Congrats, Midnight. Growing a clivia to blooming size from seed is a great accomplishment. I hope you'll start a separate thread with pics once the blooms are open. Great plants! Socks, Disneyland and I have a lot in common, heh heh, and no, not because I'm "goofy"! I like a lot of the plants they use, and how they create such cheerful/jarring combinations. I just planted a bare root 'Disneyland' rose, which, while not jarring, is certainly perky like the many they have planted there. I've been gardening since I was five years old and have reached the point where I just plant what I enjoy and what makes me smile, so "tastemakers" be damned, lol. The brighter, taller, and stinkier, the more I like my orange marigolds. I actually struggle to find non-dumpy dwarf types. Usually I get them from Select Seeds or Seeds of Change...what about you? Take care, Grant

I have attempted to allow all to come and speak civily. If I have done nothing else. Yes I can send out what I recieve and I can even take from everyone else the information they give because it dose make for my benefit as well as dose my information for some. If I held every answer in the book I would not have come to this forum or to any other forum to ask questions or to simply make a statement of my experiance, be it with tomatoes or with a tree. As to those un named who simply can not see past thier own actions in conversations. I post for those who want to try and work as a community here through the true exchange of ideas not through arrogance . that hostility towards new or old ideas and methods makes any thread of knowledge mute to others. I have seen over my fifty years thousands of crops and gardens lost to blights late freezes or other factors including droughts. so Is it a gamble every year you plant? you bet ya. but as gardeners and farmers we go out every year and plant our gardens and fields. and we wait and we harvest from our toils. Is my way the only way out there as we can plainly see it is not. dose it make me a better gardener or farmer if I make no effort to allow others to give to me knowledge of some kind towards a different idea in gardening no it dose not. But to jump up and treat people the way I have been treated by some in this post may amuse some but with it comes the loss to others who really are thirsting for knowledge. to that end for those who really want a civil conversation please feel free to have one. and please do use the almanac to get if not just the basics for those new to gardening but to those here who truely have the ability to give thier views with out malice. because the only thing I learned from most of you here is you have grown too set in your ways to let in information even if it was just part of what was given in total. I was asked to introduce my self several times and did so including where i live and my experiances including in many of the areas of you here in this post. but instead I recieve a continual out pouring of arrogance from those just wanting to see just how far they can push some one. I can bark back or I can set back and listen to ideas and pick up some new methods including those that may infact make me wonder. If the way you grow your crop works for you by all means share it. it may make some one else actually have a crop or garden that has exceptional yields we as gardeners and farmers pray for three things an early spring with out a freeze, plenty of water, and a great harvest season- long and fruitful. We as a group need to stop the nonsence and try to reach for those goals instead.

I know you posted this a while ago but I had the same problem and I just figured out how to fix it a few days ago and thought i'd share it.... We recently moved into a beautiful new home with laminate floors in the dining room, entry way, living room, kitchen and breakfast room and last but not least the bedroom. Long story short we have about 900 sq ft of laminate flooring. The floors looked fine when we looked at the house, during the inspection and when we moved in. When it came time to mop the first time I wasn't sure what to use on laminate floors so I thought I’d play it safe and use water only. When the floors dried it looked like there was a dull haze on them and after a few hours you where able to see every foot and paw print (we have 2 big dogs) I was confused as to what I did wrong and started to research online. Come to find out I am not the only person with this problem. There a so many forums and blogs with this subject I didn't know where to start. A lot of people suggest putting a water/vinegar/dish soap solution in a spray bottle and mop the floors with a slightly moist microfiber mop. That is a great way to MAINTAIN your laminate floors but in my case it did not fix the dull haze. By the way, I figured out that the dull haze is most likely residue left from products that the previous owners used. Damn you previous owners! I was desperate, annoyed and ready to rip out my laminate floors! I tried said water/vinegar/ dish soap solution, I tried bona for laminate floors, I even read somewhere that the magic eraser mop is supposed to take the residue off (it didn’t) I then tried bona laminate floor polish in the bedroom only and it looked great until it was time to mop again. The floor polish came right off and the nightmare started all over again. Then one day I was pinning around on Pinterest and saw a pin that lead to a cleaning blog and the girl was talking about cleaning soap scum in the shower with a 1:1 vinegar and dawn dish soap solution. She warmed up ½ cup of the vinegar mixed it with ½ cup of blue dawn dish soap (for some reason she insisted that it has to be the blue kind) sprayed it on her shower glass and scrubbed away and apparently it works wonders. So I thought to myself, since I basically have soap scum on my laminate floors and I don’t have anything better to do I will give it a try. I mixed up the miracle spray, sprayed it on a small area and scrubbed the hell out of it with one of those dish sponges that has a rough surface. My husband was freaking out and said I might scratch the floors but I didn’t care, I was in a scrubbing frenzy! I then wiped the solution off with water and vinegar, let it dry and walked over the cleaned area, jumped on it, made my dogs walk over it and lay on it and guess what? No dull haze and no foot prints! (And no scratches from the sponge) So far I have cleaned my dining room with this routine and I’m not gonna lie it’s the most annoying tedious thing I have ever done but it is worth it. I will try to finish my whole downstairs this week and then I will never ever use anything other than water and vinegar with a splash of dish soap to clean my floors. Some people even put a splash of alcohol in it to keep the floors from streaking.

I like MamaGoose's plan! Moving the clean up sink down to the other end, really frees up your serving area. I would add a prep sink...and maybe an under counter fridge and ice maker. This should keep the drinks and guests out of your main work area. And maybe add some chips and snack on the other side, below the counter...to keep people out of your pantry/walking through your work area : ) As for the large foyer...I like it! But maybe add French doors between the foyer and entry hall. They could be frosted (with a design?) or add sheers, so you can shut them if someone comes to the door and you don't want them to see straight through your house. This is a nice feature if you have anyone showing that you don't know or you're home alone. I want to include something like that in our farmhouse if/when we remodel, so people can't see past the entry. But we do live out in the country...and have some "interesting" people showing up to ask about hunting or selling oranges, etc. LOL