I'd say the root cause of the "issue" at hand isn't her partner, but the township. If they hadn't done what they did, the rest would not have followed. Another time when town council people really need to think through what they're doing, and what unnecessary and completely useless trouble their interference precipitates. It makes me think of teens being driven to suicide by unfit parents or vicious peers, or in one case I know about from many years ago, a vicious school board, I really don't consider that a suicide, I consider it murder by proxy. --Ron

Thanks for the heads up, Nandina. I do get daily emails from several sites with free books, but passed this one by because I didn't think it sounded interesting. But I downloaded it on your recommendation. However, I had already trashed the email, so just went to Amazon and under the "Books" heading, typed in the name. The Kindle version did not come up as free. Then I went to the Kindle store and typed in the book name. This time it came up as free and I snagged it. Just thought I'd share. Don't know why the discrepancy, but make sure you check under the Kindle Store heading, not just books. And sometimes free books aren't even free for a whole day. Sometimes it's just hours. Gotta jump!

I appreciate oldryder's first post - why wouldn't we want to take care of our belongings? I even took care of my old, nasty laminate. I've always used large cutting boards and trivets, whatever protection was necessary for the job. I'm careful of contamination and cross-contamination and clean thoroughly as I cook. I am forever grateful to romy for turning me on to the Range Kleen pads and I don't just use them on the marble. I protect all my surfaces. I keep two out at all times, one next to the range and one as a beverage station next to the fridge. It works with our lifestyle. I've had our Danby several months now and I couldn't be happier with it. No stains, etches, or chips. We don't cover all the surfaces and we're still under construction so it's had its share of tool drops though I don't recommend that. I love the variation of very light to dark and of course the sparkle which is difficult to capture in photos. I originally wanted mostly white with gentle veining, but love the interest and texture the veining gives. I also have an antiqish (we're guessing 1930's) polished marble side table. It is still beautiful. It is not babied and does have water ring etching though you wouldn't know unless you're at an extreme angle and the light is just right. In fact, I did not know it had etches until I got on my hands and knees and looked for it. I've used it as en entry table with a chair next to it so it does get abuse-drinks, keys, drop zone. Patina in the upper left corner. I also agree with peony4s wise words, although I asked quite a few of my friends' early 30's kids (male and female), and my 20 something daughter when I was in the choices phase, and they all picked the marble and love it now. Christina222's quartzite and marble combo is gorgeous. Maybe that's the best solution for you, especially if you love polished.

Oh, yes, I re-read all the time. The ones I re-read the most are Jane Austen's novels, the "Outlander" series by Diana Gabaldon, "Anna Karenina" by Leo Tolstoy (one of my favorite books ever), and "Far From the Madding Crowd" by Thomas Hardy. I've re-read "To Kill a Mockingbird," too, but only 3-4 times.:)