Hi Everyone! We had a nice Easter. Everyone came over for dinner, and then we had the egg hunt and played Trivial Pursuit. We have one old and one new game, and we play in teams. Skip knows all the science, geography and history, but absolutely nothing about pop culture, so we had to mixt them together. We take turns asking questions from each box. That way everyone knows some sort of an answer. Devin had his birthday party Saturday night at the Fitness Center. We played dodge ball and swam in the pool. Yesterday I ordered Dahlias from Swan Island. I just started by getting a collection. LOW GROWING COLLECTION These varieites work great as borders. This collection contains: All Triumph (white), Bitsy (lavender), Firepot (Orange/Yellow), Mary Jo (peach), Matilda Huston (red), Park Princess (pink), Sisa (yellow). The varieties have blooms from 3" to 4" and the bush heights of under 3'. Then I ordered separately, CHILSON'S PRIDE (BBID) Introduced in 1984. 4" blooms of pure pink with white center. Bush height is 5'. and the other one was LADY LIBERTY (BFD) Introduced in 2003. An excellent exhibition flower, 6" blooms are pristine white with petals that fold all the way back to the stem. I really wanted to buy some lilies, but I have some of those already, and don't really have many Dahlias, except the ones I bought at Sam's Club last year, and I enjoyed them so much at the end of the season. I got an email from picture trail telling me the stats on my photo viewing, and they said 706 people viewed Bab's birthday card. Could there possibly be that many lurkers here? Maybe Babs just has loads of friends who she sent to look at it? V- Congratulations to your Daughter! How exciting! I hope your wrist is better. Sue, are you putting down a concrete pad for the hot tub, or a deck? Ours is on a deck, and it sort of settled a little crooked, so the water level wasn't straight across. I was pretty easy for Skip to fix. We have soft sandy soil. GB, I love that song. Deanne, hope you are feeling better. Mary, nice pulsatilla shot. Glad to hear you are recouperating. Marian, can you paint ticks with nail polish? Or is that chiggers? I know when we went up to the Upper Peninsula last year a couple of us got chigger bites. Taryn, I loved the video. I hope you sell your house this weekend. It's that time of year. Did I tell you guys I sold another one a couple of weeks ago? I really like doing real estate. Cindy, those are really nice photos. I have always wanted to go to DC when the cherry blossoms are blooming. That's about it for me. Hope you all have a great sunshiney day! D.

Sorry to bump this up again, but IMO it's one of your best looking meals so I hope no one will object! Question about the salmon: I've often wondered what type of salmon is commonly used for sushi/sashimi. At sushi restaurants it's always a nice, bright orange, like in your picture. At the fish market I seem to have three choices: Wild salmon which has a much paler color, farmed salmon which looks like yours, or wild sockeye salmon which has a considerably deeper, redder tone. This leads me to believe everyone (you included) uses farmed, which I typically tend to avoid. Am I correct?

I'm going to work with the stone yard. I think they owe me something--at least a discussion! I'm resigned to paying to replace the stone. I've decided to change the layout slightly, since the stone is going out anyway. My friend pulled out most of it, and I can see ways to change my sink area that would work better than my current layout. I think my stone is Venata. I (finally!) did some research on soapstone! Venata is far too soft for a busy, messy cook like me! I've had granite in two previous houses, and nary a scratch or chip in 12 years. So, warning to newbies to soapstone: Learn from my mistake and don't buy without doing your research!! I'm going to replace it with a hard soapstone if I can find a remnant somewhere around here (MVA). I love the white veins in my stone, but can't stand those speckles, rings, scratches! It just looks dirty and messy to me. hsw: Where did you buy your Alberene? I like the idea of buying local! I've been reading soapstone threads like crazy now. The consensus seems to be that Julia, Belvedere or Green Mountain are the hardest stones. I want a pretty bulletproof stone, but I also want runnels, which (mostly) rules out granite because I want a matte finish. All the runnels threads say the runnels in granite have to be polished or they get gunky!

We hear you! But the best thing you can do is save money first. The wall to wall carpeting should go. You decide whether you want a sun room or a living room. You can not "add pieces" randomly and in piece meal fashion. All rooms fail without an obvious intent, and a plan. One is impossible without the other. That is your route out of the hodge podge. : ) That doesn't mean you toss existing pieces. But the wicker chairs belong at least on hardwood, and better on tile. The book case perhaps on a smaller wall in a bedroom. The settee? Fine! as an accent within a context that says something about the intent for your space. Random additions/purchases will waste $$$$$ and add to the visual confusion. Eclectically indoor /outdoor is fine. But it takes some planning to convey the "message". I'd begin with the flooring. With carpet it tells a "living room" story : ) Not one of wicker chairs. It begins with a proportional focal point on the back wall. Maybe a zero clearance gas fireplace. Maybe a large console and art? One larger sofa.....all set on a hard floor and that floor has an area rug. It is difficult to specify without a budget, and without a furnishings plan