Marie, you seem to be having a wonderful summer! You must be so happy to see your family enjoying themselves so much this summer. Sarah looks great. It's so nice that she seems to enjoy gardening and so do her friends. You have that in common and that is not a small thing. 'Elizabeth' Yellow Magnolia is a beauty, and what a great wedding gift! Love those candid photos of the bride. Looked like a very comfortable, casual, happy wedding. I love Skyler's outfit. It is so him. Especially nice to see DS in on the action! Ivy appears to be reading along with Sarah and Skyler. [g] What a happy baby! A thread entitled to lots of exclamation marks!!! :-)

Its interesting that most of us seem to be in the same boat as far as family or visible friends go. It sure is a good thing we found each other here! I'm not sure how many of you discovered new interests as I did, or were already dishaholics and super holiday decorators. But this place literally changed my Life in those respects! I find it kind of funny that after turning 60, I got hooked on this dish and decor stuff like I did. But perhaps it was being the "right time, right place". Place being here obviously. A couple of years ago, when the Fibro worsened so much and I had to cut back on my dog showing, I sure needed other interests. Besides antiquing and Michaels, LOL. I use to do a lot of craft stuff, but even that has been put on hold. (I didn't mean to make my dog buddies sound like they had no other interests, all of them have busy and very varied lives. Just none are interested in dishes, or holiday decor beyond the 'normal') LOL. So the time I spent with them, was always dog-oriented entirely. Stumbling onto this place, thru those addictive stacked plates of Judith's, caused a major change in me tho. All for the better. Suddenly, not only do I have new interests, I have so many new friends! I can come here any time of day or night and have fun, or relax, or even feel like I still have an interesting Life. I'm no longer isolated (due to being housebound so often with the Fibro pain). Plus I discovered thrift shops and dollar stores, and fun shopping like that. Its as if a whole new world got opened up for me just when I needed it. I joke about you being my Invisible Friends, but the connection I feel with you makes me often forget we haven't met in Real Life. You are MORE visible than my local friends now! I certainly spend most of my time with you, LOL. In all seriousness, I don't know what I'd do without you (and my Garden Junk buddies, some who are here too). So I guess I can answer Patty's question with a resounding YES, my friends DO share my interests! Karen

Well, we covered the kitchen knife aspect last year, when I told him about Aldi's bargain forged Santuko knives and went right out to fetch him one. (He's thanked me many times for my effort on his behalf.) I also steered him towards their enameled cast iron pieces, so I know he's covered that way. My favorite cookbook covers meat dishes, and since I don't know if he's vegetarian, vegan or what this week, that doesn't seem to fit very well. I did give my favorite cookbooks to two nieces a few years ago (the one getting married, and another to her sister the maid of honor who was feeling like a slave at that point) which didn't make any kind of impression on either of them. I'm not ready to go there again. I'm leaning towards something more fun than kitchen tools. For example, one couple we were friends with received a trapeze they could hang somewhere as they always seemed to be taking people on tours of their beautiful old home. At least it was something to talk about! (I guess this would have been the second marriage, middle aged couple.) No, it's not appropriate for this couple, but I'd love to give them another ''story'' to add to their own. We've known our friend over 30 years, and would like something a little different I guess than the standard wedding gift you might give to someone just starting out you don't know very well.

I guess I wasn't clear about which son-in-law. I heard from my other daughter's husband who was assigned to push the record button not the brides husband. He found out when the equipment would not turn on. My husband and I have the contract with the hotel so I talked to the wedding coordinator and she said the hotel rented the equipment from another vendor and they are not responsible except for the $150 fee which they will return to me. Doesn't seem enough to me. I'm thinking I need to see an attourney. I'm sure there are lovely photo's but haven't seen them yet from the photographer, but no video is such a disappointment. Even I had a tape recording of my wedding made back in the 70's so we could rehear the songs, minister's message, and vows. We will see about having a slide show made for an extra fee. That's about all we can do now. Thanks for your input.