I would love to share photos of my two beautiful girls. Sasha was a stray who found me 8 years ago this month, in fact. I has just bought my home and had only been in it for a about a week or so. I was making my morning coffee in the kitchen, looked out the window and saw this tiny, 3-4 month old kitty curled up in some over-grown grass. She was in awful shape. You could see every bone in her body (hips, back, etc) and it appeared that someone had burned her head with cigarrettes. She had 2-3 round burn-holes on her head. I didn't want cat #3 and tried hard to find a proper home for her. But, I ended up so very attached to her and her sweet personality I couldn't stand to part with her. She was absolutely the most sweetest cat - always gave tons of kisses. The below picture captures her little personality quite well. Here's another one of my favorite pictures of Sasha: Below is of Sabrina, The Super Model. She was sleek, 100% jet black and exotic looking. She had a very strong will and personality. She despised everyone except for me- whom she adored. She went through alot healthwise - hyperthyroid, kidney disease and cardio-myopathy. Even my vet said she's never seen a cat with such an incredible will to survive. I think Sabrina hung on for me, knowing how devastated I would be when she passed. She is the only cat I actually picked out from the SPCA. They rest have all come into my life on their own. Actually, Sabrina picked me as well. I had spent over an hour looking at all kinds of cats and decided to 'think it over' and return the next day. Something made me turn around as I was almost to the exit. I looked and saw a cage of kittens that I had some how missed. All the kittens were asleep in a pile -- except for one. She was sitting straight up and staring intently at me and pressed against the cage. I "knew" she was the one. She was only 6 weeks old (they no longer adopt them out that young anymore, thank goodness...) and absolutely adorable. She grew up to be my most devoted companion and The Queen of the house. I sure do miss them both....

groomingal-glad your going to get your $500.00 back. Before you hire another agent (if you do), you might ask your attorney if he can recommend one he has worked with. If he has attended many closings, he will know the good ones from the bad. You will get good advice in this forum, but it really does pay to educate yourself. Also, don't tell your agent anything about your personal life. This will be passed along to the seller. You don't want them to know what will motivate you to pay a higher price. We are currently looking for a house. We use sites such as Realtor.com, RealtyOneLiving.com, ForSaleByOwner.com, Homes.com, www.traderonline.com and Craigslist.org just to name a few. We check the Sunday paper and read local newspapers to get a feel for what is popular in different areas. A visit to the local Sheriff plus a look at familywatchdog.us for a sex offender check tell us what the crime rate is and what types are more prevalent than others. The offender check is important for resale value. We almost made an offer on a house where the next door neighbor was on the offender list for both molestation and burglary. Not the kind of neighbor you want to keep an eye on your house when you go on vacation. We pick up the weekly home guides, attend open houses and drive around areas we are interested in. If we see a house we like, we try to chat up the neighbors as well as look up the property on the County auditor/recorder site to glean what information we can before approaching the SA/owner. If there are issues regarding a well, we check with the health/building department. We NEVER take a RE agents word for anything. We have found county departments to be both helpful, as well as a wealth of information. They will tell you what permits are on file for the house, what future development plans are in the works (new bridge?), any hazardous sites in your area or who ratted on who for a violation. You will also get a feel for how easy they will be to work with when you need a permit to put on an addition, etc. A few links that might be useful: Best real estate Web sites money.cnn.com/2006/05/12/real_estate/reguide_moneymag_addresses_0606/index.htm ask.metafilter.com/21871/House-buying-tips The neighbors you may not know about-Newsday.com www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-lisex1023,0,232400.story One more suggestion: Since you need to move quickly and are having a hard time finding a pet friendly rental. You might think about placing an ad in Craigslist. Lots of sellers are renting until the market improves. Maybe you can find an FSBO who would be willing to do a land contract. Never hurts to ask.

RH is looking for new investors, so they can build all these huge 'Gallery' stores. Can the cost of building their Gallery stores (many of them on rented property) and this huge real estate "growth" really be paid for by that much of an increase in sales? I am far from being an analyst but didn't she claim that RH had a 1% growth over their 'competition' who ever that is and can't 1% be easily fudged, suggesting their growth might actually be significantly lower than their competition. And does any of that matter? According to Murphie's Law, as soon as a business builds it's ultimate perfect factory it begins it's quick decline and untimely death. Not so funny is that this has been true of many business that made huge expantions just to fail. Architectural Digest calls it "RHâÂÂs evolution from home-goods purveyor to full-scale lifestyle brand." When the CEO says you don't see a cash register or prices, I think he means that the check out is done on a tablet or in an 'office' looking space with a desk, or maybe hidden behind a partition like where the waitress keeps the coffe pot. When he said no price tags I wondered if he meant signs, like huge banners strung across the ceiing proclaiming "10 DAY SALE 50% OFF ALL ITEMS". But according to yelp, they don't have price tags: "The shopper asked about a table arrangement (three planters with some sort of grass growing in them). The question: "Are these for sale?" The employee's response: "I'm not sure. I don't think so, but maybe they are." She said this over and over and over again. I should have gotten video. She followed with: "I could ask [employee X]. He should be down soon - I think." "it is so hard to find prices and forget asking any specific questions because there are no employees in sight. Some of the items had no price tag at all..." "...I didn't really see price tags anywhere. It didn't help that all the husbands were lounging on the seating, half asleep and pretending to look busy on their smartphones while waiting for their wives to finish up shopping." I think if you want a price, they take you to a computer where you basically order from the online catalog and wait 6 weeks for them to make and deliver it. In the investors video he uses the verb: "architected" Later he says he: "curated (the) People", is that like picking someone out of a slave market line up because they have the best teeth? If I had any of their stock, after seeing this I would have sold it that minute, because to me they have become an utter-disgust-style. And did anyone else think of J Peterman from Seinfeld, when watching him purr his meaningless bathos.

If I get to the coast, I have a really hard time leaving paradise and making day trips to see other places, so I'd probably never make it to Astoria, except it's on my way DOWN to paradise...but if you get bored, or the weather isn't great, maybe you'll venture out. I ate at a nice restaurant in Astoria recently and while searching for the name to post here, (it's Bridgewater Bistro - good food, nice place!) I came upon this recommendation as one of the 10 best restaurants outside of Portland. I'd definitely try it on my next visit. Albatross Albatross (address and info) Astoria Helmed by the dude behind Thistle in McMinnville, and ex-PDX Chef Eric Bechard, this cooly laid-back, brick-walled eatery is heavy on the reclaimed touches (an ancient cash register, a retro stereo, etc.), and on farm-to-table eats like boldly flavored clams, and one of Oregon's best burgers w/ caramelized onions & a smooth white cheese sauce on a pillow-soft bun.