Thanks so much, Fun2bhere, you win the pat on the back! I just thought of her first name a few hours ago, knew it was an Irish name, i.e. the MC. I recall Joan Steffend too, I liked her show, but she didn't use homeowners almost throw aways and repurpose like Karen did. I used to watch it real regular, but like all of you, rarely see a show I want to watch. I mostly keep track of Mike Holmes, he has his own foundation and had his crew in New Orleans building homes for Katrina survivors. Amazing man, so knowledgable, so caring, and gives back to his communities. Brad Pitt was involved with his project in New Orleans also. Since the economy hit the skids, our television programming has gone dowhill fast. Seems the networks don't want to pay for good shows. Why should they? we all have to pay to watch now. Good deal for all of them, not so much for the audiences, like us. I can't recall even one garden based show on right now. Thanks for the speedy replys, it drives you nuts until you get the answer.

On the ceiling, what kind of plywood did you use? usually luan is cheapest good looking plywood in HD, so that's what I have used mostly. Did you paint the designs with a brush or stencil them? stained designs are painted with a very small brush. How did you keep the stain from bleeding out to surrounding areas? Fist I make a stencil and trace the design with pencil and then fill in with stain, making sure that I have very little stain on the brush. What brand of stain did you use? I have always used Minwax --------------------------------------- wondering what to do with them. I would love to do this! Have you written up any instructions for how you did it? Or could you tell us please? What product(s) did you use? Decosup How did you transfer your design to the concrete? I drew the design on the floor with pencil based on smaller scale design on the paper Did you mask off areas? it was not necessary, as My husband cut the lines around the design before I stained and that prevented most of the bleeding issues. How did you apply the product? with the cheap foam brushes from HD What do's and don't's did you learn along the way? Don't too it on a hot day, the stain dries too quickly and you will not get as deep color. Thanks very much for any help you can give me! Where did you learn to do all this? Trial and error ;) Do you do this type of work for your job? Not yet at least, I have thought about doing it professionally but I am really lousy sales person, so this might for ever be just my obsession and hobby :) PS. I have a long e-mail I send to people that ask about my concrete work, so if you want to receive it, drop me an e-mail.

I finally found it- and I wasn't even looking. I ran into the Shop Rite to pick up my Dad's fat free half n half and as I hurried through the express check out there was one copy sitting in the little rack. I grabbed it, checked the date, opened the index to double check and yep - I had the right one. Now I'm going to make a cup of English Breakfast tea and sit and read.

I have no photo, as the most beautiful woman I have ever seen was just a random stranger, maybe in her mid thirties. She was standing beside us with her little boy, at the zoo, many years ago when my kids were young. Her hair was shoulder blade length, and a rich chestnut colour, that was so shiny, it reminded me of a freshly groomed horse's coat. Her face was equally stunning. She had the most beautiful eyes, that were a mix of medium emerald green base colour, with a lot of copper colour flecks. They were framed by dark, perfectly shaped eyebrows, and thick dark eyelashes that curled up. Her lips were full and a pretty pink colour. But the topper was the charming dimples that came out when she laughed. The woman did not appear to be wearing any lip colour, face or eye makeup, and this was long before the days of eyelash extensions or lip plumping. She and I chatted together for a few minutes, then my family left to go to another exhibit. I then asked DH if he'd ever seen anyone so beautiful in his life and he merely said "Who?" apparently not noticing that the ONLY person we'd recently had any close contact to, was so breathtakingly stunning! Clearly DH either never really looked over while she and I talked, or the old 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder" is certainly true! I don't know if her personality was as beautiful as her looks, but 30 years later, that random stranger is still the most beautiful (face) I have ever seen.