After reading the comments about brown bunch beans last year I decided to try them and ordered from midnight trader on ebay. After 40 years of gardening and trying a multitude of green bean varieties my quest is finally over these are the best tasting beans I have ever grown. These beans are also virtually stringless when picked young and tender and also can well but when eaten fresh are in a league of their own. From the seed I saved from last years crop I was able to plant a full crop this year and Brown Bunch Beans will be a staple in my garden for years to come. Thanks to all of you who commented on this site that put me on to these beans I would have never have tried if not for you.

DW of Slush1422 here: Kathec-You are ME! I am a SAHM of 3 kids, on one income, and also have taught FPU for about 6 years now. I agree with the others that you take from this forum what is helpful to you. I love seeing pictures and inspiration from all the different size/budget kitchens here. Boxer - you are amazing with all the photos you post. They are so helpful! We've found things on here that have totally changed the way we are designing our kitchen and so many ways to save money. We pay cash for everything and do not have a single credit card, and do not take loans, - so we've been waiting for YEARS to update our kitchen (house built in 1952). We are definitely going to be on a tight budget and will probably have to do the remodel in stages and keep a few of our old appliances until we save up to buy new ones. We think at this point our only option is Ikea cabinets and after reading about the great quality of them, I'm okay with that. We never would have even considered Ikea without reading about them on GW. There have even been a few times already (just started lurking here about a month) that DH and I disagree about appliance placement, flooring option, etc. but then we take the time to read threads on GW and we end up coming to an agreement after having our eyes opened by others experiences here. GW is good for your marriage and for settling disagreements :)

We have made to order Levelor cellular shades from Home Depot in our bedrooms and bathroom. They're the blackout kind and cordless. After about 18 months, one of the shades broke. It's being repaired/replaced by Levelor now. They seem to be decent quality for the most part and go up/down okay. Initially, they ordered the non blackout kind and sent them for installation. They did replace them with the correct kind but we got to live with the standard one for a few weeks. There was a significant difference in the amount of light between the two. You can still see light around the edges so are more like room darkening than blackout, in my opinion.

I will spend hours and hours and hours online, trying to find The One Right Thing (whatever the project is). When we redid our bathroom, we picked out a light fixture that was discontinued, and I believe we bought the last one in existence (I guess that's more of a score than an act of desperation). A few years ago, the organization I volunteered with provided backpacks and school supplies to kids who live in a home for wards of the state. "My" child said she liked purple, pink, and hearts, and I ended up finding her a purple and pink heart backpack . . . on AmazonUK. I had spent a long time looking and could NOT find a purple and pink heart backpack that didn't also have emojis or stars or something else on it, and I was determined to get her *exactly* what she hoped for (not that she demanded it of course). I can be relentless that way. I had to pay extra b/c of the shipping, and it took a little longer to come in, but this little girl got just what she wanted, and I was happy.