For Sale: Metal Tag maker, no electricity required. Good way to build arm muscles. No rose tags included, but I might have a variety of naughty lady "Social Security Id Card Blanks." (remember back when you used to carry that little paper card in your wallet and wanted that nifty personalized metal one) (and if only I was not kidding and the "proud" owner of such a machine-my parents from back in the swapmeet days)

I have several of her books and a video, but they are buried in the room that is going to be my craft room when I get finished with the rest of the house. I painted some sunflowers and a hummingbird using her method. The first hummingbird I did was pathetic; so was the second and third, but they got better and better until I could finally actually tell what they were. :) I also painted a mural on the wall of the room Anna used to have. It was wisteria and a picket fence. I don't remember what else was in it. It looked pretty good, but was definitely not professional looking. I am left handed and my main problem is with leaves. The instructions are given for right handed people. The instructions say for lefties to start at the opposite end and go in the opposite direction. That makes sense, but I think I could do better if I could actually see someone do it. I wish she would make a video for lefties. I plan to go to one of her seminars now that I'm retired. I had made reservations a few years ago, but had to cancel it because I couldn't get off from work. :( Linda

Gardenspice, sorry this is so late, but I never saw your post! We had a "friend" who was going through a rough patch with his wife and he had just lost his job. They only had one vehicle and I offered to loan him my green '97 Sebring Convertible to use whenever he wanted,we have three cars for the two of us, so it wouldn't be a hardship to us. After about a year I offered to sell it to him for $2500, we drew up a promissory note and we both signed it in April of '09. I gave him two years to pay it off, $100/month for 25 months. In October of that year he hadn't paid a dime and I filed an addendum to the original Promissory note because he hadn't paid per the contract. He skipped town and moved to Indiana with my car without making a single payment. I found out where he worked and had him served at his work with legal papers for the money. While the filing was happening, I called several shows, Judge Alex was the first to call on a Tuesday, the show was taping on Thursday! But when they got us there within days (which is why a lot of people aren't prepared when they come to court). I totally thought it was a joke until I went to the courthouse and they confirmed that a guy had been in a few days earlier to look for my file. I was called on a Tuesday and flew out Thursday morning. They flew me to the FOX studios and had a meet and greet with my handler and given $35 cash for spending money for the night. They also provided a hotel room. They flew me in but not Jim, who really wanted to be there, drove the 6 hours or so to meet me there. The next day they were taping and did my hair and makeup and fed me about 6 Red Bulls to get my emotions rolling, but I don't get upset easily, so the script they wanted me to say I flubbed up so bad it was left on the cutting room floor. How these court shows work is that the people really ARE real, and Judge Alex dismissed my case without predjudice, which means I can resue him when the two year Promissory note was cleared. We were each given $150 for our appearances and up to your state law for the car (mine happened to be $2500. Now, at least on JA's show, the money comes from the the network and goes to the winner and the defendant would have to pay nothing to me. But could he keep his big, fat mouth shut he would have gotten off scott-free and would no longer be required to pay me anything. But the dumbass waved the Addendum to the judge and screwed himself out of $2500. The two years went by and voila! There was a cashiers check from the weasel. I am glad it is all over, but I miss my Green Machine, I hated to see it go.

I didn't make it to my personal goal of 200 books, but I did manage to read/listen to 189 books (even if many of them were re-reads). For my top 10 list, I am only including books that were new reads during 2007. In no particular order: Fiction Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear Deephaven & Other Stories by Sarah Orne Jewett Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen Invisible Lives by Anjali Banerjee Nonfiction (only had 4 that actually counted) Murder in the Adirondacks by Craig Grandon Sarah Orne Jewett (a biography) by Paula Blanchard The Medicine Wheel Garden by E. Barrie Kavasch The Creative Home Herbal by Susan Bellsinger & Tina Marie Wilcox Okay, I said I wasn't going to list any re-reads, but here are my top 5 favorite re-reads from 2007 The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner Beauty by Robin McKinley Persuasion by Jane Austen Farewell I'm Bound to Leave You by Fred Chappell