Nope, nothing special about my soil or its pH level. I just mix in a lot of compost when preparing the bed prior to planting. My native soil is brick-hard red clay, so it has to be amended heavily. I'm not complaining too much though ... some other areas around Dallas have brick-hard BLACK clay, which is very alkaline and miserable to work with. My red clay is a lot more balanced, pH wise. Souvenir de la Malmaison just seems to love it here for some reason. In fact, I'd call it a very vigorous rose here. For instance, I can hard prune it to 2 ft tall in the spring, and it's back to 4 or 5 foot by first frost. Whatever type of blackspot fungus we have here (and we do have blackspot), SdlM doesn't seem to be much bothered by it. And as far as balling, I grow roses with many fewer petals than this petal-packed momma that ball like crazy in the spring, but my SdlM is rarely affected. Patricia, thanks for the recommendation. Your're right, I probably do need Mystic Beauty. And Souvenir de St Annes is a winner here too, from what I've seen in gardens around town. Mine is in the ground, but I wouldn't have a problem growing SdlM in a container either. It would do fine that way. It's really a special rose. Randy

angel19603, I find one of the most fascinating ones for me is The Enchanted Home. This gal is building a house that is incredible. That is the only word for it. She has great photos in every blog. There isn't a lot of "teaching" just sharing. She does a house "update" on Thursdays, and I usually have my jaw on the floor because I can't believe anybody is building a house/mansion like this in this day and age. It is really incredible. Cote de Texas is always enjoyable, Joanie is a really funny gal and she has some great ideas. Her photos are wonderful and she does seem to "explain" things and teach why certain things work and others don't. She also does the occasional interview with other designers, photographers, etc. so there are lots of good tips. I check out others, but these two are ones you might like to check out. -Bee

Welcome to MY life.... "i have a 9 year old stepdaughter who is very disrespectful to me. over the past 4 months she has said horrible lies about me" My SD is also 9. Over the last year, she's told lies about me. The worse lie is that I hit her. Her mom gives her lots of attention to these lies. She continues to do it, because she gets attention. Her mom called CPS & since the CPS worker talked to her, she's had a completely different attitude. She even told me she isn't going to lie anymore because she's tired of getting in trouble. It's very frustrating to have someone saying horrible things about you and worse when they want you to be nice to them. My SD lives with me full time and tells her mom these lies on her weekend visits and comes back expecting me to kiss her boo boo's and do things for her. It's getting better right now, but it's an ongoing battle. "she has said mean things about me to my friends, and she will not listen to me when i tell her to do something. its seems that she gets worse everytime she comes over (which is every other weekend). i have done everything i can think of ranging from.... spending alone time with her shopping, taking her to the fair, letting her help me cook, letting her dress our 6 month old baby." If I were you, I would not do anything for her when she acts that way. When she is being nice, then do something nice for her. If she is being nasty, tell her to ask her dad. "i know that she is jealous and i understand that. i really feel that she resents me for marrying her father even though she says she doesnt. one minute she says she loves me and wishes that i was her real mother, and the next minute she is sarcastic and hateful to me on the drop of a dime! when i ask her why she does this she says she doesnt know. my husband and i have sat her down and told her that we love her and just because we have a baby wont change that." She probably is jealous. She's got a new stepmom, losing dad's attention. She's got a new baby to compete for dads attention now too. Baby is six months old, this has been going on for four months. Perhaps she was okay with the baby but now she's realizing the baby is taking dad's attention. Maybe her mom (or someone else) has said something about dad spending time on the baby. She probably does want to get along but has conflicting feelings. She may also be trying to manipulate and getting upset if it doesn't work. My SD will be lovey dovey with me and I tell her to do something or give her an answer she doesn't want, and boom, right back to not liking me. They might get upset with their parents but forgive & forget.. but a SM is not the parent and she tends to remember every incident where I do something she doesn't like. "she says sarcastic comments to me so that my husband wont hear and then when i tell him what she said it doesnt seem to bother him very much. he thinks that because she is only 9 it isnt a huge deal. he yells at her when she treats me like this but i dont feel that he has properly handled the situation. i love her and wish we had a good relashonship! i dont know what else to do, i treat her very good and am tired of her treating me like this! she is driving a wedge between my husband and i that my husband doesnt seem to even notice. my husband and i fight all of the time about this and it gets us no where. i feel that he isnt sticking up for me like he should be." This is the most worrisome part of you post. You and your husband should be a team. Not just for your baby but both kids. He is not doing his daughter any favors by siding with her. He is also not being consistent by yelling at her and then being upset with you. I'm sure he feels stuck in the middle and the guilt makes him want to please his daughter and he yells at the daughter because her behavior upsets you and he wants all his girls to be happy. I really think it's wrong to say the daughter is driving a wedge between you and him. HE is responsible for the wedge if there's one. The daughter is a child that has been through a divorce, dad's remarriage, and now a new baby... none of which she asked for most likely. Dad needs to do more than tell her nothing is going to change how he feels about her. He needs to show her how important she is to him. My SD asked my DH to give her a nickname... like 'princess' or 'pumpkin', or some other endearment that is special to her. Your DH needs to take some time on his weekends to spend one on one time with her, even if it's washing the car or raking leaves. But, he does need to be a team with you and be the parent, not a referee. "i dont want our daughter growing up around that kind of influance. she has destroyed every relashonship that her mother has been in and i sometimes think she wants me out of the picture thinking that her parents will get back together. (even though my husband told her that will never happen)she acts like a helpless little baby to her "daddy" and acts like a resentful, selfish 9 yr old brat to me. short of telling my husband i dont want her around me for a while i am at a loss." Your hostility is understandable. You have a new baby and she's acting out. But, that's even more reason to back off and let her be alone more with her dad. Of course she may not want you there, she just might think she can get her parents back together. You are the obstacle to that ever happening and now, so is your baby. Again, she's a kid and if she has successfully ended her mom's relationships, she may think she's capable of controlling what the grown ups do because it's worked in the past. She gets daddy mad at you. She gets mommy's BF's to leave. The best thing you can do for your own sanity is to disengage and ignore her behavior. Personally, if she's only there every other weekend, I'd spend as much time away from her... go shopping or take the baby for a walk. Leave her to her dad for the next few weekends and give yourself a break from her. Maybe if she sees you aren't reacting or you don't care what she's doing, she will calm down. (she may also try different strategies.. my SD does that) But, it's only every other weekend. In the meantime, I'd also suggest parenting classes and talking to a therapist/counselor. I wouldn't drag her to the counselor just yet, maybe you and your husband could go and learn how to work as a team first. You could also discuss the issues with SD and get suggestions from the counselor on how to deal. Then, if it continues, you might take her and see if it helps.

Sheila Joyce - check the book out. It's by Audrey Penn. There are even printouts you can get if you google it online. Our school was set up like a village and my classroom was the Toy Store - fit in perfectly for kindergarten and my mission statement was "Learning to Play with Others and Playing to Learn." The first month focused on Bears and Friends and the kids were invited to bring their favorite bears (or other stuffed friends) to school with them each day. Of course, ones were provided for those who didn't. (This was before all the restrictions that came in place due to head lice and fire safety crap). With the help of my fellow crazy teachers, I would read Corduroy and of course had my own large Corduroy bear that suddenly disappeared while we were out of the room. He left a scrawled note on the board that he was curious and decided to go look around the school. So off we went with our bears in arm to find the missing Couduroy. Like your Gingerbread Man, we visited all the different places and each time he would leave a note or tell the teacher/person where he was going next. He always ended up in the principal's lap where she was reading a story to him. We did the Gingerbread Man in our first nine weeks too and would do the baking. Fun days. One reason I retired when I did was I felt the emphasis had changed so much and even though I was the most academically orientated K teacher, we spent so much time testing the kids, there was little time in our full days to enjoy my mission. Our K classes no longer have the Housekeeping Centers or rest time. All work, no play makes for a boring teacher! I'll look on my CD's and get back with the title of the one Tooty Ta is on.