Thank you, Steve. I am in Macedonia, just outside of Canton. From what I've read, running bamboo tends to have a more upright shape than the clumping kind. I like the look of the upright bamboo, so running is probably best for me. I like the black bamboo, but I haven't found much information about growing it in a pot. The photos I've found online that show it in a container seem to be plants that were grown tall in the ground and then dug up and potted for sale. I'd love to know how well it would grow if started from a small plant in a pot. Do you grow Phyllostachys Nigra, and if so, how does it do in our area? I appreciate the source, kudzu9. I had not seen that site.

Great post! We are in a similar situation. We have a two year old and four year old and plan to have one more child. We plan for this to be our house until our kids head off to college so we had many of the same concerns in planning. After initially planning all the bedrooms upstairs, we changed to a story and a half plan. We have the master downstairs, with one other bedroom (future nursery). We have two bedrooms upstairs for our boys with a bathroom and enclosed loft (this forum scared me too much about an open loft area!). The upstairs loft will function as a play/homework space for the boys in the future. If we wanted to have all three kids upstairs, we could close it off to make it a third bedroom if we wanted. Our plan is open concept with a playroom off of our great room, which will also function as a den/guest room as the kids get older. It has sliding barn doors that can keep it open to the great room or it can also be closed off (to hide all those toys!). We included a large mudroom off the garage with five lockers/cubbies. We also have a drop zone/desk between that area and the kitchen for keeping school papers, mail, etc. organized. We've opted for hardwood throughout the great room/kitchen/dining. Our builder is doing some distressing to it with the staining process so hopefully any additional wear and tear by our boys and golden retriever will only add to the look.

As I understand it, thrift shops etc., will still be restricted from selling recalled toys, etc. . . that's probably a good idea but how will it work out in real life? I work for a nationally known donations re-seller and we already check every donation against a list of recalls. It's gotten to be a huge burden because so many toys are recalled, but we have text lists as well as photos of the recalled items posted at the sorting area. Inspectors make the first sort, but anything that might be on the recall lists, like toys and some appliances and children's clothing that may be more than a few years old, is also checked by a supervisor. Recalled items go to a shredder/compactor so they can't be sold. We take this very seriously and every thrift shop or used merchandise shop should. I can't speak for small, local stores but I hope they are just as careful. Even with the changes it looks like we may have to stop reselling toys. Clothing that has no metal (buttons, for example) should be OK. The changes allow for items that are only made with natural fibers, like cotton, silk or wool, to be sold without testing so those of you who make quilts or similar items are OK. Because testing labs have to be certified and inspection equipment has to be calibrated periodically, companies would not be able to do their own testing. Any thing to be tested would have to be sent out to a certified testing facility. There's another good discussion about this same topic on the Quilting Forum. I included a link to that post below. Here is a link that might be useful: CPSIA discussion

Hi, I believe Rainbow is the best brand for a playset/swingset. Go to a dealer and play on the unit and see for yourself. We have 3 daughters and that is exactly what we did. We thought people were crazy when we saw Rainbows on ebay going for $2000-$3000 used. My 5 year old daughter just got her wish granted from The Make a Wish foundation. What did she wish for?---She wished for a Rainbow Clubhouse. This one is not cheap as it is the King Kong model. It weighs close to 3500 pounds with the slides. We did put some extra money towards it as Make a Wish only covered 3/4th of it. They had a set limit on what they were able to spend as we knew it but wanted to expand the set and they were find with it. We did buy a used rainbow to get a 90 degree tube slide to hook on to my daughters set. We also bought a glider off of ebay. The best place to get a rainbow used is www.craigslist.org Now those of you that want to knock us think about this. Our daughter was diagnosed with a medulloblastoma brain tumor, brain cancer. We did not know if she was going to live or die. She suffered through surgery to remove the tumor, chemo and a stem cell transplant. This child was very sick and now this month will make one year of being cancer free. So, her wish for a Rainbow Playset was worth everything to us. You should see her face when she plays on it, very happy. We pray the cancer stays away and that she will grow up and be able to live a normal life. We plan on making her life a happy one! So...We aren't done with her Rainbow Playset. We are looking at getting a Used King Kong Castle to hook with it. They are worth the money! 250 pound people have been on the set and it doesn't move. For more info on my daughter check out her website www.caringbridge.org/visit/corinlesage