I had several black appliances at our vacation house in the last 15 years. The ones that were the hardest to keep clean were the shiny, black reflective ones. The refrigerator was always smudged and I didn't have any kids under the age of 16 (although maybe teens are worse). The cooktop was black glass and I'll never make that mistake again - it shows every molecule of dust - who ever heard of having to dust your cooktop almost daily? The first fridge died and GE replaced it under warranty. I stayed with black since my other appliances were black and this time I chose the pebbled finish. I still picked a fridge that could accept panels if I later decided to have custom ones made. Well it's been 8 years and the pebbled finish doesn't show fingerprints or water drops so I've never paneled it. At home I have a Dacor double wall oven in SS. Dacor sent a bottle of Elco SS cleaner to use that not only easily cleans the SS but also polishes and helps keep it clean. This is from their website: "ElcoÂs selected silicon protects your stainless steel surface while helping make the next cleaning easier. Dacor recommends this to quickly & easily polish your stainless steel appliances, remove dirt & grease, help prevent fingerprints and restore shine." I'm sure there are other cleaners that would do the same.

BJ - how nice I stop by and see you shouting for me. You make me feel loved. I am crossing my fingers for you and the inspection on Monday. Suzanne - thanks for the email, it is nice to be missed. We had rain yesterday and this morning. Boy do we need it. Marita - of course you are welcome to join us. Welcome! Trekaren - I hope all works out with your eye issue. Keep us updated. McPeg - good to see you posting too. I was just about to post asking where you have been. Jan - droopy drawers - you are making us look bad. Congrats on your loss - you are an inspiration to me. Milkdud - you sound as busy as ever. Silversword - It is nice to be able to walk to the store especially in your beautiful CA weather. I am involved in an Adirondack Chair auction and although it is a lot of fun it has been consuming all my "free" time. I just hung all my paintings in my friends barn gallery and I am organizing our July sidewalk art show. The Chamber of Commerce has had meetings every week since I became a director and I am gearing up at work for the summer season, so that is where I have been. Our friends from FL just arrived and we will be doing dinner tonight and hopefully get a boat ride in at some point over the weekend, although the temps aren't suppose to go past the 60's. I will try not to be a stranger.

Good afternoon, folks! It's sunny, hot (93 F.), and humid here. I've finished all my running around for the day and just finished a nice, healthy lunch. I'm down 2.5 pounds from last week, and that makes me feel terrific. I turned down to invites to lunch today and did a double workout instead! Nothing like a taste of success to make me do the right things. Raeanne, our Chamber is putting on a "Divas" event again this summer on a much grander scale than the first one last year. Last year's was called "Divas in Paradise"; this year's is "Divas on Safari". It's an evening of pampering and fun for women in the area. We are in the process of recruiting 'pamperers' who will offer some type of service to the women, from a hand "facial", to toenail polishing, 10-minute chair massages, iris reading, free screening by my chiropractor, and that's all so far. The pampers get a free table for offering services on the spot. Vendor tables sell for $100 and they get to bring whatever merchandise to sell from their business that will fit on, under and in front of an 8 foot table space. Both types of people are required to offer a minimum of $25 item for our Silent Auction. Applebee's (2 stores) will fix those cute little shots desserts, and the country club provides the main food. It's a fundraiser for our Chamber. They provide awesome scholarships for local students with the proceeds. Our community center fundraiser had crafts made by people attending the art classes there or made at home, donated goodies for the sweet shop, donated baskets for the Silent Auction, rented petting zoo, bounce house, and all kinds of games for kids, then lunch for everyone: hotdogs, nachos, baked potatoes and salad, BBQ-topped potatoes, and slices of donated cakes for sale. We made a lot of money, and it was a fun community event. So much was donated that the profit was good. I hope this helps. Let me know if you want even more details. BJ. hope you enjoy your time off-island. That's really neat about your DD's film screening. Marci & Jan, it's great reading your posts and hearing about your lives. Where do y'all think everyone is these days? Off having too much fun? Computer broken? Bored? Feeling guilty? Whatever the reason, COME BACK AND POST ANYWAY! You are missed. Wonderful Wednesday wishes for all! :-)

This is too funny not to share.... My husband came home early from work today and realized he forgot to deposit an expense check. So I said, "let's run to the bank, I'll go with you, it's a gorgeous afternoon, blah, blah, blah." So we pull into the nearest bank (definitely post-Katrina built - basically double-wide trailer with very skimpy parking lot.) He goes in, does his business, and comes out. In backing up he notices a pickup truck that has parked crookedly in two spaces. In his attempt to miss hitting him, he grazes the car on the opposite side. That owner has left her car running, because she's had car trouble, and her son in the backseat. My husband gets out, with his insurance papers, and looks up, and this older gentleman in a Volkswagen Beetle is backing up and hits this woman's same car! The son gets out, and the doors automatically lock, with her car still running, keys in ignition. It takes forever for Barny and Andy to show up and file a report. I stay in our car while my husband handles the rest. As things are winding down, I feel this "bump" and darn if someone hasn't hit US! Some jerk in a rental car with an earphone on the size of Dallas! Well, he doesn't even stop, so I jump out and alert everyone that we now have been hit. They stop this guy and read him the riot act (no real damage done to our car, so my husband says let him go.) I came home and quickly chilled a bottle of wine - to heck with Weight Watchers. My husband is determined to find out if the parking lot was built to code. He had his camera and took lots of pictures, including one of the truck that took up two spaces. Glad it was his car and not mine - ha!