J, I don't know if you ever made that pillow but here's a little more info (and a recipe :o). I really like the smell (perhaps, oddly enuf) of the Artemisia that grows along the rivers after the water drops in the Summer. It is also here and there in dry creeks and such. Strong . . . I often pick a sprig and put it in my shirt pocket. I also grew Sweet Marjoram for the 1st time this year and have been trying to come up with uses for it . . . Once again; it has a fragrance that I just really like and IÂve been picking a little and carrying around in my pocket in and out of the garden. Apparently, Artemisia vulgaris is also called Mugwort. Here's a recipe using it, marjoram and hops from Jim Long's book on dream pillows: "Restful Sleep Pillow 1 tablespoon rose petals (any color as long as theyÂre fragrant and not chemically treated) 1 teaspoon mugwort 1 teaspoon marjoram 1 teaspoon hops (broken up a bit with your fingers) Fabric Thread Fiberfill "Mix herbs together. Sew previously washed cloth to make a 5-by-5-inch pillow, into which youÂll place some fiberfill, herb mixture and a bit more fiberfill, and sew the pillow closed. To use, simply place the pillow any-where inside your pillowcase  it doesnÂt matter where since most people move their heads around during sleep anyway. "Jim Long is a contributing editor to The Herb Companion magazine." digitS'

Hi Plllog! "That is, I know it's possible, but might not be in your budget." See, there's the crux of it. This little beverage center idea of mine was not in the original budget. (Nor, alas, were new drywall in the livingroom and halls, the gorgeous walnut top on my used cabinet island, the matching gorgeous top that will soon be on the new media cabinet and the near full gut of the bathroom.) And we're still determined to get through remodeling our ugly duckling without taking out a loan or dipping into savings. Conventional wisdom says: Wait until the coffers are full again but that's so hard to do. First off, I'm a cheapskate. Even if the goose who laid the golden egg waddled up onto my deck and built a nest, I'm not sure I would willingly pay someone to mess up the walls I just paid to fix. Second, I'm not quite cheap enough. My new kitchen is starting to look pretty good but, gosh, it would look so much better if the microwave and coffee maker didn't take up so much room on that one counter. I'm willing to spend a little bit more to change that, especially since I'm going to have a piece of countertop leftover that should be just the right size. Still, it's nice to know that it's possible. Maybe when the coffers ARE full again I'll put a tile counter outside on my deck to shade the golden goose should she happen to wander by ;) Thanks for your help!

Good morning KT friends. After a tossing and turning kind of night, I'll have to put last night and the stolen meds behind me.....with a HUGE lesson learned!! We will not be trusting of anyone again. Sad, isn't it? Yes, a big part of this is our fault, having the meds on a table out in the open, but we didn't expect any company. If any neighbors drop in, it during the daytime. There were no refills on the prescription, so that is all they will get from us, and I hope they choke on it. After talking to a couple neighbors, we think Shelly passed the pills off to a gal who is a caretaker to an elderly lady, and a real low-life type, so it was easy for her to sy the Police could search her APT, and we all know he can't unless he gets a warrant. I'm not shaking any more but I'm still really pi$$ed.

It reminded me of Jonathan Adler..a very colorful guy in all senses..rather, him saying in one of his books he doesn't like neutrals-unless they're from nature, like clay, or yarn, or stone, or wood, or.. When in nature-whatever it might be-we're deeply touched by very different settings ..I don't know why but let's pretend that's because there's invisible hand of the Master that put it all together, and we don't know another worlds, not yet, so we are touched by ours. When in home-if one can get one seventieth of that Master's touch..it changes our general connotations. Because there's texture, variation, light, all this, yes-plus something made by hand, taking this natural things, clay and wood, etc, and working on them, and loving them while working. Simple things-yet they all get to sing. I know this because for example I also have variated terracotta tile in the bath-and it's less variated, just three colors..and it's textured custom too..and we were there when the guys from the shop were working on color and texture , working on samples, showing them to us..we waited with them, we were witnesses to that process, and you see the real excitement and passion that goes into creating and playing with things like that. (they liked the pallette themselves and made a sample of it for the store, and called it "April's". lol) And this excitement, passion and patience is what probably makes what was clay and wood shine under that light. It brings together what they are-natural materials-and what people with passion and patience wished them to be, and got them to be. So. That's why I love my grays and my browns.. Even though my house is pretty colorful-no one will call it neutral It's true, they remind me some scenes from my childhood which I percieve as happy. And all sorts of things. The juxtaposition. Of course I prefer certain grays and certain browns, that's normal. For example I love mostly very warm grays. And (surprize) mostly warm browns)) But also because some of them, I witnessed to be made, I knew them to be painstaikingly made, or I knew nobody made it, it was created like that- and I was just lucky to spot it, like a piece of gray marble with golden rusty streaks..and it makes it a bit more magical. Sense of discovery can come in many shapes. It can be quiet and subdued. And nothing we generaly like even maybe. Yet it still will be a sense of discovery. I would love to do truly neutral room one day, just like a challenge even. yet I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to pull it off..