I've had great success with ohioheirloomseeds. Its a small company so the variety is a little limited but has all the variety's I was interested in and I always like to support good local business. Prices were really good and they have an ebay store that they have auctions for even better value. So far great germination rates and every seed was correct to description. Ive had good success with johnnies, there was a mix up on an order last year but was corrected unfortunatly too late for the season but it was corrected. Their variety is great and always had good germination rates. Burpee has been the least favorite mail order ive used as year after year they get my order wrong and respond very slowly to issues. The in store seeds at HD or lowes are good but are pricy and who knows what treatment the packs have had. I like my local garden centers for a lot of things but seeds. Unfortunately it seems like I have the worst germination rates from them.

I don't know where you're located, but here in the DC area, Hecht's dept. store has had some amazing sales on kitchenaid mixers (I think all 3 models). I don't remember specifics, but it seemed that if you hit their reduced price and used the store coupon, the prices were about 1/3 off. I'm not sure if you could do this on Hechts.com (they do have a website, but I'm not positive that's it) or there might be a local dept. store near you that sometimes has great sales. It seemed better than 20% off. I'd like to ask some mixer advice. I've never had an electric mixer (at age 47) and never really baked (and am fairly inexperienced at cooking too - though i intend to change that). So I thought this purchase was not one I needed right away (new kitchen etc.) - unless I discovered that I'd use it. Two things have made me reconsider. One is that I really like The Barefoot Contessa cookbook, and in many recipes she says to use a mixer with paddle attachment - [can I substitute and use the plastic blade in a food processor - or is that too weak]. And then my mother came to help me sort through my kitchen equiptment. She believes that having an electric mixer is close to essential in a kitchen. Again, I don't know if I can substitute a food processor. Other than for baking cakes, what would I use a mixer for that I couldn't handle with combination of electric hand mixer, old immersion blender, food processor? And finally - which KA mixer should I get. Is bigger better - or is it overkill if you're not a serious baker? Thanks everyone.

No big deal on the actual degree of the angle, however, the overall crookedness and off-angle in relation to the shape of the room is horrible! look at your first pic on the left side. (I know the heater is there. it shouldn't matter) Either you wall is completely out of square, or the measurement on the tile is completely out of whack. See at the top left how there are about 4-5 tiles that end on the 'down' portion of the design? now compare to the bottom left where the design ends on the 'up' side. It's not a slight difference either. As was mentioned, this design needs to be carefully planned and isn't for every application. For instance, since you have a corner angled shower, and you're working w/an angled design, I would have started this design so that it starts in front of the shower Right now you have centered the design on the room itself, w/o taking into consideration the angled corner shower. It looks crooked, doesn't it? That's because of the layout. I would have started the design based on the shower position, and done like: with this layout, it's not going to look crooked because the tile layout is following the same position of the shower. it doesn't help that you have all of these funky, skinny cuts above this red line. This is one of the most difficult patterns to lay and get right. You have to know how to get the correct 45 degree starting point. Not only on the floor, but you also have to mark your tile w/a speed square to get dead center on that. (this one was for my wood floors). Enlarge the pic and look carefully at the blue tape. **I went over it in red so you can see the lines better. the little short one shows the corner edge of the plank that meets up w/the 2nd line, forming a true 45 degree mark. the vertical lines simulate the two chalk lines on the floor. you line up one corner of the plank/tile on one line, and the other corner on the other line. Doing it this assures you get a perfect 45 and that you will have symmetry on both outside edges/borders***

I would ensure hardwood is installed underneath the carpets upstairs. You don't have to finish them, but they should be there. Feel free to use a different/new source of wood for the floors under the carpets...but they REALLY should be there. The herring bone pattern can be done...but your COSTS are going to skyrocket. Just to install a WELL MILLED product will add 50% more to the overall flooring costs. Now let's add in old, shrunken, twisted wood. The CULLING needed will be intense. That adds another 5%-10% onto the bill. Now imagine you don't have ENOUGH good boards. That means your INCREDIBLY WELL TRAINED/WELL PAID wood flooring professional will have to trim up some of the culled wood. Wow. Now we get into some serious money. Suddenly your "original hardwood floors" that have been spared, now cost MORE than if you had simply purchased new wood and had it installed. Please CHECK your budget for this. If you assume $5/sf for the full sand/refinish done by a professional (does NOT include reinstallation), you can get a sense of where you will stand. You will budget in another 50% ($2.50/sf) for the herring bone. And now you add in another 10% ($0.50/sf) for the culling and another 30% ($1.50/sf) for trimming up the boards. Added together you get $5 + $0.50 + $2.50 + $1.50 = $9 - $10/sf to do this. If your house has a HIGH LEVEL of detail and has very high inherent value in it, then go for the higher level install. A herring bone is a HIGH VALUE install. For very good reason. If your house is a quality build that is old (nothing frilly) then install as they were before. The HOUSE and the inherent VALUE in the house will dictate the look/price you want to pay for flooring.