It's about 3-4 years old in the picture and had been chopped twice to induce the taper. Just about anything that's perennial and looks like it will make a trunk, I look at with the 'bonsai eye'. All my display containers with flowery stuff in them, as well as all the garden plantings .... even houseplants benefit immensely from the pinching/pruning techniques that thicken the plant or let air and light into the interior. The attention to form and the guidelines we use in building our trees readily apply to other plantings and make a big difference in their appearance. Most people realize even nonbonsai plantings are special in appearance because they don't appear to have the same growth habits that they are used to seeing in their own plants that have received little/no attention, and usually don't realize that there might have been a considerable amount of consideration given to improving the appearance. Sorry - I got off track. ;o) I was clearing out the containers ion the garden one year and there was a snap that had grown kind of thick and woody. Instead of the compost pile, it went in a pot & I nursed it through the winter & started to build on it in the second year. I give away a lot of plants like the one in the pic after figuring them out, but I've had that one for about 7 years or so. I should have repotted it last year, but I didn't, so it wend downhill over the winter. I repotted it a few weeks ago, and it's just warming up here - showing new growth. I had to prune it back quite a bit & I'll have to rebuild it, but I'll see how it responds to the repot. I can't imagine they would be all that long-lived. I've had several that were 5 years old when I gave them away, but this is the oldest I've had yet. It's just your every day snap that you get 6 to a cell pack at the greenhouse - nothing to stop you from building one. ;o) I have some volunteers in a permanent planter that has several volunteers in it, so I'll probably be digging one or two up in Aug. ..... keeps me off the streets and out of the bars. ;o) Al

Oh my, I eat so many Asian vegetables that many people might find unusual. Bok choy, gai lan, gobo root, mizuna, gai choy, yu choy,shingiku,winter melon and others I don't know the names of. Jessy,I love Shiso (Perilla) too, and copied your recipe to try it out. When I make tempura, the Shiso leaves make an interesting and attractive tempura. I like seaweed too, the crisp Nori sheets, the Wakame, and also Hijiki. Not too many people I know (who aren't Japanese) have had Hijiki. One buys it dried and I have found that the Japanese brands are of better quality than some less expensive, non-Japanese brands I have bought in Chinese markets. I don't use a recipe, since I have been making it for years, but I found this one on the net, and the proportions sound about right. My only quibble with the recipe is the part about soaking it for 30 minutes. In my opinion, that would make it far too squishy. I soak it for about 10 minutes, and then rinse it repeatedly to make sure it's clean of sand and grit. It will soak up plenty of moisture from the other ingredients and still retain a bit of crunch. NGREDIENTS * 30g dried hijiki * 1 piece abura-age (thin fried bean curd) * 1 small carrot * 150ml dashi * 2 tbsp sugar * 1 tbsp sake * 2 tbsp soy sauce Hijiki no nimono HOW TO COOK Rinse the hijiki well until the water runs clear, then soak in plenty of water for 30 minutes. Put the fried bean curd in a sieve and pour boiling water over it, to remove excess oil. Cut in half lengthways and then into strips. Cut the carrot into fine strips. Place the hijiki, fried bean curd and carrot in a pan, then add the dashi, sugar and sake, and bring to the boil. Cut out a round of cooking foil slightly smaller than the diameter of the pan, and cover the hijiki with it. Simmer for 5 minutes. Add the soy sauce, then simmer again until the hijiki absorbs the broth. I love fiddleheads, but can get them only rarely around here. But there is a bracken fern that grows in areas on the coast that is very good to eat. You pick the fern shoots in the Spring when they are still quite tightly curled up. I use a good number of edible flowers in salads. Right now I've got alyssum, roses, nasturtiums, and pansies. I can't think of a fruit I would consider unusual, maybe Lychees? I do have a penchant for Moroccan preserved lemons.

Technically speaking, it's not legal to change an addressee on a postage affixed envelope. In reality, the post office isn't too picky about it. Technically, you're supposed to take it to the post office and have it replaced. Like I said, I don't think they're too picky, and have done it before. But we are talking about an organization who sued the Boy Scouts for putting their fundraiser brochures on mail boxes! Ob $aver thought: My favorite is paying bills online. Between postage, envelope and check fees, it's realistically 50¢ per bill saved. I'm saving $25/year easily, plus the gas of going to a mail box. Another favorite is my little "pantry". I hate going to the store and people who have to run to the store every day for something are nuts. Worst case, I can always make a can of soup. Plus I have a few groceries in case of a storm. Another phrase I enjoyed came from one of the spouse-swap programs where the minimalist/frugal wife's motto was "Do I need it? Do I love it? Does it make me money?" If not, toss it. Oh, and I was proud of myself... My washer was dumping water all over the floor and I thought I'd have to replace a washer after only 26 years of dependable service. Hey Joyful, shouldn't that have been under warranty??? ;) Being crippled up like I am these days, I can't do too much but I was curious to see if there was a chance of it just being a hose or something, plus I couldn't really wreck it, so, after tearing it open, sure enough, all that happened was two hose clamps lost their tension. A trip to the auto parts store, 2 - 25¢ hose clamps, maybe an hour, well, couple hours of "work" (more play and confidence builder) and I saved the cost of a new machine and disposal of the old. So what would that be? Anywhere from $100-$500 per hour pay, tax free, and I'm washing away again. Maybe I'll get another 26 years out of it? Well maybe not, but I'd expect a couple years of use anyway. Oh, other little things, like making a non-electric humidifier out of an ice cream pail sitting in front of the heat register. Cut holes in the top to keep the cat from playing in there. Plus I had to set it into a dishpan because she got mad and tipped it over! There's so many things, I can't think of them. But I enjoy reading others ideas too. I guess I try to make money spending an investment. For instance the Frugal Gazette books to me are an investment since they give you ideas and motivation. Use the library for movie borrowing & rental. Bought a few dozen popular movies for $1 each and share them with a lot of people. Shop for things on the internet to see what they'll cost, then know if it's a good buy when you go out. I had to buy a new dryer and saved $200 by buying a floor model at the "BB" Store. Researched things I wanted and checked reviews and the like. My $5/mo ISP has paid for itself so many times it's hilarious.

I have successfully sold on CL, but it has taken a lot of NO SHOWS and a lot of SCAMS to do so. My tips: (these may be duplicate, I didn't read through every post) * Put good info in your title, and as much info as possible in your message body. Include every term someone might search for if they wanted your item. Synonyms, and not so synonyms. :) "table and chairs", "dining set", "dining room furniture", etc. Even if it means a string of adjectives, or using different terminology ever time you state something - it will generate more viewers. (Great example of this - I picked up a hand-finished ORB king sized headboard, footboard and rails for $20. The seller had been posting it simply as "metal bed" and wasn't getting any traffic, so she kept dropping & dropping her price because she needed to get rid of it. I know this would have sold long before I saw the ad if she had been able to generate more hits. Good for me, I guess!) * If you know the maker, include it... same with store. A lot of people will search by store name because it represents their overall style. * Include the style. E.g. I may not search for "farm table" but I might search for "rustic dining". * If you don't want to haggle, put in the ad that the prie is firm. Otherwise you'll probably have to deal with it. * Echoing previous: include a notice that the ad will be removed when the item is sold. Otherwise you'll get countless "is it still available?" emails to respond to.