"Hi Comettose, Thanks for your advice re the pond; the shop vac which you are using--what brand is it? You mentioned water change, how much water do you discard when you backwash the pond? A few inches e.g. 3 or 4" or more in the Spring. What source do you use for your aquatic plants? I am unfamiliar with Thalia." I just ran down the basement to see what brand and it says 'ShopVac'. 14 gallon capacity. It is red and black. My neighbors gave it to me. It is on wheels and sits in a partial container (can't explain that too well). 10.5 amp motor. It has a long hose and there are small wedge attachments, brush attachments, etc. It shuts off when the holding tank is full and I unscrew a cap and all the water and leaves/gravel shoots out around my pond plantings. You have to be careful with it - it will suck up fish or frogs (not that I've done that) but it does have powerful suction. If my fish or frogs get nosy and try to swim near the suction tip I move it away. It is easy to move around the pond as it has a handle on top and I can pull it along on the wheels. My pond is approximately 8 x 10, about 19 to 21 inches deep. When I do a partial water change I take it down anywhere from 3 to 6 inches. I bought my Thalia a few years ago at Lowe's. It needs a really big pot as the plant itself is 3/4 feet or taller and the bloom stalks shoot up six feet. The flowers are purple and smell and look something like lilac. The bees like them. The base of the stems are reddish and the leaves sort of blue/green. You can buy Thalia at Lilypons (online). It is a native plant. There are tropical versions too, but mine is hardy as I leave it in my Zone 7 pond all winter. I'll search around for a photo of it. Here is a link that might be useful: ShopVac Link

I can only speak from personal experience, but I've been very satisfied with them so far (3 orders in the past 2 years). In fact this Spring I was blown away by the size and vigour of the daylily collection & Korean Reed ornamental grass I ordered from them - one daylily even came with a bud on it which has bloomed non-stop since. Last year I ordered a Parfum de l'Hay rose which has been growing very well, it came back with no winter kill. So I would not hesitate to order from them again.

The front door is just ugly aside from not being very weather tight. During the winter it leaks a lot of cold air from all sides of it. It's a solid core door, that has been dinged up through the years, no window either. We want something which will let in light to the hallway. Plus, the existing screen door, is a cheap one with fake stained "glass" in it and is falling apart. We recently painted it which improved it's appearance dramatically but doesn't take care of the problems it has. Plus it does nothing for the overall appearance of the home. We've been able to stop some of the air leakage with weather stripping, but because of the way the lock is installed it tends to jamb and not close properly if we use enough to really make it as leakproof as it needs to be. Thanks for the links for the French door tho. I do agree with you on the point of it going to look like a front door in the living room if I use something else - which has been part of my problem all along and why we haven't yet jumped into replacing this one. I want to make sure I pick the absolute right door here or it's going to really look terrible!

Can anyone give any recommendations for a mattress, or even a box spring and twin bed frame/headboard for a 4 year old girl? Should I go with memory foam, are there specific brands and models you would recommend, etc?