Hi, Matthew. I would be interested in: Campanula 'blue clips' Lobelia 'Queen Victoria' Lobelia white Cerinthe 'blue kiwi' And maybe some others . . . I have these from your list (or look at my list to see if there is something else you would like): Asclepias tuberosa - orange Bupleurum Rotundifolium 'Green Gold' Bells of Ireland Purple Hyacinth Bean Teddy Bear sunflower Schizanthus (I think - still in my box waiting to be planted) Becky ramazz

hi Mary! I'd love to have some of your crocosmia!!! Yours look different than mine, mine have yellow in the throat. How many can you send me, I would love to plant a nice big 2x4 ft bed of those. I can send you a nice surprise package of seed, or I can email you a list of seeds to choose from. I thought the surprise might be more fun. I am about 100 miles north of you. GH

This is a fun post. I will say that in my busy working military life, I could get up, shower, shave underarms (daily), legs (3x weekly)makeup (eye shadow, mascara, foundation, powder, lipstick), hair (washed and blow dried, very short), dressed and out the door in 25 minutes. Now, years later, I use far less products and it seems to take far longer. When I was stationed in Spain I could get waxed, from top to toes, for about $7 so I never had to shave of pluck or anything. That made getting ready for work a real breeze. Now, in a typical morning I use: face wash - I use an Oil of Olay-type face cloth. hand wash - Dial Complete on all the sinks, two baths, mudroom, and kitchen. bar soap - I use a liquid soap; DH still uses the bars. :( shampoo - Daily conditioner - Perhaps once a week. hair serum - Never heard of it. hair mouse - No, but I keep a can of hairspray for the 3-4 times I year I might use it. toothpaste - At least five times a day. floss - Yes, but should more often. mouthwash - Listerine; twice a day for gum protection. shaving gel - Ha! The few times I shave I use shampoo. deodorant - Kept in both bathrooms and the bedroom. Wherever I dress I'm ready! body lotion - Rarely, but more so in winter. foot powder/or lotion - Gold Bond all over. face cream - No; but Mom says I should. foundation - Very rarely; 2-3 times a year. blush - I'm taking treatments for Rosacea so I'm good on the natural blush! LOL powder - Very rarely; 2-3 times a year. eyeshadow - Very rarely; 2-3 times a year. eyeliner - No; never liked the look. mascara - Can no longer wear. lipstick - Every day. I love lipstick with colour, but not the pale, dead looking non-color most gals are wearing now. I wear earrings daily, too. I love lipstick and earrings. And that's the daily stuff, add to that the occasional: hair coloring - I stopped coloring three months ago. I'm liking the "salt and pepper," heavy on the salt look! tooth whitening strips - No. nail polish/ base coat/top coat - I cut my nails as short as possible and push the cuticles back once a week. When I worked I kept them short and polished with a pale pink color. I did it my self. I do get medium length dark red gel nails for the Christmas season. nail polish remover - No need cuticle cream - No, but about every four months I'll get a manicure that does not include polish or false nails. They just soak, trim, work off the cuticles and do a hot wax dip. hand lotion - I keep bottles on each sink

I won't even begin to list how many cleaning products are in my house. It's. Absolutely. Terrifying. That being said, I'm working on getting rid of much of it and using more natural/earth friendly methods. One thing that I am having a tough time giving up is my toilet bowl cleaner with bleach. I just haven't found anything that makes me feel like the toilet is as clean as when I use some bleach based product. Just mixed up a batch of baking soda, essential oils (eucalyptus and peppermint), a little bit of Dawn dishwashing liquid, and enough water to make a paste. This was used to scrub the tub which gets absolutely horrible because it's an old porcelain tub (but the finish was messed up from the previous owners)...it got it as clean as the harsher cleansers I've used with about the same amount of effort. Bonus is that it smelled lovely, way better than most cleaning products you can buy in the store. Looking forward to hearing more about some of the alternate cleaning products that people use.