Creek, No I never had the directions. My son mad it in a special clas he was in on HS. (He was in the Gifted and Talented class) They made it at school. I do remember that the pages were folded in halo at an angle from the top corner to make santa' belly. His jacket was cut from red felt and trimed in white felt., as was his hat with a white pom=pom. His face was one of the soft plastic that I have seen in craft shops and he had a black belt made from a plastic material. He had a beard made from white curly doll hair. That's about all I remember, It shouldn't be too hard, just getting the deminisions for the jacket, arm length , ect. Wish I still had him, but somewhere along the way he disappeared. Too many little fingers and time has depleted a lot of my "treasures". That same year he made a Holy Family from Faces, empty pringle cans and material dipped in glue to stiffen it and all spray painted gold. I don't have that anymore either, only the memories. Sorry, whish I could be of more help. I have a large Santa collection, all different kinds and sizes. My Dh has givrn me a santa erery year since we've been married-- a total of 18 and I have been given a lot by my kids for gifts,Besides the ones I have bought. I"m running out of space amd can'y display all of them at one time. Would love to have a bigger house at Christmas time, but that would just mean more vaccuming, dusting and moppin the rest of the year, and that is not one of my favorite pasttimes. How is your wreath made. I love trying different things. Last night my DD and I worked on a grapevine wreath decorated in ivy and white roses to use on a gate for my GD's upcoming wedding. I once saw a t=shirt that had a picture of a man and the saying printrd on it said"I can fix anything, just had me the duck tape" I think we women need one that says" I can make anything, just hand me a hot glue gun" Enjoy your posts and love your pictures. I doubt that I will get a chance to learn to post pics until after my two GC' upcomming weddings in Aug and Sept. I' going to have to get the GC to teach me hoe to post pictures.Love the pics of your creek, Love the sound of running water. Take care & stay cool. Janet

Making a phone list was the first thing I ever used Excel for, about ten years ago or more. I quickly discovered instead of listing name first to list the ten digit phone number since that column will always be the same size. And it is easy to keep alphabetized since a new entry can be inserted anywhere. I've never re-typed the list once. Just add or delete to the original. I print copies and three hole punch to put into a folder by our phone. Shrunk another copy to half size for the glove compartment of my car. At some point I started using the tabs at the bottom of the page to make new pages for: medical, school #'s, stores & restaurants, car info (insurance & parts & mechanics) and at least 5 or 6 more catagories. It is probably the most useful thing (even though it is fairly simple) I've ever done on the computer. The other very successful Excel file I started ten years ago was for medical appointments. I made a few columns that I fill in each time I schedule and complete an appointment. When I get the Explanation of Benefits in the mail weeks later and wonder what THAT was for I can check my own notes, in laymans terms. I also cross reference if I had a copay or needed some kind of follow up. It has helped me at the end of the year when I've had to claim Flexible Spending Account money. I have a medical condition so it has also been helpful to track my meds. The most helpful book I ever read on organization discouraged the use of PDA's. One of the common negatives that people fed back to her was the inevitable loss of data through a dead battery or "accident". I would never trust my dayplanner, medical history or address book to a PDA. At least on Excel you can have a hard copy printed out. I also have a copy on a flash drive. And I'm not that computer saavy!

An interesting read, Mark. I know I'm resurrecting an old thread, but I do have some clarifying Qs ... (See Rosie, you're not the only one who needs to ask "dumb Qs" heh j/k) When you say " I guess they don't list isopropanol (= isopropyl alcohol) but I think concentrations of 50% or more probably work. That's a guess. " , do you mean straight 50% isopropyl as purchased in a store or taking some proof of iso. and diluting it with water making a 50/50 solution? If the latter, what proof do you think might be sufficient? Are the paper towels initially dry with the leaves between them before you add the bleach solution? So your rinse entails pouring the sterilized water into the bag and swishing it around to try and remove the bleach? Hmm, wouldn't have expected that to be effective -- especially if the towels had been dry. Having absorbed the bleach solution into the fibers, would have thought it would be difficult to displace it with the rinses. I am quite frankly amazed the cuttings don't rot under such water logged conditions in the ziplock. Also surprised by the fact they can get enough light through the towels to fuel growth.

The portion of the house that my plants are in is half underground. We run central heat at about 70F, but it stays cooler downstairs usually and that room in particular has all the vents closed. I'd say with big circulation fan blowing on them it's probably in the mid to high-60F range, probably closest to 67-68F during the warmer weather we've been laughingly calling 'winter'. I don't have a thermometer in that room but the living room registers a solid 68F most of the time. Might be a bit warmer considering the lights -- they are LEDs though and do not give off a lot. Probably just got lucky. The rest of the pieces are doing nothing except a few that are possibly molding. Do not quite have the sterilization washes down. I'm a clumsy gal and while my brain understood the concept, my hands were not always as quick to obey, haha.