Last August I moved from Ohio to Massachusetts. Jan & I planned on taking about 3 weeks for the trip so we could get in some sightseeing photo time on the way. For the trip I packed my computer tower, 3 DSLR's and about 8 lenses plus an assortment of other odds & end. The remainder of my equipment was packed and shipped with an anticipated delivery date of 4 to 6 week. For my photo business I usually deliver the end item in digital format on a memory card or I have prints made through Adorama but I did need a new monitor for my computer so about a day after arriving in Massachusetts Jan and I went to Staples and got a nice flat screen(I had been using one of the old desktop boat anchors..LOL). Jan is just a beginner at photography and she said she wanter to get a photo printer for her computer, so we looked around to see what our options were. One a display in the isle they had the Kodak ESP 7250 All-in-one on sale. Normal list for the wireless model $129 and the hard wire model $99 less 25% for the next 2 days. I didn't know a thing about Kodak printers but in my mind it had three things going for it. 1.It was the cheapest printer in the store, 2. It is advertised at using the cheapest ink, 3. Would Kodak put their name on a photo printer that doesn't do a descent job of printing photos? When I got it home rather than mess with a detailed Wifi setup I just plugged in a USB cable from the printer to my router. Inserted the setup disc and sat back. Within moments I was watching a setup video that said it was all set up and went on to explain the features. Two paper trays. The top tray will handle up to 5x7 photo paper or business envenlopes and the bottom tray handles up to 8.5x11 legal size bond or photo paper. When your printing photos it will ask you which size you want and select the paper automatically. I had a pack of 8x10 generic photo paper so I loaded a sheet, went to my pictures and pulled up a photo then hit print. A couple clicks as it loaded the paper then it went silent. "What is wrong" I thought? About 10 to 15 seconds later I got my answer. nothing wrong, it just prints so quiet you can't hear it running till the finished print pops out. I then checked the print, and to say I was not happy would be an understatement. I can only eplain it in one word...trash. The print had way too much ink, was still wet and actually smeared when I touched it then the thought hit me, those are new ink catridges and usually you have to run a test print to set up the print heads. I checked the book, and sure enough, there is an easy test print to run, but I found something even more interesting. You only need to run the test print if you use non-Kodak photo paper. So here is the catch I thought. All genuine Kodak photopaper has a bar code printed on the back of the paper that tells the printers processor how to set the print head for that piece of paper. This means you can easily switch from gloss to semi-gloss or matt without changing the setup, but how much does genuine Kodak paper cost? To my complete surprise, while Kodak Paper is a bit high in Staples, at WalMart it is the same or cheaper than HP photo paper. When I began running prints on genuine Kodak paper I could not believe my eyes. The prints look better than those that we had printed at Walmarts 1hr service. To get a good test of the prints I selected 6 photos and put them on a memory card, then I printed them on this machine. I then took the memory card to 4 different 1hr photo service places around town and had them printed again, being careful to mark the back of the photos to know where they were printed. I then took all the photos to the photoclub meeting at our senior center and spread them on a table and asked everyone to select which they thought looked the best. Over 90% of the people who participated selected the prints from this printer. The printer also has built in memory card readers so it can be used as a stand alone printer, and the Wifi model will work directly from Ipods & Cell phones. Would I recommend this printer? Absolutely YES. in fact since I bought this one over half the people in our photo club have also bought one. I primarily use 4x6 paper, which is $7.00 per 100sheet for brilliant glossy white at Walmart. I have not priced the ink at Walmart but at Staples the ink is $19.89 for the color and $9.98 for the Black, but staples also gives a $2 rebate for any used cartridge you turn in. (Up to 10 empties per month). I just found a website this morning for cheaper ink cartridges for almost all printers. Thru the site I can get color cartidges for this printer for $9.98 www.inkjetSuperstore.com

When on-line I use Google for simple spelling questions -- it's great for that. But a good printed dictionary can be so much more satisfying. I use an American College dictionary from the mid-70's, my Dad still has an even bigger, thicker dictionary from the 40's that I grew up with. I like the tactile feeling of a heavy book and thin paper. I like skimming words alphabetically close to the word I'm interested in ... sometimes it reveals a relation between words that I wasn't aware of. I like the simple line illustrations for some words. I even like puzzling out the pronunciations using the special characters, and following the family tree of language development. If I'm "stuck" looking up a word's meaning on-line, I feel cheated, lol.

So tired of the fog colors, great for others but not me. I am a huge fan of Ralph Lauren florals, especially the larger prints. Also, have loved a few Waverley floral prints in my time. My current color way is caramel, blues, turquoise and green with red or pink. We are just starting the process of redecorating, so our place is a bit of a mish mosh right now. While I plan to use some florals in my decor, it will not be in the same way that I would have used them back in the early 90’s. Now the florals will be an accent rather than the main event. I am currently looking for a Ralph Lauren style floral pillow for my sofa but have had no luck. As far as the towels, I have always preferred solids. Other than a beach towel, I do not think I have ever owned a print towel. I have had some Christmas towels with embroidery.

Jinx, Dailymail is much better than People. ;) I do read certain articles online though. Today I received a sampe issue which is very thin in the mail today called Country Sampler Farmhouse Style. I think I subscribed to CS in the 80's. Enough to make the young farmer's wives out here drool. lol It's cute though with good ideas, but I won't subscribe. The only magazine we still get which will soon expire is Travel Magazine. If I were to subscribe to any magazine it would be Birds and Blooms. If you've never read an issue, you'd love it.