Info from woodcarving friend: Yes, that shallow bowl was carved to show off the catfaces. Catfaces are a peculiarity of the burl formed when the growing wood is damaged, usually by fire. The resin turns dark or black and literally stains the growing cambium. Yes, sometimes wood is sold by the pound, especially if it has a decorative grain or is a burl or knot that woodcarvers might want specifically because the wood is unusual in its formation. He said that he usually avoided buying by the pound because he preferred to work from the original limb, rather than a piece which had been cleaned enough to show the graining. I'm still looking for examples of catface... however,link is to a site which has some lovely pictures of bowls etc showing the burl after carving. I was surprised to learn that folks actually grow burls just to be cut off and carved! Here is a link that might be useful: burl bowls

Mersipoo, I was going to tell you to kick your Gardenias, butt??? Oh boy.. What the heck happened? Okay, girl, let's get down to serious business!!!! First, what's the temps in z6? If it's doesn't drop below 45F, set outside..if possible, place in a spot you can reach in case temps dip too low..semi-shady location. Fresh air, away from the heater, will do a world of good..new leaves will grow in. A few times during winter months, my 'denia lost leaves, lots of leaves, but after being outside, new growth filled it up. Your gardenia is definatly alive..look at the stems..GREEN.. Do you have a room in the house that doesn't have a heater? Even an east window will work? BTW, is your denia in a clay pot? Please don't think I'm telling you what to do, Mersi, I'm certainly NO expert, so mind if I give you a little advice. Like I said, your denia's alive..You have two choices, either prune, or be patient, and allow new leaves to form..I'd do the latter. You need to find a space w/o the heater..what type of heater is it? Many of you might jump on me, but I'm NO fan of Logees..I used to adore their plants. Around 1999, something changed...aside from potting in 2 1/4" pots, they used to be 4", prices hiked up and shipping's outrageous. There are sellers on Ebay that offering healthy tree-shaped fairly large gardenias..Most around 24.99 plus shipping. If possible, shower once a wk, and mist daily..Purchase a humidifer..I can't breath w/o a humidifer, and plants hate dry air. Since you've changed fertilizers, add Superthrive too..I love the stuff, it really perks up plants..healthy and stressed. I use 4 drops per gallon of water for healthy plants, stressed plants, or difficult growing, 10 drops per gallon. If you go to their site, www.superthrive.com for .60 they'll send a sample size bottle..I buy ST on Ebay..4oz bottle for 9.99..it lasts about a year, Mersi, I have over 300 house plants.. Again, please don't think I'm telling you what to do..I'm not..But for the first time, in well, 30 yrs of growing plants, (darn, now u guys know my age) I've had my 'denia since the mid-90's..that's after killing one after another..I also discovered buying a tree instead of a gift plant in 4-6" pots are much easier adapting..so, instead of buying plant after plant, (small plants) for 8.99 and up, it's well-worth paying 20 something dollars for a tree, in the long run.. I've heard of Algoflash, but never used it..Is it high in Nitrogen? What percentage? Use a fert high in Nit to help aid leaf growth. Alternate with an acidic fertilizer throughout growing season, stop feeding after Sept/Oct. I too use sand in my mix, but only Builder's Sand from Home Depot..it contains large chunks..Beach or fine sand holds too much water.. Your soil looks dry..very dry..although I allow soil to dry out, lack of water for days on end will cause leaves to yellow and drop. The same happens if overwatered. Mersi, I KNOW your tree will make it..give it time..take outside. (if possible) keep away from the heater. Let soil dry but give a hearty drink when it's thirsty. Add Superthrive once a month. Mist/shower..I wish you luck, girl..and for the record, I do NOT consider myself an expert..theres a lot to learn..I'm only trying to help, okay? hugs, Toni

My master bath used to be 4'x8'. I demo'd two bathrooms that were back to back and stole 1.5' from the other to make it 5.5'x8'. >I would like to know from others who renovated a small master bathroom from an older home if you were able to "find" space and make it appear bigger, gain space by using small vanities, etc. Our toilet is in a bump out so that the door--on one of the short ends--can open. This was original to the house. Now, it's just a shallower bump-out, 1' instead of 1.5'. We're using the full depth of that 1' for a wall cabinet, which will be 48" tall x 28" wide. This gives us a place for the humidifier, my box 'o Ace bandages/splints/etc, the cleaning bucket, and all the linens for that bath. Our medicine cabinet will be recessed. It back up to another medicine cab, which must have a light above, so it has sconces. There is a 10.5" gap between the door frame and the wall. We found a 10" deep cab that we're filling back there. Our vanity is actually a full 36". Part of it is 21" deep, and part is 18". We found a brand that looks nice but packs a huge amount of storage into the space. To put in the wall cab, we had to replace the toe-kick heater with a towel warmer, due to space constraints. Our colors will help open the space. The 66" tub will have frameless sliding doors. The walls and floors will be patterns of white with a light gray grout. There will be tile wainscotting to 40" in patterns of white, and the ceiling and substantial crown molding will be white. The walls will be a medium blue-green, but so little will be visible that it'll function as just an accent color. We can't steal space from the walls except for the medicine cabinet because it backs onto an outer wall. If it weren't for that, our 10" cabinet would be 14" deep, inset into the wall. With an 18" vanity, you'll have plenty of room to feel comfortable, even though 21" is murderous. At 4' depth, our 17" sink was bad, but an extra 6" would have made it okay. Our hall bathroom is now 8'x5.5', with a bite out of it where the toilet is for the master bath's toilet to have room with a swinging door. We stole space in that bathroom outrageously! A cabinet above the toilet, which is 8" deep, is recessed 4" into the wall (3.5" stud plus wallboard). I made two other in-wall cabinets, each about 14"x12", interior. One will be hidden behind a picture frame, so only one will be noticeable. I also but a HUGE medicine cabinet above the vanity, which is only 28" wide but packs in 6 drawers and even a shelf in the plumbing space--and looks nice, too. We couldn't recess that cabinet because the one backing it in the master bath is recessed. The lower in-wall cabinet will hold the first aid kit, while the upper one will hold meds that we use but not regularly--cold meds, etc. The medicine cabinet will hold all daily use things that don't fit in the drawers--even the kids' toothbrushes and tooth-brushing cups aren't going on the counter, which will have just the bathroom clock and the soap, and that's it. On the back of the toilet bowl is a kleenex box holder. In the tub area, I don't use regular shampoo bottles but travel-sided ones with really small openings to make it easier to get just a little shampoo or conditioner, even, and the toys are in a cute plastic frog toys scoop on the wall. Clear glass shower doors--when they arrive--will also help keep it open. I can't emphasize enough the importance of not having stuff sitting out to making a space look larger. Nothing makes a room feel small like a lot of stuff just cluttered around. The mud will only be in the shower. The rest will be sheetrock--the size of the room you have is what you get! In your case, if you REALLY can't move any walls (I'd want a tub in there!!!), I'd indulge in some creative thinking. Your bathroom is 4.5x9' total, which REALLY isn't horrifically small. (Remember that mine was 4x8....) I'd start with the shower. I'd stay in the same footprint but do a Kerdi shower so the threshold could be SUPER narrow--just 2". That gives you a good 2" of apparent interior space in the shower, plus likely another .5" of width without the mud base. Recessed niches are a MUST. Too big is better than too small! I'd get a frameless shower door--almost goes without saying in this setting. I'd do wainscotting to 40", continuing over the top edge of the vanity--this is a kind of "special effect," because unless you paint the upper part of the wall a dark color, it tricks the eye into believing there's more space. Continuing just those 4" behind the vanity makes a big difference, here. For the flooring, I'd do either a small mosaic OR 12x12" or larger, and the 12x12" should be on the diagonal. A "rug" effect actually makes a small room seem larger if the rug part has diagonal lines and the border is small. For the ceiling, crown molding make it seem higher as long as the molding and the ceiling are both white. Painting the ceiling any color but white lowers it in comparison to white. Use hooks rather than rods. They make the space seem bigger and stick out less. I designate a minimum of two hooks per person--one for a towel, one for a robe. The back of the door is a good place to hang things. Use art--and use it strategically. A properly-sized picture can make a space seem larger, and you can use it to hide another recessed medicine cabinet. With a .5"-deep frame, you can have 4.5" shelves. Extra TP, first aid stuff, and irregularly used meds can be stored there. Recess the medicine cabinet, if you possibly can, and make the mirror as WIDE as possible for maximum reflection. I'd commission a custom vanity for the space, and I'd use an undermount sink or would install a square vessel sink in an apron-front manner, like this: http://www.overstock.com/Home-Garden/Kraus-White-Rectangular-Ceramic-Vessel-Sink/3250161/product.html You have 42" of space, which is plenty for quite a nice amount of drawers plus a good-sized sink. If you used the sink above, you'd have, with a frameless design, 10.5" for drawers on either side. Make the cabinet kitchen counter height and have two shallow drawers and a deep drawer, and you can still have 8" of open space at the bottom. Even a bun-foot design has less visual weight than going all the way to the floor. Under the sink, add a shelf directly under the plumbing to make a shallow extra "landing" for a small container of things. The one thing, in my bathrooms, that I want space for and don't have is dirty clothes. But as far as everything else, I have MORE storage than I know what to do with! I have space for a cleaning bucket in each bathroom, for all our meds, for my makeup (and plenty of space for kid makeup, when the time comes), even for the Drano, for linens in my bathroom, for tons of bulk storage (extra soap, extra lotion, extra hair products, etc.). We have so much space that the counters can be basically bare. AND far from looking crowded, our hall bath strikes people as much larger than its square footage.

Since it always hangs in the same spot, the most probable culprit is a broken gear tooth. Pull the cover off the drive unit and inspect the gears. You can buy replacement parts from repairclinic.com or appliancepartspros.com, just be sure to watch the cost and if it is too high, get the part number and go look on ebay for the same thing. Just don't get ripped off, the parts are pretty widely available.