DD's surgery went as well as could be expected yesterday morning, she got to come home last night. Other than getting over the surgery, she feels better already! She is able to eat without vomitting now! Thanks to you all for keeping us in your prayers. JT is going to be shown around town any day now. She's gonna love it here! Pics of that coming within a couple of days. She'll be leaving here within a week, I don't want to hold up the train. It's going to someone *very special* next! (which could be ANY one of you!) Susiesunshine ~ thanks so much for your sweet and wise words! We were lucky to have a very experienced surgeon around 60 years old. He and the hospital took such good care of her! And yes, those disposable diapers are handy, I used the cloth kind 90% of the time back in the 70's with my kids. Smickers ~ thanks for those prayers! I think she already feels better with that diseased gall bladder gone! Luna ~ LOL at wanting to be like Susiesunshine when you grow up ... don't we all?!? The grandsons have been as good as it gets with their age group thankfully! Oh to be young again and have all that energy! Jan ~ We thought the vomitting and nausea was caused from the two pregnancies back to back (13 months apart). Now that the little one is 5 months old, and daughter kept being sicker, they finally ran more tests last week, and finally got it diagnosed. They put her surgery ahead of others for Mon morning because it was so bad when they finally figured it out. The gallbladder can be hard to diagnose. Her pancreas was inflammed too, and should improve now. SusieRose & Hubs ~ That touched my heart about the best child care being myself. As ya'll know, the safest world available to our grandchildren is their grandparents. We're so protective of them. Their needs come at the top of the list. I am thankful that I'm not working now and that I can be a totally devoted and focused grandmother. I continue to pray for your Dad and family too! Kirk and Carol ~ Your kids are small enough for those sleep deprivation memories to be fresh! I had forgotten until last year when these grandkids arrived! Get some rest?! Don't I wish?! haha. I will in a couple of weeks when daughter is back up to snuff. The kids would love to get ahold of JT and slobber all over her, but that ain't gonna happen. They will be allowed to hold her for a short photo session only, because they want to eat everything in sight LOL. I have JT loaded up with lots of bling! I didn't know she came with her own little jewelry box! She's wearing a lot now! haha Jeanne ~ Gosh, I sure do hope your daughter comes through her surgery well!!! You will have a similar burden on you with your little one is only 20 mo. Grandma will help them make it more seamlessly! Your daughter will be so grateful for your help! You're right about the GKs being worth the wear and tear! Yes, hubby and son in law both are great with the kids, but SIL works 5 or 6 days a week (sometimes I think he has it the easiest lol) but there seems to be no replacement for the woman's touch when it comes to small kids. Not to take away from a father's importance now ... :-) Please let us know how your DD does with her surgery! Cindee ~ thanks so much, I know you don't have much time! Good to see ya :-) Karen ~ What a beautiful graphic! I feel the good wishes going out via her! Did she fly out of your garden?! Kudz ~ Thanks so much! How are you doing these days yourself? Been wonderin' about ya! Joan ~ You're right about keeping the kids busy, and you should know, with those beautiful grandkids you have! Bright ~ I'm hanging in there, but need some Geritol LOL. Thanks for your prayers! Marlene ~ We're hoping this surgery is the last too! Thanks for the prayers! Sandy ~ Thanks for your prayers and good wishes! Vickie ~ The GKs are so refreshing, yep, we have a good time all day long ... well at least they do LOL. Honestly it looks like a day care center around here! Thanks for the prayers! OK, time for the 5 month old to wake up. Hubby has the 18 month old at the moment. I'm upstairs, he's downstairs :-) Hugs to you all, it means a lot to know you're there. This seems to be my therapy group as well as junkin' your notes touch my heart. ~tenderlee

Your seedlings are fantastic!! Beautiful color combos. A word of advice on your pictures... I noticed that your farther away leaves are in focus instead of your flowers... if you are using a point and shoot type camera, there is a setting called "macro" and is usually represented by a flower symbol. This will allow you to get closer to your flowers and get them in focus.

Well, I'm presently working on the stump of a diseased austrian pine we had to take down last year. We hoped it would rot on its own but it didn't happen. I realize I could smother it in rock salt, but I figure there's enough problems with our soil - a large lot with pines and maples - needles everywhere. So I don't want to add to the problems. Someone from America suggested setting it on fire but you know how Toronto is - there are bylaws against so much as blowing your nose. I'm just cutting and cutting at it. Yesterday (in that marvelous 11 celsius weather) I worked on it for about 3 hours - praise be for Ben Gay and Tylenol for Arthritis. This is the toughest job on the lot right now, so I'd like to have it out of the way before my gardening season starts. Once it's out, completely clean of its extraneous roots, I want to put in mulched leaves, level it out, add some organic soil and plant some juniper clippings I've been raising all winter. I put the clippings into small containers outside the window around the middle of October. They have remained green all winter so I figure they've taken - yahoooooo! I'm really looking forward to seeing them in that spot where the stump is. ................ I am going to work with some vegetables this year - Barbara Kingsolver's book 'Small Wonder' has an essay of hers about growing your own vegetables and buying local. She has convinced me that each of us should try to grow at least one thing to eat - even if you have only a balcony. I usually do some herbs like oregano, basil, etc., but I'm making an effort with parsnips, broccoli, peas, green pepper, etc., this year. I think I'll just use containers outside the window. I put my seeds into pots about 4 days ago - the broccoli has already sprouted! They're in the windowsill of course - this mild weather every few days doesn't fool me into putting them into the ground. I'll leave that for the southerners. ........... I have lots of coleus - it's holding up well indoors this year. I'm not going to just hog it on my table garden (which I usually do). I'm going to spread it around the lot. My husband superintends an apartment building and we have a lot of grounds here - if you'd like to see some of it, go to the gardening section on my writing forums . . . http://wildcity.proboards14.com/index.cgi?board=gardening Feel free to participate there, if you like. It's only me and another girl, but others are certainly welcome.

Hi TN! I just did a Google search and an Ebay offering for a catalog showing MB (among others) just popped up. In addition to hopefully showing what you are looking for it might make a good coffee table book! And as a "Buy it Now" at $9.99 USD it is cheap! I hope this helps! Regards, Baer Here is a link that might be useful: MB