Yesterday morning I turned my compost pile and planted some perennials, lilies, and other bulbs. Not sure how many I planted yesterday but in the last week I've planted 22 plants and 75 bulbs. I've also moved some perennials. Still have a few bulbs and 2 big flats of annuals left to put in as well as some seeds to throw around. It started raining so that was enough excuse to stop for the day. I try to limit my time in the garden to 3 hours or less. I used to be out there all day but not doing that anymore. I find gardening is easier since I lost weight. I lost 50 pounds over 4 years and now can't even *lift* 50 pounds but packed it around on my body for years. I also take vitamins and eat very carefully as plan to live for a very long time and much prefer health to disease. Since I really dislike “formal exercising” I garden as one of my main ways to keep active and reasonably fit. So far it's working altho on days when I overdo and all my muscles are screaming at me I think I might be satisfied with a half dozen pots on my deck! I'd have to find something else to do then, probably take my dog for long walks, find an exercise program I like, or volunteer more. What I've learned thru experience is that as I age I cannot work for the long hours I used to, at least not without hurting a lot. I used to garden morning and evening as well as working long hours at my job, tending house, and kids. Now 2-3 hours at a time each day is enough. I also hire help when necessary for the heavy work. Occasionally I even hire someone to vacuum my house! Lazy old me! LOL

When my sister had new carpeting installed the fuzz plugged up her vacuum so badly she had to take it in to be serviced. The repairman told her that you should never use a "good" vacuum on new carpet. He actually advised her to use an old vacuum for several weeks before going back to her good one. (as if we all have old "bad" vacuums in the wings)

Crate & Barrel Sectionals They sell many of the sectionals in a navy velvet or a light blue velvet. They also have an emerald green that's very nice and a few come in indigo. I would look specifically at the Aidan, Lounge II, Dryden, and Davis sectionals. You can order fabric swatches from them to see if you like them and sit on the non-sectional versions in a showroom to make sure they are comfortable. Room & Board Sectionals Any of Room & Board's sectionals can be ordered as a custom sectional in any arrangement and with any fabric from Room & Board. I would recommend Vorto blue velvet based on the Roger & Chris sofa you provided. You can also order free fabric swatches from them. The following come in velvet or chenille (a velvet-like fabric) without being custom. Sterling Sectional - I would recommend vance indigo velvet Bryce Sectional - I would recommend vitoro ink chenille Metro Sectional - I would recommend vashon ink chenille Morrison Sectional - I would recommend vashon ink chenille

While I will admit that some do seem have difficulties navigating or posting (I think most of that is due to a less than ideally compatible device or browser) I do not find the new format any more difficult to work with or use or navigate than it was before. Different, yes.........but no less user friendly (in many ways it is more user-friendly). And I think some are just a lot more resistant to change than others :-) As an old time GW user (here since almost from the start in the late 90s with Spike), the site has gone through a lot of changes over the years and with different ownership, much good and some not so good. It took me just a couple of days to become comfy with the new format and I have no issues with it now. My primary complaint is with cross posting. While it is NOT a requirement, many seem to think it is so you get threads posted to 3 completely unrelated forums. And those new folks entering directly from the Houzz side of the platform with gardening questions do not realize there are several dozens of gardening forums and just post in the Gardens or Landscape Design forum (the only GW forum that shows up in the Houzz topics listing as well as GW) and I find that very irritating. The LD forum is frequently innundated with completely inappropriate questions!! And I don't find it to be any less of a "community" than it was before. Depending on what forums one frequents, all the same old regular posters are present for the most part with the same friendly interchange and bantering. 11otis, if you scroll up to the start of this thread, you will find that it is posted to the Soils, Compost and Mulch forum in addition to a couple of others. Click on that forum title and it will take you directly to ALL the threads on that forum. Really couldn't be much easier............. :-)