My daughter and I are just finishing up a project of doing over one of the empty bedrooms as a guest room. It's been a better experience than I was anticipating. My daughter surprised me with her degree of flexibility and cooperation. She and I are both very opinionated and our tastes overlap some but she tends more toward contemporary and I lean toward country/traditional. I was worried we'd get into a conflict over it, but we've done great! I wanted purple for a paint color, but she talked me into blue. That was fine, my husband's favorite color is blue so I thought it was about time we did something in a color he likes. Then we went to the paint store together and we were pretty close on the color shade we wanted. When we got to the store, we both decided to go by the rule of choosing one shade lighter than you think you need and we both LOVE the color, now that it's done! She liked a contemporary duvet cover and I didn't hate it, but I feel deprived without florals. [g] So, in a stalemate, she asked what her father liked. She's been very mindful that the room is at our house and we should like it. Very thoughtful of her. So when I gave him the choices he chose the exact duvet cover I wanted, without knowing it was that one. I was very surprised. Now that the room is just about done, my daughter likes the duvet cover as much as I do. She wants roman shades on the windows and I like that idea too, but I LOVE lace at the window. Since I had lace panels in the house and it's not winter yet, we put them up for the time being and she really likes them now too...lol. And I'll take my time finding some roman shades before winter. We have influenced each other in a positive way and now we all like the room. It's SO good to have a room done, but who ever said, do one room and nothing motivates you more to start fixing everything was so right. My father used to say the same thing. My mother would suggest they start painting and he would always begin by saying 'No, you paint one room and you end up painting the whole house and replacing the carpet, etc.' It's very noticeable that we need to paint the rest of the first floor now. It has been 15 years since we painted last. [g]

I watched the CBS shows and I've watched the Dateline and some of the Dr. Phil. I don't know what to think, other than believing an intruder is the least-likely scenario. Not impossible, but very unlikely, due to the way the note was written, the way the body was discovered, and Burke's interviews shortly after the crime and 18 months after the crime. Burke said he heard his mother come into his room and then go out of it looking for JonBenet, and then he heard her in hysterics (as he said in the interview afterward "going psycho") and just stayed in bed pretending to sleep or trying to sleep, rather than go try to find out what had happened. Picture your own kids. You burst into your 9 year old's room and then just as suddenly depart. You are frantically crying and screaming, alerting your spouse and then placing a 911 call. Your 9 year old doesn't freeze with fear. They don't hide. They also don't come ask you what's wrong. They don't go find dad and ask what's wrong. They just stay in bed and wait. The only reason I can think of for him to do this is either that he was used to the sound of adults "going psycho" in other parts of the house and did not find that unusual/alarming--or he knew what the problem was and was waiting to find out how his parents were going to handle it.

Lars, the NYT recipe (below, since it is behind a firewall IIRC) was the only recipe I found with many reviews and a high rating. I liked it because it is not something you see people make all the time and so it is special, it looks pretty, but has flavors with a wide appeal. Not particularly hard at all, just need time to chill the custard. I'd give it a thumbs up, but again, DOUBLE the custard (even as I was making it, I said to DH, "it is no harder to make a batch of this than to make 2 or 3 batches"...wish I would have). And i did beat the eggs/sugar longer than the recipe called for, but someone in comments said 10min and next time I'd do that. I baked mine in a springform pan lined w parchment. Boston Cream Pie FOR THE CUSTARD: note: consider doubling this 3 large egg yolks ½ cup/100 grams granulated sugar 2 tablespoons cornstarch Pinch kosher salt 1 cup/240 milliliters whole milk ¼ cup/60 milliliters heavy cream 1 tablespoon/14 grams unsalted butter 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract FOR THE CAKE: 8 tablespoons/114 grams (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces, plus more for the pan 1 ¾ cups/224 grams all-purpose flour 1 ¾ teaspoons baking powder ¾ teaspoon kosher salt ¾ cup/180 milliliters whole milk 3 large eggs, at room temperature 1 cup/200 grams granulated sugar 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract FOR THE GLAZE: ¼ cup/60 milliliters heavy cream 4 ounces/113 grams semisweet chocolate chips 1 teaspoon neutral oil, such as safflower Pinch kosher salt Add to Your Grocery List PREPARATION Make the custard: In a medium saucepan, whisk together egg yolks and sugar until well combined. Whisk in cornstarch and salt. In a slow, steady stream, whisk in milk and then the cream. Add butter. Cook mixture over medium-low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, just until it starts to thicken. Immediately whisk mixture until smooth, then continue to cook and stir custard until it has come to a very low boil for 2 minutes, about 6 to 8 minutes total. Strain custard through a fine mesh sieve into a small bowl, pushing it through with a small spatula. Stir in vanilla. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing the plastic directly onto the surface. Chill for at least 3 hours and up to 24 hours. Prepare the cake: Heat oven to 325 degrees. Butter a 9-by-2-inch round baking pan, generously greasing the sides, and line it with parchment paper. Butter parchment paper. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. In a small saucepan, bring the milk and butter to a simmer over medium heat. When the butter is melted, remove pan from heat. In a large bowl, beat eggs and sugar with an electric mixer until pale and thick, about 4 to 6 minutes (note; consider doing this for 10 minutes). With the mixer running on low, add the milk mixture and beat until combined. Then add flour mixture and vanilla and beat until combined. Transfer batter to the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer to a rack and let cool 10 minutes. With a very thin knife, cut around the edge to release the cake from the side of the pan. Carefully flip the cake onto the rack, then turn it right-side-up to cool completely. Assemble the cake: Using a serrated knife, carefully cut the cake into two layers and place the bottom layer on a serving plate. Stir custard, and spread it onto the cut side of the bottom half. Replace the top half of the cake, cut side down. Prepare the glaze: In a small saucepan over medium-low, heat the cream to a simmer. Remove the pot from the heat and pour cream over the chocolate chips, oil, salt and let stand for 3 minutes. Whisk until smooth. Spread the glaze evenly over the top of the cake. PS We are on day 3 of Risk (albeit with many long breaks in the action). Still losing. Worse. Send reinforcements. Or pie.

Indigo Rose 18 hours ago ~ BTW I'm so happy to see you didn't post this to multiple forums; I cringe when that happens. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Curious, what's the trigger for you of doing that? ______________________________________________________ IdaClaire 7 hours ago Giz, if you like Midsomer, you might like the Agatha Raisin series. Lots of chocolate box cottage eye candy. Oh, and murder/ mayhem. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I sampled one episode of Agatha Raisin and enjoyed it, so that's for future viewing I also enjoyed the episode of the reboot of Ms Fisher's Modern Murder Mysteries