RE: acquiring catasetums - one must learn to suck up! I saw a couple of species at a show in one of the local orchid societies' exhibits that enthralled me, found out who they belonged to, stalked him at the next show, chatted casually, pounced, harrassed, whined, etc. Has it worked? Not sure, but we will "swap lists", so there's hope *IF* I have stuff that he might lust after, the planets align, etc. IMO, any catasetum, species or hybrid, is desirable beyond reckoning. If you don't have it, you probably ought to track it down. That's my story. Doubt it, I whack you with my sack of quarters. Nancy

Lois I love that!! Wendy I hope you recover quickly! Someone had mentioned that smoking prevents our bodies from healing as fast. Not sure if it is true though! I know it has been a hard struggle to give it up but I feel so much better now. I won't say I am totally over all of the cravings but it is getting easier!! Wendy, I am proud you quit, it's hard but it gets easier. If you slip don't kick yourself. Believe me I have had a ton of slips since I have been working on quiting. Today is 4 weeks since my last slip. With my slips I still have managed to not smoke over 2500 cigarettes since mid june. That number is crazy! Though it helps to focus on what I didn't smoke!! Good luck on your journey and if there is anything I can do to be of support you let me know!!

I used the Chantix too! It was nothing next to a miracle. Chantix is a prescription drug (a pill) that your doctor can prescribe. A friend recommended it to me after she quit her habit of 30 + years. I started taking the Chantix pill and didn't even think about quitting smoking. I did smoke less without even thinking about it. On day 12 I was getting ready for bed and I realized, "hey, I didn't smoke at ALL today!" I can't tell you how great that felt. Each day after that I didn't smoke and it didn't seem like I was being deprived or white knuckeling it! I continued taking the pills for a few more weeks when I decided that I just wasn't going to smoke, pill or no pill anymore. It is now over 6 months for me. The prescription did cause me to have some really wacky dreams! It is a psychological drug, so I think if you are having depression or other mental issues it may not be for you. Someone commited suicide while on Chantix so they got a lot of bad publicity. But personally I feel that person PROBABLY had some underlying issues beforehand. I have recommeneded it to long time smokers without trying to be preachy (just because I'd like them to feel the power I feel by not being saddled by cigarettes!) Many of them said they would never put a prescription in their systerm to quit! Yet on a daily basis they are lighting up and putting known carcenogens into their body, so I figure they are just making an excuse. Ladyofdirt, if you are reading this and you still need a method to quit I would encourage you to try the Chantix. Best wishes to you!

Listening to all these comments I just want to scream. We have a Whirlpool Cabrio top loader which is fairly new. I noticed the water levels stay pretty low and the spin cycle did not always work at first since we moved in here and just got in this unit.. Sometimes I would put it on a second rinse to get the water out. The washer has corrected itself now and releases all the water however, it appears that everything I wash is pilling no matter what fabric whether it be towels shirts pants socks underwear or separately or together everything is pilling. Zippers and buttons are not any obstacles they have never caused a problem before and they aren't now. Nothing is snagging it. At this rate I will be losing all of my clothing if it keeps on. Most of these clothes I have had for a few years and they always wash up nice they never pill some of these clothes are brand new and pill after just a few Washings.. So my opinion is that these washing machines that supposed to be so modernized are ruining our clothes with the different Cycles in the process that the machine uses to wash the clothes I absolutely hate it. And we the customer, are suffering by buying an item that is useless and ruining our clothes.. in my opinion the general public should not have to go through this crazy task of trying to figure out what is causing this issue I feel it is a manufacturer problem something to do with the way these machines operate and we are stuck with it I'm ready to go buy an old fashioned washer that I know it's going to clean my clothes and not put me through such stress. Any repairman out there or anybody that has figured this out please help!!!! This machine worked in the beginning. I don't think it has to do with detergents, softeners, load limits, water level..... I truly believe it's poor quality workmanship in these machines that triggers this.