Great Expectations suffered from early over-popularity. It does have the most amazing individual leaves, often with 4 distinct colors and some overlays. So back in the day, when it was first being marketed, a major magazine - I think it was Better Homes and Gardens - put it on a cover and called it something like the most beautiful hosta ever. Hosta folks already knew about GE, but this made it a shopping goal for general gardeners, some of whom would have previously given that little lip-twitch and said "I don't really DOOO hostas..." The wholesalers didn't have enough plants for the demand, so the next spring a gazillion of rushed tcs came into the market. Some of them were fine, some were really weak. Lots of people lost young plants and swore it was a hard plant to grow. To be honest, most hostas with a lot of light center will require some extra care. They just don't have a lot of chlorophyll. Add in that this is a plant of sieboldianna heritage - a species know for slow growth. So I think the comment was half-true. Some GE tcs were very weak and didn't thrive. Others were OK, if not spectacular growers - and vulnerable to being sold too young. My best GE right now is a tc plant. It is officially 'Great American Expectations' - a Shady Oaks registration for what they believed was an improved strain of GE. Those tcs grew just fine for me... but so did one previous batch of regular GE tcs. On the other hand, I lost all of a previous dozen GE tcs and Shady Oaks refunded them because they knew they'd had a bad "run."

thank you all for your best wishes sure helps allot . saw my doctor today blood count is a ok only have to go once a month for the next 6 months . I think he just wants to see my smile every ,month :)) plus my money :)) I have to go in one day this week to have an xray taken of the bone in my leg for now he thinks there maybe a chance of an infection in the bone . no artery problems no clots in the viens , & no nerve damage so only other choice to look at is the bone ))) other then that he just says no heavy lifting so guess I will have to watch what I put into my friends boxes :)) for a week or so :))) I sure enjoy all your cards & letter bettyboops summer lapp nancy sneed p. johnson s speed d schoedel m seehusen b. henricks a traversilovefarac pchang lisam djm906 & so so many many more thank you all. good night my friends susie

jrldh - Everyone knows that you kiss butt with a maid. Anything that makes their job easier, makes them do a better job (hopefully). Most people probably wouldn't put a HAH in for this.... There is a website that is easily searchable to give you the costs on the parts. It is about $350 for each outlet which included the socked hose at 50 ft. We have 2000 per floor and 1 outlet per floor. So labor is the issue and I have to say this is definitely one of the ripoffs out there in my opinion. I would venture to say that in a 2000 per floor house, the HAH should take about 3 hours per outlet on top of a non-HAH system. So even at $30 an hour (this is a skill learned in a week), that should only be $200 upcharge. I did mine myself so my total cost was around $1500 including the motor, all the attachments (for 3 floors (although I didn't do HAH in the basement) + garage kit). Certainly not a big cost difference to a quality upright on each floor and a good shop vac.

FPE-lore...her goes!! What makes a "Great" paint: 1) Extremely fine pigment grinding. - I've been told they use an old-style ball-mill, and grind pigments for 3 WEEKS...instead of the U.S.'s "hours", or a day or so. - This leads to VERY DENSE/OPAQUE film-builds. - The Gloss-levels of their Brilliant lines are near mirror-like because of this. - Details like this are discussed on their DVD. 2) 2 Colorant types..."Pastes"... - VERY important here! - The U.S. uses Glycol-based Universal-Tint-Colorants (UTC's), because these mix into BOTH Latex AND Oil binders. - Instead of the LIQUID Glycol-based colorants 99% of mfr's. use, FPE's are VERY finely ground/dense PASTES. - This makes a deep FPE color MUCH more opaque than the typical U.S. "loads-of-liquid colorant" built colors. - So...instead of dumping a boat-load of liquid Glycol-based colorant into a sheer dark tint-base, FPE uses pastes. - Another HUGE difference...FPE uses SEPARATE Acrylic and Alkyd colorant-pastes! So....Latexes and Oils each have their own colorants! CHEAP...No. Effective...Very. - Bottom-line...the FACTORY and the stores use THE SAME COLORANT! In a way, an FPE store IS a "factory" of sorts... 3) Friendly Ingredients: - Low VOC's in the Latexes. - Only light odors too, and dissipate quickly. 4) My own tests: - I've described my "Wine Red" test on the Paint forum. ONE COAT...pulled thin...COMPLETE OPACITY...NOT normal! - I did a pop-and-water rub test on this too. - Using the Oil glosses...Uffda. You can SEE yourself clearly! And I used a foam brush... - Same thing with the Low-VOC ECO. Beautiful, bright, clean gloss! - Because of this, I ordered some for my downstairs bath. VERY pleased...I left it as one coat! Very tough film. - The Eurolux Matte I used seems totally impervious to water. It's more of an Eggshell look though... Soooo...to ME...this stuff is the Four-Seasons of Paint! Faron