Tracy - just to add a bit - A. some plants are designed to sucker - they are trailers and should be grown multicrowned B. Some plants have the tendency to sucker when they are young - and if with a help of Fred's technique you keep removing the suckers as early as possible until they mature - you are home free. C. Some plants will sucker in your conditions no matter what - pass them to somebody else - very possibly they will behave better. D. All plants sucker when stressed - exactly as Fred explained. Try to baby them a bit - and if it doesn't help - you can call them category C - and get rid of them. TGIF Irina

FWIW, domestic basmati is the same variety of rice as imported basmati, but the imported stuff is aged for several months. This does make a difference in the flavor. You can get the real deal at an Indian grocer. I generally cook rice like a pasta using a steamer insert. Boil the pasta in water (at least 4 times the volume of rice) for about 8 or 9 minutes, drain it into the steamer insert, run hot tap water through the rice in the steamer to flush away excess starch, put about one inch of hot water in the bottom of the pot and place the steamer insert over the hot water, cover the steamer insert and boil the water at a low boil for about 10 minutes. Basically, boil for 8, rinse, steam for 10. Makes nice fluffy individual grains, not at all sticky. (So this wouldn't do well for sushi rice.) One of these days I will try to learn how to cook basmati the way my local Indian restaurant does it. Delicious, fluffy, the epitome of rice...

My thanks to all of you who posted comments, both good and bad. I can't begin to tell you how feedback about my florals opened my eyes, so I was able to change things for my next set of photos. I'd never think that removable "props" would turn someone off. I also have to say that you're taking it well and seem to appreciate the feedback. Those of us selling can now see our house through strangers eyes and what a potential buyer might think when seeing our house online. How the photos look will dictate whether they take the time to actually walk our houses. The last time our house was for sale we did not get any feedback, so I'm very thankful for this forum and hope that the feedback you got helps you. I noticed that the wallpaper in my home got some of the most frequent and critical remarks and it's left me wondering about something. Is wallpaper no longer in vogue in new or remodeled homes or is it that my particular wallpaper is not to the liking of most of you? I've walked a lot of new communities with model homes and can say that here they are still using wallpaper but not in all of the rooms. You might pick the nicest rooms to keep the wallpaper. I love the foyer wallpaper but not with the door color and not with the flooring. You might think to leave some of it up and paint other walls, using it as an accent. Back entrance wallpaper - I would take it down. Half bath - I like the wallpaper but not with the light fixture. Study - I've seen similar paper used in homes I've walked. Utility - dislike the walls - would sheet rock & paint 1st floor master - would paint 1st floor master bath - I like the paper but not for a room like this. I would paint and think about putting up beadboard 2nd floor master - while I like the top paper, I think it would look better painted. The wood on the door is much too dark. I'd also think about putting up a scarf on the windows, then opening the blinds for the photo. While I like pink, others do not :( Second floor vanity/dressing area - this paper you could get away with leaving. Bath 2, second floor - I would try to lighten this room up or leave the picture out. Living Room - I would paint this I also realize that the paneled family room is dated but my thoughts on that is to either paint the paneling a neutral color or rip off the paneling, put up sheetrock and then paint. I also want to install engineered wood flooring in that room and perhaps extend it in to the foyer where, I admit, the tile color is also dated. Another area of critical comments was due to my home having so much carpeting. Has carpeting also gone out of style or do I just have too many rooms with carpet? We just did this in the master bedroom. I would sheet rock. The carpet wouldn't bother me here. I'm one of the weird ones that actually likes carpet, especially for my bad back. Walking on wood floors kills me. BTW, the Saint Bernard that appeared in at least one photo and brought about a comment or two that some people wouldn't even consider buying a home where a dog had been passed away on June 10 much to my hurt. I'm in the process of cleaning up all traces of his presence here. That is, everywhere but in my heart! Very sorry for your loss. After 22 years, I still miss our German Shepherd.

I did not realize how many ideas influence hanging an art gallery. And all the points are good. I wish I could just remove all the 'stuff' but my 5 year old loves her toys, so for now it will stay. I hate the office desk and computer there, I will be trying to move it. However, I do thing too the black frames are too heavy. I love the idea of hanging them over the entire wall. But then also the pint about shiplap being a feature that would require only one pice of art is also good. Before I hung up this gallery, I did a lot of prep work. I cut the sizes of the frames out of brown craft paper and hung them on the wall to see how they would look. They did look much better than the picture frames themselves. So if identical brown paper frames look better, my conclusion would be that the colors of the picture frames are too many, or too heavy or both. I also agree that Matisse would need a white mat in the background and the largest picture needs to be replaced. First I will try to make lighter frames and hang them in a rectangle all over the wall and then use a frosted film for toy cabinet. And I. will post a picture here. And if that does not look nice I will just choose either 3 identical picture frames or 1 large picture over the cabinet.