lol Phil, I got mine at a flea market for 50 cents as a few leaves and now every few years I have to cut it back to 8 feet tall to fit in my house, I have to bring it in, my winters are too cold for it. Some day I'll find the pics of my orchid cactus, another tropical, blooms all winter for me. Janice, I am in total awe of your pics, like WOW, bit time WOW. Now I Know the area your are in, they wouldn't happen to be taking in the Hocking Hills area? I ask because I have told you grew up in Columbus, but did go to the Hocking Hills area many times and those pics remind me of that area. But then again, being where you are, they could also be other areas, you really do live around some wonderful natural beauty. But then so do I, I'm not all that far from Hinckley, that is where the hosta dog and I like to hike the most, such wonderful sandstone formations. Sassy, you do such important work with your crocet, I couldn't imagine having to be a parent knowing their child was going to die and having just a little something to wrap the precious thing in during it's last minutes. Please keep up your work, you may never get a thank you, but you know how much the little things matter in your heart. Mc, looking forward to your pics of the mosaics when you have time. Just got to remember to check the ot post for this post, lol. Von, I have a passion for photography too and like you, always seem to end up being the photographer for events. It is a hobby I would like to pursue more, I don't have a fancy camera, but I think my pics turn out fairly well. We won't even go into the needing glasses bit to do my cross stitch, sore spot there, don't you hate getting old, lol. And Woo Hoo on the first grandbaby. And tick, boring is sitting in front of the tv all day, you have a life so you ARE NOT BORING!!!!!!!! Hostaholic, now sewing is something I have never got into, I can sew, have a sewing machine, just not my thing. But great you do it for the kids, they need all the help they can get in these school productions.

Nice Idea, Stooxie So Here goes with mine. (1)Jenn-air 48" with panels Fridge.(Not"Truly Integrated") but looks like the rest of our cabinetry. We actually designed our whole kitchen built around a 48" fridge--yep we did! Obviously with this kind of expense we wanted something very reliable and also that fit our storage needs well, both(Fridge & Freezer sections),It does that nicely. In the 5 years we have had it, trouble free, except one time I had to "Defrost" the icemaker as a cube had hung in it. Very easy to remove, I ran warm water over it, reinstalled and it has worked fine ever since. Very quiet fridge and holds temp very well. The works for it are up on top, easily accessible for changing the water filter and vacumming out the condensor(once/year). (2) Elux Wine Fridge. We really liked the look of it, wooden shelves, big Glass door, nice gliding racks, etc but (to be honest) I bought it cause it matched the Elux Oven and speed oven and even the Miele DW----OK, I know I know "Matchey Matchey" but wife wanted to buy an "El Cheapo" at Home Depot (and I won that one)(LOL) Anyway, it's been reliable, not as quiet as the Jenn-air, (but not obtrusive) I can tell it's running and when it's time to clean the filter as it runs more often. The filter is on the bottom so it does attract cat hair, but not a biggie to clean I should do it bout 4 times a year but usually I do it twice a year. Trouble Free (3) Elux Icon 30" Oven. Trouble free, love the big window and the large controls (Wavetouch) can use without my glasses. Since it is mounted below counter, the fully easy glide out racks saves the old back, especially at Turkey Time. (4) Elux Speed Oven. Our most used appliance. Completely trouble free except for a handle that came loose, took repair guy bout 15 mins to fix (Our only service call in 5 years on any of our appliances). Since there are only 2 of us, I use this oven a lot, as an oven and Speed oven. Baked Taters in 15 mins vs 45 to 60 (Including preheat in large oven). Saves a lotta energy and taters just as good. Does not Broil, but we don't even broil on our large oven(we do it outside, so no biggie to me)If it is you can buy the Miele, but will cost you a lot more. Microwave operation on it , very simple, enter the time and press Start. (5)Miele Optima DW. Not used a lot as with just the 2 of us, it just easier "TO Us" just to wash the few dishes we have and put them away. When we do use it, Cleans well, Love the Cutlery Tray, and it is very quiet. It is also panelled but we wanted the controls to show---had a KA before with hidden controls and we like the displayed ones better (Just Us). Trouble Free. (6)Elux Icon Induction Cooktop. This thing is in a race with the speed oven for most used appliance. This thing is a joy to cook with, fast, very controllable and ablsolutely silent even with our Emeril Cladware (which we really like too). Sometimes I wonder if something is wrong with it cause I have yet to hear the fan come on, but it's been working away for a year now with nary a problem. (7&8)Maytag Washer & Dryer. We had top loaders before, Maytag Washer, Hotpoint dryer. 35 year old Maytag washer was still working perfectly, but we got such a deal on these, Last year, that we bought both, (Maytag Epic-Z). Who says ya cant teach an old dog new tricks, I was sure I would hate the front loaders, and even expressed my thoughts about same in laundry forum--buttt---- now after we have them , we really like them---too early to report on reliablilty thou. Anyway my 2 cents---Yea I know , more like $2!!! Gary

whaas_5a: Here's what I've done: (1) Go to one or more local carpet/flooring stores (not big box stores) - they all seem to carry LVT wood flooring and have good displays. I really liked the Karndean brand, which was supposedly chosen by Walmart for its stores. (2) Karndean happens to be the only brand I've found who will send you TOTALLY FREE samples from their website, shipping free too! Web site: http://www.karndean.com/en/floors/request-free-brochures-and-samples Click: "request brochure", and then download the "residential brochure" - it's a really high quality marketing piece. As you look at the different "species" on their web site, you can add samples to your cart. They limit you to six selections. I've done this twice, and each time I received the samples about a week later. (3) Here's a photo of some of the samples I received: After receiving the samples, and staring at them next to each other in the privacy of our own home, we changed our mind about what "species" we like the best. We're now leaning toward something on the bottom row. These have names like "pale limed oak", "lime washed oak", and "classic limed oak". So by doing this, we figured out that we like that "white-washed/limed" look. (4) My builder has a preferred brand (Shaw, not Karndean). I asked if he could install other brands, and I sensed some significant push back there. But it was real easy to find a Shaw carpet dealer who also had the Shaw LVT flooring on display, and sure enough, Shaw has plenty of the "limed" options available as well. Anyway, that's how I got to where I am. Hope that helps! P.S. I was told that LVT demand is growing so much compared to carpet demand, that Shaw has converted six carpet factories to be 100% LVT instead.

When soil temperature is 55, crabgrass can start germinating. Google forsythia and look at a picture. It's a bush with yellow flowers in early spring. Can you get pre-emergent at a big box store or hardware store? You'll find Dimension 0-0-7 in the fertilizer aisle. Dimension is the name of the herbicide, it's not the brandname, so you may find it under another name, like Lesco 0-0-7 (0-0-7 refers to the nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium percentages, meaning it has no nitrogen or phosphorus and a little bit of potassium). It's a granular product in a big bag and you spread it with a spreader like you would spread fertilizer. It also has some post-emergent effect on newly sprouted crabgrass. Prodiamine is a powder that comes in a jug and you use just a bit mixed with water (like 3.5 teaspoons in a gallon of water--the amount will vary by how long you want it to last and where you live and what kind of grass, so read the directions) and you spread it with a pump spreader (not a hose end sprayer). You will likely find Prodiamine with the herbicides. One jug will last you years and years. With either one, you want to follow the directions carefully and put a certain amount of product over a certain amount of area. Measure your yard with a tape measure.