**** for Annette, TM, Bobbie, and Nancy! Yes, the answer is the jigsaw puzzle. John Spilsbury created the first one in 1767 to help with the teaching of geography. He attached his maps to flat hardwood and then used a fine saw to cut along the borders of the European countries. Hand-painted and made of wood, the puzzle was a map of England and Wales, with each county making up a separate piece. Seems he sensed a business opportunity as he created puzzles on eight themes - the World, Europe, Asia, Africa, America, England and Wales, Ireland and Scotland. It didn't take long before people began making pictorial jigsaw puzzles to entertain rather than to teach. The pieces in these early puzzles were not interlocking. Not until the invention of power tools more than a century later did jigsaw puzzles with fully interlocking pieces come into being. In 1880, Milton Bradley made the first jigsaw puzzle for children "The Smashed Up Locomotive." He printed a lithograph of a steam engine locomotive and cut it into pieces. The "smashed up" effect was achieved when a child opened the box to find the locomotive all broken up. Apparently, his Puritan upbringing led Bradley to seek order in his life. Therefore, the object of the "The Smashed Up Locomotive" was to make the locomotive whole once again. Thanks for playing everyone. Have a lovely Sunday-not as nice here as yesterday (grey and cooler), but still worth some weed-pulling time! :) Cynthia

Hey NC, Your plant looks fine, just do not start fertilizing her too much. As for my plants yes, the reds are turning darker, the yellows that are suppose to have red veining or red colors like Ruby Gold from Oz, Sherbert Town, Firestorm from JJs, Penang Peach, Lava Flow start to develop their reds. Up until the heat wave Sherbert town was solid Yelow, Jackie was solid Yellow, Kimo was more yellow now pink and orange, and Musk rainbow is loking more purple around the edges. So your plumies fine. As for Sheer Beauty that is another one I had 2 of, one from the source Anucha and another one from a friend who I think got it from BBB. Brad does have Sheer Beauty from time to time so you need to check out his site as it sells out quickly. I ended up getting rid of both of my SB as they did not perform well, did not look like its pic, save your money NC. JL Dane is another one that does not peform well.... So save your money. Get a purple Jack or a JL Golden Pagoda before Dane or SB. Golden Ray from JJ's is also nice and will perform to a degree in cooler temps and if you get in to the mid 80s plus GR is a stunner. Ok hoped that helped.

OK, my secret project isn't completely finished but I am ready to reveal it at least. I built.....a temporary kitchen island. Our budget ran way over (big surprise there) and so weve had to put off getting the island and buffet cabinet built. Turns out to be a good thing because I've been putting painters tape on the floor in different configurations, lengths, widths, etc to try to figure out the dimensions of the island in order to have sufficient walkways. Since we always used our peninsula in the old kitchen for breakfast and lunch, I've been really annoyed at having to use the formal dining room for every single meal. I finally said "FORGET IT" (that's not exactly the term I used) and decided, why not build a temporary island. Then I'll have my casual dining and place for the kids to do homework and I'll be able to see if the dimensions will work. It is 8 feet long, 25 inches wide and built using a sheet of 7 ply birch and 2 4x4x6 pine. I ripped the plywood into the right width, then ripped 1 inch pieces to attach to the edges so the counter would appear thicker. Cut the 4x4s, screwed them in place. Used the router to soften all the edges so there wasn't any sharp corners for babies to get hurt on. I've spent the past few days sanding and painting it. I put on a chocolate color first, then painted a creamy white over all of it and I am now in the process of going back and distressing it. As I told my husband, its made of plywood and pine, its not going to look like a fine piece of furniture and if I attempt to make it that way it will look like lipstick on a pig. So I decided to go for the old, worn out look instead. Here's a shot of the whole thing And here is a closeup of the distressing I'm putting on it So...what do you guys think?

We are in southwest Louisiana, where horrific flooding has greatly impacted the lives of numerous nearby friends and family, I am so thankful for their sake that the rain has stopped. Unfortunately, some of these areas have just begun to feel the impact. We are only 30' from some of those areas. Although we received large amounts of rain (maybe 8"-12"), it was nothing compared to the 30"+ they got. This was the view from our our front porch one recent morning