Marys 1000, Around here, when employees buy a car, interest on the loan is not deductible ... if they operate a business, in most cases it is. If they borrow to invest in a tax-deferred retirement account, the interest is not deductible, either. However, if they borrow to invest in an asset that is expected to produce taxable income, the interest is deductible. A while ago some people, mainly seniors, rather chortled over their apparent good fortune as they told me how they earned 19% on their Canada Savings Bonds about 1981. I suggested that if they were in 20% income tax bracket, that would reduce the pre-tax 19% to after-tax income of about 15%. And did they know what the rate of inflation was that year? About 12%. As the number of dollars of their underlying asset can't shrink, it can't grow, either ... and the value of each dollar was eroded by more or less the value of inflation (or more) each year, going back to about 1935 during that Great Depression. So the investor in guaranteed-number-of-dollars must put a good portion of the annual after-tax earnings with the principal in order to maintain purchasing power, since the value of each of those dollars of asset shrank every year of the last 70. Ordinary folks put their money into the bank. Rich folks buy the bank. Because they know that, in most cases, owning is better than loaning (your money to the bank). Good wishes for increasing knowledge of how money - and taxes - work. ole joyful

I would return the Ikea curtains. I wouldn't use them the way they are with the bottoms not only being too short but so uneven. You definitely could even out the bottom with a border but if you're not confident you can do it well I don't know if I'd attempt it. Besides the iron on hemming tape they also make fabric glue/adhesive that works well and it allows you to still wash the fabric later. If it were me, I'd return the curtains, raise the rod almost to the top of the ceiling and purchase drop cloths. If you don't like the light brown color you can bleach them. Even with bleaching they still aren't going to be white white but they'll be much lighter. See link for instructions. I honestly would NOT create a rod pocket at the top of these (drop cloths) unless you're going to sew them because the material is so thick. I helped someone make rod pockets with the heavy duty adhesive iron on tape and it didn't hold well in some areas. So I would attach the top with clip rings and if you don't like how much is puddling on the floor and you don't want to cut it off and hem it, I would suggest flipping the top over, creating a valance and then attached the clip rings to the top. You could also add decorative trim along the bottom of the valance part of along the sides of the drop cloth to dress it up a bit. I'd use fabric glue to attach any trim. If you google images of drop cloth curtains or drop cloth curtans with trim you'll get lots of examples. Here's an example of a drop cloth curtain folded over with trim. http://asoftplace.net/2010/06/diy-drop-cloth-curtains-with-a-twist/ Here is a link that might be useful: tips on bleaching drop cloths

Peroxide is a miracle blood desolv-it ~ yes too late. I am guessing the pillow ticking shrunk alot and got terribly out of shape. I would not recommend re-using it. It is very important the leaders be close to perfectly square and straight as possible, or the quilt backing will get loaded skewed. I recommend making a new one. They also need to line up. You will love the dead bar if that's the modification you are making. It takes tweaking to get it right, but once you do - heaven! :)

Correct name/spelling in German is Schrankwand, easiest English phonetic spelling is shrunk vund, literally means 'closet wall' or 'armoire wall' but dictionary definition equivalent to our 'wall unit'. I've seen them before in the Chicago area where they had been imported by various furniture stores that catered to the German and Polish communities. Quality was all over the place. Some were well built with hardwoods while others were particle or other wood board products with nice looking veneer. The cheaper ones tended to sag over the years. Yours doesn't seem to have that problem.