Rio Zappe beans don't come remotely close to the coloration of the beans I'm looking for. They are a dull lavender to a grayish-rose, with blackish or brownish markings. Gorgeous, delicious, but not close. The beans I'm looking for are not any type of runner bean, as they are far too large, marked differently, and usually have thick, leathery skins when dry. Mr. Stevens' beans had thin, papery skins like your standard bush or pole "green beans" like Kentucky Wonder. The seeds were the size of pintos, up to about the size of kidneys. They were rounded, not flattened like limas or runner beans. They were a deep, bright, Crayola purple. Look in a box of Crayola crayons at the one called Violet or Purple. They were not uniformly spotted, but they are spotted, not striped or speckled or satiated. Thanks all of you so much for all the help you've given me!

graywings has good information for cleaning up the mess. Spot Shot (aerosol) is a powerful solvent. I've removed crayon from the leather seats, plastic/ vinyl, and carpet of a used car we bought. For an ivory wool rug, I would carefully test an inconspicuous area for colorfastness first. For the crayon, marker, and paint on fabric bedding, possibilities are - hydrogen peroxide or Oxi Clean recommended dilution (FULLY dissolved) -- but this seems to work best on organic colored stains, and marker is certainly not organic - citrus solvent like Goo Gone - Spot Shot (might be easiest to just try this first) - Oops -- this powerful solvent mixture of naphtha, toluene, xylene, and ethyl alcohol will remove crayon and marker. I just mention the others because as a principle it's best to try gentler, less toxic cleaners first. ALWAYS test an inconspicuous spot first. Clorox bleach is another possibility. I had always assumed it couldn't be used on colors or prints, but many are colorfast. Always dilute Clorox as recommended, and always test first. Sometimes bleaching will fade the print a little bit, but sometimes uniform fading is preferable to stains or dirt that can't be removed any other way. If this were my bedding, I would carefully test each thing I listed, just because I'm a bit cleaning-obsessed and it would be interesting to learn what works. You might find one product works gentlest, while another works faster but fades the print a bit...and you could choose what's most important to you. I personally would not put anything precious, hard to clean, or unprotected in a guest room. An ivory wool rug, no way. Guests who are conscious of how nice, expensive, and hard to clean it is, won't be able to relax. Guests who aren't conscious of it may wreck it. Lose-lose. For my guest room, I plan to put a Smartstrand bound remnant or maybe Flor carpet tile (the high-traffic, washable fibers, with some extra tiles for replacement). For sheets, I have nice (400 tc pima cotton), but not precious, white sheets that I will bleach if necessary. This is where you want Costco, not Neiman Marcus. The first time my sheet set was used, they got stains from castor oil that they are using to treat a scar on my niece's face that's healing from stitches. They bandage it, but some oil obviously leaked onto the sheets. Stuff like this is unavoidable, so you just need to be able to clean it aggressively. The bed also needs a waterproof protector because young kids and senior adults can have accidents. Etc. When my nieces and nephews visit, I tell them the rules of the house. It's my house so I can have whatever rules I want. And I supervise them. They can't use any writing implements without supervision. Then, it's at the kitchen table with butcher paper down. I don't have or give them any toys that could make a mess, destroy anything, or annoy me (noise). They can't run in the house, or stand, climb, or jump on furniture. (I had to enforce that last one with my 5 yo nephew repeatedly.) My sister probably doesn't have the same rules or enforce them in her own home, and maybe thinks I am uptight, but she does support my rules. Lest I be only the taskmaster aunt, I play with the kids as much as I can. I have found that spending time playing with them is probably the most memorable and appreciated fun you can give them. Close runner up is to make my world's best pancakes, chocolate cake, and other treats for them. When they heard I was coming to visit them, the 4 yo exclaimed, "Yay, Aunt S___ will make us pancakes!"

Okay, so I'm nervous. My name says it all - I'm always repainting something because I get it wrong the first time or two. So I'm not sure if I feel like painting and repainting a 5x6 area of my kitchen wall. But I had two decorators visit from Pottery Barn (you know how they do that free consulation, well they did it for my house and it was great!). Anyhow, one of them planted this idea to make a magnetic chalk board and now I just can't get it out of my head. They said to make it huge, as in the whole wall and that is how I got the idea. But I'm still nervous I won't like enough and spend a lot of money and time on the paint. (this stuff ain't cheap and a 5x6 area will take a good amount of quarts considering everyone says you have to put between 9-10 coats on). Sochi - your door looks beautiful and perfectly sized. The question is would you want something 3x as big? But then I got the idea of really making my own chalk board to hang and then remove when I'm done having it in my kitchen. I'm thinking of using a 4x8 masonite board, painting it with the two paints (magnetic/chalk) and then framing it with nice large molding. Then when I tire of it, we will bring it down to hang in the finished basement. I say finished because I'm dreaming that my basement might be finished in a couple of years. The only thing currently finished about the basement is the mess that has accumulated. Any thoughts on this idea of hanging a large 5'x6' framed chalk board?

Murphy's Law is alive and well in my home! When I went back to the washer to "re-wash" the quilt with detergent, my washer decided to stop working. After 2 days of DH attemtping to fix it - we shot it and put it out of its misery! Went tonight and bought a new one. Washed quilt - ALL IS WELL!!!!! All markings came out and it is now drying on the line in the laundry room!!! Of course, it just became the most expensive quilt I've ever made - but who counts pennies at a time like this???? LOL. Thanks for all your support. I'll send pics as soon as I can. weaz