Yeah, I had TWO of those "Russian ladies" try that with me... Almost fell for the first one, but not really having the money to start with (the scammers do their homework, as they had the right amount for the plane ticket, which I verified with the airline website), I did EXTENSIVE websearches to see if it could be a scam until I found a couple of sites with pictures of scammers and the letters they send out... Took me a few hours, but I eventually found both her picture and "her letter," listed for not only her, but several others as well. When I didn't continue to reply as expected, and instead replied that I knew I was being scammed, the "pat" (where are you, what's wrong? kind of emails started until I sent a really nasty one with cuts and pastes from the website... then never heard from that one again... A few months later, a DIFFERENT "Russian Lady" from a different part of Russia contacted me via the same email dating service with slightly different story lines, but NOT different enough (pet's a mouse, instead of a cat, etc.), but since I save all my emails, I was able to compare... didn't take but a few and I was sure... did a search on that website and quickly found HER pictures there, too... blew her off and got the EXACT SAME "where are you? what's wrong?" series of two or three emails until once again I had to reply with an in-depth, "I know you're a scammer and HERE'S ALL THE PROOF" email, and never heard from THAT one again, either. My radar's up and flyin' high. Mama didn't raise no fool! Jeff Oh, and it was only $700 dollars, or so, in my case (not $1,500 or more -- I think they do demographics)... But had it been $15, I'd have STILL checked it out first.

PB - Um - okay, since I haven't ever wore one and have absolutely no experience (excepting the coconut bra I wore in my HS production of South Pacific), why don't you just buy a bra without the underwires? Since you brought it up, why do most bras hook in the back? That seems rather counter-intuitive to me. And yes, I believe this is a packaging question and on topic. :)

Anele - I would look for a fabric that has the same background color as your wall color-- but could be a darker or lighter shade, and then a blue patten, either just blue or or blue with the red/rust of your sofa. I like that idea and will continue my search. Beige certainly isn’t a hot color right now. :) May – I agree throws look forced a lot of times. Truth be told, we never use the red one because it feels really weighty. Don't dare fold them and lay them over your sofa back any more--too dated! Ha! As I tiptoe to the LR to move my fur throw from the loveseat. I’ll probably keep it there for now, but where do blankets go these days? I did have a large woven type basket that I kept beside the couch near the e.stand end and kept throws in there. We have a few toys along the couch now and the basket just seems in the way for the time being so I pulled it from the room. I’m trying to think what we did with blankets growing up. Remember how you suggested a sofa table for the wall where the wing chair is? I’ve been coming back to that idea on and off. For a visual I moved the plant and pulled the chair forward and up the other night. Measuring out, I think I would need something roughly 50”W and only about 12”D, which so far seems not very common! 18"D seems to be more standard. I was thinking something painted might be nice. I found one that I think the style worked very well with the entertainment stand, but it was 18”D and not quite long enough. Boo. Right now I also think I prefer the toy box to the left when you walk in the main entrance, but I’m still keeping an eye out for a sofa table because now the table and chair actually do seem kind of odd on that wall. Planning on the tv going there eventually. Anele - I think we really all have such varied taste, that frankly-- it's almost amazing when we agree Yeah, in general sometimes I’ll find myself agreeing about something and then someone else will say something completely different and I can see their point too. I think sometimes there can be many correct answers and it depends. I know my posts usually end up all over the place and I get all wordy, but I’m always able to pull myself away to reflect and sort it out. My original goal was to add blue so I’m going to focus on getting some pillows in here. I think I’d like to go more minimal with the amount. I also think I’m going to go ahead and change the art on the wall behind the sofa a while since I have it. It will help me feel like I'm making some progress! Since the sofa and table aren’t centered on that wall I think I’m going to attempt to float the art up from left to right toward the entrance. I may have questions. Oh, and regarding the curtains looking bad at night - looking at that more, I think it has a lot to do with the lighting. The color of the bulbs plus the dim light I think makes things look dingy. If DS is up and it's dark I'll have the overhead and the lamps on for him on which I think looks the worst. In general I don't have enough lights in the room, but I prefer the amount of light from only using two lamps when I can. Honestly that looks better than using the overhead. I pulled the panels back to the sides. Too much curtain material stacked. Going to adjust that and add the back tabs on hang from rings in the meantime. I do hate the light gap along the top and should have thought about that before installing those inside mount blinds. Somehow I didn't know that was going to happen! Added the blackout fabric along the top. I'm not sure if anyone else would actually notice or not. The gap here is larger than the one in the kitchen which makes it more noticeable, IMO. Ramble. Ramble. I'll keep everyone posted. Thanks again!

When I was very small living on Long Island my mother would sit me down to watch Captain Kangaroo and my most favorite part of the program was Grand Father Clock. Every day I waited for him to actually say something that made sense but he never did. I lived disappointed. I would actually like to have a nice grandfather clock. I like the sound. I had a really nice long wall clock my father-in-law bought me but my ex very much wanted it because we lost most of the things he gave us in a house fire and he had died. It needed work because of the fire, I wonder if he actually got it fixed. The town we lived in had a really good clock repair. Mine had a beautiful Westminster chime. Not too loud.