Well - I have been debating turning an antique steam trunk into one. It was given to me by a friend who did not want it any more. It is in good shape but needs refinishing. The inside smells awful (horse glue). I just don't have the energy to try to get the old fabric out. I think it would be a fun huge planter for at least a few years. I am hesitating because I feel as if I should find someone to finish it. It came from Europe with one of her husband's relatives but no one wants it. One other plan I have is to turn a filing cabinet in to one. I got a free cabinet. Just need to decide on a color and where to put it. Here is a link that might be useful: Filing cabinet planter

Hi Jacee Welcome to the wonderful and addicting world of machine embroidery!! What ever machine you get will having you thinking "I'm in way over my head", to start with. Go with the best you can afford....you won't regret it in the long run and take as many classes as you can. If your dealer offers free lessons, TAKE THEM!!, if not register for basic embroidery classes where possible. The more you do the less intimidating it becomes and you'll soon be saying "what ever was I afraid of?" Most machines come with designs built right in them and possibly a basic embroidery program for the computer as well (that's where the real fun comes in...modifying designs and creating your own) to get you started. There are many free designs available online as well as basic howto's on some sites. Good Luck

I have a zojirushi bread machine and I love it. I knew I wanted the zoji so I watched Craigslist and got one for $90. I use the dough cycle a lot. It saves me time. I can put the ingredients in at 5 am and set the timer to deal with the dough when I am home from work.I make foccacia, bagels, pizza dough. I do bake bread in the machine too and it is great for a soup and bread supper and I have several sandwich loaves we like. I would recommend getting a food scale too if you don't have one. I find bread in bread machine or by hand works best if you weigh instead of meadure.

I don't have access to CR's so I can't argue against it. I do have the TC5. Before this house I had a top loader that worked fine but wasn't anything fancy. While building we had a rental and it had a front loader and I liked it. Never a problem with smells but I did clean the big rubber pad and always left the door open. I wanna say it was an LG, it's been 6 years so it's fuzzy. I know for sure it wasn't a Samsung. I knew a handful of people who had Samsung's at the time and had lots of problems. For the new house I wanted a top loader. We bought a Maytag with an agitator since I was told that's what you want for farmer cloths, we're in a farming community. Short version of that story is it kept tripping the GFI because it electrified the water lines. My husband called BS until he checked it. My husband said he knew guys at work that wanted to get SQ but their wives wanted the bells and whistles so they bought something else. 2 years down the line they were kicking themselves. I've had it for 3-4 years now and am very happy with it. I've used Kirkland free & clear with no problems but just switched to their powered stuff and still happy with the results. Edit to add: I hadn't even looked at it when I bought it. My kids were being h*llions that day and it was all I could do to lock myself in the closet to get it ordered and paid for so they could get it on the delivery schedule :)