Hello SJP -- Welcome to the forum. In my honest opinion, $19.90 for a Lima is a bit too much. Where are you thinking about purchasing this bulb from? Where are you located? Most nurseries carry some sort of cybister and there are many cybisters that look similar to Lima that you should be able to find locally. EdensBlooms.com offers free shipping for orders over $50 and JohnScheepers.com usually offers very reasonable shipping if you live in the East coast. In regards to 'Honeymoon', mine is actually waking up from dormancy right now but one of our valued members on this forum, Maria, was kind enough to share her 'Honeymoon' last season and in one word, gorgeous! I have attached the link to her post below for your pleasure and viewing! Enjoy your stay here. ^^ Here is a link that might be useful: Maria's Honeymoon

The one I go to is also Cherished Possessions! I got my antique pine Irish corner cupboard there (it came from Mulberry House) and also my beloved Chinoiserie ladies desk in the LR. I think they USED to be a lot better than they are now, so I seldom go there. Yes, the one on Riverside holds nothing for me, either, as it seems to have lots of BIG (ugly, IMO) things for houses larger that ours. eBay and Craigslist are my faithful companions. I check both each day. I can't wait to finish re-doing the old CL $30 pine cottage bureau I got last year above Farmington and get it in here to hold my TV! Come April, when she re-opens, check out the Mustard House in Buxton on Rt 22. (1420 Long Plains Rd, # 929-8558). She has some antiques and beautiful vintage looking accessories. I got my faux berries etc for fall and winter mantles from her. Would you believe that since I so seldom even walk through my dining room that I forgot I had this antique Ogee clock with pheasants on it?? An eBay treasure. Needless to say, I'll be hanging it above my sewing machine as soon as I finish work today. My sister is lusting after the print that I have there now from a Sturbridge Yankee Workshop sale years ago. Here is the bureau. I have touched up one drawer and will do the rest when I can get it outside so I can see the graining well. Pic is from the ad on CL. Before After

Welcome to the club and like everyone has said, don't lose heart. I'm in the same boat and there are days where I wonder why I bought this old house with decades of problems. Then I go outside and look at it from my meadow and something just clicks, and I smile. I have a colonial 1911 house with a 1930's addition. The original house was built very, very well. The addition, not so well. It is where my little galley kitchen is, my laundry room, and a small mud room is located - all used everyday. I just had it gutted and I can't tell you what an amazing adverture it has been. I've resigned myself to doing laundry at my brother's house for the next month, cooking off a hotplate in the dining room, and using the main entrance instead of the mudroom entrance. Luckily for me, the workers who are gutting it are taking the time to show me the progression of work and re-work through the years that was done to that addition...old paneling ripped out to reveal beautiful old wallpaper, and older wall paper behind that; a time capsule of old newspapers from the 1930's that are in mint condition that someone stuffed in the walls; a pile of coal near the fireplace that indicated at some point, there was a chute to the basement and coal was burned for fuel, etc. They are just as giddy with excitement of finding the next "clue" to how the room was used over the last 80 years as I am. Not everyone can do this. It takes alot of patience, and I wouldn't advise having people over that don't get it while you are doing big projects such as what I'm doing, unless you can deal with being met by sour faces that say "You must be crazy, this is a mess!". And there are days (since I'm taking this slow and as money allows), that I look into my ripped up, gutted addition and cringe at how much work it will take to do it right, to bring it back to a functional, but period-correct room again. Lots of money. But, luckily I'm working with craftsmen that do this on the side and agree to work slow as money allows. Then I see all the wires that were buried in the wall (as well as a cast iron (working) radiator and think "thank God I have unvielded these potential catastrophes." So, we all go through the range of emotions from shock to fear to "how am I going to pay for this?!" to "wow, this is mine and it is great." It is an emotional rollercoaster. But, when it all comes together, you will treasure - beyond your wildest dreams - how you preserved a piece of history and it is yours to add to its legendary testament of time. Best wishes for you! We are always here to listen! :)

about the "center of attention" thing--can you figure out WHY? Just as an exercise in getting to know yourself? And you're lucky as the groom--you can mentally consider yourself as an "accessory to the bride," and so deflect the "other people's expectations" pressure that comes w/ being the center of attention. That doesn't mean you're any less important, and I'm sure your bride doesn't think of you as unmportant at ALL--but it does mean that during uncomfortable hooplah (which isn't necessarily expensive--just the aunts, and all that), you can think of her, and how to support her, etc., and stop thinking about yourself. It's an advantage grooms have over brides, I think. Also, I can only speak as a bride, one who observed her groom. We were SO busy, so caught up in the emotion of the day, so caught up with each other, that we really didn't notice stuff like the aunts, and the dancing, and all that. So I wonder if you will even have mental TIME to feel miserable at your wedding reception. When it was my wedding, it was just not comparable to other people's weddings where I was a guest. It was just so very different, so much more emotional, etc. It went by in a blur. And I was so happy, just SO happy, to be marrying BIll that it was not possible to be miserable. My goodness, my FACE hurt from smiling so much! And I couldn't stop, even though I *tried*, because it *hurt*. HE was flustered, and happy, and just not able to really concentrate on all the pressure, and expectations, etc. He (and I) enjoyed the dinner, and the time with the relatives, and the dancing. But all the other stuff that makes you miserable at someone else's wedding? That just totally didn't register. So, don't predict your own wedding-day emotions & reactions by the weddings you've been a GUEST at. Instead, find some other day that was highly charged for you: my wedding day was MUCH more like my college graduation party.