I'm Ania from Southern CA. I live with my boyfriend and 2 of our own little terrier dogs (also known as terrors) and a third foster terrier. We just purchased a house a year ago so this is my second year gardening. Until we bought the house, I was one of those people that would kill every plant that was in my care. I'm trying to change that and I have several houseplants that have lived a year for me now. For me, that's good. I did some landscaping on the property last year and well, let's just say I did it again this year with plants that would actually work for the area. They are working so far. I grew a few things in pots last year with limited success. I started really late a got a just a few tomatos from 3 plants that got attacked by hornworms, some Jalapeno's and Cubanelles and some Okra. My herbs did well and I had a lot of basil and still have pineapple sage and mint from last year. I tried, unsuccessfully to grow eggplant as well. This year, I decided to actually learn how to garden and here I am. This year I'm growing 8 varieties of tomatoes, several varieties of peppers, a couple of eggplants, tomatillos, several squash and zucchini, green onions, lima beans, and a few other things all in containers. I am also just now sprouting chard and amaranth. I also have a lot of herbs growing. I made some big mistakes to start with and got a late start on some things but all is going fairly well. I'm really glad to have found this place so I can learn and maybe I can know what I'm doing with this gardening stuff one day. Ania

Hi Gang!! I am Carolyn from Charleston...8 miles from the Edge of America. I grew up in Oklahoma and came from farming and gardening ancestry. I never understood why all the pictures of my Grandma's were always standing with their gardens. I remember my little 90 pound Grandma who was nearly blind standing in front of a bed of zinnias looking like she was in a glamour show. And my other Grandma stood in front of her roses like the winner of a lottery! NOW I get it!! What an awesome heritage. They loved to garden and it was perfectly natural to stand in front of their pride & joy. (Bonks self on head) Me?? I never fully appreciated the joys of gardening until about 8 years ago. Was a Submarine Navy wife and never lived anywhere long enough to plant much. Then when we moved to "The Shoe" (my home...you see I am a single parent of 8) I found my bliss. I love my kids and I love teaching them all about nature. What an awesome life I live... Crazy but so what? I have 2 sons at The United States Merchant Marine Academy at King's Point, NY. 2 down 6 to go. WAHOO!! I love to find junk and make art, press flowers, paint on tiles, mailboxes, cook and entertain...anything to keep from housecleaning! BTW...I am the lucky winner of this months GardenWeb Mystery Plant Contest!! Now how cool izzat?! Check out my pix... Gardninlady PS When I grow up, I want to be retired!! Here is a link that might be useful: My Photo Albums ~~~you will

Satisfaction. Why is that such a hard thing to acheive? I have a giant debt of gratitude to my husband and my maker that I had the opportunity, even if just once, to do exactly as I pleased in a space, and if I think about it long enough, I'm humbled that I get to focus on something that can be argued to be so frivolous in the grand scheme of things. I can only say that because I'm probably the worst offender of the question you asked. I fretted so much during the process that I finally had a friend order me to "STOP LOOKING" at all design publications, online or otherwise. I'm a creative producer by trade, so it was hard for me to separate the need to be cutting edge vs. the need to make this something I could love for 20 years if need be. Did I make some choices I regret? Yep. I'm already wondering if my exterior countertops are too "of the moment grey" and the implication of what that will mean with the passing of the grey renaissance in approximately 5-7 years. I also am certain antique brass hardware is going to be the rage in 2-3 years. If I let myself go there, I'll be practically paralyzed. So, I'm just going to QUIT LOOKING and be satisfied. Yep, I went into safetymode on some things... but luckily for me, in the Deep South, some of my more cutting edge flirtations were so out of the norm, they were price prohibitive. And the more I think of it, I'm glad my current kitchen was price prohibitive for me 10 years ago... otherwise it would have been a giant concrete block with no grace but lots of street cred ;)

As a friend of mine says, I'm on their speed dial. I've gotten called a LOT of times. Several of those times it was when I was a student or SAHM so I never went even though I always wanted to. Then finally I got called when I could go and I went. And I got picked. And it was horrible. It was a case of child abuse involving the sexual abuse of three children by mom's bf with the knowledge, acceptance and partial participation by the mom. We had to hear the most excruciating testimony, some of which still haunts me, and this was something like 18 or 19 years ago. The next time I got called, about two years later, it was a case of a boyfriend holding a gun on his girlfriend. I guess it was just too soon after the last time but I did not want to hear any gory details about their relationship. So I spoke up and said that I could not convict someone based on "his word against hers" and they let me go. After that I served on a jury for a drug case where I learned all about street terminology and how to tell if a drug deal is about to go down. The case was fine but there was one woman on the jury who was an attention seeker and she made us spend an inordinate amount of time getting her to agree to the verdict and sentence. Ugh. The third case I served on was in municipal court. We handed down a verdict of guilty with maximum fine on a speeding ticket. We all wanted to throw the guy in jail or at least give him a bigger fine for wasting all of our time. The lawyer asked a lot of stupid questions. Repeatedly. And the place where the guy got caught is a notorious speed trap. What a pain! Oh well. If (when) they call me again, I'll go. And serve if picked. I just don't need to be privy to the horrors that go on in people's homes so please, no more cases like that!