Bob Walsh covers Mimi's egg-rooting method in his book on "How to grow plumeria-frangipani anytime anywhere", btw. Still miss the "Aloha Plumeria" forum though...and Mimi, too. I hope she's happy in her life, and stress-free. I'm currently rooting a bonus plumeria with an egg, and an Oahu Star cutting w/o one, -since I only had one egg available when potting them up. The bonus cutting is showing tip changes on it, already, but I can't consider this a fair test, as the Oahu Star cutting was considerably thicker than the mystery (gift) cutting was, when I rec'd them. To do a fair comparative test, I think I'd have to use 2 cuttings from the same source and root them the same way, (except for placing an egg under only one of them).

Hi Jake, You are correct about these strategies requiring regular review & maintenance... however you've been taught wrong about Universal strategies. I want to address a mistake and misconception you have (and have no doubt been taught) about using a Universal Life contract instead of a Whole Life contract for a family banking strategy. I realize up front that in doing so I may get too technical for almost everyone else reading this... but here goes; In Universal Life design, you can choose either a level face (aka "option A," the absolute death benefit stays level, regardless of cash accumulation,) or an increasing face (aka "option B," the initially determined death benefit rides on TOP of any cash accumulation values.) When you pay a premium for life insurance, your premium is determined by how much of the INSURANCE COMPANY'S CASH is at risk to them of being paid out if you die. If you use a LEVEL face design (which is best for the family banking concept,) then the amount of the insurance company's funds "at risk" (the amount needed to be paid out at death) is reduced by the amount of additional cash accumulation. EXAMPLE: Assume you buy a $1 Million face (death benefit,) using a Level Benefit design. Assume this costs $300/year based on the insured's age, health, etc. for the first year. Assume the owner intends to transfer $250,000 of his retirement savings into this new account. (We'll ignore tax efficiency strategies for this lesson, as they are important, but irrelevant to the financial principles we're talking about here.) In his first year (as stated above,) his term premium is $300 which pays for the insurance company's risks (based on his age, health, etc.) of having to pay out $1,000,000 should he die the next day. $300 cost on $1MM is (divide the cost by the payout)... $0.0003 premium cost per dollar of benefit. In his SECOND year, however, two things have changed; A) he is one year older... so let's assume his premium increased to $0.00035, B) he has an accumulation of $250,000 in his account. Because his death benefit is LEVEL at $1MM, the insurance company's cash-at-risk is only $750,000 (since his accumulated cash value is inclusive in the death benefit payout.) THEREFORE, the annual cost is; $0.00035 premium x $750,000 benefit cash at risk to the insurance company ========== $262.50 / year That's a 12.5% DROP in premium costs in the very 1st year... EVEN THOUGH the insured has grown OLDER by a year! At an average 7.2% rate of return (*VERY* realistic for Indexed strategies) the account doubles every 10 years. Therefore, in 10 years the insured will be older, and thus the premium on their remaining term coverage will be higher... perhaps 10% or even 15% higher... but only on the amount of dollars at risk to the insurance company. In those same 10 years, the original $250,000 will have grown in a compounded fashion to $500,000... thereby dropping IN HALF the cash risks to the insurance company. Let's do the math; $0.000403 premium (.00035 at a 15% increase,) x $500,000 benefit cash at risk to the insurance company ========== $201.25 / year As you can see, a Level Benefit design for a Universal Life contract drops in actual coverage premium year after year, making the policy more and more efficient (better growth for the owner.) Further... assuming you are a "whole life" guy... if you compare actual mortality costs of whole versus universal, there is no comparison... whole is dramatically more expensive, dollar-for-dollar. WHOLE Life has its place... it is excellent for people who are actually using it for reasons of life insurance DEATH BENEFITS. In contrast, for people who don't need or care about death benefits per se, UNIVERSAL Life (particularly the market indexed account growth type) is far superior. It gives much better rates of return than Whole Life, at much lower costs. Cheers, Dave Donhoff Leverage Planner

Hi Vicky, I'm sure there are others on this website with more knowledge than I have, but I thought I'd give you my two cents. We are remodeling our kitchen, with custom cabinets that are a mix of stain and painted (off-white). I did a lot of research, and was very impressed with the quality and durability of manufactured cabinet finishes. I think Wood-Mode/Brookhaven painted finishes are considered hard to beat. After visiting completed projects from a local custom cabinetmaker, we hired him to make our cabinets. Our guy sends the completed cabinets to a finisher, who sprays, glazes, etc... and uses conversion varnish. I thought the conversion varnish was used on the painted as well as stained pieces. We saw a kitchen that was 10 years old, and looked like new. In CA, where we live, there are a lot of environmental regulations, so the finish shops have to have special exhaust systems, etc... to use conversion varnish (some of them don't use it, and some the the locally done finishes don't hold up well - tend to chip, etc...). We were convinced that a "factory like finish" is available from the better local finish shops. I think that finishes done in the shop are better than those done onsite. Finishing on-site is much more expensive, because they have to tape off the area around the painting, so it's more labor-intensive. (And they may not be able to use the most durable finishes). I've never heard that only brushed on paint is authentic. I think that is a much less desirable way to paint cabinets - doesn't look as good, or last as long. Will be interested to see what other posters say on this. Good Luck!

update: We still aren't 100% shampoo free. We cut down to only washing every other day, and then substituting every other of those with baking soda. I've gotten to where I look forward to a fully baking soda cleansing routine. I certainly like it even better than days when I shampoo (the one which was chemical free). We have finally run out of the chemical free shampoo and now it is time to be 100%. My son's hair was crazy oily all the time (no matter what type of shampoo or how often he cleaned it). He'd get out of the shower and it'd still look greasy?! Going this route has sent him back to the non-greasy days, AND his face acne has reduced. His hair is so soft. He loves it. Me? I love it. I feel like my hair so much less stressed. And people keep offering compliments without my asking. People who have no reason to talk to me about my hair, e.g. someone standing behind me in church and we've never talked about hair? So I think that's pretty unbiased. No one knows in real life knows we've done, except on this forum (and anyone reading it). When it gets to the point someone says, I really love how great your hair looks! What's your secret? Then I'll know I have "arrived". It's getting there. I appreciate the feedback y'all gave me before trying it. What was really cool? It was super easy to get through camping this weekend. I washed it before we went out and then this morning. But it was fine all weekend! Let me focus on the more fun stuff. ____________________ Jodi, did you stay conditioner only? How's that going?