Gooooooooooood Sunday morning everybody.........not doing a damn thing today. Wife is going with her daughter to visit her mom, but I've decided it would be better for me not to go........MIL is driving us crazy with demands to get this and that from storage for her (sewing machine....can't sew anymore and no place for it, recipe for gumbo....no kitchen to cook in..... and the list goes on. I think the wife is ready to commit her now...........our code for her is BCC ....... bat crap crazy. This is why when I get to the point where I can' function in society, I just want to be left in the woods with my tent, a case of beer in the cooler and my camp chair....... I'll go out with a smile on my face.

Anyways.........may paint some today or start scanning two suit cases of old family pictures and documents brought home from my mom's condo. Have probably scanned in over 3000 pictures and documents already and probably have twice as much still to go..........

Just thought I would pop in..........see how many hangovers from last night made in today..........TTYL

Our property taxes are rather complicated. Each state has their own methods of financing schools and local government operations. Then, each municipality has different priorities as to services provided and methods of allocating costs to various tax payers. Plus, each property is individually assessed as to value, unlike the UK method of putting all properties into a small number of bands where every property in the band pays the exact same amount.

Then, many governmental functions levy property taxes to pay for their operations. Schools, police, fire, library, community colleges, cemeteries, parks, roads...different areas lump some of these together while in other areas each of these needs is levied separately, but collected on one big bill with lots of little line items. It gets even crazier because not all of those districts share the same boundaries, so the houses on one street may all pay the same municipal taxes, but one side of the street may be a different school district than the other.

Additionally, we pay some taxes at the state level, others at the county level, the municipal level, the township level, or the district level...sometimes I think it has evolved this way so the politicians have more directions available to point fingers when the citizens start getting really upset with the taxes!

Bobbi - you sound like a noncook after my own heart! When we first moved into our house, we had a late 40s/early 50s 36 inch wide stove. We talked about replacing it but couldn't find anything 36 inches wide that didn't cost an absolute fortune. I always said that it wasn't so much that I couldn't afford a $4,000 stove but that I wouldn't have any money left for eating out and I would actually have to use it. Finally I found a 36 inch wide black enamel 6 burner/2 oven Crown Appliances stove from the early 70s. It came from a Habitat deconstruction project and cost me about $250 and a couple of days of hard labor, but it looks really cool and didn't cost so much that I feel guilty about ignoring it. Fortunately for me, my hubby likes to cook and my business partner has been a short order restaurant cook so I get fed regularly (too regularly for my scale!)

Linda! That's hilarious. Yes, I can turn perfectly wonderful food into a completely inedible nightmare. I do love to bake, though, I just have no interest OR talent for cooking! Which is fine by me. When my MIL visits from Mexico we eat so good I'm sorry to see her go home. She's a wonderful cook and I make dessert. Perfect arrangement. I never feel guilty about ignoring my stove!!!

Bobbi - I really try not to play favorites among my kitchen appliances - I try to ignore the stove, dishwasher and sink equally!

No, no, NOT the dishwasher! Yeah, I'm not crazy about my stainless sink. It always looks dirty. I may not cook, but I am a clean freak!

That's the advantage of not cooking - I don't make messes!

When my hubby travels, my business partner and I and occasionally another one or two singles usually end up eating together so I actually do more cleaning at his house than I do at my own place.

You two are bloody hopeless. I must admit I'm looking forward to renovating my kitchen and having a cook top that is easy to clean, a dishwasher that works and an oven with a working grill and that doesn't burn everything that isn't on the top shelf. A self clean one would be nice, I just can't stop overfilling casseroles, but I don't know if the budget will run to that. I do feel though I will have to cook again to justify the expense. BH hates my cooking - don't blame him really - but I could never stomach the overspiced stir fries he makes, in fact I have to leave the house, they have my eyes watering, so I find it easier in the cooler weather to make a pot of stew or a casserole and freeze it in serving sized portions. If I can get two or three dishes made up, then it gives me variety. This last week I have done two meals that I actually enjoyed, they really tasted like someone else's cooking. One was just a steak and veg and last night I did a curried sausage. Love the smell of sausages cooking but I can't eat them, they turn my tum but I found some new organic ones with very low fat and minus all the gunk and they are really nice. I think the trick with both dishes though was a new stock powder I found, no additives, preservatives, etc and very low salt. I used it in my soup last year and the difference in taste was amazing, it was so fresh, don't know how to describe it, it was sort of clean, not cloying and gluggy. Anyway, I tossed some in my two dishes this week and the flavour improvement is amazing, to the point I am finally enjoying my own cooking.

I love my stainless steel sink - here it is pretty rare not to have one - but they are so easy to clean and smile so nicely when you do clean them. I always think of Flylady when I clean the sink - her first rule is that the sink must be cleaned before you go to bed each night.

Has anyone got or know anything about the new under counter microwave drawers? Someone was talking about them on another discussion and one lady has just put one in and would get back with a report on it. Like you, Bobbi, I have a goliath sized one. It used to sit on the freezer but it died and we changed it for another fridge so it is now on the bench taking up way too much space and totally blocking my hatch to the dining room. It will sit there now till the kitchen is renovated but I am in a quandry where to put it and this drawer version sounds perfect, except so far I haven't been able to find one - maybe they haven't hit here yet. Looks like they are a lot pricier though - naturally - but I think it will be well worth the outlay if I can't find anywhere else for a standard one.

R's company makes the microwave drawer thingy's. We can get them for half price, around $200, but we have no place to put one, dang. There was an ideabook all about them, did you see it? https://www.houzz.com/magazine/discover-the-pull-of-microwave-drawers-stsetivw-vs~2983887

Be sure to read the comments for real life experiences. How do you clean your sink? I use barkeepers friend and it looks great for at least five minutes. Then as soon as I run water.....a Houzzer told me to dry it well, then wipe it with olive oil, which I did and it did look fabulous. But soon the olive oil built up and got as nasty as bbq grease. And my sink has never smiled, sorry.

Re: sausages.....For Italian sausages, stab them with a fork a few times and then simmer them in a bit of water. Eventually all the fat will boil away; add a bit of oil and brown them. You won't recognize the difference! They're actually the texture of a good steak. And much better tasting!

EZ, I went a loooooong time without a dishwasher too. I even still had a teenage son living at home but there was no talking him into it.

Italian sausages : Cut up red, yellow, orange peppers, onions and potatoes. Toss with olive oil, hot red pepper flakes, oregano, and basil. Top with sliced sausage, dollop with anything like left over spaghetti sauce and sprinkle with grated Italian cheese, Bake, uncovered, for 40 minutes @ 425.

Please do not tell me you love me after making this meal.

Do you put hot red peper in everything????

My favorite olive oil is California brand.
http://www.worldmarket.com/product/california+olive+ranch+extra+virgin+olive+oil.do?camp=ppc%3AGooglePLA%3Anone%3A40004162699adwords_groupingCondiments_and_Sauces&device=c&network=g&matchtype=&gclid=CIqOq9yBurYCFS4aOgodIzgARA

Not everything, but a lot. I grew up in a very Yankee home…few spices, no garlic and certainly no red pepper. I am still trying to come to terms with garlic, but pepper, yes.

By the way, bobbi, DD is in CA for the week. Meeting her best girlfriend in San Fran, running a marathon today, then meeting her Boston gals tomorrow and doing Napa and then Carmel.

Thanks Bobbi, I didn't see that ideabook - will check it out. I saw one advertised somewhere for $1,800 so your price gives me hope.

We always boiled our sausages regardless of type before barbecuing to stop the fat flaming up but I haven't thought to do it when I cook normally. Funny how you know things but don't do it - must be the OLLD part of me.

I'm wondering if there are different grades of stainless steel in the sinks. I read something here, in fact I think you commented on it, that that was the case over there but I have never seen any grading on our sinks so maybe there is no difference. I'm sure at the time I remember you saying something about oiling it - honestly - that just sounded so gross to me, it would always be greasy. I just use a powder cleanser on mine, I think you might have Handy Andy? similar to that, it is the only thing that seems to really work well and nothing else. When I wash up I usually wipe the tap and around the top area of the sink with the tea towel to dry it, but as far as the bowl goes, I leave it, everyone I know does. I just had to check mine out - yes it has droplets of water down the sides and in the bottom, but it is a wet area, if I were to dry it it would only get used again 10 mins later, I would go insane keeping it dry, it is bad enough getting BH to rinse the soap scum when he washes anything up. Do you think you are expecting too much? Maybe we are just more laid back people and expect a sink to be wet.

For the next few months now the morning sun will get low enough that it streams in my kitchen window, hits the sink and bounces back into the room, blindingly!!! I need sunnies first thing each morning, it smiles so hard.

Roo, In my kitchen the sink is the workhorse. Not the stove, that's for dang sure. I don't know, we have really hard water here so wherever a drop lands it turns white when it dries. Rather narsty.

I'm going to bed. I haven't really slept for two nights now. Sleep is so overrated, isn't it? Night all!

Night bobbi, hope you get a good sleep. I have been having a cup of camomile tea right before going to bed lately and I have been sleeping like a log.

I think hard water = limescale buildup and that is what turns it white. I think you have to regularly flush your dishwasher and washing machine pipes and hoses for the same reason. It is the water then, not the sink. Sounds like you need a supply of thirsty cloths to give it a wipe out everytime it is used to dry it. Paper towels would work too but I don't like disposable if I can avoid it. What a pain!!!!!

Hope everyone had a great day today. I've been trying to read myself to sleep for the last three hours. It's not working!! I think I've read 1/2 a Jack Reacher novel and almost every design dilemma on Houzz. LOL.. Not sleeping is for the birds.

Bobbi might be awake, she said she hasn't slept for the last two nights. Nothing worse.

kimdee24, love Jack Reacher books! They're my current favorites! Which one are you reading?

Out all yesterday afternoon & evening; found 102 Houzz notifications waiting for me this morning .. that's a lot of catching up, and I've got something this morning out too!

4/8 is open for business. Kutchie is getting restless.

Hi all. Your receipes reminded me we just tried the easiest receipe on the planet! Pork loin in crock pot. Cover with root beer and simmer for 7 hrs. Drain, "pull the pork" with a fork. Sweet Baby Rays' BBQ sauce on the pork on a bun and yuuuummmmyy! 3 ingredients. Pork, Root Beer and sauce. Sounds weird but tasted great.

Jack Reacher? Any favorite book you can recommend bobbi, kimdee? Thanks!

Darzy, ALL the Jack Reacher books! They're all amazing. Start with One Shot. If you like to read, also read Nelson DeMIlle's The Charm School, and a book of short stories by John Grisham called Ford County. There's a story in the last one called Pretty Boy, one of the best I've ever read !!!

Thanks Bobbi! I wrote them down. I'll start with One Shot.

In order that they were written (my preference for reading):

#1 Killing Floor (1997)
#2 Die Trying (1998)
#3 Tripwire (1999)
#4 Running Blind US title/The Visitor UK title (2000)
#5 Echo Burning (2001)
#6 Without Fail (2002)
#7 Persuader (2003)
#8 The Enemy (2004) Prequel set eight years before Killing Floor
#9 One Shot (2005)
#10 The Hard Way (2006)
#11 Bad Luck and Trouble (2007)
#12 Nothing to Lose (2008)
#13 Gone Tomorrow (2009)
#14 61 Hours (Spring 2010)
#15 Worth Dying For (Fall 2010)
#16 The Affair (2011) This is another prequel set just before Killing Floor.
#17 A Wanted Man (2012)

And all of them great! Which is the one with the helicopter? That's one of my favorites!

Bad Luck and Trouble, I think.

olldbobbi -- did you know there are also three Jack Reacher short stories?

Jack Reacher's Rules
Deep Down
Second Son

Yes! I read an excerpt from Second Son. In the US it's only available on an e-reader, which I don't have, do you?

Yes, I read them on my iPhone. I would share them with you, if there was a way :(

Aww...you're so sweet! Have you read Nelson DeMille's The Charm School? One of my all time faves, really really good!

I haven't, but I will try and find it! I'm always looking for something to read.

Do try and find it, it's so worth it! It has an amazing premise, not something I ever would have thought of and I pray to God it's not true. If you can't find it, let me know, I'll pick you up a copy and mail it to you. It's recently been re-released here in the States.

I found it for my iPhone! I'll give it a read, and let you know what I think. Thanks for the recommendation!

Great! I hope you like it as much as I do :))

I'm listening in and copying the Book List! Thanks ladies...

Darzy - I rarely get time to read these days unfortunately, but I will try to check out Jack Reacher, sounds interesting. Have you ever read any Ken Follett novels? He is my absolute favourite. Every one of his books is totally different and his research and attention to detail is amazing.

Thanks Olldroo...I'll check out Ken Follett as well. I used to read a lot but once I start a book I can't put it down and do not get anything done! lol

That is the biggest problem with Ken Follett books, they get so intriguing but they are easy to follow, I get impatient if I can't. One of his early books was The Key to Rebecca a spy war story that was made into a movie and his biggest hit - Pillars of the Earth was made into a mini series but I have never had a chance to see it. I'm surprised none of his other books have been made into movies. I used to travel on the bus to work with a guy who was an avid reader, literally devoured books and constantly complained he couldn't find a book he could really get lost in for any length of time. I gave him Pillars of the Earth to read. He wasn't keen about it but the next morning I got on the bus and was firmly told not to speak to him. By the end of the week his wife was threatening to divorce him!!!.

I will definitely check out Ken Follett! I'm always looking for a good book. Right now I'm reading an Alex Delaware book, again, can't think of the author's name but they're pretty good reads.

I want to pare my books right down as part of my minimalist campaign but I want to reread them all before I toss any. I think a lot belong to dds and they have just left them here. Will probably take me the rest of my life at the rate I am going. Has anyone read any Robin Cook books? DD brought one home one time and it was fabulous, had me on the edge of my seat the whole time and trying to guess the end. About a week later the movie Coma came on TV and I saw it was written by Robin Cook so I very excitedly watched it. I think the book I read was called Vital Signs and they were so alike, just variations on a theme. Next time I was at the library I checked out a couple more of his books and they were just all the same. Needless to say I've never bothered with any of his books since. That is one of the reasons I love Ken Follett so much, none of his books are remotely alike.

Bobbi you might enjoy The Hammer of Eden, it is all about a vibrating machine used in construction to ensure the firmness of the ground but in the wrong hands it supposedly can cause an earthquake if it is used in just the right spot on a fault line. Naturally the setting is California and San Fran. That makes it sound a bit sci-fi, but it isn't, it is really good.

Roo, I'll check out the Hammer of Eden next time I go to the book store. Book stores are almost as hard to find as fabric stores! We have a great Barnes and Noble here, a real surprise for this cow town. I remember when we first moved here the local newspaper (which comes out on Fridays only!) had an article entitled "Be Sure to Keep Your Gunpowder Dry". What a hoot! On one corner we have a store called "Feed and Bait" and on the opposite corner a store called "Rifles and Ammunition". This would never fly in Oakland!

Does John Wayne still walk the street at midnight?

His books are hard to get here, I buy the latest one as he brings them out, which is about every 2 years, but finding them after that is a nightmare. Do you have a good library in town? That might be your best bet.

Bobbi, just found heaps of his books on Amazon. Quite a few I haven't heard of, got a shock at first when I saw how many, until I realised they were in other languages.

http://www.amazon.com/Ken-Follett/e/B000APHCPQ#/ref=la_B000APHCPQ_pg_1?rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_82%3AB000APHCPQ&ie=UTF8&qid=1365511433

Yes, roo, I believe John Wayne rides in every once in a while! Amazon! Right! I will check it out. And actually Amazon is due to open a distribution center here in town, before the end of the year, and I hear they will have a will-call window! Ha! There goes Barnes and Noble!

What is a will-call window?

I buy a lot on Amazon with LAdd but never used it here.

Roo, a will-call window is where you can go and pick things up, usually the same day you order it. Much like a drive thru window at McDonalds! Saves shipping costs. It will only work if they do it right; if the backup of cars is too long it will just be a pain.