On our Christmas posts someone had great jeweled cone trees. 1 pastel other 1 Victorian looking. Can't remember what it was under but they were all pinned on so could be reused. With damaged jewelry you could take a "jewel" off of 1 item & put on another to fill in hole & then spray the whole thing, no one would know! Yes, I agree that all the jewelry needs sorting,clear plastic shoe boxes or even regular shoeobxes marked on end or ziploc bags & put it all in large box, mark top of bag with items inside- so they are "filed" in the box. Whole earrings with stones or rhinestones all in a box that way you see if you have enough of something to work out your design. It's been about a year so hope you have made something up. If not organize it so it isn't so out of control. I've gotten small stashes & even that is a mess if not sorted out. Hope yoou post pics soon. Jan

Thanks! It's been a busy, busy week with, first my b'day and now DH's (today). His big b'day party was Friday evening and, I swear, I feel like we've been doing b'day stuff for a month now! This morning for his special breakfast of Huevos Rancheros, DD used the blue & white plates. For tonight's dinner, I guess we'll be using the red Talavara-look ones. I'm making Beef Tenderloin Medallions with a Brandy Cream Sauce, fresh asparagus and ?. I'm still thinking about the starch part. Maybe Wild & Brown Rice with Toasted Pinon Nuts & Fresh Cilantro. As much as I'd love to use the pink/red transferware, it's too feminine for DH's b'day dinner, so we're going for the Talavara. Gosh, I love my new transferware, though! Kathleen, I was hoping that they'd arrive yesterday but I'm still waiting. Karen, I redid all my dish storage yesterday, but couldn't bear to put my tureen in a closed cupboard. I hope you can find one yourself someday, too, for such a great price. As for my cherub santo, don't you love it? I do and we keep it on our bedroom credenza all year, so that I can always see it. But, until I joined this forum, I'd never thought to use it for my table centerpiece. You all have inspired me so much! Oh, I haven't mentioned it to DH yet, but I found a great buy online at another auction (insert embarrassed face here) for these beautiful luncheon plates the other day. I probably won't use them until Autumn, but aren't they pretty? They'll arrive late this week sometime, I imagine. When I showed them to DD, she again told me that I must be going through change-of-life, because I'm buying so many new dishes lately (LOL)!! Anyhoo, here's a pic of them from the website. The pattern is called "Pinecone" and they're from WS George on or before 1954. Lynn

Now Now!! You have to learn to think outside the box (oops!) Think of that table...with the rust all sanded off and painted a tasteful wine red with the handles gilded....and think of it reupholstered in a lovely soft muted gold velvet. Think of the tilt back...er up...oiled and in working condition. Imagine that in your media room. There are drawers to store coasters and napkins...perhaps even books and video tapes....and there is that lovely pull out tray to use for hors d'ouvres. To quote Jay..."Sold? or not sold?" I say "sold".. Linda C

We also bought some of our appliances through Lowe's (not all, because we found a couple they didn't carry elsewhere) mainly because they will price match any appliance (including online prices) and they can get many more models of appliances than they show in the store. For instance, we purchased our GE Induction slide-in through Lowe's, even though they don't carry it in the store. And the online price (from Amazon at the time) was significantly better than any local deal. And because I am paranoid about warranty issues, we bought Lowe's extended warranty for the appliances we purchased through them. It's my understanding that Lowe's warranty covers damages caused by power surges whereas not all extended warranties do. At least that's how I justified the purchase since our home is in an area prone to surges :)