All of these are great deals! But I may have gotten the deal of a lifetime. Last year after Christmas I was in a big box store when several TC caught my eye. Of course I was hoping for an after Christmas deal and I found one. I brought a plant over to the cashier and asked the price. Her voice and face shower great surprise "2 cents!" There were 8", 6", and 4" pots. I'm not going to tell you how many I bought for my 56 cents! Talk about a problem trying to sneak them into the house without DH catching on. They are beginning to bloom again now. Karen

That omitted some of the classics! Capture the Flag: Everyone divides up into two teams at night. Each team has a "flag" -- usually just a shirt or bandana. The terrain is split up into two sides, one for each team. Each side positions their flag -- depending on your rules, either announcing where it is, or hiding it within certain constraints (say, must be roughly eye level, must be hanging from a tree branch, or whatnot). Usually, no "guarding" of flags is allowed (you can't have a person hang out within, say, ten feet of your flag, although they can pass through the area). If a member of the opposite team is on your side of the border and you spot them, you can "tag" them and bring them to your "jail" -- if you can catch them before they flee back to the safety of their side ;). Jail "guarding" is usually subject to the same constraints as flag guarding. If a person is "jail" is tagged by a member of their team, that person and the person they rescued get free passage back to their side. The winning team is the first one to grab the other side's flag and bring it back to their side without being tagged first. ----------------------- Skits: Classic campfire entertainment. Kids come up with skits to perform in front of all of the other kids (often figured out in advance of the trip if you haven't seen many before). These are generally performed with improvised props (camping equipment) or no props at all. Humor is the most common aspect of them, although sometimes pranks are involved. Googling should come up with a huge list of them. -------------- Commandoes: A game of flashlights. There is one base (a circle of arbitrary radius), one person trying to defend it with their flashlight, and everyone else who tries to sneak into it. Anyone who sneaks into it "wins" and gets to defend the base for the next round. The defender "defends" the base by shining the flashlight around, looking for people. If they tag someone with the beam, that person is "hit" and has to go far away and try to sneak up all over again.

Chase : Thanks for the Info, I might as well end this one at 150. Unless , If they want I'll start another " Baking or Cooking tips Continued " We will need a vote !!!!! Bri : I was sort of kidding at first but then I got to thinking about it. I could just put the jar right in with the Walnut media, then wash it off, when done. David: What do you think? Denna: I guess you can use the Tuna with Water and add some vegetable oil. Or better yet some EVOO. So they go out in Style. Thanks for your vote !!! Nina: I'll have to finish off with the Yellowjacket story. I had to redo the inside of a 1 story Kitchen, for a friend, who reminded me of Bill Cosby. This was in the Pine Barrons of New Jersey. It included redoing the roof. That had to be done first, so there would be no leaks. I put the ladder up and climbed to the top. Got on the roof about 5 feet from the side wall. It was cinder block with a Terra Cotta capping. The end was open (cement was missing ) I saw a Yellowjacket standing Guard there as others were flying in and out. NOW !!! As I moved around he followed me. SO I moved farther away! He came towards me like he was going to attack. Very slowly, I got down off the roof. I went in and told the owner about the Bee's. He said "I'll take care of them tonight , when it gets cooler out side " I guess it didn't get cool enough, because when we came back the next morning, He had about 20 bumps, all over his bald head. It looked like some took a Ball Pean hammer to his head or my Grandmother's Wooden Spoon when she was really mad. I asked what happened, in between us all laughing. He said " I went up and stuck a torch in the hole, Man they came out like Kami- Kaze's. I was down the ladder and in the house in 2 seconds. To top it off, he was re-enacting the scene and swinging wildly and hit a tree branch. GUESS WHAT !!! Bees came out of the tree, after him. We ran the other way, and jumped in the truck. We met him inside later. You guessed it ! he had more bumps on his noggin. He did get rid of them that night. Said he almost set the house on fire. Threw gasoline in the hole first. BUT! he didn't get bit ! Is this story, good as the tablecloth caught in the Zipper? Let me know if anyone wants this Post continued into another. Have the Title picked!!! LOU

Sorry, Trebruchet, but I have to disagree with you on this one. If this was not in the approved design, then it should not have been installed - period. If the contractor thought it would look better with it once he saw the kitchen or if he wanted to make it easier/faster to do something (like crown molding), then he should have discussed it with VVADawg before installing (or even ordering the piece). This is called "gold-plating" in the IT world - putting in elements that were not approved by the client. The contractor should explain why he thinks something is needed and provide several solutions to the issue (based on his experience) - with mockups/drawings to show each of the solutions along with the additional costs and time for each. It can sometimes be a quick hand-drawn picture or maybe a verbal explanation (but I would want it on "paper" for documentation). However, as this is VADawg's kitchen, VADawg should have the final say regarding what solution, if any, is to chosen. VADawg, it may be time for "The Talk" - telling your contractor that this is your kitchen, not his. You will have to live and work in this kitchen for many years to come - your contractor will never see it again once it's done. In addition, you are paying him to implement the agreed upon design, not improvise as he goes along just b/c he likes his ideas better or b/c it's too difficult/time consuming to do the job right or that he agreed to and he's looking for a shortcut. One note: Have this talk in private - with none of his workers or other contractors around. You don't want to "embarrass" him in front of his workers/co-workers. (If he still does not get the message, then it may be time to fire him and hire someone else to finish the job.) I had to have this talk with both my KD and my contractor (at different times and separately). They got the message. My KD got it immediately; it took a bit for the contractor to get the message, but he eventually did. Oh, and document everything with pictures - even if you can't take the pictures until the evening and he's gone. They came in handy for me! After the third time of the contractor disputing something and my responding with, "here's the picture", he stopped questioning me. (E.g., he swore he and his crew did not remove insulation above our bay window - despite the fact that it was on the floor in the DR. I showed pics of it removed way back when they had opened it up to check the space for venting - he went ahead and replaced the insulation with no more questions/arguments.) It's sad that this has to be done, but in some ways I understand. It's his "baby" - he built it and feels some ownership. It's like a programmer who thinks of his code as his baby and resents it when a code reviewer or the customer (who paid for the system) has issues with it. In the IT world "gold-plating" is the bane of our existence - putting in design elements never approved and, in most cases, not wanted just b/c the programmer thinks it's "cool" or that s/he knows better than the customer what is needed/wanted. It causes extra work that adds testing, etc. that was not planned for and adds time/cost to the overall development schedule & budget. Then, if the customer says to take it out, you now have rework to do - that adds even more time & cost. (It also contributes to a lack of trust b/w the customer and your project team - they wonder what else you've done that wasn't agreed to that they haven't seen.) This post was edited by buehl on Sat, May 10, 14 at 14:14