Thank you all for your prayers and support. Do not believe 90% of what you see on the television or internet about what is going on over here. Yes...there are soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines giving the ultimate sacrifice on a regular basis, but we do this willingly. We know what is at stake. Everyday a new school opens or another sector of the province gets power and running water. The Afghan people are truly thankful and absolutely L-O-V-E Americans and our allies. There are "bad-guys" that hate us over here, but the good people far out weigh them. It is no different here than it is at home. The vast "outspoken" minority and their agendas make the evening news while the law abiding God-fearing tax payer is ignored. WHY! Because it isn't shocking to see a new school open or to see hundreds of children eat their first Hershey bar. "They love candy." You do not here on CNN / ABC or so-on about how during the Taliban years woman were raped, men murdered and families property taken away because they did not go with the flow. Now we are rebuilding their factories and infratructures and creating jobs. An average Afghani makes less than a dollar a day. The US military and their contractors pay the local employees an average of 10x's that. There are programs instituted to sub-contract these projects to localally owned construction companies in building their own schools, hospitals, power plants and roads. We are not doing it for them! We are supplying them with technical direction and money. They in-turn are succeeding like never before. The recent insurgency you are seeing on TV is directly associated with the progress we are making. The "bad-guys" hate it that the common people are able to survive and thrive with American "heathen" principles and work ethics. They know if they don't do something quick...their done. Stick a fork in them. The big problem is...the bad guys biggest allie is what we are dieing for to defend. The freedom of the press and speech. They know if they kill one soldier, CNN will be all over it. They know if we kill 100-bad guys, CNN will report that there were 80 woman and children in the mix. 90% of the time, these reports are a bold face lie...but the American people are gulible. They buy it hook line and sinker everytime. You guys just keep the prayers coming and let us do what we came over here to do. Keep supporting the politicians that are informed and have freedom's best interest embedded in their hearts. May God's will be done...not our own. On a less serious note...I don't usually post. I just enjoy everyone elses stories about their animals. But I couldn't resist this one. I think you guys/gals call these threads...anyway I wanted to comment on the mommacaotti 8 post about not being able to "take care of business" with the chickens. Then the PETA girl got involved...anyway. My wife is the same way. She doesn't have any trouble eating our farm raised animals, but the killing is something she doesn't like. She has done it and will probably do it again...but she doesn't like it at all. We still have my son's market goat from the fair. It was our first goat born on our little farm and Chris took it to the fair. Their original intention was to bring it home and put a little more meat on it's bones before sending it to the butcher.... ...well I think he is a P-E-T now. LOL. My wife is just like 99% of ya's and I think it is precious! Thanks everyone and Merry Christmas. Brian

I've worked for regular run of the mill temp agencies, and the interview process was pretty painless. I had to take a typing test, and probably other tests, but I don't remember very well as it was quite a long time ago. The people were very nice - it's their job to be nice, but I think they were nice, anyway. I bet this will go very well for you. I wish you the best of luck. Sally

Staceyneil, here's a pretty good link on the topic. http://www.forteelectric.com/Howtolayoutcans.html There are a lot of factors to consider beyond the lights themselves in making a good lighting plan. For example, how much natural light will you have and from what direction? The colors of your cabinets and floors and, especially, the type of countertop (i.e., light/glossy to reflect light or dark/matte to absorb light?) all matter. Placing recessed cans can be hard, because you don't want them creating a glare on your cabinets, but you need them close enough to light your countertops without creating a shadow when you stand at the counter to work. Placing pendants can be tricky because you have to think both about the light cast (as in the pics above) and about the height--don't want pendants blocking your view or shining light right in your eyes. You also have to consider where the switches for all these different lights will go. In my kitchen, I have recessed cans, undercabinet lights, pendants over my island and sink, halogen lights in my hood, and two accent lights. I hardly ever use the undercab lighting, except for ambient lighting, because the others do the job well. The natural light from the window is enough for passing through to grab something from the fridge, but not enough to work, so the cans and/or pendants come on for that, depending where I'm working. Our cans are all about 4-5 feet apart, which seems right for our 8.5' ceilings. One accent light stays on all the time and serves both as ambient lighting during the day--it's in the nook in our otherwise dark pantry wall--and as a nightlight at night. We switch the cans on from either of two doorways. The pendants and undercabinet lights are both controlled from switches on the side of my island. I really like this set up, because I don't have to go all the way to the doorway to adjust the smaller lights for specific tasks. The only thing I didn't anticipate was the fact that a Great Dane tail can operate a light switch placed on the side of an island. Since we have four of those tails wagging at any given moment, I am sometimes surprised to find my lights turning on or off at odd moments. My fault for placing the dog's cookie jar too close to that light switch! Sorry for the loooooong hijack, Carolyn! :)

I am hopeless when it comes to doing anything with yarn and needles or hooks, I have tried and I just cannot get past the awkwardness of it all, I become fumblefingers. So I gave up trying, I knew if I needed something knitted or crocheted, I could get Mum to do it for me, or find someone other sucker, er, friend to help me out! lol And I think tiny stockings might be harder than full-sized ones. I could sew some, but I think the knitted ones are just so precious. Thanks, Janie, for the offer. Send it to the Buzzard, though, because she's going to need it! Buzzy, watch yer mail, yarn is heading your way. Thanks for giving it a good home.