A bit harsh? rutgers1 is most likely 100% correct, but I never pull any punches and am blunt. Seeing that this is a DIY (do it yourself) forum and the actual nature of the thread, - "Have you inspired anyone to join you in your lawn obsession?" many of gbig2's comments, I find very pretentious, aloof and pompous, which prompted my reply. "What makes you think you can landscape your own house? You can't!" "why would you nickel and dime the landscaping for it by trying to do it yourself?" "Pick up the phone and call an expert, PLEASE!" -Maybe they like doing it themselves? Maybe they are proud of what they did! "I'm sorry but going to home depot and spending $400 on a couple plants and trees is not landscaping! " -Maybe they LIKE what they bought at Home Depot? Maybe they are proud of what they bought! "My neighbor who didn't take the above advice, [****hiring an expert, I assume?****] put in two front beds himself (not raised beds, he decided to put in slightly below grade beds, lol) -Instead of now laughing at him so pompously, maybe some neighborly hands-on help would have been nice? "it looks so bad that some day I may have to pull the weeds myself." -This statement is not condescending? "it's a mistake (that I almost made years ago) to try to do it yourself, hire a professional" - This statement is not supercilious? "I went from not knowing what KBG was or TTTF was [snip] to now, completely renovating with KBG" - So I must ask ... did you DIY or hire a professional?

Welcome to this great forum, Janet! It really is a special one, isn't it? When I first joined, decorating a home was very easy for me, but I totally stressed out at the very thought of trying to create any tablescape! I've learned so much here since then! My DH is at the opposite end of the spectrum, I think. As good of cook as I am, he's even better! I just wish he had more time to cook for us! He loves gourmet meals and really appreciates my tablescapes (now). But I think what he appreciates most is the other very valuable thing I've learned on this forum . . . that you don't have to spend a lot of money on expensive dishes and things to create a beautiful or fun tablescape; some of the best finds can come from the Goodwill, garage sales, making them yourself or from "shopping" your own home for unexpected things to use. I've always been a bargain hunter and these talented gals here have shown me a whole new set of places to look now. I haven't been around here much for the past month, as our 16 y/o DD was finishing up the last couple of hectic weeks of her school year. I'm married and we have two kids, although no grandbabies yet. Our oldest will be 26 this summer. His Army unit was just deployed to Afghanistan two days ago. I'm looking forward to seeing your pretty dishes and tablescapes and am so glad you've decided to come out of Lurkdom and join us here! Lynn

here is the main problem with how the infections are happening in facebook, there are bad or sloppy codes in the facebook application which allows hackers to get into the application and replace code for things that would look like something innocent with something not so innocent. for example you might see that there is a link you think is going to lead you to say someones pictures and you think ok no problem and click on the link well below the surface that click you just did really was not to send you to someones pictures it was instead to send you to a bad site that by visiting alone, some people could get infected or have the pop ups start to hit you that you can not x out of with out installing something on your pc. And there are lots of little applications for facebook and myspace these are written by anyone and you have no idea what they actually wrote into that code. Facebook and myspace really don't care all they want is people they are not real worried about protecting anyone. Which is exactly why they made it so easy to accidentally send out your entire address book, good way to get more people. And why do they want people and addresses? gee hum could it be to harvest information and sell it? So even doing things you think surely will not harm you can, that is what happened to my friend, someone she thought she knew sent her a link, she clicked on it, it was not really a link to someones pictures at all and she got badly infected. This is like the clickjacking we had talked about at one time. there are various methods being used on those social networking sites. In fact if you google facebook virus you will get lots of info as well as directions on exactly how to create them! Lovely. Just be really careful on any of those kinds of sites. Unfortunately a lot of the things that are the infections on those sites are not necessarily ones that your AV will catch. Lots and lots of people have got that dreaded antivirusxp 2009 infection from there and that even has a rootkit in it in some of its forms. Just one of many Facebook Virus Turns Your Computer into a Zombie I will tell you that I personally do NOT do any social networking sites period, I just say NO. To each their own. Everyone needs to just be very aware and then make their own decision.

Bea...the amount of STPP will vary depending on water chem. Person to person..I use 1 part STPP to 2 parts detergent. ..at first get your load started once its filled with clothes and water decide how much detergent your using if your using say 4 T OF detergent than use 2 T STPP first, dont add detergent yet let it agitate a minute than feel the water it should feel slippery, if not add some more..after you do this than add the detergent. .this way Bea you will know the correct amount to use. DONT be nervous using it...it won't hurt anything. Its best doing it this way the first time so you will actually know how much you need per load..there's no use in using it if you don't add enough to condition the water. I should say after the waters slippery..or soft feeling..add the detergent, but add half the amount you planned to use and watch for suds, you can always add more if its not sudsing up..this will be trial and error for the first few losds. ...as far as soaking in STPP ..I do..but if you use enough STPP you will find a 30 minute soap is enough for even the dirtiest load.