I wanted to add I took neither offense or joy at this piece. Just pointing out, in the above post, that it's not a review and how these sorts of stories are quite common. I in no way, shape or form think it's a diabolical Bluestar plot for world dominance or the like, and absolutely see why it's a perfectly good, useful and pertinent piece for people on this forum to read. I've said it before: I have a Bluestar. And I like my Bluestar ... When it works. But I've had some horrendous service problems and found the people at this company, including Mr. Trapp, whom I've had the personal misfortune to correspond with, to be pretty close to awful to deal with and frequently flat-out dishonest. Based on my experiences with the company-not the product itself, per se-I would never buy another range, or anything else, from them, and would never own the one I have without an extended service contract in place, something which has been all-too-frequently called upon these past five years. What Mr. Trapp forgets when he's making his "Rolls Royce" analogy-and I have zero doubt those were his words-is that Rolls Royce is not just a top-of-the-line car, but prides itself on top-of-the-line service, too. In my experience, Bluestar may be TRYING to provide a high-end product, but their service is anything but. And I say "trying" because there have been enough build-quality/quality control issues with the brand to give one serious pause about that level of quality as well. It's possible that, in stove terms, I just got a bad one, but the treatment I received from the company, echoed by others I've spoken with, whom I came into contact with via my distributor, have been pretty much beyond the pale and, yes, those bad interactions have admittedly tainted my view of Bluestar as a whole. Where I stand now is I'm trying to make the range I have work, at least for another five years, when the extended warranty maxes out. My feeling about Bluestar as a whole is: great-in-theory, not-so-great execution, and if you do get one cross your fingers and toes that you'll never have issues, especially more than one (for me it's been: stuck oven door, banging oven floor, bad ignitor modules, etc), because that's when the nightmares begin. And, oh yeah, always, always get the extended warranty. I'm a convert!

excel spreadsheets? lists? rooms dedicated to wrapping? Sheesh that's far too organized for me. I thought just getting the ornaments organized by tree was a HUGE undertaking! For wrapping I use the desperately rushed, christmas is in 4 hours, need a bottle of wine approach. I spread out the entire mess of crap with a hole in the middle for me and the wine, and begin digging my way out carefully :p I actually am organized when it comes to the decorations though. I have one attic for trees, one for ornaments that go on the trees that are on the 3rd and 4th floor as well as the decoration, and then I store the decorations and ornaments for the first floor and second floor are kept on the second floor. Less hauling down (and up) stairs that way :) I also label the boxes for the appropriate tree which is helpful when distributing boxes around the house. WHile I can obviously see what's vintage and what's traditional as well as all the other themes of a tree through the plastic boxes, I don't know how many vintage go to each tree unless I put them in separate boxes. THat leaves me just enough ornaments for each tree without taxing my little brain. I wish I could apply that kind of organization to presents LOL I do actually wrap all but the Santa ones in advance (so that's the 23rd verses the 24th btw) and those can go out under the main tree. I have been known to buy the same thing more than once...perhaps that list idea is a good one LOL Gad a room dedicated to wrapping and holiday storage...well I'm a bit nutso over christmas (major santa barf is in EVERY room) so that would have to be a big big big room! But it's a lovely fantasy!

I just bought stocking stuffers for my 2 GD's. They are 8 and 5. My daughter recommended hair barretts, flashlights, little notebooks and I got them each a new pen and they had little game books with word search and other assorted games like you do in the car. I also got them ornaments. they also each got a small assortment of bath gels etc. I bought almost everything in the Walgreen's drugstore! All the suggestions so far have been great. In the past I've also put in lip balm, mittens, socks and underwear. A nice silver dollar or a 2 dollar bill is always fun too. Oh and I got them chocolate candy shaped like a big penny at the William-Sanoma store! Joann

We are in a period of major economic and social upheaval not unlike the first 30 years of the 20th century. Historical trends are never exactly parallel but there is much in common. Our country and our culture has been and is going through profound changes. All the tentpoles of right and wrong are being challenged as it authority, established power, communication etc. Both DH and I had long and successful careers as journalists. We are disgusted every day with the way "news" is currently reported and presented for the most part but especially on TV. It's irresponsible, it's not news, it's absolute rubbish and there is a huge amount of propaganda. Celebrity pregnancies are important while the contamination of the food supply, a broken local education system, corruption in Congress, incompetence in government and many other more serious issues go unreported because there is no one covering the government independently any longer. The shifting economics, a semi-permanent war economy and globalization have altered things in a way that cannot be addressed without dramatic upheaval. And yes, there are twice as many people in the world now so the demand for things like fresh fish (just something I noticed) have created new industries to supply it that have nothing to do with the way one part of the basic food supply functioned as recently as 30 years ago. It's not attractive and yet some things are easier and better in spite of everything. As for TV. We are TV people. But we watch less and less broadcast because the quality isn't there. The metric for success today seems to be violence or stupidity. I'm not much interested in either. I I bought an Apple TV at the urging of one of my younger friends over a year ago and it has made TV great. We just switch over to Netflix, Showtime, Hulu, PBS or rent a movie from iTunes. It's easy to install and use and costs $67. One problem solved.