I keep a list of the seed varieties I'm planning to WS and then estimate the # of containers/jugs of each seed type I think I'll WS. For example, I know after seeing the hummingbird more often this year I want to go heavy on Lobelia cardinalis/cardinal flower. I traded for seed to supplement what I harvested from my WS plants and have enough to WS 6-10 milk jugs. I've still got plenty of room to plant out lots more LC in a few beds so I'll go heavy with those. Last year I WS ten jugs of blackberry lily so I don't need to do those this year. I'll only do 1-2 jugs of Verbascum/mullein because the ones I WS last year will bloom in 2012. I've gotten very low germination from columbine the past two WS seasons and will sow those extra heavy this year. Apple & pear germinated 100% as did dogwood. I have more seeds and will WS them this year since I lost two mature dogwood trees to the October snowstorm. I'll WS as many jugs as I have turtlehead seeds. They were a hit with the bumblebees. I keep WS until I look at my pot ghetto and decide, "That's enough."

MK, hope you are feeling better. I think we all can relate to the pain that you have been through. We all remember those wisdom teeth.... awwy Thanks for the compliments on the pictures. About the sunflowers, no I am not planting any this year as I just kinda stuck with the basics, peas & corn. My wife has two raised beds of tomatoes. My life long best friend is in about the same shape as me, but he owns a dealership and I don't, so he sent the Club Car down to me. He came down this past week (from Warner Robins) and we rode around for 4 hours looking at our childhood. My butt was so sore I could barely get up the next day! Aw, come on... let hubby get a golf cart... then take it away from him.... like my zero turn mower... I am not even allowed on it and it was suppose to be for me! Birds... like the good son that always sent his mom & dad something at Christmas as he travelled all over the world. This past year he sent him an exotic bird from South America and later phoned to check on it. He asked his dad if he got the bird. Dad replied, "yep, and it was delious too". The son almost yelled at him and said "Dad, that was an exotic bird, expensive amd spoke two languages". Dad said, "Well, he should have spoke up then". ESH, this is like old times getting to message you back and forth. The cart is nice, just plug it in and charge the batteries every few days. The dog loves to ride with my wife. Will ride with me sometimes. It is a dog pound dog, but made a home here as did the other dog, both have been fixed. BMMALONE, thanks for the remarks on the pictures. I took them from the club car. Actually, my wife can take better pics than I, but she was at work. Someone has to work in the family... You called me young man, I am 64 if you call that young. Guess it is a relative term. The rain has been missing us for the past few days. I've heard that you should cut back on watering corn when it is near maturing. If I get a mess of corn in a week or two I will take a pic of it and post it. Shot

Are you going to stain or paint your doors? I know you're trying to make the room feel homey while you're finishing things, but I think I'd wait until you get the trim up, finished and the walls painted. I like teacups idea of doing a shelf across your doors. But again I would wait and see how it all looks finished. I think the sayings are a great idea, and doing something across the top near the ceiling either using a stencil or wall words is a different look than the wording plaque in the dining area, so I think it's ok to use both. You have a large area, so you have lots of space to spread them out across. I know it's hard to live in a construction zone - I remember how frustrated I got when we redid our kitchen and ripped out soffits and a dead wall between our eating area and kitchen. But, if you make it look too nice, you'll just delay finishing it because it won't look so bad! Once your trim is up and you pick a paint color (I guess I'm assuming your going to paint something other than the white, so if I'm wrong, please excuse my comments!)the area will look so much different. Then do some wall words, and accessories. You might change your mind and not like what you pick out now when it's all done.

maylingsmom - I have the Maytag Bravos XL w/Steam - MVWB755DW. (Model matters - many in this style and not all created equally.) http://www.lowes.com/pd_670292-46-MVWB755DW_1z140bcZ1z11pmg__?productId=50371126&pl=1 I have really bad knees that do not allow me to squat. My back isn't very good either. Budget was under $700 before taxes. Front loaders were out if they weren't going to be raised up on a pedestal and also I wasn't going to wipe out a seal each time. There was only one or two front loaders under $700 here at that time and pedestals were $200! We read reviews until we were blue in the face. One thing we realized about the bad reviews on this particular model was that many of them were based on people not understanding how the HE models work (both TL and FL) so they were docking it for cycle time or not using enough water or it was user error (using too much detergent for a HE, not reading the manual to see how to pause the cycle to open the door), or it seems like they really got a lemon (calling it the loudest machine versus most other reviews praising how quiet it was.) Also, many of the bad reviews talked about having it for years when this particular model (755) hasn't been out that long. With many of the other machines, it seemed like the machines were actually breaking. We crossed our fingers we didn't get a lemon and bough it and an extended warranty. Been pleased ever since although I have had to play around with detergent amount and have figured out powder just may not work for me and our hard water, at least on darks.