Hello juanital aka garden_momma, " Can the growth and bloom be done with anything under lights? " I wouldn't go so far as to say anything, but a lot of things can be grown under lights, provided that some things are taken into account. Outdoors, many potential pests have natural enemies that keep them in check. For example, aphids, thrips, and fungus gnats. Indoors, in the absence of "natural enemies", those pests can have devastating population explosions. and some control should be used if you notice one of those pests. I have been fortunate not to have a problem the last three years, but I did discontinue the practice of bringing zinnia cuttings indoors in the Fall. and that apparently was one way I was bringing outdoor pests indoors. Growth under lights is used to start a wide variety of plants as seedlings in the Spring, which are then set into the garden to get an early start, as an alternative to just planting the seeds in the garden after the soil warms up. Indoor starting can become indoor gardening. There are books on the subject. Since zinnias are a hobby for me, being able to raise zinnias year-round has been a big help. That way I can get four generations of zinnias in a year, which speeds up my ability to get new forms of zinnias. ZM

FYI. Neil has worked at this Walmart for almost 5 years. This past spring they built a "Super Walmart" to replace the regular one. Neil was instrumental in making it a more handicap accessible place. For example: Neil was involved with decisions regarding aisle width, doors, extra handicap carts, floor textures, and 'family restrooms' (where a parent may take a child of the opposite sex in, regardless of age) in addition to "men's" and "women's". These changes are evident in public spaces as well as behind the scenes in the back rooms. I don't even want to get into Walmart's abominable reputation, but maybe this once they did OK. We may look at this as using the token handicapped kid, but Neil and his mom Lori are outspoken advocates for equal access! Lori told me one of her biggest peeves is people that park so close to handicap slots that you can't operate the wheel chair lift out the side of the van. She usually waits a few minutes, then calls the local police, has the people paged if possible, and (ya gotta know her, she's one caring mother. And while she doesn't WANT to make trouble for anyone...) in no uncertain terms explains the complications their inconsiderate behavior is causing. :) I think I saw it best when Neil, Merlin and I visited his Walmart for the first time during training. We manuvered around the store and bought a few things, and then went into the back to see if his boss was around...within 2 minutes we were surrounded by 15 of his co-workers, all congratulating him, wishing him luck and bombarding him with questions! No offense, but god I love small town living! PS: Neil and Merlin made the front page of the Starbuck Times this week! and PSS: Next time you're walking through the clothes racks at Herbergers or JC Pennys, or K-Mart or whatever, try to imagine yourself in a wheel chair with a service dog beside you...wanna knock some clothes on the floor? I truely have a whole new appreciation for my ability to walk on my own 2 feet. Sarah -- And now I really will quit the sermon :) Here is a link that might be useful: Starbuck Times

I was probably 14 or so before I actually "decorated" anything, other than covering every inch of some really horrible 1950s yellow-and-white-stripes-with-tiny-shiny-gold-flowers wallpaper with posters and pages torn from the pop-star magazines. My parents didn't really believe in wasting money on frivolous things like decorating so if I wanted anything I had to pay for it myself and work with the things I already had as-is. They were very much into "use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without" and decorating was one of the things they could really do without. (Well, my mother did decorate more - especially during her "country clutter" phase - and was the yard-sale queen but I didn't live with her because I didn't get along with my stepfather.) I had a tiny bedroom, less than 10x10, and the closet was a door across one corner of the room with a few hooks inside (which I think my folks secretly liked because it meant less shopping for clothes!). Anyway, when I was 14 I broke the bed that came with my horrible Sears French Provincial set and for a couple of years I had the mattress and box spring on the floor. :-) I put an old bookshelf at the top as a headboard, where I put my cassette player and cassettes and a reading lamp. I had a navy and white quilt made of bandanas my aunt made, just a bunch of bandanas sewn together with a backing, so I was kind of stuck with a blue-based color scheme. The (rented) house came with white aluminum blinds and once I got rid of those horrible Priscilla curtains (very much a fad about 10 years before and they just kept following me around) I just slid the curtain rod through the top hems of white twin-size sheets and covered that awful fussy white dresser with another sheet. I talked the landlord into letting me paint the walls as long as I paid for the paint and I think he was envisioning a nice girly-pink or beige... I painted the walls midnight blue and sponged them with half a dozen different shades of blue I made by mixing the blue with white paint. I did it in one long day when my parents weren't home. I liked it, it was like being in a snowstorm at night, but my dad was about ready to throttle me. (It took three coats of primer and two coats of paint to cover it up.) I cut back my posters to a dozen or so ;-) and framed them with those horrid snap-together black plastic frames from KMart, but that looked better than just scotch-taping them to the walls! When I was 16 my parents gave me a double bed for my birthday (with the intent that I take it with me when I moved out on my own) and I went through this weird little '80s-modernist/Deco phase. I bought a carpet remnant in a medium gray and repainted the walls dove gray. Found a set of Marimekko sheets in a clearance bin - white with geometric patterns in black, red, and electric blue - and ran with those colors. I still had that dang bandana quilt (and it stayed around until long after I'd graduated from college and I was SO sick of it... that whole "wear it out" thing really stuck) but I covered it with a red blanket. I got rid of that icky dresser and put all my clothes in stacked red milk crates. My then-boyfriend gave me a gigantic Patrick Nagel print (80s, remember? LOL) and I replaced the brass swing-arm lamp I had during the "blue period" ;-) with a red and black modernish one. Spray-painted a few things I had (got in deep trouble for that) shiny black. My parents moved to another very tiny house when I went to college the next year; my bed and a few small things went into the spare bedroom at the new house to act as a guest room but pretty much everything decorative ended up at Goodwill because my folks hated just about all of it. :-/

Well the room is morphing into something else. Son likes this cheap "O" jazz mirrored mural, its sorta cool and cheesy at the same time. The furniture was looking a little too mature so I think the mural adds some 20yr old youth and it ties in the black and light gray carpet to the room. It will be spaced and placed behind the sofa and take up a big area. He has a long narrow room that's now limited on space due to the big a$$ chair, difficult having any symmetry so thinking of two matching small bench/stool/ottoman type seating across from chair. I did a layout to scale and sm bench/stools are the only way to get extra seating without blocking the TV viewing. Of course I am now hung up on seating again. I found a sight online called m!dnight velvet; don't know anything about them except they have some low cost slightly unusual stuff. Son doesn't have much room for more side tables (see large coffee table in above post) so we are thinking of the sm head or the tufted ceramic stool/tables below to use as a table and possibly doubling as extra seating (but not sure). The rooms accent colors will need to change as well but we are waiting for the mirror mural for inspiration. Right now we are thinking a purple/blue accent but that could change. Also think we need texture but not sure how to add that unless it's just in some pillows or I come up with another idea for stools/tables/bench. We also decided against black curtains in the living area, might be too much black with the black carpet and black in mirror mural so we bought these pale gold ones from sm@rtbargins. The window is across the room from the big a$$ chair so I was thinking it would look better to have a similar color on the window to balance it out a bit. I'm trying to buy all the furniture from craigslist to stay in my $1,200 budget (not including accessories) but still need a 48" round used dining set. I'm so sick sick sick of looking on CL but have too to keep the cost down. If I see one more ad that says "designer" I'm going to flip a lid! Of course it's designer, someone designed it!!! And don't get me started on "custom" ads. P.S, I'm sorry about these pictures but I'm having trouble with my cable or photobucket and also my overloaded brain so please forgive as I will figure it out later. P.S.S, thank you my friend for helping me look for canvas art, I feel really bad I didn't post the cheesy mural earlier ( but I REALLY thank you all for help and kind words!!! http://i1004.photobucket.com/albums/af170/jterrilynn/e88f54b5.jpg" target="_blank">http://i1004.photobucket.com/albums/af170/jterrilynn/4d8bbec8-1.jpg" target="_blank">http://i1004.photobucket.com/albums/af170/jterrilynn/b7267bed-1.jpg" target="_blank">http://i1004.photobucket.com/albums/af170/jterrilynn/48ca1471.jpg" target="_blank">http://i1004.photobucket.com/albums/af170/jterrilynn/c9fd2ac2.jpg" target="_blank">http://i1004.photobucket.com/albums/af170/jterrilynn/c8a527cd.jpg" target="_blank">http://i1004.photobucket.com/albums/af170/jterrilynn/c420cee8.jpg" target="_blank">