Hi again pm2! Those cinderblock beds were an absolute bear to build for me! The ground there is solid ledge, with maybe up to 3 inches of soil in spots. I had no help at all, and built the things with a shovel and a five gallon bucket to move the load of compost from the pile to the beds. It was a lot of work to make them level. Sooooo, once the bottom level was done, that was pretty much the hard part. The second layer was cake (although of course it meant filling with more soil/compost, bucket by stinking bucket!) I staggered them like bricks, and they are fairly stable. I also filled the holes with compost for added stability. It is great to be able to sit on the edge while working, and I also grow things in the holes. I think in the photos you can see what remains of alyssum and parsley. I love that deutzia too. My first and so far only deutzia, from Bluestone. Quite a beauty and if I recall correctly, rather long-lasting. The siberian iris were from a swap, and I want to say that they were from Sue (vtskiers). The lily - isn't it beautiful?! I'm a sucker for apricot-colored lilies and roses! I went outside and couldn't find a tag, and then came in to check my invoices. It may - MAY - be Fairest. I say that only because that seems to be the only lily I have that I can't find a picture of, lol! The pictures of other lilies on my invoice(s) don't match this lily, so I'm guessing it's Fairest - although the description says its a cross of an asiatic, and I thought this particular lily was a type of Oriental. Anyway, I will try to discover what it is. The caterpillar was some nasty thing that either stuck me or bit me, several times, before I even saw it, and made my hand swell. They were everywhere that day! I don't recall the name of it. (Gee, I'm beginning to realize that I'm pretty forgetful!) Where was I? Oh yeah, lol! I posted about it here and someone gave me an answer. But when I first saw it hanging off my hand, I didn't even think it was a living thing. I thought it was a piece of paper or something! And lastly, my camera is a Canon EOS Rebel XT. My DH plays with it more than I do, and it really takes some nice photos. Hope Santa brings a camera for you! :) Dee

I just can't imagine having all those problems with new appliances. I really feel sorry for you. In regards to your Thermador, you have the GE extended warranty. If they can't fix it, they will have to replace it. No question about that. In regards to your U-Lines...The law did not say that refrigerators with freon could not be sold. It said after the effective date, they could no longer be manufactured. No one broke any law selling you those U-Lines. Warranties are from manufacturers not stores. A store can not strip away a manufacturer's warranty. The warranty starts on your date of purchase. The fact that the store is now claiming that they were sold without warranty is a nonissue. Don't waste your time on that one. You do have manufacturer's warranties. What needs to be researched, is if the problem relates to needing more freon. I didn't think anyone could obtain freon anymore for refrigerators. And how does this affect the manufacture's warranty. I would obtain some paperwork and supply it to the manufacturer and put in a claim under the manufacturer's warranty. You do have one. If the issue is freon, wait until you hear from the manufacturer how they intend to handle this. Can they get freon or do they have to give you a new one? Was part of the law that manufacturer's are exempt from their warranties in regards to freon? This was so long ago, I don't recall the details but the manufacturer will tell you. I would not panic until you get a final word from them. Write them a formal letter demanding specific performance on their warranty. Send it certified mail return receipt requested. Either they will change their tune or at least you have locked them in as to the exact reason for their refusal which will be most useful if you pursue legal action. It will also speed up the time required by a lawyer to research it versus you telling him this blow by blow story. It looks like the problems with the other items have been resolved. This is the strange part. It makes no sense why you purchased these items so far in advance and kept them in a garage. I wonder if the prolonged storage has anything to do with some of these problems. How is it possible that you shopped at different places and all these places sold you such old appliances? Something doesn't make sense there. There is nothing wrong with stores selling old appliances. And stores do not have to tell you when appliances were manufactured. Some people were actually requesting to purchase refrigerators with freon because they didn't trust the new method. You could have easily looked up the model numbers and found out how old these appliances were. How can a 14 year old refrigerator look like the new ones. It generally is pretty obvious based on the styling. The same goes for other older appliances. I find it hard to believe that you were totally clueless that these appliances were old...not saying that you thought they were that old. You said the sales person said they were year end models or whatever. They did tell you that they were not current. You must have thought you were getting a deal on the price. That should have alerted you. Maybe your husband or father knew the scoop and you didn't. Some people think it is good to purchase out dated appliances because of the reduced cost. In any event, when spending a lot of money like that, people should do their research first before purchasing. Its that old buyer beware thing. Good luck.

I don't prep vegetables in advance. Except for maybe potatoes. I will sometimes cut them up for french fries and soak them in cold water in the fridge. But for me vegetables are the easiest part of putting together dinner. When I get home from work I get dinner started. If I'm grilling then while the grill heats I get vegetables ready. Potatoes are easy to peel, and it only takes a minute to snap the ends off of green beans or cut up broccoli or cauliflower, etc.. As much as I love corn, the one job I hate is shucking it, so that is Moe's job. He does it outside. I haven't tried the Lock and Lock's but I have these wonderful vegetable storage containers that Brenda gave me in one of our swaps. They are made by Tupperware and are called Fridge Smart. Different vegetables/fruit require different storage conditions. They have little tabs on the sides that allow for air flow when needed. I tested them with green beans last winter. I bought a large quantity of perfect green beans (hard to find in the winter) and I stored them in one of these containers and they looked and tasted just as good after two weeks as they did when I put them in. Ann

I've been reading self-help, cleaning and organizing blogs and magazines for years. One thought that stood out "You can't organize clutter." The only way to deal with clutter is put things away where they belong and toss as much as possible on a regular basis.