Again, I don't know what to say, Jodi. My face got all red (yeah, I blushed) and I was really touched by your comments. I'm just really glad you're getting more out of your growing experience. THAT really rocks me. ;o) From Arjadiejai: Have you tried rooting cuttings in this mix? If I have a cutting that is important to me, or hard to root, I always stick it in a sterile medium like perlite or Turface. Strangely, I get the VERY best results from rooting in chopped sphagnum moss (not peat - the whole pieces of moss that were harvested live). The moss makes sense if you consider it's the medium most used in air layering. A mix of any combination of the three ingredients also works very well. If I'm starting cuttings and I really don't care about the strike rate, I use a soil made of screened Turface, fir bark, and crushed granite - the same soil as above. I screen it so particles are all larger than 1/16 inch so there is almost NO perched water to rot cuttings. By doing it that way, I can start the cuttings in larger containers and not have to worry either about a setback from potting up soon after the cuttings strike, or about overpotting and the accompanying saturated soil. In short, cuttings root fast and you can save a step because of a larger soil volume, but again - if the cuttings are important, use a sterile medium - it's the bark that could harbor rot organisms. About the cacti and succulents, if you water your typical tropical houseplants every day or every other day, how often would you water the cacs & sucs in comparison? It varies. I have caudex forming succulents that get water once/week in winter (they're under lights in winter), and every other day in summer (outdoors/full sun/clay pots). The plants in plastic pots get watered less & the ones in clay pots get it more - you know how that goes ..... I/you just develop a feel for what is needed & when after a while I guess. I kind of have a calculator in my mind that factors in how hot it's been, how windy, how much sun, how big the plant is in relation to the pot size and soil volume ..... and I decide based on that. With succulents & cacti, if I'm in doubt, I usually wait. To answer your question directly: It varies, but the interval between waterings is about twice as long - all things being equal. Also, have you ever ventured into terrariums? Would you use a mix of this sort in there? I haven't done terrariums, but I worked with a guy to develop a soil and fertilizer program for his. I think he was doing them to sell, and I might even have sent him some soil to try, I don't remember - I talk to a lot of people off forum about plant stuff. I didn't save his e-mail addy, but I talked quite a bit with him on a thread over on the Container Forum. I might go over there & see if I can look him up & find how he fared, but only if you're interested. ;o) Al

Wow, lots of neat traditions. I find shopping for gifts wearying. I usually start in October and try to be finished by the end of November. I try to leave time in December for decorating, cookie baking and wrapping gifts. We are also away for about 9 days total in December as our kids play in 2 international junior squash tournaments and so this takes a huge chunk out of our Christmas preparation time and also means we cannot have a real tree as we are away and can't water it. We buy for our 3 kids, in-laws, our staff (about 8 people), couple of aunts and uncles, and assorted family. We have done a draw for the family in previous years so that all the adults names are put in a hat and each person then draws and only has to buy 1 gift. But this has fallen by the wayside as part of the family had moved away and sometimes comes back for Christmas and sometimes doesn't. I am more conscious now in trying to buy gifts that are useful or consumable as we all know how easy clutter comes into our homes and how difficult and time consuming it is to take it back out. Traditionally my DH and I usually buy small gifts for each other, most of which will fit in our stockings, requisite gifts are chocolate bars, socks, paperbacks, I always receive a "For Better or For Worse" comic book and the year's stamp set (Canadian), and a CD, you get the idea. We also buy lots of little things for the kids' stockings. Sometimes there may be one big gift for the family (one year it was a large screen T.V. ) and then, the other gifts will be smaller and fewer. I usually get an Odyssey set of tapes (from Focus on the Family) as one of the gifts for the kids as we do lots of driving trips and the kids like listening to them in the car. Just wrapping all the stocking gifts takes forever, but they are so much fun to open Christmas morning. Christmas Eve, the family goes to Church as our Church does not have a Christmas morning service. Then we open presents Christmas morning, have brunch and relax and then start cooking Christmas dinner late afternoon, in-laws come and another round of gift opening takes place. I really like it that we don't have to go anywhere on Christmas day, it really is quite relaxing. My DH jokes that it's the only day in the whole year when the car doesn't leave the driveway!

Live-Wire-Oak, I thank you for your post. I finally do get it at last that it does not matter if the white is perfect but what matters is how everything in the kitchen goes well together giving that elegant pretty look. The recent kitchens posted made me realize this and the new reveals came at just the right time. The KD and I talked when he came by for his sample doors and he had more changes he made but I told him I did not have time to go over them if I had to order only today before the price went up. I needed to do my work as I like to get done right away what is given to me to please my clients. He agreed that if I could not decide which white door but I still loved the Shiloh Flat Panel beaded inset cabinets, then I should wait and pick out my counter first and then decide how the counter, floors and cabinets look altogether. Apparently each change takes him hours as he does it manually. I explained to him that I had told you to leave everything the way it was but take away the blind cabinet and kept the Lazy Susans. He told me he was trying to make the new kitchen better with other cabinets a little bigger but he sees I did tell him that. He is sorry he heard me tell him a 36" opening and saw all my emails and pictures of the refrigerator I wanted but he remembered the one I had was 33" wide so he wanted it to look build-in so drew the lesser space. I felt bad since he looked like he was going to cry and I told him, timing was so wrong and the pressuring was not good for me and if he gave me the designs right way a few months ago, we could have worked together to tweak it to be what I wanted and then had more time to pick out the right white door and counter but I am too busy to do it right now as my clients are my priority at the moment. I guess I would be more comfortable sitting in front of a computer with a designer making changes to show how it affects my room and my budget. I am that much closer to having my new kitchen with new floors as soon as my tax season ends. I am now finally seeing the forest and not lost in the trees. I did reread all the posts above many times and plan to before looking again after tax season. I still love the Shiloh beaded Inset door in the flat panel. I remember when I picked out my home office desk about 19 years ago. I walked in the store and fell in love with the beautiful Scandinavian teak desk that had a big rounded edge in the front to have more room to go over paperwork with clients. I did not like the price but was told I could get a cherry veneer. I ordered it on the spot and I still love it. When I chose my home, I had looked at 10 houses and disliked them all. When I was faxed the layout of my townhouse, I loved it. When I finally decided to be open to a townhouse, I loved the outside as they all look a little different where I live. I loved the inside layout and the way the home office is separate from the rest of the house. I loved how clients did not walk through my living area and have a bathroom to use in the home office area. I loved my private back yard with the privacy fence and woods in the back. I loved the location and how it was only 6 miles from where I was living and near so many highways but still country like. I went home to measure everything and came back the next day to be sure everything would fit. I then knew this is where I wanted to live and I am still happy here even after over 16 years. BUT when I chose paint and floors, I could not see how it would look as I could only see a small sample and I have been needing help. I get lost in the trees like you said which is so true! I was able to pick the BM Bone White color on the wall as a painting designer on the paint forum of Garden Web told me it only looked dark as I had a big spot on a big white wall and it was actually very light and peaceful and I should just go with it. I then thought, I would listen and I love my wall color. I am finally seeing that once everything goes well together, I will be happy and the perfect shade of white does not exist. I just want someone that listens to me and I guess maybe I need to communicate better what I want since I am a number's person and not a spatial person. The kitchen designer told me when I am ready, he is still willing to work with me if I want to call him and gave me another card. I felt bad since he thought I was buying today but I wish he would have realized that I needed to pick out a counter to tell which door color would be for me and he should have emailed me the new changes to have time to go over them to be sure I liked them. I should have not let myself be pressured and told him that it does not matter if there will be a price increase, now is not the right time as it takes me awhile to go through the process of finding what I want. This forum made me realize it was the whole picture I needed to see and not the individual pieces that would make my kitchen come together. I just wish I had room for an island but I wanted to live where I live and you get so much less for the money. I just reread my post and I can't believe how long it is. I type over 100 words a minute on a big screen computer and I eat my meals as I post. I am eating dinner now before getting back to work. I will leave it as I want to be able to go back and read these posts over and over again before I get back to choosing my kitchen when tax season ends. Thank you!

let me say this... I designed and sold kitchens by emails and if I sold it. (with my english :-) I'm pretty sure that it can be done !! my english suck! but looks like people trust me. design a basic kitchen to give a price can take 1 day... price it another day max!! so if they don't give you a price and they want go in the showroom is because they are good sales and after ours of discussion they got the sales. (I use to work in a place like that) people was living the showroom with almost don't know that they bought.!!! Find the showroom that you like the product at least the finish if you go for an italian I can help you out to tell you the different technical between one and another, btw in italy are more then 500 kitchen cabinetry companies I don't know all of them! :-) I will try in my spare time soon to make a list with pictures for GW people to understand different cabinetry.. I just have an idea... so each one can compare apple to apple. this is an example how I sold a kitchen in NY: the person contact me thru a friend (I learn that word of mough work better than ads). 1)He send me a sketch with dimensions with description of the place, of his living habit, how many people in the condo and what he was looking for it.. and I ask what he didn't like of the present kitchen. 2) I did a quick design and I send the link of 2 kitchen companies 3) he review the drawings, scan and send to me and told me which line he like it from the website. 4) 2 review and after his approval I priced 5) he like the price and the design. 6) I flu to NY double check the dimension, review the drawing according with the new dimension. 7) Sign contract and place the order!! it's easy!! :-) here the sample of the kitchen: here some 3D of what will look like: