oh, man... mocassin... you are being such a good sport... but I've got to tell you, I've been agonizing over whether Fragrant Blue is a medium - or a large. I've got old clumps that break the 48" mark, but more typically they would be around 36-40"... we're calling them MEDIUM. And hhb... I too was kind of disturbed by all the back and forth on the sizes around the BME dispute - and finally just came to the conclusion that those folks who want to do leaf shows and judge leaf shows just get to set sizes any way they want. As much as I enjoy a leaf show, there is no way that I'm going to call a 28" diameter hosta clump of small leaves a mini... and likewise, a plant that stays small in diameter by nature but has leaves 18" long on a couple of eyes after a decade in the garden just isn't an extra-large. Of course, the nursery folks and catalog writers are pretty much ignoring the official AHS leaf-area size labeling and going with height-and-width sizing anyway...

Thank you all! Is it OK to store skiis "flat?" I usually see them standing up. Does it matter in the long run? I cold put some dowels across the studs in the garage & slid them in standing up, then some hooks for the boot bags beside the skiis. I'm thinking of getting the heavy duty shelving I got for my basement for the breezeway & garage and putting laundry baskets on the shelves. A basket for each sport - tennis basket, baseball basket, etc. I could even have a basket for cleats. I keep all cleats until my youngest son grows out of them so I have A LOT of cleats not currently being used, that they will use in the near future (baseball, soccer, fooball, track). I spent about $200 for this sytem in the basement and it's worked GREAT for almost a year. I think it's time to spend some $$ for the garage and breezeway.

"Just wait until you have to pack up all that crap and move it." My SIL just bought a retirement home so they are decluttering their current house as a preparation for selling it--she keeps telling me she can't believe how much STUFF she's got to get rid of. When I go to their house I always admire how it looks nicely organized and without extraneous things all over. However, I also admire her tons of closets and storage space which she says leads to keeping, you guessed it, all that stuff LOL. I've decided I will play a mental game this summer and pretend we have to move; maybe that will be my motivation to get rid of much unnecessary and unused stuff in our house! I use the holidays and shopping for gifts to satisfy any yen I may have to be a retail hunter/gatherer. The past few years I increasingly feel as if I am gorging myself after staying on a careful and healthy diet; by the time January comes I feel so psychically bloated from all the shopping /buying that I need another year to rest up and recover! It's interesting to me to watch my young adult daughter who is setting up her first home. She loveslovesloves Home Goods, Marshalls, Pier 1 etc. And when I go with her I usually find stuff I could easily buy. I have a rule that I can't take anything from those places home the day I see it. That usually short circuits the purchase, I'm rarely motivated enough to fight the traffic and crowds to go back a second time!

Hubby had a microfiber washable travel blazer from either LLBean or TravelSmith. It did fine on the cold setting in our old water-hog TL washer. BUT ... when I washed it on the COLD setting in our Miele 4842 FL washer, the collar shrank horribly and came out misshapen. The jacket was thus ruined, and we had to toss it. (I was not a happy camper) COLD on our Miele is programmed for 86°F and apparently that is too warm for the interfacing or felt undercollar. You'll probably be fine if you wash on a very gentle cycle and "No Heat" (a/k/a Tap Cold). Take no chances with the water temperature....that's my advice. What I love about the few garments we've bought abroad is that most of them give a temperature setting for the wash, especially DH"s wool sweaters. Yay! Editing to add ----- Years ago, I read that putting a dry cleaners bag over a garment before folding and packing into a suitcase will eliminate wrinkling. I tried it and am a confirmed believer, even with linen dresses. So, if you don't buy the travel blazer, put a dry cleaner bag over your suit jacket, fold the bag and jacket "as one" piece, and you should be fine.