It depends...everything seems to be relative. I'm new to African Violets too. My November planting of leaves went through so much with me...I decided to wick the leaves because I knew I had to be gone for a couple weeks. About half the leaves took six weeks to have babies, some a little longer and some a lot longer. My first flower appeared just recently. At one point I decided to dome half the leaves and noticed a big improvement with the doomed leaves and babies. What Montezuma suggested about cutting the peripheral edge--that's so true. I experimented with two of the same kind of leaves and same size, and the leaf I trimmed rooted and had a baby much faster than the leaf that didn't get trimmed. Just want to add, I purchased a Pow Wow plant and planted a few of its leaves. Those leaves had babies within about three weeks--much faster than all the other leaves that I had received in the mail. Pat

all plywood construction with most cabinet companies requires finished ends as stated above. I used to sell Armstrong cabinets and they cheated using a cheap plywood that was a different species of wood then the doors and you had to pay for upgraded wood ends to get the sides of the cabinets to stain right. Cabinets are very specific. So the order is also. A lot of quote programs do not explain the nomenclature to understand it without a book which is annoying. My prokitchen design software which I hate, I ordered 20/20 today! (Been waiting a long time to be able to switch)calculates the trim automaticly if you set it up that way. Any moldings not able to be done in auto mode show up at the end of quote verticaly speaking and those must be entered manually. Every now and then people on here email me to ask questions or see what something I carry might cost. I did a booth at the local home show here in Northern Va last week. I have been chasing my tail for the last week to get back to normal. I have not been quick to respond in the last week to anyone. In my case it is not my norm. Big kitchens are not always easier or more profitable as a hard fast rule. Little kitchens are much faster to layout as there are not as many choices of how to use the space. The large ones I spend more time deciding how to layout the use of the space. Sounds to me like you need better communication somehow with these people to truly understand them and they you so you can get on a good foot with them. You need to better understand the quote to know if it has mistakes or not and how to get thru the design and process with them.

Get a detailed bid! We hired painters for the first time last year because of a time crunch getting the house ready for DS wedding. They bid the whole job...big mistake! But since we'd never used painters before we didn't know. Our job consisted of painting the LR, DR, foyer, stairs, and upstairs hall. Some wallpaper needed to be removed from stairs and foyer. We also asked them to sand the stair treads which were rough looking. They were supposed to do two coats but did one because we found holidays. We specified BM Regal Select and they used the builder grade and a cheaper brand altogether on the ceiling. They never sanded the stairs and when we pointed it out, the guy whips out a small piece of sandpaper...any idiot would know a power sander was required. They had to come back to paint the inside of a closet they forgot to do. Also, a no brainer when we paint but apparently not for "professionals" they merely painted around the chandelier and did not undo it for 15 minutes to paint under the plate. When we went to replace it...surprise! The new plate was smaller and we did not have the paint to fill in so had to purchase a decorative plate to cover it. We aren't the types to complain, but we did in this instance. We managed to get some $ knocked off the bill but I think it should have been more. If the bid was more detailed we could have better pinpointed what charges should be reduced. This company had high marks on AL and from the Ben Moore store. My advice...get a separate price for each room and details for each room..i.e in DR remove wallpaper $500, prep, $200, two coats paint $400 and so on....then, if they screw up the DR only, you negotiate on the $1100. I would also have them include how many cans are needed for two coats in each room and then I would purchase the paint myself, tell them not to throw out any cans, even empty, and inventory at the end of the day when they leave. I understand that not everyone has the time or inclination to paint, but of all the trades it is the biggest rip off because most people can do it themselves (unlike electrical, plumbing)with good results, yet it is so expensive to have done. I don't ever plan to hire it out again...we could have done a better job ourselves and saved a few thousand dollars.

I'm not sure how it was first developed. I don't think I've ever noticed a distinct graft line. At the same time, the plant has grown before what I will call suckers. The plant would always do much better after pruning them. I can take closer pics tomorrow to share.