Gayle, Oooh! A sequel already!! I hope the plants make it. I have a funny (but long, sorry) story about a mail order that went astray way back in the 1980s. We were living in Fort Worth and our home was decorated country-style. I needed new furniture for our den and the PERFECT furniture was in a Spiegel catalog I'd received in the mail. It was exactly the look we wanted, and I hadn't seen anything like it locally, so we ordered it.....a soft, loveseat, coffee table, 2 end tables and lamps. They said it would take 2 months to arrive. Two months passed, and then three. We called Spiegel, who insisted they had shipped it and we should have had it "weeks ago". We waited about 2 more weeks (a total of three-and-a-half months) and called again. They insisted we "should have it" already. Well, of course, we didn't, so they said they would re-ship it. Finally, about 2 or 3 weeks after that phone call, the furniture arrived. Oh happy day! I called them and said "It arrived!" I was happy. They were happy. We thought we were "done". Oh, no, not yet. About a month later, a new shipment arrived. Another soft, love seat, tables and lanps. Uh oh. I called them and said "OK, now we have two." They tried to argue with me and tell me we did not. I assured them that we did. So, the shipping company took it away and Spiegel said they'd take the second shipment off my account. And they did. They took the second shipment off my account. Then they took the first shipment off my account. It took me at least another six months to get them to put the first shipment back ON the account so I could pay for it. It was hysterical....from no furniture to two sets of furniture to two charges for the furniture to none. I think by the time we actually got the whole mess straightened out, it had been a year since we ordered that furniture. It was great stuff too. (Although, when I look at photos of it now, all I can say is, well, it WAS the 80s after all. LOL) We STILL have the coffee table in the "kid's" TV room (even though the "kid" is almost 24 years old now. Dawn

Hi, Susan. It's always dangerous for me to describe situations on my computer when I don't have the right language for it. Thanks for even attempting to decipher what I said. I'll try that again. When I'm corresponding back and forth with someone (or a group of people) about the same topic - let's say, renting a beach apartment - in my inbox, I will see the subject title (that's what I meant by thread - or group of emails) - for the sender's email, it might list the last sender, me - and then have a number in parentheses which shows how many individual emails are grouped together. I do in fact try to sublet a beach apartment - and when I get correspond back and forth with potential renters, gmail groups all the emails together so it shows up in one line in my inbox (with the number of actual emails in parentheses). My confusion is that most of the time, if a new email has been sent on the topic (say at 9pm), that grouping of emails will appear higher up in the inbox - according to the time of the last email. But once in a while, a new email is sent - but the entire grouping is not placed chronologically according to the time of the last email. So I may get a new email and not realize it bc. the entire grouping of emails stays further down in my inbox - where I might not see it at first. If I checked my email say eight hours earlier, I tend to only look for emails that came in the last eight hours. But sometimes an email comes in the last eighthours - but is grouped further down in the inbox according to the time of an earlier email - so I don't realize it's there bc. it's not with the latest eight hours of emails. I hope that makes sense. I wasn't saying anything about having two different labels on a thread - but I appreciate you making that point - it's good to know that it would appear under both labels - and show up as already read even if it's under the other label. It's also good to know that archived messages also appear in groupings of emails under the same label. I hadn't gotten that far yet - but it's good to know. Thanks. Lynn.

Making a phone list was the first thing I ever used Excel for, about ten years ago or more. I quickly discovered instead of listing name first to list the ten digit phone number since that column will always be the same size. And it is easy to keep alphabetized since a new entry can be inserted anywhere. I've never re-typed the list once. Just add or delete to the original. I print copies and three hole punch to put into a folder by our phone. Shrunk another copy to half size for the glove compartment of my car. At some point I started using the tabs at the bottom of the page to make new pages for: medical, school #'s, stores & restaurants, car info (insurance & parts & mechanics) and at least 5 or 6 more catagories. It is probably the most useful thing (even though it is fairly simple) I've ever done on the computer. The other very successful Excel file I started ten years ago was for medical appointments. I made a few columns that I fill in each time I schedule and complete an appointment. When I get the Explanation of Benefits in the mail weeks later and wonder what THAT was for I can check my own notes, in laymans terms. I also cross reference if I had a copay or needed some kind of follow up. It has helped me at the end of the year when I've had to claim Flexible Spending Account money. I have a medical condition so it has also been helpful to track my meds. The most helpful book I ever read on organization discouraged the use of PDA's. One of the common negatives that people fed back to her was the inevitable loss of data through a dead battery or "accident". I would never trust my dayplanner, medical history or address book to a PDA. At least on Excel you can have a hard copy printed out. I also have a copy on a flash drive. And I'm not that computer saavy!

So true, John! Think if you’d replaced her immediately. You’d be looking forward to MAC’s spring flush right now! -15F is crazy in zone 7. She grows so quickly that if you were ever to lose her again, you could still replace here a third time. It’s not ideal, of course, but better than not haven’t the pleasure of a love affair with MAC at all. You really should go for it, John. Life IS short. I’m certainly glad I took a chance, and kept mine. There’s something about her that’s so elegant. There’s no one who sees her that doesn’t like her. Because I don’t want much of her growing to the right, those canes I shortened bloom down lower. She has blooms high and low, which always makes for a nice look. I was a bit daunted when Melissa said her tiny thing is now 20F in BOTH directions! I think a good portion of my MAC is growing straight up, and then arching some. The one thing I don’t want, is for her to touch the roof. The tree rats have increased in number over the past year or two. I can’t handle the thought of giving them easy access to the house. Lisa