You all sound like professionals...so here's a POV from a simple gardener. I love plants so I love going to those nurseries around town that cater to people who love plants...and they provide really cool seminars, great herb plant help for those of us who WANT more than the few types of main herbs sold at "box stores" (including someone getting me a plug of her own sweetgrass plant when they couldn't find one for me) ....they offer thousands and thousanmds of different plants at my favorite nursery. I just would never NOT support such a place!! and they do WELL here ...I know the owenrs and they are youngish, but they are both very open minded to working with the niche they have. They explore it very aggressively (but nicely) . And they do well. This is a free market and there are absolotely millions of people who DO know a thing of two about their plants and will go out of our way to support the places that are there for us. That said, I go to Home Depot too...do I buy plants there? Not so much, no....but I do like to go there and get this great organic compost they've got that I've seen nowhere else. And I have , on the rare occasion, bought a plant from there - they have done just fine, but only because I will only buy a plant that I can see is ok and not too stressed. I know what I'm looking for. I buy far, far more of my plants at the local nurseries and I am not the only one doing that for sure ! The upshot here , I think, is that this is a free market and the smaller establishments CAN cater to their target audience very nicely. I have worked part time at one nursery, another good one, and I have been at many in the area. Do I see them all catering well to their niche? No I don't . But I certainly see some that do incredibly well. And I thnk that is how things tend to fall out...it's just business, it's not about the masses who don't know plants or lost integrity of plant providers or morals or anything like that . In the end perhaps it's really just mostly how well you can flow with your own business. Selling plants is a business. You might love your plants and care for them better than the box stores (and this is definitely true from what I've noted ) however, the plant is a "unit" , no matter how great a unit...and selling units is the object of making money. Business is business. I think all you professionals who sell plants or design for a living are so incredibly blessed!! You are in the business of selling "units" that bring incredible joy , beauty - not mention "units' that can teach patience, love and caretaking ability - to everyone who buys form you or buys your designs. I think that rocks as a profession! Wishing you all a wonderful business year in 2006! Chris

I couldn't resist this piece since it is to all political parties it doesn't seem to be partial to any one: Wal-Mart vs. The Corrupt Morons 1. Americans spend $36,000,000 at Wal-Mart Every hour of every day. 2. This works out to $20,928 profit every minute! 3. Wal-Mart will sell more from January 1 to St. Patrick's Day (March 17th) than Target sells all year. 4. Wal-Mart is bigger than Home Depot + Kroger + Target +Sears + Costco + K-Mart combined. 5. Wal-Mart employs 1.6 million people, is the world's largest private employer, and most speak English. 6. Wal-Mart is the largest company in the history of the world. 7. Wal-Mart now sells more food than Kroger and Safeway combined, and keep in mind they did this in only fifteen years. 8. During this same period, 31 big supermarket chains sought bankruptcy. 9. Wal-Mart now sells more food than any other store in the world. 10. Wal-Mart has approx 3,900 stores in the USA of which 1,906 are Super Centers; this is 1,000 more than it had five years ago. 11. This year 7.2 billion different purchasing experiences will occur at Wal-Mart stores. (Earth's population is approximately 6.5 Billion.) 12. 90% of all Americans live within fifteen miles of a Wal-Mart. You may think that I am complaining, but I am really laying the ground work for suggesting that MAYBE we should hire the guys who run Wal-Mart to fix the economy. This should be read and understood by all Americans Democrats, Republicans, Independents, EVERYONE!! To President Obama and all 535 voting members of the Legislature, It is now official that the majority of you are corrupt morons: a.. The U.S. Postal Service was established in 1775. You have had 234 years to get it right and it is broke. b.. Social Security was established in 1935. You have had 74 years to get it right and it is broke. c.. Fannie Mae was established in 1938. You have had 71 years to get it right and it is broke. d.. War on Poverty started in 1964. You have had 45 years to get it right; $1 trillion of our money is confiscated each year and transferred to "the poor" and they only want more. e.. Medicare and Medicaid were established in 1965. You have had 44 years to get it right and they are broke. f.. Freddie Mac was established in 1970. You have had 39 years to get it right and it is broke. g.. The Department of Energy was created in 1977 to lessen our dependence on foreign oil. It has ballooned to 16,000 employees with a budget of $24 billion a year and we import more oil than ever before. You had 32 years to get it right and it is an abysmal failure. You have FAILED in every "government service" you have shoved down our throats while overspending our tax dollars. AND YOU WANT AMERICANS TO BELIEVE YOU CAN BE TRUSTED WITH A GOVERNMENT-RUN HEALTH CARE SYSTEM ??

Jannie and Nicki, I also have to say thanks. I too am far from perfect in that I've said things that I've regreted. And often. And I love my children so much that I rushed out of the house yesterday with tears in my eyes because an ambulance was at the end of our block and my two older girls were playing next door. Thanks goodness they were okay (an older neighbour had been hit by a car on his bike-he's fine), but I was weak-kneed and shaky. I have ALWAYS wanted to be a mom and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE them- but sometimes I crack. I experienced the single mom lifestyle for four months. It took ages to sell our house and Jason had to start his new job before it sold. During the week it was just me doing everything for my three girls (ages at that time were 7, 4, and 6 months). Helping with homework, nursing my baby every few hours, trying to play with my pre-schooler, making meals, walking to the bus-stop, EVERYTHING and all of it on only a few hours of disjointed sleep. It was winter and the second night we started doing this the furnace died. It was -27 C that night, none of the so-called 24 hour emergency repair places would answer, and I was frantic. I piled every blanket on the older girls and tried to sleep with Evelyn on the couch while both her and I wore toques. I needed to sleep on the couch because I had the oven on full blast with the oven door open for warmth. It was a crappy night. They fixed it at 1pm the next day. I also dealt with a toilet that wouldn't flush (and I'm not handy) and a four hour power outage which again was when it was -20 something C and freaking cold in the house. I had no breaks (except for the weekend when Jason would come back home) and no time to do anything that I wanted that was just for me. It was stressful and horrible and eroded most of my patience in the first month. I yelled at the kids and occasionally screamed at them. I explained to them that it was just me and they needed to try to help me out by getting along. Well, they are after all kids and they weren't helpful for that long. I would have been absolutely horrified if anyone had heard me and judged my parenting and love for my children at one of the worst times in my parenting life. We have been all together for four months now and I still yell. I'm working on it. My middle girl is exceptionally spirited and we clash. I'm working on being a better mother everyday. I just hope that the next time someone overhears someone else saying something mean that maybe they will stop and think about all of the background story that may be present. There is often much more to the story than you may think. I hope that by sharing my story and point of view that I won't become a KT outcast because coming here is such a bright spot to my day. Sometimes flawed people are still good people. Danielle

Ditto on Joan's comment about the Shingle's vaccination. I'm surprised they have you on heat instead of ice, but regardless, I'd ask if it is OK to take an OC anti-inflammatory - like Advil or Alleve. You may not get much progress for a couple of weeks, so practice patience on this one. Since you are active with water aerobics, you are in a better situation for healing than someone who is sedentary. Can someone other than DS bring you supplies? Best thoughts!