1) You have an aechmea fasciata. 2) The center flower will eventually dry out and die; natural progression. They last a long time, but once they bloom, the entire central plant will slowly die. However, most will produce at least 3 pups before they complete the process, giving you more plants, and eventually, more flowers. (Next most frequent question: how do I get my plant to bloom? Be patient.) 3) Your plant is probably greenhouse grown, and will prefer indirect light, not full sun. They can do well as a houseplant or in dappled light or bright shade outdoors, providing it's not too cold. Mine do best outdoors (San Diego, CA) with the water thoroughly flushed in the cups once weekly. By 'thoroughly flushed' I mean I take a hose with a fan-shaped watering head and hold it to the cups until they overflow copiously. This cleans out the cups, refills them, and dampens the potting medium as well. Personally, I never fertilize mine, but they live where other plant debris will naturally fall on them, and that seems to be sufficient.

Casey, I have a calendar that I have used on 2 of my webpages and you can insert pictures in it without making a table inside the cell. Put your curser under the date in the cell and then insert as you normally would. That way the date will stay in the top corner. Then type your text under the graphic. The cells expand to the size you need, while the cells that have no information other than the date will stay small. The calendar also has an html code so that the current month will be on the screen when opened. If you only want one month per page you can delete the other rows. You may save the calendar off my webpage if you want, or I can send you a clean template when I get home from work this afternoon. Play around with it and see what you think. My event calendar

I WOULD GO TO ONE OF THESE STORES THAT CARRY THE DATED GREETING CARDS AND GET ONE OF THOSE TO FIND OUT THINGS LIKE WHAT MOVIE WON THE OSCAR, WHAT THE TOP SONG WAS. TOP ACTOR/ACTRESS PRICES OF THINGS LIKE MILK, HOMES, GAS, ETC. INCLUDE LITTLE THINGS LIKE THE PRICE OF A COLA, PACK OF GUM, MOVIE TICKETS, NEWSPAPER WHEN HES OLDER HE WONT BELEIVE HOW "CHEAP" THINGS WERE THEN LOL. BE SURE TO INCLUDE THINGS TOO LIKE THE PRESIDENTAL ELECTION THAT TOOK MONTHS , THINGS BOUT YOU AND HIS FATHER SUCH AS YOUR FAVORITE MOVIES, COLORS, FOODS THINGS TO DO ETC.

Thanks Peytonroad....You've helped so much. I'm relatively new to posting here although I've lurked around for awhile. I have made a few posts commenting on other questions and asking a few of my own. Everyone has been so kind and I'm hope I'm not overlooking any etiquette in my posts. You do see many regular posters as well as folks asking for help. Your home looks beautiful and it seems we're going along the same traditional historical color lines. My first post was lamenting the fact we had just painted our entire living/dining/foyer with BM Honeymoon and it looked like a Barbie Dream House. We're just now in the middle of repainting the area with the Decatur Buff thanks to you and a few others. It seems wise to stick with BM's historical palette to avoid big bright mistakes!! Today our painter suddenly asked for my color choice for the master bath which is why I quizzed you about the Greenfield Pumpkin. It does look gorgeous in your home. Our bath is open to the bedroom which has a floral wallpaper with a beige (boring) background, and our bed is done in golds and burgundy. I'm hoping the Greenfield Pumpkin will blend with the burgundy in the bedroom. I'm not looking for matchy matchy, just compatibility. Again, your input is well-received and appreciated and, believe me, when we are finished with the living room, master bath, and powder room, I'll jump for joy and post some photos. It will be a relief to stop obsessing and dreaming of paint colors....Cheers