*scarcastically* What my SO's DD used to do is highly effective. Here are the instructions to any child who doesn't want to go with their other parent: Step 1: Be anywhere in the world but where you are supposed to be at the designated pickup time. That way the parent picking you up has to drive to the pre-designated place. Step 2: When parent calls your cell phone, don't answer. This way you have plausible deniability. Step 3: When parent calls the parent you are with, have that parent not answer their phone. This will cause the picking up parent to have to wait. Step 4: Have the parent you are with call the picking up parent way later (and after you've done whatever it is you would've rather done than see the picking up parent) and say that you are all on your way home. Have the parent you are with say they are sorry they weren't there at the designated time and place but that the picking up parent can go over right now and pick you up. Step 5: HURRY inside the house really, really fast! Take off the cool clothes you wore to wherever you were and throw on the oldest pair of PJs you can find. Mess up your hair! Lay down on the couch and pretend to be asleep. Step 6: When picking up parent gets there, have parent you are with answer the door and say "shhhhhh.....she was asleep in the car so we brought her in and had her change clothes; you can take her in those PJs" And the result of all of this hard work is......you don't have to go with the other parent because they feel bad waking you up and say they can just come in the morning. They ask for you to call them when you wake up. Here's the important part: DON'T CALL! If you call, you'll end up going so make sure you don't call! Actually.....in all seriousness....maybe your DH should just tell BM he would like to modify visitation since SD's schedule is getting busier. Have a plan already made up to present to her.

Yes, the mom has paid support, not on time or in full most times but after they attached last years income tax, we are now up to date. It is a small amount, we pay for health insurance. She is responsible for very little. We had custody of the 3 children, 1 is moved out on her own, she is in her 20's, the other is going to college here but will transfer to the new state. So, the last one is the youngest minor. SD has not said alot about the move, it has been a well kept secret. She did say that she wants to experience life and see different places. SD is very well adjusted, well liked at school and a top honor student. But she is close to her mom and I would imagine that she feels very very torn about this. I would like DH to talk to her when it actually becomes a reality and tell her that 2 years will fly by and she can apply to colleges there. this may sound petty, but I hope their house doesn't sell before the fall so SD will not have to make a decision. She has made it very clear to us that if this does not happen in the next 5 months and the move happens during the summer, she will not move if she starts her junior year, she will finish her jr and sr year here. That would pretty much solve this whole mess. Bio's DH will not make more money, he will be closing the doors to his business and I guess find a job/business to go to. Bio mom will work 20 hrs a week I assume and attend this program. She has attended 3 schools in 5 years and has not gotten very far, she flunks many of her classes so I have no hopes that she will actually complete this process. I don't know, I am a rambling kind of mood today. I think this is a selfish decision to make at this point. This education could be attained here and she could wait until her youngest is 18 and go where ever she pleases, she is causing a tremendous amount of unhevel and there is no home, job, family she is going to... just the acceptance into a community college? Who does that? And don't drag your kids along, wait until you are settled yourself. Who is going to support them and my SD? Our child support? Beginning to look that way. We will subpeona her payroll records if this actually happens and our arguement will be that she is leaving a good paying job, so we should not have to pay more because of that.

Sorry all - it's been a crazy week with little time for me! Thank you all for your responses; I think you all hit the nail on the head with regard to the manipulation, and SD saw that. She was not impressed. I think part of her wanted to spend the day with "the person who is more her mom than her mom will ever be" (her words) but even more I really think she wanted to send a message that BM doesn't get to be busy or have other plans that don't include SD every weekend, but then expect SD to come running on Mother's Day. So, when Sunday rolled around she texted her mom to say Happy Mother's Day and ask why BM wasn't going to see HER mom. BM replied with "why aren't you coming to see yours?" and thus the war began. She and SD went back and forth with SD telling her she was hurt that she was not asked to be a part of the 4 day long birthday celebration BM had (little sis was) BM responded that SD makes her feel bad so she didn't want her around to ruin her special time. That set SD off, and she said "Yep - because I'm the only one who calls you out on your selfish behavior, all your friends just accept it." This resulted in a bunch of "you're selfish, no YOU'RE selfish" comments that were really quite funny. BM just can't see her own irony in saying "You make feel feel bad and you give me a hard time and you make me questions myself - YOU are so selfish, SD" is BM being selfish herself. . . because it's all about HER!! Every statement is about how SHE feels! They ended the conversation with SD saying she would likely be busy all day and hanging up. BM texted later to say she could come get SD, but she declined. I feel badly for BM in my heart of hearts, but pretty much I am proud of SD. I know a point was not made and BM only sees that we "raised a horribly selfish, spoiled child" not the true reasons why she didn't see her daughter, but it was a big step for SD. I'm just afraid of the fall out. . . .

Here you can find a review of this camera. http://www.steves-digicams.com/2003_reviews/hp735.htm I find a digital slr, like my Pentax ist*D better for pictures of my garden, but the HP sounds like a good camera to start with and learn about taking pictures of your garden. You can decide after using it for awhile if the HP is all you need or want to move up to a better camera. I hope you enjoy taking pictures of your garden as much as I do, taking pictures of the flowers and wildlife in mine.