Luckily I've never found a human bone. But a friend of Curts did, he didn't know it and had it on his mantle, another friend pointed out it was a human leg bone & they called the police. Turns out it belonged to YET ANOTHER friend that had been missing and was murdered!! What are the odds? He was so freaked out he didn't go beachcombing for about a year after that and says he still won't look at driftwood piles, that's where he found the bone. I hang all the shoes I find on the "wall of lost soles", the wooden fence at our house. The wall even made it on TV! I found a message in a bottle, for those of you concerned with OCEAN CURRENTS you can look up the article at the Galveston County Daily news and see exactly WHICH currents it drifted in on, the path it took and the length of time, and a great picture of ME! I made the front page. It was shocking to pull up to the papermachine and see myself staring back out. It was dropped off a teaching ship by a guy who has been dropping messages in a bottle off boats & ships since he was a kid. The garden lost about 80% of it's plants in Ike. Things I took down to save from blowing away drowned. We had waist deep water for 2 days, we think, there was no water in the house but roof damage from the wind. Of course, the roofers did much worse damage when they set the house on fire. The neighbors house is 11" shorter than ours & she had 10" of water. She might actually get to move home in 2 weeks. My brother had his house elevated, the wiring and plumbing, siding, floors have been done, they are working on the inside and front steps now, hopefully they will be home just after the new year. I know they, like a lot of others, are tired of living in a travel trailer. We sent mom to my sisters while her house was being done. She had to have her staples removed from surgery while we were evacuated and then we couldn't find her doctor. My bro-in-law is an MD & my sister doesn't work outside the home so it worked out well. She had 2-4' of water in her house. My Aunt is moving home next week, she had water to the roofline. My cousin has her downstairs gutted but still waiting to start work. A lot of our neighbors moved, my cousin is the only one for 2 blocks in her neighborhood and only about 1/4 of my brother neighbors are back. There are houses for sale everywhere. We thought the Pride of Barbados to be dead, it sort of came back last year but didn't look good through winter, I was really surprised when it started to bloom a few weeks ago. It's only a few feet high, it was over 12' before the storm. The city ripped the yellow one out of the ground while we were all exiled. They grow really easy from seeds if you find someone with seeds. Tally HO!

Honestly, I don't mean to offend anyone. I am not proud of anything. Old Navy just did something quite similar to Kim Kardashian and no one boycotted Old Navy. We're all probably still buying BP gas. Samsung violated Apple's patent and is operating sweatshops in China and no one is boycotting Samsung. Comparing evils doesn't diminish the rottenness of what BSH has done, but I think to be morally consistent, one would have to be doing a whole lot more boycotting than just BSH. And LLBean doesn't sell dishwashers. Gary - My cabs are already installed, panel just sitting there waiting for a DW. DW sitting in appliance store waiting to be installed. So too late to do any recessing or deepening of cabinets. And I have managed to melt several things on my heated dry in my current DW - mostly small little plastic containers that I use for my DS's lunches or chopsticks that fall through the racks with the spray and end up on the coil. I'm glad it doesn't happen to you - it's annoying when it does happen.

I;m so glad I found this forum today. I lost my beautiful son Brian just over 3 months ago. he died Nov. 22nd 08 it was just after midnight and he was driving his date home when he was hit head on by @#$% showing of his car. Brian was only 18 years old and I am so devastated!!! he had just graduated high school only 5 months earlier. He had everything in the world going for him. His date lindsey is recorvering well, I would say thank god but i no longer believe. my son died saving her life.the police said Brian did everything he could to get off the road without crashing into this huge wooden planter. he could have gone off the road and he might have lived but she surly would have died. the @#$%ing monster still hasn't been arrested and i am so full of rage and sadness. I am married to my high school sweet heart Ricky we have 4 surviving kids Jenny age 26 Rick age 23 Rose age 17 Was 16 when it happened John age 15 was14 when it happened rose and John just had birthdays and all I could think was that one day they will be older than Brian. My husband and I were so heartbroken we couldn't even help plan his funeral. My daughter did everything. and I know she did the best she could but I feel more should have been done. over 600 people came to his wake.It was like a horrible blurry dream. I really can't remember much. It was so over whelming. all these people, alot I didn;t even know all wanted to hug me and express ther condolenses even his kindergarden teacher was there. and I promised Brian I would not embarress him so kept my "game face" on but the whole time I just wanted to scream my head off. Brian was the kind of person who made friends everywhere he went. I'm glad with all my heart he was so loved but I'm still freaked out It was so over whelming. I still can't leave my house. I feel like everyone is staring at me. I know they're not. I never went back to work. It's only been a few months but I feel so bad. I hate laughing i feel so guilty that every time I have a "good day" i just punish myself for the next few days. We buried Brian the day befor thanks giving. His birthday was the day before xmas eve. I wanted him cremated because I can not bear to think of his beautiful face rotting in that box. his father brothers and sisters refused. I have not visited his grave since valentines day and i told my husband i'm never going there again. his grave is covered with dead frozen flowers stuffed animals letters pictures and un opened xmas and birthday presents it looks like a garbage dump. people say the stupidest things like what a nice gadrden he'll have. I can't dig in the soil knowing my little boy is in there. I no longer believe in god My son was such a great kid. he was all boy. If there is a god why my son?!!! why not the @#$% that did this to him. and why isn't he aressted? He had 3 other kids in his car( the @#$%) all including him were in the hospital for weeks one boy(not sure if this is a roumer) is in a wheelchair for life. and all the roumers are so @#$% crazy. I'm sorry this is so long. I have no one to talk to .my so called friends don;t understand. I still can;t talk on the phone. I spend my days all alone crying. I know Brian would not want me to be this way but i just can;t stop. Thanks for listening to a mothers broken heart. Laura i'm sorry if i sound crazy but i am so lost.

I re-read your letter. I applaud you for not abandoning your children, and leaving them to fend for themselves if you left. That is a real father. A father who will make sacrifices for the children. It sounds as if your wife was in the wrong type of counceling. It sounds as though what she really needs are classes in anger management for the well being of your children. Perhaps that is one of the things you will require of her that you will not waiver on. After re-reading your first two posts, I believe that what I suggested in the above two posts sounds like a long shot. And I can imagine how difficult it would be to pull off with a person who is angry and bitter. Especially given how you feel about her. Does she have ANY good points? If so, what are they? I think it would be so depressing to live with someone who has been depressed for 20 years, and is so angry and bitter. If it were me, (OK, I am climbing up on that soapbox for a speech) I think I would tell them that I am sick of them using depression as an excuse for rotten behavior. I would tell her that if it is real depression...meaning chemical imbalance of some sort, then to get herself to a doctor and get her medications right. And if it is depression caused by her own disappointments in life, then suck it up and put a smile on your face and start doing some of the things you need to do. Because the kids and I hate living like this, and your anger and bitterness is destroying our family and the childhood of these children. They do not get a second chance at childhood...this is it, and it is going to be happy from tomorrow on. And if you cannot be a part of making this family a happy and good place to be, then I (meaning you Dave) will step up to the plate and raise these kids and give them that happy, safe childhood. Your 14 year old has so little childhood left, and I (meaning you Dave) am going to make sure it is great! Are you on board, or are you going to continue to hide behind your depression and anger and bitterness, doing your best to make sure home life is crappy for us all? She has a choice to make here. And you may find she is on board, and will begin some new changes, or that she likes being angry and miserable...and then you will know what you need to do. Forgive me for the two messages above, as after I re-read your original posts, I realized how they must sound to someone who is really in the pits in a marriage to someone who is so angry, and bitter all the time. I am not sure any of us could actually rise to the occasion if we were in your shoes and actually pull off what I suggested above. It sounds as if the marriage is just too miserable to actually bring yourself to do as I suggested. Not that it couldn't be done, but it would take a better person than I am to pull it off. Unless she actually makes a decision to change. If she does...perhaps she will surprise you all! In my best pollyanna view...I sometimes think that we can change someone else by being really kind to them. I sometimes have these wierd thoughts that you could take her for a morning of pampering (facial, massage) and then take her for a new outfit, and take just her out to dinner. That by you treating her differently, that maybe she will thaw out, and begin to see herself differently, and begin to change and laugh and smile. That she will "want" to be a better woman for her family. Perhaps it is just wishful thinking...but just maybe????? Anyone, I forget that some people actually "like" to be angry and bitter and miserable all the time. That is their comfort zone. Perhaps she is one of those people. I don't know.