Hi Greengardener, I had great success germinating about half a dozen types of seeds last year, that were packed for 1998 or earlier. Some had never been opened, but the red Zinnias had been sown before and they were packed for 1991! Much of the seed viability will depend on how the seeds were stored. Was it a cool dry place? I store mine in the fridge. You can perform a germination test on a few of the seeds to check their viability. I did this last Spring on some tomato, cucumber, and chile pepper seeds. I got nearly 100% germination! Btw, I am doing some germination tests on some of the seeds I collected Fall 08. It's great fun!

There are three things you can buy. Lincrusta costs a fortune -- it's from the 1800s and they use the original machines to make it, and one that printed wainscoting broke down last year and no parts to fix it. It's firm and hard and thick. Anaglypta costs a little less and is thicker than wallpaper but thinner than Lincrusta. These two products have the higher raises and deeper depths to them, Lincrusta having the most depth. The pictures I posted are Lincrusta, to my recollection. This is where I got the pictures I posted above, and there are many more here: http://www.lincrusta.com/ It does tell you how to achieve each technique (the basics at least). >Do you they make embossed wallpaper that is already completed and doesn't need painted? I don't know. If you mean like what I pictured above? No I don't think so. That is Lincrusta and it is hand painted. Drooooool, huh? Yeah, me too. I think it is stunning. I would use it on the lower half of the wall only, so it won't be overwhelming. This treatment is something I've been thinking about doing in my own bathroom, but I haven't done it yet. If you buy the Lincrusta from that site, I'll bet they would be happy to tell you exactly which paint to buy and how to achieve the effect you want BUT they are in England, so what they have there may not be the same as what we have here. If you learn which paint to use, please let me know. Here: http://www.wallpapersplus.com/product15766.html They have my favorite one (the one pictured in this post) ON SALE for only -- are you sitting down? -- $137.50 per roll! LOL Unpasted, of course. I have NO idea how to cut it to go around toilet pipes, as in, does it crumble if you bend it too much, etc? Dunno. I did get the beadboard wallpaper from this company and liked them very much and found the paper easy enough to apply (though you have to be careful not to tear it when it's wet). Perhaps this would work? http://www.grahambrown.com/us/product/17773/Large%20Damask%20Paintable%20Wallpaper I've been thinking on my budget I'd mess around with regular embossed wallpaper and paint and see what I could accomplish. Then again, I AM tempted to go in and measure and see if I could get by with just ONE roll of that Lincrusta. Naughty me. Because that stuff makes me go weak in the knees.

As someone who is in the market to buy (and who didn't get into an adjustable rate mortgage I couldn't afford), this article is very good news. But it is amazing how many Realtors (not all, but many) are still in denial about this. Thanks for the link.

What was her original destination? Hopefully not her doctors office. ;) I always think of a GPS as a calculator. So many people rely on calculators as giving them the right answer and not questioning the answer that they are given. Yes, they're a great tool but you need to know basic math to know whether or not the answer is within the realm of being possible - you might have punched in a wrong number. Just like a GPS. You need to know basically what direction in which you are headed and how far you are going to know and understand if the GPS is giving you proper directions.