Friday will not come too soon this week. I had meetings on top of meetings , and cant seem to reduce the piles o paperwork. Every meeting of course results in more tasks to perform ! Furthermore , I think my fridge is leaking out of the ice-maker connection in the back. Time to visit the Sears appliance store. Cindy, so great of you to help your friend in need. I hope she can get her life straightened out and get back on a better path. Sometimes all we need is a breather.Twiggy ! I had a Twiggy haircut for awhile, however was not quite able to duplicate her wardrobe due to chest issues. As I recall she basically had none. Brenda your cloud pic is wonderful! Thats the type of thing that is so difficult get on a photo-for me anyway ! Denise, Portland has the same honor system on their lite rail , thought the have afree zone downtownI got to Napa by way of San Diegomy DH and I moved to San Diego when we were first married so he could take a position with a company there. We really didnt like San Diego that much even though we lived there 10 years-it seemed kind of provincial in a way. We knew that we wanted to raise our kids in a smaller city, that was no more than an hour from a major one, was reasonably close to a major league ballpark , and number one consideration for me was the growing season, and what could be grown.We spent many a vacation checking out small cities in the west. We picked Napa, subscribed to the newspaper , and up we came. Ive never regretted it. Ive been here 20 years. However, who knows if I will stay . Many of my family members continue to move to Oregona gardeners paradise !!! I will always be an LA girl at heart though , wherever I go. People make fun of it, but growing up there in the 50s was pretty damn cool. Love the blue fence ! Deanne, I started with acrylics but I didnt like the drying issue so I switched to oils. I cant draw very well at all so I only paint things that require very little of that skill. Some of my paintings are pretty bad-those are hanging in the garage ! I only have a few that are actually in the house. I really enjoy painting but dont seem to have much time for it right now. I know Ill take it up again. Marian, I do lots of different activities with the Master Gardeners, which usually involve teaching classes on gardening to the public , writing newspaper columns , manning our booth at the Farmers MarketSorry you dont get to see your family as often as you would like. I dont either bug the family looks happy as usual, but what the heck is that blue plastic thing that Reed is in ?? I guess Im not current on the latest baby accessories ! Mary that pool looks mighty inviting! Mariann, yes to the little bows (ala RoseMarie) and the flip, though my flip was just not as good as Shelly Fabares. OK , time to sign off-where the heck is Chelone these days ??? A big howdy to everyone Kathy in Napa

RIT - loved your selection of EvonA quotes... I think you would enjoy the Fraulein book... (And yes, it's on Project Gutenberg and also Girlebooks - another free book place to read on-line.) I've been struggling trying to find a classic that I can keep with and enjoy... So far, I've tried "The Longest Journey" by E. M. Forster several times but I must admit defeat with that, much as it pains me as I usually like Forster's books. The search continues... I'm also working on improving my writing professionally speaking, so I've picked up a book by Lee Gutkind, the "godfather of creative nonfiction" which is a collection of award-winning nonfiction articles and am trying to be more of a discerning reader to learn how to write such articles. I've been wanting to do some more writing at work, and have read over and over that to learn good writing, one should do good reading. Taking that to heart. :-) And just finished up a short and beautifully produced nonfiction read called "Plain and Simple" by Sue Bender, Bender is an artist and a therapist who went to live side-by-side with a couple of Amish families to learn more about their life and culture. In doing so, she learned more about herself (sort of thing). I first read it about ten years and it really seemed to resonate with me then. This read not so much, but that's the gamble with something you reread. Not a bad read, but not as en pointe as I had taken it earlier. (Different time of life, one supposes.) I'm also reading a non-fiction called "The Secrets of the Middle-Aged Brain" by Barbara Stauch - fascinating science/medical writing. I'll chat more about it when I'm done, but I think some of you may like this. Here is a link that might be useful: What is creative nonfiction?

We were quoted something over 3k to replace an existing cast iron tub (porcelain has worn through in spots) in the EXACT SAME SPACE as existing, with tub surround, not tile, but ONLY if we did the demo AND we did the finish work ourselves. Also I did not find this contractor to be very credible as one of the very-young pair that came out to do the estimate tried to convince me that the mildew on the caulk around the tub was actually *shudder* BLACK MOLD that was DEFINITELY ALL THROUGH the interior wall space and I would have to remediate that at additional cost. By them. Which they are neither competent nor licensed to do even if it were true. This kid also tried to convince me that the tile had been installed directly over wallboard (the home originally had plaster walls so it would have been over plaster not wallboard). He apparently failed to notice the one broken outside corner tile that has a chunk missing so you can clearly see the cement board behind it, LOL! In short, untrustworthy contractors wanted 25% of your entire budget just to put a tub and enclosure in. Forget any finish work whatsoever, and no demo at all. If you want to do it for that sort of money, you need to educate yourselves and do it yourself. Personally I'd live with it. I LOVE a great big tub! Certainly not useless to me! I'm sorry but 12k for what you want is not realistic even in GA. BTW, years ago, local JV schools used to offer classes to the public for all sorts of construction/finish work, mechanics, etc. I took lots of these classes. I don't know if they still do that, but were I you, I would check, and take as many as possible even if you decide to go with a contractor. Then you will know what questions to ask and have a better idea of how to evaluate the job before just signing a contract, even if you ultimately decide NOT to do any of the work yourself. JV - joint vocational schools. Sorry. That terminology is probably pretty opaque to people who don't already know what it means.

Hey everyone. Thanks for the bingo prize Susan. I wasn't expecting that at all. i just had a great time with the activities this month and actually tried one of the trends. go figure! you are so right about the simple things in life, my kids were like, wow 20th anniversary and you got mom a brownie! we were like - eat it and go to bed - we are tired. your garden bed is coming along nicely, where did you get all that from? was it free or did you order it? My neighbor told me about a service called ChipDrop where local tree services give you mulch/wood chips for free. The only catch is you dont know when it will arrive, how much you will get, or what trash is in it. I think its still worth it and me and my next door neighbor were planning on sharing a load. lets see if we do it... all of those babies i planted earlier this year didn't make it. i transplanted some and they didn't really grow. I did direct sow some outside, but the garden bed is slowly filling back up with grass. any remedy for that? maybe soap and water? thanks for a great swap heidi, even though you seemed to have a very very busy month! i had a great time and learned a lot this month and got some projects done too! i hear you about having the college kid back home, my husband has to go to work but all 4 kids have been home for almost a month now and i am at my wits end cooking and cleaning all day. some days i want to self isolate at a hotel! headed to post the April Swap now! Head on over everybody!