Wow, bejoy2, I'm sorry I missed you too, I'm not sure how we did but as another poster said, maybe we need name tags or labels. I had no idea how the plant swap is done, so I was pretty shy and wasn't sure who to introduce myself to. We wandered around for maybe an hour and a half, visiting with people and trying to get them to take our cookies. We were given so many plants that I'm not sure we could have fit much more in the car! Ok, that's not really true, I would have kept them in my lap if I had to. (grin) I was soaking wet anyway. Thanks for thinking of me, and offering to save things for me! I am so grateful for everyone's generosity and I hope the lilacs are useful to someone. We will bring more next time, and more sweets or something healthy even. I was sorry the humidity was so hard on the cookies! I hope they didn't get too limp. I have lots of things that I do remember the names of, and lots that I don't. Do any of you have ideas for how to deal with that? Like a grease pencil or something that will will write on pots in pouring rain & not wash off for a long time? Or a way to make tags on the spot? What pens do you like? What labeling devices? It seems like a grease pencil & plastic bags might have worked for all the stuff not in pots, but we would have needed an awful lot of bags, and it would be a shame to waste them. Maybe the stick-type labels, & rubber bands? Any thoughts? Thanks again. Laura

I think it's nice Dean, love the color combo with that black purple eye. How large is the bloom and how tall is the scapes? Looks like it would fit nicely in the front of a bed or in a bed full of mini dl's. Isn't it fun seeing your babies bloom for the first time? I can see lots of bloom up in my seedling patch from my window, but the rain has kept me in all morning so I don't know if I've got new ones blooming today or not. :( Thanks for sharing your first bloom and I hope to see many more coming from you soon. :) Jan

Gran was clearly hurt by someone's comments. Beyond that, there's A LOT of assumptions being made about her here, probably compounding that hurt. So where's all the self-professed - ad nauseam - wonderful, caring, Christian, loving, blah, blah, blah fellowship that should be manifesting itself in empathy toward her? Instead, many people have chosen to express how THEY feel or have felt. ME, ME, ME. For all the "I'm so wonderful because" . . . comments on these forums, please explain to me how any of the following comments are "constructive" here: trotting out social bromides Who died and made the critic the authority on proper social behavior; audacity to issue an edict; rudely demanded better behavior; lecturing the masses; I don't know or care about the OP a really bad hormonal malfunction day jump out at us again instruct this group on how to behave, what they should post, and how to post it. chastise other members beat about the head I don't care I continually find it amazing that some of you who spend inordinate amounts of time posting on these forums DO think that you have an elevated status. This is a public forum. You don't own it by virtue of squatting here. There's a BIG difference between constructive criticism and cruel criticism, and IMO, there are plenty of times that people on this forum take advantage of their anonymity to be unnecessarily harsh or just plain mean. In those instances, there is no intention to help the OP at all but, rather, an opportunity for someone with low self esteem to puff up by bragging, or putting down someone else in order to build themself up. I would like to know what Gran is referring to also, but I can't blame her for not returning. I'm sorry that your feelings were hurt, Gran. I hope that you will stick around and continue to lurk, or even post again, NO MATTER AT WHAT INTERVAL. As you wade through this thread's comments, you will see the intelligence shine through in the comments that are made with care and thoughtfulness, in an effort to be kind and helpful. They're worth digging around for. As you read more threads on these forums, you'll recognize these people by their manner, and their advice/comments will come to be of value to you. As for the others, let their obnoxiousness be like water on a duck. Unfortunately, you do have to have a thick skin at times, but consider the sources. There is a lot of great info here and there are people who do truly want to help, not hurt. I personally feel that it IS important to be considerate. Am I perfect in this regard? Nope. But I try to be, and I see less and less consideration and empathy around me every day. It IS sad. If I were the person who hurt Gran's feelings, I would feel lousy and want to apologize.

Chi is exactly spot on. If you want to know an item's worth, you get an appraisal from an unbiased party, not from the reseller. I may be misunderstanding Debby's post, but certainly the reseller would not give the seller, in writing, a statement of what something is worth, that's what an impartial appraiser should provide. The research and homework should be done by the seller before attempting to sell, the responsibility is theirs to do so and then price it. Which is what Rosemary is doing here. It's not a reseller's responsibility to arrive at a value, then put the value in writing; but they can make an offer, as this man has done with his $1400 offer to Rosemary. It's up to the seller to find out a ballpark estimate of worth, not up to the buyer/reseller to provide that information, let alone put it in writing! The buyer merely states what HE is willing to pay, or he can counter to the seller's price, and then they negotiate. The buyer can either take or leave a buyer/reseller's counter offer. Rosemary, I have two points to make. One is to contact the auction firms already mentioned, such as Christie's, as they can probably give you a good idea of its worth and saleability. Also calling and then emailing photos to some local antique stores to get a better idea of what it might be worth in your area. With this information along with online research, you'll know whether to accept the $1400 offer. Secondly, I think $1400 sounds fair. I am an antique dealer and I know how hard beds are to sell, especially full size. I won't invest in one myself because they are so hard to sell and take up a lot of space and cost a lot of rent for the amt. of time they are in the booth. Other issues I'd consider are that it's been refinished, and also there might be a really small market for something that ornate. So I don't think, all in all, I would risk my money to buy something that iffy. If it were me, I'd probably take the $1400, but not until I'd further researched it and/or gotten an impartial appraisal. Also it is entirely possible that it may have more value in your part of the country than where I live. Antiques and collectibles really vary in value and popularity in different areas, as I'm sure you know. I don't mean to get off your point here, Rosemary, but I see some misunderstanding, even in this thread, and just want to share some information that I was unaware of myself before becoming a dealer. The reseller is taking the risk of what an item will fetch. Once in a great while I'll buy something I see at a garage sale, then come home and research it and find that it is worth far more than what I paid. So occasionally I make out nicely on an item. But more often than not, I have items that I either make a little on, break even, take a loss on, or do not sell at all. Believe me, I have lots of things to donate to Goodwill or put in a garage sale. LOL. Not to mention that I have overhead - rent to pay, gas to buy, supplies to buy to fix/shine things up, plus taking a loss on items that don't sell or that I have to mark down, or that get stolen or broken. Antique dealers are not getting rich. Bottom line is even the good, experienced ones are making below minimum wage in this economy. Another way to look at this is observing the chain of who makes what when an item is sold. #1 person is someone who decides to sell of some of their belongings at an estate sale. #2 person is the one conducting the estate sale. #3 person is the antique dealer who buys the item at the estate sale. #4 person is the owner of the antique mall. #5 person is the final consumer who buys the item at the antique mall. Ok, lets say person #3, the antique dealer, buys an item at the estate sale for $100. Person #2, who is conducting the estate sale, gets 30% which is $30. Person #1, the original owner, gets 70%, which is $70. Person #3, the antique dealer, puts it in her booth for $150. When it sells, assuming she hasn't had to drop the price, person #5, the final consumer/buyer pays $135 (plus tax) because the mall offers a 10% discount. And person #4, the mall owner, gets a cut of 13% of all sales, so that is $19.50. So that means that person #3, the antique dealer, realizes $115.50 minus the cost of the item, minus her booth rent, minus her gas to go to sales, minus any supplies to fix/clean up the item. And of course there's her time investment of going to the sale, cleaning/fixing/prepping the item for sale, researching the pricing, entering the info into her bookkeeping, making the price tag, and taking it to the booth and arranging it for display. All for a net of less than $10. Compare that to the estate sale lady, who made $30 (although she has business expenses, too) BUT she did not have to risk any of her own money in the deal. And how many of the five are risking their money? Only #3, the antique dealer. And it may not sell, may take a year (or longer) to sell, may have to drop the price, may have to donate it. Just wanted you to see how it really works. LOL. So you can see if an antique dealer is to make any money at all, they have to ask double what they paid (pay 100, price at 200, after the selling fees - realize 154 minus expenses which might be about 10 for a final net of $44. I'd need to make 454 like sales to make $20,000 annually. Most of us dealers could make more flipping burgers at the golden arches, but at least this is lots more fun! Best of luck with this, Rosemary, and I am so sorry for your father's passing and all the pain you've been through.