Any other opinion? Surely people have opinions. :)

Someone here just posted pics of a new butcher block kitchen. Pretty. How do they hold up? Can you put hot things on them, or do you have to take more care? I'll check out Ikea. Thanks for he suggestion.

How often do you reseal? Ours are broken, as I said, and they painted it with appliance pain also. Perhaps that has something to do with my dislike for how clean they get.

Unions can be good or bad. You are basically choosing them to represent you to the company. You throw your lot in with them, for better or for worse. I worked with a union early in our marriage. Pros: the contract is the contract. There is no question what you'll make or when your raises come or what they're based on. It's all in the contract. (unless the contract is up) everything is completely fair. No one is getting more than someone else just because the boss likes them or thinks they're cute. This also has a down side in that if you're a good worker or slacking, you get the same raise on the same schedule, whatever. Also, the big one, you have backup to fight for you against the company if they ar treating you unfairly. Dh had to do this when his company wasn't promoting him to full status after the allotted time. Cons: you're with them for better or for worse. They go on strike, you're not working. They make decisions you don't like, oh well. It's very political. With all the fun drama included. In some ways you're picking a side, company or union, but neother is really looking out for your interests. They can be very corrupt. My reletives can tell you stories about the uAW that are quite shocking. In some situations it's still about who you know, just within the union, not the company. He will have to look at his situation and decide what's best for you all. Unions have done good, but they aren't everything. I've worked in non-union jobs that could have been better with a union and have seen the corruption that can also come with a union. I hope you find the wisdom you need to make a good decision.

Sorry :( that's one of my worst fears. (different disease)

So, forget about my thread yesterday about moving when you're under water. Dh doesn't want to do that just yet. So I guess we'll be here a bit longer. (that's ok. I was thinking next year anyway; who wants to move when prego or with a mew baby? So... We have a little $ coming from dh's gm who recently passed. He wants to redo the kitchen with it. :party: If it were up to me, I'd just throw it in the bank and look at our balance. ;) But this was his grandma, it's not that much, and it's sweet that he wants to do this. (and the house needs it!) i can't even begin to tell you how wonderful this Will be. We have 70 yr old original cabinets. Back then they made them in one big chunk. The previous owners cut a part out to put in a dishwasher and didn't do anything right when they did. The shelves didn't have support in that area and are now broken down. The whole thing was just left to cave in after that. So the tile counter has a broken, sunk in part and a door doesn't shut and another is broken. They also cut out the wall behind it because the dishwasher was too deep. Which means that area is always cold in the winter, since it's now dishwasher, siding. And it has a drop ceiling that fell apart a few years ago when mil left the water on upstairs. All that to say, :party: . If we're goin to be here awhile longer and dh wants to redo the kitchen, I'm all for it. :D So, what I want to know from you all: 1) what kind of countertop would you recommend? Right now we have tile. I like it because you can just put hot stuff on it and it's durable. I don't like the grout because it doesn't ever seem clean. I want something that is going to last, That I don't have to worry about damaging, looks inice and isn't laminate. Cost is somewhat flexible because our house isn't worth much. We don't expect to get the money back anyway. (we're over building just by doing anything) And I only have 5 ft of counter space, so it isn't going To be a huge difference. (well, as opposed to someone with a more realisticly sized kitchen) 2) has anyone ever reglazed a porcelein tub/sink/whatever? We have a big, old farmer's sink. I want to keep it. The previous owners painted it with appliance paint, so it does need help. Is this doable? Where do you find someone who does such a thing? Cost? Was it worth it or should I just buy something new? I <3 my big sink, but it would also look funny in a shiny new kitchen as is. Thanks!

When my sil got married, her fiance's sister died suddenly the month before. She was supposed to be in the wedding. They kept her spot open and placed her bouquet on a pedistal where she would have stood. At the end of the ceremony, they presented it to his parents. And a freind of ours died when we were all early 20s. Two other friends got married a couple years later and left a spot set for him at the head table. Dh's grandma just died. She was 92, so it wasn't a huge shock. She had ggm flowers with a rose for each grandchild. There was a white one in the middle for the new baby coming in September. I don't remember why I was going ot mention that. But there's life.

Honor him in some way during the ceremony. It will be bittersweet, but joyous. These are the moments that define our lives and both honor your love for one another.

Get rid of them. Don't feel obligated to hoard for her, even if it is the garage. And don't give them back. The kind thing might be to give her a box, but sfter dealing with hoarders, I wouldn't have the patience for even that. I'd continue to accept things, knowing it got them out of their house. But I'd just pass them on the the goodwill or trash.

It did well when we were growing up. But they've cut benefits and pay for the newcomers. It's still good enough to support a family, but frugally.

Beautiful!

It sounds like you've outgrown the relationship. Things like embelishing stories and stretching the truth wouldn't bother me. It would just meant hat you can't tell this person anything of substance and your friendship would be very casual. But if they're getting drunk every time we go out, than our definition of fun isn't the same anymore and there really isn't much of a basis to stay friends.

I'm not adicted to facebook. (no games, no groups, just read the feed, comment on what i want and there's nothing left to do.) any tips on how to get off this board? :D

Do you mind sharing how you were able to make it work, Alice? If it's not tmi for the internet? I don't know if it is better for us to wait out the market. This city will be the last to recover. We're a step up from Det, bt just a step up. And we're surrounded by cities that are a step up from us, but just as cheap right now. People will choose to move there before they move here. Houses we were looking at that were $150-200 before are now $75-100. I don't know that it's good to wait until they go back up to hopefully recoup the $20 more we might be able to get then. Kwim? It probably would be wiser to rent. But then we'd have to put $ in and a big part off me just wants to be rid of it. We would never sell for what we owe, so there is no putting it up for that amount and seeing. No one would even look at it for that amount.

And not as a short sale? I don't think we'd qualify fir a short sale. Dh is working and we have enough coming in. We're in the hole about $30-$35K. Has anyone been able to roll that into a new mortgage? Or are we just out of luck? We can't really rent without putting work & $ into this house. (new cabinets in the lower and new kitchen and br plumbing in the upper.) Since the house is only worth about $20K, I can't really see putting $10+ worth of work into it. And I doubt this area is going to recover much. (neighborhood has gone downhill in addition to the housing crash) We'd love to get out of the middle of the city and have a little more space to roam.

If it's old and leaking, you should stay away. (Or throw it away and buy a new one) If it's not, you're fine. ;)

Yes, they should retain custody and dismiss when the crisis is over. It's a tornato! We can predict a little, but the do what they want. The schools have the responsibility to get the children to safety and keep them there until danger has passed. As worried as I would be, I wouldn't imagine going out in a tornato warning to get my children. They were safer to stay where they were.

We live in a terrible school district, which has it's perks in that most people only have positive comments. I did grow up in a great school district, though. And today there is a good amount of hsers there. The community as a whole values education, so people understand and accept when you choose alternatives.

I've walked right in holding my water bottle. I don't think they care. No one's ever said anything.

That sounds like it's very often. Are they adjusting his dose? I took phen. as a child and had to go in every year or two (don't remember) for an EEG, but otherwise didn't visit the dr for it. That was several years ago ;) so perhaps things have changed? Dh's sleep dr wanted him to keep coming in for "follow-up" visits that were pointless. Eventually he just stopped going. Yeah, they did take blood a lot too. But I don't remember seeing a specialist that often. I probably should've just stayed quiet. Too long ago. :)

That sounds wonderful! I hope as our children get older we have similar experiences. It's always been just us. FIL came one year, and was supposed to come this year. But it being good friday we lost all our potential guests. That's alright, though. I was kinda glad they canceled. Being pregnant this year, the whole thing wore me out. We did get most of the deep cleaning done beforehand, but the day of the house was a disaster and I was grateful to just make the dining room pretty and not host.

We don't celebrate Easter because o the pagan roots. The roots of easter are particularly appalling. We do celebrate his death and ressurection, but we do it during Passover. I know this offends some Jews. This isn't our intention. When you read the account of His death and ressurection, it was during Passover. There are a lot of parallels between the two. (slavery in Egypt, slavery to sin, Jesus was the "Lamb of God" sacrificed in our place, the lamb died in the place of the firstborn, ect)

Yup, better to stress a gracious MIL than a sick as death dd.

Get on their mailing list and shop the season change clearance. I have a ton of lE and didn't pay full price for any of it. They frequently have free shipping and/or extra mark downs on the clearance. I've gotten a bunch of stuff for under $10, some under $5 forthe girls and I. I don't find things as often for ds.

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