Well Ta Daaaaaaaaaa!!! Last Snowflake wins by a landslide. I figured it would since it just has to be my most favorite in the garden. Thanks for your votes, this was fun. Last Snowflake has to be my favorite Stamile daylily so far. I love all the early blooming daylilies and the eyed ones, but somehow this one just tugs at my heartstrings. If you don't have it, get it, it will not let you down. Ann had to get it last year after I raved about it, but I don't think hers has bloomed yet. Mary, I just cannot give Fringy away, it was too expensive, I know you were joking. I do have very many seed pods from Fringy, I put its pollen on anything fancy. Ann and I are working on a trade this fall, she is sending me a Talledaga fan for a Fringy fan. Dot

In the past, I would always pull up such tiles and start from scratch. I hate thinking how much asbestos I breathed in over the years renovating. They can still be pulled up safely following procedures detailed in the Inspectapedia link below and in sub-links to the University of Minnesota etc. But if the tiles are intact, I would use one of the isolating/insulating underlayments--extruded polystyrene, Delta FL, Dricore (or any of their equivalent competitors) and your floor covering of choice. The problem with just covering the tile with another finished floor are several. If any of the underlying tiles are loose, it will hard to secure the new floor; tiles may telegraph through the new surface; vapour impervious coverings will accumulate water that will feed mould; and you haven't created a way to handle water vapour drive upward through the concrete floor. Spend the extra money and do it right. Here is a link that might be useful: Floor Tiles That May Contain Asbestos

Well ladies, let me tell you some of my secrets...before my DH and I got married his mother did EVERYTHING for him, made all his meals, snacks, etc...I mean the man couldn't even pour himself a glass of milk...his mom would shoo him away and do it for him. He would take his dirty clothes off to shower and by the time he was done his mom had already picked all of them up and she was waiting to take care of his wet towel. Well, the first time he showered after we were married and left his stuff all over the bed and floor I informed him that I was his wife, not mother, and I would NOT be picking up after him. If he wanted to have someone pick up after him, he could move back home with his mom. It worked, he's never left wet towels or dirty clothes laying around. LOL As far as kids go, it's a lot easier to train them when they are little. Our last house was a ranch and since I would pass by their rooms all the time they had to keep them neat. My DD would complain all the time when she was young that she couldn't wait until she moved out so she could keep her mess out all over the place. She did keep her locker at school messy. When she moved to the dorm and had a messy roommate she discovered that she really did like having things neat and clutter-free! My DS was a little harder to train though...so I allowed him to have a "junk" drawer in his room and maybe 2 or 3 times a year I would make him clean it out. Now we live in a colonial and once I wake up in the morning, shower and dress I don't see their rooms cause I'm on the main floor or in the basement so a mess wouldn't bother me now but I have them trained so well that they still keep things neat and clutter free!!!! Sneaky huh? Sorry, it is harder for you Maria because they are already set in their ways, it will be hard to make them see the light and start keeping things clean! WHAT I CAN DO FOR SOMEONE IS....take pics of your mess and post it to photobucket or something like that, then send an e-mail to me with your link, and I will take a look at them and make some suggestions about how you could organize it. E-mail: OneBigDave@sbcglobal.net Of course, if you live close enough, I could come see you! Barb

Yknow, IMHO, I wish we all could drop the "D" word from our vocabulary. If we love it , if its well made, if its functional - then a place can be found for it, period. In other words - your china cab is just fine, and it does look good on the side rather than viewed head on. That said of course we like our rooms freshened up now and then - but I think you can jazz it up in other ways incl choosing a new color ILOVE greens/browns/tans, but the pea soup color Im kind of tired of. (or so it looks on my monitor anyway, which has been known to be wrong.) Definitely think about going deeper richer. Dont know if Penny's or Anglo's deep dark colors are good for you but it gives you an idea at least of what deeper/richer could do for you. If all else fails maybe you could just take the living room color and just go a few steps darker/more intense with it. Let the DR be cozy and intimate complete w/ a big china cabinet - why not? The DR should relate well to the LR, and that would be one way of doing it. Minor quibble - I would think about that wall space where the china cab was - is there a third pic that could fit in there? With cabinet moved, that wall becomes very significant. Not liking just the two pics , needs to be 3 I think..... Or some other wall decor or arrangement .... minor thing, so perhaps just wait for the inspiration or right thing to come along.