hMikka - sounds like you are doing a great job - a metal file wont give you the same FEEL as a Dremel which vibrates alot. It is important you always end on a positive note. Reward your dog for being curious about the tool when it is off. ALSO the more you just touch your dogs paws with and without the tool the better. Dogs front paws to them are like our privates are to us. No dog likes to have its paws (front especially) and from the minute you get a new pup the more you are hands on the better, front paws, sticking your finger down in their ears - not far, lifting their lips, lifting their tails (I scratch my dog around his "pants" making certain I get to touch the area close to his anal area - when he was younger I had to manually release his anal glands, and had to get quite personal. Because I had a more hands on protocol, my dog did not care one iota. As far as tying up your hair. It almost got me!!! I grow my hair out every year to donate to LOCKS OF LOVE and last summer I got the Dremel out and went to make certain it was on and working properly before introducing my dog to it (we have been doing this 12 years now and I still make certain his stress level stays low) and the darn thing tried to grab my hair!! But it gets so long that the window grabs it, the seatbealt retractor grabs it, it tries to grab my food....I get so sick of it being pulled and grabbed at that I am happy to have it chopped off. Good luck with your pup, and remember touch touch touch touch touch, communicate, praise and treat and go slow....

I've so far repainted the interior of every house I have bought, so that isn't something I even worry about when buying. We relocated and rented before buying. We had quite a bit of overlap between buying and end of lease. While we still had the lease the rental house sold. The new owner sent a curt email saying he was going to withhold some of the deposit for cleaning (to his high standards!) and fixing nail holes. First, the house was cleaner than when we moved in and second it was a 1950's house with some updates, that had been a rental for 8 years with several tenants ... I don't think we made any of the holes! The new owner though he could move in because we had moved to our new house, but we still had the lease. Basically we told him he was crazy and that we would keep the lease till the last legal minute ... that put a big wrench in his remodel and move in plans. We got all our deposit back!

I bought mineral spirits to clean the ball. The tube says to use liquid nails remover or mineral spirits. I haven't cleaned the ball yet, but I poured some over the penies in a can and the dried stuff is softening up and seems to be coming off. When I'm reay to glove up and go clean the ball, I'll scrap them too. Sounds like a good time to retire a toothbrush. I think I like the 2 layers of pennies and decided after I started that I would like to try one with the bottom layer tails up and the top layer heads up. Has that ball been outdoors? I can't decide whether I like the bright copper or the verde patina better. I may need more BBs! The GEII holds the pennies to the first layer of penies as well? The liquid nails would definitely hold the pennies together (can't budge the two I tested, no how, no way) and what I got is clear. We have band UIL cotests this afternoon and tonight until 11 or so, and I got a whole 4 hours of sleep last night. A sane person would go take a nap now that the kids are at school, but I really want to get a start on this BB, and I need to do laundry, and there's this puppy we found on the street I have to keep an eye on. Yeah, a sane person might not have been so easily suckered.

Renofan, that is Daisy dog in the crate. I'll check over on conversations, it's been so busy around here I haven't had much computer time lately, I'm very sorry I didn't answer before now! Thanks so much for all of the terrific ideas so far! You guys are giving me tons to think about. The body part of the hood is a satin finished stainless, the egdes are mirror finish stainless. As far as age or era of the kitchen, there really isn't one, it's just a collected over time, what makes me happy look. The stove is from 1948, I've had it in storage for over two years waiting for the new kitchen, the hoosier is dated 1939, the beadboard while not original belongs in the house. Our home ( circa 1910) at one point was totally clad in beadboard on the inside, we found all sorts of pieces of it buried in the walls as we've been renovating, this was fairly common in older southern homes. I'm not really going for a era though as much as a feel .. happy, eclectic, cottage, unexpected, a blend of new and old. I know a lot of people like to recreate their kitchen to the time their house was built. I kind of look at it as houses evolve over time, things get replaced and houses aquire a collected over time look.