Yes, Kitty looks quite similar to Bob. Bob had tufts on his ears, one of the traits of Manx cats (besides the bobtail), and large feet for walking on rocky slopes in Scotland (my Scottish DH says). :) He has big feet too. He came about that name more because of his personality than his tail as most people believed. When he first came here looking for handouts, he would come at supper time every night with another cat. For weeks the two stayed back a ways, but one came closer than the other and soon he was coming within a few feet of me. They would come and go and sometime I wouldn't see them for a week or two. One night when I looked out the back door window, I chuckled to see that he was sitting off just a little ways, waiting for food to be put out on the patio. When he spotted me, he began rubbing on one of the posts and working his big paws. DH asked "Is that big cat out there again?!" I said, "Yes. He never really leaves. See? He's still there!" "He's just like Bob in the movie, What About Bob!". We both laughed and so, Bob it was! He really seemed to like that name. In a few days, he was coming up to us and eating with the other cats, purring and rubbing and making biscuits. He liked the affection even more than the food...and boy did he like food! Very soon, Bob started coming inside and he never again left the property. Everything he needed was right here. He was VERY bad about peeing though and he was quite a scrapper, so a trip to the vet was in order. He never quit backing up to things and peeing, but at least it didn't stink anymore. Hey! He only had ONE bad flaw! (ugh) Everybody loved Bob...so he was also like the character in the movie in that sense, too. :) He was absolutely Bob o'licious! ~Annie

I think your stackers can be a good thing for you, but I do think you need some sort of "deep storage," and it does NOT have to be there. it might be easier if it were, but oh well. You live in the real world. So you'll need to find some other place to keep papers that are longer term, not needed for reference, but needed to access now and then. So use the file box or tote, and go get it when it's "paperwork processing time." And what goes in there is stuff you don't intend to refer to in the next four months. Stuff you *will* refer to can stay in the stackers. As I mentioned before, I think if you live with it for a while, your eyes open to what's working (which you have), you'll figure out for your own situation what's just permanently floating in the stackers and should get filed away (or tossed) You say you have more kitchen storage, which is great, but maybe spend a half a cabinet on a file box for stuff that's not in action at the moment? Insurance forms (unless you can download), etc.? I think a long-term, ONGOING project like the Girl Scout project *belongs* in the stacker. You need to look at it, put stuff with it, etc., every week or so, maybe even more often, so of course it goes in a high-profile spot. But paid bills don't go there. (some people even TOSS their paid bills) Personally I would--do--stick the report cards in deep, deep storage. "Heirlooms & Mementoes" storage, deep in the closet. I don't refer to them again, but if I needed them for some reason (not sure why--not even applying for a new school would require them), I could dig them out. I agree w/ you about your need to get tougher--I think most of us have a procrastination problem (well, mayb enot Ginger, LOL, but *most* of us). I have only JUST this year gotten good w/ schoolwork papers. I toss 'em pretty rapidly. Fortunately, my son's teacher has a "sign and return" stamp, so I know which ones she wants back; the rest go in the trash. I figure, if I haven't had time to discuss them w/ the kids in the 2 days following when the papers came home, it'll be too late to make much of a difference. I'm lucky, in that there's not usually much to say--"oh, I see you skipped over that one; watch more carefully" is about it--bcs they usually understand their schoolwork. They get sloppy, but I don't need to spend much time on that. I try to review the schoolwork briefly when I'm doing the school forms (the ones that you won't let leave the backpack? wise you! I got that concept last year, an am enjoying it this year), and try to deal w/ them the same way. It would be harder if I needed to review stuff with them--if they were struggling w/ the concepts. I used to try, to reinforce by reviewing, and finally just gave up--I never had time to, and decided that, since the kids were basically doing fine, I didn't need to be their tutor, too. It has saved me no end of time and guilt. I think if DD was having trouble w/ fractions, for example, and I wanted to sit w/ her for 15 or 20 minutes to coach, I'd have a tougher time, but I might still not want to keep the paper. Or, maybe that would be the ONE paper I kept, and the rest got tossed. I have gotten absolutely RUTHLESS about paper. I had a basket that was collecting paperwork I needed to "do something with" or "might do something with." And it just ended up really dragging down the house. Ostensibly it was for bills to pay, but other stuff went there, too, and it was just a huge mess. I went through it in early Dec. when my mom was here, and was amazed at how useless all that stuff was. I throw SO much out now. (I know what you mean about keeping your hands out of each other's paperwork, but are you SURE your DH couldn't give you one of his 4 drawers? Not for frequently used stuff--your stackers should help w/ that--but for deeper filing? You really need some place, and I bet he's got stuff that could go--4 drawers is an awful lot. Think about it, send up a trial balloon. You wouldn't have to OPEN the other drawers, so your hands would still be off his paperwork...)

Well, DD just got off work and she OK'd the bronze bin pulls above, so I've just ordered them. And, she wants the aqua runner instead of the coral, so I've ordered that, too. We can decide next on antiquing or adding Rub-N-Buff to the paint. She won't let me make that decision on my own, which is ok.

I got one of my babies from PetSmart back '98. i didn't go there to get a dog. tho they had a dog on a poster that I told myself would be my next dog. that day I went wasn't their normal adopt a pet day either. when i walked in they had 1 dog and several cats... that dog looked just like the dog on the poster. She was spayed and I got her for 40$. she was about 2 at the time. they said they usually required a person to have 6' fence, but since she could jump that they waived that requirement. And she couldn't go to a home with kids. I had none at home and no gkids in the state that would be coming to visit, so she came home with me and was my princess until she got her wings in 2013. Other than that I was willing to pay the $40.00, they knew nothing about me. I did go check out the no kill shelter that put her in PetSmart tho. It seemed like a nice place and they wanted her back if she didn't work out etc. But they never checked on her or my house/land. I often thought I should send them a card from her asking when they'd come to make sure she was safe and tell them she'd been waiting for them. No one ever checked on her, or contacted me to see if I still had her. She was fine with kids - my 6 yr old neighbor boy would come over to play catch with me and they got along fine. I still didn't allow him to come over unless I was home. I posted this just because I think sometimes those shelter places are just weird. they had a few requirements for adopting her, but had nothing to verify that I met those requirements, except my word. My baby was very blessed that it was me that walked in and then walked out with her. The girl I have now, was listed on CL. I had no idea people put pets on there. I was shocked. i worried that some weirdo would get her and hurt her in some way. Again, the people who had her, didn't know me or anything about me, except what I told them. She too, was one lucky little girl. I wasn't looking for another dog then either, but couldn't bear to think what could happen if the wrong person got her. My old girl was still with me then, and she took about all the energy I had at the time. penny - I'm sorry this didn't work out for you, and her. how sad. I would be glad to donate to a pet fund for her, if needed. Maybe you could call local rescues to see if anyone has her. Those 2 needed a good loving home, vet care and good food. It's heartbreaking to think they might have put them down.