Jeri's comment made me wonder about the history of Jackson and Perkins, so I started googling. J&P was originally a truck farm in New Jersey that grew berries. The original founders, a real Jackson and a real Perkins, became interested in roses and what followed, until the passing of the nephew of the original Perkins, was a long history of rose hybridizing. Then it became a commodity company where rose hybridizing managed to survive somehow, owned by in turn by RJ Reynolds, Harry and Davids, Shaklee, a Japanese conglomorate, and some holding companies, until it has become what it is today, an overpriced source of overpriced Mothers Day gifts. While they've managed, despite this recent history, to produce some fine roses even lately--PJPII comes quickly to mind--the golden days are gone. Sort of like Chrysler and GM, eh? I suspect, from the demoralized attitude of the employees you were forced to speak with, Donna, that pay is low and mass layoffs are pending. Here is a link that might be useful: wiki history of J&P.

My doctor did a blood test for magnesium and potassium levels because of the terrible leg cramps I've been having off and on. The tests said that both are fine. I don't think my calcium levels are low either because I have enough in my diet, but I haven't had that tested. I suspect that dehydration may be contributing - one time they occurred just after flying to Europe and those long flights can be very dehydrating. But drinking a lot to stay hydrated doesn't seem to solve the problem. Barb, what is "the soap thing"? These really can be terribly painful. The worst for me is that I sometimes get them in opposing muscles at the same time, e.g. in the arch and the top of the foot or the shin and the calf at the same time, so I can't do a stretch. Heat is the only way I've found that works to relax the cramping muscles once it's happening.

First of all if you have an air handler thats 13 years old you may want to consider a replacement. Just not with that guy, thats all. A leak repair in a coil in an air handler can be a royal pain in the butt. The actual repair of the hole or crack can take less then 5 minutes but you can easily spend half a day taking the thing apart to the point where you can access where the leak is. So now you get a bill for all this labor etc. which will probably give you "poopy pants" and somewhere in the not to distant future another problem arises. Maybe the blower motor quits, or the drain pan has rusted out and water is leaking all over, if its an air handler in the attic you probably made a hell of a mess to your sheetrock ceiling and if its over a furnace who knows what damage it can do in there to cost you more bucks. And heres another scenario. That old unit was rusting out and the blower bracket lets go. You hear one hell of a racket coming out of your duct work, (oops, more poopy pants) and you find out the whole blower assembly has to be replaced. But the unit is so old getting the right parts are almost impossible. So its 95 degrees out and no relief in sight for days. The service tech appears to be sympathetic to your dilemma but inside he's saying "serves you right you cheap SOB, I wanted to replace that POS when you first started having problems" So you try to make a deal, you ask him if he would be interested in a can of freon as part of the deal for a new unit. You say you paid over 300 dollars for it and only used a few pounds. The guy says sure, I'll know off 50 bucks to take it off your hands and I'm doing you a favor, you're not supposed to have the stuff anyway! One of the interesting side bars of the heating and air conditioning trade is that you collect sooooo much money from some people whose original intention was to save themself a few bucks by doing it half as---!

"And if you google pilates for sciatica you can find exercises to try at home." "Another important factor is getting or keeping weight off the stomach, and strengthening the stomach muscles. A big belly with weak muscles can put a lot of stress on the spine." I have had one bout of sciatica that came on suddenly and was incredibly painful-quoted the above insights because what has worked for me is Pilates. I was taking group lessons and when the trainer went out on her own I followed her. She is very good at getting me to move and stretch past what I would do on my own without straining or overdoing it; Pilates of course is also all about strengthening one's core muscles and I've not had any more sciatic problems. Thank goodness for that, it was one of the most excruciating pains I've ever experienced. Ann