I've always had favorable comments with a moderate strength vanilla scent, it seems to appeal to both males and females. I personally do not like flower scents, specially gardenia and rose. tttodd, the Slatkin candles are great; I especially like the fact that the lid is attractive and kills the flame without having to blow the candle out (eliminating that burned smell of having just blown out candles). I just bought a 3 wick Marshmallow slatkin on thursday and it has a mild vanilla scent. The glass jars at Yankee get a black soot deposit when you extinguish them by putting the lid on. Yankee has started selling some of their scents in a simple clear column container, like the slatkins; I personally do not like the countryish jars, they don't suit my decor. On that same shopping trip, I bought 2 boxes of Yankee vanilla tea lights, they burn well and go out by themselves, which is what I like about tea lights, specially the clear plastic ones, they look good in a clear glass votive holder.

I don't color match from brand to brand and I don't try to customize, personally. Since I have tended not to fully repaint, ever, in a different colors (I've moved first, I guess) --I want complete reproducibility, because I do touch up. I couldn't find exactly what I wanted in Benjamin Moore for particular room this time and that's when I went to Fine Paints of Europe, there, and that meant buying a fandeck, too. What this means is, if I am committed to using a particular paint brand, and I can't find exactly the shade in say, Behr, that I would prefer in Benjamin Moore, I will use the "close enough" in Behr. (This would be if I were picking paint for someone else--I would use BM or FPE but many people will not spend the money). Because quite honestly, I don't think that you can really tell the difference between two subtle differences in paint color if an entire room is painted in it and you are not comparing one swatch to the next. If you have no point of reference to what the exact color is, I don't think anybody could walk into a room that had one of two very close paint colors and say "this is X, not Y" And I get an almost perfect score on those color discernment tests where you have to separate and line up different shades in order. However, if you custom mix or have had color matches made that are not a specific formula within a paint brand, it can be almost impossible to get a match from mix to mix if you need to touch up.

FWIW we did our own kitchen remodel and used Ikea (Side Note: They do ship and the price can be reasonable depending on where you live!). We didn't want to spend a lot and we only needed to purchase 3 base, and 1 wall cabinets. I was weary of the quality but we are very handy and took steps to further strengthen and reinforce them, especially when building our custom island with them! The two biggest things we did to strengthen them was we (#1) constructed our own cabinet feet out of lumber and (#2) reinforced the back wall of the cabinet (it comes with thin/flimsy MDF type material) with thin plywood (we did this for the island only because the back side would be exposed, so we used cheap plywood to backfill the gap and then nice plywood for the finish). My 2 favorite cabinets from them is the 36" wide (two huge drawers!) where I keep all of my pots and pans, and more! I currently have several stainless pots and pans, a large heavy copper sauce pot, and a cast iron wok in the top drawer and in the bottom drawer I have a set of 3 pampered chef rectangle stoneware baking dishes, 3 Ikea ceramic baking dishes, and a couple more big stainless soup pots, plus all the lids to my pots and pans. I may be pushing its limits but after two years I'm still really happy with them. I may eventually reinforce the floor of these because I do have a LOT of weight on them and they're really long drawers. I also love the wall cabinet that actually sits on top of the counters. It has two glass doors where we keep glassware and plates, and two skinny/long drawers on the bottom where we keep our silverware. It gives a custom feel without the custom price. Really neat piece and everyone comments on it! Having said all of that, we know this isn't our "forever" home. We don't have kids, and take care of our things. Within the next 3-5 years we are looking to (potentially) build a custom home that will hopefully be our forever home (if not, at least long term) and we will not be using Ikea. Simply because I'm not sure how they'll hold up over time. I've only heard at how some renters can really trash a place so I'd be really weary of Ikea for your situation. Maaaaaybe consider it only if you're willing to do some extra work to reinforce their weak points. But even then, after watching my two brothers grow up, I'm not sure Ikea would've survived in my parent's house. I'm a bargain shopper, and you'd be surprised what comes up for sale on Craigslist and Facebook marketplace. Also (if you have the time) check out your local Habitat for Humanity ReStore (and the like). We used to live in a high cost of living area and we'd always find high quality antique furniture, grand fireplace surrounds, marble tops, and yes, nice cabinets! Of course it's always timing game. Have to be in the right place at the right time, but it might just be worth a call or a stop. If I were going to have a rental I'd probably start by looking at these places first.

I love barbecue, but I hate sweet. Since moving up here...lots of barbecue joints but I don't like the sauce any of them serve. Not that it is sweet...just don't like it and one of them has undertones of too "ketchup-py". Every time I go back to the coast, I go to Joe's Barbecue in Alvin. Sometimes they have his bottled sauce for sale and I buy it. One time they had a cookbook for sale that had recipes from various restaurants, including the recipe for pork ribs from Joe's, and with it a recipe for his barbecue sauce. I bought the book, but haven't tried the recipe for the sauce yet. If it turns out to be the same as what is served in his restaurant, it will be an answered prayer.