I have the same problem, and solved it in a way that might be helpful to you. The local high school has a vocational ag program, and part of it is teaching kids to be landscape contractors. I talked to the teacher and he gave me some names of kids in the program he felt were able and responsible enough to do the job. I have a burly teenager coming over saturday to dig up overgrown shrubs, do heavy pruning, and to dig and divide perennials like miscanthus that are to much for me to do myself. He has been trained already to do this and is much cheaper than hiring someone from a local landscaper, which was what I would have had to do. If your local high school doesnt have a program, perhaps the local junior college would. Sue (ps I'm in Davis so you wouldn't be able to use the same source as I)

Solstice- I think what happens is that a healthy well fertilized plant does not easily succumb to insect infestations and it is the honeydew produced by the insects that the sooty mold grows on. If you get rid of the insects you get rid of the mold - now you could get rid of the insects with insecticidal soaps, oil sprays etc and that is what shelrose could do, but if she then proceeds to fertilize regularly she will probably not have the problem again. I realize that the insects probably enjoy a nice healthy plant but from my experience healthy plants do not get infested with insects and then sooty mold, and to grow ixoras well you need to fertilize them. This works with gardenias as well-scale and sooty mold can be a big problem with a gardenia but if you fertilize and water them regularly you eliminate the problem. I am not sure why but I know that it works! Shelrose, if it were my ixora, I would examine it closely to see what insect I was dealing with and I would try and blast them off with the hose, then blast off the sooty mold with the hose or rub it off by hand(a bit of a job and you might need to do this a few times)-if you have a lot of sooty mold it is interfering with the plants photosynthesis(this leads to a weaker plant). If you can't get rid of the insects with the hose then try oil or an insecticidal soap. Then I would fertilize regularly, with a palm/ixora fertilizer.

Have to agree with cleanteamofny that GE Profile PGB975SEMSS would be a good choice for you. It has an 18,000 BTU powerboil burner, upper convection oven and a lower second oven. It's in right in your price range and GE Profiles have gotten very good reviews on consumer reports. I got a GE CAFE AG and while I'm very happy with it, reviews for the CAFE here on GW seem to be mixed - a number of people have had challenges. It has very similar features to the GE profile which I ruled out because the front burners have angled corners which means it's harder to center a really large saute pan or WOK on the burner, but this probably won't matter to you. I'm happy with my 18,000 burner (which should perform similar to the profile); while I understand from others that possibly because of the height of the grate and other factors that other ranges may deliver more intense heat for the same number of BTUs, it's still pretty darn good. You should be aware that GE's generally do not have great broiler performance. This was a compromise I was willing to make as I got a great price on my CAFE (scratch & dent) and the over $3000 ranges were not in my budget.

There are three things you can buy. Lincrusta costs a fortune -- it's from the 1800s and they use the original machines to make it, and one that printed wainscoting broke down last year and no parts to fix it. It's firm and hard and thick. Anaglypta costs a little less and is thicker than wallpaper but thinner than Lincrusta. These two products have the higher raises and deeper depths to them, Lincrusta having the most depth. The pictures I posted are Lincrusta, to my recollection. This is where I got the pictures I posted above, and there are many more here: http://www.lincrusta.com/ It does tell you how to achieve each technique (the basics at least). >Do you they make embossed wallpaper that is already completed and doesn't need painted? I don't know. If you mean like what I pictured above? No I don't think so. That is Lincrusta and it is hand painted. Drooooool, huh? Yeah, me too. I think it is stunning. I would use it on the lower half of the wall only, so it won't be overwhelming. This treatment is something I've been thinking about doing in my own bathroom, but I haven't done it yet. If you buy the Lincrusta from that site, I'll bet they would be happy to tell you exactly which paint to buy and how to achieve the effect you want BUT they are in England, so what they have there may not be the same as what we have here. If you learn which paint to use, please let me know. Here: http://www.wallpapersplus.com/product15766.html They have my favorite one (the one pictured in this post) ON SALE for only -- are you sitting down? -- $137.50 per roll! LOL Unpasted, of course. I have NO idea how to cut it to go around toilet pipes, as in, does it crumble if you bend it too much, etc? Dunno. I did get the beadboard wallpaper from this company and liked them very much and found the paper easy enough to apply (though you have to be careful not to tear it when it's wet). Perhaps this would work? http://www.grahambrown.com/us/product/17773/Large%20Damask%20Paintable%20Wallpaper I've been thinking on my budget I'd mess around with regular embossed wallpaper and paint and see what I could accomplish. Then again, I AM tempted to go in and measure and see if I could get by with just ONE roll of that Lincrusta. Naughty me. Because that stuff makes me go weak in the knees.