untrussedgourmet's Profile

OK, so about 25 years ago we acquired the beat-up trestle table that my folks had had in their "camp." It was not a thing of beauty then, and now....

Nonetheless, it's remained way down on our list of things to replace because the immediate solution has been cheap: candles.

Candles every night have been so much a part of our family meals that my 2 year old wouldn't eat until a baby sitter lit them. You can't buy moments like that.

I'm sorry, N, but next year this is going to looked dated. I like the green (green) but the horizontal stripes have been on every design website, and are about to die the death.

I'm no big fan of insurance companies, but the fact that homeowner's insurance is unaffordable is an indication of the magnitude of the risk associated with the location.

I understand ThelC's point, and it's the other side of the ecological coin. We develop land without regard to environmental impact, natural buffers such as wetlands, and our fellow citizens. And what we're seeing now, ankarli, are tragedies resulting from reliance on man-made infrastructure.

That having been said, I have much more sympathy with the folks in Brisbane than I do for those who build mega-vacation-homes on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

I don't want to seem unkind or preachy. Also, I love my home and it would take a crowbar to make me leave.

However, if a home is located in an area that is routinely flooded or subjected to storm tides, I think I'd ask myself whether it was wise to buy it or build it in the first place. If my home were destroyed in one of these areas, the destructive force was likely to occur again, and I had received an insurance check, I would consider selling for what I could and moving on to a safer location. If insurance is unavailable or unaffordable, I'd sell as soon as I could, assuming I'd bought in the first place. Life lessons are hard, but at least we don't have to repeat our mistakes.

One of the issues that seems to get lost in these discussions is the environmental wisdom of building in locations such as flood plains, barrier islands and other low-lying shore areas. Ecologically speaking, these areas are meant to flood, and preventive measures such as levees, dams and canals sbuy time, but do not necessarily prevent natural disaster. Take a look at New Orleans's 9th Ward. The levee broke.

In general, then, I do not believe in taking extraordinary measures as a private citizen. I wouldn't build a levee even if I had a bulldozer and enough dirt.

As to tornadoes - they are wildly unpredictable. When we lived in Tornado Alley we bought replacement value insurance, and hoped for the best. We probably would have rebuilt and replaced had we been hit. But we were fully aware of the risk....emotionally and financially. Things are just things.

Right now we live on the Maine coast, in an 1838 home on high enough ground that it has survived over 150 years of hurricanes.

www.fashionfabricsclub.com.

Discount high quality fabric, searchable by color, fabric content, washability, etc. No joke - I've bought $15/yard fabric for $5; italian wool for $8/yard; etc. GREAT selection of decorator fabrics.

Samples are available for nominal cost.

Kam Man Foods on Canal. (or other Chinatown shops)

Pearl River Trading in SoHo - but likely to be more expensive than Chinatown.

Good Luck!

Pyrex refrigerator dishes - square or rectangular, with glass lids. I used to think they were quaint, old-fashioned - relics of an era before Tupperware.

Who knew? As I rid my home of plastic food storage, I'm glad they're being manufactured again.

That "Before" was one ugly bathroom.

You did great!

Bananas and fruit in the winter here in Maine.

Also our 1838 uninsulated home - which we are trying to insulate wall by wall. Because of the 19th construction techniques we can't blow in insulation, and we have to basically dismantle the exterior in order to insulate. Very slow, very costly.

On the other hand, I suppose you could say the house itself has been recycled continuously for the last 163 years. Do we get Brownie points for this?

Is that a young wheaten terrier?