Wow, good shopping Deb. Wish there was a Hobby Lobby near me. I was at one in OH and they're fantastic.

Yes the entire family is from Oklahoma and the original store was up on the North side in OKC. I have not been back to OKC since I moved away in '97 so no idea if it is still there or how much it has changed. For a long time they were only in Oklahoma. I really missed the stores when I moved to Texas then they started putting them in but like I said they were very different and had lots of furniture and dishes and stuff. I have bought a couple of little tables just the right small size to set beside the sofa on each side for a drink or cup of coffee, very well made. And I got a table that goes behind the sofa, beautiful, metal work with a fleur de lis in the center, it had one of the bracer boards on the back side that had come undone, I asked the manager for a discount he gave me the table for $35!! amazing price. We took it home and my husband put wood glue and a clamp on it and now it is fine. Everyone comments on how beautiful it is. I collect fleur de lis items and Hobby Lobby has been a treasure trove for me!! My husband has put me on a Fleur de lis limit LOL But I had a lot of wall space that needed decorating. You can get really beautiful door knobs and drawer pulls and even face plates for the light switches. We replaced all the cheap plastic ones here with beautiful cast metal ones that have have a vine design and tiny fleur de lis. We got all of them heavily discounted at HL. It is one of the stores that my husband loves to go to, we never leave empty handed.

The store I stopped at had about six different colors which made it extremely difficult to decide what to mosaic my mermaid with. First I picked out a green with red streaks running through it. But my mermaid has sea shells on her top and I wanted something different for that. Then i found the perfect glass...it is bubblegum pink, with teal, blue, and green swirls. So i picked up a piece and changed my mind on the green...had to be more teal in color. The next section had the teal with blue and green swirls....perfect for the body and tail of the mermaid. I bought four pieces of that color. I noticed the price was a bit more than the other glass they have, but I didn't mind! Was excatly what I had in my head when I bought the statue. Now just need to get started.

I've been studying the different grinders this weekend. Delphi has a nice comparison chart on all the grinders. It looks to me like Diamond Tech has a longer warranty and more powerful motor than the others. I have a second hand Inland Wizling which is fine, I've just been looking into my crystal ball for the future. I do remember that Slow has a Diamond Tech but not sure which model.