster and I needed to relax a bit. My health was being adversely affected. I started to enjoy every minute I could. When a customer came in that I knew, I enjoyed the time. But eventually, I had to fire all but one employee and he couldn't work more than 4 hrs/day, 2 days a week. So guess who was salaried and had to cover the store the rest of the time? I did I think nearly a month of 100+ hrs/week and finally said enough. I should have walked out, but have high morals in that regard so I gave notice. The boss begged me to stay, and got some help into the store. He even came out and covered some shifts. But I decided that it was time. I just couldn't take it anymore, for a variety of reasons. The biggest was my sanity. I have great memories of that job, but looking back, I'm glad I left. So I don't know if this helps, but I can say, you're not alone in that situation. Hang in there as best you can, but do what's best for you. Many times a big help is to vent a little now and then and share something with friends. And this doesn't even talk about when I used to travel and was essentially living in fleabag motels while making house payments! LOL Find a hobby. The internet is my main one, I guess, along with a little tv and radio. BTW, FWIW, I put up a Christmas tree for the first time in probably 20 years. After being in retail, I got to hate the season. And I used to enjoy it so! I also have two cats now (rescues) and they're fun to have around. We're all enjoying the tree, even though it's just a 4' pre-lit artificial one and I haven't even done any decorating on it. I guess what I'm saying is that the things that have done more to keep my sanity in bad situations is to appreciate the simple things in life. It works for me. But I'm sort of a simple person! Good luck to you!

This is not as simple as just moving to where girl's father would be around more, this raging teen needs some serious help. What do her doctors say on the girl's extreme lack of impulse control and her seemingly rule by abuse tendencies? The girl was removed from her mother, maybe not because her mum wanted to kick her out but because the girl whopped the heck out of mum. Now the girl is whopping on the stepmom and likely for the very same reasons the girl whopped on her mother. I suspect even if the father worked close and was home often that this girl would next whop on the father. This is not just rebellion or 'poor behavior', this is a girl with some serious issues that need to be addressed and dad being around more isn't going to change that this girl is an abuser and needs proffessional help. Why does this girl deal with 'no' by beating the heck out of people? Can social services not help get the girl into theraphy. The girl is beyond angry she out of control violent, she's already put one woman in the hospital. I think poster needs to tell her husband that poster can not care for the girl any longer and let the father decide what he is going to do next. What care would have girl went into if poster had not agreed to take the girl on? In the meantime, yes, call the police when girl strikes at you. She is not a small helpless child , she is a violent teen all but the size of a adult. If this girl is allowed to continue to beat on people (her mum, now you) the next place of residence she finds herself just my be a youth detention center for troubled teens.