Been sick for three days. On the plus side: lost ten pounds. While I was lying in my bed with two pups and one cat, I reflected on my five days in the hospital at about this time last year. Read all you want. No dietary restrictions. Food arrives, was pretty good, didn't have to make it myself or do the dishes. Watch whatever on your own little t.v. Go to take a shower and someone makes your bed for you and tidies up your space. Bring you your meds with a little cup of juice and tucks you in. The last three days were almost the same except no food, no t.v., but did have the pups and cat. I do not want to spend time in the hospital unless it is really necessary when I get such kind care at home. Last year it was necessary, but this time only the flu! Just started feeling better when DH came in looking very serious. Guess what: wet basement. Finished and carpeted basement of course. Called in the specialist; he came quickly, told DH and DS where he thought the problem was. Rip out the drywall and insulation, tear up the carpet, he will come back and fix it. Of course DH and DS didn't accept the location the the guy indicated so they tore out drywall etc. about five feet away. Nope, the leak was right where the man (the EXPERT) said it was likely to be. Waiting now for the repair. For few hours I thought IU8 was fading from my future, now not so much. We saved the carpet, we still have half a can of the wall paint, so when the repair is completed and new drywall installed and painted. it is likely that you would never know there was a problem. Expert said he'd had 18 calls in the last 24 hours due to a huge rainfall on the weekend. With the ground frozen and unable to absorb the water, it had nowhere to go but inside if there was any tiny crack or opening anywhere. Le sigh. One more project....Expecting huge snowfall today and tomorrow. Better than rain this time. We had a flock of about 50 Redpolls this morning at the wine deck birdfeeder, and one stunningly luminescent male Cardinal. Sure sign of spring, when you see little birds you have not seen all winter. Hopefully all of you are seeing more spring-like weather than I am *LOL* But we always get wallopped in March. The last hurrah of winter. Cheers, Julie

You can use Outlook Express with AOL // Yes, but she does not want that. I just went over to an AOL board, and about half the questions there were concerning this...only members did NOT want the original email to show when they replied. It seems that is a problem to a lot of them. My guess is that my friend has an older version. Maybe if she were to get the latest, then the original email and all the replies could be seen. This is something that is quite handy in the seed and plant trading world...keeping track of all that was offered, ship dates, addys, recapping, etc. A single trade might involve several emails back and forth. How can she tell which version of AOL email she has? Sue

Maybe should start a wings thread ........but these are my all time favourite baked wings. Recipe courtesy of Shaun....a lovely person. Hot sauce on the side of course. Am I the only only who doesn't like sauce softening the skin? Chicken Wings - Shaun CF 1/3 Cup salt 1/3 Cup paprika 1/3 Cup cayenne pepper...I use less 2 Cup flour Chicken Wings (she used drumettes) Mix coating ingredients together in a ziplock bag. Pat wings dry. Shake in mixture. Spray cookie sheet w/Pam, put chicken on, spray top of chicken w/Pam Bake 375 - 40 mins flipping over half way thru. Note Cathy cooked for 50 minutes at 500 Note: makes 8 pounds of wings so only use what you need and save the rest..lasts forever

What about a safari theme suggests black walls to you? It's possible to have a black accent wall without overwhelming a space, and maybe I don't understand what you're considering, but here's a room where they used one black wall. The use of white with it keeps it from being too much. Here's a room where they used a little animal print: Here's a room where they used wicker and rattan for a natural look: To me Safari also suggests desert colors: The above is light colored, caramel and sandy colors also suggest the desert.