Hi Plllog! "That is, I know it's possible, but might not be in your budget." See, there's the crux of it. This little beverage center idea of mine was not in the original budget. (Nor, alas, were new drywall in the livingroom and halls, the gorgeous walnut top on my used cabinet island, the matching gorgeous top that will soon be on the new media cabinet and the near full gut of the bathroom.) And we're still determined to get through remodeling our ugly duckling without taking out a loan or dipping into savings. Conventional wisdom says: Wait until the coffers are full again but that's so hard to do. First off, I'm a cheapskate. Even if the goose who laid the golden egg waddled up onto my deck and built a nest, I'm not sure I would willingly pay someone to mess up the walls I just paid to fix. Second, I'm not quite cheap enough. My new kitchen is starting to look pretty good but, gosh, it would look so much better if the microwave and coffee maker didn't take up so much room on that one counter. I'm willing to spend a little bit more to change that, especially since I'm going to have a piece of countertop leftover that should be just the right size. Still, it's nice to know that it's possible. Maybe when the coffers ARE full again I'll put a tile counter outside on my deck to shade the golden goose should she happen to wander by ;) Thanks for your help!

I have an 8 year old Boxer, Millie, that had her first seizure just over a year ago. It was long and violent and tortuous to watch lasting well over 3 minutes. I immediately took her to the vet and he started her on Phenobarbital and Valium. She had several more smaller ones until the levels were where they needed to be. In the year since she's had dozens, some worse than others, and we've added Potassium Bromide to the mix. She continues to have small focal seizures lasting a few seconds almost daily. She was hospitalized last month with Pancreatitis. While there she had one larger and one smaller seizure. Since she's come home she seems to be deteriorating. She sleeps most of the days away. She has difficulty walking, stumbles or falls when she stands still for more than a few seconds, bumps into things and has fallen down the stairs. She seems to be losing control or strength in her hind legs. Last night she fell asleep at my feet and then couldn't stand or walk for a couple of minutes when she woke. This morning, on the other hand, she came as close to running as she has in a while to go outside and potty and play for a moment. It was brief. She's eating well, looks and sounds a good as ever which makes it that much harder to wonder "How much is enough for her?" I guess that's what I'm looking for, advice on "enough". She is our absolute favorite person in the world and is loved beyond measure. As terrified as I am about her leaving us, I am more afraid that she's suffering as she is. I've never had to even consider this for a pet so I'm lost to the rationale of it. How do you know when they've had enough?

Last night, late, when I was typing this up, I just knew I was way too wordy, included too much blah blah blah, and left nothing for anyone else to add. Reading this today told me how very wrong I was! (Well, I may still have been wordy and blahed out everybody but at least there were a bunch of things still to be covered.) I'm going to disagree with the comment about 'flakes'. Any kind of commentary in an ad that attributes bad motives, bad attitude, or total lack of trust in one's fellow man, no matter how well-deserved, turns me off. I like dealing with nice people and until I prove not to be so nice myself, I have to hope that others will think the best of me. Some people do very well with email addresses only. And if you are one of them, then, so be it. You can certainly put a deal together via email, we do it on Ebay all the time. Even arrangements to meet can be done that way, although speaking on the phone once you are at that stage, can help to alleviate stress and work out the kinks. I do hate all the phone calls attached to people who don't show up. But its kind of a necessary part of doing things this way. Here's how I handle it when there are multiple persons interested in same item. In December I put a set of drapes on CL with several pictures and my price. I got multiple emails and responded to each one with verification that I still had the drapes and included my phone number and told them to call if they wanted to view. Then, the calls started. People wanted them. One lady wanted to do a Paypal payment right then, so she would be sure of getting them. Now, Paypal would work for me. I use it for Ebay all the time and it means you got paid. But for someone local, I still don't really like the idea of someone paying before they see the item in person. Anyway, I arranged with her for her husband to come the next morning, but told her he needed to call first in case they were sold. I had Lady #2 call and tell me she absolutely wanted them, was 45 minutes away, and would I hold them for her? If she had said she was on her way, I would have done it. Once someone has arranged to come right away, I will at least give them the benefit of the doubt. But she wanted to come the next night. Again, I said, that's fine, but before you come you need to call to make sure they aren't sold. Then, Lady #3 called me 4 times in 15 minutes to arrange to drive the 7 or 8 minutes it would take for her to get to my house. Her children were yelling in the background and she had to keep hanging up to deal with it. She finally called back a little bit later and said it was just too hard and she might come the next day. So, now I have 3 definites, but no one is actually en route. I get more emails and I reply that drapes are still available, answer the questions, and tell them to call if they want to come. Next morning, I get one phone call from the lady who wanted to Paypal. Her husband is on his way down the hill and will be at my house in 30 minutes if they are still there. I tell her I will wait for him. He comes, he sees, he pays, we're good. Lady #3 never calls back. Lady #2 who begged me to save them, never calls back. I put Sold in the ad. I continue getting phone calls for 2 days and emails for about 2 weeks. I could have probably sold this set of drapes 3 times over. And I don't know why. I think it was timing. I had Craigslisted them 6 weeks earlier and got absolutely no interest. And so many people were very disappointed to have missed them. But again, unless someone tells me they are leaving right away to head for my house, I am not promising to save them for anyone. Red

Hi Patrícia, I think you are right about the mirror being too small. I considered adding other wall decor. But I am an over thinker, I didn’t want to put two pieces of art facing each other. Everything in that room is so paralleled already, I was afraid to go with art. You can’t tell from the picture but I have a large piece on the opposite wall. As far as the TV we like it where it is but, it looked better before. It looks like it is sitting on the mantel but it isn’t it was originally a smaller tv mounted perfectly centered and above the mantel but hubby upgraded for Christmas and Walla! Ruined the look. My husband was so excited about his larger TV that I just didn’t say anything. But I wish it was smaller and that we didn’t have that sound bar that looks like a stand under the TV. We have to pick our battles that is our family room and everyone should enjoy it