Fred - thank you for you generous suggestion. I lost my The King - managed to sell all my babies - but probably I can a leaf from one our Master Judges. Janet Reimer sent me "Frankie" which is supposed to be Max Maas blue of choice. "Sashah" is unkillable, "Becky" is lovely as well a "Tina". But my beloved is "Maas' Janet". I am saying "wow" every time it blooms. I do not have Maas' Memories anymore - in my conditions it grows XXX-large and it drops the bloooms immediately. It is highly floriferows - but what i see mostly - is the bare bloomstalks whith no flowers. For whatever reason all Rob's trailers grow fabulous for me, some of his semis too, but not all, some get eversuckery, and Ma's varieties are never spectacular for me. I just love Rob's Boondoggle - and it is always in bloom and it always super floriferous and holds flowers forever. It seems to me that the closer to your conditions the hybridizer lived - the better the violets do for you. I got some standard Russian trailers - and they superperform for me - and for my friends in Florida - who are beter growers than me - they barely grow. Irina

When we had the kitchen in our first house remodeled--about 14 years ago, our builder took me aside and informed me that one of his crew had a dissolute youth and had served time for second degree murder(bar fight gone VERY wrong), and if I didn't feel safe with the ex-con in my house, then the builder wouldn't assign him to my job, but that the builder would vouch for the guy. I'd met the guy--and he was one of the sweetest people I've ever met. AND an amazing carpenter. I let him work at my house. I was 30 and had two kids under 5. Why? I'm not sure--except that I know people are capable of changing. And if felons can't do honest work--what ARE they going to do? That said, if my builder hadn't "fessed up"--and I'd found out on my own--it might have been a different story. I don't know. Just another way of looking at the "criminal record" thing. OH--and I don't think there's a deductable for stealing and breakage when a company is bonded. It's not like it's YOUR homeonweners that is covering it! melanie

Looks like you've already decided and I'm late chiming in but I simply can't resist. I love igloochick's answer, but I think her case is just a bit different than yours. Your potter's wheel is not outdated or non-working, it's just not being used at the moment. And unless it's costing you something to keep it, I don't see any reason to let it go. My name is lowspark and I'm a pack rat. Yeah, I am. So who am I to give advice? Well the point is, if it's easy to get rid of it with no agonizing then it's time to get rid of it. But any agonizing at all means keep it. I kept my fine china from my first marriage long after I'd divorced. Why? Emotional ties -- I hardly ever used it when I was married but afterwards, I never used it. It finally came to the point where I thought about it and said, OK, I'm ready to let go. At that point, there was no decision, no hemming & hawing, no wondering if I was doing the right thing. I didn't want them anymore, done deal. I sold it all on ebay and the money I got went into my Remodel The Kitchen Fund. So, when the decision is hard, that means keep it. When it's really time to let go, if that time ever comes, you won't have to come post here, you'll just know it's ok and it will go. Good for you for making (what I think is) the right decision.

We went together to get my set. Very simple brushed silver band with a VERY small solitaire diamond. $103.00 and took most everything my DH had at the time! I got his on our first anniversary , as it took me that long to save for it. When you are 16 and 18 years old money didn't come easy. My DH had to stop wearing his years ago due to it catching on something and nearly tore his finger off. We thought we had misplaced it for years and both looked time and time again thru the years for it. Last week my DH mentioned that now that he is retired he would love to have his ring. So I looked for the hundredth time in my jewelry box and there it was! I was stunned that it was there all along and neither of us could find it. Being my 60th birthday was in a few days I knew the best gift I could ever get would be the look in my DH's eyes when I gave it to him along with a new one as the first was so badly worn and split. As we went to dinner for my birthday I had him stop the car as I had something I just had to show him. He was as stunned as I and we shared many tears together! It truly was the most wonderful birthday ever!