Corks! There must be a hidden delight, or reassurance factor to them. Gee, OK,so it hasn't been for yeears, but I used to hang on to them too. Usually just a few handfuls at a time, finally gave it up.[Never had enough to DO something with, but gosh, it felt like a loss!] 'Ferdinand the [mellow] Bull', used to sit under a cork tree, and smell the flowers. Been thinking about how pleasurable various tree products are, like say, coffee, tea, and chocolate. Fruit and nuts are nice too. So is mahogany and walnut furniture, oak floors... Driftwood, is delightful texturally, and sculpturally. Being near Maple trees make me feel secure, maybe it's syrup sap scent, or something. Sassafras is satisfing too, Is it the mitten-y leaf shapes or the scent? I collect locations of special trees, and go out of my way to pass by. When I was a kid, it was old cigar boxes. They were great for kiddie treasures like the tourist 'jewelry' my aunties would send me, like shell flowers- glued with Duco cement? Old lovely china, with chips, used to follow me home, The jars of really cool buttons [mostly M.O.P. shell] went with the corks. Now, I can fend off almost anything, but something for a friend, and old books. Wall paper sample books were so much crafty fun, when I was growing up. The patterns were great for seeing the range of taste that was out there. They were addictive, we always wanted more, sorta like Christmas catalogs. Seriously, the cork thing is funny.

I've been using a Shark steam mop for a year now on my vinyl kitchen floor. I've been pleased with the fast steam production and quick drying, but I recently realized that after I'd been over an area with the mop, if I wiped the floor with a damp paper towel it was still dirty! Here I'd been patting myself on the back for doing a good job cleaning the floor, and come to find out it's not really clean. Is there such a thing as a steam mop that has a brush? My floor is a dark, multi-colored brick pattern that hides dirt excellently.

Thanks lynn2006 and aliris19--love the pun, aliris! We don't have flowers all the time lynn (wouldn't that be nice though?), but I should have taken a new kitchen pic with my beautiful Valentine's Day bouquet--DH drove to the store that Friday morning (after, during? the snowstorms we had) to pick them up for me! Flaten, I have a couple sets of Chilewich placemats (one set I got at Century 21 for something like $4 each--I couldn't believe it when I got home and googled them and saw that they retailed for $20/ea!), so I know how nice some of their materials can be! Here are some pics I have in my PB showing a few of our shades: Guest Bathroom: MB (reflected in the mirror--you can see how sheer that particular fabric is): Guest Bedroom (you can see part of the shade): The shades in the Guest Bedroom and in our "Spare Room" are the prettiest ones we have fabric-wise (IMO), and those have the most texture, too. The shades in the two bathrooms, and our bedroom are solid color, flat weave, and are fairly sheer during the day--we wanted to maximize our ability to look out the windows during the day, while leaving the shades down (on nice days, with the windows open, we raise the shades to the height of the open portion of the window). We have room darkening micro-pleat shades mounted behind the screen shades in both bedrooms. We lower those at night, and raise them fully in the morning when we get up. Privacy micro-pleat shades are available as well, BTW. I haven't seen them in person, but would think they allow more light into the room. Some light does seep in with the room darkening micro-pleats--there are pinholes up/down the length of the shades for the strings that help to raise and lower them. FYI, they do NOT make the Roman Shade style Designer Screen Shades anymore (like the two in our bathrooms, and the ones in our office and FR which are not shown here). They are only available now as a completely flat shade (like the one in our Guest Bedroom). They offer a range of fabrics; from very sheer to fairly opaque, completely smooth through textured, etc. HTH!

She's done, but she for sure is a doll in a gown. Maybe my next one will be a mosaic from start to finish. The arms are not added because they don't fit properly. I would have to add to them with clay to make them look right. Anyway, not something I'll be doing today. Here she is: Thank you all so very much!!! Here is a link that might be useful: Complete worklog of photos