Ceresone - I apologize for not responding to this post. I hadn't been checking in here very often since it had slowed down so much. I had a VERY DRY summer. I'm sure I didn't water as much as I should've but it's hard to keep up. Sounds like you've stored up a lot of food for the winter. You're making me feel lazy. lol Do you have a pretty good salsa recipe? My father always puts out WAY too many tomatoes and we experimented with making our own salsa this summer but didn't find a recipe we love yet. I still don't have a real veggie garden but I mix in a few things every year with my flowers and shrubs in different places in my yard. I had a nice patch of cherry tomatoes and red salvia. lol I planted watermelons along the edge of my mulch pile again and they did well. The second setting didn't get to finish though. I had to toss dozens of little green watermelons hoping the larger ones would finish. I wonder if there's a good use for those. I tried Big Max pumpkins but they DIDN't do so well. The squash bugs really went after them and some kind of white foamy looking stuff oozed out of the base of my pumpkin vines shortly before they croaked. I had to buy my Halloween pumpkins this year and I'm already planning to buy pumpkins next year too. I planted Vidalia onions and banana sweet peppers too. The rabbits (I think) zoned in on my sweet peppers but I did finally get a few. Violet gave me a couple yard long bean plants to try that she had started from seed. REALLY easy to prepare since my kids thought they were cool when I left them long.

We just moved in this month. I removed the fake jennaire cooktop and micro/wall oven combo. Installed a nice gas range and 600 cfm ducted hood. A clean smelling home is important and I hate lingering food odors. We removed the Formica counters held together with scotch tape. Did oiled butcher block on the island where the cooktop had been. Did porcelain tile, which I had and loved in previous kitchen, for perimeter counters with new sink and faucet. We are keeping the oak cabinets oak, as they are high quality. I added new stainless pulls. I will be painting the trim and the doors to the room all in white. I will eventually paint the island cabinets a washed black/gray color. Goal is to be done for thanksgiving. So to me, a good gas stove, good hood, and functional counters and a deep sink are what I think is important to make a kitchen a pleasure to use.

Sigh. So many things. 1. Perform a warrant check on all contractors. That would have saved me a lot of money and heartache and frustration. 2. Be home AT ALL TIMES while work is being performed. I can't count the number of things that aren't quite right, but I have had to let them slide because they can't be undone by the time I get home. For example, I have had to give up on the idea of a trash pullout I planned under the sink, because (even though I told him repeatedly) he did not position the waste outlet correctly, and most of the sink cabinet it taken up with jerry-rigged plumbing. 3. Use specialist tradesmen. Jailbird Contractor was a very good framer. He was an OK finish carpenter. He built fabulous fences and his roofing (I think) is good. He had excellent electricians and drywallers. But he and his "plumber" left a lot to be desired, and despite telling me what a good tiler he was, his handiwork makes me sad nearly every day. Plus, while refinishing my original 100-year old softwood floors, he may have ruined them, and may have made it worse by trying to "fix" his mistake. I am having a specialist evaluation done this week. 4. Move out. 5. Make contractors fix things RIGHT AWAY. Apparently Jailbird Contractor would work on one project until he ran into difficulties, then would abandon that project and move onto another, saying that he would "come back at the end and fix it then". Uh-huh. That worked real well. This meant that the new contractor had to come in, figure out what was wrong, un-do a good chunk of each project, then finish it. This would not have happened if I had cowgirled-up and been a hardas* in the first place, making him finish each project. 6. All materials that I have paid for should have been ON MY SITE as soon as they were paid for. I lost all my expensive trim for the whole house (plus other materials), because Jailbird Contractor was storing it in his rented space (I don't know where that was). He maintains that it was taken when his storage unit was cleared out (presumably because he disappeared and hasn't paid storage fees for some time, since he is in jail). Either that, or he never bought it/sold it. 7. Job cards and inspection records STAY WITH THE PROPERTY OWNER or ON SITE AT ALL TIMES. My paperwork is in Jailbird Contractor's truck. Lord knows where that truck is. 8. Your contractor is not your friend. Jailbird Contractor liked to pull the paternal approach on me, and I will admit to playing along with it, just to humour him and shut him up. Never again. This is a professional relationship, even though you are in my house and my intimate spaces every day. I will be much quicker to call contractors on their cr*p in future. In fact, I plan on having one such conversation with the current contractor this afternoon ... the painting crew came through last week, and I was horrified to discover that they helped themselves to sodas, beer and icecream out of my kitchen. That is NOT...

Whatever cynic. It's not what they said. As offensive (to use your word) as they are, UNDOUBTEDLY, they would've said something overt, not hinted. It couldn't possibly have been them, it has to be me? Even though they complain that P is putting her bike on the front of the bus (which there is rack for and she does everyday), or that man who chews tobacco is on the bus, not that he's chewing or smells like cigarettes, he is just ON the bus, or... one time, someone stumbled and they ran into the more unhappy of the two and to this day she complains every day, I'm not exaggerating, that the woman "tore" her shirt off. Every day we need to hear about it? They're unhappy. All day every day. I'm sorely tempted to record them and have you hear it. I cannot tell you how light the mood on the bus was yesterday with everyone smiling and chit-chatting. Oh, to be like that every day.