Now Barb you are going to make me go in the garage and dig out the girl scout books ha ha ha so I can continue that tune lol But my hole body hurts so I will rest now and just lay down and watch TV after I am done with the dishes. I shoveled 2 yards of compost out of the bed of the truck into the flowerbeds in the front yard. Still got 1 1/2 beds left to do in the front. After it was empty I rushed back to the city composting place and picked up another full truckload. Starting on the one flowerbed next to the garage. I wanted to plant some plants in there yesterday and I KNEW I had to improve the soil first. I was supprised that the EE's grew as good as they did in that soil. So I CU all tomorrow Lucy

ahhh thank you all for those BIG smiles that I know came from your hearts! Eloise so true!! Daniella hope you will make it just fine through the LONG day and hopefully end it with a smile at least in your sleep then lol Karyn it WAS in the garden but for now as long as it is still blooming, it is in the living room. This bloom opened up real nice and big. Dorothy you are so welcome and hope the person you pass your smiles on, knows the priceless gesture he or she recieved. Hey my 2 cats even love it when I take a moment and give them my loving smile. Ok time to really get moving lol Till later back here...with a SMILE! Cause then it is relax time again :-) Lucy

Maggie, your DS looks so excited! The first day of school is such a big deal!! I think it's much harder on Mom than your DS. lol Grace is a sweetie. I don't think she looks like an old woman! Here's what my area looks like. I actually live in what's known as 'Historic Mystic' but that's confusing because there's no such jurisdiction. Half of 'Historic Mystic' is in Groton & the other half is in Stonington. I live on the Stonington side. Exactly where 'Historic Mystic' is causes a fuss so the USPS has given us our own zipcode. That causes even more confusion. I have trouble getting packages delivered properly. I've even had Sears tell me, "Nope, we can't go THERE to service your refrigerator!" Aargh DH's tide watch needs a new battery so I took it here...to Stonington Boro. Stonington Boro is a one street wonder. Here it is looking the other direction. I like New England architecture. Here's a few of the houses in the Boro. I love these windows but am glad cleaning the salt film off is not my job. It's beautiful during the holidays with wreaths & candles. I drove down a couple blocks to turn around at Stonington Point. There was a group of nine kayakers (sp?)...very picturesque. Here's where we are...if you look at the piece of land between Stonington & Mystic...I live on the 3rd little penninsula counting from the left. Stonington Point is a neat spot. You can see 3 different states (Fisher Island, New York, Stonington, CT, & Watch Hill, Rhode Island). Next, I went here...to the Mystic Inn to meet a marina friend for lunch. This is where Lauren Baccal & Humphrey Bogart spent their extended honeymoon after getting married in Ohio. It's known as the "Mansion" & is now a part of the Inn. The restaurant is in another building (Floodtide Restaurant) & is very good. There are four rooms in the "Mansion" on the second floor. Guests are free to use the first floor which includes this music room w/piano; a parlor w/huge fireplace & library; the dining room (either order from the restaurant or prepare your own meal); & the kitchen. The kitchen's wonderful. Circa 1905 & pretty much original except for new appliances. Guests can cook there if they want to but I can't imagine anybody actually fixing scrambled eggs in the morning? The Inn serves rolls/coffee/juice in the morning & tea sandwiches are available from trays between 4:00-5:00 p.m. It's a bit of a hike down the hill to the restaurant from the "Mansion" but a very beautiful place to spend a get-a-way weekend. The gardens are spectacular. I wanted to snap some photos but staff was bustling about getting ready for a wedding & I felt like an intruder. :( The Inn keeps a Rolls Royce to shuttle you around Mystic & Stonington Boro. Despite this rather formal Inn this is a very casual area. I showed you the Inn because that's how we came to live here. We'd come down from NH for a weekend & stayed at the Inn. We sat on the lawn for hours looking over a marina & the Sound beyond. Little did we know then that several years later we'd end up with a house 1/4 mile from the Inn & keep our boat in the same marina we'd watched on our first visit. Serendipity. It's a long ways from Fresno; but I like it here. /tricia

I like woven wood shades for your windows instead of the white shades. You can get the woven woods with pretty edging and fabric banding, to add a bit of a feminine touch to an otherwise masculine style of window covering. They also come in blackout lined versions, which are very nice in a bedroom. The color choices and textures are really nice. And you can get them in a roman shade style, so it doesn't look like some cheesy 70s wood roller shade, either. They're really very pretty (can you tell I like them, :-)). I would eliminate the drapes altogether and just stick with a woven wood with edge banding and a scalloped valance. JMO. Lots of options at HD and Lowes for woven woods -- and they're often on sale.