What a beautiful idea on the artist's part and executed so well - I wonder if they colaborated on the color palette the way a quilter does? I want one in my room....maybe a sunset? I think the stay at home dad experience is a lot different from mom's because we care for alot of emotional needs where dad tends to plunder through and get all the physical stuff done (big generalization there). Not better either way, just different. Alot of times I come home to find all the machines in the house going at once as if there's been a marathon of cleaning, but everyone's hanging on my pant let wanting to talk about what happened at school today :) I hope he enjoys his one on one time, I think he will :) Saucy

You are very welcome prosperity66, Tammy & Paintingfool for posting the pics. So glad you all enjoyed them & thanks so much for the compliments on our pics too. It was my pleasure to share with everyone! Paintingfool, I have been there twice, but not during holiday season. Everyone kept saying how gorgeous it was at holiday season so just wanted to see if it really was........it is! It is a magical wonderland at Christmas time! Thanks again for looking! Bonnie

Small pillows -- about half the size of a bed pillow. When our children were in elementary school I made them small travel pillows - covered with fabric that matched their current interests and made a coordinating pillow case to keep it a little cleaner. Our children are now 27 and 23 and they still have these pillows. Our sons pillow was covered with basketball fabric -- he brought it home over Christmas this year for another mending. I asked our daughter about hers and she sleeps with it every night. You can watch for fabric sales and match the fabrics to their interests. I think even college age kids like "travel pillows". I also had made our kids bean bags and all of their friends asked for bean bags too. I love fabric and keep a "horde". Marilyn from East Tennessee

ninos...I wondered why people line up 3 miles to get into that Midnight Madness sale. I didn't realize they pull them in with a $500. gift card hidden in a goodie bag...lol. No wonder. I would love to do Black Friday but I never do. My husband is not a fan of shopping period and he hates traffic more than most people. He hates waiting more than most people. None of my kids enjoy it either, so any interest I have in shopping on that day is very quickly squelched. [g] Actually, I haven't suffered for not going to Black Friday sales. Last year, I was looking for a camera and had my eye on a specific one and about mid December, Staples had the lowest price I had seen or expected to see and they bundled it with a printer. It was a Canon camera and rated highly. I notice this year, they were offering the same camera yesterday for what I bought it for last year without a printer. So that was a pretty great price for a camera that was just on the market last year. ninos...I also am not a pocketbook fan any more. I used to be for many years, but when my kids were small I got in the habit of using a fanny pack. I found one I really liked that was small, slim and black and looked pretty good. That was about 12 years ago and I still use the same fanny pack. lol Believe it or not, it still looks really good. No wear spots or tears or stains. I am a homebody so I am sure it gets less use than most handbags. [g] oceanna...that is one gorgeous table AND what a great job you did in bringing it back to life! Craig's List...I am going to have to keep my eye on that more often. Which categories do you look in the most? That is a great reminder and you are right of course, recycling is healthier for all of us and the planet too. I was horrified recently to discover when shopping for a new mattress that the government actually requires all manufacturers to use fire retardant on them. What is wrong with them? So you are breathing that all night every night, just 'in case' your house catches fire some day. When, if the fire gets to your bed, you probably would be dead from smoke inhalation anyway. So we have postponed buying a new mattress. This year, I have been thinking of becoming less of a 'consumer'. I think I already have been pretty reasonable over the years but there is always room for improvement. I have never been one to put lights up on the house at Christmas, but more because we just don't have the time or energy to do it. Now, with global warming and energy costs what they are, I just can't understand why I continue to see people escalating their outdoor holiday decorating. I went into Lowe's over the weekend, which apparently I rarely do over the holiday season, because it was the first time I saw where people are getting all these huge light displays. Unbelieveable. I LOVED when I was a kid and our parents would take us to see 'the lights' at Christmas, but I think times are different now. Anyway..that is the subject for another thread, [g] it would be nice to keep this thread going over the holiday season and we would have it for next year too, to compare. Thanks for contributing... :-) pm2