I can always tell my Lacunosa are blooming by smell first before seeing the flowers. I grow most my Lacunosas in a southern window upstairs near my bedroom. As I walk past that room in the dark I can always smell these. You will notice that the scent peaks at night when the flower is fully open. No other Hoya beats the scent IMO except possibly DS-70 in full bloom. But single umbel vs umbel Lacunosa packs the biggest punch. I do understand that Obscura is another pleasant smelling Hoya that some find to be the best smelling Hoya. I bought H.davidcummingii since it was described as a wonderful smelling Hoya that others describe as smelling like Candy. Only time will tell. -David

Ladies may I join you in this discussion? I am a young healthy looking 62. And today is my first visit here after looking up adrenaline I sure understand better now That's what I have going on MY NATURE'S PACE MAKER.working. Adrenaline After a stay in icu heart recently everyone finally agreed i am mot crazy.it was.my heart. The docs installed is a device catch my heart acting badly is a heart tracker like halter monitor. Under my chest muscles on top of my heart. I can cause it record what just happened.. iam write with excitment because your stories are all so familiar. These stories for me begin after mitral valve repair. 7 years ago. Basic problem ..unless the doc sees the heart behaving badly they deny the problem. All this time we never could catch it Last doc said bluntly if we dont see it didnt happen. You must to er Well recent at 230 am it woke me up, just as you have described. I went directly to the er They caught the serious thing! Arrithemia and more then two days in icu. Now meds have slowed my heart from 70 to 52 while docs decide what to do. Last night I realized I was having an adreilin rush. The same rush I went to a neurologist for help. Over a year and half. Often it also affect my skin. Goose bumps crawling feeling all day long! Well have I got news for him.I was not crazy about that either. my gp I visited last month just to say. I know you don't know what is wrong but I still got it. Knows too I sat in neros office two months ago ,,,same thing. I said dr i just want you know ME when I end up in er..and i need you. well it was er straight to icu. Home now with electrical issues. Last last night meds have my average at 52 bpm.it woke me. 2 3 am. I use my tricks to get back to sleep.as soon as felt sleep coming on the stomach feeling spread. It woke me up heart pounding.sweat .out of breath!!! Happened several times . then checked average heart rate on my Garmin. 48. Average 48 so i was probably lower. Maybe 45! My natural pace maker kicked in every time sleep lowered bpm and I was short on air. Natural pace maker? Adrenaline can't wait to see what was recorded on my device Thank you body! Now I think i know what as going on for long time hidden from doc view. Electric shock adrenaline style

I very much agree with Quirk: your boyfriend should absolutely be paying you more than he is. Unless you're being kind to him for a good reason-- he's ill, disabled, something like that-- the amount that he's paying you is essentially scamming you. He would undoubtedly be paying quite a lot more if you weren't in his life. Additionally, here are some suggestions to take some of the pressure off of you: 1. Ask your boyfriend to plan to take ALL of the kids someplace all day on Sundays once in awhile. They could go do volunteer projects, go hiking, go to a park to throw balls/shoot hoops as a family, take a train and go sightseeing, visit a museum which charges minimal/no admission, visit relatives, visit nearby colleges (since the older ones are approaching college age and the younger ones are old enough to be taken along), whatever. If you want to do what your boyfriend has planned, go along. Otherwise, stay home and enjoy the peace and quiet. 2. Tell everyone that they are responsible for their own laundry if you have a washer/dryer in your house. By the time I was 15 and my youngest sibling was 10, we were all doing our own laundry: it's not rocket science and my mother had had enough. She even color-coded the sheets and towels so that she didn't have to do more than she wanted. If the kids wear dirty/wrinkly clothes, it's their problem. They'll clean things sooner or later. 3. Decide that you don't care what the kids' rooms look like most of the time, as long as the mess can be shut behind the door. I know that this can be hard to do, because knowing that a mess exists in the house can sometimes drive me crazy even if I can't see it. But if you reduce the number of rooms that you feel absolutely have to be cleaned to your standards, it will hopefully cut down on the stress. Make the kids clean their own rooms when you really want them cleaned, but try to ignore it some of the time, too. Pick your battles. 4. Use some of Pseudo's tips to get them to pitch in for the areas you decide to care about, and also have them each periodically pick recipes to cook for the whole family. Yes, the kids will complain your ears off, but they'll also get the work done and take some of the load off of you. Plus it's a learning experience that will (especially for the boys) help their relationships in the future. I think most women appreciate a guy who will cook and clean at least some of the time. Who puts "a slob" into their must-have dating/marriage criteria? 5. Reduce the amount of time per week you're spending on food prep, especially on Sundays. There are two things that come to mind here. First, I've been reading a lot about crock pot cooking lately, and there are some very, very easy-sounding recipes out there. You sound like someone who could really use a food prep time that lasts no longer than 5-15 min, followed by a long period of no-work cooking time. The crock pot seems to enable that. The second idea is-- if you can afford it and have the space-- look into getting a large second freezer. My mother used to take one day every month or two to make a ton of casseroles to freeze. It was a lot of work that one day, but it made things significantly easier the rest of the time. 6. Encourage the kids to all have friends over on the same day. It will probably be a very loud and untidy day... but if they have friends over, they'll probably be too occupied to bother you. And you can go into your room, shut the door, and read a book/watch a movie or something like that. Similarly, you could encourage the kids to all go to friends' houses on the same day. This also has the advantage of more quiet/less mess. 7. Make sure that you're doing the things you need to do for your own health and well-being. The demands on you sound utterly exhausting, and it wouldn't be surprising if you were feeling generally run down on top of feeling burned out. Take some time to shut out everything else and make sure you're taking care of yourself. I really hope that things get better for you soon.

I agree, the Pearl is too yellow. Still trying to decide between the Antique Parchment and Linen :). I reached a new low as I knocked on doors in the rain, asking if I could hold paint samples up to trim. For better or worse I told the installer we'd use the Teakwood! I felt relieved for about a minute....and then started thinking things like: is it too dark? Is there a PURPLE undertone???? Is the finish too flat? Ha! I might be certifiable! Wish I was someone who didn't care. I might have an ugly house, but I'd be blissfully oblivious :) Well, I guess another option would be having enough money to hire someone like Maria Killam... This line of siding is special order (the warehouse doesn't stock it yet), so we needed to order in advance. I worked up enough nerve to ask our installer (a relative) if the trim wrap was special order, too. It's not, so I have more time to think over the trim color! It's been rainy today and yesterday, so I'm especially glad to have more time since I'd like to be sure I like the trim color when there is some sun. I really wish we could do it all a step at a time - windows installed first, then siding up, then pick a trim color. Seems like it would be easier than trying to envision it ALL. Thanks again for all the help!