Ummm..using words like "cruel & inhumane" on a board is a sure way to send some flames your way. I think when choosing between a paper wasp chewing their way through a live caterpillar and a nice cozy paper bag, they would choose the paper bag everytime. But I might be a little anthropomorphic here (a word you might want to check out). I would love to hear what Larry would say (hee hee). I am sure there are studies out there that talk about ideal humidity levels. There are single studies for different species. I also think that removing the leaf from the plant runs the risk of disease taking the egg. The plant manufactures secondary compounds to fight fungus and bacteria and when we remove the leaf, it stops making these compounds. I have lost eggs because they failed to hatch before the leaf turned black. That is why I try to take as much stem as possible so the leaf can continue to live and maintain if not manufacture it's secondary compounds. -Elisabeth

I think I share aesthetic DNA with a lot of the posters on this thread. Love the French look; prefer colored appliances with SS/nickel/brass/etc. trim over all SS. My house is a 125 y.o. "second empire" style, which I feel deserves some sort of hat tip, if not slavish devotion to old-looking stuff. To me this means avoiding visible electronics, and overtly modern lines. OTOH, anything simple, chunky, roundish, using materials that have been around for at least a hundred years, works fine. We will be remodeling our kitchen soon, but as my current (awful, unmentionable) range just died, I will be replacing it somewhat ahead of schedule. A few months ago I went crazy over online picture of an AGA legacy. Later I met one in person, and was underwhelmed. Crushed, actually. The oven doors and knobs just didn't feel solid. Kind of reminded me of a very adorable "Easy Bake" oven. Interestingly, the same showroom had the pricier AGA 6-4 cooker, also duel-fuel (not the true cooker that the name would imply), and I was shocked at how different it felt - super solid heavy cast iron doors with integrated hinges and latches, although the knobs were the same. The Cornufe was there as well. The doors felt more solid than the legacy, as did the knobs, but like the 6-4 it was a bit out of my price range. And then there was... ... the small oven thing. I tried to tell myself this didn't matter, was actually an advantage, less energy to heat up, etc. And I really DO want to be able to cook two things at different temps simultaneously. But among my friends who actually cook, virtually all said I'd sooner or later regret not having a regular-size oven. (Wall oven/s not an option for me.) Not sure how the Lacanche stacks up in terms of oven size. It's probably my favorite looks-wise. Their owners seem to really cherish them. But to me it only makes sense to spend that much on a range if it's going to hold some sort of visual dominion over the rest of the kitchen. My range will only be seen head-on from the fridge wall; not from the kitchen entrance or kitchen table or any other rooms, so I'd rather put my aesthetic eggs in other baskets... Which has brought me back to the pro-styles. My husband eliminated Bluestar because of the open burners. He thought we were too lax in our cleaning habits to prevent that drip plate from turning into a smelly, scary disaster. I think we're about to settle on American, most likely black (with SS trim), in a 30" AG, which has an unusually large oven, and pretty good burner capacity (2 @ 17K btu, 140 degree simmer). We plan to get a countertop toaster/confection oven combo to accomodate our second/small oven needs. Or maybe a microwave/convection oven combo that we will hide somewhere. We are looking into a modern aire PS26 range hood in black with SS trim. One cool think about American is that you can swap out the color down the road. So if our upcoming remodel screams for a different color, say, fire engine red, we won't be stuck with the black. (The hood is another matter... hmm...) The color kits are about 250-300 bucks, I think, and require a pretty handy, if not professional, person to make the switch. I'll worry about that if and when it comes to it... Good luck on your search, susied3, and everybody else (including me). Let's keep each other posted.

Hello Mystique, This is my first post, though I've lurked off and on for a few years. I've managed the paperwork for my parents, for the family farm, and for myself for many years. It's sometimes been overwhelming so I've come up with a few strategies to minimize the stress. For family personal expenses, I have a file for bills paid by a certain checking account, with the oldest bill on the bottom, the last on top. Once, I attempted to keep different folders for different types of expenses even if paid by a single account: Big mistake for me. So easy to misfile and so hard to reconcile at the end of the year. For me, it's been much easier to just have one folder per account per time period. I do take one extra step though. I am careful to notate my check register, and I input the information into a spreadsheet later on. That way, I can sort it by check number, type of expense, date, or any other criteria. I don't make online payments, but the same principle would apply. If it gets drawn out of checking, I'd list it in the spreadsheet. And I compare it all with the bank statements. At the end of the year, I double check it, and then e-mail it to a tax preparer and he determines tax consequences, if any. Excel has an auto-fill feature, that makes this data entry easier than it sounds. If you do it this way, it's easy to find a record of a payment, without handling the paper too much. Another reason I try to keep the folders of paid bills uncomplicated and chronological is that these have an expiration dates. Having things scattered about will make record destruction more of an ordeal. So in answer to your question about a credit card statement being with school stuff, I wouldn't do that. I'd keep it in a the file with all the other bills you paid with that checking account, including medical. Otherwise, what would you do when a credit card statement reflects both a school loan, medical bill and an appliance? Contemplating such an issue might make you put it in some "to decide later" file, instead of putting it in a very simple place like your "paid bills" folder right away. Besides, most billing issues in my experience have to do with claims that a check did not arrive, not that a credit card company didn't pay. And most of these issues turn up within a month or two of payment which is another reason chronological filing works well for bills. The whole point of a filing system is so that you can find things as painlessly as possible. With the register inputted into the computer, you will even know how much of the loan you've paid off in a certain period, without touching the paper repeatedly. But you can also find papers quickly if the loan company year end statement doesn't match your record of payments. For appliances, my father had a trick of marking appliances with a purchase date in the back. If it breaks down, you know where to find the bill in the "paid bills" folders. (I think the idea of putting it with the manual is a great idea, but I haven't tried it.) I don't pick and choose what to keep and what to destroy as far as paid bills go. I save all the statements with check numbers and dates written on them....but only for a certain amount of time. For paid off loans, as others strongly recommend, I'd keep the letter that states that the loan is paid off, and the statement that releases any collateral, in a folder called "loans (paid off.)" For my mother's Explanation of Benefits papers, because of the volume, I have a folder per year, in chronological order. (But no bills live here. Those are with all the other paid bills.) It's a record of doctor visits and prescriptions. This type of stuff seems overwhelming, but is not so bad, if it's chronological, pruned of unnecessary newsletters and old booklets, and living in clean, p-touch labeled folders. But I don't think EOBs have a tax consequence. The bills and the health premiums are what might matter, and those I keep with all the other bills. I consider EOB and prescription records only a type of medical history. I choose to keep them so I can tell how long my mother's been taking a medication, when she had a certain procedure done, etc. Your filing system is your personal creation. It doesn't have to conform to any of these ideas, only to the way that you think. I hope this is helpful.

Yep, these kind of properties beg for dogs, especially large dogs who love the outdoors, humans and especially kids. And it's worth pointing out that properties with ponds and water often have frogs, turtles (large snappers sometimes!) and even fish! Having lived with a near-by pond and stream I can vouch for the wonderful appeal of watching the frogs and turtles sun themselves during the day, and sitting out back in the early evening listening to the sound of the young "peepers" in the Spring, and later in the year the baritone serenades of the mature frogs! Positively wonderful. Hint: a nice glass of wine and a good companion are also great additions on such evenings. Architectural suggestion: Design your house so that the water is a positive integral element in the design and living experience ('cause as Anglophilia points out above, it's gonna be an element in your daily life whether or not you want it to be!).