crete ...I'm with Marlene...post away!!! You always share good ideas & great GJ! Am sorry for your health care costs...terrible! I'm afraid I'm one who spends alot of time on Flea Market Gardening...I also do the posting there 2 days a week ...I joined Facebook for my family ...& have enjoyed it immensely since I can stay in contact to easily w/old & new, close-by & far away friends/family. I do check Garden Junk weekly (at the least) but it takes me double the time to post pics on the forum cause of the need to put them in Photobkt or another program first ... w/Facebk they can come right from my computer picture files. But I do love Garden Junk & appreciate all the many ideas & people on the forum ...so I'm trying to post sometimes! I also post on the Holiday Forum which is part of the Garden Web (Garden Junk) Jeanne S.

The guys already GOT'EM :^0))))))) Most of the females are sitting on eggs or are shepherding little ones around somewhere away from the guys!

I hesitated to add to this, but then I thought about the fact that you are trying to get respones from those who don't participate, so here it is... When I first visited the quilting forum, I was drawn in by the idea of the Birthday Block Exchange and that is usually my one activity that I do on the quilting forum. I did participate in a few FQ Swaps. For whatever reason, I don't get interested in the lotto. I echo what nanajyane said. I don't think there is anything in the rules that would make a difference to get me to participate - just not my thing! There are very nice quilters who oversee the group and participate in it, so this is not meant as any criticism of them. Since I am unlikely to participate, I will not go on to answer the other questions. Overall, participation in swaps seems to be decreasing. (I also do some swapping on the GardenWeb side so I notice it there as well.) I think part of that is the economy and also partly the price of postage. I'll bet interest will pick up later in the year!

The broken seals on my kitchen window needed to be addressed and I broached the idea of putting in a new, larger window to the first KD I consulted. My kitchen is on our second floor and faces East onto an acre of wooded property we own - a nice view & no privacy issues. She seemed closed to the idea citing the expense of installing a header, replacing clapboard siding, etc. The plan she presented me was almost identical to what I had in my old kitchen, except that all the cabinets were new. I've had communication issues and delays with my current KD, but I must give credit where due. She was a strong proponent for using that space for a window instead of steering me to buy more boxes. She came up with a plan that gave me more usable space with fewer uppers. It is a big expense to do a big window - not just the cost of the window, but all the contractor's extra work. I think many KD's know that most clients have a budget, or at least an idea of how much they will spend on a remodel. It's less complicated and more lucrative for them to replace boxes with boxes. And it's likely most people feel they are getting more for their dollar if they see cabinetry as opposed to a "feeling" of more space and light.