roo, I'm so happy for Miss 6! That's the thing about kids, we worry like mad and they heal so quickly. She'll be the best in her gymnastics class, you'll see. I will have to pass on that walking bridge, or you go first, ok? judy! A mosquito! Too funny. How did you presentation go? Did they LOVE the wallpaper? MP, great job on the midget's walls! Who cut all the wood? It does look really good, has boo mappin seen it yet? I'll bet she loves it. Olldtrazz, sorry, I know nothing about sisal rugs. But I know about flokati rugs and I want one! I can't imagine how one would vacuum a flokati and I do know the dog would eat it so I don't think they're practical.

Astraea, when I emptied mum's unit, I just absolutely turned everything upside down and inside out. Luckily I found money in the first drawer I opened that put me on my guard. Talking about going out in the car reminded me - mum had a disabled parking sticker that had to be attached to the windscreen if the car she was in was parked in a disabled parking area. When she came to live with me I kept it in the glovebox of my car at the ready, but somewhere along the line when mum had first got the sticker someone must have given her very clear instructions to ensure she kept the sticker with her at all times as they were readily stolen. Obviously whoever had explained said that it had to be displayed on the windscreen when the car was parked, but mum, in the fog she was in by this time, didn't get that bit. One time I had to go to the RTA to have mum's address changed to mine so of course I had to take her with me for her to verify things. I parked in a disabled spot as they are wider for wheelchair access, put the sticker on the windscreen, got the wheelchair out of the boot and got mum into it, not taking any notice of anything she was doing. We got into the RTA, took a number and waited a while before we were served, then I took mum over to the counter and explained the situation, whereupon mum pulls the sticker out of her handbag to show the clerk. Of course I freaked as they are very quick to book you if you are illegally parked in these spaces and told mum she wasn't to take it off the windscreen again. Mum felt she was really going to get one up on me as she was always going crook at me putting it on the windscreen for people to see it and break into the car to steal it, and told the clerk to tell me the rules how I wasn't to leave it in the car. I think the poor woman wet herself seeing the comedy side of it, but trying to keep a straight face while she tried to get through to mum that it had to be on the windscreen. Of course mum just kept arguing with her then that she knew better because of what she had been told. In the end the clerk told me to get back to the car before I got booked but said to let her know if I was and she would try to clear things for me. Fortunately I wasn't but after that I had to be so careful to ensure I put the sticker on my side of the car (which it wasn't supposed to be) but it was the only way I could stop mum getting to it.

Roo – As far as drying things in a microwave, at my salon, they have a bunch of small wet towels rolled up & sitting in a small microwave, to use for your feet & hands, when you get a pedicure or manicure. It feels wonderful!! I think people here like that you can choose to live in a smaller municipality that doesn’t have a high school, so the tax levy is a lot less. The students have a choice of attending one of the neighboring towns, and the town pays a per-student fee for them .. which winds up much less than having the overhead of an entire school. So in areas that were developed for retiree/senior housing, the school taxes are minimal .. and that’s the whole point of it. The larger the area used to calculate school costs & taxes, the more likely that you’re paying for a large student population elsewhere. As someone who never had children, I got tired of paying such high school taxes for the 23 years I lived in north Jersey, while the parents kept thinking of new programs to add .. for which we’d all have to share the cost! We also have that short-term capital gains tax for turning around a house, and a “millionaire’s tax”, that's an extra levy on homes sold for > $1 million. So it often made sense for people to sell just under $1 million – if they were close in price – just to avoid the tax. Mary Poulos – Great list .. I created something like that in Excel for myself .. a “cheat sheet”! MPoulsom is also from South Carolina.

I am getting really ambitious...going out to pick some rhubarb so I can make a strawberry rhubarb pie. The new house has a strawberry bed and today's haul was enough to add to some rhubarb. The only problem is my hubby will probably make the filling as he doesn't like to add any sugar at all...I like tart, but I think it tastes best with a small amount of sugar to bring out the flavor. He really likes to cook and I don't, although I would do more baking but as soon as I get the ingredients out and the rhubarb cut up, he'll be there to take over. Note - I am not going too crazy...the toughest thing about this crust is unrolling it from the package!