very interesting thread. Runningtrails your advise for ornamentals was right on the money!! My mother had a pond and she stocked hers with feeder goldfish which turned out to be HUGE fish. I did notice that she kept having these black babies and i was wondering why since all her fish were gold. We thought there was a black fish hiding somewhere that we could not see that kept reproducing. LOL thanks for clearing that up!! Two things I would like to add is that with any pond you have to make sure you have something to protect the top-an embankment or your pond will overflow with mud If you have a filter make sure you keep on top of debris falling in the pind as this will clog up your filter. Cakistani I notice one common theme you have in most of your questions. You want to raise things with minimal care, things that are self sustaining. Now matter what you decide to do there is going to be some work involved! Just my 2 cents from one peep to another. LOL

Hubby and I came together late in life (in our early/mid 40's). Due to that and a huge host of other reasons, we will never have children of our own. We talked seriously about adopting an older child or two, to the point where I was looking at the sites and contacting some of the local adoption groups. Unfortunately, our life has taken on other responsibilities that make this an impossibility. Hubby's Mom has (probably terminal) metastatic thyroid cancer. Hubby's Dad is incapable of managing things on his own. Hubby's brother (who currently lives with Mom and Dad) is seriously mentally ill and has physical disabilities as well. He requires pretty much round the clock supervision. As their culture is to take care of everything at home and only with family, our lives will be spent "parenting" them. It breaks my heart to know that Hubby and I will never get to be parents, that we will never get to see a child grow and thrive under our care. But this is the hand we've been dealt so we just have to do the best we can. On a practical note, at least out here in CA there are special programs for adopting older/special needs children. You get a lot more support and there is actually a mandatory "trial period".

Hi sayhellonow, Thanks for replying. I searched Google for Toxic Parents and came to some comments posted here from '07 or so under the topic "Adults Estranged from Parents." I think it is sometimes good to vent similar growing up situations. I am trying to improve my own outlook and my relationships with my alcoholic somewhat abusive Mom as a middle-aged adult. I would guess there are many lurkers who read the forums, but never bother to post as it is very personal. And for such things, I think using Facebook is a big disadvantage for sharing very personal issues like growing up in a very dysfunctional family. I keep Facebook usage to a bare minimum and rarely post anything considered too personal as the site is not that private anyway despite what some people may think. Anyway, with some good search skills, someone can find many answers to their personal problems, but in some cases, professional therapy is useful as well.

What is the ingredient list on the purchased box? (or is it a box). I'm not familiar with Marie. One odd thing i noticed is 5 dollops of whipped topping on the pie. Is that not hard to cut evenly? We don't have pie much and an inch slice is about our limit and only holiday time anywho...(can't cut across that first cut) It is standard practise with larger companies to use the actual product advertised and on the box photo...and in tv commercials. It is the law and any cheats would be so easily leaked by those working on the project. Styled food 'photos' do cheat sometimes in later touch-up but the original set-up is the actual food product. Hours with tweezers. I worked on so many years ago to fill in down time and then again during the writers strike for a short time. I'd rather stick pins in my eyes it is so boring. Smaller companies and most import products are not regulated at all. Why what you see on some package/can/jars is nothing like inside and why it is often impossible to re-create something after looking at the ingredient list with all the preservatives tweaks in a laboratory. One commercial for a checkerboard ice-cream that served up perfect slices had a half dozen chest freezers brought in with the actual boxes from the factory that one would buy in your local grocery. They sliced and sliced for three days to get the perfect one over and over. On a PizzaHut commercial they tractor trailered in the ovens used in their 'establishments', (fast food joints) lol. And large boxes of chilled bags of goop sauce with a dozen in-house cooks to prepare it just the way it is done by the food staff on site in your neighborhood. I think it was for their pasta offerings, not pizza. Besides all that, trying to re-create a good flavor combination at home with fresh ingredients is noble and i think important. Less processed and maybe not so pretty but much healthier. (really who cares with dessert) Actually with trial and error a pretty slice can happen...not likely in my house as some are often perfect and others are goopy but still taste good. A warm knife run under the sink then whipped dry helps with slicing cold pie. The entire history of food advertising and when the ball dropped is interesting. like GainsBurgers for dogs. Basically play-dough with zero food value and considered a real treat!