Mtnrdredux, I've got many of them, purchased over a year and a half or two. I know you really liked the one in the bathroom, and so did I, but I didn't really like the gold part of the inner frame. So I finally found a silver toned one and swapped it out last week. I also ditched the antler collage and put in an oil horse painting, moved a small antler over to the small wall by the fireplace, moved the new one (well, new at the time) down to the dining room above the secretary desk, moved the one that had been in the bathroom up to the master bedroom, and moved the one where that one now is to over by the tartan chair and curtains. And then there's the two I've had: one in the canopy room and the ship one between the windows in the living room. You really cannot beat them for $50 - $80 a piece (assuming they're right for the space). New bathroom one: New living room horse one: Above the desk one: Relocated antler where that painting used to be: Canopy room one: Two in master (one old, one moved from bathroom): Old one in living room between windows: And here's the damn door I've spent a month stripping and repainting and finding matching door hardware and polishing the brass mortise, and getting a matching skeleton key and tassel for the bathroom. So, it's done; it just needs to be hung, and I need to get some nice cast iron or black hinges. And the new antique (made in England) brass spittoon I bought for the orchid on the dining room mantel and the antique brass and cast iron andirons in the fireplace below: This post was edited by KevinMP on Wed, Apr 24, 13 at 23:13

I went around to several granite yards. All had remnants, but most were small or just one slab or the less expensive granites. Then I got very lucky! One of the places had 5 slabs each of 2 different granites in their remnant yard for $25/sf installed. One of them was Costa Smeralda, one that DH and I had loved since we'd first seen it several years before, but never considered using because it's one of the priciest. All of the slabs were cracked 1/3 of the way over. The layout of our large kitchen was such that the slabs could be pieced together without showing the seams. For $25/sf and my favorite I can live with insignificant seams! They had lots of granite, marble, and onyx choices in their full price yard, some that I'd never seen before, so some of their smaller remnants were not the usual run-of-the-mill. They had only 2 framed letters of recommendation on the wall: one from the governor's husband regarding the granite they'd installed in the governor's mansion, and the other from a lawyer in one of our powerhouse firms who'd had his granite job screwed up by someone else, and then redone successfully by this place. So, look around if you have more time than money. You never know what you'll find! Anne

Dear Fiance, SD wrote about what she is thankful for Thanksgiving. She discussed being thankful for the earth, her house and family. -I appreciate my family because I have a dad that loves me and my brother that is funny. My dad gives food to me and my brother.- It struck me that after all the time I have spent with her, practically living here, and dinners we have made, I am left out. It has been a sad realization that my rose-colored fantasy of what could be has shattered little by little, day by day. The more I open up to them and try to create a solid foundation, the more pain I feel. I wish I could hug your children and feel like their mother and love them unconditionally. When I read things like --no person, grandmother, sister, brother, Lady Dianna, mother Theresa et al can replicate what Late Wife provided to me and the kids...I had a gorgeous women look at our children with eyes that just gushed love. Only a mother can possess that look of absolute, unadulterated love for her children-, I can't help but feel like s--t and wonder why I am here. As much as I love you and enjoy our time together, being in a role of stepmother or surrogate mother is taking a toll on my identity, redefining me into a second rate role fraught with loss and insecurity. I wish the word --mother wasn't even part of stepmother. At every developmental level, there is bound to be confusion about my role, their loss, and who their mother was. You will also mourn that Late Wife did not witness pivotal moments of your children's lives. Your children will ask you, ---Tell me a story about mommy?--- I honestly don't know if I will ever be fully comfortable listening to your stories or hearing Late Wife's family tell stories about her. After all, if she had not died, I would not be a part of your lives. It is hard to live daily with this cold reality, when it is normally, first comes love, then comes marriage, then children.... Every day, I am confronted with reminders of a past intact happy family: love letters, pictures, furniture, christmas ornaments, her recipes, dishes et al. I find it emotionally distressing to reside among visual representations of my secondary and outside position, yet I know I should just suck it up and be mature about it. To be in your lives, I have to suck it up a lot more than you may realize, dealing with grief and loss that predated me. I think that marrying you and adopting your children is premature and unrealistic, and unfair to ask of anyone, when I do not believe that you have grieved enough. If you had, I would be offered more drawers than what LW's belongings occupy considering I live in your house most of the time. Throughout this experience, I realize that the stepmom/potential adoptive mother role is based on a lie, that I will be the --mom.--- I can help raise SD and SS; help with homework, feed them, clothe them, and drive them to school. But I will never be their mom. Building our relationship so that we have a solid foundation also takes up time you can spend with your children when they have already have lost a parent. Your children have had to adjust as you bring a stranger into the house. They struggle to feel secure and form an attachment when they already have abandonment and identity issues. That's why they cling and then pull away from me. I too struggle to fully embrace children who I had no hand in raising during their formative years and who are not mine genetically. It is difficult to not be able to see myself in children I am trying to raise, as parents sit around a table discussing their children and see themselves in them. It is difficult to know when to act like a -parent-, when to be a -friend-, and when to be your girlfriend. It is hard to explain the difficulty of such a task until you walk in my shoes. And what about you? You feel exhausted because you are trying to spend time with me to keep me happy and spend time with your children to keep them happy. It is draining trying to please everyone while having a demanding career. It is a tug of war instead of the cohesive unit you had when you were in an intact family and which you so often refer to in your writing as ---wanting back---. While you are only marrying me, I am also becoming wedded to your children and LW's sainted memory. If I move in with you, I will forever be surrounded by mementos of your past. If I put them all together, they wouldn't even fit in a bedroom, and we would be downsizing and hopefully moving some of my stuff into the new home. How can that possibly happen? At present, there is no room for me in your life, that space continues to be occupied by the love of your life. I feel like an interloper as I lay here on a bed frame with the love of your life's name written on it. SD mentioned today that her New Years wish is for you to smile all day and be happy. I think right now we are working so hard to be happy, it is causing us to get sick and tired. I am being kept awake projectile vomiting and probably can't go to work tomorrow. I love you and want to stress that I have never loved someone so fully. We however met under unfortunate circumstances and poor timing. I want you to be happy and I cannot do that for you. I am adding complexity to an already complex situation. My self-esteem is also crumbling under these conditions because while I know that is not your intent, I feel second best. I want to have firsts with the man I marry. I also feel selfish for wanting time with just you, limited time taken away from time you can spend with your children who need a parent. This tug of war would not occur in a marriage not involving children and is not something that can be prevented under current circumstances. I am truly sorry that you lost the love of your life. I cannot fathom the sorrow you feel. I wish that she was still alive and with you. You would be smiling all day. I hope someday to have someone love me as much as you love her and to be the only woman, the first lady, in a man's life. Love, Pityparty

Cool, some extra large dark bronze metal letters are now at Dillards, my 2nd job. I put aside my initials - E G. Is that acceptable to use your own initials? I live alone if you don't count the ka jillion pets I have. Now where to put them is another separate post since they really are big - 18" - 22" tall perhaps, I did not measure them yet. I work again tomorrow. Maybe I can't wait till the extra sale and will just get them tomorrow with my discount. Trouble is that they are about $40 each but $30 each with my discount. We only have one E and one G. I think I need to get them.