I found the tax shelter in this posting when searching for a gift for my brother. He is a tax preparer and has everything. So I just had to share what I did for him. I took one of those woodcraft houses from Walmart- removed the two screws from the base. I cut a 1" block of wood that fit into the bottom of the house. I glued this block onto the base thus allowing the top of the house to be easily lifted off the base. I cut a 1/2" groove in the center of the block with the table saw so I could set a card of thumb tacks into it. This was hidden in the house until the top was lifted off. I wrote a poem for this & read it to him while my daughter did a Vanna White presentation of the house. Everyone got a good laugh out of this and I finally did a complete craft project! It's been a while. Hope you have as much fun with this as we did. Here's the poem: I drew your name for Christmas It's an honor, don't you know To get my brothers name for Christmas Ah! ashopping I will go. But then I started frettin After searching high and low Whatever will I get 'im (Twas wrong to worry so!) I went into an office shop Maybe something for your desk? I talked to the clerk a lot She tried to aid me in my quest. He could use a tax shelter Is what the lady said It seemed a bit off-kelter But there was nothing left instead. So here's your little shelter All painted so very nice The foundation has been mended The roofs' been polished thrice. The flowers are all blooming In the big pot by the door The bumblebees are buzzing And there's no sawdust on the floor. It seems to be the perfect place I do agree she's right It sure beats a plain old case And your tacks! They're finally safe at night!

I like both ideas and will participate when I can! I already like your theme ideas. I don't know if this is a good idea but had thoughts about picking a chef - say Julia and then everybody makes something from that chef - either it is discussed before hand or it is a surprise to see what people made? .... I dunno ... LOL

dreamgarden, No, DH's bank is not on the list. They muddled through '08 with a year end profit. DH's bank puts soundess & safety first on the 'ole Mission Statement. :) Also, no layoffs nor any planned. They're actually a bit short-handed because of the jump in refi applications the past month, or so. /tricia

I wonder where the car engine CD is? I know a whole slew of babies who would settle down as soon as they were in a running car. I'm another noise-hater. I have enough noise in my head already thanks to tinnitus and sometimes it makes my hearing hyperacute. I buy earplugs by the case. Seriously! I've always got a pair in my purse for when I go into stores and such, especially the supermarket and big dept. stores like Target, because it seems like there's always little kids doing what DH and I call "testing the acoustics" (which I would have gotten into some seriously deep trouble for when I was that age, but now everyone's expected to put up with it). White noise grates on my nerves, something about that monotonous sound drives me right up the wall. DH can't believe how low I keep the TV volume, I can hear it fine but he can't get more than a mumble at that level. I'm always asking him to turn down the tv, video game, or stereo. The default speaker setting on my computer is "mute", about the only time I turn the sound on is when watching a video clip. I don't mind hearing people talking though if they're doing so relatively quietly - I talk on my cell phone in public sometimes but I keep my voice down as much as possible. I do plug myself into my iPod at physical therapy because they play an annoying radio station most of the time and people I don't much like, such as one creepy old guy who always gawks at my boobs and never looks above my collarbone, always try to talk to me if I don't. The headphones do seem to do a good job of telling people I'm not interested in chitchat, so go away! Plus if I can get something with a good beat going or something funny (like standup comedy) it distracts me when my joints start to complain. We bought an electric lawnmower because they're so quiet (sounds a bit like a small vacuum cleaner) as well as far less polluting than gas mowers, so it's much more polite to the neighbors. I'm thinking about giving the guy next door a key to our shed so he can use our mower, because his is deafening as well as stinky! DH never works on any noisy projects before 9am or after 6pm because it's just rude to the people around us. I can understand the early-morning snowblowers because people have to get to work, but there's no need to mow the lawn that early. We've been here about 1 1/2 years and I'm just getting used to being back in a closely packed neighborhood (there's only about 15 feet between houses - we couldn't afford anything with a bigger lot) after being on a thickly wooded acre where the only noise was the motorcycle riders that loved the road behind us. WHY do those things have to be so d@mn loud??? Theoretically there's a noise ordinance in this city but it's pretty much rock bottom on the police priority list so motorcycles and muscle cars roar, car stereos blare and so on. A kindergarten-aged child who lives near me screams at the top of her lungs whenever she's playing outside. And I mean a piercing screech that penetrates through earplugs like an icepick. She'll get into screeching contests with another girl too, I guess to see who can get the highest pitch and the loudest. She ignores us if we ask her to keep it down and talking to her parents resulted in a snort, a sneer, and the moronic phrase "oh, she's just a kid, lighten up". How about teaching your kid some respect for other people when she's young enough to learn, ya dingbat? At least the family with the half a dozen kids and the basketball hoop moved away, so we don't have to listen to that ball all day and most of the night - we liked the parents fine but we could have done without the basketball hoop! (The parents would send the kids outside pretty much whenever it wasn't pouring or extremely cold because they lived in a house that was way too small for such a big family and everyone drove each other nuts. I can sympathize.)