sigh, my basement flooded, again, 2 feet of water (I'm north of boston, right near Saugus/rt 1). We flooded a couple years ago (first delay in new kitchen) and paid to have a very fancy interior drain system put in by Basement Technologies. Fast forward to Mother's day, and the dang pump was "faulty" and never activated. 2 feet of water. Ruined water heater, furnace, vinyl records!! :( and some furniture we were storing during construction. I am just now cleaned up enough to figure out if I get anything more than the $1000 (already got the pump replaced) they promise. It cost me $1000 to get a new water heater, which was only 2 yrs old from the last flood! More money which means more delays re-starting my kitchen. I really miss my apartment! But I did not have to leave my home or have sewage, many folks were/are a lot worse off. A brand new house on a pond on my street is for sale in the mid $900s, and instead of on the pond it became IN the pond...

We have the pull-out Grohe Ladylux Plus. Our next faucet will be pull-down. We don't care for it for a number of reasons, all of which I've detailed before (handle is difficult to modulate and gets filthy at the bottom, pull-out has to be manuevered with two hands or I'm spraying outside the sink - we should have mounted it to the side of our 33" sink, not the center). It is well made and heavy, but no more so than our Barand bathroom faucets. I do like the high arched design - we have REALLY large pots to fill and clean. And also the stainless finish - will definitely stay with that on the next faucet. This is the third faucet we've had since 1990. The Moen was a piece of crap, the Price Pfister drove us both crazy with its design quirks so we had it yanked after only three years. The Grohe's okay, but if I ever change the counters again (one of my 'wish list' items) it's getting dumped on craigslist unless one of my family members wants it.

Thanks for asking, Lydia1959! Sjerin told me you inquired (thanks!) I have been working temp and have also been really busy trying to reorganize my house. Things are progressing. I got an unbelievable bargain on ground chuck so I spent 2 1/2 days cooking it up and freezing it which is good because I start another assignment on Monday. Don't know how long it'll last and it may be busy as I'll be transcribing and taking care of Cardiology patients. Thanks for asking! Will try to post again as soon as possible. I feel bad as I can't read and answer all the posts so it's easier not to come to the KT, but anyone can always email me privately. I also have a deadline coming up to have my house like I want it, so I'll be back as soon as I can! Miss chatting about Survivor and Idol! :)

Hi, What fun for her! Is it EFTours by chance? My son is taking a trip with them in June. I would be surprised if the tour does not include group meals? They usually do. I have no insight about cash needs. We went 7 or 8 years ago, and arranged a lot of the tours and such thru our hotel, the Royal Palms in Santa Cruz. I am sure the tour operator has done this many times so can give good advice. Generally, the exchange rate for cash USD will be far more favorable to the published rate, so cash is the way to go, but it has its attendant risks of course. We did not take any vaccines. You may want to consider getting the following from your Dr., just in case: Cipro, for intestinal distress, SCOP patches, for seasickness, and Diamox, for altitude sickness. I just used the Scop patches on a trip and they were so helpful. Made me a tad drowsy but totally solved motion sickness for me. We took Diamox in advance of our arrival in high altitude, and had mixed results. My one daughter seemed to get ill from it (though I can't be sure), so we all stopped taking it and were fine. But I know another family who could not have gotten thru their vacation without it. It felt odd to travel with 15 prescriptions (3 types for all 5 of us), but you don't want to have a problem on vacation in a lesser developed country ... I am sure she will have a blasT!