A little late to the party here but clicking you all nonetheless. David - good luck with your yard work. We had a lot of winter damage too. Annie - pat those babies! I was up at the local raw milk farm and they have their 3 new babies in a pasture next top the store so everyone can visit them. They are adorable! Hope the "family thing" goes well. Katie - shoveling? Yikes! LOL! I love snow and I think I would even be unhappy to see it right now. Sharon - I watched most of it too - I loved the dress!!!! So elegant. Good luck moving Meridith, I wish her all the best Trixie - good luck!!!!! Lyra - what a great gift idea! I am going to the tomato farm after next weekend, I think I will pick up a few extras to make planters for a few non-gardening friends. Good luck with fixing the truck and try to find time for a little fun too. Yesterday was crazy busy with kid activities. Field trip to the District Art Show with one sons class, then swim practice for one, then pick him up and take him to LAX practice then back to the pool with the older one for practice. This morning was a yard sale at a friends house, sold a bunch of stuff and only came home with a few things, one of which is a brand new 20" flat screen for the kitchen that someone won in a raffle, set it up and decided they wanted a bigger one so it is only a week old. Yard work this afternoon (yes, I am taking a break right this moment) and lots more yard work tomorrow. It is going to rain all next week here so I need to make haste while the sun shines LOL! Have a safe and happy weekend everyone! Clink! Alexa

I have been to: Raymour and flannigan- Decent stuff--mid priced. bought the kids furniture and some of the office furniture there. Happy with the quality and the service. Sales people attack you at the door- but still worth checking out. Raymour and flannigan clearance- I went twice did not see anything i was looking for - but if you are looking to be thrifty check it out Ethan Allan- love their things but the style is not really what i'm looking for at this time. High End. Ashley- too low end for my taste Rider Furniture- Great things but a smaller store- if you know what you are looking for the will usually beat the price. Traditional style items. Flemington Department Store- Be aware- you will think you walked into some hokey gross thrift shop--- but keep going in-- Great selection of name brand furniture- huge store... good prices- worth the drive.. Also they sell things like great cleaning products for stainless steel and wood floors. Gasior's on Route 206 in Belle Mead- High End- very pricey and very stuffy. Too fancy for my lifestyle and kids... Thomasville- Very nice furniture- mid/high end. Bought a tv console and end tables. Sales men a little pushy but liked the quality. Nice store. Lauter's Furniture- Far drive for me... but a great store- I didn't find what i was looking for, but reasonable prices and HUGE store. Macys Furniture- too low end for me Decorators Consignment- Hopewell NJ- Great consignment store- I have not found anything yet, more of a hit or miss, but worth checking out. You might have to go a few times to find what you are looking for. Greenbaum's in Paterson - Too high end for me

Sorry ashley missed your post.... Mom called DSS back in July when I refused to let SD talk to her mom after she had already been on the phone with her for 4 hours. When DSS came to our home they didn't find anything to really charge any of us with .... but they felt SD actions required some immediate intervention... so they came once in july once in aug and once in sept. to our home but they go weekly to mom's on either a wed or fri... to "meet with the children" because every monday and thurs mom would call and report us to DSS for something else .... she even took SD9 and SS10 to the police station to file a report against hubby because he let them go to their mothers instead of arguing with them ... she said he was just looking to get rid of them ... then she had them speak to the judge how "they were afraid to come home" So DSS thinks SD is in danger. The boys are in counseling mom met with their counselors last week ... I spoke with the counselor on tues (14th) and said ... well DSS had til friday (10th) to have services in place so I am guessing they are closing the case ... DSS called me an hour later to tell me they are keeping the case open and that the counselors filed against mom for emotional abuse of my SC. DSS told us in Sept they had big plans ... for us ... including family therapy, daily visits from a parenting aide, a whole list of "things" and none of it had been put in place by the 10th that was the end date of the 45 day assessment. Mom calls DSS one month before they have to go back to court this is the third time she has called but its the first time anything came of it .... When I spoke with DSS they said the parenting aide wasn't going to work because that was only an 8-week assessment and our case is going to take longer than 8 weeks .... If I hear one more person say for the sake of the children I am just going to explode!!!

I might have a obsession with organizing my spices... I hated where I stored my pans before. They were always a mess and unorganized... I have 2 drawers like this. YEA!!! Mucho better! Drinkie-poo? This was the one thing hubby and I disagreed on. He didn't think we needed the wine frig. I went with the beverage center instead to get him more on my side. Then purchased before he could say no.. LOL He just said last night that he liked it. SCORE one for momma! Also was excited to have a dish drawer! No need for the pegs. island plugs