MauveGirl8 -- I plan to stay here for a few years. I haven't even yet applied to school, and the program I'm intending to complete is 5-6 years. My next move will be way south -- Florida. As such, there are a lot of things I have that won't work there, so I wouldn't take them with me. And in any case, I'm not going to dig anything out. If I want to "bring any with me" it will be via rooted cuttings. And before I go, I intend to share some other rooted cuttings with friends -- and my landlord. He and his wife will be building a new home on empty land in the near future, and I said I'd be happy to share anything he'd like for his new yard. Certainly I'll be bringing along my "pot pet collection", and cuttings of anything appropriate for Florida that I got from Vintage Gardens that isn't available elsewhere. And by that time, I'll also make an announcement here for anyone interested in "hard to find" things I nabbed for this garden. For example, the Hybrid China 'Nouveau Monde' from VG doesn't seem to be available anywhere else. I'm using it as a climber against a raised back deck railing. The few flowers it had when it arrived were very fragrant. I posted two pics of it on HelpMeFind from when I first repotted it. Since then, it has grown quite vigorously -- one cane trained horizontally against the railing is easily 10' long from the ground. :-) ~Christopher

Well my DH wins the prize. He hasn't divorced me or threatened to take away my spade, yet. I don't know if all of you saw the photos that Jim (Idiothe) posted of Sheila and I with our kayaks and bikes and the car completely loaded with hostas? Well in order to do that we loaded all our gear in our boats. It is my hubby's car. (both our names are on it, but it is his vehicle 98% of the time.) I drive the used Mommy van that gets used as a truck for hauling mulch and whatever. But the kayak rack is mine, and I can't load boats on my van due to a bad shoulder. So..... he is very particular about his car. He hates me putting the rack on, he will not drive on gravel, etc. So with my bad shoulder, and the heavy boats, I couldn't lift my end of Sheil's up very well. So the J cradles kept twisting and falling down. I finally found a man to help us. We finally got it loaded, made it home... and there are dents all over the top of the car. Bad dents, like really big hail. :( Like will never come out. I feel awful, I do. Whats done is done, and he isn't holding it against me. But he is so sad. And I am too. But I did get all my hostas home! So he wins the hosta hubby of the year award. I need to get those trophies made, don't I? Anyone want to nominate their Wife for the Hosta Wife of the year award?

We used large format/rectangular tile in two of our bathrooms. In the MB, the 8x20's on the tub surround walls, and 12x24's (?) on the floor, are laid in a straight or stacked pattern. Both tile are rectified porcelain, with somewhat tight grout lines. In our hall bathroom, the 4x12 rectified porcelain tub surround tile, and the 6x12 travertine tile were laid in a brick joint pattern. Also, somewhat tight grout lines. We, and our tile guy, felt that keeping the pattern consistent between the floors and walls, given the fact that the floor and wall tile were all similar in shape, made for a nice "flow" so to speak. We always try to match the grout as closely as possible to tile, to make the grout lines blend-in as best as they can. This, of course, is personal preference. :-)

The color of my new dining room is 'French Bulldog' black, the runner for the stairs was chosen specifically because the dogs like to guard (I use that term very loosely) from the landing and we have coordinating beds scattered throughout the house. My pimped out minivan is black with a personalized Frogdog plate and Harley is the poster child for the labels on our homemade wine. So I guess the answer is a resounding yes. I'm the neighborhood dog freak - love these pictures, but always, always have a soft spot for the short noses - especially that little black pug!