It would have been helpful for me to read at least some of the forum rules before I started posting here. I did say I was not much for rules...I'm glad quirkpod brought something to my attention, which made me look, so I almost want to open a new forum under the exchange page. We got an official acknowledgement of our newbie swap on one of the Raleigh Swap pages (Thank you... it has pictures of their swap too!). I feel we have legitimacy enough that we can open a special trade page. -For fellow newbies my understanding of special trades are prearranged before the swap, for people who have certain plants they really want (look somewhere else for more info). I don't know if there are GW rules about trash talking, pleading, etc.with trades, but if there are I'm definately breaking those already on other forums so someone tell me. If my GW trades work out, I may have some very beautiful new things to share. Frankly I asked some people for things I will grow for trading that I did not want in my own yard necessarily in hopes of materializing a Nancy's Revenge elephant ear one day. People that love tropicals are hard to tempt when you don't know, can't pronounce, or spell most of what they want-much less find it around here. So-I will open up that forum and try to work on IDing my plant list better tommorrow. Before I open up special trades may I say 2 things: 1-If I told you I'd give you something, it may be a good idea for one last reminder right before the swap. I thought I'd label things as I potted them up-yeah right. 2-If anyone gets in between me and a variegated elephant ear, there will be bloodshed. :) Kara

Magnoliantn, I am not sure if your glass top is different than mine, but the first thing I made on my glass top when I got it was a marmalade.... which not being used to the setting I promptly boiled all over my nice new cooktop. From my reading you should clean your stove top with glass stove top cleaner. I use Weiman, a sample came with my stove. You spread it on, let it dry, if you have something really stuck on (like my marmalade the following day) you SHOULD be scraping it with a razor. You are wasting your energy and time trying to clean it with a scrubber. Glass tops are meant to be cleaned with a scraper. The marmalade came right off. That was over a year ago. I boil over more jam and jelly than anyone probably should. I made a cake today and used the stove top as my frosting area because my kids were using the counter for something else. If you are not using your stove top to cook because you can't clean it, you are doing something wrong, glass tops are smooth to be easy to clean, not to be difficult. And to stay on topic with the OP. I do can on it also. I use my 23qt pressure canner. I haven't cracked it or had an issue yet. I have found that on my full power burner I set it to 3.5 to get to 12 lbs of pressure and walk away. I had issues in the beginning because I fiddled with the temp too much. I had to run test batches to find the right setting on my stove, just like I had to with my old dial electric range. Good luck Here is a link that might be useful: Stove cleaner

Hi, I am one of the designers at Bathnuvo bathroom furniture. I am glad you liked it. We are offering some specials...in which a faucet is free with vanities. Mary Here is a link that might be useful: Bathroom Remodel Special

Besh - I came home from work today and crashed and burned. I didn't realize how tired I was until I sat down and fell asleep! LOL I do have to say that all 4 orientations went well. We had a few criers, but that is to be expected. We have 4-5 STRONG willed kids in my M-W-F AM class, that have the potential for problems, but I will keep my fingers crossed that all goes well. Our Steelers play on Sunday and I think we all have high hopes for the team this year, since we have a new coach. DeeMarie - I have dried herbs the way that Suzanne said, but I am too impatient most of the time to let them dry naturally. I pick them, wash them, spin them dry and lay them on a cookie sheet. Then I pop them in a pre-heated 200ºF oven and let them sit for about an hour. I turn off the heat and let them stay in the oven overnight, then crumble them and put them in a jar the next morning. I do usually make pesto with the basil first, and I freeze that in an ice cube tray. I have found that the chives are easiest to just wash, dry and chop and put straight in the freezer instead of drying. Hope that helps. NHSuzanne - I hope your face feels better now. You need to hang some orange reflective tape on those tree branches! LOL Hope you are having a great weekend with SP. I am hanging in the house tonight and tomorrow and then going to my DMIL's for lunch on Sunday. Other than that, I just want to relax. I have a crib quilt to finish by next weekend, so I will work on that as much as I can. Hope everyone has a great weekend. Marci