Thanks for sharing Mike. I've been looking for a few new knives..I have an old block set from Chicago..It's served me well for about 15 years! But the chef's knife is worn out, the utility knife is curved. LOL and the paring knife is long gone! And my "steak" knives are Pampered Chef's quick cut paring knives, which are about 12 years old!

Nope, no high gloss plastic finish for me!!!! All it needs is a good washing to get off the flecks of padding that are stuck on and a coat of wax. If I wanted a brand new looking floor...I'd have just gone to the store! I want character, and patina and age! And I got lucky with the staples...they only used them where the seams were :) so there aren't many! The sitting room was never painted (yay!!) The bedroom apparently had a floor cloth and they painted around it, with a yellowish milk paint. The milk paint is worn in the traffic areas...and the square in the center that was protected is just beautiful aged wood. I'm not going to sand off that milk paint. To me, it tells a story :)

I combined my regular silverware with my good knives in one drawer. This was easy to do as I have IKEA drawers which allow for whatever you want! I bought a Wusthof in drawer knife block which have been thrilled with (so glad to get rid of the one the counter one). I bought it on Amazon. There is also a modular version that is a bit more adjustable. Ditto everything Amberley said. It's like we have the exact same drawer! ;^) Wait--mine is a 30"; what size is yours? :^p

My recipe for the chilli spray advises pureeing in a blender then putting through a fine sieve. 40-50 small hot chiliies to 2 litres of water and 50 grms pure soap flakes or few drops of liquid soap. Do the blender thing with 1 litre of water and chillies then add the soap and remaining water. Spray on undiluted. Reccom for all soft bodied insect like aphids. Finbar's suggestion of using panty hose looks good but I hope he dosn't put them back in his wife's drawer afterwoods.