Pammy; you should get something in writing; especially with all of these wacky storms we're having. The neighbor could easily go to a storage unit. You can bet most people would put a claim into your home owners. Raising my hand! Had a neighbor that baby sat my daughter; she liked a few things I had; kind of talked me into letting her use /borrow toys; table; sewing machine.. She turned around & sold it at a yard sale a few months later & denied table & sewing machine were on loan. We had a neighbor at our old house that we did a lot with. The tools they didn't have we did; what we didn't; they did. It was a great relationship too; my hub helped them & their hub helped us. When the neighbor helped my hub; I cooked dinner for both families & would bathe the kids so the mom could relax because I was appreciative of the help. To this day; I can't believe what happened over an iron. I do not iron much; but I'm pretty sure I'd recently used it with no issues. I normally wash the fabric; then iron & cut the pattern out. The iron at this point was probably close to 10 years old; but even the box was in great shape. I take care of my stuff & it lasts. Neighbor borrowed my iron & when I went to use it next; it didn't work. I was making bibs for the neighbor. I wasn't able to just jump in my car & replace it. I was still recovering from my huge back surgery; was down close to 8 months. I saw her come home from Walmart with a new iron. Here I'm not driving; making bibs for 2 of the kids; I would have gladly given her a $20 to pick up a similar iron to what I had but she never offered anything. I didn't expect her to replace the iron; I was more hurt that she didn't ask if I wanted her to pick up a new one while she was out. The story was that my iron didn't work when she used it. What I did not understand is why no one bothered to tell me it wasn't working. Wish I remember how I got to the store to buy a new one. It bites but if you break something (anything) you borrowed don't you replace it? The solution should be discussed. In the case of something expensive; neighbor should have at least offered to get an estimate on repairs; then take it from there This post was edited by roselvr on Sat, Jun 8, 13 at 12:30

Yesterday I was in Costco and they had the Shark Rotator Powered Lift Away 3 in 1 vacuum on sale with an instant $60. manufacturer's rebate. I paid $239 and it came with the under appliance tool, the upholstery brush, a 2 in1 crevice tool, the weird floor tool where you can attach a cloth and vacuum and dust simultaneously, the canister caddy and the attachment that I really like - the mini motorized brush. The vacuum head LED lights and another light on the handle. I had been using the top model Sears Progressive canister for years but I don't like their newest model - nor the price - so I thought I'd give the Shark a try. Costco has a wonderful return policy too. I used it immediately because my black Lab is a notorious shedder. It seemed to do a good job. One thing I noticed and didn't like is that the wheels are close together and I have one rug that shows vacuum marks - well for some reason the Shark leaves very noticeable wheel lines in the rug. The next time I vacuum I'll do a little comparison test. Vacuum half the family room with the Kenmore and half with the Shark. Empty the containers and then vacuum again switching vacuums and see how much they pick up. I've avoided Shark for the same reason I've avoided all of those "As Seen on TV" things. The informercials are just so enthusiastic and loud that they remind me of Boardwalk shills.

Insulate, insulate, insulate. Out of all the insulations available and that we have tried, I sill like the Corning fiberglass batts the best. We have been trying out a European style climate control system called a Ductless mini split system in our barn. It cools and heats like a charm and is about 50% more efficient than a standard common air conditioner/heating system. This is what I will use in my shed, and we are seriously considering these for our house. When we built our barn, we had a nice concrete floor poured, and it was built using standard pole barn construction. We used high quality metal to skin it and the roof. My husband insulated an office area, and rather than use sheetrock, he finished the walls with the same white metal roofing material. The result has impressed me. It is clean, nicely finished, inexpensive, and will never need to be painted. Works great for him. (I, however, want a more "feminine" finish in my space). Moccasin I had a good laugh about being as happy as a pig in mud....until I remembered what the wild hogs have recently done to my pond area. They tore the h....out of it and ate all my frogs! What a mess! I am so mad. They even uprooted some trees I planted. We're putting some nasty barbed wire fencing up around our whole property as we speak, but we'll see if it actually stops them. enigmaquandry, the more we all keep letting the government get away with telling us how to use our property, the more they will take more and more of our freedoms away. Frankly, in my opinion, it is absolutely NONE of their business what someone does on their own property as long as it harms no one. If you build a shed and want to use it for something, tell them it's a tack room. Or a potting shed. And then politely invite them to leave. Legally all they can do is measure the outside dimensions for tax purposes. Sandy

Popular =/= "good idea." Witness most of the 1970's. The thing is, the more "popular" something tends to become, the lower the lowest standard of it drops, and the more quickly the wheels of "trendy" tend to run it over. "Modern farmhouse" is no more special than "Shabby Chic" or any number of similar trends that have previously erupted, taken over Pinterest, and faded away to nothing but a trope. It's just that right now, the proliferation of media means that it's entirely possible to flood your senses with one thing. Most of the criticism has been this: It's not an architectural style at all. If anything, it's a design phenomenon. And many of it's most prominent features are either just egregiously misplaced in anything but a rural setting - or in a HOUSE, for that matter (barn doors, chicken wire, windows propped up here and there, galvanized metal "paneling"). Others are OK in a general way, but being used in ways that are less "new" than "silly" (Shiplap fireplace surrounds). Or fine in theory, but so overused as to give people an eye twitch (grey paint, especially Revere Pewter, "word art", rusty anything). And because it isn't an architectural style, most of the plans that your seeing are the same stock plans that have been around for decades with a new "modern farmhouse" elevation slapped on the front. A little white siding, a standing seam metal roof, some black windows, and voila!! Bonus - once the trend dies, a new facade relating to whatever's next can be switched out with no need to alter much of anything. Less work for the plan design factories! If you like it, great. Just be prepared for a lot of it to very soon go the way of dusty blue, mauve, and demented geese.