Jojo..Thank you so much..:-)Nope, no more blonde moments and Mom send you a a big hello! She tells me she may want to visit you if we head to Arizona...:-) Jodik..Thank you for your common sense in understanding it was simply a mistake in forgetting to water, and thank you for your confidence in my ability to nurse them back to health..I couldn't of done this without the mix I use, or by adding more water retentive material, or the support from all of you...The roots would of rotted by now if the dead fine roots had been allowed to take a long time to sit in a damp mix, especially this time of year. Considering it is not the first time I forgot to water, like 5 years ago when I was using bagged heavy mixes, I still forgot! We know why they came back this time and not in the past.... It is not even inconveniant for me to water in the gritty mix at all,which I can not understand why it would be for anyone. If anything much more so in the crappy heavy mixes that rot plants in a quick amount of time should be! Here is what an inconvenience was to me before I use the mixes I do now.... 1. Having to worry if I was ever going to see my plants dry out before they rotted. 2. Having to replace my plants every time I over watered after I watched the croak. 3. Having to deal with gnats everytime my roots started to rot and mix stayed wet to long and then spend money and weeks on traps trying to rid them. 4. Never being able to leave my room a lot colder like I do now so I can avoid pest issues and encourage flowering because the mix I use to use would not dry out and even develope mold issues. 5. Having to spend money on replacement plants everytime I killed the same one I loved over and over and not being able to locate some again. 6. Having to watch my clay pots turn white from salt depsoits and look ugly. 7. Having to worry about fertilizing and salt burn. 8. Having to watch a plant die, instead of come back after a an under watering mistake, because the roots were to weak to take up water before the mix could dry out causing death. 9. Having to deal with dropping yellow leaves every single winter and through out the growing season because of poor root systems.. Oh, I could keep going, but to me, it was more inconvenient to use crappy mixes, soils, or any other than what I use now.. The only thing for me that I have to worry about is this.. I can't forget to water when needed. I would much rather deal with this one inconvenience than all the other inconveniences brought on my using poor mixes.. Hugs to you too!! Thank you all for all your support and kind words... Pug...:-)))))))))))You are wonderful as always! Mike

Hi Cheryl..Not a problem.. This is something that probably most people would only be able to do if they provide the right conditions for their trees, and keep them on the dry side....You have a greenhouse on your side and this older thread can be very encouraging for you..You have to be pretty brave to do it, even with a great enviroment just like I am when I chop all my plueria tree leaves off like yesterday..lol They also kept their greenhouse very cool, which also helped aliviate the pest's..If you could find someway to crack a window or vents, along with fans would help tremendously with mold issues and allow fresh air.. I had a friend that was so loaded with pest's in his hobby greenhouse the year before last, that he had to throw ALL his plants way and start over, or use dangerous chemical bombs and so on...Of course then, he kept his greenhouse very warm, above the 70's.. Last winter per my suggestion, he kepted that house very cool, I mean kept all the plants that could stand these cold temps, which included citrus, and had not one bug issue...He was so thrilled! He kept the tropicals that could not stand temps lower than the 60's in his home for the winter... Good luck.. Here is the link to it.. Enjoy... Mike. Here is a link that might be useful: Citrus with plucked leaves and wow

Thank you all, it's so nice to have you to understand and be reassuring! I really appreciate the support! When I reread my OP I see it doesn't really express what I'm feeling, and it sounds petty. I really am overwhelmed with it all. I have to take it one step at a time. Today's step is deciding which boards to cut into which pieces for the face frames. It'll take longer than one day for me to figure out, because --- I don't know why, I'm just slow. I really think hormones are playing a role. I'm 52 and some days I just can't think clearly. I'm sure some of you have experienced that! Rhome, thanks for the hug and kind words! You picked right up on my tendency to see things in terms of details, and not the big picture. I have to remember it's the forest, not the trees! Kelleg, boxer, and cotehele, somehow there's comfort in knowing other people have done the same thing. Thanks for telling me about your "perfect" island and Shaw's sink that will not end up in your kitchen, cotehele. There are probably a lot of us who bought, then rejected, perfectly good things because somehow they just weren't right. Imagine the garage sale we could have if we put all our stuff together! Bmorepanic, I love ideas like that. I might try the panel approach, tho the problem is that the doors are curved on the hinge side. I visualize the edges showing on the side of the panels. I'll have to give it more thought. Malhgold, it's funny you asked that about the SS sink. Other than the commercial look, my issue with the sink involved the placement of the DW. The sink has an integral drainboard on both sides, each 15" long. The whole length of the sink has an integral counter, i.e., it's not an undermount or topmount. So the DW (which could be installed on either side) would have had 15" of the SS counter on top of it, and the other 9" of it would be covered by the marble counter. In other words, the DW wouldn't all be under one counter material. It's hard to explain, I hope that makes sense! That bothered me for some reason, it looked wrong. I never installed it, so I can't say whether I liked working with it or not. I will eventually try CL, I'm just procrastinating on that too! Thank you all again. Hope you have a nice weekend!

stxmona Tue, Jan 11, 05 at 7:41 Okay all you vertical glass on glass people - I need help. Last night I decided to grout a couple of bottles that I used Weldbond to prime, Weldbond to glue the glass on and have been sitting for a month. Mix up my grout to about the consistancy of soft cookie dough. Used my hands to apply it to the bottles. This is when the disaster starts...when I began gently rubbing the grout into the grout lines...some of my glass started coming off..okay a few pieces I can fix that. But as I went along more and more came off. Finally I gave up and put the pieces in a bucket of water. HELP - what did I do wrong???? I have NOT grouted anything vertical before. Was my grout to wet? Am I not suppose to rub into the grout line areas? I NEED YOUR ADVICE - I have to grout the fish vase this weekend and am now frighten that the same thing will happen!!! Bianchi2 Tue, Jan 11, 05 at 10:05 klinger Tue, Jan 11, 05 at 11:04 I have used wellbond and silicone for glass on glass. I really prefer the silicone, I am determined to use up the large container of well bond I bought though. I find it needs to sit or a good several weeks before grouting. I have never had any pieces come off when grouting though. It makes me think it hadent cured long enough, and maybe the grout was perhaps too thick. I think soft cookie dough describes a good grout inconsistency though. Is the well bond still showing white at all? If so it isnt dry yet.On smaller pieces I have put them in the oven with just the light on over night, or even with a low temp setting to help this stuff dry. My last large glass on glass window will likely sit for a couple weks before I try to grout it, it is too large for my oven.Cindy RE: Vertical grouting disaster!-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- misacreations Tue, Jan 11, 05 at 18:44 stxmona, I feel for you..that happened to me twice. The first time the piece wasn't glued properly, it was barely holding on. When it happened again I figured out that I was being too aggressive while grouting. I would wipe too hard to get the grout off and my sponge had too much water in it after I rinsed it out. Now, I used a plastic knife and put the grout on like I'm icing a cake. Next, I use a sponge and press the grout into the cracks, gently. I wait a few minutes and then start wiping away the grout. I grout the same or next day I finish a piece, so it doesn't have to be completely dry. I hope this helps you. misacreations Tue, Jan 11, 05 at 19:10 I use Weldbond because I have youngens and I'm pregnant. I'm probably going to try silicone after I have this baby. by: annsb (My Page) on Wed, Jan 12, 05 at 10:35 So from this discussion it seems that for vertical grouting then silicone is the suggested product although Misa has had no problems with weldbond so far! I take it then that if you can lay the piece flat when glueing and grouting then weldbond isn't as much an issue. But silicone might still be a good choice. How do you make sure that no grout gets underneath the glass tiles? And does it matter if a little of the adhesive squirts into the grout space? stxmona Wed, Jan 12, 05 at 10:46 Please ask questions ...it helps everyone!! Haven't had an issue with grout under glass pieces...didn't think it mattered if there is glue in the grout line as long as it is not a large clump....so I can't wait to see how everyone else answers that one!! I have had my vase (to large for oven) on the tiled porch in the direct sun for the last couple of days. I primed with full strength Weldbond (maybe my mistake). Will grout this Saturday so I can work calmly and wholely on it all day if need be...wish me luck!! stxmona Fri, Jan 14, 05 at 11:32 Thought you all would like to see Dawnmarie's reply to my email. Hi Mona, So sorry it took me a few days to get back to you. We are really busy trying to get the SAMA Conference ready to go in D.C. in March and things have been crazy! I am so sorry you had such a disaster with your project. If tiles were "falling off" I suspect is was a combination of two things. Not enough glue AND too much water used during grouting. It might be hard to tell from the glass diary photos on my site but I use ALOT of glue. There is that one picture where it is ooozing up to the surface of the glass tile. Back off just a bit from there and that is how much I use. The glue is usually 1/2 - 3/4 of the way up the side of the piece of glass. Waiting till it was clear was great but if there wasn't enough there to start, you can easily pop tiles off. You also mentioned your grout was soft cookie dough consistency. When using a glass base for a mosaic, you want to back the water down a bit when mixing grout. Soft Cookie dough is great for a terra cotta base, or even sealed marine plywood or cement fiberboard, but for a glass base that will not absorb any of the grout's moisture, you want to go more for Bisquick drop biscuit dough, wet but stiff, almost crumbly. I also do not use wet sponges during the cleaning phase of these glass based pieces. After the initial rubbing of grout, I let it sit for 10 - 20 minutes depending on the temp. in my studio. Then, I mist the piece with a spray bottle and wipe with dry paper towels. Let is sit for another 10-20 minutes and repeat until it is clean. It is on this second wiping, that I dip a gloved finger in a cup of water and smooth the top and bottom edges and leave them undisturbed until the final cleaning. With all the time we spend on a mosaic project, I completely understand how frustrating it is when things go wrong. Weldbond is certainly not the perfect product for every project or every artist. We all have several variables in our own work environments, work styles, materials, etc. that make the task of finding out what works best for the individual artist to complete their vision, the most challenging aspect of the work. For me, it is also the most fun! Best of luck with all your future projects! Feel free to share this with the nice folks on the Gardenweb forum. They have all been very kind to me, I appreciate it! Regards, Dawnmarie Zimmerman What a gracious lady for helping me!!! Below is the link...I did use her method closely for the fish vase.