Caroline, that tissue has crossed the Atlantic and been put to good use here in the west coast of Europe... What a bittersweet story, and what lovely words everyone here has said. I agree, this is a very special place, but I've known that for a long time. I too lost my father 13 years ago very close to Christmas and always remember him when I'm sorting the Christmas tree lights ready to hang on the tree. As everybody knows, there is some mischievous elf that entangles Christmas lights after we store them for the year and then has a lot of fun at our desperation the next year. Sorting the lights used to be one of my Dad's tasks every Christmas and one he performed with the utmost patience. And that's why I have never complained about them ever again. May you live in your lovely blessed home for many years to come and then pass it on to someone who will treasure it as much as you do. Eduarda

Oh my gosh, I can't even believe I had the good fortune to have "my granite guy" recommended to me. The Typhoon Green is actually only costing me a tiny bit more than HD's normal "A" granite list selections would installed. HD priced the granite then added for the sink cutout and for the edging (nothing fancy, just bullnose). "My granite guy" (said with a lot of love) normally works the commercial side of the business and the occasional uber-rich highrise condo client. He told my husband and I that they make enough profit on the "sky people" (the very, very wealthy penthouse dwellers) that he sometimes likes to do something nice for the "regular people." It wasn't until the day after that I stopped to think,"huh, what makes us come off as regular people?" Our good fortune in this case. Anyway, between his discount, not charging any extra for whatever edge we chose or cutting out the sink, and recalculating the square footage (although the owner caught him on this one and said "my granite guy" tends to underestimate square footage on purpose to be able to give the "regular people" a discount), the Typhoon Green will run me a total of about $200 more than Uba Tuba, Santa Cecilia, Baltic Brown, Black Pearl, ie, the HD "A" group slabs in our area (Southwest Florida). It's not a common granite around here and would have been beyond the D group for HD and probably up in their "exotic" pricing. HD has done a decent job for me as far as cabinets go, timeliness, etc, so I don't want to put them down as I walked into the store 8 weeks ago without a clue of what I was getting into, but wow, I can't believe the difference in attention and care from the local guy. Best of all, here's the timeline: the cabinets will be be installed Tuesday, granite templating will be Wednesday, granite will be installed Thursday, and plumbing connected on Friday, All so we'll have a kitchen by Christmas. They are going out of their way and working overtime to get this done, because otherwise they close shop from December 22 to January 8 and we'd be kitchenless for that long. This isn't a high end job so I'm actually a little shy about posting this, but here's our kitchen 8 weeks ago (the appliances were new): And here it is today: If all goes well, by next Friday it'll be done except for the backsplash. We're keeping the layout and flooring, though I would have liked to have pulled a Weedyacres and ripped it all out and started from scratch. Unfortunately, when I walked into this I was clueless. But at least I'll love my granite....

What a cutie! I am so happy he was told early. My friend and neighbor never told her daughter that her dad wasn't her real dad...she found out at school from her friend who is in reality her half sister! Her friend and her share the same dad and she never knew it! Her half sister knew for years and when they were in junior high she told some friends and it got back to my friends daughter. They were 13 at the time and things have never been the same around their house. It destroyed the relationship between her and the dad that raised her since birth. Terrible resentment and it really put a strian on the whole famly. I think it's better to tell them young and let them grow with it. Zach is so lucky to have 2 families that can do this for him! He's such a cutie...looks like Caryn, I've always thought so.

Great news! Something similar happened to me last week when the temp went into the high 80's. I've had the 2nd flr system going for weeks (zoned system, like to sleep in a cold room), but had not yet turned on the system for the 1st floor. Turned it on Thurs AM - realized by afternoon that it was a LOT warmer than the thermostat was set for. Called and they got out her on Friday afternoon. It's my older system and I was thinking "new compressor" and knew that was BIG BUCKS. Good luck! A wire outside between the compressor and the house had lost its insulation and so the compressor was getting no power. Fixed wire - works fine. No idea of cost but probably about $200 as my HVAC company has more add-on costs that one can imagine (fuel surcharge, van surcharge). I use them as they always have a truck in my neighborhood and can get to me quickly.