Well, this is a strange topic for any forum so why am I compelled to answer? Will I regret it? I change the sheets every Saturday when the family are home to help. When the kids were little, I told them that they needed a ticket to watch the Saturday morning cartoons. The ticket was their sheets and towels and laundry baskets. And the TV didn't go on til EVERYONE had brought their stuff downstairs. Lots of peer pressure going on but good habits were instilled, so I thought. They left my home with those good laundry habits. Pride goeth before a fall, however. I had the exact same experience as others have posted. Dropping our older son at college, weeping profusely, I made his dorm bed with the brand-new sheets I had so carefully chosen. Oh, the agony of parting. When we picked him up in May at the end of the school year, he informed me that not only had he never made his bed since I had in September, he had never washed the sheets even once. Gag.

this is my system. Neuter the flower by using scissors to cut just the open pollen casings(anther -- stamen). I do this by putting an envelope (I re-use the paper ones my bills come in- so I have plenty! :)) just below the pollen, covering the pistil to avoid dropping the pollen onto it. Record the flower name on the outside and place it in the door of the fridge. I would then select a donor pollen, use tweezers to remove pollen from the envelope and apply it to the pod parent (like all the highly scientific tools and terms?)usually several days in a row. As far as record keeping I cut plastic blinds (from the thrift store- 50 cents or so) into 2" lengths (easily done with scissors), punch a hole in them with a paper punch and label with a pencil (easily re-used by wetting and erasing with a regular pencil eraser). Pod parent first with pollen parent second (pod- "Novella X Picotee> -pollen). Use a twist tie to tie it just at the base of the flower close to the main stem. Rather unsightly for show but highly effective when pollinating all the flowers with different pollen. I could have 4 crosses on one scape all different donating parents and never lose track. About 5-6 weeks later when the pod is ripe I then cut the pod off with the label and again store it in a paper envelope. I test germinate 10 by planting in seed starter mix and newspaper tubes under lights. Generally I get 80% germination. (hence all the babies). I trade, and sell the seeds. last year I had about 3000 seeds! A few too many for the spare room. I have also successfully used the water germination method. Float the seeds in water. It is okay for them to touch but not overlap. I keep an eye on the water and add or change most of the water. You should start seeing results in about 10-14 days. What I don't like about this method is transplanting the seeds with such a fragile root into soil. I find it more finiky (that a word?) than just straight into soil. When I plant them in the soil I stick the fat end of the seed, papery covering and all, into the soil standing it upright (vertically). Really good results and very strong seedling. The soil method takes much longer to see results. I believe up to 6 weeks for some, even in the same batch. All depends on your patience level. I found unsuccessful pollination occured when I applied pollen only once and then there is that diploid issue which I have not figured out yet. One of these days I will do research on it. I remember quite some time ago it was mentioned in some news group but I didn't know enough then to understand let alone ask an intelligent question. I do know it would explain why Papillo butterfly did not cross with anything that I tried. Having mentioned Papillo butterfly. I bought two from RC last year and gave the one with the scape to my mother for Christmas. The second one came with some rot, I notified them (and was told on my next order they would fix the problem- and they did on the next order!) I did not get flowers of course on that one. This year I only got leaves again! I thought I read somewhere here that they can be difficult to get to rebloom. Any suggestions of how to get it to perform?

I have a 3 y/o and matte paint. I'm perpetually familiar with the oiled handprints that are all over my walls. I use a barely damp microfiber cloth (half damp, half dry). Rub the damp part over the marks just once or twice, then rub with the dry part. I've found that by rubbing with the dry, and sort of feathering out the moisture, I can avoid a lot of the "swirl" marks that water can leave on the paint. That takes care of almost everything. If something is left that isn't fixed that way, I usually just touch up the paint. One of the perks of matte paint.

If it's a wet or fibrous seed (tomato, winter squash, cantaloupe, etc.), I remove as much gel, pulp, or fiber as I can, then put the seeds in a sieve. I hold the sieve under running water and rub the seeds against the mesh of the sieve. This removes a lot of the fibers and loosens most of the rest. Then I put the seeds in a bowl of water, where it's easy to pick off the floating or large remaining fibers. Put the seeds on a plate and once dry, it's easy to pick off any remaining fiber or pulp, if at all. Some seeds (verbena bonariensis, ageratum, native aster, etc.) are so tiny, it's almost impossible (for me) to remove all the chaff. I put them in several sized sieves and shake, shake, shake over a plate. Take the plate outside and gently blow on the seeds a time or two. This removes some, but not all chaff. More than a time or two of gently blowing sends seeds away with the chaff, so I don't overdo it. On seeds like this, I write on the packet: :"Contains chaff. Sow with chaff." Some seeds (columbine, poppy) simply need to have their "seed cups" turned upside down over a bowl and the seeds fall out, chaff free. Others (four o'clocks. sunflowers) just need to be picked off the plant. Welcome to the hobby of seed saving! It's quite rewarding.