My husband was in michigan this week and that was one of the flights he thought about taking on thursday night. He flies a lot and it just hit close to home. Clarence is not far from where we live. We are a little more out in the country. Big sigh of relief. When the news came on at 10pm they announced at the end of the broadcast that a plane had crashed by the airport, but they didn't know anything yet. By the time the 11pm news came on, it was not until after the weather that their news crews made it to the neighborhood and they announced it was a commercial plane. WIVB broadcast without commercial break until I went to bed at 2am. When my husband called to say he was alright i was so grateful. (wipes tears and sniffles) Fran, Could i have the blanket flower, please? BTW, DS#3 watered my keyboard once, its still a little iffy. We set it in from of the blower on the woodstove for a week. Just FYI those of you sowing in the keys LOL! Thank all of you for the prayers. Families here are esp. close knit and things like this are difficult for anyone. Praying for your FIL, too Nichol. Fleethart

Hi Larry the mulch is labeled "Native Texas shredded hardwood mulch", and is locally produced by Austin Wood Recycling. I believe it is mostly ashe juniper that has been run through a chipper/shredder twice to get that consistency. It's ubiquitous here; we can buy it in bulk or bags from local gardening centers. It's soft to the touch, with pieces up to 2" long, but thin and flexible, similar in consistency to some cypress mulches I have seen. Perhaps that's more available in your area? and hello again, steamyb, you got right on that! Yeah, they are heavy; be good to your back moving it around. Sorry to hear the sinks have gotten pricey. They are pretty sturdy, though, and have held up well for years now. Don't know if you have a Habitat for Humanity Re-Store in your area, but if so, they might be a good resource for a used one. When I was a kid going to the lakes in east Texas, it seems like a lot of gas stations sold worms for fishing bait, and had long, galvanized troughs to raise them in. I would love to get my hands on one of those one day! Or one of those old Coca Cola drink coolers to sell cokes on ice; anything built to last with a drain in it. Guess you could even use an old bathtub if you had a way to get it up high enough and make it look presentable. Just a little harder to build a nice screen with the rounded corners. (I'll bet my aesthetics-conscious husband just felt a ripple in the force and cringed without even knowing why!) Would love to hear how these work out for both of you. cheers, Cathy

Grainlady makes a good point in that you may get a bigger bang for your buck by looking at other areas where your savings might be more significant. For me, as well as many others who contribute faithfully to this forum, frugality is a way of life. I have certain "friends" who laugh at my efforts, and my grown children accept them as part of my personality but they seem to be grateful that it is not part of theirs, for some reason. So be it. I'm the one who has no debts, and where my kids are concerned, the one they always turn to (sometimes successfully, but most of the time not) when they have gotten themselves in a financial mess. They don't want my advice and I keep waiting for them to get a clue. So far I wait in vain, although I'm seeing a glimmer of hope in my one daughter, finally. There are so, so many ways to cut down on costs. Start by making a list of everything you spend your money on and examine each one for potential savings. Usually, when you are frugal about the things you buy and the way you live your life, you will find you are also decreasing what they are now calling "your footprint". One nice thing about DD is that she buys a lot of the same things that I do. It is not uncommon for one of us to say to the other, "I'm making out an order to _____. Anything you need?" Then we share shipping. When I first started visiting this forum, I went all the way back to the first post and read each one. It took several days, but it allowed me to get to know people and to see what they were all doing. I'd recommend that as a first step for anyone new to this forum. It is very educational. My parents started out as farmers in Kansas. Because they did not have the financial expertise to run the farm at a profit, my dad started working as a driller on an oil rig. This set the wheels in motion, as my mother could not run the farm alone and he struggled to come home from a gruelling day's work on the rig and then work on the farm. Eventually the rig owner moved his operations to Oklahoma and we followed, selling the farm, moving into a small house with a good-sized yard in a small town. We were not poor but we were not well off, either. My mother was frugal in some ways, but in other ways not. For instance, every summer she would buy printed cotton fabric that was sold 4 yards for $1. (this was between the years of 1954 and 1965) From this, all her daughters would make their school clothes, and she would make dresses for herself and shirts for Dad. When double-knit was first marketed, my mother was in hog heaven. She bought so much double-knit that she wore it until she got too old to sew. And she recycled any plastic bag, whether it was a bread wrapper or a zip-lock bag that one of her "wasteful" daughters brought something in. BUT, my mother was not frugal when it came to buying a car. Because her father had been a horse-trader and she witnessed him haggling for the best possible price, feeling embarrassed about it, she would never, and would never allow Dad to, haggle over the price of the car. Car dealers loved to see Mom and Dad walking onto their lot. They always bought brand new and paid the price on the sticker. They usually kept the car for ten years so there was some recovery in that, at least. Mom loved to play the piano, and after she tried out her sister's electric organ, she had to have one. She went to the most expensive music store, and as usual, bought without haggling. Clearly, my mother had issues with money. And it seems a lot of people do, as if their worth as a human being is measured in dollars. I have a lot more respect for someone who lives comfortably on very little than I do for someone who brings down a huge salary but lives from payday to payday. When the job is lost, who's homeless?

bbtrix, I always promise those and never deliver. I think it's because I have so much crap everywhere. I keep telling myself when x is done and I can put all the xx away, I'll take pictures. But small details get in the way. Like the other pile of crap I moved to get x#2 done, which caused pile of crap #3. But I'll try. Remember, maybe? I had a whole revelation about my life style after a marathon hoarders binge watch. I realized in order to not squeeze by cabinets on the kitchen floor, I needed to INSTALL them. Along with other things like that. That the difference between the Hoarders and me was... NOTHING. I had all the "projects" they talked about and never did. So, after identifying myself with them and having a lasting moment of horror, I got back on my horse and started working on things. That's also when I started selling everything I could get my hands on on CL. So no pics at this time, but I'll try!