Yes, Katamari is the rolling stuff up game. Its really addictive for such a simple game, and theres three of them. The part I like the most is the amazing effort they put into the music. I found some of it on youtube and it ranges from techno to jazzy lounge music, swing music, Im pretty sure someone even snuck a gospel peice or two in there. While Iw as writing yesterday I stumbled across someone who had done an orchestral version of one of the themse that made my jaw drop. Video game music is constantly impressing me with every passing year. But anyway, back to gardening... Part of my problem with the space issue is theres a movement out here for the "Grow Biointensive" system. While I'm interested that they've managed to do so much with such small topsoil space, I've noticed all the beds dealing with the system need at least two feet of soil, dug down or in raised beds, and thats not what I have. My mum has been trying to push me in that direction, but I dont feel confident with it at this time since I wanted to get more of a feel for the general gardening situation since its my first time and all. Some plants still got pushed closer together than I would've liked but then none of us had seen some of these plants actually growing before. The cukes are doign better than I expected for being about 6 inches closer to each toher plant than I really wanted them to be, but we had such a huge amount of plants to deal with that I did the best I could. I think the funniest part about all this is while it is my first time growing a real garden, I've been growing virtual gardens since I was abotu 19, playing an online game called "Final Fantasy 11", which had a really complicated planting/gardening system most people didnt know about. That game system is actually what got me really focused on the seasons, when to plant, where to plant, when to fertilize, what plants grew better in what geological areas, and I even had a little notebook for a long time where I'd record the weekly cycle of my virtual plants in relation to the moon phase and exact time I made any modifications to the planting space. Even the gamers thought I was nuts, but I loved it! They'd even die off or give terrible results if I neglected them for too long, or give off better results if I got proper gardening tools, workbenches, and diffrent planters had diffrent effects too. Im getting better results with a real garden than I was in my virtual gardens though... Except for that one time I accidentally harvested 122 virtual onions. I can tell you, the cooks sure were happy with me.

Hope you all have fun today! ~~Mimi

Good golly, I loved it...that green color is fab! I think I have about as much Christmas "stuff" as you do, but unfortunately this is the first year I've not gotten to decorate. We've had a family tragedy and have also been in remodel h%ll on a lake home we bought, so no go for me this year. I so enjoyed looking at your beautiful home. Thanks for sharing it with all of us. How MANY poinsettias, paper whites and wreaths??? Oh child, bless your heart. Christmas decorating really is so much darn work. It looks so great when it's done, but then, if you are like me, you're usually too pooped to enjoy it. HA! Now to a question that nooooooooooo one has asked you...and probably never would. What does the little sign say in regards to the "temperamental toilet?" That's what we are beginning to call ours. This lake place (built in 1952, hence the remodel) is not on a septic system, but it still has some flushing issues even with the new toilets we bought. We've been thinking of making up a little sign, too, for guests. Something like, "flush often and with gusto...flushing is free, plunging is not." Would also like to include something for the shower doors....."if you see a squeegee, USE IT!" Wow, I'm sounding like such a lovely hostess, huh? HA! Anyway, if you care to share the sign sentiment, that would be great. And once again, thank you so much for sharing your lovely home with us. I wish you a very blessed holiday! pup

I had friends in San Francisco in the 1970s who were antique dealers, and they would go to certain thrift stores on donation days at 6 AM to get first pick at what had been donated. This was how they got inventory for their businesses, and yes they did get the most valuable items that had been donated (not clothes) at low prices, especially at the "As Is" shop in SF. It is true that anyone else was unlikely to find these items later at the store, but anyone was able to go to the store at 6 AM to do the same thing that the dealers were doing. I did not consider what the antique dealers were doing as unethical - they were just exercising their skills at picking and then reselling. Of course this was long before any online reselling, and so this practice has been going on probably as long as there have been thrift stores. San Francisco had a lot of antique dealers in the 1970s, but the demand for antiques today is probably a lot lower than what it was back then. I do not donate anything that I believe has a high resale value and that I think I can sell myself. When we donate things (especially furniture) that we believe has a high resale value, we get receipts and use the donations as tax deductions. We donated a slightly wrecked car to PBS, and got a receipt for several times the value that we could have sold it for. Selling used items is a lot of work, and anyone who wants to supplement their income doing this is earning the money they make from doing it. If you want to beat the dealers at the thrift stores, find out when they put out new items and get to the stores at that time. You might find it not worth the effort.