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I will enter Cheeca Lodge in the GPS and we'll try our best to visit.
We went to the Miccosukee Casino near Florida City tonight for dinner.
There was a big sign facing the highway, "steak and lobster dinner $9.99". Believe it or not that included choice of potatoe, salad, and chocolate cake. 3 had that meal and they loved it, I was going to get it but when I saw orange duck on the menu I just had to go with it.
After the $10 steak and lobster dinner I am sure the dinner became about a $30 dinner once the slot machines came into the picture...my BIL and SIL love those things.
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
That sounds like our good old fez is back!
Great news!
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
I swear by induction. Love ours.
I would like the recipe when you get a chance. Thanks.
Fezo,
Good news, glad you are feeling well!
Stick,
LOL.
Explorer,
Does your Fusion have the feature where it can parallel park on its own? I think Ford calls it "Active Park Assist". If so I'd be interested how it works.
2025 Ram 1500 Laramie 4x4 / 2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic / 2022 Icon I6L Golf Cart
1977 I meet Debi, now my wife. She looks the house over and exclaims how nice and clean I had kept everything (except the garage with a muddy dirt bike) living there for the last 8 or 9 months. Then she looks inside the oven. Looks at me and says what a great cleaning job I had done to get the oven like new. I said nothing. Then she looks at me and says "you've never used the oven have you". I confess I hadn't. I'm living proof that a guy with only primitive cooking skills can survive and even get a little overweight.
2013 Mustang GT, 2001 GMC Yukon Denali
The potential buyer came back to look at the BMW last night. And, as you guys suspected, wanted another test drive.
Taking everyone's advice, I (politely) said it's the same car he test drove before. I asked him what he missed the first time he test drove it? He got in, started playing with the knobs, turning the radio on/off. Playing a CD he brought with him. Looking under the hood, in the trunk, under the car.
Just playing around with him a little bit, I asked him what he was looking for while peeking under the car? He said he was looking to see if it had been wrecked. I asked him the tell tale signs. He said overspray on the muffler.
Now, like most here, I can tell if a car has had body work done. But, how bad and noticeable will body work be if there's paint on the mufflers? I let him do his thing.
Finally, I get to the point where all this inspection is going nowhere. I ask him what kind of car he's looking for? Ask why he likes my BMW? Are there other cars he's looking at?
He dismisses my questions, not answering any of them. Living a couple of streets over from me, he said he was referred to me by someone who actually lives on my street. That I take really good care of my cars, Wash and wax them, service them regularly, and that I own nice cars. Apparently, the former GF mentioned to the neighbor what was going on with us, and that I was considering selling the BMW.
He pulled up in an older Lexus (not sure of the year, but it was an IS 300). He's never owned a BMW before. But, he's heard thay're expensive to maintain and service.
GG-"This is a great car. Never had one iota of trouble with it. I've owned it since new. Serviced it at the dealer. Have the records to show it's maintenance. It's still under BMW bumper to bumper warranty and "free" maintenance program.
If you want the car, the time to buy it is now, as I gave you first dibs. If not, I'm going to start advertising it in the local newspaper."
Neighbor-"Best I can do is give you $33K for the car."
I thank him for his interest and tell him we're just too far apart.
He asks for my best price.
I tell him"...today and today only (picked that trick up by visiting too many dealerships), I'll sell it for $36.5K, cashier's check only."
He counters with $34K.
I thank him for his time and walk towards the house. He ups himself one more time saying he might do $35K. I again thank him for his time, wave to him and pull the car into the garage.
I'll drive the car around this weekend with the "For Sale" sign in it before putting it in the newspaper to see what happens.
Richard...don't know how cool I am at this stage, but youy're right that most of these cars that the former GF is bringing home are ones she knows I don't like. Funny way of irritating me, but c'est la vie.
Since I was going to use the money from the sale of the BMW to buy the S4, and my desire to wrap up any final "dealings" she and I have as soon as possible, I'm going to get a very quick loan to buy the S4 now. I'll pay it off when the BMW sells.
As it stands, this whole ordeal feels like I'm walking through molasses.
Thanks for listening to me "whine", everyone.
I’m surprised that they didn’t want to cut Corian. I would have thought they wouldn’t want to cut granite. As I mention a few posts back, the builder we had in SC had counter top installers glue pieces of Corian strips to a counter top then grind and polish the patch area when a cutout was too large. He said the job came out perfectly but it took hours to do, mostly waiting for the glue to dry. This wasn’t for our house, it was for another customer he had about a year before he built our house. When he was telling me this story I remember him saying something like, “just my luck, the cutout had to be too large, if it were too small it could have been easily cut to the right dimensions”.
Corian is nothing more than a glorified plastic and cutting it is actually pretty easy. While I have not cut the Corian brand material myself, I have cut its generic counterpart for a friend who wanted a piece of his counter top shortened back in the 80’s and I had no problems. Lots of smelly plastic dust but the cut came out almost perfect. There were very few minor burn marks that could have been easily sanded away but since the cut edge was going against a wall I didn’t bother removing them completely but I could have.
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
There's a brief thread over in Buying American Cars extolling the "glorious" 50s and one of the photos linked is of a smiling white bread family with 2.0 kids sitting around the Philco TV.
That's when the hearth changed from the fireplace and I think that's when conversation died (although radio "appointments" with Fibber and Molly McGee surely killed a lot of talk too) . I think computers are actually reversing the trend since they are more interactive than just yelling back at the TV.
It's still rare to go visit someone and not have the TV blaring.
Over in RWTIV, qbrozen said $35K was a fair selling price. You had it in hand with the first buyer. I know he also said $37K asking but that's the starting point.
Don't step over the quarters to pick up the nickels.....especially when you are talking about taking a loan to buy the Audi in the meantime.
Gee a recipe from the kitchen of Richard Child, right here on a car forum. Who’da thunk that would be happening?
‘tj’ I hope you can understand the recipe given with a Southern twang.
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
Richard
I'm not trying to rape anyone. I'm just trying to get what I consider fair value on the car. Plus, I'm not so motivated that I'll make it a fire sale.
On a dealer's lot, my car is $38,999. A dealer would be into it for about $35K, and cut it loose about $37K. That's where I want to be. It's still under warranty. There's even a good amount of free maintenance left.
If I'm wrong in my thinking, no harm-no foul. I can re-adjust my thinking. It's not like I haven't been wrong in the past. I'm feeling good about my pricing on this though.
I can take out a 30-day loan on the Audi for next to nothing. That's not my plan, though. But, I'm ready to do it as that would cost a lot less than taking $2K-$3K less for the car just to sell to the first person who shows interest.
As isellhondas would say....."it's not distressed merchandise that no one wants."
I have this theory....if one person that you know of is interested in buying your car, in fact, 2 more people will be interested, if they know it's for sale. If you have 2 people who know about it and are interested, that means 6 will be interested, if they find out about it, etc, etc, etc!
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2021 Sahara 4xe
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
Every tale has its two sides. You definitely need to wait for more people, the market will verify if you are realistic in your expectations, or not.
2018 430i Gran Coupe
He counters with $34K.
I would have countered in between or taken his price as only about 15% of the population spends that much on a used car. Maybe you're not really ready to be without your BMW.
2013 Mustang GT, 2001 GMC Yukon Denali
I don’t mind Formica either. While we got granite when we redid the kitchen in January 2010, I personally think granite is way over rated but it has lots of talk given to it as we all know.
In about 2009 when we first gave thought to redoing the kitchen we went to a cabinet shop that was recommended. The woman designer at this place offered to come over to the house to see what kind of space we had. I told her we were probably going to keep the same layout but she insisted that she should come over and take a look. As you could have guessed, she was going to turn everything around, top to bottom. Selling more cabinets had nothing to do with the proposed new arrangement. Xxxxxxxxxconf To get her reaction I remember saying that to afford all that I’d have to go with Formica. She almost fainted right there in our kitchen. When she finally caught her breath she said, “now why would you want to do something like that”?
The surprising thing about the kitchen redo was that Mrs. j liked her cabinets just the way they were so we kept them but we fell for the granite hype. I’ll never forget when we went to the big counter top fabricator in our area. We actually had to make an appointment and work through a cabinet company to use this place, although we didn’t use the woman who almost passed out in our kitchen. When we walked into this place, the first display that Mrs. j walked up to was a counter top that was made of Formica but was made to look like granite. She asked me if it was Formica or granite and I said, “if you can’t tell the difference the knockoff must be pretty good, huh”? Like I said in the end we went with granite mainly because she liked the idea that a hot pot wouldn’t bother granite. I couldn’t argue with that other than I could have probably bought 4 Formica tops for what the granite cost.
Of course when she mentioned to several people when we were about to pull the plug and get a new counter top everyone said, “surely you’re getting granite, right”? :sick: I still don’t get it but it isn’t my kitchen. She calls the shots for what goes in the kitchen and I call the shots for what goes in the garage. Just a little thing we worked out long ago.
FWIW, Son #1 is seriously thinking of moving and is talking about putting in a granite counter top just because that is what people expect today when they buy a house. He figures he’s going to get back almost all of what he spends so that is his justification. From everything I’ve heard, he’s probably right.
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
So, the dealers are equally "unserious" with some of their offers. If anything, that's what started the whole thing. With stickers like those around, less-than-insightful person may simply conclude everything is market up by 20% and nothing would dissuade them it's not always the case.
2018 430i Gran Coupe
Granite or some sort of solid surface is expected today. Although laminate (Formica is a registered trademark of DuPont) is a good alternative, it's looked at as a cheap alternative. The price of granite has come down so much that it's not much of a stretch to upgrade to granite.
Though you are correct, Corian is actually more expensive than granite, or at least that has been my experience. Granite is about $60 per square foot installed. Corian runs any where from $50-$100 per square foot installed. We've had both. This particular designer kitchen just happened to come with Corian. One advantage that I see with the Corian is that I no longer have to polish it once a month or put the sealer on once a year. As for scratches, you can use light sandpaper on the Corian. It's not a problem for us yet. We don't drag objects across the Corian and we use cutting boards for various foods.
As for being easy to cut, I guess it depends on who does the cutting. I asked two countertop guys to do it and they refused. The thinking was that there is the danger of splitting the material and the placing of new strips might or might not match or sand out to a perfect match with the remainder of the counter. I think one thing that helped in our case was that my electrician had a new diamond drill that seemed to work perfectly. The dust that you mentioned wasn't a problem at all. His assistant used a hand held water sprayer to keep the cutting edges wet constantly. We were very pleased with the results. I do have a large piece of the original Corian that was used. That is a comfort in case we ever need it for a repair.
Though I love the granite and the Corian, the most beautiful countertops that we ever had was made of neither. In 1992 we gutted a large kitchen. We saw a countertop sample by WilsonArt that was emerald green with black and white streaks in it. The results were absolutely beautiful and spectacular. We installed a white floor with emerald green diamonds that had a black dot in the middle of each diamond. My wife had white window treatments made that had the green Ivy leaves in them. We found a copper antique out door light fixture whose patina had turned green. We hung it over the breakfast table. That was one beautiful kitchen when we finished.
The moral of this story is: It's not always the most expensive materials that make things pretty. It's the selection of what to use that makes the real difference.
Richard
Why not? We've covered every other topic in the free world. Just be glad that it's Richard Child and not Richard Simmons. I could be leading you in a funky dance to exercise that flabby, worn out body.
Richard
When he said he "might" go 35,000 I think I may have let him out with these words..." We aren't that far apart...if you are REALLY serious, I'm willing to talk some more"
NEVER, EVER suggest "splitting the difference" that automatically weakens your position. If the buyer suggests doing this, don't bite.
You can't expect to get the same money as a dealer. You just can't.
Shoppers expect a private party sale to be less money. The buyer is taking more risk.
Also know that you are competing with brand new ones at your price point.
Your "buyer" sounds like a stroke but you never know.
He just sounds too flaky, first lowballing because he knows you won't agree to it (hence he doesn't have to whip out his chequebook and go ahead with the deal), then saying he "might" do $35k as Isell pointed out.
I bet if you agreed to the $32k or $35k he would still say he has to "think about it" or ask his wife, or he'd give you some other lame excuse as to why he wouldn't move ahead with the purchase.
2016 Audi A7 3.0T S Line, 2021 Subaru WRX
Truer words have never been written, Richard.
Our house is a tract home, bottom line series from the builder. Would make no sense to replace our laminate countertop with granite - the wife and I have talked about it and we feel that we would be 'overimproving' the house based on the price point.
We did, however, have our son install some wonderful glass tile backsplash on the wall behind the stove.
THE ITALIAN CREAM CAKE (cake and frosting recipes)
Cake ingredients:
1 stick of butter
1/2 cup of oil
2 cups of sugar
5 egg yokes
1 teaspoon of baking soda
2 cups of plain flower
1 cup of buttermilk
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 small can of coconut (one cup)
1 cup of pecans (Use walnuts if you prefer.)
5 egg whites stiffly beaten
Process:
Cream the butter, oil, and sugar. Beat with mixer until smooth. Add egg yokes and beat well. Combine the flower and soda. Then alternate with the buttermilk (some flower, buttermilk; some flower, buttermilk) and stir until smooth. Stir in the vanilla, add the coconut and nuts, and stir. Fold in the egg whites stiffly beaten. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes in 3 eight inch pans. Cool.
Frosting ingredients:
8 oz. of cream cheese (softened)
1/2 stick of butter
1 box of powered sygar
1 teaspoon of vanilla
Process:
Beat cheese and butter until smooth. Add the sugar and mix well. Add the vanilla and beat until smooth. Then spread the layers. Sprinkle the top with nuts.
Tips: Don't sprinkle the top with any coconut. It seems to change the overall flavor. The nuts can be pieces or bits. I prefer the bits; wife prefers the pieces. Either way is fine. Don't forget that the egg whites should be stiffly beaten. It's a key factor with this cake. Hope you enjoy it as much as we do.
Richard
Do NOT buy any products from DuPont if you can help it (and for the most part you can't). It is specifically waste from a Dupont plant that they STILL aren't admitting to that caused my myleodysplasia and has caused 100s of cancer deaths in the town I grew up in. They are the most lawyered up company in the world and dumping industrial waste into local waterways has been a habit with them at various locations forever.
I never buy DuPont products. They are not the company I want to support anyway. Now, I have another reason, *fezo. They support the state of Delaware and have been responsible for chemical spills, etc. But the government is not going to go after them because of their money and power. Besides, they are French ancestry, and after WWII, and the stories my father told me about the french people (socialists, etc.) I want nothing to do with them. When I go to Europe, I avoid France like the plague!
2024 Genesis G90 Super-Charger
I agree but the internet allows for people to hide behind phony and anonymous screen names. Most of the time there is no real way of finding out who the reviewer is (good or bad)
If we do something wrong I want to address the issue and resolve the problem. Too many times people rush to post reviews but never contact the dealer to come up with a solution.
I'll share another little story with you. When we purchased this dream house nine months ago, we did all new window treatments. Because the house is a very formal older home, we wanted expensive (looking) fabrics for the windows. Most fabrics that we saw were $40 to $80 per yard. Then our seamstress had to figure in her labor. With these large windows and the designs that we wanted, I could see $25K easily. We began a search across the state for fabric. We found three fabric stores that sold fabrics for $7 per yard and closeouts at $4 per yard. Not expecting much, we hit the roads. What a wonderful surprise. We found Duponi silks, Irish linen, etc. in these stores. Our seamstress loved the materials and people asked us at the open house where we found such beautiful materials. We did the entire house for $7,000 ($3K for fabric and $4k for labor for 32 windows) That's about $218 per window which no decorator would ever do. It pays to shop around---just as with cars (to stay on topic
Richard
2013 LX 570 2016 LS 460
As for the ex-gf. continue to stay cool and say nothing. Remember: A fight is no fun if the other person isn't responding. She'll make her exit sooner than you think. Good luck on both issues.
Richard
We, too, have seen these "granite look" laminate materials .. very nice looking.
With the wife taking a new job - and a cut in pay - it's not likely that we'll be doing any major home renovations soon.
We did the backsplash and painted the kitchen and family rooms over Christmas. About a year ago we tiled the master bath.
The year before we installed tile downstairs (heated the kitchen and hallway areas).
The good news is that home prices are starting to finally rebound. Not that we're looking to move or anything .... at the moment.
Back in the mid 70’s when I was doing my fair share of woodworking I used a piece of Wilsonart laminate.
We were out shopping for a table one day and we came across a table that was ‘T’ shaped (looking at it from the front or back). It had a black lacquered finish. We both liked it because it had a contemporary look which was our style. We liked everything about it except the price. IIRC, it was around $400 and that was insane for our budget at the time for one table. I said to Mrs. j that I could make a table that was ‘T’ shaped out of some scrap particle board and cover it with a piece of neutral colored plastic laminate. I figured the only real cost would be for the laminate itself which I guessed would be around $40 and I was right. We found a piece of Wilsonart laminate called Carpathian Elm Burl that was just the right color for us. So, I went to a laminate supplier got the vertical grade of the laminate (thinner than counter top stuff) fired up the saws got some contact cement and trimmed the laminate with my router. Mrs. j likes that table as much today as the day I brought it out of the garage and put it in the living room of our first house.
Over the years she has gotten quite a few compliments about it when people see it for the first time. The first time some of her friends saw it they wanted to know where she bought it. When she told them I made it they said, “really, I thought he just liked to work on cars”. Let me clear up this misconception, I don’t necessarily like working on cars at least it didn’t start out that way. It started because I was trying to save what I had in my wallet and I was tired of having to fix what the garages screwed up the first time.
Because I have made a few pieces of furniture over the years when Mrs. j gets a piece of furniture now her friends want to know if I made it. Today she says, “no, he doesn’t do that anymore. All those expensive tools of his in the garage have just been sitting around collecting dust for the last 20 something years”. Again let me set something straight; that is not entirely correct
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
You are correct about people hiding behind phony identities and screen-names, however, in those cases where the individual is known, legal action can be taken.
As an example, if you sell a car to someone and that individual comes back 2 weeks later stating that another dealer told him he could have saved another thousand dollars by buying the car at another dealership. He states he wants $1000 or he will go on the internet and tell everyone he was cheated.
You apologize, try to show the customer the net profit (if the profit was small or negligible, if not, you would respond different) or some other example, etc. If the customer continues, and you refuse, and you find out he is the one behind the internet comments or lies to Craig's list and Angie's list, you get an attorney and sue him for slander/liable, whatever.
If you can't identify the individual, all you can do is answer the attacks in like manner, explaining your side of the situation.
I do not believe in buckling to threats.
2024 Genesis G90 Super-Charger
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2021 Sahara 4xe
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
2018 430i Gran Coupe
Isell....boom...I also think you guys are right. Craig, I am indeed competing for new cars at the price point I'm asking (albeit with Toyotas, Hondas, Fords....not a new BMW 335i).
boom....if the "neighbor" comes back again, I think he would be serious, just a little difficult to deal with.
I also think you're right that this guy, even agreeing to his price, would have to "think about it".
Just driving around a little last night and today with the "For Sale" sign in the car, I'm getting calls from people, mostly 20 somethings, wanting to know everything from my willingness to finance (NO), to co-signing (for people I don't know? I won't do that for people I'm related to), to....would you take $20K for it?
I'll leave it on the market for 30 days, drive it around town with the sale sign in the window, to see what turns up. I'll float a loan during that time and buy the S4 from the former GF. And, if worse comes to worse, I'll take it to my dealer and his competitor to see what they'd give for a straight buy.
Richard
First up, the old kitchen. With the exception of the Bosch dishwasher and the kitchen faucet, it looked the same as it did back in 1974:
A solid bearing wall with a single door separated the family room from the kitchen. We knew we wanted to open things up a bit, and we looked at adding another door or removing the existing door and putting in a set of french doors. We finally decided to get rid of the entire wall:
Here is the (almost) finished kitchen. At the time we were waiting on a custom cutting board for the island. We later decided to put the cutting board on the end closest to the cooktop:
Finally, here is the breakfast bar that replaced the wall in the second picture. My wife saw a picture of the design in a magazine and the carpenter built it directly from the picture with no plans whatsoever:
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2021 Sahara 4xe
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
I see what you did there. :shades:
We have granite top and matching backsplash. I think it was $55 a square foot installed.
Richard,
Many thanks for the recipe. When we make it, I'll report back. This sounds like a good project for the new Kitchen Aid stand mixer we purchased last month.
2025 Ram 1500 Laramie 4x4 / 2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic / 2022 Icon I6L Golf Cart
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
It was actually cheaper than getting solid surface counters with the integral sinks.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Roadburner....what a transformation from your old kitchen to the new one....beautifully done.
I have granite tops. There are many times I've wished for Formica. It's durable and doesn't require any special care.
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I told my wife and BIL, and SIL that I told a friend I would check out Cheeka Lodge in Islamorada in the Keys. I didn't want to explain that it was an imaginary cyber friend, so I didn't, although my wife knows who it is.
We drove by the Lodge the first time so I asked for a vote whether to go back. They voted that it would be an adventure if we went back and fulfilled the promise.
We went back and went inside. There was a guard at the gate so I thought we would have a problem. I told him a friend recommended we look at Cheeka because he was impressed, and we wanted to see if it was a place we would want to stay at.
He said, it is beautiful and maybe I could let you in so you could go to the restaurant and have breakfast, wink, wink. I said certainly, that's exactly why we want to go in.
The grounds are amazing with lots of greenery and giant Banyon trees. We took some pictures outside. Lots of nice cars there too, including a red Ferrari. My SIL said she thought it was a Mustang because it has the same pony emblem.
The lobby is beautiful. We were going to get a coffee, but the coffee was all free. So, we enjoyed a coffee outside on the patio facing the beach. There was a huge buffet breakfast and we could have helped ourselves to all kinds of eggs and pancakes, fruit, cereals etc., but we are far too polite to do that. There is a beautiful pool next to the patio too.
I could use one of 5 free computers in the lobby too to see if my lawyer is still ignoring me by taking 3 months to do something that should take one week.
The washrooms were very nice too....
We decided if we won the lottery we would definitely stay for a week ($350 a night). My SIL loves coupon books but there wasn't any discount coupons for the Cheeka.
Very worthwhile seeing. Key West was well worth seeing too, but, the best part is off the main drag. Seeing a mixture of the old and new houses is really spectacular.
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
Richard