I use the gritty for slow growing woody plants (japanese maples, japanese red pine, etc) and the 5-1-1 for fast growing annuals (Lantana, Cuphea, etc) and a modified 5-1-1 (for Salvia) which is 3-1-1 with the "1" pearlite replaced by Diatomaceous earth (OptiSorb from FastenAll) for increased water holding capacity. Although this year I'm going to do a pot with 3-1-1 and one with straight Miracle Grow for the Salvia. They are on my deck in full sun, I mean dawn to dusk FULL sun! and there is a bit of a wind tunnel effect. I have to water 2x a day in 90+ weather or they will start to wilt. They are dark green and lose a lot of water perspiring, and I like to put 2 plants in a 4 gallon (ish) pot so there are a ton of blooms for the hummingbirds!

Kristy, Do a google search on diabetic supplies. There are several sites that offer free meter's and help with supplies. I got one from One Touch, the small one you can carry in your purse. I have to check my 5 - 6 times a day. Now my doctor had to fill out some paperwork to get the special amounts that I need. The most that is usually covered is 2 - 3 times per day by different insurances. Crazy, who are they to tell you that you don't need to test that often. That is how it keeps me off of insulin. I can tell you that One Touch and Accucheck are the ones that seem to have more supplies available than the others. I too have a meter and lancets that I can send if you want. I have 3 sets. Never hurts to have more than 1. Just let me know and I can send it. Nothing wrong with any of them, I just get the smallest one whenever a new one comes out. I think I have some extra strips too. Dee

My thoughts... Mulholland: I would probably do away with the sitting area of the master and increase the closet/utility area - maybe even make a door connecting those two. No entry closet unless you count the one inside the bathroom which seems a bit weird. Garage is too small. 24x24 is about the minimum we would go with. I think visually it would be nice, but I might be concerned with the upstairs being open to the foyer and great room with only railing separating it. This might depend on the age of your children. CLS-3219: Will laundry being on a separate floor from master bother you? Will you like all the bedroom doors being that close together? Nothing bad really jumps out at me in this plan, but nothing about it really speaks to me either. Global House Plan: I don't think you need a hearth room, family room, and den. Maybe have the den as your office, keep the family room as is, and reconfigure the hearth/kitchen/morning into just a kitchen and breakfast area. Laudry area is pretty small. Overall, most rooms are just too small, especially the garage. Since there isn't a hangout spot separate from the living area for the kids, I would want to increase the sizes of their rooms as well. It wouldn't have to be a lot, but play around with furniture and maybe add in things like a tv/computer/desk/chair/etc. in addition to their normal bed and dresser. Building Science: Overall I like the plan. The laundry seems a bit weird, but don't know a better place for it. No front closet. Actually, not really any closet by a door for coats.

Maybe you meant sodium carbonate. Sodium carbonate (washing soda) isn't just a filler. It softens hard water, binding up the calcium and magnesium so that detergents are not inactivated by them. And it adjusts the pH to a level effective for cleaning. I may try Ecover just because I'm kind of compulsive about trying lots of cleaning products. But in real-world conditions of hard water that is not scalding hot, I'd expect better results from OxiClean. I get a 15-pound box of OxiClean at Costco for I think about $12. Ecover around $4-5/lb is a lot more expensive. I'd have to get equal cleaning power from 1/5 the amount by weight to break even, costwise.