They are 3/$1.00 and I bought 11.00 worth of seeds yesterday and some peat pots. I bought all of our corn, carrots and beans, as well as broccoli, peppers, zucchini. They look like good seed. The only seed I still have to buy are the sugar snap peas. They didn't have any of those :-( I have everything else I'm going to plant bought or traded for now. I'll start some indoor soon. This is so exciting! Spring is just around the corner! I'm going to start the broccoli first, since I can put it out at the first of May.

I think that maybe looking for fresh new ideas is part of the problem. There is a vicious circle that goes on in the crafting world that involves the basic "I wanna do that too" mentality. Right now a large chunk of the crafting community is into jewelry right? Well, if I went to a crafts show and saw that 10 of 20 booths were all selling jewelry that pretty much all looked the same, I would in all honesty quickly lose interest as a consumer. But if among those booths I find one booth that has something completely different even extraordinary from all the rest, I might be tempted to linger and look, and if the crafter is warm and friendly, I will probably buy. I, who does find the style charming, am throroughly sick of "country crafts" - no offense to any of you who love and enjoy that. It's just that it's something that has been done over and over and over again. I think the key to having a successful crafts business these days , and I don't count myself as an expert, is to find something that is hard to duplicate by machine. In reality everything can be replicated by machine, but some things just aren't the same. Maybe we need to look not for brand new ideas, but dig into the past(and I mean pretty far back) to revive all but dead crafts that could have a possible aesthetic and attention grabbing quality that would appeal to today's consumer. Consumers who are looking for that special something that is out of the ordinary. Honestly, if you go to the same crafts shows year after year, how many scarves and Home Sweet Home signs can you possibly collect before it just becomes ridiculous and not worth your effort. I don't even go to the local crafts shows anymore because it's just the same old stuff year after year. And I too understand the fact that most consumers now days can't tell the difference between handmade and machine produced which is a sad indicator that the artistic side of our culture is in a sad state of decline. Personally, I don't join crafts shows anymore either. I sell to private persons who have entered my home and drooled over my wares long enough until they are willing to pay the price I want because they can't find somthing like it elsewhere. As for "Dollar Tree" ornaments...sure, I've bought some in the past and will probably continue to buy them in the future. But I do have rules when doing so: 1). Is this what I would consider a "bare bones" ornament, meaning will it act as a filler. 2). Will it compliment my "handcrafted" ornaments, which happen to be the showpieces on my trees? 3). Is this something that is of decent quality, that would cost me a fortune at an upscale ornament display and would be very difficult to easily and successfully replicate by hand? 4). Is this something I can take apart to use in my "hand crafteds"? And personally, as a crafter and artist, I am finding myself drawn more and more towards "old world" crafts that just cannot be had in this world, things that are even difficult to find reading materials on. You know there is a reason the Amish make the kind of money they do from their quilts. It's hard to find quilts that have been completely hand constructed these days and with the precision and artistic quality they present. So I all of a sudden find my self interested in things like bobbin lace, weaving, egguery, pysanky, and many other things. From an equally frustrated crafter who refuses to give it up because a part of myself would more than likely wither and die - doubt I would be much fun if that happened. Netta

c t - "I rarely shop at the dollar stores. ..." "The extra time to make the trip isn't worth i." --- I understand that for you (and perhaps many other people), it may be different, but for me, I live about 1/2 mile away from a Dollar Tree. I pass right by it nearly half the time I go anywhere. It is more convenient to get to than nearly any other place I might go. That said, I don't go there often... sometimes no more than once in a month or 2. "A lot of the food is junk food / dozens of broken plastic utensils...but they were a bargain ..." --- I agree (partly). Not everything at a dollar store is a wise purchase. Some things (including some food items) are low quality, cheaply made, and should be avoided. If "everyone" decided not to purchase these sort of items, and left them on the shelf, the stores (likely) would not carry them anymore (sadly, people do buy them). But, they do have many quality, brand-name items. Even some of those are not a bargain. For example, they usually have a small package of "Aleve" or "Excedrin" (typically 6 pills per package). Approximately 50 pills would cost $8.00, 100 pills for $17.00, and 200 for $33.00. This is more than twice what you would probably pay for the larger sizes, even at regular (non sale) prices at other stores like CVS, Osco, Target, Walmart, or K-Mart. Another thing to watch out for is "expire dates" (sell by/use by/best by-dates). It's common to find food items that are near or past their prime, and these are rarely a bargain. But still, you can sometimes find some brand name food items that are a good deal even if they are near their "best-by" date, if it is something that you use up fairly quickly. And many other non-food items can be found that are also good deals.

Pot them up right away. If the bulbs are on the small size, you should be able to get 3 in a standard nursery gallon. Plant them deep enough so that all the green sprout is covered but handle very carefully..........if you break or damage that sprout, your lilies will not bloom this season. Make sure the potting soil is just moist to the touch (do not overwater!) and store them somewhere cool and dry.....the garage? Once they grow enough so that they are now showing above the soil surface and your ground soil is workable, you can plant them out into the garden. You can also grow them on in the container if you prefer but they will need daylight once the sprouts have emerged above the soil line. Protect from overly cold spells in spring if you go this route. Just a word of warning - don't expect much from these bulbs initially. Dollar store lily bulbs are not of high quality to begin with and the presence of new growth indicates they haven't been stored properly. Typically this combination of conditions results in straggly growth and often no flowers during the first season. But go ahead and plant anyway. If the bulbs survive, they will grow bigger and stronger each year. This link from one of the large lily bulb growers in my area outlines some of the concerns about buying/planting sprouted bulbs. btw, purchasing higher quality, fully dormant bulbs at the proper time of year from reputable vendors - like B&D Lilies - will be much more rewarding and generate much better plants and flowers than purchasing lower grade bulbs from mass marketers like the dollar or big box stores.