Ahhh, you guys are the greatest! The auction in the link above has ended but they have several others ... and amazingly enough, the picture is no longer included :^) Of course I didn't get a reply to my message but I really didn't expect to. I guess I should put some kind of name stamp on my pictures, but these days it is so easy to remove them with software unless they go right through the middle of the bird. I'm not real thrilled about having my name on them so maybe just an email address??? The resolution and size of the pictures that I post negates using them in any printed format. If they hadn't linked to the pictures I wouldn't have known they were using it but I get stats from my host on referring urls so the ebay url's were quite obvious. What's interesting is some really old GW posts occassionally show up too. And I get hits on a really old website that I did with wildflower pictures and I have never posted anything from it but someone finds them on google. Ah well, I feel better now :^)

You want FOUR foot lamps, NOT 8 feet!!! find out if you can purchase lithonia F40T12 four foot strip light fixture for 2 x F40T12 lamps per fixture online. You can get free shipping if you have a DoItBest store in your area. Now get yourself a Sasi ballast for an 8 foot T8 from ebay, $12 plus shipping, throw out the T12 ballast, and replace with the Sasi: it will overdrive your T8 lamp to make it give out the light of a T5, but at less than half price - and buy either an 850 or 865 series triphosphour T8 lamp - it will fit in the same fixture as for the T12, where the T5 will not. This has lots of blue, and all the spectrum you need for growing, plus they are CHEAP! Your full spectrum lamps are more expensive, but there is no added benefit for the cost. You will be getting 5000 lumens per T8 lamp, driven that way, with NO DANGERS - this method has been used for years with no problem. Make sure you are getting an EIGHT foot ballast to drive these four foot tubes - this technique is called overdriving. you can look it up on wikipedia, but in a nutshell, that is all there is to it. You must get the T12 fixture, because the 8 foot ballast is BIG, and needs the big case of the old F40T12 fixture! T8 fixtures are too tiny, and they have a tiny ballast, so that is the reason. That's what I do, any questions, email ptmozarowski@hotmail.com - I don't make any money in this deal, just giving out the best advice for the money - Paul Moz.

Buy the Bernina. That 130 is a great 3/4 size machine, that will outlast the Janome. That said, and I own 3 Bernina's including a 145 which is the same machine as the 130 with an extra feature (the knee lift), ... I bought the Janome Magnolia for my daughter in law who needed a sewing machine but doesn't do much sewing, as the price was a deciding factor. It was more than $500 less than the Bernina. The Magnolia is a good machine, but if you have access to a reasonably priced Bernina 130 I'd jump at it.

Are you crazy? No, but I personally would be looking at used machines at your favorite sewing machine store. If you like a certain repair place, mention what machine you'd like to find and a price range.....ask them to let you know if they find one or something close - leave your name and phone number for contact. I found a 222 Singer for my mother that way - it took a few years but I got her one! Your search might not take that long - as for older/newer which to go with. It is up to the sewer..I also sew on old machines...my "new" machine as my DH calls it is now 30 years old. It took a bit to learn it but after a few garments became an old friend. Same with my serger - a devil I threatened to return - so many trips back and forth to the dealer - it turned out a bent needle was the problem (factory installed no less). I made sure I knew that machine before we left the area as the closest dealer in my new town was 3 hours away. That being said the old serger is still clugging along and does its job for me. I vote for older machines, as long as they come from a reliable sewing shop, come with lesson(s) and some kind of a guarantee. Some people luck in at auctions, and garage sales but they are a buyer beware most times. No for a little more cash I like going to a dealer, but the older machines win hands down IMHO. Budster