I took a few more pics today. The roses haven't yet started blooming, but things are growing and green, and the perennials I planted are starting to fill in a bit more. Some of the Dianthus and one of the Campanula are blooming, but so far that's it. I don't remember ALL the specific perennials in these pics, but where I do, I'll name them. The Dianthus on the left is 'Rose du Mai', with the newly-planted Austin rose 'Happy Child' to its right, and Amsonia tabernaemontana after that. There's a Sedum poking through between the logs as well. The little blob of green near the logs on the left side of the picture, in front of the Amsonia, is Campanula 'Birch Hybrid'. Those lime-green leaves belong to the rose 'Honorine de Brabant', with a Sempervivum in the logs, and another Dianthus (a found variety called "Mom's Cinnamon Pink"). The yellowish-blob is Thymus 'Doone Valley' (and I still have to line that area with bricks....). The rose in the corner against the garage but in front of the railroad ties is "Sophie's Perpetual" (virtually no dieback from this Winter). The purple flowers belong to Campanula 'Joan Elliott', and behind it is "Secret Garden Musk Climber" which had to be cut to the ground and still has not woken up. The rose to the right of SGMC (behind the railroad ties) is 'Charles de Mills'. The rose in front of CdM (and in front of the railroad ties) is 'Clotilde Soupert'. To the left of CS is a tiny green blob -- that's Nepeta 'Walker's Low'. Apparently, the neighborhood cats have discovered my yard, and my catmints got squashed. I trimmed them back, surrounded each with pieces of branches sticking into the soil, and they're growing back again. Oh, and wherever you see what looks like a bunch of grass in the beds, that's actually one of my many Dianthus -- I don't remember the one in this pic. 'Charles de Mills' is the Gallica on the left in this pic, behind the railroad ties. To its right is another Gallica, 'Georges Vibert', which I pegged widely. One cane is about 6' long, with long laterals coming off it. The rose in front of GV (and in front of the railroad ties) is the Austin 'The Prince'. The twigs you see in there I inserted to gently spread its canes out -- they were growing tight together and straight up. So rather than pruning them out, I bent them out of each other's way, and stuck some branches in to hold them in place. It's what I was doing with most of the roses that needed "growth guidance" in lieu of pruning. That whitish blob that looks like a brain in the logs is another Sedum. The Gallica in the center (behind the railroad ties) is 'Georges Vibert' again. The center of the plant is where the big white tag is -- you can see how far its canes are spread. The rose behind it and to its right is "Sombreuil" the climber, which will be tacked onto the fence as it grows. The next Gallica, all the way on the right side of the pic, is 'Cardinal de Richelieu' which was also pegged out. There's also a couple Asters back there, but they won't look like much until late Summer. In the front row, to the far right, is 'Golden Buddha'. Between it and 'The Prince' I planted a Stokesia (further back, right in front of the railroad ties) and Dianthus 'Fire Witch'. And there's another Sedum in the logs. That big sprawling rose, stretching almost the entire width of this pic, is the Bourbon 'Souvenir de Victor Landeau'. It's almost self-pegging -- canes grow up, continue getting heavier, and naturally start leaning downward. I "growth-guided" them a bit by sticking branches into the ground to hold them in place -- either to prop them up, or in some horizontal plane direction. None of the canes are actually tied to anything. To the left of SdVL is 'Prospero', but I didn't capture it in this pic. Diagonally behind-left of SdVL is 'Souvenir de la Malmaison'. The little green blob in front of SdVL is a creeping blue Veronica whose name escapes me. There are some Sedum there as well -- upright in the bed, and creeping in the logs. Against the trunk of the pine tree, behind the gray stones, is 'Louis Philippe' the China rose. To its right is Geranium 'Nimbus'. To its left is a green blob with a small yellow dot floating above it -- that's my Aquilegia chrysantha 'Denver Gold' getting ready to bloom. To its left is 'Cardinal de Richelieu' mentioned before. In the back corner, behind the pine tree, is "Darlow's Enigma". Back in front, the tall rose on the right-edge of the pic, to the right of SdVL, is 'Golden Celebration. GC is actually growing up and arching toward the camera, though it appears as one straight stem in the pic. I don't remember all the perennials pictured here, but I know there's another Stokesia in there, and a few Echinacea starting to the right of GC. Against the fence, tied to the deer netting, is "Bleu Magenta". In front is the already mentioned 'Golden Celebration'. Pegged to the logs is the one thick cane of 'Blanc de Vibert' that grew -- there are a few smaller stems not easily seen in the pic. To its right is Veronica 'Blue Carpet'. The perennial to the right of GC is the Phlox 'David's Lavender'. To its right is the red HP rose 'Pierre Notting'. The rose on the right-edge of the pic, against the fence, is 'Bubble Bath'. Between it and "Bleu Magenta" are two different type-2 clematis whose names I don't remember -- but I know that the one next to "Bleu Magenta" is red, and the one next to 'Bubble Bath' is purple. The climbing rose against the fence in the middle is 'Bubble Bath' again, with 'Purple Skyliner' to its right (cut off in the pic). You can see 'Blanc de Vibert' with its pegged cane again, on the left in the pic, and the rose to its right (center of pic) is 'Tamora', which I moved from another spot. Behind 'Tamora' is a tall Echinacea whose name I can't remember. The bushy green blob to the right of 'Tamora' is a Salvia -- I think 'May Night'. There's also a Sempervivum in the logs. The rose in the middle row on the right-edge of the pic is 'Mme de Sevigne'. And the cane pegged to the logs on the right edge of the pic belongs to 'Botzaris'. 'Botzaris' actually has two canes pegged to the logs, seen left-of-center in this pic. The climber against the fence to the right of center in this pic is 'Purple Skyliner', again with two clematis between it and the fence-climbing rose on either side. Down front, in the right edge of the pic, is 'Mme Dore', which actually looks much larger than it is. That's because behind it is 'Monsieur Boncenne', and they're lined up in this pic. Behind MB is 'Jude the Obscure' which is the tallest of the three. They're actually further apart than they appear in this shot. The fact that I didn't incorporate composted manure in the area where I planned to put this path made for quite a color contrast -- emphasized by the bricks I used to line it. I didn't use any colored mulch -- what you see in the path is the color of the mulch WITHOUT the manure worked in. The thymes in the path are hard to see, but trust me, they're there and growing. The rose against the fence where the left line of bricks makes the curve to the right, is 'Ferdinand Pichard'. It hasn't grown anything long enough to train to the fence yet. To its right are two more clematis, then the thornless climber 'Yellow Sweetheart, CL', followed by one more clematis. On the right of the path, the tall cane with the green blob on top is "Yolande de Aragon". 'Orfeo' is trained to climb the tree trunk, with two different clematis (one purple, one white) planted on either side of it and already making their way onto 'Orfeo'. A wider shot of the same area as in the previous pic. In front of the tree and a bit to the right is 'Quatre Saisons Blanc Mousseaux'. Just to the right of the bricks is 'Mme Laurette Messimy' coming back from being cut to the ground. To the right of the sliced log sticking straight up is the Dianthus 'Greystone' with a few white flowers. To its right is "Rose de Rescht" (with 'Quatre Saisons Blanc Mousseaux' behind it). Stretching along the deck railing is a cane of the Hybrid China 'Nouveau Monde'. I planted a purple-flowered type-2 clematis at its base to use it as a trellis. Here you can see more of 'Nouveau Monde' as it begins to eat the deck railing. There are a few more vigorous laterals sprouting from the base of that cane which will be tied against the railing as they get long enough. The arching cane to the right and in front of NM belongs to 'Abraham Darby'. To the left of NM (hard to see in this pic), against the corner of the deck railing, is the Hybrid Perpetual 'Georg Arends'. Planted against the stairs of the deck is 'Reine des Violettes' which isn't quite tall enough to start tying to the railing, but it will grow as a climber there. 'Abraham Darby' will be encouraged to grow away from the railing, forward toward the front of the bed, as it's already beginning to do on its own. There's another tall Phlox in this pic, to the right of AD. The low green blob further in front of AD is Geranium 'Dilys', with "Rose de Rescht" to its left. The white tag with nothing behind it belongs to 'Lady Hillingdon' which got cut to the ground by Winter, but is sprouting anew. This area looks a little bare because I'm planning to put things I'm starting from seed here -- taller self-seeding annuals. 'Reine des Violettes' is seen here again at against the stairs. To its right is 'Paul Neyron', which in this pic is lined up with 'Mlle Blanche Lafitte' which is planted in front of it. Here they look like one plant, but they're spaced apart. To the right of them, with a couple tall canes leafed only at the top, is 'Rose du Roi -- original', with "Bermuda Spice" to its right. Mixed in there are a few more Dianthus, some Sedums in the logs and a couple upright ones in the bed, Lithodora 'Grace Ward' against the logs to the left of 'Rose du Roi', etc. You also see a large black barrel planter. This is what I'm using for my fragrant dark-red or crimson Hybrid Tea collection. The larger roses get planted in these, the smaller ones in 15" pots. The barrels are resin, 22 1/2" in diameter, and cost $20 at Home Depot. In this one is 'Chrysler Imperial' which lost all its top-growth in Winter but has three new shoots coming from the roots. I went back and took a couple more pics showing the back-row "gallica bed" a little better. Here's "Darlow's Enigma" in the corner behind the tree, 'Louis Philippe' in front of the tree, Geranium 'Nimbus' to the right of the tree, Aquilegia chrysantha 'Denver Gold' to the left of the tree, and an upright Sedum whose name I can't remember against the gray stones. In front of the stones, where they meet the railroad ties, is 'Souvenir de la Malmaison'. Behind it (and behind the railroad ties) is 'Cardinal de Richelieu'. And once again, the widely-pegged 'Souvenir de Victor Landeau' stretches almost entirely across the picture. 'Cardinal de Richelieu' is to the left of the Aquilegia, with an Aster whose name I don't remember to the left of CdR, with "Sombreuil" trained against the fence in the back, and 'Georges Vibert' the Gallica in the left edge of this pic. Here you can better see how far 'Geroges Vibert' got pegged -- the rose "starts" at the white tag, but that one cane goes almost to the next arbor vitae trunk to the left. That corner looks so dark and empty with "Secret Garden Musk Climber" not yet awake (or resurrected?). OK, so the "lawn" still has a lot of weeds, but after getting its first cut, it looks kinda nice. As I look closely, I do see blades of grass emerging from between the weeds, so the seed I put down just might be enough to overtake them in the course of the season. But either way, come August, I'll put down something to kill the broad-leaf weeds in the lawn, and seed again in September. I wanted to take more pics when roses were actually blooming, but I'm getting a bit impatient and wanted to do an update. :-) ~Christopher

Dingy whites. I think it's better to figure out the cause before you execute a "cure". Dingy whites is often from not enough detergent, too much detergent and a build-up from not rinsing out of the clothes, and/or a combination of hard water and detergent build-up. Since using Charlie's Soap, I don't have a problem with detergent build-up, so I don't have dingy whites. You can check Charlie's Soap web site for tests done on detergent build-up in fabrics. It's pretty interesting.... If your whites are dingy from soap/detergent build-up, here's an "old-fashioned method" to whiten dingy whites I found in a Cooperative Extension Service laundry guide sheet from New Mexico State University. Wash the dingy whites in HOT water (NO detergent) adding enough water softener product to make the water feel slippery (about 1-cup in a TL). If the water becomes sudsy, the clothes were not rinsed enough, causing the whites to become dingy from soap scum build-up. Wash them again adding ONLY water softener. If the clothes do not whiten, add soap or detergent and rewash. Hanging whites out in sunshine will also whiten them, without the need for harsh chemicals that can damage fabrics. Sparkling white clothes - yet another benefit from line-drying clothes outside. Hydrogen peroxide is another add-in for whites, but I never use it. On rare occasions I have added some Cascade Dishwasher Detergent to a load of whites as a laundry booster for the enzymes and phosphates found in the Cascade. I've successfully used this method, and a long soak, on really dirty laundry from yard work, including ground-in dirt and grass stains - especially on white cotton socks. I can't use bleach in our water because the minerals react with the bleach and causes whites to yellow, and it's really hard on fabrics. Add-ins, like bluing, are only an optical illusion and actually don't whiten anything. That shade of blue tricks the eye into thinking the color is vibrant white. I'm the white T-shirt queen, some are REALLY old, and still worn daily for work-out clothes, gardening, etc.... All of them are all nice and white - just using Charlie's Soap. -Grainlady

Donna, thank you for cheering me up! What will you be doing for your birthday? Yesterday I did go to the supermarket again and to the florist. DH helped with the cleaning: dusting the living room, vacuuming the couches and scrubbing the bathtub. I swiffered the floors and did the rest of the dusting, mopped the tile and terrazzo, cleaned the living room balcony, changed my DD's bed and did another load of laundry. We had maybe an hour to rest and were on time for my brother's engagement, were we had a great time. (Oh my new SIL has a so different style in her home! More glamorous and much more loaded than ours. That was interesting to observe - hope gift giving will not be too difficult!) Today after coming home from church, feeding the girls and putting them down to nap, I'll have to finish polishing the kitchen (that counter/tile thing), do some touch ups, clean the balcony again, change our bed and bring down the bedspread, also tidy my nightstand and bookcase, bring down the rest of the couch pillows and put them in place, and, finally, bring out the nice tablecloth/napkins/flatware and arrange them on the table along with plates and glasses. We'll order in pizza and salads. Oh, I'll need to go and pick up the birthday cake too. After having the girls, I don't feel like cooking for a crowd anymore (we'll be 13 people altogether). After our guests leave, we'll have to mop the whole apartment, as we are a no shoes home but we'll be making an exception this time due to the new additions to the family... end of a long day. The previous night I didn't sleep much or well (got up and came here at 6am) due to excitement and I expect the same for tonight - then the work week begins. Sorry for writing a book and THANK YOU ALL for letting me come here to vent and think in writing. Maria

Take them all down and store them until you move -- your goal is to sell your house for as much and as quickly as you possibly can and storing the pictures will (1) keep potential buyers focused on the house when they're looking at it and (2) depersonalize the offer process -- you definitely don't want them to not make an offer because they've make certain conclusions about you based on your photos. After you move, if you enjoy surrounding yourself with family pictures, then by all means do it. When I to to somebody's house that has their personal pics on display it feels a little "quirky" to me (albums on the table that aren't open 24/7 would be more appropriate, IMO), but it's your house and you should do what makes YOU happy -- after the sale, though.