Don't cha know I placed an order for some fragrant hosta with them a couple of days ago? But more than likely, they were already moved to the new location a long time ago. In the notice of shipment from Nancy just in my inbox, she is shipping Monday, by UPS, and she is now using a smart phone. I mean, standing right there in the garden beside the very hosta I'll be getting, knows instantly if she has what I want, and now she doesn't have to call anyone back, can get the email on her phone too, not take a handwritten note with her to the garden, all right there on the smarty phone. Life will never be the same, think of all the steps that a creatively used smarty phone can save nursery people! And once again, I'm saying, NO MORE HOSTA (this summer). Wish I was driving up north on the 18th though.

groomingal-glad your going to get your $500.00 back. Before you hire another agent (if you do), you might ask your attorney if he can recommend one he has worked with. If he has attended many closings, he will know the good ones from the bad. You will get good advice in this forum, but it really does pay to educate yourself. Also, don't tell your agent anything about your personal life. This will be passed along to the seller. You don't want them to know what will motivate you to pay a higher price. We are currently looking for a house. We use sites such as Realtor.com, RealtyOneLiving.com, ForSaleByOwner.com, Homes.com, www.traderonline.com and Craigslist.org just to name a few. We check the Sunday paper and read local newspapers to get a feel for what is popular in different areas. A visit to the local Sheriff plus a look at familywatchdog.us for a sex offender check tell us what the crime rate is and what types are more prevalent than others. The offender check is important for resale value. We almost made an offer on a house where the next door neighbor was on the offender list for both molestation and burglary. Not the kind of neighbor you want to keep an eye on your house when you go on vacation. We pick up the weekly home guides, attend open houses and drive around areas we are interested in. If we see a house we like, we try to chat up the neighbors as well as look up the property on the County auditor/recorder site to glean what information we can before approaching the SA/owner. If there are issues regarding a well, we check with the health/building department. We NEVER take a RE agents word for anything. We have found county departments to be both helpful, as well as a wealth of information. They will tell you what permits are on file for the house, what future development plans are in the works (new bridge?), any hazardous sites in your area or who ratted on who for a violation. You will also get a feel for how easy they will be to work with when you need a permit to put on an addition, etc. A few links that might be useful: Best real estate Web sites money.cnn.com/2006/05/12/real_estate/reguide_moneymag_addresses_0606/index.htm ask.metafilter.com/21871/House-buying-tips The neighbors you may not know about-Newsday.com www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-lisex1023,0,232400.story One more suggestion: Since you need to move quickly and are having a hard time finding a pet friendly rental. You might think about placing an ad in Craigslist. Lots of sellers are renting until the market improves. Maybe you can find an FSBO who would be willing to do a land contract. Never hurts to ask.

I've tried gift certificates, they certainly have advantages such as time savings and making decisions so much easier. However, for me they weren't money savers. Not to give and sometimes not to receive either. I tend to buy presents on big discounts, thus the actual amount I spend per person looks rather small on paper, and when given to someone else with the limitation of being able to spend it in just one store, it doesn't actually go that far. For example I can hunt around the stores and buy my sister a really nice jumper for perhaps £12.99, but if I give her a £12.99 gift certificate limited to just one store she won't be able to get a really nice jumper without adding at least another £10 to it. The certificates are often issued only by major retailers and most of them are quite expensive places to shop. The lower range of certificates such as £10 or even £20 will not entirely buy anything in many stores now. On the receiving end I don't mind certificates as I get to choose for myself, but often they mean going to places I wouldn't normally shop. This can be a positive thing, but other times it reaffirms why I don't shop there. Either I don't like the items or I don't like the prices. Prices shouldn't matter when you have a certificate, but often you have to make up the total price for an item with more money. I've had a few smaller certificates for £5 or £10 for shops, which I've been to only to discover that with the certificate the cost to me of any items I could use/want are only just starting to become average price, and honestly I haven't bought anything at average price for years. I almost never buy outside of sales. I live in a big city and have the internet, every day is sale day somewhere! Why be shopping anywhere else? I feel bad not using a certificate, but when it means I have to shop somewhere I find excessively expensive and I have to find the extra money to afford something, then it seems to be a bad financial choice. I have savings to build for university, I can't afford bad financial choices. I'll just pass the certificate on to someone else and hope they find a better use for it.

Good job,i like the black as well.Don't know if they still sell it but India ink works well on glass also. Love that bedspread !! I re-did my room last october and also did it for under 150.00,i didn't paint my furniture though,just the walls ,and got new bedding,made a new swag curtain,and for art i blew up my garden pictures on the computor. Mscsippy,i re-did an old 60's cedar chest early this year and i did sand that.It wasn't hard.The top was a little harder,because it had that veneer finish on it,but i still wouldn't say it was hard.It turned out well.I took it from a very light grey,almost white to a mahogany. Kathi