Pammy; you should get something in writing; especially with all of these wacky storms we're having. The neighbor could easily go to a storage unit. You can bet most people would put a claim into your home owners. Raising my hand! Had a neighbor that baby sat my daughter; she liked a few things I had; kind of talked me into letting her use /borrow toys; table; sewing machine.. She turned around & sold it at a yard sale a few months later & denied table & sewing machine were on loan. We had a neighbor at our old house that we did a lot with. The tools they didn't have we did; what we didn't; they did. It was a great relationship too; my hub helped them & their hub helped us. When the neighbor helped my hub; I cooked dinner for both families & would bathe the kids so the mom could relax because I was appreciative of the help. To this day; I can't believe what happened over an iron. I do not iron much; but I'm pretty sure I'd recently used it with no issues. I normally wash the fabric; then iron & cut the pattern out. The iron at this point was probably close to 10 years old; but even the box was in great shape. I take care of my stuff & it lasts. Neighbor borrowed my iron & when I went to use it next; it didn't work. I was making bibs for the neighbor. I wasn't able to just jump in my car & replace it. I was still recovering from my huge back surgery; was down close to 8 months. I saw her come home from Walmart with a new iron. Here I'm not driving; making bibs for 2 of the kids; I would have gladly given her a $20 to pick up a similar iron to what I had but she never offered anything. I didn't expect her to replace the iron; I was more hurt that she didn't ask if I wanted her to pick up a new one while she was out. The story was that my iron didn't work when she used it. What I did not understand is why no one bothered to tell me it wasn't working. Wish I remember how I got to the store to buy a new one. It bites but if you break something (anything) you borrowed don't you replace it? The solution should be discussed. In the case of something expensive; neighbor should have at least offered to get an estimate on repairs; then take it from there This post was edited by roselvr on Sat, Jun 8, 13 at 12:30

Let's see - gardening rules I break all the time: - I plant my roses far too close together and I actually want them to intermingle - I interplant with a wide variety of other plants, when "everyone knows" rose gardens can only contain roses (smile) - I don't prune below the first 5 leaf nodule or some such foolishness - if it looks dead or is in my way I cut it back as much as I feel like - I don't spray anything - I don't fuss over them - I don't use products specifically designed (or priced) for roses, but buy my fertilizer at the hardware store and huge bales of alfalfa at the farm supply store - I don't worry about bugs or diseases and make them shape up or ship out - I put colors next to each other that aren't supposed to go together, most of the time by accident but I'm too lazy to move them - I buy roses from anyone and everyone that has quality plants to sell, including big box stores if that applies - I overwinter roses that aren't supposed to grow in my climate - I kill roses that are supposed to be perfectly hardy for me And gardening rules that I keep, most of the time - I find joy in the small things in the garden, and try to see the roses more than the bugs, blackspot or sweat dripping off my nose - I share that joy with anyone who expresses even a passing interest in any of the above - I bring bouquets all the time to friends and neighbors even though I rarely cut them for myself - I bring my kids out into the garden to enjoy nature, including the cool bugs - I get a kick out of helping newbies learn that roses aren't that hard to grow - I don't expect perfection - If I don't feel like getting out to the garden for some strange reason I take a break - I try to spend as much time stretching back out as I do bending over - I remember to hang out on my swing or hammock and gaze out proudly over the garden (however ratty it may look) and sigh, "Dang, I love gardening" Cynthia

I got tired of throwing out wrecked nonstick pans about 15 years ago and bought a cast iron skillet. Very frequent use ever since then, and I've lived in places with electric cooktops and now have a glass smoothtop, and no damage yet, even though I can be pretty klutzy at times and also don't have normal strength in my hands. That said, my cast iron is only a 9" and I have a larger All Clad stainless pan for larger sautes and stir frying, so I don't know how I'd do with a bigger, more heavy cast iron pan. You don't have to keep a cast iron pan completely away from any touch of detergent, but then again, you don't need detergent to get it clean. What germs do people think are living on there after the thing's been heated on the stove?? My preferred method of cleaning is with a stiff *natural* bristled brush and hot water, and then bung it in the oven with a little oil on it and heat it briefly to dry. Works best if you do it while the cast iron is still a little warm, which it will be if you just leave it in the sink while you eat. It can be a little hard to find the right kind of brush, since so many dishwashing brushes are plastic (ugh), but I believe Lodge sells a brush at what is probably a healthy price. I get my natural bristled dish brushes at a Vietnamese market for 99 cents each or so. There are a number of folks on Youtube with videos demonstrating how to take a new, rough-surfaced cast iron pan of the Lodge type, sand down the surface with a power sander and then re-season the whole thing, and you get a glassy smooth surface like the vintage cast iron pans have. That's a little too much heavy work for me, though. Via Youtube I also discovered a new brand of cast iron skillet called "Stargazer," which was originally a Kickstarter project, they say, and manufactured by the old methods creating a smooth surface. Looks pretty, but the price is, by my standards, rather breathtaking - $88 for a 10.5 inch pan. It could be worth it if you keep it for decades, though, and no reason you can't. http://www.stargazercastiron.com/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZmNyOCzpC8 (To the person wondering what a "spider" is: There is an old style of cast iron pan called a "spider" which has legs on it and can be set directly on the coals of a campfire. For all you Laura Ingalls Wilder fans, there is a description of this in the books. I think there are manufacturers still making them for very hardy campers who don't mind carrying an iron pan with them, or you can buy vintage.)

Width of room. It's fairly large. You can also see that the couch is huge. The shelf on the left is temporary also, though it doesn't have to be.