My mom hired a gardener earlier this month to help her re-style the garden ready for summer. At first he came across as a genuine and nice guy. Then we noticed things missing. Ornaments vanished, plants disappeared and our lawnmower gone. My mom is usually at work when he’s there so she decided to stay home without him knowing. She couldn’t believe it when she found him digging up the plants and taking them. When she confronted him, he gave her all sorts of excuses but he bought them back. Then one day I came home and my mom was a wreck. She had lost a child before I was born and kept a memorial in the garden dedicated to my brother. They’d had an argument and the gardener pulled the rose plant up and smashed all the ornaments. Since then, he keeps turning up unannounced and won’t leave when my mom asks him, taking things when he does go. He has even threatened my mom. We’ve been to the police but they just tell us the same thing and don’t seem to help. What can we do?

I’ve already decided to give my sister some artwork, my other sister Disneyland photos and my mom a recipe for a peppermint mocha I made myself, but I’m stumped on my dad! I’m a girl, and I’ve no clue what any guy would like let alone one 35 years old. I know he likes Santa-dad stuff, like the ornament he has of Santa Claus in a lawn chair with a six pack of beer, but I can’t make anything like that. I want to buy something for him but I’m not allowed to go to the store on my own and it would kind of ruin it to let him drive me. I would do something like no music for the day but we won’t be home until like ten P.M. because we drive up to my grandma’s house like two hours away for brunch, then to my other grandma’s for dinner, and he’ll be too busy socializing to notice especially good behavior. He works full time so chore-coupons would be useless. The only things I know he likes are sports, gardening, and cooking, but it’s winter so it’s not like I can give him garden stuff, he already has mugs, ornaments, shirts, and everything in sport theme, and besides I read somewhere that that kind of stuff is way overdone and dad’s really don’t want it. I would make him a recipe like I’m giving my mom but that was total chance, it turned out about ten times better than I thought it would. Also, I’m 12 years old, so please no idea’s 5 years old worthy. However, all idea’s are appreciated.
Thanks
He has wallet and he doesn’t even wear ties to formal parties. A picture would be a good idea, but the only picture he wants is a family photo to give out to other people for Christmas.

Some neighborhoods ban clotheslines, working on the car in the driveway, & maybe even supposedly unsightly solar panels that someone has to view from a house above. What does yours ban? Fortunately, in mine, with a few artists in residence, just about anything goes, including a big veggie garden & 2 hens residing in the yard next door. (but so far, no pigs.) Some might have year-round Christmas lights or neon lights as porch ornaments, while many might think as I do that a pink flamingo would be a retro sight to behold & a hoot besides.

Still, I’ll consider anybody’s point of view just as long as it’s both courteous & well-stated, perhaps with a little reading entertainment thrown in. Just exactly what’s tacky to you?
Does the amount of noise going on make a difference when it comes to what’s acceptable?
Looks like all good & thoughtful answers. Thanks to all.

Some neighborhoods ban clotheslines, working on the car in the driveway, & maybe even supposedly unsightly solar panels that someone has to view from a house above. What does yours ban? Fortunately, in mine, with a few artists in residence, just about anything goes, including a big veggie garden & 2 hens residing in the yard next door. (but so far, no pigs.) Some might have year-round Christmas lights or neon lights as porch ornaments, while many might think as I do that a pink flamingo would be a retro sight to behold & a hoot besides.

Still, I’ll consider anybody’s point of view just as long as it’s both courteous & well-stated, perhaps with a little reading entertainment thrown in. Just exactly what’s tacky to you?
Does the amount of noise going on make a difference when it comes to what’s acceptable?
Looks like all good answers to me. Thanks very much to all.

Write ten simple sentences with an adjective phrase modifying each subject. Place < > around the the simple. Place parenthesis around each adjective phrase.

1.The <houses> (on the hill) are very old.

2.I placed the <vase> (by the garden) of roses.

3.The <man> (with the blue tie) is my Biology teacher.

4.As a child, < I > played (under the table) with my toys.

5.(In the weedy), overgrown <garden>, I spotted a large snake.

6.There was a man dancing (along the busy), six-lane <highway>.

7.The <cats> (at my uncle’s house) are very annoying.

8.The <ornaments> were shipped (from the Philippines.)

9.My <aunt lives> (by the lake.)

10.The <books> I am reading are (about college scholarships.)

im trying to plan a garden and i want to incorporate the 4 elements, water, earth, fire, and air, into it.
im trying to get plants and decorations that would fall under those categories.
here is some info on the things i want and don’t want in it:

water:
small water features – max size 3 ft tall, 4 ft long and 3 ft in length
water plants
colors from black to a sky blue
ornaments

fire:
nothing really big except for plants
any "warm" color like fall colors or colors you see in actual flames except green or blue
i really don’t want actual flames in my garden becausdon’tdont want the chance of my garden burning down.

For me, there are a few that stand out. One was our puppy Wilbur, who we rescued from the dog pound on Christmas Eve as a companion for our other dog, Harvey.

The others are things people made me, like a new hat my neice knitted me, a tea box my brother made, ornaments painted by kids, the woodcarvings my Dad did, and a doll blanket my Mom sewed me.

My best all time bought gift was a wheelbarrow….My husband and I had been looking for a farmhouse for several years, and I said that when we had a barn and big garden, I wanted a wheelbarrrow. We still hadn’t found the house, but he remembered that, and it meant the world to me, because it was part of a dream of a different life. We live that life now.

Hi!

This is the first part of my story called My MMSS (Major Movie Star Sister). Please read the first part and give me opinions and suggestions. Please no rude comments, because I’m only twelve so I know it’s just a dumb story. Please tell me if you want to hear the second part. Thanks!
~~~~

“So, why do you like your sister? What does she do that’s really nice and really kind?”
“Nothing.”
“Excuse me?”
“She doesn’t do anything nice and kind, and I don’t like her. She’s mean and cranky and never gives me her stuff. Ugly, too.”
“Oh, um – really?”
“Yup. I like my brother though. He’s nice.”
“Just a sec. Tell us more about your sister.”
“Okay! She always – ”

I groaned and switched off the television, throwing myself back into the soft, plum couch. My head was swirling. Stupid, stupid, stupid. The word kept repeating itself in my mind. Fume blew out of my ears and I’m positive my face was tomato-red. My eyebrows were permanently drawn up in angry crisscrosses.

I looked around our huge living room, wanting to calm down. I didn’t even notice the wooden floor-boards, the plasma television, the brown coffee-tables, the grand piano, and the Oriental rugs. But what I did notice was the huge framed picture above the glass cabinet of little ornaments.

In the picture was a smiling girl in front of a backdrop of the ocean. Her curly jet-black hair fell over her shoulders, and her big, deep, dark blue eyes could melt a heart. Dimples were in her cheeks and her petite, rose-bud nose fit in perfectly with the rest of her fair features.
That girl was my sister.

Starr Love Everheart.

You’ve probably heard of her, haven’t you? She is a huge child celebrity, even though she’s only eight. She’s been in about, what, seven movies? And she’s also recorded a few cute little kid songs and voiced two or three cartoons. Everyone loves her and thinks she’s so adorable, with her button nose and curly ringlets and all.

But, as you can tell, I’m just a bit jealous of her.
Okay, okay. I guess I’m more than a bit jealous.

I mean, my parents think that it’s so cute that Starr’s famous, but whenever I ask them with a pretty please if they could get me in the business, they go, “No way. You’re thirteen years old and need to focus on your studies. We’ll get Jade settled down in a few years, too.”

Now, my parents work in the movie industry, as producers for big-time movies, so they could get me in a movie if they wanted to.
Read back on the words: wanted to.

When Starr was born, they wanted to name her something extraordinary. Maybe they knew she was going to be famous. Starr Love. Her actual name is Starr Love.

My name is really ordinary: Abby.

Couldn’t they have named me Elidorah Daydream or something? It sounds way cooler then Abby Winters.

Mom and Dad changed Starr’s last name to Everheart, because Starr Love Winters didn’t sound ‘famous’. (How does Starr Love Winters not sound famous?) Everheart is my great-aunt’s last name.

So I ask them, what do I sound like? Chopped liver? They don’t bother changing my last name to Everheart, which, by the way, was given by me.
(I was lounging around one day, moping about how I loved the last name Everheart, and the next thing I knew, it was Starr Love Everheart and Abby Winters. Unfair? You got it, buddy.)

In case you’re wondering, Starr isn’t the youngest, thank goodness. Or she’d be even more spoilt. My brother, Ross, is five and he loves Starr. He does anything she says and sometimes the two pair up against me. Sometimes I think it would be better if Starr actually was the youngest and Ross was like, fifteen or something. Then we could pair up against her.

Well, that day, I happened to be flipping through the channels on our huge, plasma television. The rest of the family had gone to this interview for Starr, and I didn’t want to go.
I mean, it was like rubbing salt in my wounds! (I happen to want to be an actress or singer when I grow up and I am still wanting.)

So, I was watching TV and then I saw this blown-up picture of Starr, striking her ‘movie-star pose’ in our garden, which is one hand on her head, the other hand on her hip. She was flashing a charming smile, her hair windblown.

“Child star, Starr Love Everheart, does it again as she stars in a hit comedy!” A voice said as the picture dissolved. A tall, leggy woman with bright pink and blonde hair sat on a strawberry-red couch with my sister beside her. I recognized the lady as Olivia Sky, a famous talk show host known world-wide. It was live that moment, probably the interview Starr was at now.

So then Olivia and Starr had the conversation about me (listed above) and stupid Starr started saying all that stuff.

Even when I wasn’t there, Starr just had to make fun of me.
After I turned the television off and looked around, I could feel my cheeks burning. I pushed back strands of black hair.

Everyone in school would be teasing me the next day, since eve
Sorry that the top got cut off. I didn’t know that it would

Everyone in school would be teasing me the next day, since everyone is hooked on Olivia Sky.

I go to a private school, the same one as Starr. It’s called Sunnyvale Schools and I’ve been going there before Starr was famous and before she was born, so I know everyone. It’s a small school, and everyone also knows my parents’ jobs, so it was no surprise to them when Starr turned into a celebrity. Of course, some new kids always gawk and stuff, but I try not to let it bother me.

Sometimes I enjoy it. I’ve given seven autographs, as the sister of Starr Love! Of course, I know Starr has given tons more. Hundreds, to people she hardly even knows. Older people.

Then I remembered Starr and her insults against me.
Stupid, stupid, stupid Starr.
I wished she was never born.
I wished I would never see her face again.
Famous last words.

“I’m ho-ome!”

i still live at home so i have a small space to work with. i love fairy’s,woods,Ivy and gardens. my bed is cherry really spectated with a matching dresser and mirror along with end table that has wight Marble tops on them.um i need ideas on how to make my room look more like a woodsy garden fairy land type room without looking childish! room colors are pink Satin brown Satin cherry wood and ivy oh and on the comforter it has sequins but really Pretty not gaudy… please help also i need ways to make it look Christmasy what color lights tree colors ornaments……snowmen? remember i want fairies in there too so they need to co inside thank you soo much!!!!!!!

Is it possible to write a book bettet than harry potter? I’m 13 and have been writing since seven , and want to write a book that’l be more magical than harry potter. If i use my imagitnation is this possible? now enter my world…rate the part of my story out of 10 please.

An eerie silence lay across the neatly kept houses on Glamestone Lane. Trees were slowly losing their leaves. Bundles of them had already been piled into heaps. The days of autumn were drawing close to an end. The air had already changed from its mild temperature to chilly and cold, signalling the departure of autumn and the nearing winter.

The residents were people who believed in punctuality and neatness. Cars faced in line towards the houses. Gardens were well furnished, with ornaments such as gnomes placed beside the doors. It could have been a perfect street, had it not been a gloomy looking house hiding in the far end of the road, beside an alley way.

The tangled vines slowly spread its way around the walls of the house. The windows were covered with thick curtains. The plate bearing fifteen Glamestone Lane was half covered by the overgrowing plants.

I’m thinking about getting a garden gnome, but am wondering why you put them out. Are they for mythical protection or just cute ornaments? I have found info on where they originated, but not why they are used. Thanks for the good answers:)

And is it a sonnet? It has 14 lines, but the meter and rhyme schemes are not the usual ones for a sonnet.

A Lover’s View

If sweets could make her sweeter
I’d give her sweets.
She needs no sweets.
If flowers would make her fairer
I’d send my garden’s bower,
Yet her beauty no ornaments from flowers lacks.
If with suave ointments, her complexion would take
A purer, rosier hue
I’d send a few;
But none could even a slight addition make.
If any enhancement of loveliness to loveliness were due
I’d pledge my every worth to make it true;
But nothing would, by any circumspection,
Serve to increase what is now perfection.

My husband and I live in an apartment, so we are restricted to container gardening for the time being. Our tree will be outside year-round (our kitty thinks the ornaments are her toys). The trees that I have seen in the shops around here are about 2-3 feet (60-90 cm) tall, and are some variety of fir.

I’ve no idea how fast they grow so I have no idea what sized pot to plant it in to give it room to grow. We’d like to eventually plant this tree in a yard.

Thank you!

My colors are turquoise and brown. I am using that for dresses I’m having made and the flower arrangements I making. I’m also making elegant tree branches with lights and ornaments for the ceremony. The reception, however, is themed as a tea party and we are setting each table up with a different tea set theme (japan, vietnam, garden, english, victorian, so on…) The problem is that that reception will have lots of different colors. How should I organize the two themes so that it doesn’t look scattered and unorganized?

I am designing a website that will be a butterfly information site, as well as to sell butterfly products.
Jewelry. ornaments, clothing, windchimes, suncatchers, garden stones, anything that has a butterfly design is what I am looking for.
If you coud help, I would be very grateful,
Thanks, Marion