Well, here's another one from the internet. I first heard of it some 10 years ago. Hotel Soap HOTEL SOAP OPERA Attached is actual correspondence which occurred between a London hotel's staff and one of its guests. The London hotel involved submitted this to the Sunday Times. --------- Dear Maid, Please do not leave any more of those little bars of soap in my bathroom since I have brought my own bath-sized Dial. Please remove the six unopened little bars from the shelf under the medicine chest and another three in the shower soap dish. They are in my way. Thank you, S. Berman --- Dear Room 635, I am not your regular maid. She will be back tomorrow, Thursday, from her day off. I took the 3 hotel soaps out of the shower soap dish as you requested. The 6 bars on your shelf I took out of your way and put on top of your Kleenex dispenser in case you should change your mind. This leaves only the 3 bars I left today which my instructions from the management is to leave 3 soaps daily. I hope this is satisfactory. Kathy, Relief Maid ----- Dear Maid -- I hope you are my regular maid. Apparently Kathy did not tell you about my note to her concerning the little bars of soap. When I got back to my room this evening I found you had added 3 little Camays to the shelf under my medicine cabinet. I am going to be here in the hotel for two weeks and have brought my own bath-size Dial so I won't need those 6 little Camays which are on the shelf. They are in my way when shaving, brushing teeth, etc. Please remove them. ------ Dear Mr. Berman, My day off was last Wed. so the relief maid left 3 hotel soaps which we are instructed by the management. I took the 6 soaps which were in your way on the shelf and put them in the soap dish where your Dial was. I put the Dial in the medicine cabinet for your convenience. I didn't remove the 3 complimentary soaps which are always placed inside the medicine cabinet for all new check-ins and which you did not object to when you checked in last Monday. Please let me know if I can of further assistance. Your regular maid, Dotty ------- Dear Mr. Berman, The assistant manager, Mr. Kensedder, informed me this A.M. that you called him last evening and said you were unhappy with your maid service. I have assigned a new girl to your room. I hope you will accept my apologies for any past inconvenience. If you have any future complaints please contact me so I can give it my personal attention. Call extension 1108 between 8AM and 5PM. Thank you. Elaine Carmen Housekeeper ----- Dear Miss Carmen, It is impossible to contact you by phone since I leave the hotel for business at 745 AM and don't get back before 530 or 6PM. That's the reason I called Mr. Kensedder last night. You were already off duty. I only asked Mr. Kensedder if he could do anything about those little bars of soap. The new maid you assigned me must have thought I was a new check-in today, since she left another 3 bars of hotel soap in my medicine cabinet along with her regular delivery of 3 bars on the bath-room shelf. In just 5 days here I have accumulated 24 little bars of soap. Why are you doing this to me? S. Berman ---- Dear Mr. Berman, Your maid, Kathy, has been instructed to stop delivering soap to your room and remove the extra soaps. If I can be of further assistance, please call extension 1108 between 8AM and 5PM. Thank you, Elaine Carmen, Housekeeper ------ Dear Mr. Kensedder, My bath-size Dial is missing. Every bar of soap was taken from my room including my own bath-size Dial. I came in late last night and had to call the bellhop to bring me 4 little Cashmere Bouquets. S. Berman ------ Dear Mr. Berman, I have informed our housekeeper, Elaine Carmen, of your soap problem. I cannot understand why there was no soap in your room since our Maids are instructed to leave 3 bars of soap each time they service a room. The situation will be rectified immediately. Please accept my apologies for the inconvenience. Martin L. Kensedder Assistant Manager ------- Dear Mrs. Carmen, Who the hell left 54 little bars of Camay in my room? I came in last night and found 54 little bars of soap. I don't want 54 little bars of Camay. I want my one damn bar of bath-size Dial. Do you realize I have 54 bars of soap in here. All I want is my bath size Dial. Please give me back my bath-size Dial. S. Berman ---------- Dear Mr. Berman, You complained of too much soap in your room so I had them removed. Then you complained to Mr. Kensedder that all your soap was missing so I personally returned them. The 24 Camays which had been taken and the 3 Camays you are supposed to receive daily (sic). I don't know anything about the 4 Cashmere Bouquets. Obviously your maid, Kathy, did not know I had returned your soaps so she also brought 24 Camays plus the 3 daily Camays. I don't know where you got the idea this hotel issues bath-size Dial. I was able to locate some bath-size Ivory which I left in your room. Elaine Carmen Housekeeper -------- Dear Mrs. Carmen, Just a short note to bring you up-to-date on my latest soap inventory. As of today I possess: - On shelf under medicine cabinet - 18 Camay in 4 stacks of 4 and 1 stack of 2. - On Kleenex dispenser - 11 Camay in 2 stacks of 4 and 1 stack of 3. - On bedroom dresser - 1 stack of 3 Cashmere Bouquet, 1 stack of 4 hotel-size Ivory, and 8 Camay in 2 stacks of 4. - Inside medicine cabinet - 14 Camay in 3 stacks of 4 and 1 stack of 2. - In shower soap dish - 6 Camay, very moist. - On northeast corner of tub - 1 Cashmere Bouquet, slightly used. - On northwest corner of tub - 6 Camays in 2 stacks of 3. Please ask Kathy when she services my room to make sure the stacks are neatly piled and dusted. Also, please advise her that stacks of more than 4 have a tendency to tip. May I suggest that my bedroom window sill is not in use and will make an excellent spot for future soap deliveries. One more item, I have purchased another bar of bath-sized Dial which I am keeping in the hotel vault in order to avoid further misunderstandings. S. Berman

Alan Lacy, especially his first two books, and a more recenty one "The Gardener's Eye". Henry Mitchell's "One Man's Garden" (Still re-read that book if bored on a winter's nite.) Christopher Lloyd........who threatens to stop on sight and heave certain plants right over the fence and outta your garden because they're soooo obnoxious. two writers out of New York who write on indoor gardening, who's names escape me for now...Hmmmmmmm... Jamaica Kincaid.......only person I've come across who can make me long for something called yellow Russian hollyhocks. A local writer here in S Calif....Tineke Wilders. I just plain like her style. :-)

I love this question. Can't answer it, but very interesting! I work in Documentation, but have some ability to be creative with it. I provide the instructions (with photos that I take....very amateurishly) for manufacturing products. I can set up pages of instructions however I like. The content and process have to be precise and accurate, but visually there's room to make them my own. In the kitchen, I rarely follow a recipe and can't duplicate what I make. I hate to measure, except in baking, and even then I just scoop flour and shake 'til level-ish. I've used my kitchen scale to brag about the weight of a tomato more than weigh ingredients! LOL Recipes are just ingredient lists and general process guidelines for me. On a rare occasion I'll follow to a tee, but I hate it! Meals are planned around what needs to be used up in the fridge/freezer. Like now, I know I need to eat up last years frozen asparagus because it's almost time for fresh stuff! Sometimes I look in the pantry/fridge/freezer and see a couple of ingredients that trigger a thought about something to make. This is very similiar to how my mom cooked. Recipes for baking, wing with everything else. Deanna

Hi Maryanne!! Welcome to the real world forum. This is definitely the place. Jo hit the nail, I think. Since you've been lurking, you probably know that this bunch - especially the regulars, are truly family here. They may not hear me speak to everything that goes on in my brain, but they sure have helped me through a lot this last few months that I've know them. RE your question, I can tell you, I'VE GOT THE SAME EXPERIENCE - YUK!! This person has been a very good friend for a very long time. About 3yrs ago, he began calling pretty regularly. Right after that, I went away for a job and lo and behold, he began calling EVERY night!! Now mind you, when he first started calling, it was light conversation, but it began to lean towards an interest in me. We have our "moments" since then, and I began to have some feelings. But when I reacted to them, he would "run". I've told him many times that I didn't want to ruin a perfectly good friendship with his habit of chasing and then running when I responded. He says he's fine with our relationship - he wants me around but he doesn't want to get married. So now, we are truly best friends. He still does the chase thing, but I stay away from anyting else now because I don't want to risk the friendship. It's not as though I'm afraid of losing it, it's just that when he and I began to get closer, we keep telling each other that we were beginning to act like an old married couple (no arguing, it's just that if feels like marriage). We knew so much about each other as friends that it was difficult making the transition. We have the warmth and care/concern, but it's not the hot and heavy romantic stuff that I thought it could be. I can't say I've lost hope or anything like that, but I wonder if the romantic thing is better than what we have now. So, I just let it be - as it is now- which by the way, is great. OK, I've shared some of my story, but to address your question, I really have to wonder why more hasn't happened already. There does come a time when suppression really doesn't hold out. If he really has romantic feelings, then I'm curious as to how he is able to keep them at bay all this time. I'm not saying this guy doesn't like or want to be with you - not at all. After hearing some of what my friend has said to me, I'm just wondering if your friend is just content as things are between you now. There are a myriad of things that come to mind - some guys just have a hard time leaving a relationship behind. If he hasn't gotten over the bad relationships of the past, he's not going to move forward with yours, other than to have you there to have a trusted female companion. One thing you might try - you make a move and see what happens. Just know that the risk is there, that it might not feel like the high school crush. That could still work well, and be the best romantically involved friendship. That in itself gives you a lot more than what a lot of people have. That will give you the leg up, so to speak when things are not so great all the time. Most don't have that either. But if sparks do fly when you take the plunge, then it's gravy. Best wishes with your decision. I think it would be worth it to try it and see. If you don't you will always wonder. If it doesn't work out, in the end, you will at least have had a great friend. Nine times out of ten, the friendship part will never go away though. What you don't want to happen though, is that someone else helps him take the plunge before you do. He's seems comfortable with you so I'd try it. You don't have to go hog-wild, but maybe just have a little more forceful discussion. BTW, the writer thing - you got it, it all sounds good. I know about that too, but if it doesn't sound like it, it's because it's almost 2:00AM!!! Go for it - we're rootn' for ya!! gng