I do think that there is a bit of a learning curve to the Incoco strips, I didn't get them on perfectly, and then they stayed on so long that I was forced to see my imperfect application for two weeks! And I did have more difficulty applying to my right hand. For the french manicure set the white strip is separate, and I believe that it is applied first, then the sheer pink over top. I think that you could probably buy just the white tips and apply your own sheer polish over the top. These things stay on so well that you could probably remove the top coat of sheer and repolish after a week or so if you wanted to.

Thanks for all the advise. The threaded rod into the ceiling won't work because the ceiling is vaulted and the rod would be pretty long. I found some very heavy "L" brackets at lowes that I think will work well as upside down shelf brackets. My hubby will tack weld a small gusset in the corner of the "L" so they will be more resistant to straightening out. Then I'll run a flat head bolt from the underside of the shelf into the holes of the L bracket and put a small nut on them. That should keep them from trying to pull through. To hide the nuts, I'll take a second sheet of shelving board and attach it to the bottom side, with holes drilled out for the nut heads and washers. This will allow the two 3/4" boards to be laminated together with some good wood glue. I'll put a decorative strip along the front edge and glue it on too, which should give it more strength. Where the L brackets are attached to the wall, I'll paint them to match the wall color. The shelf is pretty high up and will have pottery on it, so I don't think the brackets will be too noticable. I do plan to use plenty of brackets...probably one every 32" or so.

Talked to the IRS and got all my stuff faxed to the CPA....I will go back in monday and we will go from their...You guys are so right about the worrying part...I am choosing not too....The CPA said if we end up oweing the money then he will get probaby be able to get the penatlies taken off and not garhish the wages just work with the IRS and he said we could just have them take our return this year or get a letter from Brians boss that instead of garnishing the wages we can pay them in full in Dec. when we get our bonus....will let you all knnow after I go back to the CPA monday.....Stacy

The browned leaf edges do look like overwatering. Were they there when you bought it? If so, all you have to do is to continue to monitor soil moisture like you did today, and hold off on watering until the dowel is dry. Do be sure to water slowly and thoroughly when you do water. For the rootbound plants I still have in their old soil, I water once until water begins to drain from the pot, making sure to go slowly and wet the whole surface of the soil evenly. Then I come back with my fertilizer solution and water again about 15 minutes later. If the pot was very dry I usually find that the pot takes longer to drain the second time, probably because peat that had become hydrophobic was allowed to slowly moisten a little so it could absorb water again. My pots have holds around the perimeter of the bottom, so tilting after watering works great even without a wick. When I found these forums last September I was ready to repot all my plants, which were weak and rootbound in very old soil. Fortunately I was persuaded to proceed more cautiously and to improve their growing conditions instead, the idea being that it's better to wait until the solstice to repot unless a plant is, as Al says, circling the drain (and I did repot the one schefflera that was doing just that in 5:1:1, with good results). I flushed them thoroughly with room temperature R/O water; bought some 100 watt, 5000k (bright white) LEDs and CFLs, put them in cheap clamp-on fixtures, and mounted them on a shelf above the plants on a timer so they'd get some light; for rid of a spider mite infestation; started fertilizing with a weak solution of Foliage Pro every time I watered; and diligently monitored soil moisture and watered properly when needed. All of my plants responded by perking up, and after a few months they'd gained enough energy and their root systems had recovered enough that they started putting out new growth. I don't have FLFs, but my ficus benjaminas did the best (I listed a few before and after photos in Dave's recent "Then and Now" thread), and they were much improved by the time the weather allowed me to put them outside. Here's where things went sideways, because some nagging health issues prevented me from actually reporting this season. I was really upset when I realized it just was not going to happen, but frankly none of my plants are in better shape than they've ever been, and I've really fallen back in love with the ficuses, which love their half-day of bright high altitudes sunlight so much that they've filled every branch with shiny healthy leaves. I'm sure they'd be even happier with pruned roots in gritty mix (I'll use a modified ratio to compensate for the desert conditions), but I've gotten good enough at compensating for it that they'll keep looking good for another winter, and now that I already have my ingredients and a lot of prepared mix I'll be able to jump into it next June whenever I have a little energy to spare. Al says that if you have two plants in the same condition, repot one in the fall, and repot the other one on Father's Day 2018, the second one will have more growth next fall than the one you repotted now. Some folks will say just go ahead and repot anytime, but your plant looks great despite having a couple of slightly damaged leaves, and they'll respond much better to repotting if you care for them properly and allow them to accumulate the energy they'll need to get through it smoothly. BTW, Cassandra's description of repotting is spot on if you're not going to prune roots. If I had your plant I'd wait until the plant's energy production was at its highest to make sure it will bounce back with some vigor, but Cassandra's method sounds like it would work great. Lenore