floota, the hosta disease you're thinking of is hosta virux X (usually referred to simply as HVX). It's too OT to discuss in great detail on a daylily forum; suffice to say that the odds are slim to none that I'll ever buy a hosta from a box store, nor will I buy from a general garden center. HVX is transmitted in sap from infected hostas to healthy ones, so, if you have one infected hosta, you run the risk of infecting your entire collection. Even assuming that you clean & disinfect your tools (and hands) properly after planting a virused hosta, there's always the chance that something -- an animal, hose, thrown ball, whatever -- could injure a virused leaf, thus enabling transmission. As for a nursery passing inspection yet still selling virused hostas: that's quite possible. HVX may show up quickly; unfortunately, in may take years (and I mean that literally) to show up in certain ones. An example is Sum And Substance; some say it may take 10 years. And there are lists of hostas known to be near-100%-certain infected. So, unless you have a reputable source or can buy an OS (originator stock) hosta rather than a TC (tissue-cultured) one, your best bet is to avoid those particular hostas altogether when shopping.

I get my labels from http://www.pettags4less.com/. They are engraved aluminum pet tags which I have them engrave as Hosta Little Treasure or Heuchera Midas Touch etc. I get the black shield or black heart shaped labels. They come with tiny keyrings. I then use either stainless steel skewers that I've bent the loop on so the key rings stay put or the green vinyl-coated plant supports that I've bent the ring downward on to keep the keyrings in place. Every day, pet tags 4 less runs a special on one of their shapes. Those are the ones I get, when they are suitable for long hosta names. That's how I ended up with hearts and shields.

I definitely can relate. You are probably saving major dollars not having a kitchen designer, and you are getting exactly what you want. It's so stressful. Someone posted on here that she kept repeating to herself "it's only a kitchen...it's only a kitchen..." It's worth the pain and the time you are putting in to it. After you've been in the new kitchen a short time you will definitely forget this pain and suffering. I suggest get the granite and backsplash picked out, printing out pix from the Finished Kitchens Blog (google it) Finished Backsplash Slideshow with you when you go shopping. Try to stick to one or two inspiration photos. That helped me so much to show stores what I was looking for, and I was less distracted by other stuff once I had my inspiration photos with me. Try Google Images searching for key words like bronze sink granite & you'll get a couple pix of kitchens with that combo to see which granites & hardware look good. You could carve up your 3 biggest questions and make each separate discussion question topic here....like "Any granite ideas for bronze sink?" & someone might give you a great suggestion. Good luck. We are rooting for you. Here is a link that might be useful: Finished Backsplashes Slideshow in FKB

"Cement panels. I'm not sure what your brand is, but when they built the closet/tub bumpout, they used DUROC cement board and then sprayed stucco over it." moccasin - way back in Nov I didn't catch that you thought the skirting panels were cement board, they're real cement. dbf has his own cement company. he's done cement work since age 20 or so. usually it's a side line and he has someone else running it tho. but if he needs something done, he does it or as in this case has his boys help him. they've been raised working in cement too. I guess it's concrete now... he uses cement to make things. shades - I looked at that spud bar - and will look for something like it at W or HD when i go. thx for the inquiries on my eyeball... it's much better today compared to last week anyway. It still is blurry tho. Doc says it's gonna take some time to clear up completely. seeing out of it even blurry is better than seeing nothing with it! nancy - that wheel chair lift looks great - and that's a good price I think - not like I've priced them before tho! marti - I've been using a pliers. I pull straight up and they come out easy enough. it's a bit harder with the ones that have carpet padding tuft in them. then the padding tuft usually comes out first and I have to recatch the staple and get it on the 2nd pull. I didn't do much of anything today - but walk dogs (it seems anyway). I checked to see how many door stops I needed yet. I need 1 - and my sister has 1 left from her build a few yrs ago. and I found the air grate covers and matched them up to the holes. 3 are smaller - kit and 2 baths. those 3 need replaced- they're bent/twisted or have a broken lever. the others will need a good scrubbing. my sister took pics of the vinyl flooring samples i have and if/when she emails them to me I'll post here. I have to return the samples but wanted the pics of them before i do that. I started to take a few things around to the new place, then I realized the front door here is about (maybe) 15' from the back door of the new place and they almost line up to each other. so, I just started stacking things around/close to this door and tomorrow I'll un-barricade it (to keep girl in) from the outside and move the stuff to the mud/laundry room of the new place. There's a shelf in that room I'm going to stack most everything I have ready to move on over there. Then I'll get more ready to go and stack it around this door for the next 'move on over' event! the new place looks a ton better with it's new paint job - and door levers/locks. I need 3 more lever handles tho.