"The pocket book size does not matter when it comes to manners...if you invite someone to dinner the invitee pays." WHOA! Hold up there a sec, podnah. Do you perhaps mean that the invitER (the one who does the inviting) pays? (Which is what I was always taught when I began dating: you ask someone out, you pay or go Dutch. They ask you out, they pay or you go Dutch.) Pocketbook size DOES matter, a great deal, and it can be outright humiliating. I have lost friendships over this, where my friends were much wealthier than me and expected me to keep up with them and their lavish expenditures. (Some friends, huh?) Frankly I find it extremely rude to invite guests to events both you and they know they cannot afford to attend, and it's often embarrassing for the invitee to get these "pity invitations". IMO it is a lot classier to tailor your invitation to what your guest(s) can afford, if you are expecting them to pay their own tab. After all, having a guest is all about making your guest comfortable, isn't it? (Isn't that the message of the gazillion threads on "what makes a good guest room/bath/suite"?) If you're buying, by all means - take 'em to that joint with the $1000 gold-leaf hot fudge sundaes if that's what turns your crank! LOL

We bought People Loungers in 2001 and decided in December of 2020 it was finally time to replace them. They were still holding up pretty well considering their age but became worn in spots on the foot rest my husband uses and the spot he sat in eventually broke so bad he didn’t see the point of fixing it. I looked into getting PL again but they weren’t being sold anymore so after many hours of looking at furniture stores and online I decided on La-Z-Boy. I’d read about it’s declined quality but hoped for the best because it was hard to find reclining sofa/loveseat that was manual, not a sectional and in a fabric/style I liked. I spent many hours carefully deciding and I made a choice that I was excited and confident about. They arrived in late January 2021 looking just as gorgeous as I had hoped! Then I started moving them into position in my living room and immediately noticed how much my hand sunk in while leaning/pushing on the headrest - very large foam that was not dense at all. The seats were the same. You just sink in. There’s no inkling of firmness. As my husband used his spot, I noticed pilling on the fabric and could see how loose it was looking. This was after 3 months. I spent so much time choosing everything and loved my choices so much - I knew dealing with it getting “repaired” or whatever they would’ve possibly done (if they even would) would be a nightmare and we also didn’t want to be without furniture - we decided to just keep it for as long as we could and figured we would have to replace it a lot earlier than we thought. A year later, the most used spots are very saggy and extremely pilled. At the time of delivery, we immediately got rid of the old, broken PL loveseat and planned on trashing the old PL couch the following week. But after a week decided to keep the old couch because of the extra seating it provided and the low quality of the new furniture (I figured if we could still use it some, it would save the new furniture some). I considered buying another LB sofa to match but could not spend that kind of money on such terrible quality. So almost exactly a year later, my old PL couch is the one I always sit on so that it “saves” the new furniture (and it’s quality remains the same - besides the one spot that’s a little broken inside and is “rigged” to function , the rest of it looks pretty good - the cushions are firm, not sagging, the fabric is not stretched or pilled). With the new furniture - my husbands spot looks terrible. The other spots are slightly saggy, slightly pilled and slightly stretched but they don’t get used more than an hour a day. Spent $2,700 on a manual reclining sofa and loveseat that will need to be replaced in a couple of years. So sad because it’s such a waste of money and it will just end up in a landfill. And like another person asked…”If not La-Z-Boy, then what???” I would love to know whose quality matches that of People Lounger in 2001 and La-Z-Boy years and years ago. Sorry so long!

Dianne, I have quartz (not Caesarstone, they were out of my choice at the time) in my bathroom; looks new 2 years later. Online, you will find many cons or negatives about most any product you are considering buying. I wouldn't let that hinder you, as that's usually the minority. Caesarstone has a warranty. I will be buying either London Grey or Organic White in the next two weeks for my kitchen reno, but I love real marble. This is a happy compromise. Check with the company you are buying and ask if they've had any issues with Caesarstone. I asked the appliance company about Thermador vs. Viking and they gave me their opinion based on what they service the least. Good luck!

Our month is about over and I've completed my goals, except the FMQ on color wheel. Might get to it yet. 1. Table runner (FOR ME) 2. Jeweled Forest pattern hanging. I didn't do it in the bright colors but did a Xmas fabric version and this homespun version. I liked the homespun best and put the other blocks away for next year. I may post this by itself since it is a pattern many have seen and might be working on. 3. Jigsaw puzzle quilt together. This will be a major FMQ job so won't get to that part for awhile. It will join my pile of FMQ UFOs for now but it's a relief to get it to this stage. 4. You can see Teddy Bear blocks above color wheel. 5. Color wheel ready to sandwich and quilt. I hand dyed the fabrics so it took a long time for the right colors and still it has colors not quite up to par. But, it's good enough to decorate my wall in an office no one else gets to see anyway. Okay Sharon, what have you got planned for December? It's a busy month so I may just work on the learning curve to get up and running on the new Grace frame. Shopping first, of course.