> So what are the things that persuade you to loosen your purse strings? I'm such a sucker for plants that I don't need any incentives. Just show me the plant, and if it sounds/looks good I'll buy it. I get attached to certain favorite local nurseries, and feel responsible for their survival; so if I buy something from Mahoney's, which is not on my list of favorites, then I have to buy 2 things from Pondscapes and 3 from Flower Garden Nursery. My plea to the local nurseries is this: 1. Please keep increasing your stock of unusual plants, not just 6 packs of marigolds. 2. Please tell me if the tree I'm about to drop a couple hundred bucks on is grafted, and what its rootstock is, and whether said stock is likely to sprout and ruin my new tree. 3. Don't bother with mixed colors in your selection of annuals, I can mix and match if I want to but if I NEED deep red snapdragons a mix isn't going to cut it. And a special request to the shop that specializes in seedlings, Twin Gardens: please don't grow the invasive varieties, even though they're so much easier for you. If I'd known that Summer Pastels Achillea and the species Anise Hyssop (Agastache, but not the hybrid Blue Fortune) would take over every available inch of my garden, I'd have stayed clear of them.

Thank you! You people are great to bounce ideas off of, and help to get perspective on issues! I wrote the seller this afternoon and told him I would like his response. He finally replied, and says that shipping will be $24, and he has to fill out paperwork. I don't get that.. this is a very small item, 7 tiny tubes of watercolor paints that would fit in a small box or a 8inch bubble envelope! Considering that I frequently send the large bubble envelopes with 1kg of items to Australia for a cost of $34, and they arrive within 10 days, something is wrong with his estimate! Moonshadow, this is for seven 14 ml tubes of Winsor Newton artists watercolor (not Cotman). I told him I would expect that for that shipping cost, it would include a rigid box for packing, and a tracking number. He offered to ship them to a US address or give me a refund, but for some reason didn't say he would agree to me paying the shipping directly to me. I do want the paints, I don't think I trust him to ship them unless it is with a tracking number, and if I'm paying that much, I will insist on one! DawnP, such a nice offer! The person in the US that I could have them sent to is a business associate of my DH, but he travels for work a lot and isn't always easy to reach. I might take you up on that offer, but hopefully the seller will be reasonable. He does risk negative feedback, and I would hope he doesn't want to risk getting any. Flyleft, that is terrible what you went through! I don't understand how people can be so horrible to others! I'll keep you posted (no pun intended).

Try the Polyblend grout at Home Depot in Nutmeg. It's a stock color and should be on the shelf. I used that on a project with a red travertine tile backsplash for a client and it turned out great. BTW, it dries about two shades lighter than it's appearing on my monitor screen and that's about a half shade lighter than the in store actual grout samples show. Which is a good thing, because I thought it might be a little dark. But, it was the better choice between special ordering Quarry Red or going elsewhere and coming up empty as well. Here is a link that might be useful: Polyblend Nutmeg

That is a good buy on the Mammoths. I found a Croc Outlet store yesterday at Discover Mills near Atlanta. I got the Beach Croc for $9.99. Got a pair of Disney Crocs for Lucas for $9.99 and a pair of Crocs for Erica. Her's were marked $19.99 but they rang up an extra $5 discount so they were only $14.99. I wanted the Disney ones with the mouse ears for her too but they didn't have her size. I wish I'd had more time in the store but I had to meet DH at the other end of the mall for lunch. (He had been to Bass Pro.) Linda