Lori, there 3 things for you to do: 1. get a shoplight and hang it 10 inches above your Lovelies. Shoplight in Walmart is $6.97, 2 48 inch growlights $11 the same place, couple plant chains, hooks - to hang it, timer the same place - $5, extension cord. 2. You need to repot them - 2 times a year is perfect - once a year is a must. You can use the same type of soil - just add some perlite to it to make it more breathable- at least 1/3. Yes - you are right - stick to 3 to 4 inch pots. (1/3 of the leaf diameter. 3. Get an African Violet fertilizer - and use it half dose. It what you should do to keep them blooming. Another thing from a fellow addict - do not reproduce same MIL or WM violets over and over again - give the babies to your friends. There are 15000 registered violets of shapes and hues to die for - and you need to try at least some of them. Irina

I've been using a weed hound for years and I think it's one of the greatest lawn tools ever. For best results, make sure the soil is damp when you use it. Get it right over the center of the weed and step down. Give it a half twist, then pull up by the knob on top. If you pull up by the handle on the side, it will sometimes let go of the weed.

It was 66/71 (cool side/warm side) of my backyard yesterday, Bonnie! If it's December, this must be Denver! I got another part of my veggie garden turned over and got all of my neighbor's leaf bags nicely spread out covering most of the garden to get some Worm Action going on out there again. And I watered all the perennials in the backyard too. Some of them were looking pretty unhappy! I don't even remember the last time I got "helpful" precipitation! Glad you were able to get the garlic in, and hope you'll be able to find another day or two to get the bulbs in so you can just forget them for now and enjoy them in spring! It's been so warm down here that my snow crocus are already showing a half inch above the mulch! If it doesn't get significantly colder soon, I'm not sure what's gonna happen to them! I can't imagine they'd have enough time to actually bloom now, but if they do, I'll be sure to post some pictures! If I dig down into the mulch, all my other spring bulbs are starting to come up too. Come on snow! Skybird

It's a cassone, as fitting to the time period which produced this chest. As Linda stated, it's a bridal chest. Some very fanciful cassones were made, these chests were produced for a few hundred years. It's an excellent piece and certainly looks 17th c. I think the baroque navels on the cherubs are a hoot. And check out those abs! The top is a later replacement to make this less ornamentation and more useful in the limited spaces in which we live nowadays. It has been taken straight off another object rather than made for this one, you can see it's not quite a fit and has stressed in protest. Rear feet have been redone and possibly set in further from the rear corners. I'll bet you can see where the original feet were a little more prominently placed if you turn it over. You have an outstanding object. I admit that I'm jealous! Treasure it. You may be able to locate someone to restore some of the egg beading and forepaws if you're so inclined. Ask a curator at museum, or high-end auction saleroom. Here is a link that might be useful: Cassone