greg, When Spike ran things here, he took a dim view of copying identical items from one forum to another. Possibly we can get away with it, these days. But I guess I sort of got habits entrenched at an earlier time. Somewhat similar to the (probably mythical) sign by a Prairie dirt road, which gets rather heavily rutted after a rain, "Pick your rut carefully - you'll be in it for the next ten miles!". Make a list of all the friends, relatives, acquaintances you've known thru life, their phone, email, etc. Plus their training, interests, work, skills and various other issues related to them. When you need something, consult one of them who knows about that situation: most folks like to talk about things that they know about (and some of us like to talk about most anything). Some of them may be able to help you find the product or service that you need at a better price, that'll give you better service, e.g. mechanics who know which engines in which cars have given trouble, etc. Add to the database as more information comes along. It should save you hundreds, possibly thousands, during your lifetime. I'd plsanned to go to the Kitchen Table and add another message, which would bring the post to the top of page one again (moves about 2 pages per day) but haven't done it yet. Hope that you have a really fine New Year. ole joyful P.S. On the other hand ... you could go back to look for a former year's post, on a slow-moving forum, as the message might still be there. I posted it on different forms in successive years. o j

Well, my answer sounds very shallow after squirrel's response. About five years ago, after I had already given DH my "list" and I knew he had probably already done his shopping, I came across a sapphire (my birthstone) and diamond ring in a store that I just looooved. I was with a friend who was shopping for something and I wasn't hunting for a ring, but had always wanted one. Well, I tried the ring on, drooled over it, and the salesperson was ever-so-helpful and wrote the info about the ring on a business card and said, "Give this to your husband -- you never know!" I held onto the card for a few days thinking, no, this would be too greedy... well, finally I gave DH the card and told him I was in love with this ring but I knew he'd probably already shopped, maybe it could be a gift for a future holiday, etc. Also, the ring cost more than what we usually would spend on Christmas gifts so I didn't expect it. But on Christmas morning, the ring was at the very bottom of my stocking! It was extra special because after many years together, DH isn't the type of guy who surprises me, but that was a fabulous surprise! I still wear the ring almost every day.

Greetings ArtsyCraftsy, Hope this is still around when you return after Easter. I've never been much enthused about doing without something that didn't seem to have much intrinsic value on its own merit, just to impose a more or less artificial sacrifice during some short period, e.g. Lent. Self-sacrifice for its own sake, or as an artificial discipline, so to speak. It seems to me to make more sense to implement, after some previous thoughtful consideration, perhaps, some new idea, concept, chore, service to others, etc. that would have a positive, useful emphasis, whether to me or, perhaps preferably, to others. In the Spirit of my Master, one might say. I have a predisposition to prefer positives to negatives, letting newly developed positive values or activities crowd out the negatives. Sounds good in theory, but not so easy to live that way. Good wishes for coming out after Easter more Christ-like than when you entered Lent - whatever the method. For those who have a different allegiance - quite possibly your belief system might recommend a similar plan: likely your life could stand some similar medicine without doing it much harm. Some such ideas put into practice might improve things slightly in the Central African Republic, Northern Ireland, Sudan, Palestine, Zimbabwe and various other areas. Good wishes to each as you plan and implement a more useful, self- and community-building lifestyle. joyful guy

Very good advice! Last summer I worked at computer for hours listing our collections, tools, etc. and approx. worth at that time in case anything happened to us. My DH has collected model cars for years so we gave him name of trusted relative to advise him on value. (This person has much larger collection & could afford to buy them all. Made detailed list of things each kid loved & had been promised. (One child had always been fascinated with bookkeeping ledgers used in my parents business in the early 40's- the others cared nothing about them.) Also listed things we wanted dear friends to have...like fabric for a quilter, craft supplies to another, etc. Attorney said his fee would run higher if we listed all in our Will, but if I typed them all he would sipmly add the list as a codicil to the Will. I was so determined to finish it all my DG thought I was ill or something. It was simply something I felt compelled to do, and am so glad it's done! Suzi