Basic method for making a tincture: Cover 200g dried or 300g fresh herb with vodka or rum in a bottle, seal the bottle and leave for about 2 weeks, shaking the bottle every 2 days or so. Put a piece of cloth inside a sieve and pour the liquid through, pressing down to extract as much of the liquid as possible. Discard the solid matter. Pour the tincture into dark bottles, seal and label. A tincture has a much stronger action than an infusion or a decoction. The usual dosage is 5ml 2-3 times a day diluted in 25ml water or fruit juice.

Laptop is a Dell Latitude (C-Series). I've always hooked up a mouse... could never work those little pad areas well enough. Has separate "floppy-disk module as external device"... cable to connect. Only has ONE USB port... before it went into extreme SSLLOOWW mode, usde a gizmo that turned one port into 4-5. Has a little cord (about 4" long) marked composite TV-out adapter cable. I have CD reinstall disks for MS Windows XP Professional (including service pack 1a and 2). Has a CD drive, but that doesn't show up when I go to "my computer", but I used it to initially install XP?? And a spare battery pack that has just been sitting in the carrying bag for... since purchased? This computer was loaned/given to me by someone who had purchased a new one... but I was told I could do whatever I wanted with it. When I go to "my computer" and click properties for C, shows 18.6 GB capacity, 7.18 GB used & 11.4 GB free. This is a little odd?? Last time it was hooked up to DSL, showed 80-90% or more used... would get frequent low memory warnings... would have to do a disk cleanup that would briefly and ever so slightly improve speed. Went to control panel and checked to see what programs are on C... 18 different items. Most say "rarely" used, 4 say "frequently" used, but 2 of those I KNOW I don't use?? Rough extimate is almost 800 MB... could list, if that would help. Under system properties: ...system: MS WIndows XP Professional v 2002, service pack 2. ...registered to: my name and 20 letters/numbers. ...computer: Intel Pentium, 1.00GHz, 256 MB Ram. Took it in to Staples with a coupon for a free check-up. Fully expected them to tell me it was gravely ill with some virus... they didn't. I KNEW it didn't have a virus. Said it was pretty much out of memory. Guy tried to find something but nothing matched where it would have to go. Said because computer was "older technology", additinal memory would be difficult to find and expensive... advised not to waste my money and plan for a new computer when possible. Had Spyware Doctor with Anti-virus v 8.0... recommended by former co-worker a few years ago. Over time, it would catch occasional minor infections and fix right away. WOuld be encouraged to BUY something... Registry Mechanic "Optimizer" to get rid of registry errors. Have NO idea what that means, but wasn't something that seemed to make much difference, and I wasn't willing to spend any more money. OK... getting long-winded, so I'll stop. If any of my gibberish makes sense, and anyone has any advise for thie "dummy"... I will be very grateful!

Hi Mary, You can also mix, for example two warm white and two daylight tubes, this is used in many fish tanks with good results. The difference between the tubes is the diameter counted in 1/8 of an inch so a T8 is 8/8 of in inch (25.4mm) The old tubes are T12 and the modern ones the T8 and T5. The T12 and T8 are interchangeable, the T5 need afaik a special ballast and the pins are closer together. The T12 is not that energy efficient, but he T5 and T8 are good and differ not so much. I think the T8 will give you the most bang for your bucks special the 48" types

The original Cape Cod style houses were known for their simplicity and did not have porches, porticos or dormers. Ah, well, clearly I'm not an expert on terms. I just know that I like that exterior look. I know you are resistant to an architect, but really you know enough about what you want, like and don't like that a 3-4 hour consultation would be helpful and I think you would really enjoy the process. No, no, you've got me wrong: I'm not opposed to using an architect. I just think the need should be considered on a case-by-case basis. I'm opposed to someone who's building on a plain lot and who has no unique needs paying to "recreate the wheel". I'm opposed to paying big money to recreate what is already 90% of what the customer wants. And most of us don't have unique needs. I much prefer the floor plan of the new design because of window reasons. Your previous plan had several land-locked rooms, and now with this one, every room -- even the laundry room -- has a window. Plus two of the three bedrooms can have windows on two sides. I also much prefer the central hallway to having to walk through rooms to get to other rooms or having the master bedroom directly off the living room. This is all true. Plus my husband likes the exterior, and it's growing on me. Yet it's the windows that still bother me the most. At this moment -- and I reserve the right to change my mind -- I'm leaning towards going with the modern exterior ... but decorating the interior with more of a Transitional vibe. So the windows need to stay "as is" for the exterior look, but I definitely want them to open for spring /fall breezes! What size eat-in table did you have in mind for eating alone in the future? Neither of the dining rooms in question is particularly large and neither would look or feel strange simply with a smaller table (like 4' x 4') in it. The extra walking room around the table would actually be nice. We have a 42" octagonal table to which my husband is inordinately attached, and it would work perfectly in my "old plan's" breakfast nook with the bay window. Our dining room table adjust from roughly 5' to -- I don't know, really big; it's a lovely table that belonged to my grandparents. If no other tables were ever available again and I were forced to choose between these two, I'd stick with the small table; we rarely ever use our dining room now (though that's partially because it's poorly placed in the house). Actually, it suddenly strikes me that the two dining rooms are essentially identical in size, yet very different in feel.I'm back to work for a summer project this coming week, so I'm putting this on the back burner for a while. I'll come back to it and see how I feel about it in a few weeks. I do appreciate all y'all's thoughts and ideas.