"Strangest".... That's pretty funny, as I am the only one in my entire neighborhood that grows *ANY* fruit at all.... The neighbors look at me like I am some sort of anachronism for growing a little garden and some fruit trees.... But... The "Strangest" of all the common stuff I have is a cider pear, a Citation Rootstock peach/plum that had the graft die, an American Purple plum seedling, and a roadside dug-up seedling peach. My Purple and black tomatoes probably classify as what folks around here think is weirdest... They look and say "But... It's rotten!" On the sugar cane thing - if you poke around and ask the old timers at the feed stores - you will find that most farm families in the Deep South used to raise their own sugar cane for sweetening things.... As Jolji said - you bury them over the winter, then dig them up and plant them shallow after Easter... This year, I want a Jujube and a couple filberts... In years past - people expressed wonderment at my Vanilla orchids... Thanks

When my son was about 7 they made Thanksgiving turkeys out of potatoes, with toothpicks for legs etc, in Beaver Scouts. It decorated the table for Thanksgiving Day and then it disappeared. I never thought anymore about it. Fast forward to mid-winter...every time I went into his room there was this horrid smell yet I couldnt find anything...until one day I went to clean out his chest of drawers cause they were all in a jumble. As I opened the last drawer, which held his seldom used summer clothes (remember this is mid-winter)the smell which had been lurking in the background became overwhelming ..lo and behold..as I was taking out the clothes I also encountered a slimey mass with a couple of toothpicks...not a pleasant experience..but at least I knew where the smell was coming from...lol He had wanted to keep it for next thanksgiving and said he put it there so he would remember where it was...lol

Love Bee's black ceiling and the painted bathroom floor. I've made some departures, for me, in going with a new chandelier for my dining room that has a lot more crystal than anything I ever thought I would like, and I love it. Then I put a large, contemporary crystal chandelier (a disc, basically) in the master bedroom. Love it. Painted the dining room blue when everyone else was going red. My appetite is ruled by what is on the plate, and if that doesn't stimulate an appetite, why eat it? Not one person has refused to eat because it wasn't painted red. But it is a calm environment, so maybe there is less digestive upset after? ;-) Probably my most different thing was selecting three cabinet finishes and door styles for my kitchen when two was not often done. I have two hardware finishes and styles, two faucet finishes, two counter tops -- and it doesn't look wild at all. We also reduced the doorways on one wall from three to two and used the space to put a hutch with fridge drawers and a counter for our espresso machine in the breakfast room. Normally, I would not close an exterior door, but we had one into the garage right next to one to the driveway and another to the driveway at the other end of the counter run. We think we corrected a builder blunder. My porch was painted blue, but it has faded and now that it is time to repaint, I'm going to go darker.

I've loaned money a lot but have pretty much stopped it. I've been stung a couple times by people I thought were friends. I've just decided it has to be something extraordinary for me to do it anymore. It's tough. It goes against many of my beliefs but then again, I worked and work hard for my money. I live a frugal life. When someone is a spendthrift, makes more than me and wants to borrow from me, I've started feeling a bit offended. In addition to what Minnie_tx said, I'd suggest you say in your own words (and practice it several times so you say it smoothly) I know how it is these days. Let's share some tips on making our money go farther, or economizing, or something to that effect. Maybe mention a couple frugal websites you found interesting and you'll share them or something. Frankly it's what they need. If they have to borrow $5-$15 they're probably not budgeting their money properly. Turn off some lights, quit driving as much, buy cheaper and smarter, etc. Are they borrowing it to go to a movie? Go out to eat? Maybe it's time for them to turn off the cable and the contract cell phone(s)? Another good thing to do is to get pro-active on it. When you see these people, just mention how much it was for a prescription, to fill the tank, etc. Mention something like, guess we won't take the trip to see ____ at least for a while. And be sure to give a heavy sigh and say oh well, we're all in the same situation in a way, aren't we? Smile, take a deep breath and change the subject quickly. (Nice that summer's here, doesn't the lawn look nice or whatever) How can someone hit you for a loan after that? And the beauty is you're being honest. I'm one who is opposed to lying to people especially to keep from telling them what they often need to hear but to simply say you just can't do it this time and mention that you understand since you saw your (prescriptions, groceries, car repairs or other honest things) go up and you know how it is to have to tighten your belt. And certainly to be expected to be a bank for a number of people in the building? That's abominable. And to not give you some interest is pretty tacky too. I have a relative in Texas who was impacted by hurricanes a few years back. She called in desperation that all the banks were closed, she couldn't cash her paycheck, needed gas to get to work and the stations that were able to operate were only taking cash and would be closing soon. The power was out and she knew it would be out for days so she wanted to get a few supplies since all refrigerated/frozen items would spoil soon. All she needed was to get $200 until she could cash her check and would pay me back next week. Well, next week became next month, then later and later and I did get paid back over 2 years later and she paid me some interest and costs of wiring the money. What ticked me off was when she was talking she had most of the money but not all of it so she couldn't pay me back right then (she never heard of paying something?) and then it was comments about they deserved something special so she bought some special food and they went out to eat, etc. She was buying things that she really didn't need, well, you know how it goes. And was saying how ashamed she was that it was taking so long and she was afraid to even email me, etc. Well, after finally getting it back, she called again within a year or so wanting to borrow again. This time it was only going to be a month to two months because she had a new job, her husband's disability payments would be coming in, etc. Well that took more than a couple months. She's been hinting again and I've just said that things are tight here. I mention often about gas bills in the winter, insurance, etc. For her own good she needed to be cut off. I'm pretty sure she'll hit up my sister who won't do it after seeing the last couple times, well she says that anyway so it could be she is loaning her something! IDK. All I know is that the Dotmom saving & loan needs to take care of herself. It's easy for things to get out of hand and while I'm sure $5-$10 isn't going to make you go without food or medicine, it cannot go on. That's Buster's catnip fund that's being threatened! ;) Good luck to you my dear. And don't feel bad about protecting you and your husband's (and of course fuzzball's) interests. That's not selfish, that's common sense. A lot of friendships break up over money. That's the way it is. But to me they're not friends if that happens. Friends don't cheat friends out of their money. Wow was it hot and humid around here today! I'll take 30° over this any day! :)