Yes, I do think the black is the way to go now that I have input. And thanks so much!!! I never think of myself as looking very good. That compliment made my evening! ❤

One other red flag I thought of is, "How does she talk about your son in the presence of her child?" I would be very concerned about the possibility that play time with your Dd and her child could lead to an influence on Dd that she should develop an adversarial relationship with her brother. This would have me on edge enough to not want to pursue anything further with this family.

Ugh. I am managing about 45 minutes a day. We have had so much cold rain, then icy roads and streets, then fog. Yuck. We are going up north tomorrow and will be doing some winter hiking in an area that is going to GASP, have sunshine! 😱 I might manage a couple of hours before my ankle gives up. It has been acting up lately. I think our eclipse trip in April is going to find me stubbornly outside from sun up to sun down for four straight days. Mostly though, I am just craving the moment we can de-winterize the sailboat, and unpack the kayak. I told Mark we need to set some money aside to go to a sunny beach next January, US Virgin Islands or something.

That sounds good. The black one is basically like the photo of the blush one. No beading. I have a silver wrap I could use if it is chilly. I own both of these dresses, and won't be shopping. I have three evening gowns in my closet, and I just don't want to buy another one! My favorite dress is a jade stretch lace cocktail length dress with beige lining, and a pair of gold shimmer sandals to go with it. It is dressy, but not formal, so that poor dress is not in the running even though it is my favorite.

So here is the deal. Dh's nieces his brother's daughter, is getting married Easter weekend. Black tie optional. Clothing isn't an issue in that we have clothing to meet the code. I am struggling to choose between my options. Dh is going optional. His tux is worn out. We bought it in 1993. He has worn it a ton because whenever I had piano performances that required me to be in evening gown, he always wore black tux. He also had it dry cleaned every single time. It has been to many a wedding, Carnegie, you name it. It has lost its luster, the hem of one pant leg actually has a fray no, tears in a couple of pockets, a shoulder seam that needs repairs. Not happening. He will be wearing his grey/silver suit - super nice - tux shirt with cuff links, and black and silver paisley tie. I am posting two pictures that are super close to the two gowns I am choosing between. My burgundy does have some silver beading, and black one has a slightly more elaborate ruching in the bodice, but the silhouette is the same. My question is two fold: 1. Given that Mark is not wearing black, which dress would look best. 2. Is black tie optional also "floor length optional?" I am tired of floor length. Mark steps on my dress when we dance. He is not exactly Kevin Bacon Foot loose here! 😂 Also, I am short waisted, and only 5'4". I have always felt I look shorter in floor length than mid-calf, or cocktail. But cocktail is absolutely not formal enough. Can I get away with ankle length? Tea length? Mid-calf? I am thinking that I probably cannot get away with midcalf without looking a little out of place. Both dresses are equally comfortable. I will post a photo so you can see my current hair color as well. Oops, my photo of us is sunset. Okay, well. My hair is mahogany if that helps. It will either be in a simple messy, French twist, or a half up, nothing coiffed or curled insanely. I don't have the patience for that!

Melissa, it warms my heart that you are able to get out in the garden again! Yay!!!!

Wow, Rosie! I didn't know oranges could do a second crop. That lime sounds interesting. Yay for dd for tackling the stinging things. I can imagine all the green things will be a lot happier when you can water again.

"At this time, I am not able to go forward with a relationship for Dd and your child. Best wishes, no hard feelings." Don't respond to future texts or answer that number if she calls. Some relationships require way too much planning and energy to maintain at present. That doesn't mean that when the kids are a lot older, they couldn't reconnect socially. But, a hard firm boundary of not happening is good for now.

I am so sorry to hear this, Saraha. Many hugs! I do think you are rights about the wheels coming off. Mama needs a staff, and likely whatever is wrong with papa has been exacerbated by the refusal to place her in a facility. It is on sil for refusing to follow up on care givers. So my advice as always is let it go. Let the wheels come off and the whole thing crash on sil. Have dh talk to pop's medical team to see if they will put a bug in the ear of the social worker to go tell him he can no longer care for mum. Otherwise, just try to breath in and out, let it go, keep on with your life which is of course, a lot easier said than done. Love and good thoughts to you, your family, and fil.

Mine is still dormant. We have had temps though that are favorable during the day for the apple trees and blueberry bushes, and that trend looks like it is going to continue for a while. We still have a ways to go, and the lack of ice forming on the Great Lakes and staying, the warming water temps are going to be very problematic as aquatic life that shouldn't be thinking spring is coming yet, are acting like spring has arrived. In SE Michigan, it has been too warm for too long and some folks have fruit trees putting out buds. We are definitely going to get a cool down and freezing weather in a couple weeks, so these trees are going to be injured and likely not produce. El Nino is making things very weird. I have plans to start cucumber, snow pea, bell pepper, cherry tomato, and broccoli seeds at the end of the month. I was able to purchase some good quality row covers so the plants can go out the end of April with covers at night. The old, old lilac bush looks like it has given up. It was time. It has split right down the main trunk of the plant all the way to the ground, and every time there is a strong wind, branches fall off. She barely bloomed at all last year, so I have decided that we will be cutting it down, and planting a new one. I love lilacs. What is happening with all of you? Are our southern hemisphere hivers rolling in the harvest yet? How are your flowers, trees, new bushes doing?

I told Mark and showed him the photo and his response was, "You are tossing me over, for him?" 😂😂😂

Awwww....Sid, will you be my Valentine?

LOL, I 100% agree with him! Parmesan should be fresh. This is the only way. The other stuff is just colored plastic shards. 😁

Tiggy, Aldi makes a brown rice and quinoa penne that has potassium, all the B vitamins but riboflavin, and some fiber. It scores higher nutritionally than typical white wheat type varieties. Do you think you could get him to eat that? With some real butter, some cheese on the side, and some fruit, I wouldn't feel bad about my youngster eating that every day to lunch under these circumstances. I have seen some thermos type soup crock containers that were single serving ish size and very wide mouth openings. Amazon had some. I have no idea what they weigh in terms of a little kid carrying one in a backpack. Might be worth checking out. My eldest boy, ever the picky eater, would eat deconstructed chicken parm. Shredded chicken, sprinkled with parmesan, butter noodles, and just a little pizza sauce on the side. He didn't like anything slathered with sauce. He would always take carrots and baby dill pickles plus an apple or banana with him to soccer. Same thing every time. I let it go. I would go nuts, but he was happy!

That face is VERY hard to resist! McNuggets once a week? 😁

Poor kid! Did you warn him that the Hive is not easily bamboozled by childhood charm? 😂😂😂

My dumb thing was setting together two strips of one-way fabric with one upside down. So much for that border of the quilt. Rip, rip, rip, rip, reset. Sigh.

I am a big fan of filling tortillas creatively. Chopped ham, shredded greens, and some ranch dressing was a big hit with my kids. But a lot of leftovers that are good cold will work like leftover chicken from a baked or rotisserie chicken , whatever shredded cheese the child likes, and greens or veggies, salsa etc. I would let him have deconstructed pizza "lunchables" by providing mini flat breads that he could spread pizza sauce on, top with mozzarella and toppings, microwave or bake at home, and then eat cold at school. Most kids like cold pizza. Hummus comes to mind. It is a legumes but I though peanuts are usually banned, I don't know of any schools in our area that say no hummus. So if he likes that, send it with whatever veggie stick he likes and a breadstick to dip as well.

I have an antique corner cupboard in the corner. It was my husband's grandmother's cupboard. I keep some of my Ruby Thumbprint and Royal Copenhagen China in it. That is my only dining area storage. I have a cupboard in our hallway which is very wide so the landing accommodates furniture. I keep tablecloths and the candles in there. I have a small marble topped side table with two shelves behind doors that is on the side of my island, and I keep the cloth napkins I. there.

I don't do classically Valentine's type things like hearts and roses. But I have a lovely white tablecloth, a ruby colored table runner, and my grandmother's Kings Crown Ruby Thumbprint glassware. We were given a glass candleabra, not too tall, as a wedding gift. So I put that in the center with white candles, set the table with the glassware, and make a nice dinner. When we still had kids at home, I did the same, and put a small box of chocolates and a note from us at their plates. I do need to replace the cloth napkins I normally use. Years of laundering have made them rather ragged and faded. So I need to go through my fabric stash and find something suitable to make new ones. The current ones need to become wash rags.

Oh my gosh! My mother had one of these. 😱

We have been teaching astronomy for quite a while to a wide variety of ages. We are basically treating it like a STEM 4H field trip. 😂 The grandsons might be tired of us by the time they wake up on the 9th!

Egypt. Not just 50°F. We saw kids in snow suits at 65°F. I guess when one is acclimated to 80 in the winter and 120 in the summer, 65 feels like cold, fall weather, and 50 would be an ice age. Of course, I don't know how often they get that low in Egypt. But ya, the bundling up is a thing. Meanwhile, we were going around in shirt sleeves thinking it felt positively balmy!

Yes. Our area of Michigan is practically assured to be cloudy. Our grandsons are 8, 4, and 1. So it isn't going to make a lasting impression T, but the other 2 especially N will remember it. We booked a place 4 years ago to make sure we would be able to have somewhere outside of town without light pollution, and a clearing for our telescope because we have sun filters so we can view it through the 12" scope. We are calling it astronomy camp, and have astronomy based activities planned on the 5th, 6th, and 7th for the grand boys. We will be in Northwest Arkansas.

NM