I go to the sale every year ( my in-laws are big in the Cleburne Iris Society). To get the best selection onf DL you have to be there when it opens and know what you wanting...they go really fast. I got 2 (my usual per year of big $15 ones) Hidden Riches (yelow) and Bubbling Edge. One of the promenent Iris Sellers was selling all his stock at 1/2 the marked price - he only sells 2000 and newer - so this is a wonderful deal. I got Holly Kosmoly, Prince of Tides, Starring, Heartstrings Summer, Creme De Ore and another Rush Hour (my personal favorite). I spent $30 on DL and $14.00 on Iris...cheapest year yet for me, but I'm running out of room! ON a side note...I've been splitting my iris beds over the past few weeks, if anyone else is too and would like to trade I would love to hear from you. I posted under have on the exchange board, but my only responce was someone wanting me to attend their garage/plant sale ather than an interested person in trading. ~angie~

Thanks for all your suggestions and advice. I sure don't want to turn it down and then have it sit forever! My friend is doing this for me because my husband and I have down a lot for her over the years. She doesn't work for a real estate company, she is independent. It has a lock box and sign, it isn't FSBO. My friend told me these people have been looking for six months and really love the house. I asked her if it would be okay to wait through the weekend and see what else is offered, we have another showing today and one tomorrow. She thought that would be okay. The average days on the market for a one story is about 30 days. Another house with the same floor plan sold for full asking price, $208,000 last month in 21 days. That house had pets, though, and the carpet was bad and it needed painting. It also didn't have the front porch and bricked floored covered patio. My friend isn't surprised that we got an offer so fast. She says there aren't many one story homes on the market in Flower Mound and mine has a three car garage which is hard to find. With no basements in this area, a large garage is a big selling point.

"I wonder if this is a sign of our times." Actually, what's a real sign of our times is the expectation that a house for sale should show like a model. Twenty-five years or so ago, sellers didn't stage their houses and they didn't run around cleaning everything when a showing was imminent. Back then, you might have expected to see unwashed laundry in the LAUNDRY room without being horrified because, after all, you weren't buying the dirty clothes. And I can't remember being overly bothered by kitchens whose owners had failed to replace the cabinet hardware with the latest thing. And we weren't so insistent that the kitchen sport cabinets of the trendiest wood species. Wood cabinets of any kind in good condition would have done. I guess we buyers just understood that houses for sale had real families living in them who did not devote themselves full-time to making their homes "show like models." Yet, sellers manged to sell these less than perfect houses. I don't really think housekeeping standards were lower back then. It's just that the bar has been considerably raised for sellers. It's gotten much more stressing to sell a house than it used to be because of much higher buyer expectations that whatever they buy must be spotlessly clean, updated to current fashions and have everything in perfect working order. While this standard of perfection is great for the buyers, it inevitably comes back to bite them when it's THEIR turn to sell and have to jump through more and more hoops. It used to be that you expected to fix up the house AFTER you bought it. Now you must do it BEFORE you sell it. Progress? Not really . . . more like moving sideways.

I was surprised last night for sure, but was okay with it, because she was not the one I would want to win. (I am hoping for Melissa or Shawn.) But at this point in the competition someone who is very good will go home. I truly believe that if the judges, especially Len, gave their criticisms in a kinder fashion and did not tell the stars to "hit the trail" etc. Ty would probably already be gone. Many stars have probably outstayed their "abilities" because of the judges remarks (Jerry Springer, Cloris, and one could pick out stars from every season). I don't think we (the voters) like it when people are ridiculed as part of their critiques. I know that I don't. Anyway, what do you think?