Wow, thanks for all the comments! I can't link the approved plant list, since it's on our HOA website which requires a login. I have it as a .pdf file, but can't think of any way to get it up here for you to see...it's pretty boring anyway :) Emu bush, southern live oak, chitalpa, willow acacia, chocolate flower, salvias, etc. are sadly not allowed. We really would prefer emu bush and live oak to the choices I posted above. We like desert willow, but half the houses on the street have them :( Agave parryi is one that we've considered; it actually is approved. I really like agave pelona (not on the approved list...maybe I can hide it behind something!), but I've read it's a bit picky and may be difficult to grow successfully. The closer we put the aloe ferox to the house, the more afternoon shade it will get. I've seen it kept in full sun in some nurseries around here, but Bach's has it under light shade cloth and theirs looked the best. I'm really excited about this plant...I hope it works! My wife says the texas rangers have to go. Really, they don't hide anything all that much. The houses are just too close together for that. Maybe the HOA won't pick up on the difference between live oak and emory oak; I actually had to look at the tags to tell them apart. Gambel oak (quercus gambelii) is also approved, but we were told it wouldn't hit 10 feet. Toyon (heteromeles arbutifolia) is approved and would be cool, but I can't find anywhere to buy it. Gah, why can't anything be easy? Thanks for all the help.

Bunny I'm sorry the ick is running amuck in your household. Good thing the little ones can bounce back faster then us. I am amazed at how fast they can recoup and it takes us a WHOLE lot longer. I guess that is the price you pay for getting older. Thanks for the tips, but I don't like raspberry anything and for some reason just this year peppermint makes me sick I just can't stand the flavor anymore, and I LOVE peppermint candy canes! Don't know WHAT I am gonna do about that this Christmas, BUT I am thinking it is just the gum I was trying to chew. It was the extreme flavor burst stuff and it was overwhelming! Really turned my stomach though, so I am thinking it was just TOO much flavor from the gum. I will have to try to find some lavender oil to check that out. I am prone to sore throats, sinus issues and all which usually turn into a sore throat OR bronchitis which I have chronic bronchitis. SO ANYTIME I start getting sick I can almost always bet on a bout with that. That is ALWAYS fun to have too (yeah, ummm NOT!!!) NIKKI....I went outside while ago to just sit and stare at my seed babies I started. THEY are just sitting there too! I talked to my mom a few minutes ago and told her that, she said and THEY WON'T DO ANYTHING AS COLD AS THE NIGHTS ARE....bring them in the house! So I went outside after talking to her to "look" at them to try to figure out IF I want to go that route...I SHOULD have waited a bit before trying to start them BUT I wanted to see what they would do...oh well, I KNEW better, I WAS hoping the cold wouldn't reach us until Nov! Then they would have had time to do something. Deb, honey, how are you? How is your mom? I am sure you are busy with her this week. Just know that I am thinking of you both. Hoping for a speedy recovery with the surgery and praying all else falls into place and she is completely well soon. Vic, how was your first day at work? All is good I hope, hopefully this is your job you were hoping for. Mariann, I hope you are feeling better honey, I know how bad it was. Are you finally sleeping better now? Marie, just thought I would say HI!!! HI! lol. Kym, glad you cleaned out your email. I will shoot you a line just so you will have my new email addy so you won't have to go searching for it. How are you by the way? diene, how is your weather and you? Hope you are well. Haven't heard much from you lately. How's it going? Ok ya'll, you know it is less then a week away now...ARE WE READY???? I know you are Deb,,,hehe. Ok, guess I have said enough, and I like, Bunny prolly need to go lay back down...ugghhh!!! I HATE BEING SICK!!!! This is the 3rd stinking time this month! Seriously thinking about holding my nose and downing some Red Raspberry leaf tea! Or the extract......if it will boost me up, Bunny you SURE it will help? (grumbling, I really DON't LIKE raspberry, but I am WILLING to TRY anything at the moment)Humm, Bunny? Will it? Will it really? :) Fran

Have I told you all lately that I think you're wonderful? I do, and this thread is putting a smile on my face. Mari ~~ I think you're right. Since I can't save money here by DIY, it's time to sell a bunch of stuff around here I don't need any more. When I'm done with that I should make some things to sell. But it's sure good to be able to do for ourselves, isn't it? I'm so impressed by all the reupholstery you've done. You're a real whirlwind! I wish you lived next door; we could help each other and have fun together. How much time did it take you to do all that? Jen ~~ haha! I love your sense of humor. I hope the bill doesn't make me faint. I've been putting my veterinarian's kids through college lately. I may need that fainting couch for its original purpose. Do you have one? I so enjoy your web site and all the pics of the wonderful things you've done. I'd love to go junking with you. Patricia ~~ very wise words and this grandmother can identify with every one of them, unfortunately. It's always a struggle between balancing time, money, and physical wherewithall. Seems we never have enough of any of them, doesn't it? Your post is a great reminder to use what we have before we lose it. It's funny how a bunch of things we thought when we were younger didn't turn out to be so true, isn't it? 20-20 hindsight doesn't do much good. Mona ~~ That was beautiful fabric, wasn't it? I had fabric for the f.c. already. But I bought the other fabric because it looked so good, and also thick and sturdy as that piece wouldn't do in curtain weight. It arrived and didn't look anything like the computer picture. I was a fool to not order a swatch. I'm hoping I can sell it and recoup some of my loss. I'm going to go with my original fabric. It doesn't seem to photograph well, but when I laid it across my newly upholstered red sofa it absolutely sang with richness and beauty. I really like it. Thanks for your comments about the gimp. I'll think about learning to live with it if I can't find a good way to fix it. Are you going to be buying that Waverly and using it on something? Igloo ~~ that's an interesting story. It must have been heartbreaking when your lovely piece got damaged in the move. I don't blame you for wanting to warn perspective buyers. Your honesty and decency are admirable. Now, can we set up a way to warn other women about a particular man? Nikii ~~ No kidding! The never-ending recalls are scary. I don't remember things ever being this bad before. Someone in power isn't allocating money for enforcement. I'll think of you when I'm eating dog food at my antique table and raise my glass of water in a toast to you! I have a link to a chart of which dog foods are best if you're interested. hehe Amy ~~ haha. I don't know where you heard that. It's my understanding in the days when fainting couches came into fashion women wore enormously heavy skirts with about 15 yards of fabric in them, and whalebone corsets cinched in so tight they couldn't breathe. Think of Mammy cinching up Scarlett O'Hara in that corset. They aimed for an 18" waist on an adult women! All that cinching shoved one's internal organs around and caused deformity that sometimes caused complications with childbirth. I learned from a woman who collected and sold antique garments that those "Cinderella" type skirts were so heavy that they were not attached to the bodice. They would have ripped the stitching right out. She showed me where the bodice was a separate piece. Can you imagine being dressed in all that on a hot summer day instead of your shorts and sandals? You bet they fainted!

Oak, The only thing that bugs me is the coverlet edges draped on the floor Yes, of course....as it says right in the first post, the beds are too low for the bedspread and that will need to be addressed. Thicker mattress, higher frame, wheels, IDK If the quilt is used as a coverlet and the bed is slept in, it will ruin the quilt. How so? It has been used and washed many times. Interesting so much focus on the quilt! Just an old thing I grabbed to put at the end of the bed for when DD2 arrived tonight. I guess I could look for another. Hold the hate, but I think quilts really read dated and fussy and are actively disliked by many. I also have no need for one. Two throws, if I pick the right color, could be useful in Maine. I also think throws at the foot of a bed should be nice and thick, kind of mimicing the volume of the pillows at the other end. LOL BBSTX, point taken Any chance you might use the quilt as the coverlet and get another one (not matching) for the other bed? Don’t use the white bedspreads and you won’t need to raise the beds. It will have a more vintage look to have low beds in the room. Oh, they are not white, they are a tan and white mattress ticking which I like a lot in person and can re-use. I do prefer cast iron beds when they are open underneath .... but, as I said in the old thread, that only works if the bed frame, which is then visible, is attractive. Not the case here.... and I may even need to hide risers.