Oh man...music promos. My brother had the good fortune as a teenager to babysit for a rock station DJ. Instead of paying him cash, he got to chose albums, promo materials, tickets, etc. My brother got a limited edition Police EP, shaped like a policemans badge, in a faux leather cover, of Roxanne. SIGNED BY THE BAND. They were JUST coming out in the US, and this was one of the first promo items given to the stations. He also had an album of the Ramones, PERSONALLY signed to him from Joey Ramone. My brothers name is Joe, and was known as Joey at the time. Also at the time my brother wasn't into punk, he liked Frampton, but I loved the Ramones. He gave me the album, but after one of our frequent fights, he took it back and kept it in his room. I can't remember all the great stuff we had...just remember that OUR MOTHER THREW IT ALL OUT WHEN THEY MOVED. Oh, I DID download the Pandora app on my iPhone and have been listening to it all day! YAY! I have two very diverse stations...Louis Prima and Def Leppard. Will have to check out The Willing!

I've had speakers in the ceiling all over the house, with centralized components, for nearly ten years, including in the kitchen. They don't get nearly as dusty as lower ones do because gravity has its way with dust. If you don't put them right where your hood should be, or directly over an unvented oven, they don't get cooking effluent either. I'd say the ceiling is the best place for the speakers. Rather than just going to a cupboard, you can run the wires to a component system in another room. Or you can put them on bluetooth to an ipod dock. One pair of decent speakers should do you fine. The good ones aren't particularly expensive nowadays. Just pay attention to the locations so most of the people spots (work zones and seating) get both speakers instead of just one channel. Cleaning is just a matter of getting up on a ladder, removing the grill and dusting. If you have a lot of dirt incursion into your house, a lot of exterior dust (earth), pollen or pollution, you might need to do this once or twice a year. :) Some people don't like music in the kitchen. I've found that XM caliente is fantastic cooking music! And while I don't generally play holiday music at other times, it's great for cooking for holidays, especially the massive run-up to Passover. Frankly, your husband's argument sounds to me more like an "I don't really care and can't be bothered" than a real concern. That is, it would be if it were any one of the men in my life. If that's what it sounds like to you, overrule him!

The sirloin/onion have braised a few minutes, enough for the meat to give up it's juices and the onion to sweat. Nothing browned. Now: From the Garden: Tomatoes, 2 quarts (processed already) Lima Beans (King of the Garden) October Beans *sigh* Snap Beans (Kentucky Blue) Carrots (Frozen from last year/too soon for the fall ones) Potatoes ... sorry, story bought. ... and celery, store stuff again. Whaaaaaa ;)

Our design team at work all use iTunes to stay sane during our long hours at the office. Each of us download onto our Macs any songs we want and can listen to anyone elses within our group. I have just shy of 5,000 songs in my account. A fellow coworker has nearly 20,000. After a few years of listening to all of my songs and those of others in our group, I've gotten bored so I've been listening to Pandora most days. It allows me to find new artists and old and new songs to buy and add to my collection. I can also listen to my Pandora account via Roku, my internet streaming box. Jodi-