Hi Jools, Sorry you couldn't make it to the swap, I still have the evergreen huckleberry that I set aside for you. My son is an adult now, living on the East Coast, but I certainly remember those days of staying up with a sick kid! I'm in Pierce County, Bonney Lake to be exact, which is not too far from Tacoma. You can come to me, or I can come to you, whichever you prefer. I'm a housewife, so I'm home all day basically. Any day except Tuesday next week works for me.

I am a seamstress. The previous posters were correct in suggesting you may need more panels to make your drapes sufficiently full. No "professional" is going to hand sew your drapes together. As a professional, to do a professional job, she will have open the seams at the sides, which means undoing the top and hem as well, to stitch the panels together. She should either serge the seams together or use a French seam. The entire top seam will have to be ripped open to add the pleating tape and re-stitched. Generally, there needs to be four inches of fabric at the top to cover the pleating tape. You can have her make the pleats for you, and they will be permanent. Or you can buy the more expensive hooks that make the pleats by themselves. The work of the seamstress is greater than you'd think, because she has to take the vertical seams apart before she sews the panels together. The entire top hem will need to be picked or razored apart, the tabs removed, pleating tape added and a new seam at the bottom edge of the pleating tape. She will then re-stitch the hem where she took it apart to stitch the panels together. Razoring all the seams apart carefully and putting them back together, adding pleating tape, re-doing the hem, I'd estimate $250 to $275. She should ask to see them, first, though, to make sure there's nothing that would make them taking them apart more difficult.

Ah, Lavender, you have truly hit upon a not-such-a-coincidence. How lovely that story is. I wish you would, at some time this winter when it is too cold to go out, put that into a story for your nieces, and illustrate it just like the Jo Koch books....the tea, coffee, etc picture books. You just outlined the basic theme of the book/story, and to have it short and to the point, but with the traditional uses of herbs, what a great wintertime project!! And while you're at it, think about putting some lavender around your mailbox too. Or perhaps put some poison ivy around it to punish those who would whack it with a baseball bat. Please remember to put in some nasturtiums somewhere. They like cooler weather, and I cannot grow them in south Alabama. They go to seed almost immediately, unlike the 100 foot rows of blooms I could plant up here in MA. You are a creative little lady, so go for the book!!

We just came back from getting our 1st round of shots. :0) I used 50 miles on the locator, came up with 594 locations, but .......I was on the 2nd page before I actually found it available. My neighborhood Walgreens said they had a 16 page waiting list and would not put anyone else on it. THAT sounded like two years to me! After we get the next round of shots I'll go on "Nextdoor" and publish the "Shingrix locator". People just think because one place is out & they heard it on the news it was scarce....it's not worth looking around.