Kristy, I have purple spiderwort..has cute lil flowers. Prob gets about 1'-1.5' tall. Multiplies every year, but not invasively fast. Brug bed looks good. I am so jealous your wearing a tee & shorts?!?!?!?!?! Supposed to be 70 here tomorrow, 60 today. But I am way too white to be sportin shorts, lmao. Your post is exactly why I do things alone..my way is the only way for me. Kristy you should know by now, the only way to have things done properly is to do them yourself. When anyone says they want to help me, I always say no. They think I'm mean cuz they cant help, so be it. I gave the kids their own areas last year to garden in and take care of. Plus then if anything is screwed up you dont have to be mad at anyone, cuz ya did it yourself. That's gonna be so pretty when it's all done, I can't wait to see! Daniella

Thank you very much everyone! All clever solutions. I especially like the garage door programmable lock idea and the change all the locks to one key and make one a different lock. MaryBird, I think we are all talking about after the closing when the house is ours. We have our mortgage approval (granted it got delayed a week due to bureaucracy and we had to ask for an extension from the sellers) I hope that doesn't mean that they will delay the closing. I am really surprised that the lenders would require something like cleaning to be done. In our contract, it says something about the house should be swept clean but I would think that that would be something that is hard to enforce. Even if there is dog poop, its not as if it takes a professional cleaner to remove it. It's not that they've been intentionally trashing things but they could take things and they don't seem to be maintaining things. They said they were keeping the wine fridge, but I think that's simply because our realtor used a standard format for the contract and it did not explicitly list the wine fridge because not all homes have them. Well, that's $1K for a new under the counter one. I hadn't thought of moving so quickly as for it to be immediately after the closing. For some reason, I think it will cost more than $150 as we tend to have comparable NYC rates. But I will investigate now. Ideally, we would like to know what home alarm system they use so we can keep all of the same hardware on the doors/windows and just change the acct and codes. Is that how it would work? Or are we able to keep the same hardware even if we switch alarm companies? Also, do we need special locks to go with a home alarm system or can I buy any sort of key lock for the doors and it's the breaking of the barrier and not typing in the correct code that sets off the alarm. I will start another thread about exterior locks. Thanks

for those who have never make 'no knead bread' it is the 5 min a day artisan bread. mix it up one day (5 min) leave on the counter for 14 to 18 hours later then either use it form a loaf (5 min) and let it rise.... or refrigerate it (5 min) and use it within the next 7 to 10 days from the frig. By leaving it on the counter for 14 to 18 hours mother nature does the kneading. Also refrigeration afterward for any amount of time is an additional cold fermentation. I do whole wheat, spelt flour (ancient wheat), & a wonderful rye. Easy to add herbs, grated cheese, seeds. Picture of rye attached. I also use the same no knead artisan bread recipe for baguettes, pizza dough, rolls, ciabatta, & fougasse. There is also a sweet dough version with milk instead of water and a bit of honey and an egg.

The benji cutting lost all it's leaves and after getting a chunk of roots,regrew the new ones seen above. The host tree has had the tallest growth pulled down with some hooks fashioned out of coat hangers. Reintroduced the cutting this morning. :)