I don't have a ghost story, only one that makes you go "hmmmm". My best friend from college, Robbie, comes to WI to visit about once a year. He grew up about an hour from where I live but now lives in California. About 25 years ago, Robbie's older brother married a wonderful gal named Kay who quickly became a dear SIL to Robbie. I met her a couple of times and she was a sweet, down-to-earth, funny, loving person. The family was devastated when Kay was diagnosed with brain cancer, but she survived for several years and went through several treatments before passing away. She and her husband had one son. It's been about 15 years since Kay's death and every time Robbie visits, we talk about finding where she was buried, since Robbie would like to see her grave. He didn't remember much about the cemetery or church, so a few years ago, during his visit, we walked for about an hour through a cemetery about 10 miles from my house, since Kay and her husband lived in a small town near here. No luck, and Robbie's details are so vague, I didn't think we'd ever find the grave. Well, last fall he visited and I asked my boss if there was another cemetery in another town nearby. I didn't think there was, but she told me about one. We went there and as usual, Robbie thought this was "the one" and said he vaguely remembered her grave being near the back of the cemetery near the perimeter fence. We drove into the cemetery and found it to be very large. We drove down the main road and Robbie looked and looked for anything familiar. When we got to the end of the road, we could see that the perimeter fence was a ways away and the graves weren't even close to it, so he was doubting this was the right cemetery, either. Well, he told me to turn at the corner and then finally he said to pull the car over so we could just get out and look around. I hadn't even had time to get out of the car before Robbie checked out the closest headstone and found it was Kay's. It still amazes me and I'm certain that we had some kind of "help" finding the exact location after all those years. Here is a link that might be useful: a lucky break or what? :)

paint chips - I vaguely recall reading a post on IkeaFans a while ago from a guy who cut (with a hole saw on his drill, I think) more faucet holes into the Domsjo (might have been one hole for a side sprayer). You may want to do a search of IkeaFans to see if you can find this "modification"/post. If I recall correctly, he was very nervous about doing it because he was afraid of cracking, but it turned out great and he was very pleased/happy. On a seperate note, I have had a Domsjo sink for about a year now in my "camp" kitchen (we are doing a huge remodel of most of our house DIY while living in the house so our garage camp kitchen is pretty fancy; we will be using it for yet another year (2 years total), I think). The Domsjo is a great sink. We have treated it pretty harshly and it still looks new. Just as an aside, we also modified the Domsjo base cabinet to have two 18" side by side drawers on the bottom with two doors above the drawers (i.e. between the apron sink and the drawers). This modification was relatively easy and I love having the two extra drawers. Probably more than you ever wanted to know (and not your original question) ... sorry. Good luck.

Jodi, I read Moloka'i. I liked it, loved the characters. It is unlike anything I've read before because of the subject matter and setting. Great book! I am not crazy about a romance. But I did read a book a while back that was a really good love story at the heart of it. It was so much bigger than a love story, though. It was the most poetic, lyrical novel I've ever read. Beautiful language and just a beautiful story about the couple's life and fate. I'd put it in my top 5 favorite books ever. It's how John Steinbeck would write if he were a woman. ;o) It's a well imagined and very well told story, but it's breathtaking how artistic it is. The symbolism and metaphors are perfect. I know I make it sound all serious with my literay talk, but it is so good it can be appreciated on so many levels. I'd call it epic. Sweet, sad, funny, touching. It just flows from page to page. It's just... wow! Read it slowly, savor every word. Here it is... drum roll... "Evidence of Things Unseen" by Marianne Wiggins.

Having read through her trilogy listed in my first message above, I am now reading THAT SUMMER IN SICILY........and am so amazed at the richness of her writing, as always. I cannot remember enjoying an author as much as I am enjoying DeBlasi. Her books are to be savored slowly...her recipes have inspired me to cook more simply but with a renewed appreciation for the wholesomeness of food. My small wine stash is now reflecting her recommendations of special Italian wines. I want to live next door to her !!!