Okay...more great finds! Like I said, I have my dark clothes ready to go curb shopping with you at night! I agree with everyone...keep the end where you placed it! Looks very nice there! Thanks for sharing your treasures! Kirk

I feel certain it came about because math textbook series about 10 -15 years ago started doing what was called calendar math. It was a way of introducing concepts and revisiting them on a daily basis, usually done at the beginning of the day. One of the big things to do was to count the number of days in school. Everyday, a straw or something used that would visually count that day would be put in a cup (usually part of the calendar display). There would be 3 cups: one for the units or ones (1-9), another for the 10's (10-90) and a third for the hundreds. For example on the 10th day of school, you would already have 9 straws in the units cup. On the 10th day you would add another but now you would band the 10 straws into one group of ten and move it to the tens cup. Ten means "1 ten and 0 units. As the year progresses, you would have say for the 75th day, 7groups in the 10's cup and 5 in the units. On the 100th day, you would already have 99 days in school; 9 groups of 10 in the 10s cup and 9 in the units cup. When you add the 1 straw for the 100th day, you would have 9 groups of 10 in the 10's cup and now 10 straws in the units cup. That means you move the 10 units into a group of 10. Now you have 10 groups in the 10s cup but that makes 100 straws so you band them and move it over to the 100's cup. So now there is one big group of 100, 0 ten's and 0 units. Schools would plan big celebrations about the 100th day of school, all centered around math, like measuring and comparing the length of 100 new crayons to 100 new pencils. Really it all was about math concepts and in this case PLACE VALUE. I loved calendar math in my kindergarten class. It really helped the children. One year I had an average student raise his hand on the 100th day of school when we were talking about what "100" means and he said "if there are 10 tens in 100 then there must be 100 tens in 1000. WOW! Sorry this is probably way more than you wanted to know!

Right now below my coverlet I have a down blanket for warmth. In summer I just use the sheet and coverlet; DH just the sheet. What I also like about it is that DH and I have different needs in terms of warmth so having layers allows for more flexiblity than using a comforter which is often too hot for my DH. I also wash mine very frequently--about 1-2 times per month, along with my sheets. There was a recent thread on matelasse bedspreads which might be helpful to read. Some brands had quite a bit of shrinkage which may be a concern for you. Some coverlets have a scalloped edge, some a straight edge. There are also many different designs on the matelasse coverlet. Mine is a floral design, though my shams have a paisley design. Your mattress/boxpring selection will also be a concern in your final choice as you need to check the measurements to make sure it comes down low enough on the sides. Many mattresses are quite thick and so some prefer a low profile boxspring (5" vs. 9") which is standard. This choice will affect how far your bedding comes down on the sides.

Oh wouldnt that be wonderful!! a garden party...I'm in:)) Thankyou everyone for your words of encouragement and enthusiasm. Yes ,ginnybee and ashmeri :a cup of tea would be beautiful and I have a lovely spot to sit where I can enjoy the garden MM I have other spots I can put some of the other roses which will be near the new bed and add pink ,white and purple roses around the corner of the bed.The soil has been improved and manure added so we are waiting for it to settle.The pink bed will connect the side garden bed and the new bed.I will plant some more around the front of the house.That is another story.I will just have a few around the front...its good there as it is thank goodness! The back was the huge job. So I will have some in pots on the patio.I love that. So...its a long story but I can see that soon I will be able to relax,think about garden parties and the lovely calm time to enjoy the result of some very hard work over 2-3 years:)) cheers Michelle PS I will post some more pics as the beds take shape and lose their "young look".