mags: Now that the floor is almost done I'm finding that the color variation isn't bothering me like it was when it was just a strip of flooring. It's uniformly, randomly varied now if that makes any sense. The floor guy is now slicing them on a straight edge so at least as the floor progresses into the kitchen, he'll be starting even. romy: Oh, you are so nice to say that...thank you and please, continue to play along... I'm sure there are more posts as this kitchen gets really moving forward. (Hopefully they'll be of the "I love my ....." instead of " AAHHHHH", type.) raee: It's understandable how that would work with vinyl... I wonder. Maybe we can set the boxes by the heat vent... it certainly would hurt them at all. What you explained about the sanding and finish coat is exactly what the floor guy suggests doing for exactly the reason you outlined. He thought sanding down some of the leftover tiles into dust and then sweeping that into the cracks with a poly overcoat would be the way to go. So, we're going to do that as I really don't want to risk water getting between the tiles and blahdeblah. As I said above the more tiles that get laid, the less the variation bothers me. I'm really liking the floor a lot and this size thing oughta get us a nice reduction in our entry floor cost, so yeah, win win.

Haha I know the feeling of needing to know what a song is. I kept trying to figure out the words to the song on "Jamie at Home" a show on the Cooking Channel. I googled enough that I finally got the info...I love the words, one line that I so appreciate is Take time to make yourself feel good

Oh wow, anyone not familiar with R. Kelly's "Trapped in the Closet"? Where you been?? For those who don't know, it is a 12-part epic song that plays out like an opera (or hip-hopera) replete with various characters and complex plotlines. It was laughed at, parodied and discussed ad nauseum all over blogs, TV, music and the entire entertainment world throughout all of last year and cited as the worst - or at least the most hilarious - song of 2005. The videos are priceless. Many people love it purely for its cheesiness, the lyrics sound like they were made up on the spot in the studio. By accident. You have to hear it believe it. With lyrics like "Then I went up to the closet, and I got into the closet, now I'm trapped in the closet, and he's walking up to the closet." Here's a site which gives you the entire low-down: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trapped_In_The_Closet In the meantime, let me tempt you with some of these tour de force lyrics: ...he looks around the kitchen and says, "Something is really weird," and she says,"why do you say that?" he says,"cause you keep trying to get me out of here," he says, "Ever since I been in this house your face has change from white to red," and remember when I first walked through the door you acted like youve seen a ghost from the dead," And he says,"Girl if your hiding something I'm gonna be so mad," then he hears something falling he says,"What the f*#k was that?" she says,"Sounds like it came from upstairs sounds like the plumbing," he says, "woman that sound didn't come from upstairs I'll be d**n if you're up to something," he says, "now the sound that I just heard came from this kitchen," And he looks over by the stove while she's easy over by the dishes, and he walks over to the refigerator and pushes it back, and he looks her in the face looks like she's about to have a heart attack, and he notices the pie on the counter one slice is missing now the storys getting scary, cause he comes to realize that Bridgette's allergic to cherries, and he slowly looks at her while her face is red as hell, he's breathing real hard moving closer she says,"hon you don't look so well, and then he says, "Move" she says,"No" he says, "Move" she says,"No" "b**ch move!" she moves and then he looks at the cabinet, get close up to the cabinet, now hes at the cabinet, now he opens the cabinet, now pause the movie cause what I'm about to say to y'all is so d**n twisted, not only there's a man in the cabinet but the man is a midget...

I'm lovin' all you guys' stories. We truly are a buncha nuts aren't we?? LOL So, we moved into our house in 2000, after living in a mobile home park for nearly 11 yrs before that. I became a rose nut while there, and I knew one day we'd get outta the park and get our own home with property.... so most of my roses were planted in big 16" plastic pots so we could move them when that day came. Problem was.. I had accumulated around 800 by that time, including a couple 100 minis in 8" pots. So even with 2 young boys and their toys, the bulk of our move was potted roses! The property is a good 1/3 acre on a corner lot at the fork of a circular road. With all the pots all over the virgin yard (no fence, very few native plants, mostly dirt) people would drive by and stop and ask if we were opening a nursery. I (or my husband) would just laugh and say, "nope... it's just a serious rose obsession!... they're all for us." Over the yrs, the neighbors just got used to seeing the crazy rose lady out there. I don't necessarily wear weird attire while out there, but I do have to have something on my feet to protect them from all the crap out there. Unfortunately, working two jobs for awhile there, plus helping to care for my elderly mom the last 7+yrs, time became an issue, and living in the "sticks" up in the Sierras with all of Mother Nature and her wild flora and fauna, things can get out of control very fast. I'm quite sure my neighbors wonder why the heck I haven't gotten all the weeds, and the massive blackberries and heavily overgrown underplantings taken care of. I feel like I'm losing the battle. But, I did have one of the neighbors the other day stop to let me know our dog had gotten out and she'd come to visit their dog, and I apologized for the broken gates that my husband hasn't fixed yet. But he said it was ok and then very kindly said he wanted to thank me for all I do in my yard. He said everyone enjoys seeing my roses blooming! So that made me feel good (even tho I had to apologize for all the weeds) for which he offered his daughter to come help dig them out. But I wouldn't put a little kid thru that. It's too much for an adult! LOL Altho I don't wear funky clothes out there in the yard, I do have to add that I wear some crazy badges of honor, between the gardening and taking care of the chickies. My arms get covered with bruises and scratches! I just turned 60 last month and the last couple of yrs I notice I get those horrible red blood spots whenever I get a minor wound. A thorn poking my arm will create a dime-sized (or larger) red spot. Multiple thorns will make my arm or hand look like I was in a horrific accident! And chickie bites do the same thing! Sooo... instead of getting upset about it, I just wear those wounds proudly! If anyone asks what happened to me, I just say the roses bit me or the chickies bit me! Oh and the other day I came to the shop in a black sweatshirt with chicken poop on the lower front! In fact I just noticed the shirt I'm wearing now looks like it does too! Geez!! Oh well.. I don't care! I love my chickies and I love my roses!!!