I'm back again, giving serious test to Mary's comment about absent idyllers being welcomed back. I'm so happy that this group is always here waiting for me. Marian, I second your comment about liking all of the people here despite many differences. If you and I lived in the same town, chances are great we would never get to know each other. But I enjoy your different perspective and your stories from your life, even if you do think it's not very exciting. Perspective is a funny thing. I had dinner with a group of women last week, and one of them is one of the best-known dairy farmers in the state. She has done tons of work in support of ag in our state, not to mention those 260 dairy cows that need to be milked every once in a while. But she looked at me and another woman who works in the perennial business and told us we had such wonderful jobs that helped make people happy. Hmm, feed the world or make people happy? Isn't it funny how "the grass is always greener"? Honey, I liked the therapist's comment about eggs in the hardware store. Martie, I was talking plants with a customer the other day and she mentioned an herb that she can only get at Logee's - had I ever heard of Logee's? Well, of course, because Martie has raved about it! So have you grown Greek columnar basil? And are you still pushing dibbles in your neighborhood? LOL! Shh! I have four coleus cuttings that are out and out thriving! Funny thing is that I filled three pots with potting soil, stuck the cuttings and then put them all together on my kitchen counter. Two pots (same coleus) did great and the other pot (different variety) shriveled and died. But the two pots are still doing well. This evening, I switched hats and would have done Clik and Clak proud as I diagnosed a car problem over the phone. DD's car has sprung a leak in the cooling system. The complication is that she is supposed to drive home Friday night. DH thinks she should put in some StopLeak and come on home, but I think that there are too many miles of nothing between here and there. There are several exits on the interstate that don't even have gas stations within a couple of miles, and I don't want to worry about her getting stranded. So she will take the car in tomorrow and see how fast it can be fixed. She can get other transportation home, but then she wouldn't have a car to drive over break. Well, that wouldn't be the end of the world! Honey, smart move to call the police. In our old neighborhood, a couple of guys were going door to door ringing bells, and when someone answered they had a goofy reason why they were at the door. Finally someone called the police, and these two were caught trying to break in to a home where no one answered. We were on vacation at the time, and came home to find our sliding patio door slightly off kilter. It was the kind that you could lift off the track from the outside, but we had put screws in the track to prevent that. Those screws did their job! Mary, the teacup and longhouse are simply awesome! Glad to hear we will be discussing Michael Pollan's book. I'm looking forward to revisiting it and discussing it with this crew. I'm in the middle of his latest book, "The Omnivore's Dilemna", right now. Chelone, you talked about becoming a more adventuresome eater. I have always hated olives. Just 11 days ago in Napa, I had this little epiphany and discovered I love little balck olives. Like, I ate every single one I could get my hands on! Anyone hiding any olives around here? Okay, time to let the West Coast crew take over as I head to bed with a warm dog and a good book. V.

Your cards and envelopes are always so extrodinary. Thank you so much for sharing them.What a perfect excuse for buying Hershey's Semi-sweet bars, they are my favorite. Carol

Yesterday the sink came. It's a 60/40 to fit a 30" base cab, but because it's undermount, the larger basin is bigger than my existing double sink. I played with the drain stopper, even filling it with water to check the seal. I goofed around with the cutting board that came with the sink. I sort of thought that the cutting board would sit perfectly on the edge of the sink if I had a positive reveal, but it doesn't, so I'll go with a flush reveal, and the cutting board will fit over the sink hole in the countertop (there is a lip on the bottom to keep it from sliding around). I wired the plug for the garbage disposal (there's an outlet under the sink). I put all my knives in the new knife drawer insert. One of my goals is to get things off the counter, so I'm replacing 2 knife blocks with a knife drawers. I took down the old paper towel holder from the wall when the new upright holder arrived. Yesterday I also received the Sink Setter (which I haven't opened yet), OXO drawer dividers, and heavy duty DW supply hose. Today the faucet will arrive - I can't wait to play with that! At least putting my hands on new things is making the wait a little easier. Our cabinet maker will start construction the end of June, so I won't get them installed until mid-July. I want to tear out the old cabinets NOW!

Not our house. My husband is the ghostbuster in the family -- so much so that every year before we go out of town for Christmas, he checks the credit card statements online and pays off the balance in mid cycle. Because I do most of my Christmas shopping between Thanksgiving and mid-Dec., its always the biggest one of the year. This year was a problem for me because I wanted to surprise him with an iPad, but I couldn't put it on my credit card because he would see the charge before Christmas so I had to make a special trip to the bank just to get the cash out of my "mad money" account. It was probably my first time in the bank in 2-3 years.