Buford, Buford, Buford . . . Are you NEVER going to figure out how this works? Ofcourse they don't count, silly! Not only do they not count, but those four will occupy space reserved for roses that you DO want, so when you (finally) get the four that you do want, those four don't count either because the stress of delayed gratification PLUS the hassle of fitting them in cancels them out TWICE, see? So you're getting a total of nine roses, only one of which you have to count -- PLUS you then have a bonus of four roses that you get to add to next year's order(s). So that's an even dozen new roses that actually don't figure into your total. Now do you understand?

Here's the recipe for cottage cheese daughter has! She got it from the program 'Good Eats'! She and her two boys, ages 4 and 5 love that show! They tape them and the boys beg her to play them over and over. They've really gotten interested in cooking, themselves and even use play dough to reinact the shows! She's letting them help her alot now! Quick Cottage Cheese 1 gallon pasteurized skim milk 3/4 cup white vinegar 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt 1/2 cup half-and half-or heavy cream Pour the skim milk into a large saucepan and place over medium heat. Heat to 120 degrees F. Remove from the heat and gently pour in the vinegar. Stir slowly for 1 to 2 minutes. The curd will separate from the whey. Cover and allow to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. Pour the mixture into a colander lined with a tea towel and allow to sit and drain for 5 minutes. Gather up the edges of the cloth and rinse under cold water for 3 to 5 minutes or until the curd is completely cooled, squeezing and moving the mixture the whole time. Once cooled, squeeze as dry as possible and transfer to a mixing bowl. Add the salt and stir to combine, breaking up the curd into bite-size pieces as you go. If ready to serve immediately, stir in the half-and-half or heavy cream. If not, transfer to a sealable container and place in the refrigerator. Add the half and half or heavy cream just prior to serving. Oh, and her hubby (our SIL) is here with the boys right now, having watched Ohio State and Illinois (boo hoo--OSU lost) and he says it's really good and not gritty at all, when she makes it!

Trailrunner, your home is just so beautiful and it seems to be full of who you are as a person. I don't know your story but I too have one of my own. The sentence that began "All any of us can do" really spoke to me today and I don't even know what words I can say to thank you for them. I don't mean for this to be an OT not by any means, but I try to surround myself with things that are attractive to me. The beauty might be in the character of your unupholstered chair or the unknown history of memazz's bowling pins or a painting that tells a story to me. My family doesn't understand the importance decorating has in my life, and luckily doesn't really have any influence on what I do - I couldn't imagine that battle. For me, it is the desire to surround myself with things that I find beautiful and items that evoke happy memories that dictates what I do. My rooms would not be in any magazine and pale in comparison to rooms I have seen in this blog (like your dining room) but adding something or altering a room bringing it closer to being "me" is what I strive for. Sitting in a chair in my LR, with my coffee, watching the cat as she sleeps next to "my" chair - no one else likes the color but I think it is "gorgeous" - with the colors of the vase (which I picked out just knowing that it would cast the most magnificent shadow) in the window beginning to creep upon her fur is more beautiful than any diamond I could own. So again, without meaning for this to be OT - I tend to look at people's rooms as more than what is "correct" as to how much of their personality is there. So many of your pieces from the stories you have told seem to tell some of the stories of your life. Do you like I, place what may be to most people, a greater desire to surround yourself with things that elicit positive thoughts. I find that not many people understand that it is more than just accumulating or matching "things". How much does ingesting your personality matter when you are designing a room?

Here is my hit list. These came for a recent set of films I reviewed for a private group. Sahara - A Clive Cussler Adventure tale. A Night as the Museum - Fantasy. Museum artifacts come alive after the museum closes for the night and shocks the newly hired watchman. National Teasure Adventure, Exploration, highy fictional WALL-E A cutsey robot roams a ruined earth and is trying to tidy up the place. He makes it his full time job, but then it gets very dangerous for him to be out of his abode. Journey to the Center of the Earth. Based on a book by the same name and used as a platform to make a digitized movie where the director can go beyond conventional special effects. The Secret Life of the Bees Interpersonal interplay of a young girl who finds a houseful of caring Black women after she runs away from a very terrible home situation. UP - a rollicking cartoon film about a codgedy old man who has lost his wife and nearly lost the will to live when he suddently decides to kick civilization in the rear and make the dream trip that he and his wife had discussed and said someday we'll go. It's one of the better movies of this group. Ed Azner does his voice - a perfect match. Avatar Science fiction totally digitized. A block buster effort. It does have scenes where violence is directed toward the planet and its hidden inhabitants, but these scenes are necessary to tell the story. Toy Story 3 Like Toy Story 1 and 2, except Andy has aged is going off to college. The toys are headed for the storage bin and are in danger of being tossed out. Robots Fictional robot characters and their lives. They have atonishingly human traits and some are not so good. The director uses the characters as a canvas to play out the interaction of these traits.