That seems way too cheap...and that's what scares me. The heat pumps are not inverter systems...which are used in all of the high end systems like Fujitsu and Mitsubishi. The link below takes you to an explanation of inverter technology. You want to be comfortable and have a trouble free system...then go with a reputable and well known manufacturer...like Fujitsu, Sanyo or Mitsubishi. I had a Mitsubishi 12,000 BTU heat pump placed in my 13x16' sunroom this spring and it did a wonderful job cooling the room and now does a great job heating it. Trouble free so far and the thing is whisper quiet--both inside and outside. Visit the Mitsubishi website and see if you have some of their Diamond dealers in your area. Have a few out to give you quotes and see how they compare to Fujitsu quote. Again, they should complete and heating and cooling calculations for the room(s) to be serviced by the system. Hope this helps... Theses systems are a big investment...so go with a good brand. Here is a link that might be useful: Inverter Technology

Blanching destroys the enzymes that make the beans mushy. I blanch for 3 minutes, then plunge in ice water, dry on paper towels, freeze on a jelly roll pan then seal in Foodsaver bag. That reminds me I have to bag the ones I blanched and froze this morning. There is a discussion on Harvest about this from early this year. I have pickled some bigger beans, ran out of vinegar solution had to mix more up so stuck 2 pints in the fridge. We took some to a BBQ only a few days later and they tasted really good. Lemon Spiced Pickled Beans from Small Batch Preserving by Ellie Topp. We don't like canned beans either but these were good (of course they hadn't been processed, I'll let you know how the processed ones are in a few months). I figured they'd be good in 3-bean salad once my limas come in (or with storebought canned chickpeas). Here is a link that might be useful: Freezing beans on Harvest

Ooooh! Love the website, Lukkiirish! I most definitely would consider black. My husbands sports paraphernalia has mostly black framing, so that would be perfect. I have to refinish his desk, so maybe a flat black distressed finish would work there. I can always play around with wall color once the trim is finished. And, WOW, Sandy! That is an amazing use of color. It looks great and I love your doors. You have given me a wonderful idea now for our mudroom. I'll be sure to post pictures when I am finished. I do have to wait for the electrician to finish here, so it may be awhile. Thank you both for the ideas!

If you use MS Office 2003, you should have MS Office Picture Manager. Chose this to open your jpg (photo) file. Once it opens, at the top menu, select "Picture". Depends on how large your photos are, you can either chose "Compress" and/or "Resize" to make the photo smaller size. Then, save it to another name. When I have a 1.5 MB size photos, I normally do both, compress first then, resize. Here's step-by-step instruction: 1) Open file in MS Office Picture Manager 2) Select Picture\Compress 3) Right side menu gives 3 choices: Documents, Web Pages, E-mails. )Chose one and you'll see the size it compress it into. You can do "Edit\undo..." if you don't like it). I normally select Documents, and hit "OK" at the bottom of the menu. 4) Select Picture\Resize 5) Easiest choice is to do a "Percentage". I normally, resize from 60% and up. Again, you can play around with the different percentage to give you some idea and if you don't like it, do Edit\Undo. 6) Save or Save as your photo. This tool also allows you to compress and/or resize multiple photos and Save All at the same time. Select the Thumbnail icon to do multiple photos. Be careful not to Resize too much; otherwise, your photos loses quality. I also use this tool to "crop" the photos. If you use crop, do this before doing compress/resize. I've been busy and haven't check back this forum as often, so e-mail me if you have any questions. Good luck and have fun! Natalie