I bought some gifts today for my niece (her birthday is the 27th, so I needed to get a birthday gift also) and my mom. They live in the same town, (not too far from golddust I believe - Butte county)so I can mail everything together. My plan is for my daughter to fly to Spain to visit my son who is doing a study abroad year there. That was to be my gift to both of them. However, the cabin crew union of British Airways has voted to strike from Dec 22 - Jan 2, so I don't know if that trip will happen. I have not planned for my daughter to come home nor bought gifts for her or my son. She currently lives in L.A. and we are in Oregon. I am trying not to stress over the situation. We will go visit my oldest son for Christmas eve and spend the night in a hotel. Probably will give him cash, since he is a struggling recent college grad working in retail.

Kitchenconfidential - I "finished" my house in July, but the old stools (with the awful, not even possible to clean, fabric seats) remain (as well as the lack of backsplash. The good news is I am not upset but relish the time NOT spent looking. On the subject of stools, here are a couple of beautiful wood furniture makers in Vermontand their stool offerings - their cherry is gorgeous. Clearlake http://clearlakefurniture.com/seatstools.html Pompanoosuc Mills http://www.pompy.com/furniture/?category=58&product=1205 Their swivels seems a little chunky - even some that don't show swivel offer so look at each one. Good luck.

Here is my hit list. These came for a recent set of films I reviewed for a private group. Sahara - A Clive Cussler Adventure tale. A Night as the Museum - Fantasy. Museum artifacts come alive after the museum closes for the night and shocks the newly hired watchman. National Teasure Adventure, Exploration, highy fictional WALL-E A cutsey robot roams a ruined earth and is trying to tidy up the place. He makes it his full time job, but then it gets very dangerous for him to be out of his abode. Journey to the Center of the Earth. Based on a book by the same name and used as a platform to make a digitized movie where the director can go beyond conventional special effects. The Secret Life of the Bees Interpersonal interplay of a young girl who finds a houseful of caring Black women after she runs away from a very terrible home situation. UP - a rollicking cartoon film about a codgedy old man who has lost his wife and nearly lost the will to live when he suddently decides to kick civilization in the rear and make the dream trip that he and his wife had discussed and said someday we'll go. It's one of the better movies of this group. Ed Azner does his voice - a perfect match. Avatar Science fiction totally digitized. A block buster effort. It does have scenes where violence is directed toward the planet and its hidden inhabitants, but these scenes are necessary to tell the story. Toy Story 3 Like Toy Story 1 and 2, except Andy has aged is going off to college. The toys are headed for the storage bin and are in danger of being tossed out. Robots Fictional robot characters and their lives. They have atonishingly human traits and some are not so good. The director uses the characters as a canvas to play out the interaction of these traits.

Hm. Well, it's the standard Ozette from Irish Eyes, which although heirloom is generally pretty reliably around 100 days - and we're way past that. I'm not so concerned with the one in the ground, which may be in a microclimate, but the tower - I'm picturing a tower full of rotting potatoes that I've left there because of that one live vine.