Rosewitch, England was definitely one of my favorite places I have ever visited. My folks took me there when I was 14, and I remember bits and pieces the Crown jewels, walking amongst the Stonehenge stones (roped off now, vandalism), Stratford upon Avon. Time for me to take my own 14YO. Im trying to think how I can get over there for a whole summer, LOL. Dlynn, I could have worked so much more. I didnt really look at night time stuff and there was loads to do. Greece: cant help you, but shoot Yasou a line, she went a few years ago. LOL Annie! Teresa, well go together. I wanted to explore more cooking and food shops/stores but didnt get to. Terri, here is more a link to Pictures of England, a website pointed out to me by Denise. I started it on Bourton on the Water, where we stayed for a few days. Thanks Sharon, I was actually thinking how can I even come close to posting her quality of travel guides, I dont do the pictures she does LOL. We might have sat at the same table in the Cheshire Cheeses dining room! Sawdust still there, but we didnt make it to the cellar. I missed a lot of the British Museum. It has changed.check out the new atrium. I couldnt keep up with DH and DS16. Afternoons, when I planned museums, I crashed. Next time! Pam, lots of people did more than we did per day! Theater every night, more attractions, I cant imagine. Gina heh heh yeah I need another vacation like a hole in my head. Speaking of whichDH has another week off in August. Nooooooooo! Kathleen, DH says he took an average of 200 pictures a day. Yup. Me, I just buy the post cards or Google the images, same thing (DARFC from the photo bugs here) Cathy, thanks for giving me the War and Peace moniker heh heh. Next time I go with CF friends! LindaC, I know. Im still exhausted. Speaking of the V&A, did you know there was a Dale Chihuly chandelier in the entrance room?

I think the outdated look is the one where the entertainment center is too big for the room. When it overwhelms everything in the room and is the center of attention. That "look" is outdated but the actual entertainment centers are not IMO. Here are a couple pics of mine. It's huge. But the room is huge and is open to the kitchen and the ceiling is 18' tall so the room isn't overwhelmed by the furniture's mass. I've included a full view of my room just to illustrate that there are other more important things to look at in the room than just the entertainment center. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

Yes, the unfunded liabilities are going to be the death of Detroit. All they have to do is stop paying the GM or Chrysler or "Fords" pensions, and all of Michigan dies. Those pensioners have vacation homes "up north," where tourism is the whole economy. Actually, they just have to stop payiing for retirement health care and we get the same results. My previous DH's dad lost his pension when Jones and Laughlin (later, US Steel) reneged on their pension obligations to the northern Minnesota taconite miners. He got a fraction of what he was supposed to get because the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation had to take over paying the miners their pensions. He worked his whole life welding the mining equipment, built his home debt-free as he had the money, raised four children, and died gasping from the lung damage he got from his job. How well do you think the Pension Guaranty folk are going to do spreading the money around when it isn't a few miners and steelworkers, but several industries at once? What is dragging at the economy? Perhaps the unfunded war? The gears are grinding slower and slower and I just hope we have not already lost too much momentum. Has anyone else read The Sheep Look Up? Didn't John Brunner predict well how a confluence of errors and neglect could do us in? I'm just on a real downer tonight. DF-in-L went back to the hospital and is just not coping at all well with unexpected health problems.

When we got married 20 years ago, we bought a 1940s cottage with 1140 (maybe 1160) of heated square footage, with a walk up floored attic and a 1/2 basement (rest is crawl space) that held the washer and dryer and furnace. Very tiny bathroom and 2 bedrooms. I called the bathroom the water closet. We used to have parties of up to 50 people and sometimes had overnight guests. Seemed like with carpet the sound travel wasn't too bad. Ten years ago, we added a bed and bath and a small laundry off back of kitchen. Husband wanted to take up carpet in bedrooms (he'd removed carpet in living and dining areas when we first moved in) to expose oak floors. Well, now the sound travel is abominable. With that and all the clutter we've collected over the years, I don't want to have anyone over for dinner much less for overnight stay! I used to be a big proponent of small houses, but I've grown to believe that unless you have a great floor plan (we don't, it's too open, and hubby refuses to put a door on opening to hallway leading to bedrooms), small houses just aren't the ticket to marital/familial bliss. We now have about 1673 heated sq ft, and what I wouldn't give for a total of 1800 or 2000. That would seem large to me. Living in a small house w/bad floor plan has taken a toll on our marriage. I think in the long haul a decent sized house can actually be cheaper - cheaper to put cabinets in a bigger kitchen, etc. THings don't have to be so custom to work well. I'm over small. Of course, I used to be a tree hugger too until all the trees in our yard kept falling on the house. Move me to a tract house in the 'burbs and I'd probably be happy at this juncture in my life! Sorry to be a party pooper.