Oh, you guys are all so kind! Linda (doucanoe) I'll check my email next. Thank you! LindaC, you are so sweet to offer. I have cable internet, is that fast enough? AnnT, I'd be so indebted to you if I could get another copy of your cookbooks. I don't want any of you to tie up your computer or go to a lot of time and trouble. I forgot that I've saved several recipes on that feature "My Clippings" so I'm good for some stuff. I think I have Ann's scone recipe there. I'll have to go look. Thanks again for everyone's kindness! It looks like I'll end up with even more wonderful recipes. Sally

No Blue, I actually think that's one of the threads that we need to keep available...besides, it was probably on one of the 4 pages still available so it didn't knock a thread off. It's just new threads or bumping one from phantom pages 5 to 67 that will knock a thread off. It's good to hear that Daki was able to search and retrieve threads that aren't showing up on the current 4 pages...that gives me hope that "all will be right with the world" as soon as iVillage fixes whatever problem they're having. Has anyone heard from them about it yet? No response to my email. There's also no outage/problem message under "What's New on GardenWeb". I've seen messages there before when they had problems...so either they haven't noticed the problem or read our emails or they haven't had time to post a status message for us.

Wow I love those pink/purple cabinets!! Ok, here's some pics of my old kitchen. Notice the sink counter area? That was the only counter space in the entire kitchen. And look what the sink cab had become over the years. Rotten!! And check out the wood SHINGLES along where the walls meet the ceiling! I sorta kinda thought they were a little cool when we moved in 12 years ago but that lasted about a minute. And what it looked like after the second day of demo! Of course the sentimental side of me feels bad about knocking the entire room down... but it needed to be done. It was rotting and it was a very poor use of space. I'm looking forward to putting up finished kitchen photos!

Sorry I missed your earlier post. I agree with all Laurie wrote. However, I discourage watering by the clock or the calendar -- by a certain amount in specific intervals. The amount is always drenching until water flows out the bottom. As for the interval, there are too many variables that affect the amount of moisture in the soil to follow a fixed regime: the plants changing needs (health, growth stage, increased size of root ball, decreased size of root ball, preparation for blooming, season, annual cycles, maybe how safe it feels!), ambient temperature, ambient humidity, air flow around the plant, light exposure, probably barometric and other intangibles I'm unaware of. So, for me, that leaves three ways to know when the soil is dry enough to water again: - by touch -- poke a finger well into the soil. If it is bone dry as far as you can reach when it was not a few days or a week earlier, then there is probably moisture below your reach, but not so much that it would not benefit from water during active growth; - with a hygrometer -- same principle as the finger, it just reaches deeper into the soil; - when the leaves begin to soften or wrinkle (when it is not from the age of a specific leaf) after being firm and smooth. I do not recommend waiting for the third indicator. I've never even had healthy leaves become soft after three months without water in mid-winter. Did you happen to take a picture of the root system when you changed the soil? For me, changing soil or repotting is an opportunity to separate the rhizomes, removing and withered sections (they can be added to the new soil as biomatter to break down and feed the plant), examining all the rhizomes for health. respacing plants for ideal growth conditions, possibly starting extra pots for my use or to give away or for restoring weak plants, growing out extra offsets and propagating extra lengths of rhizome. Isolated pieces of rhizome or excessively long rhizomes leading to healthy growth but with no growth points showing will probably die back. So, I remove them or snap them off to propagate in a separate container or containers, where they are likely to sprout new growth. I'm an incorrigible propagator. That's enough for one post! I'll respond to your other questions in a bit.