Thanks for your kind words . . . and your enabling (LOL) ;^D I do have to make one correction, though: the gold & white plates were $1 each, not $2. Patty: girl, you get out a lot! I've seen your bargains, but if you want to zip down here, we can go out bargain hunting together and really do some damage! Jane: you have the turquoise? I saw a few of those recently; they're lovely! I have 4 (or 6?) of the same pattern in the cream and really like them. It's scary when you have so many dishes you can't remember things like that! You should have seen DD yesterday when she saw the 3 new groups of dishes (ROFLMAO). There was a lot of eye rolling! Jeanne: yes, you are a very bad/good enabler! I plan on checking out some tablescape pics here to inspire me. Kathleen: thanks. If you have any pics of white & gold tables, I'd love to see them. I need inspiration. Punk: Thanks! I'm anxious to get started on the plates.

napagirl, I live in New England (western Massachusetts to be exact). I will admit that this style piece is unusual around these parts, which is probably why it was priced so cheaply. Someone picked it up cleaning out an estate, didn't even know that it had a french style so had no idea how to optimize it in the description. It is truly a lovely piece, even prettier than the pic shows--perfectly proportioned (the back is fully finished and beautiful in itself!). Valinsv--I agree about the crazy way people list items. I've come to realize that most people just don't know what they have, and the real treasures are usually hidden behind listings such as "sitting chair", "wood trimmed chair", etc. Unfortunately, this means "searching" on Craig's List is often not as fruitful as just opening up any listing that looks remotely like something you could use. My local CL just had a "classic couch" that was in fact a very nice, camelback, down-filled incredible looking piece for FREE! BTW, thanks everyone, for your nice comments. It is so much fun "collecting" things the way I do (and even more fun to be able to share it with others who appreciate it, because most of my friends and family just think I'm nuts!).

Glad to see a few more on here that like autobiographies too. I'd love some suggestions on one's you've read already. I am gathering my summer reading! Good deal on the Goldie Hawn book! Can't find that bargain on Ebay.

Today we went to a gardening yard sale of a friend who is moving. I scored a very long plant stand that I've wanted a long time for the porch, and three very large terracotta planters (she buys good quality stuff) on which to go crazy with mosaic. I can't wait until I have time to mosaic again. When they finished renovating our basement bathroom they left oodles of sanded ground and said they'd bring the rest of left over ground from any project by instead of throwing it away! Free grout for life! GGG