After many years of fussing around with those flimsy domed trays, cell packs, and jiffy pots, and expensive full spectrum/hydroponic lights, I started reading and thinking!! I save money by not using starting flats. I start all my indoor seed (tomatoes,peppers, and some annuals & veggies) by placing them in folded coffee filters (they are stronger than paper towels), moistened with a weak solution of orange pekoe tea. They are stacked on an old pie plate over the heating vent in my dining room (instant heat mat). Once they germinate and have a fair-sized root on them, I transfer them to styrofoam cups (I re-use them), and place them under lights in my basement, until time for planting out. The lights are tied to existing shelving. Initially, I used expensive ($38.00) hydroponic lights, but found that regular fluorescent tubes from Home Depot worked just as well. Bits of styrofoam packaging under the trays keep the seedlings nearer the lights initilly. To prevent damping off and other fungi, a weak solution of chamomile tea, and watering from below seems to work. I found some really good trays (I don't know what they came from) at a Goodwill store which are sturdy and do not flop around like those regular gardening trays, which I find completey useless. I do shell out for seed starting mix especially for my indoor plants because I have had infestations of aphids that killed off entire sets of tomato seedlings, so I like everything to be sterile. Every now and then, a fan is used to strengthen the seedlings and also prevent any bugs which may be lurking to infect them, but I do not keep it running constantly. Perennials and hardier annuals get the winter sowing treatment. I also use seed starter, but the cheaper Walmart stuff, and I use (and re-cycle) 2-litre pop bottles for my containers (some stolen from neighbourhood blue boxes). Margarine and yogurt tubs are good for lettuces and petunias which do not grow very tall. A few years ago I purchased a 'Root Trainer' system which works very well, but is best if you are growing 20 seedlings of any one plant, which I never do. The cells are very deep, grooved to keep the roots contained and dircted downward, comes with a sturdy tray and dome. The cells come apart so there is no stress at transplant time. I used it last night for my peppers - a nice compact little system for about $12.00 designed to be re-used. That being said, every year I yearn for a heat mat so I can start my seeds in the basement. It's much too cold up here in March & April. I also yearn for one of those small green houses, but also, we go from winter to summer so it would not really be useful. Every summer, I'm glad I resisted the temptation. In reality, seed starting is forgotten once we get those little seedlings in the ground.

Every life stage has a look that is authentic for each person. It is just silly for a 60yr old grandma to want perky boobs like her teenage grand daughter. Some people really resist progressing to the next stage of life but the body does anyway. I just wish we gain the wisdom to accept our aging bodies. That being said, sometimes people look older or disproportionate in some way that is not suitable to their life. I had a young niece who was slim and athletic but had 38G breasts. Her life had major impact with dealing with those breasts... Or beasts as she would call them. Boy could not see past her boobs neither some of her girls. She could not shop and wear normal clothes. She had to use dressing pads under her breasts to avoid rashes. Breast reduction was medically necessary for her. Another friend decided to do a tummy tuck. She had an emergency c- section with her first child and the cut muscles never recovered. She found it hard to find professional clothes that worked especially as she had a narrower waist and skinny butt. Tummy tuck really changed her life.

I went to a meeting where the featured speaker talked about "decluttering your life"...made me stop and think...and I am trying very hard not to buy on impulse...I have clothes in my closet that I have never worn. I was going to make a Christmas quilt and just "had" to have a quarter of a yard of every Christmas fabric that came along...the quilt never happened. I'm trying to say to myself..."Are you really going to use this?" before I purchase...it has helped some...still have too much clutter. And..after that meeting, I came home and got rid of some stuff that I hadn't used for over a year...then I needed something I had given away. When I die, my kids are just going to have to come in and clear it out, I guess. The speaker also said, when you put something in a drawer...take something "out" and get rid of it. I have been trying to do that...instead of just dragging more and more "stuff" in storing it...I think I'm getting a "little" better about it now that I have my mind on it...hope so...

In the news. the UK is no longer using the pneumonia vaccine on those over 65 because after studies in over 22 countries....wait for it.....it doesn't work or save lives. Flu vaccine is being shown to have the least benefit to those that they thought would be most helped by it. Seems that the antibodies just aren't forming well in people who are older or have compromised immune systems. Over all the stats say the flu vaccine is only 59% effective for anybody. But they are still saying get it anyway. Sorry but that's not good enough for me. You have to add a margin of error to stats of any kind. 59% could just as easily be 50%. Or it could be better at 69%. Even the latter is less than 2/3 and that figure is unlikely. Not worth the risk of what long term effects may show in the future for people getting these b vaccines over a lifetime. I am generally not a conspiracy person but I really think these vaccines are becoming more and more a "follow the money" issue than a public health issue.