I'm not a pro at this, but I will try to help a bit. If you take a leaf and look at it, you don't (Maybe you do) but leaves are cast on the back side so that the 'veins' are 'embedded within the leaf. So you need to make a mold of the leaf, as if you were casting it the first time. I have used kids modeling clay, rolled out to about 1/4 " (small leaf) pressed the backside of a leaf into the clay, and carefully cut around the edge of the leaf. Then I carefully removed the leaf. I lightly -Very lightly sprayed the 'clay leaf' with Pam cooking spray. I then proceeded to apply my silicone in THIN layers. (You can smooth with an icecube) It tends to be slippery from the oil, but you can get it to work. IF the silicone sticks to the clay, it can be gotten off with a bit of dishsoap when you wash the mold when it is cured. Takes awhile for the silicone to set up, especially if it is too thick... OR If you have a leaf done, and painted, oil it up and apply the silicone. That works too. You really have to try and experiment.....making a POP leaf isn't the easiest thing to do......but it can be done with patience. spray your leaf with Pam then Brush on a thin layer of POP. Let it dry and keep adding layers. Removing the leaf from POP has always been my problem Good Luck...... Marcia

Ok...California isn't in the lead on this. New York is. There was litigation in the NY Courts that led to what is known as their "Amazon Law" that lets NY force Amazon to collect NY sales tax by virtue of NY based third-party sellers having partnership agreements with Amazon. VT, MA, RI, IL, CO, GA, CT and now CA have since filed legislation to mimic what NY did. THIS DOESN'T mean the states can now compel remote sellers to collect their tax! It only applies where that seller has a partnership agreement with an in-state business pushing sales through their website. THAT said, we all owe the USE TAX. It's the law. I find it interesting that many of the same folks who rail about Democrats trying to raise taxes (which happens to be factually inaccurate) don't seem to care about breaking the law, resulting in budget deficits that leave states short of operating revenue that lead to discussions of the need to raise taxes! You can't complain about your kids getting a crappy education, the roads being bad, bridges failing, etc. if you don't pay the taxes you lawfully owe! That's as unpatriotic as you get. I find it hard to understand how the masses on the right fall for the complete ruse that they will somehow benefit from the Gov't giving tax breaks to the uber-wealthy and to Corporations who are buying those tax breaks with lobbying dollars. It's been proven to be bull time and again. Oil companies are reaping record profits while enjoying ridiculous tax breaks and shifting the burden of the shortfall to the rest of us! PLUS, we now have the privilege of perpetuating their ownership of the U.S. Government by our paying them $5.00/gallon! If you understand anything about investigative tactics in police work..."follow-the-money" almost always leads you back to the perpetrator. While there's plenty of blame to dole out on both sides of the aisle, it doesn't take a genius to figure out which major party is the prime offender. What can be said about this but wake up America! What happened to government for the people, by the people? The Constitution says "people" not "corporations!" As for the uncollected sales tax issue, there is an effort called the Streamlined Sales Tax Project aimed at encouraging Congress to lift the Supreme Court restrictions on requiring remote sellers to collect tax for the states in exchange for the states simplifying and making their laws more uniform so that it doesn't cost businesses so much to comply! Unsurprisingly, the bill continues to stall due to opposition by the majority of Republicans who don't want to be "perceived" as levying new taxes even though the taxes are already legally due and are just being criminally ignored. Thankfully this year there is some Republican support. Rep. Senator Mike Enzi of WY is cosponsoring the bill this session with Senator Richard Durbin of IL. Until REAL campaign finance reform is adopted and publicly funded political campaigns are MANDATORY and Corporate lobbying $ prohibited, this country will NOT be truly free.

We have 2 outlets, both in closets. We happen to have a coat closet off the kitchen and it isn't perfectly central to the house. The only downside here is the door swing is limited by trim which is not an issue for using the closet for coats but does give the hose an extra corner to have to rub by. After we moved in, I looked into alternatives (basement was unfinished at the time), and nothing else worked. An open kitchen often doesn't have a lot of options. The face is somewhat bulky and much worse than a light switch in my opinion. A cabinet location was vetoed even though that would have been the most practical. And it isn't at light switch height on the first floor - it is closer to outlet height. You can do what ever height but on the first floor, you are pulling upward so you want to mount it lower than the second floor (assuming the hose is in the attic) Upstairs, we have a nearly perfectly centered linen closet. Here it works perfectly. It is near the top of the stairs so it is great for the top of the stairs and hall which get the dirtiest the fastest. It is right across from the laundry room. With our fairly traditional floor plan, the upstairs is simpler to route the hose around. Advantage for closet location is that you need to have the heads stored somewhere - so you are reaching into a closet anyway.

Do one 50'... or even 60'. I have a 60'. It is so much easier to just use one outlet than to use two (pulling the hose out twice, moving the attachments around the house, etc. Having one outlet with the attachments stored nearby is really convenient.) Do you have a convenient central location for the longer hose? Having just one will save on not needing all the extra tubing, also... I am not sure if you need a slightly stronger vacuum for the longer hose.. hopefully someone else can comment on that.