Hiya Texan- Welcome to Charlotte. I'm down in South Charotte. After I had TONS of Japanese Beetles last year, a friend gave me advice, so I planted Four O'Clocks Marvel of Peru in front of my tomato plants this year. I didn't see a single Japanese Beetle on any of my tomatoes, shrubs, herbs, window boxes, crepe myrtles, etc. My neighbors complained bitterly all summer about bugs, but maybe the "wives' tale" is true and Four O'Clocks kill any bugs (especially Jap. Beetles)which chew on them. I didn't even have spiders on my tomatoes. Give it a chance. Of course as always, don't plant them if you are not sure you want them, since they develop a tuberous root and also reseed easily. You could always plant them in a couple of large pots....? Here is a link that might be useful: Daves Garden Four O'Clocks

LOL Annie, little man liked that Michigan Sushi idea. I reminded him of his experience from the past year but he didn't seem to worry. When I asked him "What do you do when one of your friends tells you that you have bad breath?" He said, "I will say 'it's too bad that you don't eat fish.'" I am so proud! Jim, I have never tried lox myself so can't say if it will be less smelly or not. Since fish is one of our favorite foods we never have any leftover fish from the night before. Our mornings seem to be very short and we always end up rushing out of the door so canned fish is what we will settle with for now. Tami, little man has never tried mints before. I personally don't like them so I have a feeling that he may not enjoy a mint in his mouth. He loves tic tac. I bought him some tic tac in little colorful containers with the pop-up lid. So I won't have to worry about school people mistaken them as pills. Terri, lucky you. At least he can still take peanut butter to school. It's an absolute no-no to bring any nuts or anything that contain trace amount of nut to school. Little man loves peanut butter banana sandwiches. I don't want him to eat PBB sandwich every day but once in a while would be nice. I definitely will make the rolled fish bread for him tomorrow. In fact, we have already planned for the rest of the week... Thursday will be sardine sushi. Instead of using nori I will use sesame seeds on the outside. Friday will be BBQ seitan strips with raw carrot and cucumber. It's gonna be a good week for him. Al

There is a "company housing" area a few streets from me. Not "mill" houses per se, but built for miners. I'm in Bessemer, AL (near Birmingham) and these houses are ca. 1900. They are essentially one-story, square, wood-framed houses with hipped roofs. Many have been added onto over the years, but I believe they originally had a kitchen, living room and 2 or 3 bedrooms. I don't know if they had indoor plumbing originally. The standing-seam metal roofs are still intact on about 85% of them. I drive past them every day on the way to work, but I've never been in one! I think if you do a search for mill houses you may find some axtive groups. I'm thinking Georgia has been good about finding funding for restoration.

Mich, I've seen that in the stores and wondered about it. Some detergents don't have enzymes, I stear clear most of the time, however not every load is tragic, so not every load needs enzymes. If there's not a bunch of stains and the clothes just have the normal dust and body oils, that bottle of All probably does a nice job on darks and colors. I'm a powder fan but lately I've been enjoying some liquids, lol. Actually I have found liquids without enzymes make my sheets feel very smooth, I've been using a new boutique one I've run across, I'm not sure yet though if its the lack of enzymes or because its a liquid, but they do feel better I'll send a pic of it in a sec.