i bought an giant grey henon from www.lewisbamboo.com they shipped it and it only took a few days , i received a very health bamboo, lol, and after 6 months of growth in the pot that i put it in, its all ready outgrown it. the other 2 i have came from ebay, and i guess i was lucky since i had no problem with either one..... there is another bamboo grower in Crewe va.-- www.midatlanticbamboo.com i have not bought anything from them yet, but they are close enuf to take a ride and see what they have to offer in person.. hope this helps.

There wasn't a whole lot around here for truly "local" restaurants. Unless I wanted to do too much driving. Occasionally I made a long trip to a now defunct truck stop that had the best food around. Used to go to a nice nicer type restaurant occasionally for celebrating birthdays or something. Especially for my Dad. But it got to the point it was such a hassle that we started hitting a decent deli and have a picnic. I still hit Chili's or Red Robin (or something similar) occasionally. Otherwise it was Perkins, Denny's or the like. But I usually go out for breakfast when I have a choice. Recently I decided to do some searching for better places for a breakfast. Found the Mr. Breakfast site and a couple others that recommended some greasy spoon type places and I found a few that are local mom-n-pop places that are quite good. I probably eat out about the same amount, and actually since last fall I have been eating out more than I used to. I just plain haven't felt a lot like cooking. Been a stiff and sore winter. And it's nice to get a good breakfast under your belt to face the day at work. And with a big breakfast I don't eat lunch and often don't eat supper either. The interesting thing I've noticed is the "chains", whether corporate or franchined, seem to be doing less business while the mom-n-pops are doing quite well, and I'm happy for them. That's a TOUGH life! What makes me choose a place? Good food, reasonable prices, good service are the keys. Atmosphere is also a part but to a lesser degree. I don't like sports grills or noisy atmosphere. I do like the burgers at Red Robin so I'll live with it. I like the small town diner atmosphere best. Guess it reminds me of my childhood. Oh and another change... I will drive a little more now than I used to in order to avoid the fast food places. I don't go there very often. Actually, quite seldom now.

I agree that HD's search is horrible. However as an avid DIYer who frequents more than one HD depending on where I am at the time I can tell you, just because one store doesn't carry something doesn't mean it is not carried regionally. HD does carry many items at one location that it does not carry at others. I just spent 2 weeks trying to track down a specific stain base from Minwax. HD carries it in 1 of their stores in my area. But not in the other 5 within my driving distance. There is a certain wood I was using for shelves, a finger jointed pine, I happened to be at the other HD on the same road 15 miles away so I stopped in there to get one more shelf, they told me they don't carry it in that size, they have a more limited selection because of their proximity to the city they sell less lumber. Go figure. I would suggest calling a corporate number for HD and talking to someone in the actual supply chain. There is a distribution warehouse somewhere that ships to the stores and they can tell you where the item goes that you are looking for. I found this out the round about way by going through Minwax first, who then gave me the number to my local distribution center for HD regionally, who then sent me to the right store to find the stain I needed. But, I eventually did. Good Luck!

I don't particularly rely on a store to provide me with repair work except for the immediate delivery of a product. I have Bosch appliances and I would contact an authorized Bosch dealer in my area or KA. Similarly my Apple computers and other devices are serviced by Apple or Apple service people once they are out of warranty - I've bought them from numerous places including mail order back in 1991 when I bought my first Apple Performa :-). @Lizzie - Hi there! My kitchen is finally finished but construction continued around me until fairly recently as odd stuff would happen - my washer dryer was a bit too deep for the closet so that had to be reframed. My hood was the wrong size and so that delayed finishing kitchen for a while because they didn't want to install cabinets on either side until the hood was put in - and didn't want to finish the backsplash etc. etc. etc. I am still not completely finished as they have to come back for various items on the "punch" list but it's livable except for the boxes which are still in the living area as I was a pack rat and I am still slowly going through stuff - and I have furniture I can't use and nobody wants :-( Apologies for hijacking the thread by responding to Lizzie but here are photos of the kitchen and dining area. I am really happy with the way it turned out and spending time (SO MUCH TIME) on houzz asking questions and reading threads helped me so much in terms of getting the best result possible. I worked with a very knowledgable designer but thanks to houzz, there was stuff that I asked for which she had never heard of like my toe kick step stools. It truly is correct that having the luxury of living in a space gives one a better understanding of what doesn't work in the space and what would make it work better because almost everybody has certain constraints that impact the design of the kitchen. In my case, I was working with a small urban kitchen in a high rise - the kitchen is 8' x 10' so I needed to expand functional storage. @Lizzie - here are a few pictures of my finished kitchen. To the left of the cooktop I have a Bosch side opening wall oven with a microwave drawer below it and a VERY shallow tall cabinet with shelves. It is in front of a concrete support beam so it is about one can deep. This is the area behind my dining area. The tall cabinet to the left can be seen in the first photo. There is a door on the side and so the KA mixer and Cuisinart can just be slid out when I need it. The tall cabinet to the right is my broom closet. Excuse the mess on the counter as this was taken just when I moved in. This shows the tall cabinets in my dining area better in terms of the appliance storage and how it relates to the kitchen counters. I had the interiors painted blue but the shelves are clad with blue laminate and the sink cabinet is also clad in blue laminate for easier cleaning. This is the sink wall. The kitchen sink is disproportionately large (36" for the space) but because it's a ledge, it is super functional since the grad which you can see to the right of the sink gives me very functional "counter" space. I can store it on the bottom of the sink and I also got the cutting board. There is a sponge caddy to the extreme left which is a narrow removable shelf which is handy for sponges and other wet stuff. My KA refrigerator is on the right peeking through. It is counter depth but not integrated but I "cheated" the look by having my lower cabinets made slightly deeper than the standard 24"; having a panel on the left side and having the cabinet maker clad the sides that protrude with matching wood. With a counter depth, you need to have it protrude slightly so the hinges are clear of obstructions but since I had those parts clad in matching wood, it fools the eye. Not part of my kitchen ha ha but this is one half of the wall unit in my office/den area. Since I have an open concept space, it relates to the kitchen cabinetry in terms of color as well as having slight Art Deco style elements. This was my sad kitchen prior to the remodel. Again apologies for taking this thread in a direction completely unrelated to the original question.