Well, I also won a "completely restored" John Deere lawn tractor from the local Old Engine club a couple of years ago. It ran for about 15 minutes then blew up. LOL And now, the real prize. Elery and I went to a Taste of Home Cooking Show, he got tickets as a gift from his sister. One of the sponsors was a woman's shelter and a local builder donated a $1,500 island, beautiful handmade cabinetry with some kind of composite counter top that looks like granite. Raffle tickets were sold, proceeds went to the women's shelter. Elery bought 3 tickets, gave them to me. Yup, the island will be delivered to Elery's next week, we tried to sell it back to the builder because there's no place in either of our houses to install it. I think we've decided to keep it and put it into the new house when we build in a couple of years. It's a very, very nice prize but who the heck wins a kitchen island? Annie

Lisa, I considered suggesting she let Blaze play with the lead, but thought perhaps she should first teach him to leave it alone, then let him play! Also, I was assuming that she is just trying to teach Blaze manners, not planning to show him? If you are going to show, Lisa is correct, you cannot take toys or food into the ring. I was going to add that if you do find that a toy helps with the leash problem, you will now have a great training tool. You can use the toy in many ways as a reward. For example, you will probably be doing sit stays. You can take the toy with you when you leave your dog (hide it in a pocket or someplace). When you return and release your dog, you can tell him very enthusiastically how good he is, then toss him the toy and let him play for a few minutes. Make sure you get a "high motivation" toy, something he will really want to work for, but also something small enough that you can stick it in a pocket, or in a butt pack or elsewhere on your body so you can pull it out when you want and put it away at other times. There are several online resources for training toys, one I like is jjdog.com. You could read what they say about various toys and probably find something similar in a local store. In our agility classes, there are several people who use leads that are thick braided soft leads. When the dog does something great, they then get to play tug-of-war with the lead. Tug can be a great motivator, depending on your dog. Some people will not recommend playing tug, for two reasons - if you want your dog to be a hunting retriever, you don't want him playing tug, and if your dog is dominant, tug can increase the dominance. I have never had a problem with that, but it depends on your dog. In my opinion, the best way to get Blaze to work with you in training is to make it fun for him and to reward him highly for everything he does right. Good luck.

I found a walkthrough on a cheat site and I still can't get out of the room! Highlight the white space below if, like me, you are a cheater... 1. get knife. hidden in plant. 2. get gun. under pillow 3. get note. in garbage can. 4. get stick. right side of bookshelf 5. get silver ball. hidden in books 6. go to alien picture 7. use knife on picture 8. disregard curse 9. use laser gun take box click around very top. get credit card. go back to where corner of the room, with alien pic click top. click stick into middle of ceiling. give ninja silver ball. go to ground and take rocket rancher. 17 go to top of bookshelf and get tape put tape in tv. click well. click key give hand credit card threaten hand with laser gun take key. put key in box put in 099 as code go to window use rocket rancher on space ship get note. 29 put note on blue square beside door click door you win I get the door open but nothing happens when I click on it.

Technically speaking, it's not legal to change an addressee on a postage affixed envelope. In reality, the post office isn't too picky about it. Technically, you're supposed to take it to the post office and have it replaced. Like I said, I don't think they're too picky, and have done it before. But we are talking about an organization who sued the Boy Scouts for putting their fundraiser brochures on mail boxes! Ob $aver thought: My favorite is paying bills online. Between postage, envelope and check fees, it's realistically 50¢ per bill saved. I'm saving $25/year easily, plus the gas of going to a mail box. Another favorite is my little "pantry". I hate going to the store and people who have to run to the store every day for something are nuts. Worst case, I can always make a can of soup. Plus I have a few groceries in case of a storm. Another phrase I enjoyed came from one of the spouse-swap programs where the minimalist/frugal wife's motto was "Do I need it? Do I love it? Does it make me money?" If not, toss it. Oh, and I was proud of myself... My washer was dumping water all over the floor and I thought I'd have to replace a washer after only 26 years of dependable service. Hey Joyful, shouldn't that have been under warranty??? ;) Being crippled up like I am these days, I can't do too much but I was curious to see if there was a chance of it just being a hose or something, plus I couldn't really wreck it, so, after tearing it open, sure enough, all that happened was two hose clamps lost their tension. A trip to the auto parts store, 2 - 25¢ hose clamps, maybe an hour, well, couple hours of "work" (more play and confidence builder) and I saved the cost of a new machine and disposal of the old. So what would that be? Anywhere from $100-$500 per hour pay, tax free, and I'm washing away again. Maybe I'll get another 26 years out of it? Well maybe not, but I'd expect a couple years of use anyway. Oh, other little things, like making a non-electric humidifier out of an ice cream pail sitting in front of the heat register. Cut holes in the top to keep the cat from playing in there. Plus I had to set it into a dishpan because she got mad and tipped it over! There's so many things, I can't think of them. But I enjoy reading others ideas too. I guess I try to make money spending an investment. For instance the Frugal Gazette books to me are an investment since they give you ideas and motivation. Use the library for movie borrowing & rental. Bought a few dozen popular movies for $1 each and share them with a lot of people. Shop for things on the internet to see what they'll cost, then know if it's a good buy when you go out. I had to buy a new dryer and saved $200 by buying a floor model at the "BB" Store. Researched things I wanted and checked reviews and the like. My $5/mo ISP has paid for itself so many times it's hilarious.