I love anything with a citrus and/or sandalwood (Dusk do some brilliant scents) - I avoid the sweeter flowery scent (rose, geranium are all avoided) and find most candles with vanilla are a bit too sweet for me. I prefer good quality essential oil scented soy candles from either artisan candle makers or Dusk. Did you know that aerosol room sprays - the kind a lot of people stash in bathrooms for "those times when needed" - have some pretty nasty chemicals in them - some are carcenogenic while others can provoke allergies and asthma and cause headaches and Eczema.

We are still building and just had the power cable put in and I insisted on a landline cable to go in at the same time. Living in the country means bad reception or blackspots for mobiles as mentioned earlier and it isn't being fixed none too fast either!! We also have allot of older clients who still prefer to contact us on a landline because they dont all have mobile phones or if they do, they have the isues just mentioned, blackspots etc... and mobiles are still considered by some to be a financially extravagant way to make contact versus a landline!! I guess the young ones don't remember a time when there were local and STD or long distance calls which used to cost an arm or a leg and these STD calls didn't mean you were calling interstate, it could be as simple as being 40km away. I have a fixed landline monthly plan at very little cost which covers all local and STD calls and I could if I chose to, talk for several hours, still at no extra cost compared to a mobile. Mobile plans are at a fixed rate like say getting $300 worth of free calls for $35 but you go over that plan and you can get a fair shock when the bill arrives. Landlines as mentioned earlier are safer to use, always have clearer reception and really are still the cheapest way to keep in touch from home.

I always ask the host if they would like me to bring a salad or dessert as I never know what others are bringing and don't wan to double up too much on anything, then we also always bring both a bottle of wine and half doz light beer as well as a bottle of soda as either myself or hubby will be the designated driver we take it in turns, if the host says not to bring anything but some BYO drinks I take the host a small gift of chocolates or nuts something just for him/her or both even a nice bottle of champagne the host/s can have later, obviously the gift has to be tailored to the hosts preference.

when you consider where all your furniture will be placed in the room you may find that some traditional conduit (painted to suit your colour scheme?) may be quite OK run along the base of the wall, or at skirting board height, or up a corner of the walls, or behind a bed, desk or bookshelf, a window covering or inside a wardrobe, or around the walls at picture rail or dado height with vertical sections for power points and wall lamps and, instead of attempting to hide the cables, they can be highlighted (safely enclosed) as part of the industrial them